he Nuremberg Chronicle is an illustrated encyclopedia comprised of world historical accounts, as well as accounts
told through biblical paraphrase. Subjects include human history in relation to the bible, illustrated mythological
creatures, and the histories of important Christian and secular cities from antiquity. Finished in 1493 after years in the
making, it was originally written in Latin by Hartmann Schedel, and a German version was translated by Georg Alt. It
is one of the best-documented early printed books—an incunabulum—and one of the first to successfully integrate
illustrations and text.
Latin scholars refer to it as Liber Chronicarum (Book of Chronicles) as this phrase appears in the index
introduction of the Latin edition. English-speakers have long referred to it as the Nuremberg Chronicle after the city in
which it was published. German-speakers refer to it as Die Schedelsche Weltchronik (Schedel's World History) in
honor of its author.
Contents
Production[edit]
Two Nuremberg merchants, Sebald Schreyer (1446–1503) and his son-in-law, Sebastian Kammermeister (1446–
1520), commissioned the Latin version of the chronicle. They also commissioned George Alt (1450–1510), a scribe at
the Nuremberg treasury, to translate the work into German. Both Latin and German editions were printed by Anton
Koberger, in Nuremberg.[1] Contracts were recorded by scribes, bound into volumes, and deposited in the Nuremberg
City Archives.[2] The first contract from December, 1491, established the relationship between the illustrators and the
patrons. The painters, Wolgemut and Pleydenwurff, were to provide the layout of the chronicle, to oversee the
production of the woodcuts, and to guard the designs against piracy. The patrons agreed to advance 1000 gulden for
paper, printing costs, and the distribution and sale of the book. A second contract, between the patrons and the
printer, was executed in March 1492. It stipulated conditions for acquiring the paper and managing the printing. The
blocks and the archetype were to be returned to the patrons once the printing was completed.[3]
A typical opening, uncoloured
The author of the text, Hartmann Schedel, was a medical doctor, humanist and book collector. He earned a doctorate
in medicine in Padua in 1466, then settled in Nuremberg to practice medicine and collect books. According to an
inventory done in 1498, Schedel's personal library contained 370 manuscripts and 670 printed books. The author
used passages from the classical and medieval works in this collection to compose the text of Chronicle. He
borrowed most frequently from another humanist chronicle, Supplementum Chronicarum, by Jacob Philip Foresti of
Bergamo. It has been estimated that about 90% of the text is pieced together from works on humanities, science,
philosophy, and theology, while about 10% of the chronicle is Schedel's original composition.[4]
Nuremberg was one of the largest cities in the Holy Roman Empire in the 1490s, with a population of between 45,000
and 50,000. Thirty-five patrician families composed the City Council. The Council controlled all aspects of printing and
craft activities, including the size of each profession and the quality, quantity and type of goods produced. Although
dominated by a conservative aristocracy, Nuremberg was a center of northern humanism. Anton Koberger, printer of
the Nuremberg Chronicle, printed the first humanist book in Nuremberg in 1472. Sebald Shreyer, one of the patrons
of the chronicle, commissioned paintings from classical mythology for the grand salon of his house. Hartmann
Schedel, author of the chronicle, was an avid collector of both Italian Renaissance and German humanist
works. Hieronymus Münzer, who assisted Schedel in writing the chronicle's chapter on geography, was among this
group, as were Albrecht Dürer and Johann and Willibald Pirckheimer.[2]
Publication[edit]
Catching a "lion fish" - a small illustration from a Latin copy. Note the red capital done in pen and ink, and the doodle in the margin
below
The Chronicle was first published in Latin on July 12, 1493 in the city of Nuremberg. This was quickly followed by a
German translation on December 23 1493. An estimated 1400 to 1500 Latin and 700 to 1000 German copies were
published. A document from 1509 records that 539 Latin versions and 60 German versions had not been sold.
Approximately 400 Latin and 300 German copies survived into the twenty-first century.[5] They are scattered around
the world in museums and collections. The larger illustrations were also sold separately as prints, often hand-colored
in watercolor. Many copies of the book are colored, with varying degrees of skill; there were specialist shops for this.
The coloring on some examples have been added much later, and some copies have been broken up for sale as
decorative prints.
The publisher and printer was Anton Koberger, the godfather of Albrecht Dürer, who in the year of Dürer's birth in
1471 ceased goldsmithing to become a printer and publisher. He quickly became the most successful publisher in
Germany, eventually owning 24 printing presses and having many offices in Germany and abroad,
from Lyon to Buda.[6]
Contents[edit]
The Fifth day of creation
See also: Six Ages of the World
The chronicle is an illustrated world history, in which the contents are divided into seven ages:
First age: from creation to the Deluge
Second age: up to the birth of Abraham
Third age: up to King David
Fourth age: up to the Babylonian captivity
Fifth age: up to the birth of Jesus Christ
Sixth age: up to the present time (the largest part)
Seventh age: outlook on the end of the world and the Last Judgment
Illustrations[edit]
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