Strategic Maps During the War of the Roses ...

[VerbalProcessin]

Greetings. My name is Ian and I'm producing trailers for War of the Roses. Right now I'm considering doing some shots of maps, perhaps with some figures on them representing the various forces converging on St. Albans (for example).

I'd be very grateful for your help in determining what such maps would have looked like and, just as importantly, how would they have represented the movements of forces. Would they have done this at all?

[robw963]

I'm not sure if this is helpful to you or not, but the most visual example I can think of occurs in the movie Braveheart where Longshanks is describing his counter-attack of Scotland. In this scene, a large (cloth or parchment) map of the British Isles is laid out on a table and individual "units" are represented by relatively large wooden pieces...almost like chess pieces but depicted more literally. I can't attest as to how historically accurate this method would have been...although it's convincing in the movie. I'm skeptical that medieval maps would have been drawn for planning purposes...I think instead they would have commemorated a battle after the fact...either through tapestry or some other art form.

[StephenT]

I'd be very grateful for your help in determining what such maps would have looked like and, just as importantly, how would they have represented the movements of forces. Would they have done this at all?

In all honesty? No, probably not. At least not in England in the 15th century.

In mediaeval times the idea of maps was to glorify God by depicting His creation in all its glory, not for practical use to find your way or plan a journey. The idea of geographically accurate maps showing local regions, that could be used for military planning, was an invention of the Renaissance in Italy - and even then they were extremely valuable and considered State secrets.

Still, for a game trailer, this illustration of a map dates from 1520, so it's less than a century after your period. Close enough?



It would be painted onto parchment or vellum, so the background would be creamy or yellowish white with a faint texture. Coastlines would probably be quite accurate, showing all the bays and inlets: the rest of the map would be more abstract. Mountains, rivers and forests would be drawn in a naturalistic style, in colour. Cities would be actual drawings of the city, perhaps with a prominent landmark such as the local cathedral tower to distinguish them.

To depict the forces, I've got two suggestions. People played chess back then, so chess pieces would be perfectly in context. The Lewis chess set is genuinely mediaeval:



Alternatively, as you see from the map above, heraldry was very important. Perhaps something like a set of wooden blocks with the different shields of the commanders on each side painted on them? Or combine the two; use chess pieces with individually painted shields.

Of course, Paradox fans being what they are you'd need to make sure the correct, historically accurate coats of arms were used, or face endless nitpicking and carping on the forums...

Hope that helps!

[Leviathan07]

The art of drawing a map to scale was only invented when they wanted accurate maps for seafarers. Roman era military maps were mostly not drawn to scale, they looked more like graphs connecting cities and they indicated travel distances by numbers on the connections.

However I have no idea where one might find such a map, for Britain.

Maybe you might want to just google "Ptolemy world map" to get an idea about how pre-renaissance maps drawn to scale looked like.

[Herbert West]

I have a collection of reprint maps from all across the middle ages, once I find a scanner that cna handle oversized leather, I'll try to upload them.

[VerbalProcessin]

Thanks so much for the extremely helpful replies. The Lewis chess set is an amazing inspiration. Herbert West, if you Combs through your maps and reanimate a scanner I'd be very grateful.