''Speculum Britanniae'' ("Mirror of Britain"), published in London from 1593, was a projected, but unfinished,

chorography Chorography (from χῶρος ''khōros'', "place" and γράφειν ''graphein'', "to write") is the art of describing or mapping a region or district, and by extension such a description or map. This term derives from the writings of the anc ...

of Britain by

John Norden John Norden (1625) was an English cartographer, chorographer and antiquary. He planned (but did not complete) a series of county maps and accompanying county histories of England, the '' Speculum Britanniae''. He was also a prolific writer ...

(1548—1625).S.G. Mendyk, ''Speculum Britanniae: regional study, antiquarianism, and science in Britain to 1700'', 1989. It was intended to take the form of a series of county maps, accompanied by place-by-place written descriptions. Norden was primarily a surveyor and

cartographer Cartography (; from grc, χάρτης , "papyrus, sheet of paper, map"; and , "write") is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an im ...

, and the written descriptions always had a subsidiary role, being much slighter than other early county histories. Nevertheless, they were based on direct observation, and Norden recorded much topographical and antiquarian detail of interest, including the

heraldry Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known branch ...

tombs A tomb ( grc-gre, τύμβος ''tumbos'') is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be called ''immureme ...

, and

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology an ...

s. The first instalment, ''Speculum Britanniae: the First Parte: an Historicall, & Chorographicall Discription of Middlesex'', was published in 1593. The second, ''Speculi Britaniae Pars: the Description of Hartfordshire'', appeared in 1598. In 1595 Norden wrote a "Chorographical Description" of

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

Wight A wight (Old English: ''wiht'') is a mythical sentient being, often undead. In its original use the word ''wight'' described a living human being, but has come to be used in fictional works in the fantasy genre to describe certain immortal bein ...

Guernsey Guernsey (; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; french: Guernesey) is an island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy that is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependency. It is the second largest of the Channel Islands ...

and

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label=Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west F ...

, as a presentation manuscript for Queen Elizabeth (now British Library Add. MS 21853), but it remained unpublished. (He did, however, publish maps alone of Surrey, Hampshire, Sussex and probably Kent.) In 1596 he published an explanation and justification of the overall project as ''Speculum Britanniae: a Preparative to this Work''. In 1604, he presented to James I a more expansive description and set of nine maps of

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

(later published in 1728). A description of Northamptonshire (which he had surveyed in the 1590s, and is known to have completed in 1610) reached print in 1720; and one of Essex (related to, but distinct from, that in the "Chorographical Description") was eventually published in 1840. The idea of a work that was a "mirror" of a land or even of a region of thought had given rise to an extensive medieval " mirror literature".

Notes

{{reflist Topography 1593 books