Stockholm, National Archives, A10. <hi rend="italic">Registrum Ecclesie Aboensis</hi> Cataloguer Maria Kallio Finnish Literature Society (SKS) Codices Fennici Creative Commons BY 4.0 Stockholm National Archives A 10 Registrum Ecclesie Aboensis Åbo Domkyrkas Svartbok Saec. XV2–XVI in., Turku Cartulary of Turku Cathedral

The cartulary contains over seven hundred copies of medieval documents from the early 13th century until the early 16th. The copies were principally made from documents in the Turku chapter archive. Most of them are deeds concerning the property and rights of the cathedral. The documents were edited by Hausen (1890) in chronological sequence, which does not represent their actual arrangement.

Fols. 1–3 (modern added foliation): A flyleaf and two parchment leaves (formerly pastedown).

Fols. 4r–13v (modern added foliation): Index of documents.

Fols. 1r–20v: Documents concerning e.g. the tithe tax and clerical rights.

[1r] Priuilegium Benedicti pape. Super decimis soluendis ... (REA 99–100) Benedictus episcopus servus servorum ... [20v] ... (REA 576) valore xij oris. (Followed by a note on boundaries) ... Litteras originales super hiis habent cives.

Fols. 21r–35r: Royal letters and privileges.

[21r] Privilegium confirmatorium Johannis pape vicesimi secundi super certis privilegiis et indultis dominorum Birgeri et Magni regum svecie. (REA 71) Universis presentes ... (fol. 25 followed by one unnumbered blank) ... [35r] ... (REA 703) Giffwit ok skriffwit pa Abo sloth mondagen nest for sancti Laurencij martiris dagh, wnder myth incigle, aar epter Gwdz byrd mdxiij. (Followed by four blank leaves).

Fols. 36r–45v: Miscellaneous documents concerning Turku diocese and cathedral.

[36r] Privilegia pape de reconciliacione cimiteriorum et ecclesiarum. (REA 25) Universis presens scriptum ... [45v] ... (REA 227) Datum apud ecclesiam nostram Aboensem anno Dominj mccclxx quarto, Feria 2:a post Olauj, nostro sub sigillo.

Fols. 46r–53v: Papal letters.

[46r] Copia protectorie gregorij pape. (REA 2) Gregorius episcopus servus ... [53v] ... (REA 242) jn crastino beatj Martini episcopi.

Fols. 54r–61v: Miscellaneous documents concerning e.g. the tithe tax.

[54r] Statutum Sudercopense celebratum anno Domini mcdxl primo. (REA 495) In nomine domini ... (fol. 60 is followed by two unnumbered blanks) ... [61v] ... (REA 241) Datum Rome, apud sanctam Mariam in Transtiberim, ydibus Decembris, pontificatus nostri anno primo.

Fols. 62r–71v: Documents concerning e.g. the Great Schism and letters of indulgence granted to Turku cathedral.

[62r] Quedam prophecia. (REA 250) Jnfra lustrvm jmmaculata jntegrabitur ... [71v] ... (REA 680) Datum Abo die Jouis octaua Augusti annj mcdlxxxij, nostro sub secreto.

Fols. 72r–91v: Documents concerning the dispute between the diocese of Turku and the Cistercian monastery of Padise in Estonia.

[72r] Super piscatura in Helsingaa. (REA 138) Magnus dei gratia rex ... [91v] ... (REA 298) Datum Sworttesyø anno Dominj mºcºiijº, feria 2:a infra octauas corporis Christi. (Followed by a short inventory of lands.)

Fols. 92r–156v: Charters concerning the property of Turku cathedral, arranged topographically.

[92r] Super molendino beati Henrici in Halis. (REA 611) Alle the godhe men ... (fol. 92 is followed by two unnumbered blanks, fol. 115 by five unnumbered blanks, fol. 139 by two unnumbered blanks) ... [156v] ... (REA 473) vppa alla wara fforscriffna vegna fore thetta breff, som giffuit ok scriffuit ær j Stokholm aar dagh forscriffnom (fol. 156 followed by one unnumbered blank).

Fols. 157r–167r: Documents concerning Mensa Episcopalis.

[157r] Super piscatura episcopi Aboensis in llammas parochie kumo. Originalia istarum copiarum sunt in kwsto. (REA 562) Wij götzstaff laurensson ... [167r] ... (REA 352) Scriptum anno die et loco quibus supra (followed by seven unnumbered blanks).

Fols. 168r–256r: Documents concerning the different altars of Turku cathedral and their property.

[168r] Copie litterarum altaris sancti Siffredi. Super predio Loppila. (REA 195) ... (fols. 188, 194, 207 followed by one unnumbered blank) ... [256r] ... (REA 489) anno Domini mcd quadragesimo die beati Kalixti pape sub sigillo regni nostri Suecie (fol. 257 is blank apart from a short note on the verso side (REA 705)). [258r–v] (A document on the establishment of new churches in the eastern parts of Finland; REA 694). (Followed by three unnumbered blanks).

Fols. 259r–270v: Documents concerning the dignity of provost in the chapter of Turku.

[259r] Littera fundacionis prepositure jn ecclesia Aboensi. (REA 101) Hemmingus dei gratia ... [270v] ... (REA 698) et loco quibus super. Iste processus de verbo ad verbum habetur jn libro judiciorum consulatus, dicto stadz tenckebook. (Followed by two unnumbered blanks). [270½r] (An inventory; REA 710) Super bonis mense archidiaconatus in ecclesia aboensis ... (fol. 270½v is blank).

