THE REVIVAL OF PTOLEMY 69 



contains in addition a map of the northern regions based 

 largely upon that of Claudius Clavus, on which 'Engroen- 

 landt' is depicted, and also a list of geographical positions. 

 Fifteenth-century cosmographers like Fra Mauro did not accept 

 Ptolemy's views uncritically, and it became the practice to add 

 a number of contemporary maps to the MSS. to provide a basis 

 for comparison. 



The MSS. composed by the Florentine, Pietro del Massajo, 

 are particularly notable for these supplementary maps. The 

 earliest,^ which must have been written before 1458, contains 

 the twenty-seven Ptolemaic maps, *'cum additione provinciarum 

 noviter repertarum et alia nonuUa". The seven maps of the 

 'provinces' comprise Spain, France, Italy, Etruria, the Pelopo- 

 nessus, Candia, and Egypt with Aethiopia; the 'others' are nine 

 town plans, including Rome and Alexandria. The origins of 

 these 'modern' maps in some cases go far back into the four- 

 teenth century, and appear to be linked to the early marine 

 charts. The earliest prototype is a map of Italy which is found 

 with a manuscript of Fra Paolino's 'Cronaca'. Paolino was a 

 contemporaiy and friend of Marino Sanudo, and it was to him 

 that Sanudo's 'Secreta fidelium crucis' was referred for examina- 

 tion by the Pope. The map, which was not drawn by Paolino, 

 has some affinities with those of Pietro Vesconte. The outline 

 and coastal names were undoubtedly derived from con- 

 temporary marine charts; and an attempt has been made to 

 combine with these a representation of the orography of the 

 peninsula. The source of the latter feature is as yet unascer- 

 tained. In the course of time improvements were gradually 

 introduced ; in one type the orientation of the peninsula is more 

 accurate, in another, the representation of its southern extremity 

 is less constricted. Massajo's 'modern' map of Italy has the 

 improved orientation, and additional details. No prototype 

 of his map of Spain has yet been found but its evolution was 

 probably on similar lines. The map of Egypt is particularly 

 interesting, as it includes quite detailed and accurate itineraries 

 in Abyssinia. Other codices include a map of the Holy Land 

 which, it is scarcely open to doubt, derives ultimately from 

 that included in the Sanudo atlases. 



^Bibl. nat. Paris, Cod. lat. 4802. 



