Kaiser Maximilian I. und die Rezeption der portugiesischen Entdeckungen im Nürnberger Kaufmanns- und Gelehrtenkreis am Ende des 15. Jahrhunderts

In the so-called "first age of globalization" the Portuguese overseas expansion influenced decisively the political, economic and cultural relations between Portugal and Germany, as no other event of this age. In the 1490's a more intense intellectual occupation with the maritime expansion of Portugal began in the territory of the Holy Roman Empire. The starting point for the reception of the news about voyages of discovery was Nuremberg, where wealthy merchants and an erudite circle (where important humanists stood out like Hartmann Schedel, Hieronymus Münzer and Conrad Celtis) followed closely and with much curiosity the Portuguese overseas enterprises. Inspired primarily by the information that Martin Behaim had spread throughout his stay in Nuremberg between 1490 and 1493, the German scholars attempted to gain a more accurate picture of the extent of the Portuguese colonial empire and a picture of the world significantly changed. The Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I entered this debate not so much for humanistic reasons, but mainly for political and dynastic reasons, given its proximity with the House of Avis. This paper tries to shed light on the discussion about the Portuguese discoveries in Nuremberg at the end of the fifteenth century, and on the special role of Martin Behaim and Hieronymus Münzer as mediators and also on the growing interest of Maximilian I in the Portuguese overseas expansion.