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Personelle Serialität und nationale Geschichte. Überlegungen zu den Herrschergestalten in Franciscus Irenicus’ Germaniae Exegesis

  • Ronny Kaiser
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Portraying the Prince in the Renaissance
This chapter is in the book Portraying the Prince in the Renaissance

Abstract

In 1518 Franciscus Irenicus published the Germaniae Exegesis, an historiographical hodgepodge that was immediately and severely criticized. An important witness to Irenicus’ conception of history is the third book, which is devoted to Germanic-German rulers from the dawn of time through the Middle Ages to his own epoch. This paper examines the text on the basis of two case studies. The first is Tuisco, familiar from Tacitus’ Germania, to whom Irenicus, basically influenced by Annius of Viterbo’s (1432-1502) Antiquitates, ascribes a direct descent from Noah. In so doing he also provides the Germans with Noachian ancestry, thus giving them the most ancient origin possible and therewith pride of place in the contest of nationalist boasting engaged in by humanists across Europe. Tuisco stands at the head of a series of rulers whose outline is sketched both verbally and graphically in the Exegesis’s third book - a series, however, whose sheer mass inhibits veritable biographical depiction. An exception is Arminius, to whom the second case study is devoted. His rather biographical portrayal slows down the tempo of the third book’s narrative. Making use of the recently discovered first six books of Tacitus’ Annales, Irenicus is the first humanist to provide a relatively detailed portrait of Varus’ antagonist, inserting him among the German kings. These two examples illustrate two extremes of the historiographical portrayal of princes and give insight into the historical discourse of German humanists.

Abstract

In 1518 Franciscus Irenicus published the Germaniae Exegesis, an historiographical hodgepodge that was immediately and severely criticized. An important witness to Irenicus’ conception of history is the third book, which is devoted to Germanic-German rulers from the dawn of time through the Middle Ages to his own epoch. This paper examines the text on the basis of two case studies. The first is Tuisco, familiar from Tacitus’ Germania, to whom Irenicus, basically influenced by Annius of Viterbo’s (1432-1502) Antiquitates, ascribes a direct descent from Noah. In so doing he also provides the Germans with Noachian ancestry, thus giving them the most ancient origin possible and therewith pride of place in the contest of nationalist boasting engaged in by humanists across Europe. Tuisco stands at the head of a series of rulers whose outline is sketched both verbally and graphically in the Exegesis’s third book - a series, however, whose sheer mass inhibits veritable biographical depiction. An exception is Arminius, to whom the second case study is devoted. His rather biographical portrayal slows down the tempo of the third book’s narrative. Making use of the recently discovered first six books of Tacitus’ Annales, Irenicus is the first humanist to provide a relatively detailed portrait of Varus’ antagonist, inserting him among the German kings. These two examples illustrate two extremes of the historiographical portrayal of princes and give insight into the historical discourse of German humanists.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Contents VII
  3. Introduction 1
  4. I. Virtues
  5. Der Herrscher und die gute Ordnung. Das Bild Karls VII. in der französischen Historiographie am Übergang von der tradierten zur humanistisch geprägten Historiographie 17
  6. Charlemagne am Renaissancehof. Die Darstellung Karls des Großen in Paolo Emilios De rebus gestis Francorum 39
  7. Guter König, schlechter König? Die Darstellung Heinrichs V. und Heinrichs VI. von England in Polydor Vergils Anglica historia 65
  8. Alfonso ›the Magnanimous‹ of Naples as Portrayed by Facio and Panormita: Four Versions of Emulation, Representation, and Virtue 95
  9. II. Cultural and Political Pretensions
  10. Illyrian Trojans in a Turkish Storm: Croatian Renaissance Lords and the Politics of Dynastic Origin Myths 121
  11. Personelle Serialität und nationale Geschichte. Überlegungen zu den Herrschergestalten in Franciscus Irenicus’ Germaniae Exegesis 157
  12. Riccardo Bartolinis Austrias (1516) oder: Wie ein Herrscher zum Feldherrn gegen die Türken wird 193
  13. III. Models Ancient, Medieval, and Modern
  14. Der Herrscher als zweiter Salomo. Zum Bild König Roberts von Anjou in der Renaissance 217
  15. Pier Candido Decembrio and the Suetonian Path to Princely Biography 237
  16. Die Cosmias des Giovanni Mario Filelfo (1426–1480) 271
  17. Einhard reloaded. Francesco Tedeschini Piccolomini, Hilarion aus Verona, Donato Acciaiuoli und die Karlsbiographik im italienischen Renaissance-Humanismus 287
  18. Auf den Spuren Paolo Giovios? Herrscherdarstellung in Jacobus Sluperius’ Elogia virorum bellica laude illustrium 307
  19. IV. Method
  20. Princes between Lorenzo Valla and Bartolomeo Facio 337
  21. Juan Páez de Castro, Charles V, and a Method for Royal Historiography 363
  22. Picturing the Perfect Patron? Francesco Filelfo’s Image of Francesco Sforza 391
  23. Verbis phucare tyrannos? Selbstanspruch und Leistungsspektren von zeithistorischer Epik als panegyrischem Medium im 15. Jahrhundert 415
  24. V. Critical Summary
  25. The Description Makes the Prince: Princely Portrayal from the Perspective of Transformation Theory 445
  26. Indices
  27. Index of Names 463
  28. Index of Places 485
  29. List of Contributors 491
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110473377-007

