Medieval Maps and Monsters

Maps from Medieval Europe are littered with strange lands, monsters and mythical races. On them you can find the Tower of Babel, the Minotaur's Labyrinth, unicorns and men with the heads of dogs. Find out what these maps can tell us about how medieval European's saw the world in the latest episode of the History and Folklore Podcast. 

 

Sources:
B.L Gordon, 'Sacred Directions, Orientations, and the Top of the Map' History of Religions Vol. 10, No. 3 (Feb., 1971), pp. 211-227

British Museum, 'Tablet' https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_1882-0714-509

Chet Van Durez, 'Sea Monsters on Medieval and Renaissance Maps' (2014).

Edward Brooke-Hitching, 'The Phantom-Atlas: The Greatest Myths, Lies and Blunders on Maps' (2016).

Gerhard Dorhn-van Rossum 'Al-Idrisi and His World Map (1154)' (2011) http://www.cliohworld.net/onlread/wg2/wg2.pdf#page=209

Intergovernmental Committee on Surveying and Mapping, 'History of Mapping' https://www.icsm.gov.au/education/fundamentals-mapping/history-mapping

John Block-Friedman, 'The Monstrous Races in Medieval Art and Thought' (2000).

John Mandeville, 'The Complete Works of John Mandeville (Shrine of Knowledge, 2020)

'Mappa Mundi Hereford Cathedral.' https://www.themappamundi.co.uk/

Paul B. Sturtevant, 'A Wonder of the Multicultural Medieval World: The Tabula Rogeriana' (2017)

https://www.publicmedievalist.com/greatest-medieval-map/

Richard Barber, 'Bestiary MS Bodley 764' (1999).

Richard Jones, 'The Medieval Natural World' (2013).

Robert Bartlett, 'The Natural and the Supernatural in the Middle Ages' (2006).

Thomas Wright, 'Travels of Marco Polo, the Venetian.' http://public-library.uk/ebooks/60/81.pdf

 

Transcript:

‘Whatever Part of the Earth that Men dwell, either above or beneath, it seemeth always to them, that they go more up-right than any other Folk. And right as it seemeth to us that they be under us, right so it seemeth to them that we be under them.’

 

Hello, welcome to the History and Folklore podcast, where we look at different folk beliefs through history and how these beliefs shape people’s perceptions of nature. Today we’re looking at historical maps and the strange creatures and the mythical races found within them. This is a huge subject, so I am only going to be able to really give an overview of the subject, but am happy to make more indepth episodes on any of the different topics if there is any interest.

 

I find this topic really fascinating as maps, despite what we like to tell ourselves, very rarely show the world how it actually is. Instead they are excellent sources to show us the preconceptions, assumptions and prejudices of the map maker and the society the map is made in. 

 

It has also been claimed that maps can affect the perception of people who view the map. We like to tell ourselves that maps are entirely neutral records of landscapes and settlements but this is