Costume Albums in Charles V's Habsburg Empire

411 Pages·2017·31 MB·English

by  Katy Bond

University of Cambridge
Faculty of History

Costume Albums in Charles V’s Habsburg
Empire (1528-1549)

Katherine Louise Bond
Newnham College

This dissertation is submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in
History
September 2017

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Abstract

Costume Albums in Charles V’s Habsburg Empire (1528-1549)
Katherine Louise Bond

This dissertation addresses the development of the costume book in the rapidly
globalising world of the sixteenth century, concentrating on two costume albums
produced in the second quarter of the sixteenth century and whose owners and creators
shared close ties to the imperial court of Habsburg ruler and Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V (r. 1519-56). These richly illustrated albums were among the first known and
surviving attempts to make sense of cultural difference by compiling visual information
about regional clothing customs in and around Europe and further abroad. Their method
of codifying sartorial customs through representative costume figures became a
prevailing method through which to examine human difference on an increasingly vast
and complex geo-political stage.
Yet to have been satisfactorily investigated is the significant role that Habsburg
networks and relationships played in shaping these costume albums and their
ethnographic interests. The Trachtenbuch, or costume album, of Augsburg portrait
medallist Christoph Weiditz (c. 1500-59) is a primary example, constituting a work of
keen ethnographic observation which depicts customs and cultures largely witnessed
first-hand when the artist travelled to Charles V’s Spanish court in 1529.1 Of equal
interest is the second primary example of this dissertation, the costume album of
Christoph von Sternsee (d. 1560) the captain of Charles V’s German Guard.2 Sternsee’s
album, introduced to scholarship for the first time in this study, illustrates diverse

1 “Trachtenbuch/ Christoph Weiditz”, 1530-40. Hs. 22474, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg.
2 “Costumes of the time of Charles V, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, and King of Spain, of
costumes of all nations of the world, circa 1540”, c. 1548-49. MS Cat. 2025, Museo Stibbert, Florence.
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cultures and costumes encountered across the imperial Habsburg lands and its
neighbours.
The emperor’s far-reaching sovereignty propelled Christoph Weiditz and
Christoph von Sternsee across the Habsburg lands as they each attempted to benefit their
careers and gain prestige from imperial patronage. Their costume albums testify to an
empire that encouraged interactions between ambassadors, agents, merchants, military
officers, and courtly elite of diverse cultural backgrounds, against a backdrop of shared
political, religious, commercial, and military interests. This milieu facilitated the transfer
of knowledge and developed methods of visual communication and human
representation that were shared and reciprocally recognised.

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Table of Contents

Abstract iii
Table of Contents v
Preface vi
Acknowledgements vii
Glossary ix
List of Illustrations xi
INTRODUCTION 1
CHAPTER 1: CHRISTOPH WEIDITZ’S TRACHTENBUCH 49
1.i – Weiditz’s Travels 71
1.ii – In the Company of the Emperor: The Album’s Visual Programme 88
CHAPTER 2: CHRISTOPH VON STERNSEE’S COSTUME ALBUM 129
2.i – The World of the Emperor: The Album’s Visual Programme 137
2.ii – Visual Sources and the Album’s Commission 159
CHAPTER 3: CONFRONTING THE ‘NEW WORLD’ 188
3.i – Untangling Weiditz’s New World Corpus 214
3.ii – The New World in Christoph von Sternsee’s Album 239
CHAPTER 4: EUROPE IN MOTION: SARTORIAL CHARACTER AND
TASTES FROM THE MARGINS 257
4.i – Dress in Spain 272
4.ii – Dress in the Netherlands and the German-speaking Lands 318
CONCLUSION 358
BIBLIOGRAPHY 367
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Preface

