Hartmann Schedel / Wohlgemut / Pleydenwurff / Durer - The Nuremberg Chronicle (Liber Chronicarum) - San Tommaso d'Aquino e Concilio di Lione (Folium CCXV) - 1493

This original leaf is an incunabulum from 1493 coming from the Liber Chronicarum, also known as the Nuremberg Chronicle, one of the most famous and monumental works of the early history of printing. The text was written 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 is part of the section titled "Sexta etas mundi," dedicated to the Christian era. The text masterfully intertwines the biographies of the highest doctrinal authorities of late medieval Catholicism with the complex dynastic turns of the Kingdom of Naples and the great ecumenical councils aimed at reorganizing the Church and its relations with the East.

The front of the leaf (bearing in the top right the woodcut numbering CCXV) celebrates one of the most prominent intellectual figures in Western history: the Dominican friar Saint Thomas Aquinas, identified by the text and by the marginal caption as "S. Thomas de aquino doctor." The chronicle describes his exceptional doctrine, the holiness of life, his theological and philosophical studies, and his famous writings (including the Summa Theologiae and the Summa contra Gentiles), recalling his death in 1274 while he was en route to the Council of Lyon. Beneath the saint unfolds the succession of rulers, opening with the solemn portrait of Charles I of Anjou (Carolus rex), king of Sicily and of Naples, a central figure in the well-known disputes with the Swabians, followed by the portrait of his son Philip III of France (Philippus rex). On the left stands a striking woodcut depicting a procession of flagellants, a devotional and penitential phenomenon that spread dramatically in Italy and across Europe in that period, marked by deep religious and social tensions.

The back of the leaf shifts the focus to the supreme papal authorities and the great conciliar events, under the woodcut label "Linea summorum pontificum." The right column hosts the vertical portraits of three popes of the XIII century: Pope Gregory X (Gregorius decimus), praised for his pacification efforts and for summoning the Council of Lyon; Pope Innocent V (Innocentius quintus), a native of Savoy and a renowned Dominican theologian; and Pope Adrian V (Adrianus quintus), belonging to the powerful Genoese Fieschi family. The lower part of the page features a splendid woodcut illustrating the Council of Lyon (Concilium lugdunense), convened in 1274 by Gregory X. The text details the important deliberations of the assembly, including the attempt at doctrinal and political union with the Orthodox Church in the presence of envoys from the Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos, the preparations for a new crusade, and the reform of the rules for papal election by conclave.

Dimensions 42 x 29 cm
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