Maps+During+the+Crusades

** Map Making During the Crusade Era **

A complete study of the cartography and geography of the Crusades era must take several factors into account. Most importantly, the sciences throughout Europe saw a great decline after the fall of the Roman Empire, and cartography was no exception. (The term “Dark Ages” was originally used to define this period between the “light” of Rome going out and that known as the Enlightenment.) It would not be until the 14th century that European science would be on the rebound once again. Certainly, there were still maps and copies of maps from the classical period or antiquity, but they would have only been available to a handful of the wealthiest nobles involved in the Crusades. Most were in the care of monasteries or the ruling elite.

The [|Tabula Peutingeriana] is a good example of what happened to many ancient maps. A map of the Roman roads last revised in the fourth or early fifth century, it lay unused for unknown centuries. The original scroll was copied by a monk sometime in the thirteenth century and rediscovered in a library in Worms (Germany) around 1508CE. The map included a detailed itinerary of destinations on three continents and may have been very useful to select Roman travelers, but there is no trace of it during the Medieval period beyond the monastery at Colmar.

Another factor to be accounted for is the nature of these “maps.” It is anachronistic to expect the maps of this time to be useful for long-distance naviga​tion like our Crusaders would have experienced. Today, a traveler has only to visit the nearest convenience store to have access to a vast array of maps, from local street maps to a national atlas. In the days of the Crusades, getting from one’s home in Europe to the Holy Land—a distance of many hundreds of miles—required first-hand experience. Those embarking on such journeys generally followed established trade and transportation routes, with the aid of well-travelled knights and nobles.

Most maps of this time were valued as artistic pieces, proof of scientific advancement or even religious artifacts. The cartographers (or artists) active during the Crusade era produced maps that were based on older maps, sometimes incorporating word from traders or explorers to fill in the blanks, but their work undeniably reflected the culture and beliefs of the time. Religious symbolism abounds in these maps, giving an indication of the Crusaders' world view - a conception of reality as well as geography - as inseparable from their Christian faith. Not until the Enlightenment, for example, would the European concept of time become linear; for the Crusaders, history was still defined in terms of Biblical epochs. To the casual observer, the maps below will seem quite primitive, but in reality they are colorful expressions of Crusades-era culture. Matthew Paris (1200-1259CE) is exemplary of the cartographers of this period. A prolific writer and historian, his works were primarily illustrations to accompany text, and they were not meant to aid navigation.

Most of his “maps,” like this one, were straight-line paths with illustrations representing waypoints. For the pilgrim bound for the Holy Land, these waypoints included religious markers and observances. Paris (and Medieval European cartographers generally) viewed and depicted their world as outposts of civilization surrounded by a negative natural space. This negative space did not need to be studied or represented in any way. Only with the coming of the Enlightenment and the modern era would Europe fundamentally rethink its conception of time and space.

Maps of the world during the Middle Ages were largely dedicated to illustrating text. Of the 1100 known to survive, around 900 are part of manuscripts. Most are drawn according to one of the following four projections:
 * // Mappae mundi // (//Maps of the world//)**



