1130 - Thomas Kluge, Siege of Wolfenbüttel 1641, Engraving from Merian's Theatrum Europaeum, 17th Century

Thomas Kluge, Siege of Wolfenbüttel 1641, Engraving from Merian's Theatrum Europaeum, 17th Century Copper engraving on paper, inscribed in the plate lower right "Th. Kluge", titled upper left "OBSIDIO WOLFERBYTI", upper right a cartouche with the title "Eigentliche Abbildung der Belägerung Wolffenbüttel, sampt dem treffen so zwischen den Käys: und Schwedischen den 19/29 Junij Anno 1641 ..." and key "A" to "DD", sheet from the "Theatrum Europaeum", volume 4, Frankfurt am Main 1643 and later editions, bird's-eye plan with the bastioned fortress of Wolfenbüttel in the dammed water of the Oker, entrenchments, dams, troop formations, tent camps and cavalry, with the place names "Wolffen Büttel", "Thyda", "Fimmelsen", "Leuffertén" and "Stetteburg Closter", compass rose lower right, centre fold, age-appropriate condition, browned, creases, image 36.5x37.5 cm (HxW), mount, behind glass, framed, frame chipped, overall 53.5x54 cm (HxW) The sheet is the 37th copper engraving of the fourth volume of Matthäus Merian's Theatrum Europaeum, the chronicle of the years 1638 to 1643, first published in Frankfurt am Main in 1643 and reissued until 1692. The engraver is considered to be Thomas Kluge, with whom the Herzog August Bibliothek also associates the Merian view of the fortress of Breisach. Depicted is the Battle of Wolfenbüttel of 29 June 1641, in which the Swedish-Guelph army under Wrangel, Königsmarck and Guébriant repulsed the Imperial forces under Archduke Leopold Wilhelm and Piccolomini without being able to take the Imperial-held fortress. In 1641, in alliance with Sweden, Duke Augustus the Younger had the Swedish dam raised and the town flooded with the water of the Oker, marked in the plan as "Geschwellt". The siege plan belongs to the war maps of the Thirty Years' War, preserved as a battle plan and at the same time as an early view of Wolfenbüttel.