Using GIS and methods of digital cartography for analyzing battlefield engravings of 17th century

Abstract

Iconographic sources depicting Thirty Years’ War battlefields in the Czech lands can be found in historical graphic works printed in the most comprehensive documentary publication of the 17th century, the Theatrum Europaeum. In this publication, the year 1647 is one of the richest in terms of the number of engravings depicting the course of the war. In addition, the Swedish campaign of the same year left behind the most numerous and best preserved traces in the landscape of the Czech lands. The paper focuses primarily on engravings related to war events at the locations of Cheb, Třebel and Teplá. It presents interim results of interdisciplinary research of these iconographic sources, which involves the tools of spatial analyses, digital terrain modelling and also new possibilities of airborne laser scanning data processing. The main aims of the research, which are also being implemented, are the confirmation of depicted localities and their localization; analyses of the scale and geometrical precision of displayed landscape; estimates of visibility and methods of creating the source materials for engravings; and a detailed comparison with other contemporary or current cartographic sources.

Keywords

• Engraving, Cartographic analysis, GIS, Historic battlefield, Thirty Years’ War