Metadata: Old Archive, B Books
Collection
- Country:
- Switzerland
- Holding institution:
- State Archive of Zurich
- Holding institution (official language):
- Staatsarchiv Zürich
- Postal address:
- Winterthurerstrasse 170, CH-8057 Zürich
- Phone number:
- +41 43 258 50 00
- Email:
- staatsarchivzh@ji.zh.ch
- Reference number:
- B I to B VII
- Title:
- Old Archive, B Books
- Title (official language):
- Altes Archiv, B Bücher
- Creator/accumulator:
- Administration of Zurich
- Date(s):
- 1366/1776
- Language:
- German
- Extent:
- 5,397 files
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
-
In the Old Archive of the State Archive of Zurich, section B Books includes several files of interest.
The dubdivision Copy Books (0810-1846) contains a bundle containing numerous documents from 1273 to 1611 which include a section on civil rights (also in connection with Jews). In addition, a file containing documents from the years 1698 to 1701 deals with the case of a Jewish jeweller murdered near Nördlingen by the merchant Johann Heinrich Paccaton. In the sub-division City Books and County Manuals there are two volumes with passages relevant for Jewish history.
The Sub-division Statutory and Administrative Books includes one file that dates from around 1527 and contains a judicial oath of the Jews of the City of Zurich. This stipulated that a Jew, when taking the oath in court, had to stand on a pigskin and place his right hand on the Book of Moses, with the Ten Commandments. He was to be asked whether he had testified in accordance with the truth and was innocent of the crime he was accused of. This he should swear by God and the Ten Commandments. Another file contains the judicial oath from the year 1553 and again another file written between 1638 and 1644 contains another judicial oath for Jews.
In the sub-division Court Books there are numerous other files from the period between 1366 and 1798 that are relevant for Jewish history. For example, there is a document from the year 1385 that was written in Middle High German language but Hebrew script. In it, Jedediah, son of Chiskija, swears before the mayor and the Council of Zurich on the book of Moses that he would not summon any Zurich citizen to appear before foreign courts. The document bears the signatures of Jedediah and the witnesses Moses ben Paltiel Hayyim, Jacob ben Jacob, Isaac ben Isaac and Samuel ben Meir.
A document from 1397 reports that the mayor and Council of the City of Zurich complained that Jews had unjustly been brought before their court. The priest, together with two or three of his subjects, should come to Zurich immediately to settle the matter. A complaint by Johannes von Sachsbach, provost in Zurich, to the mayor and council of the city of Zurich in 1393 shows that the involved wanted to condemn the claims of the Zurich citizen Hans Phung against Urslin the Jew although the disputed property was within the jurisdiction of the priory.
There is also a document from 1389 which reports the sale of a house to Isaac the Jew from Baden. Similar documents exist from 1390, when Eberhart the Jew from Gewile, Israhel the Jew, Abraham of Visu and Bässli, the Jewish woman of Rapperswil, each bought a house in Zurich. From the same year, a document reveals the sale of a house, which is relevant in that it affected the property of the aforementioned Abraham. Similar cases occurred in the same year with Isaac the Jew and with the mentioned Eberhart and Abraham. Furthermore, in 1400 Abraham received his money back at the forced auction of a farm in Affoltern, which the former owner of the farm had owed him. In 1429, a document shows that Loew Jud of Konstanz bought an estate near Zurich at an auction.
In the sub-division Count Territory Administration a document from 1776 reports that a Jewish claimant was denied appeal.
[B I 266; B I 326; B II 1; B II 2; B III 53 (fol. 8 v); B III 54 (fol. 25 r); B III 70 a; B VI 192 (fol. 287); B VI 196 (fol. 213); B VI 199 (fol. 143); B VI 304 (fol. 33 r, Eintrag 1); B VI 304 (fol. 52 r, Eintrag 1); B VI 304 (fol. 55 v, Eintrag 1); B VI 304 (fol. 58 r, Eintrag 2); B VI 304 (fol. 59 v, Eintrag 3); B VI 304 (fol. 61 r, Eintrag 1); B VI 304 (fol. 73 r, Eintrag 1); B VI 304 (fol. 101 r, Eintrag 1); B VI 304 (fol. 138 r, Eintrag 1); B VI 304 (fol. 165 r, Eintrag 2); B VI 304 (fol. 202 v, Eintrag 2); B VI 304 (fol. 289 v); B VI 304 (fol. 293 v); B VI 305 (fol. 138 r); B VII 42.12, Nr. 590 (fol. 14-15)]
- Archival history:
- The collection was probably part of the State Archive since its foundation.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- The State Archive of Zurich is the archive of the Swiss Canton of Zurich and its legal predecessors, in particular the City State of Zurich. The historical holdings of the State Archive date back to the year 853 - the founding charter of the Fraumünster is the oldest surviving document - and have a significance that extends far beyond the canton. The continuity of tradition is considered remarkable, thanks to the absence of major catastrophes and wars. For example, the series of governmental minutes (Small Council and Grand Council), with few gaps, dates back to the early 14th century. The more recent holdings of the Canton of Zurich (since 1831) form the bulk of the archive holdings in terms of quantity, comprising some 30 kilometres of files and documents, to which a few terabytes of electronic data material are added.
- Subject terms:
- Crime
- Legal matters
- Real estate
- Finding aids:
- An online finding aid is available, although the information is often rudimentary.
- Links to finding aids:
- https://suche.staatsarchiv.djiktzh.ch/volltextsuche.aspx
- Yerusha Network member:
- Jewish Museum Hohenems
- Author of the description:
- Severin Holzknecht; Jewish Museum of Hohenems; 2020