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Beautiful battle map by Matthaus Seutter depicting the 1718 siege of Milazzo, a strategic fortress in Sicily, during the War of the Quadruple Alliance.
The War of the Quadruple Alliance (1718-1720) was a conflict that pitted Spain against an alliance of Austria, France, Great Britain, and the Dutch Republic. The war was largely sparked by Spanish attempts to regain territories in Italy that it had lost to Austria in earlier treaties.
In 1718, Spanish forces, as part of their broader military efforts to reclaim Sicilian territories, laid siege to Milazzo, a crucial fortification on the island. The defense of Milazzo was undertaken by forces loyal to Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI. Despite the strong offensive by the Spanish, the fortress was tenaciously and successfully defended by the Imperial forces. This defense helped to thwart Spanish ambitions in Sicily and played a part in the broader context of their eventual failure to secure a foothold in Italy during this conflict. The siege and its defense underscored the military and strategic importance of Sicilian fortresses in the power dynamics of Mediterranean Europe during the early 18th century.
Matthäus Seutter (1678-1757) was a prominent German mapmaker in the mid-eighteenth century. Initially apprenticed to a brewer, he trained as an engraver under Johann Baptist Homann in Nuremburg before setting up shop in his native Augsburg. In 1727 he was granted the title Imperial Geographer. His most famous work is Atlas Novus Sive Tabulae Geographicae, published in two volumes ca. 1730, although the majority of his maps are based on earlier work by other cartographers like the Homanns, Delisles, and de Fer.
Alternative spellings: Matthias Seutter, Mathaus Seutter, Matthaeus Seutter, Mattheus Seutter
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