Shayne Aaron Legassie

This is a book about Medieval travel WRITING and not, as the title would imply, about Medieval travel in general. As such, the book is targeted at people who are already familiar with the literature of this period. Although the topic is somewhat interesting, it is not a topic that would normally inspire me to read an entire book. That said, once I overcame my disappointment in the choice of topic, I found several things that interested me including:
- The number of people that wrote about their travels in this period. Everyone is familiar with a few names like Marco Polo but this book introduces the reader to dozens more
- The evolution of travel writing was interesting to learn about since it started with people recollecting their journey after their return aided only by their memories. It later evolved into travel diaries with people making detailed notes during their travels to help them remember details.
- Many early travels were interested in collecting the measurements of places they visited and would actually take measuring devices with them to help with the measurements.
- Prior to the general availability of paper, people found a number of practical solutions for recording their notes. Some travels who would make notes during their travels actually wrote notes while riding on a camel. The reader is left shaking their head at the quality of the handwriting that must have resulted from this.
- Early travel writing tended to emphasize the travails of the traveler assuming that would make their stories more believable.
- Initially, travel writing focused on travels to distant places like the Holy Lands. In the late Middle Ages, however, some writers began to write about their journeys to places nearby.

In summary, the book can only be recommended to people with a specialized interest in the topic.… (meer)