Diebold Schilling’s Spiez Illuminated Chronicle

The so-called Spiez Illuminated Chronicle is the last work by the popular author and chronicler from Bern, Diebold Schilling. On 808 pages written in Schilling’s finest script, it depicts the history of the city of Bern from its beginnings to the year 1465. The work focuses on the family history and triumph of the Junker and councilman Rudolf von Erlach, who commissioned the work. The text is accompanied by 344 highly valuable illustrations.

The Commissioner, Rudolf von Erlach

Diebold Schilling produced the Spiez Chronicle for a private commissioner, namely the public official Rudolf von Erlach (1299–1360). They were close confidants to one another, Schilling’ wife was even godmother to a son of Rudolf’s. Rudolf von Erlach could look back on a glorious past, his family were among the most important people in the political system of Bern and he himself had fought in the conflict with the Burgundians for his homeland and thereby attained fame and honor as well as a high position in the council of Bern. He was at the highpoint of his extremely successful career at the time that he commissioned the Spiez Chronicle.

Schilling’s Masterpiece

In his work, Rudolf’s friend and chronicler bound the renowned history of the family with a self-confident image of the city of Bern, and therewith created his last and most artistically valuable masterpiece. He worked on it until his death in the year 1486. The elegant script stands in the tradition of Schilling’s famous previous works, e.g. the Zurich Chronicle.

Quality of the Highest Order

What makes the work especially admirable are the 344 miniatures contained therein, which are of a heretofore unknown quality. The pen and ink drawings, containing varying graduations of color, possess an uncannily expressive power and dramatic depth. The illustrator has succeeded in intertwining various plotlines in the picture and effectively synchronizing the fore- and backgrounds. In numerous illustrations, dramatic events of war are seen in the foreground, while ideal landscapes are revealed in the background through a window. In the text, scenes of war are predominantly depicted as well. The depictions of human figures are unusually realistic for the time of its creation and begets the extraordinary talent of the illuminator.