[1] The first of these names (not Mendaeans or Mandaites) is that
given by themselves, and means [Greek: gnostikoi], followers of
Gnosis ([Hebrew: mandaia], from [Hebrew: manda], Hebr. [Hebrew:
madda]). The Gnosis of which they profess themselves adherents is a
_personification_, the æon and mediator "knowledge of life" (see
below). The title Nasoraeans (Nasoraye), according to Petermann, they
give only to those among themselves who are most distinguished for
knowledge and character. Like the Arabic Nasara, it is originally
identical with the name of the half heathen half Jewish-Christian
[Greek: Nazoraioi], and indicates an early connexion with that sect.
The inappropriate designation of St John's Christians arises from the
early and imperfect acquaintance of Christian missionaries, who had
regard merely to the reverence in which the name of the Baptist is
held among them, and their frequent baptisms. In their dealings with
members of other communions the designation they take is Sabians, in
Arabic Sabi'una, from [Hebrew: tzva] = [Hebrew: tzeva], to baptize,
thus claiming the toleration extended by the Koran (Sur, 5,.73; 22,
17; 2, 59) to those of that name.
[2] In 1882 they were said to have shrunk to 200 families, and to be
seeking a new settlement on the Tigris, to escape the persecutions to
which they are exposed.
[3] See T. Nöldeke's admirable _Mandäische Grammatik_ (Halle, 1875).
[4] _Narratio originis, rituum, et errorum Christianorum S. Joannis_
(Rome, 1652).
[5] _Reisebeschreibung_, part iv. (Geneva, 1674).
[6] _Voyage au Levant_ (Paris, 1664).
[7] _Reisen im Orient_, ii. 447 seq.
[8] M. M. Siouffi, _Études sur la religion ... des Soubbas_ (Paris,
1880).
[9] Mandaean MSS. occur in the British Museum, the Bodleian Library,
the Bibliothèque Nationale of France, and also in Rome, Weimar and
Berlin. A number of Mandaean inscriptions relating to popular beliefs
and superstitions have been published by H. Pognon, _Inscriptions
mandaites_ (2 vols., Paris, 1898-1899), also by M. Lidzbarski in his
_Ephemeris_ (Giessen, 1900 seq.).
[10] The first printed edition and translation of the _Sidra rabba_,
by Matth. Norberg (_Codex Nazaraeus, liber Adami appellatus_, 3
vols., Copenhagen, 1815-1816, followed by a lexicon in 1816, and an
onomasticon in 1817), is so defective as to be quite useless; even
the name Book of Adam is unknown to the Mandaeans. Petermann's
_Thesaurus s. Liber magnus, vulgo "Liber Adami" appellatus, opus
Mandaeorum summi panderis_ (2 vols., Berlin and Leipzig, 1867), is an
excellent metallographic reproduction of the Paris MS. A German
translation of about a quarter of this work has been published in W.
Brandt's _Mandäische Schriften_, with notes (Göttingen, 1893). A
critical edition still remains a desideratum. Next in importance to
the _Sidra rabba_ is the _Sidra d'Yahya_, or "Book of John,"
otherwise known as the _D'rasche d'Malke_, "Discourses of the Kings,"
which has not as yet been printed as a whole, although portions nave
been published by Lorsbach and Tychsen (see _Museum f. bibl. u.
orient. Lit._ (1807), and Stäudlin's _Beitr. z. Phil. u. Gesch. d.
Relig. u. Sittenlehre_ 1796 seq.). The _Kolasta_ (Ar. _Khulasa_,
"Quintessence"), or according to its fuller title _'Enyane uderashe
d'masbutha umassektha_ ("Songs and Discourses of Baptism and the
Ascent," viz. of the soul after death), has been admirably
lithographed by Euting (Stuttgart, 1867). It is also known as _Sidra
d'neshmatha_, "Book of Souls," and besides hymns and doctrinal
discourses contains prayers to be offered by the priests at sacrifice
and at meals, as well as other liturgical matter. The Mandaean
marriage service occurs both in Paris and in Oxford as an independent
MS. The _Diwan_, hitherto unpublished, contains the ritual for
atonement. The _Asfar malwashe_, or "Book of the Zodiac," is
astrological. Of smaller pieces many are magical and used as amulets.
[11] The use of the word "life" in a personal sense is usual in
Gnosticism; compare the [Greek: Zôê] of Valentin and _el-hayat
el-muallama_, "the dark life," of Mani in the _Fihirst_.
MANDALAY, formerly the capital of independent Burma, now the
headquarters of the Mandalay division and district, as well as the chief
town in Upper Burma, stands on the left bank of the Irrawaddy, in 21°
59´ N. and 96° 8´ E. Its height above mean sea-level is 315 ft. Mandalay
was built in 1856-1857 by King Mindon. It is now divided into the
municipal area and the cantonment. The town covers an area of 6 m. from
north to south and 3 from east to west, and has well-metalled roads
lined with avenues of trees and regularly lighted and watered. The
cantonment consists of the area inside the old city walls, and is now
called Fort Dufferin. In the centre stands the palace, a group of wooden
buildings, many of them highly carved and gilt, resting on a brick
platform 900 ft. by 500 ft., and 6 ft. high. The greater part of it is
now utilized for military and other offices. The garrison consists of a
brigade belonging to the Burma command of the Indian army. There are
many fine pagodas and monastic buildings in the town. The population in
1901 was 183,816, showing a decrease of 3% in the decade. The population
is very mixed. Besides Burmese there are Zerbadis (the offspring of a
Mahommedan with a Burman wife), Mahommedans, Hindus, Jews, Chinese,
Shans and Manipuris (called Kathe), Kachins and Palaungs. Trains run
from Mandalay to Rangoon, Myit-kyina, and up the Mandalay-Kunlong
railway. The steamers of the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company also ply in all
directions. There are twenty bazaars, the chief of which, the Zegyo, was
burnt in 1897, and again in 1906, but rebuilt.
The MANDALAY DISTRICT has an area of 2117 sq. m. and a population (1901)
of 366,507, giving a density of 177 inhabitants to the square mile.
About 600 sq. m. along the Irrawaddy river are flat land, nearly all
cultivated. In the north and east there are some 1500 sq. m. of high
hills and table-lands, forming geographically a portion of the Shan
table-land. Here the fall to the plains averages 3000 to 4000 ft. in a
distance of 10 m. This part of the district is well wooded and watered.
The Maymyo subdivision has very fine plateaus of 3000 to 3600 ft. in
height. The highest peaks are between 4000 and 5000 ft. above sea-level.
