The Travels of Sir John Mandeville
by Sir John Mandeville · English · Gutenberg #782 · 463,885 chars · public domain (US)
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Title: The Travels of Sir John Mandeville
Author: Sir John Mandeville
Release date: January 1, 1997 [eBook #782]
Most recently updated: December 28, 2014
Language: English
Original publication: Macmillan and Co.,, 1900
Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/782
Credits: Transcribed from the 1900 Macmillan and Co. edition by David Price
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TRAVELS OF SIR JOHN MANDEVILLE ***
Transcribed from the 1900 Macmillan and Co. edition by David Price, email
ccx074@pglaf.org
The Travels
of
Sir John Mandeville
The version of the Cotton Manuscript
in modern spelling
* * * * *
_With three narratives_, _in illustration of it_,
_from Hakluyt’s_ “_Navigations_, _Voyages & Discoveries_”
* * * * *
London
Macmillan and Co. Limited
New York: The Macmillan Company
1900
* * * * *
GLASGOW: PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS
BY ROBERT MACLEHOSE & CO.
* * * * *
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
THE Travels of Sir John Mandeville were edited anonymously in 1725, in
the version for which a ‘Cotton’ manuscript in the British Museum is our
only extant authority. From 1499, when they were first printed by Wynkyn
de Worde, the _Travels _had enjoyed great popularity in England, as in
the rest of Europe; but the printed editions before 1725 had all followed
an inferior translation (with an unperceived gap in the middle of it),
which had already gained the upper hand before printing was invented.
Another manuscript in the British Museum, belonging to the ‘Egerton’
collection, preserves yet a third version, and this was printed for the
first time by Mr. G. F. Warner, for the Roxburghe Club, in 1889, together
with the original French text, and an introduction, and notes, which it
would be difficult to over-praise. In editing the Egerton version, Mr.
Warner made constant reference to the Cotton manuscript, which he quoted
in many of his critical notes. But with this exception, no one appears
to have looked at the manuscript since it was first printed, and
subsequent writers have been content to take the correctness of the 1725
text for granted, priding themselves, apparently, on the care with which
they reproduced all the superfluous eighteenth century capitals with
which every line is dotted. Unluckily, the introduction of needless
capitals was the least of the original editor’s crimes, for he omits
words and phrases, and sometimes (a common trick with careless copyists)
a whole sentence or clause which happens to end with the same word as its
predecessor. He was also a deliberate as well as a careless criminal,
for the paragraph about the Arabic alphabet at the end of Chapter XV.
being difficult to reproduce, he omitted it altogether, and not only
this, but the last sentence of Chapter XVI. as well, because it contained
a reference to it.
That it has been left to the editor (who has hitherto rather avoided that
name) of a series of popular reprints to restore whole phrases and
sentences to the text of a famous book is not very creditable to English
scholarship, and amounts, indeed, to a personal grievance; for to produce
an easily readable text of an old book without a good critical edition to
work on must always be difficult, while in the case of a work with the
peculiar reputation of ‘Mandeville’ the difficulty is greatly increased.
Had a critical edition existed, it would have been permissible for a
popular text to botch the few sentences in which the tail does not agree
with the beginning, and to correct obvious mistranslation without special
note. But ‘Mandeville’ has an old reputation as the ‘Father of English
Prose,’ and when no trustworthy text is available, even a popular editor
must be careful lest he bear false witness. The Cotton version is,
therefore, here reproduced, ‘warts and all,’ save in less than a dozen
instances, where a dagger indicates that, to avoid printing nonsense, an
obvious flaw has been corrected either from the ‘Egerton’ manuscript or
the French text. When a word still survives, the modern form is adopted:
thus ‘Armenia’ and ‘soldiers’ are here printed instead of ‘Ermony’ and
‘soudiours.’ But a new word is never substituted for an old one, and the
reader who is unfamiliar with obsolete words, such as ‘Almayne’ (Germany)
or ‘dere’ (harm),—there are surprisingly few for a book written five
centuries ago,—must consult the unpretentious glossary. Of previous
editions, that of 1725 and the reprints of it, including those of
Halliwell-Phillipps, profess, though they do not do so, to reproduce the
manuscript exactly. Thomas Wright’s edition is really a translation, and
that issued in 1895 by Mr. Arthur Layard often comes near to being one,
though the artist-editor has shown far more feeling for the old text than
his too whimsical illustrations might lead one to expect. It is hoped
that the plan here adopted preserves as much as possible of the
fourteenth century flavour, with the minimum of disturbance to the modern
reader’s enjoyment.
The plan of this series forbids the introduction of critical
disquisitions, and I am thus absolved from attempting any theory as to
how the tangled web of the authorship of the book should be unravelled.
The simple faith of our childhood in a Sir John Mandeville, really born
at St. Albans, who travelled, and told in an English book what he saw and
heard, is shattered to pieces. We now know that our Mandeville is a
compilation, as clever and artistic as Malory’s ‘Morte d’Arthur,’ from
the works of earlier writers, with few, if any, touches added from
personal experience; that it was written in French, and rendered into
Latin before it attracted the notice of a series of English translators
(whose own accounts of the work they were translating are not to be
trusted), and that the name Sir John Mandeville was a _nom de guerre
_borrowed from a real knight of this name who lived in the reign of
Edward II. Beyond this it is difficult to unravel the knot, despite the
ends which lie temptingly loose. A Liège chronicler, Jean d’Outremeuse,
tells a story of a certain Jean de Bourgogne revealing on his deathbed
that his real name was Sir John Mandeville; and in accordance with this
story there is authentic record of a funeral inscription to a Sir John
Mandeville in a church at Liège. Jean de Bourgogne had written other
books and had been in England, which he had left in 1322 (the year in
which “Mandeville” began his travels), being then implicated in killing a
nobleman, just, as the real Sir John Mandeville had been implicated ten
years before in the death of the Earl of Cornwall. We think for a moment
that we have an explanation of the whole mystery in imagining that Jean
de Bourgogne (he was also called Jean à_ _la Barbe, Joannes Barbatus) had
chosen to father his compilation on Mandeville, and eventually merged his
own identity in that of his pseudonym. But Jean d’Outremeuse, the
recipient of his deathbed confidence, is a tricky witness, who may have
had a hand in the authorship himself, and there is no clear story as yet
forthcoming. But the book remains, and is none the less delightful for
the mystery which attaches to it, and little less important in the
history of English literature as a translation than as an original work.
For though a translation it stands as the first, or almost the first,
attempt to bring secular subjects within the domain of English prose, and
that is enough to make it mark an epoch.
Mandeville is here reprinted rather as a source of literary pleasure than
as a medieval contribution to geography, and it is therefore no part of
our duty to follow Mr. Warner in tracking out the authorities to whom the
compiler had recourse in successive chapters. But as there was some
space in this volume to spare, and a very pleasant method of filling it
suggested itself, a threefold supplement is here printed, {0} which may
be of some use even to serious students, and is certainly very good
literature. When Richard Hakluyt, at the end of the sixteenth century,
was compiling his admirable work, ‘The Principall Navigations, Voiages,
and Discoveries of the English Nation, made by sea or over land, within
the compasse of these 1500_ _yeeres,’ he boldly overstepped the limits
set forth on his title-page, and printed in the original Latin, with
translations into good Elizabethan English, the narratives of three of
the earlier travellers, all of them foreigners, from whom the compiler of
Mandeville had drawn most freely. “And because,” he tells us, “these
north-eastern regions beyond Volga, by reason of the huge deserts, the
cold climate, and the barbarous incivilitie of the people there
inhabiting, were never yet thoroughly travelled by any of our Nation, nor
sufficiently known unto us; I have here annexed unto the said
Englishman’s {ix} traveils the rare and memorable journals of two friers
who were some of the first Christians that travailed farthest that way,
and brought home most particular intelligence of all things which they
had seen.” These two friars were John de Plano Carpini, sent on an
embassy to the great Chan by Pope Innocent IV. in 1246, and William de
Rubruquis, who travelled in the interests of Louis IX. of France in 1253.
In the same way in his Second Part, Hakluyt adds ‘The Voyage of Frier
Beatus Odoricus to Asia Minor, Armenia, Chaldaea, Persia, India, China,
and other remote parts,’ Odoric being a Franciscan of Pordenone in North
Italy, who dictated an account of his travels in 1330. Anyone who
compares these three narratives (more particularly Odoric’s) with
Mandeville’s Travels will see how the compiler used his materials, and
they have also very considerable interest of their own.
As this volume of the Library of English Classics has brought with it an
unusual editorial responsibility, I may be permitted an editor’s
privilege in making two acknowledgments. The first, to my friend Mr. G.
F. Warner, my readers must share with me, for without the help of his
splendid edition of the ‘Egerton’ version and the French text, the
popular ‘Mandeville’ could not have been attempted. My second
acknowledgment is of a more personal nature. Roxburghe Club books are
never easy to obtain, and the few copies of the Mandeville allowed to be
sold were priced at £20 each. In noticing Mr. Warner’s edition in the
‘Academy’ (from a borrowed copy), I remarked rather ruefully that the
gratitude which students of moderate means could feel towards the Club
for printing so valuable a work was somewhat tempered by this little
matter of the price. I was then helping Mr. Charles Elton with the
catalogue of his library, and on reading my review, he wrote me a pretty
letter to say that by the rules of the Club he was the possessor of a
second copy, and that he thought I was the best person to give it to.
Students who have to think a good many times before they spend £20 on a
book do not often receive such a present from wealthy book-lovers; and at
the risk of obtruding more of my own concerns than my rough-and-ready
editing entitles me to do, I cannot send out this ‘Mandeville,’ within a
few weeks of Mr. Elton’s too early death, without telling this little
story of his kindness.
A. W. POLLARD.
CONTENTS
THE TRAVELS OF SIR JOHN MANDEVILLE:
CHAP. PAGE
THE PROLOGUE, 1
I. To teach you the Way out of England to 6
Constantinople,
II. Of the Cross and the Crown of our Lord Jesu 8
Christ,
III. Of the City of Constantinople, and of the 11
Faith of the Greeks,
IV. Of the Way from Constantinople to Jerusalem. 16
Of Saint John the Evangelist. And of the
Ypocras Daughter, transformed from a Woman to
a Dragon,
V. [Of diversities in Cyprus; of the Road from 19
Cyprus to Jerusalem, and of the Marvel of a
Fosse full of Sand],
VI. Of many Names of Sultans, and of the Tower of 23
Babylon,
VII. Of the Country of Egypt; of the Bird Phoenix 30
of Arabia; of the City of Cairo; of the
Cunning to know Balm and to prove it; and of
the Garners of Joseph,
VIII. Of the Isle of Sicily; of the way from Babylon 36
to the Mount Sinai; of the Church of Saint
Katherine and of all the marvels there,
IX. Of the Desert between the Church of Saint 43
Catherine and Jerusalem. Of the Dry Tree; and
how Roses came first into the World,
X. Of the Pilgrimages in Jerusalem, and of the 49
Holy Places thereabout,
XI. Of the Temple of our Lord. Of the Cruelty of 54
King Herod. Of the Mount Sion. Of Probatica
Piscina; and of Natatorium Siloe,
XII. Of the Dead Sea; and of the Flome Jordan. Of 67
the Head of Saint John the Baptist; and of the
Usages of the Samaritans,
XIII. Of the Province of Galilee, and where 73
Antichrist shall be born. Of Nazareth. Of
the age of our Lady. Of the Day of Doom. And
of the customs of Jacobites, Syrians; and of
the usages of Georgians,
XIV. Of the City of Damascus. Of three ways to 81
Jerusalem; one, by land and by sea; another,
more by land than by sea; and the third way to
Jerusalem, all by land,
XV. Of the Customs of Saracens, and of their Law. 88
And how the Soldan reasoned me, Author of this
Book; and of the beginning of Mohammet,
XVI. Of the lands of Albania and of Libia. Of the 96
wishings for watching of the Sparrow-hawk; and
of Noah’s ship,
XVII. Of the Land of Job; and of his age. Of the 102
array of men of Chaldea. Of the land where
women dwell without company of men. Of the
knowledge and virtues of the very diamond,
XVIII. Of the customs of Isles about Ind. Of the 108
difference betwixt Idols and Simulacres. Of
three manner growing of Pepper upon one tree.
Of the Well that changeth his odour every hour
of the day; and that is marvel,
XIX. Of the Dooms made by St. Thomas’s hand. Of 115
devotion and sacrifice made to Idols there, in
the city of Calamye; and of the Procession in
going about the city,
XX. Of the evil customs used in the Isle of 119
Lamary. And how the earth and the sea be of
round form and shape, by proof of the star
that is clept Antarctic, that is fixed in the
south,
XXI. Of the Palace of the King of the Isle of Java. 125
Of the Trees that bear meal, honey, wine, and
venom; and of other marvels and customs used
in the Isles marching thereabout,
XXII. How men know by the Idol, if the sick shall 132
die or not. Of Folk of diverse shape and
marvellously disfigured. And of the Monks
that gave their relief to baboons, apes, and
marmosets, and to other beasts,
XXIII. Of the great Chan of Cathay. Of the royalty 139
of his palace, and how he sits at meat; and of
the great number of officers that serve him,
XXIV. Wherefore he is clept the great Chan. Of the 145
Style of his Letters: and of the
Superscription about his great Seal and his
Privy Seal,
XXV. Of the Governance of the great Chan’s Court, 151
and when he maketh solemn feasts. Of his
Philosophers. And of his array, when he
rideth by the country,
XXVI. Of the Law and the Customs of the Tartarians 162
dwelling in Cathay. And how that men do when
the Emperor shall die, and how he shall be
chosen,
XXVII. Of the Realm of Tharse and the Lands and 167
Kingdoms towards the Septentrional Parts, in
coming down from the Land of Cathay,
XXVIII. Of the Emperor of Persia, and of the Land of 169
Darkness; and of other kingdoms that belong to
the great Chan of Cathay, and other lands of
his, unto the sea of Greece,
XXIX. Of the Countries and Isles that be beyond the 174
Land of Cathay; and of the fruits there; and
of twenty-two kings enclosed within the
mountains,
XXX. Of the Royal Estate of Prester John. And of a 178
rich man that made a marvellous castle and
cleped it Paradise; and of his subtlety,
XXXI. Of the Devil’s Head in the Valley Perilous. 185
And of the Customs of Folk in diverse Isles
that be about in the Lordship of Prester John,
XXXII. Of the goodness of the folk of the Isle of 192
Bragman. Of King Alexander. And wherefore
the Emperor of Ind is clept Prester John,
XXXIII. Of the Hills of Gold that Pismires keep. And 198
of the four Floods that come from Paradise
Terrestrial,
XXXIV. Of the Customs of Kings and other that dwell 202
in the Isles coasting to Prester John’s Land.
And of the Worship that the Son doth to the
Father when he is dead,
THE PROLOGUE
FOR as much as the land beyond the sea, that is to say the Holy Land,
that men call the Land of Promission or of Behest, passing all other
lands, is the most worthy land, most excellent, and lady and sovereign of
all other lands, and is blessed and hallowed of the precious body and
blood of our Lord Jesu Christ; in the which land it liked him to take
flesh and blood of the Virgin Mary, to environ that holy land with his
blessed feet; and there he would of his blessedness enombre him in the
said blessed and glorious Virgin Mary, and become man, and work many
miracles, and preach and teach the faith and the law of Christian men
unto his children; and there it liked him to suffer many reprovings and
scorns for us; and he that was king of heaven, of air, of earth, of sea
and of all things that be contained in them, would all only be clept king
of that land, when he said, _Rex sum Judeorum_, that is to say, ‘I am
King of Jews’; and that land he chose before all other lands, as the best
and most worthy land, and the most virtuous land of all the world: for it
is the heart and the midst of all the world, witnessing the philosopher,
that saith thus, _Virtus rerum in medio consistit_, that is to say, ‘The
virtue of things is in the midst’; and in that land he would lead his
life, and suffer passion and death of Jews, for us, to buy and to deliver
us from pains of hell, and from death without end; the which was ordained
for us, for the sin of our forme-father Adam, and for our own sins also;
for as for himself, he had no evil deserved: for he thought never evil ne
did evil: and he that was king of glory and of joy, might best in that
place suffer death; because he chose in that land rather than in any
other, there to suffer his passion and his death. For he that will
publish anything to make it openly known, he will make it to be cried and
pronounced in the middle place of a town; so that the thing that is
proclaimed and pronounced, may evenly stretch to all parts: right so, he
that was former of all the world, would suffer for us at Jerusalem, that
is the midst of the world; to that end and intent, that his passion and
his death, that was published there, might be known evenly to all parts
of the world.
See now, how dear he bought man, that he made after his own image, and
how dear he again-bought us, for the great love that he had to us, and we
never deserved it to him. For more precious chattel ne greater ransom ne
might he put for us, than his blessed body, his precious blood, and his
holy life, that he thralled for us; and all he offered for us that never
did sin.
Ah dear God! What love had he to us his subjects, when he that never
trespassed, would for trespassers suffer death! Right well ought us for
to love and worship, to dread and serve such a Lord; and to worship and
praise such an holy land, that brought forth such fruit, through the
which every man is saved, but it be his own default. Well may that land
be called delectable and a fructuous land, that was be-bled and moisted
with the precious blood of our Lord Jesu Christ; the which is the same
land that our Lord behight us in heritage. And in that land he would
die, as seised, to leave it to us, his children.
Wherefore every good Christian man, that is of power, and hath whereof,
should pain him with all his strength for to conquer our right heritage,
and chase out all the misbelieving men. For we be clept Christian men,
after Christ our Father. And if we be right children of Christ, we ought
for to challenge the heritage, that our Father left us, and do it out of
heathen men’s hands. But now pride, covetise, and envy have so inflamed
the hearts of lords of the world, that they are more busy for to
dis-herit their neighbours, more than for to challenge or to conquer
their right heritage before-said. And the common people, that would put
their bodies and their chattels, to conquer our heritage, they may not do
it without the lords. For a sembly of people without a chieftain, or a
chief lord, is as a flock of sheep without a shepherd; the which
departeth and disperpleth and wit never whither to go. But would God,
that the temporal lords and all worldly lords were at good accord, and
with the common people would take this holy voyage over the sea! Then I
trow well, that within a little time, our right heritage before-said
should be reconciled and put in the hands of the right heirs of Jesu
Christ.
And, for as much as it is long time passed, that there was no general
passage ne voyage over the sea; and many men desire for to hear speak of
the Holy Land, and have thereof great solace and comfort; I, John
Mandeville, Knight, albeit I be not worthy, that was born in England, in
the town of St. Albans, and passed the sea in the year of our Lord Jesu
Christ, 1322, in the day of St. Michael; and hitherto been long time over
the sea, and have seen and gone through many diverse lands, and many
provinces and kingdoms and isles and have passed throughout Turkey,
Armenia the little and the great; through Tartary, Persia, Syria, Arabia,
Egypt the high and the low; through Lybia, Chaldea, and a great part of
Ethiopia; through Amazonia, Ind the less and the more, a great part; and
throughout many other Isles, that be about Ind; where dwell many diverse
folks, and of diverse manners and laws, and of diverse shapes of men. Of
which lands and isles I shall speak more plainly hereafter; and I shall
devise you of some part of things that there be, when time shall be,
after it may best come to my mind; and specially for them, that will and
are in purpose for to visit the Holy City of Jerusalem and the holy
places that are thereabout. And I shall tell the way that they shall
hold thither. For I have often times passed and ridden that way, with
good company of many lords. God be thanked!
And ye shall understand, that I have put this book out of Latin into
French, and translated it again out of French into English, that every
man of my nation may understand it. But lords and knights and other
noble and worthy men that con Latin but little, and have been beyond the
sea, know and understand, if I say truth or no, and if I err in devising,
for forgetting or else, that they may redress it and amend it. For
things passed out of long time from a man’s mind or from his sight, turn
soon into forgetting; because that mind of man ne may not be comprehended
ne withholden, for the frailty of mankind.
CHAPTER I
_To teach you the Way out of England to Constantinople_
IN the name of God, Glorious and Almighty!
He that will pass over the sea and come to land [to go to the city of
Jerusalem, he may wend many ways, both on sea and land], after the
country that he cometh from; [for] many of them come to one end. But
troweth not that I will tell you all the towns, and cities and castles
that men shall go by; for then should I make too long a tale; but all
only some countries and most principal steads that men shall go through
to go the right way.
First, if a man come from the west side of the world, as England,
Ireland, Wales, Scotland, or Norway, he may, if that he will, go through
Almayne and through the kingdom of Hungary, that marcheth to the land of
Polayne, and to the land of Pannonia, and so to Silesia.
And the King of Hungary is a great lord and a mighty, and holdeth great
lordships and much land in his hand. For he holdeth the kingdom of
Hungary, Sclavonia, and of Comania a great part, and of Bulgaria that men
call the land of Bougiers, and of the realm of Russia a great part,
whereof he hath made a duchy, that lasteth unto the land of Nyfland, and
marcheth to Prussia. And men go through the land of this lord, through a
city that is clept Cypron, and by the castle of Neasburghe, and by the
evil town, that sit toward the end of Hungary. And there pass men the
river of Danube. This river of Danube is a full great river, and it
goeth into Almayne, under the hills of Lombardy, and it receiveth into
him forty other rivers, and it runneth through Hungary and through Greece
and through Thrace, and it entereth into the sea, toward the east so
rudely and so sharply, that the water of the sea is fresh and holdeth his
sweetness twenty mile within the sea.
And after, go men to Belgrade, and enter into the land of Bougiers; and
there pass men a bridge of stone that is upon the river of Marrok. And
men pass through the land of Pyncemartz and come to Greece to the city of
Nye, and to the city of Fynepape, and after to the city of Dandrenoble,
and after to Constantinople, that was wont to be clept Bezanzon. And
there dwelleth commonly the Emperor of Greece. And there is the most
fair church and the most noble of all the world; and it is of Saint
Sophie. And before that church is the image of Justinian the emperor,
covered with gold, and he sitteth upon an horse y-crowned. And he was
wont to hold a round apple of gold in his hand: but it is fallen out
thereof. And men say there, that it is a token that the emperor hath
lost a great part of his lands and of his lordships; for he was wont to
be Emperor of Roumania and of Greece, of all Asia the less, and of the
land of Syria, of the land of Judea in the which is Jerusalem, and of the
land of Egypt, of Persia, and of Arabia. But he hath lost all but
Greece; and that land he holds all only. And men would many times put
the apple into the image’s hand again, but it will not hold it. This
apple betokeneth the lordship that he had over all the world, that is
round. And the tother hand he lifteth up against the East, in token to
menace the misdoers. This image stands upon a pillar of marble at
Constantinople.
CHAPTER II
_Of the Cross and the Crown of our Lord Jesu Christ_
AT Constantinople is the cross of our Lord Jesu Christ, and his coat
without seams, that is clept _Tunica inconsutilis_, and the sponge, and
the reed, of the which the Jews gave our Lord eysell and gall, in the
cross. And there is one of the nails, that Christ was nailed with on the
cross.
And some men trow that half the cross, that Christ was done on, be in
Cyprus, in an abbey of monks, that men call the Hill of the Holy Cross;
but it is not so. For that cross that is in Cyprus, is the cross, in the
which Dismas the good thief was hanged on. But all men know not that;
and that is evil y-done. For for profit of the offering, they say that
it is the cross of our Lord Jesu Christ.
And ye shall understand that the cross of our Lord was made of four
manner of trees, as it is contained in this verse,—_In cruce fit palma_,
_cedrus_, _cypressus_, _oliva_. For that piece that went upright from
the earth to the head was of cypress; and the piece that went overthwart,
to the which his hands were nailed, was of palm; and the stock, that
stood within the earth, in the which was made the mortise, was of cedar;
and the table above his head, that was a foot and an half long, on the
which the title was written in Hebrew, Greek and Latin, that was of
olive.
And the Jews made the cross of these four manner of trees; for they
trowed that our Lord Jesu Christ should have hanged on the cross, as long
as the cross might last. And therefore made they the foot of the cross
of cedar; for cedar may not, in earth nor water, rot, and therefore they
would that it should have lasted long. For they trowed that the body of
Christ should have stunken, they made that piece, that went from the
earth upwards of cypress, for it is well-smelling, so that the smell of
his body should not grieve men that went forby. And the overthwart piece
was of palm, for in the Old Testament it was ordained, that when one was
overcome he should be crowned with palm; and for they trowed that they
had the victory of Christ Jesus, therefore made they the overthwart piece
of palm. And the table of the title they made of olive; for olive
betokeneth peace, as the story of Noe witnesseth; when that the culver
brought the branch of olive, that betokened peace made between God and
man. And so trowed the Jews for to have peace, when Christ was dead; for
they said that he made discord and strife amongst them. And ye shall
understand that our Lord was y-nailed on the cross lying, and therefore
he suffered the more pain.
And the Christian men, that dwell beyond the sea, in Greece, say that the
tree of the cross, that we call cypress, was of that tree that Adam ate
the apple off; and that find they written. And they say also, that their
scripture saith, that Adam was sick, and said to his son Seth, that he
should go to the angel that kept Paradise, that he would send him oil of
mercy, for to anoint with his members, that he might have health. And
Seth went. But the angel would not let him come in; but said to him,
that he might not have of the oil of mercy. But he took him three grains
of the same tree, that his father ate the apple off; and bade him, as
soon as his father was dead, that he should put these three grains under
his tongue, and grave him so: and so he did. And of these three grains
sprang a tree, as the angel said that it should, and bare a fruit,
through the which fruit Adam should be saved. And when Seth came again,
he found his father near dead. And when he was dead, he did with the
grains as the angel bade him; of the which sprung three trees, of the
which the cross was made, that bare good fruit and blessed, our Lord Jesu
Christ; through whom, Adam and all that come of him, should be saved and
delivered from dread of death without end, but it be their own default.
This holy cross had the Jews hid in the earth, under a rock of the mount
of Calvary; and it lay there two hundred year and more, into the time
that St. Helen, that was mother to Constantine the Emperor of Rome. And
she was daughter of King Coel, born in Colchester, that was King of
England, that was clept then Britain the more; the which the Emperor
Constance wedded to his wife, for her beauty, and gat upon her
Constantine, that was after Emperor of Rome, and King of England.
And ye shall understand, that the cross of our Lord was eight cubits
long, and the overthwart piece was of length three cubits and a half.
And one part of the crown of our Lord, wherewith he was crowned, and one
of the nails, and the spear head, and many other relics be in France, in
the king’s chapel. And the crown lieth in a vessel of crystal richly
dight. For a king of France bought these relics some time of the Jews,
to whom the emperor had laid them in wed for a great sum of silver.
And if all it be so, that men say, that this crown is of thorns, ye shall
understand, that it was of jonkes of the sea, that is to say, rushes of
the sea, that prick as sharply as thorns. For I have seen and beholden
many times that of Paris and that of Constantinople; for they were both
one, made of rushes of the sea. But men have departed them in two parts:
of the which, one part is at Paris, and the other part is at
Constantinople. And I have one of those precious thorns, that seemeth
like a white thorn; and that was given to me for great specially. For
there are many of them broken and fallen into the vessel that the crown
lieth in; for they break for dryness when men move them to show them to
great lords that come thither.
And ye shall understand, that our Lord Jesu, in that night that he was
taken, he was led into a garden; and there he was first examined right
sharply; and there the Jews scorned him, and made him a crown of the
branches of albespine, that is white thorn, that grew in that same
garden, and set it on his head, so fast and so sore, that the blood ran
down by many places of his visage, and of his neck, and of his shoulders.
And therefore hath the white thorn many virtues, for he that beareth a
branch on him thereof, no thunder ne no manner of tempest may dere him;
nor in the house, that it is in, may no evil ghost enter nor come unto
the place that it is in. And in that same garden, Saint Peter denied our
Lord thrice.
Afterward was our Lord led forth before the bishops and the masters of
the law, into another garden of Annas; and there also he was examined,
reproved, and scorned, and crowned eft with a sweet thorn, that men
clepeth barbarines, that grew in that garden, and that hath also many
virtues.
And afterward he was led into a garden of Caiphas, and there he was
crowned with eglantine.
And after he was led into the chamber of Pilate, and there he was
examined and crowned. And the Jews set him in a chair, and clad him in a
mantle; and there made they the crown of jonkes of the sea; and there
they kneeled to him, and scorned him, saying, _Ave_, _Rex Judeorum_! that
is to say, ‘Hail, King of Jews!’ And of this crown, half is at Paris,
and the other half at Constantinople. And this crown had Christ on his
head, when he was done upon the cross; and therefore ought men to worship
it and hold it more worthy than any of the others.
And the spear shaft hath the Emperor of Almayne; but the head is at
Paris. And natheles the Emperor of Constantinople saith that he hath the
spear head; and I have often time seen it, but it is greater than that at
Paris.
CHAPTER III
_Of the City of Constantinople_, _and of the Faith of Greeks_
AT Constantinople lieth Saint Anne, our Lady’s mother, whom Saint Helen
let bring from Jerusalem. And there lieth also the body of John
Chrisostome, that was Archbishop of Constantinople. And there lieth also
Saint Luke the Evangelist: for his bones were brought from Bethany, where
he was buried. And many other relics be there. And there is the vessel
of stone, as it were of marble, that men clepe enydros, that evermore
droppeth water, and filleth himself every year, till that it go over
above, without that that men take from within.
Constantinople is a full fair city, and a good, and well walled; and it
is three-cornered. And there is an arm of the sea Hellespont: and some
men call it the Mouth of Constantinople; and some men call it the Brace
of Saint George: and that arm closeth the two parts of the city. And
upward to the sea, upon the water, was wont to be the great city of Troy,
in a full fair plain: but that city was destroyed by them of Greece, and
little appeareth thereof, because it is so long sith it was destroyed.
About Greece there be many isles, as Calliste, Calcas, Oertige, Tesbria,
Mynia, Flaxon, Melo, Carpate, and Lemnos. And in this isle is the mount
Athos, that passeth the clouds. And there be many diverse languages and
many countries, that be obedient to the emperor; that is to say,
Turcople, Pyncynard, Comange, and many other, as Thrace and Macedonia, of
the which Alexander was king. In this country was Aristotle born, in a
city that men clepe Stagyra, a little from the city of Thrace. And at
Stagyra lieth Aristotle; and there is an altar upon his tomb. And there
make men great feasts for him every year, as though he were a saint. And
at his altar they holden their great councils and their assemblies, and
they hope, that through inspiration of God and of him, they shall have
the better council.
In this country be right high hills, toward the end of Macedonia. And
there is a great hill, that men clepe Olympus, that departeth Macedonia
and Thrace. And it is so high, that it passeth the clouds. And there is
another hill, that is clept Athos, that is so high, that the shadow of
him reacheth to Lemne, that is an isle; and it is seventy-six mile
between. And above at the cop of the hill is the air so clear, that men
may find no wind there, and therefore may no beast live there, so is the
air dry.
And men say in these countries, that philosophers some time went upon
these hills, and held to their nose a sponge moisted with water, for to
have air; for the air above was so dry. And above, in the dust and in
the powder of those hills, they wrote letters and figures with their
fingers. And at the year’s end they came again, and found the same
letters and figures, the which they had written the year before, without
any default. And therefore it seemeth well, that these hills pass the
clouds and join to the pure air.
At Constantinople is the palace of the emperor, right fair and
well-dight: and therein is a fair place for joustings, or for other plays
and desports. And it is made with stages, and hath degrees about, that
every man may well see, and none grieve other. And under these stages be
stables well vaulted for the emperor’s horses; and all the pillars be of
marble.
And within the Church of Saint Sophia, an emperor sometime would have
buried the body of his father, when he was dead. And, as they made the
grave, they found a body in the earth, and upon the body lay a fine plate
of gold; and thereon was written, in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, letters
that said thus; _Jesu Christus nascetur de Virgine Maria_, _et ego credo
in eum_; that is to say, ‘Jesu Christ shall be born of the Virgin Mary,
and I trow in him.’ And the date when it was laid in the earth, was two
thousand year before our Lord was born. And yet is the plate of gold in
the treasury of the church. And men say, that it was Hermogenes the wise
man.
And if all it so be, that men of Greece be Christian yet they vary from
our faith. For they say, that the Holy Ghost may not come of the Son;
but all only of the Father. And they are not obedient to the Church of
Rome, ne to the Pope. And they say that their Patriarch hath as much
power over the sea, as the Pope hath on this side the sea. And therefore
Pope John xxii. sent letters to them, how Christian faith should be all
one; and that they should be obedient to the Pope, that is God’s Vicar on
earth, to whom God gave his plein power for to bind and to assoil, and
therefore they should be obedient to him.
And they sent again diverse answers; and among others they said thus:
_Potentiam tuam summam circa tuos subjectos_, _firmiter credimus_.
_Superbiam tuam summam tolerare non possumus_. _Avaritiam tuam summam
satiare non intendimus_. _Dominus tecum_; _quia Dominus nobiscum est_.
That is to say: ‘We trow well, that thy power is great upon thy subjects.
We may not suffer thine high pride. We be not in purpose to fulfil thy
great covetise. Lord be with thee; for our Lord is with us. Farewell.’
And other answer might he not have of them.
And also they make their sacrament of the altar of Therf bread, for our
Lord made it of such bread, when he made his Maundy. And on the
Shere-Thursday make they their Therf bread, in token of the Maundy, and
dry it at the sun, and keep it all the year, and give it to sick men,
instead of God’s body. And they make but one unction, when they christen
children. And they anoint not the sick men. And they say that there is
no Purgatory, and that souls shall not have neither joy ne pain till the
day of doom. And they say that fornication is no sin deadly, but a thing
that is kindly, and that men and women should not wed but once, and whoso
weddeth oftener than once, their children be bastards and gotten in sin.
And their priests also be wedded.
And they say also that usury is no deadly sin. And they sell benefices
of Holy Church. And so do men in other places: God amend it when his
will is! And that is great sclaundre, for now is simony king crowned in
Holy Church: God amend it for his mercy!
And they say, that in Lent, men shall not fast, ne sing Mass, but on the
Saturday and on the Sunday. And they fast not on the Saturday, no time
of the year, but it be Christmas Even or Easter Even. And they suffer
not the Latins to sing at their altars; and if they do, by any adventure,
anon they wash the altar with holy water. And they say that there should
be but one Mass said at one altar upon one day.
And they say also that our Lord ne ate never meat; but he made token of
eating. And also they say, that we sin deadly in shaving our beards, for
the beard is token of a man, and gift of our Lord. And they say that we
sin deadly in eating of beasts that were forbidden in the Old Testament,
and of the old Law, as swine, hares and other beasts, that chew not their
cud. And they say that we sin, when we eat flesh on the days before Ash
Wednesday, and of that that we eat flesh the Wednesday, and eggs and
cheese upon the Fridays. And they accurse all those that abstain them to
eat flesh the Saturday.
Also the Emperor of Constantinople maketh the patriarch, the archbishops
and the bishops; and giveth the dignities and the benefices of churches
and depriveth them that be unworthy, when he findeth any cause. And so
is he lord both temporal and spiritual in his country.
And if ye will wit of their A.B.C. what letters they be, here ye may see
them, with the names that they clepe them there amongst them: Alpha,
Betha, Gama, Deltha, εlonge, ε brevis, Epilmon, Thetha, Iota, Kapda,
Lapda, Mi, Ni, Xi, ο brevis, Pi, Coph, Ro, Summa, Tau, Vi, Fy, Chi, Psi,
Othomega, Diacosyn.
And all be it that these things touch not to one way, nevertheless they
touch to that, that I have hight you, to shew you a part of customs and
manners, and diversities of countries. And for this is the first country
that is discordant in faith and in belief, and varieth from our faith, on
this half the sea, therefore I have set it here, that ye may know the
diversity that is between our faith and theirs. For many men have great
liking, to hear speak of strange things of diverse countries.
CHAPTER IV
[_Of the Way from Constantinople to Jerusalem_.] _Of Saint John the
Evangelist_. _And of the Ypocras Daughter_, _transformed from a Woman to
a Dragon_
NOW return I again, for to teach you the way from Constantinople to
Jerusalem. He that will through Turkey, he goeth toward the city of
Nyke, and passeth through the gate of Chienetout, and always men see
before them the hill of Chienetout, that is right high; and it is a mile
and an half from Nyke.
And whoso will go by water, by the brace of St. George, and by the sea
where St. Nicholas lieth, and toward many other places—first men go to an
isle that is clept Sylo. In that isle groweth mastick on small trees,
and out of them cometh gum as it were of plum-trees or of cherry-trees.
And after go men through the isle of Patmos; and there wrote St. John the
Evangelist the Apocalypse. And ye shall understand, that St. John was of
age thirty-two year, when our Lord suffered his passion; and after his
passion, he lived sixty-seven year, and in the hundredth year of his age
he died.
From Patmos men go unto Ephesus, a fair city and nigh to the sea. And
there died St. John, and was buried behind the high altar in a tomb. And
there is a fair church; for Christian men were wont to holden that place
always. And in the tomb of St. John is nought but manna, that is clept
angels’ meat; for his body was translated into Paradise. And Turks hold
now all that place, and the city and the church; and all Asia the less is
y-clept Turkey. And ye shall understand, that St. John let make his
grave there in his life, and laid himself therein all quick; and
therefore some men say, that he died not, but that he resteth there till
the day of doom. And, forsooth, there is a great marvel; for men may see
there the earth of the tomb apertly many times stir and move, as there
were quick things under.
And from Ephesus men go through many isles in the sea, unto the city of
Patera, where St. Nicholas was born, and so to Martha, where he was
chosen to be bishop; and there groweth right good wine and strong, and
that men call wine of Martha. And from thence go men to the isle of
Crete, that the emperor gave sometime to [the] Genoese.
And then pass men through the isles of Colcos and of Lango, of the which
isles Ypocras was lord of. And some men say, that in the isle of Lango
is yet the daughter of Ypocras, in form and likeness of a great dragon,
that is a hundred fathom of length, as men say, for I have not seen her.
