An urbarium (, English: ''urbarium'', also ''rental'' or ''rent-roll'', , , , ), is a register of

fief A fief (; ) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal alle ...

ownership and includes the rights and benefits that the fief holder has over his

serf Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery. It developed du ...

s and peasants. It is an important economic and legal source of

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

and early modern

feudalism Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of struc ...

. Urbaria were also used to record land rent and stock. Depending on the region and writing materials for these lists they are also called ''Salbuch'', ''Berain'', ''Heberegister'', ''Erdbuch'' (

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

book) ''Zins-Rödel'' or ''Rodel''. The term is from the

Old High German Old High German (OHG; ) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally identified as the period from around 500/750 to 1050. Rather than representing a single supra-regional form of German, Old High German encompasses the numerous ...

''ur-beran'' or the

Middle High German Middle High German (MHG; or ; , shortened as ''Mhdt.'' or ''Mhd.'') is the term for the form of High German, High German language, German spoken in the High Middle Ages. It is conventionally dated between 1050 and 1350, developing from Old High ...

''erbern'' for "bring", "create" or "an income derived". It was used for economic, administrative or legal purposes as a directory of real estate, taxation, and the services owed a land holder (such as a monastery or noble) especially in the

Habsburg The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout Europe d ...

lands. The panels of an urbarium, which may be recopied several times to create a clean copy, were either stored as a scroll () or the strips of parchment were sewn together to create a

codex The codex (: codices ) was the historical ancestor format of the modern book. Technically, the vast majority of modern books use the codex format of a stack of pages bound at one edge, along the side of the text. But the term ''codex'' is now r ...

,see Alfons Schäfer: ''Die ältesten Zinsrödel im Badischen Generallandesarchiv (Karlsruhe). Rödel als Vorläufer und Vorstufen der Urbare'', in: Zeitschrift für die Geschichte des Oberrheins (ZGO) 112 (1964), S. 297-372 . or were handwritten on preprinted forms in more recent centuries, as with Empress

Maria Theresa Maria Theresa (Maria Theresia Walburga Amalia Christina; 13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780) was the ruler of the Habsburg monarchy from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position suo jure, in her own right. She was the ...

's urbarial survey of the Kingdom of Hungary in the 18th century. GLAK66-8553.jpg, Title page of the ''Tennenbacher Güterbuch'' (in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

) from 1317 to 1341 Urbar-Codex des Dominikanerinnenklosters St. Katharina, Freiburg.jpg, Urbarium codex from the Dominican Monastery of St Katharina in

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau or simply Freiburg is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fourth-largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of abou ...

, began in 1309, written in

References

{{Authority control Feudalism Social history of the Holy Roman Empire Real property law

See also

References