2. The circular "About the battle of Sigismund Bathory with Mihai Viteazul of Wallachia and George Basta in 1601, on the third day of August, at the border between Transylvanian and Hungary, Bathory was cut down there with great humiliation and loss and was struck on the head", German, Prague, with an engraving probably depicting Mihai Viteazul, extremely rare collector's item (4 files)

This set also represents a print, known as avvisi (circular, announcement), which was intended to diffuse to the urban public various news about the events of the day. Also, such plays had the propagandistic role to support a political point of view of the powerful personalities of the time. Printed in small format and in a small print run, these circulated mainly in the large cities of Transylvania, Hungary, and other important cities of the Habsburg Empire. Can be considered the forerunners of today's newspapers. In this case, the main subject is represented by the battle against the Ottoman Empire, as Vienna became increasingly interested in taking over large territories, such as Transylvania, from the Ottomans. Such pieces, which began to appear at the end of the 15th Century, had a glory period especially in the 16th and 17th centuries. In the beginning, these were handwritten, but soon were replaced by printed versions. Can also be considered as pieces related to the beginnings of printing, which increases their value. This piece has 4 pages of which 3 are printed double-sided and the last one is unprinted. The first page depicts a military scene and on the reverse an engraved portrait, possibly of Mihai Viteazul, can be admired. Both engravings are made of copper. The information on the inside refers to the battle of Guruslău and the assassination six days later of Mihai Viteazul by the imperial general George Basta, on the orders of Emperor Rudolf II. There is no precise information so far about the existence of such copies in public or private collection, except for one copy of a different type found in the National Museum of Romanian History, a copy printed in Nürnberg in 1499.

Dimensions

width 15 cm, height 18 cm

Description

copper engraving

Research information

Published in the catalogue of the exhibition "Imago Romaniae. Terra Christiana", printed by the National Museum of Romanian History, Bucharest, 2018, p. 224-225. The item was exhibited in that exhibition for the first time.

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