SMCE4009 W26 Mediaeval Symposium: Mappa Mundi

• Delivery: In-person
• Date: Saturday, April 11th, 2026
• Time: Registration: 8:30 a.m. | Symposium: 9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
• Location: TBD (in-person on campus at the University of St. Michael’s College)
• Cost:$150 (includes HST, coffee/tea and a Mediaeval lunch)

Explore Mediaeval Mapping

Mappa mundi: Mapping the Mediaeval World will explore that mediaeval Europe from two perspectives: how mediaeval people configured their world and how mediaevalists are employing mapping to better understand that world. In the Middle Ages there were various types of maps intended to illustrate different ideas: the earth’s spherical shape complemented by continents (generally Europe, Asia, Africa, and an unknown continent, referred to as the Antipodes). Maps could depict holy sites and pilgrimage routes or different people, animals and even the unknown creatures that might inhabit space out of sight, just beyond the earth’s margins: “hic sunt dracones” (Here be dragons!). Our exploration of mediaeval mapping will take us across the mediaeval Europe and beyond, demonstrating just how well-travelled mediaeval people were. Some maps could be used in battle, others were for trade, and till mapped the seas. We will also move into micro spaces, mapping cities, and even neighbourhoods, to better understand mediaeval people’s daily lives and the challenges they could face from nature and society.

Hosted by Jacqueline Murray, University Professor Emerita, University of Guelph; Fellow, St. Michael’s College; and Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada

Learning Outcomes

This Mediaeval Saturday Symposium will provide the opportunity for participants to map and re-map our own understanding of the Middle Ages and mediaeval European society

2026 Mediaeval Symposium Presenters

James Ginther

Professor of Mediaeval Theology
Regis St. Michael’s Faculty of Theology
University of St. Michael’s College

Title: Trading with Strangers in a Strange World: An Unnoticed Marine Map of the Mediaeval World.

Abstract: There were different ways to represent the known world during the Middle Ages.  One type of map this is often overlooked is the marine or portolan map.  This type of map was created to assist sailors and merchants as they travelled to find sources for the many goods in demand in Mediaeval Europe.  Scholars have argued that this kind of map originated in the fourteenth century, but we will explore an early map, from the mid-thirteenth century, that has only been recently discovered.  While its accuracy does show that it was designed for marine use, the wealth of information it contains helps us understand how mediaeval Europeans saw the world outside of Europe.

Renée R. Trilling

Angus Cameron Professor of Old English
Centre for Mediaeval Studies / Department of English
University of Toronto

Title: A Cure for What Ails You: Traveling the World through Early English Medical Texts

Abstract: Early mediaeval medicine is often dismissed as superstition. While mediaeval people did have some rather fanciful practices, like reciting charms for protection against dwarves and elves, they also made use of many trusted remedies made from herbs and animal ingredients. And some of them actually worked. What’s just as interesting, though, is the way that mediaeval medical texts can help to map the connections between mediaeval England and the wider world. From sourcing ingredients to compiling the latest medical knowledge, the healing arts connected early Insular culture with people and places from Europe and the Mediterranean to North Africa, India, and beyond.

Emily Hutchison

Associate Professor
Department of History
Mount Royal University (Alberta)

Title: Mapping Climate Crises in Late Mediaeval Paris

Abstract: This presentation investigates a series of climate-related crises that afflicted Paris and the Île-de-France during the late Middle Ages, at the onset of the Little Ice Age. It pursues two principal objectives. First, it uses textual evidence to assess the material repercussions of the crises on the city and its people. Second, it uses mapping to analyze these repercussions within in specific neighbourhoods in Paris. Mapping the effects of mediaeval climate change, is indispensable to understanding how it effected Parisians: without attention to the spatial dimensions of environmental disruption, analysis of the impact of the Little Ice Age risks remaining abstract and unmoored from lived reality.

Vanessa McCarthy

Fellow
Centre for Renaissance and Reformation Studies
University of Toronto

Title: Mapping Sex-Workers in Mediaeval Bologna

Abstract: Mapping the residential patterns of working-poor sex workers in mediaeval Bologna reveals that far from being marginalized outcasts, sex-workers chose their neighbourhoods and their neighbours, usually other working-poor men and women, as well as students. Like their friends and family, prostitutes tended to move every two years, but never more than a block or two from their base. Neighbourhood mapping reveals that rather than being shunned because of their sex-work, these women were integrated into their local neighbourhoods and the wider religious, political, and economic life of the city.

Kelly DeVries

Professor Emeritus
Department of History
Loyola University Maryland

Title: The Technology and Portability of Premodern Maps

Abstract: Mediaeval maps are now found in museums, libraries, churches, even palaces and private homes. They are drawn on different media and different technologies were used to construct them. Many depict the world as it was then known and are sometimes populated by mythological people and beasts. Before the fifteenth century, when vivid portolan maps started to appear, the purpose of mediaeval maps is not immediately clear, beyond being artistic or decorative. This paper will discuss the history and technology of mediaeval maps and, more importantly, their portability. Why were premodern mapmakers so eager to portray the “entire world” rather than limited and nearby areas? We will conclude with a brief introduction to portolan maps, so critical for later nautical long-distance navigation and exploration.

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