Georg Rüxner

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Georg Rüxner as Imperial Herald "Jerusalem" in the Tappert of the Kingdom of Jerusalem (woodcut by Hans Burgkmair the Elder , 1504)

Georg Rüxner , also Georg Rixner according to his own spelling , (documented from 1494 to 1526) was a German herald and author of the Thurnier Buch, first published in 1530 . From the beginning, causes, origins, and origin of the tournament in the holy Roman Empire of the German nation .

Life dates

Rüxner's living conditions are not known. The dedication of his tournament book to Count Palatine Johann II von Simmern (1492–1557) suggests, however, that Rüxner had a closer relationship with him. In this dedication, Rüxner calls himself "Eraldo und Khündiger der Wappen" (Herald and Wappenkundiger).

In a document in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum he is called Georg Rixner, called Jerusalem, Herold. It is therefore assumed that it is identical to the Imperial Herold Maximilian I depicted on two woodcuts by Hans Burgkmaier the Elder in 1504 and 1507 . 1519 he was commissioned by the city Nuremberg rapporteur in the royal election of Charles V . In other Nuremberg sources he is called an imperial herald in 1525/26.

Rüxner also wrote several genealogical works. He wrote about the dukes of Mecklenburg : Historical excerpt from the origins and coat of arms of the kings and dukes in Mecklenburg in 1530 by Georg Rixner, containing Hierosalem Eraldo and the king of coats of arms .

Contemporary reception

The frequent mentions of the tournament book by contemporaries make it clear that for them it represented a kind of early modern genealogical handbook of the nobility . On the other hand, his information was questioned early on.

Froben Christoph von rooms called Rüxner in Zimmerischen Chronicle derogatory one Persevant , that does not offer full Herold, although, as the frequent mentions Rüxners or the Tournament book in his chronicle show the tournament book must have very heavily used.

Cyriacus Spangenberg judges Rüxner's genealogy of the Counts of Henneberg as follows: “Georg Rixner, called Jerusalem, Reichsherold, wanted to court the Prince of Henneberg particularly, and brought their arrival from Italy and Rome from the Colmnesians, and their trunk tree with the 311 Started years after the birth of Christ. Here, well-meaning reader, see, miraculously, what a completely unskillful thing is put forward in this poem. "

And Martin Crusius also judged the wrong dating of the 26th tournament: "... although Ryxner sets it back to the year 1436, but because he often says untruth, one cannot trust everywhere."

The tournament book

Title page of Rüxner's Thurnierbuch

Today it is assumed that the first 14 tournaments are fictitious and that the information can only be trusted to a certain extent from the 15th tournament, apart from the above-mentioned dating errors. The information about the previous tournaments is therefore used to legitimize the aristocratic tournament eligibility and to protect it against civil claims. In the introduction to his tournament book, Rüxner writes that he was prompted to write it up by a "Tracträtlin" by the Augsburg citizen Marx Wirsung. In his statements, however, the position of the nobility is misrepresented, which is why they are "owed the obligation to correct and end them, according to the right original". He then goes on to explain that Johann Kirchberger, the vicar of the St. Mauritius Monastery in Magdeburg, gave him a tournament book written in Low German, which he translated into High German with his help and which Kirchberger then burned. So his tournament book is the only description of the older tournament system.

The text of the edition of the tournament book from 1530 contains the description of a total of 36 tournaments that took place between 938 and 1487. The descriptions contain a complete list of all participants. The tournament companies are listed individually according to the " four countries ":

  1. Rheinstrom ( Middle and Lower Rhine )
    1. Company in the wind / in the hound
    2. Society in the lion
    3. Society in the wolf
    4. Company in the swan
    5. Society in Capricorn
    6. Society in the low ass
    7. Society in the upper ass
  2. Swabia
    1. Company in the falcon and fish
    2. Society in Capricorn
    3. Society in the Bracken / Leithund am Kranz
    4. Society in the crown
  3. Francs
    1. Society within grasp
    2. Society in the unicorn
    3. Society in the donkey
    4. Society of the Crowned Bear , united with society in the Fürsprang
  4. Bavaria
    1. Society in the bear
    2. Society in the free horse
    3. Society in peacocks

