Nüremberg Chronicle

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The Nuremberg Chronicle is a pictorial history of the earth from creation to the 1490s published in 1493. It was compiled by Dr. Hartmann Schedel, illustrated and engraved by Michael Wohlgemuth, Wilhelm Pleydenwurff and Albrecht Dürer, and printed and published by Anton Koberger. The Chronicle is the first instance of partnerships shown between artists and patrons. The woodcuts shown in the chronicle represented the emergence of xylography as a prosperous industry in South Germany. Xylography was quite dominant for several years before Gutenberg invented typography.

The woodcuts normally presented biblical scenes, saints, and moralities. Illiterates of medieval Europe used the woodcuts as charms for protection. Xylography achieved its greatness in South Germany following the publishing of the Nuremberg Chronicle. Albrecht Dürer became a leader in the art of xylography and was a part of the distinguished group who created the woodcuts of the Chronicle. In 1493, the year the Chronicle was published, the city of Nuremberg was the most advanced among the German cities in the arts and crafts and commercial relations. The city stands today as beautiful as it was in 1493; the residences of those integrally involved in the making of the Chronicle are standing still. The cathedral of St. Sebald, probably the most important part of the city at that time, still exists.

The creators of the Chronicle had gained distinction in their respective arts even before its creation. Dr. Hartmann Schedel earned his Master of Arts at the age of twenty-three and then studied medicine at the University of Padua. In Italy, he wrote a general description of the antiquities of Italy. Upon his return to Germany, he began collecting German antiquities. Dr. Schedel practiced as a physician, and he was also bursar to the cathedral and diocese of St. Sebald. The fame, which he has derived, has been as a result of his association with the Nuremberg Chronicle. Michael Wohlgemuth was a painter and engraver before the period of Dürer. His fame comes from the fact that he was the instructor of Albrecht Dürer in painting, engraving, and copperplate engraving.

Wilhelm Pleydenwurff, his stepson, was also in the engraving business and aided in completing the Chronicle. Anton Koberger was the printer of the Chronicle and established the second printing office in Nuremberg in 1470. His family had governed Nuremberg since the day it became a free imperial city in 1219. Koberger became the godfather of Albrecht Dürer in 1471. He was heavily involved in goldsmithing until he left that to enter into the printing industry. Though he seems to have had no prior knowledge of the business, there seems to be a close connection between typographic art, and goldsmithing. Typographic art needed a matrix to cast a letter, and none were as skilled in engraving on metals as the goldsmiths were. This perhaps explains the connection between the two.

By 1489, Koberger owned twenty-four printing presses and employed approximately a hundred operatives. Nuremberg was the first city in Germany to make paper, yet Koberger was not satisfied with the local product. He therefore decided to add papermaking to the list of activities in which he participated. After his death, Hans and Anton (the younger) Koberger took over the business. The Nuremberg Chronicle remains one of five books that have become collector’s items: his Latin and German Bibles, the Schatzbehalter, and the two versions of the Chronicle. The first edition was published in 1493 in Latin, and was followed by a German facsimile published in 1979.

The Chronicle contains 1809 prints, taken from 645 actual woodcuts. Therefore, there are 1164 repetitions. The Chronicle, however, retains its splendor because of the area and number of woodcuts that is larger than any other book of its century. The Nuremberg Chronicle is and will remain always, an indication of the height of evolution of typography in the 1490s.

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