Imperial Splendor: The Art of the Book in the Holy Roman Empire, 800–1500 by dgilesltd

120mm

238mm

23mm

238mm

120mm

HAMBURGER

Jeffrey F. Hamburger is Kuno Francke Professor of

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O’DRISCOLL

German Art & Culture at Harvard University.

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Joshua O’Driscoll is assistant curator in the department of Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts at the Morgan Library & Museum, New York.

Also available from GILES: ARISTOTLE From Antiquity to the Modern Era Barbara Scalvini Contributions by Martin J. Gross, Benjamin Morison, and Barbara Scalvini In association with the New-York Historical Society

THE ART OF THE BOOK IN THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE, 800–1500 Jeffrey F. Hamburger Joshua O’Driscoll

Imperial Splendor presents a fascinating history of illuminated manuscripts within the Holy Roman Empire. Focusing on production and patronage, this new volume features over 150 images of magnificently illustrated books and precious bindings, drawn largely from North American collections. The book’s three sections are arranged chronologically, yet in each case with a different thematic focus. Opening with a look at the precedents set by the Carolingian forerunners

The Walters Art Museum Martina Bagnoli and Kathryn B. Gerry In association with the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore

ISBN 978-1-911282-86-0

Distributed in the USA and Canada by Consortium Book Sales & Distribution The Keg House 34 Thirteenth Avenue NE, Suite 101 Minneapolis, MN 55413-1007 USA www.cbsd.com GILES An imprint of D Giles Limited 66 High Street, Lewes BN7 1XG UK gilesltd.com

Imperial Splendour - English version - jacket 14-Apr-21.indd 1

of the Empire, the first section considers deluxe imperial

THE ART OF THE BOOK IN THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE, 800–1500

285mm

THE MEDIEVAL WORLD

manuscripts associated with the Ottonian emperors. The second section examines the role of imperial monasteries in the production of manuscripts, considering in particular the patronage of aristocratic elites. The final section offers a tour of imperial cities in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, from Vienna and Prague to Augsburg and Nuremberg. This final stop considers the impact of Albrecht Dürer and humanism on the arts of the book. The volume features a glossary, indexes, and maps showing the shifting borders of the Empire over 700 years.

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UK£39.95 / US$45.00 ISBN 978-1-911282-86-0

9 781911 282860

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Front cover illustration: Front cover of the Lindau Gospels. Eastern France, ca. 870. New York, The Morgan Library & Museum, MS M.1 (detail of Fig. 27). Back cover illustration: Berthold Master, Miniature for the feast of St. Oswald. Berthold Sacramentary, Weingarten, ca. 1215–17. New York, The Morgan Library & Museum, MS M.710, fol. 101v (detail of Fig. 70).

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I INTRODUCTION

lacked a constant capital like Paris or London. Consequently,

the Holy Roman Empire, that of the French

it also lacked fixed sites of national and dynastic memory like

philosopher Voltaire, is also the most dis

Saint-Denis or Westminster Abbey. The lack of a centralized

missive: “This body that called itself and

capitalalsoaffectedtheemergenceofbureaucraticinstitutions,

that still calls itself the Holy Roman Empire

which in turn hampered the Empire’s ability to standardize,

was in no manner holy, nor Roman, nor an empire.” At the

regulate, or censor a range of customs and practices from

time he wrote, less than half a century prior to the French

religion and language, to education and book production.

Revolution and the ensuing Napoleonic wars, the political

Seen from this perspective, decentralization and diversity

entity of the Empire was indeed coming to an end.

went hand in hand. With its multiple centers spread across

Encompassing at various times modern-day Germany,

a geographically vast realm, it becomes much more difficult

Switzerland, Austria, the Czech Republic, as well as parts of

to understand the cultural history of the Empire using the

Poland, Belgium, the Netherlands, and northern Italy, the

often problematic model of center and periphery, according

Holy Roman Empire was officially dissolved by Emperor

to which a cultural capital is presumed to produce works of

Francis II in 1806, following his defeat by Napoleon at the

higher quality, sophistication, and refinement than those of

battle of Austerlitz. Although its disbanding shocked the

the provinces. Austria, for example, marked the outer frontier

continent, the Empire’s demise was not entirely unexpected.

of the Empire in the tenth century, but by the later fifteenth

By the beginning of the seventeenth century, it had long since

century had become its very heart.3The various challenges and

lost its authority as a unifying force at the hands of rising

characteristics that were particular to the Empire contributed

nation states.

to some of its most important developments: print culture

most

fa m o u s

c h a r a c t e r i z at i o n

Like many attempts at describing the Holy Roman Empire, Voltaire’s jibe defined it in terms of what it was not. In comparison to the centralized monarchies of France or England, the differences were indeed striking. The Empire

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Frontispiece. Office for the Feast of Corpus Christi, Vienna (Austria), ca. 1403–6. Detail of Fig. 107.

