Medieval Maps: Portolan Charts

Medieval Maps: Portolan Charts

Assorted Studies

Astengo, Corradino. “The Renaissance chart tradition in the Mediterranean.” In The History of Cartography. Volume 3. Cartography in the European Renaissance: Part 1, edited by David Woodward. Chicago & London: University of Chicago Press, 2007, Part 1, pp. 174-262. (link)

Billion, Philipp. “A newly discovered fragment from the Lucca Archives, Italy.” Imago Mundi 6, no. 1 (2011): 1-21 & coloured plates 1-2.

Campbell, Tony. “Portolan Charts from the Late Thirteenth Century to 1500.” In The History of Cartography. Volume 1, edited by J.B. Harley & David Woodward. University of Chicago Press, 1987, pp. 371-463. (link)

–––. Critical Re-examination of Portolan Charts with a Reassessment of Their Replication and Seaboard Function” [over 30 separate web publications, 2011- ] (link)

Cortesão, Armando. History of Portuguese Cartography, 2 vols. Coimbra, 1969-71.

Debanne, Alessandra D. 2011. Lo Compasso de navegare. Edizione del codice Hamilton 396 con commento linguistico e glossario. Brussels, etc.: Peter Lang for the Gruppo degli italianisti delle Università francofone del Belgio, 2011.

Falchetta, Piero “Marinai, mercanti, cartografi, pittori. Ricerche sulla cartografia nautica a Venezia (sec. XIV-XV)”, Ateneo Veneto 182 (1995): 7-109.

Ferrar, Michael J. “Cartography Unchained” [various publications on portolan charts]. https://www.cartographyunchained.com/category/charts/

Gaspar, Joaquim Alves. “From the portolan chart of the Mediterranean to the plane chart of the Atlantic: cartometric analysis and modelling”. PhD dissertation, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, ISEGI, September 2010. (link)

–––. “The Liber de existencia riveriarum (c. 1200) and the Birth of Nautical Cartography”. Imago Mundi, 71:1 (2019): 1-21.

Gordieiev, Anton. Monography. Place names of the Black Sea and Sea of Azov coasts from portolan charts of XIV-XVII centuries. Kiev: Academia.edu, 2015. (link)

Gautier Dalché, Patrick. Carte marine et portulan au XIIe siècle: le “Liber de existencia riveriarum et forma maris nostri Mediterranei” (Pise, circa 1200). Rome: École française de Rome: distributor, Paris: Boccard, 1995. (link)

–––. “Cartes marines, représentation du littoral et perception de l’espace au Moyen Âge. Un état de la question”, Castrum 7 (2001): 9-32. (link)

Hofmann, Catherine, Hélène Richard & Emmanuelle Vagnon (eds). L’Åge d’or des cartes marines; quand l’Europe découvrait le monde. Paris: Bibliothèque nationale de France & Seuil, 2012.

Kelley, James Edward, Jr. On old nautical charts and sailing directions: Technical Essays. Melrose Park, PA: Sometime Publishers, 1999.

Kretschmer, Konrad. Die italienischen Portolane des Mittelalters: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Kartographie und Nautik. Veröffentlichungen des Instituts für Meereskunde und des Geographischen Instituts an der Universität Berlin, vol. 13. Berlin, 1909; reprinted Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 1962.

La Roncière, Monique de & Michel Mollat du Jourdin. Les Portulans: Cartes marines du XIIIe au XVIIe siècle. Fribourg: Office du Livre, 1984. [English edition, trans. L. le R. Dethan, Sea charts of the early explorers: 13th to 17th century. London: Thames & Hudson, 1984.]

Loomer, Scott A. 1987. “A cartometric analysis of portolan charts: a search for methodology”. PhD dissertation, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1987.

Medea-Chart. “The Medieval and Early Modern Nautical Chart: Birth, Evolution and Use”. [A free online database funded by the European Research Council and hosted by the University of Lisbon, combining information and numerous images.] (link)

Mesenburg, Peter. “Untersuchungen zur Geometrie und zur Genese alter Karten”. (2005 – includes his bibliography). (link)

Mille, Jacques. De la Méditerranée à la mer Baltique. 1190-1490. Recherches 2015-2020 sur les cartes marines et les portulans (self-published, in press).

