The Medieval Expansion of Europe

By J.R.S. Phillips

Book Overview

Between 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.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0198207409
• ISBN13: 9780198207405
• Release Date: December 1998
• Publisher: Clarendon Press
• Length: 344 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.4" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

A very good account of European expansion.

This book covers the period from 11th to 15th century. It offers a very good and profound summarizing study of the European travellings and discoveries to Asia, Africa and America before Columbus. I, personally, liked it very much for the detailed account given for Asian countries visited by Europeans (for me it was especially Odoricus de Pordenone, that I liked, but I got some new information of Giovanni di Piano Carpini, William Rubruck or Johann Schiltberger). Very interesting is the account about African travels and the American pre-Columbian voyages. There is a numerous summary of literature, but there are no editions of sources in original cited, only English translation. At least the writings in Latin or other European languages should be there. I highly recommend it to anybody who is interested in the Middle Ages and especially the East (the Asian part is the most detailled).