European Voyages in the Indian Ocean and Caspian Sea (article)

European Voyages in the Indian Ocean and Caspian Sea (12th – 15th Centuries)
By Jean Richard, for Iran (1968)

Lord, is this article in rough shape. I read it during one of the moment where I gave in to my base urges: I dragged my ridiculously comfortable second-hand recliner in front of my woodstove, poured myself a glass of wine, and did my reading curled up like a cat in front of the fire. A spark burned a hole through the first three pages of the article, and there are enthusiastic wine stains on most of the pages too. Sorry, Jean Richard.

Most of the research I did over the summer was conducted in my tent, which was pitched at the edge of a cliff overlooking Fitzhugh and Hakai Pass, or on thumping, cacophonous boat rides between Bella Bella and far-flung coastal wilderness gems like Koeye and Goose Island. My copy of the Metrical Version of the Travels spent a brief moment in the sea (I caught it before it sank over the side of the boat) and some of my books still carry a lingering wisp of driftwood firesmoke, splashes of single malt, and the fresh scent of big wilderness.

It’s okay. In a way, it’s like field research. Parts of my thesis will be written while I am in transit, a road- (or ocean-) weary traveler reflecting (with some fondness for embellishment) on matters of dubious import and relevance.

Anyway, on to the European Voyages. This article provides a brief catalogue and discussion of the European presence in the Indian Ocean and Caspian Sea during the period mentioned in the title. It also makes interesting notes on European use of indigenous trade routes in the area.

Of momentary interest to my research is Richard’s thought on William of Rubruck’s contributions to geography and cartography: Rubruck is the first to note that the Caspian Sea is not, in fact, a gulf leading to the “Oceanic Sea” but a sea itself. Also, Richard makes some brief remarks about the center of the pepper trade on the Malabar coast, “a place where there had lived a rich and influential Christian community since the sixth century” (47).

It’s official: my completely useless preamble is significantly longer than my reflections on the article I’m meant to be discussing. I should probably send a fruit basket or a sorry bundle of posies to my unwitting committee. I’m fun to talk to, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the first draft on my thesis is primarily comprised of an enthusiastic attempt to phonetically transcribe the amazing sounds the ravens make on my roof to wake me up every morning.

The Journey of William of Rubruck

Today's task: The Journey of William of Rubruck to the Eastern Parts of the World, 1253-55 (Kessinger Publishing, 2009)

I'm going to be honest with you here. I find William of Rubruck to be a rather distasteful man. I don't know what it is - something in his tone, no doubt. While it must take tremendous character and intrepidity to bring the Word of God all the way to Mangu Chan, the voice that carries across the centuries through this account is not a voice I find it easy to like or respect.

Anyway, that's just fine, because I don't need to respect him to find him useful. He did at least have this much sense:

"...it seemed to me, as I said before, that I had been transported into another world" (83).

Most plant references in Rubruck's text are pretty utilitarian. The majority reference millet, wine, food and drink, with little to no natural history or commentary on the botany/ecology of the lands he passes through. He gives some simple trade information - like Mandeville, the merchandise but not its worth, its consumers or its market.

Plants do figure on several occasions as points of comparison (X here is like Y at home), and while Rubruck does discuss the importance of agriculture, it is without moralizing. That is, people who do not practice agriculture are inferior, but they are not evil or immoral. This distinction, drawn by Mandeville, is one I find interesting and oddly logical (though by those standards, one might - and did - assume that my people were evil and immoral).

The most interesting botanical passage to my mind refers to rhubarb and its properties as a medicinal and supernatural curative. While the spiritual and medicinal are firmly parted ("Either go as an apostle doing real miracles . . . or do as a physician in accordance with medical art" [216]), the botanical is portrayed by Rubruck at different parts of the text as intrinsic to each one - a bridge, as it were.

At any rate, while I can make myself imagine limited borrowing by Mandeville in terms of Rubruck's plants, it is very minimal. Though he clearly relies on Rubruck for other aspects of his narrative, I fail to see the exchange of a bouquet of posies or anything else significantly plant-related between the two authors.


In any event, here is an index of botanical references for my edition of Rubruck:

Agriculture -- 134
Almond -- 67, 206
Apple -- 65
Art -- 54
Bean -- 95
Bough -- 211
Briar -- 133, 172
Cotton -- 44, 52, 70, 71, 201
Flour -- 68
Forest -- 51, 70, 92, 99, 158, 179
Fruit -- 48, 86, 103, 105, 143, 206, 212, 224, 242
Garden -- 134
Grains -- 221
Grapes -- 135, 262
Herbs -- 156
Medicine -- 156, 192, 216
Millet -- 62, 68, 98, 132, 169, 183, 186, 202, 221
Nomadism -- 53
Pasture -- 53, 92, 111, 117, 259
Pear -- 65
Plant technology -- 53, 55, 70, 71, 73, 195, 201, 208, 212, 147, 270, 272
Prune -- 206
Raisin -- 206
Rhubarb -- 192, 216
Rice -- 62, 166, 173, 186, 199
Rye -- 97, 98
Spices -- 44
Tree -- 128, 204, 208, 212, 247
Wheat -- 98
Whey -- 67
Wilderness -- 92, 118
Wine -- 48, 83, 86, 90, 102, 103, 105, 166, 173, 186, 194, 199, 206, 208, 242, 262, 266
Woods -- 133
Wormwood -- 172