Entertainments under Sigmund and Katharina
Sigmund and Katharina made every effort to accommodate Bianca Maria in the utmost comfort, the dances described by the Ferrarese ambassador being just one example of the courtly festivities held in her honour: in addition to “L’Ungaresca” dance mentioned here – a ballo in the Hungarian style known to have been performed at the Milanese court – the second page of this letter (not shown here) mentions another dance: “qua se fa uno Ballo dimandato pizighitone al quale le m[ilanes]e non stiano adaptarse” (here they have a dance called the Pizighitone, which the Milanese cannot get used to).[32]
On 28 December, the queen herself wrote to her uncle Ludovico Sforza (“Il Moro”) of the festivities over the Christmas period, and the time she had spent with the Archduchess, including their participation in dancing and games, in public and private: “partly on dancing and partly on seeing the aforementioned Lady Archduchess playing with a few other noblemen and cavaliers of hers and of ours. These feasts are sometimes done in public and sometimes privately in our chamber.”[33]). Maximilian’s Secretary Oswald von Hausen wrote to his colleague Zyprian von Serntein of Bianca Maria’s enjoyment of the dances at court, especially those in the Italian style, noting that the Italian ladies danced with such light feet, as if “auf ayrn, das die nicht prächn” (“on eggs, that they should not break).[34] Maximilian also received news of the festivities, and Bianca Maria’s growing friendship with Katharina (despite their lack of knowledge of each other’s native tongue), from Eitel Friedrich, the Count of Hohenzollern:
So sind bede Ewr mt. gemahell und die herczogin gutt gespillen wan sy nur mitt ain ander reden konden doch kartend sy und danczen mitt ain ander und sechen dem renen und stechen zu.
(Both Your Majesty’s wife and the Duchess have become good friends. If only they could speak with each other. Yet they play cards and dance with each other and watch the jousts).[35]
The two women shared a love of music. In 1486 payments were made to the lute-maker Erhart Pöcht in Arzl near Innsbruck “umb ain Lauten, umb ain Fuetral auch etlich Sayten meiner gnedigen Frauen” (i.e. Katharina) and again “umb zwo Lauten mit Futraln” for her;[36] in 1506 Bianca Maria wrote to Isabella d’Este, Marchioness of Mantua, requesting that she send a clavichord to her, as there was none to be found in Innsbruck.[37]
[32] Archivio di Stato di Modena est disp amb germ, busta 1, undated letter, verso. A summary of the letter is presented in Regesta Imperii Online XIV,1 n. 2877: http://www.regesta-imperii.de/id/1493-12-24_1_0_14_1_0_2882_2877 (accessed 01.11.2019). Dances at Maximilian’s court will be discussed further in » I. Civic and courtly dancing.
[33] „parte in ballare e parte in videre zugare la prefata Domina Archiducesa con alchuni altri Signori et cavaleri de li suoi et de li nostri. E queste feste qualchi volta sono facte in publico, et qualchi volta privatamente ne la camera nostra.“ Calvi 1888, 48.
[34] Tiroler Landesarchiv Innsbruck (A-Ila), Maximiliana XIV/1493, fol. 103. Summary in Regesta Imperii Online,
RI XIV,1 n. 2878: http://www.regesta-imperii.de/id/1493-12-24_2_0_14_1_0_2883_2878 (accessed 01.11.2019).
[35] Quoted in: Köfler and Caramelle 1982, 208.
[37] Regesta Imperii XIV Nr. 25967: Archivio di Stato di Mantova, Agonz, E/II/2, busta 429, Nr 6.
[1] Maximilian was elected King of the Romans in 1486. He succeeded his father, Friedrich III, as head of the House of Habsburg in 1493, but only received the title of Emperor in 1508. For clarity, he will be referred to here as king. At this time, Upper Austria (“Oberösterreich”) comprised Tyrol, parts of the Upper Rhine, East Swabia, Alsace and the Vorlande at the east end of Lake Constance: see Benecke 1982, 35; Wiesflecker-Friedhuber 1996, 131f.
[2] Benecke 1982, pp. 35-6; Wiesflecker-Friedhuber 2005, 126f.
