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Schubinger in the Court Personnel List of 1519

Markus Grassl

In sources from Maximilian’s court, Schubinger is mentioned for the last time in a list of the court personnel that was created in January 1519, immediately after the emperor’s death in Wels. Here, he appears – once again along with the trombonist Hans Steudl – under the category “zallschreiber vnd ander hoffgesind” (clerks and other court servants):

Abb. Schubinger im Hofstaatsverzeichnis 1519 (2 Seiten) (2 Abbildungen)

Abb. Schubinger im Hofstaatsverzeichnis 1519
Abb. Schubinger im Hofstaatsverzeichnis 1519

A-Whh Hofarchive, Obersthofmeisteramt, Sonderreihe, Kt. 181, Konv. 3 (Hinterlassener Hofstaat nach dem Tode Kaiser Maximilians I. zu Wels), fol. 6r–6v. Edition: Fellner/Kretschmayr 1907, S. 143.

 

The fact that Schubinger and Steudl are listed at the end of this category (see arrow on the second page) can be explained by the absence of a number indicating the horses assigned to them or the delivery money to be paid for them. Nicole Schwindt inferred from this that Steudl and Schubinger simply did not have their own horses and travelled “wie im virtuellen Triumphzug […] auch im wirklichen Leben mit dem Kapellwagen” (in real life with the chapel wagon, as in the virtual Triumphzug).[91] However, this blanket conclusion is questionable. As the aforementioned employment documents from 1514 show, Schubinger was entitled to money for a horse at that time (and Steudl even for two horses). Moreover, the court personnel list from 1519 reveals that many higher-ranking and high-ranking servants were also not granted horses,[92] as were the “Personen so zu Innsprugg sein” (persons in Innsbruck) listed separately in the second part of the directory (with the exception of the falconers). This suggests that the 1519 personnel list does not reflect the fundamental contractual entitlement to horses or delivery money but only made a provision for the current situation and possibly only granted horse allowances to those court members who still had some travel activity, such as from their current location to one of the typical “home bases” of the court, such as Innsbruck or Augsburg.

More significant, however, is the classification of Schubinger and Steudl under “ander hofgesind” (other court servants). This likely reflects the recurring problem throughout the sixteenth century of how to classify players of cornetts, trombones, and string instruments within the traditional court organisational scheme. Traditionally, the court music organisation units included (only) the chapel on one side and the trumpet corps on the other. Although cornettists and trombonists probably collaborated with the chapel in practice, they did not quite fit the institution “chapel” in the traditional sense of an association of clerics and singers. On the other hand, while they shared with the trumpeters the characteristic of being instrumentalists, they were also active in the field of polyphonic “art music” and thus musically, socially, and functionally represented a different sphere than the paramilitary corps of field or natural trumpeters. Symptomatic of this “intermediate status” in the sixteenth century is that cornettists, trombonists, and string players were sometimes listed with the trumpeters, sometimes with the chapel, or (like Schubinger and Steudl in 1519) in separate categories in the Habsburg court personnel lists.[93]

[92] As with the treasurer Jacob Villinger, who according to his appointment letter from 1512 was entitled to horses. See Fellner/Kretschmayr 1907, 51 and 142.

[93] See examples in Wessely 1958, 408, 410; Pass 1980, 350, 354, and 392; Grassl 2011, 120–121 and 129. For the case of the “geyger” Caspar Egker, who is listed under “Annder Officir” in the directory of Maximilian’s remaining court staff from 1520, see Koczirz 1930/1931, 531–532. For this period, see » I. Kap. Ferdinands und Annas Zink-Posaunen-Ensemble.