The ''Deutsches Geschlechterbuch'', until 1943 known as the ''Genealogisches Handbuch bürgerlicher Familien'', is a major German genealogical handbook of

bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) is a social class, equivalent to the middle or upper middle class. They are distinguished from, and traditionally contrasted with, the proletariat by their affluence, and their great cultural and financial capital. They ...

patrician Patrician may refer to: * Patrician (ancient Rome), the original aristocratic families of ancient Rome, and a synonym for "aristocratic" in modern English usage * Patrician (post-Roman Europe), the governing elites of cities in parts of medieval ...

families. It is the bourgeois and patrician equivalent of the ''

Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels The ''Almanach de Gotha'' (german: Gothaischer Hofkalender) is a directory of Europe's royalty and higher nobility, also including the major governmental, military and diplomatic corps, as well as statistical data by country. First published ...

'' and the former ''

Almanach de Gotha The ''Almanach de Gotha'' (german: Gothaischer Hofkalender) is a directory of Europe's royalty and higher nobility, also including the major governmental, military and diplomatic corps, as well as statistical data by country. First published ...

''. It includes genealogies and coats of arms of the included families. The ''Genealogisches Handbuch bürgerlicher Familien'' was started in 1889 and prior to 1943, 119 volumes covering around 1,200 families were published under the original title. From 1956, the series were continued under the title ''Deutsches Geschlechterbuch''. In 2007, the 219th and latest volume was published. In total, around 4,000 families have been covered. The ''Hamburgisches Geschlechterbuch'', comprising 17 volumes on the

Hanseatic The Hanseatic League (; gml, Hanse, , ; german: label=German language, Modern German, Deutsche Hanse) was a Middle Ages, medieval commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Central Europe, Central and Norther ...

families of Hamburg, is an integral part of the work, and is regarded as the most comprehensive reference work of its kind on a single city.Hildegard von Marchthaler: ''Die Bedeutung des Hamburger Geschlechterbuchs für Hamburgs Bevölkerungskunde und Geschichte'', in: ''Hamburgisches Geschlechterbuch'', Bd. 9, Limburg an der Lahn 1961, S. XXIII The publication has been highly influential and inspired several similar publications, such as ''

Nederland's Patriciaat ''Nederland's Patriciaat'', informally known as ''Het Blauwe Boekje'' (the little blue book), is a book series published annually since 1910, containing the genealogies of important Dutch patrician non-noble families. It is published by the Centraal ...

''. To some extent it corresponds to ''

Burke's Landed Gentry ''Burke's Landed Gentry'' (originally titled ''Burke's Commoners'') is a reference work listing families in Great Britain and Ireland who have owned rural estates of some size. The work has been in existence from the first half of the 19th cent ...

'' in the United Kingdom, although it could also be said to be the equivalent of ''

Burke's Peerage Burke's Peerage Limited is a British genealogical publisher founded in 1826, when the Irish genealogist John Burke began releasing books devoted to the ancestry and heraldry of the peerage, baronetage, knightage and landed gentry of Great Br ...

'' in its coverage of

and patrician families who comprised the highest class in the former city-republics.

References

Bibliography

*Genealogisches Handbuch bürgerlicher Familien (1889–1943) *Deutsches Geschlechterbuch (1956-) German biographical dictionaries Genealogy publications Directories Publications established in 1889 {{bio-dict-stub