Antique Maps by Antonio Albizzi (*1547 - †1626)

Antonio Albizzi (Latin: Antonius Albicius) was an Italian jurist and genealogist, born in Florence in 1547. By 1576, he entered the service of Cardinal-Archduke Andreas of Austria. However, in 1585, he converted to Lutheranism, leading to his relocation to the Protestant Imperial City of Kempten, where he lived until his death in 1626.

His most notable work, Principum Christianorum Stemmata (Augsburg 1612), stands out as an unusual collection of engravings depicting family trees of the prominent royal and noble houses in Europe during that period. Remarkably, it also includes the genealogy of the Turkish Emperors. The engravings are finely decorated, featuring family trees, portraits, coats of arms, and set against backdrops of city views and panoramas closely copied from Georg Braun & Franz Hogenberg's Civitates Orbis Terrarum (1572-1618). This work remains a valuable reference for understanding the genealogy and familial connections of European and Turkish rulers during Albizzi's time.