Fols. 271r–278r: Documents concerning the dignity of archdeacon in the chapter of Turku.

[271r] Confirmacio archidiaconatus per dominum Magnum episcopum ... (REA 341) Omnibus presens scriptum ... [278r] ... (REA 549) tysdagen nest epter natiuitatis Marie virginis (fol. 278v contains an addition (saec. XVI) concerning property in Hattula; REA 304).

Fols. 279r–281r contain lists of the properties that pertained to the archdeaconry (fol. 281 followed by three unnumbered blanks).

Fols. 282r–283v: Miscellanious documents (282v–283v in a hand of saec. XVI).

[282r] Inter Korpelax et Heykyla littera consiliariorum regni, etc:a. Wij epterskrefne Steen Stwre ... [283v] ... (REA 578) fore scriffuit står, feria secunda post dominicam trinitatis.

 Paper 4 + 328 folios (283 and 320 foliated) Two paper pastedowns (first one modern) and two parchment leaves at the beginning of the manuscript. 21 28 Writing space varies. Since the manuscript was produced in parts, there are overlapping foliations, one medieval, and one most likely from the 16th century, plus a modern one for the index. There are several blank leaves inside the quires and these are unfoliated, which explains why the last foliated leaf in the last quire is 283 (CCCXX). 4 + V14; 5V45 + IV53 + 4V91 + (II–1)92 + IX110 + 2V125 + IV133 + VII145 + VI156 + (IX–1)167 + XVII200 + (X–2)217 + 2VI241 + VIII257 + (X-1)270½ + VII281 + (II–1)283 Catchwords appear on the last pages of two quires, at fols. 10v, 29v, and it is likely that others have been lost to trimming.

Most of the documents are provided with a title. Documents concerning the different altars in Turku cathedral (fol. 168 onwards) were composed in the 1480s and later, while work on copying the earlier parts of the cartulary had already begun by the 1460s at the latest.

The cartulary begins with two parchment leaves and an index of the titles of most of the documents. The index-part and the leaves preceding it have modern foliation in pencil (1–13). The two parchment leaves are fragments from an antiphoner of saec. XV. They were presumably employed as pastedowns in the original binding.

Thirty different watermarks, most of them variants of bull´s heads. Identified motifs are dated to 1450s–1480s: Ypsilon (index) (PO30386); Crown with a lily above, fols. 11–20 (PO50753); Bull´s head from fol. 30 onwards (PO 74989); and a Sickle from fol. 200 onwards (PO122138).

The cartulary has suffered some water-damage and there is a worm-hole in fols. 248–254. Small tears etc. have been repaired with paper.

 One column, intermittent ruling in ink, number of lines varies.

Littera Gothica Cursiva, several scribes, the level of execution varies. Mid-16th-century additions on fols. 282v–283v were made by Bertil Eriksson in Turku castle; presumably he is to be identified with the chancery scribe of the same name working for Duke Johan.

Rubrication is used on the first actual folio of the cartulary. Stylized initials are used throughout the manuscript to mark the beginning of each charter. Several maniculae occur, with particularly well executed examples on fols. 173v and 195r.

(?)17th-century leather binding with blind-tooled flower decoration, remains of two clasps; 22,5 × 30,5.

Registrum Ecclesiae Aboensis is probably the first cartulary to have been compiled by the medieval chapter of Turku. Watermarks suggest that the first charter copies were made in the late 1450s or early 1460s while the last additions were made around 1515. The cartulary was compiled in several parts and most probably involved several members of the chapter. The name ‘Registrum ecclesiae Aboensis’ is written on the first leaves of the manuscript. It repeats the cartulary tradition of the church province of Uppsala, since the cartularies in Uppsala, Linköping and Skarae dioceses are also named in the same way. The other name by which the cartulary is customarily known is the ‘Black Book’, which is somewhat later and occurs only in sources that post-date the 16th century. The name was probably derived from the black leather binding which was given to the cartulary in 1554.

As seen from a few additions on fols. 282–283, the cartulary was moved from Turku cathedral to Turku castle in the mid-16th century.

In the 1620s the manuscript was transferred to the archives of Turku Court of Appeals, and in 1669 it was sent to Stockholm where it became part of the collections of the Antikvitetskollegium (Royal State Archives) with the shelf-mark A.25. After the institutional dissolution of the Antikvitetskollegium the manuscript came to the National Library in Stockholm in 1780, after which it was transferred to its current home in the Swedish National Archives in 1889. (The history of the manuscript is reconstructed in the introduction to REA.)

 Jarl Gallen, "Studier i Åbo domkyrkas Svartbok", Historisk Tidskrift för Finland 63 (1978), 286–311. Jalmari Jaakkola, Vanhimmat historialliset kopiokirjamme, Suomen kirkkohistoriallisen seuran toimituksia, Helsinki 1930. Jalmari Jaakkola, Codices Medii Aevi Finlandiae I Registrum Ecclesiae Aboensis, Helsinki 1952. Jan Liedgren, "Åbo domkyrkas kopieböcker", Historisk Tidskrift för Finland 33 (1948), 20–22. Kauko Pirinen, Turun tuomiokapituli keskiajan lopulla, Suomen kirkkohistoriallisen seuran toimituksia, Helsinki 1956. REA = Registrum ecclesiae Aboensis eller Åbo domkyrkas svartbok, utg. Reinhold Hausen, Helsingfors 1890. Peter Ståhl, "Medeltida kopieböcker i Riksarkivet", Arkiv, samhälle och Forskining 2004:1–2, 77–97. Encoding added