Regions of medieval Europe

[King of Men]

Basically, Norway at this time is some cities on the coastline, some settlements in the eastern vallyes (near the modern border with Sweden) and bugger-all otherwise. I mean, really bugger-all. An accurate map would have about three-fourths of it as PTI. So if you have a city for Bergen, one for Trondhjem, one for Oslo, some settlements along Viken (the strip going down the east coast from Oslo, which today is part of Sweden), one city on the south coastline, and one province connecting Oslo and Trondjhem, you'll be pretty accurate no matter what you have for the borders. There just weren't any actual borders at the time - nobody could possibly control those mountains, so the actual regions of control didn't really touch.

 

[elvain]

British isles


Ireland
Ulster (no sub-regions):
1 Tirconnell
2 Tyrone
3 Ulster
4 Uriel
Meath (no sub-regions):
1 Louth
2 Drogheda
3 Kilmore
4 Trim
5 Meath
Leinster (no sub-regions):
1 Kildare
2 Dublin
3 Dublin-Bray
4 Kildare-Arklow
5 Wexford
6 Carlow
7 Kilkenny
Munster (no sub-regions):
1 Waterford
2 Tipperary
3 Cork
4 Kerry
5 Limerick
6 Thomond
7 Kilfenora
Connaught (no sub-regions):
1 Connaught
2 Roscommon
3 Breffny

Scotland
The Islessub regions: Orkney, Hebrides, Dalriada, Man)
Orkney (Orkney, Caithness, Sutherland)
Hebrides (Lewis, Skye, Uist)
Dalriada (Mull, Jura, Islay)
Man (Man)
Highlandssub regions: Argyll, Highlands, Aberdeen, Alba)
Argyll (Morvern, Argyll, Arran)
Highlands (Ross, Moray, Nairn, Elgin)
Aberdeen (Banf, Aberdeen, Kincardine, Angus)
Alba (Perth, Stirling, Fife)
Lowland (sub regions: Lothian, Strathclyde)
Lothian (Lothian, Berwick mark, Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles)
Strathclyde (Dumfries, Galloway, Lanark, Ayr and Dumbarton)

England:
Cornwall (no sub-regions):
1 Cornwall
2 Devon
Wessex (no sub-regions):
1 Somerset
2 Dorset
3 Hampshire
4 Wiltshire
5 Gloucester
6 Oxford
7 Buckingham
8 Berkshire
Sussex (no sub-regions):
1 Surrey
2 Sussex
Kent (no sub-regions):
1 Kent
Essex (no sub-regions):
1 London
2 Hertford
3 Essex
East Anglia (no sub-regions):
1 Suffolk
2 Norfolk
3 Cambridge
Mercia (sub-regions: East Mercia, West Mercia)
1 East Mercia - Lincoln
2 East Mercia - Huntingdon
3 East Mercia - Bedford
4 East Mercia - Northampton
5 East Mercia - Leicester
6 East Mercia - Notingham
1 West Mercia - Derby
2 West Mercia - Stafford
3 West Mercia - Warwick
4 West Mercia - Worcester
5 West Mercia - Hereford
6 West Mercia - Shorpshire
7 West Mercia - Cheshire
Northumberland (sub-regions: York, Northumberland, Berwick)
1 York Lancashire
2 York Yorkshire
1 Northumberland - Durham
2 Northumberland - Westmorland
3 Northumberland - Cumberland
4 Northumberland - Northumberland
1 Berwick - Berwick

Wales
Dyfed (sub-regions: Dyfed, Seisyllwg, Rwng Gwy a Hafren, Brycheinoig, Morgannwng, Gwent)
1 Dyfed - Pembroke
2 Seisyllwg - Cardigan
3 Seisyllwg - Carmarthen
4 Rwng Gwy a Hafren - Mortimer
5 Brycheiniog - Bohun
6 Morgannwg - Glamorgan
7 Gwent - Gwent
Gwynedd (sub-regions: Gwynedd, Powys)
1 Powys - Flint
2 Powys - Powys
3 Gwynedd - Merioneth
4 Gwynedd - Lincoln
5 Gwynedd - Caernarvon
6 Gwynedd - Angelsey

Isle of Man is a separate region/county

total of 18 regions, 31 sub-regions and 102 "counties"

 

