53 pages • 1 hour read
John MandevilleThe Travels of Sir John Mandeville
John MandevilleNonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1356A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 18-22Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 18 Summary: “Of the Customs in the Isles Around India; of the Distinction Between Idols and Simulacres; of the Three Types of Pepper Growing on One Tree; and of the Well That Changes Color Each Hour of the Day”
India is home to a variety of people, many of whom live in the 5,000 islands near it. Its name comes from the Indus River, which runs through it, and its population rarely travels because of the astrological influence exerted by the planet Saturn. The city Hormuz (Crues) is exceptionally hot and has rocks that exert a magnetic force. Ships containing metal are pulled onto the rocks and stuck.
Mandeville stresses the difference between worshipping simulacres and idols, as some people here worship the former and some the latter. A simulacre is an image of a natural occurrence or historical figure. Worshipping one is a way of honoring God’s creations. An idol is worshipped as a god itself and typically combines the features of many existing things (usually a human and one or more animals, as the human is the image of divinity).
Many Christians reside in the city of Sarche, which Mandeville describes as ‘good’. A neighboring city, Polumbum (i.e., Kollam, on the Malabar Coast), has the Well of Youth, which has water from the Earthly Paradise. Mandeville claims that he and his companions drank from it. Since then, he has felt healthier. Here, people worship an idol of an ox instead of God, and the devil uses this practice to influence the worshippers. He has convinced them to sacrifice children and burn the bodies of their men (and wives who outlive their husbands). Mandeville further claims that the women of this land grow beards instead of the men.
Chapter 19 Summary: “Of the Judgements Given by the Hand of Saint Thomas the Apostle in the City of Calamy; of the Devotion and Sacrifice Offered to Idols There; and of the Procession Round the City”
Coromandel is the next location and is home to the body of Saint Thomas the Apostle. His hands are used to settle disputes; the grievances of each party are written down and the scrolls each put in a hand. The one the corpse casts away is the false case.
There is one idol in Coromandel that many pagan worshippers go on pilgrimage to see. They believe death is a way to honor it, so during festivals dedicated to the idol, many let themselves be crushed by the chariot that bears it. Mandeville says that no Christians are willing to suffer this much for their faith; up to 300 of these worshippers kill themselves in one day for this statue.
Chapter 20 Summary: “Of the Foul Customs Followed in the Isle of Lamory; and How the Earth and Sea Are of Round Shape, Proved by Means of the Star Antarctic”
It is a 50-day trip to reach Lamory (Sumatra). The heat causes most to go around naked, which they do without shame because it is how God made Adam and Eve. They also insist on following the biblical rule to be fruitful and multiply by practicing polyamory. Mandeville also claims that the people of this region practice cannibalism and love the taste of human flesh.
As in many areas in this part of the world, the North Star cannot be seen from Lamory. Instead, one sees the Antarctic Star—the opposite of the North Star. Mandeville uses this as proof that the world is round; one’s view of the sky depends on the angle from which one is looking. Mandeville also seeks to prove that Jerusalem is the center of the Earth. In Jerusalem, a spear can be driven into the ground at noon and will cast no shadow. This is only possible if the sun is directly above it.
Mandeville then discusses the fear some may have that they will fall into the sky if they travel to the Southern Hemisphere. He dismisses this; if it were possible to fall off the Earth, all the oceans would have drained into the sky. Mandeville also tries to calculate the Earth’s size, referencing Eratosthenes, an ancient philosopher who calculated the circumference of the Earth to be 20,425 miles (its actual size being 24,901). Mandeville recalculates this, arguing that the Earth is 31,005 miles in circumference.
Chapter 21 Summary: “Of the Palace of the King of Java; of the Trees That Bear Flour, Honey, Wine and Venom; and of Other Marvels and Customs in the Environing Isles”
Close to Lamory is a land where people mark themselves on the face with a hot iron to indicate their social rank. They are constantly at war with the people of Lamory. More islands than Mandeville can describe surround this area.
Moving on, travelers come to the island of Java, the king of which also controls seven nearby islands. He sells spices and has managed to fight the Mongol khan without ever being conquered. Past this there is an island with trees that can be used for flour, wine, honey, and poison. The poison can only be cured by the crushed and soaked leaves of the tree. Mandeville claims a Jewish man once told him that the Jewish people planned to poison all Christians using this.
From here a place called Calanok (possibly the Indochinese Peninsula) can be reached. The people of this region use war elephants who pull castles like chariots. In this area, fish come to shore, allowing themselves to be caught. The people claim this is because their monarch has so many children, so God is pleased with them for fulfilling his command to be fruitful.
Mandeville describes several additional islands and their customs; one allows ill people to be eaten by birds (which the residents believe are angels), and another is filled with evil people who only enjoy killing. Somewhere, the Cynocephales (intelligent, dog-headed people) live. There is also a loch filled by the tears Adam and Eve shed after their expulsion from Paradise.
Chapter 22 Summary: “How Men Know Through the Idol if Sick Men Will Die or Not; of the People of Different Shapes, and Very Ugly; and of the Monks Who Give Their Alms to Baboons, Monkeys and Marmosets”
Dundeya, in the Andaman Islands, is also filled with people who practice cannibalism. The devil speaks to them through an idol and advises that they eat any sick men who will not recover. The king of this island controls many others, which are home to various types of people: giant cyclops, people with heads in their torsos, people with hooves, and tiny people without tongues.
Continuing on, one reaches Cassay, the biggest city in the world. It bears a resemblance to Venice, and just outside of it is a monastery where the monks feed primates that they believe house the souls of great men.
After crossing the Yangtze River, one reaches the lands of the khan. Following this river brings one past the land of the “Pygmies,” who are small and have a short lifespan but are talented craftsmen. The city of Yangchow (i.e., Yangzhou) is further downriver and exceptionally wealthy, giving the khan 500,000 florins a year. Ningpo (i.e., Ningbo) is another significant city, housing a massive fleet.
Chapters 18-22 Analysis
As the narrative becomes further removed from Europe, the geography becomes further removed from reality. Information on where India’s thousands of supposed islands are is sparse, with Mandeville only disclosing their relation to other, equally ambiguously located places. Within this context, othering becomes the norm. Consequently, Medieval Depictions of the Exotic and the Other are crucial in these chapters. Mandeville describes cultures with “strange” practices (at least by European standards) and people with physical “abnormalities,” but the sense of wonder is as strong as the sense of revulsion, particularly as Mandeville describes the exceptional wealth of these nations. This blend of curiosity and disdain, coupled with greed, would underpin much European colonialism.
Other cultures receive more uniformly negative treatment. Mandeville’s claim that the Jewish people are plotting to poison all the Christians reflects medieval antisemitic tropes. The reference to the burning of widows in Polumbum is presumably a reference to sati—a real practice, but one that would be greatly exaggerated in the European colonial imagination.
Mandeville continues to apply a specifically Christian framework even when discussing regions that are not Christian. The idol worship Mandeville repeatedly describes goes against the Second Commandment, and Mandeville is keen to show that breaking these laws leads to evil, allowing the devil to control worshippers. Mandeville tempers his critique by praising the motivation behind idol worship, hoping that Christians can learn from the devotion of such worshippers—an instance of The Lessons Christians Can Learn From Other Cultures. Yet while Christians should take note of the worshippers’ devotion, Mandeville seeks to clearly define and condemn idol worship itself. In this way, Mandeville constructs an Other against which to explain what Christian practice entails.
Mandeville also presents an opposite case to idol worshippers: those who profess devotion to Christian principles but practice their faith in what Western Christians would consider “abnormal” ways. The people of Lamory and Calanok both focus on God’s demand to be fruitful and multiply at the expense of monogamy. Mandeville does not directly condemn this, but through the presentation of these polyamorous societies, he reminds his readers of the “appropriate” boundaries of society.
The Interplay of Religion, Folklore, and Reality in the Medieval Mind also appears frequently in these chapters. Mandeville reports fantastical races of humans, the active influence of the devil, and the judicious corpse of Saint Thomas the Apostle as entirely matters of fact. He also draws on religious belief when attempting to evidence scientific claims; for example, part of his proof that the Earth is round is the notion that Jerusalem is at the center of it. His argument for the latter—the spear’s lack of a shadow—further shows Mandeville’s belief that the truth of Christianity infuses reality, manifesting in readily observable phenomena. Once again, the effect is to reinforce the validity of Christianity as opposed to other religions.
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