The Sawley map in the Parker Library at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
The Sawley map, formerly known as the 'Henry of Mainz' map, is the earliest surviving mappa mundi (world map) made in England.[1] It was made between about 1180 and the early 13th century.[2] The map is the frontispiece of a copy of the Imago mundi of Honorius of Autun. It is oriented with east (and the Garden of Eden) at the top and the island of Delos at the centre.[1]
The map takes up the second page (folio 1v) of manuscript 66 at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.[2][3] The first folio is of thicker vellum than the rest of the manuscript.[3] The manuscript was probably copied at Durham Priory before being given to Sawley Abbey (now in Lancashire) in the early 13th century.[1][2] The map is oval in shape, with winged figures (angels, not winds) decorating the four corners of the rectangular page.[1][3] It measures about 30 by 20 centimetres (11.8 in × 7.9 in).[4] Across the top of the page is a faint ex libris in Latin: Liber s[an]c[t]e Marie de Salleia, 'book of Saint Mary's of Sawley'.[5][6]
The map depicts three continents—Asia, Africa and Europe—surrounded by a world ocean. It is in colour, with green representing the ocean and purple the rivers. Mountains are depicted as series of red lobes. Places are marked by circles, square and pictographic symbols, such as towers or, in the case of Jerusalem, a temple.[7] Delos, at the centre, was noted for its pagan temples. It is depicted as a circle surrounded by smaller circles (the Cyclades). Orkney is depicted in the same way.[8]
The Sawley map is usually grouped with other encyclopaedic mappae mundi of the same period, such as the Hereford map and the Ebstorf map (the latter destroyed by bombing in the Second World War).[2][4] It contains much fanciful material and many pieces of information derived from the Bible and the classics.[1] It may belong to a northern French tradition, if it was copied from the mappa mundi which Bishop Hugh of Le Puiset bequeathed to Durham Priory in 1195.[9]
The misattribution of the map to Henry of Mainz, possibly the future Archbishop Henry I, stems from a misreading of the prologue, which states that this version of the Imago mundi was edited by Henry in 1110. It does not mention the map, which is not an integral part of the Imago but was created decades later.[10] Whether or not the Cambridge MS. 66 version of the text was even edited by any Henry of Mainz has been challenged.[11][12] No other manuscript of the Imago contains a copy of the Sawley map or one like it.[12] The only thing that can be said for certain of the connection between the Sawley map and the accompanying text is that they could be found bound together at Sawley shortly after 1200.[13]
The Sawleymap, formerly known as the 'Henry of Mainz' map, is the earliest surviving mappa mundi (world map) made in England. It was made between about...
Sawley Abbey was an abbey of Cistercian monks in the village of Sawley, Lancashire, in England (and historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire). Created...
the Sawleymap, the Psalter map, or the large mappae mundi of the 13th century (Hereford/Ebstorf). In the central Middle Ages a new type of map developed...
but illustrated as men "a notably beaked nose" in examples such as the "Sawleymap", an important example of mappa mundi. Gog and Magog caricaturised as...
the Psalter world map, and the Sawleymap (erroneously for considerable time called the Henry of Mainz map). It is not a literal map, and does not conform...
Peterborough Map (BL Harley 3667, f. 8v) Psalter World Map (BL Add MS 28681, f. 9r) Psalter List Map (BL Add MS 28681, f. 9v) SawleyMap, also known as...
Cranfleet Cut. Some way further to the west on the Trent is the Sawley Cut and Sawley Bridge Marina, and not far west of that is Derwent Mouth, where...
Cheshire, though it was probably not formally part of the county of Cheshire. Sawley Abbey was founded by Cistercian monks in 1147, at a bend in the river. It...
May Day Fete is held there. The first Long Eaton railway station was on Sawley Lane, Breaston. First used in 1839, when the line opened, it was the third...
of crossings of the River Ribble in Northern England. Map all coordinates using OpenStreetMap Download coordinates as: KML GPX (all coordinates) GPX...
nineteenth century, where a match report was recorded between Ockbrook and "Sawley Club" in 1843. Ockbrook & Borrowash Cricket Club moved to the current ground...
able to begin to rebuild their houses in stone. Milton House, once called Sawley House, bears the date 1635. However, it and other nearby houses e.g. Bradleys...
bypasses Billington, Whalley then Clitheroe, Chatburn and the village of Sawley before reaching Gisburn. From Horton it enters North Yorkshire and goes...
and historical maps have identified many of these palaeochannel features, a well-documented example being the meander cutoff at Sawley. The river's propensity...
Borough of Tamworth to Ashby de-laZouch, in the County of Leicester; and from Sawley Ferry, in the said County, to a Turnpike Gate at or near the End of Swarcliff...
The civil parish adjoins the Ribble Valley parishes of Horton, Paythorne, Sawley and Rimington and the Pendle parish of Bracewell and Brogden. Gisburn is...
Risplith is a village in the civil parish of Sawley, in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England. It is about 4 miles (6.4 km) west of Ripon...
Halton West, Nappa (both in North Yorkshire), Newsholme, Horton, Gisburn, Sawley, Bolton-by-Bowland and Gisburn Forest (all in Lancashire). The nearest town...
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