Marco Polo and the Discovery of the World 0300089007, 9780300089004

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Marco Polo and the

Discovery of the World

John Larner

Yale Nota Bene

Yale University Press New Haven and London

First published as a Yale NOIB Bene book in 201. Copyright C 1999 by John Larner. AU rights~- This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illwtrarions, in any form (beyond rhar copying permirred by Secrions 107 and 1o8 of1hc U.S. Copyright Law and em:p< by for the public pMS), without written permission from the publishers.

revie••:r•

For information about this and other Yale University Press publicarions. please conrac~ [email protected] U.S. office Europe office [email protected] Printed in the Unit Tr...,ls of Marco Polo. a.Voyages and navels. 3. Tm>,' while the apocryphal Latin versions of Thomas'sActs and Pamon, telling of how, before his martyrdom, the architect-saint had built a palace for the Indian King Gundoforus, enjoyed great popularity (surviving in over a hundred manuscripts from before uoo). 5 Secular literature too played its part in this geography. From the classics men remembered the Seres or Chinese making silk garments, while of particular importance were the legends which proliferated around Alexander's conquest of India in the fourth century BC.' These told of his wars against Darius of Persia and Porus of India, and 'the mightiest mountains in the world' he had found there. They describe how he had enclosed Gog and ~agog behind Iron Gates set in a great wall of bronze across the Caucasus. This pair were sometimes portrayed as two great giants, sometimes identified with the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, who would, it was said, at the coming of the Last Days, hreak from their confinement to bring destruction to the world.' Other stories spoke of Alexander's visit to the frontiers of the Terrestrial Paradise, of his correspondence with Uidimus the Brahmin,• where the conquered Indian is made to draw a contrast between on the one side, riches and power, on the other, nak•-d a-;ceticism, community of goods and pacifism. Immensely popular were stories of the Amazons and all the progeny of the monstrous races that Alexander had encountered Cynocephali or Jog-headed men; the Blcmmyae with faces on their bm•sts; Sciopuds, with only one leg, yet running with amazing swiftness, and who, at rest, used their ust foot a.• a sunshade; 'The Anthropophaici, and men whose heads I Vo grow beneath their shoulders', and so on.' Together with Q

Marto Polo a.J tk Discoixry of tk World

the monstrous races were found strange beasts: camels and elephants (these occasionally found in western royal menageries), unicorns, griffins, the rhinoceros, mantikhoras with the body of a lion and the face of a man, crocodiles, dragons, serpents with two feet. This material was copied in hundreds of manuscripts in languages from all over (and from outside) Europe. In the twelfth century the West's vision of Asia as a land of glorious otherness was enlarged first by 'the visit of the Patriarch John' and then by the legend of Prester John. In 1122 a man claiming to be the Patriarch John of India arrived at Rome, seeking papal confirmation of his office. We are faced here perhaps with no more than some confidence-trickster, skilfully playing upon papal hopes with an imaginative and enterprising imposture. Both Odo, abbot of St Remi of Rheims, and an anonymous independent account (surviving in eleven manuscnpts) describe with reverential awe the lecture on India he gave before the papal curia in which he describes the huge city of I !ulna, built on the river Phison and inhabited by devout Christians, and outside the city the twelve monasteries erected in honour of the twelve apostles and the Great Church of St Thomas, visited bv all the Christians of Asia on his feast-day. 10 This tale of powerful Chr~tian communities in the East was echoed and reinforced some twenty-three years later. In 1145 Ono of Freising wrote of how, at the court of Pope F.ugcnius III, he had met a bishop from Syria who had told him that recently a certain John, king and priest, a ~estorian Christian, descended from the line of the Magi ruling beyond Persia, had defeated the Mcdes and Persians in banle. I le had been prevented from advancing further to bring aid to the Christians of the Holy Land only due to the difficulties of ferrying his army across the Tigris-" On the basis of tales such as these, combined with the romances of Alexander and the stories about St Thomas, a talented anonymous writer, some time before 118o, concocted the richly imaginative l.e11er of Prester John. 12 Ostensibly directed to the Emperor Manuel C.omnenus, it is a work that survives in over one hundred and twenty manuscripts in many languages, and was to enjoy an immense success in the late Middle Ages. In the letter John announces that he is a Christian king and priest who proposes to visit the Sepukhre of Christ. He rules O\"er the three Indias and has under his authority sixty-two Christian and many other kings, together with a patriarch archbishop, and many bishops. He describes the magnificence of his palace, 'built in the style of the one which St Thomas designed for King Gundoforus', and of the solemn feasts with which he entertains his peoples. He writes of the prosperity of his realm, where milk and honey flow, of the river Phison in which, since it comes from Paradise, all manner of precious stones arc found. He tells of its salamanders, of the

10

fountains of youth which abound, and how no serpent or reptile can live there. In his city there is no perjurer, no counterfeiter, no fornicator or adulterer. Thousands of people at court, together with all pilgrims are fed and accommodated at his expense. He can put into the field 10,000 knights, the same number of sergeants and a t ,ooo cToss-bow men. The land abounds in gold and silYer, corn, wine, myrrh, incense and silk. Doctors are unnecessary, since the region's precious stones, fountains and trees possess all the virtues necessary against wounds and poison. So it goes on. 'There is no king as powerful in this world as am I.' The original text was progressl\·ely expanded by copyists anxious to enliven the material still further. English manuscripts tell of how 11,000 Englishmen were to be found at his court, all knighted by him on arrival, while French versions tell of the presence of 11,000 French knights. Others add all the traditional material of Asian lore: Amazons, Brahmins, Gog and Magog, the Ten Lost Tribes and others. Without reaching any generally accepted conclusions, historians have asked how the letter should be read. Leonardo Olschki has interpreted it as the reprcsentilion of an ideal theocratic Utopia. 13 Bernard Hamilton takes it to be a forgery produced at the court of the Emperor Frederick I, designed to show the splendours of a world in which clerics are in just subordination to righteous rulcrs. 14 It may be so; or it may be simply a poetic wish-fulfilling dream which enticed contemporaries through its rich exotic surfaces, the concoction of some goliard scholar amusing his friends with a vision of the Land of Cockaigne. Whatever the answer beyond all the details which might be doubted - the popularity of the letter left in most people's minds the quite false conviction that somewhere in the East there was indeed a most powerful Christian ruler who could be seen as an ally in the struggle againsl the :\1uslim world. Tales of Prester John, of 'many Christian kings living in the Orient', of John's son, King David, were still to be rousing illusory hopes at the time of Columbus and beyond.

