Note 15 — II.

I do not mention Sir John Mandeville in the text, because modern criticism has proved that what he states concerning India in his book The Voiage and trauayle of syr John Maundeuille, knight, which treateth of the way toward Hierusalem, and of maruayles of Inde, with other Ilands and Countryes was compiled from earlier foreign writers, though his work was regarded as genuine and trustworthy by Englishmen until recently. Nothing is known of him from contemporary records, and it is even regarded as possible that Mandeville was a pseudonym. In his book he states that he was born at St. Albans, and travelled in the east as far as China between the years 1322 and 1357. It is now believed that he really visited Palestine, and his account of that country is considered as partly based on personal observation, but the remainder of the volume is spurious. The original was written in French. See the Encyclopedia Britannica, article Mandeville. Of the numerous copies of the book, in many languages, in the library of the British Museum, the earliest was printed in 1480.