The Legal Troubles of Joachim Meyer's Family
Excerpts from Basel's Urfehdenbücher
While researching my previous article on the Crimes of Hans Baumgartner the Fechtmeister I explored all of the digitized Urfehdenbücher of Basel. Across the decades of documents, members of Joachim Meyer’s family also appear in these records for various infractions in Basel, from small slaps on the wrist to more serious consequences.
As mentioned in our previous article, the urfehde was a legal instrument in the territories of the Holy Roman Empire. Historian Dr. Casimir Bumiller cites the following definition: “The German legal historian Wilhelm Ebel defined the urfehde as ‘the oath of satisfaction of the prisoner released from prison or penitentiary or pre-trial detention, in which he acknowledged that his imprisonment was justified and vowed not to take revenge for it’.”1 Individuals who appear in urfehde records accept something akin to a plea deal, admitting fault and promising better behavior.
In this article we will explore how Joachim’s dad and brother brushed up against the law in their home city of Basel (as recorded in the Urfehdenbücher, the urfehde books). If you’re curious about Joachim’s family, check out this article.
All translations and transcriptions were completed by me and/or my research partner Miriam, and you can check them all out here in our research document!
Joachim’s dad, Jacob Meyer
Jacob Meyer appears twice in the Urfehdenbücher, once in 1532 and again in 1549. His first entry lacks a specific date, but appears at the very end of volume IV of the Urfehdenbücher on (digital) page 306 - thus likely placing it in the year 1532.
Jacob Meiger the papermaker
Citizen at Basel
Has assiduously sworn to refrain[?] from wounds[?] and other inappropriateness, but, since he chose to be angry, he has been fined five pounds. On the other Saturday, the 28th day of September, the eve before Michaelmas, he was sent off on his own[?], he has sworn a complete urfehde, in best form. [Unclear section.] With this he has been seriously warned to keep himself this way, for he will pay my gentlemen for both instances of anger and mischief if he is punished again, and incur punishments as severe as his misbehavior
This note introduces Jacob Meyer into the known Basel record a full five years before the birth of Joachim. It is so early that it may cause doubts that it refers to a different Jacob Meyer, however the papermaker and citizen titles seem unique to our Jacob in later records. If Jacob Meyer married at a similar age as his son Joachim, a 1532 date would likely put Jacob in his teens. As for the contents of the note, it seems that he lost his temper on someone and was fined five pounds by the authorities - a hefty sum.
Jacob’s second appearance on July 21st 1549 (vol. VIII, digital page 274-75) is a bit more clear cut, with the combination of titles being well-established for Joachim’s dad during these years. The note also directly mentions the St. Alban neighborhood his family lived in.
Jacob Meyer the papermaker, citizen here.
As the watchmen walked around to the towers to see how one keeps watch, the doors to the St. Alban tower - where this one and Antoni Balner, mentioned above, were supposed to keep watch during the night - were found barred and locked, so that one could not enter. Because of this he was punished with jail overnight and released on Sunday, the 21st day of July of this 49th year, with ordinary urfehde which he has sworn, with the additional warning that he should abstain from such perfidy in the future and take good care while on watch, as is proper.
Jacob, along with his pal Antoni, seem to have skipped out on their night watch duty at the “St. Alban tower”, either by staying home or sleeping inside the tower. Antoni shows up two pages earlier for his own urfehde, just as the note mentions.
The existing tower above the St. Alban gate in Basel was called the “St. Alban tower” in medieval sources. Alternatively, the note might refer to a tower which is no longer extant.
These are luckily the only two entries of punishment for Jacob, but the second was recorded when Joachim was eleven years old. He probably would have been able to remember his dad being thrown in jail overnight for missing his watch duties!
Joachim’s Brother, Hans Jacob
Whereas Joachim’s dad had some fairly low-key problems within the Urfehdenbuch, his brother Hans Jacob ran into the law with a bit more gusto during the 1560s. He appears four times in Urfehdenbuch X, 1563-1569, and his urfehden include missed watches, threats of violence, and lying to authorities inside the cities. Below I present them in chronological order.
Hans Jacob Meyer the cutler.
Because he has not performed his watch, but held watch for a foreign grocer, and put our gracious gentlemen's watch last, he has been put in jail, and on Thursday, the 16th November of this 64th year, he has been graciously released with ordinary urfehde, and with it has been told that he should take better care in the future and keep his watch.
Nicklaus Im Hoff, notary.
Like father like son, Hans Jacob skirts his watch duties and gets canned for the transgression.
Hans Jacob Meyer the cutler.
As the officials, together with the city-appointed trustee, went to seize assets from him because of Jerg Brunysen the gunsmith, he refused to hand out the assets and didn't want to give one, and as he was ordered under oath to deliver the assets on this day and at this time or to reimburse Jerg Brunysen with cash, he pursued the officials and the debtee with a weapon and made threats.
Because of this they put him in the Rheintor. He has been graciously released with ordinary urfehde on Saturday the 14th April of this 65th year, he has also sworn that he shall restrain from such things in the future. If there are further complaints against him, he shall be expelled from the city and country.
Niclaus Im Hoff, notary.
