Foreign bodies in the Nuremberg Chronicle

Strickland, D. H. (2019) Foreign bodies in the Nuremberg Chronicle. Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, 95(2), pp. 19-42. (doi: 10.7227/BJRL.95.2.2)

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Abstract

Hartmann Schedel's Liber Chronicarum (1493), better known as the Nuremberg Chronicle, pictures and describes world civilisations and illustrious individuals from Creation to 1493. Although its sources and circumstances of production have been extensively explored, the cultural significance of its many woodcut images has received far less attention. This preliminary study highlights relationships between images, audience and the humanist agenda of Schedel and his milieu by examining selected representations of cultural outsiders with reference to external illustrated genres that demonstrated the centrality of Others in German Christian culture. I argue that the Chronicle's images of 'foreign bodies' harnessed their audience's established fascination with monsters, wonders, witchcraft, Jews and the Ottoman Turks to advance the German humanist goal of elevating the position of Germania on the world historical stage and in so doing, contributed to the emerging idea of a German national identity.

Item Type:Articles
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Strickland, Professor Debra
Authors: Strickland, D. H.
College/School:College of Arts & Humanities > School of Culture and Creative Arts > History of Art
Journal Name:Bulletin of the John Rylands Library
Publisher:Manchester University Press
ISSN:2054-9318
ISSN (Online):2054-9326

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