Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo 3: Of the Water and the Mountains

1559 map of the Black Sea by Portuguese cartographer Diego Homem

In search of Timur, the Castilian ambassadors leave Constantinople and travel east over the Black Sea and into the mountains beyond.

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:

• Narrative of the embassy of Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo to the court of Timour at Samarcand, A.D. 1403-6, translated by Clements R. Markham. Hakluyt Society, 1859.

• Embassy to Tamerlane: 1403-1406, translated by Guy le Strange. Routledge, 2005.

• King, Charles. The Black Sea: A History. Oxford University Press, 2005.

• Manz, Beatrice Forbes. The Rise and Rule of Tamerlane. Cambridge University Press, 1999.

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Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo 1: Byzantine Entanglements

Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo, as imagined in a 19th century engraving. Wikimedia

In 1403, Henry III of Castile sent ambassadors to Timur (Tamerlane), among them a man named Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo. In this episode, we cover the context and depart from port near Cadiz, travel the length of the Mediterranean, and visit Lesbos where we spend time with the ruling family and their involvements in Byzantine imperial politics.

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:

• Narrative of the embassy of Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo to the court of Timour at Samarcand, A.D. 1403-6, translated by Clements R. Markham. Hakluyt Society, 1859.

• Embassy to Tamerlane: 1403-1406, translated by Guy le Strange. Routledge, 2005.

• Manz, Beatrice Forbes. The Rise and Rule of Tamerlane. Cambridge University Press, 1999.

• Necipoğlu, Nevra. Byzantium Between the Ottomans and the Latins: Politics and Society in the Late Empire. Cambridge University Press, 2009.

• Rubiés, Joan-Pau. "Late Medieval Ambassadors and the Practice of Cross Cultural Encounters" 1250-1450," in The 'Book' of Travels: Genre, Ethnology, and Pilgrimage, 1250-1700, edited by Palmira Johnson Brummett. BRILL, 2009.

• Wright, Christopher. The Gattilusio Lordships and the Aegean World 1355-1462. BRILL, 2014.

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Eustace the Black Monk

Eustace’s death at the 1217 Battle of Sandwich as depicted by Matthew Paris in the Chronica Majora

This is the story of a monk, a sorcerer, a pirate, a woodland outlaw, and a master of disguise. His name is Eustace.

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:

• Burgess, Glyn S. Two Medieval Outlaws: Eustace the Monk and Fouke Fitz Waryn. D.S. Brewer, 1997.

• Davis, Alex. Imagining Inheritance from Chaucer to Shakespeare. Oxford University Press, 2020.

• Ohlgren, Thomas H. Medieval Outlaws: Twelve Tales in Modern English Translation. Parlor Press, 2005.

• Seal, Graham. Outlaw Heroes in Myth and History. Anthem Press, 2011.

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Sir John Mandeville 5: Mongols, Mountains, and Myths

The Travels of Sir John Mandeville - British Library Add. Ms 24189

Finishing up with Mandeville's travels, we visit the palace of the Mongol khan, the fortress paradise of the Old Man of the Mountain, and a land that never sees the sun.

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.

• The Book of John Mandeville, edited by Tamarah Kohanski and C. David Benson. Medieval Institute Publications, 2007. 

• Friedman, John Block. The Monstrous Races in Medieval Art and Thought. Syracuse University Press, 2000.

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

• Jackson, Peter. The Mongols and the West: 1221-1410. Routledge, 2018.

• Metlitzki, Dorothee. The Matter of Araby in Medieval England. Yale University Press, 2005.

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

• Verner, Lisa. The Epistemology of the Monstrous in the Middle Ages. Routledge, 2005.

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Sir John Mandeville 2: In and Around Jerusalem

Konrad von Grünenberg - View of Jerusalem, 1487

It's part two of the Mandeville series, and our journey reaches the Jerusalem of a 14th-century pilgrim. We'll spend some time there, getting to know the place and its surroundings, and its treatment in the Mandeville text. 

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.

• 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.

