Rare separately published map of the Danubian Lands.
The map stretches from Vienna in the west to Constantinople in the east, and charts the course of the Danube from Vienna to the Black Sea. A key to the map shows Ottoman towns marked with a crescent, baths marked by a wooden tub, Weinland marked by an arrow, and Nosnerland marked by a star. There are numerous battle scenes along the banks of the Danube, including the Battle of Varna in 1444. A triumphant inscription at the upper right marks the defeat and plunder of the Tartars in battle near Iasi (Iassi) in 1595: “Tartari victi et praeda illis erepta”. There are three cartouches in the corners containing text about Austria, Thrace (the Ottoman possessions in Europe), and Hungary. To the far right, above Constantinople, is a text block referring to the earthquake that hit the city in 1509, known to contemporaries as the Lesser Judgement Day. The map was published during the Thirteen Years War (1591-1606) fought between the Ottomans and the Hapsburg Empire for control of the Balkan states. In the bottom section of the map are portraits of the three principal combatants: Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia; Sigismund Bathory, Prince of Transylvania; and the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed III (incorrectly marked as Mehmed II).

The map was the work of Matthias Quad (1557-1613), a German engraver who had learnt his trade from several Dutch masters, including Joannes and Lucas van Doetecum. He engraved maps for the ‘Civitates Orbis Terrarum’ (see item 11). The present work was made in partnership with the Cologne publisher Peter Overadt, based upon the 1567 map of the Danubian provinces by Gerard de Jode.

Rare. We are only able to trace four institutional examples: the Bibliothèque Nationale de France; Darmstadt; Göttingen University Library; and Würzburg University Library.