Visual Encyclopaedias : The Hereford and other Mappae Mundi
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The Map Collector
The Map Collector, initiated by Peter Scott and Valerie G. Newby, was a journal on historical cartography published every quarter. The first issue appeared in 1997 and continued for nearly 20 years. After 74 issues the last copy appeared in Spring 1996. Mrs. Valerie G. Newby, is presently editor of the IMCoS Journal.www.imcos.org
By The Map Collector
Published on 1 March 1989
The Anglo-Saxon World Map, c.1000. A broad similarity in coastlines with the Hereford map is clear, but there are no illustrations of animals other than the lion (top left). Note also the Roman provincial boundaries, the relative accuracy of the British coastlines (lower left) and the attention paid to the Balkans and Denmark, with which Saxon England had close contacts. (B.L. Cotton MS Tiberius B. v Pt. 1, f.56v).
by Peter Barber
From the time when it was first mentioned as being in Hereford Cathedral in 1682, until a relatively short time ago, the Hereford Mappa Mundi was almost entirely the preserve of antiquaries, clergymen with an interest in the middle ages and some historians of cartography. [1] Much of their published work, particularly the detailed studies of the map and its more obvious sources by Bevan and Phillott published in 1873 and by Konrad Miller some twenty years later, together with the facsimiles that were produced from the 1860s, has proved to be of lasting value. Nevertheless, it placed a somewhat misleading emphasis on the map's geographical 'inaccuracies', its depiction of fabulous creatures and supposedly religious purpose, all clothed in what for the layman must have seemed an air of wildly esoteric learning and near-impenetrable medieval mystery. Casual visi¬tors to the dark aisle where it hung could see only a dark, dirty image which they were encouraged to view in a pious, but also rather condescending manner.
From the time when it was first mentioned as being in Hereford Cathedral in 1682, until a relatively short time ago, the Hereford Mappa Mundi was almost entirely the preserve of antiquaries, clergymen with an interest in the middle ages and some historians of cartography. [1] Much of their published work, particularly the detailed studies of the map and its more obvious sources by Bevan and Phillott published in 1873 and by Konrad Miller some twenty years later, together with the facsimiles that were produced from the 1860s, has proved to be of lasting value. Nevertheless, it placed a somewhat misleading emphasis on the map's geographical 'inaccuracies', its depiction of fabulous creatures and supposedly religious purpose, all clothed in what for the layman must have seemed an air of wildly esoteric learning and near-impenetrable medieval mystery. Casual visi¬tors to the dark aisle where it hung could see only a dark, dirty image which they were encouraged to view in a pious, but also rather condescending manner.
by Peter Barber (Deputy Map Librarian at the British Library)
FROM THE TIME when it was first mentioned as being in Hereford Cathedral in 1682, until a relatively short time ago, the Hereford Mappa Mundi was almost entirely the preserve of antiquaries, clergymen with an interest in the middle ages and some historians of cartography. [1] Much of their published work, particularly the detailed studies of the map and its more obvious sources by Bevan and Phillott published in 1873 and by Konrad Miller some twenty years later, together with the facsimiles that were produced from the 1860s, has proved to be of lasting value. Nevertheless, it placed a somewhat misleading emphasis on the map's geographical 'inaccuracies', its depiction of fabulous creatures and supposedly religious purpose, all clothed in what for the layman must have seemed an air of wildly esoteric learning and near-impenetrable medieval mystery. Casual visi¬tors to the dark aisle where it hung could see only a dark, dirty image which they were encouraged to view in a pious, but also rather condescending manner.
Detail from the Hereford map of England and Wales. Note Lincoln on its hill and Snowdon ('Snawdon'), Caernarvon and Conway in Wales, referring to the castles Edward I was building there when the map was being created. (By courtesy of the British Library).
In the last thirty years this has gradually changed. In England, a detailed study of its less obvious features, such as the sequences of its place names and some of its coastal outlines by G. R. Crone of the Royal Geographical Society, revealed that despite the antiquity of many of the map's sources much was almost contemporary with the map's creation and was secular. Others delved into the question of its authorship, which had previously been assumed to be obvious from the wording on the map itself. Its images and decoration have been examined from a stylistic standpoint by Nigel Morgan and put into the context of their time, while the late Wilma George examined the animals in the light of her own zoological knowledge [2] The chance discoveries of fragments of other English medieval world maps in recent years [3] have expanded the context within which the Hereford World Map can be examined, and the Royal Academy exhibition, 'The Age of Chivalry' of 1987 enabled the map to be displayed in the company of other non-cartographic artifacts of its own time.
Details from the Hereford map of the Blemyae and the Psilli. Typical of the strange creatures or 'Wonders of the East' derived by Richard of Haldingham from classical sources and placed in Ethiopia. The Psilli reputedly tested the virtue of their wives by exposing their children to serpents. Recent research suggests this is a reference to African traders in medicinal drugs who visited ancient Rome. (By courtesy of the British Library).