The Irrawaddy, the Myit-ngè and the Madaya are the chief rivers. The
last two come from the Shan States, and are navigable for between 20 and
30 m. There are many canals, most of which have fallen greatly into
disrepair, and the Aungbinle, Nanda and Shwepyi lakes also supply water
for cultivation. A systematic irrigation scheme has been undertaken by
the government. The Sagyin hills near Madaya are noted for their
alabaster; rubies are also found in small quantities. There are 335 sq.
m. of forest reserves in the district, but there is little teak. The
climate is dry and healthy. During May and June and till August strong
winds prevail. The thermometer rises to about 107° in the shade in the
hot weather, and the minimum in the month of December is about 55°. The
rainfall is light, the average being under 30 in.
The DIVISION includes the districts of Mandalay, Bhamo, Myit-kyina,
Katha and Ruby Mines, with a total area of 29,373 sq. m., and a
population (1901) of 777,338, giving an average density of 30
inhabitants to the square mile. (J. G. Sc.)
MANDAMUS, WRIT OF, in English law, a high prerogative writ issuing from
the High Court of Justice (named from the first word in the Latin form
of the writ) containing a command in the name of the king, directed to
inferior courts, corporations, or individuals, ordering them to do a
specific act within the duty of their office, or which they are bound by
statute to do, and performance whereof the applicant for the writ has a
specific legal right to enforce. Direct orders from the sovereign to
subjects commanding the performance of particular acts were common in
early times, and to this class of orders _mandamus_ originally belonged.
It became customary for the court of king's bench, in cases where a
legal duty was established but no sufficient means existed for enforcing
it, to order performance by this writ. Under the Judicature Acts and the
_Crown Office Rules_, 1906 (r. 49), the powers of the court of king's
bench as to the grant of the prerogative writ of mandamus are
exercisable only in the king's bench division of the High Court.
The writ though of right is not of course: i.e. the applicant cannot
have it merely for the asking, but must satisfy the High Court that
circumstances exist calling for its issue. The procedure regulating the
grant and enforcement of the writ is determined by the _Crown Office
Rules_, 1906 (rr. 49-68, 125).
_Mandamus_ has always been regarded as an exceptional remedy to
supplement the deficiencies of the common law, or defects of justice.
Where another legal or equitable remedy exists, equally appropriate,
convenient, speedy, beneficial and effectual, the writ will as a rule
be refused. It is occasionally granted even when a remedy by
indictment is available: but is not issued unless the existence of the
duty and refusal to perform it are clearly established, nor where
performance in fact has become impossible. The writ is used to compel
inferior courts to hear and determine according to law cases within
their jurisdiction, e.g. where a county court or justices in petty or
quarter sessions refuse to assume a jurisdiction which they possess to
deal with a matter brought before them. It has in recent years been
employed to compel municipal bodies to discharge their duties as to
providing proper sewerage for their districts and to compel
anti-vaccinationist guardians of the poor to appoint officers for the
execution of the Vaccination Acts; and it is also employed to compel
the promoters of railway and similar undertakings to discharge duties
imposed upon them towards the public by their special acts, e.g. with
reference to highways, &c., affected by their railways or other
undertakings. The courts do not prescribe the specific manner in which
the duty is to be discharged, but do not stay their hands until
substantial compliance is established.
Besides the prerogative common-law writ there are a number of orders,
made by the High Court under statutory authority, and described as or
as being in the nature of mandamus, e.g. mandamus to proceed to the
election of a corporate officer of a municipal corporation (Municipal
Corporations Act 1882, s. 225); orders in the nature of mandamus to
justices to hear and determine a matter within their jurisdiction, or
to state and sign a case under the enactments relating to special
cases.
At common law mandamus lies only for the performance of acts of a
public or official character. The enforcement of merely private
obligations, such as those arising from contracts, is not within its
scope. By s. 68 of the Common Law Procedure Act 1854, the plaintiff in
any action other than replevin and ejectment was empowered to claim a
writ of mandamus to compel the defendant to fulfil any duty in the
fulfilment of which the plaintiff was personally interested. By s. 25
(8) of the Judicature Act 1873 a mandamus may be granted by an
interlocutory order of the High Court in all cases in which it shall
appear to the court just or convenient that such an order should be
made. This enactment does not deal with the prerogative mandamus but
empowers the king's bench and the chancery divisions to grant an
interlocutory mandamus in any pending cause or matter by an order
other than the final judgment and even by an order made after the
judgment. S. 68 of the act of 1854 has been repealed and replaced by
Order LIII. of the _Rules of the Supreme Court_. The remedy thus
created is an attempt to engraft upon the old common law remedy by
damages a right in the nature of specific performance of the duty in
question. It is not limited to cases in which the prerogative writ
would be granted; but mandamus is not granted when the result desired
can be obtained by some remedy equally convenient, beneficial and
effective, or a particular and different remedy is provided by
statute. An action for mandamus does not lie against judicial officers
such as justices. The mandamus issued in the action is no longer a
writ of mandamus, but a judgment or order having effect equivalent to
the writ formerly used.
_Mandatory Injunction._--The High Court has a jurisdiction derived
from the court of chancery to grant injunctions at the suit of the
attorney-general or of private persons. Ordinarily these injunctions
are in the form of prohibition or restraint and not of command. But
occasionally mandatory injunctions are granted in the form of a direct
command by the court.
_Specific Performance._--The jurisdiction of the High Court, derived
from the court of chancery, to decree specific performance of
contracts has some resemblance to mandamus in the domains of public or
quasi-public law.
_Ireland._--The law of Ireland as to mandamus is derived from that of
England, and differs therefrom only in minor details.
_British Possessions._--In a British possession the power to issue the
prerogative writ is usually vested in the Supreme Court by its charter
or by local legislation.
_United States._--The writ has passed into the law of the United
States. "There is in the federal judiciary an employment of the writ
substantially as the old prerogative writ in the king's bench
practice, also as a mode of exercising appellate jurisdiction, also as
a proceeding ancillary to a judgment previously rendered, in exercise
of original jurisdiction, as when a circuit court having rendered a
judgment against a county issues a mandamus requiring its officers to
levy a tax to provide for the payment of the judgment." And in the
various states mandamus is used under varying regulations, mandate
being in some cases substituted as the name of the proceeding.
MANDAN, a tribe of North American Indians of Siouan stock. When first
met they were living on the Missouri at the mouth of the Heart river. At
the beginning of the 19th century they were driven up the Missouri by
the Sioux. In 1845 they joined the Gros Ventres and later the Arikaras,
and settled in their present position at Fort Berthold reservation,
North Dakota. The Mandans have always been agricultural; they are noted
for their ceremonies, and from the tattooing on face and breast were
described in the sign language as "the tattooed people."
MANDARIN, the common name for all public officials in China, the Chinese
name for whom is _kwan_ or _kwun_. The word comes through the Portuguese
from Malay _mantri_, a counsellor or minister of state. The ultimate
origin of this word is the Sanskrit root _man-_, meaning to "think,"
seen in "man," "mind," &c. The term "mandarin" is not, in its western
usage, applied indiscriminately to all civil and military officials, but
only to those who are entitled to wear a "button," which is a spherical
knob, about an inch in diameter, affixed to the top of the official cap
or hat. These officials, civil and military alike, are divided into nine
grades or classes, each grade being distinguished by a button of a
particular colour. The grade to which an official belongs is not
necessarily related to the office he holds. The button which
distinguishes the first grade is a transparent red stone; the second
grade, a red coral button; the third, a sapphire; the fourth, a blue
opaque stone; the fifth, a crystal button; the sixth, an opaque white
shell button; the seventh, a plain gold button; the eighth, a worked
gold button; and the ninth, a worked silver button. The mandarins also
wear certain insignia embroidered on their official robes, and have
girdle clasps of different material. The first grade have, for civilians
an embroidered Manchurian crane on the breast and back, for the military
an embroidered unicorn with a girdle clasp of jade set in rubies. The
second grade, for civilians an embroidered golden pheasant, for the
military a lion with a girdle clasp of gold set in rubies. The third
grade, for civilians a peacock, for the military a leopard with a clasp
of worked gold. The fourth grade, for civilians a wild goose, for the
military a tiger, and a clasp of worked gold with a silver button. The
fifth grade, for civilians a silver pheasant, for the military a bear
and a clasp of plain gold with a silver button. The sixth grade, for
civilians an egret, for the military a tiger-cat with a mother-of-pearl
clasp. The seventh grade, for civilians a mandarin duck, for the
military a mottled bear with a silver clasp. The eighth grade, for
civilians a quail, for the military a seal with a clear horn clasp. The
ninth grade, for civilians a long-tailed jay, for the military a
rhinoceros with a buffalo-horn clasp.
The "mandarin language" is the Chinese, which is spoken in official and
legal circles; it is also spoken over a considerable portion of the
country, particularly the northern and central parts, though not perhaps
with the same purity. Mandarin duck (_anas galericulata_) and Mandarin
orange (_citrus nobilis_) possibly derive their names, by analogy, from
the sense of superiority implied in the title "mandarin."
See _Society in China_, by Sir R. K. Douglas; _L'Empire du milieu_, by
E. and O. Reclus.
MANDASOR, or MANDSAUR, a town of Central India, in the native state of
Gwalior, on the Rajputana railway, 31 m. S. of Neemuch. Pop. (1901),
20,936. It gave its name to the treaty with Holkar, which concluded the
Mahratta-Pindari War in 1818. It is a centre of the Malwa opium trade.
Mandasor and its neighbourhood are full of archaeological interest. An
inscription discovered near the town indicated the erection of a temple
of the sun in 437, and at Sondani are two great monolith pillars
recording a victory of Yasodharma, king of Malwa, in 528. The fort dates
from the 14th and 15th centuries. Hindu and Jain remains are numerous,
though the town is now entirely Mahommedan.
MANDATE (_Mandatum_), a contract in Roman law constituted by one person
(the _mandatarius_) promising to do something gratuitously at the
request of another (the _mandator_), who undertakes to indemnify him
against loss. The jurist distinguished the different cases of mandatum
according as the object of the contract was the benefit of the mandator
or a third person singly, or the mandator and a third person, the
mandator and the mandatarius, or the mandatarius and a third person
together. When the benefit was that of the mandatarius alone, the
obligations of the contract were held not to arise, although the form of
the contract might exist, the commission being held to be merely advice
tendered to the mandatarius, and acted on by him at his own risk.
Mandatum was classified as one of the contracts established by consent
of the parties alone; but, as there was really no obligation of any kind
until the mandatarius had acted on the mandate, it has with more
propriety been referred to the contracts created by the supply of some
fact (_re_). The obligations of the mandatarius under the contract were,
briefly, to do what he had promised according to his instructions,
observing ordinary diligence in taking care of any property entrusted to
him, and handing over to his principal the results of his action,
including the right to sue in his name. On the other hand, the principal
was bound to recoup him his expenses and indemnify him against loss
through obligations he might have incurred.
The essentials and the terminology of the contract are preserved in
most modern systems of law. But in English law mandate, under that
name, can hardly be said to exist as a separate form of contract. To
some extent the law of mandatum corresponds partly to the law of
principal and agent, partly to that of principal and surety. "Mandate"
is retained to signify the contract more generally known as gratuitous
bailment. It is restricted to personal property, and it implies the
delivery of something to the bailee, both of which conditions are
unknown in the mandatum of the civil law (see BAILMENT).
MANDAUE, a town of the province of Cebú, island of Cebú, Philippine
Islands, on the E. coast and E. coast road, about 4 m. N.E. of the town
of Cebú, the capital. Pop. (1903), 11,078; in the same year the town of
Consolación (pop. 5511) was merged with Mandaue. Its climate is very
hot, but healthy. The principal industries are the raising of Indian
corn and sugar-cane and the manufacture of salt from sea-water.
Cebú-Visayan is the language.
MANDELIC ACID (Phenylglycollic Acid), C8H8O3 or C6H5·CH(OH)·COOH, an
isomer of the cresotinic and the oxymethylbenzoic acids. Since the
molecule contains an asymmetric carbon atom, the acid exists in three
forms, one being an inactive "racemic" mixture, and the other two being
optically active forms. The inactive variety is known as _paramandelic
acid_. It may be prepared by the action of hydrochloric acid on the
addition compound of benzaldehyde and hydrocyanic acid:--
C6H5CHO + HCN + HCl + 2H2O = C6H5·CHOH·COOH + NH4Cl,
(F. L. Winckler, _Ann._, 1836, 18, 310), by boiling phenylchlor-acetic
acid with alkalis (A. Spiegel, _Ber._, 1881, 14, 239), by heating
benzoylformaldehyde with alkalis (H. v. Pechmann, _Ber._, 1887, 20,
2905), and by the action of dilute alkalies on [omega]-dibromacetophenone
(C. Engler, _Ber._, 1887, 20, 2202):--
C6H5COCHBr2 + 3KHO = 2KBr + H2O + C6H5·CHOH·CO2K.
It crystallizes from water in large rhombic crystals, which melt at 118°
C. Oxidizing agents convert it into benzaldehyde. When heated with
hydriodic acid and phosphorus it forms phenylacetic acid; whilst
concentrated hydrobromic acid and hydrochloric acid at moderate
temperatures convert it into phenylbrom- and phenylchlor-acetic acids.
The inactive mixture may be resolved into its active components by
fractional crystallization of the cinchonine salt, when the salt of the
_dextro_ modification separates first; or the ammonium salt may be
fermented by _Penicillium glaucum_, when the _laevo_ form is destroyed
and the _dextro_ form remains untouched; on the other hand,
_Saccharomyces ellipsoïdeus_ destroys the _dextro_ form, but does not
touch the _laevo_ form. A mixture of the two forms in equivalent
quantities produces the inactive variety, which is also obtained when
either form is heated for some hours to 160° C.
