Vig Károly: Zoological Research in Western Hungary. A history (Szombathely, 2003)
16 Historical survey still meant medical botany in the main. Unsurprisingly, therefore, medical, botanical and ethno-botanical studies were far ahead of zoological research, where the accumulation of knowledge had not begun until centuries later. Nonetheless, the new intellectual movements spreading across Europe stimulated zoological research in Hungary as well. As the combined efforts of Christian Europe were halting the advance of Ottoman power at the end of the 17th century and reconquering the lost territory, among those prominent in battle was LUIGI FERDINANDO MARSIGLI (MARSILIUS, 1658-1730), a Bolognese who spent ten years in Hungary fighting the Turks. He first travelled to Hungary in 1682, when he entered the Austrian service. In 1683, he fell prisoner to the Turks and was taken to Buda. 29 He was set to work as a water carrier in the castle, which allowed him to observe its weak points, and as the Christian forces approached, he managed to escape. He then served as a colonel of engineers in the army besieging Buda Castle, through the foiled siege of 1684 and the successful one of 1686. 30 After the Treaty of Karlóca, Emperor LEOPOLD I entrusted MARSIGLI with mapping the southern border between the Ottoman Empire and Hungary. 31 He spent about twenty years in the Danube Basin and undertook military mapping of Transdanubia and the Rábaköz district. He published his first findings about the Danube Basin in Nuremberg in 1700, under the title Danubialis opens prodromus, which presaged his vast monograph on the Danube. MARSIGLI was a polymath whose botanical and zoological notes on the Danube region were the most detailed since those of CLUSIUS. His great work — Danubius Pannonico-Mysicus, observationibus geographicis, astronomicis, bydrographicis, historicis, physicis perlustratus et in sex tomos digestus, cum tabulis aeri incisis — appeared in Latin in the Hague in 1726, as six folio volumes with 282 copperplate illustrations. 32 Along with the botanical 29 After his escape, MARSIGLI was appointed a colonel by LEOPOLD I and posted to Sopron, where he lodged in the former Kossow or Füredi House. In 1685, he wrote Bevanda Asiatica (Asian Beverage), on the natural history of coffee and how coffee was made, drawing on experiences in captivity. For details, see Cs., E. 1941. Marsigli természettudós soproni kapcsolatai (Sopron connections of natural philosopher Marsigli). Soproni Szemle 5:146; Cs., E. 1963. Marsigli soproni szereplése (Marsigli's part in Sopron). Soproni Szemle 17:191. 30 Gróf Marsigli A. Férd. jelentései és térképei Budavár 1684-1686-iki ostromáról— Berichte und Karten des Grafen A. Ferd. Marsigli über die Belagesung der Festung Buda in den Jahren 1684-1686 (Count A. Férd. Marsigli's Reports and Maps of the Siege of Buda Castle in the Years 1684-6). 1907. Budapest: Veres Endre kiadása. 31 To be precise, MARSIGLI headed the Austrian committee drawing the border. His cartographer, JOHANN CHRISTOPH MÜLLER (1673-1727) of Nuremberg, was among the best in the period. MARSIGLI'S informative reports with MÜLLER'S maps and plans lay undiscovered in the State Archives in Vienna for 300 years. The information gathered allowed MÜLLER to embark on unprecedented mapmaking activity in Nuremberg in 1702-3. He prepared 41 section maps of the borders, a map of the countries of the 'Hungarian Monarchy', hydrographical charts for a Danube monograph, and a map of Hungary that appeared in 1709. For details, see DEÁK, A.A. 1999. Béke és térképek (J.C. Müller ismeretlen kéziratos térképei) (Peace and maps. Unknown manuscript maps of JCM). In A Közgyűjtemények és a Tudomány konferencia. Program és előadáskivonatok, 1999. július 1-2., Budapest (Public Collections and Scholarship Conference. Programme and lecture abstracts, July 1-2, 1999, Budapest), p. 23. Budapest. 32 The first edition was probably completed in 1727. The work appeared again in the Hague in 1744, this time in French. The cartographic supplement, La Hongrie et la Danube, appeared separately in the Hague in 1741. There is a series of the volumes in the Diocesan Library in Szombathely.
