The Book of Chronicles
The complete and annotated Nuremberg Chronicle of 1493. Excerpt from the introduction by Stephan Füssel
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]
As was common practice at the time, Schedel rarely acknowledged his original sources, with the result that, today, we are unable to identify many of them. Indeed, it is quite possible that he occasionally quoted from secondary sources. Michael Haitz, who more than a hundred years ago drew up what has remained the most important critical study of Schedel's sources to date, sums up the situation when he concludes that "in the chronicle we have nothing but a vast literal compilation before us. Schedel borrows from his sources not only the material, but also the form. Only occasionally do we find minor, quite insignificant changes. Therefore each sentence, even each word can be found in his sources, especially his printed sources." (Haitz, 1899, p. 15). Although Haitz may have exaggerated somewhat, failing to mention the way in which these sources and quotations are interwoven, he nevertheless touches upon a very specific aspect of Schedel's work of compilation. Any attribution of texts to Schedel himself must be checked for original content. For this reason, the Appendix to this reprint presents several detailed examples of his treatment of his sources.
Chronicle of the World - a Nuremberg Community Project
Since it is what today's reader would expect, we have started by discussing the author. Astonishingly, however, in the printed version of the Chronicle, there is no mention, on any "title-page" or in the colophon, of the name of the person who actually compiled these texts. It is as though he stands behind the text in a serving function, providing knowledge rather than shaping it linguistically.
Thus the tendency to refer to this work, in the German-speaking world at least, as Die Schedelsche Weltchronik - Schedel's World Chronicle -, is a relatively recent development. In academic spheres it is still called the Liber chronicarum, as it was in the past, while in English it is known as the Nuremberg Chronicle - an ambiguous title that is rather misleading, for it suggests that the Chronicle primarily addresses events relating to Nuremberg, whereas in fact it is so called because it was planned and produced in Nuremberg. The confusion arises because the book has no separate title-page (in the modern sense), but begins with the xylographic title of the index or Registrum. In line with the tradition of manuscript production still alive and well in the early decades of book printing, in which a title-page emerged only gradually, details about the actual making of the chronicle are reserved until the colophon at the very end.
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]
As was common practice at the time, Schedel rarely acknowledged his original sources, with the result that, today, we are unable to identify many of them. Indeed, it is quite possible that he occasionally quoted from secondary sources. Michael Haitz, who more than a hundred years ago drew up what has remained the most important critical study of Schedel's sources to date, sums up the situation when he concludes that "in the chronicle we have nothing but a vast literal compilation before us. Schedel borrows from his sources not only the material, but also the form. Only occasionally do we find minor, quite insignificant changes. Therefore each sentence, even each word can be found in his sources, especially his printed sources." (Haitz, 1899, p. 15). Although Haitz may have exaggerated somewhat, failing to mention the way in which these sources and quotations are interwoven, he nevertheless touches upon a very specific aspect of Schedel's work of compilation. Any attribution of texts to Schedel himself must be checked for original content. For this reason, the Appendix to this reprint presents several detailed examples of his treatment of his sources.
Chronicle of the World - a Nuremberg Community Project
Since it is what today's reader would expect, we have started by discussing the author. Astonishingly, however, in the printed version of the Chronicle, there is no mention, on any "title-page" or in the colophon, of the name of the person who actually compiled these texts. It is as though he stands behind the text in a serving function, providing knowledge rather than shaping it linguistically.
Thus the tendency to refer to this work, in the German-speaking world at least, as Die Schedelsche Weltchronik - Schedel's World Chronicle -, is a relatively recent development. In academic spheres it is still called the Liber chronicarum, as it was in the past, while in English it is known as the Nuremberg Chronicle - an ambiguous title that is rather misleading, for it suggests that the Chronicle primarily addresses events relating to Nuremberg, whereas in fact it is so called because it was planned and produced in Nuremberg. The confusion arises because the book has no separate title-page (in the modern sense), but begins with the xylographic title of the index or Registrum. In line with the tradition of manuscript production still alive and well in the early decades of book printing, in which a title-page emerged only gradually, details about the actual making of the chronicle are reserved until the colophon at the very end.
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]
Chronicle of the World - 1493. Hartmann Schedel
Padded cover, 23.9 x 34 cm (9.4 x 13.4 in.), 680 pages
Hartmann Schedel's Chronicle of the World: A groundbreaking encyclopedic work and lavishly illustrated book
Albrecht Dürer at the age of 16. Detail from 'St Vitus healing one possessed' by Master of the Augustine Altarpiece, c. 1490. Nuremberg, Germanisches Nationalmuseum