Deák Antal András: A Duna fölfedezése
Tartalom - III.A DANUBIUS PANNONICO-MYSICUS, 1726
T II E DISCOVERY OF THE DANUBE The unexpected end of Marsigli's military career was connected with the castle of Breisach where he served as deputy to the Castellan, Count Arco. Since some of their canons had been taken to Freiburg and not been returned as requested, until the enemy arrived, they decided to surrender the castle to the French who were superior in number in the hope of being allowed to retreat freely, saving the lives of the soldiers. The Castellan Count Arco was beheaded, while Marsigli was humiliated and dispossessed. The decree concerning his fall from favour was delivered to him on February 25, 1704. He went into exile in France. This determined the fate of the Danube monograph as well since he lost the support of the emperor. He had to steal the plates of his figures away from Nürnberg. The situation became even more complicated with Eimmart's death (January 1704) since the engraving of some of the illustrations was left to Fleischmann who was insecure and untrusting in financial matters, and who did not respect Marsigli's reduced financial situation. Thus, he was not willing to obey his commissioner's order to carefully wrap up the ready plates and hand them over to Baron Löffelholz until he had been given the entire sum of his fee. Namely, Fleischmann had undertaken the part of the work Eimmart was unable to finish. This was not entirely covered by the 458 florenas that were his due and which he finally got. Marsigli asked Heinrich Müller to mediate and Fleischmann was finally willing to hand him over the plates in return for a guarantee. J. H. Müller collected Marsigli's notes and manuscripts in boxes and, together with the plates, passed them on to Baron Löffelholz on March 19. 177 Marsigli asked for other people's help in the ultimate composition of the figures as well as of the text. 1. We know from the balance of the paid sums and from one of J. C. Müller's letters that Schoder (Schoeder), mentioned earlier, had intrigued against Eimmart and organised Marsigli's text. Müller wrote Marsigli that he had handed over everything that Marsigli had requested to Löfifelholz. Among other things this included the volume on Roman antiquities as organised and annotated by Dr. Schoder: 17 8 Schoeder had won Marsigli's confidence with his previous work. He had a prominent role in preparing for printing and translation (into Latin) 179 the books on coffee 18 0 and phosphorus. 181 J. C. Müller played the most important role in the collection of the material for the Danube monograph and in the drawing of its figures. His work in Marsigli's service can be divided into three periods. We have already described the period of frontier demarcation. From the point of view of the Danubius, he had an important job before this phase as well. Marsigli made him responsible, not only for astronomical observations and the drawing of maps, but also involved him in the collection and organisation of the material for the book and the ultimate resolution of the texts and the illustration. Several pages have survived among the manuscripts in Bologna that carry Müller's marks. Since they are single sheets without dates and names, only the context and the stylistic traits suggest when they were made and by whom. To illustrate Müller's role in the first phase of the preparation of the book we shall cite some maps and drawings, without aiming at completeness, which were included mainly in volumes I and II. Of the maps, it is the Mappa Generalis that grabs one's attention at first glance. It depicts the Hungarian and Serbian reaches of the Danube. Its size is impressive and the drawing has an imposing three-dimensionality. Marsigli was aware that the depiction of the Danube, which he designed from many sketches, numerous personal experiences and 17 7 BUB Mss di Marsigli Vol. 80. C pp. 33-34. Johann Heinrich Müller's letter to Marsigli, Nürnberg, March 19, 1705. 17 8 BUB Mss di Marsigli Vol. 82. Letter no. II. 67. pp. 174-177. Nürnberg, April 17, 1703. 17 9 BUB Mss di Marsigli Vol. 82. Letter no. 104. Nürnberg, September 11, 1702. Schoeder's letter to Marsigli. 180 p cvan c|a Asiatica, brindata all'eminentissimo Buonvisi, Nunzio Apostolico. Vienna, 1685. 18 1 Dissertazione epistolare del fosforo minerale o sia dell pietra illuminabile Bolognese... Lipsia, 1698. 124
