John Mandeville
"Jehan de Mandeville", translated as "Sir John Mandeville", is the name claimed by the compiler of The Travels of Sir John Mandeville, a book account of his supposed travels, which probably first appeared in Anglo-Norman French, and first circulated between 1357 and 1371.
By aid of translations into many other languages it acquired extraordinary popularity. Despite the extremely unreliable and often fantastical nature of the travels it describes, it was used as a work of reference — Christopher Columbus, for example, was heavily influenced by both this work and Marco Polo's earlier Il Milione (Adams 53).
Read more about John Mandeville: Identity, Analyzing The Work, Further Information, Online Text
Famous quotes containing the words john and/or mandeville:
“Oh! full Surrey twilight! importunate band!
Oh! strongly adorable tennis-girl’s hand!”
—Sir John Betjeman (1906–1984)
“Thus every Part was full of Vice,
Yet the whole Mass a Paradise...
The worst of all the Multitude
Did something for the Common Good.
... ...Luxury
Employ’d a Million of the Poor,
And odious Pride a Million more...
... ...the very Poor
Liv’d better than the Rich before...”
—Bernard De Mandeville (1670–1733)