Cartographies of Exclusion

Anti-Semitic Mapping in Medieval England

Asa Simon Mittman (California State University, Chico)

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English

Pennsylvania State University Press
19 November 2024

History of Art & Design Styles; British & Irish history; Early history: c 500 to c 1450&1500; Historical maps & atlases

From the battles over Jerusalem to the emergence of the “Holy Land,” from legally mandated ghettos to the Edict of Expulsion, geography has long been a component of Christian-Jewish relations. Attending to world maps drawn by medieval Christian mapmakers, Cartographies of Exclusion brings us to the literal drawing board of “Christendom” and shows the creation, in real time, of a mythic state intended to dehumanize the non-Christian people it ultimately sought to displace.

In his close analyses of English maps from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, Asa Mittman makes a valuable contribution to conversations about medieval Christian perceptions of Jews and Judaism. Grounding his arguments in the history of anti-Jewish sentiment and actions rampant in twelfth- and thirteenth-century England, Mittman shows how English world maps of the period successfully Othered Jewish people by means of four primary strategies: conflating Jews with other groups; spreading libels about Jewish bodies, beliefs, and practices; associating Jews with Satan; and, most importantly, cartographically “mislocating” Jews in time and space. On maps, Jews were banished to locations and historical moments with no actual connection to Jewish populations or histories.

Medieval Christian anti-Semitism is the foundation upon which modern anti-Semitism rests, and the medieval mapping of Jews was crucial to that foundation. Mittman’s thinking offers essential insights for any scholar interested in the interface of cartography, politics, and religion in premodern Europe.

By: Asa Simon Mittman (California State University Chico)
Imprint: Pennsylvania State University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 254mm, Width: 203mm, Spine: 24mm
Weight: 215g
ISBN: 9780271097466
ISBN 10: 0271097469
Pages: 256
Publication Date: 19 November 2024
Audience: College/higher education , Further / Higher Education
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Asa Simon Mittman is Professor of Art and Art History at California State University, Chico. He is the author of Maps and Monsters in Medieval England and coauthor, with Susan Kim, of Inconceivable Beasts: The “Wonders of the East” in the “Beowulf” Manuscript.

Reviews for Cartographies of Exclusion: Anti-Semitic Mapping in Medieval England

“Cartographies of Exclusion is probably the most important book ever written about premodern European cartography.” —Surekha Davies,author of Renaissance Ethnography and the Invention of the Human: New Worlds, Maps, and Monsters