Middle English Literature

The Far East
Accounts of the Far East appealed to medieval people’s pleasure in wonder
and their desire for political, moral, historical, and geographical intelligence.
According to medieval Christian geography, the Orient is the top of the
mappa mundi. It is the East, farther away but also the natural extension of
a spiritual line from Europe at the bottom of the map, up by way of Rome
and through Jerusalem, the center of the world. At the top center of the
great continent of Asia is earthly paradise, and marvelous and diverse lands,
peoples, and creatures fan out below it.
The first half of Mandeville’s Travels contains depictions of the Holy
Land derived from travel guides (for the Mandeville author and the Book’s
composition, see “Amazons,” p. 88). Descriptions of the lands beyond
Jerusalem occupy the second half and are based on Friar Odoric of Pord-
enone’s fourteenth-century Relatio as well as encyclopedias such as Vincent
of Beauvais’ Speculum historiale and romances.
Primary documents and further reading
Deluz, C. (1988) Le livre de Jehan de Mandeville: Une “géographie” au XIVe siècle.
Louvain-la-Neuve: Institut d’etudes médiévales de l’Université catholique de
Louvain.
20
Luke 20.34–6.
21
Matthew 13.44.
22
plow, cultivate.
23
Mark 12.25.
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Gender, Sexuality, and Difference
Howard, D. R. (1971) “The World of Mandeville’s Travels.” Yearbook of English
Studies 1: 1–17.
Odoric of Pordenone (1913) The Eastern Parts of the World Described. Vol. 2: Cathay
and the Way Thither, Being a Collection of Medieval Notices of China, ed. and
trans. H. Yule. Revd. edn. H. Cordier. London: Cambridge University Press.
Sir John Mandeville. British Library MS Cotton Titus C.xvi, fols. 78r–129r. In M. C. Seymour
(ed.) (1967) Mandeville’s Travels. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 138–222 (selections).
Language: English (Southeast Midland)
Manuscript date: ca. 1400
But fast besyde that yle
1
for to passe be see is a gret yle and a gret contree
that men clepen Java, and it is nygh two thousand myle in circuyt. And the
kyng of that contree is a fulle gret lord and a riche and a myghty, and hath
under him seven other kynges of seven other yles abouten hym. This yle
is fulle wel enhabyted and fulle wel manned. There growen alle maner of
spicerie more plentyfouslich than in ony other contree, as of gyngevere,
clowe gylofres, canelle, zedewalle,
2
notemuges, and maces. And wyteth wel
that the notemuge bereth the maces. For right as the note of the haselle
hath an husk withouten that the note is closed in til it be ripe and after
falleth out, right so it is of the notemuge and of the maces. Manye other
spices and many other godes growen in that yle, for of alle thing is there
plentee saf only of wyn. But there is gold and silver gret plentee.
And the kyng of that contre hath a paleys fulle noble and fulle merveyllous
and more riche than ony in the world. For alle the degrez to gon up into
halles and chambres ben on of gold, another of sylver, and also the pavmentes
of halles and chambres ben alle square, on of gold and another of sylver.
And alle the walles withinne ben covered with gold and sylver in fyn plates,
and in tho plates ben stories and batayles of knyghtes enleved,
3
and the
crounes and the cercles abouten here hedes ben made of precious stones
and riche perles and grete. And the halles and the chambres of the palays
ben alle covered withinne with gold and sylver so that no man wolde trowe
the richess of that palays but he had seen it.
And witeth wel that the kyng of that yle is so myghty that he hath many
tymes overcomen the Grete Cane of Cathay in bataylle,
4
that is the most
1
“Betemga,” an unidentified island near or part of Sumatra.
2
ginger, cloves, cinnamon, zedoary.
3
carved.
4
Kublai Khan unsuccessfully tried to conquer Java in 1293.

