Frans HOGENBERG, Mechelen, 1535 – Keulen, 1590 was een Vlaams cartograaf.
Kopergravure 1576-1612.
Uit Michaelis Aitsinger Austriacus, Leo Belgicus
36 x 26 cm

Michael von Eitzing (Aitzinger), 1530-1598 Michael von Eitzing, an Austrian nobleman, historian and publicist, was born in 1530 in Ober-Eitzing (Austria). He studied law, mathematics and ancient languages at the University of Vienna. From 1556, he regularly travelled to Flanders and the Spanish Netherlands. He continued his studies in Louvain but was arrested in 1568 and imprisoned for five years in Brussels due to religious troubles. In 1581, he moved to Cologne and died in Bonn in 1598.
Michael von Eitzing left many works, including a renowned volume that states the principles of a genealogical numbering system called an Ahnentafel, which is still in use today. He also wrote and published several historical works, including Novus de Leone Belgico in 1583. It was a richly illustrated account of the wars of religion in the Netherlands with a series of engravings by Frans Hogenberg. It included the first cartographic representation of the Low Countries as Leo Belgicus. The lion motif symbolized the strength of the Netherlands.