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MARCO POLO (c. 1254-1324)

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Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 11 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MARCO See also:

POLO (c. 1254-1324)  , the Venetian, greatest of See also:medieval travellers . Venetian genealogies and traditions of uncertain value trace the See also:Polo See also:family to See also:Sebenico in See also:Dalmatia, and before the end of the 11th See also:century one Domenico Polo is found in the See also:great See also:council of the See also:republic (1094) . But the ascertained See also:line of the traveller begins only with his grandfather . See also:Andrea Polo of S . Felice was the See also:father of three sons, Marco, Nicolo and Maffeo, of whom the second was the father of the subject of this See also:article . They were presumably " See also:noble," i.e. belonging to the families who had seats in the great council, and were enrolled in the Libro d' Oro; for we know that Marco the traveller is officially so styled (nobilis vir) . The three See also:brothers were engaged in See also:commerce; the See also:elder Marco, See also:resident apparently in See also:Constantinople and in the See also:Crimea . (especially at Sudak), suggests, by his celebrated will, a See also:long business See also:partnership with Nicolo and Maffeo . About 126o, and even perhaps as See also:early as 1250, we find Nicolo and Maffeo at Constantinople . See also:Nicole was married and had See also:left his wife there . The two brothers went on a See also:speculation to the Crimea, whence a See also:succession of chances and openings carried them to the See also:court of Barka See also:Khan at Sarai, further See also:north up to Bolghar (Kazan), and eventually across the See also:steppes to See also:Bokhara . Here they See also:fell in with certain envoys who had been on a See also:mission from the great Khan Kublai to his See also:brother Hulagu in See also:Persia, and by them were persuaded to make the See also:journey to See also:Cathay in their See also:company .

Under the heading See also:

CHINA the circumstances are noticed which in the last See also:half of the 13th century and first half of the 14th threw See also:Asia open to Western travellers to a degree unknown before and since—until the 19th century . Thus began the medieval See also:period of intercourse between China and See also:catholic See also:Europe . Kublai, when the Polos reached his court, was either at See also:Cambaluc (Khanbaligh, the Khan's See also:city), i.e . See also:Peking, which he had just rebuilt, or at his summer seat at Shangtu in the See also:country north of the Great See also:Wall . It was the first See also:time that the khan, a See also:man full of See also:energy and intelligence, had fallen in with See also:European gentlemen . He was delighted with the Venetian brothers, listened eagerly to all they had to tell of the Latin See also:world, and decided to send them back as his envoys to the See also:pope, with letters requesting the despatch of a large See also:body of educated men to instruct his See also:people in See also:Christianity and the liberal arts . With Kublai, as with his predecessors, See also:religion was chiefly a See also:political See also:engine . Kublai, the first of his See also:house to rise above the essential barbarism of the See also:Mongols, had perhaps discerned that the See also:Christian See also:Church could afford the aid he desired in taming his countrymen . It was only when See also:Rome had failed to meet his advance that he fell back upon See also:Buddhism as his See also:chief civilizing See also:instrument . The brothers arrived at See also:Acre in See also:April 1269 . They learned that See also:Clement IV. had died the See also:year before, and no new pope had yet been chosen . So they took counsel with an eminent church-man, Tedaldo, See also:archdeacon of See also:Liege and papal See also:legate for the whole See also:realm of See also:Egypt, and, being advised by him to wait patiently, went See also:home to See also:Venice, where they found that Nicolo's wife was dead, but had left a son Marco, now fifteen .

The papal See also:

interregnum was the longest that had been known, at least since the dark ages . After the Polos had spent two years at home there was still no pope, and the brothers resolved on starting again for the See also:East, taking See also:young Marco with them . At Acre they again saw Tedaldo, and were furnished by him with letters to authenticate the causes that had hindered their mission . They had not yet left Lajazzo, Layas, or Ayas on the Cilician See also:coast (then one of the chief points for the arrival and departure of the See also:land See also:trade of Asia), when they heard that Tedaldo had been elected pope . They hastened back to Acre, and at last were able to execute Kublai's mission, and to obtain a papal reply . But, instead of the See also:hundred teachers asked for by the Great Khan, the new pope (styled See also:Gregory X.) could See also:supply but two See also:Dominicans; and these lost See also:heart and turned back, when they had barely taken the first step of their journey . The second start from Acre must have taken See also:place about See also:November 1271; and from a See also:consideration of the indications and succession of chapters in Polo's See also:book, it would seem that the party proceeded from Lajazzo to See also:Sivas and See also:Tabriz, and thence by See also:Yezd and Kirman down to See also:Hormuz (Hurmua) at the mouth of the See also:Persian Gulf, with the purpose of going on to China by See also:sea; but that, abandoning their See also:naval plans (perhaps from fear of the flimsy vessels employed on this See also:navigation from the Gulf east-wards), they returned northward through Persia . Traversing Kirman and See also:Khorasan they went on to See also:Balkh and See also:Badakshan, in which last country young Marco recovered from illness . In a passage touching on the See also:climate of the Badakshan hills, Marco breaks into an See also:enthusiasm whiqh he rarely betrays, but which is easily understood by those who have known what it is, with See also:fever in the See also:blood, to See also:escape to the exhilarating See also:mountain See also:air and fragrant See also:pine-groves . They then ascended the upper See also:Oxus through Wakhan to the See also:plateau of Pamir (a name first heard in Marco's book) . These regions were hardly described again by any European traveller (See also:save See also:Benedict Goes) till the expedition in 1838 of Lieut . See also:John See also:Wood of the See also:Indian See also:navy, whose narrative abounds in incidental See also:illustration of Marco Polo .