Equally important work was also being done on medieval and Renaissance world maps as a genre, particularly by medievalists such as Anna-Dorothee von den Brincken and Jorg-Geerd Arentzen in Germany and by Juergen Schulz, primarily an art historian, and David Woodward, a leading historian of cartogra¬phy, in the United States. The cumulative effect has been to enable us at last to evaluate the map in terms of its actual (largely non-geographical and not exclusively religious) purpose, the age in which it was created and in the context of the general development of European cartography. Today, with the map in the headlines of thc popular prcss, it may be time to give a brief resume of what is currently known about it and to attempt to explain some of its more important features in the light of recent research. Much of the text that follows is an amplification of information panels and leaflets prepared for the British Library's current display of the map.
Medieval World Maps
The Hereford World Map is the only complete surviving English example of a type of map which was primarily a visualisation of all branches of knowledge in a Christian framework and only secondly a geographical object. It can best be understood in the context of the tradition to which it belonged.
After the fall of the Roman empire in the fifth century, monks and scholars struggled desperately to preserve from destruction by pagan barbarians the flotsam and jetsam of classical history and learning; to consolidate them and to reconcile them with Christian teaching and biblical history. The Old and New Testaments contained few doctrinal implications for geography, other than a bias in favour of an inhabited world consisting of rhree interlinked continents containing descendants of Noah's three sons. In the eyes of some (but by no means all) theologians, a fourth inhabited continent, the Antipodes, would implicitly have denied the descent of mankind from Noah, and the depiction of such a continent was deemed to be heretical by them. Most medieval mapmakers seem to have accepted this constraint, but world maps showing four continents are not uncommon: notably the world maps created by Beatus of Liebana in the late eighth century to illustrate his commentary on the Apocalypse of St. John. Generally, though, it was not difficult to adapt surviving copies of existing, secular world maps to suit the purposes of Christian writers from the fifth century onwards.
There would have been several models to choose from, corresponding to the widely differing cartographic traditions inside the Roman Empire, but it seems that the commonest image descended from a large map of the known world that was created for a portico lining the Via Flaminia near the Capitol in Rome during Christ's lifetime. This now-lost map was referred to in some detail by a number of classical writers and it seems to have been created under the direction of Emporer Augustus's son-in-law, Vipsanius Agrippa (63-12 BC) for official purposes. It was based on survey and on military itineraries and reflected the political and administrative realities of the time. It may have incorporated information from an earlier survey commissioned by Julius Caesar and, to judge from some early references, it may originally have shown four continents. The medievalised depiction on the bottom left corner of the Hereford world map of 'Caesar Augustus' commissioning a survey of the world from three surveyors representing the three corners of the world may be based on a muddled - and religiously acceptable - memory of these classical events.
Recent writers such as Arentzen have suggested that, simply because of their sheer availability, from an early date different versions of this map may have been used to illustrate texts by scholars such as St. Augustine of Hippo's student, Orosius (fl.410) and by Isidore of Seville (c. 560-636) , about the nature, peoples and wild life of the world. These texts owed much to classical writers, particularly Pliny the Elder (23-79), who himself derived much of his information from still earlier writers such as the fifth century BC Greek historian Herodotus.
Eventually some of the information from the texts became incorporated into the maps themselves, though only sparingly at first. As the centuries went by, more and more was included with references to places associated with events in classical history and legend (particularly fictionalised tales about Alexander the Great) and from biblical history with brief notes on and the very occasional illustration of natural history. Where space allowed, reference was also made to important contemporary towns, regions, and geographical features such as freshly-opened mountain passes. As befitted the encyclopaedic texts that they illustrated, the maps became visual encyclopaedias of human and divine knowledge and not mere geographical maps. Even though the inscriptions on the maps gradually became more and more garbled and the information more and more embellished, distorted, and misunderstood, they nevertheless retained their tenuous links with ancient learning.
FROM THE TIME when it was first mentioned as being in Hereford Cathedral in 1682, until a relatively short time ago, the Hereford Mappa Mundi was almost entirely the preserve of antiquaries, clergymen with an interest in the middle ages and some historians of cartography. [1] Much of their published work, particularly the detailed studies of the map and its more obvious sources by Bevan and Phillott published in 1873 and by Konrad Miller some twenty years later, together with the facsimiles that were produced from the 1860s, has proved to be of lasting value. Nevertheless, it placed a somewhat misleading emphasis on the map's geographical 'inaccuracies', its depiction of fabulous creatures and supposedly religious purpose, all clothed in what for the layman must have seemed an air of wildly esoteric learning and near-impenetrable medieval mystery. Casual visi¬tors to the dark aisle where it hung could see only a dark, dirty image which they were encouraged to view in a pious, but also rather condescending manner.
Detail from the Hereford map of England and Wales. Note Lincoln on its hill and Snowdon ('Snawdon'), Caernarvon and Conway in Wales, referring to the castles Edward I was building there when the map was being created. (By courtesy of the British Library).