I •

INTRODUCTION

Fig. 7. Crucifixion. Stammheim Missal, Hildesheim, ca. 1170. Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum, MS 64, fol. 86r.

your bite, O Hell,” emphasizes the seemingly paradoxical

is draped across Christ’s chest in the magnificent Crucifixion

interpretation of Christ’s death as a triumph of eternal life.

miniature from the twelfth-century Stammheim Missal, from

Through its careful and deliberate staging, the relic appears

Hildesheim (Fig. 7). Although using an entirely different

as the source of the cross’s life-giving power, which emanates

approach based on typology, a mode of representation

from the center in the form of the cover’s abundant vegetal

in which New Testament events like the Crucifixion are

motifs. A nearly identical inscription, cast in the future tense,

presented as the fulfillment of Old Testament prefigurations,

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Fig. 8. Liturgical set from the abbey of St. Trudpert at Münstertal. Freiburg im Breisgau, ca. 1230–50. New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 47.101.26–28.

the Stammheim miniature likewise presents Christ’s demise

precious gems. The multimedia dimension of manuscripts

as a triumph over death. The juxtaposition of the Mondsee

relates not just to their treasure bindings, but also to the

and Stammheim Crucifixions demonstrates the importance

broader context in which they were made. Indeed, illuminated

of both material and mode for the creation of meaning in

manuscripts were often commissioned as part of larger artistic

medieval art. Whereas the Mondsee cover incorporates an

campaigns to provide the necessary liturgical furnishings for

actual relic of the True Cross, emphasizing its life-giving

private chapels or even entire foundations. Many of these sets

qualities through the lush golden vines emanating from its

survive only in a fragmentary state. An exception, however, can

center, the Stammheim miniature takes a more conceptual

be found in the set of furnishings for the Mass that belonged

approach, grounding its argument in a complex interplay of

to the Benedictine monastery of St. Trudpert in Münstertal

inscriptions, personifications, and typological scenes.

(near Freiburg) (Fig. 8). Likely commissioned by the abbot

The Mondsee cover serves as an important reminder

at St. Trudpert, the set was created by a lay goldsmith from

that illuminated manuscripts in the Middle Ages were often

Freiburg named Master John (Johannes), who ran an active

multimedia objects, incorporating a range of techniques and

workshop in the thirteenth century.25 Comprising a chalice,

materials including metalwork, ivories, textiles, relics and

paten, and straw (to prevent spilling), this deluxe set would

I •

INTRODUCTION

III IMPERIAL MONASTERIES

gained

production, the great age of imperial commissions was for the

momentum throughout the Empire, the

most part over. Instead, monasteries began to produce deluxe

tenuous relationship between emperor

manuscripts for in-house use or for distribution across their

and pope, so carefully maintained by

own networks. The increased patronage of local nobility, as

Carolingian and Ottonian rulers, finally

well as the growing prominence of cathedral schools and

devolved into outright hostility. The trigger was the matter

universities, meant that book culture itself was changing.2

of investiture, the ritual of appointing new bishops or abbots.

New texts were being copied, and new ways of illuminating

For centuries, kings and emperors reserved the right to install

were being explored.

the

monastic

reform

movements

their own candidates in important clerical positions within their realm. However, with the increasing strength of the papacy, along with a growing sense that bishops should not be active participants in imperial politics, this traditional

PRAYER AND WORK: THE MONASTIC SCRIPTORIUM

right became untenable.The ensuing Investiture Controversy, which came to a head with the excommunication of Emperor

One of the earliest foundations to flourish in the wake of the

Henry IV in 1076, resulted in a significant weakening of

Investiture Controversy was the Benedictine monastery of

imperial power and a related strengthening of the role of local

Helmarshausen in Saxony. Although founded as an imperial

nobility like the Guelph dynasty, who at their height controlled

monastery in 997, Helmarshausen struggled financially

the duchies of Saxony and Bavaria. In terms of manuscript

for most of the eleventh century, to such an extent that it

Previous page Initial page to Matthew. Leaf from a gospel book, Helmarshausen, ca. 1190. Detail of Fig. 60.

The Holy Roman Empire ca. 1250.

KEY

c t i l a B

Area of the Holy Roman Empire ca.1250

NAME

Major political component of the Empire

e a

N A M E Modern national name and border

a S e

h N o r t

E N G L A N D

Brunswick Magdeburg Hildesheim Hamersleben Corvey Halberstadt

NETHERLANDS

Helmarshausen

ine

BEL GIUM

G LUX.

