This second fascicle of the edited imperial charters of Emperor Lewis of Bavaria (a series projected to cover the years 1331- 1335) had to wait almost ten years after the publication of the first fascicle. As the editor explains in his preface, the editor of the first fascile, Ruth Bork, died shortly after its completion, and a complete revision and reinventory of the material was necessary before the second fascile could follow. Meanwhile, many charters had appeared in other editions; for these, a short regest sufficed in the present edition. In this volume Wolfgang Eggert has presented a meticulous edition of the charters of 1332, which will be a valuable aid for anyone interested in the history of the Empire or related matters. Regrettably, the user of this volume will have to wait until the completion of the series for its tables and registers.
These charters--the ecclesiastical ones in Latin and the secular ones in German--offer a wealth of interesting materials illuminating one year in the life of the Empire. The larger part deal with the rights, privileges, and freedoms of towns, churches, and feudal lords. But the contents will interest not only those with an interest in the institutional history of the Empire; these charters relate to subjects as diverse as the history of the Jews in the Empire and the struggle between pope and emperor. An example of the former: at the request of the provost of Birnau the Jews of Dortmund were detained, and a conflict ensued with Adolf, count of Mark, "cuius pignus Hebrei virtute regia diu fuisse memorantur". Even William of Holland tried to mediate in the conflict between city and Emperor that followed the subsequent release of the Jews (209, 214, 216, 217). These and other charters attest to the precarious position Jews had in the Empire as money-lenders.
The year 1332 also witnessed the continuation of the prolonged conflict between emperor Lewis and John XXII, "that man in Avignon who calls himself the pope". (224) The charters of 1332 attest to John's XXII repeated attempts to establish a strong political support among the German cities and bishops against the emperor. The conflict between the papacy and Lewis of Bavaria would not be resolved until 1346.
Although this is necessarily only a small sampler of the background of these charters, scholars of all kind will benefit greatly from this meticulous edition. It leaves the user with a taste for more, which one can only hope will follow soon.