"Jehan de Mandeville", translated as "Sir John Mandeville", is the name claimed by the compiler of a singular book of supposed travels, written in Anglo-Norman French, and published between 1357 and 1371. The Anglo-Norman language is a term traditionally used to refer to the variety of French used in England and to some extent elsewhere in the British Isles following the
By aid of translations into many other languages it acquired extraordinary popularity. Despite the extremely unreliable and often fantastical nature of the travels it describes, it was used as a work of reference — Christopher Columbus, for example, was heavily influenced by both this work and Marco Polo's earlier Il Milione (Adams 53). Christopher Columbus (1451 &ndash May 20 1506 was an Italian Navigator, colonizer The Travels of Marco Polo is the usual English title of Marco Polo 's travel book nicknamed Il Milione ( The Million
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Identity
In his preface the compiler calls himself a knight, and states that he was born and bred in England, of the town of St Albans. St Albans is the main urban area of the City and District of St Albans in southern Hertfordshire, England, around north of central London.
Travel
He crossed the sea on Michaelmas Day 1322; had traversed by way of Turkey (Asia Minor), Armenia the little (Cilicia) and the great, Tartary, Persia, Syria, Arabia, Egypt upper and lower, Libya, great part of Ethiopia, Chaldea, Amazonia, India the less, the greater and the middle, and many countries about India; had often been to Jerusalem, and had written in Romance as more generally understood than Latin. Michaelmas, the feast of St Michael the Archangel (also the Feast of SS Michael Gabriel and Raphael or the Feast of Michael and All Angels) is a day in the Turkey (Türkiye known officially as the Republic of Turkey ( is a Eurasian Country that stretches Anatolia (Anadolu Ανατολία Anatolía) or Asia minor, comprising most of modern Turkey, is the geographic region bounded by the Black Armenia (Հայաստան transliterated: Hayastan,) officially the Republic of Armenia (Հայաստանի Հանրապետություն Hayastani Geography Cilicia extended along the Aegean coast east from Pamphylia, to Mount Amanus ( Gavurdağı Mount) which separated it from Syria Tartary or Great Tartary ( Latin: Tataria or Tataria Magna) was a name used by Europeans from the Middle Ages until the The Persian Empire was a series of Iranian empires that ruled over the Iranian plateau, the original Persian homeland and beyond in Western Asia Syria ( سوريّة or) officially the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic ar الجمهورية العربية السورية The Arabian Peninsula (in Arabic: شبه الجزيرة العربية šibh al-jazīra al-ʻarabīya or جزيرة العرب jazīrat al-ʻarab) This article is about the country of Egypt For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Egypt topics. Libya ( ليبيا ar-Latn Lībiyā; Libyan vernacular: Lībya; Amazigh:) officially the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab NOTE This intro is the result of careful NPOV work Please do not make potentially controversial edits to it without first discussing on the talk page Chaldea (from Greek grc Χαλδαία Chaldaia; Akkadian akk māt Kaldu Hebrew כשדים Kaśdim, "the Chaldees" of the The Amazons (in Greek, grc Ἀμαζόνες are a nation of all-female warriors in Classical and Greek mythology, who were possibly historical India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome.
In the body of the work, we hear that he had been at Paris and Constantinople; had served the sultan of Egypt a long time in his wars against the Bedouin, had been vainly offered by him a princely marriage and a great estate on condition of renouncing Christianity, and had left Egypt under sultan Melech Madabron (al-Muzaffar Sayf-ad-Din Hajji I who reigned in 1346-1347); had been at Mount Sinai, and had visited the Holy Land with letters under the great seal of the sultan, which gave him extraordinary facilities; had been in Russia, Livonia, Kraków, Lithuania, "en roialme daresten" (? de Daresten or Silistra), and many other parts near Tartary, but not in Tartary itself; had drunk of the well of youth at Polombe (Quilon on the Malabar coast), and still seemed to feel the better; had taken astronomical observations on the way to Lamory (Sumatra), as well as in Brabant, Germany, Bohemia and still farther north; had been at an isle called Pathen in the Indian Ocean; had been at Cansay (Hangchow-fu) in China, and had served the emperor of China fifteen months against the king of Mann; had been among rocks of adamant in the Indian Ocean; had been through a haunted valley, which he places near "Milstorak" (i. Paris (ˈpærɨs in English; in French) is the Capital of France and the country's largest city Constantinople (Κωνσταντινούπολις Konstantinoúpolis, or gr ἡ Πόλις hē Polis, Latin: la CONSTANTINOPOLIS The Bedouin, (from the Arabic (ar بدوي pl badū) are a desert-dwelling Arab Nomadic pastoralist, or previously Christianity ( Greek Χριστιανισμός from the word Xριστός ( Christ)is a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings For other places named Mount Sinai see Mount Sinai (disambiguation Mount Sinai (Arabic طور سيناء, Hebrew הר סיני also The Holy Land ( Arabic: الأرض المقدسة al-Arḍ ul-Muqaddasah;Ancient Aramaic: ארעא קדישא Ar'a Qaddisha; Hebrew: ארץ_הקודש Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending Livonia (Līvõmō Latvian and Livonija Estonian: Liivimaa; Finnish: Liivinmaa; German and Swedish: Livland Kraków, in English also spelled Krakow or Cracow (ˈkrækaʊ M-W: krăk'ou krāk'ō is one of the largest and oldest cities in Poland Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania (Lietuvos Respublika is a Country in Eastern often referred to as Northern Europe or in the Silistra (Силистра, historically Bulgarian: Дръстър Drastar, ( and Romanian: Dârstor) is a Port city of northeastern Kollam ( Malayalam:കൊല്ലം) (known to the Portuguese as Quilon, pronounced koy-lon) is a city and a Municipal corporation The Malabar Coast also known as the Malabarian Coast, is a long and narrow south-western shore line of the mainland Indian subcontinent. Sumatra (also spelled Sumatera) is the sixth largest island in the world (approximately 470000 km² and is the largest island entirely in Indonesia (two The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's Oceanic divisions covering about 20% of the water on the Earth 's surface ( Postal map spelling: Hangchow) is a Sub-provincial city located in the Yangtze River Delta in the People's Republic of China, China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National Adamant and similar words are used to refer to any especially hard substance whether composed of Diamond, some other Gemstone, or some type of e. Malasgird in Armenia); had been driven home against his will in 1357 by arthritic gout; and had written his book as a consolation for his "wretched rest". Gout (also called metabolic arthritis) is a disease created by a buildup of Uric acid. The paragraph which states that he had had his book confirmed at Rome by the pope is an interpolation of the English version. Rome ( Roma ˈroma Roma is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city with more than 2
