Le Duche de Brunswick.Suivant les Nouvelles Observations de..

Title

Le Duche de Brunswick.Suivant les Nouvelles Observations de..

Description

Map with marginal border showing the Duchy of Brunswick and Lüneburg between Celle, Aschersleben, Nordhausen and the Weser of Hann. Title cartouche with coat of arms, wine and mileage scale.

ca. 1728

Artist

Aa, van der (1659-1733)

Pieter van der Aa ( 1659 - 1733) was a Dutch publisher best known for preparing maps and atlases, though he also printed pirated editions of foreign bestsellers and illustrated volumes. He also printed many maps that were often out of print, which he reissued. Some of his most popular maps were of the African continent, detailing locations such as Morocco and Madagascar. Many of his later works were printed for the general public in French and Dutch. Pieter van der Aa began his career at Leiden in 1683 as a Latin trade publisher, publishing classical texts pertaining to medicine and science. As he progressed, he began to publish atlases and maps, compiling numerous multi-volume collections of works. His ambition to become Leiden's most famous printer was fulfilled in 1715 with his appointment to head printer for the city and its university. One of Pieter van der Aa's largest compilations relates to the history of Italy and Sicily, an area of immense personal interest. Though he took credit for many of his compilations, several, such as the Dutch collection of travels to the East and West Indies, were admittedly simple improvements to others' works.

Historical Description

The name Saxony is derived from that of the Germanic confederation of tribes called Saxons. Before the late Middle Ages there was a single duchy of Saxony. The term "Lower Saxony" was used after the dissolution of the original duchy in the late 13th century to distinguish the parts of the former duchy that were ruled by the House of Welfare, on the one hand from the electorate of Saxony and from the duchy of Westphalia on the other. The name and coat of arms of today's state go back to the Germanic tribe of the Saxons. During the migration period, some of the Saxon peoples left their homeland in Holstein around the 3rd century and advanced south across the Elbe, where they expanded into the sparsely populated regions in the rest of the lowlands in today's northwestern Germany and the northeastern part of today's Netherlands. From the 7th century onwards, the Saxons occupied a settlement area that roughly corresponds to today's federal state of Lower Saxony, Westphalia and a number of areas in the east, for example in today's west and north Saxony-Anhalt. From the 14th century onwards it referred to the Duchy of Saxony-Lauenburg (as opposed to Saxony-Wittenberg). When the imperial districts were created in 1500, a distinction was made between a district in Lower Saxony and a district in Lower Rhine-Westphalia. The latter comprised the following areas, which today belong wholly or partially to the state of Lower Saxony: the Diocese of Osnabrück, the Diocese of Münster, the County of Bentheim, the County of Hoya, the Principality of East Friesland, the Principality of Verden, the district of Diepholz, the district of Oldenburg, the district of Schaumburg and the district of Spiegelberg .The close historical links between the domains of the Lower Saxon Circle now in modern Lower Saxony survived for centuries especially from a dynastic point of view. The majority of historic territories whose land now lies within Lower Saxony were sub-principalities of the medieval, Welf estates of the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg. All the Welf princes called themselves dukes "of Brunswick and Lüneburg" despite often ruling parts of a duchy that was forever being divided and reunited as various Welf lines multiplied or died out.