TRANSLATION OF CARTOUCHE TEXT: Noviomagium or Noviomagu, commonly known as Nijmegen, famous city and, as a royal residence, once one of the first cities in Guelders.

COMMENTARY BY BRAUN: <i>"The inhabitants of Nijmegen call their city the foundation of the whole Roman Empire, since it is one of the three towns chosen by Emperor Charlemagne as his royal residence. However this may be, it is certain that Nijmegen is a very old city, situated on the Rhine, which they call here the Waal, a broad and deep river. It has well-built and finely decorated houses and a large and properous population."</i>

A view of Nijmegen from the right bank of the Waal. The left half of the plate is dominated by the impressive Valkhof palace, which stands on the site of an earlier fortress built by the Batavians, who lived in this area before the birth of Christ, and of a castle built by Charlemagne. In the city centre is the tall Gothic Sint-Stevenskerk. This imperial and Hanseatic city was going through a troubled phase in Braun and Hogenberg's time. In 1543 Nijmegen, together with Guelders, became Spanish as a result of the Treaty of Venlo. In 1579 the city joined the United Provinces and was besieged and captured in 1585 by the Spanish in the course of the Dutch Revolt. The Orange party did not suceed in recapturing Nijmegen until 1591.(Taschen)

Braun G. & Hogenberg F. and the Civitates Orbis Terrarum.

The Civitates Orbis Terrarum, or the "Braun & Hogenberg", is a six-volume town atlas and the greatest book of town views and plans ever published: 363 engravings, sometimes beautifully coloured. It was one of the best-selling works in the last quarter of the 16th century. Georg Braun wrote the text accompanying the plans and views on the verso. A large number of the plates were engraved after the original drawings of Joris Hoefnagel (1542-1600), who was a professional artist. The first volume was published in Latin in 1572, and the sixth in 1617. Frans Hogenberg created the tables for volumes I through IV, and Simon van den Neuwel created those for volumes V and VI. Other contributors were cartographers Daniel Freese and Heinrich Rantzau. Works by Jacob van Deventer, Sebastian Münster, and Johannes Stumpf were also used. Translations appeared in German and French.

Following the original publication of Volume 1 of the Civitates in 1572, seven further editions of 1575, 1577, 1582, 1588, 1593, 1599 and 1612 can be identified. Vol.2, first issued in 1575, was followed by further editions in 1597 and in 1612. The next volumes appeared in 1581, 1588, 1593, 1599 and 1606. The German translation of the first volume appeared from 1574 on, and the French edition from 1575 on.

Several printers were involved: Theodor Graminaeus, Heinrich von Aich, Gottfried von Kempen, Johannis Sinniger, Bertram Buchholtz and Peter von Brachel, who all worked in Cologne.

Georg Braun (1541-1622)

Georg Braun was born in Cologne in 1541. After his studies in Cologne, he entered the Jesuit Order as a novice. In 1561 he obtained his bachelor's degree, and in 1562 his Magister Artium. Although he left the Jesuit Order, he studied theology, gaining a licentiate in theology.

Frans Hogenberg (1535-1590)

Frans Hogenberg was a Flemish and German painter, engraver, and mapmaker. He was born in Mechelen as the son of Nicolaas Hogenberg.

By the end of the 1560s, Frans Hogenberg was employed upon Abraham Ortelius's Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, published in 1570; he is named an engraver of numerous maps. In 1568 he was banned from Antwerp by the Duke of Alva and travelled to London, where he stayed a few years before emigrating to Cologne. He immediately embarked on his two most important works, the Civitates, published in 1572 and the Geschichtsblätter, which appeared in several series from 1569 until about 1587.

Thanks to large-scale projects like the Geschichtsblätter and the Civitates, Hogenberg's social circumstances improved with each passing year. He died as a wealthy man in Cologne in 1590.