Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
1661d; ASVe, 1663a; ASVe, 1664c) do not supply fresh information on earthquake
effects, though they help in restraining the dates of the earthquake occurrence.
A good documentary coverage is consequently assessed for the investigated pe-
riod, both considering the number of events and the quality of the descriptions. What
is the content of the retrieved documents is detailed in the following (Section 4).
3.2 Christoff Freyherr von Degenfeld
In the framework of the EC project “Review of Historical Seismicity in Europe”
(1988-1992), many manuscript holdings of libraries were explored, mostly in Bel-
gium, France, The Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland, and focusing on the 18
th
century (Stucchi, 1993). Many discoveries were made for earlier times also, as it is
the case of a manuscript covering the time span 1661-1669, here described.
3.2.1 The Author
Christoff was one of the six sons of Christof Martin I (1599-1654) Freyherr von
Degenfeld, a small place near the German town of Schwabisch-Gmund about 50 km
east of Stuttgart (Seehofer, 1978; Eickhoff, 1988; Bachle, 2005). Maintaining the
family's military tradition, Christoff (1641-1685) entered at the service of the Re-
public of Venice in the final stage of the war for the control of Crete (1645-1669).
After his brother Adolf
Condotto
(commander, said of a mercenary soldier) was
deadly wounded (1667) at the end of the 22 years siege of the town of
Candia
,
the capital of the island (today Irakleion), he took over the command of his battery
(Degenfeld, 1670
ca
).
Evidence of the time when Christoff and his brothers were known to the officers
in the Eastern possessions of the Republic of Venice was left for us by Girolamo
Contarini,
Provveditore Generale in Dalmatia e Albania
, living in Split (today in
Croatia,
Spalato
in Italian documents). On 29 November 1663, Contarini informs
the Senate of the Republic of Venice that three members of the von Degenfeld fam-
ily, “
Il signor Adolfo Barone di Degenfeldt Condotto al servizio di Vostra Serenit a
[
]
, con li signori Cristoforo e Massimiliano suoi Fratelli venturieri
”, were given
a safe-conduct, while travelling within the Venetian sphere of influence along the
Eastern Adriatic coast (ASVe, 1663c).
...
3.2.2 The Manuscript
Kept first in the archives of the Kraichgau Chivalry, this item is stored today in
the manuscript department of the Badische Landesbibliothek, Karlsruhe (Germany).
Binded in a wood and cuir cover, this imposing (32
5 cm) manuscript starts on
top of fol. 1 with the following sentence: “
Beschreibung der reyse so ich Christoff
Freyherr Von Degenfeldt, Im Jahr Christi 1661 Von Durnau aus angefangen, Undt
im Jahr 1670 vollendet habe, auch was auf solchen Vorgangen, Undt sonsten Mar-
ckw urdiges zu sehen gewesen
” [Description of the journey that in the year 1661
×
20
.
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