"Niekas neturi būti palaidotas kaip gyvulys". Laidotuvių teisinis reglamentavimas Prūsijoje XVI-XVIII a.

LTStraipsnyje, analizuojant teisinius dokumentus, aptariamas laidotuvių apeigų reglamentavimas Prūsijoje XVI–XVIII a. Siekiama atskleisti, kokio turinio teisiniais potvarkiais ir kiek intensyviai buvo vykdytas reglamentavimas laidotuvių srityje. Kita vertus, į šį bažnyčios ir valstybės vykdytą reguliavimą norima pažvelgti kaip į vieną iš sudėtinių konfesionalizacijos proceso dalių ir pasekmių. [Iš leidinio]Reikšminiai žodžiai: Klaipėda; Konfesionalizacija; Laidojimo reglamentavimas; Laidotuvės; Mažoji Lietuva; Prūsija; Reglamentavimas; Teisė; Confessionalization; Funeral; Funeral regulation; Klaipėda; Law; Lithuania Minor; Prussia; Regulation.

ENMan‘s death, funeral, the place of burial, as well as other major stages of the life cycle, such as baptising, marriage, and private and public life of an individual in Prussia of the 16th to 18th c. were regulated by legal orders of the Church and secular authorities. That may be considered to be one of the consequences of the process that early modern European history researchers tend to call confessionalization. The article seeks to look at human death and funeral, one of the numerous Prussian state and church-regulated fields of public life, as at one of the components and consequences of the process of confessionalization. First of all, that may be understood as the inculcation of new confessional standards in funeral rites and an attempt to get rid of different manifestations of folk beliefs which contradicted to the inculcated doctrine of faith. It is equally important to find an answer to the question what was the content of the legal orders and the intensity of regulation in the field of funeral. Another reason which stimulated the interest in the legal regulation of funeral rites was the fact that the confessional standards that must have been observed by the subordinates of the state of Prussia have so far hardly been discussed. The discussion and assessment of the legal bases open up new opportunities: not only to see the intended outcomes sought by the Prussian Lutheran Church, but also to find out the predominating maladies that were were fought against by means of ordinances and decrees. The starting point is marked by the first documents that appeared at the beginning of Reformation in the Duchy of Prussia in 1525 to legitimate the confession of Evangelical Lutherans and to form the legal basis of the Church of the Region. The end, or the late 18th c., can not be considered a clear caesura in terms of the theme.The Prussian General Land Law that appeared in 1794 can be considered as a legal document which identified and thoroughly defined the field of funeral. It demonstrates a certain transformation of the competence in the field of funeral: the field that initially was regulated by means of church documents was included in the civil code of laws and, one can say, became res mixta, i.e. a field jointly regulated by the state and the church. The inculcation of the fundamental Christian provisions took part as early as at the time of the Order, however, it gained momentum and intensity in the 16th c., with the start of Reformation. All over the period in question, the field of funeral stayed the prerogative of the Church. As the Church and secular authorities were closely interrelated, the field of funeral was regulated also by the the orders of the secular authorities. True, funeral liturgy was the competence of the Church, while the state regulated the material, or the external, part of the funeral rites, and its decrees were of a police and sanitary character. In the Church provisions and visitation ordinances of the 16th to the 18th c., the outlines of funeral procedures and rites were laid out far into the future, as well as the essential directives, and the basic requirements were formulated.[...]. [From the publication]

• Teologija / Theology
• Etnologija / Ethnology
• Istorija / History