John Speed

1552-1629

British (London, England)

Historian, geographer, cartographer John Speed is one of the first English born cartographers of note and probably to this day the best known. Speed’s first profession was as a tailor working in his father’s haberdashery business. Though he worked and earned his living as a tailor, his serious interests were in the fields of history, geography, cartography, antiquities and genealogies, and he spent whatever time he could spare in study, in travels about the countryside, and in the recording of his observations.

By 1606 he had published a series of maps of English counties, under the title The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine. The publication was groundbreaking, providing some of the first known detailed maps and plans of towns and provinces in the realm. As with many if not most maps, Speed’s work had political aims as well as cartographic. His patrons were all supporters of the Crown who hoped to depict the political stability accomplished by the Houses of Tudor and Stuart following the numerous civil wars between the Houses of York and Lancaster.

Artist profile image: National Portrait Gallery, Reference Collection NPG D18860

John Speed

Objects

Speed, John 1552-1629

The Kingdom of Denmark

1627