Mitchell Rose. - Maps - Their Untold Stories

This electronic edition published in 2014 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Published 2014 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc,

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ISBN 978-1408-1-8967-2

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PREFACE

MAPS OUT OF THE ARCHIVES

Our aim in writing this book was to share more widely some of the remarkable maps here at The National Archives, and also to relate some of the fascinating tales that lie behind them. We have selected 100 maps from among the many possibilities, with a broad range of dates, places and contexts. These maps are not a representative sample but chosen to convey something of the diversity of maps in the archives. We have arranged them into eight themed chapters, although many of our choices could have fitted more than one theme and there are many overlaps in subject matter between maps in different chapters.

We have then placed the maps in their historical and documentary context, as part of the official government archives of the United Kingdom. However, this is to some extent our personal view of them, and we hope that you will perceive some of them differently from us. Above all, we hope that you will enjoy looking at and reading about our maps as much as we have enjoyed writing about them.

Rose Mitchell and Andrew Janes

Map archivists

Kew, London, April 2014

For further information about maps in The National Archives, please visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/maps

Contents

CHAPTER ONE

EARLY MAPS

Maps from earlier times are different from the kind of maps we are familiar with today. In this chapter we explore a selection that illustrates the diversity of maps from the 15th century to the 17th century, and some of the reasons why they were made. Most of these maps were manuscript, drawn before more standardised printed maps became common. They are of ten colourful and provide highly individual views of places, buildings, plant life and coastlines, before the genre of British landscape painting had begun. Sometimes mapmakers tried to show hypothetical places such as a posited southern continent of the same size as the Arctic, and the map even shows the outer edges of the heavens.

Maps gradually became accepted as a useful and attractive way to present viewpoints, knowledge and information. The oldest maps in the archives date from the 14th century, but maps were relatively rare until the 16th century. The archives holds seven maps and one chart dated before 1500. Two of these maps are included in this chapter, showing medieval landscapes in Surrey and Yorkshire. The number of maps produced increases to about 75 for 1500 1550, doubled for 1550 1580, and with perhaps 200 further maps for 1580 1600 when mapmaking became more widespread.

Why did people start making and using maps? From the early 16th century maps began to be increasingly appreciated and used for diplomacy, defence and government administration. Map use in law courts was encouraged after a map affected the verdict in a case in 1515. Influential individuals such as the statesman Lord Burghley saw the importance of maps and helped to make them common currency at the court of Elizabeth I. The visual nature of maps was especially helpful in conveying information about far-off places, when planning military campaigns abroad, colonising, and for an over view of foreign states, especially those which were likely to be a threat to England. See, for instance, the French administrative map , used for military intelligence.

Early maps were usually made for a specific purpose, by hand, when needed. They dealt with a particular issue where multiple copies were not required, or with secret matters such as defence where they were for the eyes of the ruling elite alone. What is shown is selective, chosen to reflect a maps purpose. The Knaresborough Castle plan () could show more of the nearby palace. Maps drawn for opposing par ties in a legal case may show very different views of the same land. This limited focus on the matter in hand resulted in maps of small places such as remote moorlands but fewer of towns, regions or the whole country.