Magni Ducatus Lithuaniae,łł or simply the Radziwiłł map, is a Latin map of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania created under the tutelage of Mikołaj Krzysztof "the Orphan" Radziwiłł. The map was likely first published in 1603 but no surviving copy is known. It was published in the Amsterdam printing house of Willem Jansz Blaeu as a wall map from 1613 to 1650s. It was also included in atlases published by Blaeu as a foldable insert in 1631–1649. In 1649, the map was redrawn to shrink it so it could fit on an atlas page. Valued for its accuracy and intricate detail, the map was modified and republished many times by various cartographers until the First partition of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1772.
History
The earliest maps of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania depict it together with other regions of Eastern or Northern Europe, particularly with Russia or Poland. The first map depicting only the Grand Duchy was printed by Gerardus Mercator in an atlas in 1595. The map indicated 73 settlements, nine named rivers, and 15 unnamed but identifiable rivers and four unnamed but identifiable lakes in the territory of present-day Lithuania.
A member of the powerful Radziwiłł family, Mikołaj Krzysztof "the Orphan" Radziwiłł (1549–1616) was Grand Marshal of Lithuania (1578–1586), Voivode of Trakai (1590–1604), and Voivode of Vilnius (1604–1616). Having studied at universities in western Europe, including in Strasbourg and Paris, and having travelled on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1582–1584, he understood the need for accurate maps and became interested in the creation of a map according to the contemporary standards of mapmaking.
Around 1590, he started work on creating a new map using land measurement data from the Volok Reform launched in 1557. Radziwiłł also likely employed military cartographers who worked on maps during the Livonian War. A surviving letter by Radziwiłł shows that he was actively involved in the mapmaking process and was not merely a sponsor. The team included Kiev Voivode Konstanty Ostrogski, English mathematician , artist , cartographer , bishop of Kiev Józef Wereszczyński. However, more precise information about the map's creation is lacking due to the destruction and scattering of the Radziwiłł archives. In particular, Makowski's role is confused – some earlier authors name him as the author of the entire map. However, that is likely a result of confusion with Makowski's map of 1614 ( Lithuaniae Tabula) of which no known copies exist. The map was completed around 1600.
The map was used as the data source for many other maps of Eastern Europe, including maps by Henricus Hondius II (), Johann Pleitner (1634), Guillaume Le Vasseur de Beauplan (1651), Nicolas Sanson (1655), Cornelis Visscher (1685), (1697), Frederik de Wit (), (1749), (1770), (1772), (1780).
Publication
Researchers believe that the map was first published in 1603, but no surviving copies are known. The map is known to have existed based on the surviving correspondence. A surviving letter from 1599 by shows that he wanted to hire a local goldsmith Joannes Kolner in Gdańsk to engrave the map. A letter from 1604 shows that 40 copies of the map were ordered in Augsburg. Another letter shows that Radziwiłł sent a copy of the map to Eustachy Wołłowicz in May 1604 who at the time was in Augsburg.
The 1613 map was engraved by Hessel Gerritsz on four copperplates and published by the leading cartographer Willem Jansz Blaeu in Amsterdam in 1613. It was a large wall map measuring and printed as needed based on demand until 1631.
In 1631, Blaeu included it in his atlas Appendix Theatri A. Ortelii et Atlantis G. Mercatoris. In the first edition, the map was published on four separate pages thus preventing a reader from seeing the entire map at once. A second edition from the same year corrected this by cutting off the copperplates with the diagram of the lower Dnieper – thus the entire map was now on six copper plates. The main map measuring was then added as a foldable loose-leaf insert. The Dnieper diagram was printed in the atlas separately. The atlas also included Descriptio Lituaniae, a 7-page Latin description of the geography and history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and 1.5-page Latin description by that is sometimes included at the bottom of the wall map. The longer description was based on the chronicle by Alexander Guagnini first published in 1578.