Paulus Orosius, born c375CE, was a Christian historian who perceived that the Roman Empire was in decline and the new religion of Christianity was in the ascendance. To assert that point he was charged with writing a History to show that the Christians were by no means responsible for the catastrophes which had taken place under pagan (Roman) rule.

In c313 CE the Edict of Mediolanum (Milan) was in favour of equality for Christians and it eliminated the cults of the Roman State. By c395CE there are established two Roman Empires, those of the East and West, with Constantinople as the eastern capital. But as with later texts written by Monks (Tp1), he begins his ‘History’ with a complete description of the known world. It is only that text which is herein analysed and can be shown to be an attempt to describe the oikoumene c400CE from east to west with the three continents as divided in the ancient Greek world of c600BCE. But in many instances it is a lightweight description. However, there are facets of that description which are intriguing, particularly in their provenance.

19 A4 pages and 14 full colour diagrams

Many papers have commented upon and endeavoured to determine the “red line” routes (?) on the Gough Map of c1400AD. There are 34 individual lines which have “mileage” (?) appended.

However, after the Norman Invasion and the establishment of many “ecclesiastical” houses, Pilgrimage, Royal Tours/Wars, Army movements and peregrinations took place. One such “war” was the visit of Henry II to Ireland, 1171/1172 and then the grand tour by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Baldwin of Forde accompanied by Gerald Of Wales, 1188, circumnavigating the then Welsh Kingdom from Hereford in a clockwise direction. The route of Henry II from England to Wales and thence Ireland is partly the same as the later peregrination mentioned above. That route is primarily by Roman Roads which for an army would be preferred when compared to the bye-ways and tracks people and small carts could use.

Thus by comparing the three routes, two being descriptive and one a map the usage of the Roman Roads c1170/1190 can be evaluated and then compared to the closely matching routes on the map.

However, we must not lose sight of the fact that Matthew Paris indicated a peregrination route on three of his maps c1250AD

The text is 22, A4 pages and contains 22, A4 & A3 diagrams