Theuerdank. The Epic of the Last Knight

The amazing tales of the knight Theuerdank and his companion Ehrenhold constitute the last great epic verse of the late Middle Ages. The courageous knight's journey to woo his future wife, Mary of Burgundy, and his triumph in battles and other perilous acts of bravery are the focus of this highly embellished "real-life" story of Emperor Maximilian I (1459-1519). A king of Germany before becoming Holy Roman Emperor in 1508, Maximilian was a great patron of the arts, but also the first modern-age ruler to recognize its potential for propaganda. He commissioned a trilogy of luxurious illustrated books to immortalize his existence, among them Theuerdank-the only volume to be published during his lifetime, composed by Melchior Pfinzing, based on Maximilian's rather fanciful draft.