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1519–1523: Ferdinand I.

Markus Grassl

From 1519 to 1522, Schubinger enjoyed the “usual” allowance of two guilders from the city of Augsburg for four years.[94] It seems likely that he initially stayed in his hometown after the death of Maximilian I., as many former servants of the Emperor, including some musicians, temporarily settled there from January 1519, waiting until Maximilian’s successor, Charles V, wished to employ them, or whether they needed to look for new job opportunities.[95]

For the approximately sixty-year-old Schubinger, the death of Maximilian I did not herald the end of his active career and permanent retreat to Augsburg. Instead, he entered the employment of Ferdinand I, the grandson of Maximilian, born in 1503. Ferdinand spent the years from 1518 to 1521 at the court of his aunt, Margaret of Austria in the Low Countries. Following an agreement with his brother Charles V to divide the Habsburg territories between them, Ferdinand took over rule in the Austrian hereditary lands in 1521/22. A letter of provision, with which Ferdinand I granted Schubinger an annual pension in 1523, speaks of the services the musician had rendered to the Archduke (» chapter The Provision Letter of 1523 and the Last Years). Additionally, a record in the account book of Mechelen, the residence of Margaret of Austria, from 1520 likely refers to Schubinger. Under the section “van den officiers van don Fernando,” payments to several members of the Archduke’s household are listed, including trumpeters and a “tamboryn” as well as “Meester augustijn vuyt duytschlant die op thuereken speelt” (“Master Augustin from Germany, who plays the horn [= cornett?]”).[96] The addition “from Germany” is probably related to the fact that almost all members of Ferdinand’s household at that time came from Burgundy and Spain, making a German origin a distinctive identifying feature. Not least, Schubinger appears in the account books of Ferdinand’s treasurer general, Gabriel von Salamanca, from the period 1522/23: » Abb. Schubinger in Gabriel von Salamancas Rechnungsbüchern 1522/23.

The mention of Schubinger in sources related to the early court of Ferdinand has further significance. Together with other references, it suggests that Ferdinand had a wind band, specifically a cornett-trombone ensemble, well before the year 1527, which has so far been considered the “actual” beginning of his court music (» I. Kontinuität und Wandel, Kap. Ferdinands und Annas Zink-Posaunen-Ensemble).

[94] D-Asa Baumeisterbücher, vol. 113 (1519), fol. 30r: “am hailigen pfingstabent [12 June] / Item ij gulden Augstein Schubinger Kay mayt hochloblicher gedachtnis Busaner gewesen ist”; vol. 114 (1520), fol. 32r: “Samstag nach Letare [24 March] / Item ij guldin Augustein Schubinger weyland Kay trumeter”; vol. 115 (1520), fol. 32v: “Samstag post Johannes Baptiste [29 June] / Item ij gulden Augustein Schübingern Kay mayt. busaner”; vol. 116 (1522), fol. 35v: “Samstag post Udalricj [5 July] / Item ij guldin. Augustein Schubinger Kay. mt busawner”.

[95] See Schwindt 2018a, 14; Schwindt 2018c, 207; Bente 1968, 293–294.

[96] B-Baeb Algemeen Rijksarchief / Archives générales du Royaume, V132–41298 (Stads Rekeningen Mechelen, 1. Nov. 1519–31. Okt. 1520), fol. 232v. For the meaning of “thuereken” as cornett, see Polk 1992b, 88, who cites the reference not in connection with Ferdinand, but with “musicians in the retinue of Maximilian I.” Historians have also overlooked the Mechelen city accounts as a source for reconstructing Ferdinand’s court during his time in the Netherlands; see Castrillo-Benito 1979, 426–427; Rill 2003, 37–46.