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Description

Rare separately published map showing the Siege of Eger, published in Rome in 1688.

The Siege of Lorraine was undertaken by a Holy League force, led by Charles of Lorraine.  The key at the lower left of the map shows the positions, encampments, fortifications and other battle field details.

Eger

The Ottoman Empire first attempted to take Eger in 1552, but were repelled by local forces. Later, in 1596, the Ottomans finally took Eger, beginning a 91-year-long Turkish rule in Eger. The Eger minaret, constructed during this period, still stands as a monument to the most northerly incursions of the Turkish invaders. 

During the Turkish occupation Eger became the seat of a vilayet which is a Turkish domain including several sanjaks. Churches were converted into mosques, the castle rebuilt, and other structures erected, including public baths and minarets.

The rule of the Turks in Central Hungary began to collapse after a failed Ottoman attempt to capture Vienna. The Vienna-based Habsburgs, who controlled the rest of Hungary, apart from Transylvania, steadily expelled the Turks from the country. The castle of Eger was starved into surrender by the Christian army led by Charles of Lorraine in 1687, after the castle of Buda had been retaken in 1686. Eger was liberated from Turkish rule in December, 1687. 

Rarity

The map is very rare.  OCLC locates 2 examples (Bayerische Staatsbibiothek  and University of Erlangen Library)

Giacomo Giovanni Rossi Biography

Giacomo Giovanni Rossi (1627-1691) was an Italian engraver and printer. He worked in Rome, the heir to an important printing business founded by his father, Giuseppe de Rossi (1570-1639). Giuseppe began the press in 1633 and Giovanni and his brother, Giandomenico (1619-1653) took it over upon his death. The brothers expanded the business and by the mid-seventeenth century it was the best-known printing house in Rome.

For his maps, Giovanni worked with Giacomo Cantelli da Vignola. They produced the Atlas Mercurio Geografico. The first edition is undated, but the second was issued in 1692, a year after Giovanni’s death. The maps were by Cantelli. The firm also published maps based on those of Nicolas Sanson.

Later, the business passed to Lorenzo Filippo (1682-?). By 1738, the firm was known as Calcografia Camerale, then, from 1870 to 1945, as the Regia Calcografica. Today, the firm is still in business and is called Calcografia Nazionale. It operates as a free museum and offers one of the best collections of prints and plates in the world.