The late Fifteenth-Century Utrecht Chronicle of the Teutonic Order : manuscripts, sources, and authorship

This dissertation provides an in-depth study of the Utrecht Chronicle of the Teutonic Order, also known as the 'Jüngere Hochmeisterchronik'. It examines the circulation of (historical) knowledge within the Teutonic Order at the end of the fifteenth century. Only decades earlier, the order suffered major defeats in Prussia and its former heathen enemies had become Christians. It has been the underlying aim of this study to gain an understanding of the introduction of the order’s tradition of history writing to the Low Countries, far removed from the traditional production centres in Prussia and Livonia, as well as the effects this change of location, and accompanying change of perspective had on the content and purpose of such historical production within the order. It has become clear that the chronicle was written in Utrecht, in various phases from 1480 to 1491 and possibly the mid-1490s, by the Utrecht land commander Johan van Drongelen and his personal secretary. The material product of their collaboration is a manuscript kept in Vienna, which can now be classified as an author’s copy. Furthermore, the author(s) managed to collect a wide selection of sources – including from locations hundreds of kilometres away from the city of Utrecht. Ridderlijke Duitsche Orde; Balije van Utrecht; Professor Van WinterfondsCollective identities and transnational networks in medieval and early modern Europe, 1000-180