London Before the ConquestLethaby, W. R. (William Richard)
History
London Before the Conquest
Lethaby, W. R. (William Richard)
London (England) -- History -- To 1500
We can now check our plan and add to the names of the streets from Stow's
perambulation of every street and alley, and his account of ward
boundaries and parishes. Further than this, however, we have in the
remarkably clear plot of the city given in Braun and Hogenburghe's
_Civitates Orbis Terrarum_ (1572), a survey of the city as it existed
about 1570. It is often said that this view _must_ date back to 1561 at
least, as St. Paul's spire, which was burnt in that year, is shown in it.
But as it was known to be the intention to rebuild this famous spire at
once, it seems probable that a view even in the interim would not leave it
out. It is not quite certain who drew this admirable map. In the preface
to a copy of the book which I have examined, George Braun of Cologne,
January 1, 1575, speaks of the admirable industry of the painter
Hogenburghe, and the living portraitures he had so carefully painted, so
that the cities may be seen at a glance more easily than in reality. On
comparing the prospects of other cities, it looks almost certain that
London was drawn by the same hand which drew Paris, Brussels, etc.
Hofnagle, who it is thought may have made this prospect, is known to have
been in England in or before 1571. It is to be remarked in this connection
that the plan of London is not numbered with the rest of the plates; it is
marked A, and put in at the beginning of the series as if it came to hand
late.
This valuable map, whoever it may have been drawn by, and whatever may be
its exact date, is delineated according to a method which is still made
use of at times--the buildings, trees, and other details being figured in
perspective. This has resulted in giving the whole such a pictorial
character, that the correctly planned basis is not at first apparent. I
have not seen it pointed out that it is properly a map and not a view, and
this method of projection may be what Braun refers to in the preface cited
above. About this same time William Smith, the herald, made some drawings
of cities; and on one of Bristol, which is drawn according to the same
method as the London map we are now considering, he writes:--"Bristow,
measured and laid in Platforme by me, W. Smith, at my being in Bristow the
30 and 31 July Ano Dni 1568" (Sloane MSS. 2596). Pictorial views of cities
had been known for centuries; this "laying in platform" is, however, new.
We may suppose that Smith, the Rouge Dragon, was not the first to make use
of this method in his Survey of Bristol, and that there must even at this
time have existed such a plan of London; it may also be pointed out that
Smith's MS. _view_ of London, which may, however, have been made later
than the one of Bristol, is plainly founded on Braun's plan, or on some
original used in common. Bagford speaks of having seen a single sheet on
copper, from Temple Bar to St. Katharine's and the Bank-side Southwark,
which seemed to him the best of old London and perhaps the most ancient.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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