And they of the isles call her Lady of the Land. And she lieth in an old
castle, in a cave, and sheweth twice or thrice in the year, and she doth
no harm to no man, but if men do her harm. And she was thus changed and
transformed, from a fair damosel, into likeness of a dragon, by a goddess
that was clept Diana. And men say, that she shall so endure in that form
of a dragon, unto [the] time that a knight come, that is so hardy, that
dare come to her and kiss her on the mouth; and then shall she turn again
to her own kind, and be a woman again, but after that she shall not live
long.
And it is not long sithen, that a knight of Rhodes, that was hardy and
doughty in arms, said that he would kiss her. And when he was upon his
courser, and went to the castle, and entered into the cave, the dragon
lift up her head against him. And when the knight saw her in that form
so hideous and so horrible he fled away. And the dragon bare the knight
upon a rock, maugre his head; and from that rock, she cast him into the
sea. And so was lost both horse and man.
And also a young man, that wist not of the dragon, went out of a ship,
and went through the isle till that he came to the castle, and came into
the cave, and went so long, till that he found a chamber; and there he
saw a damosel that combed her head and looked in a mirror; and she had
much treasure about her. And he trowed that she had been a common woman,
that dwelled there to receive men to folly. And he abode, till the
damosel saw the shadow of him in the mirror. And she turned her toward
him, and asked him what he would? And he said, he would be her leman or
paramour. And she asked him, if that he were a knight? And he said,
nay. And then she said, that he might not be her leman; but she bade him
go again unto his fellows, and make him knight, and come again upon the
morrow, and she should come out of the cave before him, and then come and
kiss her on the mouth and have no dread,—for I shall do thee no manner of
harm, albeit that thou see me in likeness of a dragon; for though thou
see me hideous and horrible to look on, I do thee to wit that it is made
by enchantment; for without doubt, I am none other than thou seest now, a
woman, and therefore dread thee nought. And if thou kiss me, thou shalt
have all this treasure, and be my lord, and lord also of all the isle.
And he departed from her and went to his fellows to ship, and let make
him knight and came again upon the morrow for to kiss this damosel. And
when he saw her come out of the cave in form of a dragon, so hideous and
so horrible, he had so great dread, that he fled again to the ship, and
she followed him. And when she saw that he turned not again, she began
to cry, as a thing that had much sorrow; and then she turned again into
her cave. And anon the knight died. And sithen hitherward might no
knight see her, but that he died anon. But when a knight cometh, that is
so hardy to kiss her, he shall not die; but he shall turn the damosel
into her right form and kindly shape, and he shall be lord of all the
countries and isles abovesaid.
And from thence men come to the isle of Rhodes, the which isle
Hospitallers holden and govern; and that took they some-time from the
emperor. And it was wont to be clept Collos; and so call it the Turks
yet. And Saint Paul in his epistle writeth to them of that isle _ad
Colossenses_. This isle is nigh eight hundred mile long from
Constantinople.
CHAPTER V
[_Of diversities in Cyprus_; _of the Road from Cyprus to Jerusalem_, _and
of the Marvel of a Fosse full of Sand_]
AND from this isle of Rhodes men go to Cyprus, where be many vines, that
first be red and after one year they become white; and those wines that
be most white, be most clear and best of smell.
And men pass by that way, by a place that was wont to be a great city,
and a great land; and the city was clept Cathailye, the which city and
land was lost through folly of a young man. For he had a fair damosel,
that he loved well to his paramour; and she died suddenly, and was done
in a tomb of marble. And for the great lust that he had to her, he went
in the night unto her tomb and opened it, and went in and lay by her, and
went his way. And when it came to the end of nine months, there came a
voice to him and said, Go to the tomb of that woman, and open it and
behold what thou hast begotten on her; and if thou let to go, thou shalt
have a great harm. And he yede and opened the tomb, and there flew out
an adder right hideous to see; the which as swithe flew about the city
and the country, and soon after the city sank down. And there be many
perilous passages without fail.
From Rhodes to Cyprus be five hundred mile and more. But men may go to
Cyprus, and come not at Rhodes. Cyprus is right a good isle, and a fair
and a great, and it hath four principal cities within him. And there is
an Archbishop at Nicosea, and four other bishops in that land. And at
Famagost is one of the principal havens of the sea that is in the world;
and there arrive Christian men and Saracens and men of all nations. In
Cyprus is the Hill of the Holy Cross; and there is an abbey of monks
black and there is the cross of Dismas the good thief, as I have said
before. And some men trow, that there is half the cross of our Lord; but
it is not so, and they do evil that make men to believe so.
In Cyprus lieth Saint Zenonimus, of whom men of that country make great
solemnity. And in the castle of Amours lieth the body of Saint-Hilarion,
and men keep it right worshipfully. And beside Famagost was Saint
Barnabas the apostle born.
In Cyprus men hunt with papyonns, that be like leopards, and they take
wild beasts right well, and they be somewhat more than lions; and they
take more sharply the beasts, and more deliver than do hounds.
In Cyprus is the manner of lords and all other men all to eat on the
earth. For they make ditches in the earth all about in the hall, deep to
the knee, and they do pave them; and when they will eat, they go therein
and sit there. And the skill is for they may be the more fresh; for that
land is much more hotter than it is here. And at great feasts, and for
strangers, they set forms and tables, as men do in this country, but they
had lever sit in the earth.
From Cyprus, men go to the land of Jerusalem by the sea: and in a day and
in a night, he that hath good wind may come to the haven of Tyre, that is
now clept Surrye. There was some-time a great city and a good of
Christian men, but Saracens have destroyed it a great part; and they keep
that haven right well, for dread of Christian men. Men might go more
right to that haven, and come not in Cyprus, but they go gladly to Cyprus
to rest them on the land, or else to buy things, that they have need to
their living. On the sea-side men may find many rubies. And there is
the well of the which holy writ speaketh of, and saith, _Fons ortorum_,
_et puteus aquarum viventium_: that is to say, ‘the well of gardens, and
the ditch of living waters.’
In this city of Tyre, said the woman to our Lord, _Beatus venter qui te
portavit_, _et ubera que succisti_: that is to say, ‘Blessed be the body
that thee bare, and the paps that thou suckedst.’ And there our Lord
forgave the woman of Canaan her sins. And before Tyre was wont to be the
stone, on the which our Lord sat and preached, and on that stone was
founded the Church of Saint Saviour.
And eight mile from Tyre, toward the east, upon the sea, is the city of
Sarphen, in Sarepta of Sidonians. And there was wont for to dwell Elijah
the prophet; and there raised he Jonas, the widow’s son, from death to
life. And five mile from Sarphen is the city of Sidon; of the which
city, Dido was lady, that was Aeneas’ wife, after the destruction of
Troy, and that founded the city of Carthage in Africa, and now is clept
Sidonsayete. And in the city of Tyre, reigned Agenor, the father of
Dido. And sixteen mile from Sidon is Beirout. And from Beirout to
Sardenare is three journeys and from Sardenare is five mile to Damascus.
And whoso will go long time on the sea, and come nearer to Jerusalem, he
shall go from Cyprus by sea to Port Jaffa. For that is the next haven to
Jerusalem; for from that haven is not but one day journey and a half to
Jerusalem. And the town is called Jaffa; for one of the sons of Noah
that hight Japhet founded it, and now it is clept Joppa. And ye shall
understand, that it is one of the oldest towns of the world, for it was
founded before Noah’s flood. And yet there sheweth in the rock, there as
the iron chains were fastened, that Andromeda, a great giant, was bounden
with, and put in prison before Noah’s flood, of the which giant, is a rib
of his side that is forty foot long.
And whoso will arrive at the port of Tyre or of Surrye, that I have
spoken of before, may go by land, if he will, to Jerusalem. And men go
from Surrye unto the city of Akon in a day. And it was clept some-time
Ptolemaïs. And it was some-time a city of Christian men, full fair, but
it is now destroyed; and it stands upon the sea. And from Venice to
Akon, by sea, is two thousand and four score miles of Lombardy; and from
Calabria, or from Sicily to Akon, by sea, is a 1300 miles of Lombardy;
and the isle of Crete is right in the midway.
And beside the city of Akon, toward the sea, six score furlongs on the
right side, toward the south, is the Hill of Carmel, where Elijah the
prophet dwelled, and there was first the Order of Friars Carmelites
founded. This hill is not right great, nor full high. And at the foot
of this hill was some-time a good city of Christian men, that men clept
Caiffa, for Caiaphas first founded it; but it is now all wasted. And on
the left side of the Hill of Carmel is a town, that men clepe Saffre, and
that is set on another hill. There Saint James and Saint John were born;
and, in worship of them there is a fair church. And from Ptolemaïs, that
men clepe now Akon, unto a great hill, that is clept Scale of Tyre, is
one hundred furlongs. And beside the city of Akon runneth a little
river, that is clept Belon.
And there nigh is the Foss of Mennon that is all round; and it is one
hundred cubits of largeness, and it is all full of gravel, shining
bright, of the which men make fair verres and clear. And men come from
far, by water in ships, and by land with carts, for to fetch of that
gravel. And though there be never so much taken away thereof in the day,
at morrow it is as full again as ever it was; and that is a great marvel.
And there is evermore great wind in that foss, that stirreth evermore the
gravel, and maketh it trouble. And if any man do therein any manner
metal, it turneth anon to glass. And the glass, that is made of that
gravel, if it be done again into the gravel, it turneth anon into gravel
as it was first. And therefore some men say, that it is a swallow of the
gravelly sea.
Also from Akon, above-said, go men forth four journeys to the city of
Palestine, that was of the Philistines, that now is clept Gaza, that is a
gay city and a rich; and it is right fair and full of folk, and it is a
little from the sea. And from this city brought Samson the strong the
gates upon an high land, when he was taken in that city, and there he
slew in a palace the king and himself, and great number of the best of
the Philistines, the which had put out his eyen and shaved his head, and
imprisoned him by treason of Dalida his paramour. And therefore he made
fall upon them a great hall, when they were at meat.
And from thence go men to the city of Cesarea, and so to the Castle of
Pilgrims, and so to Ascalon; and then to Jaffa, and so to Jerusalem.
And whoso will go by land through the land of Babylon, where the soldan
dwelleth commonly, he must get grace of him and leave to go more siker
through those lands and countries.
And for to go to the Mount of Sinai, before that men go to Jerusalem,
they shall go from Gaza to the Castle of Daire. And after that, men come
out of Syria, and enter into wilderness, and there the way is full sandy;
and that wilderness and desert lasteth eight journeys, but always men
find good inns, and all that they need of victuals. And men clepe that
wilderness Achelleke. And when a man cometh out of that desert, he
entereth into Egypt, that men clepe Egypt-Canopac, and after other
language, men clepe it Morsyn. And there first men find a good town,
that is clept Belethe; and it is at the end of the kingdom of Aleppo.
And from thence men go to Babylon and to Cairo.
CHAPTER VI
_Of many Names of Soldans_, _and of the Tower of Babylon_
AT Babylon there is a fair church of our Lady, where she dwelled seven
year, when she fled out of the land of Judea for dread of King Herod.
And there lieth the body of Saint Barbara the virgin and martyr. And
there dwelled Joseph, when he was sold of his brethren. And there made
Nebuchadnezzar the king put three children into the furnace of fire, for
they were in the right truth of belief, the which children men clept
Anania, Azariah, Mishael, as the Psalm of _Benedicite_ saith: but
Nebuchadnezzar clept them otherwise, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
that is to say, God glorious, God victorious, and God over all things and
realms: and that was for the miracle, that he saw God’s Son go with the
children through the fire, as he said.
There dwelleth the soldan in his Calahelyke (for there is commonly his
seat) in a fair castle, strong and great, and well set upon a rock. In
that castle dwell alway, to keep it and to serve the soldan, more then
6000 persons, that take all their necessaries off the soldan’s court. I
ought right well to know it; for I dwelled with him as soldier in his
wars a great while against the Bedouins. And he would have married me
full highly to a great prince’s daughter, if I would have forsaken my law
and my belief; but I thank God, I had no will to do it, for nothing that
he behight me.
And ye shall understand that the soldan is lord of five kingdoms, that he
hath conquered and appropred to him by strength. And these be the names:
the kingdom of Canapac, that is Egypt; and the kingdom of Jerusalem,
where that David and Solomon were kings; and the kingdom of Syria, of the
which the city of Damascus was chief; and the kingdom of Aleppo in the
land of Mathe; and the kingdom Arabia, that was to one of the three
kings, that made offering to our Lord, when he was born. And many other
lands he holdeth in his hand. And therewithal he holdeth caliphs, that
is a full great thing in their language, and it is as much to say as
king.
And there were wont to be five soldans; but now there is no more but he
of Egypt. And the first soldan was Zarocon, that was of Media, as was
father to Saladin that took the Caliph of Egypt and slew him, and was
made soldan by strength. After that was Soldan Saladin, in whose time
the King of England, Richard the First, with many other, kept the
passage, that Saladin ne might not pass. After Saladin reigned his son
Boradin, and after him his nephew. After that, the Comanians that were
in servage in Egypt, felt themselves that they were of great power, they
chose them a soldan amongst them, the which made him to be clept
Melechsalan. And in his time entered into the country of the kings of
France Saint Louis, and fought with him; and [the soldan] took him and
imprisoned him; and this [soldan] was slain by his own servants. And
after, they chose another to be soldan, that they clept Tympieman; and he
let deliver Saint Louis out of prison for a certain ransom. And after,
one of these Comanians reigned, that hight Cachas, and slew Tympieman,
for to be soldan; and made him be clept Melechmenes. And after another
that had to name Bendochdare, that slew Melechmenes, for to be sultan,
and clept himself Melechdare. In his time entered the good King Edward
of England into Syria, and did great harm to the Saracens. And after,
was this soldan empoisoned at Damascus, and his son thought to reign
after him by heritage, and made him to be clept Melechsache; but another
that had to name Elphy, chased him out of the country and made him
soldan. This man took the city of Tripoli and destroyed many of the
Christian men, the year of grace 1289, and after was he imprisoned of
another that would be soldan, but he was anon slain. After that was the
son of Elphy chosen to be soldan, and clept him Melechasseraff, and he
took the city of Akon and chased out the Christian men; and this was also
empoisoned, and then was his brother made soldan, and was clept
Melechnasser. And after, one that was clept Guytoga took him and put him
in prison in the castle of Mountroyal, and made him soldan by strength,
and clept him Melechadel; and he was of Tartary. But the Comanians
chased him out of the country, and did him much sorrow, and made one of
themself soldan, that had to name Lachin. And he made him to be clept
Melechmanser, the which on a day played at the chess, and his sword lay
beside him; and so befell, that one wrathed him, and with his own proper
sword he was slain. And after that, they were at great discord, for to
make a soldan; and finally they accorded to Melechnasser, that Guytoga
had put in prison at Mountroyal. And this reigned long and governed so
that his eldest son was chosen after him, Melechmader, the which his
brother let slay privily for to have the lordship, and made him to be
clept Melechmadabron, and he soldan when I departed from those countries.
And wit ye well that the soldan may lead out of Egypt more than 20,000
men of arms, and out of Syria, and out of Turkey and out of other
countries that he holds, he may arrere more than 50,000. And all those
be at his wages, and they be always at him, without the folk of his
country, that is without number. And every each of them hath by year the
mountance of six score florins; but it behoveth, that every of them hold
three horses and a camel. And by the cities and by towns be admirals,
that have the governance of the people; one hath to govern four, and
another hath to govern five, another more, and another well more. And as
many taketh the admiral by him alone, as all the other soldiers have
under him; and therefore, when the soldan will advance any worthy knight,
he maketh him an admiral. And when it is any dearth, the knights be
right poor, and then they sell both their horse and their harness.
And the soldan hath four wives, one Christian and three Saracens, of the
which one dwelleth at Jerusalem, and another at Damascus, and another at
Ascalon; and when them list, they remove to other cities, and when the
soldan will he may go to visit them. And he hath as many paramours as
him liketh. For he maketh to come before him the fairest and the noblest
of birth, and the gentlest damosels of his country, and he maketh them to
be kept and served full honourably. And when he will have one to lie
with him, he maketh them all to come before him, and he beholdeth in all,
which of them is most to his pleasure, and to her anon he sendeth or
casteth a ring from his finger. And then anon she shall be bathed and
richly attired, and anointed with delicate things of sweet smell, and
then led to the soldan’s chamber; and thus he doth as often as him list,
when he will have any of them.
And before the soldan cometh no stranger, but if he be clothed in cloth
of gold, or of Tartary or of Camaka, in the Saracens’ guise, and as the
Saracens use. And it behoveth, that anon at the first sight that men see
the soldan, be it in window or in what place else, that men kneel to him
and kiss the earth, for that is the manner to do reverence to the soldan
of them that speak with him. And when that messengers of strange
countries come before him, the meinie of the soldan, when the strangers
speak to him, they be about the soldan with swords drawn and gisarmes and
axes, their arms lifted up in high with those weapons for to smite upon
them, if they say any word that is displeasance to the soldan. And also,
no stranger cometh before him, but that he maketh him some promise and
grant of that the [stranger] asketh reasonably; by so it be not against
his law. And so do other princes beyond, for they say that no man shall
come before no prince, but that [he be] better, and shall be more gladder
in departing from his presence than he was at the coming before him.
And understandeth, that that Babylon that I have spoken of, where that
the sultan dwelleth, is not that great Babylon where the diversity of
languages was first made for vengeance by the miracle of God, when the
great Tower of Babel was begun to be made; of the which the walls were
sixty-four furlongs of height; that is in the great desert of Arabia,
upon the way as men go toward the kingdom of Chaldea. But it is full
long since that any man durst nigh to the tower; for it is all desert and
full of dragons and great serpents, and full of diverse venomous beasts
all about. That tower, with the city, was of twenty-five mile in circuit
of the walls, as they of the country say, and as men may deem by
estimation, after that men tell of the country.
And though it be clept the Tower of Babylon, yet nevertheless, there were
ordained within many mansions and many great dwelling-places, in length
and breadth. And that tower contained great country in circuit, for the
tower alone contained ten mile square. That tower founded King Nimrod
that was king of that country; and he was the first king of the world.
And he let make an image in the likeness of his father, and constrained
all his subjects for to worship it; and anon began other lords to do the
same, and so began the idols and the simulacres first.
The town and the city were full well set in a fair country and a plain
that men clepe the country of Samar, of the which the walls of the city
were two hundred cubits in height, and fifty cubits of deepness; and the
river of Euphrates ran throughout the city and about the tower also. But
Cyrus the King of Persia took from them the river, and destroyed all the
city and the tower also; for he departed that river in 360 small rivers,
because that he had sworn, that he should put the river in such point,
that a woman might well pass there, without casting off of her clothes,
forasmuch as he had lost many worthy men that trowed to pass that river
by swimming.
And from Babylon where the soldan dwelleth, to go right between the
Orient and the Septentrion toward the great Babylon, is forty journeys to
pass by desert. But it is not the great Babylon in the land and in the
power of the said soldan, but it is in the power and the lordship of
Persia, but he holdeth it of the great Chan, that is the greatest emperor
and the most sovereign lord of all the parts beyond, and he is lord of
the isles of Cathay and of many other isles and of a great part of Ind,
and his land marcheth unto Prester John’s Land, and he holdeth so much
land, that he knoweth not the end: and he is more mighty and greater lord
without comparison than is the soldan: of his royal estate and of his
might I shall speak more plenerly, when I shall speak of the land and of
the country of Ind.
