Catholic, Nestorian, and Muslim Medieval Travelers between East and West: The Role of Religion in the Perception of Their Own and Others’ Cultural Background

Abstract

For people in the Middle Ages, religion played a very important role in the perception of their own and others’ cultural background. It was used as a standard for a distinction of familiar and unfamiliar tradition, and as a reference point of “normal” and “strange” ones. Primary sources written by European and North African travelers of this time allow an insight into what authors of that time paid attention to, what they pointed out, how they interpreted the observed customs.

This paper analyses the works of four authors travelling between East and West in the 13^th or 14th centuries: Benedict of Poland (De Itinere Fratrum Minorum ad Tartaros), Giovanni da Pian del Carpine (Ystoria Mongalorum), Rabban Bar Sauma (The History of Yaballaha III), and Muhammad Ibn Battūta (A Gift to Those Who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Travelling). The different religious backgrounds of these travelers and the uniqueness of what each of them experienced can help to distinguish various ways of perception, its possible evolution, and factors affecting the perspective of medieval people.