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MS. Douce 389

Summary Catalogue no.: 21964

Contents

Map of Palestine

East is at the top. A version of the ‘large Burchard map’ (P. D. A. Harvey, Medieval maps of the Holy Land (2012), 94–106), with inscriptions deriving from Burchard of Mount Sion, Descriptio terrae sanctae. A table of distances at the north (left) side of the map derives partly from Rorgo Fretellus, Liber locorum sanctorum terrae Ierusalem, partly from an unknown source or sources; English translation of this list in P. Arad, ‘Pilgrimage, cartography, and devotion: William Wey's map of the Holy Land’, Viator 43 (2012), 318–19.

Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Form: roll
Support: parchment. Original format uncertain, but damage on the lower edge shows it was kept as a roll at some point, and it was described as a 'rotulus' in the 1840 Douce catalogue (Harvey, p. 135).
Extent: 3 membranes
Dimensions (overall): 413 × c. 2149 mm.

Hand(s)

One scribe (Harvey, p. 137).

Decoration

Pächt and Alexander iii. 751:

Coloured map. Each membrane by a different draughtsman (Harvey, pp. 137, 139–40).

History

Origin: 14th century, second half ; English

Provenance and Acquisition

Sometimes identified with the ‘mappa of the holy lond’ owned by the 15th-century pilgrim William Wey, but it corresponds only in part to the map described by Wey (Harvey, pp. 138–9; cf. Arad, 309–14 for the contraary argument).

Francis Douce, 1757–1834; acquired at an unknown date.

Bequeathed to the Bodleian in 1834

Record Sources

Description adapted (July 2019) from the following sources, with reference to published literature cited in the description.
The Douce Legacy (Bodleian Library, 1984), cat. 89
Otto Pächt and J. J. G. Alexander, Illuminated Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, III (1973), no. 751
Summary Catalogue (1897)
Summary Catalogue, vol. 4, p. 617
Summary Catalogue, vol. 4, p. 618

Availability

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Digital Images

Digital Bodleian (full digital facsimile)
Digital Bodleian (3 images from 35mm slides)

Bibliography

    Printed descriptions:

    P. D. A. Harvey, Medieval maps of the Holy Land (London, 2012), pp. 135–40.

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Last Substantive Revision

2019-08-01: Record revised to accompany Digital Bodleian record