Typus Totius Orbis Terrarum, In Quo & Christiani militis certamen super terram.

The very rare so-called 'Christian Knight' world map, published by Jodocus Hondius.
The first map on Mercator's projection to be produced after his death and also famous for its up-to-date cartography, including Walter Raleigh's Lost Colony of Roanoke, and showing the results of the circumnavigations by Drake and Cavendish.
The map includes several finely engraved figures of a Christian knight assailed by Mundus, Peccatum, Caro, Diabolus and Mors, with quotations from Scripture. These are likely derived from an engraving by Jerome Wierix, after Martin de Vos and form a fascinating commentary.
The map is dedicated to R.Brewer, H.Briggs and Edward Wright.

Peter Barber wonderfully explains the artistic figures at the bottom of this map: "The scene at the foot of the map, showing the Christian Knight struggling against (reading from the left) Worldly Vanity, Sin, Carnal Weakness, the Devil and Death, might be dismissed today as mere conventional morality.

Yet Hondius's contemporaries, who were as familiar with visual allegories and the Bible as we are with crossword puzzles and television programmes, would have known differently.
They would have noticed the face of the knight bore more than a passing resemblance to Henri IV of France (an ally of Elizabeth of England), who was then going through a critical phase in his war against Catholic Spain.
(The figures fighting him symbolize Catholicism: (left to right) Worldly Vanity, Sin, Carnal Weakness, the Devil, and Death.)

The chalice borne by the figure of the World ('Mundus')is identified as having once been owned by the Whore of Babylon-a familiar Protestant term of abuse for the Papacy.
The biblical texts further emphasize the fight between (Protestant) good and (Catholic) evil". (P.Barber and C.Board in "Tales from the map room: Fact and fiction about maps and their makers". p.24-25. 1993.)

From the 1560s to 1648 Holland was engaged in a war of independence with Catholic Spain. Jodocus Hondius, who made this map, was a Dutch Protestant. The human figures on the map illustrate the battle between Catholics and Protestants.

Jodocus Hondius included the names of the explorers Columbus and Vespucci in North America, Ferdinand Magellan at Tierra del Fuego (southern tip of South America), John Davis (at the east coast of Canada), and Willem Barentsz' at Nova Zembla.

Only six other examples are recorded today: Ann Arbor, William L. Clements Library (Maps 8-C-19); London, The British Library (Maps 188.k.1 [5]); London, The Royal Geographical Society (264 H 14 [4]); Nürnberg, Germanisches Nationalmuseum (Qu. 4 H 2229)1; Wells-next-the Sea, Holkham Hall (Innys Collection) UK; Wien, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften (Woldan Collection [K-V(Bl):WE 49]).

Reference: Shirley, World, 198.