1628 Munster Leaf Flanders Counts False Baldwin Hanged

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1628 Description of Flanders from "Cosmographia" by Sebastian Münster
Three Woodcut Pictures

Single authentic woodcut leaf from "Cosmographia" by Sebastian Münster. German edition; Basel printing house of Sebastian Heinrich-Petri 1561. Book III ("Von Gallia"), pages 351-2.

Sebastian Münster (1488-1552) was a German cartographer, cosmographer, and Hebrew scholar whose Cosmographia (1544; "Cosmography") was the earliest German description of the world and a major work - after the Nuremberg Chronicle of 1493 - in the revival of geographic thought in 16th-century Europe. Altogether, about 40 editions of the Cosmographia appeared during 1544-1628. Although other cosmographies predate Münster's, he is given first place in historical discussions of this sort of publication, and was a major influence on his subject for over 200 years. Cosmographia contained not only the latest maps and views of many well-known cities, but included an encyclopaedic amount of detail about the known - and unknown - world and undoubtedly must have been one of the most widely read books of its time. Aside from the well-known maps and views present in the Cosmographia (including the first separate printed map of the Western Hemisphere), the text is thickly sprinkled with vigorous woodcuts: portraits of kings and princes, costumes and occupations, habits and customs, flora and fauna, monsters and horrors. The 1614 and 1628 editions of Cosmographia are divided into nine books. Nearly all the sections, especially those dealing with history, were enlarged. Descriptions were extended, additional places included, errors rectified.

Click here for more information about Münster and Cosmographia, including the content and list of editions and artists

This authentic leaf from the last German edition of Cosmographia is devoted to Margraves and Counts of Flanders. Flanders was a medieval principality in the southwest of the Low Countries, now included in the French departement of Nord, the Belgian provinces of East Flanders and West Flanders, and the Dutch province of Zeeland. The name appeared as early as the 8th century and is believed to mean "Lowland," or "Flooded Land." The leaf describes Thierry (Dietrich, Dieterich) of Alsace (reigned 1128 - 1157), Philip I of Alsace (1157 - 1191), Baldwin V of Hainaut (1191 - 1195), Baldwin IX (1195 - 1205; Emperor in Constantinople 1204-1205), Henry (1206 - 1216; Emperor in Constantinople), Jeanne/Joanna (1206 - 1244; Daughter of Baldwin IX), and Margaret (1244-1279; countess of Flanders and Hainaut, daughter og Baldwin IX.

Flanders rose to the height of its power and wealth under a later line of counts whose principal members were Thierry of Alsace and his son Philip. Thierry was a son of Thierry II, duke of Upper Lorraine, and Gertrude, daughter of Robert I the Frisian, count of Flanders. He married the widow of Charles the Good, Marguerite of Clermont, and proved himself at home a wise and prudent prince, encouraging the growth of popular liberty and of commerce. In 1146 he took part in the Second Crusade and distinguished himself by his exploits. In 1157 he resigned the countship to his son Philip of Alsace. By inheritance, Philip also recovered for Flanders the territories of Waes and Quatre-Métiers. In 1159 Philip married Elisabeth of Vermandois, also known as Isabelle, elder daughter of count Raoul I of Vermandois and Petronilla of Aquitaine. Philip and Elisabeth were childless. In 1175, Philip discovered Elisabeth was committing adultery, and had her lover, Walter de Fontaines, beaten to death. Philip then obtained complete control of her lands in Vermandois from King Louis VII of France. In 1190 Philip took the cross for a second time and joined the Flemish contingents which had already gone to Palestine. After arriving at the Siege of Acre, he was stricken by the epidemic passing through the crusader camp, and died on August 1, 1191. He was succeeded by his sister Margaret and his brother-in-law Baldwin of Hainaut.

Flanders had a tumultuous history in the 13th and 14th centuries. Philip's successor, Baldwin VIII, lost Artois and other southern domains to France, and Flanders was fatally weakened by the departure of his successor, Baldwin IX, to become Latin emperor of Constantinople (as Baldwin I) in 1205. The French king Philip II Augustus seized the chance to influence the succession in Flanders, and when the Flemings resisted and formed an anti-French alliance with John of England and the Holy Roman emperor Otto IV, Philip defeated the coalition at the Battle of Bouvines (1214).

The leaf contains three woodcut pictures:

• Arms of Flanders (Oude Vlaenderen, Old Flanders). The arms of Old Flanders are a gyronny or twelve.
• The lion of Flanders. The lion appeared for the first time on a seal of Philip of Alsace in 1162.
• The false Baldwin hanged from a tree. In 1225, a man appeared in Flanders claiming to be the presumed dead Baldwin I. His claim soon became entangled in a series of rebellions and revolts in Flanders against the rule of Baldwin's daughter Jeanne. A number of people who had known Baldwin before the crusade met the supposed count and emperor and rejected his claim. In the end he was executed in 1226.

The leaf measures 8.7 x 13.7 inches. Printed on laid paper. The leaf is in good condition. Imperfections: age toning; browning. This is a rare and exceptionally interesting historical document which will look great with a mat and frame.

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