Heinrich Schweickher: Atlas of Wuerttemberg 1575

This compendium of 52 highly detailed and wonderfully colored maps constitute the oldest atlas of the former Duchy of Wuerttemberg. It was published in 1575 by Heinrich Schweickher, a cartographer from Southern Wuerttemberg, who came to know the land on his many official travels as a notary, stenographer, and finally director of an orphanage and recorded his insights on maps. Both the historical significance as well as the artistic design make this compendium of maps about the Duchy of Wuerttemberg a unique artifact for collectors and interested parties.

The Entire Duchy of Wuerttemberg

The government of Wuerttemberg commissioned a detailed survey of the land and its topography in the second half of the 16th century. Heinrich Schweickher, the first cartographer, was involved and completed the task. He was predestined to create a topographical survey of Wuerttemberg because of his many travels through the land in the course of his various offices. In 1575 he finally published a collection of 52 maps of the different offices and administrative districts of the duchy, which he dedicated to Duke Louis of Wuerttemberg. In addition to maps of the individual clerical and temporal districts of Wuerttemberg, ordered in offices of Northern and Southern Wuerttemberg, the atlas contained a dedication page with a portrait of the duke, a register of streams and rivers, and a large scale general map.

An Artfully Pioneering Work of Cartography

Schweickher’s maps – unlike what is customary today – are not north-oriented, instead they are south-oriented. As a consequence, West is aligned on the right side and East on the left side of the maps. The cartographic depiction of the various districts of the Duchy followed detailed perspectives, mostly at a scale of 1:125,000. Localities big and small, cities, hamlets, rivers, and forests were diligently recorded and furnished with additional information. Yet the maps are not only interesting topographically, but also offer a visual treat for the eyes in their colorfulness and artistic design. Furnished with architectural and ornamental decorative frames adorned with the corresponding heraldry, the maps are more than mere guidelines. The charts themselves were drawn in powerful colors with a skilled hand, with artistic depictions of forests and villages, for example. Schweickher primarily concerned himself with the main localities under the rule of Wuerttemberg and completely left out the others, like some of the imperial cities. However, in its otherwise indisputable comprehensiveness, today the atlas is still an important source for the history of the former duchy, showing the land before the 30 Years’ War and its devastation, which changed the image of Wuerttemburg for a long time.