Literacy and Violence in Twelfth-Century Bavaria: The "Murder Letter" of Count Siboto IV

Abstract

"Literacy and Violence in Twelfth-Century Bavaria: The 'Murder Letter' of Count Siboto IV." This article examines a letter preserved on the penultimate folio of the Codex Falkensteinensis, the miscellaneous personal archive compiled by Count Siboto IV of Falkenstein between 1166 and 1200, in which Siboto requests that his vassal Ortwin of Merkenstein dispose of one of Siboto's enemies, Rudolf of Piesting. The letter provides a unique optic with which to examine questions of lay literacy, the disputing process, penitential practice, and the exercise of power in southern Germany and Austria in the twelfth century. However, this unique document also indicates the limits of historical analysis since, despite its value for understanding twelfth-century society, one cannot determine whether it is a genuine letter or mandate, a forgery, or part of an elaborate threat through which Siboto hoped to threaten Rudolf and, indirectly, Siboto's other enemies.