MANDER, CAREL VAN (1548-1606), Dutch painter, poet and biographer, was
born of a noble family at Meulebeke. He studied under Lucas de Heere at
Ghent, and in 1568-1569 under Pieter Vlerick at Kortryck. The next five
years he devoted to the writing of religious plays for which he also
painted the scenery. Then followed three years in Rome (1574-1577),
where he is said to have been the first to discover the catacombs. On
his return journey he passed through Vienna, where, together with the
sculptor Hans Mont, he made the triumphal arch for the entry of the
emperor Rudolph. After many vicissitudes caused by war, loss of fortune
and plague, he settled at Haarlem where, in conjunction with Goltzius
and Cornelisz, he founded a successful academy of painting. His fame is,
however, principally based upon a voluminous biographical work on the
paintings of various epochs--a book that has become for the northern
countries what Vasari's _Lives of the Painters_ became for Italy. It was
completed in 1603 and published in 1604, in which year Van Mander
removed to Amsterdam, where he died in 1606.
MANDEVILLE, BERNARD DE (1670-1733), English philosopher and satirist,
was born at Dordrecht, where his father practised as a physician. On
leaving the Erasmus school at Rotterdam he gave proof of his ability by
an _Oratio scholastica de medicina_ (1685), and at Leiden University in
1689 he maintained a thesis _De brutorum operationibus_, in which he
advocated the Cartesian theory of automatism among animals. In 1691 he
took his medical degree, pronouncing an "inaugural disputation," _De
chylosi vitiata_. Afterwards he came to England "to learn the language,"
and succeeded so remarkably that many refused to believe he was a
foreigner. As a physician he seems to have done little, and lived poorly
on a pension given him by some Dutch merchants and money which he earned
from distillers for advocating the use of spirits. His conversational
abilities won him the friendship of Lord Macclesfield (chief justice
1710-1718) who introduced him to Addison, described by Mandeville as "a
parson in a tye-wig." He died in January (19th or 21st) 1733/4 at
Hackney.
The work by which he is known is the _Fable of the Bees_, published
first in 1705 under the title of _The Grumbling Hive, or Knaves Turn'd
Honest_ (two hundred doggerel couplets). In 1714 it was republished
anonymously with _Remarks_ and _An Enquiry into the Origin of Moral
Virtue_. In 1723 a later edition appeared, including _An Essay on
Charity and Charity Schools_, and _A Search into the Nature of Society_.
The book was primarily written as a political satire on the state of
England in 1705, when the Tories were accusing Marlborough and the
ministry of advocating the French War for personal reasons. The edition
of 1723 was presented as a nuisance by the Grand Jury of Middlesex, was
denounced in the _London Journal_ by "Theophilus Philo-Britannus," and
attacked by many writers, notably by Archibald Campbell (1691-1756) in
his _Aretelogia_ (published as his own by Alexander Innes in 1728;
afterwards by Campbell, under his own name, in 1733, as _Enquiry into
the Original of Moral Virtue_). The _Fable_ was reprinted in 1729, a
ninth edition appeared in 1755, and it has often been reprinted in more
recent times. Berkeley attacked it in the second dialogue of the
_Alciphron_ (1732) and John Brown criticized him in his _Essay upon
Shaftesbury's Characteristics_ (1751).
Mandeville's philosophy gave great offence at the time, and has always
been stigmatized as false, cynical and degrading. His main thesis is
that the actions of men cannot be divided into lower and higher. The
higher life of man is merely a fiction introduced by philosophers and
rulers to simplify government and the relations of society. In fact,
virtue (which he defined as "every performance by which man, contrary to
the impulse of nature, should endeavour the benefit of others, or the
conquest of his own passions, out of a rational ambition of being good")
is actually detrimental to the state in its commercial and intellectual
progress, for it is the vices (i.e. the self-regarding actions of men)
which alone, by means of inventions and the circulation of capital in
connexion with luxurious living, stimulate society into action and
progress. In the _Fable_ he shows a society possessed of all the virtues
"blest with content and honesty," falling into apathy and utterly
paralyzed. The absence of self-love (cf. Hobbes) is the death of
progress. The so-called higher virtues are mere hypocrisy, and arise
from the selfish desire to be superior to the brutes. "The moral virtues
are the political offspring which flattery begot upon pride." Similarly
he arrives at the great paradox that "private vices are public
benefits." But his best work and that in which he approximates most
nearly to modern views is his account of the origin of society. His _a
priori_ theories should be compared with Maine's historical inquiries
(_Ancient Law_, c. V.). He endeavours to show that all social laws are
the crystallized results of selfish aggrandizement and protective
alliances among the weak. Denying any form of moral sense or conscience,
he regards all the social virtues as evolved from the instinct for
self-preservation, the give-and-take arrangements between the partners
in a defensive and offensive alliance, and the feelings of pride and
vanity artificially fed by politicians, as an antidote to dissension and
chaos. Mandeville's ironical paradoxes are interesting mainly as a
criticism of the "amiable" idealism of Shaftesbury, and in comparison
with the serious egoistic systems of Hobbes and Helvetius. It is mere
prejudice to deny that Mandeville had considerable philosophic insight;
at the same time he was mainly negative or critical, and, as he himself
said, he was writing for "the entertainment of people of knowledge and
education." He may be said to have cleared the ground for the coming
utilitarianism.
WORKS.--_Typhon: a Burlesque Poem_ (1704); _Aesop Dress'd, or a
Collection of Fables writ in Familiar Verse_ (1704); _The Planter's
Charity_ (1704); _The Virgin Unmasked_ (1709, 1724, 1731, 1742), a
work in which the coarser side of his nature is prominent; _Treatise
of the Hypochondriack and Hysterick Passions_ (1711, 1715, 1730)
admired by Johnson (Mandeville here protests against merely
speculative therapeutics, and advances fanciful theories of his own
about animal spirits in connexion with "stomachic ferment": he shows a
knowledge of Locke's methods, and an admiration for Sydenham); _Free
Thoughts on Religion_ (1720); _A Conference about Whoring_ (1725); _An
Enquiry into the Causes of the Frequent Executions at Tyburn_ (1725);
_The Origin of Honour and the Usefulness of Christianity in War_
(1732). Other works attributed, wrongly, to him are _A Modest Defence
of Public Stews_ (1724); _The World Unmasked_ (1736) and _Zoologia
medicinalis hibernica_ (1744).
See Hill's _Boswell_, iii. 291-293; L. Stephen's _English Thought in
the Eighteenth Century_, A. Bain's _Moral Science_ (593-598);
Windelband's _History of Ethics_ (Eng. trans. Tufts); J. M. Robertson,
_Pioneer Humanists_ (1907); P. Sakmann, _Bernard de Mandeville und die
Bienenfabel-Controverse_ (Freiburg i/Br., 1897), and compare articles
ETHICS, SHAFTESBURY, HOBBES. (J. M. M.).
MANDEVILLE, GEOFFREY DE (d. 1144), earl of Essex, succeeded his father,
William, as constable of the Tower of London in or shortly before 1130.
Though a great Essex landowner, he played no conspicuous part in history
till 1140, when Stephen created him earl of Essex in reward for his
services against the empress Matilda. After the defeat and capture of
Stephen at Lincoln (1141) the earl deserted to Matilda, but before the
end of the year, learning that Stephen's release was imminent, returned
to his original allegiance. In 1142 he was again intriguing with the
empress; but before he could openly join her cause he was detected and
deprived of his castles by the king. In 1143-1144 Geoffrey maintained
himself as a rebel and a bandit in the fen-country, using the Isle of
Ely and Ramsey Abbey as his headquarters. He was besieged by Stephen in
the fens, and met his death in September 1144 in consequence of a wound
received in a skirmish. His career is interesting for two reasons. The
charters which he extorted from Stephen and Matilda illustrate the
peculiar form taken by the ambitions of English feudatories. The most
important concessions are grants of offices and jurisdictions which had
the effect of making Mandeville a viceroy with full powers in Essex,
Middlesex and London, and Hertfordshire. His career as an outlaw
exemplifies the worst excesses of the anarchy which prevailed in some
parts of England during the civil wars of 1140-1147, and it is probable
that the deeds of Mandeville inspired the rhetorical description, in the
Peterborough Chronicle of this period, when "men said openly that Christ
and his saints were asleep."
See J. H. Round, _Geoffrey de Mandeville, a Study of the Anarchy_
(London, 1892). (H. W. C. D.)
MANDEVILLE, JEHAN DE ("Sir John Mandeville"), the name claimed by the
compiler of a singular book of travels, written in French, and published
between 1357 and 1371. By aid of translations into many other languages
it acquired extraordinary popularity, while a few interpolated words in
a particular edition of an English version gained for Mandeville in
modern times the spurious credit of being "the father of English prose."
In his preface the compiler calls himself a knight, and states that he
was born and bred in England, of the town of St Albans; had crossed the
sea on Michaelmas Day 1322; had travelled by way of Turkey (Asia Minor),
Armenia the little (Cilicia) and the great, Tartary, Persia, Syria,
Arabia, Egypt upper and lower, Libya, great part of Ethiopia, Chaldaea,
Amazonia, India the less, the greater and the middle, and many countries
about India; had often been to Jerusalem, and had written in Romance as
more generally understood than Latin. In the body of the work we hear
that he had been at Paris and Constantinople; had served the sultan of
Egypt a long time in his wars against the Bedawin, had been vainly
offered by him a princely marriage and a great estate on condition of
renouncing Christianity, and had left Egypt under sultan Melech
Madabron, i.e. Muzaffar or Mudhaffar[1] (who reigned in 1346-1347); had
been at Mount Sinai, and had visited the Holy Land with letters under
the great seal of the sultan, which gave him extraordinary facilities;
had been in Russia, Livonia, Cracow, Lithuania, "en roialme daresten" (?
de Daresten or Silistria), and many other parts near Tartary, but not in
Tartary itself; had drunk of the well of youth at Polombe (Quilon on the
Malabar coast), and still seemed to feel the better; had taken
astronomical observations on the way to Lamory (Sumatra), as well as in
Brabant, Germany, Bohemia and still farther north; had been at an isle
called Pathen in the Indian Ocean; had been at Cansay (Hangchow-fu) in
China, and had served the emperor of China fifteen months against the
king of Manzi; had been among rocks of adamant in the Indian Ocean; had
been through a haunted valley, which he places near "Milstorak" (i.e.
Malasgird in Armenia); had been driven home against his will in 1357 by
arthritic gout; and had written his book as a consolation for his
"wretched rest." The paragraph which states that he had had his book
confirmed at Rome by the pope is an interpolation of the English
version.
Part at least of the personal history of Mandeville is mere invention.
Nor is any contemporary corroboration of the existence of such a Jehan
de Mandeville known. Some French MSS., not contemporary, give a Latin
letter of presentation from him to Edward III., but so vague that it
might have been penned by any writer on any subject. It is in fact
beyond reasonable doubt that the travels were in large part compiled by
a Liége physician, known as Johains à le Barbe or Jehan à la Barbe,
otherwise Jehan de Bourgogne.
The evidence of this is in a modernized extract quoted by the Liége
herald, Louis Abry[2] (1643-1720), from the lost fourth book of the
_Myreur des Hystors_ of Johans des Preis, styled d'Oultremouse. In this
"Jean de Bourgogne, dit à la Barbe," is said to have revealed himself on
his deathbed to d'Oultremouse, whom he made his executor, and to have
described himself in his will as "messire Jean de Mandeville, chevalier,
comte de Montfort en Angleterre et seigneur de l'isle de Campdi et du
château Pérouse." It is added that, having had the misfortune to kill an
unnamed count in his own country, he engaged himself to travel through
the three parts of the world, arrived at Liége in 1343, was a great
naturalist, profound philosopher and astrologer, and had a remarkable
knowledge of physic. And the identification is confirmed by the fact
that in the now destroyed church of the Guillelmins was a tombstone of
Mandeville, with a Latin inscription stating that he was otherwise named
"ad Barbam," was a professor of medicine, and died at Liége on the 17th
of November 1372: this inscription is quoted as far back as 1462.
Even before his death the Liége physician seems to have confessed to a
share in the composition of the work. In the common Latin abridged
version of it, at the end of c. vii., the author says that when stopping
in the sultan's court at Cairo he met a venerable and expert physician
of "our" parts, that they rarely came into conversation because their
duties were of a different kind, but that long afterwards at Liége he
composed this treatise at the exhortation and with the help (_hortatu et
adiutorio_) of the same venerable man, as he will narrate at the end of
it. And in the last chapter he says that in 1355, in returning home, he
came to Liége, and being laid up with old age and arthritic gout in the
street called Bassesauenyr, i.e. Basse Savenir, consulted the
physicians. That one came in who was more venerable than the others by
reason of his age and white hairs, was evidently expert in his art, and
was commonly called Magister Iohannes ad Barbam. That a chance remark of
the latter caused the renewal of their old Cairo acquaintance, and that
Ad Barbam, after showing his medical skill on Mandeville, urgently
begged him to write his travels; "and so at length, by his advice and
help, _monitu et adiutorio_, was composed this treatise, of which I had
certainly proposed to write nothing until at least I had reached my own
parts in England." He goes on to speak of himself as being now lodged in
Liége, "which is only two days distant from the sea of England"; and it
is stated in the colophon (and in the MSS.) that the book was first
published in French by Mandeville, its author, in 1355, at Liége, and
soon after in the same city translated into "the said" Latin form.
