Eberhard Windeck, Das Buch von Kaiser Sigmund, the life and times of the Emperor Sigismund, in German, illuminated manuscript on paper

306 leaves, 399 mm. by 262 mm., apparently lacking leaves at 14 places including many gatherings between fols. 116 and 117, precise collation impracticable without disbinding since the leaves have been oversewn, fol. 304 survives only as a fragment, double column, about 30-33 lines, written-space 275 mm. by 165 mm., written in dark brown ink in a large and legible cursive bookhand, some calligraphic flourishing into upper and lower margins, headings in red, capitals touched in red, very large initials throughout in red, some with elaborate flourished decoration extending almost to the full height of the page, a hundred and seventy-four very large or full-page illustrations, drawn in ink, coloured in green, blue, red, brown, purple, yellow, and other colours, fol. 1v with silver too, some minor damp stains (mostly at edges or end), some damp on fols. 85r, 93r, 116v (with loss of a few words of text) and increasingly from fols. 298–end (fol. 306) with minor repairs slightly affecting text, last pages a bit fragile, a few other marginal repairs, corners of fols. 196-7 and 215 repaired without loss of text, generally in good condition with bright pictures, bound in nineteenth-century English russia gilt (for Phillipps), marbled endleaves, gilt edges, rebacked with spine laid on

provenance

(1) Almost certainly written for a member of the patrician family of Ebner von Eschebach, of Nuremberg, perhaps Albrecht Ebner or more probably his brother Matthias Ebner (d. 1449), who was in the service of the Emperor Sigismund, from whom he received an estate near Nuremberg in 1437.  Sigismund himself had been born in Nuremberg.  The arms of Ebner appear first among the citizens of Nuremberg in the picture on fol. 236r.  The manuscript was first recorded in the Ebner family library in C. G. von Murr, Memorabilia Bibliothecarum Publicarum Norimbergensium et Universitatis Altdorfinae, II, 1778, p. 65, nos. 29-30.  It was then bound in two volumes, divided after the present fol. 116v.  The volumes were sold in the Ebner sale, Bibliotheca Ebneriana, Catalogus, Nuremberg, 1813, p. 11, lots 82-83.

(2) Georg Kloss (1787-1854), of Frankfurt, bought at the Ebner sale; his sale in our rooms, 29 May 1835, lot 4682 (the last lot of the sale), "the history is illustrated with very numerous drawings in water-colours, which are executed in a rude but spirited style", £3. 1s. to Thomas Thorpe (d. 1851).

(3) Sir Thomas Phillipps (1792-1872), his MS 10381, bought from Thorpe, 1837; he had it rebound as a single volume.

(4) H. P. Kraus (1907-1988), probably bought privately from the Robinsons soon after their acquisition of the Phillipps Library in 1946; his by 1949, when he lent it to the Walters exhibition, Illuminated Books of the Middle Ages, "characteristic of German secular graphic art at its best" (p. 53).  H. P. Kraus, cat. 69 (1954), no. 6 (afterwards considered by him to be among his greatest books, In Retrospect, A Catalogue of 100 Outstanding Manuscripts sold in the last four decades by H. P. Kraus, 1978, pp. 152-3, no. 57).

(5) Bought in 1954 by a private collector; and by descent to the present owner.

literature

C. Dümge and F. Mone, Eberhardi Windeckii Moguntini Historia Imp. Sigismundi vernacula (M. G. H., Archiv 3), 1821-22, pp. 263-4.

A. Reifferschneid, 'Des Kaiser Sigismund Buch von Eberhard Windeck und seine Überlieferung', Nachrichten von der Königl. Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften und der Georg-Augusts-Universität zu Göttingen aus dem Jahre 1887, 1887, pp. 528-9, nos. 3-4.

R. Priebsch, Deutsche Handschriften in England, Erlangen, 1896, I, p. 108, no. 111.

D. Miner, Illuminated Books of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, Walters Art Gallery, 1949, p. 53, no. 144.

A. Lhotsky, Quellenkunde zur mittelalterlichen Geschichte Österreichs (Mitteilungen des Instituts für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung. Ergänzungsband, 19), 1963, p. 348, as untraced.

S. Krämer, 'Verbleib unbekannt Angeblich verschollene und wiederaufgetauchte Handschriften', Zeitschrift für Deutsches Altertum und Deutsche Literatur, 103 (1974), pp. 119-20, and 104 (1975), p. 251, as untraced.

P. Johanek in Die deutsche Literatur des Mittelalters, Verfasserlexikon, X, 1999, col. 1200, as untraced.

L. Saurma-Jeltsch, Spätformen mittelalterlicher Buchherstellung, Bilderhandschriften aus der Werkstatt Diebold Laubers in Hagenau, II, 2001, p. 16 and cat. no. I, 12, as untraced.

J. Schneider, 'Das illustrierte "Buch von Kaiser Sigmund" des Eberhard Windeck, Der wideraufgefundene Textzeuge aus der ehemaligen Bibliothek von Sir Thomas Phillipps in Cheltenham', Deutsches Archiv für Erforschung des Mittelalters, LXI, 2005, pp. 169-180.

J. Schneider, 'Mémoire du Souverain par le Texte et l'Image, Les particularités de l'exemplaire illustré du Livre de Sigismond d'Eberhard Windeck, récemment retrouvé',  Sigismundus rex et imperator: Art et culture à l'époque de Sigismond de Luxembourg, 1387-1437, ed. P. von Zabern, 2006, pp. 433-37.

J. Schneider in Heiliges Römisches Reich Deutscher Nation, 962 bis 1806, Ausstellung des Europarates in Magdeburg und Berlin und Landesausstellung Sachsen-Anhalt, ed. M. Puhle and C.-P. Hasse, exhib. in Magdeburg and Berlin, 2006, pp. 479-80, no. V. 75.

