Podcasts about sir john mandeville

For the final episode of Medieval Beginnings, Mary and Irina look at by far the most popular text (in its time) of all that have featured in the series: The Travels of Sir John Mandeville. The fictional traveller's fantastical descriptions of different places, peoples and animals across the Holy Land and Asia are almost certainly drawn mainly from other textual sources, rather than direct experience by the unknown author, and yet the work was often used as a source of reference as well as entertainment or prurient interest. Many of the writer's observations of different political and religious practices could be taken as radical critiques of his homeland. Yet while it often urges appreciation of other cultures, the book is undoubtedly xenophobic and racist in places, foreshadowing the European quest for colonisation: indeed, Christopher Columbus had a copy with him when the Santa Cruz sighted land on 12th October 1492.This is an extract from the episode. To listen in full and to our other Close Readings series, sign up:Directly in Apple Podcasts here: https://apple.co/3pJoFPqIn other podcast apps here: lrb.me/closereadingsFind out about Close Readings Plus: lrb.me/plusIrina Dumitrescu is Professor of English Medieval Studies at the University of Bonn and Mary Wellesley as a historian and author of Hidden Hands: The Lives of Manuscripts and their Makers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Everyone lies from time to time but some lies have had a particular influence on world events and have even been a major factor in shaping history. In the Middle Ages, for example, how did an outlandish book called The Travels of Sir John Mandeville create misconceptions about foreigners? And how did falsehoods promoted after the death of a young boy in northern Italy lead to widespread anti-semitic pogroms as well as conspiracy theories that endure today? In this episode of Gone Medieval, Dr. Cat Jarman is joined by Natasha Tidd, author of the new book A Short History of the World in 50 Lies. Together they explore these two cases where lies had widespread consequences. This episode was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg. Read more of Natasha Tidd's work at F Yeah History.We've teamed up with Tripsmiths to provide our History Hit subscribers the opportunity to join Matt Lewis, on a two-night break to delve into the story of King Richard III. You'll be travelling through 500 years of history to explore his life, death, and rediscovery. Go to historyhit.com/leicester to book now. If you're enjoying this podcast and are looking for more fascinating Medieval content then subscribe to our Medieval Monday newsletter here. If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! To download, go to Android or Apple store Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week UCL's Vice Dean of Wellbeing, Professor Samantha Rayner, chats with Henry Eliot, Creative Editor of Penguin Classics, about his new book. They meander through literary landscapes, how the time of year affects how we perceive stories, why we reach for classics, the wellbeing effects of walking and reading, and how one goes about creating compendium and companion books.Henry's TwitterProf Rayner's TwitterHenry's new book The Penguin Modern Classics BookHenry's previous book The Penguin Classics BookHint from Samantha that these make fabulous gifts for book lovers!Things mentioned in the episode:The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey ChaucerWilliam MorrisLe Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas MalloryPG WodehouseFinnegans Wake by James JoyceTess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas HardyIain SinclairThe Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence SterneCharles DickensWar and Peace by Leo TolstoyDavid Copperfield by Charles DickensThe Small Hand by Susan HillThe Penguin Modern Classics Book by Henry EliotCrossing the Mangrove by Maryse CondéSecond Class Citizen by Buchi EmechetaThe Salt Eaters by Toni Cade BambaraThe Penguin Classics Book by Henry EliotSeason of Migration to the North by Tayeb SalihHeart of Darkness by Joseph ConradA Room of One's Own by Virginia WoolfThe Second Sex by Simone de BeauvoirThe Feminine Mystique by Betty FriedanWomen, Race and Class by Angela Y. DavisThe Book of Disquiet by Bernardo SoaresÁgua Viva (The Stream of Life) by Clarice LispectorAlice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis CarrollGulliver's Travels by Jonathan SwiftSelected Poems of TS EliotThe Travels of Sir John Mandeville by John MandevilleErnest HemingwayGraham GreenIvy Compton-BurnettColetteJD SalingerThe Tartar Steppe by Dino BuzzatiFranz KafkaSamuel BeckettLocos by Felipe Alfau

Happy Holo-ween! (Thanks TikTok User @natethegirl!) Or, Unalive Day? Death Day? In this chaotic and spooky live episode, Fern and Julia discuss all things spooky and scary in a galaxy far, far away including: haunted artifacts in The High Republic, Mothman Truther Quinlan Vos, and what exactly we should call Halloween in Star Wars. On the Syllabus:Into the Dark by Claudia GrayDooku: Jedi Lost by Cavan ScottWild Space by Karen MillerThe Travels of Sir John Mandeville by John MandevilleSocial Media:@swenglishclass on Twitter and TikTokJulia is on TikTok @juliachristine77Fern is on TikTok @alwaysfernBusiness inquiries: starwarsenglishclass@gmail.comMusic by ZapSplat.com

