Wissenburgum/Weissenburg

Title

Wissenburgum/Weissenburg

Description

Representation of the city of Weißenburg

ca. 1595

Artist

Braun/Hogenberg (1572-1618)

Frans Hogenberg (1535 – 1590) was a Flemish and German painter, engraver, and mapmaker. Hogenberg was born in Mechelen as the son of Nicolaas Hogenberg In 1568 he was banned from Antwerp by the Duke of Alva. He travelled to London, where he stayed a few years before emigrating to Cologne. He is known for portraits and topographical views as well as historical allegories. He also produced scenes of contemporary historical events. George Braun (1541-1622), a cleric of Cologne, was the principal editor of the "Civitates Orbis Terrarum". The first volume of the Civitates Orbis Terrarum was published in Cologne in 1572. The sixth and the final volume appeared in 1617. This great city atlas, edited by Georg Braun and largely engraved by Franz Hogenberg, eventually contained 546 prospects, bird-eye views and map views of cities from all over the world. Braun (1541-1622), a cleric of Cologne, was the principal editor of the work, and was greatly assisted in his project by the close, and continued interest of Abraham Ortelius, whose Theatrum Orbis Terrarum of 1570 was, as a systematic and comprehensive collection of maps of uniform style, the first true atlas.

Historical Description

The community of Weißenburg developed from a steadily growing settlement around a monastery founded in the 7th century, which soon gained importance and became an abbey. From 1306 to 1697 Weißenburg was an imperial city. It belonged to the ten-town confederation of Alsatian imperial towns founded in 1354. In 1440, the Weissenburg citizen Eikhart Artzt began writing down his "cronick" of the town. In 1522, the Reformation was introduced by Heinrich Motherer, the pastor of St. John's Church, and Martin Bucer. After the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, large parts of Alsace came under French rule, and France was also granted the bailiwick over the Alsatian League of Ten Towns. With his reunion policy, Louis XIV had the ten towns conquered in 1673 and 1674, had their fortifications ground down, and placed them under French provincial administration. In the Peace of Rijswijk in 1697, France had to return all the conquests and reunions of the previous wars outside Alsace, but thus finally received the rule over Strasbourg. With the French Revolution, the integration into the modern administrative and legal system of the country took place.