A cursory comparison of this with Mandeville
leaves no doubt of the fact that the latter has followed its thread, using
its suggestions, and on many subjects its expressions, though digressing
and expanding on every side, and too often eliminating the singular good
sense of the German traveller. After such a comparison we may indicate as
examples Boldensele's account of Cyprus (Mandeville, Halliwell's ed.
1866, p. 28, and p. 10), of Tyre and the coast of Palestine (Mandeville,
29, 30, 33, 34), of the journey from Gaza to Egypt (34), passages about
Babylon of Egypt (40), about Mecca (42), the general account of Egypt
(45), the pyramids (52), some of the particular wonders of Cairo, such as
the slave-market, the chicken-hatching stoves, and the apples of Paradise,
i.e. plantains (49), the Red Sea (57), the convent on Sinai (58, 60),
the account of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (74-76), etc."
He adds: "It is curious that no passage in Mandeville can be plausibly
traced to Marco Polo, with one exception. This is (Halliwell's ed., p.
163) where he states that at Ormus the people, during the great heat, lie
in water, - a circumstance mentioned by Polo, though not by Odoric. We
should suppose it most likely that this fact had been interpolated in the
copy of Odoric used by Mandeville; for, if he had borrowed it direct from
Polo, he would have borrowed more." (Encyclopaedia Britannica, p. 474.)
"Leaving this question, there remains the more complex one whether the
book contains, in any measure, facts and knowledge acquired by actual
travels and residence in the East. We believe that it may, but only as a
small portion of the whole, and that confined entirely to the section of
the work which treats of the Holy Land, and of the different ways of
getting thither, as well as of Egypt, and in general of what we understand
by the Levant." (Ibid. p. 473.)
Dr. Warner deals the final blow in the National Biography: "The
alphabets which he gives have won him some credit as a linguist, but only
the Greek and the Hebrew (which were readily accessible) are what they
pretend to be, and that which he calls Saracen actually comes from the
Cosmographia of aethicus! His knowledge of Mohammedanism and its Arabic
formulae impressed even Yule. He was, however, wholly indebted for that
information to the Liber de Statu Saracenorum of William of Tripoli
(circa 1270), as he was to the Historiae Orientis of Hetoum, the
Armenian (1307), for much of what he wrote about Egypt. In the last case,
indeed, he shows a rare sign of independence, for he does not, with
Hetoum, end his history of the sultanate about 1300, but carries it onto
the death of En-Nasir (1341), and names two of his successors. Although
his statements about them are not historically accurate, this fact and a
few other details suggest that he may really have been in Egypt, if not at
Jerusalem, but the proportion of original matter is so very far short of
what might be expected that even this is extremely doubtful."
With this final quotation, we may take leave of John of Mandeville, alias
John a Beard.
H.C.
[1] "The raphia, here called the 'Devil's date,' is celebrated as
having the largest leaf in the vegetable Kingdom," etc. In his
translation of Lacerda's journey he calls it Raphia vinifera.
[2] MANDEVILLE, Jehan de [By Edward Byron Nicholson, M.A., and Colonel
Henry Yule, C.B.] Ext. from the Encyclopaed. Britan. 9th ed.,
xv. 1883, ppt. 4to., pp. 4.
[3] Encyclop. Brit. xv. p. 473.
[4] British Museum, Harley, 4383, f. 1 verso.
[5] Les Voyages en Asie an XIV'e siecle du Bienheureux frere Odoric de
Pordenone. Paris, 1891, p. cxvi.
[6] Bibliographische Untersuchungen ueber die Reise-Beschreibung des Sir
John Maundeville. - Dem Herrn Samuel Gottfried Reiche, Rector und
Professor des Gymnasiums zu St. Elisabet in Breslau und Vice-Praeses
der Schlesischen Gesellschaft fuer Vaterlaendische Cultur, Ritter des
rothen Adlerordens, zur Feier Seines Amts-Jubelfestes am 30. October
1840 im Namen des Gymnasiums zu St. Maria Magdalena gewidmet von Dr.
Carl. Schoenborn, Director, Rector und Professor. - Breslau, gedruckt
bei Grass, Barth und Comp., ppt. 4to. pp. 24.
[7] Bibliographia geographica Palaestinae. Zunaechst kritische Uebersicht
gedruckter und ungedruckter Beschreibungen der Reisen ins heilige
Land. Von Titus Tobler. - Leipzig, Verlag von S. Hirzel. 1867, 8vo.,
pp. iv.-265.: C. 1336 (1322-1356). Der englische ritter John
Maundeville, pp. 36-39.
[8] Bibliotheca geographica Palestinae. Chronologisches Verzeichniss der
auf die Geographie des Heiligen Landes bezueglichen Literatur von 333
bis 1878 und Versuch einer Cartographie. Herausgegeben von Reinhold
Roehricht. Berlin, H. Reuther, 1890, 8vo, pp. xx-742.
[9] Bibliotheca Sinica. - Dictionnaire bibliographique des ouvrages
relatif sa l'empire chinois par Henri Cordier. Paris, Ernest Leroux,
1878-1895, 3 vol. 8vo. col. 943-959, 1921-1927, 2201.
[10] Jean de Mandeville. Ext. du T'oung Pao, vol. ii. No. 4, Leide,
E.J. Brill, 1891, 8vo, pp. 38.
[11] Jch Otto von diemeringen ein || Thumherre zu Metz in Lothoringen. han
dises buch verwandelvsz || welschs vnd vsz latin zu tuetsch durch das
die tuetschen luete ouch mogent || dar inne lesen von menigen
wunderlichen sachen die dor inne geschribe || sind. von fremden landen
vn fremden tieren von fremden lueten vnd von || irem glouben von. iren
wesen von iren kleidern. vnd vo vil andern wun || deren als hie noch
in den capitelen geschriben stat. Und ist das buch in || fuenf teil
geteilt vnd saget das erst buch von den landen vnd von den we || gen
vsz tuetschen nider landen gen Jerusalem zu varen.
