IMC 2010: Sessions
Session 1615: The Route Will be Recalculated: Maps and Other Ways of Journey Description in the Middle Ages
Thursday 15 July 2010, 11.15-12.45
Sponsor: | Erzbistum Paderborn / Oswald von Wolkenstein-Gesellschaft |
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Organiser: | Arnold Otto, Erzbischöfliches Generalvikariat Erzbistumsarchiv, Paderborn |
Moderator/Chair: | Arnoud-Jan A. Bijsterveld, Department of Sociology, Tilburg University |
Paper 1615-a | A Tube Map Without the Tube: The Map of Westfalia in the Böddeken Cartulary (Language: English) Index terms: Administration, Archives and Sources, Geography and Settlement Studies, Manuscripts and Palaeography |
Paper 1615-b | Between Imagination and Reality: Description of the Polish Kingdom in the Middle of 15th Century (Language: English) Index terms: Administration, Archives and Sources, Geography and Settlement Studies |
Paper 1615-c | Mapping and Analysing Commercial Ties in the Medieval Period (Language: English) Index terms: Administration, Economics - Trade, Geography and Settlement Studies |
Paper 1615-d | Finding Emo: Europe through the Eyes of a Travelling Abbot, 1211-12 (Language: English) Index terms: Canon Law, Social History |
Abstract | Up to the end of the last century a topographic map giving an exact pictorial representation of a landscape appeared to be state of the art when searching for a good route in an unknown environment. Modern methods of geodesy and at last satellite supported takes of the ground surface have led cartography to most sophisticated standards. Since then, however, other methods of guidance have been developed. Internet route planning sites operate with a description of the journey and GPS systems guide by voice. Although the beginning of cartography is rooted in antiquity, a sophisticated system of map drawing did not come up until the end of the 15th century and thereby the end of the Middle Ages. This session seeks to find medieval preparations for this development. Although world maps like the ones from Hereford or Ebstorf also bear practical use and geodetic truth these are not the ones primarily in question. |