Battle of Mollwitz, 1741

Vorstellung der Gegend und des Treffens so den 10. April, 1741. zwischen der Königl. Preus. und König. Hng. u. Böhm. Armee vorgefallen

A map of the Battle of Mollwitz, fought on Monday 10 April 1741, on a battle field covered with two feet of snow, between the Prussians, commanded by Frederick II of Prussia (Frederick the Great; 1712-86), and the Austrians, commanded by Field Marshal Wilhelm Reinhard von Neipperg (1684-1774) resulting in a Prussian victory. First Silesian War (1740-42): part of the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-48). Oriented with east-north-east to top.

Mollwitz lies to the west of Brieg (Brzeg, Opole Voivodeship, Poland, 50°51'38"N 17°28'02"E). Frederick had taken up headquarters on 8 and 9 April in the little village of Pogerell, shown bottom right on the map. The armies are shown drawn up in order of battle, and the regiments are named.

The ‘Mr Villiers’ referred to in the annotation on the verso of the map was probably Thomas Villiers, 1st Earl of Clarendon (1709-86) who between 1740 and 1747 was the British envoy to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and also the Electorate of Saxony. He was also posted to Vienna as envoy to the court of Maria Theresa from 1742 to 1743. He became envoy to the court of Frederick II of Prussia from 1746 to 1748.

The times of day are indicated in the margins, thus, top centre: Morgen; right centre: Mittag; bottom centre: Abend; left centre: Mitternacht. This corresponds with the orientation of the map, with ‘Morgen’ representing the east (sunrise); ‘Mittag’ the brightest part of the day with the sun in the south; ‘Abend’, or sunset in the west, and ‘Mitternacht’ with the dark northern sky.

For further reading, see:
Pollard, ‘Villiers, Thomas, first earl of Clarendon (1709–1786)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2004.

Condition: six fold lines; formerly folded to 7.5 x 7.4 cm; trimmed almost to edge of image. Verso: marked brown discolouration.