A map of Norfolk from the first large-scale atlas of the British Isles, Speed's 'Theatre'. Inset top-left is a battle-scene, with a note below describing two rebellions that have featured in the history of Norfolk: the first, the 1381 Battle of North Walsham, the second Kett's Rebellion, of 1549. Inset top-right is a plan of Norwich, with an alphabetical key below noting points of interest, from "S. Peters Permantigate", to "Hell gate". Down the right-hand side of the map are represented the arms of prominent Norfolk families.

John Speed (1552-1629) was the outstanding cartographer of his age. By trade a merchant tailor, but by proclivity a historian, it was the patronage of Sir Fulke Greville, poet and statesman, that allowed him to pursue this interest in earnest. His 'Theatre of Great Britain', from which the present work is drawn, was first published in 1611 or 1612 and is "the earliest English attempt at atlas-production on a grand scale" (Skelton). Drawing heavily on the work of Saxton and Norden, little of Speed's cartography is original (he acknowledges, "I have put my sickle into other mens corne"), instead it is his blend of cartography and history, incorporating town-plans, vignettes, and genealogy, that makes Speed an innovator.