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing where appropriate.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

text

This is one of the great vernacular chronicles of the fifteenth century, and a major (and often unique) source for the life of Sigismund of Luxembourg (1368-1437), king of Hungary 1387-1437, king of Germany 1411-37, king of Bohemia 1419-37, king of Lombardy 1431-37, and Holy Roman Emperor 1433-37.  It is both a swashbuckling and adventurous romance and an intimate and deeply well-informed account by a man who knew him well and was often present at the events he describes.  Eberhard Windeck (c. 1380- c.1440) was a member of a successful merchant family of Mainz.  He first met Sigismund in Prague in 1395.  He travelled extensively throughout Europe, both for business and on diplomatic missions, living at various times in Paris, Vienna, Buda, Nuremberg, Venice, and other cities.  His contacts and sources of information are formidable.  He entered the service of Sigismund in 1414, and accompanied him to the Council of Constance and elsewhere.  The Buch von Kaiser Sigmund is a celebration of the emperor's close involvement in very many major events, including the resolution of the papal schism, the Hussite Wars (there is a fine illustrated account here of the burning of Jan Hus in 1415), and the story of Joan of Arc, including what are reputed to be the earliest known pictures of Joan of Arc, who was martyred in 1431 (fols. 144r-149v).  The list of illustrations below gives a flavour of the range of Windeck's interests.  An unusual reference (which even Windeck would not have understood as important) is the listing of the name of one "Hennecken zu Guettenberg" among those cited in a document of arbitration by the archbishop of Mainz on 28 March 1430 (fol. 288v here, second column).  'Hennecken' is a diminutive of Johann.  He is described as 'absent from the city'.  Is this Johann Gutenberg himself, citizen of Mainz, later the inventor of printing?  Windeck can hardly fail to have known him.  Gutenberg left Mainz probably in 1428, and is documented in Strassburg for ten years from 1434, involved in some way in the production of pilgrim mirrors, and he was back in Mainz by 1448, perhaps already working on the project which resulted in the Gutenberg Bible in the mid-1450s.

The text is known in only four manuscripts.  There are two primary copies with pictures and two later unillustrated manuscripts.  The principal manuscripts are the present volume, and Vienna ÖNB. cod. 13975, dated 1443.  Both share a common origin, and the language of their text points not to Mainz but the lower Rhine, consistent with Hagenau.  The unillustrated copies are Gotha, Forschungs- und Landesbibliothek, cod. Chart A 23 (dated 1461), and Hannover, Landesbibliothek, Ms XIII 917 (late fifteenth- or early sixteenth-century).  There is a nineteenth-century transcript of the present manuscript made in Cheltenham in 1877, now Göttingen, Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek, Ms hist. 98 i.  The present manuscript was unlocated and inaccessible for over a century until a brief and sensational appearance at an exhibition at Magdeburg in 2006 (see bibliography below).

illustration

The volume has a total of 174 very large or full-page coloured pictures, mostly as large as small panel paintings.  They are securely attributable to the artist and publisher Diebold Lauber and his active workshop in Hagenau, in Alsace.  Hagenau is now in France but was then part of Germany; it is where the Bedford Master probably came from.  Lauber administered an extraordinary enterprise which produced over 50 surviving illustrated manuscripts in the German language, dating from between about 1427 and 1470, with a combined total of more than 6000 pictures.  "The manuscripts stand at the intersection, not only of art and economic history, but also of religious, linguistic, and literary history.  Written in the vernacular and endowed with ambitious programmes of pictorial decoration, the books signal a 'coming of age' of vernacular literature" (J. F. Hamburger in Medium Aevum, LXXII, 2003, p. 362).  The Vienna manuscript of the Buch von Kaiser Sigmund is by the same artist, and has the even more astonishing total of 246 pictures.  Of the manuscripts ascribed to Lauber by Lieselotte Saurma-Jeltsch (see bibliography), most are now in German or Austrian national libraries.  Two are in England (British Library) and two in North America (Huntington and University of Kentucky).  One, with 31 drawings, was recently offered by J. Günther, cat. 9 (2008), no. 16.  Diebold Lauber's pictures are of infinite and engaging charm, filled with contemporary details of daily and vernacular life in the late Middle Ages.  It would provide a source book for countless repertoires of images of medieval history – kings, cities, ships, kitchens, feasts, costumes, armour, cannons, works of art, books, battles, executions, Jews, Greeks, pilgrims, the Council of Basel, the Duc de Berry, Henry V, John Hus, Joan of Arc, etc.  The subjects are:

1, folio 1v, the Emperor Sigismund and two courtiers kneeling in contemplation before God the father seated and holding Christ on the Cross as the Holy Spirit descends in the form of a dove, all surmounted by the emperor's coat-of-arms, 373 mm. by 250 mm.; 2, folio 2v, the Emperor Charles IV seated in regalia, with his sons kneeling before him, ordaining how they should conduct themselves after his death, 266 mm. by 255 mm.; 3, folio 3v, the Emperor Charles IV and his son Sigismund on horseback followed by courtiers, as he formally conducts Sigismund into the margravate of Brandenburg, 268 mm. by 240 mm.; 4, folio 4v, the author Eberhardt Windeck on horseback riding away from his parents' house for the first time, 310 mm. by 260 mm.; 5, folio 6r, the author again on horseback, having ridden down the Rhine, arriving at the entrance to the city of Cologne, surmounted by his arms, 337 mm. by 264 mm.; 6, folio 7v, the author meeting Duke Stephen, followed by his courtiers, on the bridge leading into the walled city of Nuremberg, 287 mm. by 250 mm.; 7, folio 9v, the king on horseback followed by armed knights, receiving a sealed letter from a messenger informing him that he has been unanimously chosen king of the Romans, 280 mm. by 260 mm.; 8, folio 10v, the dead Margrave Jobst lying enshrouded in his coffin (d. 24 June 1414), before his grave and a host of shocked and despairing followers, 314 mm. by 260 mm.; 9, folio 11v, the author kneeling before the Margrave of Brandenburg, who wears wooden platform shoes and a belt of bells, commending himself into his service, 290 mm. by 248 mm.; 10, folio 12v, King Sigismund seated enthroned and in robes of state as he is crowned king of Hungary by two officials, 277 mm. by 250 mm.; 11, folio 13r, King Sigismund seized by a band of Hungarian magnates who encircle him, to the left he is expelled from the country bereft of his crown and valuables, 253 mm. by 265 mm.; 12, folio 14v, Grand-duke Witholt of Lithuania-Poland (d. 1430) kneeling and presenting gifts in golden caskets to King Sigismund before their followers, 300 mm. by 260 mm.; 13, folio 15v, the duchess, Grand-duke Witolt's wife, gesturing an attendant forward to offer King Sigismund further gifts and a new set of clothes, 282 mm. by 260 mm.; 14, folio 16v, the duchess standing before two followers who offer further gifts to King Sigismund's wife,298 mm. by 260 mm.; 15, folio 17r, King Sigismund seated with Lord Marsilio of Padua next to him, passing judgment on a group of young noblemen driven out by the Venetians, 260 mm. by 265 mm.; 16, folio 18r, King Sigismund on horseback leading a group of armed knights and followers (the rubric claims 12,000 men) to Bohemia to demand a meeting, 317 mm. by 260 mm.; 17, folio 19r, King 'Charles' of Naples (in fact Ladislaus) and his army in a large galleon crossing the sea to aid the Hungarians in their revolt against King Sigismund, 260 mm. by 265 mm.;  18, folio 20v, King Sigismund standing before the walls of a large walled city in Bosnia, inspecting a mortar-cannon as an executioner decapitates humbled lords (the rubric states 371 lords), 325 mm. by 260 mm.; 19, folio 21v, King Sigismund at the head of his army marching into Serbia and Ratzen to meet with Duke 'Thischbolt' (actually Duke Benedictus Stephanus Lazarewitch, d. 1427), 300 mm. by 260 mm.; 20, folio 22v, King Sigismund on horseback putting out his hand to receive a token (of a 40,000 guilder gift) from the Lords of Prussia, to secure his support in their defence of their borders against rebellious Poland, 288 mm. by 260 mm.; 21, folio 23v, King Sigismund joining in marriage the hands of the daughter of Duke Albrecht of Saxony with the son of Burgrave Frederick of Nuremberg, 290 mm. by 260 mm.; 22, folio 24v, King Sigismund joining in marriage the hands of his daughter to the son of Duke Albrecht 'the young' of Austria, 298 mm. by 250 mm.; 23, folio 25v, King Sigismund at Bratislava (with the earlier name 'Pressburg' in the rubric) receiving a sealed letter from the Rhenish lords of Nassau, 285 mm. by 260 mm.; 24, folio 26v, King Sigismund before the walls of the Venetian-owned town of Motta with an army and mortar-cannons, in the foreground a soldier raises his sword to cut off the hands from the humbled aristocracy, hands strewn on the ground before them (the rubric states that 180 men lost their hands), 305 mm. by 260 mm. ; 25, folio 27v, King Sigismund in Salzburg, standing between a large group of noblemen, mediating in the war between the city and Austria, 257 mm. by 260 mm.; 26, folio 28v, King 'Charles' of Naples (in fact Ladislaus) surrounded by knights and riding under his banner, entering the St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome, which he used to stable his horse having conquered the city through trickery in 1413, 288 mm. by 260 mm.; 27, folio 29v, the lords of Prussia, dressed in long white cloaks marked with black crosses (the future heraldic marks of Prussia), appealing to King Sigismund and his court to aid them against Polish aggression, 255 mm. by 260 mm.; 28, folio 30v, a young servant stands before the lords of Prussia reading out the articles of arbitration agreed between them and the king of Poland, 250 mm. by 260 mm.; 29, folio 32r, King Sigismund standing before the lords of Prussia and gesturing to the king of Poland, who shakes hands with one of the lords, 260 mm. by 260 mm.; 30, folio 33r, King Sigismund enthroned at Breslau with the archbishop of Trier kneeling before the throne as he receives a fief from the king, on the right and in the foreground an executioner beheads a numbers of burghers of Breslau on the king's orders, 340 mm. by 260 mm.; 31, folio 34r, King Sigismund and the lords of Prussia stand either side of a messenger who reads aloud a proclamation to be sent to the king of Poland summoning him, 270 mm. by 250 mm.; 32, folio 35v, King Sigismund receives a letter with a seal from the king of Poland empowering him to arbitrate in the dispute, 260 mm. by 260 mm.; 33, folio 38r, King Sigismund stands with Brother Michael (Küchenmeister), the Grand-Master of the German knights, reading together the arbitration document with a vast suspended seal (note that Windeck's chronicle is the only witness to this document in its entirety), 235 mm. by 260 mm.; 34, folio 41r, King Sigismund receives a large document with a suspended seal from King Wladislav of Poland, 235 mm. by 245 mm.; 35, folio 43r, the envoy of the king of Poland seated on a large bench between two representatives of the German knights, all contemplating the arbitration document, 300 mm. by 260 mm.; 36, folio 44r, King Sigismund enthroned between three bishops and three