Rare, beautifully illustrated and contemporary hand coloured copy containing the biographies and portraits of the rulers of Flanders since the 9th century CE. The work details the genealogy of the Counts of Flanders, supposedly - according to the so-called Foresters legend - starting with Liederik (?-836), a Forester of the "Vlaanderengouw" (area of Flanders around Bruges). Via Baldwin I (or Baldwin Iron Arm, 830s?-879), the first margrave of Flanders, and his grandson Arnulf I (ca. 893/899-962) the first Count of Flanders, to Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I (1459-1519) and Philip II King of Spain and Lord of the Seventeen Provinces of the Netherlands (1527-1598); it tells the story of the Mediaeval and 16th-century Counts of Flanders.
The Foresters legend originated in the 11th and 12th centuries and it claims that the genealogy of the Counts of Flanders leads back to Liederik, Forester of Flanders (managers of the woods) as the first unofficial Count of Flanders. These Foresters were supposed to have managed the Methelawoud in the south of present-day West-Flanders for the Carolingian dynasty. The legend was held as being true until 1904, when Alexandre de Saint-Léger stated that is was a legend made up of different parts of stories about real historic people.
The present work is richly illustrated, most noticeably with the nearly full-page portraits of the Foresters and Counts of Flanders, beautifully contemporary hand coloured. Coats-of-arms also feature heavily in the present work, most of the portraits also show the coat-of-arms of the depicted person, but smaller hand coloured coats-of-arms also feature in the text. The coat-of-arms most often depicted is that of the Foresters of Flanders (blue, yellow, and red), which still prominently features on the flag of present-day West-Flanders. Other prominent coats-of-arms are, of course, the black lion on a yellow (gold) field of Flanders and the more intricate designs of the Houses of Burgundy and Habsburg.
The extensive and scholarly genealogical text was written by Cornelis Martin (1500-?), a draughtsman and engraver from Zeeland, who is most known as a genealogist due to the publication of the present work. Les Genealogies starts with a laudatory verse by Jan van der Noot (ca. 1539-after 1595), famous early Renaissance poet from the Southern Netherlands, and dedicated by publisher and illustrator Pieter Balten to Matthias, Rudolf II, and Maximilian II, Archdukes of Austria and Holy Roman Emperors, dated Antwerp, February 1580. The portraits of the foresters and counts of Flanders are shown at full length, with their coat-of-arms and other symbols of their reign, sometimes accompanied by their wives, and all beautifully set against a background showing a palace, a city, a landscape or a battle-field. Underneath the name of the ruler is engraved on the plate with his number, and a short genealogical description is given on the opposite page, in fact printed on verso of the preceding plate. These illustrations were the work of Pieter Balten (ca. 1527-1584), a Flemish Renaissance painter, draughtsman, engraver, and publisher. According to the engraved title-page he also published the present work, from the colophon, however, becomes clear that it was printed in Antwerp by Andre Bax for distribution by Balten. The full-page illustrations were later reused in the Flandria Illustrata (1641). At the end of the work, a beautiful allegorical plate depicting death with a verse by Charles de Navieres (1544-1616) is added.
With a small inscription in brown ink on the recto of the first free end leaf ("mit 44 illuminierten Kupfer...?"). The binding is creased and soiled, without affecting the overall integrity of the binding, with a water stain in the bottom outer corner of most leaves, not affecting the illustrations, somewhat browned throughout. The illustrations and their colouring remain bright. Overall in good condition. Adams M 717; Belg. Typ. 2059; STCV 12925601 (1 copy); USTC 30801 (33 copies, N.B. most likely various different issues); WorldCat 459839010, 796290823, 1262596114, 943837999, 251560022 (7 copies including 1 lost copy).