EDITIONS.--The classical edition is that of Mommsen (in _Mon. Germ. hist. auct. antiq._, v., ii.), which supersedes the older editions, such as that in the first volume of Muratori's _Scriptt. rer. Ital._ The best MS. is the Heidelberg MS., written in Germany, probably in the 8th century; but this perished in the fire at Mommsen's house. The next of the MSS. in value are the Vaticanus Palatinus of the 10th century, and the Valenciennes MS. of the 9th. AUTHORITIES.--Von Sybel's essay, _De fontibus Jordanis_ (1838); Schirren's _De ratione quae inter Jordanem et Cassiodorum intercedat Commentatio_ (Dorpat, 1858); Kopke's _Die Anfänge des Königthums beiden Gothen_ (Berlin, 1859); Dahn's _Die Könige der Germanen_, vol. ii. (Munich, 1861); Ebert's _Geschichte der Christlich-Lateinischen Literatur_ (Leipsic, 1874); Wattenbach's _Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen im Mittelalter_ (Berlin, 1877); and the introduction of Mommsen to his edition. (T. H.; E. Br.) FOOTNOTES: [1] The evidence of MSS. is overwhelming against the form Jornandes. The MSS. exhibit Jordanis or Jordannis; but these are only Vulgar-Latin spellings of Jordanes. [2] The terms of the dedication of this book to a certain Vigilius make it impossible that the pope (538-555) of that name is meant. JORDANUS (JORDAN CATALANI) (fl. 1321-1330), French Dominican missionary and explorer in Asia, was perhaps born at Séverac in Aveyron, north-east of Toulouse. In 1302 he may have accompanied the famous Thomas of Tolentino, via Negropont, to the East; but it is only in 1321 that we definitely discover him in western India, in the company of the same Thomas and certain other Franciscan missionaries on their way to China. Ill-luck detained them at Tana in Salsette island, near Bombay; and here Jordanus' companions ("the four martyrs of Tana") fell victims to Moslem fanaticism (April 7, 1321). Jordanus, escaping, worked some time at Baruch in Gujarat, near the Nerbudda estuary, and at Suali (?) near Surat; to his fellow-Dominicans in north Persia he wrote two letters--the first from Gogo in Gujarat (October 12, 1321), the second from Tana (January 24, 1323/4)--describing the progress of this new mission. From these letters we learn that Roman attention had already been directed, not only to the Bombay region, but also to the extreme south of the Indian peninsula, especially to "Columbum," Quilon, or Kulam in Travancore; Jordanus' words may imply that he had already started a mission there before October 1321. From Catholic traders he had learnt that Ethiopia (i.e. Abyssinia and Nubia) was accessible to Western Europeans; at this very time, as we know from other sources, the earliest Latin missionaries penetrated thither. Finally, the _Epistles_ of Jordanus, like the contemporary _Secreta_ of Marino Sanuto (1306-1321), urge the pope to establish a Christian fleet upon the Indian seas. Jordanus, between 1324 and 1328 (if not earlier), probably