Das vierdalter / Perusia

Title

Das vierdalter / Perusia

Description

View of the city of Perugia in the Italian region of Umbria. On the reverse a view of the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem. Furthermore, 9 images with kings, prophets and a bishop.

ca. 1493

Artist

Schedel (1440-1515)

Hartmann Schedel (1440 -1515) settled in Nuremberg 1484. He published the famous Nuremberg Chronicle 1493, Schedel's library has been sold in 1552 to Hans Jacob Fugger. Schedel's Nuremberg Chronicle must have been one of the most popular of incunables, judging by the number of surviving copies. Some 800 copies of the Latin edition have been traced and 400 of the German. This is not surprising considering that this compilation of sacred and profaned history was the most elaborate printed book of its time, illustrated with more than 1800 woodcuts. Among these were a number of double-page city views, a folding map of the world and another of northern and central Europe. The text is an amalgam of legend, fancy and tradition interspersed with the occasional scientific fact or authentic piece of modern learning. Hartmann Schedel, a physician of Nuremberg, was the editor-in-chief; the printer was Anton Koberger, and among the designers the most famous were Michael Wolgemut and Hanns Pleydenwurff, masters of the Nuremberg workshop where Albrecht Durer served his apprenticeship. The first edition of the Nuremberg Chronicle in July 1493 was in Latin and there was a reprint with German text in December of the same year. World Map: His Ptolemaic world map with the figures simbolizing the three sons of Noah's: Sem, Ham and Jafet. The world map was included in the Chronicle of the Nuremberg physician, Hartmann Schedel to demonstrate the world after the Deluge. The hundreds of the woodcuts used for printing the illustrations of the famous German work were cut by Wolgemut and Pleydenwurff. The young Albrecht Dürer could contributed to the book as he apprenticed the Nuremberg printers. The panel to the left side, showing the monstrous races, is an illustration of the tales, fables and antique works, first of all Pliny the elder. Note that this panel is the best identification mark of our edition, there was another panel with the map of the 1493 edition.

Historical Description

Perusia first appears in ancient literary sources in 310 BC. Apparently, Perusia was granted Roman citizenship after the Confederate War, which lasted from 91 to 88 BC. In the 6th century, according to the early Byzantine historian Prokop, Perugia was a strong fortress and the most important city in Etruria. The Longobard king Ratchis attacked the Pentapolis in 749 and besieged Perusia. In medieval and early modern Italian the city could be called Perugia. In the Middle Ages, the city was for a long time a loyal ally of Rome against the Emperor. In 1198 Perugia also officially detached itself from imperial authority, placing itself under the protection of Pope Innocent III. It was ruled by Guelfian merchants who made it the only important Umbrian commercial center, similar to the Tuscan city-states. The peak of this development was in the 13th century. The Guelfian orientation of the city did not mean, however, that there were no difficulties with the supposedly protective Papal States. Around 1500, during the first heyday of humanistic historical research, historians attributed Perugia, for example, to the Tuscan cities, as can be seen from the chronicle of Matarazzo. In 1540, in the so-called "Salt War", the Perugines were defeated by Pope Paul III. They had refused to accept a new salt tax and the Pope acted drastically. Within a very short time - from 1540 to 1543 - in order to keep the city definitively under control, he had a fortification built on Colle Landone by Antonio da Sangallo, named Rocca Paolina after its builder. For more than three centuries Perugia remained subject to the Papal States. In 1797 Perugia was occupied by the French from Livorno. In 1798/99 Perugia briefly formed part of the ephemeral Roman Republic. In mid-July 1798, Arretine bands and Austrian patrol corps captured the city, but were soon forced to abandon it. After the dissolution of the Roman Republic in September 1799, Perugia rejoined the Papal States for a decade. In 1809 it became part of the new French Empire created by Napoleon Bonaparte and belonged to the Department of Trasimène for the rest of its duration. In 1814 Perugia reverted to the Papal State. The revolts of 1831, 1848 and 1859 were put down by papal troops. In 1860, Piedmontese troops invaded Perugia. Umbria was incorporated into the new Italian state.