La Bulgaria e la Romania con Parte di Macedonia

Beautiful map of south eastern Europe or the eastern Balkans showing the territory south of the Danube River to Constantinople. In modern terms this includes Romania, Bulgaria and parts of Serbia and North Macedonia.

Part of the reason for the inclusion of this map in Rossi’s atlas is its importance as one of the main theaters in the Great Turkish War of 1683-99. It was fought between the Holy League consisting of the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth, Russia, Hungary, Venice and the Holy Roman Empire on one side and the Ottoman Empire on the other. The war was spread over a series of conflicts which ultimately ended as a defeat for the Ottomans.

The recent military activities allowed for much greater geographical clarity of this region which had been traditionally Ottoman for over a hundred years. In the dedication on the lower left, Rossi states little had been known of this region but that recently, he had obtained a series of documents and new information which allowed him to produce a newer and more updated map.

Despite these claims, as usual, Bulgaria is shown north of Romania which is also labelled as Thrace. Moldavia is shown north of the Danube. As usual with Rossi, the map has been beautifully and flamboyantly engraved in the style so typical of Italian engravers in the late 17th century. The cartouche is a little more restrained than usual but extremely martial, corresponding to the region’s position as one of the main Theaters of War in the above conflict.

The dedicatee of the map on the lower left is Bishop Pandino Panciatichi, who became a Cardinal the next year and who was also titular Patriarch of Jerusalem.

[CEU2287]