Cartographica Neerlandica Background for Ortelius Map No. 25

Title: REGNI | HISPANIAE POST |OMNIVM EDITIO:|NES LOCVPLETISSI|MA DESCRIPTIO. [A very reliable depiction of the kingdom of Spain after the publications of many [authors]].(bottom right:) "Cum priuilegio". [With privilege] (left centre:) "Fluuius hic subter | terram se condit" [Here the river flows underground].

Plate size: 383 x 505 mm
Scale: 1 : 3,500,000
Identification number: Ort 25 (Koeman/Meurer: 7, Karrow: 1/12, van der Krogt AN: 6000:31).

Occurrence in Theatrum editions and page number:

1570L(AC)7 (225 copies printed) (last line, centred like 2 lines above it: distantias locorum annotauit. There is a variant without some space between the last three centred lines and the text above it, and with erroneous Car-|thalonia rather than correct Ca-|thalonia at the end of the tenth and the beginning of the ninth line from the bottom),
1570L(B)7 (100 copies printed) (last line, centred: itineraria ... annotauit.)
1571L7 (275 copies printed) (in cursive script like the entire text, last line centred like 3 lines above it: "distantias locorum annotauit."),
1571D/1573D7 (350 copies printed) (last line, in cursive writing like the entire text, centred like one line above it: "sijn,canmen in dit ons Theatre oock wijs-worden.),
1572/1574F7 (225 copies printed) (last line, centred like 3 lines above it: pourra veoir facilement en ceste nostre Theatre.),
1572G7 (pasted over p.7 of a 1570L edition by Koler; few copies printed) (last line, left aligned, in Gothic script: in Spanien und wie weit ein ort von dem andern ligt/angezeygt werden.)
1572/1573G7 (225 copies printed) (last line, cursive like the entire text, centred like 2 lines above it: "durch disen vnseren Theatrum auch erfaren vnd erinnert werden,&c."),
1573L(AB)11 (75 copies printed) (last line, centred: ętatum Imperium possidere,docuimus in nostro Theatro Germanica lingua excuso. ; 7th line from bottom ends Mino- in version A, Mino in version B.),
1574L11 (175 copies printed) (large page number, 11 mm; third text line ends: Co- ; last line, centred: ętatum Imperium possidere, docuimus in nostro Theatro Germanica lingua excuso. ; 7th line from bottom ends Mino- ),
1575L11 (100 copies printed) (small page number, 7 mm; third text line ends: (Co- ; last line, centred: ętatum Imperium possidere, docuimus in nostro Theatro Germanica lingua excuso. ; 7th line from bottom ends Mino- ),
1579L(A)13 (250 copies printed) (last line, left aligned: tro Germanica lingua excuso. ; line 34 from top ends: scribit.)Pons),
1579L(B)13 (250 copies printed) (last line, left aligned: tro Germanica lingua excuso.) ; line 34 from top ends: scribit. )Pons),
1580/1589G13 (350 copies printed) (last line, centred like 5 lines above it, in Gothic script: sen unnd gelehret.),
1581F13 (400 copies printed) (last line, left aligned: lon le pourra veoir facilement en ce nostre Theatre.),
1584L15 (750 copies printed) (last line, left aligned: Germanica lingua excuso.),
1587F15 (250 copies printed) (last line, left aligned: le estendue, lon le pourra veoir facilement en ce nostre Theatre.),
1588S15 (300 copies printed) (last line, left aligned: uado en nuestro Theatro impresso en lenguaje Teutonico.),
1592L16 (525 copies printed) (last line: & omnium ętatum imperium possidere,docuimus in nostro Theatro Germanica lingua excuso.),
1595L16 (500 copies printed) (last line, full width: totius Orbis & omniū etatū imperiū possidere,docuimus in nostro Theatro Germanica lingua excuso.),
1598/1610/1613D15 (100 copies printed)(last line, centred like 3 lines above it, in Gothic script: in dit ons "Theatre" oock wijs worden.),
1598F16 (525 copies printed) (last line, left aligned: ou autres soyent de telle estendue, lon le pourra veoir facilement en ce nostre Theatre.),
1601L16 (200 copies printed) (last line, left aligned: Orbis & omnium ętatum imperium possidere,docuimus in nostro Theatro Germanica lingua excuso.),
1602G16 (250 copies printed) (last line, centred like 5 lines above it, in Gothic script like the entire text: und gelehret.),
1602S16 (250 cop[ies printed) (last line, left aligned: en nuestro Theatro impresso en lenguaje Teutonico.),
1603L16, (300 copies printed) (last line, left aligned: omnium ętatum imperium possidere, docuimus in nostro Theatro Germanica excuso. Text and typesetting identical with 1609/1612L, but page number 16 under the word lingua.),
1606E16 (300 copies printed) (last line, left aligned: the world,since the worlds beginning,we have proued in our Theatre printed in high Dutch.),
1608/1612I16 (300 copies printed) (last line, left aligned: mo insegnato,Filippo Re di Spagna possedere Imperio grandissimo di tutte l'eta,& di tutta la terra.),
1609/1612L16 (300 copies printed) (last line, left aligned: omnium ętatum imperium possidere, docuimus in nostro Theatro Germanica excuso. Text and typesetting identical with 1603L, but page number 16 under the word Germanica.),
1609/1612/1641S16 (325 copies printed) (last line, left aligned: Theatro impresso en lenguaje Teutonico.),

