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The Most Valuable Cartographic Items from the Collection of the Jagiellonian Library and their Impact on Scientific Research

Jadwiga Bzinkowska, The Jagiellonian Library, Cracow

© LIBER and author
Published from: The LIBER Quarterly 2(1992)1

Origins and nature of the collections
Ear1ier studies concerning the history of the Jagiellonian Library have shown that the University (founded in 1364) acquired the first manuscript copies of books and manuals. The oldest manuscripts are copies of treatises and university lectures. The first maps, accompanying medieval treatises, were the circular 'mappae mundi', whose information content and symbo1ic value is not yet clear. For instance: out of a dozen or so 'mappae mundi' identified in Po1ish libraries, the Jagiellonian Library possesses the oldest, in the 1453 manuscript of Joannes Hispalensis, Quadripartitum, page 186 verso. This is the oldest 'mappae mundi' including the name POLONIA. Despite excellent studies conducted by Marcel Destombes (Mappe mundes A.D.1200-1300, Amsterdam 1964) the symbo1ic representation of the character T (Tau) in circular maps has not been explained so far. Circular maps accompany medieval texts from the 6th to the 15th Century, and an understanding of their function with regard to the text would be a vital supplement to our knowledge of the cartography of those times.

The Jagiellonian Library boasts one of the most valuable cartographical relics, a manuscript 'Cosmography' by Claudius Ptolemaeus (call number 7805.V. rkps) (Picture 1) of ca. 1465-1475, which includes 27 maps without text. The provenance of this object remains a mystery, but the old call number preserved on the front-paper is evidence that it has been owned by the University for a very long time. The names and inscriptions on the maps represent the early humanistic style of handwriting. There is an unconfirmed hypothesis that it is the handwriting of the famous Polish historiographer, Jan Dlugosz, who might have brought Ptolemy's manuscript to Cracow from Italy.

The translation of Ptolemy's Geography into Latin about 1410 gave Europe access to the cartographic knowledge of ancient people. In the 15th and 16th Centuries, several dozen editions of Ptolemy's work were pub1ished. About 1490 there was a particular interest in Ptolemy at Cracow University. The catalogue by W.Wislocki, Incunabula Typographica Bib1iothecae Universitatis Jagelonice Cracoviensis, Cracovie 1900, lists ten incunabula editions of Ptolemy, seven of which have been preserved in the collection of the Jagiellonian Library. These are: the Ulm edition of 1482 (wood engraving), four Ulm editions of 1486 (wood engraving), one ltalian edition of 1490 (copperplate engraving). Out of the total of nine incunabula editions listed by the Central Catalogue of Cartographical Collections in Poland, seven are in the possession of the Jagiellonian Library. We also have twelve editions of Ptolemy's Geography from the 16th century, of 1511, 1513, 1514, 1522, 1525, 1535, 1540, 1542, 1545, 1552, 1554, 1562. Of the total of 93 copies of Ptolemy's Geography from the 15th and 16th Centuries, nineteen are in the Jagiellonian Library, the most complete collection in Poland.

The Cracow followers of Ptolemy included an outstanding man, the professor of cosmography and philosophy Jan of Glogow. It is known that in ca. 1495 he was using a map to demonstrate the situation of mountains, rivers and towns to his disciples. He was also aware of the Portuguese discoveries and mentioned the expedition of Bartolomeo Diaz. His comments, in the form of annotations or fragments of lectures are included in the notes found in the Ulm edition of Ptolemy's Geography of 1486 (Inc.821 Oddzial Starych Drukow). It is one of the oldest examples for the use of an atlas in university lectures. Jan of Glogow was also the author of the dissertation revealing his knowledge of geographical discoveries, Introductorium compendiosum in tractatum sphere materialis J .de Sacrobusto of 1506, in which he was the first man in Polish literature to mention the discovery of America, even before the edition of Martin Waldseemuller Cosmography in 1507.