[3] „…ihn herrlich empfienge, und unter andern Kurzweilen, zu den Tyrolischen Fundgruben führte“. Birken 1668, 1012.
[4] See, for example, Drexel 2001, 603; Höpfel 1989, 20.
[5] “Deren Gewerkleute, an der zahl 7400, unter fliegendem Fahn in schöner ordnung, ihnen entgegen kamen, und nach des Erzherzogen befehl, vor dem Röm. König sich auf die kniehe warfen.” Birken 1668, 1012f.
[6] “Sie brachten ihm auch Geschenke, etliche güldene Schüsseln voll Rheinischer Goldgulden, und ungearbeitetes Silber bey 100 Pfunde. Es kamen auch Venedische Gesandten, die ihn, mit Widergabe etlicher dem Erzhaus vordessen abgenommenen Plätze, zu versöhnen begehrten: weil sie vernommen hatten, daß sie ihn forthin zum Nachbarn haben würden.“ Birken 1668, 1012f.
[7] “Rhætica dum tellus vult se summittere Summo Æmilio, fossor prævius ecce venit. Aurea, se talem tali probat, illa, ministro: hinc auro plenas obtulit iste manûs.” Birken 1668, 1013. I would like to thank Alison Samuels for the translation of this epigram and James Robson for further advice about its meaning.
[8] “Tyrol sein Bergleut-Heer dem Helden schickt entgegen, itzt da es selbst sich will zu dessen füssen legen. Es heiset ihn willkomm durch Gold in ihrer Hand: Weil es, durch ihren Fleis, sich weist ein güldnes Land.” Birken 1668, 1012.
[9] “Aber Erzh. Sigmund, der nun ein hohes Alter auf sich, und keinen Leibs Erben mehr zuhoffen hatte, auch zu den Regirungssorgen verdrossen war, beschickte seine Landstände nach Insbruck, sprache sie ledig von ihrer Eidspflicht, und hiesse sie dem Röm. König, als ihrem angehenden Landsfürsten, schwören, den er, in ihrer gegenwart, an Sohns stat aufnahme, ihm alle von Vatter ererbte Länder abtratte und übergabe…” Birken 1668, 1013.
[10] Wiesflecker-Friedhuber 2005, 128. See also Jäger 1874.
[11] Drexel 2001, 602-3; Senn 1954, 1-2.
[12] For the Mitterhof, see » Leitbild F. with commentary. Further details of Maximilian’s relationship with Innsbruck are in Senn 1954, 19; Fritz 1968; Cuyler 1973; Benecke 1982; Wiesflecker-Friedhuber 1996 and 2005.
[13] Felix Faber (1923, 33): “In dieselbe [Innsbruck] eingetreten, fanden wir sie voll von Adeligen und Bewaffneten. Fürsten, Grafen und Barone waren zum Erzherzog gekommen, denn gerade feierte der Landesfürst mit der Tochter des Sachsenherzogs Hochzeit; zu dieser Feier war der Adel aus ganz Deutschland zusammengeströmt.”
[17] A tun of wine was awarded to the organist in January 1498: see Wiesflecker 1993, 269 (no. 5756).
[18] Wiesflecker 1993, p. 222 (no. 5364).
[19] Busch-Salmen 1992, pp. 64f.; Schuler 1995, 13.
[20] See also » I. The court chapel of Maximilian I.
[22] The Triumphzug was never completed, and its woodcut images therefore include a number of empty banners, which were to contain phrases introducing many of the personnel presented. However, the intended content of the plaques can be reconstructed from the initial manuscript programme for the images, which was dictated by Maximilian himself and refers to several musicians by name.
[24] For example, the Augsburg civic accounts of 1490 include payment of: “4 fl. des kunigs zwayen luttenschlager, Artus vnd Lenhart”. D-Asa (Stadtarchiv Augsburg), Baumeisterbücher Nr. 84 (1490), fol. 17r.
[28] Wiesflecker 1971-1986, vol. 5, 401-2.
[29] Weiss 2010, 56.
[30] Hochrinner 1966, 33-39.
