Carte del Ducato di Lorena

Title

Carte del Ducato di Lorena

Description

Detailed map of the Duchy of Lorraine showing the cities of Metz, Remiremont, Nancy, etc., with a title cartouche and a scale indicator.

ca. 1672

Artist

Priorato (1606-1678)

Galeazzo Gualdo Priorato (1606 - 1678) was an Italian mercenary, historian, geographer and diplomat. He came from an old Italian family of counts. After a long military career, he wrote numerous historical works about European rulers and cities. He wrote, among others, the history of Emperors Ferdinand III and Leopold I and the first biography of Wallenstein. Priorato first embarked on a military career, which he ended after 1645. Subsequently, Galeazzo Gualdo Priorato shifted his activity to historical studies and diplomacy. In 1652 he was called to Vincennes in France to write a history of Cardinal Jules Mazarin. During his stay in Vincennes he was awarded the dignity of Knight of the Order of St. Michael. In 1656 he stayed again in Rome, where he was awarded the title of Nobilis romanus. During this time he entered the service of Queen Christine of Sweden as a chamberlain in Rome. In this capacity he made another trip to France in 1659 and to Regensburg in 1664. In the same year he became an imperial councilor and historiographer in the service of Emperor Leopold I. He returned to his native Vicenza, where he remained until his death. There he wrote his history of Leopold I.

Historical Description

The area around the Moselle, populated mainly by Celtic tribes, was conquered by Gaius Iulius Caesar in the Gallic War between 58 and 51 BC and later became part of the Roman province of Gallia Belgica. From a division of the Frankish Empire into three parts, the Lotharii Regnum, the "Empire of Lothar" or Lotharingia, named after its king, emerged in 843. s lay in the middle between the East and West Frankish Empires and originally stretched as an elongated territory from the Mediterranean to the North Sea. In 870, the area was again divided between the East and West Frankish Empires.