Nova Mappa Archiducatus Austriae Superioris

Title

Nova Mappa Archiducatus Austriae Superioris

Description

Map shows the whole of Upper Austria with magnificent title cartouche.

ca. 1728

Artist

Seutter (1678-1757)

Matthias Seutter (1678- 1757) Augsburg was the son of a goldsmith in Augsburg. In 1697, Seutter began his studies in Nuremberg and subsequently worked in the publishing house of Jeremias Wolff in Augsburg. In 1710, he established his own publishing house and print shop. The Seutter publishing house produced a great number of maps, atlases, and globes. However, very few original maps were printed there, as Augsburg at that time had no university and no connection to the fields of mathematics or the natural sciences. Seutter therefore copied the work of other cartographers, making his own engravings based on their models. Over 500 maps were produced in his studio. Seutter's most well-known works are the 1725 "Geographical Atlas or an Accurate Depiction of the Whole World" ("Atlas Geographicus oder Accurate Vorstellung der ganzen Welt") with 46 maps, the 1734 "Large Atlas" ("Grosser Atlas") with 131 maps, and the 1744 pocket atlas "Small Atlas" ("Atlas minor") with 64 maps. Matthäus Seutter died in 1757. Seutter's son Albrecht Karl, his son-in-law Conrad Tobias Lotter, and his business partner Johann Michael Probst ran the printing business for five more years.

Historical Description

In the Middle Ages, a large part of Upper Austria belonged to the Duchy of Styria for a long time. King Ottokar Přemysl of Bohemia separated the Traungau, which belonged to Styria, from it in 1254 in the Peace of Ofen and in 1261 in the Peace of Vienna and shaped the land into the Principality ob der Enns. In 1264 the name supra anasum ('Ob(erhalb) der Enns') was first mentioned in a document, and Konrad von Summerau is referred to in a document as a provincial judge of the province of Upper Austria, although at that time the designation Austria superior ('Upper Austria') still applied to Tyrol and Vorderösterreich. After 1490, the area gained a certain degree of independence in the Holy Roman Empire as the partial principality of Austria ob der Enns, and the estates held their own provincial assemblies in Linz. In the Habsburg division of 1564, Upper Austria, together with Lower Austria and the Bohemian lands, fell to the Roman-German Emperor Maximilian II. In 1779, in the Peace of Teschen, the Innviertel, previously part of the Duchy of Bavaria, became part of Upper Austria. During the Napoleonic Wars, Upper Austria was occupied several times by French troops. The provincial capital Linz also administered the province of Salzburg from 1816 to 1854.