In the last thirty years this has gradually changed. In England, a detailed study of its less obvious features, such as the sequences of its place names and some of its coastal outlines by G. R. Crone of the Royal Geographical Society, revealed that despite the antiquity of many of the map's sources much was almost contemporary with the map's creation and was secular. Others delved into the question of its authorship, which had previously been assumed to be obvious from the wording on the map itself. Its images and decoration have been examined from a stylistic standpoint by Nigel Morgan and put into the context of their time, while the late Wilma George examined the animals in the light of her own zoological knowledge [2] The chance discoveries of fragments of other English medieval world maps in recent years [3] have expanded the context within which the Hereford World Map can be examined, and the Royal Academy exhibition, 'The Age of Chivalry' of 1987 enabled the map to be displayed in the company of other non-cartographic artifacts of its own time.
Details from the Hereford map of the Blemyae and the Psilli. Typical of the strange creatures or 'Wonders of the East' derived by Richard of Haldingham from classical sources and placed in Ethiopia. The Psilli reputedly tested the virtue of their wives by exposing their children to serpents. Recent research suggests this is a reference to African traders in medicinal drugs who visited ancient Rome. (By courtesy of the British Library).
Equally important work was also being done on medieval and Renaissance world maps as a genre, particularly by medievalists such as Anna-Dorothee von den Brincken and Jorg-Geerd Arentzen in Germany and by Juergen Schulz, primarily an art historian, and David Woodward, a leading historian of cartogra¬phy, in the United States. The cumulative effect has been to enable us at last to evaluate the map in terms of its actual (largely non-geographical and not exclusively religious) purpose, the age in which it was created and in the context of the general development of European cartography. Today, with the map in the headlines of thc popular prcss, it may be time to give a brief resume of what is currently known about it and to attempt to explain some of its more important features in the light of recent research. Much of the text that follows is an amplification of information panels and leaflets prepared for the British Library's current display of the map.
Medieval World Maps
The Hereford World Map is the only complete surviving English example of a type of map which was primarily a visualisation of all branches of knowledge in a Christian framework and only secondly a geographical object. It can best be understood in the context of the tradition to which it belonged.
After the fall of the Roman empire in the fifth century, monks and scholars struggled desperately to preserve from destruction by pagan barbarians the flotsam and jetsam of classical history and learning; to consolidate them and to reconcile them with Christian teaching and biblical history. The Old and New Testaments contained few doctrinal implications for geography, other than a bias in favour of an inhabited world consisting of rhree interlinked continents containing descendants of Noah's three sons. In the eyes of some (but by no means all) theologians, a fourth inhabited continent, the Antipodes, would implicitly have denied the descent of mankind from Noah, and the depiction of such a continent was deemed to be heretical by them. Most medieval mapmakers seem to have accepted this constraint, but world maps showing four continents are not uncommon: notably the world maps created by Beatus of Liebana in the late eighth century to illustrate his commentary on the Apocalypse of St. John. Generally, though, it was not difficult to adapt surviving copies of existing, secular world maps to suit the purposes of Christian writers from the fifth century onwards.
There would have been several models to choose from, corresponding to the widely differing cartographic traditions inside the Roman Empire, but it seems that the commonest image descended from a large map of the known world that was created for a portico lining the Via Flaminia near the Capitol in Rome during Christ's lifetime. This now-lost map was referred to in some detail by a number of classical writers and it seems to have been created under the direction of Emporer Augustus's son-in-law, Vipsanius Agrippa (63-12 BC) for official purposes. It was based on survey and on military itineraries and reflected the political and administrative realities of the time. It may have incorporated information from an earlier survey commissioned by Julius Caesar and, to judge from some early references, it may originally have shown four continents. The medievalised depiction on the bottom left corner of the Hereford world map of 'Caesar Augustus' commissioning a survey of the world from three surveyors representing the three corners of the world may be based on a muddled - and religiously acceptable - memory of these classical events.
Recent writers such as Arentzen have suggested that, simply because of their sheer availability, from an early date different versions of this map may have been used to illustrate texts by scholars such as St. Augustine of Hippo's student, Orosius (fl.410) and by Isidore of Seville (c. 560-636) , about the nature, peoples and wild life of the world. These texts owed much to classical writers, particularly Pliny the Elder (23-79), who himself derived much of his information from still earlier writers such as the fifth century BC Greek historian Herodotus.
Eventually some of the information from the texts became incorporated into the maps themselves, though only sparingly at first. As the centuries went by, more and more was included with references to places associated with events in classical history and legend (particularly fictionalised tales about Alexander the Great) and from biblical history with brief notes on and the very occasional illustration of natural history. Where space allowed, reference was also made to important contemporary towns, regions, and geographical features such as freshly-opened mountain passes. As befitted the encyclopaedic texts that they illustrated, the maps became visual encyclopaedias of human and divine knowledge and not mere geographical maps. Even though the inscriptions on the maps gradually became more and more garbled and the information more and more embellished, distorted, and misunderstood, they nevertheless retained their tenuous links with ancient learning.
The Anglo-Saxon World Map, c.1000. A broad similarity in coastlines with the Hereford map is clear, but there are no illustrations of animals other than the lion (top left). Note also the Roman provincial boundaries, the relative accuracy of the British coastlines (lower left) and the attention paid to the Balkans and Denmark, with which Saxon England had close contacts. (B.L. Cotton MS Tiberius B. v Pt. 1, f.56v).