This dissertation was inspired by the research I undertook at the University of Auckland,
New Zealand for my Masters thesis in Art History. That dissertation, entitled Dressing
Kinship and Allegiance in Sixteenth-Century European Costume Books (2013),
concentrated on the printed costume books of Hans Weigel (Nuremberg, 1577) and
Cesare Vecellio (Venice, 1590). My research was much indebted to Ulinka Rublack’s
Dressing Up (2010); it was therefore much to my delight when she agreed to supervise
my doctoral thesis at the University of Cambridge. My doctoral research shifted in focus,
and I began analysing hand-illustrated costume manuscripts from the first half of the
sixteenth century to investigate how this fascinating genre emerged.
This dissertation has not been without its limitations. Unfortunately, I was not
granted permission by the Museo Stibbert, Florence to see the original Sternsee album
folios in person. My two research trips to the Museo Stibbert resulted in gaining access
only to digitalised photos of the work, from which extensive notes were taken.
Moreover, I was only permitted a small number of the museum’s image files to store for
research purposes. The reader will note that this dissertation presents many more images
pertaining to Sternsee’s costume album that have been taken from the Madrid MS copy.

DECLARATION
This dissertation is the result of my own work and includes nothing which is the outcome of work done
in collaboration. It is not substantially the same as any that I have submitted, or, is being concurrently
submitted for a degree or diploma or other qualification at the University of Cambridge or any other
University or similar institution. I further state that no substantial part of my dissertation has already been
submitted, or, is being concurrently submitted for any such degree, diploma or other qualification at the
University of Cambridge or any other University or similar institution. It does not exceed the prescribed
word limit for Faculty of History Degree Committee.
Katherine Louise Bond, September 2017.
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Acknowledgements

I begin my acknowledgements by thanking my supervisor Professor Ulinka Rublack. I
am deeply grateful for her constant trust in my research, as well as her enduring support
and insightful input. Her scholarly expertise on the visual culture of early modern
Germany as well as dress history more broadly has been of exceptional value. She
guided me towards sources and literature that have shaped this dissertation, and I cannot
thank her dedication to my work enough.
I would like to thank the University of Cambridge’s Commonwealth Trust for
the Prince Consort studentship that funded my doctoral research. I will always be
grateful to have had the life-changing experience of undertaking a PhD in the United
Kingdom, working alongside world leaders in the study of History. My thanks also to
Newnham College, the Cambridge History Faculty, and the German History Society,
who awarded me generous financial grants, as well as to the DAAD Cambridge Research
Hub, who funded the conference I held in 2016. I also gratefully acknowledge the
financial support I was granted by the Kurt Hahn Trust in 2014 to undertake an intensive
German course in Berlin.
I am very thankful for the professional and pastoral support that I have received
from Newnham College these past years. Dr Janine Maegraith, Director of Studies in
History at Newnham, has been very supportive and encouraging, as has my graduate
tutor, Dr Kate Fleet. I would additionally like to thank Victoria Argent and Sarah
Loveday from the Tutorial Office, who never fail to be exceptionally caring and helpful.
Participating in the History networks at the University of Cambridge has been very
rewarding. Professional and scholarly advice, as well as informal conversations with
staff including Professor Sachiko Kusukawa, Professor Mary Laven, Dr William
O’Reilly, and Dr Melissa Calaresu among others, has been gratefully received. Fellow
colleagues, especially my peers Regine Maritz, Victoria Bartels, Sophie Pitman, and Dr
Suzanna Ivaniĉ have made my time in Cambridge so warm and memorable. My thanks
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also to the UoC Language Centre, particularly the German language teachers Paul
Hoegger and Sybille Young.
I have been very fortunate to have spent time with Professor Susanna Burghartz
of the University of Basel, who has been an incredibly generous academic mentor. I
would like to thank her for her feedback and support of my research. I would especially
like to thank her for inviting me to attend the Pasold funded conference Dressing Global
Bodies: Clothing Cultures, Politics, and Economics in Globalizing Eras held at the
University of Alberta, Edmonton in 2016. I was graciously accepted onto a panel with
Professor Burghartz and Professor Ann Rosalind Jones, the latter whose work on early
modern dress is highly celebrated. I thank Professor Jones for her interest and
encouragement, and hope our paths will cross again soon. I eagerly await her
forthcoming publication on costume books and look forward to the conversations this
will spark. In New Zealand, I would like to thank Dr Erin Griffey and Associate
Professor Iain Buchanan from the Art History department at the University of Auckland.
Not only did they get me to Cambridge in the first place, but they have remained in
conversation with me and retained an interest in my work. I gratefully acknowledge their
insights in the early stages of my research, particularly regarding the Sternsee album and
its relationship to the artist Jan Cornelisz Vermeyen.
I would like to thank Simona di Marco, curator at the Museo Stibbert, Florence
for her on-going patience and help. The staff at the Lipperheidesche Kostümbibliothek
in Berlin were particularly helpful assisting me to access their exceptional collection of
costume books and manuscripts. I very much appreciate their willingness to let me
photograph their treasures. Thank you to Johannes Pietsch at the Bavarian National
Museum in Munich for showing me around their textile collection, and also to the staff
at the Bavarian state library.
Lastly, I would like to honour my family, whose support has been unwavering
from the beginning of this long project. To my parents Vicki and Tony, I can never thank
you enough. To my loving husband Edward, I will forever be grateful to you.

