Bonnassie, Pierre. La Catalogne du milieu du Xe a la fin du XIe siècle: croissance et mutations
d’une société. 2 vols. Toulouse: Association des Publications de l’Université de Toulouse-Le
Mirail, 1975–76.
Deer, J. “Karl der Grosse und der Untergang des Awarenreiches.” In Karl der Grosse: Lebenswerk
und Nachleben, ed. Wolfgang Braunfels, et al. 5 vols. Düsseldorf: Schwann, 1965; Vol. 1, pp.
719–91.
Folz, Robert. De l’antiquité au monde médiéval. 5 vols. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France,
1972, Vol. 3, pp. 315–53.
McKitterick, Rosamond. The Frankish Kingdoms Under the Carolingians, 751–987. London:
Longman, 1983.
Smith, Julia. Province and Empire:Brittany and the Carolingians. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1992.
Werner, Karl-Ferdinand. “Missus, marchio, comes: entre l’administration centrale et
l’administration locale de l’empire carolingien.” In Histoire comparée de l’administration, ed.
Werner Paravicini. Munich: Artemis, 1980, pp. 191–239.
MARCO POLO
(1254–1324). Italian-born author of the Devisement du monde, a Franco-Italian prose
description of his voyages to the East, which included Persia, Armenia, Turkestan, China,
Indochina, India, and the Middle East. Between 1270 and 1295, Marco followed the lead
of his father and uncle, who in the 1260s had journeyed as far as the court of Kublai
Khan on the border of Cathay. The first westerner to traverse the whole of Asia, he spent
much time at the court of Kublai and in his service as ambassador. The Devisement,
essentially a travel account based on personal observations, is nevertheless filled with
fabulous descriptions and legends garnered on his voyages. Marco aimed to instruct and
entertain an aristocratic audience, which explains why his work has been given little
credence by scholars. However, it can still be profitably consulted for its geographical
descriptions, and more especially for its accounts of oriental religions and politics.
William W.Kibler
[See also: MANDEVILLE, JEAN DE; OUTREMEUSE, JEAN D’]
Marco Polo. Le devisement du monde, Le livre des merveilles, ed. A.-C.Moule and Paul Pelliot,
trans. Louis Hambis. 2 vols. Paris: Maspero, 1980.
——. Il Milione, prima edizione integrale, ed. Luigi Foscolo Benedetto. Florence: Olschki, 1928.
Hérisson, Jean-Luc. Le devisement du monde. Paris: Flammarion, 1990.
Olschki, Leo. Marco Polo’s Asia: An Introduction to His “Description of the World” Called “Il
Milione.” Berkeley: University of California Press, 1960.
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