^{This unit was developed by Mindaugas Šapoka   Bibliography   Didactic Comments}

Information Text   Source Sheet   Worksheet

 

1. Vilnius (Vilna) appears generally in the maps of Europe and world in the first part of the 16^th century

1.1.  Carta Marina – an important cartographical source

In 1539 a huge map, depicting North-east regions of Europe, was printed in Venice. This map shows Sweden, and the countries, seas around it. The map was prepared by Swedish Olaus Magnus. It took 12 years for him to finish the map. This map has a very long name in latin, which begins with the words „Carta Marina“. These two words are often used as a common name for this cartographical masterpiece.

   The original name of the map

URL: http://bell.lib.umn.edu/map/OLAUS/MAP/indexm.html

URL: http://bell.lib.umn.edu/map/OLAUS/MAP/words.html

Digitalized by The James Ford Bell Library at the University of Minnesota

This map was not used as a simple cartoscheme, it’s unique.There are only two copies left of this map in the world. One of the copies is kept in Munich (Germany) and it was scanned by James Ford Bell Library, University of Minnesota (USA).

   Olaus Magnus’ Map „Carta Marina“

URL: http://bell.lib.umn.edu/map/OLAUS/lgolaus.html

Digitalized by The James Ford Bell Library at the University of Minnesota

The digital copy of this map is used in the system of Wikipedia.

„Carta Marina“ in Wikimedia and Wikipedia

URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Carta_Marina.jpeg

URL for Full resolution: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/Carta_Marina.jpeg

Comment: This is a featured picture, which means that members of the community have identified it as one of the finest images on the English Wikipedia, adding significantly to its accompanying article.

Another copy of the map, which is kept at the University of Uppsala Library in Sweden, is also scanned by Finns with the help of foreign scientists. You can also find this copy on the internet.

Carta Marina with Zooming Function

URL: http://cipher.uiah.fi/forum/materials/carta_marina/map/carta_marina/

Carta Marina, Map from 1539

Text, © Margareta Lindgren 2003
URL: http://cipher.uiah.fi/forum/materials/carta_marina?lang=en

In 1572 a copy of the map was printed by Italian Publisher Antonio Lafreri. It is kept in Royal Library in Stockholm. This copy is also available on the internet.

Edition from 1572, digitalized by the Royal Library in Stockholm

URL: http://ds.kb.se/?mapp=5&fil=kartor/CartaMarina1572_auto
Instruction: You can use a zoom function by clicking on the map.

Facsimile of Lafreri's copy in 1572

URL: http://cipher.uiah.fi/forum/materials/carta_marina/maps/one_map/3b_lafreri.jpg

Carta Marina – a detailed map

James Ford Bell Library, University of Minnesota wrote about this map: „It was the first large-scale map of any European region“.

URL: http://bell.lib.umn.edu/map/OLAUS/indexo.html

From „The Daily Telegraph“, May 4, 2004

„The Carta Marina took 12 years to complete and contains an extraordinary amount of information. The list of towns, lakes and regions is far more comprehensive than any map before well into the 17th century“.

URL: http://www.npm.ac.uk/rsdas/projects/carta_marina/telegraph_carta_marina_article.png

Tasks

1. Take a notice how many cities are depicted in Carta Marina.

2. Find the city of Vilnius (Vilna) in the map.

3. Compare Carta Marina to other earlier maps you know. Take a notice, that you can‘t find so many details and cities in any other prior map of Europe.

1.2. Prior Maps of Europe

Map from the Schedel’s Book, 1493

URL: http://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Bild:Schedelsche_Weltchronik_d_287.jpg 
URL: http://portal.unesco.org/ci/photos/showphoto.php/photo/4024/size/big/cat/ 

URL: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/Nuremberg_chronicles_-_map_2.png
URL: http://cipher.uiah.fi/forum/materials/carta_marina/maps/one_map/2_schedels.jpg

Map from Terrae Sanctae quam Palestinam nominant, Syriae, Arabiae, Aegypti & Scondiae ..., by Jacob Ziegler (1471-1549). Strassburg 1536. (1st edition 1532.)

URL: http://cipher.uiah.fi/forum/materials/carta_marina/maps/one_map/3_schondia.jpg

Tasks

Find Vilnius (Vilna) in the map from 1536.

