Hartmann Schedel / Wohlgemut / Pleydenwurff / Durer - The Nuremberg Chronicle (Liber Chronicarum) - Impero Adolfo Nassau Caduta San Giovanni d'Acri - 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 is part of the section titled “Sexta etas mundi,” dedicated to the Christian era. The text masterfully interweaves biographies of the highest doctrinal authorities of Catholicism with the complex dynastic twists 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 (which bears in the top right the woodcut numbering CCXIX) celebrates the succession of rulers and the great territorial chronicles of the late thirteenth century. The right column hosts the solemn portrait of Emperor Adolphus de Nassau (Adolphus de nassaw), identified by the marginal inscription of the Linea imperatorum. The chronicle describes his military exploits, his election by the German princes after the death of Rudolf of Habsburg, and the conflicts that marked his reign. Below the imperial figure unfolds a dense historical narrative that shifts the focus to the dramatic loss of eastern territories (De amissione locorum orientalium), retracing the fall of Christian strongholds in the Holy Land and the tragic siege of Acre in 1291. To the left of the text stands a striking woodcut depicting the structure of a monastery to celebrate the founding of the Order of the Celestines (Ordo celestinorum), followed by the description of the Order of the Servites (Ordo Servorum).

Turning the page, the back shifts attention to the supreme papal authorities and the great conciliar events of the Byzantine East, under the woodcut label Linea summorum pontificum. The right column hosts the vertical portraits of two eminent popes: Pope Boniface VIII (Bonifacius octavus), praised for the institution of the Jubilee of 1300 but remembered for his clashes with Philip the Fair of France and the affront suffered at Anagni; and Pope Benedict XI (Benedictus undecimus), who led the Church in a difficult attempt to pacify the Roman and European territories. The lower part of the page hosts a splendid woodcut illustrating Saint Louis of Anjou (Ludovicus felix sanctus), Bishop of Toulouse and son of the King of Naples, depicted with the mitre and sacred vestments. The text describes in detail the important deliberations of the assembly and the saint’s spiritual virtues, who renounced worldly goods and the royal succession to embrace the Franciscan Order of the Friars Minor, leaving a profound testimony of faith and miracles through the ages.

Dimensions 42 x 29 cm
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