Ambraser Heldenbuch | |
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Austrian National Library, Cod. ser. nova 2663 | |
Date | 1517 |
Language(s) | Early New High German (South Bavarian) |
Scribe(s) | Hans Ried |
Author(s) | Various |
Illuminated by | Ulrich Funk or Veit Fiedler |
Patron | Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor |
Material | Parchment |
Size | V + 238 folios |
Format | 460 x 360 mm, 3 columns |
Script | Chancery script |
Contents | 25 works of narrative verse |
Illumination(s) | Marginal decoration |
Previously kept | Ambras Castle; Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |
The Ambraser Heldenbuch ("The Ambras Castle Book of Heroes") is a 16th-century manuscript written in Early New High German, now held in the Austrian National Library (signature Cod. ser. nova 2663). It contains a collection of 25 Middle High German courtly and heroic narratives along with some shorter works, all dating from the 12th and 13th centuries.[1] For many of the texts it is the sole surviving source, which makes the manuscript highly significant for the history of German literature.[2] The manuscript also attests to an enduring taste for the poetry of the MHG classical period among the upper classes.[3]