The Tournament Book of Caspar of Lamberg (The career of a tournament hero from Carniola)

The most prominent tournament fighter from the end of the 15th-century from today-Slovenia was Caspar Lamberger (about 1463-1515/1517). He was a member of the famous family of Lamberger with seat in the castle Kamen (Stein) in Upper-Carniola (Gorenjska). In his youth he was a companion and associate of Archduke Maximilian. Later he was even one of (king) Maximilian's courtiers and commander in king's wars in West Europe. After 1504 or 1507 he left military service in king's elite units and returned to Carniola. He became guardian of economic offices and higher official in the provincial army, which fought against the Turks. In this time, enlightened by Maximilian's artistic projects, he commissioned a book of his own tournament successes from one of the workshops, which had worked even for king Maximilian and and other princes. Caspar died in the years 1515-1517, but his tournament book staying the property of Lamberger's till end of the 19th century. In the year 1950 the heirs County of Thun sold the book to the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. The book contents hand-coloured images of 87 encounters with the best fighter from German empire. In the years 1544-1569 the guests of his son Jacob II., (officers, diplomats, relatives, scholars, officials from empire Italy, France, Spain, Hungary, Croatia) had signed in the book their names and mottoes.