Mittelalterliche Inschriften der Stadt Braunschweig als historische Quelle

1. Building in the town of Brunswick from 1400-1650 is explored by means of Brunswick house-inscriptions still capable of proof. The results of this examination are three culmination points and three periods of decline. 2. Till 1550 the Latin language is playing a much greater role in the inscriptions than the German. After equality of both languages 1550-95, the German language is slowly beginning to take the leadership. 3. Before 1550 only two periods of stronger selfconsciousness of the German may be observed. They reveal themselves in the public inscriptions of 1430-80 and in manifestations of the Reformatory movement. 4. The inscriptions of the Reformation have been examined in their contents. Though the house-inscriptions are to a large extend stereotyped, utterances from the time of fighting and bursting forth of the Reformation 1490-1528 differ from those after the victory and even more from those, which, after the Thirty-years-war, seem to reveal in their subject any parallel thoughts. 5. The comparison with the inscriptions of the district of Wertheim (Tauber) is a first attempt to extend the examinations in question beyond the town of Brunswick.