Sigmund Feyerabend's Das Reyßbuch deß heyligen Lands

Más información sobre el libro

„Das Reyßbuch deß heyligen Lands,“ published in Frankfurt am Main in 1584 by Sigmund Feyerabend, features texts from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries, including sixteen pilgrimage reports, Robert of Reim’s history of the First Crusade, and a German translation of a Latin pilgrimage guide. Some texts are published for the first time, while others, like Mandeville’s Travels, have a rich manuscript and printing history. The contributors include nobles, churchmen, merchants, a doctor, and an artisan. This collection is notable as the first primarily German travel literature, rather than translations, and the only compendium of pilgrimage reports, emerging at a time when the Reformation diminished pilgrimage interest. The study is divided into two parts. The first examines the Reyßbuch as a publisher's product, exploring its printing history, sources, adaptation methods, Feyerabend's intentions, and reader manipulation techniques. It also reviews the three subsequent editions and their content changes. The second part analyzes pilgrimage reports as literary works, discussing their structure, language use, genre identity, and their role as precursors to popular prose fiction. It contrasts pre- and post-Reformation accounts and considers the late publication's context, particularly the Turkish threat to Europe. Throughout, the Reyßbuch is situated within a broader socio-political, devotional, and literary framework, reflectin