The Receptions and Rejections of Sicilian Regalia in Late Medieval Nuremberg
Elizabeth Rice Mattison
When the imperial coronation garments, Reichskleinodien, arrived in Nuremberg 1424, they were celebrated as relics of Charlemagne. In reality, however, this collection included various Norman and Hohenstaufen Sicilian clothes, including red mantle Roger II, white alb William jeweled gloves Frederick II. While scholars have studied place these textiles Sicily, their afterlives remain unexamined. This study explores mechanisms conversion that transformed garments into holy objects late medieval Nuremberg, focusing on role representations clothing constructing new identity. The article argues Nuremberg’s relic sheets books, together with Albrecht Dürer’s fictive portraits Charlemagne Sigismund Luxembourg, worked coordination changing conception, myth Charlemagne, organized public performance to embed cultural memory an idea Carolingian. Through play real imagined details, images regalia effaced Mediterranean characteristics refashioned them Germanic objects. review regalia’s illuminates how artifacts are integrated settings roles construction history.
Gesta