schembart carnival costumes

illustrations from a schembartbuch, depicting costumes from the nuremberg 'schembartlauf' festival from the years 1449 to 1539. nuremberg, c. 1551-1600

Pages from the Nürnberger Schembart-Buch ( Cod. ms. KB 395 ) Made in the 17th century, in the collection of the Library of the University of Kiel.

Nürnberger carnival floats, 1449-1539

The Schembartlauf (lit. ‘mask-beard run’) is a part of the customs on pre-lent carnival in the city of Nürnberg. It consisted of a procession of masked people in fancy dress, dancing and singing bawdy songs. It's unknown how old this custom is exactly, but the first documented one was in 1449. Worldwide, there are over 80 manuscipts recording the events. 

Since 1475 the celebrants led a topical carried platform or cart, called the "Hell", through town. At the end of the parade, it was attacked and burned on the main marketplace.

The Reformation put an end to the "papist" carnival custom in 1525. Only in 1539 the Nürnberg city council approved of a Shembartlauf once more, against the fierce resistance of the strict and influencial preacher Andreas Osiander, who had been responsible for abolishing the tradition in the fist place.

With 150 participants, it was the largest Schembartlauf of all time. Osiander was showered with derision and mockery in the parade. His effigy was paraded on that year's 'Hell', depicting him playing backgammon surrounded by fools and devils (as shown on the last two pictures above). Later, a mob gathered in front of Osianders house, shot of fireworks and attemted to break in. The house was precautionary barricaded and the attempt failed. 

The events led to a political scandal. Even Martin Luther in far-off Wittenberg protested and described the Schembartlauf as a particularly unholy, God-displeasing spectacle. The city council responded by banning the Schembartlauf "once and for all", and punished the organizers (who were councilmembers themselves) with imprisonment. 

In 1548, Osiander left Nürnberg and went to Prussia. In spite of the “once and for all” ban, the Schembartlauf is performed again regularly, if not every year, since 1974.