Editing John Speed (section)

===''The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine''===
[[File:Bitterley Hoard gold crown of James I.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Gold crown of King James, exemplifying the [[Union of the crowns]]]]
Speed is now best-known as a map-maker, and above all for his atlas, ''The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine'' (1611, 1616, 1623), which attempted a complete set of individual county maps of [[England]] and [[Wales]], as well as maps of [[Ireland]] and a general map of [[Scotland]].<ref>J. Speed, ed. N. Nicolson and A. Hawkyard, ''Britain's Tudor Maps: County by County'' (Batsford 2017), pp. 9–10, 13, 15–16. Nicolson's introduction is at pp. 7-15.</ref><ref>James Granger, in the '"Corrections and Additions Supplement" of his ''Biographical History of England'', vol. 3 (T. Davies, etc., London 1774) p. 234 referring to vol. 1 p. 503.</ref> A 21-year royal privilege (franchise) for the printing of Speed's ''Theatre'' was granted to George Humble in April 1608.<ref>M. A. E. Green (ed.), ''Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, James I: 1603-1610'' (Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, & Roberts, London 1857) p. 425.</ref> The collection developed cumulatively, together with his ''History'', and was undertaken with the encouragement of [[William Camden]].<ref name=olddnb /><ref name=Gardner /> The entire work, including the ''History'', was dedicated to King [[James VI and I|James I]] as the ruler in whom the distinct Kingdoms of the British Isles had been brought together under one rule in such a way as to form an ''Empire''.<ref>C. Ivic, "Mapping British identities: Speed's 'Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine'," in D. J. Baker and W. Maley (eds), ''British Identities and English Renaissance Literature'' (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2002), at pp. ix, 135, 138, 141, 150, 162, 248.</ref><ref name=Canny>N. Canny, 'The Origins of Empire: An Introduction', in N. Canny (ed.), ''The Origins of Empire: British Overseas Enterprise to the Close of the Seventeenth Century'', The Oxford History of the British Empire series, vol. 1 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005, reprint) pp. 1-2.</ref> 

In the Introduction to his "well affected and favourable reader", Speed acknowledged that he had "copied, adapted and compiled the work of others" rather than making an entirely new survey. He took various existing maps as his models, crediting five to [[Christopher Saxton]], five to John Horden, two to William Smith, one to Philip Symonson (Kent) and others to John Harrington (Rutland), William White, Thomas Durham, James Burrell, and [[Geradus Mercator]]. Much of the engraving was done in [[Amsterdam]] at the workshop of the Flemish engraver [[Jodocus Hondius]], to whom Speed's project was recommended by Camden,<ref>"LXIII. G. Camdenus Jodoco Hondio", in T. Smith (ed.), ''V. Cl. Gulielmi Camdeni et Illustrium Virorum ad G. Camdenum Epistolae'' (Richard Chiswell, London 1691) pp. 87-88.</ref> and with whom Speed collaborated from 1606 until Hondius's sudden death in 1612.<ref name=Nicol /> The maps were printed by William Hall and John Beale, and sold by John Sudbury and George Humble.<ref>Andrew, "Speed maps now in the Cambridge Digital Library" Cambridge University Library Special Collections, 23 March 2015.</ref><ref>Gough, ''Anecdotes of British Topography'' p. 42.</ref>

[[File:William Camden by Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger.jpg|thumb|right|200px|William Camden, Clarenceux]]
Speed is admired also for his detailed plans of principal British towns, several of which are the earliest-known depictions of those places and provide valuable topographical insights.<ref name=Nicol>N. Nicolson, "Introduction", in John Speed, ed. Nicolson and Hawkyard, ''Britain's Tudor Maps: County by County'' (London: British Library, reprint, 2016, originally published in 1988) pp. 7–15.</ref> Most, but not all, of the county maps have town plans inset; those showing a ''Scale of Passes'' (i.e., ''Paces'', reckoned at five feet imperial) were surveyed by Speed himself. On the back of the maps a text in English appears, describing the areas shown: a rare 1616 edition of the British maps has the text in Latin, in a translation by [[Philemon Holland]], thought to have been produced for the Continental market.<ref>''Theatrum Imperii Magnæ Britanniæ: exactam regnorum Angliæ Scotiæ Hiberniæ et insularum adiacentium geographia[m] ob oculos ponens: una cum comitatibus, centurijs, urbibus et primarijs comitatum oppidis intra regnum Angliæ, divisis et descriptis. Opus, nuper quidem à Iohanne Spédo cive Londinensi Anglicè conscriptum: nunc verò, à Philemone Hollando, apud Coventrianos medicinæ doctore, Latinitate donatum'' (T. Snodham apud Ioann Sudbury et Geo. Humble, London 1616) Bibliothèque Nationale Française</ref> His maps of English and Welsh counties were often bordered with costumed figures ranging from [[nobility]] to country folk.<ref>A. McRae ''God Speed the Plough: The Representation of Agrarian England, 1500–1660'' (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2002, reprint), pp. xi, 231–232, 238.</ref> Speed drew historical maps as well as those depicting present times, showing (for instance) invasions of England and Ireland, or the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy,<ref>Goffart, ''Historical Atlases'', pp. xi, 38, 54, 80–81, 83, 105, 112, 123, 201, 203, 443, 471.</ref><ref>Gough ''Anecdotes of British Topography'' pp. 595, 608.</ref><ref>Speed, ed. Nicolson and Hawkyard, ''Britain's Tudor Maps'' (2017), pp. 18–21.</ref> a subject previously attempted (probably by [[Laurence Nowell]]) for [[William Lambarde]]'s ''Archaionomia'' published in 1568.<ref>W. Lambarde, ''Archaionomia, sive De Priscis Anglorum Legibus Libri'' (John Day, London 1568). View Lambarde's Map as re-used by Day in the ''Acts and Monuments'' at [https://www.dhi.ac.uk/foxe/woodcuts/f0142w.gif dhi.ac.uk].</ref>

