New Additions August 2011

1677

Bohemiae Rosa Omnibus Saeculis cruenta in qua plura quam 80 magna pratia commissa sunt nunc primum hac form excusa. Chr. Vetter inven et delineavit. Wolfgang Kilian sculpsit Augsburg.

26 x 38.5 cms. Coloured. Old folds and minor weaknesses at fold junctures with small filled hole at main fold juncture. Short tear into lower left where originally bound in with margin newly extended at lower left where cropped close to neat line. Lightly backed with fine archivist tissue for better preservation.

Jesuit Bohuslav Balbinus [1611-1689] wrote widely on the subject of Bohemia and this rare & striking map appears in his early History Epitome historica rerum Bohemicarum, first published in 1677. It is a remarkable map of Bohemia in the shape of a Rose, engraved by Augsburg master-engraver, Wolfgang Kilian, after the 1668 designs of the Silesian artist, Christoph Vetter. The top of the map bears the motto of the Austrian emperor, Leopold I, Iustitia et Pietate (With Justice and Piety). The Rose plant itself grows up from a stem rooted in Vienna with the flower itself centred on Prague. The 18 administrative regions are listed in the lower part of the map and appear as the individual petals of the flower, arranged concentrically around Prague. This included 14 regions, Prague, and three territories which had legal privileges under the Habsburgs (Loket, Cheb and Hlad). The Latin text below produces a wonderful image of a graceful Rose growing in the woods. This is the Rose of Bohemia, protected by an armed lion (her coat of arms), but a creation of war, not love. Now at last she can now enjoy a Southerly breeze blowing through her gardens (a reference to Bohemia’s allegiance to Austria, as illustrated in the rooting of the Rose in Vienna) and enjoy a lasting peace after centuries of bloodshed, in which 80 battles have been fought on her territories. The creation of Vetter’s Bohemian Rose has to be seen in the context of Bohemia’s history in the 17th Century, in particular in reference to the Austrian Habsburg conquest of the region in 1620. As a result of this conquest, land and estates passed out of local (Protestant) Czech control into the hands of German-speaking Catholics who owed their power and standing exclusively to the Habsburgs. Centralisation of authority and transfer of local Czech powers to Vienna followed, as did the introduction of Latin and German as the languages of business, law and administration. All books printed in Czech were placed on a prohibited list by the Austrian authorities. Prague’s Jesuit college was merged with the City’s University. With the Catholicization of the Czech people, it is hardly surprising then that the Jesuit Balbinus, given his position, should have included in his book on the history of Bohemia such a powerful, resonant and symbolic image that both emphasized Bohemia’s war-torn past and contrasted it with a new time of blossoming peace, a peace derived exclusively from the Rose’s newly grafted Habsburg & Viennese roots. Examples of Balbinus book & Vetter’s map are very rarely seen offered on the market.   

Stephanie Hoppen : Cartographica Curiosa 2 #34