We can conclude that the notes made by Jan of Glogow are the source of knowledge for the history of teaching at the Jagiellonian University, as well as the history of science in general. His remarks about the discoveries of new lands are also important for the studies on the reception of geographical discoveries in old Poland. The research is mainly being done by the Department of History, Science and Education at the Polish Academy of Sciences. A good example of the synthesized results of studies may be the book by Romuald Wroblewski, The knowledge of America in Renaissance Poland, Warszawa, 1977, PAN lnstytut Historii.

I would also like to mention the 16th century editions of Ptolemy's Geography, which were developed to become the foundation of modern regional cartography. Doubtless, the first printed maps with the indication of America are most important here.

The 16th century editions of Ptolemy's Geography are also important, starting from the Rome 1507 edition, because they include 'tabulae modernae' of Poland. The Tabula moderna Poloniae, Ungariae, Boemiae, Germaniae, Russiae, Lithuaniae at a scale of ca. 1:4,000,000, is the first modern map of Poland based on Polish sources. It was compiled in cooperation with Bernard Wapowski - the father of Polish cartography. The beginning of the 16th Century may justly be called the birth-time of Polish cartography for at least two reasons.

In 1512, in Florian Ungler's printing office in Cracow, appeared the first printed maps. A booklet by Jan of Stobnica, Professor of the Jagiellonnian University, Introduction in Ptolomei Cosmographiam, Cracovie 1512 - contained 2 maps, of the eastern hemisphere and of the western hemisphere, with the marked South American continent. The maps were modelled on the vignettes from the map of the world by Martin Waldseemuller, annexed to his work Cosmographiae Introductio published in Saint Die in 1507. At the present time, maps by Jan of Stobnica are a great rarity. They have not been preserved in the Cracow copy and are only known from the University Library in Vienna, the National Library in Munich, and the John Carter Brown Library in Providence, U.SA.

The second reason for the significance of this period is the activity of Bernard Wapowski. He co-operated with Mark Baneventano in editing the Rome 'Geography', when Wapowski was studying in Bologna after completing his studies at the Jagielonian University. He was then also on friendly terms with Copernicus, with whom he kept in touch for many years. In 1513-1526 Wapowski settled in Cracow, where he held the office of secretary to King Sigismund the Old. It was then that he worked on the first modern maps, which was undoubtedly connected with his civil and political duties. From the text of the privilege granted by the King to Florian Ungler on October 18th 1526 we learn that 2 maps appeared in his printing office: Southern Sarmatia (Old Poland) and Northern Sarmatia. (For the text of the privilege see K.Buczek, The History of Polish Cartography from the 15th to 18th century, Wroclaw, Warszawa, Kraków 1966, p.32). We also known that he had completed the map of Poland to the scale of 1:1,000,000, in which he most probably used the coordinates for the towns and villages in the North of Poland sent him by Copernicus. Unfortunately the maps by Wapowski were burnt in the great fire which destroyed Ungler's printing office and storehouse in 1528, and most probably none of them survived.

However, we cannot say for certain that some maps did not leave the printing office before the fire and remain unidentified in some European libraries. We would be very grateful for any information on this subject. In 1932, Kazimierz Piekarski discovered 8 fragments of the proofs of Wapowski's maps, preserved in the binding of the Bochnia Salt Mines archival books in the Central Archives of Old Files in Warsaw. We known these fragments from the facsimile copies preserved in the edition of Monumenta Poloniae Cartographica, Ed.C.Buczek, Wydawnictwo PAU, Kraków 1939. The original fragments were burnt during the Warsaw uprising in autumn 1944. It should be mentioned that, besides the map of Poland, Bernard Wapowski was by 1533 also working on the maps of Scandinavia, Inflanty and the Duchy of Moscow. Unfortunately he did not complete them.

The 16th Century also saw the arrival of Polish cartography on the European market, in the pages of atlases published by Abraham Ortelius and Gerard Mercator. Ortelius's Theatrum Orbis Terrarum included in the additions of 1570-1592 the map by Waclaw Grodecki Polomae finitimarumque locorum descriptio Auctore Wenceslao Godreccio Polono, which is the most popular 16th century map of Poland from the Jagiellonian dynasty. The other map of Poland at this time was Poloma et Silesia by Gerard Mercator, published in the collection Germaniae tabulae geographicae Per Gerardum Mercatorem, Duisburg 1585.

