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The Land Survey of the Prince-Bishopric Bamberg by Peter Zweidler, 1597-1608

In the years 1597-1608 the cartographer Peter Zweidler (1570-1613) from the Bamberg town of Teuschnitz drew a total of 25 different maps of the Prince-Bishopric of Bamberg. He began this enterprise probably in response to the direct commission of Bishop Neithard of Thüngen (r. 1591-1598) and continued it after Neidhard's death under the new sovereign Johann Philipp von Gebsattel (r. 1599-1609). The primary goal of the administration of the prince-bishopric was the supplementation of the explanatory office descriptions begun in 1565 and renewed around 1600.

The maps by Zweidler, who described himself as a chorographer and surveyor, can be divided into three thematic groups: First of all, there are the maps of the offices, large outlines of the mapped offices, whose area should be illustrated as completely as possible. They are to be regarded as the actual core of the land survey. In this way, twelve of about 40 offices could be recorded. In addition, there were drawings of border areas, the reason for which is often due to border disputes with neighbouring territories. The third thematic group of Zweidler's works - not represented here digitally - finally concerned the residential city of Bamberg and the Hauptsmoorwald to the East. His best-known map, the Grvndtlicher Abriss der Statt Bamberg (in-depth elevation of the town of Bamberg) of 1602, secured him "his fame over the centuries". The incomplete land survey is to be seen in the context of an intensification of the rule of the Bamberg bishops, as had been observed since the middle of the sixteenth century. The aim of this combination of explanatory official description and cartographic area survey was the collection of all relevant information about the territory in order to expand one's own potential for government and action. In particular in the context of the intensifying early modern legislation, knowledge about local conditions was of fundamental importance to be able to fulfil one's own princely self-conception adequately.

Beyond their actual purpose, the partly coloured maps provide important information on the cultural landscape, on economic systems, on the population of settlements, on watercourses and paths. Of the eighteen maps by Zweidler presented here, two thirds are now in the Staatsarchiv Bamberg (Bamberg State Archives), three in the Staatsbibliothek Bamberg (Bamberg State Library), two in the Staatsarchiv Nürnberg (Nuremberg State Archives) and one in the Stadtarchiv Kronach (Kronach City Archives).

Johannes Staudenmaier

The other "Early Modern Land Surveys" available in bavarikon

>> "Early Modern Land Surveys" is a project of the Generaldirektion der Staatlichen Archive Bayerns (Directorate General of the Bavarian State Archives). This collection combines unique pieces of the Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv (Bavarian Main State Archive), the Staatsarchiv Amberg (Amberg State Archive), the Staatsarchiv Augsburg (Augsburg State Archive), the Staatsarchiv Bamberg (Bamberg State Archive), the Diözesanarchiv Eichstätt (Eichstätt Diocesan Archive), the Stadtarchiv Kronach (Kronach City Archive), the Staatsarchiv Nürnberg (Nuremberg State Archive), the Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek (Bavarian State Library), the Staatsbibliothek Bamberg (State Library Bamberg), and the Historischer Verein für Oberpfalz und Regensburg (Historical Association for Upper Palatinate and Regensburg).