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The Book of John Mandeville: India

March 29, 2018 / Alexis Wiggins / 0 Comments

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.

The Book of John Mandeville: Babylon

March 29, 2018 / hrbekm / 0 Comments

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.

The Travels of Marco Polo: Chagan-nor

March 29, 2018 / Shannon Nolan / 0 Comments

Following his visit to Prester John, Polo returns to the provable world with a stop in Chagan-nor, or “White Pool,” where the great Khan has a large, beautiful palace. Polo uses this stop to demonstrate the wealth of the Great Khan in a rather non-traditional matter. Instead of describing the decadence of the palace, or large quantities of jewels, Polo describes the birds that the Khan uses for leisure.

Our introduction to the palace states that the Great Khan “enjoys staying there because there are lakes and rivers here in plenty, well stocked with swans” (Polo, 107). Polo later goes on to discuss his hunting birds, and the sport he enjoys in it (Polo, 107). This is a good look into the leisure time of the Great Khan during this period.

While here, the reader gains an even more detailed understanding of how the Great Khan spends his leisure time. Polo gives the different types of cranes that the Great Khan hunts half a paragraph – which would have been several lines in the original, and therefore would have been a lot of spaces to give to a description of birds. Afterwards, Polo describes the flocks of “cators” – “great partridges” – that the Great Khan keeps several miles away (Polo, 107). Even from the start of this passage, when Polo mentions the swans living in the palace’s lakes, he is very interested in the birds present. Possibly because they are so different from the birds in his native land, or the birds he had seen along his journey since he has re-entered an area of water, away from the desert, where birds can not find sufficient food to survive.

In explaining the quantity of cator’s the that Great Khan owns, Polo describes their lodging as “many huts” that the Great Khan had built for them for the winters (Polo, 107). These birds had “many guards… set to watch [them] to prevent anyone from taking them” (Polo, 107). Entire fields of grain are grown for the birds to eat, and those fields are also protected so that no one may take their food (Polo, 107). The Khan’s dedication to these birds and ability to support a flock of this size demonstrates his wealth and power. The Great Khan can afford to leave men to protect his birds, instead of himself. He can afford entire fields to feed the birds instead of his people.

Ibn Fadlan and the Land of Darkness: Khwarazm

March 29, 2018 / messere / 0 Comments

When Ibn Fadlan reaches Khwarazm, he first describes the weather. It is incredibly cold because of winter, which he admits to being warned about, and yet he still travels to the city of Khawarzm via boat. In fact, he writes, “it was impossible to travel all day because of the intense cold,” (6).

Once he arrives in Khwarazm, Ibn Fadlan goes directly to see the ruler of the “town, the Khwarazm Shah Muhammad ibn ‘Iraq,” who lodges him in a house (7). Three days later, Ibn Fadlan is “summoned” to discuss his intent to visit the land of the Turks, which Ibn ‘Iraq is strictly against and refuses Ibn Fadlan permission. He claims that “this is all a trick” and that “between the country of which you speak and where you are now, there are a thousand tribes of unbelievers,” (7). Ibn Fadlan continues to request permission to continue, which eventually, Ibn ‘Iraq grants, however reluctantly.

While still on the topic of Khwarazm, Ibn Fadlan briefly mentions the monetary systems of the city as well as the language, which he describes as sounding like “the cries of starlings” as well as the language of a nearby village in which ‘their speech sounds exactly like the croaking of frogs,” (8). Ibn Fadlan also finds it prudent to mention that these people “deny the legitimacy of the Commander of the Faithful…at the end of each prayer” (8).

The tie between religion and safety is evident in this passage, particularly in the statement of Ibn ‘Iraq when he warns Ibn Fadlan of the “thousand tribes of unbelievers” he would have to travail in order to continue his journey. The juxtaposition of Ibn Fadlan’s journey as a “trick” paired with the statement and reasoning that he cannot continue because of these “unbelievers” suggests that there is danger in passing through a territory of non-Muslims, especially for a Muslim traveler such as Ibn Fadlan. This also implies that there is an assumed level of safety guaranteed by passing through Muslim territory. Not only does this statement on behalf of the ruler of Khwarazm signify unity and cohesion within the Islamic Empire, but it also illustrates the fear of other, non-Muslim religions. The view of the “unbelievers” is rooted in both a fear of those not like themselves as well as a degraded, prejudiced view of those who are not Muslim. Though we later learn that Ibn Fadlan fares well in the land of the Turks, both Ghuzz and Bashghird, there is the underlying sense of fear and judgment that he carries with him, based almost exclusively on religious practices and cultural differences that directly or indirectly oppose those of Islam.