The "Gardner copies" in the [[Cambridge University Library]] are a collection of proof impressions from the engraved copper plates, taken during the process of checking the detail before the publication of 1611.<ref name="Taylor" /><ref name=Gardner>''Theatre of the Empire'', Gardner Collection, digitized images of the collection (Classmark: Atlas 2.61.1) at [https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/PR-ATLAS-00002-00061-00001/1 Cambridge University Library].</ref> In describing his intentions Speed admitted the possibility of errors despite his best endeavours:

{{blockquote|my purpose... in this Island (besides other things) is to shew the situation of every Citie and Shire-town only... The Shires divisions into Lathes, Hundreds, Wapentakes and Cantreds, according to their ratable and accustomed manner, I have separated, and under the same title that the record beareth, in their due places distinguished: wherein by help of the tables annexed, any Citie, Towne, Borough, Hamlet, or Place of Note may readily be found, and whereby safely may be affirmed, that there is not any one Kingdome in the World so exactly described, as is this our ''Island'' of Great Britaine... In shewing these things, I have chiefly sought to give satisfaction to all, without offence to any...<ref>"Speed's Address to His Readers", in West, ''The History, Topography and Directory of Warwickshire'' [https://archive.org/details/b28408111/page/38/mode/2up?view=theater at pp. 38–41] (Internet Archive).</ref>}}

The maps, in two-folio spreads, represented: Fol. 1, The British Isles; 3, [[England]] (General); 5, The [[Saxon]] Heptarchy; 7, [[Kent]]; 9, [[Sussex]]; 11, [[Surrey]]; 13, [[Hampshire]]; 15, [[Isle of Wight]]; 17, [[Dorset]]; 19, [[Devon]]; 21 [73], [[Cornwall]]; 23, [[Somerset]]; 25, [[Wiltshire]]; 27, [[Berkshire]]; 29, [[Middlesex]]; 31, [[Essex]]; 33, [[Suffolk]]; 35, [[Norfolk]]; 37, [[Cambridgeshire]]; 39, [[Hertfordshire]]; 41, [[Bedfordshire]]; 43, [[Buckinghamshire]]; 45, [[Oxfordshire]]; 47, [[Gloucestershire]]; 49, [[Herefordshire]]; 51, [[Worcestershire]]; 53, [[Warwickshire]]; 55, [[Northamptonshire]]; 57, [[Huntingdon]]; 59, [[Rutland]]; 61, [[Leicestershire]]; 63, [[Lincolnshire]]; 65, [[Nottinghamshire]]; [67], [[Derbyshire]]; 69, [[Staffordshire]]; 71, [[Shropshire]]; 73 [21], [[Cheshire]]; 75, [[Lancashire]]; 77, [[Yorkshire]]; 79, [[West Riding]]; 81, [[North Riding|North]] and [[East Riding of Yorkshire|East Riding]]s; 83, [[County Durham|Durham-Bishopric]]; 85, [[Westmorland]]; 87, [[Cumberland]]; 89, [[Northumberland]]; [91], [[Isle of Man]]; 93, Islands ([[Holy Island, Anglesey|Holy Island]], the [[Farne Islands]], the [[Channel Islands]]). 99, [[Wales]] (General); 101, [[Pembrokeshire]]; 103, [[Carmarthenshire]]; 105, [[Glamorganshire]]; 109, [[Radnorshire]]; 111, [[Cardiganshire]]; 113, [[Montgomeryshire]]; 115, [[Merionethshire]]; 117, [[Denbighshire]]; 119, [[Flintshire]]; 121, [[Carnarvonshire]]; 123, [[Anglesey]]. 131, [[Scotland]] (General). 137, [[Ireland]] (General); 139, [[Munster]]; 141, [[Leinster]]; 143, [[Connaught]]; 145, [[Ulster]]. In 2016, the [[British Library]] reprinted this collection of maps of the British Isles with an introduction by [[Nigel Nicolson]] and commentaries by Alasdair Hawkyard.<ref name=Nic /><ref>Speed, ed. Nicolson and Hawkyard, ''Britain's Tudor Maps'' (2017), pp. 6–152.</ref>