The Housebooks of Nuremberg or The Twelve Brethren books

The "Hausbücher der Nürnberger Zwölfbrüderstiftungen" (Housebooks of Nuremberg or The Twelve Brethren Books) are the most extensive and valuable serial image source on historical crafts in Europe.

From "Accountant" to "Woodturner" there are more than 1,300 depictions of numerous manufacturing processeses and handcrafted products from the 15th to the 19th century. As research material and as illustration templates, the depictions of craftsmen in the “Housebooks” have long been known from specialist and popular scientific literature. Nevertheless, the majority of the images remained unpublished.

From October 2007 to February 2009, a project to digitize and index the Housebooks was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. The results are presented to the public on this website and made available for scientific use. The Stadtbibliothek im Bildungscampus Nürnberg as owner of the manuscripts and the Germanische Nationalmuseum as information technology expert are now documenting the Housebooks completely and digitally in accordance with current standards. The transcribed inscriptions of the fully photographed manuscripts as well as the descriptions of the artisans at work can be researched.

Konrad Mendel and Matthäus Landauer

The two Twelve Brethren Books of Nuremberg were compiled as chronicles and death records of two Nuremberg social foundations of the late Middle Ages. They were maintained with strict continuity without interruption until the end of the city's independence in 1806: for the time being, they gave expression to the constant fulfilment of the foundation's purpose - and at the same time produced immensely rich pictorial material.

In 1388, the wealthy merchant Konrad Mendel had an old people's home built to provide accommodation and meals for twelve needy old Nuremberg craftsmen and had it endowed with capital for permanent management. From around 1425/26, each ‘Mendel brother’ was portrayed with a full-page portrait in Mendel's Housebook. By the end of the imperial city period, it had grown to a total of 857 illustrated pages with 765 portraits of craftsmen in folio format.

The depictions show the brothers predominantly practising their craft, with characteristic manufacturing processes, typical tools, workshop equipment, materials and products - with detailed motifs and great, immediate authenticity. A text was added in each case; initially only the names and biographical data of the brother, expanded in later centuries to include short biographies.

Mendel's foundation model found a prominent successor in the early 16th century, when the mining entrepreneur Matthäus Landauer established a second Nuremberg ‘Twelve Brethrens’ House‘ with a similar function and the same memorial book form: the Landauer Twelve Brethrens’ Foundation. With its Housebook of the same name, it begun in 1511 and comprised 439 illustrated pages with 406 portraits of craftsmen. This foundation also lasted until 1806.

Descriptions

Detailed descriptions of the single volumes with further information on their features, their history, further literature and more can be found in the following short essays.

• Mendel I = Amb. 317.2° (PDF, 26KB)

• Mendel II = Amb. 317b.2° (PDF, 34KB)

• Mendel III = Amb. 318.2° (PDF, 11KB)

• Landauer I = Amb. 279.2 (PDF, 27KB)

• Landauer II = Amb. 279b.2° (PDF, 24KB)

Information about the "Sammlung Amberger" (the Amberger collection) can be found in:

• Handbuch der historischen Buchbestände in Deutschland.
  Band 12: Bayern I-R. Herausgegeben von Eberhard Dünninger.
  Bearbeitet von Irmela Holtmeier unter Mitarbeit von Birgit Schaefer
  Georg-Olms-Verlag, Hildesheim 1996, ISBN 3-487-09586-6
  ab Seite 134.

Secondary literature

Relevant literature and titles cited more than once:

• Secondary literature for the indexing of the "Hausbücher" (house books)