Metadata: Maculature Envelopes
Collection
- Country:
- Germany
- Holding institution:
- Hildesheim Municipal Archive
- Holding institution (official language):
- Stadtarchiv Hildesheim
- Postal address:
- Am Steine 7, 31134 Hildesheim
- Phone number:
- +49 5121 301 4100
- Web address:
- https://www.hildesheim.de/stadtarchiv.html
- Reference number:
- 58
- Title:
- Maculature Envelopes
- Title (official language):
- Makulatur-Umschläge
- Creator/accumulator:
- Hildesheim City Administration
- Date(s):
- 950/1570
- Language:
- German
- Hebrew
- Latin
- Extent:
- ca. 58 items
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
- The maculature [paper waste] envelopes in this collection come, to a lesser extent, from a Torah scroll or biblical codex, and for the most part from the second part of a Mahzor, a Jewish prayer book for the feast days. Five of the total of 84 maculatures (no. 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7) come from a Torah scroll, like it is still used today in the Jewish worship for reading in synagogue. Hints to this are given by the one-sided scripture of the parchment, the missing punctuation, the crown-like decoration with which some letters are marked, as well as for no. 6 the fact that two sheets were stapled together. No. 8, on the other hand, does not come from a Torah scroll but from a codex, as both sides of the parchment were written on and between the two parts of the double page about 20 chapters of the Book of Job are also missing. In addition, the fragment of the Masoretic apparatus for the Bible text is listed, which could indicate a more scientifically-oriented use. The remaining 78 maculatures of the prayer book were in folio format and were then cut once in the middle. Numbers 73 and 74 are exceptions, since the pages are complete. In total there are about 40 folio pages from the second part of a Mahzor for the Jewish holidays, as it has been used by a chazzan (Jewish precentor). This is indicated by the adornment or the miniatures in addition to the folio format. This part begins with the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah), followed by the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), the day of Simchat Torah ("Rejoicing of the Torah": conclusion and new beginning of the annual Torah reading cycle) and finally the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot). The bulk of the maculatures comes from worship on the Day of Atonement. The folio pages cut through in the middle were then folded and used as envelopes for the new town's interest bills in the years 1488/1570, with the exception of no. 16, which serves as the cover for the municipal minute book. On the parchment cover the contents, the chamberlain and the year were noted in most cases. At a later date, the maculatures were signed and once again the year was noted. The bulk of the fragments thus has a note, a year and an old signature.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- The city of Hildesheim was the capital of the prince-bishopric principality (Fürstbistum) Hildesheim until the end of the Holy Roman Empire. It was independent within the principality and assigned to none of its districts. After the secularisation of the diocese in 1802, the city and principality fell to Prussia after the peace treaty of Paris. After the defeat of Prussia in the battle near Jena and Auerstedt in 1806 , the city became part of the newly formed Kingdom of Westphalia, a Napoleonic satellite state, and became the capital of the district Hildesheim in the Département de l'Ocker (Oker District). Through an agreement between Prussia and Hanover in 1813, which was confirmed at the Congress of Vienna, the principality of Hildesheim became a part of the Kingdom of Hanover. The city of Hildesheim became independent under the new Hanoverian constitution and remained an independent city, even after the acquisition of the Kingdom of Hanover by Prussia in 1866 and the Prussian district reform of 1885. In 1911, the community of Moritzberg was incorporated, as well as Gutsbezirk Steuerwald in 1912. In 1938, the urban area was extended by the villages Neuhof and Drispenstedt. As part of an administrative and territorial reform in 1974, the city of Hildesheim was incorporated into the district of Hildesheim. At the same time, the city was enlarged by the municipalities of Achtum-Uppen; Bavenstedt; Einum; Himmelsthür; Itzum; Marienburg; Marienrode and Sorsum, making it a metropolis (Großstadt). In 2013, Hildesheim lost the metropolitan status due to the nationwide census which established fewer than 100,000 inhabitants in Hildesheim. [Information taken from the archive's website (German): hildesheim.de ]
- Subject terms:
- Bible
- Jewish holidays
- Prayer books
- Torah (scroll)
- System of arrangement:
- The material is arranged in thematic order.
- Finding aids:
- An online finding aid (Arcinsys) is available. Printed finding aid: "Bestand 58 Makulaturumschläge“ (Hildesheim 1998)
- Links to finding aids:
- https://www.arcinsys.niedersachsen.de/arcinsys/start
- Yerusha Network member:
- Institute for the History of German Jews
- Author of the description:
- Matthias Springborn, 2019
