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The Sachsenspiegel (Mirror of the Saxons) is the most complete, widely disseminated, and long-lasting version of customary law in the Holy Roman Empire. Written in Middle Low German, the Sachsenspiegel was compiled (perhaps from a Latin version) around 1220-1235, although the location of the compilation is debated. It originally covered the Duchy of Saxony, but over time came to be used as a model by other regions under German influence, including the Netherlands, Swabia, and Prussia. It was translated into Latin, Dutch, Polish, Czech, and Russian. Sachsenspiegel laws persisted well past the medieval period.
The customary law that operated within a region was known as Landrecht and governed civil law (property rights, contracts, trespass, inheritance, etc…) and criminal law, both of which were influenced by Germanic tribal and Roman law. Customary law also encompassed “feudal” or public law, known as Lehnrecht, which governed dealings between rulers, lords, and vassals. The Sachsenspiegel is divided into three parts, including the preambles, “common” law (Landrecht), and “feudal” law (Lehnrecht).
More than 400 copies of the Sachsenspiegel survive, several of which are beautifully illustrated. Some are available online.
- Sachsenspiegel Online German website which presents a high-quality digital reproduction of the Sachsenspiegel. Users may search the text by typing in specific words or they may choose categories (action, place, person, thing, and dates). A joint project of Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel and the University of Applied Sciences Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel.
- Dresden Mirror of the Saxons is considered to have the best illustrations of any of the extant manuscripts. The manuscript dates from 1295-1363, deposited at the Saxon State and University Library, Dresden. Also can be reached at the Library of Congress website, with an English interface and a pdf version.
See also: Women’s Bodies, Women’s Property: German Customary Law Books Illustrated in the Fourteenth Century An electronic exhibition at Tufts University (1998) centered on eleven customary laws regarding women in the four extant illustrated manuscripts of the Sachsenspiegel (an early thirteenth-century collection of German customary law). The exhibition especially focuses on the ideological functions of the illustrations accompanying these eleven laws and how they reflect societal attitudes to gender, class, and ethnicity. Text and exhibition by Charles G. Nelson and Madeline H. Caviness, Tufts University.