The Austrian Chronicle from 1454-1467

The Österreichische Chronik der Jahre 1454 bis 1467 was transmitted as early as 1470 in a manuscript. Before the backdrop of the history of the city and the empire, a fascinating panorama of historical details unfolds. Yet the oldest manuscript is itself a revision, and other manuscripts offer their own versions of the text. The project, which has already in its preliminary phases witnessed the rediscovery of a new manuscript of the text, intends to make this work in late medieval history accessible and to bring it into scholarly discourse. The project promises to approach the zeitgeist of the 15th century in its own terms and reconstruct how recent history transforms into a text and how this text and its view of history, in turn, are themselves simultaneously transformed. The project will make an edition, commentary and translation of the Österreichische Chronik der Jahre 1454 bis 1467 widely accessible. It provides research with a useful tool and a robust source while still allowing a broad, interested public to become witness to how the history of late medieval Vienna was written, rewritten and continued. The project will be performed as a cooperation by Matthias Meyer and Stephan Müller at the University of Vienna.

The 'Austrian Chronicle of the Years 1454-1467' recounts pivotal events of the times from the perspective of the city of Vienna and the countries 'Österreich ob und unter der Enns'. It starts with events surrounding the death of Ladislaus Postumus; events of the so-called 'feud between the Habsburgian brothers' Emperor Friedrich III. and Albrecht VI. follow; Poland, Moravia and Hungary (especially Georg Podiebrad and Matthias Corvinus) play an important role on the level of imperial politics. Besides these events of larger concern, it is events in and around Vienna, that are depicted in detail in the chronicle: the various alliances the city forms in the battle for local rulership between Friedrich and Albrecht, the Estates that accompany these battles and the final reconciliation with Friedrich after Albrecht's death. In addition, it reports many local occurrences like the coinage problems leading to heavy inflation and the following economic impact. The text is known to historical research only through two inaccurate 18th century prints and has never been edited to modern philological standards. For the first time, the project offers transliterations of the three manuscripts in a digital form. Especially the Gießen manuscript which after a contemporary correction actually contains two different versions of the text, is for the first time represented in its complexity. On the basis of the collation of the manuscripts, we edited with the Viennese manuscript as a basis a sound text with a detailed philological apparatus. We added page refences to all three manuscripts as well as modern dates for the medieval ones. Finally, we added a modern German translation with a second apparatus with explanations of historical events, measures, names, places, persons etc. Two introductions (concerning the edition, transmission and reception and the translation principles as well as the historical background) and indices make the text accessible. The text is still of interest for historians. Our translation aims at making the uncertainties and vagaries of Early Modern German understandable. The text is now philologically sound and for the first time an unambiguous citation is possible. The transcriptions are also of value for language historians. In recent years, German Studies have shown a growing interest in chronicles - and the narrative passages of the text are also of interest for the very active discipline of Historical Narratology. And we would also emphasize that, because of its realistic depictions and rich everyday details, our translation of text could also be used successfully in Viennese school classrooms.