The word used for “assets” in this record is “Pfänder", singular "Pfand." This term referred to physical objects or other property given as payment or security in an exchange, to the exclusion of cash or coin. It seems that Hans Jacob owed compensation to Jerg and refused to pay up, and when the repo man came to collect on his debt he resorted to violence. The Rheintor was an old city gate that doubled as a jail for minor offenses, demolished in 1839. We also know that a threat of expulsion is not an empty one, with Hans Baumgartner being expelled from Basel after his many urfehde book appearances.
This theme of violence would continue in his next entry…
Hans Jacob Meyer the cutler of Basel.
Because my gentleman, the schultheiß, will - by virtue of his office - release him from the debt-oath which he rendered to Jerg Brunysen the gunsmith (only) for the boundary stones, he refused this and didn't comply. He also let himself be heard that he wants to twist a knife in one's body.
Because of this he was jailed and on Monday, the 11th June of this 65th year, graciously released again with ordinary urfehde, with this he has also sworn that he shall immediately leave for the boundary stones, exert himself, and shall not come back into the city unless he has satisfied the mentioned gunsmith and other debtees.
If he is seized in violation of this oath, one will jail him and subject him to corporal punishment.
Niclaus Im Hoff, notary.
Hans Jacob continues his conflict with Jerg Brunysen. Boundary stones were used to mark off plots of land owned by institutions or individuals, and it seems Hans Jacob was required to give up all or part of his property outside the city walls after skirting his previous obligation. A number of boundary stones from Muttenz (on the outskirts of Basel) have survived to the present day and you can learn about them here.
Having to pay for his debt in this way seems to again spark Hans Jacob’s anger. The description of the threat is vivid, expressing a desire to stab Jerg or one of the officials. At the same time Hans Jacob is warned with severe punishment if he does not comply with the order of the court. In this era, this would’ve likely included placement in a pillory, the classic setup for Ren Faire pictures all over the world.2
Hans Jacob Meyer the cutler
Because he did not put on his suit of armor during the call to arms while the depot was burning. And when he was asked on behalf of an Honorable Guild if he had a suit of armor, he said "yes", he has one, but he didn't speak the truth - because when the servant was sent to his house, he did not have one.
He otherwise also keeps a slovenly household, he promises compensating pay and does not abide by it. He has been put in jail for two days and two nights and graciously released again on the first day of May of this 66th year, with ordinary Urfehde, and he has been warned in all seriousness that he shall budget better in the future, or he'll be up to his neck in something which will weigh heavily on him.
Niclaus Im Hoff, notary.
This final note concerning HJM is particularly interesting. As a citizen of Basel, Hans Jacob would have been expected to own arms or armor, and be called to duty for tasks such as the city watch, fire alarms, and general protection of the populace. In this case Hans Jacob showed up to an emergency without the expected suit of armor, and lied to his higher-ups about having left it at home. He wasn’t the only one who got in trouble due to this event, with the Urfehdenbuch naming a cutler Hans Friedman and a typesetter Melchior Reimer, who both stayed at home or were excessively tardy in responding to the call.
After inspection Hans Jacob’s household was seen to be a mess, no armor was to be found, and he was warned to do better with his money. Perhaps he may have sold his armor to get some fast cash, similar to how freifechter Anders Nenninger of St. Gallen mentions pawning his swords in a letter to the Basel council.
There are no more definite entries that focus on the Meyer family across the Urfehdenbücher. It seems that Hans Jacob must have stayed out of further trouble, as he would go on to have three more children after his final jail sentence. Additionally, none of his numerous siblings appear, which is good for them but bad for us history nerds who love to follow digital breadcrumbs, in order to build a better picture of the lives of the Meyer family. Perhaps it was only HJM who inherited his father’s tendency towards anger, and the rest of the crew was decidedly more pious (or better at getting away with things).
Conclusions and Thank Yous
With so many references to Hans Jacob in the 1560s it is likely that he would also appear in other records during this timeframe. Alas, the majority of the Basel records are not digitized, which makes it decidedly harder to blast through them and cross-reference the dates given within the Urfehdenbücher (how many coffees would fund a trip to Basel?). Checking the Öffnungsbücher (opening books) and Gerichtsarchiv (court archive) might unveil additional details surrounding these infractions, or dredge up records relating to the other Meyer siblings (and hopefully, yet not hopefully, Joachim himself).
Thank you so much to Miriam for your help in translating and transcribing these records. I think this was my best transcription series I have done myself, and my growth in learning how to do this work wouldn’t have been possible without your tutelage. Now, doing my own translations of the things I transcribe might be a bit too much for my level of German…
Bumiller, Casimir. Urfehden, in: Südwestdeutsche Archivalienkunde. LEO-BW, July 10, 2017. https://www.leo-bw.de/themenmodul/sudwestdeutsche-archivalienkunde/archivaliengattungen/urkunden/urfehden. Citing: Ebel, Wilhelm. Die Rostocker Urfehden. Untersuchungen zur Geschichte des deutschen Strafrechts. Rostock, 1938.
Deutsch, Andreas. "Leibesstrafen," in Handwörterbuch zur deutschen Rechtsgeschichte (HRG), 2nd edition 2004, vol. III, columns 1844–1847.