Abstract

The article is about two works by Jacob von Rammingen on the registry – a structural unit within the administration at the court of the German territorial sovereigns in the 16th century. Written by a contemporary and a participant in the reform of the management system, published in 1571, the treatises that reflect approaches to the storage and use of documents are a valuable source on the history of archival thought. The theoretical justification for the existence of the registry as a necessary element in the management system was a step towards the establishment of the archives as an independent institution. In the article, the treatises are considered in connection with the processes that took place in the management system of the German territorial states in the 16th century that affected the organization of chanceries. Special attention in relation to the source is paid to the issues of authorship, target audience, terminology. As a result, Rammingen’s works are ultimately representative of the trends of his time: the emergence of the category of professional registrars with their corporate culture, reflect the isolation of the archive as an independent unit in the management system. The approaches to the documents laid down by Rammingen retained their practical relevance up to the 18th century and are at the root of the origins of scientific archival science.

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