Der Niederrheinische Orientbericht, c. 1350: An Account of the Oriental World by an Anonymous Low German Writer

The translator and commentator of the so-called Niederrheinische Orientbericht is one of the most active researchers in the field of Germanic Medieval Studies, and not only among American scholars. He is represented in the field of medieval travel literature with numerous publications, which he also lists in his new book (pp. 136–37). It begins with a storytelling about its genesis, which also attests to the researcher's authenticity and sense of scholarly duty. On the one hand, there is the personal experience of a stay in Cairo, where the sight of medieval monuments and the proximity to the world of experience of the anonymous 14th century traveler helped him to gain many insights into his text. However, his interest in the travelogue had already been aroused by one of his former students. Unfortunately, she was unable to finish her dissertation for personal reasons. With this in mind, Classen introduces the reader to the world of the anonymous medieval traveler and the complexity of his world view.The book is divided into three parts, an introduction (pp. 1–14), the translation of the Lower Rhine text into American (pp. 17–81), and a detailed commentary (pp. 85–132). An appendix with a longer quotation from one of the two manuscripts of the travelogue provides the reader with an original sample of the written language of the Lower Rhine in the late Middle Ages. A bibliography of research literature and an index conclude the volume. The prints of one page each from both manuscripts, which are kept in the Cologne City Archive, illustrate the first American version of this important source.In his introduction, the author recalls the importance that medieval travelers such as the Venetian Marco Polo and the “armchair traveler” John Mandeville enjoyed until the Early Modern period. In his examination of more recent research, Classen tries to define the profile of the anonymous traveler in more detail. He recognizes in him “a kind of diplomat or representative of a major trading company” (p. 4). What role a diplomat without knowledge of Latin could have played in the Orient or which Rhenish trading houses were active there, however, remains open in view of the lack of surviving evidence.The discussion of the edition situation also appears inadequate. The text of the Niederrheinische Orientbericht was partially published in 1862 by Leonard Ennen, who considered the Orient Report to be an “excursus.” Classen only mentions Ennen's edition in the bibliography of his book. Reinhold Röhricht and Heinrich Meisner first recognized the independence of the work, which has thematic and historical references to the Legend of the Three Kings. They edited the text according to the parchment manuscript W.216a in the Zeitschrift für deutsche Philologie (1887) and provided it with valuable linguistic and historical explanations. Based on the previously unconsidered paper manuscript W*3 from the Cologne City Archive, the author of these lines published an edition in 2019 (with a color print of one page each from both manuscripts), which makes it possible to deal with both textual witnesses (Von Christen, Juden und von Heiden. Der Niederrheinische Orientbericht [2019]). Anja Micklin published both sources, thus facilitating access to the textual form of both manuscripts (Der Niederrheinische Orientbericht. Edition und sprachliche Untersuchung [2021]). Classen now seeks to combine the best of both worlds in his translation. Admittedly, in his example of the variants on page 20, I am not able to recognize any remarkable or even fundamental differences between the three versions printed there, as he wants to demonstrate. The spellings show no difference in meaning.With regard to the translation into American, Classen seems to follow Brall-Tuchel's edition. Not only does he take the manuscript W*3 as a basis, as his predecessor did, but he freely admits what a great help his first translation of the text into modern German, as well as the organization of the original text into chapters and the editor's interventions in punctuation and spelling, were for his translation and the readability of the text as a whole. Nevertheless, according to the acknowledgement (p. 85, note 1), the edition of Micklin, which does not provide a translation, should have served as the basis for his translation. This juggling act between the translation from a manuscript and the orientation toward a modern German translation of this very manuscript is not easy to understand. If you follow the translation by Brall-Tuchel with the translation into American by Classen for a few pages, you will also hardly notice any remarkable or even fundamental differences. However, it is not for me to judge the linguistic quality of the translation.Now one can be very divided as to whether it is the task of the philologist to document every detail in the service of tradition or whether it is his task to work in the service of the text, its readability and reception. Presumably it is possible to do one without leaving the other undone. A literary translation is always a balancing act here. It remains questionable to what extent the American translation of the modern German version and the proclaimed translation from the Lower Rhine manuscript can be distinguished at all.The detailed commentary, on the other hand, which traces the factual content of the work according to Walter Benjamin's words, forms the commendable core of the book. In no less than 347 detailed notes, Classen provides many suggestions and certainly also corrections that will be welcome in future research on historical travel literature. This review is not the place to go into them in detail. In consideration of the reader, it would perhaps have been appropriate to use footnotes instead of endnotes. In this way, the reader can only find out about names, dates, backgrounds and much more by constantly looking them up. Of course, it is important that a long-neglected text from the hotspot of late medieval interest in the Orient, the city of Cologne, the city of the veneration of the Magi, of the Legend of the Three Kings and of long-distance trade, is now also available in an American translation.The growing interest in historical-philological travel research is not only due to the current debate on globalization. It is easy to forget that the communication and interests of medieval societies made “globalization” unthinkable. However, interest in encounters and knowledge about other peoples, religions, customs, and traditions grew steadily in the late Middle Ages. Instead of globalization, we are dealing here with a process of enlightenment and the history of cultural transfer, a history that follows the dialectic of demarcation and integration. “The Niederrheinische Orientbericht was the first German-language compendium to make a considerable contribution to broadening cultural horizons and promoting interest in knowledge about the Orient” (Brall-Tuchel, p. 26). In Classen's reading (p. 14): “his Low German account represents firm evidence that there was considerable traffic between Latinate Europe and the Islamic world during the late Middle Ages.” Concerning this, there is agreement across all scholarly differences. And on this point, Classen's translation of the Lower Rhine Orient Report nourishes the hope that the complexity of the medieval world view, traces of which can be found not least in the reports and views of the travelers, will become more and more accessible to us.