Scene of the capital punishment of Hans Waldman in illustrations of Swiss chronicles (XV–XVI). Experience of comparative analysis

Author(s):  S.M. Vilkova, Dr., Nizhny Novgorod State University, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, vilkovasw@yandex.ru

Issue:  Volume 46, № 3

Rubric:  Topical issues of world history

Annotation:  In the article the author analyzes the visual sources and determines the value of such social practice as the death penalty. These illustrations depicting public events are a projection of society. They allow us to define the illustrator's view of the late medieval society and the identity of the criminal. For the authors of the illustrations, despite the changes that took place in the later middle Ages in religious consciousness, the religious aspect of the punishment of a criminal is significant. In this article, using the example of images depicting the execution of Hans Waldman (1435–1489), the burgomaster of the city of Zurich, the illustrators of the chronicles describe the process of the late medieval death penalty. To achieve this goal, the application of elements of formal-stylistic, iconographic and iconological analysis will be the most productive. Analysis of visual sources is quite new, but, nevertheless, an informative and productive method of studying not only the daily life of a person of any era. With the appropriate approach, illustrations can be a source of information about complex cultural, ideological attitudes and values.

Keywords:  Switzerland, chronicles, illustrations, the death penalty, urban community, the later middle Ages.

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