Fortunatus (book)

Fortunatus is a German proto-novel or chapbook centered on a legendary hero who was well known across 15th- and 16th-century Europe, and who is typically linked to a magic purse that never runs out of money. The story begins with a young man named Fortunatus, who rises from obscurity to wealth and renown through his adventures, and later follows the lives of his two sons.

According to the tale, Fortunatus was a native of Famagusta in Cyprus. While wandering in a forest, he met the goddess Fortune, who gave him a purse that refilled itself every time he took money from it. Using this purse, he traveled widely and eventually became a guest of the sultan in Cairo. Among the sultan’s treasures was an old, brimless hat that could transport its wearer to any location they wished. Fortunatus stole this hat and returned to Cyprus, where he lived in luxury. On his deathbed, he left the purse and the hat to his sons, Ampedo and Andelosia. Jealousy and reckless behavior led the brothers to squander their inheritance and fall into misfortune.

Like Miguel de Cervantes’ *Don Quixote*, *Fortunatus* marks the transition from the feudal world to a more modern, globalized, capitalist one. It is not strictly a morality tale, but it was clearly written to impart lessons. The moral is plain: people should value reason and wisdom above all worldly treasures, because without wisdom it is all too easy to lose any fortune, however it was gained.

The earliest known edition of *Fortunatus* was published in Augsburg in 1509, printed by Johann Otmar and sold in the apothecary of Johannes Heybler. The text draws on many sources, including: the *Itinerarius* of Johannes von Montevilla (John de Mandeville), translated into German in 1480 and printed in Augsburg in 1481 and 1482; accounts of Vlad III Drakul (Vlad the Impaler), printed in Nuremberg (1488), Bamberg (1491), and Augsburg (1494); the *Gesta Romanorum*, printed in Augsburg in 1473; two accounts of St. Patrick’s Purgatory printed in Augsburg in 1489; Hans Tucher der Ältere’s *Beschreibung der Reyß ins Heylig Land* (Augsburg, 1482); Bernhard von Breydenbach’s *Peregrinationes in terram sanctam* (1486) and its German translation (Mainz, 1486; Augsburg, 1488?); Rudolf von Ems’s *Willehalms von Orlens und Amelies* (13th century, printed in Augsburg, 1491); and possibly the travels of the Bohemian nobleman Leo von Rozmital (1465–67)