L' Iter de Londinio in Terram Sanctam: ricezione e contesto dell’opera di Matthew Paris

The Iter de Londinio in Terram Sanctam is a wonderful handwork made by the scribe and miniaturist Matthew Paris, who was a monk at Saint Albans’s monastery during the XIII century, and it certainly represents one of the most interesting examples of medieval cartography. Through the analysis of the figurative and textual elements that appear in the maps of Palestine and Syria and by the comparison of other pilgrimage reports, we will try to demonstrate that the Iter originated during the crusade of the English king Henry III, and that by studying this work it is possible to observe the complex phenomenon of the crusader spirituality during the XIII century.