The image on this roundel depicts St. George in the act of spearing the dragon. It is a single scene from his legend which was popularized in the mid 13th century in the Golden Legend, a collection of the lives of the saints. St. George’s cult began in the early 4th century in the eastern lands of the Roman Empire and spread to the West during the time of the Crusades. His martial nature was popular with the knightly class and he became widely adopted as patron saint.

St. George wears around his neck what appears to be unique to this roundel, the badge of the Order of the Golden Fleece. This was a knightly brotherhood established by Philip the Good, third Duke of Burgundy, in 1430. The last Duke, Charles the Bold, was succeeded by his daughter, Mary, in 1477. The French crown tried to retake the Burgundian lands but were thwarted by the forces of Maximilian (1459-1519), son of the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick III. Later that year, the Duchess Mary and Maximilian were married and he was inducted in 1478 as a member of the Order of the Golden Fleece and was portrayed wearing its collar throughout his life in his official portraits.

The popularity of this devotional image of St. George in the first two decades of the 16th century in Southern Germany has been tied to Maximilian’s personal devotion to the saint and to his support for the Order of St. George, established by his father in 1467, reinforced by Maximilian on his accession to the crown in 1493 and his creation of a lay brotherhood of the Order in 1503. Additionally, this Order of St. George had been formed to create a brotherhood of fighting men dedicated to a crusade against the encroaching Turks of the Ottoman Empire. Maximilian tried to organize a crusade against the Turks on several occasions. In one of his commissioned semi-autobiographical works, Teuerdank, the hero of that name sets off on crusade, he and his horse decked out in the insignia of the Order of St. George, a cross in a circle, as we see here in St. George's headdress.

Many artists working in southern Germany in the early 16th century, including places like Augsburg and Regensburg, were commissioned to produce images of St. George by noble patronage or by imperial commissions. A design produced by Lucas Cranach the Elder in 1507 at the request of his patron the Elector of Saxony shows a mounted St. George in full plate armour with plumed headdress, the dragon prostrate under the horse’s feet. A proof impression of this image was sent to Konrad Peutinger, counsellor and senior administrator in the imperial city of Augsburg. Peutinger in turn commissioned the artist Hans Burgkmair to create a similar image of St. George, along with a companion image of the Emperor Maximilian I, also mounted in full plate armour and plumed headdress. Around 1512, Maximilian commissioned his court historians to devise an illustrated ancestry of his, the Habsburgs, family. Over one hundred woodcut illustrations showing Maximilian’s family, including his historic and saintly ancestors, were produced. This work was not published during his lifetime but later editions appeared including one published in 1799, ‘Images de Saints et Saintes issus de la l’Empereur Maximilien’, which includes a woodcut by Hans Springinklee, pupil of Albrecht Dürer. This woodcut shows the Emperor Maximilian kneeling before St. George who holds a banner of the Order, a cross within a circle.

The connection between St. George and the emperor Maximilian is clear in these images and a similar connection is apparent in this roundel with the saint bearing the badge of the Order of the Golden Fleece.

It was a contemporary practice to depict the arms of the person who commissioned a particular work of art, often displayed suspended from a tree branch, and it would not be surprising to find this on a panel of stained glass.

Several of Maximilian’s ministers (secretaries, chancellors and historians) were directly involved and ultimately responsible for the works that the emperor wished to create to illustrate and celebrate his life. Konrad Peutinger, Johann Stabius and Johann Stamler, were ennobled at some time during their service and their coats of arms can be seen on monuments and printed imagery associated with them. Maximilian’s private secretary, Marx Treitz-Saurwein, amongst others, was responsible for ‘The Weisskunig’, ‘Teuerdank’ and the ‘Triumph of Maximilian’. A coloured drawing, dated 1512, survives in the National Library in Vienna depicting Maximilian enthroned and bearing the cross of St. George. Treitz is depicted kneeling in front of the emperor, pen and paper in hand, receiving direction from Maximilian to write for him and for St. George his family history.

Marx Treitz-Saurwein was ennobled in 1520, probably as directed in Maxmilian’s will. Maximilian died in January 1519. I have been unable to identify the arms adopted by Treitz (von Ehrentreitz after his ennoblement). It is tempting to speculate that the monogrammed shield on this roundel bears the initials of Treit-Saurwein (T – S – W) but there is no evidence to support this speculation. Whereas most coats of arms in the Germanic-speaking lands of the empire at this time usually employ devices or bear Haus or Merchant marks, there are examples of arms that bear initials, some in monogram form, as their charge.

The initials on this shield, T – S – W, could also be that of the painter of the panel but I have not been able to find an example of an artist’s initials depicted on a shield. There are many examples of an artist’s mark on an image and sometimes placed on a board which was suspended from a tree branch but not in a shield form. I have not been able to find other examples of this monogram which would help us to identify the artist responsible or the person who commissioned this roundel. Equally, an image source for this roundel has proved elusive and may no longer survive. The very high quality of painting would suggest a painter of considerable skill from an important glass painting workshop in Southern Germany, perhaps in Augsburg.
–