Approximate number of copies printed: 8175.

States: (as described above) 25.1.
25.2: from 1573L onwards the place name "Paracuelos" (NW of Madrid) was replaced by "Martimuńoz" for political reasons, as pointed out by Koeman (1964).
25.3: between 1589 and 1592, in the strait of Gibraltar, the description "FRETVM HERCVLEVM, SIVE GADITANEM|Estrecho de Gibraltar" was replaced by Estrecho de Gibraltar, and the following placenames were added in this area: "C. de|Trafalgar, Vejer"; "Barbate" was changed to "Barbari, Zata" was removed, "Venta del Marques" was added, "Tariffa" moved to the East, "Guadajara" added, the coastline of Northwest Africa was redrawn, removing "Maymat, Alęarquiuir, Arsila" and "Algaēer", moving "Tanger" to the East, replacing "Eeuta" by "Ēeuta", adding "Tituan", replacing "Targa" by the same in slanted position, replacing "Gomcra" in horizontal position by "Gomera" in slanted position and by inserting BARBARIĘ SI:VE before AFRICAE PARS near the bottom of the map. South of Bilbao, the town "Villaro" has disappeared and two new towns, viz. "Orduńa" and "Arbietto" have been added.
25.4: between 1595 and 1598 stippling was added behind sea names, and hachuring along coastlines was somewhat extended. At the source of the river "Taio" in the centre of the map, a new town "Pastrana" has appeared. In order to make room for this new toponym, the words "Taio rio" have been moved and the position of "Fuente duena" has been changed.

Cartographic sources: Carolus Clusius or Charles de l'Escluse (1526-1609) a botanist by profession, published a 6 sheet map of Spain in 1571 which refers to Ortelius' Theatrum map. Ortelius himself has also contributed to this map (Meurer p. 127-129, Karrow 26/2 p. 161-163). Next to Clusius, Ortelius mentions in his Catalogus Auctorum four more maps of the Spanish peninsula: Gastaldi, Vincentius Corsulensis, Henricus Coquus Gorchomius' map of 1581, and Thomas Geminus of 1555, the first map printed in England.

References: A. Hernando "The contribution of Ortelius' Theatrum to the Geographical Knowledge of Spain. p. 239-262 in Van den Broecke, van der Krogt & Meurer (eds.) "Abraham Ortelius and the First Atlas, 1998, HES Publishers. Mr. José Manuel Bayod kindly provided some of the details of state 3 and 4.

Remarks: For a long time, this map of Spain and Portugal, as well as Ortelius' regional maps of Spain, remained the standard in Spanish cartography, as explained by Hernando, referenced above. Also, a close copy was produced by Schottus in his work "Hispanię Illustratę seu rerum Urbinumque Hispanię, Lusatię, Ęthiopię et Indię Scriptes Varii", 4 vols., Frankfurt 1603-1608.

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