Eigentliche contrafactur des gewaltigen Schloss zu Meyland/mit ettlicher desselbigen Wehren verzeichnung

Title

Eigentliche contrafactur des gewaltigen Schloss zu Meyland/mit ettlicher desselbigen Wehren verzeichnung

Description

Map shows the Castello Sforzesco of Milan.

ca. 1550

Artist

Münster (1489-1552)

Sebastian Münsters (1489-1552) is one of the famous cosmographers of the Renaissance. Its real importance in the field of cartography is based on its famous cosmography, which he published in 1544 with 24 double-sided maps (including Moscow and Transylvania). The material for this came largely from research and the collection of information from around 1528, which he initially only wanted to use for a description of Germany, but was now sufficient for a map of the entire world and ultimately led to a cosmography. He constantly tried to improve this work, i.e. to replace or add to maps. In the edition of 1550, only 14 maps were taken over from the earlier editions. The 52 maps printed in the text were also only partially based on the old maps. The great success of this cosmography was also based on the precise work of the woodcuts mostly by Hans Holbein the Younger, Urs Graf, Hans Rudolph Deutsch and David Kandel. It was the first scientific and at the same time generally understandable description of the knowledge of the world in German, in which the basics of history and geography, astronomy and natural sciences, regional and folklore were summarized according to the state of knowledge at that time. Cosmography is the science of describing the earth and the universe. Until the late Middle Ages, geography, geology and astronomy were also part of it. The first edition of the Cosmographia took place in 1544 in German, printed in Heinrich Petri's office in Basel. Heinrich Petri was a son from the first marriage of Münster's wife to the Basel printer Adam Petri. Over half of all editions up to 1628 were also published in German. However, the work has also been published in Latin, French, Czech and Italian. The English editions all comprised only a part of the complete work. Viktor Hantzsch identified a total of 46 editions in 1898 (German 27; Latin 8; French 3; Italian 3; Czech 1) that appeared from 1544 to 1650, while Karl Heinz Burmeister only had 36 (German 21; Latin 5; French 6; Italian 3; Czech 1) that appeared between 1544 and 1628. The first edition from 1544 was followed by the second edition in 1545, the third in 1546, the fourth edition in 1548 and the fifth edition in 1550, each supplemented by new reports and details, text images, city views and maps and revised altogether. Little has been known about who - apart from the book printers Heinrich Petri and Sebastian Henricpetri - were responsible for the new editions after Münster's death. The 1628 edition was edited and expanded by the Basel theologian Wolfgang Meyer. With Cosmographia, Sebastian Münster has published for the first time a joint work by learned historians and artists, by publishers, wood cutters and engravers. The numerous vedute are usually made as woodcuts. Sebastian Münster obtained his knowledge from the travel reports and stories of various scholars, geographers, cartographers and sea travelers. Long after his death, "Kosmographie" was still a popular work with large editions: 27 German, 8 Latin, 3 French, 4 English and even 1 Czech editions appeared. The last edition appeared in Basel in 1650.

Historical Description

Soon after 400 BC, the area around Milan was settled by the Celtic Insubrians. In 222 BC the Romans conquered this settlement and used the Latin name Mediolanum. After several centuries of Roman rule, Milan was made one of the residential cities of the Empire in 286 under Emperor Diocletian. In 402 the city was besieged by Visigoths, after which the imperial residence was transferred to Ravenna. In the Lombard League of Cities, founded in 1167, Milan took the leading role. In 1450 Milan fell to the noble Sforza family, who developed it into one of the leading cities of the Italian Renaissance. In 1492, the French king Louis XII first laid claim to the duchy. After his victory over the Swiss in 1515 at the Battle of Marignano, the duchy was once again granted to France's King Francis I. After Charles V's victory over Francis I in 1525, Milan also fell to the House of Habsburg along with northern Italy. In 1556 Charles V abdicated in favor of his son Philip II and his brother Ferdinand of Habsburg, so that the Italian possessions passed to the Spanish line of the Habsburgs founded by Philip II. In 1714, in the Peace of Rastatt, Lombardy with its capital Milan and the Duchy of Mantua were formally granted to the Austrian Habsburgs. Napoleon conquered Lombardy in 1796. Milan was declared the capital of the Cisalpine Republic. After the end of Napoleon's occupation, at the Congress of Vienna in 1815, Milan and Lombardy, as well as Veneto, were again granted to Austria. After the defeat of Austria by the troops of Sardinia-Piedmont allied with France at the Battle of Solferino, all of Lombardy fell in 1859 to the House of Sardinia-Piedmont under Victor Emmanuel II, the nucleus of the then nascent Kingdom of Italy.