coast to Jaffa, and so up to Jerusalem. After visiting the Jordan River and the Dead Sea he left Palestine by the coast road, retracing his steps to Acre and passing on by Tripoli and Tortosa into Cilicia. From the Cilician port of Lajazzo (now Yumurtalik in Turkey) he started on the great high road to Tabriz in north Persia. Crossing the Taurus he travelled on by Sivas of Cappadocia to Erzerum, the neighborhood of Ararat and Tabriz. In and near Tabriz he preached for several months, after which he proceeded to Baghdad via Mosul and Tikrit. In Baghdad he stayed several years. As a traveller and observer his merits are conspicuous. His account of the Tatars and his sketch of Islamic religion and manners are especially noteworthy. In spite of strong prejudice, he shows remarkable breadth of view and appreciation of merit in systems different from his own. On the Fall of Acre His Letters on the Fall of Acre () are five letters in the form of lamentations over the fall of Acre (written about 1292, published in Paris, 1884). Apologetic writings against Islam and Judaism During his stay in Baghdad, Riccoldo studied the Qur'an and other works of Islamic theology for controversial purposes, arguing with Nestorian Christians, and writing. In 1300–1301 Riccoldo again appeared in Florence. About 1300 in Florence he wrote Against the Laws of the Saracens () and To the Eastern Races (). Riccoldo's best known work of this kind was his book Against the Laws of the Saracens, written in Baghdad, which has in previous centuries been very popular among Christians as a polemical source against Islam, and has been often edited (first published in Seville, 1500, under the title Confutatio Alcorani or "Confutation of the Koran"). This work was translated into German by Martin Luther in 1542 as Verlegung des Alcoran. There are translations into English by Thomas C. Pfotenhauer (Islam in the Crucible: Can It Pass the Test?, Lutheran News, Inc., 2002), and Londini Ensis, under the title, "Refutation of the Koran" (Createspace 2010). Much of this work's contents derive from those sections of the Book of Travels devoted to Muslim beliefs and related topics. One of Riccoldo's major sources, extensively quoted in his own work, is the anonymous Liber Denudationis siue Ostensionis aut Patefaciens. Despite Riccoldo's hostility towards Islam, his work shows specific knowledge of the Qur'an and overcomes one important