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Research Notes
Map Group PARIS 1240s
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Paris 1240s
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These notes, relevant to Hampshire, are made about the
manuscript maps of Great Britain by Matthew Paris, St Albans,
drawn in the mid 13th century. These notes are not any sort of
appraisal of the maps which has been done by far more competent
hands than mine; of necessity the notes here are derivative, and
are made just for the convenience of those interested in the
county of Hampshire.
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There are four versions of the map. The most finished map is
prefaced to the:-
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Abbreviatio Chronicuorum
Angliae
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(Cotton MS Claudius D VI)
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Miss Mitchell describes the likely relationships of the four
maps, involving at least two scribes.
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IT LOOKS WRONG |
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PLACES CHOSEN & HAMPSHIRE PLACES |
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REFERENCES |
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| IT LOOKS WRONG |
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Overall the map looks out of true to our eyes, and that is
right. Miss Mitchell, in a paper presented in 1933, described the
map as diagrammatic; distorted for a purpose, not indicating any
ignorance or misconception:-
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The position of Dover, placed centrally at the bottom of the map,
and the consequent distortion of the South-East of England is
..., due to the desire to emphasize the importance of the
northern route, the itinerary on which the map is based. This
route is the way from Dover to Berwick.
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E G R Taylor's remarks after the presentation of Miss
Mitchell's paper at the Geographical Society were that what some
might call 'grossly exaggerated' would be described by the
medieval cartographer as 'carefully emphasized.' A nice way of
expressing it. Even considered as a diagram rather than a map the
plot is awfully wrong to modern eyes with '20 20 hindsight'.
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| PLACES CHOSEN |
& HAMPSHIRE PLACES |
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PLACES CHOSEN
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Matthew Paris was a Benedictine monk at St Alban's. His
interests show through in the selection of places to go on the
maps. Of 252 place names, there are 81 cathedrals and monstaries,
41 castles, 33 ports, 11 towns on routes, and 86 other regional
and topographical. A good proportion of the monasteries selected
are Benedictine. The choice of place names etc shows the
influence of:-
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stereotyped geographical descriptions ... [prefaced to]
chronicles, ..., barely modified from Pliny and the Roman
geographers.' plus knowledge obtained first hand or from
contemporary travellers.
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HAMPSHIRE PLACES
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The following places in Hampshire are included in the
map:-
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| place |
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map name |
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written where |
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| Avon, River |
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Avene fl' |
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written at the Bristol Channel, ie north, end of a
combined Bristol and Salisbury Avon crossing the south west
peninsula of England |
| Beaulieu |
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beuli |
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written in a cartouche on coast below 'SUM'SET' |
| Portchester |
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porecest' |
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written in two parts just below 'SUM'SET' |
| Portsmouth |
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portem~ |
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written vertically from coast below the name
'DORSETE' |
| Southampton |
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Suha~tun |
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written in a cartouche on coast above 'Vecta' |
| Winchester |
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Wintonia ci. |
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written north of Southampton |
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| REFERENCES |
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Close, Charles, Sir: 1931: Ancient
Maps of Great Briatin, with special reference to Hampshire:
ProcHFC: vol.10: pp.211-219
Mitchell, J B: 1933: Matthew Paris
Maps, The: Geographical Journal: vol.81: pp.27-34
Paris, Matthew & Poole, Herbert,
Rev (place name notes): 1928: Four Maps of Britain designed by
Matthew Paris: British Museum
Paris, Matthew & Vaughan, Richard
(ed): 1993: Illustrated Chronicles of Matthew Paris: Sutton, Alan
& Corpus Christi College (Cambridge):: ISBN 0 7509 0276 0
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