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Constructing Cologne: Creating a Communal Ideal in the View of the City of Cologne
Nordengren, Cara
Nordengren, Cara
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Abstract
In 1531, the city council of Cologne, Germany, presented Holy Roman Emperor Charles V with a monumental woodcut print depicting the city. The View of the City of Cologne, which includes a panegyric poem and a list of local churches and relics, portrays Cologne as a prosperous, densely-built urban center. By foregrounding a bustling port and the abundance of churches within the city walls, the print aggrandizes Cologne by insisting upon the city’s importance in the economic and spiritual landscape of the Holy Roman Empire.
In an era of divided loyalties, the View of the City of Cologne promotes Cologne as a Catholic stronghold in the imperial fight against Protestantism. Simultaneously, the print belies signs of internal conflict, such as civic uprisings, power struggles between the city council and the archbishop, and the forcible expulsion of Cologne’s Jewish inhabitants. The omission of this information, whether deliberate or not, serves to portray Cologne as a peaceable contrast to rebellious Protestant cities.
The image of Cologne set forth by the print is, therefore, imaginary. The print does not depict Cologne as it was, but rather, as civic officials wanted the Emperor to perceive the city. This paper will explore the biases inherent in mapmaking through the distortions present between the physical city, its printed image, and the accompanying inscription. It will consider how the printmakers both intentionally and unintentionally suppressed information about Cologne in order to create the appearance of a coherent communal ideal. An analysis of the print’s text-image relationship will provide fresh critical engagement with the artwork, exploring how the cityscape and inscription expand upon and reinforce the ideas presented in their counterpart. Thus, the View of the City of Cologne demonstrates the strategic use of visual and written communication to construct a favorable yet fictitious representation of a city.
Description
This is the paper from a presentation given at the International Congress on Medieval Studies held in Kalamazoo, Michigan on 05/09/2025
Date
2025-05-09
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University of Kansas
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Keywords
Cologne, Community, Identity, Ideal