"Jehan de Mandeville," translated as "Sir John Mandeville," is the name claimed by the compiler of a singular book of supposed travels, written in Anglo-Norman French, and published between 1357 and 1371. By aid of translations into many other languages it acquired extraordinary popularity. Despite the extremely unreliable and often fantastical nature of the travels it describes, it was used as a work of reference - Christopher Columbus, for example, was heavily influenced by both this work and Marco Polo's earlier Il Milione