Freydal. Medieval Games. The Book of Tournaments of Emperor Maximilian I...

[Condottiere]

Freydal. Medieval Games. The Book of Tournaments of Emperor Maximilian I

This Taschen title out in 2019 and slipped under my radar, though probably a good thing, as the RRP is $200! In contrast, Taschen's  full color reproduction of Theuerdank. The Epic of the Last Knight is $40. I hope a remaindered copy or a reduced size version is eventually released...

From 1512 to 1515, Maximilian commissioned a massive, exquisitely detailed and illustrated manuscript of the 64 tournaments. The 255 elaborately gilt and silvered miniatures were more than just a collection of jousting scenes from the Habsburg court—from the grand melee and tilting at the lists to foot combat and closing ceremonies—they were an allegorical epic telling the story of an intrepid hero, a knight errant who is no other than Maximilian himself. In the guise of his literary alter ego “Freydal”, the Emperor jousted to prove his love for a noble lady. The story ends with the lady agreeing to marry him—she is no other than Mary of Burgundy, whom Maximilian wed in 1477 at Ghent.

Produced under the direct supervision of Maximilian himself, Freydal is an invaluable record of late-medieval chivalry, one which introduces us to the jousts that the Emperor revived and even invented—such as the spectacular Rennen mit geschifften Tartschen, where shields would be catapulted into the sky and disintegrated into metal wedges. To this day, it remains the largest extant tournament book from the Late Middle Ages and the essential source on European courtly festivities of the early modern era. Much too fragile to be on permanent display, the miniatures are safely locked away in the vaults of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

To commemorate the fifth centenary of Emperor Maximilian I’s death, TASCHEN reproduces the complete 255 miniatures in full-color photographs, making the unique manuscript accessible to all for the very first time. The astounding collection is introduced by Stefan Krause, director of the Kunsthistorisches Museum’s Imperial Armoury, who tells its fascinating story.

In line with my budget is Pierre Terjanian's The Last Knight: The Art, Armor, and Ambition of Maximilian I. On the plus side, since it's from MetPublications, if it ever goes OOP, the title might be made available as a free PDF.

From the preview, the caption (page 69) of the illustration (page 68) of Charles the Bold at Nancy says it was made in around 1484. He appears to be wearing a sleeved slashed coat - paletot? - over a tight fitted slashed doublet - hoqueton? - conforming to the shape of a breastplate, but what's on his head? It looks like a slashed hat showing a cervelliere (skullcap) underneath or is it a sallet?

[Atheling]

From the preview, the caption (page 69) of the illustration (page 68) of Charles the Bold at Nancy says it was made in around 1484. He appears to be wearing a sleeved slashed coat - paletot? - over a tight fitted slashed doublet - hoqueton? - conforming to the shape of a breastplate, but what's on his head? It looks like a slashed hat showing a cervelliere (skullcap) underneath or is it a sallet?

With artistic conventions of the time of lack thereof I think it's very hard to say exactly what he's wearing in terms of armour and clothing. The transitional conventions (or lack thereof!) from Medieval to Renaissance painting was one of the things i looked at at Uni (Fine Art). It was a fair while ago but one thing that stuck out was that it wasn't until you get Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Bellini, Raphael and Titian that any real recognisable start to become the norm, conventions perhaps exemplified most prominently by the notion ubiquitous use of perspective.

This makes it all the more difficult with medieval art work as the lack of artistic convention just confused the issue. Also, one has to take into account that most manuscripts were completed by the clergy who often had no real appreciation of war, weapons and armour etc. Obviously, there are exceptions to this norm.