Other 16th-century conflicts
Contemporary maps of 10 sixteenth-century wars
View of Neuburg, 1546 (Neuburg an der Donau, Bavaria, Germany) 48°43ʹ56ʺN 11°11ʹ14ʺE
1546 or laterEngraving with punched lettering; printed on paper; mounted on paper (Mount Type A); gilt edges left, right, and bottom | 26.2 x 36.8 cm (image and platemark) | RCIN 721014
A high oblique view, extending from Ulm in the west to Ingolstadt in the East, showing troops marching from Ingolstadt to join the forces of Charles V in front of Neuberg. Schmalkaldic War (1546-47). Oriented with north (Septentrio) to top.
The Elector of the duchy of Palatinate-Neuburg, Ottheinrich (Otto Henry; 10 April 1502-12 February 1559), was a supporter of the Schmalkaldic League, an alliance of Lutheran princes within the Holy Roman Empire which was led by Philip I (13 November 1504-31 March 1567), Landgrave of Hesse. Ottheinrich had introduced Protestantism to his territory of Neuburg in 1542. Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, fought to suppress the league. The event shown in this view led to the plundering of Ottheinrich’s newly-restored Neuburg castle in September 1546 by the Imperial forces.
The view shows that the camps of the two sides were separated by the river Lech, here called the ‘LICVS F’ (the engraver has forgotten to engrave the letters in reverse on the plate). Ulm is shown to the south-west, and Augusta (Augsberg) to the south. Other towns are indicated but are not named, the engraver annotating them simply as ‘VILLA’. Pikemen are shown marching from Ingolstadt to join the troops of the Count di Burra, who led the Low Germans and was part of the main force comprising Italian cavalry and Spanish infantry.
Tommaso Barlacchi (c.1500-50) (engraver) [below cartouche, in punched letters:] TOMASSO. B.
Subject(s)
Army-SpainWatermark: Six-pointed star in circle [similar to Woodward 149?]
Condition: one fold line; tear, bottom centre; cropped to neatline; impressions from the mount items which were placed above and below this print in a former sequence are present on the recto and verso
26.2 x 36.8 cm (image and platemark)
41.0 x 54.8 cm (mount)
Printed title:
IL DISEGNO DEL PAESE DOVE SE / TROVANO I DVE ESERCITI DE / SVA MAIESTA CESAREA ET DI / LANGRAVIO CON LA DESCRITTI / ONE DELLE CITTA ET FIVMI VI / CINI VENVTO CON LE VLTIME / LETTERE [bottom right, in cartouche ornamented with strapwork, with punched letters]
Annotation:
George III heading: Neuburg surrendered to Charles V. in 1546.
Other annotations: (Recto) [top left, black pencil, erased and mostly illegible:] [?] 1546 [by] [?] 5th [bottom right, black pencil:] 1546 (Verso) [on mount, top left, red pencil:] 1/13; [top right, black pencil, erased:] Neuberg.
George III catalogue entry:
Neuburg Il Disegno del Paese dove se trovano i due Eserciti de Sua Majesta Cesarea et di Langravio, con la Descrittione delle Citta et Fiumi vicini. (Neuberg taken by Charles V. 1546.)
Subject(s)
Neuburg an der Donau, Bavaria, Germany (48°43ʹ56ʺN 11°11ʹ14ʺE)
Bibliographic reference(s)
C.D. Gunnoe Jr, ‘The reformation of the Palatinate and the origins of the Heidelberg Catechism, 1500-1562’, in L. D. Bierma et al, Introduction to the Heidelberg Catechism, Baker Books 2005, unpaged
M. McDonald, The Print Collection of Cassiano dal Pozzo. Part II, Architecture, Topography and Military Maps, 3 vols, London 2019, cat. no. 2647
M.E. Wiesener-Hanks, Early modern Europe, 1450-1789. Cambridge History of Europe. CUP (2006), pp.166-7
‘Order for the war’, in J. Gairdner and R.H. Brodie (eds), Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII, London 1908, vol. 21 part 1, Letter no. 1070, pp. 533-534, from Thirley to Paget dated 15 June 1546, giving an account of who would fight for the emperor in what became known as the Schmalkaldic War, and names of commanders and the strength of their troops
R.E. Dupuy and T.N. Dupuy, The encyclopedia of military history from 3500BC to the present, revised edition, London 1980, p. 482
Page revisions
25 May 2024
Current version