Contemporary corroboration
At least part of the personal history of Mandeville is mere invention. Nor is any contemporary corroboration of the existence of such a Jehan de Mandeville known. Some French manuscripts, not contemporary, give a Latin letter of presentation from him to Edward III, but so vague that it might have been penned by any writer on any subject. Edward III (13 November 1312 &ndash 21 June 1377 was one of the most successful English monarchs of the Middle Ages. It is in fact beyond reasonable doubt that the travels were in large part compiled by a Liège physician, known as Johains a le Barbe or Jehan a la Barbe, otherwise Jehan de Bourgogne. Liège (ljɛːʒ Older English: Luick, Walloon: Lidje, German: Lüttich; Latin: Leodium, Dutch
The evidence of this is in a modernized extract quoted by the Liège herald, Louis Abry (1643-1720), from the lost fourth book of the Myreur des Hystors of Johans des Preis, styled d'Oultremouse. Jean d'Outremeuse (1338? &ndash 1399? was a Belgian writer and historian who authored two romanticised historical works In this "Jean de Bourgogne, dit a la Barbe", is said to have revealed himself on his deathbed to d'Oultremouse, whom he made his executor, and to have described himself in his will as "messire Jean de Mandeville, chevalier, comte de Montfort en Angleterre et seigneur de l'isle de Campdi et du château Pérouse". It is added that, having had the misfortune to kill an unnamed count in his own country, he engaged himself to travel through the three parts of the world, arrived at Liège in 1343, was a great naturalist, profound philosopher and astrologer, and had a remarkable knowledge of physics. Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language An astrologer practices one or more forms of Astrology. Typically an astrologer draws a Horoscope for the time of an event such as a person's birth and interprets And the identification is confirmed by the fact that in the now destroyed church of the Guillemins was a tombstone of Mandeville, with a Latin inscription stating that he was otherwise named "ad Barbam", was a professor of medicine, and died at Liège on November 17, 1372: this inscription is quoted as far back as 1462. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Events 284 - Diocletian is proclaimed emperor by his soldiers
Even before his death the Liège physician seems to have confessed to a share in the composition of the work. In the common Latin abridged version of it, at the end of c. vii. , the author says that when stopping in the sultan's court at Cairo he met a venerable and expert physician of "our" parts, that they rarely came into conversation because their duties were of a different kind, but that long afterwards at Liège he composed this treatise at the exhortation and with the help (Jiortatu et adiutorio) of the same venerable man, as he will narrate at the end of it. And in the last chapter he says that in 1355, in returning home, he came to Liège, and being laid up with old age and arthritic gout in the street called Bassesauenyr, i. Gout (also called metabolic arthritis) is a disease created by a buildup of Uric acid. e. Basse Savenir, consulted the physicians. That one came in who was more venerable than the others by reason of his age and white hairs, was evidently expert in his art, and was commonly called Magister Iohannes ad Barbam. That a chance remark of the latter caused the renewal of their old Cairo acquaintance, and that Ad Barbam, after showing his medical skill on Mandeville, urgently begged him to write his travels; "and so at length, by his advice and help, monitu et adiutorio, was composed this treatise, of which I had certainly proposed to write nothing until at least I had reached my own parts in England". He goes on to speak of himself as being now lodged in Liège, "which is only two days distant from the sea of England"; and it is stated in the colophon (and in the manuscripts) that the book was first published in French by Mandeville, its author, in 1355, at Liège, and soon after in the same city translated into "said" Latin form. Moreover, a manuscript of the French text extant at Liège about 1860 contained a similar statement, and added that the author lodged at a hostel called "al hoste Henkin Levo": this manuscript gave the physician's name as "Johains de Bourgogne dit ale barbe", which doubtless conveys its local form.
Contemporary mention
There is no contemporary English mention of any English knight named Jehan de Mandeville, nor are the arms said to have been on the Liège tomb like any known Mandeville arms. But Dr. George F. Warner has suggested that de Bourgogne may be a certain Johan de Bourgoyne, who was pardoned by parliament on August 20, 1321 for having taken part in the attack on the Despensers (Hugh the younger and Hugh the elder), but whose pardon was revoked in May 1322, the year in which "Mandeville" professes to have left England. Events 636 - Battle of Yarmouk: Arab forces led by Khalid ibn al-Walid take control of Syria and Palestine Hugh le Despenser (or Hugh Despenser) was the name of five English lords during the 13th and 14th centuries in a direct line of descent Hugh Despenser 1st Lord Despenser (1286 &ndash 24 November 1326, sometimes referred to as " the younger Despenser " was the son and heir of Hugh le Despenser (1262 &ndash October 27, 1326) sometimes referred to as " the elder Despenser " was for a time the chief adviser to King Among the persons similarly pardoned on the recommendation of the same nobleman was a Johan Mangevilayn, whose name appears related to that of "de Mandeville", which is a later form of "de Magneville".