The individual tournaments are always presented according to the same scheme:

  • The number of the tournament.
  • The coat of arms of the inviting prince or knighthood surrounded by the coats of arms of the four tournament kings (these are the winners of the respective knighthood of the previous tournament).
  • The coat of arms of the city in which the tournament took place (this was determined after deliberations under the four regions).
  • The other illustrations are not individually related to the individual tournament; instead, the same woodcuts are repeated in an irregular arrangement.
  • Then the participants are listed separately according to their tournament companies and the elected officials and judges as well as the accompanying women are named according to the course of a tournament.

The following tournament sequence can be shown:

  • "Thurnirswerber" or "vorreyser" negotiated at least one year before the tournament about the organization of the tournament. "Lad letters" were distributed by the heralds.
  • The tournament freedom, seven days before and after the tournament, was determined and guaranteed by the host city.
  • The tournament participants should bring two women (tournaments were also a popular marriage market).
  • The quarters were usually occupied on Sunday. The princes had four, the counts three, the barons two, and the simple nobility one.
  • All tournament participants were written down on Monday. Two knights from each country, one old and one young, formed a special council. This determined the office of helmet show and helmet division. For this purpose, three men and three women and twelve “Grießwertel” or “Stabler” (judges) were selected from each country.
  • The helmet show took place on Tuesday. Here the helmet decorations were presented and the weapons tested. It could be rejected whose four ancestors on the paternal and maternal side were not "noble coats of arms" and whose ancestors had not competed for 50 years. Perjurers, defamers, traitors, usurers, muggers, murderers, adulterers and criminals against women's honor were also excluded. As a result, in Heidelberg in 1481 , of 600 appearing in armor, only 466 were admitted to the next tournament. The helmet division also took place, i.e. the tournament groups were determined. With a very large number of participants, up to four tournaments were scheduled. In Schaffhausen (tournament 21), 236 helmets were not divided.
Kolbenturnier in ThurnierBuch - From the beginning, causes, vrsprung, and come from the Thurnier in the holy Roman Empire Teutscher Nation of 1530 (reprint)
  • The competitions were held on Wednesday and Thursday. After the first wind signal, the barriers were opened and the parties rode into the tournament area, initially separated by a rope. At the second wind signal the barriers were closed and after the tournament bailiff had warned to fight knightly, the rope was cut. The aim of the tournament was to knock off the opponents' crests with the piston ( piston tournament ). Anyone who violated the tournament rules was put on the barrier and beaten until the armor fell off his body. His horse and armor fell to the heralds and tournament servants.
  • After the main tournament, individual knight games took place. The stabbing was done with a blunt lance and light armor. The French jump was modified in such a way that fighting was carried out over the planks, so the riders were separated from each other with a barrier. The race took place with a sharp lance, but in full field armor.

The last day of the tournament ended with a dinner and dance. A special dress code forbade excessively lavish clothing and gold jewelry. This should not exclude the poorer knights and their wives, daughters and sisters from visiting. As a social event, the tournament also served as a means of establishing marriage connections. The four winners from each country were honored at the festive dinner, a lady each expressed her thanks and as tournament kings for the next tournament, they invited to the next tournament in their country.

From 1566 the tournament book appeared in an edition expanded by two parts with woodcuts by Jost Amman by the Frankfurt publisher Sigmund Feyerabend . The second part contains a description of the “five tournaments” organized by Archduke Maximilian of Austria in honor of Emperor Ferdinand I and Duke Albrecht of Bavaria in Vienna; the third part describes the games held on the occasion of the arrival of the Spanish King Philip I in Bintz on August 22, 1549. All tournament descriptions are followed by detailed information on the people involved.

The individual tournaments

number date place organizer
1 January 7-11, 938 Magdeburg Heinrich the Vogler
2 October 30th to November 3rd 942 Rothenburg ob der Tauber Duke Conrad of Franconia
3 5th to 9th November 948 Constancy Duke Ludwig of Swabia
4th December 5-9, 969 Merseburg Margrave Nidack of Meissen, Count of Merseburg
5 January 12-16, 996 Braunschweig Margrave Ludwig of Saxony and Lord of Braunschweig
6th February 8-12, 1019 trier Emperor Konrad , Duke of Franconia
7th May 2-6, 1042 Hall Emperor Heinrich III. , Duke of Franconia
8th August 16-20, 1080 augsburg Duke Hermann of Swabia
9 November 2nd to 6th, 1119 Goettingen Duke Leudolph of Saxony and Count of Supplingenburg
10 December 5-9, 1165 Zurich Welpho , Duke in Bavaria and Spoleto
11 January 7-12, 1179 Cologne Count Florentz in Hainaut, Holland and Zealand
12 February 8-12, 1198 Nuremberg Emperor Heinrich VI .
13 February 8-12, 1209 Worms Knighthood on the Rhine River
14th November 4-8, 1235 Wurzburg Knighthood in the land of Franconia
15th October 1-5, 1284 regensburg Knighthood to Bavaria
16 November 18-22, 1296 Schweinfurt Knighthood of Franconia
17th August 29 to September 2, 1311 Ravensburg Knighthood of Swabia
18th November 2nd to 6th, 1337 Ingelheim am Rhein Knighthood on the Rhine River
19th January 9-13, 1362 Bamberg Knighthood of Franconia
20th November 12-16, 1374 Esslingen Knighthood of Swabia
21st November 3rd to 7th, 1392 Schaffhausen Knighthood of Swabia
22nd August 27 to 31, 1396 regensburg Knighthood to Bavaria
23 January 28 to February 1, 1403 Darmstadt Knighthood on the Rhine River
24 September 30 to October 4, 1408 Heilbronn Knighthood of Swabia
25th 23-27 October 1412 regensburg Knighthood to Bavaria
26th 1436 (wrong date) Stuttgart Count Ulrich von Württemberg at his wedding with Elisabeth von Bayern-Landshut
27 1439 Landshut Ludwig, Count Palatine of the Rhine, Duke in Bavaria
1451 Nuremberg Gestech zu Nürnberg: Margrave Albrecht of Brandenburg
28 January 10-14, 1479 Wurzburg Knighthood of Franconia
29 August 27-30, 1480 Mainz Knighthood on the Rheistrom
30th August 26-30, 1481 Heidelberg Knighthood on the Rhine in honor of Elector Philipp von der Pfalz
31 until January 9, 1484 Stuttgart Knighthood of Swabia
32 September 5-9, 1484 Ingolstadt Knighthood in Bavaria in honor of Duke Georg , Count Palatine of Upper and Lower Bavaria
33 May 15-18, 1485 Ansbach Knighthood in Franconia in honor of Elector Albrecht of Brandenburg
34 January 8-11, 1486 Bamberg Knighthood of Franconia
35 February 4-8, 1487 regensburg Knighthood to Bavaria
36 August 26-29, 1487 Worms Knighthood on the Rhine River

literature

  • Franz Xaver von Wegele :  Rüxner, Georg . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 30, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1890, p. 62. (completely out of date).
  • Georg Rixner: tournament book. Reprint of the splendid Simmern 1530 edition, introduced by Willi Wagner, Verlag E. & U. Brockhaus, Solingen, 1997, ISBN 3-930132-08-7 .
  • Claudius Sittig: Noble aemulatio . The social grammar of the early modern aristocratic culture and its formulation in Georg Rüxner's tournament book (1530) and its Latin translation by Franciscus Modius (1586), in: Jan-Dirk Müller , Ulrich Pfisterer , Anna Kathrin Bleuler , Fabian Jonietz (eds.): Aemulatio. Cultures of competition in text and images (1450–1620) (=  pluralization & authority. Volume 27). De Gruyter, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-11-026230-8 , pp. 863-889.
  • Klaus Graf: Herald with many names. News about Georg Rüxner alias Rugen alias Jerusalem alias Brandenburg alias ... In: Knight Worlds in the Late Middle Ages: courtly-knightly culture of the rich dukes of Bavaria-Landshut. (= Writings from the museums of the city of Landshut. Volume 29). Museums of the City of Landshut, Landshut 2009, pp. 115–125 ( online ).

Web links

Commons : Georg Rüxner  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Georg Rüxner  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Klaus Graf: Herald with many names. News about Georg Rüxner alias Rugen alias Jerusalem alias Brandenburg alias ... , p. 122
  2. ↑ Lotte Kurras: Georg Rixner, der Reichsherold 'Jerusalem' in: Mitteilungen des Verein für Geschichte der Stadt Nürnberg , Heft 69, Nürnberg 1982.
  3. ↑ * Rixner, Jörg, called Hierusalem, persevant, tournament book I, 15, 34 ff. In the Zimmerische Chronik ; I, 18, 5 in the Zimmerische Chronik ; I, 55, 11 in the Zimmerische Chronik ; I, 144, 19 in the Zimmerische Chronik ; I, 185, 15 in the Zimmerische Chronik ; III, 97, 25 in the Zimmerische Chronik III, 454, 17 ff. In the Zimmerische Chronik ; IV, 294, 36 ff. In the Zimmerische Chronik ;
  4. ^ Wilhelm Ewald: Rheinische Heraldik, in: Rheinischer Verein für Denkmalpflege und Heimatschutz, 27. Jg., Heft 2, Düsseldorf 1934. Quoted from: Georg Rixner: Tournament book, reprint of the splendid edition Simmern 1530, introduced by Willi Wagner, Verlag E. & U. Brockhaus, Solingen, 1997, ISBN 3-930132-08-7 , p. 11.
  5. ^ Georg Rixner: Tournament book, reprint of the splendid Simmern 1530 edition, introduced by Willi Wagner, Verlag E. & U. Brockhaus, Solingen, 1997, ISBN 3-930132-08-7 , p. 11.
  6. ↑ Martin Crusius: Swabian Chronicle. Translated by Johann Jakob Moser. Frankfurt am Main, 1733, volume 2, page 55f. Quoted from Gerhard Raff : Hie gut Wirtemberg alleweg. The Württemberg house from Count Ulrich the founder to Duke Ludwig, Stuttgart, 1988, ISBN 3-421-06335-4 , page 312
  7. ^ Georg Rixner: tournament book. Reprint of the superb Simmern 1530 edition, introduced by Willi Wagner, Verlag E. & U. Brockhaus, Solingen, 1997, ISBN 3-930132-08-7 , sheet j (v and r).
  8. ^ Georg Rixner: tournament book. Reprint of the magnificent Simmern 1530 edition, introduced by Willi Wagner, Verlag E. & U. Brockhaus, Solingen, 1997, ISBN 3-930132-08-7 , p. 15f.
  9. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n the tournaments before 1284 do not stand up to historical facts
  10. ↑ "The tournament is an invention of the author Georg Rüxner, 1165 there was no tournament in Zurich" , City Archives Zurich 2014
  11. ↑ probably February 7th to 11th 1445. The supplement took place on February 8th, 1445. Gerhard Raff : Hie good Wirtemberg all the way. The house of Württemberg from Count Ulrich the founder to Duke Ludwig. Stuttgart, 1988, ISBN 3-421-06335-4 , p. 310.
personal data
SURNAME Rüxner, Georg
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rixner called Jerusalem, Georg
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Herald and author of a tournament book
DATE OF BIRTH before 1494
DATE OF DEATH uncertain: between 1530 and 1566