Picturing the world: The illustrated manuscripts of 'The Book of John Mandeville'

The Book of John Mandeville, later known as Mandeville's Travels, certainly could be considered a late medieval best seller. Today, almost three hundred manuscripts of Mandeville are known to survive, yet of these, only about eighteen are illustrated. In this dissertation, I examine images in twelve of these illustrated Mandevilles, using visual analysis and contextual study of the manuscripts as the foundation for an interdisciplinary investigation. I also make use of reception theory and cultural studies in considering how these images may have shaped or modified the reading experiences of specific audiences.;Chapter One presents an early reception history of Mandeville . I identify specific audiences for the book, examining some of the ways these readers may have perceived the narrative. I also introduce my sample of illustrated Mandevilles.;Chapter Two highlights more devotional possibilities for Mandeville imagery. Here I focus on ways in which the illustrations reveal contemporary attitudes towards both Christian and non-Christian devotion, as well as considering how the images offer more critical glimpses of the state of Western Christendom.;Chapter Three addresses the marvelous world of Mandeville. Artists depicted the East in a variety of ways, and audiences came to such imagery with preconceptions of their own. In this chapter, I examine how such illustrations appealed to readers' curiosity about the unknown East while engaging more spiritual interests such as crusades, conversions, and a unified Christendom.;Chapter Four describes the reading experiences of aristocratic Mandeville audiences as shaped by the imagery within their manuscripts. Illustrations in these luxury books reveal such expansive concerns as crusader dreams, territorial acquisitions, and political alliances while reflecting the ceremony and chivalry of courtly life;Images in The Book of John Mandeville both projected and reflected the cultural values and world-views of patrons, artists, and audiences. The images thus became sites for the transformation or exchange of cultural information, offering readers a more collaborative experience of the text than one without images. Illustrations in these manuscripts reveal the many different ways in which late medieval readers were picturing Mandeville's world, and also their own.