The Buch der Natur by Konrad von Megenberg (1309-1374), written around 1350, is considered one of the first German-language nature compendia of the Middle Ages. It is also one of the best preserved works of this period. From people to native animals, medicinal plants and gemstones to legendary creatures such as the sea creatures or strange people living in unknown lands, the images contained in it provide interesting insights into the art and cultural history of the German-speaking region in the 15th century. However, in contrast to other scientific encyclopedic writings of the late Middle Ages, only a small fraction of the manuscript was illustrated. Continuous text-related illustration of the work only developed 75 to 100 years after its creation. The extremely diverse illustrations take inspiration from a wide variety of sources. The author examines the reasons and causes for this situation and traces the text and image sources of the illustrations. - [Publisher]

Language: German

ISBN: 3-412-15104-1