princes proclaiming his judgment on the dispute between Poland and the German knights (all thirteen articles of the settlement are given in the adjacent text), 290 mm. by 260 mm.; 37, folio 49r, King Sigismund on horseback being received by Duke Frederick of Austria in the countryside outside of Innsbruck, 322 mm. by 260 mm.; 38, folio 50r, King Sigismund watching a kitchen scene in which an assassin in the pay of the Venetians is discovered by cooks in the kitchen, seized and beaten with clubs (the Venetians made a number of attempts on Sigismund's life, beginning in 1415), 255 mm. by 260 mm.; 39, folio 51r, King Sigismund's arrival on horseback into the city of Asti where he greeted by the margrave of Montferrat (Theodore II, d. 1418, this event taking place in 1414), 283 mm. by 260 mm.245 mm. by 260 mm.; 40, folio 52v, King Sigismund meeting the Lord of Milan (Duke Filippo Maria Visconti, d. 1447, with his arms above his head), 245 mm. by 255 mm.; 41, folio 53v, King Sigismund and his elder brother King Wenceslaus of Bohemia with two copies of their agreement (Windeck's account is the only known record of this agreement between two warring brothers), 243 mm. by 255 mm.; 42, folio 55r, King Sigismund encircled and seized by a band of his own magnates, and taken to a tower to be imprisoned (in 1401, in the castle of Vissegrad, and then Gara in Hungary), 273 mm. by 255 mm.; 43, folio 56v, King Sigismund before a table in a rocky landscape surveying a number of golden crowns, plates and vessels seized from the castle of Hradschin in Prague during looting on the campaign into Bohemia (in 1403), 255 mm. by 255 mm.; 44, folio 57v, King Sigismund holding a crucifix and standing next to a chest of golden loot, sends an account to a worried Wenceslaus of the state of his campaign and Wenceslaus' country, 270 mm. by 260 mm.; 45, folio 58v, a messenger kneels before King Sigismund and receives a rolled up document asking the German aristocracy for aid against Duke Frederick of Austria who has secretly abducted the Pope from the Council of Constance (in fact, Duke Frederick had aided Pope John XXIII in his flight from Constance where Sigismund had forced his abdication; Frederick was subsequently outlawed), 300 mm. by 260 mm.; 46, folio 59v, Duke Frederick kneels before an enthroned King Sigismund, surrendering his body and all his lands (16 May 1415, he was also forced to return the Pope to Constance), 265 mm. by 260 mm.; 47, folio 61r, Duke Ludwig of Bavaria (under the Wittelsbach arms), his knights and mortar-cannons, launch an assault on the town of Ennsheim (a stronghold of the duke of Austria), 360 mm. by 260 mm.; 48, folio 62r, King Sigismund and followers riding up to the city of Narbonne to enforce the decisions of the Council of Constance, where he was received by the bishop and presented with 6000 crowns of money, 330 mm. by 260 mm.; 49, folio 63v, King Sigismund seated at table, having refused to admit the envoys of the duke of Austria (one of whom bears the arms of Wilhelm von Knoeringen) and two Italians as he was warned that they had come to poison him, 265 mm. by 250 mm.; 50, folio 64v, the burghers of Avignon receiving the king outside the walls of their city, 310 mm. by 260 mm.; 51, folio 66v, King Sigismund meeting two powerful lords (Count Nicolas Gara of Hungary and Count Bertoldi Orsini of Rome; Count Bruno della Scala of Verona is also correctly shown as present) and the rightful lord of Milan (Count Giovanni Carlo Visconti of Milan, with his arms), 305 mm. by 260 mm.; 52, folio 67v, Duke William of Holland and his knights arriving in London by boat to meet King Sigismund (who stayed at the Palace of Westminster, 28 May 1416) to be invested with a fief, 280 mm. by 260 mm.; 53, folio 69r, the duke of Austria stands before the bishop of Trent, who holds a candle in his left hand, as the bishop excommunicates him, 280 mm. by 260 mm.; 54, folio 70r, Margrave Frederick of Brandenburg sits in judgment of Duke Frederick of Austria, next to Count Ludwig of Oettingen who demands a sentence in favour of the king (again the extant documents in connection to these proceedings are known of only through this text), 288 mm. by 260 mm.; 55, folio 72v, Count Ludwig of Oettingen hands sealed letters to a messenger for the Council of Constance demanding the seizure of all Duke Frederick of Austria's fiefs and lands, 262 mm. by 260 mm.; 56, folio 76v, the duke of Austria directs the filling of a chest with 36,000 guilders and 220 Rhenish guilders on St Michael's day as a gift for King Sigismund, which the author Windeck (here on the right) carried to the king, 278 mm. by 260 mm.; 57, folio 78r, King Sigismund and his men return from England in three ships (the rubric specifies four), 315 mm. by 260 mm.; 58, folio 79r, in Calais the king of England presents King Sigismund with a silver-gilt vessel (here painted gold) as well as other treasures (the text notes that Windeck was present at this, and Sigismund subsequently asked him to pawn these gifts as they passed through Bruges), 290 mm. by 260 mm.; 59, folio 80r, the author, Windeck, as a young man stands before the city of Bruges, and takes the hand of a representative of the city council, promising to return their having raised 200,000 crowns in order to redeem the gifts given to King Sigismund (the real figure was 18,000 crowns, and Windeck redeemed the items in August 1417), 280 mm. by 260 mm.; 60, folio 82r, the election of Otto of Colonna as Pope Martin V in Constance, enthroned and surrounded by two bishops and a cardinal (the Council of Constance had deposed Pope John XXIII, and the anti-Pope Gregory XII had abdicated of his own free will), 280 mm. by 250 mm.; 61, folio 82v, a battle between Duke Heinrich of Landshut and Duke Ludwig of Ingolstadt (relatives from warring branches of the Wittelsbach family), both on horseback and with one duke seizing the other by his hair and raising his sword to strike, while a knight hacks at the second duke from behind, 230 mm. by 260 mm.; 62, folio 83v, the lord of Milan, in a bishop's mitre, d. 1447) riding a horse, leads a legation to King Sigismund at Constance, 305 mm. by 260 mm.; 63, folio 84v, a messenger of King Sigismund arrives outside the walls of Basel to ask if they would like to pawn the castles and towns which they have seized from the duke of Austria, 315 mm. by 260 mm.; 64, folio 85r, the Pope (Martin V) seated and wearing the three-tiered papal crown trying to mediate between a group of Venetians to his left and King Sigismund to his right, 255 mm. by 245 mm.; 65, folio 86r, the siege of Harfleur, with a single French crossbowman leaning over the walls and firing down at the