Württemberg Inventories
This
project makes use of the rich personal inventories which, from the
sixteenth to
the late nineteenth century, were drawn up for many ordinary
Württemberg inhabitants
at marriage and at death – the so-called ‘Inventuren und Teilungen’. In
our
project, we are entering into a database the surviving marriage and
death
inventories for the two Württemberg communities of Wildberg
(1602-1899) und
Auingen (1677-1899). The inventories are being linked to family
reconstitutions
carried out for these two communities in the framework of a
preceding
project on the German demographic transition.
Because Württemberg had a predominantly partible
inheritance system, its
inventories list personal possessions individually. This makes it
possible to
distinguish the possessions of both women and men. Marriage inventories
usually
list brides’ and grooms’ possessions separately, and death inventories
usually itemize
women’s and men’s clothing in separate lists. The Württemberg
inventories are
therefore particularly well suited to explore the growth in female
market consumption which is
regarded as central to the Industrious Revolution.
Württemberg inventorying regulations distinguished
three different types
of inventory: the marriage inventory (‘Beibringungsinventar’), the
contingent
inheritance inventory (‘Eventualteilung’), and the actual inheritance
inventory
(‘Realteilung’). A marriage inventory was supposed to be written up
within a
quarter year after a marriage took place. The contingent inheritance
inventory
was written up at the death of the first spouse in a marriage, but at
this point
the inheritance shares were not yet actually delivered to the heirs.
The actual
inheritance inventory was written up when a widowed spouse died, and
included
an inheritance-division in which inheritance-shares were calculated and
distributed among the heirs.
Württemberg law prescribed a formalized structure
for each type of
inventory. A marriage inventory was sub-divided
into three main sections: the introductory section, the inventory of
the
bridegroom, and that of the bride. The introductory section records the
locality and date of the inventory, the circumstances, the persons, the
date of
the marriage, and the names of the officials and inventory-makers
involved. In
the case of a remarriage, the inventory also records the precise family
relationships prevailing at the time, any existing offspring, and the
deceased
marriage partner. The introductory section thus contains important
information
about the persons involved, including the parents of the bride and
bridegroom,
and details of occupation and office-holding. The inventory that
follows
includes the possessions of each marital partner, sub-divided into the
inventory of the bridegroom and that of the bride. At the end of an
ideal
inventory, the marriage couple and the inventory-makers all append
their
signatures.
A contingent inheritance inventory
resembles a marriage inventory in having an introductory section with
all
necessary information concerning the official procedures and the
persons
involved. This is followed by an inventory of the combined possessions
of the
married couple. At the end, a balance-sheet is struck and an interim
inheritance-division
is established. If there are offspring from a previous marriage of the
deceased
person, then an inheritance division for them is undertaken at this
point, at
least to some extent.
An actual inheritance inventory
is in principle structured in the same way as a contingent inheritance
inventory. However, at its end is appended a complete
inheritance-division. At
the end of both types of inheritance inventory, the persons involved
were in
principle supposed all to append their signatures.
Especially at the beginning of the seventeenth century,
inheritance
inventories sometimes occurred in the form of pure
inheritance-divisions (‘Abteilungen’).
This consisted not of a detailed inventory of the deceased persons’
possessions, but instead merely a summary inheritance-division
according to
value. These so-called ‘Abteilungen’ (inheritance-divisions) have
therefore not
been entered into the database for our project.
Other exceptional types of inventory also sometimes
occurred. Sometimes
the authorities order that an inventory should be carried out in the
lifetimes
of the persons involved, for various reasons – marital conflicts,
marital
desertion, or the fact that a person had committed a punishable offence.
What precisely does the list of possessions in a
Württemberg inventory
contain? It begins by listing the real estate (‘Liegende Güter’),
with details
concerning the type of property (house, garden, arable field, pasture,
etc.), the
size or surface area, the location, the value, and any dues or other
burdens
payable on it. This is followed by a list of all moveable goods
(‘Fahrenden
Güter’), divided into sections such as cash, jewellery and
ornament, silver
plate, clothing, tools, books, bedclothes, linen, brassware, pewter,
tinware,
copperware, woodware, kitchenware, furniture, barrels and casks, common
household equipment, draught and farm equipment, cattle, grain, drinks,
kitchen
stores (food stocks), and sometimes commercial wares. In addition, the
person’s
financial obligations are recorded in the form of debts owed (‘Aktiva’)
and
debts to be collected (‘Passiva’). At the end a balance-sheet is struck
and the
value of the possessions is calculated. A neatly recorded inventory
therefore
opens up an all-encompassing picture of material culture and makes it
possible
to analyse people’s activities as consumers
simultaneously with their activities as producers.
This opens up a view into spheres such as occupational structure,
land-ownership, credit relations, the ability to read and write, wealth
composition, and community politics.
Bidlingmaier,
R.
(2001). 'Inventuren und Teilungen. Entstehung und
Auswertungsmöglichkeiten einer
Quellengruppe in den württembergischen Stadt- und
Gemeindearchiven',.
in: Der
furnehmbste Schatz. Ortsgeschichtliche Quellen in Archiven. Eds.
N. Bickhoff and V.
Trugenberger.
Mannheims, H. (1991). Wie wird ein Inventar erstellt? Rechtskommentare als Quelle der volkskundlichen Forschung. Münster, F. Coppenrath Verlag.
Frischlin, N.
(1605). Instruction
und Bericht, welchermassen, in dem Hochloeblichen Herzogtumb
Wuerttemberg, die
Inventaria und Abtheilungen, nach desselben Erb- oder Landrechtens,
vierdten
und letsten Theil, Tit. von Erbschafften ohne Testament, ec.
fürgenommen,
verricht und verfertiget werden sollen. Tübingen.
Sample Auingen inventory for 1682: