1595 Ortelius Map of Dithmarschen and Oldenburg, Germany

Germany's Outlet to the North Sea.

This is an old-color sheet containing maps of Dithmarschen and Oldenburg, in today's Germany, that appeared in the 1595 edition of Abraham Ortelius' Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. These regions were geographically close but culturally and politically distinct, with Dithmarschen having been recently conquered after generations of autonomy as a peasant republic, while Oldenburg was deeply embroiled in the complex political and military machinations of the Holy Roman Empire.

A Closer Look

The sheet is divided in two, with the map at left covering Dithmarschen in Schleswig-Holstein, now in Germany's far north, situated between the Eider and Elbe River. The region is bounded on the west by the Wadden Sea (North Sea), here as part of the 'Oceani Germanici,' complete with a sea monster. On land, towns and villages, the largest being Heide (Heÿde), areas of elevation, forests, and waterways. This map is derived from a 1559 map by Peter Boekel (c. 1530 - 1599).

The map at right covers a portion of Lower Saxony directly to the south of Dithmarschen, across the mouth of the Elbe. Cities and towns are marked throughout, including Oldenburg near center and Bremen at right, while waterways and forests are also indicated. An illustration of a ship, apparently a Medieval cog of the style common among the Hanseatic League, appears in the North Sea at top. This map is based on Laurens Michaelis' 1579 map of East Frisia. Text on the verso discusses the toponyms and history of both regions.

Historical Context

At this time, Dithmarschen had recently been conquered by Denmark (1559) after several centuries of independence as a peasant republic within the Holy Roman Empire. This rather remarkable arrangement, which included membership in the Hanseatic League, managed to withstand repeated attempts at foreign conquest or legal claims by various nobles to the lands, but ultimately were subdued by the more powerful Danes. But even still, the Dithmarschers were able to maintain a degree of autonomy under Danish rule.

The history of the region of Oldenburg in the 16th century was largely defined by the long reign of Count Anton I (r. 1529-1573), who converted to Lutheranism, made it the state religion, confiscated Church property, and used the proceeds to strengthen his military. Anton was more of a political schemer than a religious zealot, and remained loyal to staunchly Catholic Emperor Charles V in the Schmalkaldic War (1546 - 1547), fighting against fellow Lutherans and being rewarded by Charles in the process, namely with the Lordship of Delmenhorst (towards bottom-right here), which had been seized by the Bishop of Münster in the late 15th century.

Publication History and Census

This sheet was published by Abraham Ortelius in the 1595 Latin edition of the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, of which 500 Copies were printed. This was the first edition to carry these two maps on the same sheet: the Dithmarschen map originally appeared with a map of Prussia, and the Oldenburg map with a map of Denmark. In the various printings of the Theatrum, this sheet is well-represented in institutional collections and occasionally appears on the market. That being said, the present edition is not independently cataloged in the OCLC.

Cartographer

Abraham Ortelius (April 14, 1527 - June 28, 1598) also known as Ortels, was a cartographer, geographer, and cosmographer of Brabant, active in Antwerp. He was the creator of the first modern atlas, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum and is a seminal figure in the history of cartography. Along with Gerard Mercator and Gemma Frisius, he was a founder of the Netherlandish school of cartography. His connections with Spain - culminating in his 1575 appointment as Royal Cartographer to King Phillip II of Spain - gave him unmatched access to Spanish geographical knowledge during a crucial period of the Age of Discovery. Ortelius was born in 1527 in Antwerp. In 1547 he entered the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke as an illuminator of maps. He began trading in books, prints, and maps, traveling regularly to the Frankfurt book and print fair, where in 1554 he met Mercator. He accompanied Mercator on journeys throughout France in 1560 and it was at this time, under Mercator's influence, that he appears to have chosen his career as a scientific geographer. His first published geographic work appeared in 1564, an eight-sheet cordiform world map. A handful of other maps preceded the 1570 publication of the first edition of the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, which would prove to be his life work. Appearing with but 53 maps in its first edition, Ortelius' work expanded with new maps added regularly. By 1592, it had 134 maps. Many of Ortelius' maps remained the standard for nearly a century. He traveled extensively, but his genius was as a compiler, locating the best informed maps on which to base his own. His contacts throughout Europe and extending even (via the Portuguese) to the Far East were formidable. Moreover, many of his maps were based on his own scholarship, particularly his historical works. His theories of geography were particularly ahead of his time with respect to the notion of continental drift, the possibility of which he mused on as early as 1596, and which would be proven correct centuries later. In a sense his greatest achievement was his successful navigation of the religious and political violence endemic to his city throughout his adult life: The Dutch Revolt, or Eighty Years' War (1568 - 1648), fully embroiled Antwerp. Although outwardly and officially recognized as Catholic (Arias Montanus vouched for Ortelius' Catholic orthodoxy prior to his appointment as Royal Geographer), Ortelius was able to separate himself from the religious furor which characterized the war in the low countries. Ortelius showed a glimpse of himself in a letter to a friend, regarding humanist Justus Lipsius: 'I do not know whether he is an adherent of the Pope or a Calvinist, but if he has ears to hear, he will neither be one nor the other, for sins are committed on both sides'. Ortelius' own explorations of Biblical history in his maps, and the Christogram contained in his own motto, suggest him to be a religious man, but his abjuration of political religious authorities mark him as an individualist. His tombstone at St Michael's Præmonstratensian Abbey in Antwerp bears the inscription, Quietis cultor sine lite, uxore, prole. ('served quietly, without accusation, wife, and offspring.')   Further Details...

Source

Ortelius, A., Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, (Antwerp: Plantin) 1595.    

Abraham Ortelius' magnum opus, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, was the world's first regularly produced atlas, which 'set the standards for later atlases ... It was the first undertaking of its kind to reduce the best available maps to an uniform format.' (Koeman) A modestly-sized work of fifty-three maps in its first edition of May 1570, it was an immediate success: there were three further editions that year, and the work remained in print for a total of 32 editions, the last of which was 1641, well after its author's 1598 death. Ortelius added to his atlas constantly, and by 1595 the Theatrum contained 147 maps. Ortelius is renowned generally as an editor, and indeed much of the Theatrum is compiled from a variety of sources: in such cases, Ortelius was scrupulous in naming his sources. But Ortelius was also a mapmaker in his own right: many of his maps are a distillation of various sources into his own work, and there were many maps - particularly in his atlas of Biblical and ancient history Parergon - which were entirely Ortelius' work. In his role as an editor, Ortelius followed in the footsteps of Munster, whose Cosmographia was, until Ortelius, the best window on the world for the curious European reader. In terms of the artistry of his maps, Ortelius oversaw the first great flourishing of copperplate engraving in the service of cartography to occur in Northern Europe. Ortelius' work provided the model for the atlases of Mercator, Hondius, Blaeu and all their progeny in the 17th century - many of whom were to produce faithful editions of Ortelius' maps in their own productions.

Condition

Very good. Some discoloration along centerfold, small stain in lower margin.