Edited by Francesco Stella
[Comparative History of Literatures in European Languages XXXIV] 2024
► pp. 378–393
Different practical aims and motivations that are reflected in Latin travel and pilgrimage literature led to voyages outside Europe in the Middle Ages. The chapter will begin by outlining the nature and content of travel and pilgrimage literature on extra-European travel as well as the development, the continuity and the changes in this genre. A second section addresses transmission, manuscripts, and circulation as well as audience and reception. The focus of pilgrimage narratives widens and also includes non-Christian features at the same time as reports on East-Asia-Travels emerge. To illustrate this development, the depiction of mirabilia in Wilhelm of Boldensele’s and Odoric of Pordenone’s writings are discussed.