Book, Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela, O[LS]

Benjamin of Tudela's travel diaries are among the first cultural works of the Middle Ages and ultimately comprise a geographical and historical overview of how Asian, African and European peoples lived in the 12th century. The work of Rabbi Benjamin, a Jewish traveler and writer born in the Kingdom of Navarre, predates that of Marco Polo by a hundred years and aims, not only at a detailed travel diary through Asia, Africa and Europe, but also at a geographical, religious and social description. , political and commercial aspects of the cities he passed through. The end of the Second Crusade and its consequences mark a period of enormous importance in the history of the West. If, on the one hand, the 12th century is marked by the reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula and the rise of Saladin, on the other hand, the cultural importance favored by Benjamin of Tudela's Itinerary does not go unnoticed either.