Cartographica Neerlandica Background for Ortelius Map No. 22

Title: Eryn. | HIBERNIAE, | BRITANNICAE | INSVLÆ, NOVA | DESCRIPTIO. Irlandt. "Cum Priuilegio". [A new depiction of Eryn [or] Ireland, a British island. Ireland. With Privilege]. (Text block top centre:) "Ex Gyraldo Camb. | In Arran insulis, hominum corpora non putrescunt, | eoque non humantur, sed diuo exposita permanent in:|corrupta.Sic homines auos, atauos, tritauos longamque | stirpis suæ seriem magna admiratione cognoscunt In ea | non sunt mures; et si aliunde illati fuerint, in mare | confestim se præcipitant; sin impediantur, emoriuntur". [We find in Gyraldus Cambrensis that on the isles of Arran, human bodies do not decay or liquify, but also when exposed for a long time remain uncorrupted. Thus, the people here see their grandparents, great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents, in fact their entire lineage in great admiration. There are no mice here. And if they come from elsewhere, they immediately cast themselves into the sea. If you stop them, they die]. (Textblock bottom right:) "Hanc insulæ partem | Anglis incolendam de:|dit Elisabetha Angliæ | regina; Coloniaque du:|cta est Dño Smetho | equite aurato 1572." [Part of this island was given to the English to live here by queen Elisabeth of England. The settlement was ruled by Mr. Smetho, a horseman clad with gold, in 1572]. (Text block middle bottom:) Hibernicum mare, "Margaritas | sed subfuscas & liuentes generat. Polyd". [The Irish sea generates pearls, but only brown and blue ones.] (Textblock next to Lake Der:) "Purgatorium S. Patritij, huius | Diui precibus hoc loco à Deo | constitutum. Syl. Gyraldus". [The Purgatory of Saint Patricius, whose prayers in this place prompted its establishment by God, according to Sylvius Gyraldus.] (Text block middle right:) "De hoc Erno lacu scribit | Gyrald. Camb. quod olim fons | fuerit, sed ob incolarum nefandam | cum bestijs venerem, Deo irato, in | tantam aquarum diluuiem erupu:|iße, vt totum eum tractum cum hõi:|nibus inundatione submerserit. Atq. in | rei gestæ Veritatem, hodieq. sereno tempo:|re, etiamnum Templorû turres sub | undis hinc inde conspici". [About this lake Erno, Gyraldus Cambrensis writes that it was once a spring, but because the inhabitants shamefully venerated beasts, God became angry and caused such a flood to break out, that the entire area, including its people, were submerged by this inundation. And if these matters still contain the truth, it is now a quiet time, although I can still see the towers of the temples under the waves.] The name of Gyraldus Cambrensis is mentioned four times on the plate, and Polydorus once.

Plate size: 354 x 485 mm
Scale: 1 : 1,000,000
Identification number: Ort 22 (Koeman/Meurer: 57, Karrow: 1/81, van der Krogt AN: 5900:31A)