English mortar-cannons, as a cannon ball crashes into the walls of the town, to the left King Sigismund stands offering himself as a mediator, 322 mm. by 260 mm.; 66, folio 87r, the meeting of the duke of Burgundy and his knights, with a representative of the Orleans family and their armed forces (as the rubric explains this occurred when Burgundy offered their aid to the side of the French in the conflict with England, but it was refused by the Orleans, as Duke Louis of Orleans had been murdered at Agincourt in 1415 on the orders of Burgundy), 330 mm. by 260 mm.; 67, folio 88r, the catching of a vast whale at Dunkirk which yielded 120 tonnes of blubber, with the whale (depicted as an enormous green-backed fish) is hacked at by a man), note as Windeck is present in the picture this may well record that he was an eye-witness to this event, 320 mm. by 260 mm.; 68, folio 89r, King Sigismund and a number of German princes (each playing a musical instrument) in a large boat, fishing for sturgeon in the River Waag, as two large fish lurk underneath the boat's keel, 303 mm. by 260 mm.; 69, folio 90r, King Sigismund leads his court into the main gate of the city of Paris and is greeted by the duc de Berry, who doffs his hat as a mark of respect, 310 mm. by 260 mm.; 70, folio 91v, envoys from the duke of Austria attempt to get "an honourable and pious man" to shoot Sigismund with his crossbow in exchange for the finest castle on the River Etsch (Adige), and the crossbowman with his weapon slung over his shoulder declines, 277 mm. by 260 mm.; 71, folio 93r, the lord of Milan stands to the right directing the execution of Lanceletto of Lodi on the charge of showing too much favour to the king of the Romans, 305 mm. by 255 mm.; 72, folio 94r, a throng of King Sigismund's soldiers directed by a bearded general in a red hat, bombard the city of Serravalle (also claimed by the Venetians) with their mortar-cannons, 290 mm. by 260 mm; 73, folio 95r, on the left King Sigismund in Passau meeting with the Venetian envoys who have come to agree a peace-settlement, and on the right the Venetians leaving on their horses having obtained nothing, 290 mm. by 260 mm.; 74, folio 96r, King Sigismund and Duke Albrecht of Austria direct the bombardment of the walls of the town of Znaim in Moravia (the rubric adds that there both leaders were poisoned with "black pepper", but they recovered), 270 mm. by 260 mm.; 75, folio 97v, King Sigismund at the head of his forces entering the city of Hagenau (in 1418, where the present manuscript was written and illustrated a few decades later), 282 mm. by 260 mm.; 76, folio 98v, the bishops of Cologne, Trier and Mainz, and Duke Ludwig of Heidelberg stand with their forces before the city of Cologne, as their mortars batter the walls (this concerns a violent feud that occurred in 1418/19 between the archbishop of Cologne and the town's citizens), 360 mm. by 260 mm.; 77,  folio 99v, the author receiving letters from King Sigismund to take to Pope Martin V at Pavia, 288 mm. by 260 mm.; 78, folio 100v, the reconciliation between King Sigismund and Duke Ludwig of Heidelberg, forced by the surrounding princes, one of whom ominously has a large sword over his shoulder, 230 mm. by 260 mm.; 79, folio 102r, Duke Ludwig of Heidelberg occupying the town of Selz in the Alsace in defiance of King Sigismund, with the duke and his knights peering out from within the city's fortifications, 315 mm. by 260 mm.; 80, folio 103r, the Electors (the bishops of Cologne, Trier and Mainz, the duke of Saxony and the margrave of Brandenburg) meeting with Duke Ludwig of Heidelberg and the margrave of Baden to resolve their quarrel, 290 mm. by 260 mm.; 81, folio 104r, a host of great lords stand and observe the burning of Johan Hus in Constance (6 July 1415, Hus' death was the cause of the Hussite wars in Bohemia, and his writings deeply influenced Luther; as the rubric notes Hus' friend Jerome of Prague was also burnt with him), with the martyr kneeling in prayer, books containing his writings strewn around him, as the flames lick up his legs and torso, 285 mm. by 260 mm.; 82, folio 105v, King Sigismund on horseback before the walls of Ofen (Buda in Hungary) receiving a sealed letter informing him of the death of his brother, King Wenceslaus (16 August 1419; through this Sigismund inherited the crown of Bohemia, hence the arms here are the united ones of Hungary and Bohemia), 320 mm. by 260 mm.; 83, folio 106v, the siege of Prague, with King Sigismund standing before a host of armed soldiers, tents and temporary buildings as mortars are fired at the city walls (this followed the revolt of the inhabitants immediately after Wenceslaus' death), 368 mm. by 260 mm.; 84, folio 108r, the siege of Teinitz in southern Bohemia with a legendarily large cannon, with Sigismund directing the firing of the cannon at the walls of the town (1420), 305 mm. by 260 mm.; 85, folio 109r, a sea battle, in which two large ships carrying armed knights sail side-by-side as the knights fire small arms and throw rocks at one another, with Sigismund standing on the closest ship surveying the conflict (the rubric records that this shows part of the dispute between the citizens of Lubeck and the merchants of the city, and that the king of Denmark had to intervene), 325 mm. by 260 mm.; 86, folio 110r, King Sigismund stands to the left looking on as a messenger with his arms on his lapel delivers a sealed letter to the king of Poland (in 1421 when the Poles were secretly supporting the Hussites), 282 mm. by 260 mm.; 87, folio 111r, Bishop Dietrich of Cologne riding at the head of a legation to Hungary, 310 mm. by 260 mm.; 88, folio 112r, Duke Sigismund of Poland on horseback at the head of a column of knights, riding to Bohemia to support the Hussites, 333 mm. by 260 mm.; 89, folio 113v, King Sigismund receiving the bishop of Cologne, who kneels before him, 280 mm. by 255 mm. ; 90, folio 115r, the Hussites of Bohemia storming the castle of Kuttenberg, with two knights scaling the walls with ladders while an inhabitant hurls rocks from a tower, 310 mm. by 260 mm.; 91, folio 116r, King Sigismund seated before the landed nobles of Bohemia as they, hands raised, swear to observe to desist from the faith of the Hussites and never to deviate from the teachings of the Church, 240 mm. by 250 mm.; 92, folio 117r, the battle of Aussig, at Bruex in the bishopric of Meissen, a bloody battle scene with many knights hacking and slashing at each other before the town walls, corpses strewn in the foreground (the forces of King Sigismund met with those of the Hussites on 16 June 1426, and where, as the rubric notes, 4000 men died), 320 mm. by 260 mm.; 