The name Mangevilain occurs in Yorkshire as early as 16 Hen. I. (Pipe Roll Society, xv. The Pipe Rolls are a series of financial records from England, beginning in 1130 and lasting mostly complete until 1833. 40), but is very rare, and (failing evidence of any place named Mangeville) seems to be merely a variant spelling of Magnevillain. The meaning may be simply "of Magneville", de Magneville; but the family of a 14th century bishop of Nevers were called both "Mandevilain" and "de Mandevilain", where Mandevilain seems a derivative place-name, meaning the Magneville or Mandeville district. Magneville is a Village and commune in the Manche département of north-western France. The name "de Mandeville "might be suggested to de Bourgogne by that of his fellow-culprit Mangevilayn, and it is even possible that the two fled to England together, were in Egypt together, met again at Liège, and shared in the compilation of the Travels.
Whether after the appearance of the Travels either de Bourgogne or "Mangevilayn" visited England is very doubtful. St Albans Abbey had a sapphire ring, and Canterbury a crystal orb, said to have been given by Mandeville; but these might have been sent from Liège, and it will appear later that the Liège physician possessed and wrote about precious stones. St Albans Cathedral (formerly St Albans Abbey, officially The Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban) is an Anglican church at Canterbury ( ˈkæntəbɹ̩i is a City in eastern Kent in the South East region of England. St Albans also had a legend, recorded in John Norden's Speculum Britanniae (1596) that a ruined marble tomb of Mandeville (represented cross-legged and in armour, with sword and shield) once stood in the abbey; this may be true of "Mangevilayn" or it may be a mere myth. John Norden (1548- 1625 was an English Topographer. He was the first Englishman who designed a complete series of county histories and geographies or a There is also an inscription near the entrance of St Albans Abbey, which reads as follows:
"Siste gradum properans, requiescit Mandevil urna, Hic humili; norunt et monumental mori. " "Lo, in this Inn of travellers doth lie, One rich in nothing but in memory; His name was Sir John Mandeville; content, Having seen much, with a small continent, Toward which he travelled ever since his birth, And at last pawned his body for ye earth Which by a statute must in mortgage be, Till a Redeemer come to set it free. "
However, it can be argued that this inscription was set up long after the fourteenth century and assumed the reality of Sir John Mandeville; it certainly does not of itself prove it.
It is a little curious that the name preceding Mangevilayn in the list of persons pardoned is "Johan le Barber". Did this suggest to de Bourgogne the alias "a le Barbe", or was that only a Liège nickname? Note also that the arms on Mandeville's tomb were borne by the Tyrrells of Hertfordshire (the county in which St Albans lies); for of course the crescent on the lion's breast is only the "difference" indicating a second son. Hertfordshire (ˈhɑːtfədʃə(r, abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of
Dissecting the work
![Cotton plant as imagined and drawn by John Mandeville; "There grew there [India] a wonderful tree which bore tiny lambs on the endes of its branches. These branches were so pliable that they bent down to allow the lambs to feed when they are hungrie.".](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/1b/Mandeville_cotton.jpg/250px-Mandeville_cotton.jpg)
.png/250px-Mandeville_Journeys_(defloration_rite).png)
Leaving this question, there remains the equally complex one whether the book contains any facts and knowledge acquired by actual travels and residence in the East. Possibly it may, but only as a small portion of the section which treats of the Holy Land and the ways of getting thither, of Egypt, and in general of the Levant. The prologue, indeed, points almost exclusively to the Holy Land as the subject of the work. The mention of more distant regions comes in only towards the end of this prologue, and (in a manner) as an afterthought.
