Mapping the British archipelago in the Renaissance

Mottram, Stewart

Abstract

© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. This chapter explores the “cartographic revolution” of the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, a period that combined advances in surveying techniques and print technology to produce increasingly accurate, scaled representations of the British Isles capable of reaching a widespread audience in print. Yet the increasing popularization of maps also produced a shift in the political ideology of the maps themselves, as maps became identified less with the Crown and more with the “country” politics of the people. This chapter charts this shift from Crown to country through discussion of some of the key milestones in the mapping of early modern Britain, including Saxton’s Atlas of England and Wales (1579) and Speed’s Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine (1612). It concludes with a consideration of how the politics of maps and mapmakers shifted after 1603 in response to the prospect of British union under King James VI and I.

Citation

Mottram, S. (2014). Mapping the British archipelago in the Renaissance. In R. DeMaria Jr., H. Chang, & S. Zacher (Eds.), A Companion to British Literature, vol.2 (54-69). John Wiley and Sons. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118827338.ch31

• Online Publication Date: Jan 10, 2014
• Publication Date: Feb 3, 2014
• Deposit Date: Apr 1, 2022
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Pages: 54-69
• Series Title: Blackwell Companions to Literature and Culture
• Series Number: 84
• Book Title: A Companion to British Literature, vol.2
• Chapter Number: 5
• ISBN: 9780470656044
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118827338.ch31
• Keywords: Britain; Cartography; Chorography; Michael Drayton; Maps; Christopher Marlowe; National identity; Christopher Saxton; William Shakespeare; John Speed
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/3742633