Category: John Mandeville (Page 5 of 7)

The chapter on India in “St. John Mandeville: The Book of Marvels and Travels” was unlike any of the ones before. It was very much a hodge-podge of lots of different pieces of information thrown together. The author began the chapter introducing India ‘s different parts, then immediately dove into a lengthy discussion of the diamonds that could be found in the country. He talked about where they were, what kinds, what they mean, what they do, how to carry them, etc. After diamonds, he talks about the geography of the land of India, then spends almost the rest of the chapter listing the many islands. The author talks about what these islands look like and what the people who live there are like, especially in their religious ways and who the ruler is. In the middle of the list of islands he breaks to talk about stars and the location of countries on the earth. According to him, Jerusalem is in the center of the world with England and India on either side. He says that a traveler can circle the world and end up back in the country he started in, then jumps back into a discussion of the islands. His information gets more and more fantastical as the chapter progresses, going from stating the different ways the people of each island kill and eat each other to talking about islands on which men have one eye in the middle of their forehead, or dog’s heads, or no head at all.

In all of the crazy information presented about India and its islands, it is hard to find a common thread besides the fact that most of it just seems made up. However, looking at the elements that he spends the most time on reveals the author’s bias towards the normal, lower class people of India. Proportionally, he talks at length about the diamonds and the geography of the world and very little about each individual island and its inhabitants. Despite not spending much time on them, however, the author makes huge generalizations about the peoples who live on each island. Most of the information he includes about the non-fantastical people is how they eat and kill each other, and this information is in much smaller paragraphs. He repeatedly calls them evil, says they worship a “fake-god”, says they have “horrible customs” and calls them ‘unintelligent” etc. The author only has good words for the kings of each place, and the cities themselves, and, of course, the diamonds.

There could be twofold reasoning for the author’s harsh words about the common people of India. First, he could simply be incredibly racist and not care about the “normal” people enough to learn the real facts, or to include other information besides what he thinks is true. Or he could honestly have just made most of the entire chapter up. I think the truth is probably a little bit of both. As well, the escalation of fantasy at the end, especially the inclusion of the fantastical creatures like cyclopes and people with dog heads, lends to the probability that the entire thing is from his imagination.

Of Babylon, Mandeville present details on a wide variety of subjects, from physical and geographical aspects of the land, to political and cultural information, to his version of Babylon’s history. In a rare instance of inserting himself into the narrative, Mandeville claims he once lived there as a mercenary to the Sultan.

The Sultan of Babylon to whom he refers is said to be very powerful, ruling over five kingdoms. It is specified that this Babylon where the Sultan lives is not the same as Great Babylon, the ancient city referenced in the story of the Tower of Babel. To distinguish, Mandeville refers to the present incarnation as Babylon the Lesser. Great Babylon, by Mandeville’s account, used to be a great city on the banks of the Euphrates River, but after its decimation by a Persian king, it became an uninhabitable wasteland swimming with dragons and snakes. From Babylon the Lesser, this wasteland can only be reached by a 40-day journey through the desert.

Throughout the section in The Book of Marvels and Travels on the land of Babylon, several supposed routes to the city are described in detail. It is specified that the desert conditions surrounding Babylon make travel difficult, and one must ride a camel in place of a horse. Contrary to known modern geography, Mandeville positions Babylon “at the entrance of Egypt,” and also implies that one can go straight there from Aleppo. Though he does provide these hypothetical travel routes, Mandeville does not recount any particular journey undertaken.

Among the things Mandeville chooses to communicate about Babylon, his depiction of the Sultan stands out, and in particular the Sultan’s relationships with women. First, according to this account, the Sultan of Babylon always has three wives: one who is Christian and two who are Saracen (or Muslim). One of each must live in the cities of Jerusalem, Damascus, and Ashkelon. In addition to having wives spread out over different territories, the Sultan has access wherever he goes to as many women as he wishes to use as lovers. In whatever new cities he visits, he has the most attractive virgins brought to him. They are said to be detained, but detained “respectfully and with dignity.” It is unclear what exactly respect for women means in the context, beyond one statement that the virgin of his choosing will be washed and dressed nicely before meeting him in his bedroom. It is also emphasized in the passage that everyone who encounters the Sultan, and foreigners in particular, are expected to demonstrate the utmost respect for him, going so far as to physically kneel before him upon meeting him.

Considering these separate details as they relate to each other, Mandeville’s portrait of this Sultan contains the idea that a man who has earned the respect that comes along with the Sultan’s political domain has also implicitly earned a dominion and authority over the bodies of women and girls wherever he goes. This is upheld further in the text when it is said that the Sultan treats these women with respect when he is holding them against their will to keep at his disposal as sexual partners.

Sir John Mandeville ends his account with the tale of the land of Prester John. He claims Prester John is regarded as “the Emperor of India”, and that his land, called “the isle of Pentixoire”, is composed of many kingdoms of Christians. It is exceedingly clear that Mandeville has never been to India, as he begins by describing it as being composed of islands because of “great floods flowing in from Paradise”. Here, the author of Sir John Mandeville’s narrative really takes advantage of being able to describe the land as he wishes, with no contradictions from other travelers; he describes an idealistic and fanciful land full of riches and beauty, where good rules over all and the Christians are in power. He justifies the small amount of visitors by explaining that merchants find what they need in the isles of Cathay, which are closer and a much less dangerous trip than the journey to the lands of Prester John. However, Mandeville assures his readers that the lands of Prester John are nevertheless exceedingly wealthy.

