TITLE: Canistris Maps
AUTHOR: Opicinus de Canistris
DESCRIPTION: While some earlier scholars would have labelled these maps
as "the epitome of medieval European cartography", due to the
very ecclesiastical form and content, they were, indeed, an exception in
this period's mapmaking. Opicinus de Canistris (1296 to ca. 1350), a Pavian
who worked at the papal court in Avignon, drew a series of imaginative maps,
while acknowledging in a text written between 1334 and 1338 his use of nautical
charts. Canistris' maps are fanciful anthropomorphic perspectives on geography,
cartography and religion, a style that was to become a popular form of social
and political commentary in the 17th - 19th centuries.
In these examples of Canistris' maps the physical geography is adapted somewhat
to animal and human forms - the image of a king conforms to the shape/content
of Europe, with the image of his queen forming North Africa. There is no
further attempt to personify any other landmasses, however, the Bay of Biscay
adjacent to France takes on the form of a lion with his mouth agape; and
the Eastern Mediterranean is shown as an old bearded man holding a dove,
a book and a scepter. There is no real attempt to depict the landmasses
with any degree of current geographical knowledge, the British Isles, Ireland,
and Scandinavia are drawn crudely even by the standards of the day. However,
the purpose of these maps were obviously not geographical or navigational,
but purely a fascinating, eye-catching medium for conveying a set of ideas.
A form of expression that has continued intermittently even to today, and
even today we take liberties with the geography in order to fit the message.
Among the various irregular lines on this map (many of them introduced to
complete the human forms), Hapgood noticed a few straight lines that suggested
the survival of an original pattern resembling the portolanos [nautical
charts] reflecting possibly a twelve-wind system, vice the customary eight-wind
LOCATION: Biblioteca Apostalica Vaticana, Rome, Italy
*Bagrow, L., History of Cartography, p. 70, Fig. 76
*Hapgood, C., Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings, pp. 110-115.
Harley, J.B., The History of Cartography, Volume I, p. 3.
*Goss, John, The Mapmaker's Art, p. 330, Plate 11.2