[Map of the County of Roussillon] La Contea di Rossilione divisa nella Vicaria di Perpignano, e Subvicaria di Valspir, e nella Vicaria di Villa Franca di Conflent, e Subvicaria di Capsir… Cerdagna

The County of Roussillon divided into the Vicariate of Perpignan and Sub-vicariate of Vallespir, and into the Vicariate of Villefranche-de-Conflent and Sub-vicariate of Capcir… Cerdanya.

This original antique map offers a detailed representation of the counties of Roussillon and Cerdanya, documenting a critical moment in the history of the Franco-Spanish border. The piece places the reader in the complex scenario following the Treaty of the Pyrenees (1659), an agreement that ended the Thirty Years’ War and led to the cession to the French crown of these territories belonging to the Principality of Catalonia.
Although the map was published three decades after the territorial partition, it is notable how the region is still largely described under the Catalan administrative system. Rather than fully adopting the new French divisions, the engraving preserves the organisation into vicariates and sub-vicariates characteristic of the administration of the Principality: it details the Vicariate of Perpignan alongside the Sub-vicariate of Vallespir, and the Vicariate of Vilafranca de Conflent with that of Capcir, extending towards Cerdanya and the area of Puigcerdà. This terminological persistence underscores the profound historical and cultural identity that linked these territories with the rest of Catalonia.
The composition is distinguished by including two notable ornamental cartouches in the Italian Baroque style. In the lower part, a cartouche of classical design contains the title. In the upper left corner, a second cartouche of great elegance presents Rossi’s dedication to his patron, Cardinal Ferdinando d’Adda (“Dada”), whose coat of arms crowns the inscription. The engraving precisely identifies the Pyrenean orography and numerous towns such as Collioure, Elne, Prades and Llívia, being an essential work for the study of Northern Catalonia and the present-day provinces of Girona and Lleida. It includes the Gulf of Roses and the Empordà.