Medieval English Travel: A Critical Anthology is a comprehensive volume that consists of three sections: concise introductory essays written by leading specialists; an anthology of important and less well-known texts, grouped by destination; and a selection of supporting bibliographies organised by type of voyage. This anthology presents some texts for the first time in a modern edition. The first section consists of six companion essays on 'Places, Real and Imagined', 'Maps the Organsiation of Space', 'Encounters', 'Languages and Codes', 'Trade and Exchange', and 'Politics and Diplomacy'. The organising principle for the anthology is one of expansive geography. Starting with local English narratives, the section moves to France, en-route destinations, the Holy Land, and the Far East. In total, the anthology contains 26 texts or extracts, including new editions of Floris & Blancheflour, The Stacions of Rome, The Libelle of Englyshe Polycye, and Chaucer's Squire's Tale, in addition to less familiar texts, such as Osbern Bokenham's Mappula Angliae, John Kay's Siege of Rhodes 1480, and Richard Torkington's Diaries of Englysshe Travell. The supporting bibliographies, in turn, take a functional approach to travel, and support the texts by elucidating contexts for travel and travellers in five areas: 'commercial voyages', 'diplomatic and military travel', 'maps, rutters, and charts', 'practical needs', and 'religious voyages'.

Anthony Bale and Sebastian Sobecki's Medieval English Travel is a wonderful anthology, in the full meaning of that word. * Mary Baine Campbell, Brandeis University, Journal of British Studies 61 *
Anthony Bale and Sebastian Sobecki have edited a fascinating volume, Medieval English Travel: A Critical Anthology that includes in black and white three maps and four illustrative figures. * William Baker, The Year's Work in English Studies *
This innovative volume operates as a critical anthology, providing not only editions of or extracts from primary texts, but a range of critical and introductory essays, along with bibliographies grouped by theme...This volume will be a vital resource for teaching and research alike, providing a starting point for those new to study of medieval travel, and a useful new anthology for those whose research has already focused on medieval travel of any kind. * Medium Aevum *
Antony Bale and Sebastian Sobecki's edited volume Medieval English Travel: A Critical Anthology is an invaluable resource for those studying and teaching Middle English travel writing. * Kate Ash-Irisarri et al., The Year's Work in English Studies *
The volume is well crafted, its texts carefully edited and readily accessible for undergraduates. An incredible resource for teachers... will be a foundational starting-point for those interested in the field. * Kara L. McShane, Studies in the Age of Chaucer, Volume 42, 2020 *
the volume will surely shape the scholarship of medieval travel, especially insofar as it invites consideration of understudied texts and documents. As a whole, this timely collection offers a treasure trove of primary sources that will help us better understand what medieval English people knew about the rest of the world, what they thought about it, and how they gained this knowledge or belief. * Shannon Gayk, Journal of Medieval Religious Cultures *
This is a welcome anthology as the field turns to a deeper understanding of and interest in the global Middle Ages. Medieval English Travel provides a thoughtful guide for studying the literature of travel in medieval England. Moreover, it entices readers to explore the topic further and gives them the tools to do so. I recommend this book for those teaching a class on medieval travel literature and those wishing to learn about it on their own. * Molly Martin, University of Indianapolis, Modern Language Review *
This anthology is cogently divided into three sections as a means of guiding both the specialist academic reader and those who may not be familiar with the central purposes of medieval travel writing ... Each of the twenty-six items included in the second section of the anthology is introduced by a helpful account of its literary and historical significance ... this anthology also contains some fascinating material relating to recently discovered writings. * Michael G. Brennan, Notes and Queries *
Highly recommended. * D.W. Hayes, CHOICE *

Anthony Bale is Professor of Medieval Studies and Deputy Dean of Arts at Birkbeck, University of London. He has published widely on medieval literature, culture, and religion. In particular, his work has explored relations between Christians and Jews in medieval England and, more recently, the culture of medieval pilgrimage. He has also edited and translated several medieval texts, and published a new translation and edition of The Book of Margery Kempe (Oxford University Press, 2015). His current work explores travel, books, and pilgrimage between England and the Holy Land in the later Middle Ages. Sebastian Sobecki is Professor of Medieval English Literature and Culture at the University of Groningen. His research concentrates on medieval English and early Tudor literature, especially Chaucer and Gower. He is author of Unwritten Verities: The Making of England's Vernacular Legal Culture, 1463-1549 (University of Notre Dame Press, 2015).