1595 Ortelius Map of Thuringia and Misniae (Saxony), Germany

Hotbed of Religious Radicalism.

This is a fine example of Abraham Ortelius' 1595 two-map sheet covering Thuringia and the historical regions of Misniae, centered on Meissen and Leipzig, that appeared in his Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. At this time, these regions were best known for their mines, universities, and importance for the emergence of Lutheranism and even more radical branches of Protestantism.

A Closer Look

Both maps are oriented with east at top. The map at the left covers a large portion of the historical region of Thuringia, centered on Erfurt, an Imperial Free City and important economic and intellectual center at the time (Martin Luther studied at the university there), now one of the best-preserved historic cities in Germany. To its north lie Weimar, later an important intellectual center in the Enlightenment and the birthplace of Germany's ill-fated republic in the months after the end of World War I (1914 - 1918), and Jena, then as now an important city in the region that had founded its own university in 1558. Other cities and towns, including Gotha (Gota) and Arnstadt (Arnstet), are shaded red for easy distinction. Towards the bottom-right is the Reinhardsbrunn, marked as the location where the Landgraves of Thuringia are buried. The large complex was also home to a Benedictine monastery until it was sacked during the German Peasants' War and afterwards secularized and sold to the Electors of Saxony.

The map at right covers the region around Meissen and Leipzig, including Dresden, Halle, Torgau, Freiburg (a famous mining town, not to be confused with Freiburg im Breisgau), and Wittenberg. At bottom, it includes Erfurt, Mansfeld, and other towns included in the map on the left half of the sheet. Territories are color-shaded to distinguish lands of Saxony, Thuringia, Lusatia, Silesia, and Bohemia (Prague is included at far right). The verso contains descriptive text for both maps relating to their respective regions' toponyms, history, culture, and economy.

Historical Context

These regions played an important role in the early history of the Protestant Reformation and Lutheranism. Eisleben and Mansfeld, Luther's birthplace and childhood hometown, respectively, appear at left (north) in the Thuringia map, while Wittenberg, often considered the birthplace of the Protestant Reformation, is prominent on the Meissen map. According to legend, Luther provocatively nailed his 'Ninety-Five Theses' to the door of the cathedral in Wittenberg. This may not have actually happened, but Luther was indeed a professor of theology at the University of Wittenberg when he began to publicly criticize the Church's sale of indulgences and other practices, and he nominally retained his chair at the university for the rest of his life, though he was often on the run or preoccupied with handling religious and political matters. Therefore, it is no surprise that these towns became early centers of Lutheranism and other early Protestant movements, including the Anabaptists, the Zwickau prophets, and Thomas Müntzer (1489 - 1525). These radical movements were boosted in the course of the German Peasants' War (1524 - 25) and often adopted a millenarian outlook. Their extreme unorthodoxy and religious and social matters caused them to be violently suppressed by nearly any established power - be it the Catholic Church, local princes of the Holy Roman Empire, and even Luther himself.

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. The map at left is based on a 1568 map by the doctor and cartographer from Halle, Johannes Mellinger (1538 - 1603), while that at the right is based on a 1569 map by the mathematician, municipal official, and cartographer Bartholomeus Scultetus (1540 - 1614). This sheet appeared in the Theatrum between 1573 and 1609, and in its various printings is well-represented in institutional collections and occasionally appears on the market. That being said, the present edition is only independently cataloged in the OCLC among the holdings of the Duchess Anna Amalia Library in Weimar and the Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Sachsen-Anhalt.

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. Light toning along centerfold.

References

OCLC 551925392.