Also the city of Mecca where Mohammet lieth is of the great deserts of
Arabia; and there lieth [the] body of him full honourably in their
temple, that the Saracens clepen Musketh. And it is from Babylon the
less, where the soldan dwelleth, unto Mecca above-said, into a thirty-two
journeys.
And wit well, that the realm of Arabia is a full great country, but
therein is over-much desert. And no man may dwell there in that desert
for default of water, for that land is all gravelly and full of sand.
And it is dry and no thing fruitful, because that it hath no moisture;
and therefore is there so much desert. And if it had rivers and wells,
and the land also were as it is in other parts, it should be as full of
people and as full inhabited with folk as in other places; for there is
full great multitude of people, whereas the land is inhabited. Arabia
dureth from the ends of the realm of Chaldea unto the last end of Africa,
and marcheth to the land of Idumea toward the end of Botron. And in
Chaldea the chief city is Bagdad. And of Africa the chief city is
Carthage, that Dido, that was Eneas’s wife, founded; the which Eneas was
of the city of Troy, and after was King of Italy.
Mesopotamia stretcheth also unto the deserts of Arabia, and it is a great
country. In this country is the city of Haran, where Abraham’s father
dwelled, and from whence Abraham departed by commandment of the angel.
And of that city was Ephraim, that was a great clerk and a great doctor.
And Theophilus was of that city also, that our lady saved from our enemy.
And Mesopotamia dureth from the river of Euphrates, unto the river of
Tigris, for it is between those two rivers.
And beyond the river of Tigris is Chaldea, that is a full great kingdom.
In that realm, at Bagdad above-said, was wont to dwell the caliph, that
was wont to be both as Emperor and Pope of the Arabians, so that he was
lord spiritual and temporal; and he was successor to Mahommet, and of his
generation. That city of Bagdad was wont to be clept Sutis, and
Nebuchadnezzar founded it; and there dwelled the holy prophet Daniel, and
there he saw visions of heaven, and there he made the exposition of
dreams.
And in old time there were wont to be three caliphs, he of Arabia and of
Chaldea dwelt in the city of Bagdad above-said; and at Cairo beside
Babylon dwelt the Caliph of Egypt; and at Morocco, upon the West Sea,
dwelt the Caliph of the people of Barbary and of Africans. And now is
there none of the caliphs, nor nought have been since the time of the
Soldan Saladin; for from that time hither the soldan clepeth himself
caliph, and so have the caliphs lost their name.
Also witeth well, that Babylon the less, where the soldan dwelleth, and
at the city of Cairo that is nigh beside it, be great huge cities many
and fair; and that one sitteth nigh that other. Babylon sitteth upon the
river of Gyson, sometimes clept Nile, that cometh out of Paradise
terrestrial.
That river of Nile, all the year, when the sun entereth into the sign of
Cancer, it beginneth to wax, and it waxeth always as long as the sun is
in Cancer and in the sign of the Lion; and it waxeth in such manner, that
it is sometimes so great, that it is twenty cubits or more of deepness,
and then it doth great harm to the goods that be upon the land. For then
may no man travail to plough the lands for the great moisture, and
therefore is there dear time in that country. And also, when it waxeth
little, it is dear time in that country, for default of moisture. And
when the sun is in the sign of Virgo, then beginneth the river for to
wane and to decrease little and little, so that when the sun is entered
into the sign of Libra, then they enter between these rivers. This river
cometh, running from Paradise terrestrial, between the deserts of Ind,
and after it smiteth unto land, and runneth long time many great
countries under earth. And after it goeth out under an high hill, that
men clepe Alothe, that is between Ind and Ethiopia the mountance of five
months’ journeys from the entry of Ethiopia; and after it environeth all
Ethiopia and Mauritania, and goeth all along from the land of Egypt unto
the city of Alexandria to the end of Egypt, and there it falleth into the
sea. About this river be many birds and fowls, as sikonies, that they
clepen ibes.
CHAPTER VII
_Of the Country of Egypt_; _of the Bird Phoenix of Arabia_; _of the City
of Cairo_; _of the Cunning to know Balm and to prove it_; _and of the
Garners of Joseph_
EGYPT is a long country, but it is straight, that is to say narrow, for
they may not enlarge it toward the desert for default of water. And the
country is set along upon the river of Nile, by as much as that river may
serve by floods or otherwise, that when it floweth it may spread abroad
through the country; so is the country large of length. For there it
raineth not but little in that country, and for that cause they have no
water, but if it be of that flood of that river. And forasmuch as it ne
raineth not in that country, but the air is alway pure and clear,
therefore in that country be the good astronomers, for they find there no
clouds to letten them. Also the city of Cairo is right great and more
huge than that of Babylon the less, and it sitteth above toward the
desert of Syria, a little above the river above-said.
In Egypt there be two parts: the height, that is toward Ethiopia, and the
lower, that is toward Arabia. In Egypt is the land of Rameses and the
land of Goshen. Egypt is a strong country, for it hath many shrewd
havens because of the great rocks that be strong and dangerous to pass
by. And at Egypt, toward the east, is the Red Sea, that dureth unto the
city of Coston; and toward the west is the country of Lybia, that is a
full dry land and little of fruit, for it is overmuch plenty of heat, and
that land is clept Fusthe. And toward the part meridional is Ethiopia.
And toward the north is the desert, that dureth unto Syria, and so is the
country strong on all sides. And it is well a fifteen journeys of
length, and more than two so much of desert, and it is but two journeys
in largeness. And between Egypt and Nubia it hath well a twelve journeys
of desert. And men of Nubia be Christian, but they be black as the Moors
for great heat of the sun.
In Egypt there be five provinces: that one is Sahythe; that other
Demeseer; another Resith, that is an isle in the Nile; another
Alexandria; and another the land of Damietta. That city was wont to be
right strong, but it was twice won of the Christian men, and therefore
after that the Saracens beat down the walls; and with the walls the tower
thereof, the Saracens made another city more far from the sea, and clept
it the new Damietta; so that now no man dwelleth at the rather town of
Damietta. At that city of Damietta is one of the havens of Egypt; and at
Alexandria is that other. That is a full strong city, but there is no
water to drink, but if it come by conduit from Nile, that entereth into
their cisterns; and whoso stopped that water from them, they might not
endure there. In Egypt there be but few forcelets or castles, because
that the country is so strong of himself.
At the deserts of Egypt was a worthy man, that was an holy hermit, and
there met with him a monster (that is to say, a monster is a thing
deformed against kind both of man or of beast or of anything else, and
that is clept a monster). And this monster, that met with this holy
hermit, was as it had been a man, that had two horns trenchant on his
forehead; and he had a body like a man unto the navel, and beneath he had
the body like a goat. And the hermit asked him what he was. And the
monster answered him, and said he was a deadly creature, such as God had
formed, and dwelt in those deserts in purchasing his sustenance. And
[he] besought the hermit, that he would pray God for him, the which that
came from heaven for to save all mankind, and was born of a maiden and
suffered passion and death (as we well know) and by whom we live and be.
And yet is the head with the two horns of that monster at Alexandria for
a marvel.
In Egypt is the city of Heliopolis, that is to say, the city of the Sun.
In that city there is a temple, made round after the shape of the Temple
of Jerusalem. The priests of that temple have all their writings, under
the date of the fowl that is clept phoenix; and there is none but one in
all the world. And he cometh to burn himself upon the altar of that
temple at the end of five hundred year; for so long he liveth. And at
the five hundred years’ end, the priests array their altar honestly, and
put thereupon spices and sulphur vif and other things that will burn
lightly; and then the bird phoenix cometh and burneth himself to ashes.
And the first day next after, men find in the ashes a worm; and the
second day next after, men find a bird quick and perfect; and the third
day next after, he flieth his way. And so there is no more birds of that
kind in all the world, but it alone, and truly that is a great miracle of
God. And men may well liken that bird unto God, because that there ne is
no God but one; and also, that our Lord arose from death to life the
third day. This bird men see often-time fly in those countries; and he
is not mickle more than an eagle. And he hath a crest of feathers upon
his head more great than the peacock hath; and is neck his yellow after
colour of an oriel that is a stone well shining, and his beak is coloured
blue as ind; and his wings be of purple colour, and his tail is barred
overthwart with green and yellow and red. And he is a full fair bird to
look upon, against the sun, for he shineth full gloriously and nobly.
Also in Egypt be gardens, that have trees and herbs, the which bear
fruits seven times in the year. And in that land men find many fair
emeralds and enough; and therefore they be greater cheap. Also when it
raineth once in the summer in the land of Egypt, then is all the country
full of great mires. Also at Cairo, that I spake of before, sell men
commonly both men and women of other laws as we do here beasts in the
market. And there is a common house in that city that is all full of
small furnaces, and thither bring women of the town their eyren of hens,
of geese, and or ducks for to be put into those furnaces. And they that
keep that house cover them with heat of horse dung, without hen, goose or
duck or any other fowl. And at the end of three weeks or of a month they
come again and take their chickens and flourish them and bring them
forth, so that all the country is full of them. And so men do there both
winter and summer.
Also in that country and in others also, men find long apples to sell, in
their season, and men clepe them apples of Paradise; and they be right
sweet and of good savour. And though ye cut them in never so many
gobbets or parts, overthwart or endlong, evermore ye shall find in the
midst the figure of the Holy Cross of our Lord Jesu. But they will rot
within eight days, and for that cause men may not carry of those apples
to no far countries; of them men find the mountance of a hundred in a
basket, and they have great leaves of a foot and a half of length, and
they be convenably large. And men find there also the apple tree of
Adam, that have a bite at one of the sides; and there be also fig trees
that bear no leaves, but figs upon the small branches; and men clepe them
figs of Pharaoh.
Also beside Cairo, without that city, is the field where balm groweth;
and it cometh out on small trees, that be none higher than to a man’s
breeks’ girdle, and they seem as wood that is of the wild vine. And in
that field be seven wells, that our Lord Jesu Christ made with one of his
feet, when he went to play with other children. That field is not so
well closed, but that men may enter at their own list; but in that season
that the balm is growing, men put thereto good keeping, that no man dare
be hardy to enter.
This balm groweth in no place, but only there. And though that men bring
of the plants, for to plant in other countries, they grow well and fair;
but they bring forth no fructuous thing, and the leaves of balm fall not.
And men cut the branches with a sharp flintstone, or with a sharp bone,
when men will go to cut them; for whoso cut them with iron, it would
destroy his virtue and his nature.
And the Saracens clepe the wood _Enonch-balse_, and the fruit, the which
is as cubebs, they clepe _Abebissam_, and the liquor that droppeth from
the branches they clepe _Guybalse_. And men make always that balm to be
tilled of the Christian men, or else it would not fructify; as the
Saracens say themselves, for it hath been often-time proved. Men say
also, that the balm groweth in Ind the more, in that desert where
Alexander spake to the trees of the sun and of the moon, but I have not
seen it; for I have not been so far above upward, because that there be
too many perilous passages.
And wit ye well, that a man ought to take good keep for to buy balm, but
if he con know it right well, for he may right lightly be deceived. For
men sell a gum, that men clepe turpentine, instead of balm, and they put
thereto a little balm for to give good odour. And some put wax in oil of
the wood of the fruit of balm, and say that it is balm. And some distil
cloves of gilofre and of spikenard of Spain and of other spices, that be
well smelling; and the liquor that goeth out thereof they clepe it balm,
and they think that they have balm, and they have none. For the Saracens
counterfeit it by subtlety of craft for to deceive the Christian men, as
I have seen full many a time; and after them the merchants and the
apothecaries counterfeit it eft sones, and then it is less worth, and a
great deal worse.
But if it like you, I shall shew how ye shall know and prove, to the end
that ye shall not be deceived. First ye shall well know, that the
natural balm is full clear, and of citron colour and strongly smelling;
and if it be thick, or red or black, it is sophisticate, that is to say,
counterfeited and made like it for deceit. And understand, that if ye
will put a little balm in the palm of your hand against the sun, if it be
fine and good, ye ne shall not suffer your hand against the heat of the
sun. Also take a little balm with the point of a knife, and touch it to
the fire, and if it burn it is a good sign. After take also a drop of
balm, and put it into a dish, or in a cup with milk of a goat, and if it
be natural balm anon it will take and beclippe the milk. Or put a drop
of balm in clear water in a cup of silver or in a clear basin, stir it
well with the clear water; and if the balm be fine and of his own kind,
the water shall never trouble; and if the balm be sophisticate, that is
to say counterfeited, the water shall become anon trouble; and also if
the balm be fine it shall fall to the bottom of the vessel, as though it
were quicksilver, for the fine balm is more heavy twice than is the balm
that is sophisticate and counterfeited. Now I have spoken of balm.
And now also I shall speak of another thing that is beyond Babylon, above
the flood of the Nile, toward the desert between Africa and Egypt; that
is to say, of the garners of Joseph, that he let make for to keep the
grains for the peril of the dear years. And they be made of stone, full
well made of masons’ craft; of the which two be marvellously great and
high, and the tother ne be not so great. And every garner hath a gate
for to enter within, a little high from the earth; for the land is wasted
and fallen since the garners were made. And within they be all full of
serpents. And above the garners without be many scriptures of diverse
languages. And some men say, that they be sepultures of great lords,
that were sometime, but that is not true, for all the common rumour and
speech is of all the people there, both far and near, that they be the
garners of Joseph; and so find they in their scriptures, and in their
chronicles. On the other part, if they were sepultures, they should not
be void within, ne they should have no gates for to enter within; for ye
may well know, that tombs and sepultures be not made of such greatness,
nor of such highness; wherefore it is not to believe, that they be tombs
or sepultures.
In Egypt also there be diverse languages and diverse letters, and of
other manner and condition than there be in other parts. As I shall
devise you, such as they be, and the names how they clepe them, to such
intent, that ye may know the difference of them and of others,—Athoimis,
Bimchi, Chinok, Duram, Eni, Fin, Gomor, Heket, Janny, Karacta, Luzanin,
Miche, Naryn, Oldach, Pilon, Qyn, Yron, Sichen, Thola, Urmron, Yph and
Zarm, Thoit.
CHAPTER VIII
_Of the Isle of Sicily_; _of the way from Babylon to the Mount Sinai_;
_of the Church of Saint Katherine and of all the marvels there_
NOW will I return again, ere I proceed any further, for to declare to you
the other ways, that draw toward Babylon, where the sultan himself
dwelleth, that is at the entry of Egypt; for as much as many folk go
thither first and after that to the Mount Sinai, and after return to
Jerusalem, as I have said you here before. For they fulfil first the
more long pilgrimage, and after return again by the next ways, because
that the more nigh way is the more worthy, and that is Jerusalem; for no
other pilgrimage is not like in comparison to it. But for to fulfil
their pilgrimages more easily and more sikerly, men go first the longer
way rather than the nearer way.
But whoso will go to Babylon by another way, more short from the
countries of the west that I have rehearsed before, or from other
countries next to them—then men go by France, by Burgundy and by
Lombardy. It needeth not to tell you the names of the cities, nor of the
towns that be in that way, for the way is common, and it is known of many
nations. And there be many havens [where] men take the sea. Some men
take the sea at Genoa, some at Venice, and pass by the sea Adriatic, that
is clept the Gulf of Venice, that departeth Italy and Greece on that
side; and some go to Naples, some to Rome, and from Rome to Brindisi and
there they take the sea, and in many other places where that havens be.
And men go by Tuscany, by Campania, by Calabria, by Apulia, and by the
hills of Italy, by Corsica, by Sardinia, and by Sicily, that is a great
isle and a good.
In that isle of Sicily there is a manner of a garden, in the which be
many diverse fruits; and the garden is always green and flourishing, all
the seasons of the year as well in winter as in summer. That isle holds
in compass about 350 French miles. And between Sicily and Italy there is
not but a little arm of the sea, that men clepe the Farde of Messina.
And Sicily is between the sea Adriatic and the sea of Lombardy. And from
Sicily into Calabria is but eight miles of Lombardy.
And in Sicily there is a manner of serpent, by the which men assay and
prove, whether their children be bastards or no, or of lawful marriage:
for if they be born in right marriage, the serpents go about them, and do
them no harm, and if they be born in avoutry, the serpents bite them and
envenom them. And thus many wedded men prove if the children be their
own.
Also in that isle is the Mount Etna, that men clepe Mount Gybelle, and
the volcanoes that be evermore burning. And there be seven places that
burn and that cast out diverse flames and diverse colour: and by the
changing of those flames, men of that country know when it shall be
dearth or good time, or cold or hot or moist or dry, or in all other
manners how the time shall be governed. And from Italy unto the
volcanoes ne is but twenty-five mile. And men say, that the volcanoes be
ways of hell.
And whoso goeth by Pisa, if that men list to go that way, there is an arm
of the sea, where that men go to other havens in those marches. And then
men pass by the isle of Greaf that is at Genoa. And after arrive men in
Greece at the haven of the city of Myrok, or at the haven of Valone, or
at the city of Duras; and there is a Duke at Duras, or at other havens in
those marches; and so men go to Constantinople. And after go men by
water to the isle of Crete and to the isle of Rhodes, and so to Cyprus,
and so to Athens, and from thence to Constantinople. To hold the more
right way by sea, it is well a thousand eight hundred and four score mile
of Lombardy. And after from Cyprus men go by sea, and leave Jerusalem
and all the country on the left hand, unto Egypt, and arrive at the city
of Damietta, that was wont to be full strong, and it sits at the entry of
Egypt. And from Damietta go men to the city of Alexandria, that sits
also upon the sea. In that city was Saint Catherine beheaded: and there
was Saint Mark the evangelist martyred and buried, but the Emperor Leo
made his bones to be brought to Venice.
And yet there is at Alexandria a fair church, all white without
paintures; and so be all the other churches that were of the Christian
men, all white within, for the Paynims and the Saracens made them white
for to fordo the images of saints that were painted on the walls. That
city of Alexandria is well thirty furlongs in length, but it is but ten
on largeness; and it is a full noble city and a fair. At that city
entereth the river of Nile into the sea, as I to you have said before.
In that river men find many precious stones, and much also of lignum
aloes; and it is a manner of wood, that cometh out of Paradise
terrestrial, the which is good for many diverse medicines, and it is
right dear-worth. And from Alexandria men go to Babylon, where the
sultan dwelleth; that sits also upon the river of Nile: and this way is
the most short, for to go straight unto Babylon.
Now shall I say you also the way, that goeth from Babylon to the Mount of
Sinai, where Saint Catherine lieth. He must pass by the deserts of
Arabia, by the which deserts Moses led the people of Israel. And then
pass men by the well that Moses made with his hand in the deserts, when
the people grucched; for they found nothing to drink. And then pass men
by the Well of Marah, of the which the water was first bitter; but the
children of Israel put therein a tree, and anon the water was sweet and
good for to drink. And then go men by desert unto the vale of Elim, in
the which vale be twelve wells; and there be seventy-two trees of palm,
that bear the dates the which Moses found with the children of Israel.
And from that valley is but a good journey to the Mount of Sinai.
