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Civitatis Werdenae Exactiss: Descrip: [on sheet with:] Civitatis Essensis Exactiss. Descrip. - Braun & Hogenberg, 1588.



Antique map with two bird's-eye views by Braun and Hogenberg: Werden and Essen.

WERDEN

CARTOUCHE: A faithful view of the town of Werden.

COMMENTARY BY BRAUN: "Like many other German towns, the city of Werden arose out of a monastery, which was founded there by St Ludger and built by the 42nd Abbot, William of Hardenberg, in 1370, and vested by Engelbert, Count of the Mark, with civic privileges and freedoms that it still holds today. The town owes the importance that it still possesses to this day wholly to this imposing and widely famed abbey."

Werden is seen from the northwest, coming from the direction of Essen, in its location nestled between the hills above the Ruhr. The castle, constructed around 1479, lies directly beside the bridge on the right. Werden's most striking building is the Benedictine abbey (here labelled Abbatia) around which the town originally sprang up. Founded by St Ludger c. AD 799, the monastery first, Carolingian church was replaced in 1256-1275 by a new Romanesque abbey. Werden was chartered around 1317 and was subsequently fortified with ramparts and towers. Until 1803 the abbotts of the monastery were also the lords of the city, to whom the surrounding lands also belonged. Today Werden is a district of the city of Essen with some 10,000 inhabitants. Since coal has been extracted here since the 16th century, Werden is also considered the birthplace of mining in the Ruhr.

ESSEN

CARTOUCHE: A faithful view of the city of Essen.

COMMENTARY BY BRAUN: "Essen is an imperial city under the rule of the Duke of Berg; it is famous for its nunnery and monastery, which the fourth bisshop of Hildesheim, Altfrid, had erected on his paternal estates, so that 52 holy virgins under the direction of a devout abbess could be instructed in devotion and held to it. Twenty canons also live there with their abbot, according to the rules adopted by the monks."

The plate shows a view of Essen from the southeast, seen in cavalier perspective. The skyline is dominated by the church spires soaring above the densely packed houses inside the city walls, constructed in 1244: in the centre the Gothic cathedral (Das Munster), which replaced the original convent church of c. AD 852; to the left the former parish church of St John the Baptist (S. Iohan); and to the right St Gertrude's (S. Geerth). Essen arose in the year 845 following the founding of the convent by Altfrid, the later bishop of Hildesheim. The convent was a religious community of unmarried noblewomen, of whom only the abbess had to take a vow of chastity. The abbesses were of high social rank: the daughters and nieces of German emperors and kings. In 1216 they were made imperial princesses and thereby accorded the same status as the abbot of nearby Werden abbey. In 1377 Essen became a Free Imperial City, which led to a 200-year feud between the city and the abbesses for dominance in the region. Essen lies at the heart of the Ruhr Valley and from the late 1700s until the 1900s was shaped by coal mining. (Taschen)

Date of this print: 1588
Date of the first edition: 1581

Copper engraving
Size: 34 x 52cm (13.3 x 20.3 inches)
Verso text: Latin
Condition: Old coloured, excellent.
Condition Rating: A
References: Van der Krogt 4, 4800; Taschen, Braun and Hogenberg, p.244.

From: Civitates Orbis Terrarum. . Liber tertius. Cologne, Gottfries von Kempen, 1588. (Van der Krogt 4, 41:1.3)

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Item number: 11151
Price: 900 Euro

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