Fifteenth-century maps of the world
It would take us too far here to attempt a mention of all the fifteenth-century maps which have a different representation of the North; but perhaps some of the mappemundi in wheel-form, which were still current at this time, ought to be referred to. We saw that on Vesconte’s map of the world accompanying Marino Sanudo’s work the coast-lines of the compass-charts in the Mediterranean, etc., had already been introduced. On the Modena map ([p. 231]) this has also been carried out as regards the North. In the fifteenth century we have various wheel-maps, of which some seem to be more antiquated. Lo Bianco’s round mappamundi, in his atlas of 1436, is connected with the compass-charts of that time. Johannes Leardus’s round mappamundi, in many editions of 1448 and earlier,[273] likewise shows a strong affinity to the compass-charts, although there is little detail in the delineation of the North. The same is the case with the anonymous round mappamundi in a codex in the Library of St. Mark at Venice [cf. Kretschmer, 1892, atlas, Pl. III., No. 13], but this map has also points of similarity to Vesconte’s mappamundi in Sanudo’s work, and, amongst other things, it has the same mountain-chain along the north coast of the continent, and the same form of the Baltic.
Europe on the mappamundi in the Geneva MS. of Sallust
of about 1450. (The south should be at the top)
The round mappamundi in a MS. of Mela of 1417 at Rheims[274] is, on the whole, of a very antiquated type, but its image of the North seems more modern, and it has the same mountain-chain along the north coast of the continent as Vesconte’s map. The “Sallust” map at Geneva, of about 1450, is also antiquated, but its Baltic resembles the compass-charts, and the two mountain ridges, one along the north coast of the continent, the other parallel with it in the interior, strongly recall Vesconte’s map of the world. On the other hand, the connection by water between the Baltic and Mæotis (the Sea of Azov) is evidently derived from an earlier age (cf. [p. 199]). Out in the ocean to the north-west and west of Norway lie four islands. Björnbo supposes [1910, p. 75] that the two more northerly of these may correspond to Adam of Bremen’s Greenland and Wineland, but this must be very uncertain.[275]
North-western portion of Andreas Walsperger’s mappamundi (of 1448).
Most of the names are omitted. (The south should be at the top)
Walsperger’s map of 1448
A curious delineation of the North is found on the round mappamundi which was drawn at Constance in 1448 by the Benedictine monk Andreas Walsperger of Salzburg [cf. Kretschmer, 1891a]. The map is in most respects imperfect and antiquated, but shows also more recent, particularly German, influence.
The Mediterranean and the Baltic are disproportionately large, and the mass of land between them has been contracted. There are many mediæval mythical conceptions, and items showing possible influence by Adam of Bremen [cf. Miller, iii. 1895, p. 147]. Thus in northern Asia we have “Cenocephali” and Cannibals [“Andropophagi”], bearded women, Gog, Magog, etc. In Norway we read: “Here demons often show themselves in human shape and render service to men, and they are called trolls.” Claudius Clavus also speaks of trolls in Norway. In the northern ocean to the north-west of Norway is written: “In this great sea there is no sailing on account of magnets.” This is evidently the widely distributed mediæval myth of the magnet-rock, which attracted all ships with iron in them; in Germany it occurs in the legend of Duke Ernst’s wanderings in the Liver Sea, and it is doubtless derived from the Arabian Nights. On the mainland to the north-east of Norway we read that “here under the North Pole the land is uninhabitable on account of the excessive cold which produces a condition of continual frost....” In the extreme north of the ocean, near the Pole, is written: “Hell is in the heart or belly of the earth according to the opinion of the learned.”