Culture Shock Parody CoverAt 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:
  • 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:

  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.