bavarikon4UDescription
The oldest, unique and completely preserved work printed with movable letters today was produced under the title "A warning for Christianity against the Turks" in Johann(es) Gutenberg's (1400-1468) Offizin (printing workshop). It is a political-religious propaganda pamphlet in German verses, which was published against the backdrop of the conquest of Constantinople on 29 May 1453 by the Turkish forces under Sultan Mehmed II. (1432-1481) and the subsequent advance in Eastern and South-eastern Europe as a call to the European rulers to defend Christianity. Gutenberg used the so-called Donat calendar type for printing. In the middle section, a spiritual or secular prince is always called upon to resist the Turks in the calendar sequence of the twelve months. The frame verses are prayers for assistance in the fight against the Ottomans with the usual calendar data up to the year 1455. The concluding verses for December contain a current report of success from Rome about the war events in Turkey, which did not arrive in Frankfurt until 6 December 1454. The work ends with a New Year's wish for the year 1455, which began in Mainz on the first Christmas Day according to the calendar of that time. The copy was originally in the possession of the humanist Konrad Peutinger (1465-1547) and was discovered by Bernhard Joseph Docen in the holdings of the Augsburg Jesuit college in 1806. Datum: 2019
Author
Bavarian State Library, Department of Manuscripts and Rare Books