The most readily identifiable of these is the Tripartite, or T-O map. A great example of this is the Hereford map. This T-O mappa mundi was produced near the end of the Crusades by Richard de Bello ("prebend of Lafford in Lincoln Cathedral") and is currently on display in the Hereford Cathedral in Hereford, England. The T-O designation comes from the fact that the world is round (an "O") and it is divided into three sections by the "T" (of the Nile, the Mediterranean and the Don River in present day Russia) that divides Asia, Europe and Africa. These maps typically center on Jerusalem, making them especially relevant to study of the Crusades. It was also common for such maps to include biblical references and take a bit of artistic license, as this great breakdown of the Hereford demonstrates: 0 - At the center of the map: Jerusalem, above it: the crucifix. 1 - The Paradise, surrounded by a wall and a ring of fire. 2 - The Ganges and its delta. 3 - The fabulous Island of Taphana, sometimes (possibly mis-)interpreted as Sri Lanka or Sumatra. 4 - Rivers Indus and Tigris. 5 - The Caspian Sea, and the land of Gog and Magog 6 - Babylon and the Euphrat. 7 - The Persian Gulf. 8 - The Red Sea (painted in Red). 9 - Noah's Ark. 10 - The Dead Sea, Sodom and Gomorrha, with River Jordan, coming from Sea of Galiliee; above: Lot's wife. 11 - Egypt with the River Nile. 12 - River Nile [?], or possibly an allusion to the equatorial Ocean; far outside: a land of freaks, possibly the Antipodes. 13 - The Azov Sea with Rivers Don and Dnjepr; above: the Golden Fleece. 14 - Constantinoples; left of it the Danube's delta. 15 - The Aegean Sea. 16 - Oversized delta of the Nile with Alexandria's Lighthouse. 17 - A person skiing. 18 - Greece with Mt. Olymp, Athens and Corinth 19 - Misplaced Crete with Minotaur's circular labyrinth. 20 - The Adriatic Sea; Italy with Rome, honored by a popular heptameter: //Roma caput mundi tenet orbis frena rotundi [Rome, the head, holds the reins of the world].// 21 - Sicily, and Carthage, opposing Rome, right of it. 22 - Scotland. 23 - England. 24 - Ireland. 25 - The Baleares. 26 - The Strait of Gibraltar (the Pillars of Hercules).

**Ebstorf Map**

The Ebstorf Map is a //mappa mundi// produced around the same time as the Hereford, but it displays the usual characteristics as well as some curious departur​es from the tradition of late-Crusade T-O maps. It was found in a convent in Ebstorf, northern Germany, in the 1800s. One of the largest, it was drawn on thirty goatskins and measured 3.6m square. The head of Jesus is depicted at the top of this map, with his hands on the sides and his feet at the bottom. Jerusalem is in the center and the map is "oriented" - that is, facing east. Yet, this map includes pagan symbolism as well. It depicts Rome as a lion, and the surrounding text describes animals and includes (along side the creation story) definitions of key terms and an explanation of how the world is divided into three parts (as in the T-O map).

**The //Tabula Rogeriana//**

Another Crusades-era map, this one was produced by Arabic cartographer (and chronicler, man of science, world traveller, etc.) Muhammad al-Idrisi in 1154. As its name implies, it was produced for Norman king Roger II of Sicily. Al-Idrisi subsequently spent eighteen years at his court, working on accompanying illustrations and commentaries that would become the //Book of Roger//. This map is unique in that it displays Europe and North Africa, with the top of the map oriented to the south (upside down to modern standards). Originally drawn on a silver disk weighing 400 pounds, it was certainly not portable! Al Idrisi was a prolific cartographer and traveller; he would go on to document his accumulated experiences in //Nozhat al-mushtaq fi ikhtiraq al-afaq// (a collection of over seventy maps accompanied by geographic and sociological commentary) and //Kharitat al-'alam al-ma'mour min al-ard// (//Map of the inhabited regions of the earth//). This map illustrates both the state of science in the Muslim world (it is far more advanced that what Europe was producing at the time) and that Europeans, to an extent, were aware of their own shortcomings in this area (Roger had to import a cartographer).


 * Jerusalem **

This map was brought back by Crusader knights after the capture of Jerusalem. Maps like this were much more common than Mappae mundi, and they played a role in the cartographic revolution that placed the city in the center of the world. Jerusalem Mosaic description: Jerusalem is shown as a circular colonnade divided into four equal parts by two main thoroughfares; one connects the Gate of Damascus with the Gate of Mount Zion, and the other passes from the Tower of David to the opposite wall. The most prominent buildings are churches and shrines. ([])

Interestingly, though, the Crusaders may have encountered a much older map of the Holy Land:

The Madaba Mosaic Map was created on the floor of the Church of St George in Madaba, Jordan. Its architectural accuracy has allowed it to be dated to 542-570CE, making it the oldest surviving cartographic depiction of the Holy Land. It is also the oldest mosaic in the world, and scholars have used it in recent times to locate ruins from that period. Like many to follow it, this map was "oriented" and Jerusalem was prominently centered. The remains of this church (the structure was abandoned after an earthquake in 746CE) would have been a short walk from the Crusader stronghold of Karak.

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