The resulting maps ranged widely in shape and appearance, some being circular, others square. Some, often oriented to the north, attempted to show the whole world in zones, with the inhabited earth occupying the zone between the equator and the frozen north. Most of the maps, however, like the Hereford Mappa Mundi, depicted only that part of the world which was known in classical times to be inhabited and they were oriented with east at the top. Many were purely schematic and symbolic, showing a T, representing the Mediterranean, the Don and the Nile, surrounded by an 0, for the great ocean encircling the world, sometimes with a fourth continent being added. More than simple geographical shorthand, such maps were also meant to symbolise the crucifixion, the descent of man from Noah's three sons and the ultimate triumph of Christianity.
A few maps of the inhabited world were much more detailed, though keeping to the same broad structure and symbolism. Paradise was shown at the very top, or extreme east of the map. Traces of the maps' classical origins could regularly be seen in, for instance, the continued depiction of the provincial boundaries of the Roman Empire (which are partly visible on the Hereford map) and for many centuries by the island of Delos which had been sacred to the early Greeks being the centre of the inhabited world. It was only from about 1120 that Jerusalem took Oclos' place as the focal point of the map, as it does on the Hereford Mappa Mundi. Palestine itself was usually enlarged far beyond what, on a modern map, would have been its actual proportions. This was in order to match its historical importance and to accommodate all the information that had to be conveyed. The amount of space dedicated to the other parts of the world varied according to their traditional historical or biblical importance and the preoccupations of the author of the text which the map illustrated. Because of this, space devoted to the author or patron's homeland was often much exaggerated when judged by modern standards, as in the case of England, Wales and Ireland on the Hereford Mappa Mundi.
Most of these earlier maps were book illustrations, none were particularly big and the maps were always considered to need textual amplification. They were never intended to convey purely geographical information or to stand alone without explanatory text. They and the texts which they adorned continued to be copied by hand until late in the fifteenth century and are to be found in early printed books.
The 'Psalter' World Map, c.1260. Probably a copy of the mapp prepared for Henry III's audience chamber at Westminster. God dominates the world and the 'Marvels of the East' occupy the lower right edge of the map, as they do on the Hereford map. The coastlines and geography show considerable differences in detail, however. (B.L. Add. MS 28681, f.9).
Wall maps
From about 1100, however, we know from contemporary descriptions in chronicles and from the few surviving inventories that larger world maps were produced on parchment, cloth and as wall paintings for the adornment of audience chambers in palaces and castles as well as, probably, of altars in the side chapels of religious buildings. Often a 'context' for them would have been provided by the other secular as well as religious surrounding decorations. Together they would have provided a propaganda backdrop for the public appearances of the ruler, ruling body, noble or cleric who had commissioned them, and some may have been able to stand alone as visual histories.
A separate written text of an encyclopaedic nature, probably written by the map's intellectual creator, however, was still intended to accompany many if not all these large maps and one may originally have accompanied the Herefore world map. For many maps continued to be used primarily for educational, including theological, purposes. The Hereford map, as an inscription at the lower left corner tells us, was certainly intended for use as a visual encyclopaedia, to be 'heard, read and seen' by onlookers. These large maps did have further uses. A note on one of the most famous of them, the Ebstorf, says that it could be used for route planning. As G. R. Crone demonstrated, the Hereford also contains sequences of the more important place names along some major thirteenth century commercial and pilgrimage routes. On a world map, though, as opposed to the strip itinerary maps produced by Matthew Paris in about 1250, the route planning could only have been very approximate and very much incidental to the main purposes.
These maps seem largely to have been inspired by English scholars working at home or in Europe. They reached their fullest development in the thirteenth century when Englishmen like Roger Bacon, John of Holywood (Sacrobosco), Robert Grosseteste and Matthew Paris were playing an inordinately large part in creative geographical thinking in Europe. Because of the maps' size, they were able to include far more information and illustration than their predecessors. They retained and expanded the geographical and historieal elements of the older maps - coastlines, layout and place names on the maps frequently reveal their ancestry - but to them they added several novel features. There was an enhanced Christian emphasis through the decoration. Christ would, for instance, be shown dominating the world, or the world might even be depicted as the actual body of Christ. In addition, there seems regularly to have been a garbled reference in word and/or picture to the survey of the world supposedly undertaken at the behest of Julius or Augustus Caesar.
The most striking novelty, however, was the vastly increased number of depietions of peoples, animals, and plants of the world copied from illustrations in contemporary handbooks on wildlife, commonly called bestiaries and herbals. In most, if not all of these maps, the strange peoples or 'Marvels of the East' are shown occupying Ethiopia on the right (southcrn) edge, as on the Hereford map. More space was also found for current political references and information derived from contemporary military, religious and commercial itineraries. Inscriptions of varying lengths amplified the pictures and sometimes contained references to their sources. Although the maps were still dominated by biblical and classical history and legend, most other information seems to have been acceptable and was accommodated within the traditional framework.
