City, law & time. Bremen’s "roland" and siena’s "good government"
| Autor | Ulrich Mückenberger |
| Páginas | 323 - 336 |
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In Northern Europe, Rolands are a symbol of municipal liberty. Many aspects indicate that this municipal freedom historically preceeded the territorial republic and provided a model for it. I am going to adopt the Roland of Bremen as a point of reference in order to clarify the relation between city, law and time. it represents a site of UNESCO-WORLD-HERITAGE-STATUS and its 600th anniversary was celebrated only a few years ago.
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Roland#x2019;s shield #x2013;probably added after 1404#x2013; represents a political program. The inscription reads: #x201c;Vryheit do ik ju openbar / de Karl und mennich vorst vorwar / desser stede gehgehven hat / des danket gode is min radt.#x201d; (Freedom I make known to you / which Charlemagne and some ruler indeed / have given to this place / so as to thank God is my advice!#x201d;) The shield with the crest of the empire and the imperial double eagle symbolise #x201c;Vryheit#x201d; (freedom). #x201c;Vryheit#x201d; - what is that? Does it merely stand for the rights of a #x201c;free city#x201d; which the medieval Bremen claimed for itself? Or does it not also or rather refer to the everyday right of its #x201c;citizens#x201d;. These, however, are not independent from the rights of #x201c;the city#x201d;. My short account deals with the question what these citizens#x2019; #x201c;Vryheit#x201d;- rights - for which the Roland stood in 1404 and for which it stands today - might have been once and what they could be today.
There have been many speculations about the figure of the Roland, and there have been several manipulations. We know very little about the real person by Charlemagne#x2019;s side #x2013;Einhard#x2019;s chronicle does not even mention him. Then, almost three centuries later, the #x201e;Chanson de Roland#x201c; is written which sees him, even more than Charlemagne, in the centre of a war with the Mussulmen. the Spanish that kill roland and the rest of the rearguard of Charlemagne and that #x2013;in historic reality#x2013; were Christian Basques, now become aggressive #x201c;Saracens#x201d; against whom Christianity had to defend itself. Why the intermission of three hundred years regarding Charlemagne#x2019;s Roland, why the redefinition of a struggle of conquest into a religious struggle? Well, the crusades were imminent #x2013;and it was necessary, as we say today, to create #x201c;acceptance#x201d;. Another three hundred years further, the Christian hero Roland becomes a freedom hero to the city of Bremen who receives his order from Charlemagne but this time #x2013;in today#x2019;s setup of the statue#x2013; holds it up against the church rulers. Why now this redefinition? Well, the Chapter of the liberation of the cities, the traders and the citizens from the secular and clerical territorial rulers was on the agenda #x2013;and for this Charlemagne was also held accountable. I know that there is a lot to be said about all of that#x2013; it may be that only a few lied plainspokenly. Neither do I want to accuse anybody of functionalising Roland for new social matters and interests in spite of the actual historic truth. Actually, it is quite the opposite: i would like to add yet another legend to the many bold legends surrounding the roland character.
Each society creates, interprets its history and the determining figures within its history anew #x2013;and rightly so as it is its history. And it is my claim that it isPage 325good for our society to dedicate another legend to the roland character: roland as the symbol of the right to one#x2019;s own time, the Bremen time freedom. I am unable to prove this legend within the space available to me #x2013;if anything, I will be able to make it plausible. Only let my thought stir you a little#x2013; it might stay with you and work within you. That is really all I want to achieve.
There is, however, a historic significance to the Bremen time freedom. What does the Bremen Roland stand for when he is constructed in the 14th century - first in wood and later - in 1404 - in stone? He stands for the freedom of Bremen. But what did this Bremen freedom mean in those times? It meant the freedom from princely and episcopal power, the freedom from feudal ties, #x201c;Stadtluft macht frei#x201d;lt;#x201d;city air gives freedom#x201d;gt;. What does this have to do with time freedom, then? When speaking of urban freedom, do we always speak of #x201c;freedom from#x201d; - and never of #x201c;freedom to#x201d;? We talk about ties that were taken off, dependencies that were overcome and the territorial freedoms that were gained - and therefore we actually also always talk about the city itself. One talks about the freedom that comes with city air referring to the individual independence from manorial ties #x201c;nach Jahr und Tag#x201d; lt;#x201d;after year and day#x201d;gt;. Surely, one also talks of freedom as being a state of being free from illegitimate, immediate violence - from robbery, homicide, kidnapping, rape. The freedom of the market is mentioned - but this freedom is rather a reflex of the market freedom of the city. #x201c;What for#x201d;, #x201c;for which purpose#x201d; was the medieval citizen free, anyway? There is little discussion about that in the relating literature. We hardly speak about the kind of freedom that was present in social relationships, in everyday life #x2013;generally in the lives of individual people and groups#x2013; and what this newly gained freedom really was. We talk about the status gained by the city but not about the time which people spent in it #x2013;as free individuals. But that is what I want to talk about.
I would, I could #x2013;only temporarily#x2013; imagine myself in the time that we refer to when speaking about the Roland statue. I have an idea that it must have been an extremely lively, #x201c;buzzing#x201d; time. The more I #x2013;as a nonhistorian#x2013; deal with what the historians discover, the more I become interested and feel as if I find myself in the middle of a situation of change that has shaped our today more than we commonly realise and the continuity of which is not merely by chance a topic for discourse today and is #x201c;catching up#x201d; with us. That which is symbolised by Roland, is something breathtakingly current (which is why he will surely allow us to add a new legend!). I would like to clarify this with three aspects, that gained their form in these years and days and that we would not want to miss in our lives today: The birth of the modern republican community; the development of the modern, erudite law; and the enormous influence of a new time order on our everyday lives.
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The freedom of the city that arises in that time is not just the independence of a community from authoritarian power - it is also and foremost a new kind of citizen freedom. The community, which gains autonomy from the outside, starts to organise and constitute itself on the inside according to autonomy aspects. The #x201c;islands#x201d; which gained city rights in Germany, became the birth places of a new citizen community. For them the #x201c;Bürgereid#x201d; lt;#x201d;citizen oath#x201d;gt;, which had to be given #x201c;for year and day#x201d;, is virtually symbolic. Public space was created in which people lived, had arguments and went to court. Trade and traffic represented a new attitude and civilisation.
In preparing these lines I took a lot of time to find out whether there is evidence pointing towards a positive freedom (#x201c;freedom to#x201d;) besides the negative freedom (#x201c;freedom from#x201d;).
I discussed this question with a number of experts. They all felt that it was #x201c;actually#x201d; quite interesting but rarely dealt with and maybe #x2013;considering the present resource situation#x2013; even almost impossible to really discuss. Which elements pertaining to life quality did the people who were in Roland#x2019;s favour possess? How could they #x2013;the men, the women, the children, the city dwellers, the farmers, the travellers, etc.#x2013; actually make use of their freedom on an everyday basis? What did it hold for them when it came to living a life worth living? That is the question regarding freedom #x201c;what for#x201d;.
All the findings #x2013;as mentioned#x2013...
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