Ironically, though, Ibn Fadlan likens the language of the Khwarazm people to the sounds of animals, both starlings and frogs, displaying a degree of disrespect for them, despite the presumed alliance between himself and their ruler. He describes them as “the most barbarous of people, both in speech and customs,” and although we do get a description of what he finds so “barbarous” in their speech, he gives us no hints towards customs, so one can only imagine that he is referring to their denial of “the legitimacy of the Commander of the Faithful…at the end of each prayer,” (7, 8). This perception would fall in line with Ibn Fadlan’s trend of disregarding people who do not practice the same rites that he hold dear, and even a small difference such as this leads him to label them as “barbarous.”

The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela: Damascus

March 29, 2018 / leffa / 0 Comments

Benjamin of Tudela traveled from the ancient city of Dan, Israel, to Damascus, Syria. It is unknown how long he stayed there for, however it is clear that his stay in Damascus made an impression on him. Benjamin described that the city of Damascus marked the start of the empire Nur-ed-din, and was home to the king of the Togarmim (aka the Turks). Damascus is a large city, surrounded by walls and with many gardens and plantations. At the time, it extended over 15 miles from one side of the city to the other. Benjamin claimed that there was no other place richer than Damascus in fruit. He then went on to describe more about the geography of the city. He explained that the city itself is situated at the food of Mount Hermon from which the rivers Amana and Pharpar flow. The Amana River flows through the city and water was brought to the houses of the great people, market-places and streets through aqueducts. Alternatively, the Pharpar River flows through the gardens and plantations of Damascus.

Damascus is a city that was known for carrying out trade with the rest of the world. Furthermore, Benjamin noted that there was an Arab Mosque of Damascus called Gami and was said to be the palace of Ben Hadad. Within the mosque there was a wall of crystal glass made of what he termed ‘magic’ workmanship. This glass allowed the time of day to be told according to the apertures that shined through it. The chambers in the palace were built of gold and glass, the columns were overlaid with gold, silver and marbles of all colors. The court in the mosque had a large head of gold and silver in the center. There was also a large bowl made of gold and silver rims. Benjamin described that it was as large as a cask, allowing up to three men to enter it and bathe at the same time. Suspended from the ceiling in the middle of the palace was the rib of one of the giants, that was said to have belonged to King Anak of the olden day giants. The rib was nine cubits long and two cubits wide. Benjamin then asserted that three thousands Jews lived in Damascus at the time, most of which were learned and wealthy men. Additionally, one hundred Karaïtes dwelled there, as well as four hundred Cuthim. He stated that there was peace between them however they did not intermarry.

I found this account to be much briefer than others. However, unlike many of Benjamin’s other accounts, Damascus seemed to have caught Benjamin’s eye geographically. It would appear that he was impressed by the gardens and plantations, as well as the fact that the city lies at the base of a mountain. I also find it interesting that the two rivers that flow through Damascus were used for very different purposes and would be curious to know if there was a specific reason why. Perhaps the quality of the water might be a reason. The enthusiasm with which he writes of the landscape/geography of the city also seems to suggest that Tudela was much different.

Although Benjamin might have been interested in the city’s geography, he certainly did not focus on history as much as he has in his past accounts. That said, most of his account on Damascus is dedicated towards explaining the layout of the Arab Mosque. I found Benjamin to be very respectful while describing the mosque and it would seem that his interest in the mosque laid in how different it is from temples he’d seen or even other structures that he’d visited. His detailed description of the manner in which time was told through the crystal glass could suggest that he was interested in documenting down this technique, perhaps to bring back home and inform others of. I also find it unusual that he did not further explain or question the thought that the rib belonged to a giant. Were giants commonly believed in at this time? Furthermore, I was surprised that he didn’t speak more about Ben Hadid if the mosque had been his palace.

Mapping the Global Middle Ages