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Book/Printed Material An Admonition to Christendom against the Turks. Eyn manung der cristenheit widder die durken

About this Item

Title

  • An Admonition to Christendom against the Turks.

Other Title

  • Eyn manung der cristenheit widder die durken

Summary

  • In the aftermath of the capture of Constantinople by the Turks under Sultan Mehmed II on May 29, 1453, numerous writers in Europe called on the rulers of Europe to defend Christendom. The new art of printing lent itself to the propagation of such calls. Accordingly, it was in the workshop of Johann Gutenberg, the printer of the famous 42-line Bible that bears his name, that the first political pamphlet in the German language on this topic was printed with the title Eyn manung der cristenheit widder die durken (An admonition to Christendom against the Turks). The pamphlet survives in a single copy in the collections of the Bavarian State Library. It is the oldest completely intact print produced with the movable printing type known as Gutenberg's "Urtype" or the "Donat-Kalender-Type." The small booklet containing six leaves in quarto format is also known as the Türkenkalender (Turkish calendar), as Gutenberg presented it in the form of a calendar structured in accordance with the 12 new moons of the year 1455. After an introductory prayer, for each of the months the calendar exhorts a clerical or secular prince to resist the Turks. The concluding verses for the month of December announce news of a recent victory against the enemy, spread through a letter written by Pope Nicholas V on October 25, 1454, to the Diet in Frankfurt, the intent of which was to encourage the assembly to join arms against the Turks. However, the letter failed in its purpose since it arrived in Frankfurt too late for the Diet session and was instead read on December 6, 1454, to the assembly of towns and cities which had subsequently gathered in Frankfurt. The Türkenkalender ends with a prayer and a New Year's wish for the year 1455-the first such salutation known. Because in Mainz the New Year was reckoned to begin on Christmas Day, the production of this print can be determined with relative exactitude as having taken place in 1454, after the 6th and before the 25th of December. The unique copy of the Türkenkalender originally belonged to the humanist Konrad Peutinger (1465--1547). It was discovered in the Jesuit college in Augsburg in 1806, from where it subsequently came to Munich.

Names

  • Gutenberg, Johann, 1397?-1468 Printer.

Created / Published

  • Mainz : Johann Gutenberg, [1454-12-06 to 1454-12-24]

Headings

  • -  Germany
  • -  Turkey--Istanbul
  • -  1455
  • -  Calendars
  • -  Crusades
  • -  Incunabula
  • -  Literature, Medieval
  • -  Nicholas V, Pope, 1397-1455
  • -  Ottoman Empire, 1288-1918
  • -  Politics and government
  • -  Turks

Notes

  • -  Title devised, in English, by Library staff.
  • -  "BSB Shelfmark: BSB-Ink M-149|This description of the work was written by Claudia Bubenik of the Bavarian State Library."--Note extracted from World Digital Library.
  • -  Original resource extent: 6 folios.
  • -  Original resource at: Bavarian State Library.
  • -  Content in Middle High German (ca. 1050-1500).
  • -  Description based on data extracted from World Digital Library, which may be extracted from partner institutions.

Medium

  • 1 online resource.

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 2021667061

Online Format

  • compressed data
  • pdf
  • image

Additional Metadata Formats

IIIF Presentation Manifest

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Credit Line: [Original Source citation], World Digital Library

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Gutenberg, Johann, 1397?-1468 Printer. An Admonition to Christendom against the Turks. [Mainz: Johann Gutenberg, -12-06 to -12-24, 1454] Pdf. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667061/.

APA citation style:

Gutenberg, J. (1454) An Admonition to Christendom against the Turks. [Mainz: Johann Gutenberg, -12-06 to -12-24] [Pdf] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667061/.

MLA citation style:

Gutenberg, Johann, 1397?-1468 Printer. An Admonition to Christendom against the Turks. [Mainz: Johann Gutenberg, -12-06 to -12-24, 1454] Pdf. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2021667061/>.