Nuremberg joke

With Nuremberg joke were referred to the ingenuity of Nuremberg inventor and craftsman who became legendary between the 15th and 17th centuries. The word joke is to be understood here in the literal sense as practical understanding, technical skill and ingenuity. The term is still used today for important Nuremberg innovations.

history

As early as the High Middle Ages , the Nuremberg traders knew how to strategically use the central location of the free imperial city and imperial city in Europe . The Nuremberg goods were brought to all major European cities and sold there. In return, the traders received exotic goods that they brought into the city. They also brought something even more valuable with them, the knowledge and technology from all corners of the known world.

The presence of these factors meant that the resourceful Nuremberg craftsmen had endless opportunities to improve existing products or to turn completely new ideas into reality. Added to this was the ability of the Nuremberg craftsmen to be able to assess new inventions and their significance quickly and correctly, and thereby create a competitive advantage for themselves.

From the 15th century, the city's craftsmen were able to gain a certain knowledge advantage over the rest of the empire. Because Nuremberg kept coming up with new ideas and inventions, most other cities admired the shrewdness of the Nuremberg tinkerers. This designation eventually became the Nuremberg joke, which to this day stands for the ingenuity of the Nuremberg people.

Examples

The Nuremberg joke has many different facets in a wide variety of areas in art and research. Known inventors to whom this designation applies are:

• Anton Koberger (1440–1530), famous publisher, made Nuremberg the center of book printing
• Peter Henlein (1449 / 80–1542), the inventor of the first pocket watch
• Martin Behaim (1459–1507), traveling cloth merchant and designer of the oldest modern globe that still exists today
• Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528), famous painter and one of the pioneers of printing
• Konrad Heinfogel († 1528), mathematician and astronomer
• Martin Löffelholz von Kolberg († 1533), carer of the Lichtenau Nursing Authority , created the Spoonwood Codex in 1503 , an important technological illuminated manuscript (now in Krakow)
• Paul Pfinzing (1554–1599), councilor, merchant and cartographer, creator of the Pfinzing Atlas

In addition, the Nuremberg craftsmen of the 15th and 16th centuries were leaders in the manufacture of wire , in blacksmithing , in handicrafts, in the manufacture of measuring tools and in cartography . One of the first fire engines (1655), the thimble and the clarinet (1690) also came from the Franconian town.

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  Schedelsche Weltchronik by Hartmann Schedel , published in 1493 by Anton Koberger

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  Portable watch (after Peter Henlein )

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  Martin Behaims Erdapfel in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum , Nuremberg

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  Albrecht Dürer : Figure of a Woman in Slow Movement (1528)

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  Dürer: Drawing of a table fountain

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  Dürer: Underweysung the measurement, with the Zirckel and Richtscheyt, in lines, planes and whole corporen (1525)

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  Dürer: Dream Face (1525)

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  Sundial by Johannes Stabius on St. Lorenz (Nuremberg)

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  Northern sky from Dürer, Stabius and Heinfogel

Nuremberg joke today

The term Nuremberg joke has survived to this day. Time and again the city brought forth well-known inventors and groundbreaking innovations. During the industrial revolution , Nuremberg played a leading role , especially in metal processing . The iron foundry and machine factory Klett & Comp. later became a base for MAN ; Sigmund Schuckert from Nuremberg was a pioneer in electrical engineering. In addition to the wire production already mentioned, the Nuremberg tin toys in particular became world famous. Other inventions, such as the Tempo handkerchief , the first German mail order catalog from the Quelle company , and the Grundig Video 2000 system are, at least from Nuremberg, count among the modern representatives of the Nuremberg joke. The Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg maintains a chair for economic, social and technological history. a. Hermann Kellenbenz and Wolfgang Stromer von Reichenbach held.

More recent research projects in the field of satellite-based planning and control of construction machinery are also part of this tradition. The mayor of Nuremberg Ulrich Maly said in 2007: " And the“ Nuremberg joke ”has been proverbial since the late Middle Ages. The“ Nuremberg joke "is based on the inventive spirit and technical ingenuity of local craftsmen, artists and inventors Shortest characterization of the ability to develop good ideas into real market success. This tradition is also being continued in the 21st century. "

Idioms

The expression found expression in several idioms, partly from the late Middle Ages :

• Nuremberg joke, Strasbourg gun, Augsburg money goes all over the world.
• Nuremberg wit and artificial hand finds (looks for) ways through every country.
• Nuremberg jokes and trinkets are known the world over.

Web links

• www.nuernberginfos.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Advertising campaign for the “Nuremberg Joke”. Masterpiece & mass-produced goods. "Nuremberg joke". Exhibition in the Stadtmuseum Fembohaus from September 16 to November 25, 2009. nordbayern.de , accessed on July 8, 2018 . 
2. ^ Technological illuminated manuscript by the Nuremberg patrician Martin Löffelholz (1505) in Cracow
3. ^ Spoonwood Codex online
4. ↑ "The Nuremberg Joke" in the Toy Museum ( Memento from June 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
5. ↑ http://www.openpr.com/news/162307.html
6. ^ Quote from the Prague newspaper. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on July 8, 2018 ; accessed on July 8, 2018 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
7. ↑ http://www.zeno.org/Wander-1867/A/Witz