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Tijdschrift voor de geschiedenis van de cartografie
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In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the provinces of the Netherlands bordering on Germany and Belgium have, in view of their importance for defence purposes, been frequently mapped by military engineers. Of the eastern provinces, the most important series of maps produced is known as ‘The Hottinger atlas’. This collection of 112 maps, all on a scale of 1:14.400, was completed between 1773 and 1794. The maps are very detailed and are of great value for our knowledge of the historical landscape. In this article a description is given of the activities of the military engineers during the four phases in which the maps were made. Furthermore the topographical details shown on the maps are described. An atlas with all the Hottinger maps has been published in 2003 by the Historical Society of Drenthe (H.J. Versfelt, De Hottinger-atlas van Noord- en Oost-Nederland 1773-1794). (back)
Ab Goutbeek
The 18th century manuscript map of the
provincie of Overijssel by Samuël Kupfer
[Caert-Thresoor 25 (2006) 1, pp. 6-10]
An unknown manuscript map of the province of Overijssel has recently surfaced. The map is part of the private collection of W.J. baron van Heeckeren van Molecaten in Doorn. It was made by Samuël Kupfer en dates from the middle of the eighteenth century. Because of the equality of scale, a relation is presumed with the 1738 map of Peter de la Rive. This map is based on the 1652 map of Nicolaas ten Have. The Hattinga family copied the map of De la Rive more than once in 1748-49. The map of Kupfer is made before 1748. If Kupfer based it’s map on De la Rive’s map, it dates after 1738. If the Kupfer map was a source for De la Rive, the map must have been made shortly before 1738. (back)
Peter van der Krogt
'Kartografie' or 'Cartografie'?
[Caert-Thresoor 25 (2006) 1, pp. 11-12]
Until 1995 the word for cartography could be spelled in the Dutch language as ‘kartografie’ and as ‘cartografie’. With the spelling reform of 1995 only ‘cartografie’ was allowed. Just as the Nederlandse Vereniging voor Kartografie (Dutch Association for Cartography) Caert-Thresoor kept spelling ‘kartografie’. In November 2005 the editorial board decided that from beginning 2006, Caert-Thresoor will use ‘cartografie’. In respect to this the origin of the word cartography is researched. It is not invented by the Viscount of Santarem in 1839, as is stated in the literature. The oldest mentions of the word are found in 1829 in the year report of the Société de Géographie in Paris (as ‘cartographique’) and in 1828 in a paper read by the German Geographer Carl Ritter (as ‘Kartograph’), which was published only in 1832. The oldest mention in Dutch is in 1845 as ‘cartographie’. Thus there is no historical reason to keep a spelling with a ‘c’ or ‘k’ in Dutch. (back)
Lowie Brink
R. Schuiling’s Schoolkaart van Insulinde: A survey of the cartography in the Dutch East Indies in 1898 on five m2
[Caert-Thresoor 25 (2006) 1, pp. 13-19]
In 1898 the already famous geographer R. Schuiling published a large-sized school wall map of the Malay Archipelago. In the design of this map, as well as in his other work, the importance of the natural environment was the underlying principle, as shown by the careful representation of oro-hydrography, sea depths, volcanic activity and the transition between the two continents. Furthermore, by compiling this wall map from a large number of available cartographic sources (official and private), Schuiling presented a summary of the 19th-century cartographic achievements in the Dutch East Indies. (back)
Ferjan Ormeling
Rendering Suriname in the Bosatlas 1877-1940
[Caert-Thresoor 25 (2006) 2, pp. 25-32]
The way in which Suriname was depicted in the
foremost school atlas of the Netherlands, the
Bosatlas (1st edition 1887), now in its 52nd edition,
changed considerably over time. Initially just a narrow
coastal strip was rendered since the 3rd edition,
and this was gradually extended southwards,
in tune with the exploration for gold of the eastern
part of the country. The western part of the country
was explored only in the period 1900-1910 by expeditions
organised by the Royal Netherlands Geographical
Society. In the maps the various phases
of exploitation of the interior are reflected: after the
gold rush there was the balata rush, and the second
phase of the agricultural exploitation. The infrastructure
for these various type of exploitation
has been depicted as well, such as the railway line
to the interior, that originally was planned to link up
with the supposed gold fields along the Marowijne
river. The sources on which these maps in the
Bosatlas are based are discussed.