And whoso will go by another way from Babylon, then men go by the Red
Sea, that is an arm of the sea Ocean. And there passed Moses with the
children of Israel, over-thwart the sea all dry, when Pharaoh the King of
Egypt chased them. And that sea is well a six mile of largeness in
length; and in that sea was Pharaoh drowned and all his host that he led.
That sea is not more red than another sea; but in some place thereof is
the gravel red, and therefore men clepen it the Red Sea. That sea
runneth to the ends of Arabia and of Palestine.
That sea lasteth more than a four journeys, and then go men by desert
unto the Vale of Elim, and from thence to the Mount of Sinai. And ye may
well understand, that by this desert no man may go on horseback, because
that there ne is neither meat for horse ne water to drink; and for that
cause men pass that desert with camels. For the camel finds alway meat
in trees and on bushes, that he feedeth him with: and he may well fast
from drink two days or three. And that may no horse do.
And wit well that from Babylon to the Mount Sinai is well a twelve good
journeys, and some men make them more. And some men hasten them and pain
them, and therefore they make them less. And always men find latiners to
go with them in the countries, and further beyond, into time that men con
the language: and it behoveth men to bear victuals with them, that shall
dure them in those deserts, and other necessaries for to live by.
And the Mount of Sinai is clept the Desert of Sin, that is for to say,
the bush burning; because there Moses saw our Lord God many times in the
form of fire burning upon that hill, and also in a bush burning, and
spake to him. And that was at the foot of the hill. There is an abbey
of monks, well builded and well closed with gates of iron for dread of
the wild beasts; and the monks be Arabians or men of Greece. And there
[is] a great convent, and all they be as hermits, and they drink no wine,
but if it be on principal feasts; and they be full devout men, and live
poorly and simply with joutes and with dates, and they do great
abstinence and penances.
There is the Church of Saint Catherine, in the which be many lamps
burning; for they have of oil of olives enough, both for to burn in their
lamps and to eat also. And that plenty have they by the miracle of God;
for the ravens and the crows and the choughs and other fowls of the
country assemble them there every year once, and fly thither as in
pilgrimage; and everych of them bringeth a branch of the bays or of olive
in their beaks instead of offering, and leave them there; of the which
the monks make great plenty of oil. And this is a great marvel. And
sith that fowls that have no kindly wit or reason go thither to seek that
glorious Virgin, well more ought men then to seek her, and to worship
her.
Also behind the altar of that church is the place where Moses saw our
Lord God in a burning bush. And when the monks enter into that place,
they do off both hosen and shoon or boots always, because that our Lord
said to Moses, Do off thy hosen and thy shoon, for the place that thou
standest on is land holy and blessed. And the monks clepe that place
Dozoleel, that is to say, the shadow of God. And beside the high altar,
three degrees of height is the fertre of alabaster, where the bones of
Saint Catherine lie. And the prelate of the monks sheweth the relics to
the pilgrims, and with an instrument of silver he froteth the bones; and
then there goeth out a little oil, as though it were a manner sweating,
that is neither like to oil ne to balm, but it is full sweet of smell;
and of that they give a little to the pilgrims, for there goeth out but
little quantity of the liquor. And after that they shew the head of
Saint Catherine, and the cloth that she was wrapped in, that is yet all
bloody; and in that same cloth so wrapped, the angels bare her body to
the Mount Sinai, and there they buried her with it. And then they shew
the bush, that burned and wasted nought, in the which our Lord spake to
Moses, and other relics enough.
Also, when the prelate of the abbey is dead, I have understood, by
information, that his lamp quencheth. And when they choose another
prelate, if he be a good man and worthy to be prelate, his lamp shall
light with the grace of God without touching of any man. For everych of
them hath a lamp by himself, and by their lamps they know well when any
of them shall die. For when any shall die, the light beginneth to change
and to wax dim; and if he be chosen to be prelate, and is not worthy, his
lamp quencheth anon. And other men have told me, that he that singeth
the mass for the prelate that is dead—he shall find upon the altar the
name written of him that shall be prelate chosen. And so upon a day, I
asked of the monks, both one and other, how this befell. But they would
not tell me nothing, into the time that I said that they should not hide
the grace that God did them, but that they should publish it to make the
people have the more devotion, and that they did sin to hide God’s
miracle, as me seemed. For the miracles that God hath done and yet doth
every day, be the witness of his might and of his marvels, as David saith
in the Psalter: _Mirabilia testimonia tua_, _Domine_, that is to say,
‘Lord thy marvels be thy witness.’ And then they told me, both one and
other, how it befell full many a time, but more I might not have of them.
In that abbey ne entereth not no fly, ne toads ne newts, ne such foul
venomous beasts, ne lice ne fleas, by the miracle of God, and of our
Lady. For there were wont to be so many such manner of filths, that the
monks were in will to leave the place and the abbey, and were from thence
upon the mountain above to eschew that place; and our Lady came to them
and bade them turn again, and from thence forwards never entered such
filth in that place amongst them, ne never shall enter hereafter. Also,
before the gate is the well, where Moses smote the stone, of the which
the water came out plenteously.
From that abbey men go up the mountain of Moses, by many degrees. And
there men find first a church of our Lady, where that she met the monks,
when they fled away for the vermin above-said. And more high upon that
mountain is the chapel of Elijah the prophet; and that place they clepe
Horeb, whereof holy writ speaketh, _Et ambulavit in fortitudine cibi
illius usque_, _ad montem Oreb_; that is to say, ‘And he went in strength
of that meat unto the hill of God, Horeb.’ And there nigh is the vine
that Saint John the Evangelist planted that men clepe raisins of Staphis.
And a little above is the chapel of Moses, and the rock where Moses fled
to for dread when he saw our Lord face to face. And in that rock is
printed the form of his body, for he smote so strongly and so hard
himself in that rock, that all his body was dolven within through the
miracle of God. And there beside is the place where our Lord took to
Moses the Ten Commandments of the Law. And there is the cave under the
rock where Moses dwelt, when he fasted forty days and forty nights. But
he died in the Land of Promission, and no man knoweth where he was
buried. And from that mountain men pass a great valley for to go to
another mountain, where Saint Catherine was buried of the angels of the
Lord. And in that valley is a church of forty martyrs, and there sing
the monks of the abbey, often-time: and that valley is right cold. And
after men go up the mountain of Saint Catherine, that is more high than
the mount of Moses; and there, where Saint Catherine was buried, is
neither church nor chapel, nor other dwelling place, but there is an heap
of stones about the place, where body of her, was put of the angels.
There was wont to be a chapel, but it was cast down, and yet lie the
stones there. And albeit that the Collect of Saint Catherine says, that
it is the place where our Lord betaught the Ten Commandments to Moses,
and there, where the blessed Virgin Saint Catherine was buried, that is
to understand in one country, or in one place bearing one name; for both
that one and that other is clept the mount of Sinai. But it is a great
way from that one to that other, and a great deep valley between them.
CHAPTER IX
_Of the Desert between the Church of Saint Catherine and Jerusalem_. _Of
the Dry Tree_; _and how Roses came first into the World_
NOW, after that men have visited those holy places, then will they turn
toward Jerusalem. And then will they take leave of the monks, and
recommend themselves to their prayers. And then they give the pilgrims
of their victuals for to pass with the deserts toward Syria. And those
deserts dure well a thirteen journeys.
In that desert dwell many of Arabians, that men clepe Bedouins and
Ascopards, and they be folk full of all evil conditions. And they have
none houses, but tents, that they make of skins of beasts, as of camels
and of other beasts that they eat; and there beneath these they couch
them and dwell in place where they may find water, as on the Red Sea or
elsewhere: for in that desert is full great default of water, and
often-time it falleth that where men find water at one time in a place it
faileth another time; and for that skill they make none habitations
there. These folk that I speak of, they till not the land, and they
labour nought; for they eat no bread, but if it be any that dwell nigh a
good town, that go thither and eat bread sometime. And they roast their
flesh and their fish upon the hot stones against the sun. And they be
strong men and well-fighting; and there so is much multitude of that
folk, that they be without number. And they ne reck of nothing, ne do
not but chase after beasts to eat them. And they reck nothing of their
life, and therefore they fear not the sultan, ne no other prince; but
they dare well war with them, if they do anything that is grievance to
them. And they have often-times war with the sultan, and, namely, that
time that I was with him. And they bear but one shield and one spear,
without other arms; and they wrap their heads and their necks with a
great quantity of white linen cloth; and they be right felonous and foul,
and of cursed kind.
And when men pass this desert, in coming toward Jerusalem, they come to
Bersabe (Beersheba), that was wont to be a full fair town and a
delectable of Christian men; and yet there be some of their churches. In
that town dwelled Abraham the patriarch, a long time. That town of
Bersabe founded Bersabe (Bathsheba), the wife of Sir Uriah the Knight, on
the which King David gat Solomen the Wise, that was king after David upon
the twelve kindreds of Jerusalem and reigned forty year.
And from thence go men to the city of Hebron, that is the mountance of
twelve good mile. And it was clept sometime the Vale of Mamre, and
some-time it was clept the Vale of Tears, because that Adam wept there an
hundred year for the death of Abel his son, that Cain slew. Hebron was
wont to be the principal city of the Philistines, and there dwelled some
time the giants. And that city was also sacerdotal, that is to say,
sanctuary of the tribe of Judah; and it was so free, that men received
there all manner of fugitives of other places for their evil deeds. In
Hebron Joshua, Caleb and their company came first to aspy, how they might
win the land of Behest. In Hebron reigned first king David seven year
and a half; and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three year and a half.
And in Hebron be all the sepultures of the patriarchs, Adam, Abraham,
Isaac, and of Jacob; and of their wives, Eve, Sarah and Rebecca, and of
Leah; the which sepultures the Saracens keep full curiously, and have the
place in great reverence for the holy fathers, the patriarchs that lie
there. And they suffer no Christian man to enter into that place, but if
it be of special grace of the sultan; for they hold Christian men and
Jews as dogs, and they say, that they should not enter into so holy
place. And men clepe that place, where they lie, Double Spelunk, or
Double Cave, or Double Ditch, forasmuch as that one lieth above that
other. And the Saracens clepe that place in their language, _Karicarba_,
that is to say, ‘The Place of Patriarchs.’ And the Jews clepe that place
_Arboth_. And in that same place was Abraham’s house, and there he sat
and saw three persons, and worshipped but one; as holy writ saith, _Tres
vidit et unum adoravit_, that is to say, ‘He saw three and worshipped
one’: and of those same received Abraham the angels into his house.
And right fast by that place is a cave in the rock, where Adam and Eve
dwelled when they were put out of Paradise; and there got they their
children. And in that same place was Adam formed and made, after that
some men say: (for men were wont for to clepe that place the field of
Damascus, because that it was in the lordship of Damascus), and from
thence was he translated into Paradise of delights, as they say; and
after that he was driven out of Paradise he was there left. And the same
day that he was put in Paradise, the same day he was put out, for anon he
sinned. There beginneth the Vale of Hebron, that dureth nigh to
Jerusalem. There the angel commanded Adam that he should dwell with his
wife Eve, of the which he gat Seth; of which tribe, that is to say
kindred, Jesu Christ was born.
In that valley is a field, where men draw out of the earth a thing that
men clepe cambile, and they eat it instead of spices, and they bear it to
sell. And men may not make the hole or the cave, where it is taken out
of the earth, so deep or so wide, but that it is, at the year’s end, full
again up to the sides, through the grace of God.
And two mile from Hebron is the grave of Lot, that was Abraham’s brother.
And a little from Hebron is the mount of Mamre, of the which the valley
taketh his name. And there is a tree of oak, that the Saracens clepe
_Dirpe_, that is of Abraham’s time: the which men clepe the Dry Tree.
And they say that it hath been there since the beginning of the world,
and was some-time green and bare leaves, unto the time that our Lord died
on the cross, and then it dried: and so did all the trees that were then
in the world. And some say, by their prophecies, that a lord, a prince
of the west side of the world, shall win the Land of Promission that is
the Holy Land with help of Christian men, and he shall do sing a mass
under that dry tree; and then the tree shall wax green and bear both
fruit and leaves, and through that miracle many Saracens and Jews shall
be turned to Christian faith: and, therefore, they do great worship
thereto, and keep it full busily. And, albeit so, that it be dry,
natheles yet he beareth great virtue, for certainly he that hath a little
thereof upon him, it healeth him of the falling evil, and his horse shall
not be a-foundered: and many other virtues it hath; wherefore men hold it
full precious.
From Hebron men go to Bethlehem in half a day, for it is but five mile;
and it is full fair way, by plains and woods full delectable. Bethlehem
is a little city, long and narrow and well walled, and in each side
enclosed with good ditches: and it was wont to be clept Ephrata, as holy
writ saith, _Ecce_, _audivimus eum in Ephrata_, that is to say, ‘Lo, we
heard him in Ephrata.’ And toward the east end of the city is a full
fair church and a gracious, and it hath many towers, pinacles and
corners, full strong and curiously made; and within that church be
forty-four pillars of marble, great and fair.
And between the city and the church is the field _Floridus_, that is to
say, the ‘field flourished.’ For as much as a fair maiden was blamed
with wrong, and slandered that she had done fornication; for which cause
she was demned to death, and to be burnt in that place, to the which she
was led. And, as the fire began to burn about her, she made her prayers
to our Lord, that as wisely as she was not guilty of that sin, that he
would help her and make it to be known to all men, of his merciful grace.
And when she had thus said, she entered into the fire, and anon was the
fire quenched and out; and the brands that were burning became red
rose-trees, and the brands that were not kindled became white rose-trees,
full of roses. And these were the first rose-trees and roses, both white
and red, that ever any man saw; and thus was this maiden saved by the
grace of God. And therefore is that field clept the field of God
flourished, for it was full of roses.
Also beside the choir of the church, at the right side, as men come
downward sixteen degrees, is the place where our Lord was born, that is
full well dight of marble, and full richly painted with gold, silver,
azure and other colours. And three paces beside is the crib of the ox
and the ass. And beside that is the place where the star fell, that led
the three kings, Jaspar, Melchior and Balthazar: but men of Greece clepe
them thus, _Galgalath_, _Malgalath_, and _Seraphie_, and the Jews clepe
them, in this manner, in Hebrew, _Appelius_, _Amerrius_, and _Damasus_.
These three kings offered to our Lord, gold, incense and myrrh, and they
met together through miracle of God; for they met together in a city in
Ind, that men clepe Cassak, that is a fifty-three journeys from
Bethlehem; and they were at Bethlehem the thirteenth day; and that was
the fourth day after that they had seen the star, when they met in that
city, and thus they were in nine days from that city at Bethlehem, and
that was great miracle.
Also, under the cloister of the church, by eighteen degrees at the right
side, is the charnel of the Innocents, where their bones lie. And before
the place where our Lord was born is the tomb of Saint Jerome, that was a
priest and a cardinal, that translated the Bible and the Psalter from
Hebrew into Latin: and without the minster is the chair that he sat in
when he translated it. And fast beside that church, a sixty fathom, is a
church of Saint Nicholas, where our Lady rested her after she was lighted
of our Lord; and forasmuch as she had too much milk in her paps, that
grieved her, she milked them on the red stones of marble, so that the
traces may yet be seen, in the stones, all white.
And ye shall understand, that all that dwell in Bethlehem be Christian
men.
And there be fair vines about the city, and great plenty of wine, that
the Christian men have do let make. But the Saracens ne till not no
vines, ne they drink no wine: for their books of their law, that Mahomet
betoke them, which they clepe their _Al Koran_, and some clepe it
_Mesaph_, and in another language it is clept _Harme_, and the same book
forbiddeth them to drink wine. For in that book, Mahomet cursed all
those that drink wine and all them that sell it: for some men say, that
he slew once an hermit in his drunkenness, that he loved full well; and
therefore he cursed wine and them that drink it. But his curse be turned
on to his own head, as holy writ saith, _Et in virticem ipsius iniquitas
ejus descendet_, that is for to say, ‘His wickedness shall turn and fall
in his own head.’
And also the Saracens bring forth no pigs, nor they eat no swine’s flesh,
for they say it is brother to man, and it was forbidden by the old law;
and they hold him all accursed that eat thereof. Also in the land of
Palestine and in the land of Egypt, they eat but little or none of flesh
of veal or of beef, but if be so old, that he may no more travel for old;
for it is forbidden, and for because they have but few of them; therefore
they nourish them for to ere their lands.
In this city of Bethlehem was David the king born; and he had sixty
wives, and the first wife was called Michal; and also he had three
hundred lemans.
And from Bethlehem unto Jerusalem is but two mile; and in the way to
Jerusalem half a mile from Bethlehem is a church, where the angel said to
the shepherds of the birth of Christ. And in that way is the tomb of
Rachel, that was Joseph’s mother, the patriarch; and she died anon after
that she was delivered of her son Benjamin. And there she was buried of
Jacob her husband, and he let set twelve great stones on her, in token
that she had born twelve children. In the same way, half mile from
Jerusalem, appeared the star to the three kings. In that way also be
many churches of Christian men, by the which men go towards the city of
Jerusalem.
CHAPTER X
_Of the Pilgrimages in Jerusalem_, _and of the Holy Places thereabout_
AFTER, for to speak of Jerusalem the holy city: ye shall understand, that
it stands full fair between hills, and there be no rivers ne wells, but
water cometh by conduit from Hebron. And ye shall understand, that
Jerusalem of old time, unto the time of Melchisadech, was clept Jebus;
and after it was clept Salem, unto the time of King David, that put these
two names together, and clept it Jebusalem; and after that, King Solomon
clept it Jerosolomye; and after that, men clept it Jerusalem, and so it
is clept yet.
And about Jerusalem is the kingdom of Syria. And there beside is the
land of Palestine, and beside it is Ascalon, and beside that is the land
of Maritaine. But Jerusalem is in the land of Judea, and it is clept
Judea, for that Judas Maccabeus was king of that country; and it marcheth
eastward to the kingdom of Arabia; on the south side to the land of
Egypt; and on the west side to the Great Sea; on the north side, towards
the kingdom of Syria and to the sea of Cyprus. In Jerusalem was wont to
be a patriarch; and archbishops and bishops about in the country. About
Jerusalem be these cities: Hebron, at seven mile; Jericho, at six mile;
Beersheba, at eight mile; Ascalon, at seventeen mile; Jaffa, at sixteen
mile; Ramath, at three mile; and Bethlehem, at two mile. And a two mile
from Bethlehem, toward the south, is the Church of St. Karitot, that was
abbot there, for whom they made much dole amongst the monks when he
should die; and yet they be in mourning in the wise that they made their
lamentation for him the first time; and it is full great pity to behold.
This country and land of Jerusalem hath been in many divers nations’
hands, and often, therefore, hath the country suffered much tribulation
for the sin of the people that dwell there. For that country hath been
in the hands of all nations; that is to say, of Jews, of Canaanites,
Assyrians, Persians, Medes, Macedonians, of Greeks, Romans, of Christian
men, of Saracens, Barbarians, Turks, Tartars, and of many other divers
nations; for God will not that it be long in the hands of traitors ne of
sinners, be they Christian or other. And now have the heathen men held
that land in their hands forty year and more; but they shall not hold it
long, if God will.
