Ordines Sacri Romani Imp: Ab Ottone III Instituti (2 Bll.)

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Original antique copper engraving, published 1624 in a Latin text edition of the famous historical atlas 'Parergon' by Abraham Ortelius. Printed from two plates. Hand colored example in two sheets. Highly decorative engraving, published from two double pages showing the dignitaries of the Holy Roman Empire. This engraving was published from 1593 for the first time in the atlas by Gerard de Jode. The plate was later acquired by Vrients and was then from 1603 onwards included in Ortelius's 'Theatrum' and the 'Parergon'. Our example was published 1622 in a Latin text edition of the Parergon. With wide margins in excellent condition. 'They represent the dignitaries entitled to choose German Emperors, as instituted to end the turmoil and quarreling that occurred after the death of Charles the Great, by Otto IV and the Pope. This plate shows left of the Emperor the highest ranking officials, three ecclesiastical and four lay dignitaries. The second rank consists of four dukes and four marquesses, the third of 8 earls.' (Broe. 201) Ortelius was born on 14 April 1527 in the city of Antwerp, which was then in the Habsburg Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). The Orthellius family were originally from Augsburg, a Free imperial city of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1535, the family had fallen under suspicion of Protestantism. Following the death of Ortelius's father, his uncle Jacobus van Meteren returned from religious exile in England to take care of Ortelius. Abraham remained close to his cousin Emanuel van Meteren, who would later move to London. In 1575 he was appointed geographer to the king of Spain, Philip II, on the recommendation of Arias Montanus, who vouched for his orthodoxy. He travelled extensively in Europe and is specifically known to have traveled throughout the Seventeen Provinces; in southern, western, northern, and eastern Germany (e.g., 1560, 1575–1576); France (1559–1560); England and Ireland (1576); and Italy (1578, and perhaps twice or thrice between 1550 and 1558). Beginning as a map-engraver, in 1547 he entered the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke as an illuminator of maps. He supplemented his income trading in books, prints, and maps, and his journeys included yearly visits to the Frankfurt book and print fair, where he met Gerardus Mercator in 1554. In 1560, however, when travelling with Mercator to Trier, Lorraine, and Poitiers, he seems to have been attracted, largely by Mercator's influence, towards the career of a scientific geographer. (Wikipedia)

Broe. 201/202. State 2/2