Building to Govern a City Well? Master Builders and Good Governance in Fifteent-Century Nuremberg

During the late Middle Ages, citizens attached great importance to the embellishment and enhancement of their city’s built environment. Town halls, fountains, granaries, the petrification of houses, but also the decoration of buildings were believed to enhance a city’s honour and promote the common good of its inhabitants. To oversee these communal building projects, various cities instituted specialised offices and commissions. Scholarship has highlighted the tasks and obligations of these officers to build and renovate public buildings, streets, and squares. However, how these activities were linked to larger ideas (and ideals) of good governance has received less scholarly attention. What do the activities of these officers reveal about the nature of good governance? Which political ideas did the citizenry associate with construction activities and particular buildings? How did the duties of these officers contribute to ensuring good governance? Why were their duties considered important? Our contribution addresses these questions by exploring how the activities of Baumeisters were part of thinking about, and enacting, good governance in fifteenth-century Nuremberg. Through a multidisciplinary approach combining architectural and intellectual history, we will examine a diverse corpus of textual and architectural sources. We will analyse Endres Tucher’s Baumeisterbuch to explore whether Tucher connects any political ideas regarding good governance to the duties of his office, and if so, how. Simultaneously, a study of Nuremberg’s encomiums, statutes, and accounts will further illuminate how building in Nuremberg was (or was thought to be) embedded within broader practices of good city governance. This two-fold analysis will deepen our understanding of the role of Nuremberg’s Baumeisters. It will also highlight how building activities contributed to assertions of civic authority, the moral betterment of the citizenry, and daily urban life. Ultimately, our paper will thus shed light on how building activities were integral to governing a city well.