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A set of images depicting choosing the king from the Heidelberg Sachsenspiegel, circa 1300.
A: Altstadt, Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Portrait of Prince-elector Otto Henry by Georg Pencz, 1530-1545. The painting now resides in St. Petersburg.
About 1555 Otto-Henry, Elector Palatine, (German: Ottheinrich),Count Palatine of Palatinate-Neuburg from 1505 to 1559 and prince elector of the Palatinate from 1556 to 1559, formally established the Bibliotheca Palatina in Heidelberg. At its peak this library included about 5000 printed books and "3524 manuscripts." The library expanded with important manuscripts acquired from the collection of Ulrich Fugger (d. 1584), notably the illustrated Sachsenspiegel.
"Joseph Scaliger considered this Fugger Library superior to that owned by the Pope; the manuscripts alone were valued at 80,000 crowns, which was a very considerable sum for the 16th century" (Wikipedia article on the Bibliotheca Palatina, accessed 11-23-2008).