Himmerod Gladbach Trier Speyer

Trebnitz

SAXONY Gotha

Cologne Aachen

Liège Stavelot

C Z E C H I A Prague

Bamberg

BOHEMIA

Würzburg

FRANCONIA Regensburg

Paris

S L O V A K I A

BAVARIA

Augsburg

Weingarten Constance

Basel

Vienna

Munich

SWABIA

Seitenstetten

Salzburg

HU N G A R Y

A U S T R I A

Zurich

BURGUNDY

S W I T Z E R L A N D SLOVENIA

ITALY

Aquileia

CR O A T I A

Padua BO S N I A Bologna

d r i a

ti c

Rome

S P A I N

en ia

n S ea

0 0

100

200

800 kilometers

600

400

200

300

400

500 miles

III • IMPERIAL MONASTERIES s

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Opposite page Fig. 71. Treasure binding. Berthold Sacramentary, Weingarten, ca. 1215–17. New York, The Morgan Library & Museum, MS M.710, front cover. Fig. 72. Last Judgment with Donor. Hainricus Missal, Weingarten, ca. 1220–30. New York, The Morgan Library & Museum, MS M.711, fol. 9r.

III • IMPERIAL MONASTERIES

107

Fig. 95. Examples of the Virtues and Vices. Thomasin von Zerclaere, Der wälsche Gast, Trier, ca. 1380. New York, The Morgan Library & Museum, MS G.54, fols. 24v–25r.

showsanoblemanrobbedofhisclothingbypersonificationsof

blindness, his opponents exclaim, “See how he cries out!”

the vices, literally stripping him of his nobility. Kneeling below

Harking back to famous literary heroes, Thomasin asks:

the unfortunate noble is a personification ofWickedness; to the

“Where are Erec and Gawain, where are Parzival and Iwein? . . .

right stand two women exemplifying Deceit and Inconstancy.

The virtuous people are all hidden away.”113

Two miniatures on the facing page represent, respectively, the

The 243 illustrations in a copy of Henry of Munich’s World

affinity among Justice, Nobility, and Courtliness—expressed

Chronicle (Weltchronik), illuminated in Regensburg around

by means of their joining hands in a circle—and, in a scene

1360, similarly provided aristocratic readers with edification

reminiscent of later genre paintings, the winners and loser of a

and entertainment (Fig. 96).114 As part of the work’s expansive

board game, in this case backgammon, a critique of gambling.

vernacular verse paraphrase of Jewish scripture, one verso

Whereas the loser has lost even his clothes and bewails his

shows King David battling the Philistines, whose dead bodies

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Fig. 96. David Battles the Philistines; David Brings the Ark into Zion. Henry of Munich, Weltchronik, Regensburg, ca. 1360. New York, The Morgan Library & Museum, MS M.769, fols. 181v–182r.

are heaped on the ground. On the facing recto, David, playing

playful grotesque initial, portrays an exchange between the

his harp and followed by trumpeters, leads the ark back to

unidentified female patron of the manuscript and its scribe,

Jerusalem; when the oxen hauling the ark stumbled, Uzzah

Bernhard (Fig. 97). The facing full-page frontispiece, added

sought to steady it with his hand, in violation of the law, and

in 1487 by the workshop of Regensburg illuminator Berthold

was immediately struck down.

A similar compendium

Furtmeyr, portrays Duke Albert IV the Wise of Bavaria-

from Regensburg, illuminated around 1400 with a staggering

Munich (1447–1508) and his wife, Kunigunde of Austria

364 miniatures, contains the world chronicles of Jans der

(1465–1520), kneeling before the Virgin. Taken together,

Enikel and Rudolf von Ems (ca. 1200–1254), as well as the

the images testify to continuities and transformations in the

so-called “Christherre” Chronicle and Brother Philipp’s Life

cultural patronage of Bavarian aristocracy over the course of

of Mary.

the fifteenth century.

116

115

Its original prefatory miniature, placed beneath a

III • IMPERIAL MONASTERIES

135

Fig. 128. Workshop of Michael Wolgemut, View of Nuremberg. Hartmann Schedel, Nuremberg Chronicle, Nuremberg, 1493. Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, 1991.7.1, fols. 99v–100r.

