Author: Katrin Kogman–Appel (University of Münster)

Publisher: Brepols, 2020

This books describes the life of Elisa ben Abraham Cresques, known to many as the author of the Catalan Atlas, and focuses on the Jewish aspects of his fascinating career, his professional profile, and his scholarship. It presents a small chapter in the intellectual history of the Jews of Majorca.

Its key figure is Elisha ben Abraham Bevenisti Cresques (1325–1387) a cartographer in the service of King Peter IV of Aragon and a scribe and illuminator of Hebrew books. Elisha Cresques’ career evolves at a point in time when some of the most fascinating threads of methodological interests relevant to intellectual history meet. He emerges as a hub, so to speak, where mapmaking converged with scribal work, miniature painting with scientific knowledge, and the culture of a minority with that of the majority.

How he was able to negotiate his patron’s expectations and his own cultural identity and frame them within the political, cultural, and religious discourses of his time is the subject of this book.

Contents

Preface
List of Illustrations
Introduction
Book Art for the Jewish Call – Charts for the Court
Collecting Books
Visualizing the Ecumene at Large
Filling in the Details
Political Space Between the Baltic Sea, the Atlantic and the Mediterranean
Imaging Islam in Africa and the Middle East
The Mongol Khanates
Mythical Space: Past and Future
Epilogue
Bibliography and Sources
Index

Source: http://www.brepols.net/Pages/ShowProduct.aspx?prod_id=IS-9782503585482-1