Bergen (Norway), by Georg Braun & Frans Hogenberg. 1588
COMMENTARY BY BRAUN (on verso): "Most of the finest buildings in the city, be they houses of worship or domiciles, belong to the Hanseatic merchants, the Osterlingen, as they are called there. The rest are shoddily made, with walls of timber pieced together and roofed over with green moss. Nevertheless, the German merchants have a splendid outpost in Bergen because it is excellently suited for trade and commerce. For it encompasses a whole side of the harbour [...]. They have separate trading posts corresponding to the diversity of their cities and countries of origin. Hence the merchants from Lübeck, Danzig, Cologne, Brunswick and Hamburg each have a site of their own by the shore, on which they unload the ships from their cities and load them again and send them back to Germany."
Bergen, founded in 1070 and fortified with a palisade, is seen from the southwest across Vägen Bay, which opens out onto Byfjord. From the dense welter of timber houses soars St Mary's, the Gothic cathedral attended by the German merchants (C), and the fortress of Bergenhus (A), the 13th century seat of the Norwegian kings. The harbour is dominated by the Tyska Bryggen (German Quay), the quarter with the old mercantile houses and the sprawling quay; the numerous cranes and the ships allude to the flourishing trade conducted by the fourth-largest entrepôt in the Hanseatic League. The wealth of what was then the largest city in Scandinavia, which, with an impassable hinterland, could be reached only by sea, came from its far-flung trade in salt fish. Even after the Hansa disbanded in the 17th cent., Bergen retained its importance. (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 most excellent 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. Many plates were engraved after the original drawings of a professional artist, a professional artist, Joris Hoefnagel (1542-1600). 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 made 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 1612. The subsequent 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. 1561, he obtained his bachelor's degree, and in 1562, he received 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.
Bergen.
Item Number: 28635 Authenticity Guarantee
Category: Antique maps > Europe > Northern Europe
Old, antique bird’s-eye view plan of Bergen, by Georg Braun & Frans Hogenberg.
Title: Bergen.
Hieronymus Scholeus sua manu descripsit.
Cartographer: Hieronymus Scholeus.
Date of the first edition: 1588.
Date of this map: 1588.
Copper engraving, printed on paper.
Map size: 325 x 478mm (12.8 x 18.82 inches).
Sheet size: 375 x 515mm (14.76 x 20.28 inches).
Verso: Latin text.
Condition: Original coloured, light age-toned.
Condition Rating: A+.
References: Van der Krogt 4, #440 State 1; Fauser, #1312; Taschen, Br. Hog., p.316.
From: Liber Quartus Urbium Praecipuarum Totius Mundi. Cologne, 1588. (Koeman, B&H4, Van der Krogt 4, 41:1.4)
COMMENTARY BY BRAUN (on verso): "Most of the finest buildings in the city, be they houses of worship or domiciles, belong to the Hanseatic merchants, the Osterlingen, as they are called there. The rest are shoddily made, with walls of timber pieced together and roofed over with green moss. Nevertheless, the German merchants have a splendid outpost in Bergen because it is excellently suited for trade and commerce. For it encompasses a whole side of the harbour [...]. They have separate trading posts corresponding to the diversity of their cities and countries of origin. Hence the merchants from Lübeck, Danzig, Cologne, Brunswick and Hamburg each have a site of their own by the shore, on which they unload the ships from their cities and load them again and send them back to Germany."
Bergen, founded in 1070 and fortified with a palisade, is seen from the southwest across Vägen Bay, which opens out onto Byfjord. From the dense welter of timber houses soars St Mary's, the Gothic cathedral attended by the German merchants (C), and the fortress of Bergenhus (A), the 13th century seat of the Norwegian kings. The harbour is dominated by the Tyska Bryggen (German Quay), the quarter with the old mercantile houses and the sprawling quay; the numerous cranes and the ships allude to the flourishing trade conducted by the fourth-largest entrepôt in the Hanseatic League. The wealth of what was then the largest city in Scandinavia, which, with an impassable hinterland, could be reached only by sea, came from its far-flung trade in salt fish. Even after the Hansa disbanded in the 17th cent., Bergen retained its importance. (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 most excellent 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. Many plates were engraved after the original drawings of a professional artist, a professional artist, Joris Hoefnagel (1542-1600). 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 made 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 1612. The subsequent 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. 1561, he obtained his bachelor's degree, and in 1562, he received 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.