II While in the twelfth century the West's understanding of Asia was expressed in these fantasies, the religion and commerce of Islam were flourishing as realities throughout that continent. In which circumstances, it may be briefly enquired first what geographical knowledge of the continent was to be found at the time in the writings of Arab scholars in lands close to Christian realms, that is to say in the Middle Ease, che Maghreb and

II

Marco Polo and tlie Dtsle, so long hidden, lain so long concealed' Are the Jews, seeing the :\longols as being of their own race, aiding them? Arc they the descendants of the :\lagi Kings, seeking to recover the bones of their ancestors buried in Cologne?" The Tartar chief has asked the Prince of Antioch for a tribute which includes 3,000 virgins. A le1ter has been received by the Archbishop of Paris which says that thithout paraphrase the tone comes through. So, in chapter DI, we read, of the brothers: And when they had stayed somewhat at Soldaia, they decide that they shall go still further on. And what shall I tell you about it? [Er qut vo; en diroie?) They part from Soldaia and they take to the road and ride without meeting any adventure worthy of mention until they were come to the Khan Berke. Just like Arthurian heroes on a quttlt. Again, when they return with Marco to the court of Khubilai Khan (chapter xv):

Et que vo; en diroie? \\-'hen Messer Niccolo and Messer Maffeo and Marco were come to that great city they go to the principal palace where they find the Great Khan ..,;th a very great company of barons. They kneel before him and prostrate themselves as low as possible. The Great Khan has them rise to their feet and receives them honourably and with great joy and great welcome, and asks them many questions as to their life and how they have sped. The two brothers reply that they have sped very well, since they find him well and strong. Then they present the credentials and letters that the Pope sends, from which he has great happiness. Then they present the oil from the Sepulchre, from which he has great joy and holds it most dear. The Great Khan, when he sees Marco who was then a young gallant, he asks who he is. 'Sire,' says Messer Niccolo, 'This is my son and your man'. 'Welcome be he,' says the Great Khan. And why should I make a long talc of it for you? Know in very truth that much was the joy and great welcome that the Great Khan makes and all his court at the coming of these messengers. And much were they served and honoured by all. They stay in the court and had honour abo\·e the other barons. Even in this attempt to keep to the style of the original, there have entered several clements of paraphrase. The word which I have translated as 'gallant' is 'badtakr'. In reality this word has the same sense that is

49

Morto Polo ollll tk Dmuvery of tk World intended by Chaucer when, writing of the Squire in The Canttrbury Tales, he describes him as 'a lovyere and a lusty bachcler', meaning not, as English readers today expect, 'an unmarried man' but (as in 'Bachelor of Arts') 'a probationer', in thi• case a probationer hoping to be dubbed a knight. So too I have paraphrased the word 'apostoillt', which means strictly 'Apostolicus' or 'Apostle', as 'Pope', this being the word which Rustichello, as was customasy in prose-epic style, constantly uses for that dignitary. Again the modern reader may not realise that when Niccolo introduces his son as 'vestrt lromt', 'your man', he means the home \\'ho gives him lromagt, acknowledgement as his feudal lord. The whole passage might serve as an exemplas of the style of the French prose courtly epic. The first two sentences illustrate the two most common ways in which that style carries its argument funher, first the omnipresent question: Et qut VOf "' diroid, second a temporal preposition (normally quant). (And this quant comes shortly again - 'The Great Khan wMri he sees. .. .') Later we come to a third way: the sentence that asks us to brow something: sachlis tout t'oiremtnt .... At the same time we note another characteristic feature, what philologists ase pleased to call 'synon}mous dittology' (i.e. virtually repeating yourself in different words). As for instance when the Khan asks the brothers 'as to their life and how they have sped' and receives their 'credentials and letters' honourably and 'with joy and welcome'. But the Polos are not received simply in those terms but, in accordance with the customary hyperbolic expression of chi\·alric rhetoric, with 'grant joie ti grant feste' and through the whole of the passage that hyperbole is maintained. The Polos find the Khan surrounded by mout gran company of barons. They bow before him tant com 11 plus putnt, and ase mout enquired of by him; to which they reply that they h3'·e moult /nm fait .... Then the Khan has grant joy of the holy oil and holds it mout dcas. After all this, predictably enough, mout was the grant joy and welcome and molt were the Polos '"''' ti Jronores by all. All this is in a nasrative present tense. 10 (Notice, incidentally, the three spellings, mout, moult and molt, in the course of seven sentences. The orthography of the manuscript is extremely labile.) Et por t0i vorfiroir lone cont? Today school-teachers could take this paragraph as an illustration of how not to write. Yet for the audience of the time this style, with its repetitions, was designed to produce a lulling, undemanding, hypnotic rhythm which carried them forward effortlessly in the story. Indeed the whole scene, as has frequently been pointed out, in its language and in the exemplary courtoisit of the brothers' response to the Khan's enquiry, mirrors, often word for word, the description Rustichello paints in the Miltadus of the reception of Tristan at the court of Camelot. It is as if C.athay is simply the stuff of Arthurian legend. After the

