A Textbook for Emperor Maximilian I.

A magnificent textbook for the "last knight"

With this textbook the emperor learned to read and write, therefore this "Textbook for Emperor Maximilian I." has an enormous cultural-historical importance. The owner of the work was the extremely talented prince who went down in history as the "last knight and first lansquenet" and under whom the Habsburgs became the most powerful ruling dynasty in Europe.
The manuscript preserved in the Austrian National Library, the so-called Tafel, is the first textbook that Maximilian was given as a seven-year-old and from which he learned the alphabet, the Pater noster, the Ave Maria and other prayers as well as mnemonic devices. In the colored miniature, executed with elaborate gold, the emperor's son himself appears: In the historiated initial on the first page we see him next to his first teacher Jakob von Fladnitz, reading from a codex. Another clue to the user is given on the first page of text by the two coats of arms of Maximilian's parents, Emperor Frederick III and Eleonora of Portugal.

The fascinating content

Following the medieval canon for first lessons, Maximilian's plate contains the basic prayers such as Pater noster, Ave Maria, Credo, Magnificat, Song of Simeon, Salve Regina, Sanctus, Requiem, Ostende nobis, and Prayer of Steps, Confiteor, Table Prayers, and finally Prayers for the Benefactor. This is followed by the Cisioianus, a verse calendar composed of short syllables that served as a memorial aid to memorize feast days and saints' days and their position in the course of the year.

A Viennese patron

In order to guarantee his son an education that befitted his nobility, Emperor Frederick III endeavored to procure valuable textbooks, but the court, in its thriftiness, did not want to pay for them itself. Finally, a benefactor was found in the wealthy Viennese citizen Stephan Heuner, who had two more textbooks made for Maximilian in addition to this manuscript. The miniatures the decor should enjoy the child and arouse his interest, so that he would remember it later.

Rich decoration, worthy of a Habsburg

12 colored, elaborately designed initial letters, as well as a genre scene inscribed in an initial, stand at the beginning of each text section. The exquisite effect of these small works of art is enhanced by precious parts of polished gold leaf adorned with chasing and hallmarks, with which the bodies of the letters are backed. The initial letters also form the starting point for delicate leafy tendrils that spread out over the parchment rim and flow into multiple leaf and flower forms. Within this floral framework numerous animals and mixed creatures cavort. While with Wolfgang Spitzweg, an imperial chancellor, the author of the textbook is known, its illuminator has remained anonymous. According to a total of three textbooks, which he decorated for Maximilian's lessons, he is called "Textbook Master".