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XI.—The Album Amicorum

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 November 2011

Max Rosenheim
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Extract

The Album Amicorum, or Stammbuch as it was called in Germany, where it originated, consisted of a collection of blank leaves of paper or vellum, sometimes kept loose, more often bound up as a book, the leaves being destined to receive the signatures and armorial bearings of the owner's friends and acquaintances; often the signatory added his motto or device, some classical or biblical quotations or sentences, some good advice, and a dedication. Generally speaking, the custom or fashion of the Album did not extend beyond Germany and Switzerland, and only few of them are met with in the Low Countries, Italy, and France. English Albums I have not met with, but at the British Museum (17083) there is a Scottish one to which I shall refer later on.

Type
Research Article
Information
Archaeologia , Volume 62 , Issue 1 , 1910 , pp. 251 - 308
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1910

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References

page 256 note 1 He, his sons, and Mattheus Merian, the son-in-law of Johann Theodore de Bry, were the engravers, editors, and publishers of the American, African, and Indian Voyages, 1590–1634, and to make arrangements for these publications Theodore de Bry, and probably his son Johann Theodore, came to London in 1586; on a second visit, 1587–1588, he, or they, engraved the funeral procession of Sir Philip Sidney, after the designs of Thomas Lant, Portcullis pursuivant.

page 259 note 1 Die Deutschen Stammbücher, R. and R. Keil, p. 6.

page 261 note 1 The references to the arms occurring in the Albums are abbreviated thus: R. = Rietstap, Armorial General, Gouda, 1887; S. = Sibmacher, Neues Wappenbuch, 1655–1667. Other abbreviations are B.M. = British Museum; R.C. = Rosenheim Collection.

page 267 note 1 Translated from Johann Gottfried Biedermann, Geschlechtsregister des Hochadelichen Patriciats zu Nürnberg, etc. Bayreuth, 1784.

page 271 note 1 As to the privileges of a “Comes Palatinus” or “Hof-Pfalzgraf” I quote here (from Dr. von Hartmann-Franzenshuld's Deutsche Personen-Medaillen des XVI. Jahrhunderts, Wien, 1873) a document granting the title of “Comes Palatinus” to Friedrich Altstetter, a doctor juris, and setting forth the rights and privileges he is entitled to.

I. “Kann er taugliche Personen zu notaren, öffentlichen Schreibern und Richtern creiren, welche im ganzen h. römischen Reiche Befugniss haben, doch soil er sie anstatt der kaiserlichen Majestät in Gelübde und Eid nehmen.”

(He may appoint suitable personages as notaries, public writers and judges, which will be recognized throughout the Holy Roman Empire, but instead of his Imperial Majesty, he himself will have to take their fealty and oath.)

II. “Hat er die Macht, Personen beiderlei Geschlechtes zu legitimiren (Fürsten, Grafen und Freiherren ausgenommen) und sie vom Mackel unehelicher Geburt zu dispensiren.”

(He has powers to legitimate persons of both sexes (princes, counts, and barons excepted) and to free them by his dispensation from the ban of illegitimate birth.)

III. “Er mag Vormunder, Curatoren und Pfleger bestätigen, einsetzen und absetzen, Söhne und Töchter adoptiren (‘heisst wohl Adoptionen rechtskräftig bestätigen’), Leibeigene erledigen, Minderiährige majorenn sprechen, infamirte Personen restituiren.”

(He may confirm or annul the appointment of guardians, trustees, and executors, confirm the adoption of sons and daughters, he may liberate serfs, declare minors to be of age, and rehabilitate such persons as have been declared infamous.)

IV. “Erist ferner berechtigt, Doctoren und Licentiaten aller Facultäten, der h. Schrift, der Rechte und der Arznei, auch Magister der freien Künste und Bacalaurii zu machen und ihnen ‘die doctorlichen Zierden und Clainodt’ zu verleihen; doch mit der Bedingung, dass der Candidat zuvor, unter Beiziehung dreier anderer Doctoren,’ notdürfftigclich examinirt’ worden, und sich als würdig erwiesen habe.”

(He also has the privilege of granting the title of Doctor and Licentiate of all Faculties, Theology, Law, and Medicine, also that of Master and Bachelor of Arts and granting to them the insignia and crests of Doctors, but with the proviso that they should pass before him and three other Doctors “a superficial examination ”, and prove themselves worthy of the honour.)

V. “Hat er das Recht, ehrlichen, redlichen Leuten, welche er dessen werth erachtet (‘welches wir dann seinem gefallen und beschaidenheit heimbgestellt haben wöllen’), erbliche Wappen zu verleihen, und sie somit zu Wappens- und Lehensgenossen zu machen. Doch darf er nicht verleihen: den kaiserlichen und königlichen Adler; nicht die Wappen anderer Fürsten, Grafen und Freiherren; auch nicht irgend eine königliche Krone auf dem Helm, was sich der Kaiser vorbehält.”

(He has the right to grant hereditary arms to honest, straightforward persons whom he considers worthy of that honour (“which we leave to his judgement and tact”), and thus to make them companions in coat-armour, but he has no privilege to grant to them the Imperial or Royal Eagle, the arms of other princes, counts, and barons, nor a Royal crown under their crest, a right the Emperor reserves to himself.)

page 298 note 1 It is interesting to note the inscriptions on ff. 10b, 11, and 13 of Georg Wilhelm, Margrave of Brandenburg, and Wolfgang Wilhelm, Count Palatine; both were claimants to the succession of Jülich, Cleve, and Berg, and their signatures give expression to their rivalry.