Ratisbona / Regenspurg

Title

Ratisbona / Regenspurg

Description

Depiction of the city of Regensburg, reverse 1/2 view of Vienna and portraits of philosophers and kings. Page XCVIII.

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

Regensburg can prove an early first mention by the Emperor Marcus Aurelius with the establishment of a Roman camp in 179. The Roman history of Regensburg begins around 79 AD with the establishment of the cohort fort Kumpfmühl in the area of today's district Kumpfmühl-Ziegetsdorf-Neuprüll. From about 500 to 788, Regensburg was the headquarters of the Dukes of Bavaria from the Agilolfing dynasty. Regensburg became an important center of the early Bavarian tribal duchy. Regensburg is one of the oldest bishoprics in Germany, which had already existed for several decades when it was placed under canon law and thus under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome by Boniface in 739. In the 9th century Regensburg was one of the most important cities of the East Frankish Carolingian Empire. The Bavarian dukes of the Wittelsbach dynasty residing in the city could not stop the city's development towards independence due to internal conflicts after the Bavarian division of land in 1255. They gave up their residence in Regensburg at the Kornmarkt, left Regensburg and moved to Landshut in 1259. Probably around 1273, the construction of Regensburg's St. Peter's Cathedral began. Together with the Stone Bridge, the cathedral is the city's landmark. From 1293, construction also began on the medieval city wall with seven new city gate towers, which incorporated the new suburbs to the west and east and several churches and monasteries into the city area.