Deák Antal András: A Duna fölfedezése

Tartalom - III.A DANUBIUS PANNONICO-MYSICUS, 1726

T II E DISCOVERY OF THE DANUBE these maps, from which the military council could gain a clear idea of the process of negotiations. The routes the two commissions followed along the border and where and in what arrangements they set up their tents was also mapped. Usually, the commissions on the two sides marched and camped in their own territories so as not to burden the subjects of their counterpart with their provisioning. Where rivers unambiguously separated the two empires, their work was easy - disregarding the unsettled circumstances and the oppressive environment of swamps and waterlogged areas. There were no debates about islands either. They were not placed under the control of either empire, but allowed to remain border zones

, which could be used by the subjects of both sides. And where there were no rivers to indicate the borders, the exact line of the boundary was marked by ditches, stones, posts and other unmistakable signs. In the mountains, trees were marked. A crescent and Arabic letters were incised in their bark on the Turkish side and while crosses were usually used on the Hungarian side. Marsigli made his cartographer Müller note the geographical position, shape and inscription of these border marks. He sent the maps of the mutually accepted frontiers to Vienna enclosed in his reports,

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0 while he kept the original drafts of the maps. MAPS - FORERUNNERS OF THE MAPS OF THE DANUBIUS Negotiations often brought results only after a series of eastern type bargaining sessions in which several alternatives were discussed. This is clearly illustrated by the geographical map that shows the demarcated borderlines along the Corana [Korana] river down to Jesera. In this map, 4 separate borderlines are indicated in different colours. One line is the accepted plan sent to the Imperial Court on July 3, the second one is the proposal handed in by Marsigli after negotiations with the Turks, the third one is the already staked out frontier line, while the fourth is the line proposed by the Turks based on Pasha Hassan's directives.

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1 The final borderline shows that it was less favourable than the one proposed by Marsigli, but it turned out to be better than what Vienna would have been willing to accept. Another map shows the character, political and military importance of Marsigli's work. This map shows what would have been the consequences of demolishing Novi in the region between the Una, the Kulpa and the Sava rivers,

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2 which was controlled by the emperor's army at the end of the war. In the sense of the peace treaty it would stay so. Marsigli, as the emperor's commissary, maintained his claim on the territory citing the principle of possideatis, etc. At the same time, he declared his claim over the whole territory that had been controlled by Old Novi until the last war. He listed the strategic alternatives in the negotiations in six points and indicated possible solutions in the map so that the consequences of the eventual decisions could be worked out in Vienna. The worst variation would be if New Novi had to be demolished without proviso being made to establish a fort of similar strength. In that case, he wrote, we would give up secure contact between Castanovitz [Kostajnica], Petrina [Petrinja] and Sziszek [Sisak], and the entire area up to Glina would be exposed; furthermore, there would remain nothing apart from the castles of Castanovitz and Zerin /UjZrinyi] and the ruins of the old castle of Pedal to curb the unruly Wallachians. It was the first time in history that a map had played such a key role in diplomacy and tactics. Some of these maps were known: the famous frontier section map 39 drawn after the demarcation of the boundary 5

0 The drafts of the map sheets can be found in the Marsigli Archives at the University in Bologna, while the good copies are in the map collection of the Staatsarchiv in Vienna. Since the reports and the attached maps that were found due to a lucky coincidence in a hidden corner of the depository have not yet been analysed, we cannot provide their exact archival registry numbers here. (ÖStA KA HKR Akten, Box 76-77-78). 5

1 Vienna, ÖStA KA Kartensammlung, B IX c 829. 7. Geographical map showing the demarcated frontier line on the Corana river up to Jesera. 5

2 Vienna, ÖStA KA Kartcnsammlung, B IX c 829. 6. 105