The Gosson Map: An Early Modern map for Everyman and Everywoman

Keywords: history of cartography, Early Modern maps, Claudius Ptolemy, map literacy
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Sunday
Session Start / End Time: 2/27/2022 05:20 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/27/2022 06:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 9

Abstract

David Woodward, editor of The History of Cartography, noted with regret that the focus of early modern cartographic study had largely been on “elite figures . . . to the exclusion of the everyday artisan or map consumer.” A little known example of populist cartography from the early modern period can be found in the Kalender of Shepherds, an almanac inclusive of astrological prognostication, light verse, and popular imagery. The Kalender of Shepherds and its derivative, The Compost of Ptolemy, were printed from the late fifteenth century through the sixteenth century. In these editions, the increasing appropriation of the ancient cosmographer Claudius Ptolemy in image and attribution narrates the reception and transmission of Ptolemaic-based geography for non-elite readers in England, inclusive of an implied female readership. Into this rich textual and visual polystream, a woodblock cordiform world map is inserted, one meant for the Everyman, and Everywoman who illustrate the text and to whom the narrative is directed. Along with the simple world map included in Henry Gosson’s edition of The Compost of Ptolemeus are step-by-step instructions on how to read the symbolic codes of the map, signaling how popular almanacs functioned as a form of a non-elite geographic discourse and illuminating the process of early English map literacy.