Constantine's Donation and its relationship to the Acts of Sylvester

This rather complex problem was first exposed by Nicolaus von Kues, Lorenzo Valla and the English bishop Reginald Pecock (in his writing against the Lollards). The whole background story of the donation is dependent on the Acts of Sylvester, which narrates the baptism of Constantine by Sylvester after the victory at the Milvian bridge (cf. Wilhelm Pohlkamp, Textfassung, Literarische Formen und geschichtliche Funktion der römischen Sylvesterakten, in Francia 19/1 (1992), pp.115-196; digitally accessible in the Bavarian State Library). The validity of these actus Sylvestri is in turn assured by the pseudo-Gelasian decretum,  a Gallic index of permissible books from the 6th century (cf Erich von Dobschütz, Decretum Gelasianum, in the series Texte und Untersuchungen zur Altchristlichen Literatur, Bd xxxviim 3m  Leipzig 1911, digitally accessible at the Internet Archive) that eventually made its way into the Gratian judicial corpus.

The core problem was that Eusebius of Cesarea, though later condemned as Arian, had himself been the Church historian of choice of Constantin, as Reginald Pecock pointed out, and had narrated no baptism of Constantine in Rome (neither after the battle nor due to leprosy), but placed that even in Nicomedia toward the end of the Emperor's life.

Alexander in Schedel's World Chronicle

In the World Chronicle of Hartmann Schedel (in German: Schedel, Hartmann / Alt, Georg / Wolgemut, Michael: Das buch der Cronicken vnd gedechtnus wirdigern geschichte[n], vo[n] anbegyn[n] d[er] werlt bis auf dise vnßere zeit, Nürmberg, 1493, digitised by the Bavarian State Library), reports on Alexander the Great as part of the Fifth Age of the World, beginning on sheet number LXXIV with his birth as the son of Philip Perdice.

Schedel reports that Alexander the Great brought 32k foot and 5.5k horse with him (LXXV c1), which Dareios opposed with 300,000 foot and 100,000 horse (LXXV c2). When Darius flees toward Babylon, 62,000 foot have been killed, ten thousand horse, and 40,000 captured. Of the Macedonians, 130 foot and 150 horse were killed. Alexander not only captured the camp with much gold, but also the mother, wife, sister [= which should be the same as the wife, RCK], and two daughters.

Schedel reports that Bersanem and Alexander had a child named Hercules (LXXV c2).

After Darius' flight toward Babylon, then prepares another 400k foot and another 100k horse for the final battle, which Alexander also wins (LXXV c2). Darius first is persuaded to flee, then killed by his own people, and Alexander eventually settles down in Babylon, where he is poisoned.

Schedel makes a mess of the chronology, however, having Alexander in Jerusalem and Sidon before battling Darius, even building Alexandria first (LXXV c1).

Translation of the Alexander Romance

The French Alexander Romance in Prose is a 10th-century translation by Leo the Arch-Priest into Latin of a 2nd century Greek text. A German edition for that translation is available from the Internet archive, edited by Alfons Hilka.

There has been much discussion how much the Alexander knowledge of Albrecht Altdorfer was influenced by the Romance and its descendents. After all, the inversion of the order of Alexandria | Darius in the Nuremberg Chronicle may be due to the Prose Alexander Romance, which has the same order and also assigns Olympias (who falls sick and exchanges letters with Alexander) a role that carries through the whole narrative.

If this is so, then this would most likely be in the recension by Johann Hartlieb, der Alexander-Roman von 1454 (Ernst Wilhelm Bredt, Albrecht Altdorfer, 1919), one of the "most-read books of early Modernity", in the words of Andersen Vinilandicus (Peter Lang, 2013). The work survives in a staggering 22 manuscripts and 18 (eighteen) print editions! At the same time, it is said that Aventin, who collaborated with Altdorfer on the painting for Duke Wilhelm IV of Bavaria, hated the book (Hirsch, Das Alexanderbuch Johann Hartliebs, Berlin 1908). That would make it less likely that Altdorfer would have used it, perhaps.

Schedels Chronicle of Nuremberg

The World Chronice of Schedel is really a fascinating book. The Latin version is available online, from the Deutsche Forschungs Gemeinschaft, with the help of the Munich Digitalization Center and the Bavarian State Library.

Here for example is the city of Regensburg, were Albrecht Altdorfer worked as a painter and city head of construction (Baumeister). Or the two-page world map (missing the Euphrates and Tigris ...).

And the German translation of the Schedel'sche Weltchronik is available on Google books.

book on 15th century Nuremberg

The book Endres Tuchers Baumeisterbuch der Stadt Nürnberg: (1464 - 1475) gives a description of the city of Nuremberg from the point of view of the people in charge of maintaining it. It enumerates for example the water pipes (roren) and the different fountains and gives how many buckets each fountain has.
Unmitigated awesomeness.