This week on The Literary Life podcast, our hosts chat with Wes Callihan, founder of Schola Tutorials and primary instructor in the Old Western Culture series by Roman Roads Media. Thomas starts off our interview today asking Wes what he remembers about stories and reading as a young person. Wes shares how he came to be a teacher and how his literary life developed as he became an adult. Angelina asks Wes about his approach to challenging literature when he started out reading the great books. He shares the joy of reading aloud, even to yourself, rather than silently whenever possible. Wes also talks about how learning languages enhanced his reading as well. Find the Youtube video of Wes’ personal library here. Don’t forget to head over to HouseofHumaneLetters.com to find out all about the exciting line-up for our next Literary Life Online Conference, happening April 7-10, 2021 for which Wes Callihan will be our keynote speaker. Commonplace Quotes: I have called this work “meadow” on account of the delight, the fragrance and the benefit which it will afford those who come across it, for the virtuous life and the habitual piety do not merely consist of studying divinity, not only of thinking on an elevated plane about things as they are here and now. they must also include the description and writing of the way of life of others. So I have striven to complete this composition to inform your love, oh child, and as I have put together a copious and accurate collection, so I have emulated the most wise bee, gathering up the spiritually beneficial deeds of the fathers. John Moschos The fact that various persons have written angrily to say that the Judas I have depicted seems to them to be a person of the utmost nobility, actuated by extremely worthy motives, confirms my impression that this particular agent of hell is at present doing his master’s work with singular thoroughness and success. His exploits go unrecognized – which is just what the devil likes best. Dorothy Sayers People enter politics or the Civil Service out of a desire to exert power and influence events; this, I maintain, is an illness. It is only when one realizes that great administrators and leaders of men have all been at any rate slightly mad that one has a true understanding of history. Auberon Waugh In essence, Tolkien was trying to recover the vision of Eden, the childhood of the race, when beauty was still connected with truth. Through story–the right kind of story, including traditional legends and fairy-tales–the ability to see all things with a pure heart and in the light of heaven could be evoked. He wanted to prove that poetic knowledge, George MacDonald’s “wise imagination,” could be awoken even in a world apparently closed to its very possibility. Stratford Caldecott On Shakespeare. 1630 by John Milton What needs my Shakespeare for his honoured bones, The labor of an age in pilèd stones, Or that his hallowed relics should be hid    Under a stary-pointing pyramid? Dear son of Memory, great heir of fame,  What need’st thou such weak witness of thy name? Thou in our wonder and astonishment  Hast built thyself a live-long monument.  For whilst to th’ shame of slow-endeavouring art,    Thy easy numbers flow, and that each heart    Hath from the leaves of thy unvalued book  Those Delphic lines with deep impression took,    Then thou, our fancy of itself bereaving,    Dost make us marble with too much conceiving;  And so sepúlchred in such pomp dost lie, That kings for such a tomb would wish to die. Book List: The Spiritual Meadow by John Moschos The Man Born to Be King by Dorothy Sayers Beauty in the Word by Stratford Caldecott The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin by Beatrix Potter My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George Papillon by Henri Charriere Sailing Alone Around the World by Joshua Slocum Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana Paul Thoreaux Sailing the Inside Passage by Robb Keystone The Travels of Sir John Mandeville by John Mandeville The Discarded Image by C. S. Lewis Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C. S. Lewis The Name of the Rose by Umberto Ecco The Land of Darkness by Ibn Fadlan The Travels of Ibn Battuta by Ibn Battuta Monologium by St. Anselm Cur Deus Homo by St. Anselm The Aeneid by Virgil The Iliad by Homer, trans. by Alexander Pope Pacific and Other Stories by Mark Helprin Ray Bradbury The Novels of Charles Williams G. K. Chesterton Alexander Pope Fyodor Dostoyevsky Leo Tolstoy Anton Chekhov Aleksander Solzhenitsyn The Abolition of Man by C. S. Lewis P. G. Wodehouse Edward Gibbon Philip Schaff Taliessin through Logres, The Region of the Summer Stars by Charles Williams Isaac Asimov Theodore Sturgeon Robert Heinlein Arthur C. Clarke Support The Literary Life: Become a patron of The Literary Life podcast as part of the “Friends and Fellows Community” on Patreon, and get some amazing bonus content! Thanks for your support! Connect with Us: You can find Angelina and Thomas at HouseofHumaneLetters.com, on Instagram @angelinastanford, and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ANGStanford/ Find Cindy at https://cindyrollins.net, on Instagram @cindyordoamoris and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/cindyrollins.net/. Check out Cindy’s own Patreon page also! Follow The Literary Life on Instagram, and jump into our private Facebook group, The Literary Life Discussion Group, and let’s get the book talk going! http://bit.ly/literarylifeFB

The Travels of Sir John Mandeville has a good claim to having been perhaps the most popular book in Medieval Europe. It was essentially a guidebook for pilgrims visiting the Holy Land. The only problem is that Mandeville had never been there. In fact, he probably wasn’t even a real person. Dan Thurber is the Host of Bookworm History

Tabletop RPG writer and blogger Tristan Zimmerman joins me once again on the podcast to discuss how to use historical events in your role-playing games. In this episode, we talk about the West African gold trade, Sir John Mandeville's wild travels, and his description of the pygmies' war with the cranes. Plus we touch on running long journeys and a story of shipwrecked Russian sailors.

