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IMC 2014: Sessions

Session 817: Maximilian I: Emperor between Tradition and Innovation

Tuesday 8 July 2014, 16.30-18.00

Sponsor:Oswald von Wolkenstein-Gesellschaft
Organiser:Antje Wittstock, Seminar für Deutsche Philologie, Universität Mannheim
Moderator/Chair:Hiram Kümper, Historisches Institut, Universität Mannheim
Paper 817-aMaximilian I: Architect of the Tournament
(Language: English)
Natalie Anderson, Institute for Medieval Studies, University of Leeds
Index terms: Historiography - Medieval, Political Thought, Politics and Diplomacy
Paper 817-b'Verporgne kunst' / 'gehaim wissen': Secret knowledge in Weisskunig
(Language: English)
Antje Wittstock, Seminar für Deutsche Philologie, Universität Mannheim
Index terms: Language and Literature - German, Language and Literature - Latin, Medicine
Paper 817-cAlbrecht Dürer: Architect
(Language: English)
Tessa Morrison, School of Architecture & Built Environment, University of Newcastle, New South Wales
Index terms: Architecture - General, Architecture - Secular, Social History
Abstract

Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor and among the most powerful rulers, was situated in the verge of the late medieval and the early modern period. The present session wants to show that his reign was characterized by tradition and innovation: the first paper will focus on Maximilian as masterful innovator of tournament, crafting new forms and promoting it through art and literature which remain a crucial part of his legacy today. The second paper wants to point out the ambivalent use Maximilian made of contemporary knowledge on medicine employing it in different texts as a political instrument as for example in the discussion on the Syphilis or his adaptation of the renaissance notion of melancholy. The third paper focuses on another important figure of the early modern period, Albrecht Dürer, who is known as a painter, engraver, printmaker, mathematician, and art theorist but not as an architect. However, in 1527 Dürer published Etliche Unterricht, zur Befestigung der Städte, Schlösser und Flecken, which is the earliest comprehensive book on urban planning and fortification. This paper explores this unknown side of Dürer’s works and his achievements in architecture.