Principatus Saxo. Hildburghusian…

Title

Principatus Saxo. Hildburghusian…

Description

Partial map of Thuringia with a plan of Hildburghausen. Furthermore two magnificent cartouches, an index, two representations of coats of arms and a partial map with a bird's eye view of Hildburghausen.

ca. 1720

Artist

Homann (1664-1724)

Johann Babtiste Homann (1664-1724), Nuremberg, was born in Oberkammlach, the Electorate of Bavaria. Although educated at a Jesuit school, and preparing for an ecclesiastical career, he eventually converted to Protestantism and from 1687 worked as a civil law notary in Nuremberg. He soon turned to engraving and cartography; in 1702 he founded his own publishing house. Homann acquired renown as a leading German cartographer, and in 1715 was appointed Imperial Geographer by Emperor Charles VI. Giving such privileges to individuals was an added right that the Holy Roman Emperor enjoyed. In the same year he was also named a member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin. Of particular significance to cartography were the imperial printing privileges (Latin: privilegia impressoria). These protected for a time the authors in all scientific fields such as printers, copper engravers, map makers and publishers. They were also very important as a recommendation for potential customers. In 1716 Homann published his masterpiece Grosser Atlas ueber die ganze Welt (Grand Atlas of all the World). Numerous maps were drawn up in cooperation with the engraver Christoph Weigel the Elder, who also published Siebmachers Wappenbuch. Homann died in Nuremberg. He was succeeded by the Homann heirs company, which was in business until 1848. The company was known as Homann Erben, Homanniani Heredes, or Heritiers de Homann abroad.

Historical Description

Named after the Thuringii tribe who occupied it around AD 300, Thuringia came under Frankish domination in the 6th century. The Thuringian tribe formed during the Migration Period. The Saxon Otonen and the Sangerhausen became a center of the Holy Roman Empire in the 10th century. A separate Duchy of Thuringia cannot develop in this way. Greatest power in the Thuringian war at that time was the county of Weimar. It was only the Ludowinger rights that brought parts of Thuringia under their control. In the 12th century, the process of expanding the state in Thuringia was secured. It is called the first climbed cities such as Mühlhausen. The important noble families of medieval Thuringia were next to the dominant Wettin and the Ludowingern. In 1485, with the division of Leipzig, the wet lands were sold to the Albertiner rights in the east and the Ernestiner administration in the west. With the Reformation at the beginning of the 16th century, Thuringia became the center of German politics. Martin Luther made announcements of responsibility at the University of Erfurt and in the Augustinian monastery before he went to Wittenberg and the Reformation began. In 1640, two main Ernestine lines emerged: the House of Saxony-Weimar and the House of Saxony-Gotha. Subsequently, the phase of humanism began in Thuringia, in which the University of Erfurt also had a heyday. A center of German humanism was formed around Ulrich von Hutten and the reformers. It was only around 1780 that the ruling Duchess Anna Amalia and her son Karl August left the region again. They called poets such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe or Friedrich Schiller and their court, where they established Weimar Classicism as a German version of the classic literary movement. In 1833, the Customs and Trade Association of the Thuringian States was founded, which spurred industrial revolution in the country. As a result of industrialization, Thuringia became the cradle of social democracy. 1869 Greater August Bebel and Wilhelm Liebknecht in Eisenach the Social Democratic Workers 'Party, in 1875 merged with the General German Workers' Association in Gotha to form the SPD. The Gotha program and the Erfurt program subsequently defined the goals of social democratic politics in Germany.