page_title: Freydal
section_title: Creation and history
hierarchical_section_title: Freydal / Creation and history
context_page_description: Freydal is an uncompleted illustrated prose narrative commissioned by the Holy Roman Emperor, Maximilian I in the early 16th century. It was intended to be a romantic allegorical account of Maximilian's own participation in a series of jousting tournaments in the guise of the tale's eponymous hero, Freydal. In the story, Freydal takes part in the tournaments to prove that he is worthy to marry a princess, who is a fictionalised representation of Maximilian's late wife, Mary of Burgundy.
  The text was never completed, although a manuscript draft is held by the Austrian National Library. 256 miniature paintings to accompany the text were created by court painters, and 255 are preserved in an illuminated manuscript ‘tournament book’ held by the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. These miniatures vividly record the different types of jousts that were popular at the time as well as the court masquerades, or ‘mummeries’, that took place at the end of the day after each tournament. It is the most extensive visual record of late medieval tournaments and court masquerades that exists.
context_section_description: Maximilian appears to have begun planning Freydal in 1502. The name Freydal was derived from Freyd-alb, meaning "white joyful young man". In that year, he instructed his court taylor, Martin Trummer "to have drawn in a book all those costumes as yet seen in mummeries organised by his majesty". A “mummery” was a late medieval courtly masquerade or costumed dance.
  This developed into the commissioning of planning sketches for the entire work, created over the next ten years. They were drawn in pen on laid paper, using brown and black ink with watercolour over black chalk and leadpoint. A collection of 203 of these are housed in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. A small number of additional drawings are held at the British Museum and the Vatican Library.
  Maximilian took a leading part in the creation of the work. His instructions on the subjects to be illustrated as well as corrections, in his own hand, of some of the proofs have survived. In 1511, Maximilian dictated some of the text to his secretary, Max Trytssaurwein, (or Marx Treitzsauerwein) and the following year wrote "Freydal is half conceived, the largest part of which we have made in Cologne". The work was never completed, however, and the text exists only in draft form. The manuscript text dictated to Treitzsauerwein, and corrected in Maximilian's hand, is held by the Austrian National Library in Vienna.
  Although the text was never finalised, 256 high quality miniatures were created between 1512 and 1515 to illustrate the text. These were painted on paper in gouache with gold and silver highlights over pen, pencil and leadpoint by two dozen anonymous court artists under the direction of the imperial master-taylor. All but one of the paintings are preserved in an illuminated manuscript ‘tournament book’ held by the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. The remaining painting has been missing since at least 1600.
  It was intended to print and publish the work with woodcut illustrations derived from the miniatures. Although Maximilian never succeeded in doing this, and the text remained only a draft, five of the illustrations were trial printed. These were from woodcuts made in about 1516 by Albrecht Dürer, albeit the cutting was somewhat rough. A sixth woodcut has been attributed to Lucas Cranach the Elder. One of the woodcut blocks has survived, and is held by the Kupferstichkabinett Berlin.
  In modern times, the Kunsthistorisches Museum illuminated manuscript tournament book has been published twice. A multi-volume edition, edited by Quirin von Leitner (de), was published in Vienna in stages between 1880 and 1882. In 2019, the German publisher, Taschen, published the entire tournament book in a single volume, edited by Stefan Krause.
caption: Planning sketch for Freydal, National Gallery of Art, Washington
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