Finishing up with Mandeville's travels, we visit the palace of the Mongol khan, the fortress paradise of the Old Man of the Mountain, and a land that never sees the sun. If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here, my Ko-fi is here, and Paypal is here. I'm on Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, my website is www.humancircuspodcast.com, and I have some things on Redbubble at https://www.redbubble.com/people/humancircus. Sources: Sir John Mandeville: The Book of Marvels and Travels, translated by Anthony Bale. Oxford University Press, 2012. The Travels of Sir John Mandeville, translated by Charles Moseley. Penguin, 2005. The Book of John Mandeville, edited by Tamarah Kohanski and C. David Benson. Medieval Institute Publications, 2007.  Friedman, John Block. The Monstrous Races in Medieval Art and Thought. Syracuse University Press, 2000. Higgins, Iain Macleod. Writing East: The "Travels" of Sir John Mandeville. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1997. Jackson, Peter. The Mongols and the West: 1221-1410. Routledge, 2018. Metlitzki, Dorothee. The Matter of Araby in Medieval England. Yale University Press, 2005. Tzanaki, Rosemary. Mandeville's Medieval Audiences: A Study on the Reception of the Book of Sir John Mandeville (1371-1550). Taylor & Francis, 2017. Verner, Lisa. The Epistemology of the Monstrous in the Middle Ages. Routledge, 2005. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mandeville goes east into Greater India, and we go with him, following, as he follows the path of Odoric of Pordenone, into India, into the sea and its islands, and into a discussion of medieval hybrids and monsters, and what they mean. We'll find Amazons, the hand of St. Thomas, and people with neither noses nor eyes. If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here, my Ko-fi is here, and Paypal is here. I'm on Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, my website is www.humancircuspodcast.com, and I have some things on Redbubble at https://www.redbubble.com/people/humancircus. Sources: Sir John Mandeville: The Book of Marvels and Travels, translated by Anthony Bale. Oxford University Press, 2012. The Travels of Sir John Mandeville, translated by Charles Moseley. Penguin, 2005. Cathay and the Way Thither Vol. II. Hakluyt Society, 1913. Andyshak, Sarah Catherine. Figural and Discursive Depictions of the Other in the Travels of Sir John Mandeville. Florida State University Libraries, 2009. Friedman, John Block. The Monstrous Races in Medieval Art and Thought. Syracuse University Press, 2000. Greenblatt, Stephen. Marvellous Possessions: The Wonder of the New World. University of Chicago Press, 1991.  Higgins, Iain Macleod. Writing East: The "Travels" of Sir John Mandeville. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1997. Patterson, Robert. Mandeville's Intolerance: The Contest for Souls and Sacred Sites in The Travels of Sir John Mandeville. Washington University in St. Louis, 2009. Schildgen, Brenda Deen. Dante and the Orient. University of Illinois Press, 2002. Tzanaki, Rosemary. Mandeville's Medieval Audiences: A Study on the Reception of the Book of Sir John Mandeville (1371-1550). Taylor & Francis, 2017. Verner, Lisa. The Epistemology of the Monstrous in the Middle Ages. Routledge, 2005. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our traveller reaches Egypt. He writes of wondrous gardens of balsam, of the pyramids and their purpose, of the recent history of the sultanate, and of the Mamluk Sultan's views of Latin Christian life. If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here, my Ko-fi is here, and Paypal is here. I'm on Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, my website is www.humancircuspodcast.com, and I have some things on Redbubble at https://www.redbubble.com/people/humancircus. Sources: Sir John Mandeville: The Book of Marvels and Travels, translated by Anthony Bale. Oxford University Press, 2012. The Travels of Sir John Mandeville, translated by Charles Moseley. Penguin, 2005. Cobb, Paul M. The Race for Paradise: An Islamic History of the Crusades. Oxford University Press, 2016. Friedman, John Block. The Monstrous Races in Medieval Art and Thought. Syracuse University Press, 2000. Greenblatt, Stephen. Marvellous Possessions: The Wonder of the New World. University of Chicago Press, 1991.  Higgins, Iain Macleod. Writing East: The "Travels" of Sir John Mandeville. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1997. Legassie, Shayne. The Medieval Invention of Travel. University of Chicago Press, 2017. Lindsay, James E. Daily Life in the Medieval Islamic World. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2005. Milwright, Marcus. "The Balsam of Maṭariyya: An Exploration of a Medieval Panacea," in Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Vol. 66, No. 2 (2003). Routledge Revivals: Trade, Travel and Exploration in the Middle Ages (2000): An Encyclopedia. Edited by John Block Friedman & Kristen Mossler Figg. Taylor & Francis, 2017. Semeonis, Symon. The Journey of Symon Semeonis from Ireland to the Holy Land. The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1960. Tzanaki, Rosemary. Mandeville's Medieval Audiences: A Study on the Reception of the Book of Sir John Mandeville (1371-1550). Taylor & Francis, 2017. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Part two of a two-part series on gameable, mythic details from the Medieval travelogue of Sir John Mandeville! A full transcript of this episode is available at MoltenSulfur.com Become a patron of the podcast at Patreon.com/MoltenSulfur Check me out on Facebook and Twitter!

