Fool's Cap Map of the World one of the biggest mysteries in the history of western
THE SYMBOL OF THE JESTER, or joker or fool, has inspired thrones, playing cards, and comedic fart acts. But there’s one particular image of the king’s fool that has remained a true mystery among cartographers and historians. In the engraving above, colloquially referred to as the Fool’s Cap Map of the World, the intricate bust of a court jester—complete with bells and bauble—includes a face showing the world as it had been charted in the 16th century. Despite researchers making close examinations of the map, they can only speculate why, when, and by whom this peculiar map was made, explains the map journalist Frank Jacobs on his blog about strange maps. The Fool’s Cap Map of the World “is one of the biggest mysteries in the history of western cartography,” Jacobs writes. This is what we do know about the map: measuring about 14 inches by 19 inches and printed with a copper-plate engraving, researchers estimate that the map dates between 1580 and 1590. That’s because it matches the Ortelius oval map projections that had become common in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. The Fool’s Cap Map of the World isn’t the first time the world has been visually mocked by a jester. In 1575, the French mapmaker Jean de Fourmont created his own foolscap map with a chart framed by the hood of a jester. While de Fourmont’s map is slightly smaller, and more oval in shape, the similarities are uncanny, writes Anne Chapple in Studies in English Literature. Academics believe that de Fourmont’s map most likely inspired the illustrator of the Fool’s Cap Map of the World - Lauren Young
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