This article discusses the connections between the Irish adaptation of Marco Polo’s Travels, which survives in the Book of Lismore, and the patrons of that manuscript, Fínghean Mac Carthaigh Riabhach and his wife Caitilín. It examines the principal alterations that were made to the text as it was being translated, and suggests that the war between Cublay Khan and two of his close family members was emphasised in the adaptation in order to mirror the struggles of Fínghean against his cousin Cormac, and Caitilín’s brother’s conflict against their uncle Gearóid Mac Gearailt during the 1460s and 70s. The article argues that the translator used specific narrative techniques to emphasise this episode in the text, that he may have adjusted certain details in order to improve the paral- lel between Cublay and Fínghean, and shows how the account of the war is expanded within the text as a whole.