Historical person
John Mandeville
1300–1372
John Mandeville is the supposed author and narrator of a widely read fourteenth-century travel book describing journeys to the Holy Land, Asia and fantastical regions. The author’s identity is uncertain, and the work combines borrowed geographical knowledge, religious instruction and marvel literature rather than a verifiable personal itinerary.
The name John Mandeville is attached to a fourteenth-century travel narrative that claims extensive journeys through the eastern Mediterranean, Asia and beyond. Modern scholarship treats the work largely as a compilation drawn from earlier geographical, pilgrimage and encyclopaedic texts rather than a straightforward eyewitness account. The author's real identity remains uncertain, but the book circulated exceptionally widely and influenced European ideas about distant lands for centuries.
In Giles Milton’s The Riddle and the Knight, the Travels of Sir John Mandeville claimed to record a knight’s journey through the eastern Mediterranean, Asia and lands filled with marvels.
Non Fiction
Non Fiction featuring John Mandeville (1 book)
Biographies, histories and other non-fiction are listed separately from the historical novels above.