The Viennese Stadtbücher 1395-1430, Part V: 1418-1421

The City of Vienna keeps three folio-volumes of a manuscript in conservation of her archive, which in common was marked as Wiener Testamentsbücher (Viennese Last Wills-Register). The source, originated in the late Middle Ages, originally was called Stadtbuch, and this character indeed appoints her to such registers, which served for registration of legal transactions in urban space. By no means she only embodies last wills (so called Geschäfte), but also a lot of registrations about transaction concerning matters of private law and other registrations about transactions concerning matters of public law. The registrations more than 4.500 comprise the period of 1395 to 1430. The Viennese Stadtbücher, representing a source of law of first order, havent relevance only to legal history, but also to other departments of science to mention a few: History of culture, society and economics, furthermore it provides sources on material culture, familiy relationship, mentality of the people. The sources importance as a Stadtbuch concerning one of the most important towns in Central Europe in the early 15th century is beyond the local scope. Therefore the entire edition source seems to be useful; only by this way it will serve the interests of all historians. To standardize each registration remarks in legal history are placed in the front of it, for the rest the content largely has been edited in full wording. The fifth part of the Viennese Stadtbücher comprises the registrations in the space of 1418 up to 1421; a continuation in further deliveries up to 1430 is considered. The last part will contain exhaustive descriptions on the original manuscript and detailed critical comments about the method of edition, just as extensive indexes.