Bonaventura [de Balneoregio; born Giovanni di Fidanza], author. – [Wolf Traut], artist. – [Agricola, born Daniel Meyer, presumed translator].

[FRANCISCAN ICONOGRAPHY BY THE DÜRER CIRCLE – THE PREACHERS OF POVERTY AND SILVER MINING BY THE HABSBURGS AND THE FUGGERS] Die Legend des heyligen vatters Francisci [The Legend of Saint Francis].

Nuremberg and Schwaz: Hieronymus Höltzel printed for Caspar Rosenthaler, 1512. Octavo (20 × 15.3 cm). Modern crushed morocco over five raised bands and with gold-embossed title to spine; [212] pp. with 57 woodcuts from 51 blocks by Wolf Traut. Front pastedown with exlibris of collector and cultural patron Renate König; front board very lighly rubbed; spine lightly faded; edges gilt by binder; leaves very carefully cleaned and with discrete, barely perceptible restorations in places; occasionally very faintly fox-stained; else very good. Item #55708

First edition of these woodcuts by Wolf Traut, a painter and graphic artist from the Dürer circle, and the first German-language print edition of the hagiography of St. Francis, which Bonaventure completed in 1262. He produced a more extensive version (Legenda maior) and a popular, shorter version (Legenda minor). Bonaventure – considered the “second founder” of the Franciscan order and canonized in 1482 by the Rovere Pope Sixtus IV (himself a Franciscan and the commissioner of the Sistine Chapel) – wrote the Vita at a time when the dispute over the ideal of poverty was increasingly coming to a head – a conflict that was fought not only within the order, but also in the European power struggles. The goal was to reconcile both factions, the Spirituales and the Conventuales – that is, the advocates of the strictest poverty and the adherents of a milder interpretation – through this biography. The life description was thus meant to present, pars pro toto, a successful reconciliation of both positions. Only a few years after its completion, in 1266, the General Chapter declared all previous Francis legends obsolete and ordered their destruction. From then on, together with the Rule of 1223, the Vita formed the Franciscan canon. But the work not only set standards in the handling of the material. The text was written in almost classical Latin and had a formative influence on later humanism. The manuscript was also translated into vernacular languages. In Germany, the manuscript of the Poor Clare Sibilla von Bondorf is regarded as a linguistic monument. (Cf. Joachim Schickel, Bonaventure, Legenda Sancti Francisci, in: KLL.)

The translator of the present edition is unknown, but the literature mentions the Basel Franciscan Agricola, born as Daniel Meyer, as a potential candidate. He was the author of the Vita of the Swiss local saint Beatus, which appeared in 1511 both in Latin and in German; both editions were illustrated by the glass painter and graphic artist Urs Graf. Agricola is also thought to be the translator of the "Meditationes vitae Christi", written by a Tuscan Franciscan. This edition, printed in Nuremberg in 1514, was illustrated with woodcuts by Wolf Traut. The financial backer of this edition, as well as of the present one of the Vita of Francis, was a merchant originating from Nuremberg and a partner in a mining enterprise named Caspar Rosenthaler. He had lived in the Tyrolean mining metropolis of Schwaz since 1505, where, in addition to a smelting works, he also operated the city’s first bookshop. At that time, Schwaz was the second-largest city after Vienna in the Habsburg Archduchy. Above all, an abundance of silver and copper formed the basis for the power and wealth of the Habsburg ruling house and the Augsburg patrician Fugger family. Rosenthaler had no small share in this with his smelting works. At the end of the fifteenth century, a smelting process was practiced in Schwaz that allowed more silver to be extracted from the mined ores. Rosenthaler was the decisive patron in the establishment of the Franciscans in Schwaz, whose monastery foundation in 1507 he supported as a donor, and in whose church he was buried in 1542. (Cf. Werner Williams-Krapp, Die volkssprachliche Literatur der reformorientierten Franziskaner und Klarissen, in: Die Literatur des 15. und frühen 16. Jahrhunderts: Part 1: Modelle literarischer Interessenbildung, Berlin 2020, pp. 363–404.)

