Sachsenspiegel

It is believed to have been compiled and translated from Latin by the Saxon administrator Eike of Repgow at the behest of his liege lord Count Hoyer of Falkenstein in the years 1220 to 1235.

[3] During the 14th century, Augustinian friar Johannes Klenkok of lower Saxony opposed the Sachsenspiegel in a pamphlet known as Decadicon because he considered ten articles or principles to contradict the Christian gospel and decisions of the church of Rome, collected as Corpus Juris Canonici.

[4][5] Klenkok presents criticisms on Sachsenspiegel's views of ecclesiastical and secular authorities, court procedure and private law.

His position was that papal authority outrules every discussion of matters as legitimate procedure, the limitations of hereditary rights, the extent of testamentary power, the rights of novices and monks to family property, and the authority that determines superior and inferior legal norms and court decisions.

Following a written debate, Klenkok did expand his Decadicon to twenty-one propositions of Saxon law and turned to his former disciple, French canonist, and cardinal of the Curia in Avignon, Pierre de la Vergne.

[6] In the end, Pope Gregory XI condemned 14 articles with his papal bull Salvator Humani Generis that was issued in 1374, but this did not reduce the success of the Sachsenspiegel.

[7] This controversy must be placed in the context of heavy papal inquisition campaigns against citizens opposing opinions of the church.

Its precedents continued to be cited as pertinent case law as recently as 1932 by the Reichsgericht (Supreme Court of the Reich) (RGZ 137, 373).

It contains important rules and regulations concerning property rights, inheritance, marriage, the delivery of goods, and certain torts (e.g. trespass, nuisance).

The Sachsenspiegel acquired special significance through its exposition of the seven Heerschilde or "shields of knighthood": Manorial tenants and burgesses (inhabitants of a borough) were not mentioned.