Mentions in contemporary records and chronicles, such as those of Matthew Paris, make it plain that these large world maps were once relatively common. Exposure to light, fire, water, and religious bigotry or indifference over the centuries has, however, led to the destruction of most of them. Today, the earliest survivor, dating from the beginning of the thirteenth century, is a badly damaged example now in Vercelli Cathedral, probably having been brought to Italy in about 1219 by a papal legate returning from England. Much better preserved, until its destruction in 1943, was the famous Ebstorf world map of about 1235. Far larger than the Hereford Word Map and much more colourful, it was probably created under the guidance of the itinerant English lawyer, teacher and diplomat, Gervase of Tilbury. The world was shown as the body of Christ and much space was devoted to the political situation in northern Germany: an area of particular concern to the Duke who may have commissioned it.
At about the same time that this map was being created, Henry III, perhaps after consultation with Gervase, who had visited him in 1229, commissioned wall maps to hang in the audience chambers of his palaces in Winchester and Westminster. Both are now lost but it seems quite likely that the so-called 'Psalter Map', produced in London in the early 1260s and now owned by the British Library, is a much reduced copy of the map that hung in Westminster Palace. We know from Matthew Paris that the Westminster map was copied by others, and it is likely to have had a lasting influence even though the original was destroyed in 1265. It is difficult to account otherwise for the striking similarities in detailed arrangement and content between the Psalter world map, the recently discovered 'Duchy of Cornwall' fragment (probably commissioned in about 1285 by a cousin of Edward I for his foundation, Ashridge College in Hertfordshire) and the Aslake world map fragments of about 1360.
A few maps of the inhabited world were much more detailed, though keeping to the same broad structure and symbolism. Paradise was shown at the very top, or extreme east of the map. Traces of the maps' classical origins could regularly be seen in, for instance, the continued depiction of the provincial boundaries of the Roman Empire (which are partly visible on the Hereford map) and for many centuries by the island of Delos which had been sacred to the early Greeks being the centre of the inhabited world. It was only from about 1120 that Jerusalem took Oclos' place as the focal point of the map, as it does on the Hereford Mappa Mundi. Palestine itself was usually enlarged far beyond what, on a modern map, would have been its actual proportions. This was in order to match its historical importance and to accommodate all the information that had to be conveyed. The amount of space dedicated to the other parts of the world varied according to their traditional historical or biblical importance and the preoccupations of the author of the text which the map illustrated. Because of this, space devoted to the author or patron's homeland was often much exaggerated when judged by modern standards, as in the case of England, Wales and Ireland on the Hereford Mappa Mundi.
Most of these earlier maps were book illustrations, none were particularly big and the maps were always considered to need textual amplification. They were never intended to convey purely geographical information or to stand alone without explanatory text. They and the texts which they adorned continued to be copied by hand until late in the fifteenth century and are to be found in early printed books.
The 'Psalter' World Map, c.1260. Probably a copy of the mapp prepared for Henry III's audience chamber at Westminster. God dominates the world and the 'Marvels of the East' occupy the lower right edge of the map, as they do on the Hereford map. The coastlines and geography show considerable differences in detail, however. (B.L. Add. MS 28681, f.9).
Wall maps
From about 1100, however, we know from contemporary descriptions in chronicles and from the few surviving inventories that larger world maps were produced on parchment, cloth and as wall paintings for the adornment of audience chambers in palaces and castles as well as, probably, of altars in the side chapels of religious buildings. Often a 'context' for them would have been provided by the other secular as well as religious surrounding decorations. Together they would have provided a propaganda backdrop for the public appearances of the ruler, ruling body, noble or cleric who had commissioned them, and some may have been able to stand alone as visual histories.
A separate written text of an encyclopaedic nature, probably written by the map's intellectual creator, however, was still intended to accompany many if not all these large maps and one may originally have accompanied the Herefore world map. For many maps continued to be used primarily for educational, including theological, purposes. The Hereford map, as an inscription at the lower left corner tells us, was certainly intended for use as a visual encyclopaedia, to be 'heard, read and seen' by onlookers. These large maps did have further uses. A note on one of the most famous of them, the Ebstorf, says that it could be used for route planning. As G. R. Crone demonstrated, the Hereford also contains sequences of the more important place names along some major thirteenth century commercial and pilgrimage routes. On a world map, though, as opposed to the strip itinerary maps produced by Matthew Paris in about 1250, the route planning could only have been very approximate and very much incidental to the main purposes.
These maps seem largely to have been inspired by English scholars working at home or in Europe. They reached their fullest development in the thirteenth century when Englishmen like Roger Bacon, John of Holywood (Sacrobosco), Robert Grosseteste and Matthew Paris were playing an inordinately large part in creative geographical thinking in Europe. Because of the maps' size, they were able to include far more information and illustration than their predecessors. They retained and expanded the geographical and historieal elements of the older maps - coastlines, layout and place names on the maps frequently reveal their ancestry - but to them they added several novel features. There was an enhanced Christian emphasis through the decoration. Christ would, for instance, be shown dominating the world, or the world might even be depicted as the actual body of Christ. In addition, there seems regularly to have been a garbled reference in word and/or picture to the survey of the world supposedly undertaken at the behest of Julius or Augustus Caesar.