[elvain]

east Central Europe

east-Central Europe map

Bohemia:
Bohemia (sub-regions: Bohemia, Zittau, Kladsko)
1 Bohemia Praha Praha
2 Bohemia Kouřimsko Kouřim
3 Bohemia Vltavsko Týn
4 Bohemia Berounsko Beroun
5 Bohemia Slánsko Slaný
6 Bohemia Rakovnicko Rakovník
7 Bohemia Loketsko Loket
8 Bohemia Plzeňsko Plzeň
9 Bohemia Písecko Písek
10 Bohemia Bechyňsko Bechyně
11 Bohemia Čáslavsko Čáslav
12 Bohemia Chrudimsko Chrudim
13 Bohemia Hradecko Hradec
14 Bohemia Boleslavsko Mladá Boleslav
15 Bohemia Litoměřicko Litoměřice
16 Bohemia Žatecko Žatec
17 Zittau Žitavsko Zittau
18 Kladsko Kladsko Kladsko county
Moravia (sub-regions: Moravia, Opavia)
1 Moravia Olomoucko Olomouc
2 Moravia Brněnsko Brno
3 Moravia Znojemsko Znojmo
4 Moravia Jihlavsko Jihlava
5 Opavia Opavsko Opava duchy

Poland:
Silesia (sub-regions: Upper and Lower Silesia)
1 Lower Silesia Zagan
2 Lower Silesia Glogau
3 Lower Silesia
4 Lower Silesia
5 Lower Silesia
6 Lower Silesia
7 Lower Silesia Breslau
8 Lower Silesia Jauer
9 Lower Silesia Münsterberg
10 Lower Silesia Brieg
11 Lower Silesia Niese
12 Upper Silesia Oppole
13 Upper Silesia Bytom
14 Upper Silesia
15 Upper Silesia Racibórz
16 Upper Silesia Czieszyn
17 Upper Silesia Oswięcim
Polonia (sub-regions: Gniezdno, Kujawia)
1 Gniezdno Gniezdno
2 Kujawia Sieradz
3 Kujawia Kujawia
4 Kujawia Chelmno
Pomerelia
1 Pomerelia
Mazovia
1 Plock
2 Mazovia
3 Wizna
Little Poland (sub-regions: Cracovia, Sandomierz):
1 Little Poland Cracovia Krakow
2 Little Poland Sandomierz Sandomierz
Galicz
1 Galicz
Hungary:
Upper Hungary (sub-regions: Upper Hungary, Spiss, Zemplén)
1 Upper Hungary Presburg
2 Upper Hungary Nitra
3 Upper Hungary Trenčín
4 Upper Hungary Turčian
5 Upper Hungary Orava
6 Upper Hungary Liptov
7 Upper Hungary Zvolen
8 Upper Hungary Tekov
9 Upper Hungary Hont
10 Upper Hungary Nógrád
11 Upper Hungary Gömör
12 Spiss Spiš
13 Zemplén Šariš
14 Zemplén Abov
15 Zemplén Zemplén
16 Zemplén Ung
17 Zemplén Bereg
Panonia (sub-regions: Esztergom, Pécs)
1 Esztergom Esztergom
2 Esztergom Komárom
3 Esztergom Györ
4 Esztergom Moson
5 Esztergom Sopron
6 Esztergom Vas
7 Esztergom Veszprem
8 Esztergom Zela
9 Pécs Somogy
10 Pécs Tolna
11 Pécs Somogy
Alföld
1 Pest
2 Fejér
3 Bács
4 Csongrád
5 Szolnok
6 Herves
7 Borsod
Cumania
1 Szetmár
2 Szilágy
3 Bihar
4 Arad
5 Csanád
6 Békés
7 Hajdu
8 Szabolcs
Carpathian Ruthenia
1 Ugocsa
2 Mukachevo
Transylvania
1 Szolnok-Doboka
2 Beszterce
3 Maros-Torda
4 Csik
5 Udvarhely
6 Hármomszék
7 Brassau
8 Fogaras
9 Nagy-Küküllö
10 Sibiu
11 Hunyad
12 Alsó-Fehér
13 Kls-Küküllö
14 Torda-Aranyos
15 Klaussenburg
Banat
1 Torontál
2 Temesvár
3 Krassó

total of 15 regions, 24 sub-regions and 114 "counties"

 

[elvain]

Iberian Peninsula


link to the map
Spain
Catalonia (sub-regions: Rousillon, Catalonia, Lérida)
Rousillon - Rousillon
Catalonia - Pallars, Urgell, Cerdana, Besalú, Ampurias and Barcelona
Lérida - Lérida, Tortosa
Aragon (sub-regions: Aragón, Zaragoza)
Aragón - Aragón/Jaca, Sobrarbe, Ribagorza, Huesca
Zaragoza - Zaragoza, Teruel, Morella
Valencia (no sub-regions)
Apulente, Valencia, Denia
Murcia (no sub-regions)
Murcia
Granada (no sub-regions)
Almería, Granada, Malaga, Ronda
Andalucia (sub-regions: Jaén, Cordóba, Sevilla)
Jaén - Jaén
Cordóba - Cordóba, Lucena
Sevilla - Carmona, Morón, Arcos, Sevilla
Estremadura (no sub-regions)
Badajoz, Alcantara
Castilia La Mancha (no sub-regions)
Almadén, La Mancha, Cuenca, Molina, Toledo
Castilia (sub-regions: Castilia, Rioja, Vizcaya, Santander)
Castilia - Coria, Ávila, Valiadollid, Castilia
Rioja - Rioja
Vizcaya - Alava, Guipúzcoa, Vizcaya
Santander - Santander
León (sub-regions - Asturias, León, Galicia)
Asturias - Asturias
León - Salamanca, León
Galicia - Galicia

 

[_tr]

Poland:
Silesia (sub-regions: Upper and Lower Silesia)
1 Lower Silesia Zagan
2 Lower Silesia Glogau
3 Lower Silesia
4 Lower Silesia
5 Lower Silesia
6 Lower Silesia
7 Lower Silesia Breslau
8 Lower Silesia Jauer
9 Lower Silesia Münsterberg
10 Lower Silesia Brieg
11 Lower Silesia Niese
12 Upper Silesia Oppole
13 Upper Silesia Bytom
14 Upper Silesia
15 Upper Silesia Racibórz
16 Upper Silesia Czieszyn
17 Upper Silesia Oswięcim
Polonia (sub-regions: Gniezdno, Kujawia)
1 Gniezdno Gniezdno
2 Kujawia Sieradz
3 Kujawia Kujawia
4 Kujawia Chelmno
Pomerelia
1 Pomerelia
Mazovia
1 Plock
2 Mazovia
3 Wizna
Little Poland (sub-regions: Cracovia, Sandomierz):
1 Little Poland Cracovia Krakow
2 Little Poland Sandomierz Sandomierz
Galicz
1 Galicz

I have a question. Do you want to use original names of provinces? If you want to do it, you should correct:

1 Lower Silesia Zagan -> Żagań
(althought maybe it's correct in german language)
2 Lower Silesia Glogau -> Głogów
(althought maybe it's correct in german language)
7 Lower Silesia Breslau -> Wrocław
(Breslau it's correct too - it's german name of this city)
8 Lower Silesia Jauer -> Jawor
(althought maybe it's correct in german language) but in my opinion the capital of this province should be Świdnica not Jawor. Jawor should be capital of province number 3.
9 Lower Silesia Münsterberg -> ??? I don't know what it is. Maybe Ziębice or Ząbkowice
10 Lower Silesia Brieg -> Brzeg
(althought maybe it's correct in german language)
11 Lower Silesia Niese -> Nysa
(althought maybe it's correct in german language)
12 Upper Silesia Oppole -> Opole
(Is the city's name in german isn't Oppolen?)
13 Upper Silesia Bytom
15 Upper Silesia Racibórz
16 Upper Silesia Czieszyn
(This is incorrect - should be Cieszyn)
17 Upper Silesia Oswięcim
(This version is incorrect - should be Oświęcim)

Polonia (sub-regions: Gniezdno, Kujawia)
1 Gniezdno Gniezdno
(incorrect version - should be Gniezno)
2 Kujawia Sieradz
You should sepprate from this province the area of Łęczyca (Ziemia Łęczycka)
3 Kujawia Kujawia (in polish Kujawy)
4 Kujawia Chelmno -> Chełmno or better Ziemia Chełmińska (disstrict of Chełmno)
Pomerelia
1 Pomerelia -> or in polish Pomorze Gdańskie
Mazovia
1 Plock -> shold be Płock
2 Mazovia (or in polish Mazowsze)
3 Wizna
Little Poland (sub-regions: Cracovia, Sandomierz):
1 Little Poland Cracovia Krakow -> sholud be Kraków
2 Little Poland Sandomierz Sandomierz
Galicz
1 Galicz -> in polish language it's Halicz and territory's name is Ruś Halicka
You should separate from this territory Przemyśl

Some provinces on your list haven't capital:
3 Lower Silesia -> Jawor
4 Lower Silesia -> Legnica
5 Lower Silesia -> I don't know what it can be... I don't know why do you separate this area.
6 Lower Silesia -> Oleśnica
14 Upper Silesia -> Koźle


Your map look very fine Good luck in your's work.

 

[elvain]

thanks. I have problems with polish spelling.

