The Beatus maps

Towards the end of the eighth century, Beatus of Liébana composed the Commentary on the Apocalypse in the monastery of San Martín de Turieno. Although it has not come down to us in its original state, this work is well known thanks to the numerous copies of it that were made in succeeding centuries, and which have led to its status as one of the great creations of medieval art. The Beatus manuscripts are especially acclaimed on account of their expressive illustrations. Among them stands out the marvelous mappa mundi that displays the evangelization of the world by the apostles. This image, already present in the archetype manuscript, experienced an interesting evolution as the Commentary on the Apocalypse was copied and edited between the tenth and thirteenth centuries. Today fourteen of these mappae mundi are conserved, to which we may add other works of cartography derived from or related to them. All of these maps constitute the object of the scrutiny of this book, which studies their evolution attending not only to the manuscript context in which they appear, but also to the European cartographic context. so as to arrive duly at a reconstruction of the original eight century Beatus map.