Miscellaneous
Maps, views and diagrams of military reviews and encampments
The capture of La Mamora, 1614 (Mehdia, Gharb-Chrarda-Beni Hssen, Morocco) 34°15ʹ47ʺN 06°39ʹ03ʺW
c. 1614Etching and engraving; printed on paper; mounted on paper (Mount Type B) | 14.3 x 20.1 cm (image) | RCIN 721133
A view of the successful Spanish raid, commanded by Admiral Luis Fajardo y Chacón, on the town of La Mamora in August 1614.
La Mamora was controlled by pirates in 1614 but the Dutch, as well as the Spanish, had ambitions for taking the town. The Dutch Admiral, Jan Evertsen had arrived in Morocco June 1614 with a fleet of Dutch warships with the brief of entering La Mamora, defeating the pirates and building a fort which would be a Dutch stronghold. While negotiations were taking place between the Dutch and Muley Zaydan, the Spaniards raided the town in August, taking it with hardly any conflict, under Evertsen’s nose.
This view shows the Spanish troops, marching with ladders to scale the walls of the town, all of which is being achieved without any sign of fighting. The great river, known today as the ‘Oued Sebou’ flows out to the Western Ocean (Occeano occidentale, now the Mediterranean) is shown to the north of the town walls.
Girolamo Discepolo (c.1550-1615) (printmaker and publisher) [bottom of title panel:] In Roma per il Discepolo / con licentia de Superiori.
Subject(s)
Army-SpainNavy-SpainArmy-Ottoman EmpireWatermark: None visible
Condition: no fold lines; no gilt edges
14.3 x 20.1 cm (image)
cropped (platemark)
14.6 x 20.3 cm (sheet)
17.0 x 23.4 cm (mount)
Printed title:
FORTE · DI · / MAMORA / presa da Cattolici 1614 [bottom right, in a cartouche]
Annotations:
George III heading: Mamora in the Kingdom of Fez, taken by the Spaniards 1614.
Other annotations: (Recto) none. (Verso) [top, on mount, red pencil, cropped:] 1/11[?]; [top, on mount, black pencil, cropped:] I/12[?].
George III catalogue entry:
Mamora Forte di Mamora presa da Cattolici, 1614.
Subject(s)
Mehdia, Gharb-Chrarda-Beni Hssen, Morocco (34°15ʹ47ʺN 06°39ʹ03ʺW)
Bibliographic reference(s)
M. Garcia-Arenal and G. Wiegers, A man of three worlds: Samuel Pallache, a Moroccan Jew in Catholic and Protestant Europe, Baltimore, 2010, unpaged
M. McDonald, The Print Collection of Cassiano dal Pozzo. Part II, Architecture, Topography and Military Maps, 3 vols, London 2019, cat. no. 2815
Page revisions
25 May 2024
Current version