Moreover, a MS. of the French text extant at Liége about 1860[3]
contained a similar statement, and added that the author lodged at a
hostel called "al hoste Henkin Levo": this MS. gave the physician's name
as "Johains de Bourgogne dit ale barbe," which doubtless conveys its
local form.
There is no contemporary English mention of any English knight named
Jehan de Mandeville, nor are the arms said to have been on the Liége
tomb like any known Mandeville arms. But Dr G. F. Warner has ingeniously
suggested that de Bourgogne may be a certain Johan de Bourgoyne, who was
pardoned by parliament on the 20th of August 1321 for having taken part
in the attack on the Despensers, but whose pardon was revoked in May
1322, the year in which "Mandeville" professes to have left England. And
it should now be added that among the persons similarly pardoned _on the
recommendation of the same nobleman_ was a Joh^an Mangevilayn, whose
name appears closely related to that of "de Mandeville"[4]--which is
merely a later form of "de Magneville."
Mangeuilain occurs in Yorkshire as early as 16 Hen. I. (_Pipe Roll
Soc._, xv. 40), but is very rare, and (failing evidence of any place
named Mangeville) seems to be merely a variant spelling of Magnevillain.
The meaning may be simply "of Magneville," _de_ Magneville; but the
family of a 14th century bishop of Nevers were called both "Mandevilain"
and "de Mandevilain"--where Mandevilain seems a derivative place-name,
meaning the Magneville or Mandeville district. In any case it is clear
that the name "de Mandeville" might be suggested to de Bourgogne by that
of his fellow-culprit Mangevilayn, and it is even possible that the two
fled to England together, were in Egypt together, met again at Liége,
and shared in the compilation of the _Travels_.
Whether after the appearance of the _Travels_ either de Bourgogne or
"Mangevilayn" visited England is very doubtful. St Albans Abbey had a
sapphire ring, and Canterbury a crystal orb, said to have been given by
Mandeville; but these might have been sent from Liége, and it will
appear later that the Liége physician possessed and wrote about precious
stones. St Albans also had a legend that a ruined marble tomb of
Mandeville (represented cross-legged and in armour, with sword and
shield) once stood in the abbey; this may be true of "Mangevilayn" or it
may be a mere myth.
It is a little curious that the name preceding Mangevilayn in the list
of persons pardoned is "Johan le Barber." Did this suggest to de
Bourgogne the _alias_ "à le Barbe," or was that only a Liége nickname?
Note also that the arms on Mandeville's tomb were borne by the Tyrrells
of Hertfordshire (the county in which St Albans lies); for of course the
crescent on the lion's breast is only the "difference" indicating a
second son.
Leaving this question, there remains the equally complex one whether the
book contains any facts and knowledge acquired by actual travels and
residence in the East. Possibly it may, but only as a small portion of
the section which treats of the Holy Land and the ways of getting
thither, of Egypt, and in general of the Levant. The prologue, indeed,
points almost exclusively to the Holy Land as the subject of the work.
The mention of more distant regions comes in only towards the end of
this prologue, and (in a manner) as an afterthought.
By far the greater part of these more distant travels, extending in fact
from Trebizond to Hormuz, India, the Malay Archipelago, and China, and
back again to western Asia, has been appropriated from the narrative of
Friar Odoric (written in 1330). These passages, as served up by
Mandeville, are almost always, indeed, swollen with interpolated
particulars, usually of an extravagant kind, whilst in no few cases the
writer has failed to understand the passages which he adopts from Odoric
and professes to give as his own experiences. Thus (p. 209),[5] where
Odoric has given a most curious and veracious account of the Chinese
custom of employing tame cormorants to catch fish, the cormorants are
converted by Mandeville into "little beasts called _loyres_ (_layre_,
B), which are taught to go into the water" (the word _loyre_ being
apparently used here for "otter," _lutra_, for which the Provençal is
_luria_ or _loiria_).
At a very early date the coincidence of Mandeville's stories with those
of Odoric was recognized, insomuch that a MS. of Odoric which is or was
in the chapter library at Mainz begins with the words: _Incipit
Itinerarius fidelis fratris Odorici socii Militis Mendavil per Indian;
licet hic [read ille] prius el alter posterius peregrinationem suam
descripsit._ At a later day Sir T. Herbert calls Odoric "travelling
companion of our Sir John"; and Purchas, with most perverse injustice,
whilst calling Mandeville, next to Polo, "if next ... the greatest Asian
traveller that ever the world had," insinuates that Odoric's story was
stolen from Mandeville's. Mandeville himself is crafty enough, at least
in one passage, to anticipate criticism by suggesting the probability of
his having travelled with Odoric (see p. 282 and below).
Much, again, of Mandeville's matter, particularly in Asiatic geography
and history, is taken bodily from the _Historiae Orientis_ of Hetoum, an
Armenian of princely family, who became a monk of the Praemonstrant
order, and in 1307 dictated this work on the East, in the French tongue
at Poitiers, out of his own extraordinary acquaintance with Asia and its
history in his own time.
It is curious that no passage in Mandeville can be plausibly traced to
Marco Polo, with one exception. This is (p. 163) where he states that at
Hormuz the people during the great heat lie in water--a circumstance
mentioned by Polo, though not by Odoric. We should suppose it most
likely that this fact had been interpolated in the copy of Odoric used
by Mandeville, for if he had borrowed it direct from Polo he would have
borrowed more.
A good deal about the manners and customs of the Tatars is demonstrably
derived from the famous work of the Franciscan Ioannes de Plano Carpini,
who went as the pope's ambassador to the Tatars in 1245-1247; but Dr
Warner considers that the immediate source for Mandeville was the
_Speculum historiale_ of Vincent de Beauvais. Though the passages in
question are all to be found in Plano Carpini more or less exactly, the
expression is condensed and the order changed. For examples compare
Mandeville, p. 250, on the tasks done by Tatar women, with Plano
Carpini, p. 643;[6] Mandeville, p. 250, on Tatar habits of eating, with
Plano Carpini, pp. 639-640; Mandeville, p. 231, on the titles borne on
the seals of the Great Khan, with Plano Carpini, p. 715, &c.
