Old Map of England & Ireland – Invasions and Civil Wars

John Speed’s Map of the Invasions and Civil Wars

John Speed’s The Invasions of England and Ireland with al their Civill Wars Since the Conquest is one of the most distinctive historical maps associated with his great atlas. Rather than simply recording counties, towns and rivers, Speed used the map to show where centuries of invasions, rebellions, civil conflicts and sea battles had taken place.

Map Details

Original title: The Invasions of England and Ireland with al their Civill Wars Since the Conquest
Mapmaker: John Speed
Engraver: Cornelius Danckerts
First atlas issue: c.1627
Earlier source: Based on a larger Speed battle map prepared around 1601
Published: London
Area shown: England, Wales and Ireland, with adjoining parts of Scotland
Subject: Invasions, civil wars, rebellions and naval conflicts
Technique: Copperplate engraving
Notable features: Pictorial battle scenes, numbered battle sites, naval engagements, Spanish Armada sequence, compass rose and Irish battle notes

A Map Built Around Battles

This is not a conventional political map.

Across England, Wales and Ireland, groups of tiny armed figures identify places where important battles or uprisings took place. The sites are numbered so that the reader can relate them to the historical descriptions associated with the map.

The result is almost a visual military history of Britain and Ireland. Geography provides the framework, but the real subject is conflict.

From the Norman Conquest

The story begins with the Norman invasion of 1066.

Speed identifies the Battle of Hastings and then follows later conflicts through medieval England, including struggles between kings and barons and the dynastic fighting that eventually became known as the Wars of the Roses.

Because the battles are plotted geographically, familiar events can be connected directly with places such as Lewes, Tewkesbury, Barnet and Bosworth.

The Spanish Armada

One of the most striking features appears around the southern and western coasts.

Speed illustrates the progress of the Spanish Armada of 1588 with groups of ships and accompanying notes. The fleet can be followed through the Channel and northwards around Britain after its attempted invasion failed.

This sequence turns the sea surrounding the map into part of the historical narrative rather than leaving it simply as decorative space.

Our archive film also shows some of the historic maps and battle imagery that formed part of The Old Map Company’s early range. You can watch the original promotional film on our About Us page.

England, Wales and Ireland

Although the engraved title names England and Ireland, Wales forms an important part of the geographical area shown.

The map also treats Irish conflicts separately. Battle sites in Ireland have their own numbering sequence, supported by an inset list explaining the events represented.

This combination makes the map particularly unusual among Speed’s works: England, Wales and Ireland are brought together through their shared and often turbulent military history.

Cornelius Danckerts and the Engraving

The finished copperplate was engraved by the Dutch engraver Cornelius Danckerts.

His signature appears on documented examples of the plate, and surviving institutional and specialist records consistently associate him with the engraving.

The combination of Speed’s historical research and Danckerts’ engraving produced a sheet crowded with small details, military scenes, ships and explanatory notes without losing the geographical shape of the countries beneath.

An Earlier Speed Design

The 1627 atlas map was not Speed’s first treatment of the subject.

Specialist research traces it back to a much larger battle map prepared by Speed around 1601. Only fragments of that earlier work survive, but its design provided the foundation for the later engraved atlas plate.

The smaller atlas version therefore preserves an idea Speed had developed many years before its appearance in printed atlas form.

Later Editions

The map remained popular enough to appear in later editions of Speed’s atlases.

A well-known 1676 edition was published in London by Thomas Bassett and Richard Chiswell. Surviving examples from this edition retain the same basic battle-map design, while accompanying historical text was updated in later printings.

This is worth distinguishing carefully: the map itself originated much earlier, around 1627, even though many surviving examples are from later seventeenth-century editions.

A Brief Description of the Civil Wars

Original examples were accompanied by text entitled A Brief Description of the Civil Wars, and Battails fought in England, Wales and Ireland.

That text explains Speed’s purpose: to record where conflicts occurred, who took part and what their outcomes were.

Rather than reproduce later additions of uncertain date, we have concentrated here on the history and features securely associated with Speed’s engraved map itself.