This map of the Heptarchy, or seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, was engraved by William Hole for the first illustrated edition of William Camden's Britannia.

Camden was an Elizabethan historian who wrote a county by county description of England. As he continued to revise and expand his work, which set new standards for historical research, an illustrated edition with maps engraved by William Kip and William Hole was published in 1607. They took the surveys of Christopher Saxton and (where available) John Norden as their models, and for the first time each county was allocated its own map-sheet (Saxton often grouped counties together in twos and threes, and John Speed's atlas the 'Theatre' was not published until a few years later).

Camden wrote in Latin, anticipating an international audience, but Philemon Holland (dubbed 'the translator general in his age' by Thomas Fuller) prepared an English translation which was published in 1610. Our example of the map of the heptarchy was published in the second edition of the English edition, which was the third printing of the maps overall.

Condition & Materials

Copper engraving, 27.5 x 32 cm, modern hand-colour, a couple of marginal nicks and tears and one or two pinprick holes, blank verso.

References

Skelton, County Atlases, 23.

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The Saxton-Kip Heptarchy