Le pais de Brie

Title

Le pais de Brie

Description

Map shows the region of Ile de France with the city of Paris

ca. 1610

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

Historically, Île-de-France is the heartland of France, to which names such as Francia or Francia usually referred. Since the subjugation of Syagrius by Clovis I, the area has formed, with only a brief interruption in the 7th century, a political center of the Frankish Empire of the Merovingians and Carolingians and, from the 9th century, of the West Frankish Empire, that is, of the later France. For centuries it was identical with the French crown domain, the Domaine royal. From here spread the Gothic style, which was originally the architectural style only of this region and therefore the French "royal style". From Louis XIV on, the French kings ruled from Versailles, where they created the imposing and much copied Palace of Versailles. Until the French Revolution, Île-de-France was one of the historic provinces of France. With the creation of the departments in 1789/1790, it was dissolved as an administrative unit.