Holy Land

Sir John Mandeville 1: To the Holy Land

John Mandeville departs England with the encouragement of the king - BNF Fr2810 f141

John Mandeville departs England with the encouragement of the king - BNF Fr2810 f141

Sir John Mandeville, a 14th-century figure who travelled/maybe travelled/almost definitely didn't travel from England to Jerusalem and its holy places, to the court of the sultan in Egypt, to the realms of the Mongol khan, and to the long sought lands of Prester John. With this episode, we start the journey.

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

Sources:

  • Sir John Mandeville: The Book of Marvels and Travels, translated by Anthony Bale. Oxford University Press, 2012.

  • The Travels of Sir John Mandeville, translated by Charles Moseley. Penguin, 2005.

  • Clark, James G. A Monastic Renaissance at St Albans: Thomas Walsingham and his Circle c.1350-1440. Clarendon Press, 2004. 

  • Greenblatt, Stephen. Marvellous Possessions: The Wonder of the New World. University of Chicago Press, 1991. 

  • Higgins, Iain Macleod. Writing East: The "Travels" of Sir John Mandeville. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1997.

  • Tzanaki, Rosemary. Mandeville's Medieval Audiences: A Study on the Reception of the Book of Sir John Mandeville (1371-1550). Taylor & Francis, 2017.

Salah ad-Din 2: A Syrian Election

Statue of Salah ad-Din in Damascus

The story of Salah ad-Din's expansion from Egypt back into Syria, his brushes with Rashid ad-Din Sinan's Assassins, his constant lobbying of the Abbasid caliph in Baghdad, his struggles with the Zengid remnants and with a cast of enemies among the crusader states including Baldwin the Leper, Reynold de Chatillon, Raymond of Tripoli, and  King Amalric of Jerusalem.

If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here, my Ko-fi is here, my Paypal is here, and I have some things on Redbubble at https://www.redbubble.com/people/humancircus.

Sources:

  • Cobb, Paul, M. The Race for Paradise: An Islamic History of the Crusades. Oxford University Press, 2016. 

  • Lēv, Yaacov. Saladin in Egypt. Brill, 1999.

  • Lyons, Malcolm Cameron & Jackson, D.E.P. Saladin: The Politics of the Holy War. Cambridge University Press, 1982.

  • Man, John. Saladin: The Life, the Legend, and the Islamic Empire. Bantam Press, 2015.

  • Mirza, Nasseh Ahmad.  Syrian Ismailism: The Ever Living Line of the Imamate, AD 1100-1260. Psychology Press, 1997. 

  • Waterson, James. The Ismaili Assassins: A History of Medieval Murder. Frontline Books, 2008.