Europe – Petrus Bertius + Willem Blaeu, 1634

THE EMPIRE OF CHARLEMAGNE — THE FATHER OF EUROPE MAPPED

“Imperii Caroli Magni et vicinarum regionum descriptio“ [Description of the Empire of Charlemagne and the surrounding regions], copper engraving designed by Petrus Bertius and published by Willem Blaeu from 1634 onwards. With original hand colouring. Size: 64 x 98 cm.

This large format historical map depicts the Frankish Empire of Charlemagne (747–814) — the greatest European empire since the fall of Rome. From his heartland in present-day Belgium, the Netherlands and western Germany, Charlemagne united a vast territory stretching from the Pyrenees to the Elbe, from the North Sea to central Italy. On Christmas Day 800, Pope Leo III crowned him emperor in Rome, proclaiming him the successor to the great Roman rulers. After his death in 814, the empire fragmented; the Treaty of Verdun (843) divided it into three parts that shaped the future contours of France, Germany and the Low Countries. Charlemagne is still regarded today as the “father of Europe.”

The map was designed by Petrus Bertius (1565–1629), a prominent Flemish-Dutch scholar and cartographer affiliated with Leiden University. Around 1620, Bertius moved to Paris, converted to Catholicism and was appointed Royal Cosmographer at the French court. The map was subsequently published by Willem Blaeu, the celebrated Amsterdam cartographer and publisher, whose atlases rank among the most renowned and beautifully executed cartographic works of the seventeenth century.

The elaborately decorated cartouche in the upper right carries a telling dedication: the map is addressed to Louis XIII of France, styled as ‘Rex, Victor, et Defensor Ecclesiae Christi‘ — King, Victor, and Defender of the Church of Christ. The choice is no coincidence. In the early seventeenth century, the comparison between Charlemagne and Louis XIII was a deliberate rhetorical instrument at the French court. France claimed direct historical succession to the Frankish Empire, and by dedicating his map to Louis XIII, Bertius cast the French king as the natural heir to Charlemagne’s glory. Blaeu, who with his great atlases sought to describe the entire world, understood the commercial and political value of this perfectly: a map presenting the most powerful ruler in Europe as the successor to Charlemagne was a prestigious object for the French elite.

The cartouche also contains a subtle chronogram — a humanist scholars’ game in which the capital letters in a text together form a date. The letters LVDoVICo, regI, VICtorI, et DefensorI eCCLesIae ChrIstI add up to 1623, presumably the year in which Bertius designed the map during his time at the Parisian court.

The coat of arms at the top of the cartouche, flanked by two putti, combines the black eagle of the Holy Roman Empire with the three golden fleurs-de-lis of the French royal house — a heraldic synthesis that perfectly encapsulates the map’s theme: the connection between the Frankish past and French royal ambition.

Price: Euro 650,-