Heerschild

Last updated April 06, 2019

The Heerschild (German: [ˈheːɐ̯ˌʃɪlt] ; Latin : clipeus militaris^[1]), also called the shield of knighthood,^[2] in the Early Middle Ages was the right to raise a feudal levy of troops. The call to do so was the Heerbann . The resulting importance of a system of military ranks, based on the ability to provide men for a campaign, became modified in the law books published in the 13th century. It finally ended up as being an important part of the structure of medieval society, as captured in the feudal law element of the Sachsenspiegel by Eike von Repgow.

The Early Middle Ages or Early Medieval Period, sometimes referred to as the Dark Ages, are typically regarded as lasting from the 5th or 6th century to the 10th century CE. They marked the start of the Middle Ages of European history. The term "Late Antiquity" is used to emphasize elements of continuity with the Roman Empire, while "Early Middle Ages" is used to emphasize developments characteristic of the earlier medieval period. As such it overlaps with Late Antiquity, following the decline of the Western Roman Empire, and precedes the High Middle Ages.

The Heerbann, in the Imperial Military Constitution (Reichsheeresverfassung) of the Holy Roman Empire, was the call to all free landowners capable of bearing arms to participate in a military campaign, i.e. in an imperial war (Reichskrieg).

A law book is a book about law.

The Sachsenspiegel, the Saxon law book, portrays the society of the medieval empire as divided into seven feudal military levels or Heerschilde (lit.: "army shields"). This Heerschildordnung was a scale determining a nobleman's status and was not based on military criteria.^[3] The first Heerschild was the king or emperor as the supreme overlord. This was followed by the second "shield", formed by the ecclesiastical princes - the bishops and abbots - of the empire. The third level comprised the secular or lay princes, who, in turn, sat above the "free lords" (freie Herren), i.e. nobles who were not princes, of the fourth stratum. The fifth and sixth Heerschilde were formed by freeman, whether eligible for jury service (schöffenbar) or not, in other words commoners who were able to act as magistrates (5th level) or not (6th level). As to the seventh level, the Sachsenspiegel remains vague, both in terms its composition, as well as whether it was in any real sense a Heerschild. Based on this division of society, the Sachsenspiegel then dealt with the feudal law rights and obligations of each Heerschild.

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Eike of Repgow Author of the Sachsenspiegel, the oldest legal book written in German

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References

↑ Stieber, Joachim. W. (1978). Pope Eugenius IV, the Council of Basel and the Secular and Ecclesiastical Authorities in the Empire, E.J. Brill, Leiden, p. 124. ISBN 90-04-05240-2
↑ Birnbaum, Henrik M. et al. (ed.) (1976). Viator Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Volume 1, Univ. of California Press, Berkeley and L.A., London, p. 213. ISBN 978-0-520-03136-4
↑ Mitterauer, Michael, tr. by Chapple, Gerald. (2010). Why Europe?: The Medieval Origins of Its Special Path, Univ. of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, p. 122. ISBN 978-0-226-53253-0

Literature

Steffen Patzold: Das Lehnswesen. C. H. Beck, Munich, 2012, pp. 107ff, ISBN 978-3-406-63235-8.

International Standard Book Number Unique numeric book identifier

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[Stieber-1] Stieber, Joachim. W. (1978). Pope Eugenius IV, the Council of Basel and the Secular and Ecclesiastical Authorities in the Empire, E.J. Brill, Leiden, p. 124. ISBN 90-04-05240-2

[2] Birnbaum, Henrik M. et al. (ed.) (1976). Viator Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Volume 1, Univ. of California Press, Berkeley and L.A., London, p. 213. ISBN 978-0-520-03136-4

[3] Mitterauer, Michael, tr. by Chapple, Gerald. (2010). Why Europe?: The Medieval Origins of Its Special Path, Univ. of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, p. 122. ISBN 978-0-226-53253-0