This image of Poland survived till the second half of the 17th Century, when it was superseded by the maps of Nicholas Sanson d' Abbeville (Etats de la Couronne de Pologne ou sont les Roylaum de Pololgne...1655 to a scale of ca. 1:3,000,000) and Wilhelm Le Vasseur de Beauplan. Their maps were used until the beginning of King Stanislaus Augustus' reign, over 100 years, as a basis for many variations. N. Sanson d' Abbeville's cartographic representation of Poland gained greater popularity than those of Beauplan's, which, as strictly secret military maps, did not become known abroad. It must be noted, however, that Sansonian maps distorted considerably the parallels in Poland in the area of the Great Duchy of Lithuania (by about 2° of latitude), and diminished the area of Great Poland (Wielkopolska). The new, reformed image of Poland was presented by two maps of Beauplan: Nova totius Regini polomae Magnique Ducatus Lithuaniae cum suis Palatinatibus... 1651, ca. 1:7,000,000, and the second, smaller, Nova totius Regini Poloniae Magnique. Ducatus Lithuaniae cum suis Palatinatibus ac Confiniis exacta delineatio per G. Le Vasseur de Beauplan S.R.M Architecturn militarem et Capitaneum, S.Hondius S.R.M. Chalcographus Sculp. Gedani 1652, ca. 1:14,000,000.

Wilhelm de Vasseur de Beauplan, a French engineer and cartographer, was invited to Poland by King Ladislaus IV. Between 1630 and 1647 he served in the Polish army on the eastern borderland, where he was working on the art of fortification and mapping. He completed the pioneer maps of the Ukraine, of which the following are found in the cartographic collection of the Jagielonnian Library: Delineatio generalis camporum desertorum vulgo Ukraina cum adjacentibus privinciis: Gedanii Guilhelmus Hondius 1648, ca. 1:1,000,000 (call number M 53/32), and Delineatio Specialis et accurata Ukrainae cum suis palatinatibus ac districtibus provinciis que adiscentibus ... Gedani 1650, W.Hondius, ca. 1:463,000, 8 sheets (call number M 53/14). Beauplan's maps of Ukraine in the cartographic depiction of Poland are of major importance. The most significant achievement is the diminishing of the distance between the meridians of the Baltic and Black Sea isthmus and the widening of the distance between parallels. Beauplan's map of Poland is better known in a variation by Gerard and Leonard Valk, from atlases edited in Amsterdam at the beginning of the 18th Century. Maps produced by Beauplan are of crucial importance for the reconstruction of military operations on the eastern borderland, as they were specially made for military purposes, for the hetmans, and were based on surveys. They provide a picture of what is called the 'theatre of war operations' which is constituted of physiographical elements. It is also significant that Beauplan's maps mark dense forest areas as different from parks, whereas previous maps noted only parks.

Beauplan's maps reveal information on the network of fortifications. Beauplan is the author of the first, detailed river map, the map of the Dnieper (widely known from J.Blaeu Atlas maior Amsterdam, 1662. The map is entitled Tractatus Borysthenis vulgo Dniepr...). It provides information on rapids, fords and Cossack settlements on the banks and characteristic textual, descriptive notes about the military organisation of Cossacks and Tartars.

Polish military cartography and the activity of King Ladislaus IV was, apart from Beauplan, connected with the works of Fryderyk Getkant (died in 1666), a military engineer, artilleryman and cartographer of German origin. He was brought to Poland to work on the problems of national defence, and, strictly speaking, on the King's maritime interests.

