Map · Latin
Ebstorf World Map (destroyed 1943; known from 19th-century reproductions and modern reconstructions)
Ebstorfer Weltkarte
Attributed to Gervase of Tilbury (attribution disputed); Ebstorf convent
How we know
compilation Assembled from earlier sources. The author did not observe it directly.
Retrospective compilation (Orosius, Isidore, Solinus, Honorius) with legends; no observation. Present witnesses are 19th-century facsimiles and the Kleineberg colour reconstruction.
Research notes
- Attribution to Gervase of Tilbury is contested; date ranges from c.1230 to c.1300 in the literature. Witnesses are reproductions: 1830s tracings, the 1891 Sommerbrodt facsimile, and the Kleineberg et al. 2007 reconstruction (Leuphana EbsKart), so every label depends on a copy chain.
- Sampled through the Museo Galileo 'Il mappamondo di Fra Mauro' online exhibition (2021-2025), which serves zoomify tile pyramids of comparison maps by concession of the holding libraries (site states further reproduction forbidden). Tile base: mostre.museogalileo.it/images/framauro/05_mapp…; tiles at TileGroupN/level-col-row.jpg. Web search (9 hits) located the Leuphana EbsKart edition; it could not be opened from this environment.
Why it matters
The largest medieval mappa mundi, contemporary with the first Mongol reports yet reflecting only classical northern-Asia lore; with Hereford and the Psalter map it fixes the pre-Tartary baseline. All modern study depends on reproductions because the original burned in 1943.
Places named
Whole inhabited world, east at top; northern Asia with Gog and Magog enclosure; Scythia; India; Europe; Africa
Who copied whom
Later in the chain
- Hereford Mappa Mundi M038, c. 1300same tradition (stated)Orosius/Isidore mappa mundi tradition (Hereford cf. Ebstorf)