Tocquay, over Doggey, fortezza inespugabile ne Confini d'Ongheria & Transilvania…

The siege of Tokay in 1565

This is a so-called “broadsheet map” - a term coined by Roberto Almagià to refer to maps created to document a specific event - depicting the conquest of Tokay, under Ottoman rule, by the imperial army led by Maximilian II of Habsburg in 1565.

TOCQUAY, over DOGGEY, fortezza inespugabile ne Confini d’ Ongheria, & Transilvania, Circha 30, leghe dila da Buda, fra doi fiumi presa da Massimiliano Imp. L’anno 1565. per Lazaro fanswendi, suo Capitano & General nella detta jmpresa fatta sop’il giaccio con 33. Pecci d’Artiglierie, mettera basso li rampari & in due assalti presa & guadagnata nel termine de 4 giorni, trovorno nella detta fortezza denari & munitio[ni ] da guerra. Domenico Zenoi f.

Example of the first state of four, according Bifolco/Ronca (Tav. 552) before Giovanni Francesco Camocio’s address. The map was reprinted, unchanged, first by Camocio and then by Donato Bertelli - who bought the plates from Camocio's his death in the plague of 1574.

“Perspective map showing the fortress of Tokay, during the imperial conquest of 1565. The occupation of Tokaj was the first event to be depicted in a large number of engravings published in Vienna, Paris and Venice, immediately after its occurrence. Between these etchings, the work of Zenoi is of particular interest because it represents the first view of a Hungarian fortress engraved on copper. In 1565 Emperor Maximilian, taking advantage of the fact that the Turks were occupied in the Mediterranean, took possession of both Tokay that Szerencs, belonging to the Transylvania of Prince John Sigismund Zápolya, vassal state of the Turks, created by the sultan Suleiman the Magnificent around 1550. The success of the operation was facilitated by Lazarus Freiherr von Schwendi, one of the best commanders and military strategists of the time, who were engaged in the Hungarian wars from 1565 to 1568. The reconquest of Tokaj, as that of Szatmár, was of particular importance, since from 1560 onwards, Upper Hungary had two functions: it served as a bastion defensive not only against the Ottomans but also against the vassal state of the Turks, or the Principality of Transylvania. The fortification of Tokaj, on a pentagonal base bastioned at the corners, was designed by Francesco da Pozzo in 1556. Through cooperation between the Court War Council and the Hungarian landowners, a new system was established within the sixth decade of the sixteenth century defense of borders in Hungary and Croatia. Carrier of the system was the line of frontier fortresses that extended from the sea Adriatic up to Transylvania, created by identifying a series of defense zones which, also due to the characteristics of the territory, as well as for ethnic and political affinities, they could form a homogeneous defensive network. The old castles were reinforced with modern fortresses designed mostly by Italian military architects. This chain of 100-120 fortresses of different sizes, was divided into six Generalates of border (Grenzgeneralat). Each generalate was under the command of a general border captain: the generalate of Croatia and the Adriatic; Slavonia and the Sell; of Canisia, the Györ border that directly protected Vienna; the border of the mining towns, finally that of Upper Hungary. Beyond the six borders, a role of great importance lay with the fortress of Komáron” (translated form Bifolco-Ronca, Cartografia e topografia italiana del XVI secolo, p. 1278).

Domenico Zenoi (active in Venice second half of the 16th century), also known as “Domenego Veneziano,” was active in Venice as an engraver. In 1566 he asked the Venetian Senate for a collective privilege to print works of religious subjects, portraits and some maps. Zenoi also engraved prints of mythological and historical subjects. His cartographic output runs roughly from 1559 to 1574 and his maps are generally signed Dominicus Zenoi Venetus excidebat, more rarely Dom.co Zenoi cum privilegio and Domeneco Venetiano. Zenoi engraved maps by Giacomo Gastaldi and Nicolaus Sofianus, and worked for publishers such as Donato and Ferrando Bertelli and for Giovanni Francesco Camocio. He also engraved some mas included in the Civitatum aliquot insignorum et locorum magis monitorum exacta delineation cum additione aliquot Insularum principalium  by Ferrando Bertelli (1568), and some for Isole Famose by Camocio (1571). In 1568 he was fined 10 ducats by the magistracy against blasphemy for some obscene sonnets illustrated by pictures.

Etching and engraving, printed on contemporary laid paper without watermark, with wide margins, slight abrasions on verso, otherwise in very good condition. Very rare work, surveyed in only 9 institutional copies.

Bibliografia
Bifolco-Ronca, Cartografia e Topografia Italiana del XVI secolo, Catalogo ragionato delle opere a stampa (2018), tav. 552 I/IV; Meurer (2002): n. 179; Szalai (2001): p. 131, tav. 220, nn. 1565/1a-c; Szalai-Matković (2012), p. 4; Szalai-Szantai (2006): n. 1565/1 a-c, tav. 211; Tooley (1939): n. 550.