Self-Representation in Vienna around 1550

Sigismund von Herberstein, imperial counsellor and diplomat of the Habsburg court  was  the  most  versatile  employer  of  self-representation  strategies  in Vienna  around  the  middle  of  the  16th  century.  Not  only  did  he  write  seven autobiographic  texts  both  in  Latin  and  in  German  (published  partly  already in  his  lifetime),  but  he  had  a  number  of  illustrated  books  printed  about  his own deeds, depicting his life in various circumstances, and he was surrounded by  a  large  circle  of  humanist  poets  who  wrote  verses  dedicated  to  him.  This lecture  aims  at  to  compare  his  strategies  and  roles  of  self-representation  (as a model of  virtue,  as  an  exemplary  courtier,  and  as  the  head  of  an  aristocratic family) with the motivations behind the self-fashioning of Nicolaus Olahus as revealed  in  his  printed  works,  his  patronage  network  and  in  the  manuscript poems dedicated to him.