The Tournament and its Role in the Court Culture of Emperor Maximilian I (1459-1519)

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significance. The elements examined include the caparison, the lance, the shield, the crest, as 
well as the forms of decoration found in the lists. 
 
Finally, chapter six is an in-depth analysis of the role of the tournament in Maximilian’s 
court which attempts to bring together the elements, themes, works, and events discussed in 
previous chapters to create an all-encompassing picture of how the tournament affected 
Maximilian’s reign. It does so by examining the primary occasions on which a tournament 
might be held: namely, the Fastnacht period before Easter, as well as celebratory, political, or 
recreational purposes. It also looks at some of the accompaniments of the tournament, such as 
the plethora of courtly festivities surrounding them, as well some of the unintended, dangerous 
consequences. Finally, it analyses Maximilian and his tournament network. This includes 
Maximilian’s presence as a competitor in his own tournaments, the men most often to be 
found competing alongside him, and his use of tournaments in fictional works in order to 
increase his chivalric reputation.  
 
This thesis also includes three appendices. The first is a collection of all the relevant 
images referenced in this thesis. Notes indicating which image is being described will be 
included in the body of each chapter. The second is a glossary of recurrent tournament-related 
terms, both German and English, which appear in this thesis. The third is a catalogue of extant 
tournament armour believed to have belonged to Maximilian.  
 
 
 

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Chapter 1: Sources for Tournament Culture in the Time of Maximilian I 
 
1.1 Introduction 
A wide variety of sources of many different types have been examined in the preparation of 
this current study. As the subject is highly interdisciplinary in nature, an effort has been made 
to closely examine each of the forms of evidence which survive relating to Maximilian’s 
tournaments and to compare and synthesise them in a way which has not previously been 
done. These sources may be generally divided into four categories: narrative, visual (both print 
and manuscript), Maximilian’s own personal works, and extant material culture. An 
explanation of each of the central primary sources utilised in the present study will here be 
presented so that, when they are referenced throughout this thesis, no further description will 
be needed and to justify their relevance to this research. By comparing and contrasting this 
variety of sources, a fuller, more complete understanding of Maximilian’s tournaments may be 
achieved than has previously been possible through the study of one or two of these categories 
of sources alone. 
 
1.2 Narrative Sources 
Paula Fichtner has pointed out that ‘scholars only study and comment on Maximilian’s many 
images; the person who created and realized them in written and graphic form was the 
imaginative Habsburg himself’.
1
 More light may be shed on this ‘imaginative Habsburg’ 
                                                 
1
 Paula Fichtner, The Habsburgs: Dynasty, Culture and Politics (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 
2014), p. 31. 

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through a study of the first category of sources utilised in the preparation of this thesis: 
narratives. These also come in several sub-categories.  
 
When it comes to locating descriptions of daily life at Maximilian’s court and the 
tournaments which took place there, the most useful sources are the various collections of 
documents which have been compiled and preserved in several series, many printed in the 
nineteenth century. These may be geographically focused ones, such as the Urkunden zur 
Geschichte des Schwäbischen Bundes, the Monumenta Wormatiensia, or the excellently thorough 
Chroniken der deutschen Städte.
2
 There are also collections specifically focused on Maximilian, 
such as the Urkunden, Briefe und Actenstücke zur Geschichte Maximilians I. und Seiner Zeit and the 
Deutsche Reichstagakten unter Maximilian I.
3
 Another useful record for the Habsburgs in general is 
the Monumenta Habsburgica.
4
 While such collections do not always offer the expansive, narrative 
sweep to be found in chronicles, or even diaries or letters, their brief snapshots can provide 
unexpected specific details as well as simply giving an idea of the frequency with which 
tournaments occurred. 
                                                 
2
 Urkunden zur Geschichte des Schwäbischen Bundes (1488-1533), 2 vols, ed. by Karl A. Klüpfel 
(Stuttgart: Literarischen Verein, 1846-53). These are documents relating to the Swabian League, formed 
in 1488 at the instigation of Frederick III. Monumenta Wormatiensia: Annalen und Chroniken, ed. by 
Heinrich Boos (Berlin: Weidmann, 1893). This is part of a series on Quellen zur Geschichte der Stadt 
Worms, this work includes a few fifteenth-century sources, most particularly the diary of Reinhart Noltz, 
Burgermeister of Worms. Die Chroniken der deutschen Städte: vom 14. bis ins 16. Jahrhundert, 31 vols (Leipzig: 
Verlag von G. Hirzel/Göttingen: Vandehoeck & Ruprecht, 1862-1968). These are divided into 
chronicles of the Frankish, Bavarian, Swabian, Westphalian, Lower Saxon, and Upper, Middle, and 
Lower Rheinish cities. Not all encompass the correct dates or include references to Maximilian, but 
some, particularly the volumes focused on Augsburg, are relevant. 
3
 Urkunden, Briefe und Actenstücke zur Geschichte Maximilians I. und Seiner Zeit, ed. by Joseph Chmel 
(Stuttgart: Literarischen Verein, 1845). Deutsche Reichstagakten unter Maximilian I., vols 1-6 (Göttingen: 
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1972- ). These six volumes (part of a larger series of the Reichstagakten) 
contain full and partial extracts of documents relating to the various imperial diets held under 
Maximilian, including some references to tournaments. 
4
 Monumenta Habsburgica: Sammlung von Actenstücken und Briefen zur Geschichte des Hauses Habsburg in 
dem Zeitraume von 1473 bis 1576, 3 vols: Das Zeitalter Maximilians I. (Vienna: Kaiserlich-königlichen Hof- 
und Staatsdruckerei, 1854-58). 

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