The Codex Falkensteinensis (BayHStA KL Weyarn 1)

Historical Background

The Codex Falkensteinensis was created upon request by Count Siboto IV von Falkenstein, who had the manuscript crafted by canons of the Chapter of Augustinian Canons of Herrenchiemsee in 1166 before embarking on the fourth expedition to Italy of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, in order to have his family's property documented and safeguarded for his underage children in the event of his death. The property was situated primarily in the Chiemgau and Sundergau regions, as well as in the lower Inn valley, with the four castles of Falkenstein near Flintsbach on the Inn, Hartmannsberg near Bad Endorf, Neuburg near Vagen and Hernstein in Lower Austria. The manuscript consequently contains for example the appointment of a guardian for the underage children, an overview of the count's fiefs and a variety of lists concerning the family's income and property. The codex furthermore contains tradition notes and church anniversary notes, as well as a brief genealogy of the family, a notice concerning a church penance, a secret assignment for a murder, an indication of a solar eclipse which took place in 1133, and a formula for a medieval medical remedy. A further peculiarity of the codex are the numerous miniatures, among them a portrait of the Falkenstein family. The manuscript is held by the Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv (Bavaria Main Public Archives) in Munich (shelf mark: KL Weyarn 1).

Description of the Project

The Codex Falkensteinensis was digitised together with the corresponding edition by Elisabeth Noichl, "Codex Falkensteinensis. Die Rechtsaufzeichnungen der Grafen von Falkenstein" (Codex Falkensteinensis: The records of properties and rights of the Counts of Falkenstein). In the edition Elisabeth Noichl complements the text of the codex by its German translation, which was prepared shortly after the codex itself and has only survived in the form of a copy.

The manuscript and the edition will be made available in several stages. First, simple browsing versions will be provided, the edition being indexed through a table of contents. In a further stage of the project, the images of the manuscript and of the edition will be linked, and the text of the edition, provided as a full text, will be made available featuring a comprehensive search function. Furthermore, the names of locations mentioned in the register will be linked with the Bayerische Ortsdatenbank (database of Bavarian location names) of the BLO. Finally, a modern dialogue module will offer the possibility of a complementary transfer of knowledge to researchers and persons with scholarly interests.

Literature

• Werner Rösener, Codex Falkensteinensis. Zur Erinnerungskultur eines Adelsgeschlechts im Hochmittelalter, in: idem (ed.) Adelige und bürgerliche Erinnerungskulturen des Spätmittelalters und der Frühen Neuzeit (formen der Erinnerung 8) Göttingen 2000, p. 35 to 55.
• Search for literature concerning the Counts of Falkenstein in the Bayerischer Verbundkatalog (Bavarian Union Catalogue)