Background
The son of a carpenter, he became a Benedictine monk at Saint Peter"s in Salzburg in 1434.
The son of a carpenter, he became a Benedictine monk at Saint Peter"s in Salzburg in 1434.
He left the monastery in 1442. Little more is known about him except that in 1448/9 he created his map in Konstanz. of Andreas Walsperger is a Latin Mappa Mundi, atypical in its depiction of Africa and in its placing a large castle in China, where others including Fra Mauro"s place their grand castle to the north. In Germany, the only other example of the type is the "Mappa mundi Ciziensis" from Zeitz.
The parchment measures 57.7 x 75 cm.
In the sixteenth century, the Fugger family may have owned the map. In 1622, it was given to Pope Gregory XV by Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria and is now held in the Vatican Library Palatina (Latin 1362 B).