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Imperial Privilege for Konrad Peutinger, Augsburg (1515)

Source: Universitätsbibliothek Freiburg D 6467

Citation:
Imperial Privilege for Konrad Peutinger, Augsburg (1515), Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer, www.copyrighthistory.org

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            Chapter 1 Page 2 of 2 total

                        MAXIMILIAN, BY DIVINE
                        Grace and for all times Emperor of the Romans
                        and King of Germany, Hungary, Dalmatia,
                        Croatia etc., Archduke of Austria,
                        Duke of Burgundy, Brabant etc., Count
                        Palatine etc. Whereas although we already,
because of our habitual generosity, greatly distinguish those who
cultivate their zeal for scholarship, we nevertheless bestow our
particular and special grace on those thanks to whose diligence
books and monuments of venerable antiquity are investigated
every day. And who, so that these do not wholly sink into
oblivion, bring them to light for the common benefit of all; since
for this reason the honourable Konrad Peutinger, Doctor of Civil
and Canon Law, our loyal counsellor, has, with his particular
diligence compiled and taken care to write down an exemplary
selection from the Itinerary* of Emperor Antoninus, our
predecessor, and from the Histories of the Lombards and Goths
by the Lombard Paulus of Forum Julii** and the Goth Jordanes;
and he has also arranged to print*** these as a token of
esteem for us and for the benefit of those who would like
to know the truth about history; therefore, so that he should
not suffer any loss, we have granted and given him the
following favour, and on the strength of these presents we
do hereby give and grant to him, that no one in the whole
Holy Roman Empire and in all our dominions, during the
space of ten years, counting from the day on which the
said books shall have been printed under the direction of
our counsellor himself, may print or cause to be printed,
inside or beyond these borders, the aforesaid books and
writings against his will and without his knowledge; and also
that no one may sell or cause to be sold [copies of these
works] that have been printed elsewhere in precisely this
our Holy Roman Empire; on pain of losing all books and
writings which are [printed or sold] without the consent
and approval of our aforesaid counsellor. Indeed, this very
same counsellor of ours shall be entitled to take possession
of, and use for his own benefit, any such copies wherever
he finds them. In proof of which these letters have been
furnished with our affixed Seal. Given in our town of
Freiburg, on the first day of March, the year of our Lord
fifteen hundred and eleven, the twenty-sixth year of our
reign in the Roman lands of our Empire, and the twentieth
in Hungary.

            By personal order of His Imperial Majesty.

_____

*) An itinerarium was a list of destinations along the Roman
road network.
**) The modern-day area of Friuli in north-eastern Italy.
***) formis excudi - lit. ‘to strike out with letter-moulds’
- Note by Melanie Maga-Hess.


    

                        MAXIMILIANUS DIVINA FAVEN
                        te clementia. E[t] Romanor[um] Imperator sem=
                        per Augustus: ac Germani[ae], H[un]gari[ae], Dal
                        mati[ae], Croati[ae] [etc.] Rex: Archidux Austri[ae],
                        Dux Burg[un]diae, Brabanti[ae] [etc.] Comes Pa
                        latinus [etc.] Q[uod] etsi nos pro solita nostra cle
mentia, eos, qui studia literarum colunt, plurimum diligamus,
illos tamen praecipua [et] singulari gratia nostra [pro]sequimur,
quor[um] industria libri [et] monum[en]ta vener[an]d[ae] vetustatis quot
tidie exquirunt[ur]. Et ne penitus obruant[ur], in lucem emittunt in
c[omm]unem omni[um] utilitat[em]. Cum ita[que] honorabilis Conradus
Peutinger Iu[ris] V[triusque] Doctor Consiliarius noster fidelis dilectus
exemplaria Itinerar[ii] Antonini Caesaris praedecessoris nostri
et Pauli Foroiuliensis Longobardi [et] Iorn[an]dis Gotti de re-
bus Longobardor[um] [et] Gottor[um] sua diligentia conquisiverit,
[et] excribi curaverit. Quos etiam in grati[am] nostram [et] c[omm]o-
dum, veritat[em] historiae scire volentium formis excudi, at[que] in
public[um] [pro]dire constituit. Ne ergo dispendi[um] aliquod patia[tur],
hanc sibi grati[am] fecimus [et] c[on]cessimus, [et] tenore pr[ae]senti[um] faci
mus et c[on]cedi[mus], Ne quis in vniverso sacro Ro[mano] Imperio, [et]
omni ditione nostra per continuum decenni[um] subsequens ab
ea die qua dicti libri ex ordinatione ipsius Consiliar[ii] nostri
impressi fuerint, citra, praeter, [et] contra eius voluntatem [et] sci
tum pr[ae]dictos libros [et] chartas inprimat, vel inprimi faciat:
nec eti[am] alibi impressos in eodem nostro, [et] sacro Ro[mano] Impe-
rio vendat, vel vendi faciat, sub poena amissi[on]is Chartarum [et]
librorum quorumc[um]que, sine praedicti Consiliar[ii] nostri vo-
luntate [et] assensu. Quos etiam de facto idem noster Consilia
rius vbic[umque] eos compererit, accipere, [et] in sui vtilitat[em] conuer
sere poterit. Harum testimonio literar[um] Sigilli nostri appen-
sione munitarum. Dat[um] in oppido nostro Friburgo Die pri-
ma Mensis Mart[ii], Anno domini Millesimo Quing[en]tesimo
Vndecimo. Regnorum nostrorum Romani Vicesimo sexto.
Hungariae vero Vicesimo primo.

            Ad mandatum C[aesaris] Maiest[atis] [pro]pri[um].

    

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