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Contents VII
  3. Introduction 1
  4. I. Virtues
  5. Der Herrscher und die gute Ordnung. Das Bild Karls VII. in der französischen Historiographie am Übergang von der tradierten zur humanistisch geprägten Historiographie 17
  6. Charlemagne am Renaissancehof. Die Darstellung Karls des Großen in Paolo Emilios De rebus gestis Francorum 39
  7. Guter König, schlechter König? Die Darstellung Heinrichs V. und Heinrichs VI. von England in Polydor Vergils Anglica historia 65
  8. Alfonso ›the Magnanimous‹ of Naples as Portrayed by Facio and Panormita: Four Versions of Emulation, Representation, and Virtue 95
  9. II. Cultural and Political Pretensions
  10. Illyrian Trojans in a Turkish Storm: Croatian Renaissance Lords and the Politics of Dynastic Origin Myths 121
  11. Personelle Serialität und nationale Geschichte. Überlegungen zu den Herrschergestalten in Franciscus Irenicus’ Germaniae Exegesis 157
  12. Riccardo Bartolinis Austrias (1516) oder: Wie ein Herrscher zum Feldherrn gegen die Türken wird 193
  13. III. Models Ancient, Medieval, and Modern
  14. Der Herrscher als zweiter Salomo. Zum Bild König Roberts von Anjou in der Renaissance 217
  15. Pier Candido Decembrio and the Suetonian Path to Princely Biography 237
  16. Die Cosmias des Giovanni Mario Filelfo (1426–1480) 271
  17. Einhard reloaded. Francesco Tedeschini Piccolomini, Hilarion aus Verona, Donato Acciaiuoli und die Karlsbiographik im italienischen Renaissance-Humanismus 287
  18. Auf den Spuren Paolo Giovios? Herrscherdarstellung in Jacobus Sluperius’ Elogia virorum bellica laude illustrium 307
  19. IV. Method
  20. Princes between Lorenzo Valla and Bartolomeo Facio 337
  21. Juan Páez de Castro, Charles V, and a Method for Royal Historiography 363
  22. Picturing the Perfect Patron? Francesco Filelfo’s Image of Francesco Sforza 391
  23. Verbis phucare tyrannos? Selbstanspruch und Leistungsspektren von zeithistorischer Epik als panegyrischem Medium im 15. Jahrhundert 415
  24. V. Critical Summary
  25. The Description Makes the Prince: Princely Portrayal from the Perspective of Transformation Theory 445
  26. Indices
  27. Index of Names 463
  28. Index of Places 485
  29. List of Contributors 491
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