Odoric of Pordenone
By far the greater part of these more distant travels, extending in fact from Trebizond to Hormuz, India, the Malay Archipelago, and China, and back again to western Asia; has been appropriated from the narrative of Friar Odoric (1330). Odoric of Pordenone (real name Odoric Mattiussi or Mattiuzzi) ( c. Trabzon ( Greek: Τραπεζούντα, Trapezounta) is a city on the Black Sea coast of north-eastern Turkey and the capital of Kingdom of Ormus (also known as Ohrmuzd, Hormuz, and Ohrmazd; Portuguese Ormuz) was a 10th to 17th century kingdom located India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country The Malay Archipelago is a name given to the Archipelago located between mainland Southeastern Asia ( Indochina) and Australia. China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National Odoric of Pordenone (real name Odoric Mattiussi or Mattiuzzi) ( c. These passages, as served up by Mandeville, are almost always, indeed, swollen with interpolated particulars, usually of an extravagant kind, whilst in no few cases the writer has failed to understand those passages which he adopts from Odoric and professes to give as his own experiences. Thus, where Odoric has given a most curious and veracious account of the Chinese custom of employing tame cormorants to catch fish, the cormorants are converted by Mandeville into "little beasts called loyres (layre, B), which are taught to go into the water" (the word loyre being apparently used here for "otter", lutra, for which the Provençal is luria or loiria). The Bird family Phalacrocoracidae is represented by some 40 Species of cormorants and shags. Cormorant fishing is a traditional fishing method in which fishermen use trained Cormorants to fish in rivers Otters are semi- aquatic (or in one case aquatic) fish-eating Mammals The otter subfamily Lutrinae forms part of the family Provençal ( Provençau) is one of several dialects of Occitan spoken by a minority of people mostly in Provence (in southern France
At a very early date the coincidence of Mandeville's stories with those of Odoric was recognized, insomuch that a manuscript of Odoric which is or was in the chapter library at Mainz begins with the words: Incipit Itinerarius fidelis fratris Odorici socii Militis Mendavil per Indian; licet hic ille prius et alter posterius peregrinationem suam descripsit. Mainz (ˈmaɪ̯nʦ (Mayence is a City in Germany and the capital of the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate. At a later day Sir Thomas Herbert calls Odoric "travelling companion of our Sir John"; and Samuel Purchas, most unfairly, whilst calling Mandeville, next to Polo, "if next . Sir Thomas Herbert (1606 &ndash 1682 traveller and Historian, was born to a Yorkshire family and studied at Trinity College Cambridge and Jesus College Samuel Purchas (1575? - 1626 was an English travel writer a near-contemporary of Richard Hakluyt. . . the greatest Asian traveller that ever the world had", insinuates that Odoric's story was stolen from Mandeville's. Mandeville himself is crafty enough, at least in one passage, to anticipate criticism by suggesting the probability of his having travelled with Odoric.
Hetoum and Marco Polo
Much, again, of Mandeville's matter, particularly in Asiatic geography and history, is taken bodily from the Historiae Orientis of Hetoum, an Armenian of princely family, who became a monk of the Praemonstrant order, and in 1307 dictated this work on the East, in the French tongue at Poitiers, out of his own extraordinary acquaintance with Asia and its history in his own time. Hayton of Corycus, also called Hetoum of Korykos, Haiton, Haitho, Antonius, Haython, Antonius Curchinus or Hayton The Norbertines, also known as the Premonstratensians (OPraem and in Britain and Ireland as the White Canons (from the colour of Poitiers is a town on the Clain River in west central France.
It is curious that no passage in Mandeville can be plausibly traced to Marco Polo, with one exception. Marco Polo ( September 15 1254 – January 9 1324 at earliest but no later than June 1325 was a Venetian trader and explorer This is where he states that at Hormuz the people during the great heat lie in water – a circumstance mentioned by Polo, though not by Odoric. We should suppose it most likely that this fact had been interpolated in the copy of Odoric used by Mandeville, for if he had borrowed it direct from Polo he would have borrowed more.
Giovanni da Pian del Carpine and Vincent de Beauvais
A good deal about the manners and customs of the Tatars is demonstrably derived from the famous work of the Franciscan Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, who went as the pope's ambassador to the Tatars in 1245–1247; but Dr. Tatars ( Tatar: Tatarlar/Татарлар sometimes spelled Tartars, are a Turkic -speaking ethnic group or multiple ethnic groups Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, or John of Plano Carpini or John of Pian de Carpine or Joannes de Plano (c Warner considers that the immediate source for Mandeville was the Speculum historiale of Vincent de Beauvais. The Dominican friar Vincent of Beauvais ( Vincentius Bellovacensis) (c Though the passages in question are all to be found in Carpine more or less exactly, the expression is condensed and the order changed. For examples compare Mandeville, p. 250, on the tasks done by Tatar women, with Carpine, p. 643; Mandeville. p. 250, on Tatar habits of eating, with Carpine, pp. 639–640; Mandeville, p. 231, on the titles borne on the seals of the Great Khan, with Carpine , p. For other titles related to and uses of Khan, see that article Origin The title 715, etc.
The account of Prester John is taken from the famous Epistle of that imaginary potentate, which was so widely diffused in the 13th century, and created that renown which made it incumbent on every traveller in Asia to find some new tale to tell of him. The legends of Prester John (also Presbyter John) popular in Europe from the 12th through the 17th centuries told of a Christian Patriarch Many fabulous stories, again, of monsters, such as cyclopes, sciapodes, hippopodes, monoscelides, anthropophagi, and men whose heads did grow beneath their shoulders, of the phoenix and the weeping crocodile, such as Pliny has collected, are introduced here and there, derived no doubt from him, Solinus, the bestiaries, or the Speculum naturale of Vincent de Beauvais. In Greek mythology and later Roman mythology, a cyclops (ˈsaɪklɒps or kyklops ( Greek) is a member of a primordial race of Monopods (also skiapods skiapodes Monocoli) are dwarf-like creatures with a single large foot extending from one thick leg centered in the middle of their body The term anthropophagi ( cannibals) may refer to one of the following Creatures from English Folklore with no heads and a mouth The phoenix ( Ancient Greek: Φοῖνιξ phoínix is a mythical sacred firebird in ancient mythologies starting with the Greek and later the The term Crocodile tears refers to a false or insincere display of emotion Gaius or Caius Plinius Secundus, ( AD 23 – August 25, AD 79 better known as Pliny the Elder, was an ancient Author Gaius Julius Solinus, Latin Grammarian and compiler probably flourished around the middle of the fourth century though historical scholar Theodor Mommsen And interspersed, especially in the chapters about the Levant, are the stories and legends that were retailed to every pilgrim, such as the legend of Seth and the grains of paradise from which grew the wood of the cross, that of the shooting of old Cain by Lamech, that of the castle of the sparrow-hawk (which appears in the tale of Melusine), those of the origin of the balsam plants at Masariya, of the dragon of Cos, of the river Sambation, etc. See also Names of the Levant The Levant (lə'vænt is a geographical term that denotes a large area in Western Asia, roughly bounded on the north by the This article is about the Biblical Seth For the Egyptian god Seth see Set (mythology; for other meanings see Seth (disambiguation. The crucifixion of Jesus is an event recorded in all four Gospels (;;) which takes place after his arrest and trial and includes his scourging Lamech (ˈleɪmɛk (לֶמֶך-Lemech is the name of two men in the genealogies of Adam in the book of Genesis. Melusine (or Melusina) is a figure of European Legends and Folklore, a feminine spirit of fresh waters in sacred springs and rivers According to Rabbinic literature, the Sambation is the River beyond which the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel were exiled by the Assyrian
But all these passages have also been verified as substantially occurring in Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Barrois (Barrois collection) manuscript Nouv. Acq. Franc. 1515 in the Bibliothèque nationale de France, mentioned below (from 1371), and in that numbered xxxix. of the Grenville collection (British Museum), which dates probably from the early part of the 15th century. The British Museum is a Museum of human history and culture in London.
