Eighty Years War (Dutch War of Independence) (1568-1648)
Contemporary prints and maps of the battles and sieges of the Eighty Years War
Siege of Groenlo, 1627
Siege de la Ville / de Grolle
published 1627Engraving and etching; printed on paper; letterpress text is pasted to the map, top right; mounted on paper (Mount Type B); mount is cropped | Scale: 1:33,000 approx. | RCIN 722021
A map of Spanish-held Groenlo [Grol], defended by the Governor for the Spanish, Matthijs Dulken (fl.1593-1629), and besieged from 20 July to 19 August 1627 by the Dutch, commanded by Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange (29 January 1584-14 March 1647), resulting in the surrender of the city to the army of the United Provinces. Eighty Years War (Dutch War of Independence) (1568-1648). Oriented with east-north-east to top.
This map shows the wall of circumvallation which was built in ten days. The wall was ten feet high, 16 km long and was built just out of reach of the Grol guns, 2 km from the city walls. Frederick-Henry ensured that soldiers of the same nationality worked together and the small forts which were built around the circumvallation were named for the nationality which had constructed them, hence ‘fort des François’, ‘fort de Frise’ and so on.
This map is interesting for the way in which the regiments are depicted. It is an early example of the use of rectangles to represent groups of troops.
A different state of the letterpress text is pasted to an example of this map in the Rijksmuseum (RP-P-OB-81.153).
Hendrick Hondius I (1573-1650): The Hague (publisher) [bottom of text:] In ‘sGraven-Hage gemaeckt ende gedruckt by Hendrick Hondius, 1627.
Watermark: None visible
Condition: three fold lines; considerable brown discolouration. Remains of Mount Type B to left, top and bottom edges; pressure marks from the mounts of items which were kept above and below this map in a different collection are present on the recto and verso
Scale: 1:33,000 approx. Scale bar [98 mm =] 4000 pieds.
43.4 x 53.0 cm (image and sheet)
cropped (platemark)
cropped (mount)
Printed title:
Siege de la Ville / de Grolle. [in a trompe-l’oeil panel, top centre]
Insets:
[top right, a cross section of the fortifications:] PROPHIL; [bottom right, in scrolled cartouche:] Grol, avecque la nouvelle fortification [no scale].
Additional text:
[letterpress text pasted to right side of map; begins:] De Stadt van Grolle, / gelegen in het Graef- / schap van Sutphen … [together with a key, A-I, K-R:] Aenwijsinge van de Figure. [and a note at the bottom of the key:] Hoe voorders de Regimenten in de Quartieren hebben gelegen, / dat is mede in de Figure aengewesen.
Annotations:
George III heading: Groll 1627.
Other annotations: none.
George III catalogue entry:
Groll Plan du Siege de Groll par Frederic Henri Prince d’Orange, prise le 20 d’Aoust 1627: par Hondius, 1627.
Subject(s)
Groenlo [Grol], Gelderland, Netherlands (52°02ʹ30ʺN 06°36ʹ40ʺE)
Bibliographic reference(s)
M. McDonald, The Print Collection of Cassiano dal Pozzo. Part II, Architecture, Topography and Military Maps, 3 vols, London 2019, cat. no. 2858
Page revisions
14 March 2024
Current version