And ye shall understand, that when men come to Jerusalem, their first
pilgrimage is to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where our Lord was
buried, that is without the city on the north side; but it is now
enclosed in with the town wall. And there is a full fair church, all
round, and open above, and covered with lead; and on the west side is a
fair tower and an high for bells, strongly made.
And in the midst of the church is a tabernacle, as it were a little
house, made with a low little door, and that tabernacle is made in manner
of half a compass, right curiously and richly made of gold and azure and
other rich colours full nobly made. And in the right side of that
tabernacle is the sepulchre of our Lord; and the tabernacle is eight foot
long, and five foot wide, and eleven foot in height. And it is not long
sith the sepulchre was all open, that men might kiss it and touch it; but
for pilgrims that came thither pained them to break the stone in pieces
or in powder, therefore the soldan hath do make a wall about the
sepulchre that no man may touch it: but in the left side of the wall of
the tabernacle is, well the height of a man, a great stone to the
quantity of a man’s head, that was of the holy sepulchre; and that stone
kiss the pilgrims that come thither. In that tabernacle be no windows,
but it is all made light with lamps that hang before the sepulchre. And
there is a lamp that hangeth before the sepulchre, that burneth light;
and on the Good Friday it goeth out by himself, [and lighteth again by
him self] at that hour that our Lord rose from death to life.
Also within the church, at the right side, beside the choir of the
church, is the mount of Calvary, where our Lord was put on the cross; and
it is a rock of white colour and a little medled with red. And the cross
was set in a mortise in the same rock. And on that rock dropped the
wounds of our Lord when he was pined on the cross. And that is clept
Golgotha.
And men go up to that Golgotha by degrees; and in the place of that
mortise was Adam’s head found after Noah’s flood, in token that the sins
of Adam should be bought in that same place. And upon that rock made
Abraham sacrifice to our Lord. And there is an altar; and before that
altar lie Godefray de Bouillon and Baldwin, and other Christian kings of
Jerusalem.
And there, nigh where our Lord was crucified, is this written in Greek:
† Ο θεὸς Βασιλεῦς ἡμῶν πρὸ αἰώνων εἰργάσατο σωτηρίαν ἐν μέσῳ τῆς γῆς;
that is to say, in Latin,—
_Deus Rex noster ante secula operatus est salutem_, _in medio
terrae_;
that is to say,—
_This God our King_, _before the worlds_, _hath wrought health in
midst of the earth_.
And also on that rock, where the cross was set, is written within the
rock these words:
† Ο ἕιδεις, ἐστί Βάσις τῆς πίστεως ὅλης τοῦ κόσμου τούτου;
that is to say, in Latin,—
_Quod vides_, _est fundamentum totius fidei mundi hujus_;
that is to say,—
† _That thou seest_, _is the ground of all the faith of this world_.
And ye shall understand, that when our Lord was done upon the cross, he
was thirty-three year and three months of old. And the prophecy of David
saith thus: _Quadraginta annis proximus fui generationi huic_; that is to
say, ‘Forty year was I neighbour to this kindred.’ And thus should it
seem that the prophecies were not true. But they be both true; for in
old time men made a year of ten months, of the which March was the first
and December was the last. But Gaius, that was Emperor of Rome, put
these two months thereto, January and February, and ordained the year of
twelve months; that is to say, 365 days, without leap year, after the
proper course of the sun. And therefore after counting of ten months of
the year, he died in the fortieth year, as the prophet said. And after
the year of twelve months, he was of age thirty-three year and three
months.
Also, within the mount of Calvary, on the right side, is an altar, where
the pillar lieth that our Lord Jesu was bounden to when he was scourged.
And there beside be four pillars of stone, that always drop water; and
some men say that they weep for our Lord’s death. And nigh that altar is
a place under earth forty-two degrees of deepness, where the holy cross
was found, by the wit of Saint Helen, under a rock where the Jews had hid
it. And that was the very cross assayed; for they found three crosses,
one of our Lord, and two of the two thieves; and Saint Helen proved them
by a dead body that arose from death to life, when that it was laid on
it, that our Lord died on. And thereby in the wall is the place where
the four nails of our Lord were hid: for he had two in his hands and two
in his feet. And, of one of these, the Emperor of Constantinople made a
bridle to his horse to bear him in battle; and, through virtue thereof,
he overcame his enemies, and won all the land of Asia the less, that is
to say, Turkey, Armenia the less and the more, and from Syria to
Jerusalem, from Arabia to Persia, from Mesopotamia to the kingdom of
Aleppo, from Egypt the high and the low and all the other kingdoms unto
the depth of Ethiopia, and into Ind the less that then was Christian.
And there were in that time many good holy men and holy hermits, of whom
the book of Father’s lives speaketh, and they be now in Paynims’ and
Saracens’ hands: but when God Almighty will, right as the lands were lost
through sin of Christian men, so shall they be won again by Christian men
through help of God.
And in midst of that church is a compass, in the which Joseph of
Arimathea laid the body of our Lord when he had taken him down off the
cross; and there he washed the wounds of our Lord. And that compass, say
men, is the midst of the world.
And in the church of the sepulchre, on the north side, is the place where
our Lord was put in prison (for he was in prison in many places); and
there is a part of the chain that he was bounden with; and there he
appeared first to Mary Magdalene when he was risen, and she wend that he
had been a gardener.
In the church of Saint Sepulchre was wont to be canons of the order of
Saint Augustine, and had a prior, but the patriarch was their sovereign.
And without the doors of the church, on the right side as men go upward
eighteen grees, said our Lord to his mother, _Mulier_, _ecce Filius
tuus_; that is to say, Woman, lo! thy Son! And after that he said to
John, his disciple, _Ecce mater tua_; that is to say, Lo! behold thy
mother! And these words he said on the cross. And on these grees went
our Lord when he bare the cross on his shoulder. And under these grees
is a chapel, and in that chapel sing priests, Indians, that is to say,
priests of Ind, not after our law, but after theirs; and alway they make
their sacrament of the altar, saying, _Pater Noster_ and other prayers
therewith; with the which prayers they say the words that the sacrament
is made of, for they ne know not the additions that many popes have made;
but they sing with good devotion. And there near, is the place where
that our Lord rested him when he was weary for bearing of the cross.
And ye shall understand that before the church of the sepulchre is the
city more feeble than in any other part, for the great plain that is
between the church and the city. And toward the east side, without the
walls of the city, is the vale of Jehosaphat that toucheth to the walls
as though it were a large ditch. And above that vale of Jehosaphat, out
of the city, is the church of Saint Stephen where he was stoned to death.
And there beside, is the Golden Gate, that may not be opened, by the
which gate our Lord entered on Palm-Sunday upon an ass: and the gate
opened against him when he would go unto the temple; and yet appear the
steps of the ass’s feet in three places of the degrees that be of full
hard stone.
And before the church of Saint Sepulchre, toward the south, at 200 paces,
is the great hospital of Saint John, of which the hospitallers had their
foundation. And within the palace of the sick men of that hospital be
124 pillars of stone. And in the walls of the house, without the number
above-said, there be fifty-four pillars that bear up the house. And from
that hospital to go toward the east is a full fair church, that is clept
_Nôtre Dame la Grande_. And then is there another church right nigh,
that is clept _Nôtre Dame de Latine_. And there were Mary Cleophas and
Mary Magdalene, and tore their hair when our Lord was pained in the
cross.
CHAPTER XI
_Of the Temple of our Lord_. _Of the Cruelty of King Herod_. _Of the
Mount Sion_. _Of Probatica Piscina_; _and of Natatorium Siloe_
AND from the church of the sepulchre, toward the east, at eight score
paces, is _Templum Domini_. It is right a fair house, and it is all
round and high, and covered with lead. And it is well paved with white
marble. But the Saracens will not suffer no Christian man ne Jews to
come therein, for they say that none so foul sinful men should not come
in so holy place: but I came in there and in other places there I would,
for I had letters of the soldan with his great seal, and commonly other
men have but his signet. In the which letters he commanded, of his
special grace, to all his subjects, to let me see all the places, and to
inform me pleinly all the mysteries of every place, and to conduct me
from city to city, if it were need, and buxomly to receive me and my
company, and for to obey to all my requests reasonable if they were not
greatly against the royal power and dignity of the soldan or of his law.
And to others, that ask him grace, such as have served him, he ne giveth
not but his signet, the which they make to be borne before them hanging
on a spear. And the folk of the country do great worship and reverence
to his signet or seal, and kneel thereto as lowly as we do to _Corpus
Domini_. And yet men do full greater reverence to his letters; for the
admiral and all other lords that they be shewed to, before or they
receive them, they kneel down; and then they take them and put them on
their heads; and after, they kiss them and then they read them, kneeling
with great reverence; and then they offer them to do all that the bearer
asketh.
And in this _Templum Domini_ were some-time canons regulars, and they had
an abbot to whom they were obedient; and in this temple was Charlemagne
when that the angel brought him the prepuce of our Lord Jesus Christ of
his circumcision; and after, King Charles let bring it to Paris into his
chapel, and after that he let bring it to Peyteres, and after that to
Chartres.
And ye shall understand, that this is not the temple that Solomon made,
for that temple dured not but 1102 year. For Titus, Vespasian’s son,
Emperor of Rome, had laid siege about Jerusalem for to discomfit the
Jews; for they put our Lord to death, without leave of the emperor. And,
when he had won the city, he burnt the temple and beat it down, and all
the city, and took the Jews and did them to death—1,100,000; and the
others he put in prison and sold them to servage,—thirty for one penny;
for they said they bought Jesu for thirty pennies, and he made of them
better cheap when he gave thirty for one penny.
And after that time, Julian Apostate, that was emperor, gave leave to the
Jews to make the temple of Jerusalem, for he hated Christian men. And
yet he was christened, but he forsook his law, and became a renegade.
And when the Jews had made the temple, came an earthquaking, and cast it
down (as God would) and destroyed all that they had made.
And after that, Adrian, that was Emperor of Rome, and of the lineage of
Troy, made Jerusalem again and the temple in the same manner as Solomon
made it. And he would not suffer no Jews to dwell there, but only
Christian men. For although it were so that he was not christened, yet
he loved Christian men more than any other nation save his own. This
emperor let enclose the church of Saint Sepulchre, and walled it within
the city; that, before, was without the city, long time before. And he
would have changed the name of Jerusalem, and have clept it Aelia; but
that name lasted not long.
Also, ye shall understand, that the Saracens do much reverence to that
temple, and they say, that that place is right holy. And when they go in
they go bare-foot, and kneel many times. And when my fellows and I saw
that, when we came in we did off our shoes and came in bare-foot, and
thought that we should do as much worship and reverence thereto, as any
of the misbelieving men should, and as great compunction in heart to
have.
This temple is sixty-four cubits of wideness, and as many in length; and
of height it is six score cubits. And it is within, all about, made with
pillars of marble. And in the middle place of the temple be many high
stages, of fourteen degrees of height, made with good pillars all about:
and this place the Jews call _Sancta Sanctorum_; that is to say, ‘Holy of
Hallows.’ And, in that place, cometh no man save only their prelate,
that maketh their sacrifice. And the folk stand all about, in diverse
stages, after they be of dignity or of worship, so that they all may see
the sacrifice. And in that temple be four entries, and the gates be of
cypress, well made and curiously dight: and within the east gate our Lord
said, ‘Here is Jerusalem.’ And in the north side of that temple, within
the gate, there is a well, but it runneth nought, of the which holy writ
speaketh of and saith, _Vidi aquam egredientem de templo_; that is to
say, ‘I saw water come out of the temple.’
And on that other side of the temple there is a rock that men clepe
Moriach, but after it was clept Bethel, where the ark of God with relics
of Jews were wont to be put. That ark or hutch with the relics Titus led
with him to Rome, when he had discomfited all the Jews. In that ark were
the Ten Commandments, and of Aaron’s yard, and Moses’ yard with the which
he made the Red Sea depart, as it had been a wall, on the right side and
on the left side, whiles that the people of Israel passed the sea
dry-foot: and with that yard he smote the rock, and the water came out of
it: and with that yard he did many wonders. And therein was a vessel of
gold full of manna, and clothing and ornaments and the tabernacle of
Aaron, and a tabernacle square of gold with twelve precious stones, and a
box of jasper green with four figures and eight names of our Lord, and
seven candlesticks of gold, and twelve pots of gold, and four censers of
gold, and an altar of gold, and four lions of gold upon the which they
bare cherubin of gold twelve spans long, and the circle of swans of
heaven with a tabernacle of gold and a table of silver, and two trumps of
silver, and seven barley loaves and all the other relics that were before
the birth of our Lord Jesu Christ.
And upon that rock was Jacob sleeping when he saw the angels go up and
down by a ladder, and he said, _Vere locus iste sanctus est_, _et ego
ignorabam_; that is to say, ‘Forsooth this place is holy, and I wist it
nought.’ And there an angel held Jacob still, and turned his name, and
clept him Israel. And in that same place David saw the angel that smote
the folk with a sword, and put it up bloody in the sheath. And in that
same rock was Saint Simeon when he received our Lord into the temple.
And in this rock he set him when the Jews would have stoned him; and a
star came down and gave him light. And upon that rock preached our Lord
often-time to the people. And out that said temple our Lord drove out
the buyers and the sellers. And upon that rock our Lord set him when the
Jews would have stoned him; and the rock clave in two, and in that
cleaving was our Lord hid, and there came down a star and gave light and
served him with clarity. And upon that rock sat our Lady, and learned
her psalter. And there our Lord forgave the woman her sins, that was
found in avowtry. And there was our Lord circumcised. And there the
angels shewed tidings to Zacharias of the birth of Saint Baptist his son.
And there offered first Melchisadech bread and wine to our Lord, in token
of the sacrament that was to come. And there fell David praying to our
Lord and to the angel that smote the people, that he would have mercy on
him and on the people: and our Lord heard his prayer, and therefore would
he make the temple in that place, but our Lord forbade him by an angel;
for he had done treason when he let slay Uriah the worthy knight, for to
have Bathsheba his wife. And therefore, all the purveyance that he had
ordained to make the temple with he took it Solomon his son, and he made
it. And he prayed our Lord, that all those that prayed to him in that
place with good heart—that he would hear their prayer and grant it them
if they asked it rightfully: and our Lord granted it him, and therefore
Solomon clept that temple the Temple of Counsel and of Help of God.
And without the gate of that temple is an altar where Jews were in wont
to offer doves and turtles. And between the temple and that altar was
Zacharias slain. And upon the pinnacle of that temple was our Lord
brought for to be tempted of the enemy, the fiend. And on the height of
that pinnacle the Jews set Saint James, and cast him down to the earth,
that first was Bishop of Jerusalem. And at the entry of that temple,
toward the west, is the gate that is clept _Porta Speciosa_. And nigh
beside that temple, upon the right side, is a church, covered with lead,
that is clept Solomon’s School.
And from that temple towards the south, right nigh, is the temple of
Solomon, that is right fair and well polished. And in that temple dwell
the Knights of the Temple that were wont to be clept Templars; and that
was the foundation of their order, so that there dwelled knights and in
_Templo Domini_ canons regulars.
From that temple toward the east, a six score paces, in the corner of the
city, is the bath of our Lord; and in that bath was wont to come water
from Paradise, and yet it droppeth. And there beside is our Lady’s bed.
And fast by is the temple of Saint Simeon, and without the cloister of
the temple, toward the north, is a full fair church of Saint Anne, our
Lady’s mother; and there was our Lady conceived; and before that church
is a great tree that began to grow the same night. And under that
church, in going down by twenty-two degrees, lieth Joachim, our Lady’s
father, in a fair tomb of stone; and there beside lay some-time Saint
Anne, his wife; but Saint Helen let translate her to Constantinople. And
in that church is a well, in manner of a cistern, that is clept
_Probatica Piscina_, that hath five entries. Into that well angels were
wont to come from heaven and bathe them within. And what man, that first
bathed him after the moving of the water, was made whole of what manner
of sickness that he had. And there our Lord healed a man of the palsy
that lay thirty-eight year, and our Lord said to him, _Tolle grabatum
tuum et ambula_, that is to say, ‘Take thy bed and go.’ And there beside
was Pilate’s house.
And fast by is King Herod’s house, that let slay the innocents. This
Herod was over-much cursed and cruel. For first he let slay his wife
that he loved right well; and for the passing love that he had to her
when he saw her dead, he fell in a rage and out of his wit a great while;
and sithen he came again to his wit. And after he let slay his two sons
that he had of that wife. And after that he let slay another of his
wives, and a son that he had with her. And after that he let slay his
own mother; and he would have slain his brother also, but he died
suddenly. And after that he did all the harm that he could or might.
And after he fell into sickness; and when he felt that he should die, he
sent after his sister and after all the lords of his land; and when they
were come he let command them to prison. And then he said to his sister,
he wist well that men of the country would make no sorrow for his death;
and therefore he made his sister swear that she should let smite off all
the heads of the lords when he were dead; and then should all the land
make sorrow for his death, and else, nought; and thus he made his
testament. But his sister fulfilled not his will. For, as soon as he
was dead, she delivered all the lords out of prison and let them go, each
lord to his own, and told them all the purpose of her brother’s
ordinance. And so was this cursed king never made sorrow for, as he
supposed for to have been. And ye shall understand, that in that time
there were three Herods, of great name and fame for their cruelty. This
Herod, of which I have spoken of was Herod Ascalonite; and he that let
behead Saint John the Baptist was Herod Antipas; and he that let smite
off Saint James’s head was Herod Agrippa, and he put Saint Peter in
prison.
Also, furthermore, in the city is the church of Saint Saviour; and there
is the left arm of John Chrisostome, and the more part of the head of
Saint Stephen. And on that other side in the street, toward the south as
men go to Mount Sion, is a church of Saint James, where he was beheaded.
And from that church, a six score paces, is the Mount Sion. And there is
a fair church of our Lady, where she dwelled; and there she died. And
there was wont to be an abbot of canons regulars. And from thence was
she borne of the apostles unto the vale of Jehosaphat. And there is the
stone that the angel brought to our Lord from the mount of Sinai, and it
is of that colour that the rock is of Saint Catherine. And there beside
is the gate where through our Lady went, when she was with child, when
she went to Bethlehem. Also at the entry of the Mount Sion is a chapel.
And in that chapel is the stone, great and large, with the which the
sepulchre was covered with, when Joseph of Arimathea had put our Lord
therein; the which stone the three Marys saw turn upward when they came
to the sepulchre the day of his resurrection, and there found an angel
that told them of our Lord’s uprising from death to life. And there also
is a stone in the wall, beside the gate, of the pillar that our Lord was
scourged at. And there was Annas’s house, that was bishop of the Jews in
that time. And there was our Lord examined in the night, and scourged
and smitten and villainous entreated. And that same place Saint Peter
forsook our Lord thrice or the cock crew. And there is a part of the
table that he made his supper on, when he made his maundy with his
disciples, when he gave them his flesh and his blood in form of bread and
wine.
And under that chapel, thirty-two degrees, is the place where our Lord
washed his disciples’ feet, and yet is the vessel where the water was.