When considering the development of Polish cartography in the 18th Century, we must in the first place mention a four-sheet map to a scale of 1:1,240,000, accomplished by an unknown author and engraved by Bartlomiej Folino, an Italian in Polish military service. He was a captain of artillery and a drawing-master in the school of artillery. The map was prepared for King Stanislaus Augustus and entitled Carte generale et nouveile de tout t [!] la Pologne du Grand Duche de Lithuanie et des pais limitrofes, Varsovie, 1770. It did not, however, play any major part, since it included numerous mistakes (too many lakes, wrong course of the Dzwina river, etc.) Its contribution was the network of roads and the depiction of post routes. The second multi-sheet map made during the reign of King Stanislaus Augustus was called Regni Poloniae, Magni Ducatus Lituaniae, Provinciarum Foedere et Vassallagio Illis Junctarum et Regionum Vicinarum Nova Mappa Geographica, Joanne Jacobo Kanter Bibliopola. Regiomonti 1770, ca. 1:675,000 and dedicated to the Prussian Prince Henry, with a beautiful vignette by Daniel Chodowiecki. In spite of its Prussian provenance, the map is rather of Polish origin and is based on Polish materials. It was edited in Krolewiec (Konigsberg) in 1770 by a renowned bookseller, Jan Jakub Kanter. The map was most probably published by the order of the Board of the Crown Exchequer and it is supposed that the royal geographer Jan Bakalowicz took part in its preparation. The first detailed map of Poland, ca 1:692,000, was the map in 24 sheets by G. Antoni Rizzi-Zannoni (1736-1814), an Italian who produced it for Duke Jozef A. Jablonowski, based upon the cartographic materials collected by him. It took 20 years to complete, and several well-known cartographers, such as Saint Hillary and Florian Czaki were employed in this. It was finally edited by Zannoni in London in 1772, but engraved in Paris. Its title was Carte de la Pologne dividé par Provinces et Palatinats et subdivisée par districts ...1772 (Picture 3.). Reprinted several times, it was used for military purposes by Napoleon's army in 1806. The map was surveyed to a small scale and abounds in errors. On the other hand it excels in the richness of its contents and mathematical principles (the mean error 4 to 13). The Crown voivodships are depicted more faithfully than Lithuania and Inflanty. Karol de Perthees (1739-1817), of a French family resident in Dresden, was a cartographer by appointment to King Stanislaus Augustus and his chief cartographer. It was mainly de Perthees who corrected and completed the cartographic image of Poland. His most interesting work is the manuscript Polonia Secundum Legitimas Proiectionis stereographicae Regulas et luxta Recentissimas Observationes Adhibitis. Carol Perthees..Anno 1770, scale of ca. 1:934,000. I wi1l not discuss this map here, as it is in the possession of the National Library in Warsaw. Perthees' detailed maps may also be ranked among his most interesting works. Although they cannot equal contemporary topographic maps based on triangulation, they may have been used for military purposes, as they indicate the full network of rivers, settlements and roads, and are free from cardinal errors. We have five such maps in the collections of the Jagiellonian Library. These are maps of five voivodships: Cracow, Lublin, Plock, Rawa, and Sandomierz.

Attempts to publish a topographic map of Poland were realized only in the first half of the 19th century. Work was started by the topographers of the General Headquarters of Logistics of the Polish Army in 1822. The map, entitled a Topographic map of the Polish Kingdom, was eventually edited 20 years later, in 1843 with the date of 1839 and to a scale of 1:126,000, with Russian and Polish inscriptions on the title page (as the Russian topographers took part in the preparation). It is a novelty that on the Topographic Map of the Polish Kingdom there are marked churches, chapels and road crosses. On Prussian maps, for example, there is only one symbol denoting all these. There are also five kinds of fords compared with two kinds on Prussian maps. The introduction of different symbols for wooden houses and brick buildings is also an innovation. Of great value is the indication of manor houses, farmsteads, mills, many local names of hamlets and farms. The weakest point of the map is the presentation of relief, often quite inaccurate.

