The mining document "Schwazer Berglehenbuch" is stored by the Tyrolean Regional Archives (Innsbruck) and has the Identiefier Hs. 1587. The historical manuscript was partially transcribed and published by Wolfgang Tschan in 2009.
The manuscript is particularly valuable because it is one of the few surviving documents of the Schwaz Mining Office that did not fall victim to armed conflicts (1805, 1809 and World War II) and their destructive consequences (cf. Tschan 2009: 5).
Tschan (2009: 5) notes in the preface to his book that the most recent entry in the manuscript is dated 18 May 1517. On the back of the book cover, however, there is a pasted-on slip of paper with the inscription "Berglehenbuch 1515". Because of this discrepancy, T.M.M.M.T. uses the date approx. 1515 for the manuscript.
The document comprises 409 pages (115,005 words) and refers to the Großmontanrevier Falkenstein in Schwaz (Tyrol, Austria). A total of 1,953 entries were recorded, distributed over 1,451 mine loans and 502 associated legal decisions in the 15th and 16th centuries. The legal decisions are judgments of the Schwaz mining court and, as Tschan (2009: 5) explains, concern "contractual and mining-authority-confirmed agreements of the trades, as well as so-called court and chamber judgements, i.e. legal decisions of the supreme Tyrolean mining authority".
The economic development between 1441 and 1515 are illustrated on the site Visualisation .
Transcript on Zenodo: Schwazer Berglehenbuch, approx. 1515 (Tiroler Landesarchiv, Hs. 1587), DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.6274928
(c) Tiroler Landesarchiv, Hs. 1587 pag. 1
References
Brandstätter, Klaus (2013b): Der Bergbau in Schwaz und die Brixlegger Hütte. In: Montanwerke Brixlegg AG/Oeggl, Klaus/ Schaffer, Veronika (Hg.): Cuprum Tyrolense. 550 Jahre Bergbau und Kupferverhüttung in Tirol. Reith i. A., 233-240.
Kathrein, Yvonne (2009): Bei- und Familiennamengeographie im 14. und 15. Jahrhundert in Tirol. Ein onomastischer Beitrag zur Beginnphase des Schwazer Bergbaus. In: Anreiter, Peter (Hg.): Miscellanea Onomastica (= Innsbrucker Beiträge zur Onomastik 7). Wien, 53-76.
Neuhauser, Georg (2018): Die Schwazer Bergchronik (1420-1728) und der Tod als ständiger Begleiter des Bergmannes. In: Kasper, Michael/Rollinger, Robert/Rudigier, Andreas: Sterben in den Bergen. Realität – Inszenierung – Verarbeitung. Wien u.a., 101-116.
Tschan, Wolfgang (2009): Das Schwazer Berglehenbuch von 1515 (Tiroler Landesarchiv, Codex 1587) mit linguistischen Erläuterungen von Peter Anreiter. Wien Praesens.