Introduction : Marie de Guise as a Conduit: Cultural exchanges between Lorraine, France and Scotland (1536-1560)

In his book on Scotland and Europe: The Medieval Kingdom and its Contacts with Christendom, 1214-1560, David Ditchburn notes that medieval cartographers often positioned Scotland as an isolated country on the edge of the known world. This is the case for instance on the thirteenth-century mappa mundi kept in Hereford Cathedral where Scotland is depicted as a self-standing island. The map chosen to illustrate the cover of this issue of Etudes Episteme, the Portolan chart of Europe drafted by G...