Representation of some genuine experience
Even in that part of the book which might be supposed to represent some genuine experience there are the plainest traces that another work has been made use of, more or less - we might almost say as a framework to fill up. This is the itinerary of the German knight Wilhelm von Boldensele, written in 1336 at the desire of Cardinal Hélie de Talleyrand-Périgord. Wilhelm von Boldensele (c 1285 &ndash 1338/1339 was a German Knight and oriental traveler from Lower Saxony. Hélie de Talleyrand-Périgord (1301-1364 was a French Cardinal, from an aristocratic family in Périgord, south-west France A cursory comparison of this with Mandeville leaves no doubt that the latter has followed its thread, though digressing on every side, and too often eliminating the singular good sense of the German traveller. We may indicate as examples Boidensele's account of Cyprus, of Tyre and the coast of Palestine, of the journey from Gaza to Egypt, passages about Babylon of Egypt, about Mecca, the general account of Egypt, the pyramids, some of the wonders of Cairo, such as the slave-market, the chicken-hatching stoves, and the apples of paradise, i. Cyprus (Κύπρος transliterated: Kýpros,; Kıbrıs officially the Republic of Cyprus (Κυπριακή Δημοκρατία Kypriakī́ Dīmokratía Tyre ( Arabic صور Ṣūr, Phoenician Phoenician wawsvg|12px|ו]] Ṣur, Hebrew Palestine is a name which has been widely used since Roman times to refer to the region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. Gaza (غزة, עַזָּה ʕazzā is the largest city in the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian territories. This article is about the country of Egypt For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Egypt topics. Babylon Fortress was an ancient fortress city or castle in the Delta of Egypt, located at Babylon in the area today known as Coptic Cairo. Mecca ˈmɛkə also spelled Makkah ˈmækə (in full Makkah Al-Mukarramah (Arabic mækːæ(t ælmʊkarˑamæ مكّة المكرمة, literally Honored The Giza Necropolis stands on the Giza Plateau on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt. Cairo () which means "the Vanquisher" or "the Triumphant" is the capital and largest city of Egypt. e. plantains, the Red Sea, the convent on Sinai, the account of the church of the Holy Sepulchre, etc. The plantain is a crop in the genus Musa and is generally used for cooking in contrast to the soft sweet Banana (which is sometimes called the The Red Sea is a Salt water Inlet of the Indian Ocean between Africa and Asia. The Sinai Peninsula or Sinai ( Coptic: sina; Egyptian Arabic: sina سينا Arabic, sina'a سيناء The Church of the Holy Sepulchre (Sanctum Sepulchrum also called the Church of the Resurrection, ( Greek: Ναός της Αναστάσεως Naos tis Anastaseos
There is, indeed, only a small residuum of the book to which genuine character, as containing the experiences of the author, can possibly be attributed. Yet, as has been intimated, the borrowed stories are frequently claimed as such experiences. In addition to those already mentioned, he alleges that he had witnessed the curious exhibition of the garden of transmigrated souls (described by Odoric) at Cansay, i. Transmigration of the soul (sometimes given simply as Transmigration) is similar and foreign in some ways to the philosophy of Reincarnation. e. Hangchow. ( Postal map spelling: Hangchow) is a Sub-provincial city located in the Yangtze River Delta in the People's Republic of China, He and his fellows with their valets had remained fifteen months in service with the emperor of Cathay in his wars against the king of Manzi – Manzi, or Southern China, having ceased to be a separate kingdom some seventy years before the time referred to. Cathay is the Anglicized version of "Catai" and an alternative name for China in English In China, common names for China include " Zhonghua " (zh-Hans [[wiktionary中华 中华]]/zh-Hant [[wiktionary中華 中華]] and " Zhongguo But the most notable of these false statements occurs in his adoption from Odoric of the story of the Valley Perilous. This is, in its original form, apparently founded on real experiences of Odoric viewed through a haze of excitement and superstition. Mandeville, whilst swelling the wonders of the tale with a variety of extravagant touches, appears to safeguard himself from the reader's possible discovery that it was stolen by the interpolation: "And some of our fellows accorded to enter, and some not. So there were with us two worthy men, Friars Minor, that were of Lombardy, who said that if any man would enter they would go in with us. Lombardy (Lombardia Latin: Langobardia, Western Lombard: Lumbardìa, Eastern Lombard: Lombardia) is one of the And when they had said so, upon the gracious trust of God and of them, we caused mass to be sung, and made every man to be shriven and houselled; and then we entered fourteen persons; but at our going out we were but nine", etc. Housel was until the Reformation, the name of the Eucharist in the English language.
