John Mandeville begins and ends by giving a physical description of the land and its geography, as well as its position in relation to other cities of note. He does not seemed concerned with the people of Jerusalem; the only time he references them is when he makes comments on the pilgrims. Instead, the majority of his account is concerned with telling the stories of the religious landmarks and monuments in the city and giving detailed descriptions, especially of churches and chapels with great architecture. He is incredibly specific with his details, even going so far as to count out stairs, steps, and other measurements.
John Mandeville does not give many specifics when speaking of his journey to Jerusalem. He informs the reader of how long it might take one to travel as he did and advices on the the best route for a person to take, but he doesn’t tell the reader about his own personal journey.
John Mandeville is a deeply religious man. The majority of his account of Jerusalem has nothing to do with the city itself, but rather involves Mandeville listing the religious sites he sees, recounting their histories, and explaining their importance to the reader. He often references religious figures who have passed through Jerusalem themselves; he tells the stories of Lot, Abraham, Mary Magdalene, King Herod, and more. When he does describe the landscape of the city, many of his descriptions still stem from a religious context. For example, he describes the trees as “bearing prettily colored fruit which appear to be ripe, but when one splits them or cuts them open one finds nothing but cinders and ashes; this is a token of God’s vengeance through which these cities were burned with hellfire.” (pg. 51)
The Book of Marvels and Travels does not appear to have been written with the intent of giving a detailed, useful, or even accurate account of the city of Jerusalem. Almost the entire section written on Jerusalem is an informative religious narrative. It is written directly to the reader, and the phrases “you need to know”, “you should be aware”, etc are used on almost every page. John Mandeville does not seem concerned with informing the reader about his journey to the city of Jerusalem or his experiences there; rather, he is educating the reader on Jerusalem’s religious history and importance. He briefly describes the city and its surroundings, but he is mostly concerned with the religious landmarks and their accounts. He gives no description of the people or culture within the city, other than when mentioning the actions of the pilgrims (and once the Saracens) in holy places and around religious monuments. This makes sense, given the context that The Book of Marvels and Travels was not really written by a traveller. The main purpose of writing the book is to inform those who cannot visit Jerusalem themselves an idea of what it might be like, and the author clearly wants to take the opportunity of a curious audience to spread the Christian faith.