93, folio 118r, the Electors meeting within the walls of Mainz to settle the dispute between the bishop of Mainz and the landgrave of Hesse, 352 mm. by 260 mm.; 94, folio 119r, the armed forces of the bishop of Cologne and the duke of Cleves, bristling with swords and spears, meet each other in battle (24 June 1425), 325 mm. by 260 mm.; 95, folio 120v, the bishop of Mainz leading his armed knights into Hesse (the bishop let the landgrave of Hesse know that he would return his money in exchange for the county of Waldeck), 320 mm. by 255 mm.; 96, folio 121v, the meeting of the princes at Frankfurt concerning the unity of the Christian faith (April/May 1427, here the arms are those of Saxony, Bohemia [in reversed colours] the palatinate, Mainz, Cologne, Trier), 320 mm. by 255 mm.; 97, folio 126r, a messenger handing a letter to the aforementioned princes from the primate of Germany urging the lectors to secure the unity of the church, 290 mm. by 260 mm.; 98, folio 128r, the forces of the bishop of Trier, a "cardinal of England" (actually Bishop Henry of Winchester), the margrave of Brandenburg and King Sigismund, assaulting a Hussite stronghold with mortar cannons, 332 mm. by 260 mm.; 99, folio 129r, the forces of the Hussites and the Bohemian lords attacking the city of Tachau, on the River Mies in Bohemia, from within large wooden cart-like armoured carriages from which arrows can be fired through holes in the front, 362 mm. by 260 mm.; 100, folio 130r, the meeting of the electors both spiritual (on the right) and secular (on the left) at Frankfurt conveyed to deliberate the Hussite question, 325 mm. by 255 mm.; 101, folio 131r, the landgrave of Hesse, the count of Waldeck and the bishop of Mainz standing before two money-changing tables, as the landgrave of Hesse takes back his lands from the count of Waldeck and the bishop receives his money back (see item 95 above), 260 mm. by 255 mm.; 102, folio 132r, King Sigismund standing before the coffin of the margrave of Meissen and duke of Saxony (Frederick I 'the valiant', d. 4 January 1428), with his oldest son (Frederick II 'the mild', 1428-64) standing to the side of the king holding a banner and receiving his father's fiefs and being appointed an elector, 285 mm. by 250 mm.; 103, folio 133r, the march of the armed forces of the Bohemian Hussites into the city of Brieg as the rightful lord of the city, Duke Ludwig (II of Brieg and Liegnitz, 1409-36), flees from a door in the back of the fortified city (26 March 1426, for his flight Duke Ludwig was accused of sympathizing with the Hussites), 315 mm. by 260 mm.; 104, folio 134r, the bishop of Würzburg before the castle of Our Lady (Marienberg) greeting eight burghers of Würzburg (whom he then held as prisoners as part of a feud between him and the town in 1428), 330 mm. by 260 mm.; 105, folio 135r, a force of the Bohemian Hussites lead by a general in a red hat setting fire to buildings (either those of Bernau or Falkenberg as noted by the rubric), 305 mm. by 260 mm.; 106, folio 136r, the electors riding to Frankfurt (in fact they rode to Nuremberg in April 1428, and were without the bishop of Mainz and Duke Ludwig of Heidelberg who were both ill), 330 mm. by 258mm.; 107, folio 137r, the bishop of Bamberg with a vast host of armed knights and lords within the walls of the city of Bamberg (the bishop called the meeting in 1428, proposed to subject the city, and was voted down by the soldiers who left the city and dispersed), 330 mm. by 260 mm.; 108, folio 138r, Landgrave Ludwig VII of Leuchtenberg (1416-34) storming the town of Strassburg, and plunging a sword into the back of one of the inhabitants as he crosses the bridge leading to the gate of the city (the rubric, top part of the banner and tip of a spear painted on a strip of paper used contemporaneously to repair the top of the page), 300 mm. by 260 mm.; 109, folio 140r, the battle of Kratzau, with Hans von Polenz (the captain of the Silesian army) and his forces overwhelming those of the Hussites and their armoured carriages in a bloody battle (11 November 1428), 370 mm. by 260 mm.; 110, folio 141r, the count of Weinsberg and his knights with raised swords attacking the representatives of the Swabian cities at Sinsheim in spite of their safe conduct by Duke Otto I of Mosbach (here indicated by their raised fingers in the sign of an oath; they were attacked and robbed of 30,000 guilders in August 1428), 310 mm. by 260 mm.; 111, folio 143r, the meeting of the Electors at Worms concerning the bishop of and city of Strassburg (from 27 February to 6 March 1429; see item 108 above), 310 mm. by 250 mm.; 112, folio 144r, King Sigismund directing a kneeling messenger to give a sealed letter to "the Virgin who has performed many miracles" (Saint Joan of Arc, in a burgundy-red dress and with a white head-dress; note that this and the two following paintings are almost certainly the earliest representations of Joan of Arc), 295 mm. by 260 mm.; 113, folio 146r, Joan of Arc (here "the maiden of Orleans") directing the same messenger to return with a letter for King Sigismund (the letter, given in the text, is dated 22 March 1429), 295 mm. by 260 mm.; 114, folio 149v, Joan of Arc riding at the head of a column of armed French knights, as the English forces withdraw before her casting down their bows and arrows, 285 mm. by 260 mm.; 115, folio 150v, the bishop of Mainz meeting with King Sigismund at Pressburg (Bratislava; November 1429), 290 mm. by 240 mm.; 116, folio 153v, the count of Virneburg, the lord of Heinsberg and their armed followers secretly entering the city of Aachen, 315 mm. by 260 mm.; 117, folio 157r, the bishop of Mainz and the margrave of Baden meeting with King Sigismund in Pressburg (Bratislava), 315 mm. by 150 mm.; 118, folio 159r, King Sigismund meeting with the Electors at Nuremberg (in May 1430),  277 mm. by 255 mm.; 119, folio 161r, King Sigismund holding a letter with green seals and handing another copy with red seals to a messenger to carry to all the princes and cities of the empire (the letter dated 21 December 1429, summoned all representatives to a session of the Supreme Court; Windeck's text is the sole source of this record), 300 mm. by 255 mm.; 120, folio 162r, the Hussite forces assaulting the town of Hotzenplotz in Moravia with mortars in their war against Duke Albrecht, the king's son-in-law (Albrecht V of Austria, a Hapsburg, married Sigismund's daughter Elizabeth in 1422; he followed Sigismund as Emperor from 1438-39 and established the Hapsburgs as the foremost dynasty of Germany), 162 mm. by 160 mm.; 121, folio 164r, the Electors meeting and receiving a letter (here as a scroll before them) from King Sigismund (the letter is dated 2 December 1427), 310 mm. by 255 mm.; 122, folio 176r, the kneeling envoy of the Hussites handing a sealed letter to King Sigismund before the walls of Nuremberg, 340 mm. by 260 mm.; 123, folio 183r, the meeting of the Electors with the other lords and counts (at the Diet of Nuremberg in February/March 1431, to plan another campaign against the Hussites), 288 mm. by 250 mm.; 124, folio 185r, a messenger from King Sigismund bears a letter of friendship to Duke Ludwig of Bavaria (dated 26 August 1431), 312 mm. by 260 mm.; 125, folio 186v, three lords stand next to the coffin of Duke Witholt, the grand-duke of Lithuania (d. 27 October 1430; see item 12 above), 298 mm. by 260 mm.; 126, folio 188v, King Sigismund with a trombone-player leading Myrxna to his lodgings in Nuremberg, having appointed him as lord of Walachia (now part of Romania), 285 mm. by 260 mm.; 127, folio 190r, the lord of Milan (Filippo Maria Visconti, d. 1447) stands before a large group of Venetian prisoners-of-war, bloody and roped together (they were captured in battle on 18  November 1432), 300 mm. by 255 mm.; 128, folio 193v, King Sigismund and his court arriving at Milan (but the lord of Milan would not see him as he feared he would be asked for a financial contribution), 325 mm. by 260 mm.; 129, folio 195v, Bishop Conrad of Mainz and Margrave Frederick of Brandenburg standing before the bishop of Würzburg and representatives of the city arranging a peace truce between the two parties (the conclusion of the story told in item 104), 285 mm. by 260 mm.; 130, folio 196v, a cardinal, in the presence of two bishops and another cardinal crowns Pope Eugenius IV (after the death of Pope Martin V in 1431),310 mm. by 260 mm.; 131, folio 197v, a bloody naval battle between the Venetians and the Genoese (here portrayed as three ships bristling with knights), in which the Genoese sweep over the Venetian ships and capture them, 300 mm. by 260 mm.; 132, folio 199r, a number of armed knights with spears, pikes and maces riding up to the city of Worms under a banner portraying Christ on the Cross to demand the exile of the Jews of the city (the knights were from Alzei, and the rubric notes that there were 1,600 peasants with them), 315 mm. by 260 mm.; 133, folio 200r, King Sigismund between two lords and at the head of a column of knights riding past the city of Milan, 295 mm. by 260 mm.; 134, folio 201r, King Sigismund leading a column of armed men up to a walled city as Duke Swidrigello of Lithuania and the Hungarian lords approach in a ship from the sea (this joint military campaign was in response to the war of the Turks against the knights of Prussia), 295 mm. by 260 mm.; 135, folio 202v, the leaders of the Hussites approach the town of Tyrnau (near Bratislava) under a banner depicting a goose (which town they won by treason), 342 mm. by 260 mm.; 136, folio 203v, the legation of the Hussites arriving at the town of Basel, and within the walls the Council of Basel in session between a lord, a bishop and a cardinal (the first session of this council on 14 December 1431 was held against the wishes of the Pope and discussed potential reforms of the Church, as such it was open to the Hussite legation), 325 mm. by 260 mm.; 137, folio 207v, the King Sigismund within the walls of Nuremberg looking out over the coffins and funerals of the duke of Lorraine (Charles I 'the Bold', d. 1431) and the margrave of Baden (Bernhard I, d. 1431), 265 mm. by 260 mm.; 138, folio 209v, King Sigismund seated in Siena, with Lord Jacob von Sirk, bishop of Trier, before him (the bishop was on a diplomatic mission to reconcile differences between the king and the Pope), 300 mm. by 260 mm.; 139, folio 299r, King Sigismund in an imperial crown kneeling before the enthroned Pope Eugenius, as the latter holds a book and raises a sword to crown Sigismund Holy Roman Emperor (31 May 1433), 330 mm. by 250 mm.; 140, folio 212r, the Emperor Sigismund standing before the Pope and other officials of the Vatican reading from an open copy of the Gospels before him, 315 mm. by 260 mm.; 141, folio 212v, the Emperor kneels before the altar of the Corpus Christi adorned with an image of the Crucifixion, surrounded by princes (although note the rubric claims that he kneels before the Pope and receives instruction in his future conduct) 320 mm. by 255 mm.; 142, folio 214r, the Emperor stands with a Venetian ambassador kneeling at his feet offering a red sack full of gold coins (these paid for his expenses at Rome, and allowed the two parties to conclude peace), 280 mm. by 260 mm.; 143, folio 215v, Emperor Sigismund with his court approaching the town of Basel by ship as a large procession comes out to meet him, 310 mm. by 260 mm.; 144, folio 217r, Saint Hildegard of Bingen with a large halo and curly yellow hair cascading over her shoulders, standing before an audience, holding a book and expounding on her prophecies, 275 mm. by 260 mm.; 145, folio 227r, Emperor Sigismund dispatching a pair of messengers with sealed letters (a circular letter ordered by the Electors to be sent to all the territorial princes calling them to a council in Basel, and dated 19 November 1433), 260 mm. by 260 mm.; 146, folio 229r, the Emperor seated in council with the princes at Basel (the arms here identify the lords of Württemberg, Bavaria-Palatinate, Baden and following Sigismund himself, Brandenburg), 295 mm. by 255 mm.; 147, folio 231v, Duke Wilhelm of Bavaria presiding over a council of lords within the walls of Basel (Duke Wilhelm II, d. 1435, was appointed as Protector of the Council of Basel by the Emperor during his absence in 1431), 285 mm. by 255 mm.; 148, folio 233r, Emperor Sigismund and a huge host of armed knights under the imperial banner and the flags of Hungary sailing to Regensburg to counter a Hussite threat there (on 20 August 1434), 285 mm. by 260 mm.; 149, folio 234r, a messenger hands a sealed letter from the inhabitants of the city of Mainz to the duke of Heidelberg, concluding a treaty together (against the archbishop of Mainz), 280 mm. by 240 mm.; 150, folio 236r, a host of pilgrims dressed in monastic robes and holding candles walking in pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem (the arms are those of a number of German patrician families, with the arms of Ebner von Eschenbach first and those of Windeck sixth), 278 mm. by 250 mm.; 151, folio 239v, a group of laymen and a tonsured cleric kneel at the feet of the Emperor, beseeching him for aid against the tyranny of Duke Ludwig (VII 'the Bearded') of Ingolstadt (the duke was excommunicated on 28 April 1434, and subsequently outlawed by the Emperor; the ban lasted until 11 August