Colonia

Title

Colonia

Map shows the city of Cologne, on reverse the family tree of the royals and portraits of dukes and philosophes.

ca. 1495

Artist

Schedel (1440-1515)

Hartmann Schedel (1440–1515) from Nuremberg is best known for the 1493 publication of the Schedel’s World Chronicle (Liber chronicarum), a universal history featuring 1,809 woodcuts—making it the most richly illustrated book of early printing. The chronicle, written in Latin by Schedel for merchants Sebald Schreyer and Sebastian Kammermeister, was translated into German by Georg Alt and printed by Anton Koberger. The illustrations came from the workshop of Michael Wolgemut and Wilhelm Pleydenwurff. The work covers world history up to 1492/93, divided into eight ages of the world, and draws on numerous sources, including Jacobus Foresta and Enea Silvio Piccolomini. Notably, it features highly accurate city views, many depicted in detail for the first time. Pleydenwurff introduced a new perspective by portraying cities from a fixed viewpoint, emphasizing their unique architectural and landscape features. The project was funded in part by the patron Sebald Schreyer.

Historical Description

The name of the city of Cologne is derived from its Latin name Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium, this goes back to the Roman empress Agrippina. In the early Middle Ages, Cologne was an important city. Against the background of the gradual decline of the Roman Empire, it was conquered by the Franks around the year 455. Until the beginning of the 6th century, Cologne was the capital of an independent Frankish sub-kingdom, then it was absorbed into the empire of Clovis I and retained strong independence in the territory of the Ripuarians. Cologne became the largest city in the German-speaking world in the High Middle Ages. In 1259, Cologne received the right of staple, which ensured the citizens of Cologne a right of first refusal of all goods transported on the Rhine, thus contributing to the prosperity of the city. In 1475 it was elevated to the status of a free imperial city. From 1500, Cologne belonged to the newly created Lower Rhine-Westphalian Imperial Circle, while the surrounding area (Kurköln) belonged to the newly created Kurrheinischer Reichskreis (Imperial Circle of the Rhine) in 1512. The Thirty Years' War left the city unscathed. This was partly due to the fact that the city bought its way out of sieges and conquests by paying money to approaching troops. Cologne earned from the war through arms production and trade. Cologne was the only large free imperial city in the old empire that did not convert to the Protestant confession. Humanism also failed to gain a foothold in Cologne at first, and the anti-humanist attitudes of Cologne's clergy were parodied in the Dunkelmännerbriefe in 1515. In the 18th century, Cologne also largely closed itself off to the Enlightenment. After his visit to Cologne in 1791, Georg Forster, together with Alexander von Humboldt, noted how little enlightened and backward the city was, dominated by superstition. The history of the free imperial city ended with the entry of French troops in 1794 during the Coalition Wars. Cologne became the seat of a sub-prefect of the Arrondissement de Cologne. In 1815, after the Wars of Liberation, the Rhineland with the city of Cologne became part of the Kingdom of Prussia as a result of the Congress of Vienna. Over the following decades, Cologne became the most important city in Prussia after Berlin, not least due to the involvement of the Cologne banking houses, and in 1880, after 632 years, the construction of Cologne Cathedral was completed at the instigation of the King of Prussia and German Emperor.