PRIMARY SOURCES

ON COPYRIGHT

(1450-1900)

Imperial Senate privilege to the Sodalitas Celtica, Nuremberg (1501)

Source: Universitätsbibliothek Freiburg D 8603

Citation:
Imperial Senate privilege to the Sodalitas Celtica, Nuremberg (1501), Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer, www.copyrighthistory.org

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Record-ID: d_1501

Permanent link: https://copyrighthistory.org/cam/tools/request/showRecord.php?id=record_d_1501

Full title:
Title, Dedications and Colophon with Reference to a Privilege of the Imperial Senate in Favour of the Sodalitas Celitica for an Edition of Works of Hrotsvit

Full title original language:
OPERA HROSVITE ILLVSTRIS VIR||GINIS ET MONIALIS GERMANE GEN||TE SAXONICA ORTE NVPER A CONRA||DO CELTE INVENTA.||

Abstract:
The first privileges for books covering the whole territory of the Holy Roman Empire were granted by the Imperial Senate to a Humanists' academy ('Sodalitas') founded by Conrad Celtis. The original privilege has not been preserved, but there are references to it in an edition of works by the early medieval nun Hrotsvit of Gandersheim (1501) and in the Libri Amoris by Celtis (1502). The 1502 privilege specifies a ten-year term of protection. Ever since Pütter [d_1774] drew attention to them, the privileges for the editions brought out by Celtis's academy have been regarded as the first book privileges granted in the Holy Roman Empire. This commentary gives an overview of the book market in the Holy Roman Empire during the fifteenth century and of the sixteenth- century Imperial supervision of books, as well as some information on Celtis's life and his relations to Emperor Maximilian I (1459-1519). Details of the dedications, which appear both as text and illustrations, are highlighted so as to give an indication of the Humanists' political and artistic aspirations. The granting of privileges by the Imperial Senate in favour of Celtis's 'Sodalitas' was in fact conceived as a gesture by the high nobility to promote the arts and sciences and to encourage loyal and deserving subjects of the Emperor, rather than as an early form of regulation of the book market.

1 Commentary:
commentary_d_1501

Bibliography:
  • Mertens, Dieter, 'Sodalitas Celtica impetrata? Zum Kolophon des Nürnberger Hrotsvith-Druckes von 1501', Euphorion 71 (1977): 277-80

  • Luh, Peter, Kaiser Maximilian gewidmet: die unvollendete Werkausgabe des Conrad Celtis und ihre Holzschnitte (Frankfurt et. al.: Lang, 2001)

  • Eisenhardt, Ulrich, Die kaiserliche Aufsicht über Buchdruck, Buchhandel und Presse im Heiligen Römischen Reich Deutscher Nation (1496-1806) (Karlsruhe: C.F. Müller, 1970)


Related documents in this database:
1502: Privilege of the Imperial Senate for Works of Conrad Celtis

Author: Celtis, Conrad (1459-1508)

Publisher: Sodalitas Celtica

Year: 1501

Location: Nuremberg

Language: Latin

Source: Universitätsbibliothek Freiburg D 8603

Persons referred to:
Celtis, Conrad
Frederick III of Saxony
Hrotsvit of Gandersheim
Maximilian I

Places referred to:
Nuremberg
Vienna

Cases referred to:
N/A

Institutions referred to:
Imperial Senate
Sodalitas Celtica

Legislation:
N/A

Keywords:
Bible, the
almanacs
authorship, corporate
book market
book trade
books, protected subject matter
censorship
censorship, pre-publication
defamation
duration
grammars
humanism
immoral works
medical tracts
patronage
printing, history of
privileges, German Imperial
privileges, Venetian
religious works
scholarly writing
societies, authors'
typography
universities

Responsible editor: Friedemann Kawohl


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