Mandeville, Sir John, the ostensible author of the famous travel book which is found in many European languages after its first appearance in Anglo-Norman French in 1356–7, the first English manuscript probably coming from Lincolnshire
c.1375. Until J. W. Bennett's
The Rediscovery of Sir John Mandeville (1954), Jean d'Outremeuse, a historian from Liège, was believed to be the writer of the work. The book purports to be an account of the author's journeys in the East, but it is really a compilation, drawn especially from William of Boldensele and Friar Odoric of Pordenone, and from the
Speculum Majus of
Vincent of Beauvais. It claims to be a guide, both geographical and ethical, for pilgrims to the Holy Land, but it carries the reader far off course, to Turkey, Tartary, Persia, Egypt, and India. It is a highly entertaining work, combining geography and natural history with romance and marvels, such as the fountain of youth and the ant-hills of gold-dust. It was an important influence on subsequent English writers from
Chaucer to Shakespeare, and was the prototype in English of the popular genre of the fabulous travel book.