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

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the mould of those produced by Maximilian and his contemporaries; each image depicts only 
Wilhelm and his opponent in a joust, with minimal necessary textual information and an 
emphasis on the grandeur of the event through highly detailed armour and textiles. Because of 
this, its high quality and masterful illustrations still make it a valuable contributor to this 
research.
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These Turnierbücher were not just for the elite, however. Another which has been of use 
to this thesis for its images of the late medieval German tournament is that of wealthy 
Augsburg merchant, Marx Walther (1456-1511). Walther was the fifteenth of twenty-two 
children born to Augsburg master builder Ulrich Walther. Thanks to his own commercial 
prosperity and his marriage to Afra Meuting, the daughter of another affluent Augsburg family, 
Walther was able to devote a substantial amount of his time to competing in the tournaments 
which took place during civic celebrations held in Augsburg, and his reputation as a skilled 
competitor enticed several nobles to come compete against him, many of whom feature in 
Walther’s Turnierbuch alongside the non-titled citizens of the city. Walther’s manuscript is 
believed to have been created c. 1506-1511; it spans the years 1477-89 and records nineteen 
separate tournaments. The work offers a vivid depiction of the customs of the smaller 
tournaments which took place during this time. Its quality, depiction of combat forms, and 
illustrations of both armour and textiles make it a useful resource, as does its efforts to imitate 
other noble Turnierbücher of the period and its frequent crossover in competitors. Like 
                                                 
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 Turnierbuch Herzogs Wilhelm des Vierten von Bayern, von 1510 bis 1545, ed. by F. Schlichtegroll. 
(Munich: 1817). Although Wilhelm was much younger than Maximilian, there is an overlap between the 
two generations, as Wilhelm appears in a Turnierbuch featuring Maximilian, discussed below, at a 
tournament in Heidelberg in 1511. The two were present at the same tournament, although they did 
not compete against each other (although, as will be seen later, it is likely that Maximilian was still 
competing in tournaments at this point in his life; perhaps he did not want to take on such a young 
opponent): Munich, BSB, Cod.icon 398, Turnierbuch. Ritterspiele gehalten von Kaiser Friedrich III. und Kaiser 
Maximilian I. in den Jahren 1489 – 1511, plate 59.  

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Lamberger’s dual-purpose collecting of signatures in his Turnierbuch, Walther also included in 
his a Familienchronik.
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Men like Johann of Saxony and Gasper Lamberger were part of Maximilian’s 
immediate tournament network, and their Turnierbücher demonstrate an interconnectedness in 
their participants and in the tournament styles depicted. By producing their own Turnierbücher, 
they were showing themselves to be members of an elite club and were also portraying 
themselves as equal, in many ways, to Maximilian. Men like Wilhelm IV were later interested in 
carrying on and upholding this tradition in their own Turnierbücher. For men like Walther, this 
was a chance to emulate the nobility. His own Turnierbuch may be seen as aspirational, rather 
than, like the others, validation of an established social standing.  
 
The Turnierbuch which has probably proved most useful to this thesis is one which is 
believed to have been produced in the mid-sixteenth century in Augsburg (a centre of printing 
at the time).
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 The work contains a record of five tournaments, spanning the years 1489-1511. 
The first of these tournaments took place in Linz at the end of 1489, lasting into the beginning 
of 1490. The second tournament in the manuscript was held in Innsbruck in 1497, as was the 
third in 1498. The fourth tournament in the book falls out of chronological sequence, having 
been held in Nuremberg in 1491. The final tournament took place much later, in 1511, in 
Heidelberg. The manuscript displays a wide range of styles of joust, including both unique 
forms of individual and group combat. Also of note is the fact that Maximilian is a competitor 
in the first four of these tournaments, and the other combatants are some of the most frequent 
tournament participants in his court (see Table 1). 
 
                                                 
57
 Munich, BSB, Cgm 1930, Marx Walther, Turnierbuch und Familienchronik. 
58
 Munich, BSB, Cod.icon. 398. 

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Tournament 
Combatants 
Linz, 1489-90 
Herzog Erich von Braunschweig 
Schennkh Cristoff von Lunburg 
Holzsattel 
Hanns Wallenfels 
Herr Gaspar von Lamberg 
Herr Anthoni von Yffan 
Herr Anndres von Liechtenstain 
Graf Haug von Muntfort 
Wilhalm von Pfirt 
Herr Gaspar von Lamberg 
Romischer Kunig Maximilian 
Herr Anthoni von Yffan 
Herr Anndreas von Lichtenstain 
Herzog Erich von Braunschweig 
Graf Jorg von Pastel 
Albrecht von Veilstain 
Romischer Kunig Maximilian 
Herr Anthoni von Yffan 
Herr Hanns von Stain 
Herr Enngelhart Rorer 
Graf Jorg von Passtel 
Albrecht von Veilstain 
Herr Anthoni von Yffan 
Herr Christoff Flaischberger 
Nuremberg, 1491 
Herr Schenkh Cristoff von Lunenburg  Romischer Kunig Maximilian 
Desr Margraven diener 
Margraf Fridrich von Brandenburg 
Herr Anthoni von Yffan 
Herr Christof von Welsperg 
Two tourneys with unnamed participants 
Innsbruck, 1497 
Romischer Kunig Maximilian 
Herzog Friderich von Saxen 
Churfurst 
Herr Sigmund von Welsperg 
Romischer Kunig Maximilian 
Innsbruck, 1498 
Romischer Kunig Maximilian 
Herzog Hanns von Saxen 
Romischer Kunig Maximilian 
Graf Hanns von Montfort 
Heidelberg, 1511 
Herr Bernhart Beller 
Herr Adolff von Biber 
Graf von Ortenburg 
Graf von Schellenberg 
Herzog Wilhalm von Bairn 
Herr Egloss Stainer 
Herr Steffan von Schmian 
Graf von Muntfort 
Graf von Eilberg 
Graf Wilhalm von Nassaw 
Herr Jorg von Hirnhaim 
Margraf Philip von Baden 
Herr von Woszbach 
Graf von Cronberg 

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