Die in Piemont, nahe am Po ligende und belagerte Stadt Carmagnole.

Title

Die in Piemont, nahe am Po ligende und belagerte Stadt Carmagnole.

Description

Map shows the city map of Carmagnola in the Italian region of Piedmont with mileage scale and title cartouche.

ca. 1650

Artist

Merian (1593-1650)

Matthäus Merian (1593 – 1650) , born in Basel, learned the art of copperplate engraving in Zurich and subsequently worked and studied in Strasbourg, Nancy, and Paris, before returning to Basel in 1615. The following year he moved to Frankfurt, Germany where he worked for the publisher Johann Theodor de Bry. He married his daughter, Maria Magdalena 1617. In 1620 they moved back to Basel, only to return three years later to Frankfurt, where Merian took over the publishing house of his father-in-law after de Bry's death in 1623. In 1626 he became a citizen of Frankfurt and could henceforth work as an independent publisher. He is the father of Maria Sibylla Merian, who later published her the famous and wellknown studies of flowers, insects and butterflies.

Historical Description

Carmagnola is mentioned in documents for the first time in the 11th century. It was formerly a county and belonged to the Marquises of Saluzzo. Under their rule the town was fortified by a wall and a castle was built. In 1522 Charles V seized the town. After the Battle of Ceresole in 1544, the region fell to France. The French transformed Carmagnola (Carmagnole in French) into a strong place of arms during the 16th century. In 1588 the town was conquered by Charles Emmanuel I from the Savoy. In the 17th century, during the civil war between the Madamisti and Principisti, supporters of the French and the House of Savoy respectively, Carmagnola was again annexed to France for some time. In 1690 the city was taken by the French general Nicolas de Catinat, but was recovered the following year by Victor Amadeus II of Savoy. While the defensive works of Carmagnola were demolished and its strategic importance gradually declined, it developed into an agricultural and commercial center, exporting in particular considerable quantities of rope and hemp to Liguria and southern France.