The most striking novelty, however, was the vastly increased number of depietions of peoples, animals, and plants of the world copied from illustrations in contemporary handbooks on wildlife, commonly called bestiaries and herbals. In most, if not all of these maps, the strange peoples or 'Marvels of the East' are shown occupying Ethiopia on the right (southcrn) edge, as on the Hereford map. More space was also found for current political references and information derived from contemporary military, religious and commercial itineraries. Inscriptions of varying lengths amplified the pictures and sometimes contained references to their sources. Although the maps were still dominated by biblical and classical history and legend, most other information seems to have been acceptable and was accommodated within the traditional framework.
Mentions in contemporary records and chronicles, such as those of Matthew Paris, make it plain that these large world maps were once relatively common. Exposure to light, fire, water, and religious bigotry or indifference over the centuries has, however, led to the destruction of most of them. Today, the earliest survivor, dating from the beginning of the thirteenth century, is a badly damaged example now in Vercelli Cathedral, probably having been brought to Italy in about 1219 by a papal legate returning from England. Much better preserved, until its destruction in 1943, was the famous Ebstorf world map of about 1235. Far larger than the Hereford Word Map and much more colourful, it was probably created under the guidance of the itinerant English lawyer, teacher and diplomat, Gervase of Tilbury. The world was shown as the body of Christ and much space was devoted to the political situation in northern Germany: an area of particular concern to the Duke who may have commissioned it.
At about the same time that this map was being created, Henry III, perhaps after consultation with Gervase, who had visited him in 1229, commissioned wall maps to hang in the audience chambers of his palaces in Winchester and Westminster. Both are now lost but it seems quite likely that the so-called 'Psalter Map', produced in London in the early 1260s and now owned by the British Library, is a much reduced copy of the map that hung in Westminster Palace. We know from Matthew Paris that the Westminster map was copied by others, and it is likely to have had a lasting influence even though the original was destroyed in 1265. It is difficult to account otherwise for the striking similarities in detailed arrangement and content between the Psalter world map, the recently discovered 'Duchy of Cornwall' fragment (probably commissioned in about 1285 by a cousin of Edward I for his foundation, Ashridge College in Hertfordshire) and the Aslake world map fragments of about 1360.
The Hereford map
The Hereford Mappa Mundi is the only full size survivor of these magnificent, encyclopaedic English-inspired maps. Despite some broad similarities in arrangement and content, however, there are very considerable differences from the Ebstorf and the 'Westminster Palace' maps in details - like the precise location of wildlife, the portrayal of some coastlines and islands, or in the recent information incorporated. A Latin legend in the bottom right corner of the Hereford map refers to the fifth century Christian propagandist Orosius as the main source for the map, but as we have already seen, it incorporates informa¬tion from numerous ancient and thirteenth century sources and adds its own interpretations of them. In many of its details it particularly resembles the Anglo-Saxon World Map of about 1000 and the twelfth century Henry of Mainz world map in Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. In transmission some facts and text became garbled and some inscriptions are gobblede¬gook or wrong. Africa is called Europe and vice versa.
The Hereford Mappa Mundi. God dominates the world, with the Last Judgement below. The map is an outstanding example of a map type that had evolved over the preceding eight centuries. This is a facsimile (with the background of the map 'cleaned up') We have reproduced this as it is easier to see all the detail than on the original. (By courtesy of Peter Whitfield).
An inscription in Norman-French at the bottom left attributes the map to Richard of Haldingham and Sleaford. Although there was some controversy over the matter in the 1970s, it seems likely that this was Richard de Bello (c. I 235-c. 1325), a church administrator and prebendary of Haldingham and Sleaford (now Holdingham and Lafford) in Lincolnshire from 1276 to 1283 who later served with the Bishop of Salisbury and as prebendary of Norton in Hereford Cathedral in 1305. The map was probably copied out and painted from ~is design by professional scribes and illuminators.
It seems likely that the map was created in Lincoln between about 1280 and 1289. Lincoln had a considerable intellectual reputation in the thirteenth century which Hereford could not match, and it is known from a surviving library list to have possessed at least one earlier world map. The depiction of Lincoln Cathedral on its hill on the Hereford Mappa Mundi must have been based on direct observation. Moreover, the map's topical and relatively accurate depiction of North Wales, where Edward I was then battling with Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, may have derived from the archive and sketches of the great chronicler, Gerald of Wales (c.1146-1223), who spent most of his last years in Lincoln.[4] The map has probably been housed at Hereford since about 1290, and the sketchy depiction of Hereford itself may have been something of an afterthought. Until at least the beginning of the last century it was the centrepiece of a triptych. with painted wings showing the annunciation. This frame was probably contemporary and suggests that within a few years of its creation, the map was being used as an altar piece.
