Nikolaikirchen als frühe Bürgerstiftungen

Based on both historic-juridical observations and numerous case studies of mainly German St. Nicholas Churches, one of the central findings of this study is that foundations as a legal entity can be dated back to the times of Charlemagne. Furthermore, the so-called community foundations evolved in the Middle Ages, when long-distance traders volunteered to build chapels in heathen regions. Much in line with the tradition that a project of enacting a religious building required to have a religious patronage, these traders opted for St. Nicholas of Myra. Traders from the city-republics of northern Italy brought along their practice of free-trade, the concept of individual property and freedom of contract as well as of self-government to most of north-western Europe, thus establishing early central principles of free-market capitalism in the region. Trading towns free from religious or secular rulers and their interventions were a significant milestone in the coming-about of modern democracy.