For the “Echter copy” (M.ch.f.760) digitally presented here, Prince-Bishop Julius Echter of Mespelbrunn (1545–1617) in 1574 requested the Cathedral Chapter’s copy of the Fries Chronicle as his model. The plan appears to have been an ambitious one: the copyist was instructed to work under special security and secrecy conditions. In addition, at least one further textual exemplar was consulted and integrated. The form and decoration of the manuscript were intended to reflect the prestige of the princely commissioner and to surpass the exemplars used as models. Whether the appearance of the Bishop’s copy, destroyed by fire in 1572, was also to be imitated remains uncertain.
The completion of the book’s illumination, including numerous depictions of coats of arms and seals as well as 171 miniatures (148 coloured, 121 heightened with gold, four partially coloured, and 23 pen drawings), took a prolonged period of time. The artists initially commissioned were replaced in 1581/82 by the renowned Nuremberg illuminator Georg Mack. Fifty-nine miniatures executed by him bear his signature and bear witness to his artistry. The “Echter copy” is thus among the most beautifully illustrated Fries chronicles of all.
The following section presents all 171 miniatures. Each is accompanied by the descriptions written by Dr Eva Pleticha-Geuder in her 1989 catalogue The Fries Chronicle of Prince-Bishop Julius Echter of Mespelbrunn: A Magnificent Franconian Manuscript of the Sixteenth Century from the Collections of the University Library Würzburg.