Helmuth Stahleder: Älteres Häuserbuch der Stadt München. Hausbesitz und Steuerleistung der Münchner Bürger 1368-1571, Band 3.
Publisher: https://www.verlagsdruckerei-schmidt.de/?s=Stahleder
Helmuth Stahleder: Older House Book of the City of Munich. House Ownership and Tax Payments of Munich Citizens 1368-1571, Volume 3
Volume 3 of the Older House Book of the City of Munich deals with the houses in the Outer City and Graggenauer Viertel West areas (Theatinerstraße Ost, Schrammerstraße, Residenzstraße, Max-Joseph-Platz, Hofgraben). Using tax records from tax collectors who walked the streets and registered the residents in each house, it is possible to reconstruct not only house ownership in Munich in the 14th to 16th centuries, but also the tax system of the time. Old city maps, drawings of the corresponding houses, and graphs depicting the owners over time illustrate this.
From the Stadtarchiv Newsletter:
On Munich's Property and Tax System in the Middle Ages
People often imagine the Middle Ages as a confusing and certainly not bureaucratic time. However, tax books and land registers, among other sources, paint a very different picture of this era. As early as the 14th century, tax clerks in Munich went from house to house every year and recorded in the tax books who owned the property and who lived there for tax assessment purposes. The taxes paid by individual households were meticulously recorded. House ownership, mortgages known as "Ewiggelder ," and changes of ownership of individual houses were carefully recorded in land registers. The tax books dating back to 1368 and the land registers with entries dating back to the 14th century have been preserved to the present day in the Munich City Archives.
A Closer Look at an Old City Quarter
Former city archive director Helmuth Stahleder has now compiled the third volume in the series "Older House Book of the City of Munich. House Ownership and Tax Payments of Munich Citizens 1368-1571" from these sources. This volume covers the western Graggenau quarter in the Outer City, which was created as a result of the city's expansion, covering the area east of Theatinerstrasse, Schrammerstrasse, Residenzstrasse, Max-Joseph-Platz, and Hofgraben. Readers can follow in the footsteps of the tax clerks from street to street and house to house and trace the tax payments of individual households. Graphics depicting the development of ownership and drawings of each individual house clarify the presentation. Seemingly dry tax documents and land registers thus open a window into the everyday lives of Munich's citizens. One gets an idea of the number of households in each building, learns the names of the heads of household and their occupations, and can deduce family wealth from annual tax payments. These and other snippets from daily life in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries offer completely new insights into late medieval Munich.