The boundaries with British and French Guyana
are also a point of interest; over time, the various
editors of the Bosatlas had changing interpretations
of the claims by the neighbouring countries,
and rendered these accordingly.
The big difference with the maps of the other
Dutch colonies in the Bosatlas was that the map
of Suriname (apart from the topography) was the
only one to portray minerals, vegetation characteristics,
and ethnographic data. Apparently the
otherwise almost empty interior had to be filled!
(back)
Lesley Peterson
An Early English Translation of Ortelius:
Elizabeth Tanfield Cary’s Manuscript The Mirror
of the Worlde
[Caert-Thresoor 25 (2006) 2, pp. 33-40]
The earliest known translation of Ortelius into English is the unpublished manuscript The Mirror of the Worlde, written by Elizabeth Tanfield (later Cary), ca. 1597, when she was only eleven or twelve years old, and dedicated to her mother’s uncle, the prominent courtier Sir Henry Lee. Cary has become important to English literature, mainly for her original play, The Tragedy of Mariam (ca. 1605); she is also well known for her scandalous conversion to Roman Catholicism in later life. However, to date her early translation remains neglected and its source misidentified. This is a largely complete, mainly accurate, and often stylish, translation of the texts accompanying the maps in the 1588/90 Epitome du Théâtre du monde. Cary’s choice to translate Ortelius, and this edition in particular, suggests an astute grasp of her Protestant uncle’s interests and values, while at the same time demonstrating an early, subversive, interest in Roman Catholic Italy. (back)
Paul van den Brink & Marc Hameleers
Nouveau Plan de la Ville d’Amsterdam: a touristic map of Amsterdam engraved by W.C.
van Baarsel and published by J. Guykens (1837-1850)
[Caert-Thresoor 25 (2006) 2, pp. 41-46]
The article highlights a so far unknown edition of Johannes Guyken’s Nouveau Plan de la Ville d’Amsterdam. The map, which was engraved by Willem Cornelis van Baarsel, is printed on silk and preserved in the publisher’s lovely little slipcase that could be easily carried when travelling to the city by the new train or around it in the new horse-drawn omnibuses. At a scale of 1:12,000, it shows the streets, canals and principal buildings, including the new train station and the headquarters of the new omnibus company (both opened in 1839). The streets, and a few of the most important buildings, are named on the map itself, while 93 buildings are numbered and listed in the key. The article makes clear that that six different states exist. They were published in the years 1837-1850. The 4th state mentioned here is ‘new’ and was not described in A.E. d’Ailly’s Catalogus van Amsterdamsche plattegronden which was published in 1934. (back)
Dick Blonk
The Ortelius - Van Deventer map of Zeeland:
a map with many states
[Caert-Thresoor 25 (2006) 3, pp. 59-63]
The map of the province of Zeeland is present in all editions of the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum of Abraham Ortelius, from the first edition in 1570 to the last one published after 1640. During this long period many things were changed; in the first place the decorations, the title cartouche, and the picture of Neptune; later on also the map itself. Worn out parts in the copperplate were restored and new developments in the geo- graphy of the region were added. These changes have resulted in a remarkable number of nine states of the copperplate:
J.M. Mohrmann
Worldwide triangulation as 'Infatible basis' for
nineteenth-century maps
[Caert-Thresoor 25 (2006) 3, pp. 64-71]
