Medieval Ethnographies: European Perceptions of the World Beyond (The Expansion of Latin Europe, 1000-1500 Book 9)

From the twelfth century, a growing sense of cultural confidence in the Latin West (at the same time that the central lands of Islam suffered from numerous waves of conquest and devastation) was accompanied by the increasing importance of the genre of empirical ethnographies. From a a global perspective what is most distinctive of Europe is the genre's long-term impact rather than its mere empirical potential, or its ethnocentrism (all of which can also be found in China and in Islamic cultures). Hence what needs emphasizing is the multiplication of original writings over time, their increased circulation, and their authoritative status as a 'scientific' discourse. The empirical bent was more characteristic of travel accounts than of theological disputations - in fact, the less elaborate the theological discourse, the stronger the ethnographic impulse (although many travel writers were clerics). This anthology of classic articles in the history of medieval ethnographies illustrates this theme with reference to the contexts and genres of travel writing, the transformation of enduring myths (ranging from oriental marvels to the virtuous ascetics of India or Prester John), the practical expression of particular encounters from the Mongols to the Atlantic, and the various attempts to explain cultural differences, either through the concept of barbarism, or through geography and climate. The Outer World In The European Middle Ages / Seymour Phillips -- The Emergence Of A Naturalistic And Ethnographic Paradigm In Late Medieval Travel Writing / Joan-pau Rubiés -- Ethnographers In Search Of An Audience / J.k. Hyde -- Continental Drift : Prester John's Progress Through The Indies / Bernard Hamilton -- The Medieval West And The Indian Ocean : An Oneiric Horizon / Jacques Le Goff -- Marco Polo And The Pictorial Tradition Of The Marvels Of The East / Rudolf Wittkower -- The Indian Tradition In Western Medieval Intellectual History / Thomas Hahn -- Gerald's Ethnographic Achievement / Robert Bartlett -- William Of Rubruck In The Mongol Empire : Perception And Prejudices / Peter Jackson -- Neolithic Meets Medieval : First Encounters In The Canary Islands / David Abulafia -- Veni, Vidi, Vici : Some Fifteenth-century Eyewitness Accounts Of Travel In The African Atlantic Before 1492 / Peter Russell -- Travel Fact And Travel Fiction In The Voyages Of Columbus / Valerie I.j. Flint -- The Image Of The Barbarian In Medieval Europe / W.r. Jones -- Perceptions Of Hot Climate In Medieval Cosmography And Travel Literature / Irina Metzler. Edited By Joan-pau Rubiés. Previously Published Articles. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Cover 1 Half Title 2 Title 4 Copyright 5 Contents 6 Acknowledgements 8 General Editor's Preface 10 Introduction 14 PART ONE – CONTEXTS AND GENRES 40 1 The Outer World in the European Middle Ages 40 2 The Emergence of a Naturalistic and Ethnographic Paradigm in Late Medieval Travel Writing 82 3 Ethnographers in Search of an Audience 104 PART TWO – MYTHS 160 4 Continental Drift: Prester John's Progress through the Indies 160 5 The Medieval West and the Indian Ocean: An Oneiric Horizon 194 6 Marco Polo and the Pictorial Tradition of the Marvels of the East 214 7 The Indian Tradition in Western Medieval Intellectual History 248 PART THREE – ENCOUNTERS 270 8 Gerald's Ethnographic Achievement 270 9 William of Rubruck in the Mongol Empire: Perception and Prejudices 312 10 Neolithic Meets Medieval: First Encounters in the Canary Islands 330 11 Veni, vidi, vici: Some Fifteenth-century Eyewitness Accounts of Travel in the African Atlantic before 1492 354 12 Travel Fact and Travel Fiction in the Voyages of Columbus 368 PART FOUR – EXPLAINING CULTURAL DIFFERENCES 386 13 The Image of the Barbarian in Medieval Europe 386 14 Perceptions of Hot Climate in Medieval Cosmography and Travel Literature 418 Index 456