Freydal
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Freydal is an uncompleted illustrated prose narrative commissioned by the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I in the early 16th century. It was intended to be a romantic allegorical account of Maximilian's own participation in a series of jousting tournaments in the guise of the tale's eponymous hero, Freydal. In the story, Freydal takes part in the tournaments to prove that he is worthy to marry a princess, who is a fictionalised representation of Maximilian's late wife, Mary of Burgundy.
A scene from the Kunsthistorisches Museum’s Freydal Illuminated manuscript: Freydal jousts with Veit von Wolkenstein (fol.133}
Portrait of Emperor Maximilian I by Albrecht Dürer, 1519.
Post-tournament festivities: grotesque-style dancers or mummers dance a moresca while Freydal, in a mask and holding torches, looks on (Freydal ms. fol.164, KMW)
Planning sketch for Freydal, National Gallery of Art, Washington
Mary of Burgundy
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Mary of Burgundy, nicknamed the Rich, was a member of the House of Valois-Burgundy who ruled a collection of states that included the duchies of Limburg, Brabant, Luxembourg, the counties of Namur, Holland, Hainaut and other territories, from 1477 until her death in 1482.
Portrait (c. 1490) possibly painted by Michael Pacher
Flanders, double briquet, struck under Mary of Burgundy in 1478
The contenders for the hand of Mary of Burgundy
Portrait of Mary, Duchess of Burgundy, attributed to Niklas Reiser, around 1500.