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A c k n o w l e d g m e n t s I owe an incalculable debt to the work of scholars spanning many decades, even centuries, without whose labors any study of medieval travelers’ texts would be impossible. Although the works cited in the notes and bibliography attempt to give an indication of the myriad studies available they are far from exhaustive even for English-language scholarship. My other greatest debt is to John Bevan-Smith, who has watched over this project from its beginning, read everything, offered constant encouragement and advice, exhorted me to expand and clarify its main arguments, and never faltered in his belief in the project. I am also most grateful to Dr. Christine Gadrat for sharing the results of her important new research on a number of the medieval travelers and their texts. Conversations with Christine and also Marianne O’Doherty, Suzanne Fischer, Irina Metzler, and Felicitas Schmieder at the Leeds International Medieval Congress on Travel and Exploration in July 2010 were helpful and led to a number of valuable references and ideas. I am also indebted to Drs. Richard Phillips, Michelle Smith, and Kathryn Smits of the University of Auckland. I am grateful to my always supportive heads of department—Malcolm Campbell , Barry Reay, and Jonathan Scott—and my medievalist colleagues Lisa Bailey and Lindsay Diggelmann. Julie Fleming and Louis Gerdelan helped enormously with their translations of some key secondary works in Italian, and Victoria Brauer did the same for works in German. A chance remark made by Robert Bartlett in a conversation in 2004 made a lasting impression and helped in the genesis of the book. David Tyler’s invitation to be consultant editor for Adam Matthews’s Medieval Travel Writing collection led me to examine many more manuscripts than are noted in the bibliography, and led me into thinking about the books as “travel writing.” Librarians at Corpus Christi College and University Library, Cambridge, the British Library, and the Bodleian Library, Oxford, generously allowed access to manuscript sources. The interloans staff of the University of Auckland library hunted down innumerable books and articles on my behalf. I am also most grateful to 314 Acknowledgments the anonymous readers for the University of Pennsylvania Press who identified basic errors and offered essential advice on ways to improve the argument as well as technical matters and wider reading. Remaining errors are all my own. Jerry Singerman and Ruth Mazo Karras at the Press were the best editors one could wish for, with their boundless support, encouragement, and good cheer. Thank you! I was fortunate to receive assistance at the early stages of the project from the Marsden Fund of the Royal Society of New Zealand, which freed up time from teaching and paid for overseas research trips. A University of Auckland Research Fellowship in 2007 and Research and Study Leave in 2004 and 2007 permitted more time for writing. I am grateful to conference audiences in St. Andrews, Leeds (on two occasions), Auckland (several times), Dunedin, Norwich, Adelaide, Hobart, Los Angeles, and York for valuable feedback on work in progress. I thank the Gillard, Smith, and Phillips families for their love and interest in the project, but particularly my parents, Brian and Marie Phillips, who traveled to New Zealand on a number of occasions to help look after their granddaughters. The book is dedicated with love and gratitude to John and our beautiful girls, Heloise and Sylvie, who were both born while this book was a work in progress and who daily remind me of what matters most. ...

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