It's part two of the Mandeville series, and our journey reaches the Jerusalem of a 14th-century pilgrim. We'll spend some time there, getting to know the place and its surroundings, and its treatment in the Mandeville text.  If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here, my Ko-fi is here, and Paypal is here. I'm on Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, my website is www.humancircuspodcast.com, and I have some things on Redbubble at https://www.redbubble.com/people/humancircus. Sources: Sir John Mandeville: The Book of Marvels and Travels, translated by Anthony Bale. Oxford University Press, 2012. The Travels of Sir John Mandeville, translated by Charles Moseley. Penguin, 2005. Greenblatt, Stephen. Marvellous Possessions: The Wonder of the New World. University of Chicago Press, 1991.  Higgins, Iain Macleod. Writing East: The "Travels" of Sir John Mandeville. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1997. Janin, Hunt. Four Paths to Jerusalem: Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and Secular Pilgrimages, 1000 BCE to 2001 CE. McFarland, 2006 Moore, Kathryn Blair. The Architecture of the Christian Holy Land: Reception from Late Antiquity through the Renaissance. Cambridge University Press, 2017.  Pringle, Denys. The Churches of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem: Volume 3, The City of Jerusalem: A Corpus. Cambridge University Press, 1993. Routledge Handbook on Jerusalem. Edited by Suleiman A. Mourad, Naomi Koltun-Fromm, and Bedross Der Matossian. Routledge, 2018.  Routledge Revivals: Trade, Travel and Exploration in the Middle Ages (2000): An Encyclopedia. Edited by John Block Friedman & Kristen Mossler Figg. Taylor & Francis, 2017. Tzanaki, Rosemary. Mandeville's Medieval Audiences: A Study on the Reception of the Book of Sir John Mandeville (1371-1550). Taylor & Francis, 2017. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Part one of a two-part series on gameable, mythic details from the Medieval travelogue of Sir John Mandeville! A full transcript of this episode is available at MoltenSulfur.com Become a patron of the podcast at Patreon.com/MoltenSulfur Check me out on Facebook and Twitter!

Sir John Mandeville, a 14th-century figure who travelled/maybe travelled/almost definitely didn't travel from England to Jerusalem and its holy places, to the court of the sultan in Egypt, to the realms of the Mongol khan, and to the long sought lands of Prester John. With this episode, we start the journey. If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here, my Ko-fi is here, and Paypal is here. I'm on Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, my website is www.humancircuspodcast.com, and I have some things on Redbubble at https://www.redbubble.com/people/humancircus. Sources: Sir John Mandeville: The Book of Marvels and Travels, translated by Anthony Bale. Oxford University Press, 2012. The Travels of Sir John Mandeville, translated by Charles Moseley. Penguin, 2005. Clark, James G. A Monastic Renaissance at St Albans: Thomas Walsingham and his Circle c.1350-1440. Clarendon Press, 2004.  Greenblatt, Stephen. Marvellous Possessions: The Wonder of the New World. University of Chicago Press, 1991.  Higgins, Iain Macleod. Writing East: The "Travels" of Sir John Mandeville. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1997. Tzanaki, Rosemary. Mandeville's Medieval Audiences: A Study on the Reception of the Book of Sir John Mandeville (1371-1550). Taylor & Francis, 2017. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At a moment when Brexit and our carbon footprints are prompting us to reassess what it means to move around the world, Sarah Dunant looks at the long history of travel and the ways it has enchanted and alarmed us across the centuries. The anxieties over young Tudor travellers returning radicalised from Catholic Europe was a phenomenon that gripped England after the break with Rome. Nandini Das argues that fears over travel helped to define a nation.  Professor Eric Zuelow shows how the Nazi regime turned travel into a highly sophisticated propaganda tool, organising tours and trips specifically designed to cement ideas of racial superiority and national identity.  In the Middle Ages, travel is seen to be a startlingly tolerant and cosmopolitan experience, as the naturally curious medieval mind seeks to expand the borders of its world in a spirit of generosity. Whether the fantastical journeys of Sir John Mandeville or the diplomatic missions of Dominican Friars to Mongol Kings, Sebastian Sobecki explains how new discoveries were always understood through their existing religious and cultural lenses. And as the destructive nature of travel and excessive footfall becomes clearer, John Slight explains how the new travel technology of the 19th century led to an explosion in the number of Muslim pilgrims to Mecca, threatening the infrastructure, political stability and even its physical environment, as this small town crumbled under the pressure of hundreds of thousands of visitors. Presenter: Sarah Dunant Readers: Karina Fernandez and Keith Wickham Producers: Natalie Steed and Nathan Gower Executive Producer: David Prest A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Comedian and writer Rachel Joravsky (Thirsty White Ally, Lo-Fi NYC) joins Colb in the studio to talk the enduring charms of Samira Wiley, angry-crying at a dog who betrayed her, and more! Charlie Walden calls to talk about his new animated series, The Incredible Voyages of Sir John Mandeville! Tim Keck diagnoses Rachel's pink eye! Young Person's Radio airs every Sunday morning at 10 on Radio Free Brooklyn. Listen live at radiofreebrooklyn.com

14 Qualities for a Woman @ 00:52 (Elapsed / Lobo Loco) Till Cash Us Do Part @ 13:10 (Halo / Gasserpe) Auschwitz Avengers @ 20:52 (The Drifter / EsGi) Mass Shipwreck Grave @ 30:05 (Background / 1000psi) Maria von Trapp @ 35:11 (Breeze Across the Heather @ 35:38) Religion Isnâ??t the Enemy of Science @ 41:42 (Rain / Michael Mucklow) The History of Crowland @ 48:35 The Travels of Sir John Mandeville @ 52:44 (Misty Morning / Blazej Lindner) Jumping Out of Cakes @ 55:37 (You In Your Summer Dress / Rubacuori)