The map was primarily intended to show all of God's creation in its proper historical and geographical setting: a visual affirmation of traditional learning and faith. It is also an 'estoire' locating events in human and divine history, from the fall (Adam and Eve at the top or East), to the thirteenth century - and beyond to the Last Judgement, shown above the map. The rider looking back at the world but being urged (in Norman-French) by his page to proceed (bottom right) is probably a reference to the passing of time and the transitory nature of earthly things. The accurate depiction of coastlines and geographical positions is subordinated to these purposes and to the space available. In particular the shape of the British Isles may have been distorted in order to fit into the circle and enlarged to contain all the information Richard wanted to give. As early as about 1000, scholars had a reasonably good idea of the proper form, as the Anglo-Saxon world map shows, while, as recently as 1969, Soviet cartographers, struggling to squeeze the eastern hemis¬phere into a circle were forced into distortions similar to those on the Hereford map!
The Mappa Mundi was primarily meant for public display, possibly in Richard's dwellings during his lifetime and after, perhaps, in a chantry chapel where people could pray for his soul and learn something of the nature and secular and divine history of the world, as they are requested to do in the authorship inscription. The use of Latin and Norman-French suggests that the audience was not intended to be the poor, but rather the well-educated, upper-class, Norman-French speaking elite versed in the Latin bible and classical works.
Blaeu's wall map of America (Jaillot, 1669). A seventeenth century Du.tch wall map. The coastlines and orientation have become more recognisable, but it remains almost as much of a visual encyclopaedia as the Hereford world map. The depictions of the historic people and places and of the strange and not so strange peoples, however, have been pushed to the edges of the map, though some still survive in the seas and the less well-known areas of the continent. (By courtesy of Martayan Lan).
Later World maps
The Hereford world map, or one like it, seems to have influenced the form of the larger map illustrating the encyclo-paedic Polychronicon written by the Chester monk Ranulf Higden that first appeared in the 1340s. Possibly for lack of space, however, the Higden maps, which usually occupy one opening in his book, do not show any wildlife. The Polychroni¬con was still being produced with its maps in the 1460s, but the pattern set by the Hereford and the other large world maps showed little development inside England after abour 1360. On the continent it was a different story. By the 1330s, Iberian and Italian world maps were showing modern-looking Mediterra¬nean coastlines derived from sea charts. Little more than a century later, places were being located according to the rediscovered co-ordinates of the classical geographer Claudius Ptolemy of Alexandria and his Renaissance successors, as is stated by the Venetian Fra Mauro on his large world map of 1459. Information drawn from the great discoveries was also being included.
Nevertheless, the ethnographical, botanical, zoological, bibli¬cal and historical illustrations and texts on large maps continued to be regarded as being at least as important as the purely geographical. They remained important well into the seven¬teenth century, as is shown by comments on the pleasure of looking at maps by contemporary writers such as Robert Burton in his Anatomy of Melancholy (1621) and in the grand Dutch printed wall maps often depicted in the paintings of Vermeer. Even today the Hereford Mappa Mundi and other medieval wall maps have their modern counterparts in illustrated tourist maps and map postcards where non-geographic information continues to take precedence over cartographic accuracy.
COPYRIGHT Winter 1989 The Map Collector, All rights reserved.
No portion of this article nor the accompanying illustrations can or may be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
The Hereford Mappa Mundi is the only full size survivor of these magnificent, encyclopaedic English-inspired maps. Despite some broad similarities in arrangement and content, however, there are very considerable differences from the Ebstorf and the 'Westminster Palace' maps in details - like the precise location of wildlife, the portrayal of some coastlines and islands, or in the recent information incorporated. A Latin legend in the bottom right corner of the Hereford map refers to the fifth century Christian propagandist Orosius as the main source for the map, but as we have already seen, it incorporates informa¬tion from numerous ancient and thirteenth century sources and adds its own interpretations of them. In many of its details it particularly resembles the Anglo-Saxon World Map of about 1000 and the twelfth century Henry of Mainz world map in Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. In transmission some facts and text became garbled and some inscriptions are gobblede¬gook or wrong. Africa is called Europe and vice versa.
The Hereford Mappa Mundi. God dominates the world, with the Last Judgement below. The map is an outstanding example of a map type that had evolved over the preceding eight centuries. This is a facsimile (with the background of the map 'cleaned up') We have reproduced this as it is easier to see all the detail than on the original. (By courtesy of Peter Whitfield).
An inscription in Norman-French at the bottom left attributes the map to Richard of Haldingham and Sleaford. Although there was some controversy over the matter in the 1970s, it seems likely that this was Richard de Bello (c. I 235-c. 1325), a church administrator and prebendary of Haldingham and Sleaford (now Holdingham and Lafford) in Lincolnshire from 1276 to 1283 who later served with the Bishop of Salisbury and as prebendary of Norton in Hereford Cathedral in 1305. The map was probably copied out and painted from ~is design by professional scribes and illuminators.
