Hartmann Schedel / Wohlgemut / Pleydenwurff / Durer - The Nuremberg Chronicle (Liber Chronicarum) - Impero Ludovico II Concilio Costantinopoli (CLXXI) - 1493

This original leaf is an incunabulum from 1493, originating from the Liber Chronicarum, also known as the Nuremberg Chronicle, one of the most famous and monumental works in the early history of printing. The text was drafted 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," devoted to the Christian era. The text masterfully intertwines biographies of the highest doctrinal authorities of Catholicism with the complex dynastic turns of the Carolingian Empire, the conversions of the peoples of Eastern Europe, and the great ecumenical assemblies aimed at reorganizing the Church and relations with the East.

The front of the leaf (bearing at the top right the woodcut numbering CLXXI) celebrates the succession of rulers and the great territorial chronicles of the 9th century. The right-hand column hosts the solemn, finely hand-colored portrait of the Carolingian emperor Louis II (Luduvicus secundus), identified by the marginal inscription along the Linea imperatorum. The chronicle describes his military campaigns in Italy against Saracen incursions, his tense relations with the papacy, and the defense of the Roman territories, recalling the complex dynastic fortunes that involved the kingdoms of Lotharingia and Bavaria. Beneath the imperial figure unfolds a dense historical narration that shifts attention to the notable conversion to Christianity of the Bulgarian people (Bulgaria hoc tempore...) and the Slavic kingdoms of Dalmatia and Bohemia. To the left of the text stands a striking woodcut depicting a catastrophic river flood with uprooted trees, homes swept away by the currents, and animals dragged by the waters, a natural phenomenon that dramatically affected the northern Italian territories and Gallia Cisalpina at that time, marked by deep social anxieties.

Turning the page, the back instead shifts focus to the supreme papal authorities and the great conciliatory events of Byzantine (Eastern) Christianity, under the woodcut heading Linea summorum pontificum. The right-hand column hosts vertical portraits of four high-medieval popes: Pope John VIII (Joannes octavus), praised for his efforts to defend the Italian coasts from Saracen fleets; Pope Martin II or Marinus II (Martinus secundus), tied to factions and Roman reforms; Pope Adrian III (Adrianus tertius), remembered for his brief rule and sudden death while on a journey to Germany; and Pope Stephen V or VI (Stephanus quintus), who led the Church through a period of strong feudal turmoil. The lower part of the page features a splendid woodcut illustrating the Council of Constantinople (Synodus quinta Constantinopolis), convened in 869 to repair the Fozian schism in the presence of papal and imperial envoys. The text details the important deliberations of the assembly, including the attempt at doctrinal and political union between the Latin and Greek churches, the preparations to counter the Saracen advance in the Mediterranean, and the reform of rules to preserve orthodoxy and ecclesiastical canons through the centuries.

Dimensions 45 x 31 cm
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