The false accounts of John of Mandeville

Not too long ago, I dabbled into the stories of Marco Polo. It was a great and insightful read. It reframed just how much we take for granted wasn‘t at that time. I highly recommend it. As I mentioned in that post, Marco Polo wasn‘t always accurate but largely so. I cannot say the same for today. Today, I want to give you a sample of another travel text that was LARGELY more read and influential in the early Renaissance than Marco Polo‘s accounts. That would be “The Travels of Sir Joh Mandeville“. There is just one tiny problem with it: it is largely accepted to be fiction. No knight named Sir John Mandeville can be identified and the author most likely toured a local library instead of the places he noted. Written between 1357 and 1371, it would be translated into French and English and become the world literature reference in Europe for almost two centuries. It even was a reference for early New World explorers - Christopher Columbus cites it for example. Let me describe some highlights of the work.

Passage to Jerusalem

The first part of the book is used by the author to describe a possible way to get to Jerusalem from England as this was the purpose stated for his “first“ voyage. In general, that description seems to be accurate to maps available in England at that time. Mandeville does mention some things in passing that are worth mentioning. First, I find his description of the Danube River hilarious. It is because of two things he mentioned in particular: that exactly forty other rivers flow into it and that the Danube is renowned for tasting “sweet“ whatever that means.

Constantinople itself occupies many pages in the book. Mandeville describes for instance the many religious relics found there. Those include the cross on which Jesus was crucified, his coat (without seams), the sponge and reed given to him on the cross. They supposedly even had one of the nails used to crucify him. I always find stories of relics fascinating and, really, I should write a blog post on that subject. The highlight of that section is the extensive history of how the cross ended in Constantinople. The amount of detail given is impressive for the time (in a world full of summary and incomplete descriptions most of the time). This book might be a hoax, but a well-researched one. I can understand why people were fooled by Mandeville.

Mandeville diverges a bit on Greece after that. He puts much attention on explaining that some mountains there are so high up that they are exempt from any animal life or wind. The air is so dry that any traveller needs soaked sponges to breathe properly. Those places are supposedly favourites for philosophers, writing letters and figures that can stay many years intact in that barren landscape. By the way, Mandeville definitely saw the tomb of Aristotle there still maintained by fidels.

Before reaching Jerusalem, one last “fact“ deserves a mention. In Ephesus lays buried St. John. According to Mandeville, St. John didn‘t die but instead rested until the day of doom. Some men heard him stir and move deep within the tomb.

There be dragons

Mandeville was famous for his stories of dragons. Here is probably my favourite. On the isle of Lango lived the daughter of Ypocras (whoever that is). The poor girl was changed into a massive dragon by the goddess Diana. Her only way to escape the curse is if a knight comes and kisses her. Doesn‘t it remind you of some Grimm‘s fairy tales (albeit hundreds of years before)? The dragon does not harm men except if provoked. Anyway, one knight of Rhodes came to defy the curse. Yet, when he saw the dragon itself, he fled. The dragon, furious, cast him in the sea… including his horse. Another day, a common man accidentally came into the cave and found the princess in human form, surrounded by riches. The man was stricken and the princess asked if he was a knight. The man said no. In return, the princess asked the man to return to her when he would be one and promised to kiss him if he did - warning him of the dragon form. She added a kingdom and riches to her part of the bargain. The man came back as a knight and, sadly, fled in turn when he saw the dragon. The princess fled back to her cave and cried for many years. Poor girl. Such a sad story. According to Mandeville, helping the princess is still available to however wishes to.

Rekindling our interest

Let‘s quickly dabble on Egypt. Besides gardens with trees that bare fruit seven times a year and the head of a two-horned monster kept in Cairo, Mandeville warns his readers most of all about a miracle balm that is often faked. Fortunately, our saviour Mandeville is there to give us tips to identify false balm to the real stuff. What does the balm do? Pretty much anything if you listen to Mandeville. Although he doesn‘t give much specifics here. It is also in the city of Heliopolis in Egypt that the famous Phoenix is kept. You know the story. Immortal firebird. Resurrects every 500 years.

One last thing I find fascinating. Mandeville sometimes has factual information to our modern ears but that would sound groundbreaking for his time. My favourite is his exclamation that the Earth is round. Indeed, he describes seeing the Lode star in some places and not in others, even though the star is “unmoving“. He adds calculation he “made himself“ with an Astrolabe and a specific star, stating that the star's position changes depending on where he was in such a way to point to a spherical world. Finally, he adds the story of a man that circumnavigated to world. Starting on a specific island, visiting more than 5000 more while travelling straight ahead only to come back to an island “where he heard his own language“. We know that his accounts are completely false even though the result he supported isn‘t. I find that very amusing.

By the way, just like Marco, there are some chapters reserved for Prestor John. See my post on Marco Polo for more details.

No such thing as a bad tale

In the end, are these writings false? Probably. Did they lead many more to false conclusions? Definitely. Yet, I still want to give my respects to the author. He had a vision and the means to put it on paper. I am sure that much work was needed for that prank. I can imagine the author smiling at the reaction he would bring, his smile probably only widening when readers were grasped by it. In my mind, bringing more pleasure to the world is not necessarily a bad thing, even if is for selfish reasons. Even today, Mandeville's stories are entertaining, even if they lose their convincing power in time. But enough babbling for today.

On that, have a nice day and see you next week.

References

The Travels of Sir John Mandeville - The version of the Cotton Manuscript in modern spelling, London, Macmillan and Co. Limited, 1900.