Mapping Medieval Geographies explores the ways in which geographical knowledge, ideas and traditions were formed in Europe during the Middle Ages. Leading scholars reveal the connections between Islamic, Christian, Biblical and Classical geographical traditions from Antiquity to the later Middle Ages and Renaissance. The book is divided into two parts: Part I focuses on the notion of geographical tradition and charts the evolution of celestial and earthly geography in terms of its intellectual, visual and textual representations; whilst Part II explores geographical imaginations; that is to say, those 'imagined geographies' that came into being as a result of everyday spatial and spiritual experience. Bringing together approaches from art, literary studies, intellectual history and historical geography, this pioneering volume will be essential reading for scholars concerned with visual and textual modes of geographical representation and transmission, as well as the spaces and places of knowledge creation and consumption.

‘In Mapping Medieval Geographies Keith D. Lilley has brought together a broad spectrum of scholars to explore both the medieval engagement with geography as a practice and as a subject of inquiry as well as the imagined geographies of those who inhabited the Latin, Greek, and Arabic worlds of the Middle Ages. These essays are unusual in the respect that they show for the alternate geographies of the Middle Ages even while embedding their analyses within contemporary geographical discourse.'

Patrick J. Geary - Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton

'This volume demonstrates clearly that geographical knowledge includes more than maps projected according to Ptolemaic theory and that medieval geographers working in the tradition of chorography produced work of significance. To limit geography to the Ptolemaic tradition is to miss out on a great deal of geographical knowledge.'

James Muldoon - The John Carter Brown Library

'… an interesting and unusual collection of studies … Highly recommended.'

G. J. Martin Source: Choice

'This collection will provide an invaluable gathering of current research, as well as a stimulating and demanding read for the broader range of scholars and students who wish to progress beyond the basic understandings of the ‘spatial turn’ to a broader understanding of medieval geographies.'

Justin Colson Source: Reviews in History