[31] Archivio di Stato di Modena est disp amb germ, busta 1, undated letter, recto. A summary of the letter is presented in Regesta Imperii Online XIV,1 n. 2877: http://www.regesta-imperii.de/id/1493-12-24_1_0_14_1_0_2882_2877 (accessed 01.11.2019).
[32] Archivio di Stato di Modena est disp amb germ, busta 1, undated letter, verso. A summary of the letter is presented in Regesta Imperii Online XIV,1 n. 2877: http://www.regesta-imperii.de/id/1493-12-24_1_0_14_1_0_2882_2877 (accessed 01.11.2019). Dances at Maximilian’s court will be discussed further in » I. Civic and courtly dancing.
[33] “parte in ballare e parte in videre zugare la prefata Domina Archiducesa con alchuni altri Signori et cavaleri de li suoi et de li nostri. E queste feste qualchi volta sono facte in publico, et qualchi volta privatamente ne la camera nostra.” Calvi 1888, 48.
[34] Tiroler Landesarchiv Innsbruck (A-Ila), Maximiliana XIV/1493, fol. 103. Summary in Regesta Imperii Online,
RI XIV,1 n. 2878: http://www.regesta-imperii.de/id/1493-12-24_2_0_14_1_0_2883_2878 (accessed 01.11.2019).
[35] Quoted in: Köfler and Caramelle 1982, 208.
[37] Regesta Imperii XIV Nr. 25967: Archivio di Stato di Mantova, Agonz, E/II/2, busta 429, Nr 6.
[38] Waldner 1897/98, 11.
[39] Waldner 1897/98, 14.
[41] Hochrinner 1966, 44.
[42] Pandolfo Collenuccio, Innsbruck, to Ercole d’Este, 18 March 1494: Archivio di Stato di Modena dis amb germ, busta 1, recto. Summary of the letter in: Regesta Imperii Online, RI XIV,1 n. 478: http://www.regesta-imperii.de/id/1494-03-16_1_0_14_1_0_482_478. See also Wiesflecker Bd. I, 368.
[43] This was Perkin Warbeck, pretender to the English throne, who claimed to be Richard, Duke of York, the missing second son of Edward IV.
[44] See Green 2012; Grassl 2019.
[46] Quoted in Meconi 2003, 27.
[47] Further on Maximilian’s chapel singers, see » I. The court chapel of Maximilian I.
[48] Waldner 1897/98, 20-21.
[49] Senn 1954, 39–44; See also Waldner 1897/98, 33–34.
[53] D-Asa (Stadtarchiv Augsburg), Baumeisterbücher Nr. 101 (1507), fol. 24v and Nr. 102 (1508), fol. 24v.
[55] Indeed, from 1516 until 1521, the two young princesses Anna of Hungary and Maria of Austria were resident at the Innsbruck palace and had several musicians in their employ. See Waldner 1897/98, 59 and Senn 1954, 46–47.
[56] Gachard 1876, 309.
[57] Gachard 1876, 310.
[58] Senn 1954, 39-40, also regarding the subsequent repair of the organ by Balthasar Streng in 1502.
[60] Gachard 1876, 319.
[61] Gachard 1876, 311.
[62] Gachard 1876, 315.
[63] Meconi 2003, 62.
[64] Gachard 1876, 313.
[65] Gachard 1876, 316–317.
[66] D-Asa (Stadtarchiv Augsburg), Baumeisterbücher Nr. 97 (1503), fol. 28r and Nr. 98 (1504), fol. 26r-v.
[67] Wessely 1956, 111.
[68] Meconi 2003, 35. See » I. Instrumentalkünstler; » G. Augustin Schubinger.
[69] Gachard 1876, 314.
[70] Gachard 1876, 320.
[71] Sanuto’s diaries are published in Barozzi 1880.
[72] Barozzi 1880, column 217.
[73] Barozzi 1880, column 216.
[74] Barozzi 1880, column 215.
[75] According to Benecke 1982, 94, Maximilian visited Innsbruck 22 times between 1498 and 1518.
Empfohlene Zitierweise:
Helen Coffey: “Music and ceremony in Maximilian’s Innsbruck”, in: Musikleben des Spätmittelalters in der Region Österreich <https://musical-life.net/essays/music-and-ceremony-maximilians-innsbruck> (2019).