The Marquiship of Moravia

Title

The Marquiship of Moravia

Description

Map shows Moravia in the Czech Republic with the cities of Brno, Olomouc, Jihlava and many more with a title and a mileage indicator cartouche.

ca. 1620

Artist

Hondius/Sparke (1563-1612)

Jodocus Hondius (1563 –1612) was a Dutch engraver, and cartographer. He is best known for his early maps of the New World and Europe, for re-establishing the reputation of the work of Gerard Mercator, and for his portraits of Francis Drake. He helped establish Amsterdam as the center of cartography in Europe in the 17th century. He was born in Wakken and grew up in Ghent. In his early years he established himself as an engraver, instrument maker and globe maker. In 1584 he moved to London to escape religious difficulties in Flanders. While in England, Hondius was instrumental in publicizing the work of Francis Drake, who had made a circumnavigation of the world in the late 1570s. In particular, in 1589 Hondius produced a now famous map of the bay of New Albion, where Drake briefly established a settlement on the west coast of North America. Hondius' map was based on journal and eyewitness accounts of the trip and has long fueled speculation about the precise location of Drake's landing, which has not yet been firmly established by historians. Hondius is also thought to be the artist of several well-known portraits of Drake that are now in the National Portrait Gallery in London. In 1593 he moved to Amsterdam, where he remained until the end of his life. In co-operation with the Amsterdam publisher Cornelis Claesz. in 1604 he purchased the plates of Gerard Mercator's Atlas from Mercator's grandson. Mercator's work had languished in comparison to the rival Theatrum Orbis Terrarum by Ortelius. Hondius republished Mercator's work with 36 additional maps, including several which he himself had produced. Despite the addition of his own contributions, Hondius gave Mercator full credit as the author of the work, listing himself as the publisher. Hondius' new edition of Mercator's work was a great success, selling out after a year. Hondius later published a second edition, as well as a pocket version Atlas Minor. The maps have since become known as the ""Mercator/Hondius series"" . In the French edition of the Atlas Minor we find one of the first instances of a thematic map using map symbols. This is a map entitled Designatio orbis christiani (1607) showing the dispersion of major religions. Between 1605 and 1610 he was employed by John Speed to engrave the plates for Speed's The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine. Hondius died, aged 48, in Amsterdam. After his death, his publishing work in Amsterdam was continued by his widow, two sons, Jodocus II and Henricus, and son-in-law Johannes Janssonius, whose name appears on the Atlas as co-publisher after 1633. Eventually, starting with the first 1606 edition in Latin, about 50 editions of the Atlas were released in the main European languages. In the Islamic world, the atlas was partially translated by the Turkish scholar Katip Çelebi. The series is sometimes called the ""Mercator/Hondius/Janssonius"" series because of Janssonius's later contributions.

Historical Description

Moravia developed on both sides of the Amber Road in prehistoric times. Around 60 BC The Celtic Boier withdrew from the area and were replaced by Germanic Marcomanni and Quadi, who moved on to the Alpine foothills around 550 AD together with the Rugians. Today's Moravia was still independent for a short time after the devastating defeat against the Hungarians and came under Bohemian sovereignty around 955. After being ruled briefly by Poland's ruler Boleslaw Chrobry from 999 to 1019, Moravia finally became Bohemian in 1031. The Principality and later Kingdom of Bohemia was ruled by the Přemyslid dynasty until it died out in the male line in 1305. Moravian history has been parallel to the history of Bohemia almost continuously since 1031. After the Přemyslids died out, the kingdom was ruled by the House of Luxembourg until 1437. The Přemyslid and Luxembourg dynasties also included the Moravian margraves, so u. a. the later King Ottokar II. Přemysl, the later King and Emperor Charles IV. and his nephew, the largely independent Margrave Jobst of Moravia. In 1469, the Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus advanced with his armed forces to Moravia to overthrow his father-in-law Georg von Podiebrad, whose daughter Katharina he married in 1461, as King of Bohemia. Matthias could never conquer the actual Bohemia, his rule only extended over the Bohemian neighboring countries Moravia, Silesia (with Breslau), Upper and Lower Lusatia. Nevertheless, he called himself King of Bohemia from 1469 and was crowned in 1471. As early as 1526, one of the first communities of property of the radical Reformation Anabaptist movement was formed around Balthasar Hubmaier in the Nikolsburg area. The impending dissolution of the Anabaptist community after the execution of Hubmaier in 1528 was prevented by Jakob Hutter, who came from Tyrol. The Anabaptists were also called the Hutterite Brothers after him. During the Catholic Reform and Recatholization, which were carried out by the Jesuits in particular, many churches were able to be consecrated Catholic again. The capital of Moravia and the seat of the margraves was the centrally located Olomouc from the rule of the Luxembourgers until 1641. After that, the larger Brno became the capital of the country. As the margraviate of Moravia, it formed its own crown land in the Austrian Empire and, from 1867, in the western half of Austria-Hungary. After Hungary left the empire and the real union Austria-Hungary was created in 1867, the remaining crown lands were officially referred to as Cisleithania or the kingdoms and countries represented in the Imperial Council.