See also:

Crossing the Pamir the travellers descended upon See also:Kashgar, Yarkand and See also:Khotan (Khutan) . These are regions which remained almost absolutely closed to our know-ledge till after 186o, when the temporary overthrow of the See also:Chinese See also:power, and the enterprise of See also:British, See also:Russian and other explorers, again made them known . From Khotan the Polos passed on to the vicinity of Lop-Nor, reached for the first time since Polo's journey by See also:Prjevalsky in 1871 . Thence the great See also:desert of See also:Gobi was crossed to Tangut, as the region at the extreme north-See also:west of China, both within and without the Wall, was then called . In his See also:account of the Gobi, or desert of Lop, as he calls it, Polo gives some description of the terrors and superstitions of the See also:waste, a description which strikingly reproduces that of the Chinese See also:pilgrim Suan T'sang, in passing the same desert in the contrary direction six hundred years before . The Venetians, in their further journey, were met and welcomed by the Great Khan's people, and at last reached his presence at Shangtu, in the See also:spring of 1275 . Kublai received them with great cordiality, and took kindly to young Marco, by this time about twenty-one years old . The " young See also:bachelor," as the book calls him, applied himself diligently to the acquisition of the See also:divers See also:languages and written characters chiefly in use among the multifarious nationalities subject to the Khan; and Kublai, seeing .that he was both See also:clever and discreet, soon began to employ him in the public service . G . Pauthier found in the Chinese See also:annals a See also:record that in the year 1277 a certain Polo was nominated as a second-class See also:commissioner or See also:agent attached to the imperial council, a passage which we may apply to the young Venetian . Among his public See also:missions was one which carried him through the provinces of Shansi, Shensi, and Szechuen, and the See also:wild country on the See also:borders of See also:Tibet, to the remote See also:province of Yunnan, called by the Mongols Karajang,and into See also:northern See also:Burma (Mien) . Marco, during his stay at court, had observed the Khan's delight in See also:hearing of See also:strange countries, of their See also:manners, marvels, and oddities, and had heard his See also:frank expressions of disgust at the stupidity of envoys and commissioners who could tell of nothing but their See also:official business .

He took care to See also:

store his memory or his See also:note-book with curious facts likely to See also:interest Kublai, which, on his return to court, he related . This See also:south-western journey led him through a country which till about 186o was almost a terra incognita—though since the See also:middle of the 19th century we have learned much regarding it through the journeys of See also:Cooper, See also:Garnier, See also:Richthofen, Gill, See also:Baber and others . In this region there existed and still exists in the deep valleys of the great See also:rivers, and in the alpine regions which border them, a vast ethnological See also:garden, as it were, of tribes of various origin, and in every See also:stage of semi-See also:civilization or barbarism; these afforded many strange products and See also:eccentric traits to entertain Kublai . Marco See also:rose rapidly in favour and was often employed on distant missions as well as in domestic See also:administration; but we gather few details of his employment . He held for three years the See also:government of the great city of Yangchow; on another occasion he seems to have visited Kangchow, the See also:capital of Tangut, just within the Great Wall, and perhaps See also:Karakorum on the north of the Gobi, the former See also:residence of the Great Khans: again we find him in Ciampa, or See also:southern See also:Cochin-China; and perhaps, once more, on a See also:separate mission to the southern states of See also:India . We are not informed whether his father and See also:uncle shared in such employments, though they are mentioned as having rendered material service to the Khan, in forwarding the See also:capture of Siang-yang (on the Han See also:river) during the See also:war against southern China, by the construction of powerful See also:artillery engines—a See also:story, however, perplexed by See also:chronological difficulties . All the Polos were gathering See also:wealth which they longed to carry back to their home, and after their See also:exile they began to dread what might follow Kublai's See also:death . The Khan, however, was See also:deaf to suggestions of departure and the opportunity only came by See also:chance . Arghun, khan of Persia, the See also:grandson of Kublai's brother . Hulagu, lost in 1286 his favourite wife, called by Polo Balgana (i.e . Bulughan or " See also:Sable ") . Her dying See also:injunction was that her place should be filled only by a See also:lady of her own Mongol tribe .