John Mandeville concentrates mostly on describing the faith and piety of Prester John and the wealth and beauty his land possesses. He describes Prester John and his people as being devout Christians who believe wholeheartedly in the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and who are loyal to one another and their faith. Even in battle, they are led by three gold crosses, who are protected by hundreds of thousands of guards. This is possible because, according to Mandeville, Prester John possesses an army composed of “innumerable men” to bring with him into battle. When not riding into battle, he carries a plain wooden cross with him, which seems to be a sign of humbleness, piety, and respect for the way his Lord died. However, despite the fact that Mandeville claims the people of Prester John’s kingdoms “set no store by material possessions”, he reports that Prester John also carries with him a vessel “full of gold and jewels, gems like rubies, sapphires, emeralds, topaz, irachite, chrysolites, and various other gems” as a symbol of his lordship and power. Sir John Mandeville then goes on to describe Prester John’s city, palace, and lands to be overflowing with exactly the type of material possession that he claims the people put no stock in. Mandeville seems to find it very important to emphasize the wealth and riches owned by the Prester John and his people. His descriptions of the gems and jewels that he apparently finds around every corner in Pentixoire seem intended to produce an awed and impressed reaction from his audience, rather than an accurate or realistic description of what a pious and humble Christian man might possess. In fact, most of Mandeville’s descriptions seem targeted towards producing a reaction rather than composing what might seem like a real world; he describes nearly everything as being either good and beautiful or evil and malevolent and therefore fought against by Prester John, and he finishes by reenforcing Prester John’s Christianity and the piousness of his people, even claiming that the kings under Prester John are all bishops, abbots, and other members of Christian clergy. Sir John Mandeville’s account of the lands of Prester John were designed to produce and amazed and dazzled reaction from his audience and connect that reaction to the idea of the greatness of Christianity.

In his narrative “The Book of John Mandeville” the author mentions Jerusalem many times before he actually talks about the city in a separate chapter, because Jerusalem is the destination of most of the routes in the first few chapters. The specific chapter about Jerusalem is, like many of the others, greatly religious based. Almost everything he mentions has a religious element to it. He talks about the location of the city, the terrain around it and the cities nearby. Many of these have religious names and he includes where the names came from. He describes various buildings in Jerusalem, and their religious importance. He goes off on a short tangent about the story of Jesus’ death on the cross, but then explains which places in Jerusalem are connected to the story.  Almost every attraction he talks about has religious significance. He discusses some of the history of Jerusalem, especially regarding the races of people who have controlled it (religious groups like Christians and Jews are included in his definition of races) and includes information about the mountains nearby as well as the dead sea. Many other religious stories and figures are mentioned in the chapter also.

While other chapters in “The Book of John Mandeville” have seemed to be more for entertainment purposes than actual practical use, this chapter actually appears more like a guidebook for the religious pilgrim visiting Jerusalem. The author discusses in detail many different religious buildings and attractions and in some cases even includes where they are located in the city. He describes how many miles away other prominent cities in the area are and includes some history of the city itself. Almost all the information he includes in this chapter is religiously connected, and the chapter seems like the perfect companion for a pilgrim visit Jerusalem. Many of the most important religious places a pilgrim would want to visit are included in the chapter, and the author gives information on the religious history and significance for each of these. He also includes helpful information about the surrounding terrain, about the mountains and the dead sea nearby. The inclusion of descriptions of where other cities are in miles and how many steps it takes to get from one religious attraction to the other also lends to the feeling that this chapter is like a guidebook.

John Mandeville depicts the fictional land of Prester John in his Book of Marvels and Travels as somewhat utopic. He describes Prester John himself as an Emperor over all of the islands of India, overseeing the kings of seventy-two provinces, all whom have a number of other kings subject to them. The place where Prester John resides is called the isle of Pentoxoire, of which the greatest city is called Nisa. Mandeville emphasizes the wealth of this land, portraying it to be abundant with precious stones, including an entire river that is composed of gemstones instead of water, which flows out of paradise, through enormous mountains, and into a sea of sand which yields especially sweet-tasting fish. Prester John and most of his subjects are purportedly Christian. Though they do not possess “all the articles” of the faith extending from the organized Church authority of Western Europe, they believe in the Holy Trinity and practice the faith with great devotion. Mandeville lauds this fictional group of people as especially loyal, and caring not for material possessions.

Mandeville also describes the political nature of Prester John’s land. In addition to discussing how many kings are under his authority among the numerous islands of his so-called Empire, Mandeville builds up the mythology of this place by describing the composition of his court — kings, dukes, earls, bishops, and so on. He claiming that the Prester John always marries the Great Khan’s daughter and that the Great Khan always marries the Prester John’s daughter. This construction of a political relationship with an existing empire is interesting in its attempt to ground the land of Prester John in some reality. Some details of Prester John’s military forces and practices are also described. When he marches into battle against other rulers, he is accompanied by an army of “innumerable men” and gemstone-encrusted crosses are carried before him. This builds on the idealization of Prester John as a figure in the text: he is not only immensely faithful, but rich and noble and strong in battle as well.

Mandeville does not have much information to convey about the travel journey to the land of Prester John. He merely says that one can get there by travelling through Persia, and names a couple of cities one passes through along the way. Once one arrives at Pentoxoire, it takes a journey of four months to traverse it. He takes care to emphasize that the land of Prester John is incredibly remote and difficult to reach. He reports that, in addition to its remoteness, people from afar typically avoid going there because of the danger of sea travel. According to Mandeville, the presence of large adamantine rocks in the land of Prester John poses a particular threat to ships by pulling iron nails out of wood. These serve as convenient explanatory notes considering this land does not exist and Mandeville never travelled to any of the places in his Book of Marvels and Travels anyway.

Mandeville’s depiction of Prester John acts as a kind of assurance to Western European Christians: if one travels far enough past Jerusalem, one will reach Christianity again. This imaginary Christian empire on the other side of the world is presented as mystical, morally pure, and virtually unreachable, revealing the theological desires and uncertainties of the medieval European mind.