Episcopatus Balbastrensis et Comitatus Ribagorcae.

Title

Episcopatus Balbastrensis et Comitatus Ribagorcae.

Description

Map shows the area around Barbastro and Huesca in Aragnonia, Spain. Furthermore, a title and a mileage scala cartouche.

ca. 1635

Artist

Blaeu (1571-1638)

Joan Guilliemus Blaeu was the eldest son of Willem Janszoon Blaeu (1571-1638), and was probably born in Alkmaar in the province of Noord-Holland in the final years of the 16th century. He was brought up in Amsterdam, and studied law at the University of Leiden before going into partnership with his father in the 1630s. Although his father Willem had cartographic interests, having studied under the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe and having manufactured globes and instruments, his primary business was as a printer. It was under the control of Joan that the Blaeu printing press achieved lasting fame by moving towards the printing of maps and expanding to become the largest printing press in Europe in the 17th century. By the 1660s the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (or Atlas Maior as it had became known by this time) had expanded to between 9 and 12 volumes, depending on the language. With over 3,000 text pages and approximately 600 maps, it was the most expensive book money could buy in the later 17th century. The translation of the text from Latin into Dutch, English, German, French, and Spanish for several volumes created enormous work for those involved in typography and letterpress activities. It is estimated that over 80 men must have been employed full-time in the Blaeu printing house in Bloemgracht, not including engravers who worked elsewhere, with over 15 printing presses running simultaneously, and in 1667 a second press was acquired at Gravenstraat. At the same time as producing the Atlas Maior, Blaeu was also publishing town plans of Italy, maps for globes, and other volumes. At its peak the Blaeu press managed to produce over 1 million impressions from 1,000 copper plates within four years.

Historical Description

The territory of the County of Aragón initially included the valleys of Hecho, Canfranc, Borau, Aísa and Araguás, and soon those of Ansó and Acumuer. Under Count Galindo I Aznárez (around 844 to 867), the county came under the suzerainty of the Kings of Pamplona. After the death of Sancho III in 1035, his son Ramiro I inherited Aragon, which thus became an independent kingdom. Ramiro expanded his domain, which had previously been limited to the Jacetania, by acquiring Ribagorza and Sobrarbe and by successfully fighting the Moors. Petronella and Raimund Berengar's son Alfonso II (* 1157) took over the rule of Catalonia as Count Alfonso I in 1162. The resulting community of states, which included Catalonia in addition to Aragon proper and later extended to a large part of the Mediterranean, is known as the Crown of Aragon (Spanish: Corona de Aragón ). Within this community of states, the individual territories - the Kingdom of Aragon in the narrower sense, Catalonia and later also the Kingdom of Valencia and other territories - retained their internal autonomy; only in the area of foreign policy were they united under a common monarch. From 1485 to 1699, Aragon was ruled by its own viceroys in the name of the Spanish kings. During the War of Independence against Napoleon, Napoleon's troops unsuccessfully besieged Aragon in the summer of 1808. After another two-month siege, Saragossa capitulated in 1809. In the three Carlist Wars of the 19th century, Upper Aragon (roughly the area of today's Huesca province) held resolutely to Queen Maria Christina of Sicily, while Lower Aragon (roughly today's Teruel province) held to the pretender Don Carlos. In the Spanish Civil War, southern Aragon in particular was the scene of fierce battles, the most famous of which were the Battle of Belchite following a Republican offensive on Zaragoza in September and October 1937 and the Battle of Teruel between December 1937 and February 1938. In 1982, King Juan Carlos I and Prime Minister Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo signed the law passed by the Spanish Cortes Generales, which included the Statute of Autonomy for Aragon.