Bratovščine v vizitacijskih protokolih in v časniku Wiener Diarium. Viri za zgodovino zgodnjenovoveških bratovščin v Avstriji

Confraternities were widespread among the laity because of their multitude of functions. They were accessible to men and women, and served as insurance at the time of death, as banks, as performers of liturgical music, as patrons of church furnishings, etc. Looking at Austrian visitation protocols of the 16th and early 17th centuries, one can see that confraternities survived the Reformation with losses, but continuities from the Middle Ages to the early modern period are also visible. In Austria, the documentary sources of confraternities have not yet been sufficiently researched, especially from the point of view of finance and history studies. The digitization of early modern media opens new research areas as well—thus, confraternities were not only the commissioners of printed works, but also the subject of newspaper reports, as the example of the Wiener Diarium newspaper illustrates.Bratovščine so bile zelo razširjena manifestacija laikov znotraj Cerkve. Nasploh je imelo težko oprijemljivo življenje bratovščin množico različnih funkcij: delovale so kot moškim in ženskam dostopna društva, kot zavarovanje ob smrti, kot banka, kot izvajalci glasbene službe, kot meceni za opremo cerkva itd. Če pogledamo avstrijske vizitacijske protokole 16. in zgodnjega 17. stoletja, vidimo, da so reformacijski zlom bratovščine sicer preživele z izgubami, vendar je kontinuiteta iz srednjega v zgodnji novi vek jasno vidna. Viri o bratovščinah še niso zadostno raziskani, predvsem še manjkajo finančne in zgodovinske študije. Prav digitalizacija zgodnjenovoveških medijev tudi tu odpira nova raziskovalna polja. Bratovščine namreč niso bile le naročniki tiskanih del, ampak vedno znova tudi predmet poročanja tiska, kot ponazarja primer časnika Wiener Diarium