(An intermittent series introducing well known maps)
In February, Roger II of Sicily (patron of al-Idrisi) dies at Palermo
In December, Nicholas Breakspear (Adrian IV) becomes the only English Pope.
Also in December, Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine begin the Plantagenet dynasty.
The 2nd Crusade ended in 1150 and the 3rd Crusade will begin in 1187.
In 1138, at the crossroad of religion and politics, a French Norman King invites an Arabic Scholar / Geographer to his court in Sicily.
Roger II’s court is unusual. Tolerant of different religions and languages, he has gathered scholars from around the Mediterranean and Europe. One of his goals is a scientific map of the known world. Roger commissions Muhammad al-Idrisi to write a geography of the major population centers with maps. For the next 15 years, al-Idrisi with assistance from Roger, will actively interrogate ship’s crews and passengers as well as send out agents to fact check. Finished in 1154, their map will become one of the most accurate European maps until the Age of Discovery. Sadly, Roger will die a few weeks later.
Born in 1100 CE in Cetua, Muhammad al-Idrisi traveled frequently between North Africa and al-Andalus, explored to Anatolia, and studied at Cordoba. Later, he would see much of Europe–along the Atlantic Coast and to York, England. Roger II descended from Norman adventurers who had taken control of southern Italy politics. Roger never went on crusade, but built up Sicily’s sea power and sent Admiral George to fight in the 2nd Crusade. In 1147, George fought battles in Corfu, Athens and the Aegean Islands. Upon reaching Thebes, he ransacked the silk factories, absconded with the Jewish weavers and created the basis for Sicily’s silk industry. During all of this, Roger and al-idrisi worked on the atlas.
After years of research and resolving contradictions, al-Idrisi had created a working copy of the map. This map was etched on a large silver disc weighting almost 300 lb and about 80 inches in diameter. It shows land forms and Ptolemy’s seven habitable climate zones bounded by latitude to the north of the equator and the relatively unexplored area to the south. al-Idrisis believed the world to a a sphere and calculated the Earth’s circumference to be 37,000 kilometers (22,900 miles). A sphere made of silver was created as well.
.al-Idrisi then turned his attention to the Tabula Rogeriana (Nuzhat al-mushtāq fi’khtirāq al-āfāq) or Roger’s Book. Written in Latin and Arabic, the book is a descriptive geography and al-Irisi based it on earlier works by several geographers including Ibn Khordadbeh, Ibn Hawqal, and Ptolemy. Inside the book are 71 part maps, a world map and 70 sectional itinerary maps which represent the seven climate zones divided into 10 parts longitudinally. The text describes climate, cities, towns, rivers and mountains. If the maps were all put together, it would stretch over 9 feet long.
Later, after Roger’s death, al-Idrisi created second edition of the Tabula Rogeriana for his son, William I. This book, is said to have been updated and expanded, but only a few fragments have been found. William was not popular with the nobility or some of his family and in 1160, they plotted to overthrow him. He finally regained control of Sicily, but during all the palace intrigue, the Latin book was burned and the silver disc and sphere disappeared…
al-Idrisi fled to North Africa taking the Arabic book with him. There it would become the basis for Muslim geographers work for years. The Tabula Rogeriana was published in Rome in 1592 in Arabic by the Medici Press, but not in Latin until the 17th century.
Could his work have affected the European Atlantic travelers decisions if translated earlier??? We will never know.
Today, we have ten manuscript copies. Five have complete text, eight have maps and six have the circular world map not mentioned in the text. The most complete manuscript is in Istanbul. It has the world map and all 70 sectional maps.