The Sawley map, formerly known as the Henry of Mainz map, is the earliest surviving ''
mappa mundi'' (world map) made in
England. It was made between about 1180 and the early 13th century. The map is the
frontispiece of a copy of the ''Imago mundi'' of
Honorius of Autun. It is oriented with east (and the
Garden of Eden
In Abrahamic religions, the Garden of Eden ( he, גַּן־עֵדֶן, ) or Garden of God (, and גַן־אֱלֹהִים ''gan-Elohim''), also called the Terrestrial Paradise, is the Bible, biblical paradise described in Book of Genesis, Genes ...
) at the top and the island of
Delos
The island of Delos (; el, Δήλος ; Attic: , Doric: ), near Mykonos, near the centre of the Cyclades archipelago, is one of the most important mythological, historical, and archaeological sites in Greece. The excavations in the island are ...
at the centre.
The map takes up the second page (
folio 1
v) of manuscript 66 at
Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
Corpus Christi College (full name: "The College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary", often shortened to "Corpus"), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. From the late 14th century through to the early 19th century ...
. The first folio is of thicker
vellum than the rest of the manuscript. The manuscript was probably copied at
Durham Priory
Durham Priory was a Benedictine priory associated with Durham Cathedral, in Durham, England, Durham in the north-east of England. Its head was the Prior of Durham. It was founded in 1083 as a Roman Catholic monastery, but after Dissolution of th ...
before being given to
Sawley Abbey
Sawley Abbey was an abbey of Cistercian monks in the village of Sawley, Lancashire, in England (and historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire). Created as a daughter-house of Newminster Abbey, it existed from 1149 until its dissolution in 1 ...
(now in
Lancashire) in the early 13th century. The map is oval in shape, with winged figures (
angels, not
winds) decorating the four corners of the rectangular page. It measures about . Across the top of the page is a faint ''
ex libris
Ex Libris may refer to:
*An Ex Libris (bookplate), a label affixed to a book to indicate ownership
*Ex Libris (band), a Dutch metal band
*Ex Libris (bookshop), a Swiss retail company
* "Ex Libris" (''Charmed''), a 2000 episode of the television ser ...
'' in
Latin: ''Liber s
n Marie de Salleia'', 'book of Saint Mary's of Sawley'.
The map depicts three continents –
Asia,
Africa and
Europe – surrounded by a
world ocean. It is in colour, with green representing the ocean and purple the rivers. Mountains are depicted as series of red lobes. Places are marked by circles, square and pictographic symbols, such as towers or, in the case of
Jerusalem, a temple. Delos, at the centre, was noted for its pagan temples. It is depicted as a circle surrounded by smaller circles (the
Cyclades). The
Orkneys are depicted in the same way.
The Sawley map is usually grouped with other encyclopaedic ''mappae mundi'' of the same period, such as the
Hereford map
The Hereford Mappa Mundi is a medieval map of the known world ( la, mappa mundi), of a form deriving from the T and O pattern, dating from c. 1300. Archeological scholars believe the map to have originated from eastern England in either York ...
and
Ebstorf map (since destroyed). It contains much fanciful material and many pieces of information derived from the
Bible and the
classics
Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...
. It may belong to a northern French tradition, if it was copied from the ''mappa mundi'' which Bishop
Hugh of Le Puiset bequeathed to Durham Priory in 1195.
The misattribution of the map to Henry of Mainz, possibly the future Archbishop
Henry I, stems from a misreading of the prologue, which states that this version of the ''Imago mundi'' was edited by Henry in 1110. It does not mention the map, which is not an integral part of the ''Imago'' but was created decades later. Whether or not the Cambridge MS. 66 version of the text was even edited by any Henry of Mainz has been challenged. No other manuscript of the ''Imago'' contains a copy of the Sawley map or one like it. The only thing that can be said for certain of the connection between the Sawley map and the accompanying text is that they could be found bound together at Sawley shortly after 1200.
Notes
Bibliography
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External links
Virtual Mappa 2.0— contains an annotated Sawley map
12th-century maps
Historic maps of the world