Early maps, representing past spaces in various pictorial forms, are once again important in historical studies. The book Wien als Festungstadt in 16. Jahrhundert, written by a team of Viennese historians, is splendid evidence of the recent increased general interest in the visual and offers the reader a better understanding of early modern cartographic material through a study of four sixteenth-century manuscript plans by Italian military architects.

The millions of visitors who take a walk around the center of Vienna today may find it curious that the city is encircled by a magnificent boulevard, the Ringstrasse. Even knowledgeable urban historians would not readily find a city wall today, as the bastions, glacis, and other defensive constructions of early modern times remain hidden. Yet almost five hundred years ago, the situation and feelings were dramatically different. In 1529, those strong walls—along with the heroic struggle of the city's defenders and, according to some, God's mercy—prevented the massive Turkish army from capturing Vienna, a site of immense military, economic, and symbolic value. Following the unsuccessful siege, the rapid expansion of the Ottoman Empire in Europe became an urgent and tangible threat. After 1526, with the occupation of Central Hungary and the establishment of Turkish administration, only a narrow strip of land, called “Royal Hungary,” separated the powerful enemy from Vienna, Habsburg Austria—and the Christian West. This is the historical context of the creation of the little known but highly significant cartographic material that is the subject of the research and study. City archeologist Heike Krause and environmental historian Christoph Sonnlechner joined Professor Ferdinand Oppl, retired director of the city archives, to study this hitherto almost unknown, unique visual representations of sixteenth-century Vienna.

The Angelinis, an Italian family of military architects in imperial service, were involved in the construction, modernization, and maintenance of Habsburg border fortresses. Beyond this activity, they were also apparently mapping specialists: in the second half of the sixteenth century, they produced a massive corpus of cartographic material: views, plans, and maps depicting fortifications defending the military border. The systematic study of the Angielini atlases started as late as the 1990s after the publication of a series of papers on the “Angielini map of Hungary” in Cartographica Hungarica. My own research compared the depictions of the fortifications with their documented building history and, after a decade of conjectural identifications and controversies, led me to conclude the map was drawn in the mid-1570s. This dating method linked cartography to the history of architecture and archeology and proved to have been efficient in subsequent publication, including Wien als Festungstadt in 16. Jahrhundert, where the date of the production of the three undated Angielini city maps was crucial for the entire study. These Angielinis were introduced as important representatives of an evolving Habsburg military cartography in the Renaissance volume of The History of Cartography series in 2007.

Although previous researchers have attempted to put the historical material into the context of the cartographic activities of family members, one must remain cautious regarding general interpretations at this stage of research. This is what the authors of the present book also suggest for good reason. They conclude that the three views, each a combination of plan and bird's-eye view, are slightly different but came from the same source. They may look rather reliable but, beyond limited accuracy, none of them are an entirely real representation. What the Angielinis represented and who were the map readers they had in mind are difficult questions to answer here.

Despite the book's focus on the plans of Vienna, which may seem prohibitive, the publication extends the scope of the research into new fields like environmental and economic history. The first chapters, written by Ferdinand Oppl, do not simply repeat known Angielini biographies but subtly reconsider that knowledge, adding a few new pieces to the puzzle. One must note that Milan as the origin of the family, although emphasized in the subtitle, could not be ascertained and is based on a single source mentioning “Natale Angelinus” (23) in the Medici Archives in Florence. Next the description of the identified manuscripts from the brothers Natale and Nicolo lists rare printed works as a complementary aspect of their military cartography (46–47). The description of the fortification atlases, attributed to the Angielini workshop, and the evaluation of the cartographic work also calls our attention to the problem of their sources. They were most likely both fellow Italian architects (e.g., Baumeister Ottavio Baldigara) and the military leaders involved in fortification projects (e.g., General Franz Poppendorf). Both names are mentioned on a fortification plan of Eger, Hungary, in the manuscript atlas preserved in Dresden. Other Angielini atlases are in Vienna and Karlsruhe, Germany, with sheets either with Natale's or Nicolo's names. But none of them mentions Natale's son, Paolo, who is suggested to have been a compiler of at least one of the atlases (84). The book proceeds to discuss the iconographic context of the Angielinis’ military representations and reflect on the development of Renaissance fortification ideas in contemporary printed treatises. An important reference is the treatise by Carlo Theti, who was active in Vienna and whose personal connection with the Angielinis is based on documentary evidence (144). Krause's introduction to Vienna's building history outlines the construction phases of the fortification of the city during the reign of Ferdinand I. Sonnlechner then explains how the huge construction project was influenced by changing environmental conditions such as hydrography. At the same time, he points the massive effects of the construction works on the environment near and far from the city. The massive amount of firewood needed for the production of bricks was just one factor influencing environmental processes and greatly contributed to the incredible cost of the project. The last part of the book is the close reading of the three Angielini plans. It is fascinating to follow our learned guide, Christoph Sonnlechner, in this time travel through sixteenth-century Vienna with the contemporary cartographic material in hand. The supplementary material, collected by Professor Oppl, is a multifaceted and well-researched collection of information about relevant manuscripts and printed maps and an autopsy of the border fortifications, including lists, tables, and photos of the author—a huge treasure chest and invaluable research aid for anyone who is interested in the military aspects of sixteenth-century history of the Habsburg-Ottoman wars.

The argumentation is supported throughout with details of the Angielini plans and excellent quality, color reproductions of related material. What a modern reader will really miss in the book is reference maps: the Vienna plan, printed in the inner cover, is explained by inscriptions, but it is oriented to the south. As there is no indication of cardinal directions, it probably misleads many readers. The system of border fortresses in Hungary (89) is given in black and white and hardly legible as it is a reduced reproduction taken from an earlier publication.

The mapmaker Angielinis constructed fascinating graphic representations of the fortifications and the military border in the 1570s. For centuries, a great arc of border fortresses, visible only on the map, defended “Festungstadt” Vienna from the Turkish half-moon intruding deep into the European continent. This book, an important contribution to the interdisciplinary subject, is warmly recommended to all interested in early modern European military engineering, fortification building, and cartography.