Mandeville's Travels
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
written after his return, are full of the marvelous. He describes the Holy Sepulchre and gives many a legend of the monks. He describes the Garden of Eden, feeling that a traveler of repute ought not to omit so important a topic; yet protects himself by giving the credit to hearsay. Aside from topics clearly treated to find favor with the clergy, especially the pope, whose permission to publish was requisite, his observations have been confirmed by later travelers. He told of trees bearing wool, that is to say, cotton, whereof clothing was made; of warm boxes used by the Egyptians to hatch eggs; of widows burning themselves on the funeral pile of their husbands; of women who bound the feet to make them small; of lizards, crocodiles, no doubt, large enough to seize a man; of the river horse, the hippopotamus of the Nile. Any child would smile now at the honest old soldier's budget of wonders, but in its day it was a remarkable book and created a sensation. Those who could read told their neighbors, and thus the new marvels sped. The volume is considered the earliest specimen of English prose. Welsh credits the Travels with the introduction of many new words into the English language as: nation, corner, date, defend, idol, cruelty, promise, publish, visit, conquer, and monster. Of late, critics have ventured to discredit the existence of any such traveler. Their theory is that "stay-at-homes" took this means of instructing the people. In other words the travels are a literary forgery.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
When Aiton's wrote this in 1910 it treated the discrediting of Sir John as a novelty — "of late, critics have ventured to discredit the existence of any such traveler" — and that minority view is now the settled position. The book, compiled around 1356-57, is a patchwork stitched together from earlier writers, chiefly the friar Odoric of Pordenone for the East and William of Boldensele for the Holy Land, by an author whose real identity has never been established. It was also written in French, not English, so Aiton's claim that it is "the earliest specimen of English prose" cannot stand: the Middle English texts are later translations, and the word-list credited to it must be read with that in mind. What has survived the demolition is the book's influence — it was read by Columbus and remains a central text of medieval travel writing, studied now as literature rather than reportage.
Written for this edition, 2026.