EDWARD WELLS

View of Osijek, based on Cantelli's engraving he made in 1684. The Battle of Osijek [Essek, Essick], fought on August 11, 1685, between the Imperial Habsburg army, commanded by James, 2nd Earl Leslie, and the Turks, resulting The battle of Osijek [Essek, Essick], fought on 11 August 1685 between the Imperial Habsburg army, commanded by James, 2nd Count Leslie, and the Turks, resulting in an Imperial victory. Great Turkish War (1683-99).

The view is taken from the south-east of the town of Osijek, looking north-west, over the main conflict to the long bridge which crosses the Drava and the surrounding marshes, ending at the fortress of Darda. According to Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689-1762), who travelled in the area between 1716 and 1718, ‘The bridge was esteemed one of the most extraordinary in the world, being eight thousand paces long, and all built of oak. It was burnt and the city laid in ashes by Count Lesley, 1685, but was again repaired and fortified by the Turks, who, however, abandoned it in 1687.

Appeared in: "Universus Terrarum Orbis (..)" by Alphonso Lasor à Varea and published by Frambotti, Jo. Baptistæ Conzatti in Padua, Italy, 1713.

Lasor a Varea, whose real name was Raffaello Savonarola, published his two-volume scriptural and historical dictionary with nearly 500 maps that were taken from old plates by Valegio, Porcacchi, Rosaccio-Franco, and Magini, many of which were more than a century old, and often reworked.