53 pages • 1 hour read
John MandevilleThe Travels of Sir John Mandeville
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1356A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Authorial Context: The Identity of John Mandeville
The true identity of Sir John Mandeville is difficult to discern. The author describes himself as a knight of St Albans, a town in southeast England, who traveled across the world for over 30 years. However, the evident fictions in his text and the fact that there is no record of a John Mandeville in St Albans have led most historians to dismiss these claims. Who authored the text and where/if they traveled has been a consistent topic of debate.
One popular identification of the author comes from shortly after the text’s publication. The 14th-century French chronicler Jean d’Outremeuse claimed that a man named Jean de Bourgogne confessed to him on his deathbed that he was John Mandeville. Bourgogne allegedly claimed he had killed a man in England in 1322 and so fled the country, taking on the name of John Mandeville while he traveled over the world. Some scholars used this as evidence that d’Outremeuse himself was John Mandeville. Such claims are supported by the fact that d’Outremeuse was evidently involved in editing some editions of the text; that French was the first language the text was written in could also suggest a French author. However, either identity is ultimately unlikely. French was a language used by the learned in England, and as Mosely explains in the Introduction, an author would gain little by pretending to be English if they were not.
Several more identities have been suggested and argued for, but with little convincing evidence. Similarly, it cannot be known if the author ever traveled. The extent of the text’s inaccuracies and fantasies makes it highly unlikely that the writer ever reached China, but trips to the Middle East were readily achievable. Whether or not the writer traveled, they heavily relied on other sources for their information. A non-comprehensive list of sources clearly used includes Odoric of Pordenone, Hetoum, Vincent de Beauvais, and Pliny the Elder.
Historical Context: Medieval Europe and the Outside World in the 14th Century
At the time of The Travels of Sir John Mandeville’s writing, Western Europe’s relationship with the rest of the world was characterized by a mixture of curiosity, commerce, and religious zeal. The Crusades, spanning the late 11th to the 13th centuries, had established a precedent for Europeans venturing into the Middle East. While the Crusades were primarily religious and military expeditions, they opened new avenues for trade and cultural exchange between Europe and Asia. Italian city states, vying for trade advantages over each other, began to send emissaries farther abroad, where they encountered different cultures. This was facilitated by the expansion of the Mongol Empire across Central Asia in the 13th century. Thanks to the increasing stability of trade routes with Eastern nations—the so-called “Silk Road”—Europeans could access new luxury goods. The prevalence of European mercantile travel is reflected in Mandeville’s work, which frequently mentions Western traders in the distant lands Mandeville describes.
Europe in the 14th century was thus becoming more aware of the world outside it. With this came an increased interest in travel literature documenting what could be seen. Popular works such as The Travels of Marco Polo or The Travels of Friar Odoric offered details of cultures unknown to most Western Europeans. Mandeville capitalized on this existing fascination by blending details of real geography described in these works with cultural observations and fantastical elements. This appealed to the curious European audience, allowing Mandeville to present his call for a crusade and his critique of contemporary Western Christendom within a genre that endeared it to many.