NUREMBERG: DÜRER AND HUMANISM Of the Free Imperial Cities, none is better known than Nuremberg, and no artifact associated with it more famous than the extensively illustrated world history known as the NurembergChronicle(SchedelscheWeltchronik),compiledby the physician and Italian-trained humanist Hartmann Schedel (1440–1514). An immensely ambitious work, the Chronicle was commissioned by the Nuremberg merchants Sebald Schreyer and his son-in-law, Sebastian Kammermeister, and published in 1493 by Anton Koberger. The original edition was in Latin, shortly followed by a German translation (Fig. 128).110 Structured around the seven ages of the world, spanning from Creation to the Last Judgment, it stands in the tradition of earlier universal chronicles, many of which were heavily illustrated and also carried world history forward to highlight the importance of a specific city.111 Comprising over 1,800 woodcut illustrations, printed from 645 blocks, the Chronicle’s extensive visual program was executed under the supervision of Michael Wolgemut (1434–1519). Having married the widow of his teacher, Hans Pleydenwurff (ca. 1420–1472), Wolgemut succeeded him as the master of his successful workshop, in which Albrecht Dürer was trained.112 Among its most famous illustrations are the spectacular city views, particularly that of Nuremberg, for which a deliberate effort was made to ensure that the city— originally planned for later in the volume (fols. 120v–121r)— would be positioned instead toward the beginning of the sixth age (fols. 99v–100r), which starts with the birth of Christ.113

Whereas some of the city views employ stereotypes, repeated

Nuremberg thus appears as the New Jerusalem.

for multiple locations, the view of Nuremberg—the only

As was common in the art of the period, the Chronicle’s

one that fills a two-page spread to the exclusion of the main

city views combined precise observation with conventional

text—impresses on account of its selective accuracy.114 The

motifs, both of which contribute to the making of meaning.

view combines perspectives to create an idealized vantage

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are visible: St. Sebald and St. Lawrence. To this day both are filled with works of art commissioned by prominent patrician families, documenting their civic pride as well as their familial rivalry.117 The Women’s Gate (Frauentor) occupies the left foreground, surmounted by the double-headed eagle identifying the city as a Reichsstadt. To the right is the Haller Gate (Hallertor), named after a prominent patrician family, in front of which stands the paper mill of Ulman Stromeir (the first north of the Alps), a reminder that the predilection for working with this relatively inexpensive material had roots in the city.118 A stele with a confessional Crucifixion (Beichtenmarter) occupies the foreground, between the two gates, alongside a group of three crosses known as a calvary. These features, together with the raised platform to the right, the Rabenstein, where criminals were beheaded, mark the site as a place of execution.119 The central cross bears the arma Christi, the instruments of Christ’s Passion, including the Holy Lance—one of the imperial insignia housed in the city following the Hussite Wars. Associated early on with Emperor Constantine and St. Maurice, by the later Middle Ages the lance (in fact of eighth-century origin), displayed in the market square in front of the Frauenkirche during Easter fairs, was believed to be that with which the Roman centurion Longinus pierced the side of Christ on the cross.120 Ever more elaborate and crowded Crucifixion scenes constituted a staple of late medieval German painting.121 Among the types of artwork mass-produced in Nuremberg for export across central Europe were panel paintings, whether diminutive devotional images or enormous altarpieces. At point showing the city from above, but also from the east and

just 66 × 96 cm, a small triptych testifies to the polish and

the south.115 To the right, atop a high bluff at the northern

sophistication of such works during the generation prior to

periphery of the city, stands the Burg, or imperial castle, which

Dürer (Fig. 129).122 Painted around 1480 by an artist in the

often hosted visiting German kings and emperors.116 At left

circle of Hans Pleydenwurff and Michael Wolgemut, the

center, the towers of the city’s most important parish churches

triptych represents not the Crucifixion per se, but rather the

IV • IMPERIAL CITIES

175

120mm

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23mm

238mm

120mm

HAMBURGER

Jeffrey F. Hamburger is Kuno Francke Professor of

IMPERIAL

SPLENDOR

O’DRISCOLL

German Art & Culture at Harvard University.

IMPERIAL

SPLENDOR

Joshua O’Driscoll is assistant curator in the department of Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts at the Morgan Library & Museum, New York.

THE ART OF THE BOOK IN THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE, 800–1500 Jeffrey F. Hamburger Joshua O’Driscoll

The Walters Art Museum Martina Bagnoli and Kathryn B. Gerry In association with the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore

ISBN 978-1-911282-86-0

Imperial Splendour - English version - jacket 14-Apr-21.indd 1

of the Empire, the first section considers deluxe imperial

THE ART OF THE BOOK IN THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE, 800–1500

285mm

THE MEDIEVAL WORLD

IMPERIAL

UK£39.95 / US$45.00 ISBN 978-1-911282-86-0

9 781911 282860

54500

SPLENDOR THE ART OF THE BOOK IN THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE, 800–1500

16/04/2021 11:29