Saxon Court Rolls

Since 2013, funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), the Saxon State Archive (Sächsisches Staatsarchiv) indexed the Saxon Court Records electronically. The focus was mainly on the about 22.900 volumes of the inventory 12.613 "Court Rolls" (Gerichtsbücher) in the Saxon State Archive. The inventory comprises a tradition, which was valid all over Saxony from the end of the 15th century to about 1856, and which, because of its extent and concentration, is unique in Germany. Furthermore, considerable inventories of Court Rolls in nine Saxon municipal archives could be incorporated into the project, so that these Court Rolls are now available electronically as well.

Because of the co-operation with the Institute of Saxon History and Anthropology (Institut für Sächsische Geschichte und Volkskunde e. V.), the meta data raised in the project can be accessed on this Web Site, and furthermore, they have been connected to the online "Digital Historical Index of Places in Saxony" (“Digitales Historisches Ortsverzeichnis von Sachsen”). The local data of this web site receive an important supplement in this way. After the edition by the “Repertorium Saxonicum“ of one of the most important historical-statistical sources in Saxony: “Amtserbbücher” (electoral income register) of the mid- 16th century, now there has been another group of sources added that is fundamental to research on the complex information systems: the Court Rolls (Gerichtsbücher)

The term Gerichtsbücher refers to all records kept by local courts until the 19th century. Here, acts of jurisdiction were recorded, mainly land purchases and hypothecation, but also matters of legacy and custodianship. The entries had the character and validity of official records. Their high value as sources lies in the especially compressed description of the legal transactions and the detailed information about all places and many families involved. They are indispensable for research in history of places, settlements, social history as well as genealogy, and consequently they are in high demand with users of the Saxon State Archive.