Previously, we heard Odoric (or Odoricus) of Pordenone (or Friuli) describe his travels as a Franciscan missionary to the Far East. This episode, we get an attempt by a later chronicler to craft a saint’s life for the traveler, using surprising little material from Odoric’s writing, but finding many other marvels and miracles to include.
Today’s Text:
References:
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Yule, Henry.
Cathay and the Way Thither. Vol. 1, Hakluyt Society, 1866.
Google Books.
Audio credit: Naqqāra/nagara sound clip from a performance by Ghanshyam “Gotoo” Solanki, produced by Udaipur Shakti Works. Used under Creative Commons CC-BY 3.0 license.
Image: Photo of the tomb of Odoric at Chiesa della Beata Vergine del Carmine (via Wikimedia Commons).
At last we reach the coast of China with Friar Odoricus in the final episode of our medieval travelers series. We also take a look at the Renaissance exploration advocate and scholar, Richard Hakluyt, whose name adorns the learned Society that produced many of the translations we’ve used in this series and who himself provides the translation of Odoricus featured in this episode.
Today’s Text:
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Odoricus. “The Voyage of Frier Beatus Ordoricus to Asia Minor, Armenia, Chaldea, Persia, India, China, and Other Remote Parts, &c.”
The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation, edited and translated by Richard Hakluyt, vol. 4, Macmillan 1904, pp. 371-444.
Google Books.
- John de Marignolli. “Recollections of Travel in the East, by John De’ Marignolli, Papal Legate to the Court of the Great Khan, and Afterwards Bishop of Bisignano.” Cathay and the Way Thither, translated by Henry Yule, vol. 2, Hakluyt Society, 1866. Google Books.
References:
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Bridges, Roy. “The Legacy of Richard Hakluyt: Reflections on the History of the Hakluyt Society.” Richard Hakluyt and Travel Writing in Early Modern Europe, edited by Daniel Carey and Claire Jowitt, Extra Series 47, Routledge, 2012, pp. 309-317.
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Markham, Clements.
Richard Hakluyt: His Life and Work, with a Short Account of the Aims and Achievements of the Hakluyt Society. Hakluyt Society, 1896.
Google Books.
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Moule, A.C. “A Life of Odoric of Pordenone.”
T’oung Pao, Second Series, vol. 20, no. 3/4, Aug. 1920 – Aug. 1921, pp. 275-290.
JSTOR.
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Shahar, Meir. “The Lingyin Si Monkey Disciples and the Origins of Sun Wukong.”
Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, vol. 52, no. 1, June 1992, pp. 1993-224.
JSTOR.
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Yule, Henry.
Cathay and the Way Thither. Vol. 1, Hakluyt Society, 1866.
Google Books.
Special audio credits:
- Music playing under Hakluyt excerpt: John Dowland’s “Semper Dowland Semper Dolans,” performed by I Solipsisti, used under the CC-BY 3.0 license.
- Gibbon sound recording by Freesound.org user RTB45, also used under the CC-BY 3.0 license.
In our third travelers episode, we catch up with the explorer and diplomat Ibn Battuta, as he narrowly avoids disaster in Southern India, though his entourage is not so lucky. We also get some of the first written descriptions of the people of the Maldives, and discuss the status of slaves in Ibn Battuta’s traveling household.
Today’s Text:
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Ibn Batuta, Mohammed.
The Travels of Ibn Batuta. Edited and translated by Samuel Lee, Oriental Translation Committee, 1829.
Google Books.
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Ibn Baṭūṭṭa. The Travels of Ibn Battūta: A.D. 1325-1354. Translated by H.A.R. Gibb, vol. 1, Hakluyt Society Second Series no. 110, Cambridge UP, 1958.
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Ibn Baṭūṭṭa. The Travels of Ibn Battūta: A.D. 1325-1354. Translated by H.A.R. Gibb and C.F. Beckingham, vol. 4, Hakluyt Society Second Series no. 178, Cambridge UP, 1994.
References:
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Tolmacheva, Marina A. “Concubines on the Road: Ibn Battuta’s Slave Women.” Concubines and Courtesans: Woman and Slavery in Islamic History, edited by Matthew S. Gordon and Kathryn A. Hain, Oxford, UP, 2017, pp. 163-189.
Image: A replica of a Chinese Junk on display in the Ibn Battuta Mall, Dubai. Photo by Nimravic, Wikimedia Commons.
Note: Patrons can access a special appendix to this episode featuring a letter by Samuel Lee narrating how he taught himself a whole range of ancient languages while working as a carpenter. You can become a patron at http://www.patreon.com/mdtpodcast.
In the second installment of our medieval travelers series, we follow Marco Polo into the deserts of Iran and learn about the hazards of the road, including a lethal wind.
Today’s Text
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Polo, Marco.
The Book of Ser Marco Polo, the Venetian, Concerning the Kingdoms and Marvels of the East. Translated and edited by Henry Yule, 2nd rev. ed., Vol. I, John Murray, 1875.
Google Books.
Footnote Background Music: from Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition (piano concerto version composed in 1874, at the same time Yule was producing his translation of Polo), as performed by the Skidmore College Orchestra.
Image: Image of the Salt Desert in Iran, by Jeanne Menjoulet (https://www.flickr.com/photos/jmenj/9261280308/) [CC By 2.0]
We kick off a miniseries of texts from medieval travelers by continuing with Gerald of Wales as he sets out to tour Wales with Archbishop Baldwin, collecting stories from the region and getting involved in a few escapades of his own.
Today’s Texts:
Selected References:
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Bartlett, Robert. Gerald of Wales: 1146-1223. Clarendon Press, 1982.
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Coulter, Cornelia C., and F.P. Magoun, Jr. “Giraldus Cambrensis on Indo-Germanic Philology.” Speculum, vol. 1, no. 1, Jan. 1926, pp. 104-109. JSTOR, doi:10.2307/2847347.
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Sargent, Amelia Lynn Borrego. Visions and Revisions: Gerald of Wales, Authorship, and the Construction of Political, Religious, and Legal Geographies in Twelfth and Thirteenth Century Britain. Disseration, University of California, Berkeley, 2011.
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Sims-Williams, Patrick. Irish Influence on Medieval Welsh Literature. Oxford UP, 2011.
Image: Footbridge over the River Neath by Cedwyn Davies (used under CC BY-SA 2.0 license).
We’re back for some late summer episodes with a look at how medieval authors cozied up to potential patrons, with a specific look at Gerald of Wales. Coincidentally, we also announce our Patreon campaign! You can support us at www.patreon.com/mdtpodcast/ and get an audiobook of Jordanus’s Wonders of the East.
Today’s Texts:
Selected References:
- Gilbert, Creighton E. “What Did the Renaissance Patron Buy?” Renaissance Quarterly, vol. 51, no. 2, Summer 1998, pp. 392-450. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2901572.
- Haskins, Charles H. “Henry II as a Patron of Literature.” Essays in Medieval History Presented to Thomas Frederick Trout, edited by A.G. Little and F.M. Powicke, Books for Libraries Press, 1925.
- Holzknecht, Karl Julius. Literary Patronage in the Middle Ages. Collegiate Press, 1923. Archive.org, https://archive.org/details/literarypatronag00holzuoft.
- Safner, Ryan. “Do Patronize Me: The Comparative Political Economy of Arts Patronage, Copyright, and Crowdfunding.” 10 Nov. 2015.
Image: Detail from British Library Harley MS 4425, f. 47v.
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