Catalan Atlas

Catalan Atlas

This famous portolan atlas depicts the world from the Atlantic to China as it was known to Europeans ca. 1375. While the maps of Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East are fairly accurate and useful, the maps of Asia much less though, although many Indian and Chinese cities can be identified. The Asian maps represent a synthesis of medieval mappae mundi and travel literature, notably Marco Polo's Il Milione and the Travels and Voyage of Sir John Mandeville, and contain numerous religious references. Abraham Cresques (1325–1387), whose proper name was Cresques (son of) Abraham, is credited with creating this masterpiece of the Mallorcan cartographic school – the first known atlas to incorporate a compass rose – in his workshop in Palma.

A Gift Fit for a King

The evidence attributing the map to Cresques and his son Jehuda is circumstantial because there is no signature or other mark indicating who made it. However, in November of 1381, a young John I of Aragon (1350–96), who was Duke of Gerona at the time, wanted to send a splendid gift to the newly crowned King Charles VI of France (1368–1422), who was also a first cousin of his wife Violant de Bar. The Crown of Aragon often gave elaborately decorated maps as gifts and the Cresques were known to have produced several of these maps during the period. Furthermore, a letter from Duke John calls on “Cresque the Jew who made said world map” and his son to provide him with useful information that he can in turn give to the emissary of the King of France. The father-son team was paid 150 Aragonese Florins and 60 Mallorcan pounds for their work on the atlas.

An Exemplary Specimen of the Mallorcan School

The Catalan Atlas consists of six vertically folded leaves of fine vellum painted with expensive paints, gold, and silver and measuring ca. 64.5 × 50 cm that when assembled create a world map centered on the Mediterranean measuring 65 × 300 cm. Aside from its beauty it also contains numerous features typical of the Mallorcan school of cartography. Each city’s allegiance is indicated by a flag and African and Asian kingdoms have images of their sovereigns, usually but not always enthroned. Christian cities are marked with crosses while others have onion shaped domes. Some cities have flags with the Star of David. Red ink is used for the names of important ports while all other are written in black. Wavy blue lines symbolize the swirling waters of the world’s oceans. Overall, the illustrations and text are oriented toward the edges of the map, indicating that it was designed to be laid flat on a large table that the beholder could then walk around and observe from all sides.

Tables and Maps

The first two sheets consist of tables and diagrams for calculating the tides, moveable feast days, and a diagram of the so-called Zodiac Man (first sheet) as well as a lunisolar calendar for calculating the phases of the Moon throughout the year with zodiac signs, accompanying texts and representations of the four seasons in the corners (second sheet). Beginning in the West, sheets three through six contain four maps spanning from 10° to 60° north latitude and between 20° west and 120° east longitude, thus the Southern Hemisphere is omitted. As the maps move eastward, the lack of geographical information is compensated for by rich ornamentation that simultaneously fills the empty space and fueled the curiosity of the people of medieval Europe towards the wide and fabled lands of the East. This includes miniatures depicting Kublai Kahn, the creation of man, Gog and Magog, Alexander the Great, and even the Antichrist.