Titelpage of Schedel’s Chronicle including the handwritten note that master Rodolphus Kannegheter bequeathed it to the library of St. Martin’s Church in Groningen. “Users, pray faithfully for the testator.”<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThis world chronicle was written by Hartmann Schedel, a physician from Nuremberg with a broad interest in art and science. It was published in 1493. He wanted to describe the history of the world, followed by the Apocalypse, based on Christian eschatology.<\/span>Eschatology is a theological term for the teachings about the end of time. Various religions have completely different ideas of what will happen. Judaism, Islam, and Christianity, the three world religions, share the idea that there will be a prophet or a new Messiah. Christian eschatology, which is the subject of this World chronicle, focuses on the Second Coming of Christ and Judgement Day, the day on which God will judge everyone. In this chronicle, this process is described and illustrated extensively, as is the coming of the Antichrist. One illustration shows angels leading the fortunate ones to Heaven, while little devils are dragging people into their graves by their hair.<\/span>Schedel collaborated on this with a team of artists and scholars\u2014all of them humanists, like Schedel himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n <\/figure>\n\n\n\n <\/figure>\nThe <\/em>Danse macabre in Schedel’s chronicle and on a modern t-shirt<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe book was printed in Nuremberg by Anton Koberger, one of the most successful printers in Germany, and it became a bestseller. The pages of this world chronicle are decorated with hundreds of illustrations in black and white, made using woodcuts.<\/span>Woodcuts are printed illustrations that are made using wood engraving. An image is cut into a piece of wood with a small chisel, after which it is covered with ink. The image is then printed on paper, which results in an ink illustration that is the mirror image of the wooden original. In Europe, the first woodcuts were made in the 14th century. After the invention of the printing press in the 15th century, the technique was also used in book printing.<\/span>At the time, this made it the most illustrated book in the world. One example is the Danse Macabre<\/em>, the Dance of Death, a theme often used in medieval art. We see five skeletons, three of which are dancing happily while the fourth is playing an instrument and the fifth is just crawling out of its grave. This illustration is still very popular and is even printed on T-shirts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n <\/figure>\n\n\n\n <\/figure>\nTo be coloured or not to be: two illustrations from our copy of Schedel’s chronicle. On the left, Sodom and Gomorra (fol. 21r). On the right, part of the view of Cologne on the Rhine with the Dom being built<\/a> (fol. 91r).<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nIn our copy, the illustrations at the beginning of the book have been hand-coloured, but the later illustrations are in black and white. Maybe a bookseller commissioned the colouring and it was never finished. Or maybe one of the earlier owners started it? The copy also contains lots of notes in the margins and some phrases have been underlined: Angeli primo creati<\/em> (The angels were created first) is written in one of the margins. Also remarkable is the world map at the back of the book. It includes the current territory of the Netherlands, with a small island printed above Frisia, which is marked \u2018groningen\u2019 by hand. Who added the name?<\/p>\n\n\n