so

Marco Pow and Rusrulielw

introductory chapters, moving to the geographical description, this chivalric tone becomes le.,; emphatic. But it re-emerges strongly in the last section of the Book where the great battles of the Khans arc dcstTibed. Here the Mongol ambassadors bear a striking rcsemblaru.-e to, and speak in the same manner as the heralds of the Arthurian world. The battles themselves, all six of them, arc described in much the same way as the single combat between the knights of Ireland and Cornwall found in the Mi/1adw. 11 The text of this work is sometimes referred to as 'our book', sometimes as ~my book'. The protagonist is sometimes 'I' and sometimes 'he'. 12 For some scholars the cooperation implied here is a question of simple dictation, which Rustichello simuhaneously translates into chivalric rhetoric; for others it is a more general cooperation based on joint consideration of Marco's memories and his notes. In many ways the Book gives the impression of havinp; bccn dictated. There arc jumps backwards and forwards, the taking up and then dropping of subjects, the decisions not to go forward with a subject which has been begun, phrases such as 'but I forgot to say that ... ',and so on. A notable example is found in chapters CCXIX-CCXX: CCXIX There is nothing else worth mentioning; so let us leave Rosia, and

I will tell you about the Great Sea, and what pro,;nccs and nations lie round about it, all in detail; and we will begin with Constantinople. First, however, I should tell you of a province that lies between north and north-west ... a prm·ince called Lac.... There is nothing more worth mentioning, so I will speak of other subjects; but there is one thing more about Rosia that I had forgotten ... Now let us speak of the Great Sea, as I was about to do. To be sure many merchants and others have bccn there, but still there are many again who know nothing about it, so it will be well to include it in our book. We will do so then and let us begin first with the Strait of Constantinople. CCXX At the straits leading into the Great Sea. on the west side, there is a hill called the Faro. But since beginning on this matter I have changed my mind, bengrat tribe which wa.• famed for the beauty of its women. Commissioners are sent out to recruit the fairest among them according to an agreed marking-system (so many points for hair, lips, eyebrows, and so on - Yule compared the process to the, in his day newly introduced, competitive examinations for entry to the British civil service). The successful candidates at this stage are then taken to court and committed to the care of elderly ladies who sleep with them to make sure that they do not snore or have bad breath or any bodily defects. Those who arc finally approved then attend the emperor in turns, six (Ramusio, five) damsels serving for three days and nights, then being relieved by another six and so on throughout the year." All this of course is seen in a different light to the wntinuo lrastullo ikllt donne of poor King Facfur. This inexhaustible, if almost bureaucratised, sexuality is a symbol of majesty and power, and the men of the Q>ngrat, we are told, arc deeply sad if their own daughters fail the exam and ascribe their misfonune to the malign influence of the stars. It is, as Dr Islam himself acknowledges, one of the symbols of the Great Khan's absolutism. On the other hand these two anecdotes point to one area where I am tempted to agree \\ith Dr Islam, namely that in one sense at least Marco's Book can cenainly be seen as a 'colonialist' work. One must here contrast Marco's portrayal of, on the one hand the Mongols, on the other their subjttts. On the one hand there is the constant idealisation of the Great Khan, his glory and power, and even of the primitive Mongols for whom at one point (LXX, 28) he produces an almost nostalgic regret; they have now, he says, become mout mbatardi - bastardised, degenerate - having taken on in the East the customs of the Buddhists, in the West of the Saracens. On the other hand arc the conquered peoples of China, those peoples among whom Marco lived for seventeen years without learning their language or languages or anything of their culture. (In one striking passage he shows that he realises that there is one common written form of their language, but at the same time gives the very misleading impression that the various spoken languages are no more than dialects which are mutually intelligible to those who speak them. 29) In fact, very little is said about them, and what is said is almost confined to the B group of manuscripts which seem to represent Marco's replies to questions put to him about his original text. Here Marco distinguishes the Cathayans of northern China, and the men of Mangi in the south who until t 275 had lived under the Song Emperors. The Cathayans who have no beards (in their revolt against the evil rule of the minister :\chmad they planned to murder 'the bearded ones' - Tartars, Saracens and Christians) hate the rule of the Great Khan, IOI

Morco Pow and tltt Ducuvery of tltt World

who for this reason employs foreigners to administer his government .., There are some very brief remarks on their religions (without reference 10 Confucianism), good manners, filial piety and fondness for gambling." So far the Ramusio text. In the F version (Cl.JIJ) we meet the former subjects of the Song only in his elaborate description of Quinsai. The wives of their great men arc 'delightful and angelic'; the people cat dogs (which as we have seen Islam thinks of as 'deterritorialising'); they go to the baths a lot, having 'the most beautiful and largest and greatest baths that there arc in the world'; and they are much taken with astrology, being most careful 10 record the precise times of their childrens' nativities. (h is not easy to understand Marco's emphasis on this, since astrology also played a very prominent role in the West at the end of the thirteenth century - but perhaps this is the reason.) There arc some fuller remarks in Rarnusio at this point. We have already noted the praise of the dimnt di part1to but then the people in general are 'white [stt] and beautiful', the women btllisnme. The native citizens are peaceful, having been brought up in that way and following the style of their kings who had the same character. They know nothing of arms and do not keep them in their houses. One never hears of conflicts or disputes between them. They are excellent craftsmen, their trade and business dealings are conducted with great honesty, and they arc very willing to give foreign merchants advice and help. They arc without jealousy of their wh·es to whom they show great respect." The clements of generalised idealisation represent one classic style of how rulers describe their subjects, with the emphasis on their unwarlike character (regarded as an ambiguous virtue) bringing a particular sense of contentment. But what is more telling is the br...·ity of all this, compared with what is said of the Mongols. As he has not bothered 10 learn their language, so !'\farco, like his ma•ters, has not given them much more than a superficial glance. The description of Asia which ~iarco brings back with him to the West is undeniably that of the powerful among its rulers. This is not 10 say that Marco, like most of us, docs not have his occasional burst of prejudice and outbreak of irrational contempt." Yet I cannot leave Or Islam's thought-provoking arguments without some comment on his strictures upon Marco's religious tolerance and his supposed postulation of a total 'otherness' bet"""" Christianity and non-Christianity. I have already commented upon Marco's anitudes to Buddhism where I see none of this, and shall rurn now to Or Islam's description of the Book in which he believes 'anti-Islamic paranoia reaches the fever pitch of a Tafur on an apocalyptic crusade'. 34 (The Tafurs were, according to some Christian crusading epic poems, a fanatical offshoot of the peasantry on the First Crusade who practised cannibalism against their Muslim foes.) This extreme formulation, although mirroring in some way the judgment pre102

n., Dtwiptilm of 1/u Wor/J ,;ously made by Leonardo Olschki,31 seems to me unjust. Admittedly there arc SC\"Cral hostile judgments upon Mohammedans in the Book. There arc, for example, three stories telling of Muslims who arc said to ill-treat Christians. The first (xn1-xx1x) tells of a Caliph of Baghdad who plans to kill all the Christians in his terntory - 'for it is true that all Saracens in the world wish great evil upon all Christians in the world' - but is frustrated by a Christian cobbler whose faith is able to move a mountain:•• The second (Lii), also a miracle story, is set amid the rivalries of the two faiths in Samarkand The third (cxau) assigned to the year 1288 (though there seems to be no evidence that it is in any way historical) tells in very strong chi,·alric-rhctorical tones of how a Christian King of Abyssinia exacts re,-cnge upon the Sultan of :\den for his forcible le of the Mongol Empire. Six Franciscans were ordered to join him as sufli'agan bishops. Of these one never went, two died in India, but three finally arrived in 1313. Of these two were dead by 1326. As a rcsuh of the determination to promulgate a Christianity with rites, exclusively in the Latin language - something which ob,·iously increased the difficulty of ordaining local priests - there was a desperate shortage of missionaries. This shortage was reinfom:d by the opening of missionary work in India. Here where 'St Thomas Christians' still existed, Latins had even in the twelfth century occasionally ~'Orne on pilgrimage to his supposed tomb. In the fourteenth century, interest in thlill in (~hinJ. :\t lhl· 101 is 1hc 1.asr Judie:n1C"nl \\ ith the ~l' cd on ( ioJ'!\ ri1d1t h,1nd. In .1 rounLll·I bl· In" i1o 1hc..· L.-ir1hl: Po1r:.1di'loc or ( lardL'll of Ldt·n \\here .\c..IJ1u and J-:,c c.it 1hc..· l,.orhic..lden Fruit. and fron1 \\ht.·ri rhe l(1ur grc;11 ri,cr!\ of 1hc \\odd talc their orii::,in. \\'i1hin 1hc..· {)of thl· \\'orld hc.·nc..onh 1h;1 art:- J large r.ing"L· of illu ...rr of thL· n. . gion· 'the Sc..·rc::-. \\h1 male c..:l(11hc ... fn1n1 :-.ill'; !\lrou1µ:l· c..·rc.11urc ... lilc (to the.· 1l·1·1) the St.·i(1p11d '' h1> o.;h1t.•ld:-. hin1""'-·l fron1 the.· ... un \\ilh hi!>t ICM1t, (hclo\\ hin1) 1hc n1c..·n \\ho ti,;t:d onl~- on 1hc..· ~n.c..·11 of applt.'" the.· (i.1ng"L-..; ri,in~ in 1hc 111ou11tJino;, JnJ ~o on. \lJn~ of thl· 1llu-.tro1tion:-. rc..·tl-r t• ·\)c\.an!'lll.)Uo.1 .1111 01 1.' ..

llt-1'1

.•

·"·~-· . r.··.

f._.~'i! ' '

·


Conti, Venetian, who has been a long time in that part of India, and similarly through many Moorish merchants with whom I have

s38

Mar'o amon~ the llumanulS

spoken.'" Similarly the tronscriher of a Wolfenbiinel manuscript of the fifteenth ;ely convincing is Gil's argumenl that Columbus in 1492 was a man who truly and w1rhout false modesty was indeed as he was 10 describe himself, 'non doto tn /rtra . .. ltgo man1W"o', a simple, unlearned sailor, one who first turns to books not in order to find materials to persuade a patron to back his enterprise, but rather - some five years after returning from his First Voyage - in order to disco,·er what it is that he has discovered. The 'bookish' Columbus is al'Ml absent from the reporrs of the Second Voyage. Andres Bernaldez, parish priest of Los Palacios, with whom Columbus lodged on his return, held him to ha>·e been seeking 'the province and city [again] of Catayo which is under the dominion of the Great Khan'. For Bernaldez the sole source referred to is not Polo but Tiu Boole of Sir John Mundtt•illt, where 'anyone who wishes to know the truth of this ... will see that the city of Catayo is very rich and that its district has the name of rhe city'." One should add that the reports of the Third and Fourth Voyages, undertaken when Columbus had actually read the Book which John Day had sent him, seem in a curious way to reflect less of its influence than did the first two when its influence came to him only indirectly. Remarkably little is to be found in them. On 16 August 1498, having just set sail from Paria and rhe pearl fisheries of Margarita, Columbus wrote of having seen 'very fine pears and bright rcJ pearls which Marco Polo says are worth more than the white'."(The Latin version, though not Rustichello's, does indeed say this in discussing Cipangu [III, u,] at which poinl, in Columbus' copy, appears the marginal annotation '!\largarite rubec'). This is the only surviving passage in any of his works in which Columbus actually mentions Marco Polo by name. On the Fourth Voyage, Columbus' delusions, born of remote Marco Polo influence a long time before, were as strong as e\·er. 'On 13 May, I reached the province of Mago, which marches with that of Cathay ... ' (in fact the southern coast of Cuba). 31 On rhe island a crossbowman hit an animal that 'seemed to be a gato paulo, except that it was much larger and had the face of a man'. Columbus had read of the Gatpauls (perhaps some form of boar) in his Latin Marco, and 159

Mar, So/inus, Strabo>, S John Marrdtvil/s, O/aus Mag•us, Marcus Po/us lies .. .' Again the non-geographer could simply ignore him. In his Dt la t'U'iSSltutk ou variiti tk• chose• en /'universe (Pariwg a..t lmt•l•tn, S (194>), ISl}-ntMji, '43 (t986), '87-33>, hen: 304-5, 315-16; for an enthusiastic assessment, J. K. Hyde, 'F.thnOjnlphers m oeon:h of an audience' in his UurlltJ tJNJ JU Um: Studin ... "'" Nikvol !'"':!, ed. D. Waley (Manchays (London, 1913), 45-50. " S. Schein, 'Crtsta Dei per Mongolos 1300: the Genesis of a oo~nt', £,,~lult Huron•:•/ Rnu,., ~ (1979), 8o5-19.

of the Great Khan's Privy Council lw hem shown to be mistaken· Li TK-fen, 'Rcahty and myth in Ute Milionc of Mzrco Polo' (in Ollncoc) Tiu EaJu,.,, M.u,/1411.1, Octobcr/!'Jovcmbcr 1977, 1ransla1ed by I. N. Molinari, 'Un uticolo d'autore anest s:u Marco Polo e la Cina', Supplement no. 30, luarao Onmlah '' N•po/1.- A.../,, 42 (1982), fasc. 1, q--17. S4-6o . For an.a.logous b;ographteal sources with • similar ' unmodern' ICDK of Ii terary sincerity, J. Larner, 'Traditiort1 of literary biography in 8occaccio's Llfe of Dante', TOf111U aM Torns1111/, m Mttbtv41 11rui

lilOncf

1

Rt1141SUlntt Euro~: Eua)'f "' Mt'MOI')'

of J K Hyu, ed , B Pulbn and s. Reynolds, Brdk1111 of tk ]•ho Ry/JurJs Urnvmily LWrary 1/ Mt1J1C'1sttr, 72, (1990}, 101-•7i P. Rubin, 'What men saw:

AtUl'f"', 237 (1~9). 211•-?, and in his Lt1 Rtl.tions ~ l'Gmnt ti l'OeciJmt

" Stt below p 120 It JS probably no coincidence that it was in 1288 thar the Catalan missionary enthuswt, Ramon Uull wrote his accounl of a myltical converston of a Mon~l. the Lskr Tartan et

Pauthitt's idenhficarion (ix, 361) of

Marco wich a Po-loh who was a oommis-

J.

;,. Moym Ai• (London, 19n). For bockJ'OU"d D. Morgan, Af,tbroo/ P""'1 tOf0-1797 (London, 1q88), chs 7 and 8. ., See C. Brunel, 'David Ashby, auteur meoonnu des .. fl!ICS des Tartarcs'", R..ut•ut, 79 (1958), 3H6. Ashby's treatise, surviving in only one manuscript, WU destroyed in lQ0.4.. .. Ste W. Budge, Tiu Monks •f Ku/4 Kial.• (London, 1929); A. C Moulc, Chnfhaos "' Oma Nfort 1111 ~·' 1550 (London, 1930}, ch. 4~ J. Richard, 'I.a mission en Europe de Rahhau lated and 1ntrodu«d J. E. Dotson

" R. !uniw-PreUa. J.f111¥o4 onJ ,\fo,.i..tn.-

(Princcto~

1981) has much interesting discussion of ptt-R~aissance certmon1cs. 11 Molmcnti, Vt'MKt, 115, from Martin da

Canal.

» hltrA)9-3"6. " G. P. Cuttino, £>rKIW.

[),pi-,,,;, Adm'"Utratuns ''5, uS-31. Critchley, M•rc• Polo's Boot, 38-.µ. /W., xii-xiii. Li T1e-fen, 'Reality and myth'.""""'· H. Franke, 'Could the Mongol emperors resd and write Cliinese?', Asui M"'or (1953), •9-30 (and in hli Ch ... W,,. MMfKo/ Rok, article V).

°"

" •

1

... "

*

Rossabi, 'The Muslims' in CAuui unMr Moogo/ Rok, ed. J. 0. Langlois (Princeton, 11j81), 257-95· See, too, M. Rosaabi, KWo/41 Kiwi (London, 11j88),

17~.

F0< a bibliography, Reichen, lkrtr••-

1"'· 115 n. 315.

" Ramusto. 166-6c) on whom Moule,

Q!aiuo•. 19-88

" Critchle~ M""o Polo'• &ot, 7!HI, citing P. H-54· Only in Ramuiio, 11, 15()..7. Moulc-Ptlhot, vol. I, 96i vol. 2, 21i it appears too in the summary of the Book by Jacopo d'Acqui (foo;oolo Bcncdcuo, cxcii-c1cviiii).

• C. Segre, 'Marco Polo' in C.

Scgr b) Wulktan. Sec R.

Pauli's venion of Orosius in his Lift 1/ Alfrttl 11¥ G't•t, trans. B. Thorpe (London, 1853), 249-57· 0 'ahis ahcnam natt0n1bus et ,·aide divcnam' I cite the translauon of ~t RM:hter, in ru~ ) 36o n. +· Also the accounts of the anonymow; enYOy of the Kin Emperor to Persia and the Hindu Kush in 1220 (tr~tcd in BretschnciJcr, Aft'4tvtal Rtstortlus, vol. 1, a5-34). and of che Taoist monk, Chh1u ClihangChhun's visit to Genghis Khan in Alghanman (.;.J., vol r, 35-18, and by Anhur Waky, Tiit T"n~h of OJJ

Alt"'-t. Tiit Jount), 105-47) in that of the latter. FOICOkl Rmedetto, cvi-cvii.

n L. Manioni, 'Fra Francesco Pipino', Alh < ...,._ /kit. R. lk/Nt...,_ lb slnl4 p.tna 1er Li RmMffUI, ser, 3, vol. 13 (1895), 257-J.l.h G. Zacagnin~ Pipino, tndunorc dd

'fr&DCCICO

Notts to Pa8n

11:.1-17

.. M1h-0ne", cronis1a e \'1aggia1ore 1n Onentc nd secolo XIV', A111 t """"'"' Ml~ R. Dtlfd•ZJ•nt tl1 stM"UI 1111n11 per l'EwulUJ < /4 Romapa, vol. • (1935-6), 61-q5. From Pipi.no's \"t"Tsion, which survives in aboul aeventy 11W1U$Cnpts (8. Wehr, 'A propos de la gmcsc ... ', u posUJgt Ii l'tmt Jts langw.n ron1aN1, ed. M Schg ti al. (fubmgen, 1993), ;µo), wtte translated, before the invention of printing, the Cuch, the Irish and a Vmcti&n rraruJatioo (back, that i.s., into the lmguagc from which Pipino Jud ta.ken it). After the coming of pnntlng it was the source of a Portuguese translatton (and from 1tu' a Laun .,.C'rsion, by Grynaeus (N""" Orlns, Hasle, 1552); zn unpublished GC'rman version, rwo French tranMations, of which one achieved print. 1' Pipino, 1-J; ttamlatcd ):'u&c, vol. :z., ..f.4.8. JO /h.I. JI Foscolo Benedetto, n-xxi u Conrrary to Dr \\"ehr,s VtcWS on the prioncy of Piplno's ten ovtr Rustichello's, it IS surely significant th.at this moment, which ha.o; already been mirrored in the Afil.U.S. 'M. Tnstan s'enicnoillc a scs pies, mais li rot ne le souffrc pu, .1.Jnz k: drece heramant ... ' (f05C0kl BcnOOctto, xxi), is retaaned in P1p1no's Lann (I, 7, ed. l'risek, 130)' 'mgr.,.;1 ad Rejnn

proaerunt cum rcvermcia mal1ma coram suicip~ru, iu~1. ur

co., qui alacnter eos 5Urgurent.

'

11 Bcrrolucci Pi:uorUS&oi 335-7, su~ts lhat Ute Bibliolhtquc NatMJnalc ms. lat. J195, which consists of a fusion of Pipino vnth a J.arin 1randanon of the 'l'uscan translanon, was made b)' someone who disliked the genenc and abstract charac1er of Pipino'5 work 14 K. w: Humphrey)., Thi Boo* Prot'UWMS of Mekt,./ (Aln$lcrdam, 1964), 105-6. For Fra Odorico rather than Odcricw; \'1uhs here, Stt Cntchlcy, M.rrco Pi/o's Book, 156. ,, See FO&COlo Bencdelto, cv; cx1x; and in general his ch. vi.

p.,..,

1'

Jl

Foscolo Benedetto, CXCIV, translated Yulc-C..ordier, vol 1, 54· Antonio Pucci, L~o J, wnt Umt, ed. A. VarTaro (Palermo, 1957), JS The work survi,·cs in 1he author's autograph revisson and in five manuscript copies..

210

Chapter 7

Marco, M'1'chants and

Missionari~s 1

1

F. E. Retcbert, Btt~'""'ltn ""' Cluu (Smgmanngen, 1992), 75-86. I~ c~sus M Clnprtn.s· Rtc.nl dt (/rrmtfl/J'tS fra"ftnStf llnUS tn Qnnl OW'

xur" XIV''"'''" ed G. Reynaud

(Gm.,... 1887), 294.

1 J. Heers, Ma"o Polo (Paris, 1g83), 97-100.

• J. H. Richard, 'Les na,1gauom des occidcntaux sur l'C>«an Ind.ten et la ~'er casp1-1500 (London, 1987). 35-55. For Cu.anus' aunuscript of Marco Polo (now British Lbnry, Addit. 1995.z) sec Foscok> Benedetto, cuxvii. 48 For a convenient lext and rranslatlon of the Latin letttr H Vignaud, To1'•rctlh•1UI c.1.,.1n4 (London, 1902, 20 amplification of the French edition, Paris, 1901); though for thcsc scctio11> (from pp. 294-s, ~JOO, 30.z) I have given my own translation. For Martins as a signatory toCuu's

n Dtr ''u1uldt11ucht Marto Polo, ed. H. von Tscharner (Dndic/K TtxU Ja Mi11eW1er11

will (1464), and u an interlocutor in tus

vol. 40, Berlin, 1935), xiv.

Poggio Bracciolini, llJJllM, 149-52· » C Vuoli, 'Profilo di un papa umanisra· Tommaso ParentuceUi', in hts StwJ1 t11114 Ndhtfa Ml RnwscrmAto (Manduna. tC}68), llcj-6 (1974), 35-112. As Rachcrt, BtRt/;mllllnl. z61, observes. thoee scholan who have seen the influence of either Marco or Odorico in this work are in error. " E. S. Piccolormm· Papa Pio 11, I C-""""'"'· ed. L. Totaro (Milan, 1984), i, 1110. 41

..

AsiM, 18. lhJ., 19, 27-8.

" foscolo Benedetto., cuxviii. " /W., cuxviii--1471), ed_ J. Jiecrs and G. de Grott (Paris, 1978). .S. " John UJ>IT1IY-14; W F 217

Notts to Pagt1 1.ffl-s4 Washoorn, 'Japan on early European

'4

map!I', P~•fa /luzoru4' Rtt."Us>, :z1 (195a), 2:z.2-J. R. Almagii., 'I mappamondi di Enrico

Zntu>nfl fa. llutonK4' Foru>""l· 15 (1988). Heft 1, 1-63. ' F Colom~ llutont dtll• t•fla t dti

f•tt• JtJ1:4,,,,,,,,atl1.

M•-""'"

Chapter 9 1

Columbus alfd Aft"

MM'" PoW, ed. f ~t. f..stevcs Pereira (Lisbon, 191:i), 78. 1 cite the translation of F. M Rogcn, TIJt Tr•veh of14' l•f••lt Dom Pedro of Por..,,aJ (Cambridge, Mass., 1q61), 47.

J

f.annai da Zuran, Cn:,,11n by Benjamin Keen, T4' /,,ft •[ Admirlli Chnito,halp1.., 4" (1938), 1-37; and

•f

Yo.ya~ to ."4nstrJt• 14rp ·1493, ed.

'°"

Cnstoforo UlmttN, cd L Giovannini (Rome, 1985), wh.ch transbres tht

D14no

D

°"''"'"

'"

,. Gil, 'Llbros'. viii; ulmt, El L ..ro. 16-17. lS Pipinio. II. x - 'Cambalu cavitas C..ithay provint1a', ib.d., XVI - Cathay provincia. i. Bof:h in the C.rtij Jt C•IO. of 1493 (in T~ f'OMr Voya11s of CDlt1Mbw, ed. Jane) and in the ,·ersion of thar letter in the Liro

('.op.Uor d< CnnOb•I C.10., «!. A. RwnUry of .V•nnal 8Wf•Op/ty, and R. J. Bmjle, 'Henry Yule, India and Cath>y' in OJmpossmg t6t Globe of tlw E4rt4, ed. R. C. Brid~ and P. E. lufr (London, 1996), 143--63.

y.,,

11

11

See P Hopkin, Trtsl/U#ri on 1M R()()f

•f 14' Wo•li (London, t98>), chs •and 3. for the background P Hopktrk, Fttmp 0...h tw S1U RooJ (S...1on Abbot, 1981); and ukm, Tiu Grt•I G.ime

°"

(London. 1990). uitchley, M"'to Polo's Boot (Aldmhot, 1992), 179. " See Hopkirk, Fom8ft Dmh, ch. 13. ,. Foscokl Beneden~ 'Grandeua di Marco Pok>\ in hlli: U,,,,m1 t Tmp, 73. 12

n

J.

7lt Tr•Vth of Jim

B11ttu1•

•oo

Tiu 1ftltimhlrts of II" B11t1Mta: A M1nlin1 T•.wln of t4< 141h C..rury (London, 1986).

Appendix II Ti-s of Trat•el to Clri"" by I.and

J.

11tt MtiJttrraN•ff WorlJ, New York. 1955, 355-ll and H. Yule, Cot ..y rev. H. Conber(London 1915; New York, 1967), vol. J, 137-73); R H Bautier, 'Les relations konomtques des Occident avec Ies pays d'Oricnt au Moym Age. Poincs de vuc et documents' in Soatth ti '""'Pi't,.~s lie tow,,Nrtt m Orstnt et Um l'Ort•'ll /nJ.,., ed. M. Mollat (Plris, 1970), 311-16 (and in Bautiet"s mti11tr•ttit11 tt 11•/an.s"" Moytn A.ft, London, 199J, IV). 1 H. Yule, ColAoy, vol. 3, 148 n.•; E. Thomas, •ftlu P•th.I• Kiogs of Dt/lu (London, 1871~ 203-4, n.1. • In rranslation by A. C. Moule, C4rimo., •• C/iiu (London, 1930), 195. 5 7'/w Tmtn A1/1JJ of World Ez1tor-aru,., ed. F. Fernindez-AnnC5to (London, 1991), 19. ' S1tJn• Jn M0tt1ols, ed. E. McnestO, chap 9·

"""fUU'1'J

c°""""'''

Cir"''"'"'

~ Mi.n:JOtt of FtWr H'il/"'"' of Rllhnu*, ed. Jackson and Morgan, xi-xv. ' J. A. Boyle, 'The Journey of Het 'um I', Cm1'ol A11oht J..,,../, 9 (1964), 175-119 ' R. S. l..opez, 'Suove luci' StU1 0,/.,,,... mm, •ol. 3 (Genoa, 1951), 395. 7

A. D

IJ>s-1354, tran>laced by H. A. R. Gibb, 3 (London, 19JS-71), and C. F. Beckinghm (1994); and R°"' E. Dunn

I

Owignon. Although the Book sayt (chapter lxii) that lhe Polos spen1 three yars in 'Canpiciou', it docs not specify whm, and it is improbable th.at it would be whdc on an embassy from the West to the Great Khan. Francesco Balducci Ptgoloni, 'Aviamento del viacgio dtl Ganaio', l4 pro~• Je/14 ""''"'"'"·ed. A. Evans (Cambridge. 1936), '1-J (in rranslauon, R. S. Lopez and W. W. Raymond, Muru.cuJ 27,32, 85 Dante Alighieri ..s. 1o6, Dann, lgnazK> 164

Francesco Rosselli 149 I IS. 195

Dand Ashby, Fra 29

Delhi 33, 117, 18l Dhofer 7a Homem 166

°"""

DocnmlCO di llondl!IO 1)6-7 Domenico Silvestri 137 Dommic:ans ~. t I-ta, 117; Jtt .ts. And.re of Loosiumeau. Ascelino of Cmnona; DoY1d Ashby; Ftbppo di Fernra; Francaoo Ptpmo; jacopo d' llcqui; john of Cori; jounlain Cathala; Julian; Ntct:01

Earthly Paradise 8, 191, 19J, IN •&1 Pishon U.ern Otristians 13, 15, 74' 141; 1et too Armenta, church of; Coptic Clmsriam; Jacobitcs; NeMonan O\ristians; 'St Thomu Christiana' Ebotorfmap79 Edward I, Kmj of Engbnd 29, JO. 40, ,.S. 53, s6 Edward Kins of England Er.pr ... a8, 138, 141, 18•; commaa: of IJ, 116, 117; Wt -'s4 81.yban; ~famluk

m.

