De haven van S. Malo

Title

De haven van S. Malo

Description

The map shows the harbour of Saint-Malo with two wind roses and a title cartouche. Dutch edition.

ca. 1645

Artist

Velde van den (1593-1641)

Jan van de Velde II (1593–1641), Rotterdam, was a Dutch engraver, draftsman, and cartographer (or more precisely, a map engraver). He worked as an engraver of maps, city views, and decorative prints, and came from a well-known family of artists; his father, Jan van de Velde, was a renowned calligrapher. He produced finely ornamented cartouches, coats of arms, and illustrations for cartographic works. His work belongs to the context of the Dutch Golden Age of cartography in the 17th century.

Historical Description

Brittany was already populated in the Paleolithic. The Iron Age, which began comparatively late in Brittany, namely from the 6th century BC, was characterized by the immigration of the Celts, who called Brittany Aremorica or Armorica (land by the sea). n 56 BC, Iulius Caesar and his legions defeated almost the entire Venetian fleet in a devastating naval battle, thus ending the economic prosperity of this tribe as well as the Gallic supremacy in shipping. The Romanization of Brittany began immediately after the conquest and consisted, in addition to the triumph of Roman administration, architecture and road layout, primarily in the founding of Roman cities such as Portus Namnetus (Nantes), Condate (Rennes), Darioritum (Vannes), Vorgium (Carhaix-Plouguer) and Fanum Martis (or Civitas Coriosolitum, today Corseul). However, it was finished only towards the end of the Late Antiquity. At that time, the Celtic language of Gaul, Gallic, had probably also almost completely disappeared. Already at the time of the Roman colonization there had been intensive contacts between the aremorican peninsula and Great Britain. After the withdrawal of the Roman army at the beginning of the 5th century under Emperor Honorius, the provincials expelled the Roman administrators around 409 and declared themselves independent. In the period of the decline of the Western Roman Empire, from about 450 AD, mainly Christianized Britons migrated to the Breton peninsula. At the same time, the settlement areas of the still pagan Saxons, Angles and Jutes on the island of Britain continued to expand. Thus, for about two centuries, so-called island celts crossed into Brittany at irregular intervals to escape the uncertain political conditions of their former homeland. They settled and Christianized Aremorica and brought their language to Gaul, which had already been Romanized for a long time. Thus, Breton does not go back to the Celtic idiom still spoken in Brittany during Caesar's time. In 497, the Bretons submitted to the Frankish king Clovis I. The territory of the Duchy of Brittany maintained a relative independence in warlike conflicts with Normans, French and English until the 15th century. Within France, Brittany was of maritime importance. From 1631, Brest advanced to become the best and most heavily fortified war port in France. The Breton port cities and coastal towns became the cradle of many outstanding naval officers of the French Navy.