The Topographic Map of the Polish Kingdom represents the highest achievement in the publication of a topographic map of Poland. Later maps, from the second half of the 19th Century, were generally based on the Topographic Map of the Polish Kingdom. For example, the atlas by W. Chrzanowski, called the Map of Old Poland with Adjacent Territories of Neighbouring countries, edited in Paris, in 1859, was based on cartographic works of the invaders, that is on maps by Liesganing, Egelhardt, Schubert and on the Topographic Map of the Polish Kingdom. The characteristic feature of the development of the 19th Century cartography is the appearance of detailed maps in large scale and specialist maps. The geological map prepared by Stanislaw Staszic, Carta geologica totius Poloniae, Moldaviae, Transilvaniae, et partes Hungariae et Valachiae, ca 1:1,200,000, was the first Polish specialist map. It was edited in Warsaw in the form of an atlas, annexed to Staszic's work On the Natural Resources of the Carpathians (O ziemiorodztwie Karpatow), Warsaw 1815. The map provides the notation of geological formations and, as a supplement, the geological cross-section of Poland as well as palaeontological tables.

I will finish this consideration of the monuments of cartography from the collection of the Jagiellonian Library, to say a few words about their use. The Department of Cartography of the Jagiellonian Library has presented its collection at four big exhibitions abroad and several in Poland. Exhibitions abroad included: Schallaburg (Austria), Bochum (Federal Republic of Germany), Budapest (Hungary) and Prague (Czechoslovakia). One of the most interesting was the great historical panoramic exhibition of cultural and scientific life in 16th Century Poland, called Poland under the reign of the Jagiellonian dynasty 1386-1572. The exhibition in 1984 at the Clementinum Library in Prague was entitled Historie a soucasnost polske kartografie (that is 'Old and contemporary Polish Cartography'). The exhibition in Budapest was organized in 1983 in the Institute of Geography at the Budapest University. It was also called Old and Contemporary Polish Cartography.

Exhibitions in Poland
Kraków- Collegium Maius
In 1981, an exhibition and seminar were organized in the Collegium Maius, to commemorate the 350th anniversary of the foundation of the first Department of Geodesy at the Jagiellonian University, and in Poland. The title was Department of Applied Geometry at the Cracow Academy in the 17th and 18th Centuries. The documents collected for the exhibition were connected with the foundation of the Department, the work of its professors and graduates, as well as with the beginnings of geodesy teaching before the creation of the Department.

The Jagiellonian Library in Cracow
On the occasion of the 11th International Conference of Cartography organized by the International Cartographic Association, the research workers from the Department of Cartography of the Jagiellonian Library organized the exhibition Old Cartograpbic Rarities and Curiosities from the Collections in the Cracovian Libraries and Museums (There is a Xeroxed, simple catalogue). It was the biggest cartographic exposition ever organized in our library. The number of cartograpbic items displayed amounted to 68. The exhibits represented the oldest and most interesting 'cartographica' from the collection of the Jagiellonian Library. There were examples of manuscripts and incunabula, both Polish and foreign, from the Middle Ages to the 19th century.
The exhibits were divided into 5 groups:

Kraków -Wawel
1983 - exhibition at the Wawel Castle commemorating the 300th anniversary of the Battle of Vienna (1683-1983) at which were displayed Beauplan's maps, the plan of Kamieniec Podolski and the plan of the battle of Zorawno by Joannes Rode.

Szczecin
1985 - exhibition called the Treasures of National Culture.

Kielce
In 1987 the National Museum in Kielce organized the exhibition entitled The Work of Stanislaw Staszic. Among numerous exhibits concerning the development of mining in the Swietokrzyskie Mountains. in the 18th Century, there were also editions of Staszic's works, dissertations about Staszic, the 19th Century manuscripts dealing with the problems of ironworks in this region, the School of Mining in Kielce and the history of the Kielce district.

Individual lending
Maps are accessible only on consultation in the reading room. Our help is mostly necessary in the identification of old names for linguistic, historical or geographical purposes. The maps of Galicia are often lent to students, scientists, design-officers, research institutes, and local authorities. With this I am closing my reflections on the utilization of old maps from the collection of the Jagiellonian Library, though I have to remark that the subject has not been covered completely, and that there are still many details concerning the use of antiquarian maps which could be studied further .

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