Sebastian Münster (1489–1552) - Cosmographia Universalis - Pescatore e Re di Norvegia - 1550

This original sheet is a precious Renaissance page drawn from the 1550 Latin edition of Sebastian Münster's Cosmographia universalis, printed in Basel by the publisher Heinrich Petri. The page is part of the book devoted to geography and history of the Northern Kingdoms (De Regnis Septentrionalibus). The text and its accompanying illustrative apparatus offer a detailed genealogical and anthropological chronicle of Norway (Nordvvegia seu Nordmannia, Chap. XXIII-XXV). The narrative retraces the origins of the Norwegian people, describing the ancient ferocity of the Normans and their devastating pirate incursions carried out from the year 800 in Saxony, Gaul, and Aquitania, before focusing on the subsequent conversion to Christianity and the dynastic succession of the rulers after the end of the Viking era. The visual composition is enriched by two famous woodcuts: the first dramatically depicts an army sinking and perishing in the ice (Exercitus in glacie perit), as a testimony to the prohibitive climatic conditions of the northern wars, while the second portrays the traditional maritime and commercial activities of the region, showing the capture and processing of fish (Captura piscium in Nordvvegia), a primary resource that fed a dense network of exchanges with merchants throughout Europe in exchange for grain and other goods.

Dimensions 30 x 20 cm
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