Ambassadors were despatched to the court of Peking to obtain such a See also:

bride . The See also:message was courteously received, and the choice fell on the lady Cocacin (Kukachin), a See also:maiden of seventeen . The overland road from Peking to Tabriz was then imperilled by war, so Arghun's envoys proposed to return by sea . Having made acquaintance with the Venetians, and eager to profit by their experience, especially by that of Marco, who had just. returned from a mission to the Indies, they begged the Khan to send the See also:Franks in their company . He consented with reluctance, but fitted out the party nobly for the voyage, charging them with friendly messages to the potentates of Christendom, including the pope, and the See also:kings of See also:France, See also:Spain and See also:England . They sailed from Zaiton or See also:Amoy See also:Harbour in Fukien (a See also:town corresponding either to the See also:modern Changchow or less probably to Tswanchow or See also:Chinchew), then one of the chief Chinese havens for See also:foreign trade, in the beginning of 1292 . The voyage involved long detention on the coast of See also:Sumatra, and in south India, and two years or more passed before they arrived in Persia . Two of the three envoys and a vast proportion of their See also:suite perished by the way; but the three Venetians survived all perils, and so did the young lady, who had come to look on them with filial regard . Arghun Khan had died even before they quitted China; his brother reigned in his See also:stead; and his son Ghazan succeeded to the lady's See also:hand . The Polos went on (apparently by Tabriz, See also:Trebizond, Constantinople and Negropont) to Venice, which they seem to have reached about the end of 1295 . The first biographer of Marco Polo was the famous See also:geographical See also:collector John Baptist See also:Ramusio, who wrote more than two centuries after the traveller's death . Facts and See also:dates sometimes contradict his statements, but he often adds detail, evidently See also:authentic, of great interest and value, and we need not hesitate to accept as a genuine tradition the substance of his story of the Polos' arrival at their family See also:mansion in St John See also:Chrysostom See also:parish in worn and outlandish garb, of the scornful denial of their identity, and the stratagem by which they secured See also:acknowledgment from Venetian society .

We next hear of Marco Polo in a militant capacity . Jealousies had been growing in bitterness between Venice and See also:

Genoa throughout the 13th century . In 1298 the Genoese prepared to strike at their rivals on their own ground, and a powerful See also:fleet under Lamba See also:Doria made for the Adriatic . Venice, on hearing of the Genoese armament, equipped a fleet still more numerous, and placed it under Andrea See also:Dandolo . The See also:crew of a Venetian See also:galley at this time amounted, all told, to 250 men, under a comilo or See also:master, but besides this officer each galley carried a sopracomito or See also:gentleman-See also:commander, usually a noble . On one of the galleys of Dandolo's fleet Marco Polo seems to have gone in this last capacity . The hostile fleets met before See also:Curzola See also:Island on the 6th of See also:September, and engaged next See also:morning . The See also:battle ended in a See also:complete victory for Genoa, the details of which may still be read on the See also:facade of St See also:Matthew's church in that city . Sixty-six Venetian galleys were burnt in Curzola See also:Bay, and eighteen were carried to Genoa, with 7000 prisoners, one of whom was Marco Polo . The captivity was of less than a year's duration; by the See also:mediation of See also:Milan See also:peace was made, on See also:honourable terms for both republics, by See also:July 1299; and Marco was probably restored to his family during that or the following See also:month . But his captivity was memorable as the immediate cause of his Book . Up to this time he had doubtless often related his experiences among his See also:friends; and from these stories, and the frequent employment in them (as it would seem) of See also:grand numerical expressions, he had acquired the See also:nickname of Marco Millioni .

Yet it would seem that he had committed nothing to See also:

writing . The narratives not only of Marco Polo but of several other famous medieval travellers (e.g . See also:Ibn Batuta, See also:Friar See also:Odoric, Nicolo See also:Conti) seem to have been extorted from them by a See also:kind of pressure, and committed to See also:paper by other hands . Examples, perhaps, of that intense dislike to the use of See also:pen and See also:ink which still prevails among See also:ordinary respectable folk on the shores of the Mediterranean . In the See also:prison of Genoa Marco Polo fell in with a certain See also:person of writing propensities, Rusticiano or Rustichello of See also:Pisa, also a See also:captive of the Genoese . His name is otherwise known as that of a respectable See also:literary hack, who abridged and recast several of the See also:French romances of the Arthurian See also:cycle, then in See also:fashion . He wrote down Marco's experiences at his dictation . We learn little of Marco Polo's See also:personal or family See also:history after this captivity; but we know that at his death he left a wife, Donata (perhaps of the Loredano family, but this is uncertain), and three daughters, Fantina and Bellela (married, the former to Marco Bragadino), and Moreta (then a spinster, but married at a later date to Ranuzzo Dolfino) . One last glimpse of the traveller is gathered from his will, now in St See also:Mark's library . On the 9th of See also:January 1324 the traveller, in his seventieth year, sent for a neighbouring See also:priest and See also:notary to make his testament . We do not know the exact time of his death, but it fell almost certainly within the year 1324, for we know from a scanty See also:series of documents, beginning in See also:June 1325, that he had at the latter date been some time dead . He was buried, in accordance with his will, in the Church of St Lorenzo, where the family burying-place was marked by a See also:sarcophagus, erected by his filial care for his father Nicolo, which existed till near the end of the 16th century .

