{"product_id":"augsburg-woodcut-chronicle-for-charles-v-s-election","title":"Augsburg Woodcut Chronicle for Charles V’s Election","description":"\u003ch2\u003eWalter Isenberg’s Illustrated Chronicle of the Rise of the Habsburgs\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eA Rare Augsburg Woodcut Book Celebrating the Election of Charles V\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIsenberg, Walter. \u003cem\u003eWie die mechtige Erbkünigreich vnnd Fürstentumb Hispania, Hunngern vnnd Gelldern […] zu den loblichen heüsern Osterreich vn[d] Burgundi kommen sein […] herrn Karl Erwölten Römischen vn[d] Hispanischen Künigen.\u003c\/em\u003e Augsburg, Johann Schönsperger, 1520.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAn exceptionally rare Augsburg woodcut chronicle printed in 1520 to commemorate the election of Charles V as King of the Romans, tracing the dynastic rise of the Habsburgs from Burgundy and Maximilian I to the new ruler of a European empire.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eProduced by Johann Schönsperger, the printer of Maximilian’s monumental \u003cem\u003eTheuerdank\u003c\/em\u003e, the book belongs directly to the final phase of the great imperial propaganda projects associated with the Habsburg court. Richly illustrated with 23 large woodcuts and conceived as a dynastic memorial work, it stands among the most ambitious small-format historical publications produced in Augsburg immediately after the death of Maximilian I.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eEdition \u0026amp; Physical Description\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFolio (approximately 272 × 191 mm), printed with generous margins and retaining deckle edges (\u003cem\u003etémoins\u003c\/em\u003e).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIllustrated with a large title woodcut and 23 text woodcuts printed from 19 blocks, together with ornamental initials, paragraph marks with penwork-like extensions, and decorative typographical flourishes recalling the visual language of the \u003cem\u003eTheuerdank\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eModern vellum binding with manuscript spine title and two leather ties. The present copy survives remarkably broad-margined and virtually untrimmed, preserving the full visual effect of the original Augsburg printing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eJohann Schönsperger and the Afterlife of Maximilian\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe book was issued only months after the death of Emperor Maximilian I in January 1519.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJohann Schönsperger had served as Maximilian’s printer and had recently produced the first editions of the emperor’s great autobiographical chivalric epic, the \u003cem\u003eTheuerdank\u003c\/em\u003e. The present volume consciously continues that visual and political tradition.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe author, Walter Isenberg of Memmingen, had served as one of Maximilian’s military secretaries. In the unstable political transition following the emperor’s death, the work was dedicated to Maximilian’s grandson Charles V, newly elected King of the Romans in Frankfurt in 1519. The chronicle was intended not merely as history but as a dynastic legitimization of Habsburg rule across Europe.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIronically, Charles himself could scarcely read the text. Raised in Flanders, he spoke Dutch, French, and Latin far more fluently than German.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eThe Rise of the Habsburg Dynasty in Woodcuts\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe narrative unfolds through a remarkably economical yet sophisticated sequence of woodcuts covering four generations of Habsburg dynastic history.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe story begins with Charles the Bold of Burgundy recounting his own life to his daughter Mary of Burgundy. From there the illustrations move through the marriage alliance with England, the arrival of Margaret of York in Flanders, tournaments, hunting scenes, military campaigns, and finally the death of Charles at the Battle of Nancy in 1477.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMaximilian then enters the narrative. We see the young archduke seeking permission to marry Mary of Burgundy, his arrival in the Netherlands, the conflicts with the Flemish uprisings, and later the marriage negotiations between Philip the Fair and Joanna of Castile. The final sequence introduces the next generation: Charles V travelling to Spain, Ferdinand to the Low Countries, and finally Charles enthroned at Frankfurt at the conclusion of the volume.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe reuse of certain woodblocks throughout the cycle was not simply practical economy but a deliberate visual strategy. Similar scenes recur across generations to reinforce the legitimacy and continuity of Habsburg succession. Only Charles V remains visually singular: he appears alone at both the opening and conclusion of the book, the entire dynastic narrative converging upon him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eAugsburg Woodcut Illustration\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eParticularly striking is the monumental title woodcut.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCharles V appears half-length holding sceptre and wearing the collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece above the imperial eagle, framed by a dense heraldic border of imperial arms. The design is stylistically connected to the circle of Hans Weiditz and is noticeably finer than the remaining cuts in the book.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe other illustrations, executed by unknown Augsburg masters, retain the energetic narrative clarity characteristic of late Maximilian-period woodcut production. Their combination of dynastic ceremony, warfare, courtly festivity, and political symbolism transforms the volume into a visual history of Habsburg Europe itself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eRarity\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe work survives in only a very small number of copies and was already considered rare by the eighteenth century.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is the only edition ever printed. Modern scholarship continues to describe the book as scarcely obtainable today.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eLiterature\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGeisberg 799–816; Graesse III, 431; Hiler 468; Lipperheide Cg 13; Muther 957; Schottenloher, \u003cem\u003eBibliographie\u003c\/em\u003e III, 31604; VD16 I 346; Zapf II, 144.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor a fuller scholarly description and illustrations, see \u003cem\u003eWunderkammer\u003c\/em\u003e Catalogue 90, number 41:\u003cbr\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/issuu.com\/heribert-tenschert\/docs\/katalog_90_vol_1_web?utm_source=chatgpt.com\"\u003eWunderkammer Catalogue 90, Volume I\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Atelier Zweig Rare Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46860566298812,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0736\/1285\/3436\/files\/Isenberg-1.jpg?v=1779490985","url":"https:\/\/atelierzweig.com\/products\/augsburg-woodcut-chronicle-for-charles-v-s-election","provider":"Atelier Zweig Rare Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}