62

THE DANCERS

a larger scale, more than one captain led the run, indeed it became
usual to have two captains, and several times there were as many
as four.34 In some instances the text indicates the craft of the
captain, as in 1467 (f. i8r): "HannB Ferber Reuther genandt,
Haubtman . . . und neben Jme Ein Schlosser der Schellhamer
genandt."35 There seems to have been no class distinction in the
choice of a captain; for example, together with "Veit Schiitz
ein Flaischhacker" in 1516 we find the patricians "Hieronimus
PeBler" and "Vlrich Haller." The great families of Nuremberg
are represented by many names among the captains, since the
majority were Ehrbare; the following families are included (the
frequency of their participation is indicated by the number in
the parentheses): Baumgarten (8), Haller (8), Kdtzel (6),
Tucher (6), Kress (4), Tetzel (4), Strobel (3), Pesler (3), Rum-
mel, Grundherr, von Plauen, and Cammerer with two each, and
others. What considerations guided the Laufer in the selection of
their captain are not told us by the Schembart MSS. Hampe36 has
pointed out that Wolf Ketzel, one of the captains for 1498 and
1499, had been sentenced to a month's imprisonment in 1497 for
performing a Fastnachtspiel satirizing Hans Zamasser, a citizen
of Nuremberg.37 Perhaps the best qualifications for leadership in
the Sckembartlauf were fertility of ideas and boldness in the ex-
ecution of a prank. As we shall see, in 1507 it was the captains
themselves who directed a riot against a group of maskers in-
fringing on the rights of the Ldujer.38
It is naturally the captains who are figured in the miniatures of
34 In 1493, with seventy-two Laufer, the captains were "Wolff Haller, Gberg
Kotzel, Steffan Baumgartner, Sebalt Teuchsler"; in 1539, with 150 Laufer, there
were three captains: "Jacob Muffel, Martin von Plauen, Jochaim Tetzel."
35 The other trades mentioned are "ein WeyBgerber," "ein Plattner," "Zwen
Metzger," "ein Salwiirck (Sal, "selvedge"), "Sattler," "ein gurtler," "Handtschug
macher," "ein Fechtmaister," "ein Loffelschmidt," and again "ein Flaischhacker."
36 Hampe (Theaterwesen), p. 16.
37 According to the Rats-Protokolle for Feb. 28, 1497,, cf. Hampe (Theaterwesen),
p. 229, Nr. 20, Ketzel's companion in crime and punishment was the Oswald Krell
already referred to, a Schembartldufer in 1503. Durer's portrait of him reveals a
dynamic face, with a harsh, almost violent expression, a Renaissance character of
"bold hostility."
38 Hans Sachs looks upon the captains as representatives of the Geisbart group,
the leaders of the revolt in 1348, cf. Scheinpart-spruch, 11. 179-185: "Der schein-
part hat hauptleut,/ Die all person beschreyben/ Unnd sie zu hauffen treyben,/
Den scheinpart in beystehn,/ Jnn alien ihn vorgehn./ Bedeudten mit geferd/ Mit
namen die gayBperdt/ ."