The adventures of Ibn Battuta: a Muslim traveller of the 14th century (review)

252 Short notices Benson, Robert L., Constable, Giles and Carol D. L a n h a m , eds., Renaissance and renewal in the twelfth century, rpt Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1991; paper; pp. xxx, 781; 110 illustrations; R.R.P. CAN$27.50. This reissue of Renaissance and renewal in the twelfth century in the Medieval Academy of America teaching reprints series as a reasonably priced paperback is to be warmly welcomed by all teachers and students alike. The elegant editing by Robert Benson, Gdes Constable and Carol Lanham of papers presented at a joint U C L A and Harvard conference in 1977 commemorating Charles Homer Haskins has produced an unquestionable classic that is a required starting point for all discussions, whether verbal or written, of the twelfth century in Europe. Of course certain chapters have dated somewhat in the last decade but many remain as vital and useful as when they were first read or heard. The final section on the arts with contributions from Ernst Kitzinger and Herbert Bloch has perhaps dated the most. It was already somewhat datedwhenfirstpublished. In contrast to this arguableflaw,there are articles by Gerhart Ladner ('Terms and ideas of renewal'), Giles Constable ('Renewal and reform in religious life'), Richard Southern ('The schools of Paris and the school of Chartres'), Richard and Mary Rouse ('Statim invenire: schools, preachers, and new attitudestothe page'), Georges Duby ('The culture of the knightly class: audience and patronage'), John Benton ('Consciousness of self and perceptions of individuality'), Stephan Kuttner ('The revival ofjurisprudence') and Peter Dronke ('Profane elements in literature') to mention only those I originally found, and stillfind,most rewardingtoread and consult. In short it is surprising that it has taken so long for this worthy book to come out in paperback and now that it has, may it remain in affordable print for some time. Mark Gregory Pegg Department of History Princeton University Dunn, Ross E., The adventures of Ibn Battuta: a Muslim traveller of the 14th century , rpt Berkeley and Los Angeles, University of California Press, 1989; pp. xvi, 357; 12 maps; R.R.P. US$12.95. WeU! It's a good read but that's about as far as it goes. The rihla, or travel book, of Abu 'Abdallah ibn Battuta, a Maghrebi who left his native Tangier in 1325 to make the hajj to Mecca and who then continued travelling through the East as far as China for twenty four years before returning to Morocco in 1349, has justly become famous as one of the most important works of travel Uterature Short notices 253 to survive from the Middle Ages. In 1350 Ibn Battuta visited al-Andalus and then from 1353 to 1355 he ventured south across tbe Sahara to Mali in West Africa. His rihla was composed on the orders of the sultan of Morocco with the collaboration of a young literary scholar, Ibn Juzayy, between 1356 and 1358. It has been given many editions and translations, most particularly the magisterial EngUsh translation of H. A. R. Gibb in three volumes [Hakluyt Society, second series, nos 110, 117, 141 (1958, 1961, 1971)]. The problem with the rihla is that it is not a diary, log, or journal. It is a literary compilation based on Ibn Battuta's experiences and recollections but incorporating material from many other Muslim travellers and geographers. Thus Ibn Battuta's itinerary is very difficulttodeduce from it in places and some regions described in it may not have been visited by him at all. Dunn is perfecdy well aware of this but he has chosen not to present the difficulties in this interpretation for the general public. His book is in the genre of H. F. M . Prescott's Friar Felix at large (1950), an interpretation of the four volumes of Felix Fabri's two pilgrimages to the Holy Land in 1480 and 1483. In both cases the reconstruction may whet the appetite but cannot replace the original and isfrequentlymisleading. For example, in the case of Ibn Battuta, the reader may well be deceived into believing that he actually travelled through Syria and Palestine. But in fact this section of the rihla is taken from the twelfth-century...