Sir John Mandeville 3: Mamluk Egypt

Detail from Add. MS 18866, a Mamluk manual on horsemanship

Detail from Add. MS 18866, a Mamluk manual on horsemanship

Our traveller reaches Egypt. He writes of wondrous gardens of balsam, of the pyramids and their purpose, of the recent history of the sultanate, and of the Mamluk Sultan's views of Latin Christian life.

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.

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

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

  • 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.

  • Legassie, Shayne. The Medieval Invention of Travel. University of Chicago Press, 2017.

  • Lindsay, James E. Daily Life in the Medieval Islamic World. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2005.

  • Milwright, Marcus. "The Balsam of Maṭariyya: An Exploration of a Medieval Panacea," in Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Vol. 66, No. 2 (2003).

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

  • Semeonis, Symon. The Journey of Symon Semeonis from Ireland to the Holy Land. The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1960.

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

,

Sir John Mandeville 2: In and Around Jerusalem

,
Konrad von Grünenberg - View of Jerusalem, 1487

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.

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.

The Book of the Wonders of India

Detail from the “Catalan Atlas.” Source: gallica.bnf.fr

Detail from the “Catalan Atlas.” Source: gallica.bnf.fr

Today's topic is the Kitāb ʻajāyib Al-Hind, or the Book of the Wonders of India, a 10th-century collection of wonders covering east Africa all the way to what might have been Japan. It's something of a sequel to the Abu Zayd episode. I mentioned there that the compiler avoided including the fanciful fables of the sea that sailors were so fond of spreading. This text, on the other hand, is full of them.

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:

  • The Book of the Marvels of India, translated by Peter Quennell. George Routledge And Sons, 1928.

  • Freeman-Grenville, G.S.P. "Some Thoughts on Buzurg ibn Shahriyar al-Ramhormuzi: 'The Book of the Wonders of India.'" Paideuma, vol. 28, 1982, pp. 63–70.

  • Manteghi, Haila. Alexander the Great in the Persian Tradition: History, Myth and Legend in Medieval Iran. I.B Tauris, 2018.

  • Ogden, Jack. Diamonds: An Early History of the King of Gems. Yale University Press, 2018.

  • Prioreschi, Plinio. A History of Medicine: Medieval Medicine. Horatius Press, 1996.

Halloween Mini Episode: The Stories of Walter Map

Medieval Death

It's Halloween, and here are some medieval stories appropriate to the season. This mini episode is about the stories of Walter Map, particularly those ones featuring demons, faeries, and the prisoners of the Wild Hunt.

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:

  • Joynes, Andrew. Medieval Ghost Stories. Boydell, 2006.

  • Map, Walter. De Nugis Curialium, translated by Frederick Tupper & Marburry Bladen Ogle. Chatto & Windus, 1924.

  • Schwieterman, Patrick Joseph. Fairies, Kingship, and the British Past in Walter Map's De Nugis Curialium and Sir Orfeo. UC Berkeley Electronic These and Dissertations, 2010.

  • Smith, Joshua Byron. Walter Map and the Matter of Britain. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017.

Abu Zayd and the Ways East

Al-Idrisi Map of the World

The Accounts of China and India, covering the trade between the Persian Gulf and points east in the 9th and 10th centuries, and the writings of Abu Zayd al-Sirafi. There are cultural customs, trading routes, and the calamitous events of the late 9th-century that shattered that trade and the Tang Dynasty.

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

Sources:

  • Accounts of China and India, translated by Tim Mackintosh-Smith. New York University Press, 2017.

  • Howard, Michael C. Transnationalism in Ancient and Medieval Societies: The Role of Cross-Border Trade and Travel. McFarland, 2014.

  • Krahl, Regina. Shipwrecked: Tang Treasures and Monsoon Winds. Smithsonian Institution, 2010.

  • Park, Hyunhee. Mapping the Chinese and Islamic Worlds: Cross-Cultural Exchange in Pre-Modern Asia. Cambridge University Press, 2012.

  • Schafer, Edward H. The Golden Peaches of Samarkand: A Study of T'ang Exotics. Pickle Partners Publishing, 2016.

Salah ad-Din 6: The Ayyubids

Salah ad-Din’s soldiers in a 14th-century manuscript

This is the Ayyubid Sultanate, the legacy of Salah ad-Din, a run through decades of civil war and crusades, culminating in the rise of the Mamluks.

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

Sources:

  • Abulafia, David. Frederick II: A Medieval Emperor. Oxford University Press, 1992

  • Afaf Lutfi al-Sayyid Marsot. A History of Egypt: From the Arab Conquest to the Present. Cambridge University Press, 2007.

  • Humphreys, R. Stephen. From Saladin to the Mongols. State University of New York Press, 1977.

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

Mini Episode: P.S. Dallam

16th century English ship

As indicated in the title, I'm going back to the Thomas Dallam series to give it a proper ending. When I did the Dallam series, I left him in Constantinople with the Ottoman sultan, so here I'm taking his story up to its conclusion with a mini-episode. Thanks for listening!

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.

Salah ad-Din 5: The End of the End

The Battle of Arsuf as depicted by Gustave Doré

This is the end of the Salah ad-Din series, featuring the arrival of Richard the Lionheart and Philip II at Acre, the Battle of Arsuf, and the Treaty of Jaffa.

Sources:

  • Itinerarium Peregrinorum et Gesta Regis Ricardi, edited by William Stubbs. Longmans, 1864. Translated by James Brundage, The Crusades: A Documentary History. Marquette University Press, 1962.

  • De Expugatione Terrae Sanctae per Saladinum, edited by Joseph Stevenson. Longmans, 1875. Translated by James Brundage, The Crusades: A Documentary History. Marquette University Press, 1962.

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

  • Edbury, Peter W. The Conquest of Jerusalem and the Third Crusade: Sources in Translation, 1st Edition. Routledge, 2017.

  • Gabrieli, Francesco. Arab Historians of the Crusades. University of California Press, 1978.

  • 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.

  • Terrell, Katherine H. Richard Coeur de Lion. Broadview Press, 2019.

Salah ad-Din 4: The Beginning of the End

The Siege of Acre - Salah ad-Din

This is the end of my Salah ad-Din series, part one. As I mention in the episode, I was aiming to wrap things up here, even aiming to do so with an extra-long episode, but there's just too much left to do that. So, this is the end, part one. In this episode, we follow the Salah ad-Din story after the Battle of Hattin and up to the arrival of King Richard the Lionheart at Acre.

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:

  • Itinerarium Peregrinorum et Gesta Regis Ricardi, edited by William Stubbs. Longmans, 1864. Translated by James Brundage, The Crusades: A Documentary History. Marquette University Press, 1962.

  • De Expugatione Terrae Sanctae per Saladinum, edited by Joseph Stevenson. Longmans, 1875. Translated by James Brundage, The Crusades: A Documentary History. Marquette University Press, 1962.

  • Christie, Niall. "Fighting women in the crusading period through Muslim eyes: Transgressing expectations and facing realities?" in Crusading and Masculinities. Routledge, 2019.

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

  • Edbury, Peter W. The Conquest of Jerusalem and the Third Crusade: Sources in Translation, 1st Edition. Routledge, 2017.

  • Gabrieli, Francesco. Arab Historians of the Crusades. University of California Press, 1978.

  • 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.