Herrera-Casais, Mónica

Revistes Catalanes amb Accés Obert

Reviews 193
Edson, Evelyn and Savage-Smith, 
Emilie: Medieval Views of the 
Cosmos: Picturing the Universe in 
the Christian and Islamic Middle 
Ages. Oxford: Bodleian Library 
(University of Oxford), 2004, 128 
pp.  
This book is a survey of the perception 
and mapping of the heavens and the 
earth in the Islamic and European 
traditions from the middle ages up to 
the Renaissance. It is divided in two 
main sections, the first one devoted to 
cosmology, and the second, which is 
lengthier, to geography and terrestrial 
cartography. Each section offers com-
parative materials alternatively from 
each tradition, in order to show the 
contrast between Islamic and Christian 
products of the same period. Emphasis 
is put on the differing ways in which 
the earlier thought reached the 
medieval scholars and how they 
profited from it. The selected items, 
presented with a brief commentary and 
reproduction, are helpful to the 
historian of cartography. In addition, a 
multiplicity of concepts is explained 
concisely and accessibly for the non-
specialized reader. Such is the case of 
the medieval flat earth misconception 
that was promoted in the 19th century 
(p. 67). The titles of Arabic works are 
given only in English translation.  
 The original contribution of the 
Book of Curiosities (Egypt, 1020-50) 
is described with more detail, as the 
manuscript has been subject of a 
research project by E. Savage-Smith 
(with J. Johns and Y. Rapoport). Its 
cartographical contents are contex-
tualized with relevant examples of 
Islamic mapmaking, like the circular 
world map that is identical with the 
one associated with al-Idrīsī (fl. 1154).  
The first section opens with a 
general introduction to the structure of 
the heavens (The Medieval Cosmos, 
pp. 9–20) and covers chapters 1 
(Greek and Roman Heritage, pp. 22–
29), 2 (Science in the Islamic Regions, 
pp. 30–43), 3 (Twelfth–Century Euro-
pean Renaissance, pp. 44–45) and 4 
(Microcosm/Macrocosm, pp. 46–48). 
These concentrate on the impact of 
Plato’s cosmology on Christianity, and 
the transmission role of Roman 
popularisers and encyclopaedists, to 
contrast with the direct reception of 
Aristotle and Ptolemy’s writings in the 
early Arabic sciences. The authors 
focus on 12th-century Spain for the 
transfer of Arabic versions of Greek 
texts and Arabic treatises to the Latin 
West. This legacy led to the 
renovation of the European sciences.  
The geographical section starts with 
chapter 5 (The Geographical Inherit-
ance from Antiquity, pp. 49–56). 
Islamic geography and mapmaking are 
discussed in chapters 7 (Medieval 
Islamic Geography, pp. 61–66), 9 
(Medieval Islamic Mapping of the 
World, pp. 75–81) and 10 (Medieval 
Islamic Regional Mapping, pp. 85–
95), beginning with Ptolemy’s 
contribution to the development of 
Islamic mathematical geography. The 
cartography is categorized in five main 
approaches, that are those of the 
Balkhī school (10th cent.), al-Bīrūnī’s 
sketch of seas and landmasses (early 
11th-cent.), the Book of Curiosities, 
al-Idrīsī’s Geography and the Islamic 
sacred geography. Elements of Islamic 
Reviews 194 
influence that are pinpointed on 
European world maps, in particular the 
one by Pietro Vesconte (1321), partly 
illustrate the interchange of intellec-
tual commodities that took place 
across the Mediterranean (p. 81).  
 European geography and mapmak-
ing are examined in chapters 6 
(Medieval Western Geography, pp. 
58–60), 8 (Mapping the Earth in the 
European Middle Ages, pp. 67–74) 
and 11 (Regional Mapping in 
Medieval Europe, pp. 99–109). Most 
examples are representative of English 
cartography and include the T-O map 
from St. Johns’ College, Oxford 
(1110), the Holy Land map of Mathew 
Paris (mid-13th cent.), the world map 
of Ranulf Hidgen (d. 1363) and the 
Gough Map (mid-14th cent.). The 
European nautical chartmaking, ap-
pearing in the late 13th century, is 
highlighted through Vesconte’s works, 
and for the Ottoman context reference 
is made to Pīrī Re’īs’ Kitāb-i Ba¬rīye 
(1521, 1526). Unfortunately, the nauti-
cal production of the Maghribi chart-
makers (14th cent. – 1600) is entirely 
omitted. The geographical section 
ends with chapter 12 (Travellers and 
Traders, pp. 112–16) that shortly 
outlines the updating of the world 
view by means of long distance 
journeys for reasons of pilgrimage, 
commerce, warfare and, eventually, 
exploration.  
 The book is beautifully illustrated 
with 59 colour figures of excellent 
printing quality, so that the visual 
aspects of the selected materials are 
fully displayed. The majority belongs 
to the collections of the Bodleian 
Library, Oxford. Some diagrams and 
maps are accompanied with additional 
translation and identification of the 
basic data and toponymy. As a whole, 
this is a useful and handy overview of 
comparative cartography.  
 
Mónica Herrera-Casais 
  
  
 


Edson, Evelyn and Savage-Smith, Emilie: Medieval Views of the Cosmos: Picturing the Universe in the Christian and Islamic Middle Ages.

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Revistes Catalanes amb Accés Obert