Nieuwe af Teeckeninge van het eylandt schut ende om liggende steden en fortressen (New Drawing/Map of the Island of SchĂĽtt and Surrounding Cities and Fortresses).
The “Eylandt Schut” (known today as Ĺ˝itnĂ˝ ostrov in Slovakia / CsallĂłköz in Hungary) is a massive river island bounded by the Danube River, the Little Danube, and the Váh River. In the 1600s, this island was the absolute military epicentre of Central Europe.The fortress town of Komora (Komárno) sits right at the eastern tip of the island, while Raab (GyĹ‘r) guards the southern river branches.
Jacobus Peeters was a prominent 17th-century Antwerp print publisher who took older geographic military plates (including those created by the de Jode or Meyssens workshops) and re-issued them as a cohesive atlas celebrating the military campaigns against the Ottoman Empire.
The beautiful engraving lines on the plate itself were executed by his master engravers, such as Gaspard Bouttats.
The engraving is a beautiful example of 17th-century military propaganda and cartography. It was sold to a Dutch-speaking public in Flanders and the Netherlands who were eagerly tracking the border wars between the Holy Roman Empire and the Turks. The map explicitly zeroes in on SchĂĽtt Island as the strategic buffer zone keeping Vienna safe from invasion.