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Glossary

Adargas: Iberian heart-shaped shields, Gollar: A German woman’s partlet
used in Game of Canes tournaments with a round edge, worn un-tucked
Almalafa: Iberian women’s mantle of Hidalgo: A member of the lower
Moorish origin nobility of Spain
Alpargatas: Iberian rope sandals Huik: A woman’s mantle worn in the
Low Countries with a beak-like peak
Capa castillana: A male cloak
associated with Castile, Spain Huipil: A woman’s sleeved blouse of
Mexico and central America
Capellar: Iberian mantle of Moorish
origin Juego de Cañas: Game of Canes, a
tournament game in Iberia, of Moorish
Capuz: A long, Spanish cloak worn by
origin
men
Laibach: The German name for
Chapíns: Chopines, platform clogs
Ljubljana
Convivencia: The so-called ‘co-
Landsknechte: mercenary soldiers of
existence’ period of Jews, Muslims,
the German-speaking lands
and Christians in Iberia prior to 1492
Mantilla: Spanish women’s long
Cuēitl: Women’s skirt in Mexico and
mantle
central America
Marlota: An Iberian tunic of Moorish
Cuera: Spanish leather cuirass worn
origin
over the doublet
Maxtlal: Men’s breechcloth in Mexico
Deutschen Trabanten: The emperor’s
and central America
German guard force
Mente: An overcoat of Hungarian
Dolman: A man’s jacket of Hungarian
origin
origin
Nahua: The indigenous peoples of
Einspänniger: ‘one-horse’ soldiers in
Mexico and other parts of central
Augsburg, part of the civic militia
America, speakers of the Nahuatl
language group
Falie: An enveloping Flemish mantle
of heavy cloth, worn by women
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New Christian: A recent convert to Tocado de Papos: A Spanish woman’s
Christianity in Spain (formerly of the headdress with large mounds of
Jewish or Muslim faith) puckered cloth covering the ears
New Spain: The Spanish colonial Tilmatli: Men’s mantles worn by
territory that replaced the conquered Nahua in central America
Aztec empire
Tlachtli: A ball-game popular in the
Old Christian: A Spaniard with Aztec empire
Christian heritage stretching back to the
Tranzado: A Spanish woman’s
Convivencia era
headdress consisting of a cloth-
Patolli: A board game popular in the wrapped hair-braid
Aztec empire
Tupinambá: a southern American
Quetzaltonatiuh: an Aztec war standard indigenous group who inhabited coastal
Brazil
Schaube: German men’s overcoat or
tabard Türkenhilfe: financial assistance to
suppress Ottoman advances into
Sombrero: A Spanish brimmed hat
Europe
Sturz: Women’s cloth hoods, worn in
Verdugado: A petticoat stiffened with
the German-speaking lands
horizontal hoops of reeds
Toca de camino: an Iberian cloth
Zaragüelles: Light-weight cloth
turban
trousers worn by men and women in
Iberia, of Moorish origin
Tocados: Spanish women’s
headdresses, often formed of twisted
Zöpfe: Padded and dyed artificial hair-
cloth
braids, popular in Germany

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