And there beside that same vessel was Saint Stephen buried. And there is
the altar where our Lady heard the angels sing mass. And there appeared
first our Lord to his disciples after his resurrection, the gates
enclosed, and said to them, _Pax vobis_! that is to say, ‘Peace to you!’
And on that mount appeared Christ to Saint Thomas the apostle and bade
him assay his wounds; and then believed he first, and said, _Dominus meus
et Deus meus_! that is to say ‘My Lord and my God!’ In the same church,
beside the altar, were all the apostles on Whitsunday, when the Holy
Ghost descended on them in likeness of fire. And there made our Lord his
pasque with his disciples. And there slept Saint John the evangelist
upon the breast of our Lord Jesu Christ, and saw sleeping many heavenly
privities.
Mount Sion is within the city, and it is a little higher than the other
side of the city; and the city is stronger on that side than on that
other side. For at the foot of the Mount Sion is a fair castle and a
strong that the soldan let make. In the Mount Sion were buried King
David and King Solomon, and many other kings, Jews of Jerusalem. And
there is the place where the Jews would have cast up the body of our Lady
when the apostles bare the body to be buried in the vale of Jehosaphat.
And there is the place where Saint Peter wept full tenderly after that he
had forsaken our Lord. And a stone’s cast from that chapel is another
chapel, where our Lord was judged, for that time was there Caiaphas’s
house. From that chapel, to go toward the east, at seven score paces, is
a deep cave under the rock, that is clept the Galilee of our Lord, where
Saint Peter hid him when he had forsaken our Lord. _Item_, between the
Mount Sion and the Temple of Solomon is the place where our Lord raised
the maiden in her father’s house.
Under the Mount Sion, toward the vale of Jehosaphat, is a well that is
clept _Natatorium Siloe_. And there was our Lord washed after his
baptism; and there made our Lord the blind man to see. And there was
y-buried Isaiah the prophet. Also, straight from _Natatorium Siloe_, is
an image, of stone and of old ancient work, that Absalom let make, and
because thereof men clepe it the hand of Absalom. And fast by is yet the
tree of elder that Judas hanged himself upon, for despair that he had,
when he sold and betrayed our Lord. And there beside was the synagogue,
where the bishops of Jews and the Pharisees came together and held their
council; and there cast Judas the thirty pence before them, and said that
he had sinned betraying our Lord. And there nigh was the house of the
apostles Philip and Jacob Alphei. And on that other side of Mount Sion,
toward the south, beyond the vale a stone’s cast, is Aceldama; that is to
say, the field of blood, that was bought for the thirty pence, that our
Lord was sold for. And in that field be many tombs of Christian men, for
there be many pilgrims graven. And there be many oratories, chapels and
hermitages, where hermits were wont to dwell. And toward the east, an
hundred paces, is the charnel of the hospital of Saint John, where men
were wont to put the bones of dead men.
Also from Jerusalem, toward the west, is a fair church, where the tree of
the cross grew. And two mile from thence is a fair church, where our
Lady met with Elizabeth, when they were both with child; and Saint John
stirred in his mother’s womb, and made reverence to his Creator that he
saw not. And under the altar of that church is the place where Saint
John was born. And from that church is a mile to the castle of Emmaus:
and there also our Lord shewed him to two of his disciples after his
resurrection. Also on that other side, 200 paces from Jerusalem, is a
church, where was wont to be the cave of the lion. And under that
church, at thirty degrees of deepness, were interred 12,000 martyrs, in
the time of King Cosdroe that the lion met with, all in a night, by the
will of God.
Also from Jerusalem, two mile, is the Mount Joy, a full fair place and a
delicious; and there lieth Samuel the prophet in a fair tomb. And men
clepe it Mount Joy, for it giveth joy to pilgrims’ hearts, because that
there men see first Jerusalem.
Also between Jerusalem and the mount of Olivet is the vale of Jehosaphat,
under the walls of the city, as I have said before. And in the midst of
the vale is a little river that men clepe _Torrens Cedron_, and above it,
overthwart, lay a tree (that the cross was made of) that men yede over
on. And fast by it is a little pit in the earth, where the foot of the
pillar is yet interred; and there was our Lord first scourged, for he was
scourged and villainously entreated in many places. Also in the middle
place of the vale of Jehosaphat is the church of our Lady: and it is of
forty-three degrees under the earth unto the sepulchre of our Lady. And
our Lady was of age, when she died, seventy-two year. And beside the
sepulchre of our Lady is an altar, where our Lord forgave Saint Peter all
his sins. And from thence, toward the west, under an altar, is a well
that cometh out of the river of Paradise. And wit well, that that church
is full low in the earth, and some is all within the earth. But I
suppose well, that it was not so founded. But for because that Jerusalem
hath often-time been destroyed and the walls abated and beten down and
tumbled into the vale, and that they have been so filled again and the
ground enhanced; and for that skill is the church so low within the
earth. And, natheles, men say there commonly, that the earth hath so
been cloven sith the time that our Lady was there buried; and yet men say
there, that it waxeth and groweth every day, without doubt. In that
church were wont to be monks black, that had their abbot.
And beside that church is a chapel, beside the rock that hight
Gethsemane. And there was our Lord kissed of Judas; and there was he
taken of the Jews. And there left our Lord his disciples, when he went
to pray before his passion, when he prayed and said, _Pater_, _si fieri
potest_, _transeat a me calix iste_; that is to say, ‘Father, if it may
be, do let this chalice go from me’: and, when he came again to his
disciples, he found them sleeping. And in the rock within the chapel yet
appear the fingers of our Lord’s hand, when he put them in the rock, when
the Jews would have taken him.
And from thence, a stone’s cast towards the south, is another chapel,
where our Lord sweat drops of blood. And there, right nigh, is the tomb
of King Jehosaphat, of whom the vale beareth the name. This Jehosaphat
was king of that country, and was converted by an hermit, that was a
worthy man and did much good. And from thence, a bow draught towards the
south, is the church, where Saint James and Zachariah the prophet were
buried.
And above the vale is the mount of Olivet; and it is clept so for the
plenty of olives that grow there. That mount is more high than the city
of Jerusalem is; and, therefore, may men upon that mount see many of the
streets of the city. And between that mount and the city is not but the
vale of Jehosaphat that is not full large. And from that mount styed our
Lord Jesu Christ to heaven upon Ascension Day; and yet there sheweth the
shape of his left foot in the stone. And there is a church where was
wont to be an abbot and canons regulars. And a little thence,
twenty-eight paces, is a chapel; and therein is the stone on the which
our Lord sat, when he preached the eight blessings and said thus: _Beau
pauperes spiritu_: and there he taught his disciples the _Pater Noster_;
and wrote with his finger in a stone. And there nigh is a church of
Saint Mary Egyptian, and there she lieth in a tomb. And from thence
toward the east, a three bow shot, is Bethphage, to the which our Lord
sent Saint Peter and Saint James for to seek the ass upon Palm-Sunday,
and rode upon that ass to Jerusalem.
And in coming down from the mount of Olivet, toward the east, is a castle
that is clept Bethany. And there dwelt Simon leprous, and there
harboured our Lord: and after he was baptised of the apostles and was
clept Julian, and was made bishop; and this is the same Julian that men
clepe to for good harbourage, for our Lord harboured with him in his
house. And in that house our Lord forgave Mary Magdalene her sins: there
she washed his feet with her tears, and wiped them with her hair. And
there served Saint Martha our Lord. There our Lord raised Lazarus from
death to life, that was dead four days and stank, that was brother to
Mary Magdalene and to Martha. And there dwelt also Mary Cleophas. That
castle is well a mile long from Jerusalem. Also in coming down from the
mount of Olivet is the place where our Lord wept upon Jerusalem. And
there beside is the place where our Lady appeared to Saint Thomas the
apostle after her assumption, and gave him her girdle. And right nigh is
the stone where our Lord often-time sat upon when he preached; and upon
that same he shall sit at the day of doom, right as himself said.
Also after the mount of Olivet is the mount of Galilee. There assembled
the apostles when Mary Magdalene came and told them of Christ’s uprising.
And there, between the Mount Olivet and the Mount Galilee, is a church,
where the angel said to our Lady of her death.
Also from Bethany to Jericho was sometime a little city, but it is now
all destroyed, and now is there but a little village. That city took
Joshua by miracle of God and commandment of the angel, and destroyed it,
and cursed it and all them that bigged it again. Of that city was
Zaccheus the dwarf that clomb up into the sycamore tree for to see our
Lord, because he was so little he might not see him for the people. And
of that city was Rahab the common woman that escaped alone with them of
her lineage: and she often-time refreshed and fed the messengers of
Israel, and kept them from many great perils of death; and, therefore,
she had good reward, as holy writ saith: _Qui accipit prophetam in nomine
meo_, _mercedem prophetae accipiet_; that is to say, ‘He that taketh a
prophet in my name, he shall take meed of the prophet.’ And so had she.
For she prophesied to the messengers, saying, _Novi quod Dominus tradet
vobis terram hanc_; that is to say, ‘I wot well, that our Lord shall
betake you this land’: and so he did. And after, Salomon, Naasson’s son,
wedded her, and from that time was she a worthy woman, and served God
well.
Also from Bethany go men to flom Jordan by a mountain and through desert.
And it is nigh a day journey from Bethany, toward the east, to a great
hill, where our Lord fasted forty days. Upon that hill the enemy of hell
bare our Lord and tempted him, and said, _Dic ut lapides isti panes
fiant_; that is to say, ‘Say, that these stones be made loaves.’ In that
place, upon the hill, was wont to be a fair church; but it is all
destroyed, so that there is now but an hermitage, that a manner of
Christian men hold, that be clept Georgians, for Saint George converted
them. Upon that hill dwelt Abraham a great while, and therefore men
clepe it Abraham’s Garden. And between the hill and this garden runneth
a little brook of water that was wont to be bitter; but, by the blessing
of Elisha the prophet, it became sweet and good to drink. And at the
foot of this hill, toward the plain, is a great well, that entereth into
from Jordan.
From that hill to Jericho, that I spake of before, is but a mile in going
toward flom Jordan. Also as men go to Jericho sat the blind man crying,
_Jesu_, _Fili David_, _miserere mei_; that is to say, ‘Jesu, David’s Son,
have mercy on me.’ And anon he had his sight. Also, two mile from
Jericho, is flome Jordan. And, an half mile more nigh, is a fair church
of Saint John the Baptist, where he baptised our Lord. And there beside
is the house of Jeremiah the prophet.
CHAPTER XII
_Of the Dead Sea_; _and of the Flome Jordan_. _Of the Head of Saint John
the Baptist_; _and of the Usages of the Samaritans_
AND from Jericho, a three mile, is the Dead Sea. About that sea groweth
much alum and of alkatran. Between Jericho and that sea is the land of
Engeddi. And there was wont to grow the balm; but men make draw the
branches thereof and bear them to be grafted at Babylon; and yet men
clepe them vines of Geddi. At a coast of that sea, as men go from
Arabia, is the mount of the Moabites, where there is a cave, that men
clepe Karua. Upon that hill led Balak, the son of Beor, Balaam the
priest for to curse the people of Israel.
That Dead Sea parteth the land of Ind and of Arabia, and that sea lasteth
from Soara unto Arabia. The water of that sea is full bitter and salt,
and, if the earth were made moist and wet with that water, it would never
bear fruit. And the earth and the land changeth often his colour. And
it casteth out of the water a thing that men clepe asphalt, also great
pieces, as the greatness of an horse, every day and on all sides. And
from Jerusalem to that sea is 200 furlongs. That sea is in length five
hundred and four score furlongs, and in breadth an hundred and fifty
furlongs; and it is clept the Dead Sea, for it runneth nought, but is
ever unmovable. And neither man, ne beast, ne nothing that beareth life
in him ne may not die in that sea. And that hath been proved many times,
by men that have deserved to be dead that have been cast therein and left
therein three days or four, and they ne might never die therein; for it
receiveth no thing within him that beareth life. And no man may drink of
the water for bitterness. And if a man cast iron therein, it will float
above. And if men cast a feather therein, it will sink to the bottom,
and these be things against kind.
And also, the cities there were lost because of sin. And there beside
grow trees that bear full fair apples, and fair of colour to behold; but
whoso breaketh them or cutteth them in two, he shall find within them
coals and cinders, in token that by wrath of God the cities and the land
were burnt and sunken into hell. Some men clepe that sea the lake
Dalfetidee; some, the flome of Devils; and some the flome that is ever
stinking. And into that sea sunk the five cities by wrath of God; that
is to say, Sodom, Gomorrah, Aldama, Zeboim, and Zoar, for the abominable
sin of sodomy that reigned in them. But Zoar, by the prayer of Lot, was
saved and kept a great while, for it was set upon a hill; and yet sheweth
thereof some part above the water, and men may see the walls when it is
fair weather and clear. In that city Lot dwelt a little while; and there
was he made drunk of his daughters, and lay with them, and engendered of
them Moab and Ammon. And the cause why his daughters made him drunk and
for to lie by him was this: because they saw no man about them, but only
their father, and therefore they trowed that God had destroyed all the
world as he had done the cities, as he had done before by Noah’s flood.
And therefore they would lie by with their father for to have issue, and
for to replenish the world again with people to restore the world again
by them; for they trowed that there had been no more men in all the
world; and if their father had not been drunk, he had not lain with them.
And the hill above Zoar men cleped it then Edom and after men cleped it
Seir, and after Idumea. Also at the right side of that Dead Sea,
dwelleth yet the wife of Lot in likeness of a salt stone; for that she
looked behind her when the cities sunk into hell. This Lot was Haran’s
son, that was brother to Abraham; and Sarah, Abraham’s wife, and Milcah,
Nahor’s wife, were sisters to the said Lot. And the same Sarah was of
eld four score and ten year when Isaac her son was gotten on her. And
Abraham had another son Ishmael that he gat upon Hagar his chamberer.
And when Isaac his son was eight days old, Abraham his father let him be
circumcised, and Ishmael with him that was fourteen year old: wherefore
the Jews that come of Isaac’s line be circumcised the eighth day, and the
Saracens that come of Ishmael’s line be circumcised when they be fourteen
year of age.
And ye shall understand, that within the Dead Sea, runneth the flom
Jordan, and there it dieth, for it runneth no further more, and that is a
place that is a mile from the church of Saint John the Baptist toward the
west, a little beneath the place where that Christian men bathe them
commonly. And a mile from flom Jordan is the river of Jabbok, the which
Jacob passed over when he came from Mesopotamia. This flom Jordan is no
great river, but it is plenteous of good fish; and it cometh out of the
hill of Lebanon by two wells that be clept Jor and Dan, and of the two
wells hath it the name. And it passeth by a lake that is clept Maron.
And after it passeth by the sea of Tiberias, and passeth under the hills
of Gilboa; and there is a full fair vale, both on that one side and on
that other of the same river. And men go [on] the hills of Lebanon, all
in length unto the desert of Pharan; and those hills part the kingdom of
Syria and the country of Phoenicia; and upon those hills grow trees of
cedar that be full high, and they bear long apples, and as great as a
man’s head.
And also this flom Jordan departeth the land of Galilee and the land of
Idumea and the land of Betron, and that runneth under earth a great way
unto a fair plain and a great that is clept Meldan in Sarmois; that is to
say, Fair or market in their language, because that there is often fairs
in that plain. And there becometh the water great and large. In that
plain is the tomb of Job.
And in that flom Jordan above-said was our Lord baptised of Saint John,
and the voice of God the Father was heard saying: _Hic est Filius meus
dilectus_, _etc._; that is to say, ‘This is my beloved Son, in the which
I am well pleased; hear him!’ and the Holy Ghost alighted upon him in
likeness of a culver; and so at his baptising was all the whole Trinity.
And through that flome passed the children of Israel, all dry feet; and
they put stones there in the middle place, in token of the miracle that
the water withdrew him so. Also in that flome Jordan Naaman of Syria
bathed him, that was full rich, but he was mesell; and there anon he took
his health.
About the flome Jordan be many churches where that many Christian men
dwelled. And nigh thereto is the city of Ai that Joshua assailed and
took. Also beyond the flome Jordan is the vale of Mamre, and that is a
full fair vale. Also upon the hill that I spake of before, where our
Lord fasted forty days, a two mile long from Galilee, is a fair hill and
an high, where the enemy the fiend bare our Lord the third time to tempt
him, and shewed him all the regions of the world and said, _Hec omnia
tibi dabo_, _si cadens adoraveris me_; that is to say, ‘All this shall I
give thee, if thou fall and worship me.’
Also from the Dead Sea to go eastward, out of the marches of the Holy
Land that is clept the Land of Promission, is a strong castle and a fair,
in an hill that is clept Carak in Sarmois; that is to say, Royally. That
castle let make King Baldwin, that was King of France, when he had
conquered that land, and put it into Christian men’s hands for to keep
that country; and for that cause was it clept the Mount Royal. And under
it there is a town that hight Sobach, and there, all about, dwell
Christian men, under tribute.
From thence go men to Nazareth, of the which our Lord beareth the
surname. And from thence there is three journeys to Jerusalem: and men
go by the province of Galilee by Ramath, by Sothim and by the high hill
of Ephraim, where Elkanah and Hannah the mother of Samuel the prophet
dwelled. There was born this prophet; and, after his death, he was
buried at Mount Joy, as I have said you before.
And then go men to Shiloh, where the Ark of God with the relics were kept
long time under Eli the prophet. There made the people of Hebron
sacrifice to our Lord, and they yielded up their vows. And there spake
God first to Samuel, and shewed him the mutation of Order of Priesthood,
and the mystery of the Sacrament. And right nigh, on the left side, is
Gibeon and Ramah and Benjamin, of the which holy writ speaketh of.
And after men go to Sichem, some-time clept Sichar; and that is in the
province of Samaritans. And there is a full fair vale and a fructuous;
and there is a fair city and a good that men clepe Neople. And from
thence is a journey to Jerusalem. And there is the well, where our Lord
spake to the woman of Samaritan. And there was wont to be a church, but
it is beaten down. Beside that well King Rehoboam let make two calves of
gold and made them to be worshipped, and put that one at Dan and that
other at Bethel. And a mile from Sichar is the city of Luz; and in that
city dwelt Abraham a certain time. Sichem is a ten mile from Jerusalem,
and it is clept Neople; that is for to say, the New City. And nigh
beside is the tomb of Joseph the son of Jacob that governed Egypt: for
the Jews bare his bones from Egypt and buried them there, and thither go
the Jews often-time in pilgrimage with great devotion. In that city was
Dinah, Jacob’s daughter, ravished, for whom her brethren slew many
persons and did many harms to the city. And there beside is the hill of
Gerizim, where the Samaritans make their sacrifice: in that hill would
Abraham have sacrificed his son Isaac. And there beside is the vale of
Dotaim, and there is the cistern, where Joseph, was cast in of his
brethren, which they sold; and that is two mile from Sichar.