The key is this:
for Lower Silesia I use German names, as it was germanized for most of the period 1000-1500
for Upper Silesia I (try to) use Polish names

there may be mistakes at the moment (I couldn't find the map where I had the names, so I wrote silesian names only by memory

Thanks for correction of the names in the rest of Poland

btw, don't you know if Gniezno, Kraków and Sandomierz were further divided during that period?

 

[Fornadan]

anyone could help me with Norway?
I know there should be regions like Bergenhus, Akrershus, Trondelag and some other, but I don't know their medieval borders

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Districts_of_Norway should be an acceptable place to start.

 

[RossN]

Medieval Ireland (about 1014). The red areas are Danish/Norse settlements.

 

[Krantz]

Basically, Norway at this time is some cities on the coastline, some settlements in the eastern vallyes (near the modern border with Sweden) and bugger-all otherwise. I mean, really bugger-all. An accurate map would have about three-fourths of it as PTI. So if you have a city for Bergen, one for Trondhjem, one for Oslo, some settlements along Viken (the strip going down the east coast from Oslo, which today is part of Sweden), one city on the south coastline, and one province connecting Oslo and Trondjhem, you'll be pretty accurate no matter what you have for the borders. There just weren't any actual borders at the time - nobody could possibly control those mountains, so the actual regions of control didn't really touch.

Hmm are you really sure on if it where no borders at that time?
Norway had other province systems also!

I are also discuss about Norway: Scandinavian map

 

[Arilou]

Hmm are you really sure on if it where no borders at that time?
Norway had other province systems also!

I are also discuss about Norway: Scandinavian map

I believe the Swedish/norwegian border wasn't finalized until the mid 1100's or something.

 

[elvain]

Medieval Ireland (about 1014). The red areas are Danish/Norse settlements.

thanks, that's great. I can see that there is confusion about spelling Uriel/Oriel bothe are from english sources..

tw, where is the map taken from, are there any other interesting maps? thanks

also thanks to Krantz and Arilou, I'll take look at it

 

[Veldmaarschalk]

thanks, that's great. I can see that there is confusion about spelling Uriel/Oriel bothe are from english sources..

tw, where is the map taken from, are there any other interesting maps? thanks

also thanks to Krantz and Arilou, I'll take look at it

The map is from this site

 

[StephenT]

Some comments about your map of Britain:

The grey area 1 in north Wales (Powys-Flint) doesn't look right. The eastern half of it (the Wirral peninsula sticking up into the Irish Sea, and southwards) should be incorporated straight into Cheshire (area 7 in West Mercia). The western half (Flint) was English territory from at least the 9th century until the mid-13th, when it was conquered by Wales - for about 20 years, until Edward I conquered Wales back! However, he left Flint as part of his Principality of Wales rather than giving it back to Cheshire, so you could leave it as part of Wales.


The Scottish area Highlands is too big. The northern third should be 'Caithness', and this was actually part of the Kingdom of Norway until the 12th century. Your map doesn't include the Orkney Islands, which I would include as a separate area within the same sub-region as Caithness. (The Earls of Orkney were also vassals of Norway, and later Denmark, until 1469)

The middle section of the Highlands (from the Caithness border down to a line drawn from Inverness westwards) was Ross, and the southern section Moray. I'd also include Elgin and Nairn in the same sub-region - these areas made up the Kingdom of Moray which was effectively independent until 1130.

You've left a number of islands white - Mull, Jura, Islay and Arran. Together with the Hebrides (Lewis and Skye) plus the Isle of Man these made up the Lordship of the Isles, a Scandinavian region under Norwegian sovereignity until 1266 when annexed by Scotland. I'd treat all of these as one region, with the Hebrides, Isles and Isle of Man as sub-regions. (Perhaps also include Orkneys/Caithness as another subregion within this region).

I'd rename South Scotland 'Strathclyde' and only include Dumfries, Wigtown (rename Galloway), Ayr and Lanark, plus include Dumbarton from Argyll. This was another separate kingdom annexed by Scotland in 1018. The other counties you have in South Scotland (Roxburgh, Selkirk, Peebles) should go to Lothian. (Lothian was annexed by Scotland in 973).

Rename the sub-region Perth 'Alba' - this was the historical core of the Kingdom of Scotland. The county of Fife should be part of Alba, not Lothian.



(Wonder what early Scotland's badboy rating was like? )

 

[elvain]

Is this better?


I will add some islands and add names to the isles...

the Hebrides, the Isles, Man and Orkney are subregions of "The Isles" region, would it be better?

I don't know how exactly draw the border between Ross and Moray... I will check some more maps if they help me, I hope that south border of Caithness is correct
I need to draw the Orkney islands, scan it and then they will be included to the map... somewhen later...

