The Riddle and the Knight: In Search of Sir John Mandeville, the World's Greatest Traveler [Hardcover]

Giles Milton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 7, 2001

Part travelogue/part historical mystery about the most famous traveler--and chronicler-- in medieval Europe.

Giles Milton's first book, The Riddle and the Knight, is a fascinating account of the legend of Sir John Mandeville, a long-forgotten knight who was once the most famous writer in medieval Europe. Mandeville wrote a book about his voyage around the world that became a beacon that lit the way for the great expeditions of the Renaissance, and his exploits and adventures provided inspiration for writers such as Shakespeare, Milton, and Keats. By the nineteenth century however, his claims were largely discredited by academics. Giles Milton set off in the footsteps of Mandeville, in order to test his amazing claims, and to restore Mandeville to his rightful place in the literature of exploration.
"Erudite, witty and adventurous" (The Mail on Sunday), The Riddle and the Knight is a brilliant piece of detective work.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Sir John Mandeville, a medieval English knight, was either one of history's greatest explorers or one of its greatest liars, depending on how one reads the pages of his Travels. Christopher Columbus took his words as a veritable guidebook, using it, Giles Milton writes, to convince the Spanish crown to fund his American voyages. The Victorians were not so kind, dismissing the wanderer--who, after all, wrote that in the Indian Ocean "there is a race of great stature, like giants ... they have one eye only, in the middle of their foreheads"--as an uncritical fabulist at best, a charlatan at worst.

Giles Milton, a student of exploration history, gives us reasons aplenty to question Mandeville's accuracy at points, but he is inclined to think that the knight actually did see at least some of the things he reported in his enormously influential book. Tracing Mandeville's trail to the Middle East and beyond, he considers the historical realities that underlie Mandeville's tales, from the gems that lie strewn among the reeds of Indonesia (which Milton guesses might be crystal-like secretions from bamboo plants) to the fabulous Christian kingdom of Prester John somewhere far out on the plains of Mongolia (where, Milton reminds us, Nestorian Christians were once common). His conclusion, well argued in the course of this witty and delightful book, is that although Mandeville is not always taken literally, he really did go crusading off in distant lands, and he certainly deserves to be rediscovered today, not least for what his work tells us about the medieval mind.

Readers new to Mandeville will find this a spirited introduction, and those already fond of The Travels will enjoy following Milton's parallel voyages. --Gregory McNamee

From Booklist

*Starred Review* After embarking on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 1322, Sir John Mandeville did not return to his native England until 34 years later. Shortly after his astonishing arrival back home, he wrote the story of his fantastic journey eastward. Claiming to have visited India, China, Java, and Sumatra, he asserted that his travels proved that it was possible to sail around the world. The publication of The Travels of Sir John Mandeville caused a stir in the medieval world, significantly influenced several generations of intrepid Renaissance explorers, and inspired writers as diverse as Shakespeare, Swift, Defoe, and Coleridge. The most famous voyager of his day, Mandeville, who obviously embellished his exploits, was discounted and ridiculed by sober nineteenth-century scholars. In an ambitious attempt to unravel both the personal and the professional mystery of Sir John's life, Milton sets off to follow Mandeville's original route, immersing himself in the sights, sounds, and colors of the cities and cultures he documented, resulting in a delightful travelogue as well as a long-overdue resurrection of one of the most intriguing figures in the history of geographical exploration. Margaret Flanagan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 1st American ed edition (November 7, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374249970
• ISBN-13: 978-0374249977
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,560,366 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Much Different Than His Other Books, November 7, 2001

By 

Ricky Hunter (New York City, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Riddle and the Knight: In Search of Sir John Mandeville, the World's Greatest Traveler (Hardcover)

Giles Milton, in The Riddle and the Knight, goes (as per the sub-title) in search of Sir John Mandeville, the world's greatest traveller. This book came out before the author's more successful Nathaniel's Nutmeg and the dazzling Big Chief Elizabeth and has been reissued in the wake of these two wonderful books. This book in much different. It stills has the spicy and, often, humourous writing but the approach is not what one might expect. This book is about the author's adventures as he travels the same ground as the medieval knight, Sir John Mandeville. It is not a history of the medieval period although the middle ages do occasionally enter into the story at times but rather a look at continuity through the ages. It is interesting to see what changes and what does not and why. Giles Milton is an entertaining guide in this adventure and despite his constant prescence, this reader never got tired of him. Those expecting a book solving the mystery of Sir John Mandeville and examining his famous book of travels in detail will be dissappointed but those looking for a guide to the remaining Christian sites in the Mid-East are in for a treat.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating, December 3, 2001

