POST INCUNABLA], [HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE], [THE CRUSADES], [GERMAN EMPIRE], [FREDERICK BARBAROSSA], FREISING

Ottonis Phrisingensis Episcopi, viri clarissimi, Rerum ab origine mundi ad ipsius usq[ue] tempora gestarum, libri octo. : Eiusdem De gestis Friderici Primi Aenobarbi Caes. Aug. libri duo. Radevici Phrisingen[sis] eccl[es]i[a]e Canonici libri duo, Priori

      Ex aedibus Matthiae Schurerii, Argentorati [Strassbourg] 1515 - [14ff], 105ff, [8ff], 83ff, [1f]. Signatures: 2A6, A8, B-F6, G-8, H-N6, O-8, P-R6, S-7, a-c6, d-8, e-h6, i8, k-n6, o-8. Collated and entirely complete, but for the often missing leaf S8, which was blank. Later lettered vellum, lightly rubbed, very light wear to extremities, bumping to corners. Lettered to fore-edge. Attractive bookplate of Fr. Dom. Haeberlin. Ulmani. to FEP, further manuscript note of provenance from the library of J.H. Burckhardt, Helmstadt, 1752. Two C20th bookseller's descriptions pasted to endpapers. Further C18th ownership stamp to title. Repair to gutter and top margins of title, with some loss of blank margin at gutter of Aa-3, damp staining to same gutter and top margin of Aa-D8. Some occasional staining to top margin throughout, affecting only a very small area. Occasional light sporadic spotting. Two small wormholes to title (repaired), through signature A2, marginal accept for title. Else a crisp and crisp copy. Attractive Illustrated title-page; the border, designed by Urs Graf [signed with his monograph] and doubtless composed by Bestus Rhenanus, is identified with that surrounding the title of "Divini Gregorij Nyssae Episcopi . libri octo ." Argentorati, M. Schurer, 1512. Both t.p. bear inscription: "Imper. Caes. Maximiliano. P. F. Avg. Patri Patriæ. Libertatisqve Adsertori. Beat. Rhenanus. f.c.". The Gesta Friderici I by Otto and Rahewin of Freising is preceded by half-title within ornamental border. THE EDITIO PRINCEPS OF THE WORKS OF OTTO OF FRIESING, (c1114-1158). The first printed edition of both the Chronica and Gesta, edited by Joannes Cuspinianus. The first comprised of 8 books, a chronicle of world history from the creation to the years 1146, he represents throughout the conflict between the two cities, of God and of the Devil. The final book of the Chronica consists of the Antichrist, the Second Coming, the Resurrection of the Dead, the Last Judgement and the concommitant beginning of the divine state. An early, if not the first, example of the medieval philosophy of total history. The Gesta, comprised of four books, was began by Otto and completed by his chaplain Rahewin and is a complete life of the inspirational Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, (1122-1190). This work is of great interest not only to scholars of Germany and the Holy Roman Empire, but also the Second and Third Crusade. Whilst Barbarossa himself participated in the Third Crusade, drowning in the River Saleph on the approach to Antioch, Bishop Otto of Freising was a participant in the Second Crusade, and the primary German source for the disasterous campaign of King Conrad III. Otto's veracity as a source is only heightened by his relationship to the highest echelons of Imperial society: he was the half-brother, through his mother, of King Conrad III, and thus also the Uncle of Frederick I Barbarossa himself. Adams O 416, BM STC German, p.668, Graesse V, 63, Kristeller 541 [Attributes: First Edition]