The account of Prester John is taken from the famous _Epistle_ of that
imaginary potentate, which was so widely diffused in the 13th century,
and created that renown which made it incumbent on every traveller in
Asia to find some new tale to tell of him. Many fabulous stories, again,
of monsters, such as cyclopes, sciapodes, hippopodes, monoscelides,
anthropophagi, and men whose heads did grow beneath their shoulders, of
the phoenix and the weeping crocodile, such as Pliny has collected, are
introduced here and there, derived no doubt from him, Solinus, the
bestiaries, or the _Speculum naturale_ of Vincent de Beauvais. And
interspersed, especially in the chapters about the Levant, are the
stories and legends that were retailed to every pilgrim, such as the
legend of Seth and the grains of paradise from which grew the wood of
the cross, that of the shooting of old Cain by Lamech, that of the
castle of the sparrow-hawk (which appears in the tale of Melusina),
those of the origin of the balsam plants at Matariya, of the dragon of
Cos, of the river Sabbation, &c.
Even in that part of the book which might be supposed to represent some
genuine experience there are the plainest traces that another work has
been made use of, more or less--we might almost say as a framework to
fill up. This is the itinerary of the German knight Wilhelm von
Boldensele, written in 1336 at the desire of Cardinal Talleyrand de
Perigord.[7] A cursory comparison of this with Mandeville leaves no
doubt that the latter has followed its thread, though digressing on
every side, and too often eliminating the singular good sense of the
German traveller. We may indicate as examples Boldensele's account of
Cyprus (Mandeville, p. 28 and p. 10), of Tyre and the coast of Palestine
(Mandeville, 29, 30, 33, 34), of the journey from Gaza to Egypt (34),
passages about Babylon of Egypt (40), about Mecca (42), the general
account of Egypt (45), the pyramids (52), some of the wonders of Cairo,
such as the slave-market, the chicken-hatching stoves, and the apples of
paradise, i.e. plantains (49), the Red Sea (57), the convent on Sinai
(58, 60), the account of the church of the Holy Sepulchre (74-76), &c.
There is, indeed, only a small residuum of the book to which genuine
character, as containing the experiences of the author, can possibly be
attributed. Yet, as has been intimated, the borrowed stories are
frequently claimed as such experiences. In addition to those already
mentioned, he alleges that he had witnessed the curious exhibition of
the garden of transmigrated souls (described by Odoric) at Cansay, i.e.
Hangchow-fu (211). He and his fellows with their valets had remained
fifteen months in service with the emperor of Cathay in his wars against
the king of Manzi--Manzi, or Southern China, having ceased to be a
separate kingdom some seventy years before the time referred to. But the
most notable of these false statements occurs in his adoption from
Odoric of the story of the Valley Perilous (282). This is, in its
original form, apparently founded on real experiences of Odoric viewed
through a haze of excitement and superstition. Mandeville, whilst
swelling the wonders of the tale with a variety of extravagant touches,
appears to safeguard himself from the reader's possible discovery that
it was stolen by the interpolation: "And some of our fellows accorded to
enter, and some not. So there were with us two worthy men, Friars Minor,
that were of Lombardy, who said that if any man would enter they would
go in with us. And when they had said so, upon the gracious trust of God
and of them, we caused mass to be sung, and made every man to be shriven
and houselled; and then we entered, fourteen persons; but at our going
out we were but nine," &c.
In referring to this passage it is only fair to recognize that the
description (though the suggestion of the greatest part exists in
Odoric) displays a good deal of imaginative power; and there is much in
the account of Christian's passage through the Valley of the Shadow of
Death, in Bunyan's famous allegory, which indicates a possibility that
John Bunyan may have read and remembered this episode either in
Mandeville or in Hakluyt's Odoric.
Nor does it follow that the whole work is borrowed or fictitious. Even
the great Moorish traveller Ibn Batuta, accurate and veracious in the
main, seems--in one part at least of his narrative--to invent
experiences; and in such works as those of Jan van Hees and Arnold von
Harff we have examples of pilgrims to the Holy Land whose narratives
begin apparently in sober truth, and gradually pass into flourishes of
fiction and extravagance. So in Mandeville also we find particulars not
yet traced to other writers, and which may therefore be provisionally
assigned either to the writer's own experience or to knowledge acquired
by colloquial intercourse in the East.
It is difficult to decide on the character of his statements as to
recent Egyptian history. In his account of that country (pp. 37, 38)
though the series of the Comanian (i.e. of the Bahri Mameluke) sultans
is borrowed from Hetoum down to the accession of _Melechnasser_, i.e.
Malik al-Nasir (Nasir ud-din Mahommed), who came first to the throne in
1293, Mandeville appears to speak from his own knowledge when he adds
that this "_Melechnasser_ reigned long and governed wisely." In fact,
though twice displaced in the early part of his life, Malik Nasir
reigned till 1341, a duration unparalleled in Mahommedan Egypt, whilst
we are told that during the last thirty years of his reign Egypt rose to
a high pitch of wealth and prosperity. Mandeville, however, then goes on
to say that his eldest son, _Melechemader_, was chosen to succeed; but
this prince was caused privily to be slain by his brother, who took the
kingdom under the name of _Melechmadabron_. "And he was Soldan when I
departed from those countries." Now Malik Nasir Mahommed was followed in
succession by no less than eight of his sons in thirteen years, the
first three of whom reigned in aggregate only a few months. The names
mentioned by Mandeville appear to represent those of the fourth and
sixth of the eight, viz. Salih 'Imad ud-din Isma'il, and Mozaffar (Saif
ud-din Hajji); and these the statements of Mandeville do not fit.
On several occasions Arabic words are given, but are not always
recognizable, owing perhaps to the carelessness of copyists in such
matters. Thus, we find (p. 50) the names (not satisfactorily identified)
of the wood, fruit and sap of the balsam plant; (p. 99) of bitumen,
"alkatran" (_al-Katran_); (p. 168) of the three different kinds of
pepper (long pepper, black pepper and white pepper) as _sorbotin_,
_fulful_ and _bano_ or _bauo_ (_fulful_ is the common Arabic word for
pepper; the others have not been satisfactorily explained). But these,
and the particulars of his narrative for which no literary sources have
yet been found, are too few to constitute a proof of personal
experience.
Mandeville, again, in some passages shows a correct idea of the form of
the earth, and of position in latitude ascertained by observation of the
pole star; he knows that there are antipodes, and that if ships were
sent on voyages of discovery they might sail round the world. And he
tells a curious story, which he had heard in his youth, how a worthy man
did travel ever eastward until he came to his own country again (p.
183). But he repeatedly asserts the old belief that Jerusalem was in the
centre of the world (79, 183), and maintains in proof of this that at
the equinox a spear planted erect in Jerusalem casts no shadow at noon,
which, if true, would equally consist with the sphericity of the earth,
provided that the city were on the equator.
The sources of the book, which include various authors besides those
whom we have specified, have been laboriously investigated by Dr Albert
Bovenschen[8] and Dr G. F. Warner,[9] and to them the reader must be
referred for more detailed information on the subject.
