In which she researches Bergen

[zeborah]

Norway is really fractal.

So say I'm writing a book set in 1527 and I have a map drawn in the 1580s. (It's a really cool map. It shows the cranes for unloading on the wharf and the sheep grazing on the roofs. It's also written in 16th century German, because I really needed to waste several minutes of my life figuring out that "Thumbkirch" means "Domkirk" (cathedral).) Say moreover that a certain tower underwent important structural changes at some point in history. Is this point most likely to have been:

a) before 1527;
b) between 1527 and the 1580s so that the picture on the map bears no resemblance to what I'm writing about; or
c) after the 1580s?

It's almost like important political upheaval happened during the sixteenth century or something. Sheesh!

Comments

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

I'm not really a researcher, but I've found that kind of map to be either quite accurate or ridiculously fanciful. Depends on whether it was distributed locally or not.

No help with your A, B, or C questions . . .

[zeborah]

I always cross-reference with Google Maps; what I can tell of this one looks pretty accurate. At least, the harbour's the right shape, the wharves are on the right side, the fortress and Mariakirken and the cathedral are in the right places, and so forth. There look to be serious issues with perspective but that's not a problem for my purposes.

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

I've been researching Latvia and Lithuania and trying to determine at what moint some place-name changes occurred. My brain is now officially scrambled.

You know the law, so ...

[poppa-bear.livejournal.com]

It is obviously B! (I'm surprised that you went to the trouble of asking.)