Visualisations of Belief: The Hereford Mappa Mundi and the Ordnance Survey

Article by Thom Absalom. Edited by Hannah Lyons. Additional Research by Liz Goodwin

The theme for this issue of the magazine is ‘belief’. An article about maps, then, initially may seem very much unrelated to this topic. However, in this article I would argue that the Hereford Mappa Mundi, a late thirteenth-century world map, and the modern maps produced by the Ordnance Survey Office, are evidence of two very different belief-systems. By this, I mean that the society in which the Hereford map was produced believed very different things and sought to understand the world in a very different way than our own society. By examining the differences between the two styles of map, we shall see how the beliefs of each society shaped the way in which maps were designed and produced.

The Hereford Mappa Mundi (‘mappa mundi’ means ‘cloth of the world’ in medieval Latin) was designed and made in the late thirteenth-century by the clergyman Richard of Holdingham (near Lincoln). The map itself is circular, with east at the top. It is roughly divided into three continents: Europe (bottom left), Africa (bottom right) and Asia (top). In the centre sits Jerusalem. The map and its border are covered in various religious and classical images, as well as a great deal of geographical information. At the top, for example, there is an image of Judgement Day. In the centre is Christ, on his right are the ‘saved’ being led into heaven by angels, while on his left are the damned being dragged down into hell by demons. Below Christ, just within the confines of the map is the Garden of Eden. It is shown as an island off the coast of Asia, walled off from the rest of the world. In the mountains of Armenia can be found Noah’s Ark. In the four corners of the map are the letters ‘M’ ‘O’ ‘R’ ‘S’ – ‘death’.

The map does not just contain biblical references. Many cities, mountain ranges and rivers are marked on it. The author, from near Lincoln, has made the image of that city the largest one in the British Isles. However, it also includes many images of fictional peoples in far-off lands. For example, near the city of Samarkand in central Asia are the bird-like ‘cicone’ people, while in the Ukraine can be found the ‘essedones’ who eat the corpses of their parents. In southern Africa are ten strange races, two of which have their faces in their chests. A variety of other strange creatures and biblical references can be found across the map, mixed in with geographical information collated from a variety of classical sources, such as Orosius, Solinus and Herodotus.

All this information and imagery sits in stark contrast to an Ordnance Survey map. We are all familiar with the precision and detail of an OS map. The maps show the reader how to get from point A to point B, showing all the roads, settlements, forests, hills, rivers and other geographical features in between. Longitude, latitude, distances and changes in elevation can be measured with incredible accuracy. Their only nod to religion is the small symbol of a cross for a church. No images of peoples or fantastical creatures appear on OS maps, nor does any descriptive text, apart from place names.

What we have then are two very different objects. One is descriptive and artistic, telling biblical stories and the history of various real or imaginary peoples, the other functional and scientific. The Mappa Mundi blends real geographical knowledge with fantastical and religious stories. The OS map simply presents real geographical information with a great deal of precision. Here is where the two belief-systems become evident.

The Mappa Mundi reveals medieval society’s belief that the world around them could be explained through religion and the works of classical authors. Historians of medieval cartography, such as P. D. A. Harvey, have found that much of the geographical information on the map was taken from earlier classical sources. Much of it was repeated and copied from map to map in the medieval period, with very little being changed, checked or added. For example, I feel that the representation of the Garden of Eden as being literally on earth is the best evidence of this blending of the real and the fantastical. Furthermore, the word ‘MORS,’ as indicated in the four corners of the map, and the image of Judgement Day, show just how tangled up Christianity was in everyday life. The implication is that God ultimately controls life on earth. Everything on the map can be explained by reference to the Bible or to classical authors – from the image of the Garden of Eden to the ten strange races of men in southern Africa.

The OS maps, conversely, reveal a society dominated by scientific rationalism and logic. Strange races of men are strictly confined to the pages of Tolkien, while religion is sidelined in favour of science. The precision and detail of the OS maps shows us a society that believes in the supremacy of evidence-based learning, one that believes that the ‘scientific method’, developed over the last couple of centuries, can explain all the phenomena of the world around us. Medieval and modern society, then, looked at the world in ways that were polar opposites. On the one hand, medieval society appears to have believed the world could be explained by biblical and classical references, populating their world with strange peoples and blurring the line between fantasy and reality. On the other hand, our society largely sees the world through a scientist’s microscope, believing that the world can only be explained and understood by meticulous scientific observation and testing. Neither of these belief-systems is inherently ‘better’ (although I’m sure Richard Dawkins would have something to say), but they are important because they shaped or were shaped by their respective societies.

*****

Mappa Mundi features several symbolic and painted scenes, displaying how Medieval people thought of themselves and their geographical and spiritual place in the world.

Drawn on vellum sheet 64×54”, it was supported by an oak frame, containing the map within a circle of 52” diameter.

King George II commissioned a military survey of the Scottish highlands during the Scottish rebellion of 1746 by William Roy – founder of what would become the ordnance survey

His ideas for this national military survey would not come out properly until after his death in 1790.

The threat of revolution in France spreading to England made the government commission it’s defence ministry – the Board of Ordnance – to survey England’s valuable Southern coasts, beginning the Ordnance Survey.

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