• Janin, Hunt. Four Paths to Jerusalem: Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and Secular Pilgrimages, 1000 BCE to 2001 CE. McFarland, 2006

• Moore, Kathryn Blair. The Architecture of the Christian Holy Land: Reception from Late Antiquity through the Renaissance. Cambridge University Press, 2017. 

• Pringle, Denys. The Churches of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem: Volume 3, The City of Jerusalem: A Corpus. Cambridge University Press, 1993.

• Routledge Handbook on Jerusalem. Edited by Suleiman A. Mourad, Naomi Koltun-Fromm, and Bedross Der Matossian. Routledge, 2018. 

• Routledge Revivals: Trade, Travel and Exploration in the Middle Ages (2000): An Encyclopedia. Edited by John Block Friedman & Kristen Mossler Figg. Taylor & Francis, 2017.

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

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Marco and the Polos 7: Marco Polo Comes Home

On this, the last episode of my Marco Polo series, Marco comes home to Venice. I touch on a bit of the history of the book (or books), The Travels of Marco Polo, and we follow Marco as he disentangles himself from the stifling embrace of Kublai Khan, encounters many things new and strange to him on the coast of India, and finds himself mixing with Ilkhan royalty. Thanks for listening!

(MP3)

If you like what you hear, my Patreon is here, my Ko-fi is here, and Paypal is here.

Sources:

• The Travels of Marco Polo, the Venetian, translated by William Marsden, edited by Thomas Wright. George Bell & Sons, 1907.

• The Travels of Marco Polo: The Complete Yule-Cordier Edition, translated by Henry Yule and revised by Henri Cordier. Courier Corporation, 1993.

• Bergreen, Laurence. Marco Polo: From Venice to Xanadu. Vintage Books, 2008.

• Lambton, Ann K. S. Continuity and Change in Medieval Persia. The Persian Heritage Foundation, 1988.

• Larner, John. Marco Polo and the Discovery of the World. Yale University Press, 1999.

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Marco and the Polos 6: The Grand Tour

It's the grand tour of the world, or at least that part of it from Southeast Asia to the African coast, and you are taking it with/as Marco Polo. There will be monstrous birds, cannibals, the spice trade, and quite a lot of date wine. There'll be the beginning of the Buddha and the end of Saint Thomas. You'll visit 13th-century Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Madagascar, Zanzibar, Ethiopia, Yemen, and Oman. Thanks for listening!

(MP3)

If you like what you hear, my Patreon is here, my Ko-fi is here, and Paypal is here.

Sources:

• The Travels of Marco Polo, the Venetian, translated by William Marsden, edited by Thomas Wright. George Bell & Sons, 1907.

• The Travels of Marco Polo: The Complete Yule-Cordier Edition, translated by Henry Yule and revised by Henri Cordier. Courier Corporation, 1993.

• Larner, John. Marco Polo and the Discovery of the World. Yale University Press, 1999.

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Marco and the Polos 5: The Echoes of the Wind

Marco Polo's story of "Zipangu," the secluded island kingdom, abundant with gold, and Kublai Khan's attempt to take it all, is the subject of this episode. I talk about the two Mongol invasions of Japan and how their story has reached us.

It's all about the invasions of 1274 and 1281, Kamakura-era Japan with its Hojo dominated shogunate, the Yuan emperor and his Korean vassals, the kamikaze, a song carved in stone at the Hakozaki shrine and a wall at Hakata Bay, the Sakoku Edict, Commodore Matthew Perry, the scrolls of Takezaki Suenaga, and the work of Torao Mozai and others. Enjoy! 

(MP3)

If you like what you hear, my Patreon is here, my Ko-fi is here, and Paypal is here. 

Sources:

• The Travels of Marco Polo, the Venetian, translated by William Marsden, edited by Thomas Wright. George Bell & Sons, 1907.

• The Travels of Marco Polo: The Complete Yule-Cordier Edition, translated by Henry Yule and revised by Henri Cordier. Courier Corporation, 1993.

• Chase, Kenneth W. "Mongol Intentions Towards Japan in 1266: Evidence from a Mongol Letter to the Sung." Sino-Japanese Studies 9, no. 2 (1997).

