The gift register (German: Schenkungsbuch) of an abbey or monastery was a record of the properties forming its estate, the majority of which came from gifts (Schenkungen). The register served as proof of the legitimacy of these properties and thus provided some security and protection for them. As a rule, the register comprised transcripts of the original documents, not the deed itself, as in the case of the sometimes protocular . In order to facilitate the management of the estate, documents spanning several centuries were often organised geographically. The entries were kept up-to-date over a longer period of time.