Ludolph von Suchem's Description of the Holy Land, and of the Way Thither
Written in the Year A.D. 1350

An 1895 translation into English of a fourteenth-century Latin account of a journey to the Holy Land.

Ludolf von Suchem (Author), Aubrey Stewart (Edited and translated by)

9781108061827, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 31 October 2013

158 pages
21.7 x 14 x 1 cm, 0.22 kg

Beyond the fact that he made a journey to the Holy Land between 1336 and 1341, very little is known about Ludolf von Suchem (whose first name may in fact have been Rudolf). However, his work has long been regarded as a major source of information about the eastern Mediterranean in the fourteenth century, owing to its high level of detail. Ludolf states his intention to describe the region, its buildings, towns, fortified places, people, customs, stories and legends, drawing on both his own observations, and on information from the 'kings, princes, nobles and lords' with whom he spent days and nights in conversation. Some stories are clearly travellers' tales, but others, like his account of the fall of Acre (1291), based on reports by eyewitnesses, are both full and convincing. This English translation, by Aubrey Stewart (1844–1918), of Ludolf's Latin text was published in 1895.

Preface
1. The Holy Land
2. Constantinople
3. The way by land
4. Barbary and Pugia
5. The Mediterranean sea
6. The divers perils of the sea
7. The peril called 'Gulph'
8. The peril called 'Grup'
9. The perils of shoals
10. Perils by fish
11. Divers fishes
12. Migration of birds
13. The voyage across the sea
14. The island of Sicily
15. The mount Vulcan
16. The city of Syracuse
17. Achaia
18. The city of Ephesus
19. The different isles of the sea
20. Cyprus
21. The vineyard of Engaddi
22. The city of Famagusta
23. Salamina and Nicosia
24. The cities by the sea
25. The glorious city of Acre
26. The loss of the city of Acre
27. Gaza and Azotus
28. Mount Carmel
29. Egypt
30. The garden of Balsam
31. The Christians and the ancient tombs
32. Ancient Babylon, or Baldach
33. The river Nile
34. The land of Egypt
35. The desert and Mount Sinai
36. The wilderness of Sinai
37. Hebron, the vale of Mambre, and Bethlehem
38. The holy city Jerusalem
39. The thirty pieces of silver
40. The Mount of Olives
41. The desert, Jericho, Sodom and Gomorrha
42. The river Jordan
43. Ramatha, Shiloh, Emmaus, Sichar, Samaria, and Galilee
44. The city of Damascus
45. The vale of Bokar, Lebanon, and Beyrout
Index.

Subject Areas: European history [HBJD]