Wonders of the East

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The Wonders of the East or The Marvels of the East is an Old English, prose, fiction work of literature. The Wonders of the East describes a variety of odd, magical and barbaric creatures that inhabit Eastern regions, such as Babylon, Persia, Egypt, and India. For instance, huge dragons prevent travel, phoenixes are born from ashes, and hens in Lentibelsinea burn peoples’ bodies when they are touched. The Wonders of the East also tells of incredible scenarios, like how to steal gold from giant ants. Fantastical and barbaric people are also mentioned. For example, the Donestre race of people is cannibals, the Homodubii are half human and half donkey, and the panotti have fan-like ears, which they sleep on and cover themselves with. Overall, The Wonders of the East “an account of fantastic oriental creatures, is an Anglo-Saxon contribution to the mirabilia genre, literature in which a traveler in foreign lands describes exotic sights in a letter home” (Jones 494). In addition, The Wonders of the East demonstrates the “mutual mistrust” between men and monsters because the creatures either flee from humans, harm those that come near them, or eat people (Orchard, Pride and Prodigies 27). Although The Wonders of the East may be entertaining, few scholars esteem this text or believe it is a worthy example of Old English prose.

The Wonders of the East is found in three manuscripts. It is in the Beowulf manuscript (also known as the Nowell Codex, London, British Library, Cotton Vitellius A. xv) manuscript (Orchard, Pride and Prodigies 1). It is written in Late West Saxon (Sisam 73) in a Mercian dialect (94). Other than Beowulf and The Wonders of the East, the other works in this codex include: The Passion of St. Christopher, The Letter of Alexander to Aristotle, and Judith. One scribe is believed to have copied The Passion of St. Christopher, The Letter of Alexander to Aristotle, The Wonders of the East, and first part of Beowulf, and the other scribe wrote the remainder of Beowulf and Judith. This codex was most likely compiled by Sir Robert Cotton, who possessed many Old English manuscripts. In 1731 the Cotton Library, which housed this manuscript, caught on fire; therefore, the text almost did not survive and is slightly burned around the edges. The codex may have been intentionally put together because four of the manuscripts discuss monsters. Furthermore, it is a “liber monstrorum, or book of marvels, designed for entertainment along with usual edification” (Wrenn 254). The date of this manuscript is usually believed to be “within a couple of decades of A.D. 1000” (Baker 122), no earlier than A.D. 997 and no later than A.D. 1016.

Furthermore, The Wonders of the East is also preserved in the Cotton Tiberius B.v, in both Latin and Old English, which was written down around A.D. 1050. In addition, it appears in the Oxford Bodleian Library, Bodleian 614 manuscript in Latin, which is from the “early twelfth century” (Friedman 144). The three manuscripts each differ in text and focus, but “all the Anglo-Saxon versions derive ultimately from a continental group of Latin texts, almost all of which share a basic epistolary framework entirely lacking in the Anglo-Saxon versions, and in which a variously-named traveler reports back to his emperor” (Orchard, “Marvels of the East” 304). More specifically, The Wonders of the East is initially from Greek origin. It was then “taken from a Latin collection of Mirabilia” (Wrenn 253). Furthermore, Alexander’s Letter to Aristotle, also in the Nowell Codex, shares similar subject matter with The Wonders of the East and probably has a similar origin. The Anglo-Saxon Wonders of the East exists in many manuscripts with a similar epistolary structure, “in which either a character variously named Feramen, Feramus, or Fermes writes to the Emperor Hadrian (A.D. 117-38), or a figure called Premo, Premonis, Perimenis, or Parmoenis writes to Hadrian’s predecessor, the Emperor Trajan (A.D 98-116), to report on the many marvels he has witnessed on his travels” (Orchard, Pride and Prodigies 23).

All three manuscripts are illustrated with fairly simple pictures. The Tiberius manuscript most intricately illustrates the 37 marvels described in both Latin and Old English. The Bodleian 614 manuscript, only in Latin, depicts 49 wonders. Lastly, the Nowell Codex, in Old English, contains only 32 images. The images parallel the text, and provide a picture of the described creatures. The Wonders of the East may be considered a pseudo-scientific text because of the illustrations. Therefore, the images are “possibly intended to lend a note of authority by making specific plants, animals, or monsters easier to recognize” (Karkov 80). In addition, the images are simple and have one or two figures in each illustration. More specifically, “One of the most important characteristics of…their illustrations is that the races are seen in some sort of relationship to the viewer, rather than in isolation of an empty frame” (Friedman 144). Thus, the text provides an image to the reader, which is reinforced through the illustrations.

[edit] References

  • Baker, Peter. “Beowulf.” Medieval England: Encyclopedia. Ed. Paul E. Szarmack, M. Teresa Tavormina, Joel T. Rosenthal. New York: Garland Pub., 1998.
  • Friedman, John Block. The Monstrous Races in Medieval Art and Thought. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1981.
  • Jones, Timothy. “The Marvels of the East.” Medieval England: Encyclopedia. Ed. Paul E. Szarmack, M. Teresa Tavormina, Joel T. Rosenthal. New York: Garland Pub., 1998.
  • Karkov, Catherine E. “Anglo-Saxon Art.” Medieval England: Encyclopedia. Ed. Paul E. Szarmack, M. Teresa Tavormina, Joel T. Rosenthal. New York: Garland Pub., 1998.
  • Orchard, Andy. “Marvels of the East.” The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England. Ed. Michael Lapidge. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1999.
  • Orchard, Andy. Pride and Prodigies: Studies in the Monsters of the Beowulf-Manuscript. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 1995.
  • Sisam, Kenneth. Studies in the History of Old English Literature. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1953.

Wrenn, C.L. A Study of Old English Literature. London: George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd, 1967.