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The French Siege of Perpignan in 1542
Fine impression of this rare and important early plan of Perpignan from Giulio Ballino's De' disegni delle più illustri città, et fortezze del mondo..., printed in Venice in 1569, by Bolognino Zaltieri.
The map extends to Carcassonne, Le Colibri and Narbonne, showing the distribution of the various forces around the besieged town.
The plan provides a marvelous historical overview of the Siege of 1542. The town itself flies a double eagle Habsburg flag, surrounded by French cannon, with French soldiers noted at the top, with Italian, Swiss, "Lanzi" and "Guasconi" forces arrayed around the region.
Siege of Perpignan
The Siege of Perpignan took place in 1542, at Perpignan, between a larger French army commanded by Henry, Dauphin of France and the Spanish garrison at Perpignan. The Spaniards resisted until the arrival of the Spanish army under Don Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alba, causing the withdrawal of the French army.
The siege was one of the costliest defeats of Francis I in the French offensive of 1542.
Giulio Ballino
Ballino's work, which included 50 plans and 1 chart, was an Italian atlas illustrating the most important fortresses and cities. Ballino wanted to create a complete work with text and an index. However, his plan to expand his work was overtaken by Braun & Hogenberg's publication of their landmark Civitates Orbis Terrarum, in 1572. According to Albert Ganado, 32 of the plans are reprints of Forlani & Zenoi's work engraved between the years 1566 and 1568. They were published for the first time in "Il primo libro delle città, et fortezze principali del mondo", in 1567. The remaining engravings were prepared by an unidentified hand. There are two issues of Ballino's work with differing title pages, and both versions are believed to be printed by Bolognini Zaltieri in 1569. Giulio Ballino was a Venetian lawyer, and a friend of the Manuzio family around 1530. His passion was classical studies.
