The itinerary and Palestine maps of Matthaeus Parisiensis: New input to a neverending discussion

Abstract

Matthaeus Parisiensis, known in English as Matthew Paris, (ca. 1200–1259) was regarded as a man of many capabilities during his period of critical reception up to the end of the 19th century: as chronicler, “(…) the best of our Historians (…)“ (Milton in Patterson 1932, p. 25) as well as an analyst and even as a regional historian—not to mention his non historiographical oeuvre. Before the beginning of the 20th century, however, he had never been seen as an outstanding cartographer as he is nowadays. He became most popular for his Itinerary Maps from London to South Italy and his Palestine Maps, which he composed around the year 1250. The debate over their interpretation is as old as the modern history of cartography itself.