The land beyond the sea

A few weeks ago I spied an unusual looking book at Barnes & Noble; The Riddle and The Knight: In Search of Sir John Mandeville, the World's Greatest Traveller. Since I studied medieval and Renaissance literature in addition to Chem. E. in college, I was familiar with The Travels of Sir John Mandeville, one of the most popular travelogues in history, so I decided to buy the book and it turned out to be a very interesting read.

One of my English professors was Dr. Helen Mandeville who was a flamboyant ex-nun, full of life and possessing a collection of hats that only she and the Queen Mum could get away with. She mentioned once that she was related to the legendary knight and that the family believed much of the diary was blasphemous at the time it was written. We studied the book mostly for historical context rather than its actual content but Giles Milton diligently studies the content to confirm and explore Mandeville's story.

Milton succeeds in restoring some credibility to Mandeville's tales of traveilling through Turkey, Armenia, Persia, Syria, Arabia, Egypt, Libya, Chaldea, Ethiopia, Amazonia and India as well as confirming that he was, indeed, an Englishman from St. Albans. Here was a man who set out in 1322, travelled for the next 34 years and, when he returned, wrote the most readable account ever published. It quickly became very popular being translated into a dozen or more languages within 20 years. At the time it was published, The Church discounted anything that didn't fit into its biblical view of the Earth which added a forbidden appeal. The book has been said to have been a great influence and inspiration to Columbus since it spoke not only of the reality of circumnavigating the Earth but that other lands were habitable.

I often wonder what it would have been like to embark on such a journey. These days we book a plane ticket, read the Rough Guide on our destination, and find a hotel room where, upon arrival, we can generally be sure to find most of the same trappings of our home. I find this takes much of the adventure out of travel and have wanted to trek through Nepal on horseback and the Sahara by Camel in an attempt to find that sense of rare exploration. However, there is little uncharted territory left on Earth in the 22nd Century unlike when Mandeville set out to explore the world and it is fun to vicariously discover and experience the strange new people and lands through his eyes.