43 • Surveying and Official Mapping in the Low Countries, 1500 – ca. 1670 Cornelis Koeman and Marco van Egmond Early Mapping of the Low Countries In the wider sense in which the term was used in the late and the Historical-Political Middle Ages, the area included the whole of the modern Background of Cartographic kingdom of the Netherlands (broadly coinciding with the Development Northern Provinces) and Belgium together with the grand duchy of Luxembourg and small parts of northern France The international reputation of official cartography in the and western Germany (broadly coinciding with the Low Countries has always stood in the shadow of its Southern Provinces). That group of seventeen provinces commercial counterpart. One explanation for this phe- constituted the so-called Burgundischer Kreis (Burgundy nomenon is that governmental agencies produced far Circle), under the political influence of the Burgundian fewer maps than did commercial publishers. In addition, and Habsburg dynasties (fig. 43.1). official cartographic material enjoyed relatively limited The toponymic explanation of the term “the Nether- distribution, both nationally and internationally. Non- lands” refers to the word neder, which is ancient for neer, Dutch historical cartographic literature primarily focuses meaning low (cf. German, nieder). But to translate the on commercial maps, deemphasizing official cartography term “Low Countries” as “the Netherlands” is not cor- in the Low Countries. rect. In order to avoid confusion in this chapter deal- Nevertheless, a history of mapping in the Low Coun- ing with the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, “Low tries would not be complete without consideration of the Countries” is used rather than “the Netherlands” because official branch of the mapmaking industry.1 Indeed, offi- the latter term was not used until 1815. cial maps often provided significantly more information Another toponym that can be confusing is “Holland.” about origin, purpose, and function than did commercial Many people today, primarily foreigners, use the term maps, and this had to do with the process of mapmaking. “Holland” when they mean “the Netherlands” (Neder- A review of the history of mapmaking in the Low Coun- land). Historically, “Holland” was used to denote the tries in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries ought to province that included only the territory now known as begin with a description of the official surveying and map- the provinces of North and South Holland. ping in the area. With regard to the names used for the Low Countries Such an account is difficult to understand, however, on sixteenth-century maps, Sebastian Münster, in his without knowing the complex historical-political devel- Cosmography (1544), included the Low Countries in opment of the Low Countries after the Middle Ages. “Die drit Tafel des Rheinstroms, inhaltend das nider Sweeping changes in the political establishment of the Teutschlandt.” Gerardus Mercator, in his Tabula geo- Low Countries after the sixteenth century led to equally graphicae Galliae, Belgii Inferioris & Germaniae (the comprehensive changes in the governing bodies that were precursor of his Atlas) of 1585, named his special section responsible for the publication of maps. Given this insti- of province maps “Belgii Inferioris geographicæ tutional variety, political concepts such as “the Nether- lands” (Nederland), “the Low Countries” (Nederlanden or Lage Landen), “the Seventeen Provinces” (Zeventien Abbreviations used in this chapter include: MCN for Günter Schilder, Provinciën), “the Seven Provinces” (Zeven Provinciën), Monumenta cartographica Neerlandica (Alphen aan den Rijn: Canaletto, 1986 –). and “Holland” (Holland) tend to cause considerable con- 1. The most comprehensive work on the history of the cartography fusion outside the Low Countries and even among people of the Low Countries is C. Koeman’s Geschiedenis van de kartografie within the Dutch language region. Therefore, we first ex- van Nederland: Zes eeuwen land- en zeekaarten en stadsplattegronden amine the constitutional background of the Low Coun- (Alphen aan den Rijn: Canaletto, 1983). For a typology of the map ma- tries in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries before dis- terial of the Low Countries, see Y. Marijke Donkersloot–De Vrij, Topografische kaarten van Nederland uit de 16 de tot en met de 19 de cussing official mapping during this era. eeuw: Een typologische toelichting ten behoeve van het gebruik van The geographical term “the Netherlands” in its narrow oude kaarten bij landschapsonderzoek (Alphen aan den Rijn: Canaletto, sense refers to the modern kingdom of the Netherlands. 1995). 