The rediscovered Helsingør Atlas: a miniature, inscrutable maverick
among 15th-century portolan charts

TABLES

POWERPOINT slides

ENDNOTES

ABSTRACT

A.  INTRODUCING THE HELSINGØR ATLAS

A.1. The challenge
A.2. Censuses of portolan charts and atlases
A.3. High resolution, rotatable images
A.4. Analysis of the visual features and toponyms

B.  FUNDAMENTAL ISSUES

B.1. The Luxoro Atlas as a pro forma for the Helsingør Atlas
B.2. The compass-lines network
B.3. Miniature atlases
B.3a. The Fiorino atlas

Table 1. Miniature atlases

C.  THE DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PORTOLAN CHARTS AND ATLASES IN THE PERIOD 1435-1470

C.1. Overall features

C.1a. The corner triangles


Table 2. The mathematical structure of the corner triangles
C.1b. The ink-lined borders
C.1c. The (blue) rivers
C.1d. The border tape

C.2. Specific features

C.2a. The 'Lacus Fortunatus'

Table 3. The Lacus Fortunatus inscription
C.2b. Dundalk Bay
C.2c. The Isle of Man
C.2d. The British Isles and mythical Scottish islands
C.2e. The (missing?) Venice vignette
C.2f. The North coastline of the Adriatic Sea
C.2g. The Black Sea moved west
C.2h. The West African toponyms

Table 4. Significant and unusual thematic features on the Helsingør Atlas found on other portolan charts and atlases
C.2i. What can be learnt from Table 4?

D.  THE DRAFTING PROCESS

D.1. Calligraphy

D.1a. How were portolan-chart scribes likely to have been trained?
D.1b. Portolan-chart penmanship
D.1c. Letter forms as a pointer to a chart or atlas's date
D.1d. The unusual letter forms on the Helsingør Atlas

Table 5. Distinctive letter forms seen on the minority of charts and atlases which used a capital 'short' (modern) 'S' in their toponyms
D.2. Dialect spellings

D.2a. The different forms of Saint George's name

Table 6. How the charts handled St George's name
D.3. The 'Colour and Shape Analysis'
Table 7. Comparing styles seen on the Helsingør Atlas and Benincasa's early productions, with those on previous Italian charts
D.3a. Summmary of what was learnt from comparing the unusual features of the Helsingør Atlas with the charts and atlases of the second and third quarters of the 15th century

Table 8. Summarising the unusual features on the Helsingør Atlas

E.  TOPONYMY

Table 9. Names first noted on dated charts or atlases in the period 1435-80
E.1. Implications of the new place-names
Table 10. Comparing the spelling of the toponyms introduced in the period 1435-62 and their forms on those included in the Helsingør Atlas
Table 11. The limited recurrence of nine names included on the Helsingør Atlas
E.2. Summary of the toponymic findings


F.  ASSORTED OBSERVATIONS

F.1. General issues

F.1a. Unrepresentative survival
F.1b. Other potential dating evidence
F.1c Venetian origin?

F.2. Issues affecting the authorship and dating of the Helsingør Atlas

F.2a. Beccari and Benincasa
F.2b. What can we learn about the draftsman of the Helsingør Atlas and his methods?

F.2b.1. Overlaps
F.2b.2. Gaps
F.2b.3. Carelessness
F.2b.4. Incompleteness
F.2b.5. Poor judgement


G.  SUMMING UP

G.1. Conventions

G.1a. The individualism of 15th-century Italian chartmakers
G.1b. Assigning a tentative date to the Helsingør Atlas


H.  CONCLUSIONS

Table 12. Charts and atlases reliably dated from 1430 up to the 1460s or possibly made during that period


APPENDIX. The provenance of the Helsingør Atlas and the Agnese distraction

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