In 1787 the chronometric connection between the observatories of Greenwich and Paris marked the real start of worldwide triangulation. Scientists at the highest level (in this case astronomers, geodesists and hydrographers) organised themsel- ves through the medium of international journals. From 1820 onwards, starting with the foundation of the Royal Astronomical Society (in London), all directors of national observatories and the worldÕs leading geodesists and hydrographers came toge- ther in one organisation. From 1821, hydrographers of the Royal Netherlands Navy began the prime triangulation of the Netherlands Asiatic Archipelago. This triangulation network was con- nected to that of colonel Everest in British India. In fact Dutch hydrographers coupled the time ball of Batavia (now Jakarta) via Calcutta (now Kolkata) with the rest of the world. Batavia's time ball was the geographic reference for the whole Archipelago. Recent research, with GPS measure- ments in place of the old time ball, confirmed the amazing high accuracy of the triangulation net- work of our fore-fathers. (back)
Louis van Empelen
Art and map: the Civitas Hierusalem 1538 by
Herman van Borculo
[Caert-Thresoor 25 (2006) 3, pp. 72-80]
The realistic cityscape Civitas Hierusalem 1538 by Herman van Borculo († 1578) has been studied independently by art historians and by historians of cartography. Cartographic research has shown the importance of the woodcut which has been copied in many countries for about 250 years. Additional art-historical research has shown that the print is not an independent work of art but an imitation of The Entry of Christ into Jerusalem (1527) by Jan van Scorel. It follows that collabo- ration between the two disciplines is desirable in order to obtain a complete picture when resear- ching early cityscapes. Comparison of information on the woodcut itself and in the Utrecht Archives with the life of Herman van Borculo in biogra- phies proves that uncritical use of these biogra- phies can lead to misinterpretation. (back)
Mathieu Franssen
'Ducatus Brabantiae’ has come to the surface: some notes on the rediscovery of an unknown variant of the map of Brabant by Jacob van Deventer
[Caert-Thresoor 25 (2006) 4, pp. 91-98]
The earliest surviving printed map of the Duchy of Brabant by Jacob Van Deventer was dated 1558 but was destroyed in Wroclaw (Breslau) in 1945. It had long been considered as the sole surviving exemplar, but now another has surfaced. In 1998 a second – and hitherto unknown – exemplar, which had formerly been in an Italian private collection, was acquired by the Royal Library of Belgium, via the Brussels antiquarian book- and map-dealer Henri Godts. The map is seriously damaged, but unique and irreplaceable from an historical and cartographical perspective. It consists of more sheets than had been accepted up to now: 10 instead of 6, because the decorated band with 66 portraits forms an integral part of the wooden blocks on which the map is cut. There is still no exemplar known of Van Deventer’s original map from 1536. The maps in Wroclaw and Brussels were both published by Arnout Nicolai in Antwerp. The Brussels exemplar is, as far as the wood-cutting is concerned, identical to that in Wroclaw. It differs however in the added text which contains a dedication, imprint, legend, and explanation. Both are variants of a second state of the original 1536 map, because the portrait of Philip II is from a later date. It is possible that the newly discovered map was printed and published around 1556 and is, therefore, an older copy than the Wroclaw map. (back)
Wouter Bracke
Map of Scheldeland by Jacob van Deventer
[Caert-Thresoor 25 (2006) 4, pp. 99-103]
Commissioned by the States of the Provinces, and
by their Governors, Jacob van Deventer (+ 1575)
made between 1536 and 1547 regional maps of
the provinces of Brabant, Holland, Gelderland,
Friesland and of Zeeland. Made for political and
military reasons, only a few copies could have
circulated. Van Deventer’s maps, nevertheless,
had an enormous influence on contemporary
cartography: from 1556 onwards, thanks to
Venetian and Roman engravers, printers, and
publishers; and thereafter in Abraham Ortelius’
Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (1570). No original has
ever been found. Fortunately, the regional map of
Brabant which the Royal Library of Belgium
bought in 1998 but had mysteriously disappeared
for some time could be identified as another copy
of Deventer’s regional maps.
