Sebastian Münster (1489–1552) - Cosmographia Universalis...

This original sheet is a precious Renaissance page taken from the inner leaves of the fourth book’s section in the Latin edition of 1550 of Sebastian Münster’s Cosmographia universalis, printed in Basel by the publisher Heinrich Petri. The front of the page hosts the solemn chorographic section titled LIBER IIII, expressly dedicated by Münster to the description of the rulers of the Ottoman Empire, analyzing the reigns of Orchanes (Orhan I, Cap. LXII) and Amrathes (Murad I, Cap. LXIII). The Latin text opens by celebrating the military ambition and territorial expansion of Orhan in the territories of Bithynia and the Hellespont, exploiting Greek dissensions, then turning to the deeds of his successor Murad, who pushed the Turkish armies into Thrace and the Balkans, conquering Adrianople and waging bloody clashes with the peoples of Serbia and Bulgaria until his death on the field. The page’s visual composition is embellished by a fine woodcut depicting the sultan standing in ceremonial dress and armor, and by richly decorated initial letters with Renaissance motifs. Of extraordinary collectible interest is the presence of ancient notes and typographical glosses printed in the outer margins of the sheet (Prusia adimita Turcorum, Turcae in Thraciam uocantur, Amrathes occiditur), testifying to the work’s contemporary critical apparatus aimed at highlighting the most significant historical passages. Turning the page over, the reverse continues the historical chronicle with the heading DE TVRCIS containing chapter Baiazetus Othomannus (Bayezid I, Cap. LXIV). The Latin text unfolds as a dense and erudite philosophical and historiographical discourse on the sultan Bayezid’s military campaigns in eastern Europe and in Greece, describing the famous and dramatic Battle of Nicopolis in 1396 against the Christian army led by King Sigismund. Münster places in parallel the customs, the toils of war, and the fates of the peoples involved before the sultan’s fall, captured by the overwhelming advance of the Asian commander Tamerlane, analyzing how political changes and the hardships of war marked the evolution of this nation. The page is solemnly enriched by the presence of an important woodcut portraying Bayezid’s face enclosed in an ornamental medallion, accompanied by marginal typographical glosses (Grecia à Turca occupatur, Strages apud Nicopolim, Tamerlanes Tartarus). The preface introduces the methodological motivations that guided the author in composing the Cosmographia, understood as a monumental work aimed at offering rulers and scholars of the XVI century a universal guide to understand the morals, geography, and changes of the peoples of the Earth through the ages. Dimensions 30 x 20 cm Will be shipped via courier

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