1572 BRAUN, G. / HOGENBERG, F. - Heidelberga - Florentissimae civitatis Heidelbergensis [on sheet with] Spira Celebris admodum Imperij & episcopalis in Germania civitas. . .Wormacia vetustissima Vangionum civitas. . .

A fine antique copper engraved sheet with three panoramic views by Braun and Hogenberg: Heidelberg, Speyer and Worms. From: 'Civitates Orbis Terrarum', Liber Primus. Köln, 1572.

HEIDELBERG. TRANSLATION OF CARTOUCHE TEXT: The location and faithful likeness of the flourishing city of Heidelberg, the capital of the Palatinate beside the Neckar, the castle of the most illustrious princes, the Counts Palatine of the Rhine, and other major buildings are presented to the eyes of the viewer.
COMMENTARY BY BRAUN: "Heidelberg on the Neckar is the seat of the princes and Counts Palatine of the Rhine. Its name is thought to come from the heathens [German Heiden] who lived here, as can be seen from many signs, or in the opinion of Franciscus Irenicus derives from the bilberries [German Heidelbeeren] that grow all over the hillside. [...]
In Heidelberg there is also a famous university, founded by the first rector, Marsilius, and in the year 1386 subsequently granted substantial rights by Duke Rupert. A fortress once stood on Allerheiligen Mountain, and a church is also supposed to have existed there, called the Pantheon, which in pagan times was dedicated to all the gods."
The view of the city and castle overlooking the Neckar is presented from the slightly elevated path known as the Philosopher's Way. Those familiar with Heidelberg will easily recognise the layout of the Old Town as it still exists today. The church of the Holy Ghost (Der Hylig Geist) housed the famous Biblioteca Palatina, a library of medieval manuscripts and early printed books.
In 1620, during the Thirty Year's War, these were seized by Elector Maximilian I and presented as a gift to Pope Gregory XV. Heidelberg saw its first flowering in 1356, when Count Palatine Rupert I was granted the rank of Elector. The founding of the university in 1386 attracted many scholars in its wake, and the Heidelberg court would later become a meeting point for humanists during the Reformation.
At the start of the 15th century Heidelberg occupied the area of the present Old Town as far as Bismarckplatz. The city nevertheless had an estimated population of only 6,300 around 1590 and thereby lagged far behind cities such as Cologne and Nuremberg. The view has been made after a woodcut in Münster's 'Cosmographia', 1550.

SPEYER. CARTOUCHE: Speyer, the very famous imperial and episcopal city, whose inhabitants were formerly called Nemetes and the city itself Nemetum.
COMMENTARY BY BRAUN: "Speyer is an old city, it was developed with such magnificence by Emperor Conrad II that he was called the second builder of Speyer. In this city there is a consortium in which, at the instigation of Emperor Charles V, many celebrated and highly learned and wise doctors and lawyers hear appeals that are brought from other courts, on behalf of the Emperor and the Electors."
Speyer is seen from the banks of the Rhine. The tallest steeple on the left belongs to the monastery of St German. In the centre, captioned Das Münster, is the imperial cathedral, one of the most important Romanesque buildings in Germany.
In the first half of the 16th century Speyer hosted several important imperial diets, e.g. in 1526, when it was resolved to move the imperial chamber court to Speyer, and in 1529, when the 19 Lutheran imperial states protested against the imperial ban placed upon Luther and his supporters in the Edict of Worms and against the restrictions to the Lutheran (i.e. Protestant) faith. The view is engraved after a woodcut by Heinrich Holtzmüller, which appeared in Münster's 'Cosmographia', 1550.

WORMS. CARTOUCHE: Worms, ancient city of the Vangiones on the Rhine, is situated in the best and most fertile place, where a number of legends have also sprung up around it [...]. Theodore of Berne, according to one of these legends, is supposed the have killed the giantess who planted the rose garden here, which no one was permitted to enter and was lethally dangerous.
That the garden is said to have been here signifies that Worms is located in the loveliest part of almost all Germany and virtually in its centre. Also living at the time of King Theodore, however, was Attila, king of the Huns, who after destroying many lands finally also advanced in a towering rage against Germany and Gaul.
Theodore, king of the Goths, moved against him to support the Roman consul Aelius and drove Attila completely out of Gaul and Germany. From distances given in old itineraries, it is satisfactorily established that the city was formerly called Borbetomagus or according to others Brethomagnus, then Rufiniana.
COMMENTARY BY BRAUN: "Worms was destroyed by a devastating fire during the time of Emperor Charlemagne. At that time Worms was an archbishopric; in AD 782 this passed to Mainz. Worms has always remained a bishopric, however, which competes in age with other German bishoprics. A number of church councils and imperial diets have been held here."
The view across the Rhine shows a well-fortified city with numerous churches and handsome private residences. Rising from the city centre's highest point is St Peter's cathedral (Thumstifft). Amongst the churches on either side are (right) St Paul's, St Rupert's, the Dominican monastery (Predicatores), St Martin's and the Liebfrauenkirche, and (left) St Andrew's.
A number of historic decisions were reached in Worms in the late 15th/early 16th century: a diet held here by Emperor Maximilian in 1495 saw the introduction of the Imperial Chamber Court and the "Eternal Peace", while at the diet of 1521 Martin Luther was summoned to defend his 95 theses and Emperor Charles V issued the Edict of Worms outlawing Luther and his supporters.
The view is engraved after a woodcut in Münster's 'Cosmographia', 1550.

The 'Civitates Orbis Terrarum', or the "Braun & Hogenberg", is a six-volume town atlas and the greatest book of town views and plans ever published: 363 engravings, sometimes beautifully colored. It was one of the best-selling works in the last quarter of the 16th century. Georg Braun wrote the text accompanying the plans and views on the verso.
A large number of the plates were engraved after the original drawings of Joris Hoefnagel (1542-1600), who was a professional artist. The first volume was published in Latin in 1572, the sixth volume in 1617. Frans Hogenberg created the tables for volumes I through IV, and Simon van den Neuwel created those for volumes V and VI. Other contributors were cartographer Daniel Freese, and Heinrich Rantzau.
Works by Jacob van Deventer, Sebastian Münster, and Johannes Stumpf were also used. Translations appeared in German and French.

Reference: Van der Krogt 4, 1751, State 1 (Without privilege); Fauser, 5547-13195-15692; Taschen, Br. Hog., p.91.

Civitates Orbis Terrarum

The Civitates Orbis Terrarum (Atlas of Cities of the World) was the second-oldest printed atlas in world cartography and the first atlas of towns. Its principal creators and authors were the theologian and editor Georg Braun, the most important engraver and publisher Frans Hogenberg, the engraver Simon van den Neuvel, the artist and draftsman Georg (Joris) Hoefnagel, the topographer Jacob van Deventer and others. Although published outside the Netherlands, the Civitates is nevertheless one of the best examples of the Antwerp school of cartography.
Key figures in the school included Abraham Ortelius, Gerardus Mercator, and several other geographers. The Civitates reflects the Flemish engraving style typical of Dutch atlases of the period. In addition, correspondence among Braun, Hogenberg, and Ortelius clearly indicates that they conceived the atlas in Antwerp.

The atlas contains more than 500 maps and represents an entire era in the history of town mapping. The atlas was published in six volumes between 1572 and 1617. To obtain the originals for his work, Braun corresponded extensively with map sellers and scholars in different cities and countries. The authors also conducted their own investigations.
However, these were not true geodetic surveys, but detailed on-location drawings of panoramic views of the towns made from some high point. Georg Hoefnagel made most of the engravings that decorate the Civitates, from its first volume to its last, from such drawings. Hoefnagel drew images of many towns in France, Italy, England, and Spain.
He and his son Jacob subsequently created representations of Austrian and Hungarian towns for the Civitates. In addition to these overview plans, the atlas includes more detailed maps based on topographic surveys, particularly those of Jacob van Deventer (15??-1575). Accordingly, the maps show the systematic structure of the towns' layout, with perspective representations of various quarters and individual buildings.
The town usually appears in the background, while the foreground shows the surrounding countryside and detailed depictions of typical town inhabitants.
These visual representations of people not only augmented the maps' content but also served another purpose. Braun and Hogenberg illustrated the Civitates pages with figures of local inhabitants to prevent Turks from using the maps for military purposes, since Islam forbids images of humans.

Of the total number of towns, only a couple of dozen lie outside Europe, in Asia, Africa, and South America. This shows extremely limited cartographic knowledge of the world, due to the insufficient development of science and mapmaking practices in the second half of the sixth century. At the same time, one cannot help but be astonished by the huge quantity of material included in the atlas by the standards of the time.

Braun and Hogenberg's Civitates was an enormous success. It was republished many times and supplemented with new sections. Its maps became exemplary; other publishers frequently reproduced them in smaller formats as illustrations for books and maps.

After Franz Hogenberg's death, Abraham Hogenberg kept the atlas's typographic plates in Cologne. When Abraham died in 1653, his heirs evidently sold them to Johannes Janssonius, an active and skilled publisher of books and atlases in Amsterdam. In 1657, Janssonius issued the atlas in eight volumes in a completely revised edition, with illustrations arranged by country. A large number of quite new engravings were added to it, while outdated prints were omitted. After Janssonius's death in 1664, his grandson Johannes Janssonius van Waesberge acquired the engravings and used some to compile his own atlas, which appeared in 1682. In 1694, the energetic Amsterdam publisher Frederick de Wit purchased van Waesberge's copper plates and equipment at auction; he was well known for his numerous maps and atlases. De Wit organized a new edition, enriched with new engravings.

After de Wit's time, at the turn of the eighteenth century, the copper plates for the atlas passed to the publisher Pieter van der Aa (1659 - 1733). He acquired them in Leyden and used them for an atlas published in 1729. This publication included a diverse mixture of engravings from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries.

After van der Aa, the publishing house of Covens and Mortier acquired town maps bearing the publisher's imprint of de Wit. Over the centuries, various publishers reproduced these 16th-century perspective views and maps because of their rich historical and geographical content. At the same time, no atlas of the world's cities in the history of global cartography matches the Civitates Orbis Terrarum in size and fullness.

Beyond its historical, geographical, and cartographic significance, the Civitates is also highly artistic. That is why, to this day, the atlas's town maps have adorned the most exquisite interiors and attracted not only specialists in the field but also admirers of fine art.