A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages: The World Through Medieval Eyes

Bale, Anthony

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W. W. Norton

Annotation: A captivating journey of the expansive world of medieval travel, from London to Constantinople to the court of China and beyond.

Genre: [World history]

Reviews: 1

Catalog Number: #378637

Format: Publisher's Hardcover

Publisher: W. W. Norton

Edition Date: 2024 Release Date: 02/13/24

Pages: xvi, 352 pages

ISBN: 1-324-06457-9

ISBN 13: 978-1-324-06457-2

Dewey: 909.07

Dimensions: 24 cm.

Subject Heading:
Travel. History. To 1500.
Middle Ages.
Civilization, Medieval.
Europe. History. 476-1492.
Europe. Description and travel.

Language: English

Reviews:

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Historian Bale (Margery Kempe) draws on medieval European travel guides and travelogues for an informative and entertaining survey of “the practicalities, the pleasantries and the perils” of travel in the Middle Ages. Travelers who journeyed by foot, ship, and horseback encountered a landscape of monuments and ruins before reaching bustling European cities like London and Rome, or more distant destinations such as Constantinople and Jerusalem. Though the travel guides were not always completely accurate, they included sound advice (always carry a staff and bag, preferably blessed by a priest before departure; travel in groups for safety; bring sufficient coin for tolls, fees, and other expenses; use good manners in taverns; and prepare a last will and testament before leaving) as well as fanciful tales (airborne cats; trees that grow gems for the taking; and repeated warnings about cannibalism). Beyond human curiosity and wanderlust, the medieval traveler was motivated by religious pilgrimages, economic opportunities, and political intrigue, all of which receive attention in Bale’s vibrant profiles of various historical travelers, including Rabban Bar Sauma, a Mongol Christian and emissary whose Eastern perspective of Western life presents a welcome departure from the Eurocentric view. Medieval history buffs will relish this. (Feb.)

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Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Bibliography Index/Note: Includes bibliographical references (pages [305]-325) and indexes.

Reading Level: 7.0

Interest Level: 9+

Europeans of the Middle Ages were the first to use travel guides to orient their wanderings, as they moved through a world punctuated with miraculous wonders and beguiling encounters. In this vivid and alluring history, medievalist Anthony Bale invites readers on an odyssey across the medieval world, recounting the advice that circulated among those venturing to the road for pilgrimage, trade, diplomacy, and war. Journeying alongside scholars, spies, and saints, from Western Europe to the Far East, the Antipodes and the ends of the earth, Bale provides indispensable information on the exchange rate between Bohemian ducats and Venetian groats, medieval cures for seasickness, and how to avoid extortionist tour guides and singing sirens. He takes us from the streets of Rome, more ruin than tourist spot, and tours of the Khan's court in Beijing to Mamluk-controlled Jerusalem, where we ride asses across the holy terrain, and bustling bazaars of Tabriz. We also learn of rumored fantastical places, like ones where lambs grow on trees and giant canes grow fruit made of gems. And we are offered a glimpse of what non-European travelers thought of the West on their own travels. Using previously untranslated contemporaneous documents from a colorful range of travelers, and from as far and wide as Turkey, Iceland, North Africa, and Russia, A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages is a witty and unforgettable exploration of how Europeans understood--and often misunderstood--the larger world.

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