The names Guckenbiehl, Guggenbühl etc. in Schaffhausen

The section on Occurrences of the name in the Baar presents different documents from the years between 1312 and 1413 contained in the "Fürstenbergisches Urkundenbuch" concerning a family named Guggenbúhel. One of these documents tells us that on June 27^th, 1413 Hans Guggenbúhel and his sister Verena, living at Schaufhusen, are released from serfdom by Hainrich, Lord of Fürstenberg, as long as they annually deliver 1 ½ pound of pepper to Fürstenberg castle. If they fail, serfdom will be renewed. "Schaufhusen" was an old name of Schaffhausen, which is about 30 km from Neudingen and 18 km from Tengen. Since it is not very likely that at there were two families named Guggenbühl in the then rather small population of Fürstenberg, we may assume that they were related to the people referred to by the records discussed in the section on the Baar^[1]

Since the other records from the Urkundenbuch present the members of the family as quite wealthy and the members as freemen, one wonders how Hans and Verena could have become servants. Freemen could get into serfdom if they or their parents had financial problems or if they moved to areas populated by servants.

There are some documents from the Schaffhausen city archive and the state archive of the Suisse canton Schaffhausen that seem to refer to the same family.^[2] Although they do not clarify the reasons for serfdom, they present a base for speculation.

The earliest record from 1392 tells us that some family named Guggenbúhel bought the Schaffhausen citizenship paying 130 pound of pence. This record does not give any first names, but the tax records of 1401 list "Wälti Guggenbúhel". According to a document in the state archive the family had land in the village Buchthalen near Schaffhausen. The next record that mentions a first name is of 1427. The name is "Hensli", which is the diminutive of "Hans". It is not before 1432 until "Hensli" changes to "Hans". Records between 1441 and 1445 tell us that some Hans Guggenbúhel is payed for closing some city gates. The most recent record in the search result is of 1480: "Hanns Guggenbúhel X ß, staut by siner Rech‘".

To rate the prize payed for citizenship, we can compare it to the day's wage of a master craftsman. According to Wikipedia around the year 1425 a carpenter from Frankfurt could earn about 45 Heller a summer day, which was about 22 pence. In the Carolingian monetary system one pound had 240 pence, although in real life that could vary because sums of money where frequently determined by wheight only, and pence coined at different sites might have different weights. But if we assume 240 pence a pound, then that carpenter from Frankfurt would have to work for 1400 days to earn the 130 pound for the citizenship of Schaffhausen. Assuming six workdays a week, these are about four and a half years. That the Guggenbúhel family could afford citizenship renders economic reasons for serfdom quite unlikely.

Another indication for this is that the family could deliver 1 ½ pound of pepper to Fürstenberg castle every year. Pepper was quite expensive in those days. According to Wikipedia, one pound of it cost about 24 Shilling, i. e. 288 pence. Hence our carpenter would have to work ten days to pay that prize of freedom for a single year.

The following explanation for the serfdom of Hans and Verena seems more plausible (although more romantic as well). Hans and Verena were the children of Wälti. Wälti was quite wealthy and a freeman, but his wife and therefore his children where serfs of the Lord of Fürstenberg. The family fled to Schaffhausen to live without the lord's intervention, and Wälti bought the citizenship. And didn't the old principle of law "Stadtluft macht frei" ("urban air makes you free"), promise freedom to serfs, if they lived in a town for a considerable period of time? However, that principle was no longer valid, after King Henry VII of Germany had declared the "Statutum in favorem principum" in 1232. So in 1413 Wälti bailed out at least his children Hans and Verena to provide them freedom and the right to travel within the nearby county of Fürstenberg. When Wälti died in 1427, Hans became the head of the family, at least with respect to tax records. But since he was still quite young (perhaps about 17), the tax records called him "Hennsli". Between 1441 and 1445 Hans had some responsibility for closing some city gate. He died about 1480 without sons. Again: this story is pure speculation; but it fits the records.

There are three records from 1860/61 that refer to one Caspar Guggenbühl. In 1860 he buys a property close to a creek and requests to build or rebuild a water wheel. In 1861 he sells that property. Since the family name does not occur in the records from 1480 to 1860 it seems unlikely that Caspar is a direct descendant of Wälti and that the family had lived in the city throughout these centuries.