notes SPEED6.txt

Speed 1611


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		MAP FEATURES
	the map includes the British Isles without the Shetlands, with Orkneys in an inset map. Parts of France and Holland are drawn at the lower left, the areas of Holland, Brabant, Flandger, Hanaut, and Artois.
	Where I need to make detail notes these have generally been made about Hampshire (where I worked when this was written).

	title cartouche strapwork cartouche map maker publisher	Printed upper right of centre is a strapwork title cartouche:- THE KINGDOME OF GREAT / BRITAINE AND IRELAND / by I. Speed. And printed lower right in another strapwork cartouche is:- Are to be sold by Tho: Bassett / in Fleet street and Ric: Chiswell / in St. Pauls Churchyard. The map was first published in 'The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine ...' by Sudbury and Humble in 1611. This copy of the map is from a later edition of the atlas, published by Bassett and Chiswell, 1676. The plate continued in use for many more years.

	vignettes coat of arms inset map	Two large strapwork cartouches are drawn either side of the map, near the top; for England, and for Scotland. These are decorated with cherubs holding quill pens. On the left is the royal coat of arms of the Stuarts; those of James VI and I, the first sovereign of 'Great Britain', when Speed drew the map, and of Charles II when this later edition was published. The blazon is:- quarterly 1. and 4., quarterly i and iiii azure three fleur de lys or (France), ii and iii gules three lions passant guardant or (England); 2. or a lion rampant within a tressure flory counter flory gules (Scotland); 3. azure a harp or stringed argent (Ireland). Below is a view of:- LONDON with the Thames fluvius and London Bridge and old St Paul's Cathdral which had not yet burned down. Below again is a medallion with a figure that could be an early version of Britannia seated on a globe, lettered:- IMPERAT / S C / BRITANNIA On the right is an inset map for:- THE / ILES OF / ORKNAY Then a view od:- EDYNBURGH from Holyrood Palace to Edinburgh Castle. And below a medallion, a kings head, lettered:- CUNOBILIN This is Cunobelinus or Cymbeline, king of the Catuvellauni, recognised as the king of Britain by the Romans about AD5.

	orientation compass rose up is N labelled borders	Printed lower left of centre is a compass rose. This is gaudily and clumsily painted. It has star points for the cardinal, half cardinal and false points, and lines for the by points. North is marked with a fleur de lys; east with a cross; south with a crescent; and west with three ?bezzants. All except the west are traditional signs for the purpose, though only the fleur de lys is in common use today. North is aligned up a meridian line, and, generally, the map is printed with north at the top of the page. Additionaly, the map's four borders are labelled:- NORTH EAST SOUTH WEST

	scale line scale lines scale map maker old english mile dividers	Printed lower left is a scale line in a strapwork cartouche decorated with cherubs holding a globe and dividers, with a banner:- Performed by John Speede In the cartouche labelled:- The Scale of Miles are two scales. The upper is chequered in 5 miles intervals labelled in tens, for:- Common :Mill. which has 80 miles = 57.1 mm giving a scale 1 to 2254773, a map scale about:- 1 to 2300000 36 miles to 1 inch These are the map maker's miles which seem to be about 1.4 statute mile, which had not become statute at that period. The map provides an estimate of the common Old English Mile = 1.4 statute mile, greater than the usual range of values for this obscure historical unit. The lower scale is:- By Degrees which has 100 miles in the place of 80 common miles. This gives a scale about:- 1 to 2800000 44 miles to 1 inch and I don't know how to imterpret this! It would be possible to get a good estimate of the map's scale by measuring the positions of a couple of dozen towns and comparing their distances from each other with their known distances - a fair bit of work.

	lat and long lat and long scales lat and long grid	The map borders have scales for latitude and longitude, the projection is some sort of conical projection? The scales are chequered in 10 minute intervals, labelled at degrees. Great Britain is within 7 to 23 degrees East, 50 to 60+ degrees N; London is at 20 degrees 38 minutes East. The prime meridian for the map is thus about 20 degrees 38 minutes W of Greenwich. This does not agree with any of the obvious early pre-Greenwich meridians: Canary Islands about 16-18 degrees W, Azores about 28-31 degrees W, Cape Verde Islands about 24 degrees W. The projection has the size on paper of 1 degree latitude the same from south to north, as well as I can judge. 8 degrees latitude is 275.0 mm giving a scale for the map about 1 to 3238351. The map scale is about:- 1 to 3200000 51 miles to 1 inch

	sea area sea plain swash lettering flags beasts sea monsters ships	The sea is plain, and has been tinted blue. Sea areas are labelled:- THE DEUCALIDON SEA THE IRISH SEA THE BRITISH SEA THE WEST OCEAN THE GERMAN OCEAN The last two in florid swash lettering to fill otherwsie empty space on the map. The sea is decorated with a couple of ships, sea monsters, and 'royal beasts' carrying flags of the three nations of Great Britain. The ships are crudely drawn two masted carracks. That on the left seems to have pointed ends, not a flat stern with rudder. Three ships' flags appear to be the flag of Aragon, Spain, horizontal bands, red yellow red (but we don't know who coloured the map or when). Three of the monsters in the sea are interesting. There is a lion carrying the standard of England; a unicorn carrying the standard of Scotland; and some other mythical beast carrying the standard of Ireland.

	coast line coast shaded	The coast line is shaded.

	rivers bridges	Rivers are drawn by a wiggly line and are generally unlabelled. The larger river mouths might be labelled, eg:- Severn flu. Thames mouth Aestuarium Fyrth (In case your lost the last is the Forth.) Judging by Hampshire the coverage is not bad. All its major river systems are shown with some tributaries. Errors of drawing do put some rivers out of the county! A few bridges are marked by a double line across a river. For example, looking at Hampshire, at Stockbridge.

	relief hillocks	Scattered on the map are a few hillocks, shaded to the east, suggesting relief. Space is very limited for this information. Judging from Hampshire the representation of the shape of a county is not reliable! There are one or two hillocks sort of where the South Downs might be. In other parts of the map there is some suggestion of the Penine Way and of hilly regions in Scotland and Wales.

	woods forests	Scattered in some available spaces there are tree symbols. Looking in Hampshire they suggest wooded areas in the New Forest and Buckholt Forest, but none of the other prominent woodlands. It would take a lot of work to make sense of what is shown; and the labour might be wasted for the symbols might just be filling space.

	country county	The boundaries between countries and between counties are confused by the style of engraving. The greater boundaries looks as if they should be dashed lines and the lesser dotted. If you follow the lines you will be confused. The colourist has not helped by colouring the english scottish border along Hadrian's Wall with Northumberland in Scotland. The position of Monmouthshire is also confused. Counties are labelled, eg:- HANTSHIRE WILTSHIRE

	settlements	Settlements are positioned by a dot and circle, differentiated by added elements and lettering style. I have not done a through check of what is city, town, etc, so the comments below, looking mainly in Hampshire, are unreliable.
	capital	dot and circle, buildings and towers; labelled in upright lowercase text:- London

	cities	dot and circle, towers; labelled in upright lowercase text, eg:- Winchester

	towns	dot and circle, tower; labelled in italic lowercase text, eg:- Andover but this symbol is also used for The Vine, which is just a great house, Hurst Castle, etc. Calshot Castle has only a dot and circle.


	roads	Although the title page of the 1676 edition of the atlas mentions roads on the county maps, these do not appear on this general map of the country.

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