Disquisition on the Celebrated Poetic Book Theuerdanck

PREFACE.

We have seen Sesostris’s obelisks and sublime pyramids, the magnificent tomb of Mausolus, the proud trophies of the Greeks, the towering mass of Hadrian, and the most skillfully crafted columns of Trajan and Antoninus—monuments which were intended to defend the names and deeds of Heroes against the attacks of time, the devourer of all things, through countless centuries.

Sesostris was a legendary king of Egypt; Mausolus was a ruler in Caria whose tomb became one of the Seven Wonders (the "Mausoleum"); Hadrian’s "mole" is now the Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome; Trajan and Antoninus (Marcus Aurelius) have famous triumphal columns that still stand in Rome.

But in truth, how fragile these witnesses have been, and how subject to damage, cannot be hidden from anyone even slightly versed in history. Very few bronze and marble monuments survive today, and those that do are half-eaten by time, if not broken and scattered. Many more have perished entirely, so that we would remain ignorant both of the monuments themselves and the events they were meant to remember, had the reliability of Songs and Annals not preserved both. Therefore, the opinion of OVID stands on a firm footing in Book I of the Loves, Elegy 10:

original Latin: Amorum Elegia 10

Garments are torn, gems and gold are broken;

The fame that songs bestow will be eternal.

And LUCAN, not without cause, exclaims in the Pharsalia, Book IX, line 983:

The Pharsalia is an epic poem about the Roman Civil War.

O sacred and great labor of Poets, you snatch all things

from Fate and grant immortality to mortal peoples.

How much would we not know, had this custom of celebrating in song and handing down the names of Heroes to Posterity not prevailed among most nations? These songs have been judged more enduring than all monuments, which are assaulted by rains, winds, lightning, and fires, as well as by the hands of enemies, or are destroyed by the simple passage of years. Even the victors in the Greek Games were rescued from oblivion not by their crowns, nor the applause of all Greece, but by the inimitable Lyre of Pindar.

But there is no need for us to investigate this common practice of all nations too minutely or explain it too abundantly, since our own Germany also provides many excellent examples of Heroes rescued from oblivion through the songs of Poets. Among these stands out that most illustrious book written in German verses, commonly called Theuerdanck, in which the Labors and Perils of the Emperor Maximilian I are most elegantly commemorated. Posterity would otherwise be ignorant of these deeds and would lack the benefit of that knowledge, had the diligence of the Poet not recorded them.

The Theuerdanck is an allegorical epic poem (1517) commissioned by Emperor Maximilian I to celebrate his journey to marry Mary of Burgundy.

Since, however, that book is not in everyone's hands, and the information commonly passed down about it by various authors is quite varied and inconsistent—and contaminated by various errors—we have resolved to undertake an accurate review of it in this Academic Dissertation and to reveal its true Author. Furthermore, we shall add many things which deserve to be noted concerning this remarkable work, which perhaps are not sufficiently known or understood by everyone. You will therefore look with favor, Kind Reader, upon our efforts, and you will judge that this Disquisition, such as it is, was written by us not to show off a display of erudition (of which we possess very little, if any), but to bring forth the truth.