Hartmann Schedel / Wohlgemut / Pleydenwurff / Durer - The Nuremberg Chronicle (Liber Chronicarum) - Ordine Olivetano e Conquiste di Tamerlano (CCXXXVII) - 1493

This original sheet is an incunabulum from 1493, part of 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 written by the German humanist Hartmann Schedel, printed by the famous 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. The text masterfully interweaves biographies of the Catholic Church’s foremost doctrinal authorities with the complex dynastic twists of the Carolingian Empire, the conversions of the peoples of Eastern Europe, and the great ecumenical councils aimed at reorganizing the Church and its relations with the East.

The front of the sheet (which bears the section numbering within the text block) celebrates the territorial chronicles of northern Italy and the great monastic foundations of the 14th century. The upper column opens with a dense historical narrative recounting the events of the city of Padua and the fierce dynastic and military disputes that involved the Carraresi family, recalling the alternating fortunes of Francesco the Elder and Francesco the Young against the expansionist aims of the Visconti of Milan and the Republic of Venice. Beneath this political chronicle develops the description of the founding of illustrious religious communities, among which stands out the Order of Monte Oliveto (Ordo monachorum montis oliveti), born of the spiritual fervor of Saint Bernard Tolomei in Siena. To the left of the text rises a striking large woodcut depicting the fortified and solemn structure of the Olivetan monastery, set in a hilly landscape. The lower part of the narrative continues with the examination of the birth of other monastic congregations and mendicant orders that arose under the titles of Saint Jerome and Saint George in the Lagoon in Venice, extolling their rules and the high doctrinal value of their founders.

Turning the page, the back shifts attention to the great historical figures and the deep geopolitical changes between the late 14th and early 15th centuries, under the woodcut caption Folium CCXXXVII. The left column hosts vertical portraits of eminent leaders, rulers and thinkers of the time: the famous Mongol sovereign Tamerlane (Tamerlanes), described in epic and severe terms for his formidable military prowess, his vast conquests in the East and the subjugation of peoples from Asia Minor to Syria; the learned philosopher and theologian Paulus Venetus (Paulus venetus), praised for his immense knowledge and his keen treatises on logic; and the renowned Augustinian theologian Bartholomew of Urbino (Bartholomeus de urbino episcopus), remembered for his deep ecclesiastical erudition. The lower part of the page closes with the chronicles of the city of Verona, definitively under Venetian rule in 1405, and with the detailed account of the famous and severe subjugation of the proud city of Pisa (Pisae) by the Florentine armies, a pivotal event that marked the balance of Tuscan territories and the political norms through the centuries.

Dimensions 44 x 30 cm
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