1632 / 1647 Famiano Strada Leo Belgicus Map of the Netherlands in its first, Rome Edition

This 1632/1647 map of the Netherlands is an exemplar of one of the most distinctive heraldic geographical motifs: the famous Leo Belgicus. This depiction of the Low Countries in the form of a lion rampant appeared as the title page in the first, Rome edition of Famiano Strada's 1632 history of the Dutch Revolt. While later editions of Strada featured a Leo in their frontispieces, the plate employed in the 1632 first volume and the 1647 second volume of the first edition was the largest and most beautifully engraved, and among the most desirable. This image's appearance during the course of the Eighty Years' War (c. 1566/1568 - 1648) has led to it being hailed as a cartographic expression of national pride - in spite of its origin being firmly rooted in histories of the war produced predominantly from a Spanish perspective.

A Closer Look

The map presents the seventeen provinces of the Netherlands, reaching from Gronigen in the north, into southern regions now considered part of France (Amiens forms part of a hind leg, and Metz is just below the left front paw). The Dutch coastline forms the lion's back, with its tail lashing over the sea. The geographic details of Strada's map are largely consistent with those of von Aitsing's 1583 map, which is agreeable with the contemporary maps of Ortelius.

The waters of the North Sea are elegantly stippled, and sailed by three finely-engraved ships. A sea monster lurks in the curl of the lion's tail. The lion's throat and chest (and the western limit of the map) is roughly described by the course of the River Rhine.

The Leo Belgicus

The first appearance of a Leo Belgicus was in Michael von Aitzinger's 1583 history of the Dutch Revolt. The Austrian von Aitzinger was no partisan firebrand. He explained in his text that this novel map was introduced 'in such a form as it has never been seen before, in order that you will better understand the description of the various parts it comprises'. First and foremost, this was a representation of the seventeen provinces of the Netherlands as a single unit; the use of the lion as a unifying visual element derived from the fact that the heraldry of most of those seventeen provinces already employed leonine symbolism. Thus, von Aitzinger's purpose was to employ an effective visual mnemonic. Indeed, he was at great pains in both the map and its attendant history to exhibit a scrupulous neutrality - 'you will find everything more truthful and acceptable since we personally observed and verified all the facts on both sides.'

Italian Jesuit Famiano Strada (1572 - 1649) was tasked by his patron, the Duke of Parma, to write a history of the Dutch Revolt in 1617. To do so he was given access to the astonishing private archives of the House of Farnese which contained relevant correspondence of princes, ambassadors, and even spies. All of Strada's sources represented the Catholic, Spanish perspective on the war; so like von Aitzinger, his use of the Dutch Lion is unlikely to have been propagandistic. It is telling that Strada's work, while translated into English, Spanish, Italian, and French, would never be printed in a Dutch edition.

Strada's work became a monumental undertaking, planned in three 'decades'. The first of these (covering the years 1559 - 1579) was published in 1632; the second, (covering 1579 - 1589) was printed in 1647. A third decade is said to have been blocked from publication by Spanish authorities.

Each of the two published decades of Strada's history featured this Leo in their title pages. The title cartouche in the 1632 first decade, reads De Bello Belgico Decas Prima. The same plate was used for printing the title of the second decade, with the title amended to De Bello Belgico Decas II with no other changes. None of the later editions of Strada, printed in Antwerp and elsewhere, would employ this plate, instead using smaller-format maps.

Publication History and Census

This map was engraved - anonymously, but perhaps by François Collignon or Guilielmi Baur - for inclusion in the 1632 first edition of Strada's De Bello Belgico Decas Prima, published in Rome by Francesco Corbelletti. This second state of the map was amended for the 1647 Decas II of Strada's work, also published by Corbelletti. While Strada's history is well represented in institutional collections, this second state of the first edition Strada is only listed once in OCLC, in the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek.