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Title page of the Tennenbacher Güterbuch (latin) from 1317-1341.
Scroll from Säckingen Abbey from 1310, written in Middle High German.
Urbarium codex from the Dominican Monastery of St. Katharina in Freiburg, began in 1309, written in Middle High German.

An urbarium (also Urbare or Urbarien, German: Urbar) is a register of fief ownership and includes the rights and benefits that the fief holder has over his serfs and peasants. It is an important economic and legal source of medieval and early modern feudalism.

Urbaria were also used to record land rent and stock. Depending on the region and writing materials for these lists they are also called Salbuch, Berain, Heberegister, Erdbuch (census book) Zins-Rödel or Rodel.

The term is from the Old High German ur-beran or the Middle High German erbern for "bring", "create" or "an income derived". It is used for economic, administrative or legal purposes and is a directory of real estate, taxation and the services owed a land holder (such as a monastery or minor noble). The panels of an urbarium, which may be recopied several times to create a clean copy, are either stored as a scroll (German: Rödel) or the strips of parchment were sewn together to create a codex.[1]

See also[edit]


  1. ^ see Alfons Schäfer: Die ältesten Zinsrödel im Badischen Generallandesarchiv (Karlsruhe). Rödel als Vorläufer und Vorstufen der Urbare, in: Zeitschrift für die Geschichte des Oberrheins (ZGO) 112 (1964), S. 297-372 (German).