- May 19, 2024
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The image is a hand-coloured woodcut known as the Quaternion Eagle, created around 1510 by Hans Burgkmair and coloured by Jost de Negker.
The Holy Roman Empire was a complex political entity in Central Europe that existed from the Middle Ages until 1806. It consisted of over 300 secular and ecclesiastical principalities. The eagle graphically represents the structure of the empire. It bears 56 coats of arms of various imperial estates on its feathers, including secular and ecclesiastical electors, dukes, counts and cities, representing the members of the empire. Above the eagle is Jesus on the cross.
The upper text in the original reads:
‘Das hailig römisch reich mit sampt seinen gelidern’
(The Holy Roman Empire with all its members).
The image is a meme. It humorously alludes to the large number of member states of the Holy Roman Empire by contrasting them with the proverbial, but less numerous, twelve tribes of Israel. The joke arises from the implicit juxtaposition of the complex and fragmented political structure of the empire with the relatively simple number of tribes of Israel.
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