The Travels of Marco Polo · Character
Count of Jaffa
- Minor
- First seen · Book 1 · Ch. 8
He enters the record through a startling display of heraldic splendor: a galley painted with his arms and a great company of rowers carrying golden shields. The man himself remains out of view, his presence suggested by the boldness of the emblem he sends ahead of him.
- Gender
- male
- First appears
- Book 1 · Ch. 8
- Books
- 1
The Count of Jaffa is remembered here not through a personal history, but through the magnificent galley associated with his arms. Its heraldry—gold bearing a red cross patée—covered the vessel, while its three hundred rowers carried targets marked with the same device in beaten gold. The account attributes this description to Joinville’s recollection of the landing of St. Louis; it offers no further account of the count’s life or character.
Description
No physical description of the Count of Jaffa is given, so his face, coloring, hair, eyes, and build cannot be specified. His visual identity is conveyed instead by his heraldry: a golden field bearing a red cross patée. This striking device is described across a galley painted with his arms and on the beaten-gold targets carried by its rowers, lending his name a grand, ceremonial presence.
Story so far
BOOK 1The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 1
Appearances
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