{{Short description|Medieval European world map}} {{Use Oxford spelling |date=November 2024}} {{Use dmy dates |date=November 2024}} thumb|upright=1.9|right|Photo of a reproduction of the Ebstorf Map, with east at the top The '''Ebstorf Map''' was an example of a {{lang|la|mappa mundi}} (a medieval European map of the world). It was made by Gervase of Ebstorf, who was possibly the same man as Gervase of Tilbury,<ref name=":0">{{cite book |title=Otia Imperialia: Recreation for an Emperor |author=Gervase of Tilbury |author-link=Gervase of Tilbury |others=S. E. Banks, J. W. Binns |orig-date=Approximately 1211 |date=30 May 2002 |publisher=Clarendon Press |isbn=0-19-820288-1 |location=Oxford |pages=xxxiv–xxxvi |oclc=47183479 }}</ref> some time between 1234 and 1240.
==Description== The map was found in a convent in Ebstorf, northern Germany, in 1843.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Bildhauer|first1=Bettina|title=The Monstrous Middle Ages|last2=Mills|first2=Robert|date=2003|publisher=University of Wales Press|others=International Medieval Congress|isbn=0-7083-1821-5|location=Cardiff|pages=77|oclc=52878148}}</ref> It was a very large map, painted on 30 sheets of sheepskin parchment sewn together and measuring around {{convert|3.6|x|3.6|m|ft}}{{snd}}a greatly elaborated version of the common medieval tripartite map (T and O), centered on Jerusalem with east at the top.{{sfn |Pischke |2014}}
The head of Christ was depicted at the top of the map, with his hands on either side and his feet at the bottom.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Edson|first=Evelyn|title=Mapping time and space : how medieval mapmakers viewed their world|date=1997|publisher=British Library|others=British Library|isbn=0-7123-4535-3|location=London|pages=138–139|oclc=38474419}}</ref> Rome is represented in the shape of a lion, and the map reflects an evident interest in the distribution of bishoprics.<ref name=":0" />
There was text around the map, which included descriptions of animals, the creation of the world, definitions of terms, and a sketch of the more common sort of T and O map with an explanation of how the world is divided into three parts. The map incorporated both pagan and biblical history.<ref name=":1" />
The original was destroyed in 1943 during Allied bombing of Hanover in World War II.<ref name="pis14">{{cite journal |title=The Ebstorf Map: tradition and contents of a medieval picture of the world |first=G. |last=Pischke |editor-first=G. P. |editor-last=Gregori |year=2014 |journal=History of Geo- and Space Sciences |volume=5 |issue=2 |publisher=Copernicus Publications |pages=155–161 |doi=10.5194/hgss-5-155-2014|doi-access=free |bibcode=2014HGSS....5..155P }}</ref> However, a set of black-and-white photographs taken in 1891 of the original map survives, and several colour facsimiles of it were made before it was destroyed.<ref name=":1" />
==Authorship== The arguments for Gervase of Tilbury being the mapmaker are based on the name ''Gervase'', which was an uncommon name in northern Germany at the time, and on some similarities between the world views of the mapmaker and Gervase of Tilbury. Other points of contention include the date of the map's creation and the age of Gervase of Tilbury. Some contend he was too old to be considered the author of the map while others say that his age has been over-estimated and he could have drawn the map.{{sfn |Wolf |2012}} The editors of the Oxford Medieval Texts edition of Gervase of Tilbury's ''Otia Imperialia'' conclude that although their being the same man is an "attractive possibility", to accept it requires "too many improbable assumptions".<ref name=":0" /> Others suggest that the map is a copy of an original made by Gervase of Tilbury and may have been produced as late as 1300.{{sfn |Wolf |2012}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==Further reading== *{{Cite journal |last=Wolf |first=Armin |date=2012 |title=The Ebstorf Mappamundi and Gervase of Tilbury: The Controversy Revisited |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03085694.2012.621392 |journal=Imago Mundi |volume=64 |issue=1 |pages=1–27 |doi=10.1080/03085694.2012.621392 |issn=0308-5694|url-access=subscription }} *{{Cite book |last=Woodward |first=David |title=The History of Cartography |volume=1 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |place= Chicago |year=1987 |editor-last=Harley |editor-first=J. B. |chapter=Chapter 18: Medieval ''Mappaemundi'' |editor-last2=Woodward |editor-first2=David |chapter-url=https://press.uchicago.edu/books/HOC/HOC_V1/HOC_VOLUME1_chapter18.pdf |isbn=0-226-31633-5}}
==External links== {{Commonscat|Ebstorf world map}} *[https://archive.today/20121128233759/asia-for-teachers.educ.utas.edu.au/CD/cdx/units/unit1/module1/lernact1/mapchrst.jpg Higher quality image of the map] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20210301172928/http://www.henry-davis.com/MAPS/EMwebpages/224mono.html Detailed description of the map] *[https://warnke.web.leuphana.de/hyperimage/EbsKart/index.html#O9999 Interactive Ebstorf map] {{in lang |de}}
{{Authority control}} Category:Historic maps of the world Category:1234 works Category:Uelzen (district) Category:Culture of Lower Saxony Category:Lost works of art Category:1943 disestablishments in Germany Category:World War II strategic bombing of Germany Category:13th-century maps