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On The Eve of the Cologne War (1583–1588)

Extremely rare map of the region around Cologne, drawn by Frisian map maker Cornelio Adgero and published in Cologne by Frans Hogenberg.

This detailed map, titled Coloniensis Dioecesis Typus, was created by Cornelius Adgerus, a surveyor and mathematician from Friesland, and published by Frans Hogenberg in Cologne in 1583. The map provides an intricate depiction of the Archbishopric of Cologne, one of the most significant ecclesiastical territories within the Holy Roman Empire during the 16th century.

The map itself serves as a visual representation of the ecclesiastical and territorial integrity of the Archbishopric of Cologne at a time of significant religious conflict. The precise detailing of towns, rivers, and fortifications reflects the strategic and religious importance of the region during a century of profound transformation. The map includes the archiepiscopal coat of arms below the title.

The Archbishopric of Cologne was one of the seven electorates of the Holy Roman Empire, giving the Archbishop of Cologne a significant role in the election of the Holy Roman Emperor. The region was deeply entwined with the broader religious and political upheavals of the 16th century, particularly the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Counter-Reformation.

During the early 16th century, Cologne remained a stronghold of Catholicism, even as Protestantism spread rapidly throughout other parts of Germany. The city of Cologne itself was a bastion of Catholic doctrine and was one of the few major cities in the Holy Roman Empire to resist the Reformation. The archbishops of Cologne were staunch defenders of the Catholic faith, and the region became a center for the Counter-Reformation efforts led by the Jesuits.

One of the most notable archbishops during this period was Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg, who served as Archbishop of Cologne from 1577 to 1583. His tenure was marked by controversy when he converted to Calvinism and attempted to secularize the archbishopric, leading to the Cologne War (1583–1588), a conflict that drew in various European powers and had significant ramifications for the region. Gebhard's attempt to maintain control as a Protestant archbishop was ultimately unsuccessful, and he was deposed in 1583, the same year this map was published.

The text in Latin at the bottom of the map translates as follows:

Since chorography is the art that deals with the description of certain significant and unique places, which are depicted on a plane, therefore called a map or chart, representing cities, villages, districts, mountains, valleys, rivers, etc., that are shown therein in accurate geometrical proportion; thus far, on the map of this most noble and renowned Archbishopric of Cologne, places described by this art are no more precisely depicted than if you were to observe them painted by a person without any measurement. Indeed, on the occasion of the present calamity, while I am here as an exile and wanderer, I have desired to delineate this map with more careful chorographic detail, prompted by both friends and the venerable lords of this chapter, to depict in the same color those things which pertain to the current chapter, etc.