Hartmann Schedel / Wohlgemut / Pleydenwurff / Durer - The Nuremberg Chronicle (Liber Chronicarum) - Ordine Cistercense e la Prima Crociata ad Antiochia - 1493

This original sheet is an incunabulum from 1493 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 the birth and development of the great reform monastic orders with epic undertakings, territorial conquests, and miraculous discoveries that have marked the First Crusade in the Holy Land.

The front of the sheet hosts in the upper portion a splendid and detailed woodcut view of a fortified monastery, titled Ordo Cisterciensium (Ordine Cistercense). The text describes in detail the origins of the order, founded in 1098 in Burgundy by Roberto di Molesme (roberto religioso ac venerabili molinensi abbate) in the desert of Cîteaux, celebrating the holiness and the rigor of the Cistercian rule promoted also by later figures such as the abbot Alberico (Albericus) and the abbot Stephan (Stephanus abbas), remembered as a fervent promoter of regular discipline and evangelical poverty (religionis paupertatis ac discipline regularis amator). Beneath the miniatures and the monastic chronicles, a separate section introduces the initiation of the expedition to the East for the liberation of Jerusalem (Hierosolyme recuperatio), describing the movements of the Christian army at the kalends of October under the walls of the fortified city of Antioch, and introducing the figure of the commander Boemondo (Boemundus primus princeps anthiochie declaratus).

Turning the page, the back (which bears in the upper right the woodcut numbering Folium CXCV) continues in the upper column the detailed account of the harsh and prolonged siege of Antioch. The narrative describes the privations and famines suffered by the Christians, the final fall of the city, and the stubborn defense against the counterattack of the imposing Saracen armies led by Corbaran (cozbane prefectus). In the lower part stands out the miraculous episode of the finding of the Holy Lance (Lancea domini), the weapon that pierced the side of Christ, found beneath the altar of the church of Saint Peter in Antioch following the mystical vision of a religious man (per spiritualem viro religious sacram reuelatione), an event that infused renewed and decisive spiritual and military vigor among the Crusaders. On the right stands the portrait of the learned and venerable bishop Ildeberto di Lavardin (Hildebertus epus o Hildebertus cenomanensis gallie episcopus), celebrated for his intellect, his vast literary culture, and his precious poetic compositions in meter and prose. The page closes at the bottom by recalling the holiness of Saint Maurice, Archbishop of Rouen (Sanctus quoque Maurilius episcopus Rothomagensis).

Dimensions 42 x 31 cm
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