16th century

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Fernao Mendes Pinto 8: First in Japan

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Nanban byōbu, by Kanō Sanraku, 17th century - (Wikimedia)

The first Europeans wash up on Japanese shores, bringing the musket as they do so, and Pinto would have you believe that he is with them.

If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here.

Sources:

  • The Travels of Mendes Pinto, edited and translated by Rebecca D. Catz. University of Chicago Press, 1989.

  • Cooper, Michael. The Southern Barbarians: The First Europeans in Japan. Kodansha, 1971.

  • Lidin, Olof G. Tanegashima: The Arrival of Europe in Japan. Routledge, 2003.

  • Perrin, Noel. Giving Up the Gun: Japan's Reversion to the Sword, 1543-1879. David R. Godine, 1979.

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Holinshed: The Scottish Source

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Scene from the 1577 Holinshed’s Chronicles - (British Library)

Today we step outside the usual medieval travel subject matter on the podcast for a look into William Shakespeare's historical source for the story of Macbeth, Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor, and of course, King of Scotland, or at least of Alba.

That story takes us to a 16th-century man named Reginald Wolfe, to Holinshed's Chronicles, and to the 11th-century doings of some familiar figures, of Duncan, Banquo, Macduff, Malcolm, and the rest. There are some familiar scenes, such as at Dunsinane Castle, but there are also unfamiliar elements like the murder of King Duffe, from which Shakespeare did a little borrowing.

If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here.

Sources:

  • Holinshed, Raphael. Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland. J. Johnson, et al., 1808.

  • The Oxford Handbook of Holinshed's Chronicles, edited by Felicity Heal, Ian W. Archer, & Paulina Kewes. Oxford University Press, 2013.

  • McLuskie, Kathleen. Macbeth. Northcote House, 2009.

  • Patterson, Annabel. Reading Holinshed's Chronicles. University of Chicago Press, 1994.

  • Plomer, Henry Robert. A Short History of English Printing, 1476-1898. Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner and Co., 1900.

  • Shakespeare, William. Macbeth, edited by Sandra Clark & Pamela Mason. Bloomsbury, 2015.