In referring to this passage it is only fair to recognize that the description (though the suggestion of the greatest part exists in Odoric) displays a good deal of imaginative power; and there is much in the account of Christian's passage through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, in John Bunyan's famous allegory, which indicates a possibility that Bunyan may have read and remembered this episode either in Mandeville or in Hakluyt's Odoric. The theme of the 23rd Psalm ( Greek numbering Psalm 22) in the Bible casts God in the role of protector and provider John Bunyan (28 November 1628 &ndash 31 August 1688 a Christian writer and Preacher, was born at Harrowden (one mile south-east of Bedford Richard Hakluyt (, or) (c 1552 or 1553 – 23 November 1616 was an English writer
Nor does it follow that the whole work is borrowed or fictitious. Even the great Moorish traveller Ibn Battuta, accurate and veracious in the main, seems – in one part at least of his narrative – to invent experiences; and in such works as those of Jan van Hees and Arnold von Harif we have examples of pilgrims to the Holy Land whose narratives begin apparently in sober truth, and gradually pass into flourishes of fiction and extravagance. The description Moors has referred to several historic and modern populations of Muslim (and earlier non-Muslim people of Berber and Arab descent Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Abdullah Al Lawati Al Tanji Ibn Battuta (أبو عبد الله محمد ابن عبد الله اللواتي الطنجي بن بطوطة (born February So in Mandeville also we find particulars not yet traced to other writers, and which may therefore be provisionally assigned either to the writer's own experience or to knowledge acquired by colloquial intercourse in the East.
On Egypt
It is difficult to decide on the character of his statements as to recent Egyptian history. The history of Egypt is the longest continuous history as a unified state of any country in the world In his account of that country though the series of the Comanian (of the Bahri dynasty) sultans is borrowed from Hetoum down to the accession of Mel echnasser (Al-Nasir Muhammad), who came first to the throne in 1293, Mandeville appears to speak from his own knowledge when he adds that this "Melechnasser reigned long and governed wisely". Cumans (Кумани Byzantine: Kuman or Cuman, Kunok Turkic: Kumanlar) were a nomadic Turkic people who inhabited a The Bahri dynasty or Bahriyya Mamluks (al-Mamalik al-Bahariyya المماليك البحرية) was a Mamluk Dynasty of mostly Kipchak Al-Nasir Muhammad (Arabic:الناصر محمد (Epithet al-Malik al-Nasir Nasir al-Din Muhammad ben Qalawun)( Arabic الملك الناصر ناصر الدين محمد In fact, though twice displaced in the early part of his life, Al-Nasir Muhammad reigned till 1341, a duration unparalleled in Muslim Egypt, whilst we are told that during the last thirty years of his reign, Egypt rose to a high pitch of wealth and prosperity. During the initial Islamic invasion in 639 AD, Egypt was ruled at first by governors acting in the name of the Righteous Caliphs, and then the Ummayad
Mandeville, however, then goes on to say that his eldest son, Melechemader, was chosen to succeed; but this prince was caused privily to be slain by his brother, who took the kingdom under the name of Meleclimadabron. "And he was Soldan when I departed from those countries". Now Al-Nasir Muhammad was followed in succession by no less than eight of his sons in thirteen years, the first three of whom reigned in aggregate only a few months. The names mentioned by Mandeville appear to represent those of the fourth and sixth of the eight, viz. al-Salih Ismail, and al-Muzzafar Hajji); and these the statements of Mandeville do not fit.
Words
On several occasions Arabic words are given, but are not always recognizable, owing perhaps to the carelessness of copyists in such matters. Arabic (ar الْعَرَبيّة (informally ar عَرَبيْ) in terms of the number of speakers is the largest living member of the Semitic language Thus, we find the names (not satisfactorily identified) of the wood, fruit and sap of the Himalayan Balsam; of bitumen, "alkatran" (al-Katran); of the three different kinds of pepper (long pepper, black pepper and white pepper) as sorbotin, fulful and bano or bauo (fulful is the common Arabic word for pepper; the others have not been satisfactorily explained). "Policeman's helmet" redirects here For the uniform headgear see Custodian helmet. Long pepper ( Piper longum) sometimes called Javanese Long Pepper, Indian Long Pepper or Indonesian Long Pepper, is a flowering Black pepper ( Piper nigrum) is a flowering Vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its Fruit, which is usually dried Falling Out redirects here For the album by Peter Bjorn and John see Falling Out (album White Pepper was Ween 's seventh But these, and the particulars of his narrative for which no literary sources have yet been found, are too few to constitute a proof of personal experience.
Geographic
Mandeville, again, in some passages shows a correct idea of the form of the earth, and of position in latitude ascertained by observation of the pole star; he knows that there are antipodes, and that if ships were sent on voyages of discovery they might sail round the world. The celestial spheres or celestial orbs were the fundamental celestial entities of the cosmological celestial mechanics first invented by Eudoxus, and developed by Aristotle The antipodes refer to lands and peoples located on the opposite side of the World compared to the speaker And he tells a curious story, which he had heard in his youth, how a worthy man did travel ever eastward until he came to his own country again. But he repeatedly asserts the old belief that Jerusalem was in the centre of the world, and maintains in proof of this that at the equinox a spear planted erect in Jerusalem casts no shadow at noon, which, if true, would equally consist with the sphericity of the earth, provided that the city were on the equator. Jerusalem (יְרוּשָׁלַיִם, he-Latn Yerushaláyim; Arabic: ar القُدس, ar-Latn al-Quds) is the An equinox is the event of the Sun passing over the Earth's equator in its annual cycle
Manuscripts
The sources of the book, which include various authors besides those whom we have specified, have been laboriously investigated by Dr. Albert Bovenschen and Dr. George F. Warner, and to them the reader must be referred for more detailed information on the subject.
The oldest known manuscript of the original – once Barrois's, afterwards Bertram Ashburnham, 4th Earl of Ashburnham's, now Nouv. Acq. Franc. 1515 in the Bibliothèque nationale de France – is dated 1371, but is nevertheless very inaccurate in proper names. An early printed Latin translation made from the French has been already quoted, but four others, unprinted, have been discovered by Dr. Johann Vogels. They exist in eight manuscripts, of which seven are in Great Britain, while the eighth was copied by a monk of Abingdon; probably, therefore, all these unprinted translations were executed in Great Britain. From one of them, according to Dr. Vogels, an English version was made which has never been printed and is now extant only in free abbreviations, contained in two 15th century manuscripts in the Bodleian Library - manuscript e Museo 116, and manuscript Rawlinson D. The Bodleian Library ( the main Research library of the University of Oxford, is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, and in England Richard Rawlinson ( February 3, 1690 - April 6, 1755) was an English clergyman and Antiquarian collector of books and manuscripts 99 : the former, which is the better, is in East Midlands English, and may possibly have belonged to the Augustinian priory of St Osyth in Essex, while the latter is in Southern dialect. East Midlands English is a Dialect traditionally spoken in those parts of Mercia lying East of Watling Street (the A5 London - Shrewsbury Road St Osyth is a village and Civil parish in northeast Essex. It is about west of Clacton-on-Sea, and about southeast of Colchester. Essex is a county in the East of England. The County town is Chelmsford, and the highest point of the county is Chrishall Common
The first English translation direct from the French was made (at least as early as the beginning of the 15th century) from a manuscript of which many pages were lost. Writing of the name Califfes Dr. Vogels controverts these positions, arguing that the first English version from the French was the complete Cotton text, and that the defective English copies were made from a defective English manuscript. His supposed evidences of the priority of the Cotton text equally consist with its being a later revision, and for Roys Its (Khalif), the author says (Roxburghe Club ed. The Roxburghe Club was formed on June 17 1812 by leading bibliophiles at the time the library of the Duke of Roxburghe was auctioned , p. 18) that it is taut a dire come rol (s). II y soleit auoir V. soudans "as much as to say king. There used to be 5 sultans". In the defective French manuscript a page ended with fly so; then came a gap, and the next page went on with part of the description of Mount Sinai, Et est celle vallee mult froide (ibid. For other places named Mount Sinai see Mount Sinai (disambiguation Mount Sinai (Arabic طور سيناء, Hebrew הר סיני also p. 32'). Consequently the corresponding English version has "That ys to say amonge hem Roys Its and this vale ys ful colde"! All English printed texts before 1725, and Ashton's 1887 edition, follow these defective copies, and in only two known manuscripts has the lacuna been detected and filled up.
One of them is the British Museum manuscript Egerton 1982 (Northern dialect, about 1410–1420 ?), in which, according to Dr. Northern English is a group of dialects of the English language. Vogels, the corresponding portion has been borrowed from that English version which had already been made from the Latin. The other is in the, British Museum manuscript Cotton Titus C. The British Museum is a Museum of human history and culture in London. xvi. (Midland dialect, about 1410–1420?), representing a text completed, and revised throughout, from the French, though not by a competent hand. The Egerton text, edited by Dr. George Warner, has been printed by the Roxburghe Club, while the Cotton text, first printed in 1725 and 1727, is in modern reprints the current English version. Year 1725 ( MDCCXXV) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Year 1727 ( MDCCXXVII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common
That none of the forms of the English version can be from the same hand which wrote the original is made patent by their glaring errors of translation, but the Cotton text asserts in the preface that it was made by Mandeville himself, and this assertion was till lately taken on trust by almost all modern historians of English literature. The words of the original "je eusse cest livret mis en Latin . . . mais je lay mis,en römant" were mistranslated as if "je eusse" meant "I had" instead of "I should have", and then (whether of fraudulent intent or by the error of a copyist thinking to supply an accidental omission) the words were added "and translated it aȝen out of Frensche into Englyssche". Mätzner (Altenglische Sprachproben, I. , ii. , 154–155) seems to have been the first to show that the current English text cannot possibly have been made by Mandeville himself. Of the original French there is no satisfactory edition, but Dr. Vogels has undertaken a critical text, and Dr. Warner has added to his Egerton English text the French of a British Museum manuscript with variants from three others.
Further information
It remains to mention certain other works bearing the name of Mandeville or de Bourgogne.