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Riddle and the Knight: In Search of Sir John Mandeville, the World's Greatest Traveler (Hardcover)

Even more than Marco Polo, Sir John Mandeville was considered the most renowned traveler and chronicler in medieval Europe. In 1322, Mandeville left England on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, returning over three decades later. Sir John claimed to have journeyed to the Holy Land, India, China, Tibet, and modern day Indonesia. He detailed his trek in "The Travels of Sir John Mandeville" that became the Kerouac of his generation. However, Mandeville was written off in the nineteenth century due to his vivid descriptions of encounters with monsters and strange peoples that were at odds with Darwin.

Giles Milton chronicles his own journey that traces the steps claimed by Sir John. Readers will sense that Mr. Milton wants to believe in his "hero" by finding historical items to support Sir John's claims. The travels through Europe and the Middle East will fascinate those fans of historical travelogues as Mr. Milton supports the notion that Sir John was there, but he stops short of visiting China and Indonesia. Instead, Mr. Milton seems disappointed that he must agree with the Victorians that Sir John never made it to the Far East. The writing at that point loses its enthusiasm as Mr. Milton rationalizes that the latter part of "The Travels of Sir John Mandeville" is a comparative allegory on Christianity. Overall this book will interest those readers who enjoy a historiographical look back at an influential fourteenth century person whose writing has gone out of favor.

Harriet Klausnr

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars an earlier winner from Mr. Milton, November 16, 2001

By 

Orrin C. Judd "brothersjudddotcom" (Hanover, NH USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Riddle and the Knight: In Search of Sir John Mandeville, the World's Greatest Traveler (Hardcover)

Though once one of the most famous men and influential authors in all of Christendom, Sir John
Mandeville's reputation has been in decline for roughly five hundred years. His book of Travels,
published in the mid 1300s, detailed his 34 year journey (1322-56) through the Near East, Middle East
and Far East, successively. For Europeans who knew little or nothing of these regions, his tales of
fantastic animals and of the legendary Prestor John seemed plausible enough and the book was
assumed to be true in its entirety. In fact, Shakespeare and Milton were influenced by his work and
Columbus is purported to have used it as the basis for his decision to try sailing to China by heading
West.

But then the great European explorers began to actually arrive in the places that Mandeville claimed to
have visited and, particularly when they reached the Far East, many of his more colorful observations
proved to be quite fanciful. Subsequent investigations by literary critics revealed that great swaths of
the book had been lifted from the writings of others, a practice that was not so uncommon in that
earlier day, but which necessarily raised further doubts about his veracity. The backlash against
Mandeville ultimately grew to the point where the very notion that he ever traveled came to be
doubted and even his existence was questioned by some.

According to Giles Milton, the more charitably inclined critics argued that the whole thing was
intended as a literary riddle, but one to which we had lost the key. Mr. Milton himself, who first came
upon the book when it literally fell off the shelf of a Paris bookstore, was so captivated by
Mandeville's prose that he set out to retrace his travels and try to vindicate his name. This book
recounts the journey, provides much background on Mandeville's, and offers Mr. Milton's solution to
the riddle.

Retracing Mandeville's footsteps, whether actual or fictional, takes Mr. Milton throughout the Middle
East, from Constantinople to Cyprus on through Syria, Jerusalem and the Sinai. An Englishman
abroad in a variety of Muslim states--featuring varying levels of paranoia and suspicion--Mr. Milton's
adventures and misadventures make for a very amusing and frequently fascinating read. It is
genuinely amazing how many of the sites that Mandeville "visited" still exist and it is very funny that
in nearly every one of them, no matter how remote the setting or how anti-Western the nation, Mr.
Milton seems to find a monk from somewhere in England. More germane to the book, he also finds
fairly compelling evidence that Sir John must have, or at least may have, truly seen them in person.
Gradually, Mr. Milton builds a case for both the genuine existence of Sir John and for the authenticity
of his travels through the Near and Middle East, though even he is dismissive of the possibility of Sir
John traveling to the Far East.

Thoughout, Mr. Milton is a companionable guide, his enthusiasm for Sir John infectious, and his
solution to the Knight's Riddle well defended. One assumes that this book is being republished
because Mr. Milton's subsequent books have done so well, both with critics and with general readers.
But, by happenstance, it also covers territory--the Islamic world--that we are all interested in right
now. This fortuitous timeliness is merely one more reason to check out a terrific book.

GRADE : A