1222

Deed of donation dated March 13, 1222
Hessian State Archive Darmstadt
Best.B 25 A Nr. 23
Detail with emphasis

Alsfeld vouches!Alsfeld is provable as a town

This deed of donation by Wezzilo of Nidda and his wife Sophie, dated March 13, 1222, is considered the “date of birth” of the town of Alsfeld, because historians date the age of a town by the earliest secure written evidence. In this document citizens coming from Alsfeld and living in Grünberg were mentioned by name for the first time (“Sifridus scabinus de Adelsfelt” and “Siboldus et Fridericus filii Siboldi de Adelsfelt” – Siegfried and his two sons Sibold and Friedrich).

The term citizen or Schöffe clearly identifies these people as city dwellers and not as village dwellers. Moreover, the literal translation of the term “scabini” (it means “Schöffe”) shows us that these were men endowed with the right of citizenship, recruited from the long-established, highly respected patrician families and thus representing the administrative ruling class of the city. MNic