Apocalyptic Cartography: Thematic Maps and the End of the World in a Fifteenth-Century Manuscript

a lecture by Chet Van Duzer
2-4 pm, Saturday, October 7
Fisk 208

A remarkable series of six medieval maps depict the radical transformations the earth will undergo at the end of history, which the anonymous author asserts would take place from 1514 to 1661. These mappaemundi – exhibiting stunning originality – are part of a largely unstudied manuscript that includes many other thematic maps complemented by treatises, including one on the Apocalypse. The cartographer who created this manuscript shows himself to be one of the most innovative and imaginative mapmakers of the late Middle Ages.

Chet Van Duzer is an NEH-Mellon Fellow at the Library of Congress and has published extensively on medieval and Renaissance maps.

Sponsored by the Connecticut Map Society as well as the Departments of History and Religion and the Medieval Studies and the Science in Society Programs.