(An intermittent series introducing well known maps)
The Renaissance continues in Europe.
Hans Holbein (the Younger), Titian and Michelangelo are painting.
Martin Luther is publishing.
Chester Racecourse (the oldest still in use in England) holds its first horse race.
Hernando Cortes is exploring Mexico, Francisco Pizarro is living in Peru, and Hernando de Soto is beginning to explore Florida.
Excommunicated by the Pope in the previous year, Henry VIII contracts to marry his fourth wife — Anne of Cleves in January 1540
The first printing press in North America is set up in Mexico City.
Gemma Frisius publishes an astronomical ring design instrument in Petrus Apianus’s “Cosmographica”.
Gerald Mercator is creating globes and a map of Flanders .
Olaus Magnus publishes the Carta Marina–the 1st map of Scandinavia to give place names with details.
Born in Sweden in 1490, Olaus Magnus traveled widely in Scandinavia and northern Europe in his early teens while in school and afterward. Olaus was good at drawing and it is believed that he collected quite a bit of geographical information during this time. He would become an ordained Catholic priest, who held several ecclesiastical preferments.
By 1519, Olaus was living in Uppsala. The Protestant Reformation had begun and the Swedish War of Liberation 1521 -1524 occurred.
King Gustav Vasa initially selected Olaus’ older brother Johannes Magnus to be Archbishop of Uppsala. Olaus was sent to Rome to gain the Pope’s approval of Johannes. The Pope eventually agreed to the appointment, but in Sweden, King Gustav had changed his mind. He selected someone else to be Archbishop because Johannes did not approve of Gustav’s Protestant leanings. So Johannes was sent on diplomatic missions to the Netherlands and Germany. After returning from Rome, Olaus became his secretary. In 1530, all of their Swedish possessions were confiscated. The brothers remained abroad, still working as diplomats for about four years. They spent a lot of time in or near Danzig and it was here that Olaus started drawing a map of southern Baltic coast. The map expanded quickly.
In 1537, realizing that Johannes would be the last Catholic Archbishop of Sweden, the brothers moved to Italy for two years as guests of Hieronymo Quirino–the Patriarch of the Republic of Venice. Here, in 1539, the “Carta Marina et Descriptio Septentrionalium Terrarium”(Marine Map & Description of the Northern Lands) was finally printed after twelve years of work. Few copies were printed–possibly due to cost. Olaus then began writing the “Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus” (History of Northern People) to explain the Carta Marina. Johannes died in 1544 and the Pope confirmed Olaus in the hollow title of Archbishop of Uppsala. Because he kept adding more material to the book, it was not published until 1555 in Rome.
All of the known copies had disappeared by 1574 and the Carta Marina was virtually forgotten. Then, in 1886, a copy was found at the Hof-und Staatsbibliothek. Later, in 1961, a slightly different copy was found in Switzerland and moved to the Carolina Rediviva in Uppsala, Sweden. A smaller copy of this map was printed in Rome by Antoine Lafrery in 1572.
The Carta Marina is a large wall map–it was printed in black & white from nine 55 x 40 cm woodcut blocks. The finished map measured 1.70 meters wide by 1.25 meters tall, or roughly 5 1/2 feet by 4 feet. The blocks are sequenced from west to east and north to south and labeled with the letters A – I.
The Carta Marina is noteworthy because it is a map of several parts. It is a reference/topographical map. It is a sea chart. And it is a socio-political map. However, it is not necessarily accurate.
First, as a reference/topographical map, the Carta Marina shows mountains, rivers and seas. North has been placed at the top. Earlier maps like the T/O map Hereford Mappa Mundi place East at the top. While the Carta Marina does not provide actual or accurate distance information, travelers could make itinerary decisions based on a chosen route. They had place names and could ask for more local directions easily. This is a visual guidebook rather than a written one.
Second, as a sea chart, the Carta Marina has four compass roses, latitude and rhumb lines to aid sailors in navigation. The coast lines are reasonably accurate for a small scale map. There are numerous drawings of sea life. Some may be real. More maritime knowledge is evident in the documentation of navigation hazards like whirlpools, wrecked ships and ice.
Third, as a socio-political map, the Carta Marina shows folklore and historical detail on land and sea. Many of the icons refer to shared Northern cultural history. The picture of the Gulon refers to gluttony, but outsiders would not be aware of the meaning. Other scenes depict reindeer pulling war carts in Lappie, a hunter climbing a mountain with his horse in Scandia (both are wearing snowshoes!), and knights fighting with cannon in Livonia. There are kings, crowns and coats of arms scattered across the map. Olaus Magnus hoped to show the depth of the culture and to remind southern Europe of their shared history.
Finally, why the name Carta Marina when Olaus Magnus clearly had multiple purposes in mind for it? The most likely explanation is that sea charts were valuable to all the European nations and a new one would be eagerly awaited by seamen and scholars alike. By calling it a “sea chart”, Olaus would ensure a more rapid dissemination than a map perceived only for scholars. More subtly, he could get across his religious convictions by showing the Catholic world what it had lost.
In total, the Carta Marina by Olaus Magnus clearly shows the diaspora of the Norse culture across land and sea.