It is of some interest to compare this map of
Brabant to another, also in the Royal Library,
representing the Scheldt area in the Duchy of
Brabant and which is - if not by the cartographer
himself - most probably from Deventer’s circle.
The geographical information on this manuscript
map on paper which, on the basis of its
watermark has been dated to the early second
half of the 16 th century is even more precise than
on Deventer’s regional map. The lower Scheldt
beneath Antwerp is almost identical to that on
Mercator’s wall-map of Flanders of 1540 which, it
has been argued, had been based on Deventer’s
measurements. Both maps share other
peculiarities, particularly as regards to the place
names. The manuscript map could thus constitute
an additional proof of the relation between
Deventer and Mercator in representing the
Netherlands under the Hapsburgs. It can also
explain certain differences in the representation
of the Scheldt area in the Duchy of Brabant on
other maps of the 16th and 17th centuries.
(back)
François Van der
Jeught and Paul De Win
Unpublished documents from the Mechelen archives
on Jacob van Deventer
[Caert-Thresoor 25 (2006) 4, pp. 104-107]
Jacob van Deventer dwelt in Mechelen from 1542
until 1572 and lived unmarried with Barbara Smets
alias Kemmers (ca. 1513 – ca. 1597); all their
children died very young. Barbara Smets was part
of a circle of engravers, printers, publishers, and
booksellers, and helped Van Deventer with the
printing of his maps, perhaps even with their
colouring and finishing. As a map-seller she also
supplied, for example, various maps of Mechelen
to its town council in 1578.
When political troubles reached their climax in
Brabant 1572, and Spanish troops sacked
Mechelen in October, Van Deventer went into exile
to Cologne; he died there early in 1575. Barbara
Smets made attempts to obtain her share of his
estate: towards the end of 1577 she travelled to
Cologne and tried to prove that she had been living
with Jacob van Deventer as a married woman. The
two surviving statements by witnesses were
probably among the documents she submitted to
try and prove that she was legally married to him
and could therefore inherit.
According to these statements Barbara Smets
asserted that she was Van Deventer’s married wife
‘before God’. He, too, had declared that he consi-dered
her his married wife ‘before God and in the
eyes of the world’. But the witnesses also stated
that, although they lived as a married couple, they
had not been married ‘in the eyes of the church’.
The Council of Trent concluded that no legally
contracted marriage had existed and in the end
Barbara Smets had to admit to the council of
Cologne that she had lived with Van Deventer as
his mistress. Nevertheless the Council of Trent
offered her a part of his estate.
The present paper shows that Barbara Smets was
an independent and self confident business-woman,
as well as a talented draughtswoman and
map colourist. Neither witness statement has been
published before; each makes it evident that
Barbara Smets ought to share the honour in Van
Deventer’s cartographical works.
(back)
Eric Leenders
The map of Flanders by Gerard Mercator and
Jacob van Deventer
[Caert-Thresoor 25 (2006) 4, pp. 108-115]
The map ‘Vlaenderen Exactissima Flandriae de-scriptio’ is a unique piece which is attributed to Gerard Mercator. Since 1877, when this unique map appeared and was bought by the city of Ant-werp, it has been suggested that the map might be rather the work of Jacob van Deventer. Through the study of symbols of reference points used for measuring by Van Deventer on his regio-nal maps, compared to those used on the Flan-ders map, the author concludes that the latter was almost certainly surveyed by Van Deventer and engraved by Mercator. (back)
Peter van der
Krogt
Which towns in the Low Countries were mapped
by Van Deventer for Philip II?
