Understanding Kirchenbücher Terms and Script
Marriage Banns or Proclamations
Marriage Banns or proclamations were announcements of an impending marriage between two individuals. Proclamtions are explained on FamilySearch’s Germany - Marriage - 1500-1874 Search Strategy
Beginning about 1500, churches required their clergy to keep marriage records, which often included marriage banns or proclamations. Information found in the marriage banns depends on how detailed the minister made his record but usually includes the names of the bride and groom and the dates of the banns.
….If family register records do not exist, parish marriage banns are the best source for determining when a person was married.
Brief Notes on Gothic Script
Chapter one of Dechiphering Handingwriting in German Documents discusses German gothic script in depth. It is indispensible. For example, he mentions the gothic R and K displayed below in their canonical form
R and K
can be hard to distinguish, but it is very uncommon for R to start a word.
Symbols and Abbreviations
-
The
+symbol denotes a death date. -
Eod emmeans on the same day as the entry above. -
The embellished Gothic
d(ending in an elaborate descending inward loop) often appears immediately after the line number and preceding a date — as in the entries in the Marriage Entry 3 figure below. It means "den (the)".
