Editing Balthasar Behem Codex

{{no footnotes|date=March 2013}}
[[File:Balthasar Behem Codex Tanner.jpg|thumb|right|250px|[[Tanner (occupation)|Tanner]] ("Garbarze - Gerber") - miniature from Balthasar Behem Codex, also [http://lehre.hki.uni-koeln.de/drw-cgi/kleioc?_kleioprot=0010KlDRW&_1=datendig&cat2use=buecher&beschr=+&execterm=KrakauZftO.&prevpage=g064&seite=g064t13&nextpage=g064t14&donext=+%3E+ here] ]]

The '''Balthasar Behem Codex''', also known as ''Codex Picturatus'', is a collection of the charters, privileges and statutes of the burghers of the city of [[Kraków]]. Compiled in 1505, the codex was named for the chancellor at the time, [[Balthasar Behem]]. The book's text is in German, Latin and Polish. It is now held at the library of the [[Jagiellonian University]] of Kraków.

The bylaws of the guilds are featured in twenty-seven illustrations in the codex and depict both [[bible|biblical]] subjects and the daily activities of the Kraków burgher guild members, for example that of [[baker]]s, titled in Latin: ''Pistores'', with a subtitle in German: ''Das ist der briff und geseccze der becker von Krakow.'' ("This is the letter and law of the bakers in Cracow", [https://web.archive.org/web/20050415073243/http://www.bj.uj.edu.pl/bjmanus/codex/titlpg_e.html example in color]), and the text calligraphed in Latin.

This kind of illustration - showing the practice of trades - was a tradition with an [[iconography|iconographical]] history going back to late [[Rome|Roman]] [[astronomy|astronomical]] texts showing the "[[Labours of the Months]]", pairing a characteristic activity of rural life with the [[astrology|astrological]] sign for that month. Historians of culture and art have shown that these illustrations sometimes reflect their iconographical traditions rather than actually depicting contemporary life with accuracy {{citation needed|reason=actual percentage of how often illustrations are accurate vs iconographical is important since the statement as written implies illustrations cannot be relied on at all|date=January 2016}}.

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050415073243/http://www.bj.uj.edu.pl/bjmanus/codex/titlpg_e.html JU Library: Bakers' Guild]
*[https://jbc.bj.uj.edu.pl/publication/300330?language=en Jagiellonian Digital Library link to download full scan of Codex]
*[http://www.krakow-info.com/codexBB.htm Workshop of a painter]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927015108/http://sio.midco.net/danstopicalstamps/behem.htm Stamps]
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:1505 works]]
[[Category:1505 in Poland]]
[[Category:History of Kraków]]
[[Category:Jagiellonian University]]
[[Category:16th-century illuminated manuscripts]]