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Clarke's third law, coined in 1973, expresses the difficulty that people of any era have in reconciling the bounds of current knowledge with our experiences in a world full of marvels. In a fascinating investigation of role of automata in the culture of the medieval Latin west, E.R. Truitt's Medieval Robots: Mechanism, Magic, Nature, and Art (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015) traces the story of automata from their early appearance in the Latin west as gifts of foreign courts, to the literary manifestations of these objects, to the eventual creation of elaborate mechanical automata in the middle of the thirteenth century. Along the way, this history examines the nature of marvels, the constitution of natural knowledge, the text-based transformation of Latin intellectual culture, definitions of life and death, the spectacle of court, and the mechanics of the universe (8, 9). The cast of characters, both fictional and factual, embraces writers, travelers, and natural philosophers ranging from Liudprand of Cremona (c. 920 972), Pope Sylvester II (c. 946 1003) and Fr. William of Rubruck (c. 1220 1293), to Sir John Mandeville, witness of marvels mechanical and divine, and a Charlemagne whose stay in Constantinople brings him face to face with a pagan rulers powers of astral science that test the potentials of Charlemagne's piety. Our conversation about Truitt's comprehensively researched and highly readable book ranges over C-3PO's medieval forebears in the alabaster chamber, the religious rehabilitation of disembodied talking heads, the role of clocks and clockwork in the discourse shift from natural philosophy to mechanical engineering, and the political significance of lewd mechanical monkeys covered in rotting badger pelts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Clarke's third law, coined in 1973, expresses the difficulty that people of any era have in reconciling the bounds of current knowledge with our experiences in a world full of marvels. In a fascinating investigation of role of automata in the culture of the medieval Latin west, E.R. Truitt's Medieval Robots: Mechanism, Magic, Nature, and Art (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015) traces the story of automata from their early appearance in the Latin west as gifts of foreign courts, to the literary manifestations of these objects, to the eventual creation of elaborate mechanical automata in the middle of the thirteenth century. Along the way, this history examines the nature of marvels, the constitution of natural knowledge, the text-based transformation of Latin intellectual culture, definitions of life and death, the spectacle of court, and the mechanics of the universe (8, 9). The cast of characters, both fictional and factual, embraces writers, travelers, and natural philosophers ranging from Liudprand of Cremona (c. 920 972), Pope Sylvester II (c. 946 1003) and Fr. William of Rubruck (c. 1220 1293), to Sir John Mandeville, witness of marvels mechanical and divine, and a Charlemagne whose stay in Constantinople brings him face to face with a pagan rulers powers of astral science that test the potentials of Charlemagne's piety. Our conversation about Truitt's comprehensively researched and highly readable book ranges over C-3PO's medieval forebears in the alabaster chamber, the religious rehabilitation of disembodied talking heads, the role of clocks and clockwork in the discourse shift from natural philosophy to mechanical engineering, and the political significance of lewd mechanical monkeys covered in rotting badger pelts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Clarke’s third law, coined in 1973, expresses the difficulty that people of any era have in reconciling the bounds of current knowledge with our experiences in a world full of marvels. In a fascinating investigation of role of automata in the culture of the medieval Latin west, E.R. Truitt’s Medieval Robots: Mechanism, Magic, Nature, and Art (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015) traces the story of automata from their early appearance in the Latin west as gifts of foreign courts, to the literary manifestations of these objects, to the eventual creation of elaborate mechanical automata in the middle of the thirteenth century. Along the way, this history examines the nature of marvels, the constitution of natural knowledge, the text-based transformation of Latin intellectual culture, definitions of life and death, the spectacle of court, and the mechanics of the universe (8, 9). The cast of characters, both fictional and factual, embraces writers, travelers, and natural philosophers ranging from Liudprand of Cremona (c. 920 972), Pope Sylvester II (c. 946 1003) and Fr. William of Rubruck (c. 1220 1293), to Sir John Mandeville, witness of marvels mechanical and divine, and a Charlemagne whose stay in Constantinople brings him face to face with a pagan rulers powers of astral science that test the potentials of Charlemagne’s piety. Our conversation about Truitt’s comprehensively researched and highly readable book ranges over C-3PO’s medieval forebears in the alabaster chamber, the religious rehabilitation of disembodied talking heads, the role of clocks and clockwork in the discourse shift from natural philosophy to mechanical engineering, and the political significance of lewd mechanical monkeys covered in rotting badger pelts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Clarke’s third law, coined in 1973, expresses the difficulty that people of any era have in reconciling the bounds of current knowledge with our experiences in a world full of marvels. In a fascinating investigation of role of automata in the culture of the medieval Latin west, E.R. Truitt’s Medieval Robots: Mechanism, Magic, Nature, and Art (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015) traces the story of automata from their early appearance in the Latin west as gifts of foreign courts, to the literary manifestations of these objects, to the eventual creation of elaborate mechanical