The Tradition of the Charters of King Henry (VII)

The present three-year project is intended to further research the charters of Roman-German king Henry (VII) from the dynasty of Hohenstaufen. When his father Frederick II was crowned emperor in 1220 he made his eldest son Henry (VII) king and coregent. In 1235 Henry (VII) was deposed by his father and kept in strict imprisonment. In view of the deposition and the death of Henry in prison, how the events were experienced by his contemporaries cannot be derived from the narrative sources as historiography is hardly interested in him. This makes the corpus of charters all the more significant. But in the case of most of the charters the academic user has to rely on prints to be found in various regional charter books or registers. These editions and registers were not created according to established standards, nor are they up to date, so that the changes resulting from war or change of ownership in the Twentieth Century are not taken into consideration. These matters of fact form difficult obstacles to modern medieval research. The aim of the project is to complete a documentation of the tradition of the charters of Henry (VII) in the form of a complete database established according to consistent criteria, with digital images that can provide the basis for a critical edition and can be made accessible to research via the MGH data base homepage as well as 2) the analysis of the tradition and reception history of charters in the form of a manuscript of a monograph on the history of the traditionransmission of the charters of Henry (VII). The documentation is to provide insight into the structure and history of the traditionransmission of the charters of Henry (VII) and will be a significantly different, new foundation for questions leading further. The view adopted by German Medieval Studies seeing the history of transmission as impact history, can be transferred to the charters. The one-time constellation of Henry (VII), his deposition by his father might provide useful insights into the way the recipients of the charters treated them and should provide a starting point for an analysis of privilege and confirmation from the aspect of cultural history. On the basis of the history of tradition and transmission of the charters leading questions important insights concerning the reactions and behaviour of the contemporaries and subsequent generations regarding this singular constellation can be gained and the substrate of tradition as a meta- source on the actions and administration through the rulers and their reception and perception by those concerned can be determined.

The three-year project was intended to provide insight into the structure and history of the transmission of the charters of Roman-German king Henry (VII) from the dynasty of Hohenstaufen and transferred the view adopted by German Medieval Studies seeing the history of transmission as impact history to the charters. On the basis of the history of transmission of the charters important insights concerning the reactions and behaviour of the contemporaries and subsequent generations regarding this singular constellation could be gained and the substrate of tradition as a meta-source on the actions and administration through the rulers and their reception and perception by those concerned was determined. When his father Frederick II was crowned emperor in 1220 he made his eldest son Henry (VII) king and coregent. In 1235 Henry (VII) was deposed by his father and kept in strict imprisonment. In view of the deposition and the death of Henry in prison, how the events were experienced by his contemporaries cannot be derived from the narrative sources as historiography is hardly interested in him. This makes the corpus of charters all the more significant. 560 documents as starting point were studied, dispersed in 87 locations. Intensive bibliographic research on extant editions, registers and digital as well as printed inventories during the first and second year created a complete bibliography and an extended database with digitized editions. The analysis augmented the locations to 196. This result of the first project phase had severe consequences. The calculation of personal as well as the budget for voyages and digital images were not adequate to the newly established transmission situation. The strategy had to be changed. So the archival research was concentrated on the most important holdings. After strict review the corpus consists of 534 documents. At the end of the project 381 originals are recorded, the rest of the documents is only preserved as copies. 10 originals were destroyed, mostly during the Second World War. 5 recorded originals are lost and could not be retraced during the project. At the moment 108 (22%) documents are thoroughly studied and documentated, 382 (71,74%) are processed, but there are still details to check (mostly missing scans), 44 (8,24%) are not yet documentated or could not be traced. Due to the vast augmentation of found texts the documentation is not yet finished. Though it provides insight into the structure and history of the tradition/transmission of the charters of Henry (VII). Though Henry (VII) was deposed by his father Frederic II the recipients of the charters treated his charters as legal documents, they handled them like other documents. There were hardly no notes of his deposition as dorsal notes or in the cartularies. The recipients were not keen to have the legal titles systematically confirmed by Emperor Frederic. During the 13th century kings hesitantly confirmed Henrys charters, often without mentioning him explicitely. Since king and emperor Henry VII of Luxemburg, the ruler who explicitely knew the deposition of his antecessor and decided to call himself Henry VII instead of Henry VIII, the charters of Henry (VII) were confirmed by him as other ruler diplomas. Since the 14th century the charters of the deposed king were confirmed, inserted, and copied like other documents. So the memory of the deposition faded and Henry (VII) was mistaken for Henry VII called him emperor, in a prominent case deliberately even mistaken as saint Henry II.