The Original Placement of the Hereford Mappa Mundi

Although antiquarians, historians of cartography, palaeographers and art historians have written about the Hereford mappa mundi for more than three hundred years, we know little about its original placement or use. This paper relies on new masonry and dendrochronological evidence and the system of medieval ecclesiastical preferments to argue that this monumental world map was originally exhibited in 1287 next to the first shrine of St Thomas Cantilupe in Hereford Cathedral's north transept. It did not function as an altarpiece, therefore, but as part of what I call the Cantilupe pilgrimage complex, a conglomeration of items and images which was for a time one of England's most popular pilgrimage destinations. In this location, the map would have added to the complex's attractive power and served as a multi‐media pedagogical tool.

Bien que les amateurs d'antiquités, les historiens de la cartographie, les paléographes et les historiens de l'art aient écrit depuis plus de trois cents ans sur la mappemonde de Hereford, on connaît peu de choses à propos de son emplacement primitif ou de son utilisation. Cet article s'appuie sur des preuves tirées de la nouvelle maçonnerie et de la dendrochronologie pour affirmer que cette monumentale carte du monde était présentée à l'origine près du premier tombeau de Saint Thomas Cantilupe, dans le transept nord de la cathédrale de Hereford. Elle n'était donc pas utilisée comme un retable, mais comme un élément de ce que j'appelle le ‘système du pèlerinage de Cantilupe’, un ensemble d'objets et d'images qui constitua un temps l'une des destinations de pèlerinage parmi les plus populaires d'Angleterre. A son emplacement, la carte aurait ajouté au pouvoir d'attraction du système et servi d'outil pédagogique multimédia.

Obwohl Historiker, Kartographiehistoriker, Palaeographen und Kunsthistoriker seit über dreihundert Jahren über die Mappa Mundi von Hereford geschrieben haben, wissen wir wenig über ihren originalen Aufstellungsort und ihre Verwendung. Die Argumentation in diesem Beitrag basiert auf neuen Untersuchungen der Steinmetzarbeiten, der Dendrochronologie und des Systems der Beförderung in der mittelalterlichen Kirchenhierarchie, die nahelegen, dass diese monumentale Weltkarte 1287 ihren ersten Aufstellungsplatz neben dem ersten Schrein des Heiligen Thomas Cantilupe im nördlichen Querschiff der Kathedrale von Hereford erhielt. Sie diente dementsprechend nicht als Altarbild, sondern bildete einen Teil dessen, was der Autor den ‘Cantilupe pilgrimage complex’ nennt. Dabei handelt es sich um eine Gruppe von Bildern und Gegenständen, die für einige Zeit zum populärsten Pilgerziel Englands avancierten. An diesem Platz hätte die Karte die Attraktivität dieses Komplexes gesteigert und als ein multimediales pädagogisches Instrument gedient.

Aunque anticuarios, historiadores de la cartografía, paleógrafos e historiadores del arte han escrito sobre el mappa mundi de Hereford durante más de 300 años, conocemos poco acerca de su emplazamiento original o uso. Este artículo trata de la obra de la nueva sillería de la catedral, de evidencias dendrocronológicas y del sistema de preeminencias eclesiásticas medievales, para argumentar que este monumental mapa del mundo fue originalmente exhibido en 1287 cerca del primer sepulcro de Santo Thomas Cantilupe, en el crucero norte de la catedral de Hereford, y que no funcionó como retablo, sino como parte de lo que el autor denomina ‘el complejo de peregrinaciones Cantilupe’, un conglomerado de aditamentos e imágenes que fue en aquel tiempo uno de los mas populares destinos de peregrinación en Inglaterra. En este emplazamiento, el mapa podría haber añadido atractivo al complejo y servido como un instrumento de pedagogía multimedia.     

Growing Global: Foreign Direct Investment and the Internationalization of Local Suppliers in Scotland

The paper examines how the localization of multinationals can be linked to the globalization of local business networks, particularly whether domestic linkages with foreign subsidiaries can facilitate the internationalization of local suppliers. Detailed interviews were held with 16 suppliers and 8 foreign investors in both the Scottish oil-gas and electronics industries. The results highlight the importance to suppliers of 'piggy-backing' multinationals into new markets, but show its greater significance in the oil-gas industry. The paper concludes that piggy-backing is dependent on the strength and value of domestic links between suppliers and subsidiaries. Industry-specific factors determine the intensity of these linkages. The implications for such developments are being absorbed by planning and economic development policy-makers at regional and national levels, as supplier and investor development is increasingly being placed within a wider policy framework of cluster development.     

Lethal differences: a short history of the concepts of wealth and poverty in Danish epidemiological writings, 1858-1914

Through a study of the history of the concepts of wealth and poverty, this paper investigates the onset of a tradition in the conceptual architecture of epidemiological research concerning social differences in mortality rates from 1858 to 1914. It raises the question as to what the concepts of wealth and poverty meant to those who used them and what objects of interventions the conceptual architecture surrounding the concepts enabled the researchers to create. It argues that a transition began in the late 19th century in which an important framework for the understanding of causal relations behind the mortality patterns changed and that this change in turn influenced the scope of what was conceived as relevant objects of intervention.     

"Religion" and Christian Conversionin African History: A New Model

This article reviews recent scholarship on African religion and argues that, while much has been accomplished, historians have inherited a problematic view of the processes that they have investigated. They have unknowingly adopted evangelical ideas, in the form of written words and concepts that they wrongly assume have maintained consistent meanings down through the decades. Because missionaries' translations have been taken in this way as accurate guides for understanding what gave rise to them, much of Africa's intellectual history appears religious. The article focuses on the example of tui-qua, a term used by Khoikhoi and translated as "God," and suggests a model for understanding evangelism and conversion that does not rely on the supposed ubiquity of religion. It is argued that missionaries used Christian notions to accommodate the falsity of analogous practices, which although often unrelated in their original setting, together became a single entity (religion) as a result.     

Astronomy,Architecture, and Landscape in Prehispanic Mesoamerica

This article synthesizes recent advances in the study of astronomy and worldview in architectural and urban planning in Mesoamerica. Throughout most of this cultural area, the practice of orienting civic and ceremonial buildings followed similar principles, although regional and time-dependent variations are present. Analysis of alignment data has revealed the existence of distinct and widespread orientation groups; most refer to sunrises and sunsets on particular dates, although two groups can be related to lunar and Venus extremes. Astronomically relevant directions frequently dominate considerable parts of urban layouts. The orientation and the location of important buildings often were conditioned by astronomical criteria and beliefs about specific landscape features; particularly notable are structures that were aligned to prominent mountaintops on the local horizon. Based on a variety of contextual data, I interpret the uses and significance of orientations in terms of agricultural concerns, cosmological concepts, and political ideology. I outline the evolution of orientation practices, drawing attention to pan-Mesoamerican trends, regional patterns, and diffusion processes.