The admirable reproduction of Freydal by Querin von Leitner, issued under the directions of Franz, Grafen Folliot De Grenneville,[172] leaves little to be desired. There are 255 plates arranged in series of Rennen, Stechen, foot combats and a mêlée, all depicting courses in which Maximilian had “gerennt, gestochen und gekämpft.”[173] The work is valuable from many points of view, for it includes a register of the prominent personages of the time, and full particulars of the colours, trappers, arms and crests of the cavaliers taking part, together with the costumes of the mummers and others, besides some genealogical notes.
Freydal is one of a series of chronicles somewhat similar in character, comprising Theuerdank, Weisskünig, Triumph of Maximilian and Ehrenpforte; all were written with a view to the glorification of the emperor and his reign. Freydal is the emperor’s testament to posterity of his career in the tiltyard, and, with the accompanying mummeries he initiated, forms a knightly tribute to the memory of his much lamented consort Mary of Burgundy. A poem in the work follows, which illustrates the spirit of vanity and the somewhat frivolous character of the monarch:—
RITTER FREYDALB[174]
Nun ver von kurtzweil lesen wil Vnd lustbarlichen dingen, der nem fur sich die ritterspil, da ainr nach eer thut ringen, als ritter Freydalb hat gethon Aus ritterlichem gmute Auf mengen adelichen plon. Sein tugent vnd auch gute ist allermenigelich offenbar, wie er konndt tryumphiern mit rennen, stechen kempfen zwar Auch tantzen vnd thurniern damit er in sein jungen tagen, Als ir hie horen werden grose freyd ynd ruem do hat erjagen, (Seins gleich lebt nit auf erden).
Theuerdank is a narration of Maximilian’s journey to Ghent to wed the heiress of Charles the Bold, with an account of his adventures by the way, and the story of his courtship. It was written by the emperor for the instruction of Charles V when a youth. There are 117 wood-cuts by Hans Schaufflein.
Weisskünig is the story of his life and government.
The Triumph describes the progress and achievements of his reign, as typified by the picture of the triumphal car running through it. It was written in 1512, greatly at the emperor’s own dictation; and the illustrations depict jousters fully equipped for some of the various courses of the tournament.
The Ehrenpforte is a monument to the glory of the Emperor’s name and house.
In the tourney-book of Maximilian belonging to the Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen the spirited illustrations are by the hand of Hans Burgmaier, of Augsburg, an able coadjutor of the great armour-smith Koloman Colman of the same city, surnamed Helmschmidt.
Of great interest and importance are the three original tourney books of the Saxon Electors—Johanns des Beständigen, Johann Friedrichs des Grozmüthigen, and August, scoffingly called by Carlyle, if we remember rightly, the physically strong. They are in three volumes, which are preserved in the public library at the Japanese Palace, Dresden. The illustrations, which number over 300, are water-colour drawings on parchment, and they depict the courses of Rennen, Stechen,[175] and a mêlée, as run by those princes during their reigns; they afford characteristic records of these knightly sports from the year 1487 to 1566. The earlier jousts of the Kurfürst Johann begin towards the end of the fifteenth century, the others following in the sixteenth; while the third volume, executed in 1584, includes fifty-five drawings of the courses of Scharfrennen and Gestech run by the Kurfürst August, the last taking place in February, 1566, at Dresden. The drawings are by Heinrich Göding, of Brunswick, the court painter, and many of them would seem to have been copied from an earlier work.