53 pages • 1 hour read
John MandevilleThe Travels of Sir John Mandeville
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1356A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Key Figures
Sir John Mandeville
Sir John Mandeville is the pseudonym of the book’s author, whose real identity remains unknown. Despite the book purporting to be about Mandeville’s travels, he only rarely refers to himself. When he does use the first person, it is often to relay personal experiences, or the lack thereof, at certain locations. For example, he refers to drinking from the Well of Youth in Chapter 18 and admits he has not traveled to Jerusalem via the entirely overland route outlined in Chapter 14.
It is hard to form a biography of Mandeville even as a character because he gives so few details about who he is. He describes himself as a knight of St Albans who left England in 1322 and returned in either 1356 or 1366, depending on the version of the manuscript. Over the course of his decades traveling, Mandeville claims, he spent time in the service of the Egyptian sultan and the Mongol khan, fighting against Bedouin tribes and the Manzi Kingdom, respectively. He alludes to further “honourable deeds of arms with worthy men” performed during his travels (189), but he gives no specifics. Mandeville’s role in the book is mostly that of a narrator and guide, as he purports to be an exceptionally knowledgeable man who is sharing his hard-earned wisdom.
Mandeville’s narration often explicitly invokes the theme of The Lessons Christians Can Learn From Other Cultures. The conversation with the Egyptian sultan and Mandeville’s personal musings on various cultures allow him to directly present his views to readers. This is clear in the story of the Land of Shadow, after which Mandeville states, “It strikes me that this miracle and others like it should move Christian folk to have more devotion” (163). Mandeville thus uses his narrative voice to communicate his themes. Mandeville also presents himself as exhibiting the virtues that he wants readers to adhere to, setting himself up as a moral example to boost his arguments’ effectiveness. When offered marriage to an Egyptian princess on the condition that he convert to Islam, Mandeville says he stayed true to his faith. Similarly, he passes through the Vale Perilous without falling into greed. The character shows the devotion to Christianity that he claims Western Christendom lacks.
The Egyptian Sultan
Early in his travels, Mandeville visits Egypt and (he claims) stays with the Mamluk sultan, though it is uncertain who exactly this figure is meant to represent historically. Mandeville lifts most of his chronology of Egyptian history from Hetoum (an earlier writer), mixing this with details he presumably personally researched. The sultan he calls Melechinasser (Melechnasser) is historically identifiable as an-Nasir and reigned over a prosperous Egypt for an extended period. Following his reign, eight of his sons succeeded one another over the course of a 13-year period; it could be one of these sons whom Mandeville refers to as Melechimandabron.
Regardless of the identity of the sultan, he is generally depicted positively by Mandeville. He is shown to have a capacity for cruelness but also kindness; Mandeville notes that guards strike down messengers who displease the sultan, but he also says that the sultan tries to grant the wishes of any petitioner. It would be natural for a Christian writer like Mandeville to characterize the sultan—the leader of a powerful Islamic state and a non-Christian ruler of Jerusalem—as a tyrant or religious persecutor. Instead, Mandeville emphasizes that the sultan allowed him access to religious sites.
The conversation between Mandeville and the sultan explains this depiction. Here Mandeville uses the sultan as a mouthpiece for his criticism of Western Christendom’s lack of devotion. As Mandeville says, “It seemed to me then a cause for great shame that Saracens, who have neither a correct faith nor a perfect law, should in this way reprove us for our failings, keeping their false law better than we do that of Jesus Christ” (108). The sultan’s piety, though in Mandeville’s eyes misguided, therefore renders the failings of contemporary Christians more obvious.
The Great Khan Thyak
Following their 13th-century conquests, the Mongols ruled a vast empire that stretched from China across Central Asia and toward the Black Sea. As Mandeville’s narrative arrives in China, the Mongol khan (often referred to as the “Great Khan”) is introduced. Mandeville describes him as the most powerful ruler in the world and highlights the khan’s exceptional wealth. The khan and the festivals that Mandeville says celebrate him are emblematic of Mandeville’s depiction of Asia as an area of luxury and fantastical splendor and thus develop the theme of Medieval Depictions of the Exotic and the Other.
Mandeville claims to have fought for the Khan Thyak, also called Kuyuk Khan, for a period of 16 months. The real Kuyuk Khan was a short-lived ruler from the 13th century, but the figure in Mandeville appears to be a conflation of various leaders, including Kublai Khan (who earlier appeared in Marco Polo’s writings). The khan is given few personality traits in Mandeville’s work beyond stateliness, nobility, and excellence. Mandeville presents him as a near-perfect ruler in this regard, hampered only by his lack of Christianity. Even then, Mandeville claims that the khan favors Christians, employing 200 Christian physicians and only 20 Muslim ones.
The repeated emphasis on the khan, a non-Christian, as the most powerful ruler on Earth reinforces the pressing need for readers to reform. That Christians are not currently the sovereigns of the world, as Mandeville stresses they ought to be, is shown by the exceeding power and wealth of the khan.
Prester John
The figure of Prester John was an enduring legend in Christian history. The myth first arose in the 12th century when the Byzantine Emperor Manuel Komnenos allegedly received a letter from a king named Prester John. In it, Prester John described his immense wealth, numerous marvels, and benevolent rule. The myth gained popularity, partially because the beleaguered Crusader states needed an ally against the Muslim powers. As geographic knowledge of Asia increased, the purported location of Prester John’s kingdom changed from India, to Central Asia, to Ethiopia.
Over the course of Mandeville’s travels, he claims to meet the legendary ruler in India, where he is the ruler of 72 provinces and a king of kings. Mandeville portrays him as a wealthy and powerful king (second in both only to the khan), who rules his people well and oversees a kingdom filled with marvels. His realm is characterized by its Christian faith, “exotic” practices, and military might, which is in line with the long-established legend. To explain why this king, whose reign postdates the first reference to Prester John by over a century, is also called Prester John, Mandeville makes “Prester John” a hereditary title. In the narrative, Prester John serves as a symbol of hope that Christianity’s influence might spread and demonstrates the importance of myth in Mandeville’s understanding of the world.