•3•

Sultans El1ipclcl ... •3

Erzerum a8 Elyll "' \'olp Eu....... Ill. Pope 10 Euil"'tUS IV, Pope 138, 139 Euphra!C$ 8

Fnnciacans

117, 11C). 126;stt•/Jo

Banolomeo di Cremona; Bmecbct, Fn; GKmnni d1 Montecorvtno, GlovaMi d1 Pian d1 Carpme; OdorlCO da Ponlcnone, Wino Minori~ Roger Bacon, Sa1imbene de Adam; Wdltam of Rubn.ick Fran11S R>belau 164 Franoo-Italian literarure ,..6, 132 Franc:o-Veoeuan ue Fn.nc:o-ltali.an litcraturt: 'Franks' a3, 118

Fffilencl< II, Emperor 17 Fugau stt FuJhou Fuzhou 19 Gaindu province 99 Galvano, Antonio 166 GU11"•92

G - de Gorricio I 54 Gamldi, Giacomo 164 G-7, 53-6

'Genoese' World Map 147, 1vanni da Fontana 146 Gio'rann1 1..esrdo 191-2 Chovann1 Matteo Conwin1 167 Giovanni da Montccorvmo 120-21,

Biondo 141 Florma u6, 1J8, 164, General Council of 141 FOICO!o llen stt Pok> family Jl.iichob1 JV, Pope .:19, IZO NM:holaa V, Pope t41 N.chobs of Cua, Cardtn1I 142 Nmgbo 135

1.u. 147,

NtShapur 122

Noqa;, Prince 55 Nuremberg 145, 194 Odo, abbc< of St. Renu 10 Odoriro da Pordcnonc. Fn 59, Bo, 81, 112, 1u, 128-31, influenc:c of •J!S. 137, 139, 143, 173 Opde;, Gtrl"81" 73 Ornr 18 Otto IV, Emperor 79 Otto of Fmsins 10, 14 Ozbeg 119 35, ..2, 43, 45, 61-2, 8-], 110, 118 Palestine wt Holy Land

1'JIC4

Pamir 1, 69, QJ, 9'> Paolino Minorita, Fra IJ.4 Paolo dal Pozzo T05C111elli 141-., 147,

1.f(),

152, 155, 157, 166, 18o

Papac)' 14, 117 Parts ft.tap UJ3 'Patru.rch John' 10, 14 Pau1htcr, M. G. 6, 89 Pedro., Infante Dom 78, 151 Peking set Khanbalik.h Pelliot, Paul 181--& pq>pertrade 70,71, 154 Pert'fnno da Caste11o. Fra 115 Pero TUur 137 Persia 9. 14, 16, z8, 12z, 125; wcatcrn 111dc in a8, 1161 119; 11t •ho Jlkhan11e, Tabnz Peter Martyr 161 Peter of Luc:akingo 117, IJO Philip !\', Kmg of France '9

f,.,J,x

Phtlippe of MCziel'CIS 1~ 131 Piaanza 117 Pierre d' Aally, Cardinal 140, 1S4· 194

Rod.rip> Fcrnindei de Santulla 16o, 163, 160-7 Rogn- 11, K.1ng of Sicily 1J

Pterrod'Abano 44. 1~. 14s, 181 Pietro Rombulo 138 Pittro \'ilionc or \°ioni 28, 44 Pittro \'tscontc m1p 8, 134 Pisa 47. 117

RO((Cr &con 27

Pi!ihon, Ri''er 8, io, 12s PiU> ll, Pope !lo, 1o8, 144-5, ISngr1t mbc IOI Qiianzhou (Zai1on) 67, 70, 71, 93, 118, 143, IJ4, Christw.ns in 111, 1.i.:, 128, and Columbus I SS. on maps 149 1 191 Q~nlon 13, 71,95, 121, 111, 1s6 Qu1nw ut Hangzhou

Rad.a, f\farrin de. Fra 171 Ramusio,, CJ1a1nhantsta 6-7: hls 1nfonnat1on of Polos 31, 43-4, 54, 105, 161, pcr.wnahty 161-30 vcnion of Marco's Book 42 ••3,sz.s8,68,70,80,81,90, 9a, 101, 103, 161), 171-2

Rashid a~Dtn 63, roo Raymond Stephen, Fra 121 Rcinccl., Rayncrius 161 Rene 1 of AnJOU, King 146 RicCl, ~1.attco 17a··3 Riccoldo da :\fontecroce, Fra 130 Richard of Burgand)', Fra 119 Rithard \\·oochillc 110

Ristoro d'Arnzo 77 Robenson, \\'1Uiam 17s

95,

Sarai 17, 30, 33, 119, 13s, 188

Saraichit 188 Sartaq l;i Sauma, IUbban 39, tao ~h 107

Suntar, Sultan 14 ScK>pork Times Book Review

:'\o mere tra,·cl account, the book that \larco Polo wrote after many years in Asia became one of the most influential of the millennium. I Iistorian John I .arner here explores for the first time the full range of influence of Polo's /Joo!.: on the history of geography and exploration, showing why the Book came into being and how it played a key role in the dcYelopment of European o\·erseas expansion. "In .llarm Polo and the Dis.-ore~y ~(the lforld, John I .arncr puts him ba1:k on his pedestal as the first and most important inspiration for Europe's eventual conquest of the globe. "-1\'ew Sae111ist "Larner has written an erudite, comprehensiYe, and very readable study of enigmatic Venetian \larco Polo, his book, and the book's impact on European culture." -Choice Jou:-: LARNER is Professor Emeritus in I Iistory and Professorial Fellow of Glasgow Cni,·ersity. co\ ca 11.1..t s1a.\r10" The Pul011

l.un~

\'ma: Fmm /.4

l.Ji'rtl

J.

c,.,•.,, c. ..... b' the ar1i~Juh.uuw:,.,aL 1.fOO. ·nx Bodlcillfl JJ~, OtforJ

Yale Univcrsitv Press •••' ..tttl~.~Ju 1.vwp ISfi'."lo'. 0-.100-0KIJD0-7

l".S. $15.95

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