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I like reading medieval travel literature and I want to translate a short text (one chapter or two) from medieval Latin into English to improve my translation skills.

Unfortunately, most medieval travel literature is written in vernacular languages (e.g. English, French or Italian), not Latin.

The only medieval work I know written in Latin is the journey of William Rubruck. Are there any similar works? Where can I find them on the Internet?

3 Answers 3

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The French catalog Arlima proposes a list of such works: http://www.arlima.net/uz/voyage.html

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I know of two works that fall slightly outside the boundaries of your question but that I'll mention just in case they might be useful.

The first is the Itinerarium Egeriæ, which was written, as far as I understand, near the end of the 4th century A.D.—so a little before your time period, but not too much so.

The second is the Mirabilia descripta, or Wonders of the East, which exists both in Old English and in Latin but is apparently from a Greek original; it's a description of fantastical beasts in the form of letters home from a traveler. So it's not actual travel literature, but it's in the form of travel literature.

Welcome to the site!

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While trying to find a Latin word for jade, I learned of the Travels of Friar Odoric of Pordenone, which occurred from 1318–1330. From my small sampling of the text, it appears to be strongly influenced by the vernacular, but it's still Medieval Latin. Wikipedia says that it was "taken down in homely Latin by Friar William of Solagna."

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