Von den Mitnächtigen Ländern/ Genealogy oder Herkommen der jetzigen Königen Dennmark/ Gotlandt oder Gothen

Title

Von den Mitnächtigen Ländern/ Genealogy oder Herkommen der jetzigen Königen Dennmark/ Gotlandt oder Gothen

Description

Map shows total Scandinavia with a lion coat of arm on reverse.

ca. 1550

Artist

Münster (1489-1552)

Sebastian Münsters (1489-1552) is one of the famous cosmographers of the Renaissance. Its real importance in the field of cartography is based on its famous cosmography, which he published in 1544 with 24 double-sided maps (including Moscow and Transylvania). The material for this came largely from research and the collection of information from around 1528, which he initially only wanted to use for a description of Germany, but was now sufficient for a map of the entire world and ultimately led to a cosmography. He constantly tried to improve this work, i.e. to replace or add to maps. In the edition of 1550, only 14 maps were taken over from the earlier editions. The 52 maps printed in the text were also only partially based on the old maps. The great success of this cosmography was also based on the precise work of the woodcuts mostly by Hans Holbein the Younger, Urs Graf, Hans Rudolph Deutsch and David Kandel. It was the first scientific and at the same time generally understandable description of the knowledge of the world in German, in which the basics of history and geography, astronomy and natural sciences, regional and folklore were summarized according to the state of knowledge at that time. Cosmography is the science of describing the earth and the universe. Until the late Middle Ages, geography, geology and astronomy were also part of it. The first edition of the Cosmographia took place in 1544 in German, printed in Heinrich Petri's office in Basel. Heinrich Petri was a son from the first marriage of Münster's wife to the Basel printer Adam Petri. Over half of all editions up to 1628 were also published in German. However, the work has also been published in Latin, French, Czech and Italian. The English editions all comprised only a part of the complete work. Viktor Hantzsch identified a total of 46 editions in 1898 (German 27; Latin 8; French 3; Italian 3; Czech 1) that appeared from 1544 to 1650, while Karl Heinz Burmeister only had 36 (German 21; Latin 5; French 6; Italian 3; Czech 1) that appeared between 1544 and 1628. The first edition from 1544 was followed by the second edition in 1545, the third in 1546, the fourth edition in 1548 and the fifth edition in 1550, each supplemented by new reports and details, text images, city views and maps and revised altogether. Little has been known about who - apart from the book printers Heinrich Petri and Sebastian Henricpetri - were responsible for the new editions after Münster's death. The 1628 edition was edited and expanded by the Basel theologian Wolfgang Meyer. With Cosmographia, Sebastian Münster has published for the first time a joint work by learned historians and artists, by publishers, wood cutters and engravers. The numerous vedute are usually made as woodcuts. Sebastian Münster obtained his knowledge from the travel reports and stories of various scholars, geographers, cartographers and sea travelers. Long after his death, "Kosmographie" was still a popular work with large editions: 27 German, 8 Latin, 3 French, 4 English and even 1 Czech editions appeared. The last edition appeared in Basel in 1650.

Historical Description

Scandinavia characterized by common ethnocultural North Germanic heritage and mutually intelligible North Germanic languages The term Scandinavia in local usage covers the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, but in English usage, it also sometimes refers to the Scandinavian Peninsula or to the broader region which includes Finland and Iceland This broader region is usually known locally as the Nordic countries. The remote Norwegian islands of Svalbard and Jan Mayen are usually not seen as a part of Scandinavia, nor is Greenland, a constituent country within the Kingdom of Denmark. The Faroe Islands may be included. For more than 500 years there was a common ground in the field of foreign policy, from the attack by the Danish king Chlochilaicus on Gaul (517) to the unfortunate move by Harald Hardrades against England in 1066, the Vikings carried out their raids and raids on all European coastal areas, but also deep into Russia stretch. For a long time, another commonality was the rejection of Christianity in times when it had been common in Western Europe for centuries. In addition, the great importance of the Jarle, who were initially only leaders of raids, but as such became very rich and powerful, is characteristic of this period. For this reason, fiefdom in Scandinavia developed much more slowly than in core Europe, and serfdom did not become fully established. In addition to these general similarities, there were also times when several of the Scandinavian countries were united under one rule, such as Denmark, Norway and (more relaxed) Sweden as well as England under Knut the Great from 1028 to 1035, as well as England. Denmark and Norway were soon under the common rule of Magnus the Good from 1042 to 1046. But the main time of the common political development lies in the Kalmar Union, which the countries of Denmark, Norway and Sweden were linked from 1397 to 1523. During this period, Norway lost significant political independence, so that after Sweden left the Kalmar Union with the Danish-Norwegian personal union, there was practically Danish dominance until 1814, which was replaced in 1814 by the Swedish-Norwegian union, which continued until 1905.