Marisia - Maros Megyei Múzeum Évkönyve 29/2. (2009)
Cultură materială
102 Marisia XXIX The statutes of the guild from Sibiu were approved upon the request of the saddler masters, being adapted to the new realities and comprising thirty-one articles.12 For the present analysis, I have used their microfilmed copy from the Hungarian National Archives in Budapest.13 The text is written in German, in cursive Gothic script. The statutes of the Confraternity of saddler journeymen from Sibiu from 1764 were inspired from the statutes of the guild from Vienna, which had been sanctioned by Empress Maria Theresa on February 22, 1762. These statutes comprise six sheets written in German in the Gothic script. Five out of the six sheets of the document are written on both recto and verso, thus containing eleven pages of text. On each page, there are floral motifs surrounding the frame containing the text. The sheets are bound in a brown leather folder (see photo); the front cover is inscribed with the following text, covering five rows and written in German using Latin capital letters: ARTICUL / EINER EHRSAMEN / SATTLER GESELLEN / BRUDERSCHAFT/ 1764 [The Articles of an honest Confraternity of saddler journeymen, 1764]. The content of the document is stated on the first page, namely that we are dealing with a copy of the articles from the guild statute pertaining to the rights and obligations of journeymen. The last sheet comprises the names of the masters and journeymen who signed this document, as well as the print of the guild seal from 1764. The seal has a round shape and contains a leather saddle placed horizontally, having above a plant with three leaves, drawn very schematically and with its tip pointing downwards, and below the inscription of the year 1764. The text of the inscription, situated outside of the field of the seal, is written in German using Latin capital letters: SATTLERZECH SIGEL © IN HERRMANNSTADT e [The seal of the saddlers' guild @ in Sibiu ©]. There are two vegetal motifs resembling a clover between the words "Sigel" and "in" as well as between "Herrmannstadt" and "Sattlerzech." Between the field of the seal and the inscription, there are acanthus leaves above and below, linked by undulating geometric motifs on both sides. One should note the doubling of the letter "R" in the place name "Hermannstadt." 12 Hermannstädter Sattlerzunft Articul, 1762, la Arhivele Nationale, Directia Judeteanä Sibiu, fond ZU.l, 430, inv. 32. 13 Copia der Hermannstädter Sattlerzunft Articul, la Magyar Országos Levéltár, fond Gubernium Transsylvanicum Levéltára. F.128. Céhiratok 15.-18. Szádad, Róla 45210, sheets 111-116 verso (further: Copia der Hermannstädter Sattlerzunft Articul...).
