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The map is symbolic. At the centre is Jerusalem, the “Holy Land” of Christ’s earthly
life and death. We can see how Britain and Ireland are squashed in at the very
bottom; very much on the edge. However, the Narrow Channel is indeed narrow, as
is the North Sea: both are portrayed as scarcely wider than many rivers. Thus, the
symbolic distance between the offshore islanders and their European neighbours is
diminished. And as we shall see in a later session, from the start they had a strong
sense of attachment to medieval Christendom.
But before we get to Christianity, the next session will look at Britannia, Roman
Britain. In a sense the Roman invasion was the beginning of the waves of geopolitics
that would sweep over us during the first millennium of our history.
