Bormans, Sir Henry
Yule, Mr. E.W.B. Nicholson,[34] Dr. J. Vogels,[35] M. Leopold Delisle,
Herr A. Bovenschen,[36] and last, not least, Dr. G.F. Warner, have in
our days proved that not only has the book bearing Mandeville's name been
compiled from the works of Vincent of Beauvais, Jacques of Vitry,
Boldensel, Carpini, Odoric, etc., but that it was written neither by a
Knight of St. Albans, by an Englishman, or by a Sir John Mandeville, but
very likely by the physician John of Burgundy or John a Beard.
In a repertory of La Librairie de la Collegiale de Saint Paul a Liege au
XV'e. Siecle, published by Dr. Stanislas Bormans, in the Bibliophile
Belge, Brussels, 1866, p. 236, is catalogued under No. 240: Legenda de
Joseph et Asseneth ejus uxore, in papiro. In eodem itinerarium Johannis de
Mandevilla militis, apud guilhelmitanos Leodienses sepulti.
Dr. S. Bormans has added the following note: "Jean Mandeville, ou Manduith,
theologien et mathematicien, etait ne a St. Alban en Angleterre d'une
famille noble. On le surnomma pour un motif inconnu, ad Barbam et
magnovillanus. En 1322, il traversa la France pour aller en Asie, servit
quelque temps dans les troupes du Sultan d'Egypte et revint seulement en
1355 en Angleterre.
