Shrugging at the Sacred: Dreams, Punishments, and Feasting in the Daniel-Nebuchadnezzar Cycles of Illuminated Weltchroniken, ca. 1400

Abstract

Medieval art historians tend to examine works that reveal the interests of the highest ecclesiastical and noble ranks. Yet one type of illuminated manuscript, Middle High German world chronicles (Weltchroniken), suggests the attitudes of audiences outside the top social echelons. This article introduces the Weltchronik genre and examines sequences of illuminations that illustrate the story of Daniel at the court of King Nebuchadnezzar in three manuscripts created around the year 1400 in Bavaria and Austria. Analysis of texts and pictures in episodes of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, his idol, and the king’s feast demonstrate the ways that Weltchroniken can register practices and aspirations of lay audiences that are otherwise difficult to grasp in the works that survive from the late Middle Ages.