<i>Der Niederrheinische Orientbericht</i> c.1350

Translation and detailed commentary of a fourteenth-century Low-German work about the Near and Middle East.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;That extensive travel took place during the Middle Ages has long been established via such accounts as for example Marco Polo's Devisement du Monde; but there remains a relative paucity of documents or narratives confirming and dealing with this phenomenon. Der Niederrheinische Orientbericht (An Account of the Middle East) composed around 1350/55 by an anonymous author in Low German is powerful evidence of international relations between east and west during this period; it provides extensive information dealing with such matters as the local culture fauna and flora and offers spectacular insights into the co-existence of many different religions and peoples. It is therefore an important source for our knowledge; but it has hitherto been neglected by scholars not least because of the difficulty of its language.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;This volume offers the first translation into English thereby making the work available to a wider audience; it is accompanied by a detailed commentary on its historical religious military architectural and political elements elucidating the narrative fully. The volume also contains a contextual introduction considering what can be known of the author and the manuscript tradition.