Johann Burchard, also spelled Johannes Burchart or Burkhart (c.1450–1506) was an Alsatian-born priest and chronicler during the Italian Renaissance. He spent his entire career at the papal Courts of Sixtus IV, Innocent VIII, Alexander VI, Pius III, and Julius II, serving as papal Master of Ceremonies, a position from which he was able to observe most of the important events of the period. Early life As his surname suggests Burkhardt was a German born at Niederhaslach in Alsace, (today the Bas-Rhin in France). Of humble origins, he was educated by the collegial chapter of St. Florent in Niederhaslach. He took the degree Doctor of Canon Law (Decretorum Doctor, as he proclaims in his preface to his Ordo Missae), and then, on 4 June 1477, was able to purchase the bourgeois citizenship of Strasbourg. He eventually became secretary to Jean Wegeraufft, the Vicar General of the Bishop of Strasbourg, Ruppert von Simmern. Suspected of trafficking in dispensations from publishing marriage banns, theft of a sword and of a florin, he left his position with the Vicar about 1467. He went to Rome, where he was awarded the expectation of a benefice in Strasbourg, but it was contested in Strasbourg; Burchard won his case before the Roman Rota (court of appeal), but the authorities in Strasbourg refused to recognize the ruling, citing Burchard's previous misdeeds. In Rome, Burchard twice admitted his misdeeds to the authorities, but his standing seems not to have suffered. Burchard was ordained a priest in 1476. Roman career Burchard arrived in Rome in November 1481. He first practiced as a lawyer in the Roman Curia. He became a Protonotary Apostolic in February 1481/82, and was appointed Master of Ceremonies to Pope Sixtus IV on 29 November 1483, having bought the office for 450 ducats, with the assistance of Agostino Patrizi, whose colleague he became. He held it until his death on 16 May 1506, successively acting as Ceremoniere to Innocent VIII (1484–1492), Alexander VI (1492–1503), Pius III (1503) and during the early years of Julius II. On the day of his election, 29 August 1484, Pope Innocent was conducted to his new apartments in the Vatican Palace by the Master of Ceremonies. Burchard took the opportunity, a completely appropriate one, to ask the new Pope for the office of Papal Chamberlain. The Pope replied that he would think about it. Burchard did not pursue the matter, and nothing