The Ingeram Codex (also ''Codex Cotta'',

Kunsthistorisches Museum The Kunsthistorisches Museum ( "Museum of Art History", often referred to as the "Museum of Fine Arts") is an art museum in Vienna, Austria. Housed in its festive palatial building on the Vienna Ring Road, it is crowned with an octagonal d ...

A2302) is an

armorial A roll of arms (or armorial) is a collection of coats of arms, usually consisting of rows of painted pictures of shields, each shield accompanied by the name of the person bearing the arms. The oldest extant armorials date to the mid-13th centur ...

of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. From the accession of Otto I in 962 ...

made by Hans Ingeram for

Albert VI, Archduke of Austria Albert VIKonstantin Moritz A. Langmaier: Erzherzog Albrecht VI. von Österreich (1418–1463). Ein Fürst im Spannungsfeld von Dynastie, Regionen und Reich (= Forschungen zur Kaiser- und Papstgeschichte des Mittelalters. Bd. 38). Böhlau, Köln ...

in 1459. It is largely concerned with the coats of arms of the ''Adelsgesellschaften'' ("societies of nobles") fashionable at the time, a type of society or order formed by members of the lower nobility with the purpose of holding

tournaments A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

. The manuscript has 142 paper pages with depictions of coats of arms mostly in groups of four or six per page. The contents are divided into * Habsburg possessions and Austrian nobility (pp. 1–10). *''Exempla'',

attributed arms Attributed arms are Western European coats of arms given retrospectively to persons real or fictitious who died before the start of the age of heraldry in the latter half of the 12th century. Arms were assigned to the knights of the Round Table ...

to (partly legendary) "exemplary" persons (including the

Nine Worthies The Nine Worthies are nine historical, scriptural, and legendary men of distinction who personify the ideals of chivalry established in the Middle Ages, whose lives were deemed a valuable study for aspirants to chivalric status. All were commonly ...

). (12–17) *''Offices'' (18–27) *fragments of a "European" armorial (28–35) *coats of arms of Habsburg Austria, including the seceded

Old Swiss Confederacy The Old Swiss Confederacy or Swiss Confederacy ( Modern German: ; historically , after the Reformation also , "Confederation of the Swiss") was a loose confederation of independent small states (, German or In the charters of the 14th century ...

(36–39, p. 40 empty) *coats of arms of ''Adelsgesellschaften'' ( tournament societies) (41–134) After the death of Albrecht VI, the manuscript passed to his brother, emperor Frederick III, and later to Ladislaus Jagiellon, presumably via

Matthias Corvinus Matthias Corvinus, also called Matthias I ( hu, Hunyadi Mátyás, ro, Matia/Matei Corvin, hr, Matija/Matijaš Korvin, sk, Matej Korvín, cz, Matyáš Korvín; ), was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1458 to 1490. After conducting several mi ...

, who would have gained its possession when he invaded Vienna in 1485. In 1541, it was owned by cardinal

Gasparo Contarini Gasparo Contarini (16 October 1483 – 24 August 1542) was an Italian diplomat, cardinal and Bishop of Belluno. He was one of the first proponents of the dialogue with Protestants, after the Reformation. Biography He was born in Venice, the eld ...

, and by 1751 it was in the antiquarian collection of count

Löwenstein-Wertheim Löwenstein-Wertheim was a county of the Holy Roman Empire, part of the Franconian Circle. It was formed from the counties of Löwenstein (based in the town of Löwenstein) and Wertheim (based in the town of Wertheim am Main) and from 1488 until ...

, whence it was acquired by publisher

Johann Friedrich Cotta Johann Friedrich, Freiherr Cotta von Cottendorf (April 27, 1764 – December 29, 1832) was a German publisher, industrial pioneer and politician. Ancestors Cotta is the name of a family of German publishers, intimately connected with the his ...

in the early 19th century. Sold to one Heinrich Höfflinger in 1929, the codex finally passed to Kunsthistorisches Museum in 1971.

References

* Charlotte Becher,

Ortwin Gamber Ortwin Gamber (born 21 March 1925) is an Austrian art historian who served as director of the weapons collection at the Kunsthistorisches Museum from 1976 to 1986. He had previously volunteered and following his 1950 graduation, worked at the mus ...

(eds.): ''Die Wappenbücher Herzog Albrechts VI. von Österreich. Ingeram-Codex der ehemaligen Bibliothek Cotta''. Böhlau, Wien u. a. 1986, , (''Jahrbuch der Heraldisch-Genealogischen Gesellschaft Adler'' Folge 3, Bd. 12, 1984/85). * Berthold Waldstein-Wartenberg (Hrsg.): ''Die Wappenbücher Herzog Albrechts VI. von Österreich. Ingeram-Codex der ehemaligen Bibliothek Cotta''. Böhlau, Wien Selbstverlag 1990, (''Jahrbuch der Heraldisch-Genealogischen Gesellschaft Adler'' Folge 3, Bd. 12, 1984/85). {{Authority control Rolls of arms Heraldry of the Holy Roman Empire 1459 books Illuminated heraldic manuscripts