1.3. Vilnius (Vilna) in Carta Marina

Carta Marina is a unique source of information in the History of Lithuania. You can see a large part of Grand Duchy of Lithuania and its capital Vilnius in this map.

Part from „Carta Marina“

http://bell.lib.umn.edu/map/OLAUS/SEC/isect.html

Tasks

What kind of information can be found in the map, showing that Vilnius was one of the important cities in the Eastern Europe?

2. Vilnius (Vilna) in the world maps

The historical sources show that Vilnius appears in the maps of Europe in the 4^th decade of the 16^th century. When did Vilnius appear in the maps of the world? We don’t know the exact answer, but take a notice that Vilnius (Vilna) was marked in the globe of Gerard Mercator (produced in 1541). This globe depicts all the world, known to the people of those days. The globe was scanned by Harvard College Library. The material can also be found on the internet.

Mercator Globes Online Exhibit

URL: http://hcl.harvard.edu/libraries/maps/exhibits/mercator/main.html

Instruction: View the Terrestrial Globe

Tasks

Find the city of Vilnius (Vilna) in the globe of Mercator.

View with Zoom function:
http://ids.lib.harvard.edu/ids/view/1414731?buttons=y&returnurl=http://hcl.harvard.edu/maps/exhibits/mercator/terrestrial/index.html 

Facsimile:
http://ids.lib.harvard.edu/ids/view/1414808?height=1000&width=1000&rotation=0

3. Vilnius and Jagiellonian Europe

Map of Jagiellonian Europe:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e9/Jagiellon_Realm.png

Map of modern Eastern Europe:

http://z.about.com/d/goeasteurope/1/0/w/-/-/-/revised-eastern-europe-map.jpg

Tasks

What countries which exists now in modern Europe was under the rule of Jagiellonian dynasty in the start of the 16^th century?

4. Lithuania – the largest state in Europe in 16th century?

Turning the Pages™ in British Library and magnify the details

URL: http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/ttp/ttpbooks.html

Instruction 1: Please select First Atlas of Europe Compiled by Mercator in the 1570s

Instruction 2: See Pages 93 and 94

Instruction 3: With Magnify Tool find Vilna

Instruction 4: Push Audio Button and hear out comment

Instruction 5: Push Text Button and read the text

Map Polen nach der Lubliner Union 1569 und vor dem Frieden von Oliva

In: Gustav Droysen. Allgemeiner historischer Handatlas in 96 Karten mit erläuterndem Text. Bielefeld [u.a.]: Velhagen & Klasing, 1886

URL: http://www.mgh-bibliothek.de/cgi-bin/droysen.pl?karte=734

Tasks

1. What is your opinion about the idea of the British Library analyst that after the union with Poland in 1569 Lithuania has become the largest country in Europe?

2. What is your opinion about the 19th century Droysen atlas where Polish and Lithuanian Commonwealth is called Poland (Polen)?

3. Isn’t it better to say that during the last decades of the 16th century Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was the largest European country?

5. How the Grand Dukes of Lithuania were crowned (1492)

An excerpt from the description how the Grand dukes of Lithuania were crowned

Soon after the death of king Casimir, Lithuanian nobles gathered to a meeting in Vilnius […] Casimir’s son – Alexander – according to his father’s will and request was elected as a Grand Duke of Lithuania in Vilnius Castle and the Poles were not informed about that. The coronation was usual, according to the tradition: Grand Duke’s crown with pearls and gems was put on his head […]. Then Lithuania’s marshal, according to the old custom, took the bare sword and gave it to the Grand Duke. Marshal said: “Your Majesty, You have been elected as our Duke and Leader, take this sword and rule us, and remember that you are the Chief in this Duchy, which is the more important than other empires and kingdoms”.

The description is taken from M. Bielski. Kronika Polska. – Krakow, 1597.

Tasks

1. What can be perceived about the relations between the Grand Duke and his subjects?

2. The parliament in Lithuanian is called the Seimas. In such meetings the Grand Dukes of Lithuania were elected. As such Lithuania can be regarded as on of the first constitutional monarchies in Europe. What other countries in Europe does have a similar form of government in our days?

3. Only the most powerful members of gentry could take part in the elections of Grand Dukes of Lithuania in the 16^th century. Can these elections be called democratic?