EDIT:
regions of Scotland:
The Isles (geographicaly still part of Scotland, though being a "viking " norwegean region*), Highlands, Lowland
sub regions:
The Isles:
Orkney (Orkney, Caithness, Sutherland)
Hebrides (Lewis, Skye, Uist)
Dalriada (Mull, Jura, Islay)
Man (Man)
Highlands:
Argyll (Morvern, Argyll, Arran)
Highlands (Ross, Moray, Nairn, Elgin)
Aberdeen (Banf, Aberdeen, Kincardine, Angus)
Alba (Perth, Stirling, Fife)
Lowland:
Lothian (Lothian, Berwick mark, Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles)
Strathclyde (Dumfries, Galloway, Lanark, Ayr and Dumbarton)

 

[StephenT]

the Hebrides, the Isles, Man and Orkney are subregions of "The Isles" region, would it be better?

That looks better. If you don't want to duplicate names, you could call the sub-region 'Dalriada' and keep 'The Isles' as the name for the region. As I said, all of this was part of the Kingdom of Norway, not Scotland, through most of the early Middle Ages.

I don't know how exactly draw the border between Ross and Moray... I will check some more maps if they help me, I hope that south border of Caithness is correct

It's close enough - you could perhaps move both borders slightly north so Caithness is smaller. Make the south-eastern border of Caithness the topmost of those three inlets of the sea (Dornoch Firth) instead of the middle one as currently, and angle it up north-westwards slightly more. Move the eastern point of the Moray/Ross border up to the lowest sea inlet (Moray Firth) instead of touching the Nairn border as it currently does.

You've still got Fife in Lothian, instead of being in the same area as Perth and Stirling.

Otherwise it looks fine now.

 

[elvain]

thanks, I'll finnish it tomorrow...

Dalriada, nice name I forgot, thenks for reminder

Shouldn't Argyll be also part of sub-region/realm of Dalriada?
so there would be those regions of Scotland:
The Isles (geographicaly still part of Scotland, though being a "viking " norwegean region*), Highlands, Lowland
sub regions:
The Isles:
Orkney (Orkney, Caithness, Sutherland)
Hebrides (Lewis, Skye)
Dalriada (Mull, Jura, Islay)
Man (Man)
Highlands:
Argyll (Morvern, Argyll, Arran)
Highlands (Ross, Moray, Nairn, Elgin)
Aberdeen (Banf, Aberdeen, Kincardine, Angus)
Alba (Perth, Stirling, Fife)
Lowland:
Lothian (Lothian, Berwick mark, Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles)
Strathclyde (Dumfries, Galloway, Lanark, Ayr and Dumbarton)


*Later I when the map will be finnished I will make also cultural and language and religious maps of 3-4 dates during the period of 1000-1500 + I will try to find heraldic symbols as well as rulers, economical situation etc. the map is just the beggining

 

[curtis]

These maps are great elvain, especially the coloring :thumbs up:

 

[StephenT]

Shouldn't Argyll be also part of sub-region/realm of Dalriada?

Tricky. If you go back to the early Dark Ages, then yes, Argyll was part of the Irish colonial enclave of Dalriada. However, soon after Dalriada and Alba merged to form the Kingdom of Scotland, the Vikings started attacking and settling the island regions - but not the mainland, except in the far north (Caithness).

As a result, by AD 1000 the mainland part of what was once Dalriada (Argyll) was culturally and politically separate from the islands part. So the answer to your question really depends on when you want the 'start point' of your map to be...

I have no idea how densely populated those Scottish/Norse islands were, but I suspect the answer is 'not very'. So for a purely historical map it's OK to have them all as separate counties, but for a game you might need to combine the smaller ones into a single province or two.

 

[elvain]

I looked at the main-source map I use for Scotland and I found there all the names you introduced to me (Caithness, Ross and Moray) they are just notseparated by borders. I also found there one more name: Sutherland as "bigger" name just under Caithness, so I suppose Caithness is part of a bigger entity: Sutherland. I drawed borders of those regions based on mountains and the map is updated in the post above

Thanks for info about Dalriada. So as I want the map to be since 1000, Argyll will be part of Highlands, instead of Isles/Dalriada.

to the settlement. My brother did some small research on Shiant isles (mini-isles halfway between Skye and Lewis) several years ago and they found there ruins of norse settlements from the viking period. Together with some other researches he did, he discovered that the Hebrides were settled by norsemen (probably Norwegeans) in about 1000AD (exact datation is not possible, but for purpouse of this my map it's enuogh), so Hebrides wil have norse settlement

 

[Skarion]