The vernacular translation, with its numerous woodcuts, thus stood in a direct connection with the foundation of the monastery in the rapidly growing Alpine town, which was expanding quickly due to mining and was also located near the central trade route between Augsburg and Venice. Even before the construction of the monastery, the Franciscans had taken on preaching and other pastoral duties in Schwaz. In order to advance the monastery foundation – desired by the mine operators – under canon law, particularly in relation to the bishop, Emperor Maximilian I personally intervened in 1507, demanding that the project “not be hindered nor obstructed”, since, after all, the “highly valued gift of God in the mines” had led to “so many Christian people settling in the town of Schwaz”. However, there were clear reservations, which even led to threats of interdict against anyone who participated in the construction of the new monastery. The representatives of Schwaz – among them Caspar Rosenthaler – responded by having the emperor’s letter read aloud after mass in front of the open church doors, announcing their decision to continue work on the monastery despite the threats of interdict, as long as the emperor maintained his position. Caspar Rosenthaler, among others, was also involved in the financial administration of the construction work. Complex negotiations followed between the town’s representatives, the episcopal authority, and the Benedictines in Schwaz, which ultimately led to approval. Moreover, Maximilian I placed the monastery under his special protection and also supported it financially. The monastery cloister was completed in 1509 and the church in 1515. (Pax Leitner, Die Anfänge des Franziskanerklosters Schwaz, in: Heimat-Blätter: Schwazer Kulturzeitschrift, no. 61, 2007, pp. 4-11.)

Parallel to the printing of the present edition and the completion of the monastery, the bitter dispute over the interpretation of the vow of poverty – fought among the Franciscans for centuries – was resolved when Leo X divided the order in 1517. While the stricter Observants interpreted the vow of poverty more rigorously for their brothers, the more liberal Conventuals were permitted to receive personal income. The monastery in Schwaz henceforth belonged to the Observants. (Cf. Leonhard Lehmann, in: Kulturgeschichte der christlichen Orden, Stuttgart 1997, p. 149.) Yet while the prescribed poverty may have applied to the individual brothers themselves, the monastery in Schwaz benefited from the special status of the mining metropolis. Through credit transactions, not least with Maximilian, the Fuggers became involved in the copper and silver mines of Schwaz, which were among the most productive in all of Europe. It is therefore not surprising that shortly after the consecration of the monastery, the Fuggers had a residence built for themselves in Schwaz. Maximilian’s expansion of the Habsburg empire to include Burgundy, Flanders, Bohemia, and Spain was economically founded on the Tyrolean mines. (Cf. Rudolf Palme, in: Augsburger Handelshäuser im Wandel des historischen Urteils, ed. Johannes Burkhardt, Berlin 1996, pp. 297–307.)

This economic context explains the elaborate edition, for which the Nuremberg painter and graphic artist Wolf Traut – who was part of Albrecht Dürer’s circle – was commissioned to create the woodcuts. Traut, for example, collaborated with Dürer’s associates Hand Baldung, Hans Schäufelein, and Hans Süss von Kulmbach on the woodcut series "Der beschlossen gart des rosenkrantz marie". Traut also provided individual plates for the monumental woodcut “Triumphal Arch” (295 × 357 cm), which was assembled from 192 printing blocks. Maximilian had commissioned Dürer to lead the project in 1512. Most recently, Traut worked for the important art patron Cardinal Albrecht, for whom Cranach, Dürer, and Matthias Grünewald also worked. On his behalf, he produced the woodcuts for the Halle “Heiltumsbuch,” which documents the collection of relics in detail with its precious reliquaries. The work is considered to surpass Cranach's Wittenberg Book of Relics. However, Traut worked not only as a graphic artist but also as a painter, creating portraits of Nuremberg patricians and producing altarpieces for Nuremberg churches on commission from wealthy patrons. Today, his paintings can be found in institutions such as the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, the Pinakothek in Munich, and the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid. (Cf. Sabine Lata, in: AKL 110, p. 177.)

This copy was owned by art collector and patron Renate König (1928–2024), who donated her extensive collection of illuminated medieval manuscripts to the Kolumba Museum in Cologne. Between 2004 and 2018, the Archdiocesan Museum of Cologne, Kolumba, published a nine-volume series documenting some of these richly illuminated manuscripts, including fifteenth-century English, French, and Flemish books of hours. The owner of a large brewery built up her internationally renowned collection – arguably the most significant private manuscript collection in Germany – with art-historical guidance from the then-director of the Kolumba Museum, Joachim M. Plotzek, who had written his dissertation on Henry III’s Pericope Book and played a key role in the exhibitions on medieval art and culture at the Schüttgen Museum, which were renowned far beyond the borders of Cologne. From 1977 to 1985, he cataloged the manuscripts in the Peter Ludwig Collection in Cologne and at the Getty Center in Malibu.

VD16 B6559; Muther 1164; Dodgson I, p. 502.

As of April 2026, KVK, OCLC show seven copies in North America.

Price: €9,500.00

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