Once I was a clever boy learning the arts of Oxford... is a quotation from the verses written by Bishop Richard Fleming (c.1385-1431) for his tomb in Lincoln Cathedral. Fleming, the founder of Lincoln College in Oxford, is the subject of my research for a D. Phil., and, like me, a son of the West Riding. I have remarked in the past that I have a deeply meaningful on-going relationship with a dead fifteenth century bishop... it was Fleming who, in effect, enabled me to come to Oxford and to learn its arts, and for that I am immensely grateful.


Wednesday, 25 February 2026

More Medieval Maps


Earlier this month I posted The earliest surviving maps of Great Britain linking to an online article about early maps of Britain.

I have now found another online article from Rare Historical Photos about maps of the world from late antiquity through to the seventeenth century. A number are schematic like the Hereford Mappa Mundi from the early fourteenth century. Others however are concerned to give as accurate a cartographic representation of the world as the mapmakers could. Looking at the various maps serves as a reminder of how much was known long before we might think, and that for centuries people understood the earth far better than more modern writers have assumed and claimed.


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