The media change eyewitness (Augenzeuge) and visual inspection (Augenschein): "New" spatial consciousness and cartographichistorical development of early, hand drawn regional maps in Hesse (1500-1575)

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Michael Rothmann
• Subject Area: Early Modern History
• Term: from 2016 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 285920134

While the practice of written interviewing of eyewitnesses becameapparent within the 15th century, hand-drawn regional maps (as anew medium of pictorial representation of space) first establishedaround 1500. Initially describing a on-site inspection, in whichsomething should be visually inspected, the term Augenschein quicklybecame synonymous with a special type of map, whose intention wasto replace such a local inspection entirely. Therefore the map got thename of what it substituted. With semantic accuracy contemporarieswere able to describe a development, which ranged from the oraltestimony of witnesses and their textual fixation to pictorial illustrationof visual inspection. Especially the early phase of the development ofthis hand-drawn maps (1500-1575) is characterized by diverse formand function: rough sketches are also found beside expensive coloredviews, as measured floor plans. The parallelism of image- and texttradition(map and file) provides the opportunity to analyze the changeof media in all its shades. Researches that examined files and mapsof the 16th century previously, usually have one thing in common:They tend to look at the one and ignore the (associated) other. That iswhy today, we know rather only for individual examples specific aboutthese hand-drawn maps (Augenscheine) or their function and usecontexts. Although Thomas Horst 2008 gave a regional overview ofthe old hand-drawn maps of Old Bavaria, other regional and supraregionalstudies are lacking. However the project -Der Blick auf diekleine Welt- (Looking at the small World) bridged this gap with asystematic inquiry and analysis for Hesse and Lower Saxony (till1650). This existing material will now be used to investigate thetransformation process from eyewitnesses (Augenzeuge) to visualinspection (Augenschein). As the examination room, the Hessianroom was chosen for the Project. Spatially, the project is orientedtowards the late medieval and early modern territories. The timeframe focuses on the early phase of regional cartography from 1500to 1575, as it is characterized by open functionality and still undecideddesign of the hand-drawn maps. The pictorial illustration of thesemaps is to be compared regionally with the parallel handed testimonyof eyewitnesses in the files. This comparison allows a new historicalapproach to the new medium regional map from a contemporaryperspective.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants