Book Review
"The Travels of Sir John Mandeville"
Sir
John Mandeville was an English Knight who lived in the 14th
century; he was widely traveled, and a great storyteller.
His tales are a fascintating glimpse into the middle ages,
and into the minds of the people of the time. The
Travels of Sir John Mandeville was one of the first
best sellers, a very popular book in the fourteenth century
- a combination travel guide to the holy land, and
compilation of fancifull legends and downright outrageous
tall tales.
Sir Mandeville was the Baron Munchausen of his Age. His tale begins with his pilgramige to the Holy Land, and gets more fancifull the farther he gets from home; tales of strange enchanted maidens, dragons and the Great Sultan, and finally his description of the wonders of Cathay, where he claims to have served as a knight-for-hire to the great Emperor himself.
Along the way he has a good many digressions, with snippets of aphocrical biblical tales, mythology and some interesting notes on geography, such as his persuasive argument declaring that the earth is round! He even makes a claim for a 14th century circumnavigation of the globe (although they somehow managed to sail through the New World!).
All in all, this is a very good book, a bit slow at times, but a very fascintating opportunity to look at the world through the eyes of medieval man, and a chance to read a book that your persona may have read or heard of.
Sir Michael de Lacy