1246 Surveying and Official Mapping in the Low Countries, 1500 – ca. 1670 1247 The national history of the northern part of the Low 17 Countries, later called the kingdom of the Netherlands, Groningen has its roots in the so-called Religievrede (religious peace) 13 Friesland of 1578, followed by a political integration of those Drenthe provinces no longer under Spanish rule in the Union of NORTH SEA Utrecht, concluded in 1579. This union united the sover- 16 eign provinces of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Groningen, 4 Overijssel Friesland, Gelderland, and Overijssel in defense against 15 Gelder the Spanish administration’s forceful and cruel persecu- 11 8 Utrecht 4 Holland Zutphen tion of the Protestant religion, renouncing Philip II in 1581. After failed experiments with other sovereigns, the Republic of the Seven United Provinces was proclaimed 9 Zeeland in 1588. In addition to the seven provinces just men- 1 Brabant tioned, of which Holland was the most powerful, this 12 confederation included the province of Drenthe—which Antwerp had its own government but did not enjoy comprehensive 5 Flanders 14 2 voting rights—and the conquered areas in Brabant, Lim- Mechlin Liège Limburg burg, and Flanders. Within the republic, political power 6 7 10 was held by the states of each province, which governed Artois Hainaut its territories independently. Only those issues that ex- tended across borders, such as foreign policy and defense, were resolved communally by means of the States General Cambrai Namur 3 Luxemburg in The Hague, where every state had representatives. In 1648, by means of the Treaty of Münster, Spain of- 0 30 60 miles ficially recognized the Republic of the Seven United Prov- 0 30 60km inces. From then on, the idea of seventeen united prov- inces was abandoned. Yet the idea was kept alive on fig. 43.1. THE SEVENTEEN PROVINCES, 1543–67. The several maps, as demonstrated by the title of Frederik de numbers correspond with the hierarchical order of the maps in Wit’s Belgii XVII Provinciarum tabula, published before Mercator’s atlas. Numbers 1–4 are duchies, 5–11 counties, 12 1661 (fig. 43.2).5 Every general map from the sixteenth the margravate of the Holy Roman Empire, and 13–17 century featured the Seventeen Provinces. Separate maps seignories. of the northern or southern Netherlands were not pub- Based on Peter Van der Krogt, “Dutch Atlas Cartography and the Peace of Munster,” in La Paz de Münster/ The Peace of lished before 1600, even though the northern Nether- Munster, 1648: Actas del Congreso de Conmemoración orga- lands was, in large measure, independent from 1579 on- nizado por la Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen, Nijmegen- ward. It was not until well into the seventeenth century Cleve 28–30. VIII. 1996, ed. Hugo de Schepper, Christian that publishers dared to produce and sell maps of the Tümpel, and J. J. V. M. de Vet (Barcelona: Idea Books, 2000), Seven Provinces, whereas general maps of the Seventeen 113–26, esp. 118. Provinces were still distributed widely until about 1800.6 tabul[a]e.” 2 The term “Belgica” was generally accepted 2. See Peter van der Krogt, Koeman’s Atlantes Neerlandici (’t Goy- in the classical literature and more broadly until 1585; Houten: HES, 1997–), 1:44 – 49 (no. 1:001). 3. Van der Heijden, for example, mentions fifty-three maps of the “Germania Inferior” was sometimes used, and “Neder- Low Countries that have survived from the sixteenth century, twenty- 3 land” was seldom used. four of which bear the name “Belgica” or some variant thereof (“Gal- Centuries before the kingdom of the Netherlands was lia Belgica,” “Belgium,” “Leo Belgicus”). At least eighteen times, how- formed, the seventeen provinces of the Low Countries ever, the Low Countries are designated as “Germania Inferior.” The were at the point of being welded into one united state term “Nederland” is used only twice. See H. A. M. van der Heijden, Oude kaarten der Nederlanden, 1548–1794: Historische beschouwing, (the last province, Gelder, came under the control of the kaartbeschrijving, afbeelding, commentaar/Old Maps of the Nether- Low Countries in 1543) by the efforts of the Burgundian lands, 1548–1794: An Annotated and Illustrated Cartobibliography, and Habsburg dynasties. But the outbreak of a civil war 2 vols. (Alphen aan den Rijn: Canaletto/Repro-Holland; Leuven: Uni- with Spain in 1567 not only prevented unification but versitaire Pers, 1998), 1:67. ended in a final separation. A rebellion of all the prov- 4. See Jonathan Irvine Israel, The Dutch Republic: Its Rise, Great- ness, and Fall, 1477–1806, 2d ed., rev. (Oxford: Clarendon, 1998). inces against Spanish centralization under the rule of King 5. Regarding this map, see Van der Heijden, Oude kaarten der Ne- Philip II of Spain led to an uprising in which the Refor- derlanden, 1:479. mation played a dominant role. 6. See Van der Heijden, Oude kaarten der Nederlanden, 1:95–122. fig. 43.2. BELGII XVII PROVINCIARUM TABULA, BY Size of the original: 132 ϫ 168 cm. Photograph courtesy of the FREDERIK DE WIT, BEFORE 1661. Nine sheets. Universiteitsbibliotheek Leiden (VI.10.66/75). Surveying and Official Mapping in the Low Countries, 1500 – ca. 1670 1249 ates its origin with the political outcome of the election of From Picture to Map: The Birth of 14 a Modern Cartography a new bishop of Utrecht in 1524. The province of Utrecht, at that time a bishopric not under the adminis- the oldest national, regional, and local maps tration of King Charles V, had chosen a foreigner, Hen- drik II of Bavaria, as its new bishop.