DESPITE ITS DIMINUTIVE size, this map, occupying a leaf in a prayer book or `psalter', has long been recognized as one of the 'great' medieval world maps. There is a lot to see, some of it barely visible such as the amazingly accurate depiction of the British Isles at the bottom left. Its vivid colour gives an impression of the original splendour of the great world maps which were as much status symbols intended to impress onlookers as expressions of piety: The overallistructure of all of them was guided by the theories of Hugh of St Victor, a German theologian and teacher in Paris in the 1130s. The imagery outside the map is, however, distinctive. Unlike the Ebstorf map, where the world is shown as though it were God's body, and the Hereford map with its emphasis on the Last Judgement, here God, holding a map-like orb in his left hand and flanked by two incense-swinging angels, blesses the world. In the more diagrammatic map on the next page (see the small illustration, left), God is seen crushing the little dragons, or wyverns, to be seen at the bottom of this map. The content reflects the usual elements in the large, encyclopedic medieval world maps. East, and the Garden of Eden represented by the heads of Adam and Eve separated by a tree bearing a miniature apple, are at the top. Unlike earlier world maps, Jerusalem is placed, like a bull's-eye, at the centre. There are plentiful references to the successive world empires, classical learning and legend and to the Bible. The right edge of the map is filled with strange peoples derived ultimately from the writings of the Greek historian Herodotus and Roman writer Pliny. Yet the naming of the modern towns of Paris, Lyon, Barcelona, Cologne, London and perhaps Salzburg and references to the Crusades —particularly Damietta, captured by the crusaders in 1219 and 1249 — reflect the thirteenth-century world. The mentions of Normandy and Aquitaine, the lost ancestral French dominions of Henry III, who was then King of England, are particularly significant. The map is known, on stylistic grounds, to have been drawn in Westminster Abbey: it could well be a close copy of the well-known but now lost great world map which adorned the King's audience chamber in Westminster Palace, just a few hundred yards away.
As with many early maps some or all of the text is quite small and needs a good eye to read it.
MOUNTED MAPS are identical visually
to a regular paper or photographic image but enhanced with an
extra-rigid backing to provide stability and protection. In short,
the image is mounted onto a substance for ultimate protection against
warping and damaged corners.
The map is perfect for free-standing display, an album collection, or
framing.
We
do not copy alter or reproduce any of the prints we offer for sale
they are genuine vintage prints of the printing date stated above.
You
may occasionally see a similar item listed; this happens when we
have more than one of the prints in the archives.