Trois cartes territoriales du territoire de Brescia. Première approche : leur contexte d’élaboration

International audienceThe first map studied here was designed for Pandolfo Maltesta, lord of Brescia (1406-1421). Still as an unfinished sketch, it was attached to a copy, made in the mid-fifteenth century, of the estimi (1406-1416), in the double purpose of displaying to the eye the territory to be ruled and of celebrating the power of the prince. The second map appears in a manuscript entitled Privilegi concessi alla città, alle famiglie e al territorio di Brescia (1471-1472), at the end of the section dedicated to the privileges of the family Martinengo. Above the main places of the contado, letters that refer to the initials of great feudal families are drawn. A text in the folio, which precedes the place where the map was formerly inserted in the manuscript, tells its main function: to show the places where the Martinengos possessed rigths. The map, probably copied from an older model, has been then diverted from its original use (state domination over the contado) to show the location of the main feudal families in the territory. The third map, probably dating back from the second half of the fifteenth century, and considered by the cartography historians as the most accurate and the most modern, is drawn on parchment. Often attributed, whithout conclusive evidence, to the decision of the Council of the Ten of Venice to have maps of the territories governed by Venice drawn, it leaves in fact the researcher without concrete evidence to appreciate its uses