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The ''Nuremberg Chronicle'' is an illustrated biblical paraphrase and world history that follows the story of human history related in the Bible; it includes the histories of a number of important Western cities. Written in Latin by Hartmann Schedel, with a version in German, translation by Georg Alt, it appeared in 1493. It is one of the best-documented early printed books—an incunabulum —and one of the first to successfully integrate illustrations and text. Latin scholars refer to it as ''Liber Chronicarum'' (''Book of Chronicles'') as this phrase appears in the index introduction of the Latin edition. English speakers have long referred to it as the Nuremberg Chronicle after the city in which it was published. German speakers refer to it as ''Die Schedelsche Weltchronik'' (''Schedel's World History'') in honour of its author. ==Production== Two Nuremberg merchants, Sebald Schreyer (1446–1503) and his son-in-law, Sebastian Kammermeister (1446–1520), commissioned the Latin version of the Chronicle. They also commissioned George Alt (1450–1510), a scribe at the Nuremberg treasury, to translate the work into German. Both Latin and German editions were printed by Anton Koberger, in Nuremberg.〔Cambridge Digital Library, University of Cambridge, http://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/PR-INC-00000-A-00007-00002-00888/1〕 The contracts were recorded by scribes, bound into volumes, and deposited in the Nuremberg City Archives.〔WIlson, Adrian. The Making of the Nuremberg Chronicle. Amsterdam: A. Asher & Co. 1976〕 The first contract, from December, 1491, established the relationship between the illustrators and the patrons. Wolgemut and Pleydenwurff, the painters, were to provide the layout of the Chronicle, to oversee the production of the woodcuts, and to guard the designs against piracy. The patrons agreed to advance 1000 ''gulden'' for paper, printing costs, and the distribution and sale of the book. A second contract, between the patrons and the printer, was executed in March, 1492. It stipulated conditions for acquiring the paper and managing the printing. The blocks and the archetype were to be returned to the patrons once the printing was completed.〔Landau, David and Peter Parshall. The Renaissance Print, 1470–1550. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994〕 The author of the text, Hartmann Schedel, was a medical doctor, humanist and book collector. He earned a doctorate in medicine in Padua in 1466, then settled in Nuremberg to practice medicine and collect books. According to an inventory done in 1498, Schedel's personal library contained 370 manuscripts and 670 printed books. The author used passages from the classical and medieval works in this collection to compose the text of Chronicle. He borrowed most frequently from another humanist chronicle, ''Supplementum Chronicarum'', by Jacob Philip Foresti of Bergamo. It has been estimated that about 90% of the text is pieced together from works on humanities, science, philosophy, and theology, while about 10% of the Chronicle is Schedel’s original composition.〔("About this book - Author" ), Beloit College Morse Library, 2003〕 Nuremberg was one of the largest cities in the Holy Roman Empire in the 1490s, with a population of between 45,000 and 50,000. Thirty-five patrician families comprised the City Council. The Council controlled all aspects of printing and craft activities, including the size of each profession and the quality, quantity and type of goods produced. Although dominated by a conservative aristocracy, Nuremberg was a center of northern humanism. Anton Koberger, printer of the Nuremberg Chronicle, printed the first humanist book in Nuremberg in 1472. Sebald Shreyer, one of the patrons of the Chronicle, commissioned paintings from classical mythology for the grand salon of his house. Hartmann Schedel, author of the Chronicle, was an avid collector of both Italian Renaissance and German humanist works. Hieronymus Münzer, who assisted Schedel in writing the Chronicle’s chapter on geography, was among this group, as were Albrecht Dürer and Johann and Willibald Pirckheimer.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Nuremberg Chronicle」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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