Medieval Travel Literature and Orientalism
In any survey of the medieval period, the monstrous figures and strange tales of medieval travel literature are bound to capture the attention of students, and should definitely be given at least a cursory glance. Studying medieval travel literature is not only entertaining for students, however; it is a great way of introducing students to the geographic limits of the “medieval world”, an excellent gateway into the medieval worldview, and finally an accessible introduction to the concept of orientalism, a theory that has massive significance for all sorts of scholarship and applications beyond the classroom.
The Game of Thrones universe offers a particularly applicable lesson aide for instructors interested in teaching medieval travel literature at either a very general or a more advanced level. In the companion text A World of Ice and Fire, we are presented with language, imagery, ideas, and concepts that clearly echo medieval traveller’s tales such as The Travels of Marco Polo and Mandeville’s Travels. Other aspects of the Game of Thrones universe also relate to ideas of orientalism, and examples can be clearly cited from the show and its paratexts to help teach major concepts to students.
“The Known World”
Firstly, students must learn a little bit about the “medieval world”, a difficult term. Challenging students to come up with their own definition of the “medieval world” may be an interesting exercise, as there is a plethora of interpretations about what defines this world, geographically, temporally, sociologically, ideologically and in terms of historical circumstance.
Medieval travel literature also serves as an excellent vehicle for introducing students to the concept of orientalism. A concept coined and articulated best by Edward Said, orientalism essentially argues that the Western view of the East is constructed in a way that makes the East the “other” – it is fundamentally different than the West. By creating an “other”, orientalism serves to reinforce the identity of the West, being in opposition to the other. This idea has not only had profound consequences for the way we understand Eastern cultures and peoples in the west, but shows the influence that “othering” can have on societies. By making the orientalised East so fantastic and fundamentally different than the West, medieval travel writers like Mandeville and Polo help create and reinforce the identity of the West as being different than the East.
Medieval travel narratives and maps of the world are important in showing us how contemporaries viewed their own world, and in many ways the concept of orientalism is crucial to delineating what the medieval world was to contemporaries. Western European Christians in the Latin world defined their world and its limits by “othering” the peoples of the peripheries. One analyses of the medieval worldview notes that it essentially contained three spheres of being: the core, known world, which is inhabited by Christian civilization, followed by the barbaric outer world, peopled by groups like the Celts and the steppe peoples, who are clearly human, can be interacted with, and sometimes Christian, but are still on the periphery of Christian civilization, and finally the fantastic otherworld, beyond the borders of what is known. This fabulous otherworld was a place for imagination to take over – where fantasies and anxieties could be projected, and where “the other” could be most clearly shown. Such a divide between known, liminal, and unknown worlds can still be seen in the Modern Western worldview today, thus making this topic even more relevant for contemporary students.
The bizarre inhabitants of this medieval otherworld largely came from Classical tradition, but several Biblical passages also contributed to perceptions of the otherworld. The East had a long history in the memory of the West: it was the place from which the sun came, and thus a potent symbol for rebirth. It was the location from whence the Magi would emerge, and Christ himself was from the Near East. Luxuries like silk also came from the mysterious East. The East could also be interacted with, in the Classical and medieval world, especially India. Because India, with its extreme climate, strange plants and animals, and bizarre customs actually existed and was more frequently interacted with, not only were many stories given some credence, but it also seemed only logical that surely even more different places must lay further to the east.
Three major sources that can be considered travel literature are most useful for our purposes. Excerpts from Mandeville, Marco Polo, and the Letter of Prester John can illustrate the medieval perceptions of the edge of the known world and beyond. Marco Polo is particularly useful for contrasting descriptions of nearer locations with those of more exotic locations, for example “Of Armenia Minor” with “Of the Island of Zipangu”. Mandeville is particularly useful for his exaggerations, especially when discussing Hamson, the “land of darkness”, likely referring to the far north but exaggerating the truth of it. The Long Night in the Game of Thrones universe exaggerates this mythical darkness a step further. His description of monsters, too, is fascinating. “Of folk of Diverse Shape” includes descriptions of islands where the people eat strange things and hold strange customs, and many of them are monstrous in some way: some have one eye, some have no head, others are dwarves and pygmies with no mouths, and yet still others have horse feet. Many of these monsters are inherited from the Classical world, through Isidore of Seville in the 7th century.
