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

Giles Milton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2002 | ISBN-10: 031242129X | ISBN-13: 978-0312421298

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.

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 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Picador (November 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031242129X
• ISBN-13: 978-0312421298
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,466,585 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 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)    (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

12 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars P.T. Barnum, Ripleys Believe It Or Not and the nightly news, December 31, 2001

By 

William Prestwidge (South Pasadena, CA USA) - See all my reviews

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

A fairly irritating book about an important subject, this book is loaded with a collection of traveling non-sequiturs that are collated and vaguely related to findings of the author as he makes the same trip that Sir John Mandeville made starting in 1322. Mandeville wrote a book after his 34-year journey called The Travels that influenced many important people after him. For example, Christopher Columbus, influenced by Mandeville's book, proposed his voyage to the new world to Queen Isabella of Spain and was turned down. Months later, after Isabella had read Mandeville's book she was approached again by Columbus and she changed her mind, funding his history making voyage to the new world. Mandeville's book was used by many others as a reference for hundreds of years until somewhere in the 1800's when he and his book were discredited and Mandeville generally became known as a fraud, never having actually traveled to the places he claimed to have visited. In The Riddle and the Knight, Milton's trip to all the same places starts off with the promise of getting to the bottom of a very old debate, "Did Mandeville actually take the trip he claimed he took? By actually making the same trip today, what could be found to either prove or disprove Mandeville once and for all?" That's a great idea but the writer got bogged down including almost everything that happened to him on his 20th century journey whether it added to proving Mandeville's journey or not. On page 189, Milton is staying in a monastery in Egypt and two U.N. peacekeepers stumble upon the ancient institution. One of them is an American who is remarkably like Gomer Pyle. Halfway through this jewel, I paused and thought, "This episode will have no bearing whatsoever on what Milton is doing with his story." True enough, it didn't. It was simply a loud and colorful, intrusion into the quiet life of the monastery Milton was staying in. "What the heck. Let's put it in the book." Milton was fair in citing the frequent number of times that almost every ancient author would plagiarize one another and that Mandeville was not much different. Unlike the book's title, The Riddle and the Knight, any references to a riddle somewhere in the book were sparse, casual, and hugely unfulfilled. The author also missed the opportunity to properly observe that all early discoverers and travelers were at some point liars who all knew that keeping the attention of those who listened would sometimes require mention of the strange men foreign lands who have no heads, or really giant women from another distant land or strange elixirs that have remarkable healing powers. It's all part of giving the audience what they want or need to hear, from P.T. Barnum to Ripley's Believe It Or Not to the nightly news.