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

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Next, chronicles and memoirs are an excellent source of more in-depth narrative detail 
on Maximilian. Several include revealing information on the Habsburg monarch or references 
to his tournaments, although, in each case, regional bias must be considered. Some of the most 
well-known and easily accessible of these tend to be from French or Burgundian authors, such 
as those of Jean Molinet (1435-1507), Olivier de la Marche (1425-1502), or Philippe de 
Commynes (1447-1511), each of whom crossed paths with the Habsburgs, due to the 
intertwining of the Habsburg and Burgundian courts, and whose writings continue to be 
published in modern editions.
5
 On the other hand, the writings of Maximilian’s own court 
chroniclers, such as Joseph Grünpeck (1473-1532), provide an interesting alternative to 
Burgundian perspectives.
6
 
 
In the same vein, diaries or collections of letters are of use as well. In many ways, these 
are a more valuable resource when it comes to tournaments, as they present a more immediate 
and (presumably) factual record of day-to-day occurences at court, as tournaments often were. 
Also, in this format, German or Italian sources come more to the fore, such as in the collected 
writings of the German academics Conrad Celtis (1459-1508), Georg Spalatin (1484-1545), or 
Johannes Cuspinianus (1473-1529), for example.
7
 The Italian historian Marino Sanuto (1466-
                                                 
5
 Olivier de la Marche, Mémoires d’Olivier de la Marche, ed. by Henri Beaune and J. D’Arbaumont, 4 
vols (Paris: Librairie Renouard, 1883-88); Jean Molinet, Chroniques, ed. by Georges Doutrepont and 
Omer Jodogne, 3 vols (Brussels: Palais des Académies, 1935-37); Philippe de Commynes, Memoirs, ed. 
by Samuel Kinser, trans. by Isabelle Cazeaux, 2 vols (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 
1973). 
6
 Joseph Grünpeck, Die Geschichte Friedrichs III und Maximilians I, trans. by Theodor Ilgen (Leipzig: 
Verlag der Deutschen Buchhandlung, 1899). For a study solely of the images which appear in this work, 
see Die Historia Friderici et Maximiliani, ed. by Otto Bensch and Edwin M. Auer (Berlin: Deutscher 
Verein für Kunstwissenschaft, 1957). 
7
 Der Briefwechsel des Konrad Celtis, ed. by Hans Rupprich (Munich: C.H. Beck’sche 
Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1934). This is a collection of letters (in Latin) to and from German humanist 
Conrad Celtis, who was often at Maximilian’s court and which describe tournaments on several 
occasions. Georg Spalatin's historischer Nachlaß und Briefe, ed. by Christian Gotthold Neudecker (Jena: 
Mauke, 1851). These are the collected writings and letters of German humanist Georg Spalatin, who 
served Friedrich III, Elector of Saxony, a frequent attendee at Maximilian’s court, and thus contain 

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19 
 
1536) also left extensive records in his diary which have proved useful for this research.
8
 The 
benefit of such chronicles, memoirs or diaries, and letters is that they often offer, in addition to 
reference to tournaments, extensive insight into Maximilian’s public image in his own lifetime.
9
 
A brief examination of this trend will help to establish Maximilian’s perceived charactersitics 
while also introducing these sources and their authors in a more thorough manner. 
 
1.2.a Maximilian through the Eyes of His Contemporaries 
Louise Cuyler has called Maximilian the ‘most legendary and perhaps best-loved of German 
monarchs’.
10
 His reputation into the modern era has certainly grown to almost mythic 
proportions. This is largely due to the fact that Maximilian’s reign is one which has left to 
modern scholars a vast visual record, many items of which Maximilian himself had a hand in 
producing. Yet Cuyler points to the inherent questionability of these sources when she says, 
‘Probably no hero of the German people is so celebrated in legend and deeply enshrined in the 
affections of his countrymen as the Emperor Maximilian. So intertwined, indeed, are historical 
facts and cherished folk tales that a true picture of this Habsburg prince is difficult to 
ascertain’.
11
 While these artefacts – paintings, drawings, woodcuts, engravings, illustrated 
manuscripts – are the most attention-grabbing and often the most closely studied remnants of 
his lifetime, the emperor also features in numerous narrative sources of the time. And he did 
                                                 
many references to Maximilian’s courtly activities. Johannes Cuspinianus, De Caesaribus atque 
imperatoribus Romanis (Basil: 1561), Munich, BSB, 2 Germ.g. 14 t, and ‘Tagebuch Johannes Cuspinian’s: 
1502-1527’, ed. by Th. G. von Karajan, Fontes Rerum Austriacarum 1/1 (1855), 397-416. For more on 
Cuspinianus, see Section 1.2.a. 
8
 Marino Sanuto, I Diarii di Marino Sanuto, 58 vols (Venice: 1879-1903). 
9
 Also fascinating are the letters he exchanged with his daughter, Margaret of Austria, preserved 
in Correspondance de l’empereur Maximilian Ier et de Marguerite d’Autriche, ed. by André Joseph Ghislain le 
Glay, ed., 2 vols (Paris: Société de l’Histoire de France, 1839). 
10
 Cuyler, The Emperor Maximilian I and Music, p. v. 
11
 Cuyler, The Emperor Maximilian I and Music, p. 7. 

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not always have control over each of these in the same way. One excellent survey of these 
sources may be found in Glenn Waas’ 1941 historiographical work, The Legendary Character of 
Kaiser Maximilian.
12
 Still, Waas claims that ‘only a relatively small group of contemporary 
historians and political writers contribute materially to form the picture of Maximilian’.
13
 Yet 
when even just a sample of these sources is examined, a wealth of (often contradictory) 
information is revealed which help to paint a new picture of the emperor and offer insight into 
his character. 
 
Maximilian’s father, the Holy Roman emperor Frederick III (1415-1493/ruled 1452-
1493), is often viewed by history as largely inept as a monarch, his reign marked by hesitancy, 
apathy, and fiscal difficulties (interestingly, all problems which would later plague Maximilian, 
although his reputation has generally subsequently escaped such labels). This was a reputation 
which began in Frederick’s own lifetime. Maximilian’s childhood also corresponded with his 
father’s lowest fortunes. In the second half of the fifteenth century, the empire had 
disintegrated into a loose conglomeration of individual political units, spread out across a vast 
geographic area. More loyalty was given to local ruling sovereigns than to whoever happened 
to claim the title of Holy Roman emperor.
14
 Growing up in such an environment, it is little 
wonder that Maximilian was so interested in building up a positive and lasting reputation for 
himself.  
                                                 
12
 Waas’ chapter in this work, ‘Maximilian Viewed by His Contemporaries’ (pp. 23-72) is a 
thorough study of these viewpoints. 
13
 Waas, The Legendary Character of Kaiser Maximilian, p. 23. 
14
 Cuyler, The Emperor Maximilian I and Music, pp. 1-18. Despite his largely negative reputation, 
Frederick III’s imperial coronation was in fact the last to be held in Rome – the tradition begun by 
Charlemagne. By Frederick’s lifetime, few claimants made it to Rome for their anointing, often due to 
tenuous claims to the throne in the first place. In Frederick’s day, Rome had recently undergone 
extensive revitalisation, funded by Pope Nicholas V, and Frederick hoped that his anointing there 
would demonstrate renewed imperial glory while displaying union with the Church. Maximilian, despite 
his best efforts, would not make it to Rome for his own coronation.  

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