Monsters had many meanings in the medieval worldview. For one, from a strictly orientalist reading, they were the ultimate “other“. Often connected to pagan traditions, they were used by the Church and by medieval Christians to express and articulate fears and anxieties about the limits of human existence, and helped to “mediate the middle ground between human and divine…both stressing and subverting the hierarchical relationship that exists between the two” (Bildhauer and Mills 2003). They “violate and in that violation confirm natural order and the logic of Creation”, and are perfectly compatible with a devout Christian worldview (Salih 2003). Monsters helped demarcate space, as well: Grendel’s home in the Danish moors being a major example, not to mention the oriental monsters encountered in medieval travel literature. Mandeville’s monsters blend the familiar and the strange, and “exemplify control, order and hierarchy” (Salih 2003). Students will be captivated by the strange monsters described in the medieval travel accounts, and surely will be interested in learning more about them to consider their meaning and inclusion in these tales.
The Prester John myth is also useful when considering Medieval travel literature. The idea that a Christian king existed beyond the borders of the known world was a hugely popular idea in the Middle Ages for various reasons, not the least of which was that it proved those beyond the “known world” were also Christian. Prester John’s empire was supposed to be almost fantastic in its wealth, prestige, and power as well, surely an appealing idea in the violent and often grim world of Christian Europe. Prester John was also a potential ally in the military campaigns against the Islamic world, especially after the many defeats inflicted upon the crusader kingdoms following the First Crusade. The forged Letter of Prester John helped to bolster support for the Third Crusade, but it had another purpose as well: it helped bolster support for the idea of papal monarchism – that the idea that the pope should be the dominant power in both spiritual and temporal matters. Prester John was a priest-king with a fabulously powerful, rich, and peaceful empire – why not have a priest-king rule in Western Europe as well? This document can thus serve as an introduction to, or at least a part of, any discussion on church-state conflict in the Middle Ages or the Crusades.
Travel literature and ethnography can also be a means of criticizing one’s own culture. Tacitus’s Germania is a prime example of this: a supposed ethnography of the German people, the author’s main goal is to criticize his own Roman nation. Mandeville also criticizes his own people; for instance, his discussion of the faith and laws of the Muslim Arabs (chapter XV) is hardly negative. The writer praises the Saracens as “good and faithful”, and states that it is a shame that such people should have legitimate criticisms of Western Christendom.
“Beyond the Known World”
Medieval travel literature is thus a great way to introduce students to several major concepts in medieval culture and its historiography. The Game of Thrones universe offers a great bridge-in to travel literature, chiefly through A World of Ice and Fire (AWOIAF) and also through several bonus feature clips available on the DVD’s. Martin clearly draws inspiration from medieval literature. In AWOIAF Lomas Longstrider exists as something of a parallel of Marco Polo and Mandeville – he is a Westerosi traveller that wrote extensively about Essos and the lands beyond the “known world”. Interestingly, Longstrider reports about how the Westerosi were perceived by the “others”: in Asshai people knew of Lannister wealth. In this way this fictional ethnographer can still comment on his own society. He is the principal source of information about the lands beyond Westeros, though other travellers also contribute to the body of knowledge presented in AWOIAF. Much of the non-Westerosi part of Martin’s world is also orientalised. Essos is remarkably different than Westeros, and, if we did not know that magic was in fact real in this universe, it could readily be assumed that the fantasy elements of Essos were simply a product of othering. Martin is surely aware of the concept of orientalism, and many elements of the eastern societies in his world are drawn from the stereotypes of orientalist literature and media. (For more about the relationship between Westeros and Essos in the Game of Thrones universe, click here!)
Instructors and students could both benefit from using the “travel literature” of the Game of Thrones world to study medieval travel literature, which itself is a wonderful gateway to the medieval world and can offer many lessons about medieval culture. Depending on the class size, level and depth of study, and instructor’s style, there are several ways to approach this topic. To maximize student interest and engagement, using the Game of Thrones material as a “hook” is likely the most effective approach for instructors. Start by discussing the known and unknown worlds of Martin’s universe, and then ask how the audience and the Westerosi know anything about the unknown worlds – through travellers like Longstrider, of course!
