Search

(Origins of the city of Mainz) second half of the 14th / beginning 15th century. Germany. This brief High German account is a fictional representation of the origins of Mainz and some important incidents in the city's history. It begins with the foundation of the city of Trier as the first city in Europe after the flood by an Asian prince Treverus in 1603 bc, and describes the foundation of Mainz by twelve 'masters' from Trier, who are characterised as wise magicians. The text digresses for the funeral of the emperor Drusus, whom it presents as a Dutscher man (a German man) who was buried in…

(Chronicle from the time of Emperor Sigmund) commissioned ca 1420. Germany. Anonymous prose chronicle of Nuremberg between 1126 and 1438 (additions to 1441) in German. Beginning in the cursory style of monastic annals, the chronicle becomes more detailed from 1420 on, with dates which are unusually precise and reliable: Item A.D. 1426 am Samstag nach unsers herren auffarttag in der 5 or vor mitten tag (item in the year 1426, on the Saturday after ascension, in the fifth hour before noon). In this part of the work, the incidents presented are most likely eyewitness accounts of the town's…

14th and 15th century. Southern Germany. This anonymous prose chronicle in High German charts events of the city of Augsburg in the last third of the 14th century. It begins with the revolt of the guilds in the year 1368, a very prominent turning-point in the town's constitutional history. The town's battles (Altheim, Reutlingen and Döffingen, and especially the combats between Augsburg and Bavaria), the correspondence with the German emperor, and the funeral of Charles IV are all included briefly. The work ends with a notice of the solar eclipse of 1406, preceded by a longer note d…

1375/80 - 1454/55. Germany. Author of a chronicle of the years 1126-1445 (continued anonymously to 1462). Wahraus was a member of the town council of Augsburg from 1442 (probably earlier) and belonged to the guild of the salt-traders. His chronicle is prefaced by a calculation of the chronology of biblical events and persons, which is missing in the edition. For the period before the 14th century, Wahraus seems to use the Chronik aus Kaiser Sigmunds Zeit (or their common source), but sometimes presents more details. These records are listed very briefly and not always …

15th century. Germany. Swabian cleric, author of a short verse history of the origins and foundation of Augsburg, written between 1437-42 on the instruction of Augsburg's mayor, Peter Egen, whose role Küchlin explains in his epilogue. This is the first attempt to present the origins of the city in German. Küchlin does not reveal his source, but mentions a 'Latin book'; his prologue is based on the legend of St. Afra by Adilbert of Augsburg. In 396 verses (prologue, eight chapters, epilogue) he describes the foundation of Augsburg in pre-Roman time by Germanic tribes…