Catalan Atlas

The Catalan Atlas ( ca, Atles català, ) is a medieval world map, or mappamundi, created in 1375 that has been described as the most important map of the Middle Ages in the Catalan language, and as "the zenith of medieval map-work".

It was produced by the Majorcan cartographic school, possibly by Cresques Abraham, a Jewish book illuminator who was described by a contemporary as a master of '' mappae mundi'' as well as of compasses. It was in the royal library of France by 1380, during the reign of King Charles V, and is still preserved in the Bibliothèque nationale de France. The Catalan Atlas originally consisted of six vellum leaves (each circa ) folded vertically, painted in various colours including gold and silver. They were later mounted on the front and back of five wooden panels, with the ends enclosed in a leather binding by Simon Vostre c.1515, restored most recently in 1991. Wear has split each leaf into two.

Description

The first two leaves contain texts in Catalan covering cosmography, astronomy, and astrology. These texts are accompanied by illustrations. The texts and illustration emphasise the Earth's spherical shape and the state of the known world. They also provide information to sailors on tides and how to tell time at night.

The four remaining leaves make up the actual map, with Jerusalem located close to the centre; two depict the Orient; the remaining two show Europe, along with North and West Africa. The map is around in size. It shows illustrations of many cities—Christian cities with a cross, other cities with a dome—and with each city's political allegiance indicated by a flag. Wavy blue vertical lines are used to symbolise oceans. Place names of important ports are transcribed in red, while others are indicated in black. The illustrations and most of the text are oriented towards the edges of the map, suggesting it was intended to be used by laying it flat and walking around it.

The oriental portion of the Catalan Atlas illustrates numerous religious references as well as a synthesis of medieval '' mappae mundi'' and the travel literature of the time, especially Marco Polo's '' Book of Marvels'' and Mandeville's ''Travels and Voyage of Sir John Mandeville''. Many Indian and Chinese cities can be identified. The explanatory texts report customs described by Polo and catalogue local economic resources, real or supposed.

The Western portion is similar to contemporary portolan charts, but contains the first compass rose known to have been used on such a chart.

Gallery

File:Atles català (full 1, ca000003).jpg, Reproduction of the first leaf
File:Atles català (full 2, ca000001).jpg, Reproduction of the second leaf
File:1375 Atlas Catalan Abraham Cresques.jpg, Montage of 8 pages (the third to sixth leaves) of the original 1375 Catalan Atlas
File:El mar Mediterráneo en el Atlas catalán de Cresques Abraham.jpg, Modern copy of western half

See also

* Rhumbline network

References

Further reading

*

External links

Bibliothèque nationale de France – L'Atlas Catalan



ia archive.org
www.cresquesproject.net
– translation of the works of Riera i Sans and Gabriel Llompart on the Jewish Majorcan Map-makers of the Late Middle Ages

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/nowiki>">tlas catalan">Abraham Cresques ? Atlas de cartes marines, dit [Atlas catalan
/nowiki> gallica.bnf.fr

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Atlases
History of Catalonia
History of the Balearic Islands
14th century in Aragon
1370s works
Bibliothèque nationale de France collections
14th-century maps
Historic maps of the world