Maps of Medieval Thought

Mappa mundi texts and images present a panorama of the medieval world-view, c.1300; the Hereford map studied in close detail.

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Filled with information and lore, mappae mundi present an encyclopaedic panorama of the conceptual 'landscape' of the middle ages. Previously objects of study for cartographers and geographers, the value of medieval maps to scholars in other fields is now recognised and this book, written from an art historical perspective, illuminates the medieval view of the world represented in a group of maps of c.1300. Thorough examination of literary, visual, oral and textual evidence places the Hereford mappa mundi and others like it (such as the Psalter Maps, the 'Sawley Map', and the Ebstorf Map) within the larger context of medieval art and intellectual history. The mappa mundi in Hereford cathedral is at the heart of this study: it has more than one thousand texts and images of geographical subjects, monuments, animals, plants, peoples, biblical sites and incidents, legendary material, historical information andmuch more; distinctions between 'real' and 'fantastic' are fluid; time and space are telescoped, presenting past, present, and future. Naomi Kline provides, for the first time, a full and detailed analysis of the images and textsof the Hereford map which, thus deciphered, allow comparison with related mappae mundi as well as with other texts and images.
Contents: I. Hereford map as conceptual device: Cosmological wheel, Frame as time, Medieval audience II. Hereford map and worlds: Animals, Strange and monstrous races, Bible and crusades, Alexander III. Cartographic context.NAOMI REED KLINE is Professor of Art History at Plymouth State College.