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gret emperour that is under the firmament, outher beyonde the see or on
this half. For thei han had often tyme werre betwene hem because that the
Grete Cane wolde constreynen him to holden his lond of him but that
other at alle tymes defendeth him well ayenst him.
After that yle in goynge be see men fynden another yle gode and gret
that men clepen Pathen,
5
that is a gret kyngdom fulle of faire cytees and
fulle of townes. In that lond growen trees that beren mele wherof men
maken gode bred and white and of gode savour, and it semeth as it were of
whete but it is not allynges
6
of such savour. And there ben other trees that
beren hony gode and swete.
And other trees that beren venym ayenst the whiche there is no medicyne
but [on], and that is to taken here propre leves and stampe hem and tem-
pere him with water and than drynke it, and elles he schalle dye, for triacle
wil not avaylle ne non other medicyne. Of this venym the Jewes had let seche
of on of here frendes for to enpoysone alle Cristiantee, as I have herd hem
seye in here confessioun before here dyenge. But, thanked be allemyghty
God, thei fayleden of hire purpos, but alleweys thei maken gret mortalitee of
poeple. And other trees ther ben also that beren wyn of noble sentement.
7
And yif you lyke to here how the mele cometh out of the trees, I schalle
seye you. Men hewen the trees with an hachet alle aboute the fote of the
tree tille that the bark be perced in many parties. And than cometh out
therof a thikke lykour, the whiche thei resceyven in vesselles and dryen it at
the hete of the sonne. And than thei han it to a mylle to grynde, and it
becometh faire mele and white. And the hony and the wyn and the venym
ben drawen out of other trees in the same manere and put in vesselles for
to kepe.
In that yle is a ded see that is a lake that hath no ground. And yif ony
thing falle into that lake it schalle never comen up ayen. In that lake growen
reedes that ben cannes
8
that thei clepen thaby,
9
that ben thirty fadme
10
long,
and of theise cannes men maken faire houses. And ther ben other cannes
that ben not so longe that growen nere the lond and han so longe rotes
that duren
11
wel a four quarteres of a furlong ore more. And at the knottes
5
Also referred to as “Thalamass” or “Salamasse” in other versions, possibly part of Borneo.
6
in all.
7
Starting in the thirteenth century, Christians regularly accused Jews of poisoning wells and
causing the pestilence (see the image “Miracle of the Boy Singer,” p. 147).
8
I.e., bamboo.
9
Solinus (third century) calls the lake Tabi.
10
fathom.
11
extend.
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Gender, Sexuality, and Difference
of tho rotes men fynden precious stones that han gret vertues.
12
And he that
bereth ony of hem upon him, yren ne steel ne may not hurt him ne drawe
no blod upon him. And therfore thei that han tho stones upon hem fighten
fulle hardyly bothe on see and lond, for men may not harmen [hem] on
no partye. And therfore thei that knowen the manere and schulle fighte
with hem, thei schoten to hem arwes and quarelles withouten yren or steel,
and so thei hurten hem and sleen hem. And also of tho cannes thei maken
houses and schippes and other thinges, as wee han here makynge houses
and schippes of oke or of ony other trees. And deme no man that I seye it
but for a truffulle, for I have seen of tho cannes with myn owne eyyen fulle
many tymes lyggynge upon the ryvere of that lake, of the whiche twenty of
oure felowes ne myghten not liften up ne beren on to the erthe.
After this yle, men gon be see to another yle that is clept Calonok,
13
and
it is a fair lond and a plentifous of godes. And the kyng of that contrey hath
als many wyfes as he wole, for he makth serche alle the contree to geten him
the fairest maydens that may ben founde and maketh hem to ben brought
before him. And he taketh on o nyght and another another nyght, and so
forth contynuelly sewyng,
14
so that he hath a thousand wyfes or mo. And he
liggeth never but o nyght with on of hem and another nyght with another
but yif that on happene to ben more lusty to his plesance than another. And
therfore the kyng geteth fulle many children, sumtyme an hundred, sumtyme
an two hundred, and sumtyme mo.
And he hath also into a fourteen thousand olifauntz or mo that he
maketh for to ben brought up amonges his vileynes be alle his townes. For
in cas that he had ony werre ayenst ony other kyng aboute him, thanne
maketh [he] certeyn men of armes for to gon up into the castelles of tree
made for the werre that craftylly ben sett upon the olifantes bakkes for to
fyghten ayen hire enemyes. And so don other kynges thereaboute. For the
maner of werre is not there as it is here or in other contrees, ne the
ordynance of werre nouther. And men clepen the olifantes warkes.
And in that yle there is a gret mervayle more to speke of than in ony
other partie of the world. For alle manere of fissches that ben there in the
see abouten hem comen ones in the yeer, eche manere of dyverse fissches,
on maner of kynde after other, and thei casten hemself to the see banke of
that yle so gret plentee and multitude that no man may unnethe see but
fissch. And there thei abyden three dayes, and every man of the contree
12
Concretions of silica form at bamboo’s joints.
13
Cam Pha, off the coast from present-day northeastern Vietnam.
14
following.

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taketh of hem als many as him lyketh. And after that maner of fissch after
the thridde day departeth and goth into the see. And after hem comen
another multitude of fyssch of another kynde and don in the same maner
as the firste diden other three dayes. And after hem another tille alle the
dyverse maner of fisshes han ben there and that men han taken of hem that
hem lyketh.
And no man knoweth the cause wherfore it may ben. But thei of the
contree seyn that it is for to do reverence to here kyng that is the most
worthi kyng that is in the world, as thei seyn, because that he fulfilleth the
commandement that God bad to Adam and Eve whan God seyde, “Crescite