Nuremberg Chronicle; depictions of edged weapons from the late 15th Century

shayde78 · 17th July 2020, 08:04 PM

Hello everyone,

As I have been the beneficiary of a great deal of valuable information by being part of this forum, I have wanted to give something back for quite a while. My own collecting experience is amateurish, at best, so I felt that providing some reference material might be my best contribution.

I finally found time to flip through the extensive work known as the Nuremberg Chronicle. This text was published in 1493 in the city of Nuremberg. Its pages contain over 1800 illustrations made from 645 woodcuts (many images were used more than once). Having gone through these, I have counted over 80 images of swords and other weapons depicted.

Being that these are illustrations of weapons from a very specific date (I'm going off of the version printed in German - so December 1493, to be exact) and from a specific region, I thought there could be some value in posting the images here. If nothing else, it could provide a frame of reference against which to consider other indicators of dates/form/style/etc.

I'll start by posting the first ten, or so, images. If they seem to generate interest, I'll continue with the rest. While they are limited in the fact that they are woodcuts, and there is only so much detail that can be achieved through that medium, one can still discern variations in hilt type, pommels, blade dimensions, etc. Even a nice buckler in there (6th picture below). There are also depictions of how certain weapons were carried, and I am surprised by how prevalent thrusting attacks were depicted throughout, compared to cutting/slashing. This could just be a function of containing the action into a small space, but still seems notable. In a later set (not posted here yet), there is an impressive two-handed sword, with a blunt tip being used in a beheading. Is this an attempt to depict an executioner's sword, or did the tip of the sword simply not get depicted due to the limits of wood block printing?

The first bulk of images portray scenes from the opening chapters of the Bible. I've included one pictures of carpenters working on the Ark to show woodworking axes, and how the artist made these distinct from the axe used by Cain against his unfortunate brother a few pages earlier. If only ebay could so well tell the difference between carpentry tools and actual weapons! Also interesting is the curved sword carried by, I believe it is Abraham, when he scares the heck out of his son. My grasp of Old German isn't great, so please correct me if my context is wrong. Anyway, the curve and orientation of the hilt are 'unique', perhaps to portray the exoticism of the scene. A later set of images depicts an "Ottomanischen" with a clear depicted shamshir hilt.

Anyway, I'll start with these pictures. If the consensus is that I should post more, I'm happy to do so. Just let me know.

-Rob

17th July 2020, 08:04 PM	#1
shayde78 Member Join Date: Mar 2017 Posts: 445	Nuremberg Chronicle; depictions of edged weapons from the late 15th Century Hello everyone, As I have been the beneficiary of a great deal of valuable information by being part of this forum, I have wanted to give something back for quite a while. My own collecting experience is amateurish, at best, so I felt that providing some reference material might be my best contribution. I finally found time to flip through the extensive work known as the Nuremberg Chronicle. This text was published in 1493 in the city of Nuremberg. Its pages contain over 1800 illustrations made from 645 woodcuts (many images were used more than once). Having gone through these, I have counted over 80 images of swords and other weapons depicted. Being that these are illustrations of weapons from a very specific date (I'm going off of the version printed in German - so December 1493, to be exact) and from a specific region, I thought there could be some value in posting the images here. If nothing else, it could provide a frame of reference against which to consider other indicators of dates/form/style/etc. I'll start by posting the first ten, or so, images. If they seem to generate interest, I'll continue with the rest. While they are limited in the fact that they are woodcuts, and there is only so much detail that can be achieved through that medium, one can still discern variations in hilt type, pommels, blade dimensions, etc. Even a nice buckler in there (6th picture below). There are also depictions of how certain weapons were carried, and I am surprised by how prevalent thrusting attacks were depicted throughout, compared to cutting/slashing. This could just be a function of containing the action into a small space, but still seems notable. In a later set (not posted here yet), there is an impressive two-handed sword, with a blunt tip being used in a beheading. Is this an attempt to depict an executioner's sword, or did the tip of the sword simply not get depicted due to the limits of wood block printing? The first bulk of images portray scenes from the opening chapters of the Bible. I've included one pictures of carpenters working on the Ark to show woodworking axes, and how the artist made these distinct from the axe used by Cain against his unfortunate brother a few pages earlier. If only ebay could so well tell the difference between carpentry tools and actual weapons! Also interesting is the curved sword carried by, I believe it is Abraham, when he scares the heck out of his son. My grasp of Old German isn't great, so please correct me if my context is wrong. Anyway, the curve and orientation of the hilt are 'unique', perhaps to portray the exoticism of the scene. A later set of images depicts an "Ottomanischen" with a clear depicted shamshir hilt. Anyway, I'll start with these pictures. If the consensus is that I should post more, I'm happy to do so. Just let me know. -Rob Attached Images Last edited by shayde78; 17th July 2020 at 08:17 PM.