Between Miracles and Observation: Jordanus’s Mirabilia and the Reshaping of the Medieval Oriental Narrative
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Keywords
Jordanus Catalanus, mirabilia descripta, oriental narratives, mirabilia, empirical knowledge
Abstract
This paper examines Mirabilia Descripta (1329) by the Dominican missionary Jordanus Catalanus to explore how late medieval Europe reimagined the “East” at the intersection of religion and empirical observation. Focusing on the text’s narrative strategies, knowledge classification, and intertextual networks, it traces the semantic shift of mirabilia from “miraculous wonders” to “empirical knowledge.” The study argues that Mirabilia Descripta represents a crucial moment in medieval geographic writing, bridging theological discourse and experiential observation, while anticipating the emergence of modern empirical geography and ethnographic narration. This analysis clarifies the work’s significance in the history of medieval geographic imagination and cross-cultural knowledge transmission.
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