72 Bouloux
Sardinian dioceses subordinate to the archbishop of Pisa, the presence of a
“dux Sardena,” and its dependence on Pisa. Naturally, the strategic location of
the island along the maritime routes and its political characteristics were the
focus of attention.
As far as maps are concerned, Sardinia is drawn on the large medieval maps
of the world in its precise topographical position, between Corsica and Sicily.
Like the other large islands of the Mediterranean, it is overscale due to the
means of representation of reality in medieval maps. One of the goals of the
cartographer was indeed to emphasize the elements that were considered re-
markable by the size of the drawing. The Mediterranean is above all an insular
space. A closer examination of the drawings of Sardinia in two monuments of
medieval cartography in the maps of Hereford and Ebstorf is necessary.13 In
both cases, the shape of the island recalls the outline of a foot. This is particu-
larly noticeable in Ebstorf ’s world map, where it is drawn down to the shape of
the toes. The captions on both maps mention the ancient name given by the
Greeks “Sandaliotis,” which explains the shape of the island. The shared tex-
tual concept governs the representation of the island by the mapmaker, as was
typically the case with medieval world maps, which were among other things
a translation of the textual tradition into drawing. As a result, the large islands
of the Mediterranean are immediately recognizable on the maps through their
principal characteristics, which constitute their identity. The captions further
establish them directly within the textual tradition. Hereford’s map indicates
the dimensions of Sardinia and Ebstorf ’s reads that the Latin name Sardinia
comes from King Sardus, the son of Hercules. However, the maps also repre-
sent the cities with greater precision: Hereford’s map shows four unnamed
urban vignettes, while Ebstorf ’s map has five (of which four are named, Tybulo,
Vibia Nur ciu
texts and maps, is characterized by a number of stable and identical traits,
for the most part originating in antiquity, which medieval “geographers” in-
corporate without notable transformations but adapting them to their own
views. Nonetheless, new elements enter into this common geographic culture.
They become more numerous and more precise in the last centuries of the
Middle Ages.
13 For the Hereford map, see Scott D. Westrem, The Hereford Map (Turnhout, 2001). For the
Ebstorf map, see J. Wilke, Die Ebstorfer Weltkarte (Bielefel, 2001); Die Ebstorfer Weltkarte,
ed. H. Kugler (Berlin, 2007).