[Caert-Thresoor 25 (2006) 4, pp. 116-120]
Jacob van Deventer was commissioned in the 1550s to map all the towns in the Low Countries belonging to Philip II. He made his manuscript plans in two series: a series of draft versions (‘minuten’), and a series of fair copies. The fair copies were bound in three volumes, of which one has been lost and two are in the Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid. These volumes include 178 maps showing 186 towns. Of the 149 sheets of draft versions (covering 156 towns) still preserved 35 are of towns which were in the lost volume. Here an investigation is made, by comparing the list of towns in Guicciardini’s description of the Netherlands of 1567 andon Blaeu’s wall-map of the Seventeen Provinces, into both how accurate Van Deventer was in his choice of towns and into deducing which towns were in the lost volume. It is concluded that Van Deventer and Guicciardini agree for the larger, walled towns, but that there is a larger discrepancy for the smaller, open towns. In Flanders, however, Van Deventer was much less accurate: he even ‘forgot’ to map one of the most important towns, Ieper (Ypres). The lost volume should have included about 65 to 75 maps of towns in Brabant, Luxembourg and Namur. The total number of towns mapped by Van Deventer during twelve years was 250 to 260, that is about 22 per year (summer only). (back)
Ivonne Lempke
One monastery, two maps. Who is right? The
‘Koningsveld’ monastery south of Delft on Van
Deventer’s map and on a painted map of Delft
[Caert-Thresoor 25 (2006) 4, pp. 121-123]
In 1252 a nunnery named ‘Koningsveld’ (Eng:
King’s Field) was established south of Delft by
Richardis, the paternal aunt of Willem II. ‘Ko-ningsveld’
was demolished by order of the Prince
of Orange in 1572, who was afraid that the inva-ding
Spanish forces might use it as a stronghold.
Two contemporary paintings depict the nunnery :
one by an unknown artist of the situation in Delft
after the Great Fire of 1536, and a second of a city
map of Delft painted by Van Deventer in 1556-
1557. Both depict buildings, but with important
spatial differences. The painting of the post-Great
Fire situation depicts an enclosed site with a
chapel and its western tower in the middle and a
building block to the west; the cloister is absent
(fig. 1). Van Deventer’s map depicts a moated site
with a chapel and cloister to the north and a
small lake and some outer buildings to the south
(fig. 2).
The site of the ‘Koningsveld’ nunnery has been
excavated by the archaeological service of the
municipality of Delft during four seasons, of
which the last took place during the summer of
2003. The remains of a cloister, three cloister
wings, outer buildings, a granary and some small
moats were located (fig. 3). The cloister itself was
enclosed by a kitchen and rafter to the north, a
building block to the west, a tower to the east and
a chapel to the south (fig. 4). Both paintings were
compared with the excavation plan. The anony-mous
painter’s work considerably contradicted
this plan; the absence of the cloister and the
misplacement of the tower were the most
significant differences. Van Deventer’s map, on
the other hand, depicted several similarities: the
spatial locations of the cloister, the water and the
granary corresponded well with the excavated
remains. The chapel depicted on the Van
Deventer’s map however was standardized and
disagreed with the chapel foundations located
during the excavation.
The conclusion was that Van Deventer’s map
depicted the spatial layout of ‘Koningsveld’ more
closely than the painting of the post-1536 Great
Fire of Delft situation.
(back)
Piet Lombaerde
An unknown sixteenth-century bird’s-eye view of
Antwerp and its fortifications discovered
[Caert-Thresoor 25 (2006) 4, pp. 124-129]
An anonymous and uncoloured engraved print has recently surfaced representing the city of Antwerp and numerous places, dikes, and forts around it; the print is unknown in reference sources. The city is represented from the east side as a panoramic view with a great part of the polders, dikes, villa-ges and towns behind it. The river Scheldt, with the numerous forts of Antwerp constructed during the Calvinist period (1577-1585), gives structure to the whole print which is dated to the summer of 1584. The topographical details are identified by their names, sometimes added in ink. Very note-worthy is the representation of the ship bridge of Alessandro Farnese built by the Spanish troops in 1584-85 during the siege. The representation of this bridge was later added on a separate piece of glued paper. This engraving was made probably in the studio of Joannes van Doetecum when he was working in Deventer. (back)