"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. No contemporary record of Mandeville life seems to exist outside of his travel guide, and modern scholars have come to doubt the veracity of the accounts attributed to Mandeville.
Still, as the stories were collected and written by someone who used the name "Mandeville", the administrators of this wiki have decided to treat Mandeville as a historical figure for convenience.
Sir John Mandeville's version of the tale about the castle of the sparrowhawk was full of embellishments, in part because Mandeville had heard the story third-hand, and in part because Mandeville wanted to make the story more interesting. For example, the castle was not in Armenia as Mandeville claimed, but in the land of Faerie. Rupen of Etchmiadzin was an Armenian prince, not an unnamed king, as Mandeville claimed. But, Mandeville was correct in his recounting of Rupen's wish for a sexual contact with the guardian of the castle, and the tremendous price Rupen paid for his folly.
