Emperor Maximilian I - the last of the chevaliers
The Emperor Maximilian I (1459-1519) occupies a position all of his own in the history of the tournament, both as patron of the armourers and as the author of new forms of mounted tournament and food combat. To him the tournament was more than a sporting diversion for the élite. It was a necessary part of the "Fortitudo" ideal of the ruler and, like hunting, was a preparation for battle. The noting down of his chivalrous exercises in the tournament book Freydal would preserve these exploits as an "Exemplum" for posterity.
The chivalrous, courtly culture of the Duchy of Burgundy had made an indelible impression on Maximilian. He had gone there at the age of 18 as an unusually talented young prince and suitor. His bride-to-be was Marie, daughter and heiress of the last Duke, Charles the Bold. Life at the Burgundian court was like a romance of chivalry, highly stylised, with the Duke himself, as sovereign of the Order of the Golden Fleece, embodying the chivalrous ideal. His father-in-law's aim of delivering the Holy Land aslo became the very foundation - unrealised - of Maximilian's policy. In Burgundy he saw, for the first time, splendidly staged court festivals and tournaments with residues of classical and chivalrous ideology. He experienced the Indian summer of the chivalrous romance and became closely familiar with the exalted, courtly historiography of Olivier de la Marche.
No wonder, then, that he recorded his experiences on this visit in a courtly rhyming romance entitled Theuerdank (Grande Penseur, The Deep Thinker). The hero's destiny is portrayed as a contest with the world of evil for human and divine glory. Theuerdank, Maximilian himself, has to pass through a succession of adventures in battle or at the chase in order to achieve the goal of his journey - the hand of the virtuous princess "Ehrenreich" (Maria of Burgundy).
His second illustrated work of autobiography, Weisskunig - which translates both as "the king in white (i.e. in shining armour) or "the wise king" - portrays him, for the benefit of his nephews Charles and Ferdinand, as a valiant king, steadfast in adversity. In Weisskunig, Maximilian explains his relation to the armourer's art, which he claims to have revived. He had then taught the art to his own armourer, Konrad Seusenhofer.
Two armourers were favoured by Maximilian with a succession of orders for his own requirements or for presentation to others. One of them were Lorenz Helmschmid of Augsburg, court armourer since 1491, and the other was Konrad Seusenhofer, who in 1504 was put in charge of the court armour factory in Innsbruck. Helmschmid, following the instructions of his imperial patron, created specialised armour for the different forms of mounted tournament or foot combat devides by the emperor.
These "inventions" of Maximilian's - "Festanzogen-Rennen, Krönl-Rennen, Stechen im hohen Zeug, Silla rasa, Bund-Rennen" and "Schweif-Rennen" - are all variants of the "German course" and the "German joust" and employed, with negligible modifications, the basic equipment for "Rennen" and "Stechen" armour.
All the 64 court tournaments which Maximilian took part in are portrayed in the tournament book Freydal, but the descriptive text was never finished. The most spectacular of these mounted tournaments must have been "Geschiftscheiben" or "Geschifttartschen-Rennen", in which a special spring-loaded arrangement caused the tournament shield attached to the breastplace to fly up in the air when struck full on. The mounted tournament was followed by a foot combat in "Kempfküriss", with the entire body, from top to toe, protected with sheet metal. The tournament ended with a "Mummerei" in which the participants, their faces masked, danced to an accompaniment of instrumental music.
Maximilian I has gone down in history as "the last of the chevaliers", but the courtly ethos of chivalry did not end with him; instead it lived on, in modified form, at the royal courts of Europe, especially in the form of theatrical hastiludes.