THE VINLAND MAP / DATING THE MANUSCRIPT

• Published in: Cartographica: The International Journal for Geographic Information and Geovisualization
• Main Author: MARSTON, THOMAS E.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: University of Toronto Press Inc. (UTPress) 1966
• Subjects: Earth-Surface Processes; Greenland; Groenland; Iceland
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.3138/g6m8-u26t-3774-5767; https://utpjournals.press/doi/pdf/10.3138/G6M8-U26T-3774-5767

The writer describes graphically how a map of the world showing Iceland, Greenland and Vinland bound in a Yale Library copy of The Tartar Relation, an account of Carpini's mission to the Mongols in 1245–7, became re-united with a copy of the Speculum Historiale in which it was originally bound in the 15th century. Both medieval manuscripts were composed of intermixed leaves of parchment and paper, but whereas the Speculum had survived in its original binding, The Tartar Relation had been re-bound at a later date. Careful analysis of the paleography of the Vincent manuscript (Speculum Historiale) indicated that it was written by a scribe between 1395 and c.1460. Examination of the parchment proved of no help in dating the manuscript, neither did the ink.The remains of the original binding showed that it could be dated about 1450 at the latest. However, the paper provided a positive clue, and analysis indicated that it was probably made about 1440 at a mill near Basle by Heinrich Halbisen. It is postulated that the texts and the map were copies by an unknown scribe for his personal use, and that it was made during the time of an important event in the intellectual history of Europe. At a church council held in Basle between 1431 and 1449, the North of Europe became aware of the work of the Italian humanists, and the European clergy became for the first time familiar with the Greek text of the Bible. The manuscript is thus annotated "Upper Rhineland (Basle?) c.1440". L'auteur décrit graphiquement comment une mappemonde, indiquant l'Islande, le Groenland et Vinland; reliée dans une copie de la bibliothèque Yale de The Tartar Relation, un rapport de la mission de Carpini aux Mongols de 1245 à 1247, puisse être réunie à une copie du Speculum Historiale dans laquelle elle était reliée originairement au 15e siècle. Les deux manuscrits médiévaux furent composés de feuilles entremêlées de parchemin et de papier mais, alors que le Speculum avait survécu dans sa reliure originaire, The Tartar Relation avait été relié à une ...