automata in the middle of the thirteenth century. Along the way, this history examines the nature of marvels, the constitution of natural knowledge, the text-based transformation of Latin intellectual culture, definitions of life and death, the spectacle of court, and the mechanics of the universe (8, 9). The cast of characters, both fictional and factual, embraces writers, travelers, and natural philosophers ranging from Liudprand of Cremona (c. 920 972), Pope Sylvester II (c. 946 1003) and Fr. William of Rubruck (c. 1220 1293), to Sir John Mandeville, witness of marvels mechanical and divine, and a Charlemagne whose stay in Constantinople brings him face to face with a pagan rulers powers of astral science that test the potentials of Charlemagne’s piety. Our conversation about Truitt’s comprehensively researched and highly readable book ranges over C-3PO’s medieval forebears in the alabaster chamber, the religious rehabilitation of disembodied talking heads, the role of clocks and clockwork in the discourse shift from natural philosophy to mechanical engineering, and the political significance of lewd mechanical monkeys covered in rotting badger pelts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Clarke’s third law, coined in 1973, expresses the difficulty that people of any era have in reconciling the bounds of current knowledge with our experiences in a world full of marvels. In a fascinating investigation of role of automata in the culture of the medieval Latin west, E.R. Truitt’s Medieval Robots: Mechanism, Magic, Nature, and Art (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015) traces the story of automata from their early appearance in the Latin west as gifts of foreign courts, to the literary manifestations of these objects, to the eventual creation of elaborate mechanical automata in the middle of the thirteenth century. Along the way, this history examines the nature of marvels, the constitution of natural knowledge, the text-based transformation of Latin intellectual culture, definitions of life and death, the spectacle of court, and the mechanics of the universe (8, 9). The cast of characters, both fictional and factual, embraces writers, travelers, and natural philosophers ranging from Liudprand of Cremona (c. 920 972), Pope Sylvester II (c. 946 1003) and Fr. William of Rubruck (c. 1220 1293), to Sir John Mandeville, witness of marvels mechanical and divine, and a Charlemagne whose stay in Constantinople brings him face to face with a pagan rulers powers of astral science that test the potentials of Charlemagne’s piety. Our conversation about Truitt’s comprehensively researched and highly readable book ranges over C-3PO’s medieval forebears in the alabaster chamber, the religious rehabilitation of disembodied talking heads, the role of clocks and clockwork in the discourse shift from natural philosophy to mechanical engineering, and the political significance of lewd mechanical monkeys covered in rotting badger pelts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Clarke’s third law, coined in 1973, expresses the difficulty that people of any era have in reconciling the bounds of current knowledge with our experiences in a world full of marvels. In a fascinating investigation of role of automata in the culture of the medieval Latin west, E.R. Truitt’s Medieval Robots: Mechanism, Magic, Nature, and Art (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015) traces the story of automata from their early appearance in the Latin west as gifts of foreign courts, to the literary manifestations of these objects, to the eventual creation of elaborate mechanical automata in the middle of the thirteenth century. Along the way, this history examines the nature of marvels, the constitution of natural knowledge, the text-based transformation of Latin intellectual culture, definitions of life and death, the spectacle of court, and the mechanics of the universe (8, 9). The cast of characters, both fictional and factual, embraces writers, travelers, and natural philosophers ranging from Liudprand of Cremona (c. 920 972), Pope Sylvester II (c. 946 1003) and Fr. William of Rubruck (c. 1220 1293), to Sir John Mandeville, witness of marvels mechanical and divine, and a Charlemagne whose stay in Constantinople brings him face to face with a pagan rulers powers of astral science that test the potentials of Charlemagne’s piety. Our conversation about Truitt’s comprehensively researched and highly readable book ranges over C-3PO’s medieval forebears in the alabaster chamber, the religious rehabilitation of disembodied talking heads, the role of clocks and clockwork in the discourse shift from natural philosophy to mechanical engineering, and the political significance of lewd mechanical monkeys covered in rotting badger pelts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Clarke’s third law, coined in 1973, expresses the difficulty that people of any era have in reconciling the bounds of current knowledge with our experiences in a world full of marvels. In a fascinating investigation of role of automata in the culture of the medieval Latin west, E.R. Truitt’s Medieval Robots: Mechanism, Magic, Nature, and Art (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015) traces the story of automata from their early appearance in the Latin west as gifts of foreign courts, to the literary manifestations of these objects, to the eventual creation of elaborate mechanical automata in the middle of the thirteenth century. Along the way, this history examines the nature of marvels, the constitution of natural knowledge, the text-based transformation of Latin intellectual culture, definitions of life and death, the spectacle of court, and the mechanics of the universe (8, 9). The cast of characters, both fictional and factual, embraces writers, travelers, and natural philosophers ranging from Liudprand of Cremona (c. 920 972), Pope Sylvester II (c. 946 1003) and Fr. William of Rubruck (c. 1220 1293), to Sir John Mandeville, witness of marvels mechanical and divine, and a Charlemagne whose stay in Constantinople brings him face to face with a pagan rulers powers