Triumphal Procession with Germania to the Peace of Westphalia (1649)
Abstract
Just as the Thirty Years War was understood as a “German” event, so too was the peace that brought an end to hostilities. The Thirty Years War officially ended in 1648 with the Peace of Westphalia. The Osnabrück peace chariot is depicted below. The image features an allegorical figure—Peace (Pax)—in a triumphal chariot. She is accompanied by a procession of women and children playing music. The procession is depicted against the silhouette of the city of Osnabrück (the main site of the peace negotiations). It is led by Germania (far left), the personification of the German nation.
Source
Source: Johann Ebermaier, Triumphus Pacis Osnabruggensis Et Noribergensis: Heroico carmine ut plurimum adumbrates. Tubingae: Brunnius, 1649. HAB Wolfenbüttel. Available online at: http://diglib.hab.de/drucke/65-11-poet/start.htm?image=00004. See also: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Triumphus_Pacis.jpg
Herzog August Bibliothek (HAB) Wolfenbüttel
Further Reading
Johannes Burkhardt, Der Dreißigjährige Krieg. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1992.
Benigna von Krusenstjern and Hans Medick, eds., Zwischen Alltag und Katastrophe. Der Dreißigjährige Krieg aus der Nähe. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 2001.
Markus Meumann and Dirk Niefanger, eds., Ein Schauplatz herber Angst. Wahrnehmung und Darstellung von Gewalt im 17. Jahrhundert. Göttingen: Wallstein, 1997.
Herfried Münkler, Der Dreißigjährige Krieg. Europäische Katastrophe, deutsches Trauma 1618–1648. Berlin: Rohwolt, 2017.
Georg Schmidt, Der Dreißigjährige Krieg. 6th edition. Munich: C. H. Beck Verlag, 2003.
Peter H. Wilson, The Thirty Years War: A European Tragedy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2011.