Ortelius: HUNGARIAE DESCRIPTIO

The first detailed Renaissance map of Slovakia with the Slovak double cross on a triple hill was published in 1570, more than 100 years after the invention of the printing press, as part of the first world atlas with 53 maps.

Map title:

HUNGARIAE DESCRIPTIO

IHVNGARIAE DESCRIPTIO, WOLFGANGO LAZIO AVCT.

CUM PRIVILEGIO

English translation:

Description of the Kingdom of Hungary

Description of Hungary, author Wolfgang Lazius

With royal printing privilege

Author: Wolfgang Lazius (*1514, Vienna – †1565, Vienna), Viennese humanist scholar, historian and cartographer in the service of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor (from 1558).

Dimensions with frame: 67 × 74 cm. Original hand-colored engraving, professionally matted in a gold frame, under anti-reflective museum UV glass – well-preserved specimen.

This map is found in the collections of leading world institutions. Among others, in the British Library (London), Bibliothèque nationale de France (Paris), Österreichische Nationalbibliothek (Vienna), Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (Munich) and Library of Congress (Washington, D.C.). Many copies are also found in private collections.

The invention of printing in the mid-15th century.

In 1454–1455, Johannes Gutenberg printed the Bible, the first large-scale printed book in Europe, with a print run of approximately 160–180 copies. The price of a copy ranged from approximately 30 to 50 florins, which was about three times the annual income of a city official, and was therefore only affordable to the wealthiest members of society. After failing to repay his loan to his investor, Johann Fust, Gutenberg lost his printing press in 1455.

Approximately 48–49 copies (about 21 complete ones) have survived to this day. One of them was sold in New York in 1987 for approximately $5.5 million, which would be equivalent to about $13–14 million today; in the current market, the price of a complete copy could reach approximately $30 million.

Historical context:

The Battle of Mohács (August 29, 1526) marked a turning point in the history of the Kingdom of Hungary. The Hungarian army was defeated by the Ottoman Empire under the leadership of Sultan Suleiman I, and King Louis II Jagiellon was killed. Subsequently, the Kingdom of Hungary was divided. The Hungarian Kingdom subsequently split. A significant part of the state administration, church hierarchy, nobility, and intellectuals moved to the northern regions of the kingdom. The territory of present-day Slovakia (Upper Hungary) thus became the core of the Habsburg Kingdom of Hungary. In 1536, Bratislava (Pressburg/Posonium/Pozsony) became the capital and coronation city of the Kingdom of Hungary and the seat of the Hungarian Diet; during the coronations of Hungarian kings between 1563 and 1830, 11 kings and 8 queens were crowned here.

Komárno, Nové Zámky, Fiľakovo, Košice, and Levice (today regional and almost unknown cities) formed an important part of the defensive system of royal Hungary on the border with the territories conquered by the Turks in the 16th century. They were among the strategic fortresses discussed at royal courts and in armies throughout the Christian world because they were part of the anti-Turkish defense line of what is now Slovakia (then Upper Hungary).

The Slovak coat of arms – its origin

Its origin can be seen in the heraldic representation on the map: in the upper left corner is the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Hungary, vertically divided into red and white stripes and a field with a white double cross (in the historical variant on this map with three bars) rising from three hills, which in modern Slovak historiography are identified with the Tatra, Fatra, and Matra, i.e., with the territory of present-day Slovakia. This symbol was part of the heraldry of the Kingdom of Hungary and in modern times became the basis for the current national emblem of the Slovak Republic.

In Slavic interpretation, the double cross is traditionally associated with the Cyril and Methodius mission and the symbolism of Saints Cyril and Methodius. In Hungarian heraldic tradition, the double cross is understood as the apostolic cross of the Kingdom of Hungary, expressing the Christian legitimacy of royal power. The three-armed form on this map may represent a contemporary variant of the apostolic cross; its form is visually similar to the papal triple cross, which may have increased the sacred and symbolic significance of the image, but this is not direct evidence of the deliberate use of the papal heraldic symbol.

A "mysterious" hidden message in the map

Roughly in the middle of the map, Wolfgang Lazius inserted the following Latin text:

"VERTHES monſ hungaricie BATON germanice dem Schikberg quod Henrici III imp. iussu caſtrametatum ... contra Belam Hungarie Rege ... famieg preſum relictis ſcutis caſtra deſeruiffe."

English translation:

"Vértes, a Hungarian hill, called Schikberg in German, which Emperor Henry III had fortified against the Hungarian king Béla; however, the soldiers allegedly abandoned the camp due to hunger and left their shields behind." Wolfgang Lazius, the author of this map, was not just a cartographer. He was a humanist. And he knew what he was doing. He put stories into his maps. Memories. Symbols. Such texts are not decoration. They are a statement. They remind us that the country has a history and that the Kingdom of Hungary has its own experience of resistance. The hidden reference to Vértes is not accidental. At a time when Ottoman troops – "pagan hordes" – in armies numbering tens of thousands and often more than a hundred thousand men repeatedly attacked the southern borders of the kingdom, these borders gradually shifted to the territory of present-day Slovakia. It was here that the defensive line of Upper Hungary was created. The kingdom's defenses were concentrated on the Vienna-Bratislava-Komárno-Nové Zámky-Fiľakovo-Levice-Košice line. This is where the border was held. This is where survival was decided.