From correspondence following my earlier blog entry on the lives of the Caesars, I learned that the use of the Latinised name goes back even further than the first Lutheran vicar in the lineage, Johannes Keyser / Caesar (ca. 1480-1543). According to a newspaper piece from 1925 referring to documents in the town archives of Nördlingen, Johannes's grandfather Jacob Keyser used the name Caesar as his scholarly name (Gelehrtenname) when he published a book about herbs. The paper did not approve of the fad of taking Latinised names.
After I posted the original "lives of the Caesars" entry, the next street library I visited at Düsseldorf had the matching book ready for me. The background is formed by two copies of my favourite Latin dictionary, Stowasser, in the Hundertwasser edition (it came in four colours but I have only got two of them so far).
Own photo.
Based on this information, we have another little CV to write:
Jacob Caesar (14th/15th century)
If Jacob really was the grandfather of Johannes (estimated birth year 1480) we have to stack up two rather late fatherhoods, say each at age 45 to arrive at an estimated birth year of 1390, which would fit the first thing we actually know about him:
Jacob Keyser came to Nördlingen from Ulm and swore the oath (Bürgereid) to become a citizen of the free city in 1409. The 1925 article claims that the relevant document was still in the city's archives at that point. I understand the archive survived WW2 unscathed so I assume it's still there. At the time, there were an average of 23-24 new citizens coming in per year, with nearly half of them arriving from other cities, like Jacob. Becoming a citizen invoked a fee, and moving away again was also taxed.
Later on he received money from the city council for the writing of a book about herbs. We don't know when. And I haven't been able to find the book (yet).
Nördlingen had been a Free Imperial City since 1215. Note that in 1409, many of the major historic buildings were yet to be built. With around 6,000-8,000 residents in the 15th century (extrapolated from the number of tax payers, which was 1294 in 1404), the town was smaller than regional cities Augsburg, Nürnberg and Ulm, but it was located at an important crossroads and became a significant location for trade especially for the locally produced fustian fabrics.
Construction of the gothic St. Georgskirche began in 1427. Jacob can't have lived to see it completed in 1505.
Nördlingen saw a rise in population until 1437, when harvest failure led to a regional famine. At the end of the 1440s, regional wars between cities led to further population losses. It took until 1480 to recover the population strength it had in 1430. In 1494, there was an epidemic (possibly the plague), which again led to a fall back in population.
For our grandfather connection to work, Jacob must have had a family in the 1430s and at least one son must have survived the famine. Unfortunately, there were no church records for Nördlingen at that time, as they only started in 1579 (still quite early compared to most places).
The only thing one could probably find in the city archives is his tax record and those of his sons and grandsons. Tax records are nearly complete from 1404 onwards.
Sources:
Ingrid Bátori: Herren, Meister, Habenichtse. Die Bürgerschaft der Reichsstadt Nördlingen um 1500. In: Rieser Kulturtage Bd. VI/1, Nördlingen 1986. S. 252–269
Ingrid Bátori Daily life and culture of an urban Elite: The imperial city of Nördlingen in the 15th and 16th century History of European Ideas 1989, 11, 621-627
My famlily history index pages: people -- surnames -- places -- migration events
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