Von der Statt Estampes

Title

Von der Statt Estampes

Map shows a city at the river Seine

ca. 1550

Artist

Münster (1489-1552)

Sebastian Münster (1489–1552) was a leading Renaissance cosmographer. His most famous work, the Cosmographia (1544), was a comprehensive description of the world with 24 maps, based on research dating back to 1528. Continuously revised, the 1550 edition already included many new maps. It was the first scientific yet accessible world description published in German, illustrated with numerous woodcuts by artists such as Hans Holbein the Younger. Between 1544 and 1650, the Cosmographia appeared in 46 editions (27 in German) and was translated into several languages. Münster’s work combined the knowledge of scholars, artists, and travelers and remained influential long after his death.

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.