Matthew Paris Road Map London to Jerusalem

Matthew Paris produced several versions of this itinerary map. For the most complete, which takes it through to the Holy Land, , go to the British Library’s Digitised Manuscript images of Royal MS 14 C VII and scroll down [right hand side] to fol.2^r. London is in the bottom lefthand corner at the start of the journey. Proceed upwards via Rochester and Canterbury to the port of Dover and the Channel at the top. The righthandside route goes from Wissant (east of Calais) to Beauvais at the top. Carry on with the Forward button to the next image (fol. 2^v), from Beaumont through Paris to Troyes, then Beaune at the top right; next image (fol. 3^r) from Chalons and on across the Saone and Rhone to the Alps. It begins to get really mountainous at the top of the righthand route. Fol. 3^v sees the pilgrim successfully leaving the Alps after Mont-Cenis, and descending towards Turin and the river Po, then leaving Milan to the left and going through Pavia and Cremona into Lombardy (Reggio Emilia at the top right). Fol.4^r goes through the marshes (where there are turtles), to Modena, and Bologna. Eventually through Florence one seems to arrive at Otranto, when it looks as if ship is taken to the East. The next page (fol.4^v) focusses on Acre and its surroundings, with a charming camel, and the next (fol. 5^r) features the coast and Jerusalem. These two pages are very schematic, and there is no attempt to show the pilgrim routes.

A much simplified version of this map in Cotton MS Nero D I shows the route fron London to Rome. Scroll down [right hand side] to fol. 183^v. For the second part of the map, go to the next folio. 184^r.