The oldest known MS. of the original--once Barrois's, afterwards the
earl of Ashburnham's, now Nouv. Acq. Franç. 4515 in the Bibliothèque
Nationale, Paris--is dated 1371, but is nevertheless very inaccurate
in proper names. An early printed Latin translation made from the
French has been already quoted, but four others, unprinted, have been
discovered by Dr J. Vogels.[10] They exist in eight MSS., of which
seven are in Great Britain, while the eighth was copied by a monk of
Abingdon; probably, therefore, all these unprinted translations were
executed in this country. From one of them, according to Dr
Vogels,[11] an English version was made which has never been printed
and is now extant only in free abbreviations, contained in two 15th
century MSS. in the Bodleian Library, Oxford--MS. e Museo 116, and MS.
Rawlinson D. 99: the former, which is the better, is in Midland
dialect, and may possibly have belonged to the Augustinian priory of
St Osyth in Essex, while the latter is in Southern dialect.
The first English translation direct from the French was made (at
least as early as the beginning of the 15th century) from a MS. of
which many pages were lost.[12] Writing of the name Califfes
(Khalif), the author says (_Roxburghe Club ed._, p. 18) that it is
_tant a dire come roi(s). Il y soleit auoir v. soudans_--"as much as
to say king. There used to be 5 sultans." In the defective French MS.
a page ended with _Il y so_; then came a gap, and the next page went
on with part of the description of Mount Sinai, _Et est celle vallee
mult froide_ (ibid. p. 32). Consequently the corresponding English
version has "That ys to say amonge hem _Roys Ils_ and this vale ys ful
colde"! All English printed texts before 1725, and Ashton's 1887
edition, follow these defective copies, and in only two known MSS. has
the lacuna been detected and filled up.
One of them is the British Museum MS. Egerton 1982 (Northern dialect,
about 1410-1420?), in which, according to Dr Vogels, the corresponding
portion has been borrowed from that English version which had already
been made from the Latin. The other is in the British Museum MS.
Cotton Titus C. xvi. (Midland dialect, about 1410-1420?), representing
a text completed, and revised throughout, from the French, though not
by a competent hand. The Egerton text, edited by Dr G. F. Warner, has
been printed by the Roxburghe Club, while the Cotton text, first
printed in 1725 and 1727, is in modern reprints the current English
version.
That none of the forms of the English version can be from the same
hand which wrote the original is made patent by their glaring errors
of translation, but the Cotton text asserts in the preface that it was
made by Mandeville himself, and this assertion was till lately taken
on trust by almost all modern historians of English literature. The
words of the original "je eusse cest livret mis en latin ... mais ...
je l'ay mis en romant" were mistranslated as if "je eusse" meant "I
had" instead of "I should have," and then (whether of fraudulent
intent or by the error of a copyist thinking to supply an accidental
omission) the words were added "and translated it agen out of Frensche
into Englyssche." Matzner (_Altenglische Sprachproben_, I., ii.,
154-155) seems to have been the first to show that the current English
text cannot possibly have been made by Mandeville himself. Of the
original French there is no satisfactory edition, but Dr Vogels has
undertaken a critical text, and Dr Warner has added to his Egerton
English text the French of a British Museum MS. with variants from
three others.
It remains to mention certain other works bearing the name of
Mandeville or de Bourgogne.
MS. Add. C. 280 in the Bodleian appends to the "Travels" a short
French life of St Alban of _Germany_, the author of which calls
himself Joh^an Mandivill[e], knight, formerly of the town of St Alban,
and says he writes to correct an impression prevalent among his
countrymen that there was no other saint of the name: this life is
followed by part of a French herbal.
To Mandeville (by whom de Bourgogne is clearly meant)
d'Oultremouse[13] ascribes a Latin "lappidaire selon l'oppinion des
Indois," from which he quotes twelve passages, stating that the author
(whom he calls knight, lord of Montfort, of Castelperouse, and of the
isle of Campdi) had been "baillez en Alexandrie" seven years, and had
been presented by a Saracen friend with some fine jewels which had
passed into d'Oultremouse's own possession: of this _Lapidaire_, a
French version, which seems to have been completed after 1479, has
been several times printed.[14] A MS. of Mandeville's travels offered
for sale in 1862[15] is said to have been divided into five books: (1)
the travels, (2) _de là forme de la terre et comment et par quelle
manière elle fut faite_, (3) _de la forme del ciel_, (4) _des herbes
selon les yndois et les philosophes par de là_, and (5) _ly
lapidaire_--while the cataloguer supposed Mandeville to have been the
author of a concluding piece entitled _La Venianche de nostre Signeur
Ihesu-Crist fayte par Vespasian fil del empereur de Romme et comment
Iozeph daramathye fu deliures de la prizon_. From the treatise on
herbs a passage is quoted asserting it to have been composed in 1357
in honour of the author's natural lord, Edward, king of England. This
date is corroborated by the title of king of Scotland given to Edward,
who had received from Baliol the surrender of the crown and kingly
dignity on the 20th of January 1356, but on the 3rd of October 1357
released King David and made peace with Scotland: unfortunately we are
not told whether the treatise contains the author's name, and, if so,
_what_ name. Tanner (_Bibliotheca_) alleges that Mandeville wrote
several books on medicine, and among the Ashmolean MSS. in the
Bodleian are a medical receipt by John de Magna Villa (No. 1479), an
alchemical receipt by him (No. 1407), and another alchemical receipt
by Johannes de Villa Magna (No. 1441).
Finally, de Bourgogne wrote under his own name a treatise on the
plague,[16] extant in Latin, French and English texts, and in Latin
and English abridgments. Herein he describes himself as Johannes de
Burgundia, otherwise called _cum Barba_, citizen of Liége and
professor of the art of medicine; says that he had practised forty
years and had been in Liége in the plague of 1365; and adds that he
had previously written a treatise on the cause of the plague,
according to the indications of astrology (beginning _Deus deorum_),
and another on distinguishing pestilential diseases (beginning _Cum
nimium propter instans tempus epidimiale_). "Burgundia" is sometimes
corrupted into "Burdegalia," and in English translations of the
abridgment almost always appears as "Burdews" (Bordeaux) or the like.
MS. Rawlinson D. 251 (15th century) in the Bodleian also contains a
large number of English medical receipts, headed "P_r_actica
phisicalia M_agist_ri Joh_ann_is de Burgu_n_dia."
See further Dr G. F. Warner's article in the _Dictionary of National
Biography_ for a comprehensive account, and for bibliographical
references; Ulysse Chevalier's _Répertoire des sources historiques du
moyen age_ for references generally; and the _Zeitschr. f. celt.
Philologie_ II., i. 126, for an edition and translation, by Dr Whitley
Stokes, of Fingin O'Mahony's Irish version of the _Travels_.
(E. W. B. N.; H. Y.)