Several clips from HBO’s Game of Thrones bonus features may be useful here, especially if the student’s will not be reading from A World of Ice and Fire. In many of these clips, our very own traveller Jorah Mormont explains a little bit about the world beyond Westeros.
History and Lore – Slaver’s Bay
History and Lore – The Free Cities
Simply lecturing students on travel literature, using examples from both the real Middle Ages and from the Game of Thrones universe would definitely work, especially if this was followed up with questions for students about the subject. For instance, after a 20+ minute talk on medieval travel literature, an instructor could ask students why they think this is an important subject, what place they think monsters should have in our scholarship, and what they believe the known and unknown worlds were in the medieval period and are today. Having students think about the unknown, monstrous world in the Middle Ages and then comparing that with our own unknown and monstrous world – outer-space – may be the most effective way to help students grapple with the eternal question “did they really believe that?”.
For higher level students or in a more in-depth environment, having students read excerpts from A World of Ice and Fire and comparing those to readings from The Travels of Marco Polo, The Letter of Prester John, or Mandeville’s Travels and discussing them in small groups would be best. Selections from AWOIAF in the “Beyond the Sunset Kingdom” section are plentiful to choose from, but instructors should choose readings which move progressively further east. Starting with and example from the “Free Cities”, moving to a land “Beyond the Free Cities”, and ending with a reading from “The Bones and Beyond” will allow students to see how the world gets progressively more mysterious, and thus magical, the further east one explores.
Examining the meaning of the texts, how they represent the unknown “othered” worlds (and thus, in turn, the core world), and having students think about how these texts would be constructed should take priority. Where do we see the boundary between known and unknown? What devices are used to “other” the unknown? Do the travellers/narrators seem authentic, or are they used as a plot device? What elements are real and which are fictive? Why are the fictive elements fictive? Are the authors simply inventing entertaining elements, is their unacknowledged gaps in the author’s knowledge, or are the authors trying to make a point?
Based on instructor philosophy and class composition, active learning exercises may prove useful, especially when supplementing a lecture or a reading discussion. Active learning options include having students write or present their own travel guides to an unknown world, or perhaps having students compose a diary of their fictional experiences in the worlds described by the travel guides studied, but are only limited by the instructor’s imagination. Any exercise that allows students to actively engage with the lesson material and further understand the main points offered would be a welcome addition and provide an opportunity to engage students in the study of the Middle Ages.
The possibilities for linking the cultural phenomenon Game of Thrones with one of the greatest gateways to the Middle Ages, medieval travel literature, are many fold. The allusions and references to ideas taken from medieval travel literature in Martin’s universe are an important aspect of the series, and demonstrate to students key concepts like orientalism that are worthy of study in any area of scholarship, not only medieval studies. Medieval travel literature is also an excellent way to introduce students to many aspects of medieval culture and to gain a greater understanding of the medieval worldview.
Good luck, instructors!
By Ryan Orr
Further Reading for instructors and students:
Bildhauer, Bettina and Robert Mills (ed.). The Monstrous Middle Ages. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2003. See esp. Sarah Salih’s “Idols and Simulacra: Paganity, Hybridity and Representation in Mandeville’s Travels“.
Lamb, Alastair. “Prester John”. History Today 7.5 (1957).
Martin, George R.R., Elio M. Garcia Jr. and Linda Antonsson. The World of Ice and Fire: The Untold of History of Westeros and the Game of Thrones. New York: Bantam Books, 2014.
Muldoon, James (ed.). Travellers, Intellectuals, and the World Beyond Medieval Europe. Surrey: Ashgate Publishing, 2010.
Phillips, Kim. Before Orientalism: Asian Peoples and Cultures in European Travel Writing, 1245-1510. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014.
Peden, Allison. “The Medieval Antipodes”. History Today 45 (1995).
Rubies, Joan-Pau (ed.). Medieval Ethnographies: European Perceptions of the World Beyond. Surrey: Ashgate Publishing, 2009.
Said, Edward W. Orientalism. New York: Vintage Books, 1979.
Seymour, H..C (ed.). Mandeville’s Travels. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1967. (Note: in original Middle English).
Tacitus, Germania. Translated and edited by J.B. Rives. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1999.
The Travels of Marco Polo. New York: The Orion Press.
See also student created articles on the Game of Thrones universe from The Tower of the Hawk.
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