Hartmann Schedel / Wohlgemut / Pleydenwurff / Durer - The Nuremberg Chronicle (Liber Chronicarum) - Impero Adolfo Nassau Pontificato Bonifacio VIII - 1493

This original leaf is an incunabulum from 1493, originating from the Liber Chronicarum, also known as the Nuremberg Chronicle, one of the most celebrated and monumental works in the early history of printing. The text was prepared by the German humanist Hartmann Schedel, printed by the renowned publisher Anton Koberger in Nuremberg, and illustrated with woodcuts from the workshop of Michael Wolgemut and Wilhelm Pleydenwurff. The page belongs to the section titled “Sexta etas mundi,” dedicated to the Christian era, and unites the troubled European and Near Eastern political chronicles with the history of the great religious orders that flourished between the 13th and 14th centuries. The front of the leaf (Folium CCXIX) opens at the top right with the woodcut portrait of Adolf of Nassau, king of Germany and of the Empire (Linea imperatorum), and describes its complex election and the heated dynastic tensions. The central part of the page hosts a long and dramatic chronicle entitled “De amissione locorum orientalium,” which narrates the tragic fall of Saint John of Acre and the definitive loss of the Christian territories in the Holy Land in 1291 at the hands of the Mamluk sultan. The lower part is devoted to the birth and development of new religious orders, enriched by the woodcut of a fortified monastery illustrating the Order of the Celestines (founded by Pope Celestine V), followed by historical notes on the Order of the Servants (Ordo Servorum). The back of the leaf shifts attention to the papal succession (Linea summorum pontificum) and is dominated by portraits and biographies of two important popes. In the upper part stands out the figure of the famous and controversial Pope Boniface VIII (Bonifacius octavus), described in the events of his intense pontificate, in conflict with the Colonna family, and in the institution of the first Catholic Church Jubilee in 1300. Immediately below is the portrait of his successor, the Dominican Pope Benedict XI (Benedictus undecimus). The lower section closes with the portrait and biography of the young and devout Saint Louis of Anjou (Ludovicus ordinis minorum), bishop of Toulouse, belonging to the Angevin royal house and having joined the Order of Friars Minor (Franciscans).

Dimensions 42 x 30 cm
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