1535 Fries / Clavus Map of Scandinavia - Medieval Mapping of the North

This is Lorenz Fries' 1522 map, in a 1535 edition, of one of the earliest maps to focus on the northern parts of Europe, including Iceland and Greenland. It is one of the earliest acquirable maps to include the geography of Claudius Clavus (1388 - 14??).

Scope of the Map

The map is drawn on a Ptolemaic trapezoidal projection. Coverage reaches south to include England, Scotland, Denmark, and Prussia (all follow Ptolemaic topography, but Denmark uses contemporary place names), and northwards to embrace the Baltic Sea, Sweden, Norway, and Finland. Iceland appears at the extreme upper left, though erroneously situated north of the Arctic Circle, whose waters are noted to be frozen. Beyond this frozen sea, the 'Mare Congealtum' - yet connected to the European landmass - is Greenland.

Greenland

It may be that Clavus is not to blame for this map's astonishing placement of Greenland here. Records suggest he produced two manuscript maps of this region, but only the first survives. On that map, Greenland is more accurately placed to the west of Scandinavia. The manuscript of the second Clavus map has not survived. However, it is understood to have been the basis for the maps of Nicolaus Donnus Germanus (c. 1420 - 1490), whose delineations were used by all but one of the early printed Ptolemies and thus provided the basis for the present work. So, while it is possible that Clavus had two different delineations Greenland, it is just as likely that the placement of Greenland as a northern Peninsula is an arbitrary change instituted by Germanus. Regardless of the source of the distortion, the placement of Greenland due north of Scandinavia may be a consequence of Ptolemy's cruder, first, projection, whose trapezoids were simple to use but imperfectly reflected the curvature of the Earth. Clavus' placenames applied to Greenland were invented - or rather, repurposed from the lyrics of a Swedish folk song. His sources are unknown but likely derive from oral reports by mariners who had sailed from Norway to Iceland and possibly Greenland. He may also have benefited from reports of the far-reaching Hanseatic traders.

Fries includes a text block - an addition not present on the precursor Waldseemüller map or the earlier printed versions of the Clavus map - describing Greenland as

Very abundant in precious furs, which are brought to Western ports. This region, having overthrown its own leader, is subject to the Russian ruler. The savage inhabitants are similar in countenance to the Samoyeds. (from Latin)

If we assume, as the map does, a land connection between northern Europe and Greenland, a Russian connection is feasible. The Sami, Inuit, and other peoples of the far north had much more in common with each other than with people to the south, and an observed similarity there is entirely reasonable.

Publication History and Census

This map was first issued in the 1522 Lorenz Fries Strasbourg edition of Ptolemy's Geographia. A further edition was produced in that same city in 1525. Afterward, two further editions of 1535 and 1541 were published in Lyons and Vienne-in-the-Dauphane, respectively. The editor of the 1535 edition, Michael Villanovus (Servetus), was tried for heresy in 1553 and burned at the stake. Reportedly, Calvin ordered copies of the Servetus edition burned. Consequently, maps from the 1535 edition (of which this is a representative) are scarce. Overall, the four editions of Fries' Ptolemy are well represented in institutional collections, although we do not see a separate example of this map listed in OCLC.