L' Iter de Londinio in Terram Sanctam: ricezione e contesto dell’opera di Matthew Paris

Abstract

The Iter de Londinio in Terram Sanctam is a wonderful handwork made by the scribe and miniaturist Matthew Paris, who was a monk at the Saint Albans’s monastery during the XIII century, and it represent for sure one of the most interesting examples of medieval cartography. Trough the analysis of the figurative and textual elements that appear in the maps of Palestine and Syria and by the comparison of others pilgrimage reports, we will try to demonstrate that the Iter was born under Enrico III of England’s crusade, and that by the study of this work it is possible to observe the complex phenomenon of the crusader spirituality during the XIII century.