On the renewal of the church in 1592 this seems to have disappeared . The archives of Venice have yielded a few traces of our traveller . Besides his own will just alluded to, there are the See also:

wills of his uncle Marco and of his younger brother Maffeo; a few legal documents connected with the house See also:property in St John Chrysostom, and other papers of similar See also:character; andtwo or three entries in the record of the Maggior Consiglio . We have mentioned the See also:sobriquet of Marco Millioni . Ramusio tells us that he had himself noted the use of this name in the public books of the See also:commonwealth, and this statement has been verified in an entry in the books of the Great Council (dated April ro, 1305), which records as one of the securities in a certain See also:case .the "Nobilis vir Marchus Paulo See also:MILtoN." It is alleged that long after the traveller's death there was always in the Venetian masques one individual who assumed the character of Marco Millioni, and told See also:Munchausen-like stories to divert the vulgar . There is also a record (See also:March 9, 1311) of the See also:judgment of the court of See also:requests (See also:Curia Petitionum) upon a suit brought by the " Nobilis vir See also:Marcus Polo " against Paulo Girardo, who had been an agent of his, to recover the value of a certain quantity of See also:musk for which Girardo had not accounted . Another document is a See also:catalogue of certain curiosities and valuables which were collected in the house of See also:Marino See also:Faliero, and this catalogue comprises several See also:objects that Marco Polo had given to one of the Faliero family . The most tangible record of Polo's memory in Venice is a portion of the Ca' Polo—the mansion (there is See also:reason to believe) where the three travellers, after their long See also:absence, were denied entrance . The court in which it stands was known in Ramusio's time as the See also:Corte del millioni, and now is called Corte Sabbionera . That which remains of the See also:ancient edifice is a passage with a decorated archway of Italo-See also:Byzantine character pertaining to the 13th century . No genuine portrait of Marco Polo exists . There is a medallion portrait on the wall of the See also:Sala dello Scudo in the ducal See also:palace, which has become a kind of type; but it is a See also:work of See also:imagination no older than 1761 .

The See also:

oldest professed portrait is one in the See also:gallery of See also:Monsignor Badia at Rome, which is inscribed Marcus Polus venetus totius orbis et Indie peregrator See also:primus . It is a See also:good picture, but evidently of the 16th century at earliest . The Europeans at See also:Canton have absurdly attached the name of Marco Polo to a figure in a Buddhist See also:temple there containing a gallery of " Arhans " or Buddhist See also:saints, and popularly known as the " temple of the five hundred gods." The Venetian See also:municipality obtained a copy of this on the occasion of the geographical See also:congress at Venice in 1881 . The book indited by Rusticiano is in two parts . The first, or See also:prologue, as it is termed, is unfortunately the only See also:part which consists of actual personal narrative . It relates in an interesting though extremely brief fashion the circumstances which led the two elder Polos to the Khan's court, together with those of their second journey (when accompanied by Marco), and of the return to the west by the Indian seas and Persia . The second and See also:staple part consists of a series of chapters of unequal length and unsystematic structure, descriptive of the different states and provinces of Asia (certain See also:African islands and regions included), with occasional notices of their See also:sights and products, of curious manners and remarkable events, and especially regarding the See also:Emperor Kublai, his court, See also:wars and administration . A series of chapters near the See also:close treats of sundry wars that took place between various branches of 'the house of Jenghiz in the latter half of the 13th century . This last series is either omitted or greatly curtailed in all the MS. copies and versions except one (See also:Paris, See also:National Library, Fonds Fr . 1116) . It was long doubtful in what See also:language the work was originally written . That this had been some See also:dialect of See also:Italian was a natural presumption, and a contemporary statement could be alleged in its favour .

But there is now no doubt that the See also:

original was French . This was first indicated by See also:Count Baldelli-See also:Boni, who published an elaborate edition of two of the Italian texts at See also:Florence in 1827, and who found in the oldest of these indisputable signs that it was a See also:translation from the French . The See also:argument has since been followed up by others; and a See also: