Cartographica Neerlandica Background for Ortelius Map No. 162

Title: RVSSIAE, MOSCO:|VIAE ET TARTA:|RIAE DESCRIP:|TIO. "Auctore | Antonio Ienkensono Anglo, edita | Londini Anno 1562 & dedicata | illustriss. D. Henrico Sijdneo | Walliei presidi. Cum priuilegio". [Image of Russia, Moscovia and Tartaria by Antonius Jenkinson the Englishman, published in London in 1562, and dedicated to the most illustrious Lord Henricus Sidneus, leader of the Wallei. With privilege]. Further text blocks on the map itself:
(Middle left:) "Hæc pars Litu:|aniæ Imperatori | Rußiæ subdita est". [This part of Lithuania is under the rule of the Russian Emperor]. (Three blocks of texts in cartouches; five blocks of texts without cartouches, all at the right side of the plate. Cartouche top right:) "Zlata Baba, id est aurea | vetula ab Obdorianis, & lou:|gorianis religiose colitur. Ido:|lum hoc sacerdos consulit, | quid ipsis faciendum, quoue sit | migrandum,imsumq. (dictu | mirum) certa consulentib. | dat responsa,certique e:|uentus consequuntur." [Zlata Baba, that is golden granny, is devotedly worshipped by the Odorians and Iougorians. The priest consults this Idol about what to do and where to go and (it is a wonder to relate) she gives clear answers to those consulting her, leading to certain outcomes]. (Cartouche top right:) "Horum regionum incolæ | Solem,vel rubrum pan:|num pertica suspensum | adorant. In castris vi:|tam ducunt; ac oim ani:|matium, serpentiu, vermiû:|que carne vescentur.ac pro:|prio idiomate vtuntur". [The inhabitants of this region adore the Sun or a red cloth hanging from a pole. They live their lives in fortresses and eat the meat of animals, snakes and worms, and they have their own language]. (Cartouche mid-below the two previous ones:) "Hæc saxa hoim iumentorum camelorum | pecorumque,ceterarumq. reru formas refe:|rentia,Horda populi gregis pascentis,ar:|mentaq. fuit; Que stupenda quadam meta:|morphosi,repente in saxa riguit,priori for:|ma nulla in parte diminuta. Euenit hoc | prodigium annis circiter 300. retro | elapsis." [This rock which has the shapes of people, cattle, camels and other animals and things was once a group of shepherds and their flocks who suddenly petrified in an amazing metamorphosis, without changing their previous appearance. This miracle took place 300 years ago]. (Text block close to centerfold:) "A mangusla Shayfuram usq. 20 dierum | iter habent,sine ullis sedibus,cum summa | aque penuria. A Shayura usq. Bogar,par | itineris interuallum latrocinijs infestum". [From Mangusla Shaijsure it is a journey of 20 days without encampments and with an exceeding shortage of water. From Shaijsure to Bogar is a similar distance, infested by robbers]. (Text block near bottom centerfold:) "Corasan parva, a Rege | Persico adiuvantibus Tar:|taris 1558 expugnata fuit". [The small city of Corasan has been captured by the king of Persia with the assistance of the Tartars in 1558]. (Text block middle right edge of page:) "Kirgessi gens cateruatim degit, id est in hordis.habetq. | ritum huiusmodi.cum re divinam ipsoru sacerdos peragit, | sanguinem,lac & fimu iumentorum accipit,ac terre miscet, | inq. vas quoddam infundit,eoq. arborem scandit,atq. concio:|ne habita,in populum spargit,atq. hec aspersio pro Deo ha:|betur & colitur. Cum quis diem inter illos obit,loco sepultu:|re arboribus suspendût". [The Kirgessen people live in troops or hordes. They have the following custom: when a priest performs a religious ceremony, he obtains blood, milk and dung of beasts of burden, and mixes it with earth. He pours this in a specific vessel and climbs a tree with it, and when there is a gathering, he sprinkles it over the people, and this sprinkling is considered to be divine, and is worshipped. When someone of them dies, that person is hung up in a tree by way of burial]. (Text block below the previous one, lower right:) "Shamarcandia olim totius Tartariæ | metropolis fuit,at nunc ruinis deformis | iacet,una cum multis antiquitatis vesti:|gijs. Hic conditus est Tamerlanes ille, qui | olim Turcaru Imperatore Bayasite cap:|tum aureis catenis vinctum,circumtulit. | Incole mahumetani sunt". [Shamarcandia was once the capital of all of Tartary, but now it has decayed to ruins, with many remnants from antiquity. Here Tamerlan lies buried, once the captor of the ruler of the Turks, Bayasid. He took him as a prisoner and abducted him, bound in gold chains. The inhabitants are Muslims]. (Text block extreme lower right corner:) "Cascara,hinc triginta dierum itinere ori:|entem versus incipiunt termini imperij Ca:|thaye Ab his limitibus ad Cambalu trium | mensium interiacet". [Cascara. When travelling from here for thirty days, one reaches the borders of the empire of Cathay [China]. The distance between these borders and Cambala is a journey of three months].

Plate size: 355 x 448 mm
Scale: 1 : 12,000,000
Identification number: Ort 162 (Koeman/Meurer: 46, Karrow: 1/66, vdKrogtAN: 1800:31).

Occurrence in Theatrum editions and page number:
1570L(A)46 (100 copies printed) (last line, full width: Sed videndus est etiam Bonfinij liber.1.&.11.D[small]ecadis primæ rerum Hungaricum.),
1570L(BC)46 (225 copies printed) (last line, centred like 5 lines above it: rerum Hungaricum.),
1571L46 (275 copies printed) (last line, centred like 5 lines above it: rerum Hungaricum.),
1571D/1573D46 (350 copies printed) (last line, in cursive script, centered like one line above it: "bont-werck,dat hier vvt deur gheheel Europa te coope ghebracht wordt".),
1572G46Koler (pasted on a 1570L edition p.46; few copies printed)(last line, left aligned, mostly in Gothic script: Cantareni beschreibung der Perssche Reyse/Besihe aber auch Bonfinij Ungerische histori/im ersten und andern Buch/der ersten Decade.),
1572/1573G46 (225 copies printed) (last line, centred like one line above it: fueter,vvellichs von hinnen durch gantz Europa zu kauff gebracht wiert.),
1572/1574F46 (225 copies printed) (last line, centred like 6 lines above it: toute l'Europe.),
1573L(AB)61 (75 copies printed)(last line, centred like 5 lines above it: rerum Hungaricarum. ; third line of title ends: MOS-),
1574L61 (175 copies printed) (large page number, 11 mm; third line of title ends: MOS- ; last line, centred like 5 lines above it: rerum Hungaricum.),
1575L61 (100 copies printed) (small page number, 7 mm; third line of title ends: DVCIS ; last line, centred like 5 lines above it: rerum Hungaricum.),
1579L(A)82 (250 copies printed) (last line, centred like one line above it: Decadis primæ rerum Hungicarum. ; 5th line from the top ends: sigila-),
1579L(B)82 (250 copies printed) (last line, centred like one line above it: Decadis primæ rerum Hungicarum. ; 5th line from the top ends: sigilla-),
1580/1589G82 (350 copies printed) (last line, centred like 3 lines above it, in Gothic script: schichten in Ungern.),
1581F82 (400 copies printed) (last line, left aligned: fourrures de grand pris & estime, que l'on enuoye de ce pays là vendre par toute l'Europe.),
1584L91 (750 copies printed) (last line, centred like one line above it: Decadis primæ rerum Hungaricum.),
1587F91 (250 copies printed) (last line, left aligned: que l'on enuoye de ce pays là vendre par toute l'Europe.),
1588S91 (300 copies printed) (last line, left aligned: la compañia de IESVS.),
1592L99 (525 copies printed) (last line, left aligned: Basilidis, ab Oberbornio descriptæ.),
1595L104 (500 copies printed) (last line, left aligned; ab Oderbornio descriptæ.item Saxoniæ Chronicon Dauidis Chytræi.),
1598F105 (525 copies printed) (last line, left aligned: enuoye de ce pays là vendre par toute l`Europe.),
1598/1610/1613D73 (100 copies printed) (last line, italic, left-aligned: "vverck,dat hier uyt deur gheheel Europa te coope ghebracht wordt".),
1601L104 (200 copies printed) (last line, left aligned: vitæ Basilidis,ab Oderbornio descriptæ.item Saxoniæ Chronicon Dauidis Chytræi.),
1602G107 (250 copies printed) (last line, centred like 3 lines above it, in Gothic script like the entire text: schichten in Ungern.),
1602S107 (250 copies printed) (last line, left aligned: de Basilido escrittos por Odorbornio, item las Cronicas Saxonicas, de Dauid Chytreo.),
1603L107 (300 copies printed) (text, but not pagenumber and typesetting, identical to 1609/1612L; last line, full width: vitæ Basilidis,ab Oderbornio descriptæ. item Saxoniæ Chronicon Dauidis Chytræi.),
1606E104 (300 copies printed) (last line, left aligned: "derborne", together with the Chronicle of "Saxony" done by "Dauid Chytræus".),
1608/1612I116 (300 copies printed) (last line, full width, in italic script like the entire text: "grandi,fatto di mele, & fragole, & altri frutti di color & sapore al vino simile in Moscouia."),
1609/1612L117 (300 copies printed) (text, but not page number and typesetting, identical to 1603L; last line, full width: vitæ Basilidis,ab Oderbornio descriptæ item Saxoniæ Chronicõ Dauidis Chytræi.),
1609/1612/1641S117 (325 copies printed) (last line, left aligned: Basilido escrittos por Odorbornio,item las Cronicas Saxonicas,de Dauid Chytreo.).

Approximate number of copies printed: 8175.

States: 162.1 as described.
162.2: After the 1570(B) Latin version and before the 1570(C) version, the cartouche in the lower left corner received on its inner field containing the title at the right side of the square oblique hatching of about one millimetre. The same occurred on the inner field at the left and top side of the cartouche upper right beginning with "Zlata Baba".
162.3: The waves in the prominent Caspian sea were recut at least twice, first between 1575 and 1579.
162.4: After the 1579 (A) Latin version and before the 1579(B) version, the last remnants of the hatching described a state 162.2 were removed.
162.5: The waves were recut once again between 1598 and 1606.

Remarks: interesting folklore on eating, religion and "burial" of the dead in trees in texts and views on the right side of the plate.

Cartographic sources: Jenkinson's 1562 Russia map (Karrow 43/1, p. 318; Meurer p. 175-176). Jenkinson travelled in Russia in 1559, 1561, 1566 and 1567 and much was based on his own observations. Additionally, for the Eastern part of this map Jenkinson based himself on Herberstein, for the Western part on Wied.

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