Joannes Cincinnius' Annotations

The hand of Johann Kruyshaar of Lippstadt (1484 – 1555), better known as Joannes Cincinnius, is obviously present throughout this copy of the Nuremberg Chronicle. In fact, this copy is special because Joannes coloured it, annotated it, and documented his life at the abbey in it. Through this copy of the Nuremberg Chronicle, we have a window into the readership history of this particular text. We can gauge Joannes' opinion on various saints and martyrs by looking at which figures have spiders drawn next to them. While he may have only drawn six legs, they are spiders next to the images. Spiders were associated with the devil and heretics who trap or tempt others into sin. His catalogue of abbots at the Imperial abbey of Werden present an opportunity to study the history of that abbey. His list is also in line with the purpose of the text he records it in; he created a chronology of the past abbots. Finally, under the colophon, Joannes details when he coloured and annotated the text. It is rare that we know who coloured a book and can read a full explanation of when and why. This note especially will be of interest to those researching readership history.

Joannes Cincinnius' annotations also provide examples of the relationship of manuscript to print. Like the Edward IV letter, Joannes has a clear legible hand similar to the chancery hand used to write the letter. Furthermore, he takes design inspiration from the print text. Joannes imitates the page layout of the Nuremberg Chronicle keeping consistent headings. The diamond shaped note below the colophon is reminiscent of page design used by 16th-century humanist printers.

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