Description:
Beigebunden: sogenanntes jüngeres deutsches Büchsenbuch,
deutsch
Ausstattung: Mit 173 Miniaturen und zahlreichen Zierinitialen
Kurzaufnahme einer Handschrift
Konrad Kyeser
BSB-Provenienz: Im Miteigentum der Bundesrepublik Deutschland
(13,33%) und der Bayerischen Landesstiftung (33,33%), erworben 1998
mit deren finanzieller Unterstützung sowie mit Beteiligung der
Kulturstiftung der Länder und des Ernst von Siemens
Kulturfonds Extent:
150 Bl. - Papier Abstract:
Englische Version: Many high- and late-medieval manuscripts about
technology exist. Most, however, present only the texts without any
illustrations. The Bellifortis (Strong in war), in contrast, is the
first fully illustrated manual of military technology, dating from
the start of the 15th century. It was produced by a person whose
name has been passed down to us: Konrad, or Conradus, Kyeser, a
native of Eichstätt (Bavaria, Germany). He wrote his treatise
between 1402 and 1405, when he was exiled from Prague. At first
glance, its content, written in Latin and amounting to a total of
nearly 180 images, seems to belong to a clearly-defined topic:
warfare. Among the military devices discussed are, not
surprisingly, trebuchets, battering rams, movable portable bridges,
cannons, rockets, chariots, ships, mills, scaling ladders,
incendiary devices, crossbows, and instruments of torture-some
rather modern at the time and others that had been well-known since
antiquity. But the treatise also describes a sauna, an air
mattress, and a chastity belt, items that really do not fit the
warlike image. This variety of content makes the Bellifortis so
interesting. Kyeser's texts are somewhat difficult to understand
and to translate, as the technical terms and his astrological
allusions cannot always be deciphered. The Bellifortis is also
relevant as a monument of the history of science, for it contains
the first-known medieval depiction of the Archimedes screw and the
earliest drawing of the above-mentioned chastity belt. Because of
its manifest importance, this manuscript copy, produced around
1430, was acquired by the Bavarian State Library in 1998 with
generous financial assistance of both Bavarian and German cultural
institutions. // Autor: Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Subjects:
600
Military engineering.
623
Europa
940
Europe
Technology.
ca. 1404 Publication Statement:
Böhmen (?) um 1430