To Mandeville (by whom de Bourgogne is clearly meant) Jean d'Outremeuse ascribes a Latin "lappidaire salon l'opinion des Indois", from which he quotes twelve passages, stating that the author (whom he calls knight, lord of Montfort, of Castelperouse, and of the isle of Campdi) had been "baillez en Alexandrie" seven years, and had been presented by a Saracen friend with some fine jewels which had passed into d'Outremeuse's own possession: of this Lapidaire, a French version, which seems to have been completed after 1479, has been several times printed. Jean d'Outremeuse (1338? &ndash 1399? was a Belgian writer and historian who authored two romanticised historical works Saracen was a term used by Europeans in the Middle Ages for Fatimids at first then later for all who professed the religion of Islam. A manuscript of Mandeville's travels offered for sale in 1862 is said to have been divided into five books:
- the travels
- de là forme de la terre et comment et par queue manière elle fut faite
- de la forme del ciel
- des herbes selon les yndois et les phulosophes par de là
- ly lapidaire--while the cataloguer supposed Mandeville to have been the author of a concluding piece entitled La Venianche de nostre Signeur Jhesu-Crist fayle par Vespasian fit del empereur de Romme et commeet lozeph daramathye fu deliures de la prizon. Year 1862 was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting on Monday Titus Flavius Vespasianus, commonly known as Vespasian ( November 17 9 &ndash June 23 79) was a Roman Emperor who From the treatise on herbs a passage is quoted asserting it to have been composed in 1357 in honour of the author's natural lord, Edward III, king of England. Edward III (13 November 1312 &ndash 21 June 1377 was one of the most successful English monarchs of the Middle Ages. This date is corroborated by the title of king of Scotland given to Edward, who had received from Baliol the surrender of the crown and kingly dignity on January 20, 1356, but on October 3, 1357 released King David and made peace with Scotland: unfortunately we are not told whether the treatise contains the author's name, and, if so, what name. The House of Balliol was a Picard and Anglo-Norman family who began to rule some estates in England in the reign of William Rufus. Events 250 - Emperor Decius begins a widespread persecution of Christians in Rome. Events 42 BC - First Battle of Philippi: Triumvirs Mark Antony and Octavian fight an indecisive battle with Caesar's Daibhidh a Briuis ( Modern Gaelic: Dàibhidh Bruis) anglicised as David II ( 5 March 1324 &ndash 22 February Tanner (Bibliotheca) alleges that Mandeville wrote several books on medicine, and among the Ashmolean manuscripts in the Bodleian Library are a medical receipt by John de Magna Villa (No. The Bodleian Library ( the main Research library of the University of Oxford, is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, and in England 2479), an aichemical receipt by him (No. 1407), and another alchemical receipt by johannes de Villa Magna (No. 1441).
Finally, de Bourgogne wrote under his own name a treatise on the plague, extant in Latin, French and English texts, and in Latin and English abridgments. Bubonic plague is the best-known manifestation of the bacterial disease plague, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis (formerly known as Herein he describes himself as Johannes de Burgundia, otherwise called cum Barba, citizen of Liège and professor of the art of medicine; says that he had practised forty years and had been in Liège in the plague of 1365; and adds that he had previously written a treatise on the cause of the plague, according to the indications of astrology (beginning Deus deorum), and another on distinguishing pestilential diseases (beginning Cum nimium propter instans tempus epidimiate). Liège (ljɛːʒ Older English: Luick, Walloon: Lidje, German: Lüttich; Latin: Leodium, Dutch "Burgundia" is sometimes corrupted into "Burdegalia", and in English translations of the abridgment almost always appears as "Burdews" (Bordeaux, France) or the like manuscript Rawlinson D. ( Gascon: Bordèu) is a port city in southwest France, with one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area at a 2008 estimate 251 (15th century) in the Bodleian Library also contains a large number of English medical receipts, headed "Practica phisicalia Magistri Johannis de Burgundia".
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Mandeville's travels constituted a wide variety of venues, and it was therefore inevitable that his book would become one of the myriad sources used in Alan Moore's two graphic novels The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Alan Moore (born November 18 1953 in Northampton) is an English Writer most famous for his influential work in Comics, including the acclaimed The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is a Comic book series written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Kevin O'Neill. The venues are mostly visited in the early twentieth century by Mina Murray and Allan Quatermain prior to the latter's death. The twentieth century of the Common Era began on Wilhelmina "Mina" Harker is a Fictional character in Bram Stoker 's horror novel Dracula. Allan Quatermain is a Fictional character, the Protagonist of H
Online text
Bibliography
- Dr GF Warner's article in the Dictionary of National Biography for a comprehensive account, and for bibliographical references;
- Ulysse Chevalier's Repertoire des sources historiques du moyen âge for references generally; and the
- Zeitschr. Project Gutenberg, abbreviated as PG, is a volunteer effort to Digitize, archive and distribute Cultural works The Dictionary of National Biography ( DNB) is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history published from 1885 Ulysse Chevalier ( February 24, 1841 &ndash October 27, 1923) was a French Bibliographer and Historian. f. celt. Philologie II. , i. 126, for an edition and translation, by Dr Whitley Stokes, of Fingin O'Mahony's Irish version of the Travels. Whitley Stokes ( February 28, 1830 - April 13, 1909) was a British Lawyer and Celtic scholar
- The Travels of Sir John Mandeville, a 2006 transcription of the original by E C Coleman published by Nonsuch Publishing.
- Adams, Percy G. Travel Literature Through the Ages. New York: Garland, 1988.
Further reading
- Giles Milton - The Riddle and the Knight: In Search of Sir John Mandeville (2001) ISBN 0-340-81945-6
This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain. Giles Milton is a British Writer and Journalist born in Buckinghamshire in 1966 The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911 is a 29-volume reference work that marked the beginning of the Encyclopædia Britannica The public domain is a range of abstract materials &ndash commonly referred to as Intellectual property &ndash which are not owned or controlled by anyone
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