• Conlan, Thomas D. In Little Need of Divine Intervention: Takezaki Suenaga's Scrolls of the Mongol Invasions of Japan. Cornell University (2010).

• Delgado, James P. Adventures of a Sea Hunter: In Search of Famous Shipwrecks. Douglas & McIntyre, 2004.

• Delgado, James P. Khubilai Khan's Lost Fleet: In Search of a Legendary Armaga. Douglas & McIntyre, 2008.

• Delgado, James P. "Relics of the Kamikaze," Archaeology. 56, no. 1 (January/February, 2003).

• Larner, John. Marco Polo and the Discovery of the World. Yale University Press, 1999.

• Mass, Jeffrey P., ed. Court and Bakufu in Japan: Essays in Kamakura History. Stanford University Press (1995).

• Olschki, Leonardo. Marco Polo's Asia. University of California Press, 1960.

• Rossabi, Morris. Khubilai Khan: His Life and Times. University of California Press, 1988.

• Sasaki, Randall J. The Origins of the Lost Fleet of the Mongol Empire. Texas A & M University Press, 2015.

• Yamada, Nakaba. Ghenko, the Mongol Invasion of Japan. London, Smith, Elder, 1916.

Marco and the Polos 2: Of Assassins and Other Things

The three Polos depart for the summer palace of Kublai Khan. There'll be Assassins, baked corpses, and papal elections along the way! There'll be the conclusion of the longest of interregnums with the election of Gregory X, the threat of Mamluk attacks, the remnants of Alexander the Great, Prester John, Ong Khan, and Shangdu.

(MP3)

If you like what you hear, my Patreon is here, my Ko-fi is here, and Paypal is here.

Sources:

• The Travels of Marco Polo, the Venetian, translated by William Marsden, edited by Thomas Wright. George Bell & Sons, 1907.

• The Mission of Friar William of Rubruck, translated by Peter Jackson. The Hakluyt Society, 1990.

• Cathay and the Way Thither, Being a Collection of Medieval Notices of China, Vol. III, translated and edited by Henry Yule and Henri Cordier. London, 1916.

• Ackroyd, Peter. Venice: Pure City. Chatto & Windus, 2009.

• Daftary, Farhad. The Assassin Legends. I. B. Tauris, 1994.

• Larner, John. Marco Polo and the Discovery of the World. Yale University Press, 1999.

• Madden, Thomas F. Venice: A New History. Viking, 2012.

• Olschki, Leonardo. Marco Polo's Asia. University of California Press, 1960.

• Steinhardt, Nancy Shatzman. Chinese Imperial City Planning. University of Hawaii Press, 1999.

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Marco and the Polos 1: From Venice to the World

The journey of Venice's most famous merchant and traveller begins today, but we won't see much of him in this episode. We'll look at Venice in the early 13th century and touch on the 4th crusade, Mediterranean-Asian trade, and the Pax Mongolica, before following the other Polos, Niccolo and Maffeo, east on their own little adventure. Enjoy! 

(MP3)

If you like what you hear, my Patreon is here, my Ko-fi is here, and Paypal is here.

Sources:

• The Travels of Marco Polo, the Venetian, translated by Willam Marsden, edited by Thomas Wright. George Bell & Sons, 1907.

• The Mission of Friar William of Rubruck, translated by Peter Jackson. The Hakluyt Society, 1990.

• Cathay and the Way Thither, Being a Collection of Medieval Notices of China, Vol. III, translated and edited by Henry Yule and Henri Cordier. London, 1916.

• Abu-Lughod, Janet L. Before European Hegemony: The World System A.D. 1250-1350. Oxford University Press, 1989.

• Ackroyd, Peter. Venice: Pure City. Chatto & Windus, 2009.

• Ciociltan, Virgil. The Mongols and the Black Sea Trade in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries. Brill Academic, 2012.

• Larner, John. Marco Polo and the Discovery of the World. Yale University Press, 1999.

• Madden, Thomas F. Venice: A New History. Viking, 2012.

• Olschki, Leonardo. Marco Polo's Asia. University of California Press, 1960.

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