of the same year), 295 mm. by 255 mm.; 152, folio 241r, Lord Dietrich of the Schenk von Erbach family stands, wearing a mitre and episcopal robes, before a group of men and the coffin of his predecessor, as he is elected bishop of Mainz (see item 149 above), 270 mm. by 260 mm.; 153, folio 242r, Emperor Sigismund and the bishop of Magdeburg (Gunther II, d. 1445) stand debating before two noble representatives of the Hussites (this continues the story of item 148, and represents the meeting of Sigismund with the moderate Hussites, or Calixtines, at Basel which led to the 'Compactates of Prague', and the subsequent crushing of the hardline Hussites, or Taborites, the year after), 280 mm. by 250 mm.; 154, folio 244r, a massacre within Rome, numerous knights with their bloodied swords raised attack their foes within the walls of Rome (the victims were supporters of Pope Eugenius IV, who had managed to flee the city on 4 June 1434 and took up residence in Florence for eight years), 282 mm. by 250 mm.; 155, folio 245r, Emperor Sigismund dispatching a messenger with a sealed letter (for all the princes and cities, dated 27 September 1434, and calling for a meeting in Frankfurt), 265 mm. by 260 mm.; 156, folio 248r, two armed knights with swords raised standing on top of a pile of bleeding and mutilated corpses, massacring 500 male inhabitants of the Brabant on the orders of the bailiff of Luxemburg, in Artois near Flanders (in 1434; the Brabantines were on their way to help the Burgundians in their conflict with the French), 250 mm. by 260 mm.; 157, folio 253r, Emperor Sigismund seated as a group of Hungarian magnates kneel before him and offer golden treasures (during the imperial visit to Bratislava in late 1434), 295 mm. by 260 mm.; 158, folio 255v, a host of representatives of Bohemia with their fingers raised in an oath-taking, swearing fealty to a seated Emperor Sigismund (continuing item 153), 270 mm. by 260 mm.; 159, folio 257r, the duke of Burgundy (standing) and the king of France (on his knees) meeting with the cardinal sent by the Emperor at 'Duerneck' (probably Doullens in Picardy; in 1435), to conclude peace between the two factions, 300 mm. by 260 mm.; 160, folio 285v, the forces of the counts of Manderschied and Virneberg before the walls of the castle of Schöneck, bombarding it with mortar-cannons, 320 mm. by 260 mm.; 161, folio 260r, the naval battle of the Genoese port of Gaeta, in which the armed forces of the kings of Aragon, Castile, Navarre and Portugal (here as four crowned kings) on a large ship, exchange blows with the forces of the Genoese who defend their town against the invaders (this unsuccessful assault took place on 5 August 1435, and ended with the capture of the invading kings), 282 mm. by 260 mm.; 162, folio 261v, the inhabitants of Basel stand within the town and watch as a messenger emerges from its gate and hands a letter to a Greek envoy requesting the Greeks to come to the Council of Basel (one of the issues raised at the Council was a possible reconciliation with the Eastern Church; the Greeks were unable to come because of the threat of the Turks, but Emperor Johannes VII Palaeologus, 1423-41, did come to the Council of Ferrara in January 1438), 290 mm. by 260 mm.; 163, folio 265r, Count Michael of Wertheim and his knights chase on horseback the bishop of Würzburg, the count of Weinsberg and the count of Hohenlohe, who ride away across a grass-covered hilly landscape (this was part of a feud between the princes of the Main valley in 1437), 265 mm. by 260 mm.; 164, folio 269v, the margrave of Brandenburg, the count Palatine, the duke of Saxony and the landgrave of Hesse approach the town of Eger in northern Bohemia to meet with the Emperor, 272 mm. by 260 mm.; 165, folio 270v, a crowd of knights casting out others who are wounded and bloody and ride under the banner of the duke of Burgundy from the town of Bruges (on 26 August 1437, the city of Bruges concluded a treaty with the duke of Burgundy allowing him to enter the city with 1,500 horsemen and keep a residence there), 300 mm. by 260 mm.; 166, folio 273r, Emperor Sigismund and the bishop of Trier meeting with Captain Johannes of Rohatecz and the priest 'Rokyzana' (actually Johannes Prostrzedeck) in Prague (these were moderate Hussite leaders, and concluded an agreement with the Emperor at this meeting), 275 mm. by 260 mm.; 167, folio 281r, Emperor Sigismund with two nobles surveying three gallows constructed before the city of Prague on which hang the corpses of Rohatecz and 'Rokyzana' (Prostrzedeck) and a 'bad master' (executed in 1437), 250 mm. by 260 mm.; 168, folio 283r, the city of Louvain as the 'great tempest' (of March 1437) rages, hailing down stones, in the background a naked corpses of a man, 272 mm. by 260 mm.; 169, folio 290v, the Emperor Sigismund seated on a vast ornamental throne, his eyes closed and head slumped back, in the moment of his death, surrounded by courtiers one of whom kneels in prayer (it is reported that Sigismund did indeed die thus at Znaim on 9 December 1437, and was left on the throne for three days so that anyone who wished could see him), 270 mm. by 260 mm; 170, folio 292r, the Electors in an emergency meeting within the walls of Frankfurt (they elected Albrecht II of Austria-Hapsburg on 10 March 1438), 230 mm. by 260 mm.; 171, folio 295r, a messenger kneeling at the feet of a young and beardless King Albrecht giving him a sealed letter from the electors asking him to come to Frankfurt (Albrecht had to deny this request as he was involved in a war with the Turks in the Balkans), 308 mm. by 260 mm.; 172, folio 297r, the legend of the antiquity of Trier (said to be 1,300 years older than Rome) as enquired about by Emperor Sigismund when alive, with King Sigismund standing with a local dignitary beside the city of Trier as masons repair its walls, 315 mm. by 260 mm.; 173, folio 305r, messengers from the Electors give a sealed letter to King Frederick of Austria offering him the imperial crown (Albrecht II had died in 1439 after his return from his war with the Turks, in his place his cousin, Frederick of Steiermarck, was chosen and he reigned for 53 years), 260 mm. by 260 mm.; and 174, folio 306r, the new Emperor standing within the walls of Aix-la-Chapelle (in fact the ceremony took place within Charlemagne's cathedral in the town on 17 June 1440) surrounded by the Electors (arms of archbishops of Cologne, Trier and Mainz, the count Palatine – a Wittelsbach, the margrave of Brandenburg – a Hohenzollern, and the duke of Saxony-Meissen-Wittenberg – a Wettin), his fingers raised in oath-taking as he swears to maintain the honour of the Empire, 266 mm. by 260 mm.