Occurrence in Theatrum editions and page number:
1573L1Add6D (100 copies printed) (identical to 1573L, but with different page number; last line, centred like 2 lines above it, in Italic script like the entire text: "Descripsit hanc insulam Daniël Rogerius carmine elegiaco,ad D. Thomam Rhedigerum."),
1573D1Add/1573D6D (150 copies printed) (last line, centred like 2 lines above it: Dit heb ick hier ende daer vvt Giraldus Historie veurs by een gheraept.),
1573L(AB)10 (75 copies printed) (Version A is identical to 1573L1Add, but with different page number; this version has 19th line from the bottom ending in cursive: "vnquâ" ; Version B has 19th line from the bottom ending in cursive: "vnquam". last line, centred like 2 lines above it, in Italic script like the entire text: "Descripsit hanc insulam Daniel Rogerius carmine elegiaco,ad D. Thomam Rhedigerum."),
1573G1Add/1573G6.D. (150 copies printed) (last line, centred like 2 lines above it: herzu setzen.Es had dise Insel Daniel Rogerius mit Elegiaschen versen,zu dem Hern Thomam Rhedinger,beschrieben.),
1574F1Add/1574F6D (125 copies printed) (last line, centred like 2 lines above it: recueilli ça et lá de l'histoire du susdit Giraldus,suiuant l'ordre de son liure.),
1574L10 (175 copies printed) (large page number, 11 mm; first text line ends: "exteri" ; last line, centred like 3 lines above it, in cursive script like the entire text: "Descripsit hanc insulam Daniel Rogerius carmine elegiaco,ad D. Thomam Rhedigerum".), ),
1575L10 (100 copies printed) (small page number, 7 mm; first text line ends: "exteros" ; last line, centred like 3 lines above it, in cursive script like the entire text: "Descripsit hanc insulam Daniel Rogerius carmine elegiaco,ad D. Thomam Rhedigerum".),
1579L(A)12 [superimposed in my copy on 6.D, apparently a left-over sheet from 1573L1Add/1573L] (250 copies printed),
1579L(B)12 (250 copies printed) (last line, left aligned, in cursive script: "Rogersius carmine elegiaco,ad D.Thomam Rhedigerum".),
1580/1589G12 (350 copies printed) (last line, left aligned, in Gothic script: ten Versen beschriben.),
1581F12 (400 copies printed) (last line, left aligned: dre de son liure.),
1584L13 (750 copies printed) (last line, left aligned, in italic script like the entire text: "gersius carmine elegiaco,ad D.Thomam Rhedigerum."),
1587F13 (250 copies printed) (last line, left aligned: louées és instrumens Musicaux. Voicy ce que i'ay sommairement recueilli ça & là de l'histoire du susdit Gyraldus , suiuant l'ordre de son liure.),
1588S13 (300 copies printed) (last line first text page, right aligned: da por ; last line second text page, left aligned: mas Rhedigero.),
1592L14 (525 copies printed) (last line, left aligned, in cursive script like the entire text: "gerum. & accuratissimè soluta oratione Guilielmus Camdenus,in sua Britannia.),
1595L14 (500 copies printed) (second text page, left aligned: conscriptæ sunt,& volentibus intrare ostenduntur.),
1598/1610/1613D13 (100 copies printed) (last line, first text page, right aligned, in Gothic script: zijn drie),
1598F14 (525 copies printed) (last line, left aligned, small font: louées et instruments Musicaux. Voicy ce que i'ay sommairement recueilli ça & de la de l'histoire du susdit Gyraldus, suiuant l'ordre de son liure.),
1601L14 (200 copies printed) (last line second text page, left aligned: quorum visiones à prædictis fratribus conscriptæ sunt,& volentibus intrare ostenduntur.),
1602G14 (250 copies printed) (last line, full width, in Gothic script like the entire text: sul gefundê wirt/mag ein fleissiger Leser selbst hierzu bringen Dise Insul hat Daniel Rogerius mit Elegischê/und D. Thome Rhedigero dedietrê Versen beschriben.),
1602S14 (250 copies printed) (last line first text page, right aligned: d'ellas; last line second text page, left aligned: lan conscrittas,por los dichos frayeles Regulares, y muestran a los quieren entrar en ella.),
1603L14 (300 copies printed) (last line, left aligned: dictis fratribus conscriptæ sunt,& volentibus intrare ostenduntur.),
some 1606E14 (150 copies printed) (last line, first text page, full width: in this that their bellies are white and their backs blacke. A strange thing it is to tell of these birds : that if they being dead shalbe kept/in),
some 1608/1612I14 (100 copies printed),
few if any 1609/1612L14 (50 copies printed).

Approximate number of copies printed: 6375.

States: 22.1: Bonar Law reports an early first state print, blank on verso, bearing the date 1572 under Irlandt in the title cartouche. Another example was reported on Maphist in May 2001.
22.2: no date
22.3: during the production of 1587F, the hatching of the coastline and the shading of the sea was reworked. In the second state, i.e. prior to 1587F, the coastline has lines parallel to the coast. In the third state, all hatching has become horizontal, although traces of the earlier lines, parallel to the coast may still be seen.

Cartographic sources: Mercator's 1564 wall map of the British Isles in 8 sheets (Meurer p. 197, Karrow 56/16, p. 387-388). Brandmair advances Lilius Giraldus Cambrensis (mentioned in the map text) as possible sources.

References: Andrew Bonar Law (1983) The printed maps of Ireland to 1612, Morristown, N.J.: Eagle Press, p. 6-10.

Remarks: Replaced by Vrients' plate 23 in some 1606E and (almost) all copies of later editions, although he used the text of this map also for plate 23.
Ortelius obtained this map from Daniel Rogers in October 1572 (Hessels number 42).

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