Nicolai, Roel. “A critical review of the hypothesis of a medieval origin for portolan charts”, University of Utrecht (Science). PhD dissertation, March 2014. (link)

Nordenskiöld, Adolf Erik. Periplus: an essay on the early history of charts and sailing-directions. Stockholm: Norstedt, 1897.

Pflederer, Richard L. Finding their way at sea: the story of portolan charts, the cartographers who drew them and the mariners who sailed by them. ‘t Goy-Houten: HES & De Graaf, 2012.

–––. Census of Portolan Charts & Atlases. Privately published, 2016.

Pinheiro Marques, Alfredo. Portugaliae Monumenta Cartographica, 2nd ed. (reduced facsimile of the 1960 ed. by Armando Cortesão & Avelino Teixeira da Mota, with corrective addenda). [Lisbon]: Imprensa Nacional – Casa da Moeda, 1987.

Pujades i Bataller, Ramon J. Les cartes portolanes: la representació medieval d’una mar solcada. [In Catalan and Spanish, with English text “Portolan charts: the medieval representation of a ploughed sea”, pp. 401-526]. Barcelona: Institut Cartogràfic de Catalunya; Institut d’Estudis Catalans; Institut Europeu de la Mediterrània; Lunwerg, 2007. [Accompanied by a DVD of enlargeable, rotatable images of almost all the charts up to 1470.]

–––. La carta de Gabriel de Vallseca de 1439. Barcelona: Lumenartis, 2009. [In Catalan, with English text, pp. 274-358].

––– .“De Génova a Venecia y Mallorca: la emigración de cartógrafos ligures y la expansión mediterránea de la cartas de navegar (s. XIV)”, in: Circolazione di uomini e scambi culturali tra città (secoli XII-XIV). XXIII Convegno Internazionale di Studi del Centro Italiano di Studi di Storia e d’Arte (Pistoia 13-16 maggio 2011). Pistoia: Centro Italiano di Studi di Storia e d’Arte, 2013.

Rey Pastor, Julio & Ernesto García Camarero. La cartografía mallorquína. Madrid, 1960. (link)

Robles Macías, Luis A. “The longitude of the Mediterranean throughout history: facts, myths and surprises”, e-Perimetron, 9:1 (2014): 1-29. (link)

Rosselló i Verger, Vicenç M. Portolans procedents de col.leccions espanyoles. Segles XV-XVII. Barcelona: Institut Cartogràfic de Catalunya, 1995.

––– “Les cartes portolanes mallorquines”, in: Cicle de conferències sobre història de la cartografia. 10è curs: La cartografia catalana. Barcelona: Institut Cartogràfic de Catalunya, 2000. (link)

Sáenz-López Pérez, Sandra. “Imagen y conocimiento del mundo en la edad media a través de la cartografia hispana”. PhD dissertation, Universidad Complutense, Madrid, 2007. 2 vols.

Sheehan, Kevin Eric. “The Functions of Portolan Maps: an evaluation of the utility of manuscript nautical cartography from the thirteenth through sixteenth centuries”, PhD dissertation, Durham University, July 2014. (link)

Tolias, George. The Greek portolan charts, 15th-17th centuries: a contribution to the Mediterranean cartography of the modern period. Athens: Olkos, 1999.

Vagnon[-Chureau], Emmanuelle. “Cartographie marine au Moyen Age: une représentation de l’espace maritime”, in: Patrick Gautier Dalché (ed.), La Terre. Connaissance représentations, mesure. L’Atelier du médiéviste 13. Turnhout: Brepols, 2013, pp.443-503.

Expanded Bibliographies

Campbell, Tony. “Bibliography comprising literature since 1986 (and missed earlier publications) as well as references for all the portolan chart webpages”. 2011- present. (link)

Enrique García Sánchez. “Cartografía náutica medieval: Una síntesis bibliográfica”. Academia.edu, 15 August 2016. (link)

Köberer, Wolfgang. Bibliographie zur Geschichte der Navigation in deutscher Sprache. Bibliographien aus dem Deutschen Schiffahrtsmuseum, Band II. Bremerhaven & Wiefelstede: Deutsches Schiffahrtsmuseum & Oceanum Verlag, 2011. [800 references to German literature on nautical charts].

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