It seems likely that the map was created in Lincoln between about 1280 and 1289. Lincoln had a considerable intellectual reputation in the thirteenth century which Hereford could not match, and it is known from a surviving library list to have possessed at least one earlier world map. The depiction of Lincoln Cathedral on its hill on the Hereford Mappa Mundi must have been based on direct observation. Moreover, the map's topical and relatively accurate depiction of North Wales, where Edward I was then battling with Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, may have derived from the archive and sketches of the great chronicler, Gerald of Wales (c.1146-1223), who spent most of his last years in Lincoln.[4] The map has probably been housed at Hereford since about 1290, and the sketchy depiction of Hereford itself may have been something of an afterthought. Until at least the beginning of the last century it was the centrepiece of a triptych. with painted wings showing the annunciation. This frame was probably contemporary and suggests that within a few years of its creation, the map was being used as an altar piece.
The map was primarily intended to show all of God's creation in its proper historical and geographical setting: a visual affirmation of traditional learning and faith. It is also an 'estoire' locating events in human and divine history, from the fall (Adam and Eve at the top or East), to the thirteenth century - and beyond to the Last Judgement, shown above the map. The rider looking back at the world but being urged (in Norman-French) by his page to proceed (bottom right) is probably a reference to the passing of time and the transitory nature of earthly things. The accurate depiction of coastlines and geographical positions is subordinated to these purposes and to the space available. In particular the shape of the British Isles may have been distorted in order to fit into the circle and enlarged to contain all the information Richard wanted to give. As early as about 1000, scholars had a reasonably good idea of the proper form, as the Anglo-Saxon world map shows, while, as recently as 1969, Soviet cartographers, struggling to squeeze the eastern hemis¬phere into a circle were forced into distortions similar to those on the Hereford map!
The Mappa Mundi was primarily meant for public display, possibly in Richard's dwellings during his lifetime and after, perhaps, in a chantry chapel where people could pray for his soul and learn something of the nature and secular and divine history of the world, as they are requested to do in the authorship inscription. The use of Latin and Norman-French suggests that the audience was not intended to be the poor, but rather the well-educated, upper-class, Norman-French speaking elite versed in the Latin bible and classical works.
Blaeu's wall map of America (Jaillot, 1669). A seventeenth century Du.tch wall map. The coastlines and orientation have become more recognisable, but it remains almost as much of a visual encyclopaedia as the Hereford world map. The depictions of the historic people and places and of the strange and not so strange peoples, however, have been pushed to the edges of the map, though some still survive in the seas and the less well-known areas of the continent. (By courtesy of Martayan Lan).
Later World maps
The Hereford world map, or one like it, seems to have influenced the form of the larger map illustrating the encyclo-paedic Polychronicon written by the Chester monk Ranulf Higden that first appeared in the 1340s. Possibly for lack of space, however, the Higden maps, which usually occupy one opening in his book, do not show any wildlife. The Polychroni¬con was still being produced with its maps in the 1460s, but the pattern set by the Hereford and the other large world maps showed little development inside England after abour 1360. On the continent it was a different story. By the 1330s, Iberian and Italian world maps were showing modern-looking Mediterra¬nean coastlines derived from sea charts. Little more than a century later, places were being located according to the rediscovered co-ordinates of the classical geographer Claudius Ptolemy of Alexandria and his Renaissance successors, as is stated by the Venetian Fra Mauro on his large world map of 1459. Information drawn from the great discoveries was also being included.
Nevertheless, the ethnographical, botanical, zoological, bibli¬cal and historical illustrations and texts on large maps continued to be regarded as being at least as important as the purely geographical. They remained important well into the seven¬teenth century, as is shown by comments on the pleasure of looking at maps by contemporary writers such as Robert Burton in his Anatomy of Melancholy (1621) and in the grand Dutch printed wall maps often depicted in the paintings of Vermeer. Even today the Hereford Mappa Mundi and other medieval wall maps have their modern counterparts in illustrated tourist maps and map postcards where non-geographic information continues to take precedence over cartographic accuracy.
- N. J. Morgan, Early Cothic Manuscripts 1250-1285. A Survey of Manuscripts illuminated in the British Isles. IV. vol. 2 (London: 1987). pp. 195-200 contains a good discussion and full and up-to-date bibliography of writings about the Hereford world map. It should be consulted for further references to the authors mentioned below.
- Wilma George. Animals in Mups (London: 1969). pp.29-35, 125,204; ibid, 'The bestiary: a handbook of the local fauna'. Archives of Natural History (1981) 10 (2): 187-203 who. inter alia. has an illustration of a unicorn (or Oryx beisu) photographed by her in Ethiopia, demonstrating that many of the 'fantasy' creatures on the map were based on actual observation, freakish though it may have been and distorted though it became.
- The most important of these recent discoveries. the 'Duchy of Cornwall' fragment and the 'Aslake' map fragments. will be discussed in papers by Graham Haslam and Peter Barber in a volume on the transactions of the Twelfth International Conference on the History of Cartography. edited by Monique Pelletier and due for publication i~ autumn 1989.
- Charles Knightly. A Mirror of Medieval Wales. Cerald of Wales and His Journey of 1188 (Cardiff: 1988). A map of the British Isles illustrating his topography of Ireland is illustrated on page 16.
COPYRIGHT Winter 1989 The Map Collector, All rights reserved.
No portion of this article nor the accompanying illustrations can or may be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.