of astral science that test the potentials of Charlemagne’s piety. Our conversation about Truitt’s comprehensively researched and highly readable book ranges over C-3PO’s medieval forebears in the alabaster chamber, the religious rehabilitation of disembodied talking heads, the role of clocks and clockwork in the discourse shift from natural philosophy to mechanical engineering, and the political significance of lewd mechanical monkeys covered in rotting badger pelts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”  Clarke’s third law, coined in 1973, expresses the difficulty that people of any era have in reconciling the bounds of current knowledge with our experiences in a world full of marvels. In a fascinating investigation of role of automata in the culture of the medieval Latin west, E.R. Truitt’s Medieval Robots: Mechanism, Magic, Nature, and Art (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015) traces the story of automata from their early appearance in the Latin west as gifts of foreign courts, to the literary manifestations of these objects, to the eventual creation of elaborate mechanical automata in the middle of the thirteenth century. Along the way, this history examines the nature of marvels, the constitution of natural knowledge, the text-based transformation of Latin intellectual culture, definitions of life and death, the spectacle of court, and the mechanics of the universe (8, 9). The cast of characters, both fictional and factual, embraces writers, travelers, and natural philosophers ranging from Liudprand of Cremona (c. 920 972), Pope Sylvester II (c. 946 1003) and Fr. William of Rubruck (c. 1220 1293), to Sir John Mandeville, witness of marvels mechanical and divine, and a Charlemagne whose stay in Constantinople brings him face to face with a pagan rulers powers of astral science that test the potentials of Charlemagne’s piety. Our conversation about Truitt’s comprehensively researched and highly readable book ranges over C-3PO’s medieval forebears in the alabaster chamber, the religious rehabilitation of disembodied talking heads, the role of clocks and clockwork in the discourse shift from natural philosophy to mechanical engineering, and the political significance of lewd mechanical monkeys covered in rotting badger pelts.

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Clarke’s third law, coined in 1973, expresses the difficulty that people of any era have in reconciling the bounds of current knowledge with our experiences in a world full of marvels. In a fascinating investigation of role of automata in the culture of the medieval Latin west, E.R. Truitt’s Medieval Robots: Mechanism, Magic, Nature, and Art (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015) traces the story of automata from their early appearance in the Latin west as gifts of foreign courts, to the literary manifestations of these objects, to the eventual creation of elaborate mechanical automata in the middle of the thirteenth century. Along the way, this history examines the nature of marvels, the constitution of natural knowledge, the text-based transformation of Latin intellectual culture, definitions of life and death, the spectacle of court, and the mechanics of the universe (8, 9). The cast of characters, both fictional and factual, embraces writers, travelers, and natural philosophers ranging from Liudprand of Cremona (c. 920 972), Pope Sylvester II (c. 946 1003) and Fr. William of Rubruck (c. 1220 1293), to Sir John Mandeville, witness of marvels mechanical and divine, and a Charlemagne whose stay in Constantinople brings him face to face with a pagan rulers powers of astral science that test the potentials of Charlemagne’s piety. Our conversation about Truitt’s comprehensively researched and highly readable book ranges over C-3PO’s medieval forebears in the alabaster chamber, the religious rehabilitation of disembodied talking heads, the role of clocks and clockwork in the discourse shift from natural philosophy to mechanical engineering, and the political significance of lewd mechanical monkeys covered in rotting badger pelts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No one knows who wrote The Travels of Sir John Mandeville. There is no record of an English knight alive at the right time with that name who could have written it. One oft-repeated theory is that Mandeville retired to […]

Supposedly, The Travels of Sir John Mandeville is about an English knight who sets out for the Holy Land in the 1330s. However, the journey to Jerusalem and the surrounding environs are only a small part of a larger narrative […]

Anthony Bale‘s new translation of Sir John Mandeville’s classic account is an exciting and engaging text that’s accessible to a wide range of readers. The Book of Marvels and Travels (Oxford University Press, 2012) recounts a fourteenth-century journey across the medieval world, albeit one that was likely written as the result of a voyage through libraries and bookshops. Mandeville (whomever he was – and we talk about this issue in the course of our conversation) offers extended discussions of the “Great Khan” of Cathay and of Prester John’s kingdom in India, peppering his tales with stories of dragons, descriptions of man-eating creatures that were half-hippopotamus and half-human, images of foreign alphabets, and many, many others. Bale’s translation is both fluidly rendered in an easily readable modern English prose, and supported by helpful annotations that situate Mandeville’s stories within a wider historical context, and explain Bale’s choices as a translator in terms of the broad range of printed and manuscript editions of Mandeville’s text. Over the course of our conversation we spoke about some especially memorable moments in the book, as well as Bale’s approach to rendering this fascinating but challenging work. Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Anthony Bale‘s new translation of Sir John Mandeville’s classic account is an exciting and engaging text that’s accessible to a wide range of readers. The Book of Marvels and Travels (Oxford University Press, 2012) recounts a fourteenth-century journey across the medieval world, albeit one that was likely written as the result of a voyage through libraries and bookshops. Mandeville (whomever he was – and we talk about this issue in the course of our conversation) offers extended discussions of the “Great Khan” of Cathay and of Prester John’s kingdom in India, peppering his tales with stories of dragons, descriptions of man-eating creatures that were half-hippopotamus and half-human, images of foreign alphabets, and many, many others. Bale’s translation is both fluidly rendered in an easily readable modern English prose, and supported by helpful annotations that situate Mandeville’s stories within a wider historical context, and explain Bale’s choices as a translator in terms of the broad range of printed and manuscript editions of Mandeville’s text. Over the course of our conversation we spoke about some especially memorable moments in the book, as well as Bale’s approach to rendering this fascinating but challenging work. Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Anthony Bale‘s new translation of Sir John Mandeville’s classic account is an exciting and engaging text that’s accessible to a wide range of readers. The Book of Marvels and Travels (Oxford University Press, 2012) recounts a fourteenth-century journey across the medieval world, albeit one that was likely written as the result of a voyage through libraries and bookshops. Mandeville (whomever he was – and we talk about this issue in the course of our conversation) offers extended discussions of the “Great Khan” of Cathay and of Prester John’s kingdom in India, peppering his tales with stories of dragons, descriptions of man-eating creatures that were half-hippopotamus and half-human, images of foreign alphabets, and many, many others. Bale’s translation is both fluidly rendered in an easily readable modern English prose, and supported by helpful annotations that situate Mandeville’s stories within a wider historical context, and explain Bale’s choices as a translator in terms of the broad range of printed and manuscript editions of Mandeville’s text. Over the course of our conversation we spoke about some especially memorable moments in the book, as well as Bale’s approach to rendering this fascinating but challenging work. Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Anthony Bale‘s new translation of Sir John Mandeville's classic account is an exciting and engaging text that's accessible to a wide range of readers. The Book of Marvels and Travels (Oxford University Press, 2012) recounts a fourteenth-century journey across the medieval world, albeit one that was likely written as the result of a voyage through libraries and bookshops. Mandeville (whomever he was – and we talk about this issue in the course of our conversation) offers extended discussions of the “Great Khan” of Cathay and of Prester John's kingdom in India, peppering his tales with stories of dragons, descriptions of man-eating creatures that were half-hippopotamus and half-human, images of foreign alphabets, and many, many others. Bale's translation is both fluidly rendered in an easily readable modern English prose, and supported by helpful annotations that situate Mandeville's stories within a wider historical context, and explain Bale's choices as a translator in terms of the broad range of printed and manuscript editions of Mandeville's text. Over the course of our conversation we spoke about some especially memorable moments in the book, as well as Bale's approach to rendering this fascinating but challenging work. Enjoy!

Anthony Bale‘s new translation of Sir John Mandeville’s classic account is an exciting and engaging text that’s accessible to a wide range of readers. The Book of Marvels and Travels (Oxford University Press, 2012) recounts a fourteenth-century journey across the medieval world, albeit one that was likely written as the result of a voyage through libraries and bookshops. Mandeville (whomever he was – and we talk about this issue in the course of our conversation) offers extended discussions of the “Great Khan” of Cathay and of Prester John’s kingdom in India, peppering his tales with stories of dragons, descriptions of man-eating creatures that were half-hippopotamus and half-human, images of foreign alphabets, and many, many others. Bale’s translation is both fluidly rendered in an easily readable modern English prose, and supported by helpful annotations that situate Mandeville’s stories within a wider historical context, and explain Bale’s choices as a translator in terms of the broad range of printed and manuscript editions of Mandeville’s text. Over the course of our conversation we spoke about some especially memorable moments in the book, as well as Bale’s approach to rendering this fascinating but challenging work. Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Anthony Bale‘s new translation of Sir John Mandeville's classic account is an exciting and engaging text that's accessible to a wide range of readers. The Book of Marvels and Travels (Oxford University Press, 2012) recounts a fourteenth-century journey across the medieval world, albeit one that was likely written as the result of a voyage through libraries and bookshops. Mandeville (whomever he was – and we talk about this issue in the course of our conversation) offers extended discussions of the “Great Khan” of Cathay and of Prester John's kingdom in India, peppering his tales with stories of dragons, descriptions of man-eating creatures that were half-hippopotamus and half-human, images of foreign alphabets, and many, many others. Bale's translation is both fluidly rendered in an easily readable modern English prose, and supported by helpful annotations that situate Mandeville's stories within a wider historical context, and explain Bale's choices as a translator in terms of the broad range of printed and manuscript editions of Mandeville's text. Over the course of our conversation we spoke about some especially memorable moments in the book, as well as Bale's approach to rendering this fascinating but challenging work. Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices