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{{Short description|Medieval European maps of the world}}
{{Italic title}}

[[File:Hereford-Karte.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|alt=Hereford mappa mundi|right|The ''[[Hereford Mappa Mundi]]'', about 1300, [[Hereford Cathedral]], England]]
A '''''mappa mundi''''' (Latin {{IPA|la|ˈmappa ˈmʊndiː|}}; plural = ''mappae mundi''; {{langx|fr|mappemonde}}; {{langx|enm|mappemond}}) is any [[Middle Ages|medieval European]] [[World map|map of the world]]. Such maps range in size and complexity from simple schematic maps {{convert|1|in|mm|order=flip|abbr=off}} or less across to elaborate wall maps, the largest of which to survive to modern times, the [[Ebstorf Map|Ebstorf map]], was around {{convert|3.5|m|ftin|abbr=on}} in diameter. The term derives from the [[Medieval Latin]] words {{Lang|la-x-medieval|mappa}} (cloth or chart) and {{Lang|la-x-medieval|mundus}} (world).

Around 1,100 ''mappae mundi'' are known to have survived from the Middle Ages. Of these, some 900 are found illustrating manuscript books and the remainder exist as stand-alone documents.<ref>J. B. Harley (1987); Volume I, p. 286</ref>

==Types of ''mappae mundi''==
[[Image:mappaemundi vertical.gif|frame|right|Diagram illustrating the major categories of ''mappae mundi''.]]
Extant ''mappae mundi'' come in several distinct varieties, including: 
* Zonal maps (sometimes called [[Macrobian map]]s)
* Tripartite maps (including "[[T and O map|T-O]]" and "[[V-in-square map|V-in-◻]]" maps)
* Quadripartite maps (including the [[Beatus map]]s)
* Complex maps
Medieval world maps which share some characteristics of traditional ''mappae mundi'' but contain elements from other sources, including [[Portolan charts]] and maps associated with [[Ptolemy]]'s ''[[Geographia|Geography]]'' are sometimes considered a fifth type, called "transitional mappae mundi".

===Zonal maps===
'''Zonal maps''' are pictures of the [[Eastern Hemisphere]]. Their purpose was to illustrate the concept that the world is a sphere with latitudinal climate zones, most often the five [[Aristotle|Aristotelian]] [[clime]]s:  
* The northern frigid zone
* the northern temperate zone
* the equatorial tropical zone
* the southern temperate zone
* the southern frigid zone

Of these, only the two temperate zones at middle latitudes were believed to be inhabitable, and the known world was contained entirely within the northern temperate zone's Eastern Hemisphere. As most surviving zonal maps are found illustrating [[Macrobius]]' ''Commentary'' on [[Cicero]]'s ''[[Dream of Scipio]]'' (an excerpt of Cicero's ''[[De Re Publica]]''), this type of map is sometimes called "Macrobian".  In their simplest and most common form, Zonal ''mappae mundi'' are merely circles divided into five parallel zones, but several larger zonal maps with much more detail have survived.

===Tripartite maps===
{{Main|T and O map|V-in-square map}}
[[T and O map|T-O maps]], unlike zonal maps, illustrate only the habitable portion of the world known to medieval Europeans, limiting their perspective to a relatively small portion of the Earth's Northern Hemisphere.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kedwards|first=Dale|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvxhrjnp|title=The Mappae Mundi of Medieval Iceland|date=2020-09-18|publisher=Boydell & Brewer|isbn=978-1-78744-791-2|location=Cambridge|pages=2|doi=10.2307/j.ctvxhrjnp|s2cid=224902444}}</ref> The landmass was illustrated as a circle (an "O") divided into three portions by a "T".  These three divisions were the continents of [[Asia]], [[Africa]] and [[Europe]].  The popularity of the Macrobian maps and the combination of T-O style continents on some of the larger Macrobian spheres illustrate that Earth's sphericity continued to be understood among scholars during the Middle Ages.

The [[V-in-square map]] depicts the Earth divided between the [[sons of Noah]].

===Quadripartite or Beatus maps===
'''Quadripartite maps''' represent a sort of amalgam of the zonal and T-O maps by illustrating the three known continents separated by an equatorial ocean from a fourth unknown land, often called ''[[Antipodes]]''.  Fourteen large quadripartite maps are found illustrating different manuscripts of [[Beatus of Liébana]]'s popular ''Commentary'' on the ''[[Apocalypse]]'' of [[John the Evangelist|St John]].  These "[[Beatus map]]s" are believed to derive from a single (now lost) original which was used to illustrate the missions of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ.<ref>J. B. Harley (1987); Volume I' p. 357</ref>

===Complex maps===
The "complex" or "great" world maps are the most famous mappae mundi. Although most employ a modified T-O scheme, they are considerably more detailed than their smaller T-O cousins. These maps show coastal details, mountains, rivers, cities, towns and provinces. Some include figures and stories from history, the Bible and classical mythology. Also shown on some maps are exotic plants, beasts and races known to medieval scholars only through Roman and Greek texts. Prior to its destruction in World War II, the [[Ebstorf map]] at {{convert|3.5|m|ftin|abbr=on}} across was the largest surviving mappa mundi. Today that honour is held by the surviving centre portion of the [[Hereford Mappa Mundi|Hereford map]] which is 147&nbsp;cm across and 175&nbsp;cm top to bottom. Other important maps in this group are the [[Cotton or Anglo-Saxon map]], the Psalter map and the Henry of Mainz map. The somewhat later mappae mundi that accompany the popular ''Polychronicon'' of [[Ranulf Higden]] should probably be viewed as degenerate forms of the earlier complex maps.

Complex mappae mundi include:

{| class="wikitable" 
|-
! Name !! Date !! MS locations !! Dimensions
|-
| The Albi or Merovingian map || {{Circa|730}} ||  Médiathèque Pierre-Amalric, [[Albi]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://mediatheques.grand-albigeois.fr/1307-focus-sur...-la-mappa-mundi-d-albi.htm|title = Focus sur... La Mappa mundi d'Albi - Site Médiathèques}}</ref> || {{convert|29|x|23|cm|in|abbr=on}}
|-
| The so-called Vatican map of [[Isidore of Seville]] || 776 || [[Vatican Library]], Vatican City.<br/>Lat. 6018, fol. 64 v.–65 r. || 
|-
| The Anglo-Saxon or Cotton map || {{Circa|1025}}–1050|| [[British Library]], London.<br/>[[Cotton Tiberius]] B.v, fol. 56v || {{convert|21|x|17|cm|in|abbr=on}}
|-
| The map of [[Theodulf of Orleans]] || 11th century || [[Vatican Library]], Vatican City. Reg. Lat. 123, fol. 143 v.–144 r. || 
|-
| The [[Sawley map]] || 1190-1210 || [[Corpus Christi College, Cambridge]], MS 66, pt. 1 || {{convert|29.5|x|20.5|cm|in|abbr=on}}
|-
| The Vercelli Map || {{Circa|1219}} ||Archivio Capitolare, [[Vercelli]] || {{convert|84|x|72|cm|ft|abbr=on}}
|-
| The [[Ebstorf map]] || {{Circa|1235}} ||Found in [[Ebstorf]] in 1843;<br/>destroyed by bombing in [[Hanover]] in 1943|| {{convert|3.56|x|3.58|m|ft|abbr=on}}
|-
| The [[Psalter world map|Psalter map]] || 13th century ||[[British Library]], London || {{convert|14.2|x|9.5|cm|in|abbr=on}}
|-
| The [[Hereford Mappa Mundi|Hereford map]] || {{Circa|1300}} ||[[Hereford Cathedral]], Hereford || {{convert|1.5|m|ft|abbr=on}}
|-
| The [[Borgia map|Borgia Map]] || early 15th century ||[[Vatican Library]], Vatican City ||
|-
| The [[Fra Mauro map]] || 1459–60||[[Museo Correr]], Venice || {{convert|2.4|x|2.4|m|ft|abbr=on}}
|}

==Purpose of ''mappae mundi''==
{{Unreferenced section|date=February 2025}}[[Image:T-O Mappa mundi.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Mappa Mundi in ''La Fleur des Histoires'', 1459-1463, showing at top [[Noah's Ark]] on [[Mount Ararat]].]]
To modern eyes, mappae mundi can look superficially primitive and inaccurate.  However, mappae mundi were never meant to be used as navigational charts and they make no pretence of showing the relative areas of land and water.  Rather, mappae mundi were schematic and were meant to illustrate different principles.  The simplest mappae mundi were diagrams meant to preserve and illustrate classical learning easily.  The zonal maps should be viewed as a kind of teaching aid – easily reproduced and designed to reinforce the idea of the Earth's sphericity and climate zones.  T-O maps were designed to schematically illustrate the three land masses of the world as it was known to the Romans and their medieval European heirs.

The larger mappae mundi have the space and detail to illustrate further concepts, such as the cardinal directions, distant lands, Bible stories, history, mythology, flora, fauna and exotic races.  In their fullest form, such as the [[Ebstorf Map|Ebstorf]] and [[Hereford Mappa Mundi|Hereford]] maps, they become minor encyclopedias of medieval knowledge.
[[Image:Ebstorfer-stich2.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|left|A modern recreation of the [[Ebstorf Map]], which dated from about 1235; the original was destroyed by wartime bombing.]]

In her study, Brigitte Englisch shows that the medieval world maps (the mappae mundi) both from their concept and in their concrete practice are founded on a systematically geometric projection of the known world. The basis of this projection, however, is not geographical surveying but the harmonious order of God’s creation.{{Citation needed|date=February 2008}} Using regular geometric forms like circles and triangles which are also regarded as religiously perfect, they created a coherent planispheric system. This quite basically presents the known world in its real geographic appearance which is visible in the so-called Vatican Map of Isidor (776), the world maps of Beatus of Liebana’s ''Commentary on the Apocalypse of St John'' (8th century), the Anglo-Saxon Map (ca. 1000), the Sawley map, the Psalter map, or the large mappae mundi of the 13th century (Hereford/Ebstorf).

==End of the tradition==
{{Unreferenced section|date=February 2025}}
Beginning with the [[Carta Pisana]] in the late thirteenth century, a new style of map based on charts of the Mediterranean Sea began to emerge. Now known as "[[Portolan charts]]", these maps are characterized by extremely accurate coastlines with criss-crossing [[rhumb line]]s.  A particularly famous example is the [[Catalan Atlas]] attributed to [[Abraham Cresques]] in the [[Bibliothèque nationale de France]].  During the late Middle Ages and with the coming of the Renaissance, western Europeans became reacquainted with the work of many ancient Greek scholars.  In the field of geography and map-making, the coordinate system which [[Claudius Ptolemy]] outlined in the ''[[Geography (Ptolemy)|Geography]]'' became extremely influential.  Over time maps influenced by these new ideas displaced the older traditions of mappae mundi.  The last examples of the tradition, including the massive map of [[Fra Mauro]], may be seen as hybrids, incorporating Portolan-style coastlines into the frame of a traditional mappa mundi.

==See also==
{{portal|border=no|Maps|World}}
*[[Early world maps]]
*[[Hereford Mappa Mundi]]
*[[Virtual Mappa]]
*[[Here be dragons]]
*[[Terra incognita]]
*[[Portolan chart]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
*{{Cite book |last=Edson |first=Evelyn |title=The World Map, 1300-1492 |date=2007 |publisher=[[Johns Hopkins University Press]] |isbn=9781421404301 |location=Baltimore |doi=10.1353/book.3516 |oclc=794701459}}
*{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Medieval ''Mappaemundi'' |encyclopedia=The History of Cartography |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago |url=https://press.uchicago.edu/books/HOC/HOC_V1/HOC_VOLUME1_chapter18.pdf |last=Woodward |first=David |date=1987 |editor-last=Harley |editor-first=J. B. |volume=1: Cartography in Prehistoric, Ancient, and Medieval Europe and the Mediterranean |isbn=0-226-31633-5 |editor-first2=David |editor-last2=Woodward}}

==Further reading==
* {{Cite book |title=The Map Book |publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-297-84372-6 |editor-last=Barber |editor-first=Peter |location=London}}
* {{Cite book |last=Crosby |first=Alfred W. |title=The Measure of Reality: Quantification in Western Europe, 1250-1600 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-521-55427-5 |location=Cambridge |doi=10.1017/CBO9781107050518}}
* {{Cite book |last=Edson |first=Evelyn |title=Mapping Time and Space: how medieval mapmakers viewed their world |publisher=[[The British Library]] |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-7123-4536-1 |location=London}}
* {{Cite book |last=Englisch |first=Brigitte |title=Ordo orbis terrae: Die Weltsicht in den Mappae mundi des frühen und hohen Mittelalters |publisher=Akademie |year=2002 |isbn=978-3-05-003635-9 |series=Orbis mediaevalis. Vorstellungswelten des Mittelalters |volume=3 |location=Berlin |doi=10.1524/9783050048260 |lang=de}}
* {{Cite book |last=Rudolph |first=Conrad |title=Restoration Through Contemplation: New Approaches to the Victorines |publisher=Brepols |year=2016 |isbn=978-2-503-58513-0 |editor-last=Edstam |editor-first=Torsten |chapter='In Its Extraordinary Arrangement': Hugh of Saint Victor, the History of Salvation, and the World Map of ''The Mystic Ark'' |series=Cursor Mundi |volume=39 |pages=123–146 |doi=10.1484/M.CURSOR-EB.5.122084 |editor-last2=Porwoll |editor-first2=Robert |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/51448779}}
* {{Cite book |last=von den Brincken |first=Anna-Dorothee |title=Fines terrae: die Enden der Erde und der vierte Kontinent auf den mittelalterlichen Weltkarten |publisher=Hahn |year=1992 |isbn=3-7752-5436-6 |series=MGH Schriften |volume=36 |location=Hannover |lang=de}}

== External links ==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060209042605/http://www.strangehorizons.com/2002/20020610/medieval_maps.shtml Modern Medieval Map Myths: The Flat World, Ancient Sea-Kings, and Dragons]
*[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06447a.htm Detailed Fra Mauro Mappa Mundi] 1459/60 at bottom of article
*[https://ancientworldmaps.blogspot.com/ Ancient World Maps]
* [https://collections.lib.uwm.edu/digital/collection/agdm/id/538/ 1452 Mappamundi by Giovanni Leardo] held at the American Geographical Society Library, UW Milwaukee
*[http://www.themappamundi.co.uk Mappa Mundi Hereford] Digital Mappa Mundi exploration
* More information and Mappa mundi images can be found at the [https://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/ Cornell University: Persuasive Cartography: The PJ Mode Collection]
* Discussion by [[Janina Ramirez]] and [[Peter Frankopan]]: [https://www.acast.com/artdetective/mapofconstantinople-theherefordmappamundi-withpeterfrankopan Art Detective Podcast, 22 Mar 2017]
* [https://sims2.digitalmappa.org/36 Virtual Mappa]: Digital Editions of Early Medieval Maps of the World, edit. Martin Foys, Heather Wacha, et al. (Philadelphia, PA: Schoenberg Institute of Manuscript Studies, 2018): https://sims2.digitalmappa.org/36. DOI: 10.21231/ef21-ev82.
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