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kept in Aachen and at various castles, palaces and abbeys in Germany, Switzerland,

Czechoslovakia and Hungary. Emperors took them on their travels around the
Empire. In 1423 Emperor Sigismund moved them "to everlasting preservation" in
the Free Imperial City of Nuremberg. They were removed for an annual Good Friday
observance and for coronations. In 1796 during the French Revolutionary Wars they
were moved from Nuremberg to Regensburg, during which several items were lost.
In 1800 they were moved to Vienna. When Hitler invaded Austria in 1938 he had
them returned to Nuremberg and exhibited, then stored in an air-raid proof bunker
below the castle. In 1945 they were found by American soldiers and returned in 1946

to Vienna.

3.The Book of Roger (“Tabula Rogeria”) and the world map of Idrisi 1154

This is an assemblage of Idrisi’s maps into a single sheet. The log strip bottom right is
the east coast of Africa, then thought to jut out east-west. India is basically missing.
Many other regions are recognizable compared to modern maps. It is regarded as the
best medieval world map.

The world map and geographical guide was commissioned by King Roger II of Sicily,
by the Arab geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi. It was to contain all available data on
the location and climate of the world’s main centers of population. Roger personally
interviewed travelers passing through his kingdom and agents and draftsmen were
dispatched to gather material, a research process that took 15 years. It was
completed a few weeks before Roger died. Idrisi wrote,

“The extent of his [Roger’s] learning cannot be described. Nor is there any limit to his
knowledge of the sciences, so deeply and wisely has he studied them in every
particular. He is responsible for singular innovations and for marvelous inventions,
such as no prince has ever before realized.”