Renaissance Vienna Under the Ottoman Threat: Rethinking the Biblical Imagery of the City (1532–1559)
The <i>topos</i> of Vienna as the “stronghold of Christendom” emerged soon after the 1529 unsuccessful siege by the Ottomans. The city’s new strategic status not only spurred the building of new urban fortifications, it also stimulated the production of a large variety of printed texts a...
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MDPI AG
2025-06-01
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| author | Clarisse Roche |
| author_facet | Clarisse Roche |
| author_sort | Clarisse Roche |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The <i>topos</i> of Vienna as the “stronghold of Christendom” emerged soon after the 1529 unsuccessful siege by the Ottomans. The city’s new strategic status not only spurred the building of new urban fortifications, it also stimulated the production of a large variety of printed texts and pictures that emphasized the necessity of Christian unity among divided Christians. In this context, this article aims to shed new light on the use of one Old Testament episode whose significance and polysemy has been largely overlooked for sixteenth-century Vienna: the attack of Jerusalem by the Assyrian King Sennacherib and his subsequent defeat through divine intervention under the city wall. Instrumental in defining a common spiritual approach to the fight, this Old Testament story can be considered a seminal basis for the paradigm of Vienna as a Jerusalem of unity and unanimity. To analyze the significance of this theme in Vienna, this article will first focus on its representation in Hanns Lautensack’s 1558/1559 famous cityscape before demonstrating that it originated from a far less known source: the 1532 sermons by the Bishop Johann Fabri. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-93ebac5fea9c408faa4d5d996d3d6706 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2077-1444 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
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| series | Religions |
| spelling | doaj-art-93ebac5fea9c408faa4d5d996d3d67062025-08-20T03:16:39ZengMDPI AGReligions2077-14442025-06-0116678410.3390/rel16060784Renaissance Vienna Under the Ottoman Threat: Rethinking the Biblical Imagery of the City (1532–1559)Clarisse Roche0Department of Tourism and Heritage, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain P.O. Box 1551, United Arab EmiratesThe <i>topos</i> of Vienna as the “stronghold of Christendom” emerged soon after the 1529 unsuccessful siege by the Ottomans. The city’s new strategic status not only spurred the building of new urban fortifications, it also stimulated the production of a large variety of printed texts and pictures that emphasized the necessity of Christian unity among divided Christians. In this context, this article aims to shed new light on the use of one Old Testament episode whose significance and polysemy has been largely overlooked for sixteenth-century Vienna: the attack of Jerusalem by the Assyrian King Sennacherib and his subsequent defeat through divine intervention under the city wall. Instrumental in defining a common spiritual approach to the fight, this Old Testament story can be considered a seminal basis for the paradigm of Vienna as a Jerusalem of unity and unanimity. To analyze the significance of this theme in Vienna, this article will first focus on its representation in Hanns Lautensack’s 1558/1559 famous cityscape before demonstrating that it originated from a far less known source: the 1532 sermons by the Bishop Johann Fabri.https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/16/6/784siege of ViennaTurkssermonsHanns LautensackWolfgang LaziusJohann Fabri |
| spellingShingle | Clarisse Roche Renaissance Vienna Under the Ottoman Threat: Rethinking the Biblical Imagery of the City (1532–1559) Religions siege of Vienna Turks sermons Hanns Lautensack Wolfgang Lazius Johann Fabri |
| title | Renaissance Vienna Under the Ottoman Threat: Rethinking the Biblical Imagery of the City (1532–1559) |
| title_full | Renaissance Vienna Under the Ottoman Threat: Rethinking the Biblical Imagery of the City (1532–1559) |
| title_fullStr | Renaissance Vienna Under the Ottoman Threat: Rethinking the Biblical Imagery of the City (1532–1559) |
| title_full_unstemmed | Renaissance Vienna Under the Ottoman Threat: Rethinking the Biblical Imagery of the City (1532–1559) |
| title_short | Renaissance Vienna Under the Ottoman Threat: Rethinking the Biblical Imagery of the City (1532–1559) |
| title_sort | renaissance vienna under the ottoman threat rethinking the biblical imagery of the city 1532 1559 |
| topic | siege of Vienna Turks sermons Hanns Lautensack Wolfgang Lazius Johann Fabri |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/16/6/784 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT clarisseroche renaissanceviennaundertheottomanthreatrethinkingthebiblicalimageryofthecity15321559 |