DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.74283#0031
CHARACTER OF SCHEMBART MSS
13
the religious orders, the ranks of nobility, the burghers and the
peasants.20 The impressive content of this MS makes it outstand-
ing among illustrated books of the Sixteenth Century; its example
was followed in the MSS that form our particular concern here.21
For our present purpose only those MSS or fragments of MSS
are of importance in which the Schembartlauf is given specific
attention.22 The number of these Schembartbiicher remains un-
determined, since it is probable that not all extant MSS have been
discovered as yet. As noted above, the present work embraces in
its analysis some seventy MSS. With few exceptions the books are
of a piece, that is, the text was inscribed in them at the same time
as the drawings were made, for which room was left by the scribe.
The artist sometimes framed his miniature in the lines of the
text;23 in some MSS, however, the miniatures came first, and
the scribe would have to use whatever space was left for his
text.24
The majority, if not all, of the Schembart MSS seem to be
copies, and the Urbild, if there was one, does not appear to be
extant. In an interview with the present writer, the late Theodor
Hampe suggested that the designs drawn by artists for the cos-
tumes and other equipment of the Schembartlauf may have been
originally preserved in a paper roll. Such material, as Max Herr-
mann has pointed out,25 would probably be kept with the Pfander,
the Nuremberg official in charge of the guilds.26 On the other
hand, the costume designs might have been created, like the plates
for a Trachtenbuch, at the behest of patrician families whose
20 Cf. Lipperheide, I, No. 4, for full description and ibid., p. 6, for reproduction of
f. 102. For further reproductions cf. Herrmann (Forschungen), Abb. 6-14.
21 MS No. 47 contains an extract from a Trachtenbuch (f. 23).
22 MSS containing mentions of the Schembart or some fragment of text regard-
ing it will not be considered here. In some chronicles the Schembart text has been
added by a later hand wherever room is found for it, sometimes in the margin.
Cf. a chronicle in the Bayerisches Staatsarchiv (Nurnberg), Nr. 121, f. 147, f. 222,
etc. In others only a note on the custom occurs, cf. a chronicle in the same archive,
Nr. 107, ff. 223V-224V.
23 Cf. MS No. 38, f. 4°r (1493).
24 Cf. Fig. 55 (MS No. 1, f. 68r, 1539).
25 Herrmann (Forschungen), p. 107, n. 2.
26 On the Pfander cf. Mummenhoff, pp. 42-6; further Th. Hampe, Nurnberg,
"Beriihmte Kunststatten," Nr. 82 (Niirnberg, 1936), p. 48; cited below as "Hampe
(Nurnberg)."
13
the religious orders, the ranks of nobility, the burghers and the
peasants.20 The impressive content of this MS makes it outstand-
ing among illustrated books of the Sixteenth Century; its example
was followed in the MSS that form our particular concern here.21
For our present purpose only those MSS or fragments of MSS
are of importance in which the Schembartlauf is given specific
attention.22 The number of these Schembartbiicher remains un-
determined, since it is probable that not all extant MSS have been
discovered as yet. As noted above, the present work embraces in
its analysis some seventy MSS. With few exceptions the books are
of a piece, that is, the text was inscribed in them at the same time
as the drawings were made, for which room was left by the scribe.
The artist sometimes framed his miniature in the lines of the
text;23 in some MSS, however, the miniatures came first, and
the scribe would have to use whatever space was left for his
text.24
The majority, if not all, of the Schembart MSS seem to be
copies, and the Urbild, if there was one, does not appear to be
extant. In an interview with the present writer, the late Theodor
Hampe suggested that the designs drawn by artists for the cos-
tumes and other equipment of the Schembartlauf may have been
originally preserved in a paper roll. Such material, as Max Herr-
mann has pointed out,25 would probably be kept with the Pfander,
the Nuremberg official in charge of the guilds.26 On the other
hand, the costume designs might have been created, like the plates
for a Trachtenbuch, at the behest of patrician families whose
20 Cf. Lipperheide, I, No. 4, for full description and ibid., p. 6, for reproduction of
f. 102. For further reproductions cf. Herrmann (Forschungen), Abb. 6-14.
21 MS No. 47 contains an extract from a Trachtenbuch (f. 23).
22 MSS containing mentions of the Schembart or some fragment of text regard-
ing it will not be considered here. In some chronicles the Schembart text has been
added by a later hand wherever room is found for it, sometimes in the margin.
Cf. a chronicle in the Bayerisches Staatsarchiv (Nurnberg), Nr. 121, f. 147, f. 222,
etc. In others only a note on the custom occurs, cf. a chronicle in the same archive,
Nr. 107, ff. 223V-224V.
23 Cf. MS No. 38, f. 4°r (1493).
24 Cf. Fig. 55 (MS No. 1, f. 68r, 1539).
25 Herrmann (Forschungen), p. 107, n. 2.
26 On the Pfander cf. Mummenhoff, pp. 42-6; further Th. Hampe, Nurnberg,
"Beriihmte Kunststatten," Nr. 82 (Niirnberg, 1936), p. 48; cited below as "Hampe
(Nurnberg)."