The Medieval Expansion of EuropeBetween the year 1000 and the mid-14th century, several remarkable events unfolded as Europeans made contact with a very substantial part of the inhabited world, much of it never previously known or suspected to exist by them. Leif Ericsson and other Vikings discovered North America; European crusading armies established themselves in Syria and Palestine; Marco Polo and other Italian merchants, and missionaries such as John of Monte Corvino, penetrated the dominions of Mongolia and China; the Vivaldi brothers sought to open a sea route to India; Jaime Ferrer was lured by dreams of locating the source of West African gold; and the Atlantic island groups, the Canaries, Madeira, and the Azores, were all discovered. In this detailed survey, Phillips describes these exciting quests while also exploring their closely related myths and legends, all the while setting the stage for the even greater exploits of Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama, and their successors. For this new Clarendon Paperback edition, Phillips has added both an introduction and a bibliographical essay, the latter of which surveys recent work in what is becoming a thriving area of new research. |
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Contents
Classical discoveries and Dark Age transformations | 3 |
Europe and the Mongol invasions | 55 |
The eastern missions | 78 |
European merchants and the East | 96 |
European monarchs and Mongol | 115 |
Medieval Europe and Africa | 135 |
Medieval Europe and North America | 154 |
Scholarship and the imagination | 177 |
Geography in the fifteenth century | 200 |
Fresh start or new phase? | 213 |
Conclusion | 238 |
Bibliography | 247 |
Some Recent Writings 1997 | 269 |
Postscript 1998 | 289 |
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Arabic army Atlantic bishop Byzantine Carpini Castile central Asia China Chinese Christian Church classical coast Columbus commercial conquests Constantinople continent crusade discovery Dominican early East Egypt eleventh century emperor empire England envoys Ethiopia European merchants evidence example existence expansion of Europe exploration fifteenth century fourteenth century France Franciscan Genoa Genoese geographical Greenland History Holy Land Iceland Il-khans important India Indian Ocean Iran islands Jerusalem John of Monte journey Khan king kingdom kingdom of Jerusalem knowledge known later London Mandeville Marco Polo medieval Europe medieval European Middle Ages military mission missionaries Mongol Monte Corvino Moslem navigation Nestorian North Africa Oxford papacy papal Paris Peking Polo's pope portolan portolan charts Portugal Portuguese Prester John Ptolemy Ptolemy's Rabban Sauma recent Rubruck ruler sail scholars sea route ships sources Syria Tabriz thirteenth century trade twelfth century Venetian Venice Viking Vinland Map visited Vivaldi voyage western Europe William of Rubruck