Eisenstadium vulgo Eisnstat [EISENSTADTT], in ultimis finibus Austria Inferioris civitas.[on sheet with:] Mannersdorf.

A copper engraved sheet with 2 panoramic views of Eisenstadtt and Mannersdorf, Austria, by Braun & Hogenberg. These views come from the sixth and last volume of 'Civitates Orbis Terrarum' ("Theatri Praecipuarum Totius Mundi Urbivm Liber Sextus"), published in a much smaller edition than previous volumes, and are therefore rarer than most of Braun & Hogenberg city views.
From the 6th part of Latin ed. of Braun and Hogenberg's "Civitates Orbis Terrarum", published by A. Hierat in Cologne, 1617. With ornamental title-cartouche.

EISENSTADTT. CAPTION: Eisenstadium, in German called Eisenstadt, a town on the eastern border of Austria. CARTOUCHE: Procured by Georg Hoefnagel, drawn by his son Jakob in the year 1617.

COMMENTARY BY BRAUN (on verso): "It seems as if this city is named after the iron. It lies in Lower Austria between the River Leitha, which separates Hungary and Austria from each other, and the Neusiedler Lake, near the Hungarian border, on fertile land, which produces sufficient corn and wine, and pasture for cattle."
This is a view from the north, from the Leitha Mountains. The densely crowded town houses are watched over by the 14th-century four-tower castle of Kanizai, today's Esterhazy palace, built on a hill, and the late Gothic cathedral church of St Martin with its Renaissance tower.
Fields, gardens and cattle indicate that the town was flourishing at the time. The wall constructed in 1371, following the granting of city wall rights, encloses an almost rectangular area. The two plainly dressed men in the foreground are carrying a hoe and a spear as symbols of the duties of soldier-farmers.
Documented for the first time in 1118 as a castrum ferreum, the town passed into the possession of the Kanizsai family in the mid-14th century.

MANNERSDORF AT THE FOOT OF MOUNT LEITHA. CARTOUCHE: Mannersdorf, a town on the border between Lower Austria and Hungary, famous for its hot springs or thermal baths. Below this hill an admirable plain stretches for miles, full of vines and grain, a part of the territory of Vienna, enclosed in the west on the left by the foothills of the Styrian Alps, and in the east on the right by the Hungarian mountains. It is covered with cities, towns, noble castles and countless villages, some of which are named below.
COMMENTARY BY BRAUN (on verso): "The town lies in a plain and is especially famous because of its thermal baths. To the south is a mountain from which one can see the whole plain. This plain, which is almost unique in Austria for its fertility, was sadly devastated by the Turks after the siege of Vienna in 1529 and many people were carried off into slavery.
In 1578 the Turks advanced as far as Mödling and captured the town by force and ravaged it with extreme tyranny and cruelty, but they soon lost it again."
This is a view towards the north over the Vienna Basin and includes the Styrian Alps in the west and the Hungarian Alps in the east. Some towns and castles, such as Baden (A), Mödling (D) or Vienna (N), are roughly sketched in. The prosperity and peace of the region, underlined by the almost idyllic depiction of a shepherd in the foreground, contrasts markedly with the devastation of the Turkish Wars alluded to above.
The Romanesque-Gothic parish church of St Martin stands out clearly on the left, in the middle the bathhouse and chapel, founded in 1517, can be identified. Mentioned for the first time in 1233, the town belonged to the Hungarian fiefdom up to end of the 15th century. After being devastated during the retreat of the Ottomans in 1529, the town was resettled by Croatian soldier-farmers.
Because of the limestone quarries in the south, Mannersdorf has been important for the stonemason industry since the Middle Ages, and today is a centre of the cement industry.

The "Civitates" was compiled and written by George Braun, Canon of Cologne Cathedral. Braun gathered together vast amounts of information and draft plans to produce over 500 city views/maps published in six parts between 1572 and 1617. Most of these engravings were made by Simon Novellanus and Frans Hogenberg, many after drawings by Joris Hoefnagel.
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Reference: Van der Krogt 4, 1207; Taschen, Braun and Hogenberg, p.461.