Beleg van Frankenthal door de Spanjaarden, 1621 1621

This is Frans Hogenberg’s 1621 engraving of ‘The Spanish Siege of Frankenthal’. The image, printed from a metal plate, depicts the siege of Frankenthal in the Palatinate during the Thirty Years’ War. Engravings such as these served an important public role. They functioned as a kind of early modern news media, informing a broad public about contemporary events. Through its visual codes, the image constructs a particular narrative. Note the orderly layout of the city. This is contrasted with the chaos of the besieging forces. We can see the spatial relationship between the besiegers and the besieged, the positions of cannons and fortifications, and other details of military engagement. To understand the image better, we can consult archival sources, military histories, and contemporary accounts of the siege. Through such research, we can begin to understand the role of the image in shaping public opinion and collective memory of this historical event. The meaning of this image is contingent on its specific social and institutional context.