1707 Homann Map of Northern Italy - Genoa, Milan, Parma, Verona (First State)

This is a rare first-state example of Johann Baptist Homann's c. 1707 map of northern Italy, documenting the seesawing battle for the region during the War of the Spanish Succession (1701 - 1714). As with several other Homann maps prepared during the war, it proudly champions the Habsburg cause against their French-Bourbon enemies.

A Closer Look

Coverage includes the cities and towns of the Po River Basin and the alpine region to the north, as far as Grisons and Trento. Aside from settlements, mountains, rivers, lakes, canals, roads, and fortifications are documented in remarkable detail. Boundaries between duchies, bishoprics, republics, and other territories are traced in hand-color outline, with the all-important Duchy of Milan color-shaded. A legend at bottom includes symbols referring to the ongoing conflict, such as sites where the armies camped in addition to battlefields. The locations of battles at Chiari, Cremona, Luzzara, Cassano, and Castiglione, among others, are marked with crossed swords. However, the most obviously marked battle site, just south of Milan, refers not to a recent battle but one nearly two centuries earlier, the 1525 Battle of Pavia, which took place in the Visconti Park belonging to the rulers of Pavia. The battle was part of the Italian Wars of the 1520s, which were also fought between the Habsburgs and the French monarchy, and which also resulted in a Habsburg victory.

An elaborate cartouche appears at bottom-right, with figures likely meant to represent the duchies of Milan, Savoy, and Mantua. Above the title is an eagle standing atop a globe, surrounded by the text 'tandem bona causa triumphat' (a good cause triumphs in the end). A figure at left beckons to a representation of the Battle of Cremona, where a surprise attack by Habsburg forces captured the French commander, the Duke of Villeroy. One of the figures at right says to the other 'Quae sunt Caesaris, Caesari' (Render unto Caesar…), while the latter holds a map of Mantua, with a reference to Virgil's Eclogue 1 (Virgil was from Mantua and the poem has themes of justice in the aftermath of war).

The War of the Spanish Succession (1701 - 1714)

As its name indicates, the War of the Spanish Succession resulted when the childless Spanish Habsburg King Charles II died in 1700. Afterward, rival claimants aimed to ascend the throne, with the young Bourbon Philip of Anjou (grandson of Louis XIV) being proclaimed King of Spain on November 1, 1700. This presented a direct threat to the balance of power in Europe as Philip was also likely to eventually become king of France, thus raising the possibility of unifying Europe's two largest and most powerful Catholic kingdoms. As a result, the Habsburg Archduke Charles, who also claimed the right to the Spanish Crown, gained considerable support from other European powers wary of a Spanish-French union. The Bourbon and Habsburg-aligned forces engaged in an epic conflict that took place across much of western Europe and even the New World (as Queen Anne's War).

Much of the fighting took place along the Rhine, especially in the Low Countries, while the Austrians were also bedeviled by a French-backed rebellion in Hungary (Rákóczi's War of Independence). However, the earliest clashes took place in northern Italy, involving the Duchies of Savoy, Milan, and Mantua (Mantova), and continued until 1707. The Habsburg General, Eugene Duke of Savoy (who was actually born to a well-connected family in Paris and only left to join the Habsburg army because his was snubbed by Louis XIV), emerged as one of the war's most effective commanders. He crossed the Alps with an army of 30,000 and won a string of victories in 1701 and early 1702. But the French reinforced their armies, appointed an equally competent commander (Louis Joseph, Duke of Vendôme), and counter-attacked to gain control of much of the region, even after Savoy switched sides in the war in October 1703. Later, setbacks in the Low Countries caused Bourbon forces to redeploy, leaving their armies in Italy weakened, and allowing Eugene to regain the initiative when he broke the Bourbon siege of Turin in September 1706, effectively ending the war in Italy. With the Convention of Milan signed the following March, Habsburg control of northern Italy was guaranteed, while French armies were allowed to peacefully march out of Italy to fight another day, a concession which incensed the allies of Holy Roman Emperor Joseph I.

The war saw alliances shift frequently, including when Joseph I died in 1711 without an heir and was succeeded by Archduke Charles, presenting a new threat of a European superpower, this time a Habsburg one, emerging from the conflict. The result was that in the Peace of Utrecht, signed in 1713, Philip was granted the Spanish Crown but renounced any claim to the French throne, while Charles was maintained as the Holy Roman Emperor. Although this ostensibly was a raw deal for Charles, in reality, the Bourbon monarchies had been considerably weakened by the conflict, losing all their territory in Italy, as well as granting Gibraltar to the British, while the Habsburg side gained territory and strengthened its position in Hungary and the Netherlands. Britain is generally seen by historians as the main beneficiary of the conflict, as, although it participated, it was not as badly impacted by the mostly continental war. With the Dutch suffering both physical and financial costs, the door was open for Britain to become the main commercial maritime power in Europe and the world.

Publication History and Census

This map was prepared by Johann Baptist Homann for the c. 1710 edition of his Neuer Atlas. It is usually dated to 1702 in catalog listings because Homann dated it as such below the title, but as the text above the cartouche (along with other details) demonstrates, it must have been printed in 1707 or later. Therefore, this is the earliest state of the map, distinguishable from later states in several places, most obviously by the lack of Homann's privilege, which indicates that it predates 1715. Homann's dating of the map to 1702 is likely the result of the present map being based on his earlier map of the same region, 'S[acri] R[omani] I[mperii] Feudum Ducatus Mediolanensis in suas principales partes exacte divisus ostenditur' (previously sold by us as DucatusMediolanensis-homann-1705), which refers to the battles of 1701 but not later battles, has less references to the conflict overall, and has a less embellished cartouche.