Michaël Eytzinger (Freiherr Michael von Aitzing,Aitzinger,Eyzinger, orEitzing) (born ca. 1530 inObereitzing - died 1598 inBonn), was anAustriannobleman,diplomat,historian, andpublicist, who wrote and published several works, including a renowned volume that states the principles of agenealogical numbering system, called anAhnentafel, that is still in use today.
Eytzinger first published theAhnentafel in 1590 in hisThesaurus principum hac aetate in Europa viventium (Cologne),[1][2] in which he described and illustrated his new functional theory of numeration of ancestors by providing genealogies of thirty-four sovereign houses of Europe.
Eytzinger’s method was used byJerónimo de Sosa, in his workNoticia de la gran casa de los marqueses de Villafranca in 1676, and was popularized byStephan Kekulé von Stradonitz in hisAhnentafel-atlas in 1898.
He also wrote and published several histories, includingNovus de Leone Belgico in 1583 that included the first cartographic representation of theLow Countries asLeo Belgicus. The lion motif was inspired by the heraldic figures that appear in the coats of arms of several Dutch constituencies, as well as in the arms of William of Orange. The map was published during the period when theNetherlands was fighting theEighty Years' War for independence from Spain.
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