From thence go men to Samaria that men clepe now Sebast; and that is the
chief city of that country, and it sits between the hill of Aygnes as
Jerusalem doth. In that city was the sittings of the twelve tribes of
Israel; but the city is not now so great as it was wont to be. There was
buried Saint John the Baptist between two prophets, Elisha and Abdon; but
he was beheaded in the castle of Macharim beside the Dead Sea, and after
he was translated of his disciples, and buried at Samaria. And there let
Julianus Apostata dig him up and let burn his bones (for he was at that
time emperor) and let winnow the ashes in the wind. But the finger that
shewed our Lord, saying, _Ecce Agnus Dei_; that is to say, ‘Lo! the Lamb
of God,’ that would never burn, but is all whole;—that finger let Saint
Thecla, the holy virgin, be born into the hill of Sebast; and there make
men great feast.
In that place was wont to be a fair church; and many other there were;
but they be all beaten down. There was wont to be the head of Saint John
Baptist, enclosed in the wall. But the Emperor Theodosius let draw it
out, and found it wrapped in a little cloth, all bloody; and so he let it
to be born to Constantinople. And yet at Constantinople is the hinder
part of the head, and the fore part of the head, till under the chin, is
at Rome under the church of Saint Silvester, where be nuns of an hundred
orders: and it is yet all broilly, as though it were half-burnt, for the
Emperor Julianus above-said, of his cursedness and malice, let burn that
part with the other bones, and yet it sheweth; and this thing hath been
proved both by popes and by emperors. And the jaws beneath, that hold to
the chin, and a part of the ashes and the platter that the head was laid
in, when it was smitten off, is at Genoa; and the Genoese make of it
great feast, and so do the Saracens also. And some men say that the head
of Saint John is at Amiens in Picardy; and other men say that it is the
head of Saint John the Bishop. I wot never, but God knoweth; but in what
wise that men worship it, the blessed Saint John holds him a-paid.
From this city of Sebast unto Jerusalem is twelve mile. And between the
hills of that country there is a well that four sithes in the year
changeth his colour, sometime green, sometime red, sometime clear and
sometime trouble; and men clepe that well, Job. And the folk of that
country, that men clepe Samaritans, were converted and baptized by the
apostles; but they hold not well their doctrine, and always they hold
laws by themselves, varying from Christian men, from Saracens, Jews and
Paynims. And the Samaritans lieve well in one God, and they say well
that there is but only one God, that all formed, and all shall doom; and
they hold the Bible after the letter, and they use the Psalter as the
Jews do. And they say that they be the right sons of God. And among all
other folk, they say that they be best beloved of God, and that to them
belongeth the heritage that God behight to his beloved children. And
they have also diverse clothing and shape to look on than other folk
have; for they wrap their heads in red linen cloth, in difference from
others. And the Saracens wrap their heads in white linen cloth; and the
Christian men, that dwell in the country, wrap them in blue of Ind; and
the Jews in yellow cloth. In that country dwell many of the Jews, paying
tribute as Christian men do. And if ye will know the letters that the
Jews use they be such, and the names be as they clepe them written above,
in manner of their A. B. C.
Aleph Beth Gymel Deleth He Vau Zay
א ב ג ד ה ו ז
Heth Thet Joht Kapho Lampd Mem Num
ח ט י כ ל מ נ
Sameth Ey Fhee Sade Coph Resch Son Tau
ס ע פ צ ק ר ש ת
CHAPTER XIII
_Of the Province of Galilee_, _and where Antichrist shall be born_. _Of
Nazareth_. _Of the age of Our Lady_. _Of the Day of Doom_. _And of the
customs of Jacobites_, _Syrians_; _and of the usages of Georgians_
FROM this country of the Samaritans that I have spoken of before go men
to the plains of Galilee, and men leave the hills on that one part.
And Galilee is one of the provinces of the Holy Land, and in that
province is the city of Nain—and Capernaum, and Chorazin and Bethsaida.
In this Bethsaida was Saint Peter and Saint Andrew born. And thence, a
four mile, is Chorazin. And five mile from Chorazin is the city of Kedar
whereof the Psalter speaketh: _Et habitavi cum habitantibus Kedar_; that
is for to say, ‘And I have dwelled with the dwelling men in Kedar.’ In
Chorazin shall Antichrist be born, as some men say. And other men say he
shall be born in Babylon; for the prophet saith: _De Babilonia coluber
exest_, _qui totum mundum devorabit_; that is to say ‘Out of Babylon
shall come a worm that shall devour all the world.’ This Antichrist
shall be nourished in Bethsaida, and he shall reign in Capernaum: and
therefore saith holy writ; _Vae tibi_, _Chorazin_! _Vae tibi_,
_Bethsaida_! _Vae tibi_, _Capernaum_! that is to say, ‘Woe be to thee,
Chorazin! Woe to thee, Bethsaida! Woe to thee, Capernaum.’ And all
these towns be in the land of Galilee. And also the Cana of Galilee is
four mile from Nazareth: of that city was Simon Chananeus and his wife
Canee, of the which the holy evangelist speaketh of. There did our Lord
the first miracle at the wedding, when he turned water into wine.
And in the end of Galilee, at the hills, was the Ark of God taken; and on
that other side is the Mount Endor or Hermon. And, thereabout, goeth the
Brook of Torrens Kishon; and there beside, Barak, that was Abimelech’s
son with Deborah the prophetess overcame the host of Idumea, when Sisera
the king was slain of Jael the wife of Heber, and chased beyond the flome
Jordan, by strength of sword, Zeeb and Zebah and Zalmunna, and there he
slew them. Also a five mile from Nain is the city of Jezreel that
sometime was clept Zarim, of the which city Jezabel, the cursed queen,
was lady and queen, that took away the vine of Naboth by her strength.
Fast by that city is the field Megiddo, in the which the King Joram was
slain of the King of Samaria and after was translated and buried in the
Mount Sion.
And a mile from Jezreel be the hills of Gilboa, where Saul and Jonathan,
that were so fair, died; wherefore David cursed them, as holy writ saith:
_Montes Gilboæ_, _nec ros nec pluvia_, _etc._; that is to say, ‘Ye hills
of Gilboa, neither dew ne rain come upon you.’ And a mile from the hills
of Gilboa toward the east is the city of Cyropolis, that was clept before
Bethshan; and upon the walls of that city was the head of Saul hanged.
After go men by the hill beside the plains of Galilee unto Nazareth,
where was wont to be a great city and a fair; but now there is not but a
little village, and houses abroad here and there. And it is not walled.
And it sits in a little valley, and there be hills all about. There was
our Lady born, but she was gotten at Jerusalem. And because that our
Lady was born at Nazareth, therefore bare our Lord his surname of that
town. There took Joseph our Lady to wife, when she was fourteen year of
age. And there Gabriel greeted our Lady, saying, _Ave gratia plena_,
_Dominus tecum_! that is to say, ‘Hail, full of grace, our Lord is with
thee!’ And this salutation was done in a place of a great altar of a
fair church that was wont to be sometime, but it is now all down, and men
have made a little receipt, beside a pillar of that church, to receive
the offerings of pilgrims. And the Saracens keep that place full dearly,
for the profit that they have thereof. And they be full wicked Saracens
and cruel, and more despiteful than in any other place, and have
destroyed all the churches. There nigh is Gabriel’s Well, where our Lord
was wont to bathe him, when he was young, and from that well bare he
water often-time to his mother. And in that well she washed often-time
the clouts of her Son Jesu Christ. And from Jerusalem unto thither is
three journeys. At Nazareth was our Lord nourished. Nazareth is as much
to say as, ‘Flower of the garden’; and by good skill may it be clept
flower, for there was nourished the flower of life that was Christ Jesu.
And two mile from Nazareth is the city of Sephor, by the way that goeth
from Nazareth to Akon. And an half mile from Nazareth is the Leap of our
Lord. For the Jews led him upon an high rock for to make him leap down,
and have slain him; but Jesu passed amongst them, and leapt upon another
rock, and yet be the steps of his feet seen in the rock, where he
alighted. And therefore say some men, when they dread them of thieves in
any way, or of enemies; _Jesus autem transiens per medium illorum ibat_;
that is to say, ‘Jesus, forsooth, passing by the midst of them, he went’:
in token and mind, that our Lord passed through, out the Jews’ cruelty,
and scaped safely from them, so surely may men pass the peril of
thieves’. And then say men two verses of the Psalter three sithes:
_Irruat super eos formido & pavor_, _in magnitudine brachii tui_,
_Domine_. _Fiant immobiles_, _quasi lapis_, _donec pertranseat populus
tuus_, _Domine_; _donec pertranseat populus tuus iste_, _quem
possedisti_; and then may men pass without peril.
And ye shall understand, that our Lady had child when she was fifteen
year old. And she was conversant with her son thirty-three year and
three months. And after the passion of our Lord she lived twenty-four
year.
Also from Nazareth men go to the Mount Tabor; and that is a four mile.
And it is a full fair hill and well high, where was wont to be a town and
many churches; but they be all destroyed. But yet there is a place that
men clepe the school of God, where he was wont to teach his disciples,
and told them the privities of heaven. And, at the foot of that hill,
Melchisedech that was King of Salem, in the turning of that hill met
Abraham in coming again from the battle, when he had slain Abimelech.
And this Melchisedech was both king and priest of Salem that now is clept
Jerusalem. In that hill Tabor our Lord transfigured him before Saint
Peter, Saint John and Saint Jame; and there they saw, ghostly, Moses and
Elias the prophets beside them. And therefore said Saint Peter;
_Domine_, _bonum est nos hic esse_; _faciamus hic tria tabernacula_; that
is to say, ‘Lord, it is good for us to be here; make we here three
dwelling-places.’ And there heard they a voice of the Father that say;
_Hic est Filius meus dilectus_, _in quo mihi bene complacui_. And our
Lord defended them that they should not tell that avision till that he
were risen from death to life.
In that hill and in that same place, at the day of doom, four angels with
four trumpets shall blow and raise all men that had suffered death, sith
that the world was formed, from death to life; and shall come in body and
soul in judgment, before the face of our Lord in the Vale of Jehosaphat.
And the doom shall be on Easter Day, such time as our Lord arose. And
the doom shall begin, such hour as our Lord descended to hell and
despoiled it. For at such hour shall he despoil the world and lead his
chosen to bliss; and the other shall he condemn to perpetual pains. And
then shall every man have after his desert, either good or evil, but if
the mercy of God pass his righteousness.
Also a mile from Mount Tabor is the Mount Hermon; and there was the city
of Nain. Before the gate of that city raised our Lord the widow’s son,
that had no more children. Also three miles from Nazareth is the Castle
Safra, of the which the sons of Zebedee and the sons of Alpheus were.
Also a seven mile from Nazareth is the Mount Cain, and under that is a
well; and beside that well Lamech, Noah’s father, slew Cain with an
arrow. For this Cain went through briars and bushes as a wild beast; and
he had lived from the time of Adam his father unto the time of Noah, and
so he lived nigh to 2000 year. And this Lamech was all blind for eld.
From Safra men go to the sea of Galilee and to the city of Tiberias, that
sits upon the same sea. And albeit that men clepe it a sea, yet is it
neither sea ne arm of the sea. For it is but a stank of fresh water that
is in length one hundred furlongs, and of breadth forty furlongs, and
hath within him great plenty of good fish, and runneth into flom Jordan.
The city is not full great, but it hath good baths within him.
And there, as the flome Jordan parteth from the sea of Galilee, is a
great bridge, where men pass from the Land of Promission to the land of
King Bashan and the land of Gennesaret, that be about the flom Jordan and
the beginning of the sea of Tiberias. And from thence may men go to
Damascus, in three days, by the kingdom of Traconitis, the which kingdom
lasteth from Mount Hermon to the sea of Galilee, or to the sea of
Tiberias, or to the sea of Gennesaret; and all is one sea, and this the
tank that I have told you, but it changeth thus the name for the names of
the cities that sit beside him.
Upon that sea went our Lord dry feet; and there he took up Saint Peter,
when he began to drench within the sea, and said to him, _Modice fidei_,
_quare dubitasti_? And after his resurrection our Lord appeared on that
sea to his disciples and bade them fish, and filled all the net full of
great fishes. In that sea rowed our Lord often-time; and there he called
to him Saint Peter, Saint Andrew, Saint James and Saint John, the sons of
Zebedee.
In that city of Tiberias is the table upon the which our Lord ate upon
with his disciples after his resurrection; and they knew him in breaking
of bread, as the gospel saith: _Et cognoverunt eum in fractione panis_.
And nigh that city of Tiberias is the hill, where our Lord fed 5000
persons with five barley loaves and two fishes.
In that city a man cast a burning dart in wrath after our Lord. And the
head smote into the earth and waxed green; and it growed to a great tree.
And yet it groweth and the bark thereof is all like coals.
Also in the head of that sea of Galilee, toward the septentrion is a
strong castle and an high that hight Saphor. And fast beside it is
Capernaum. Within the Land of Promission is not so strong a castle. And
there is a good town beneath that is clept also Saphor. In that castle
Saint Anne our Lady’s mother was born. And there beneath, was Centurio’s
house. That country is clept the Galilee of Folk that were taken to
tribute of Zebulon and Napthali.
And in again coming from that castle, a thirty mile, is the city of Dan,
that sometime was clept Belinas or Cesarea Philippi; that sits at the
foot of the Mount of Lebanon, where the flome Jordan beginneth. There
beginneth the Land of Promission and dureth unto Beersheba in length, in
going toward the north into the south, and it containeth well a nine
score miles; and of breadth, that is to say, from Jericho unto Jaffa, and
that containeth a forty mile of Lombardy, or of our country, that be also
little miles; these be not miles of Gascony ne of the province of
Almayne, where be great miles. And wit ye well, that the Land of
Promission is in Syria. For the realm of Syria dureth from the deserts
of Arabia unto Cilicia, and that is Armenia the great; that is to say,
from the south to the north. And, from the east to the west, it dureth
from the great deserts of Arabia unto the West Sea. But in that realm of
Syria is the kingdom of Judea and many other provinces, as Palestine,
Galilee, Little Cilicia, and many other.
In that country and other countries beyond they have a custom, when they
shall use war, and when men hold siege about city or castle, and they
within dare not send out messengers with letters from lord to lord for to
ask succour, they make their letters and bind them to the neck of a
culver, and let the culver flee. And the culvers be so taught, that they
flee with those letters to the very place that men would send them to.
For the culvers be nourished in those places where they be sent to, and
they send them thus, for to bear their letters. And the culvers return
again whereas they be nourished; and so they do commonly.
And ye shall understand that amongst the Saracens, one part and other,
dwell many Christian men of many manners and diverse names. And all be
baptized and have diverse laws and diverse customs. But all believe in
God the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost; but always fail they in
some articles of our faith. Some of these be clept Jacobites, for Saint
James converted them and Saint John baptized them. They say that a man
shall make his confession only to God, and not to a man; for only to him
should man yield him guilty of all that he hath misdone. Ne God ordained
not, ne never devised, ne the prophet neither, that a man should shrive
him to another (as they say), but only to God. As Moses writeth in the
Bible, and as David saith in the Psalter Book; _Confitebor tibi_,
_Domine_, _in toto corde meo_, and _Delictum meum tibi cognitum feci_,
and _Deus meus es tu_, _& confitebor tibi_, and _Quoniam cogitatio
hominis confitebitur tibi_, etc. For they know all the Bible and the
Psalter. And therefore allege they so the letter. But they allege not
the authorities thus in Latin, but in their language full apertly, and
say well, that David and other prophets say it.
Natheles, Saint Augustine and Saint Gregory say thus:—Augustinus: _Qui
scelera sua cogitat_, _& conversus fuerit_, _veniam sibi credat_.
Gregorius: _Dominus potius mentem quam verba respicit_. And Saint Hilary
saith: _Longorum temporum crimina_, _in ictu oculi pereunt_, _si cordis
nata fuerit compunctio_. And for such authorities they say, that only to
God shall a man knowledge his defaults, yielding himself guilty and
crying him mercy, and behoting to him to amend himself. And therefore,
when they will shrive them, they take fire and set it beside them, and
cast therein powder of frankincense; and in the smoke thereof they shrive
them to God, and cry him mercy. But sooth it is, that this confession
was first and kindly. But Saint Peter the apostle, and they that came
after him, have ordained to make their confession to man, and by good
reason; for they perceived well that no sickness was curable, [ne] good
medicine to lay thereto, but if men knew the nature of the malady; and
also no man may give convenable medicine, but if he know the quality of
the deed. For one sin may be greater in one man than in another, and in
one place and in one time than in another; and therefore it behoveth him
that he know the kind of the deed, and thereupon to give him penance.
There be other, that be clept Syrians; and they hold the belief amongst
us, and of them of Greece. And they use all beards, as men of Greece do.
And they make the sacrament of therf bread. And in their language they
use letters of Saracens. But after the mystery of Holy Church they use
letters of Greece. And they make their confession, right as the
Jacobites do.
There be other, that men clepe Georgians, that Saint George converted;
and him they worship more than any other saint, and to him they cry for
help. And they came out of the realm of Georgia. These folk use crowns
shaven. The clerks have round crowns, and the lewd men have crowns all
square. And they hold Christian law, as do they of Greece; of whom I
have spoken of before.
Other there be that men clepe Christian men of Girding, for they be all
girt above. And there be other that men clept Nestorians. And some
Arians, some Nubians, some of Greece, some of Ind, and some of Prester
John’s Land. And all these have many articles of our faith, and to other
they be variant. And of their variance were too long to tell, and so I
will leave, as for the time, without more speaking of them.
CHAPTER XIV
_Of the City of Damascus_. _Of three ways to Jerusalem_; _one_, _by land
and by sea_; _another_, _more by land than by sea_; _and the third way to
Jerusalem_, _all by land_
NOW after that I have told you some part of folk in the countries before,
now will I turn again to my way, for to turn again on this half. Then
whoso will go from the land of Galilee, of that that I have spoke for, to
come again on this half, men come again by Damascus, that is a full fair
city and full noble, and full of all merchandises, and a three journeys
long from the sea, and a five journeys from Jerusalem. But upon camels,
mules, horses, dromedaries and other beasts, men carry their merchandise
thither. And thither come the merchants with merchandise by sea from
India, Persia, Chaldea, Armenia, and of many other kingdoms.
This city founded Eliezer Damascus, that was yeoman and dispenser of
Abraham before that Isaac was born. For he thought for to have been
Abraham’s heir, and he named the town after his surname Damascus. And in
that place, where Damascus was founded, Cain slew Abel his brother. And
beside Damascus is the Mount Seir. In that city of Damascus there is
great plenty of wells. And within the city and without be many fair
gardens and of diverse fruits. None other city is not like in comparison
to it of fair gardens, and of fair disports. The city is great and full
of people, and well walled with double walls. And there be many
physicians. And Saint Paul himself was there a physician for to keep
men’s bodies in health, before he was converted. And after that he was
physician of souls. And Saint Luke the evangelist was disciple of Saint
Paul for to learn physic, and many other; for Saint Paul held then school
of physic. And near beside Damascus was he converted. And after his
conversion ne dwelt in that city three days, without sight and without
meat or drink; and in those three days he was ravished to heaven, and
there he saw many privities of our Lord.
And fast beside Damascus is the castle of Arkes that is both fair and
strong.
From Damascus men come again by our Lady of Sardenak, that is a five mile
on this half Damascus. And it sitteth upon a rock, and it is a full fair
place; and it seemeth a castle, for there was wont to be a castle, but it
is now a full fair church. And there within be monks and nuns Christian.
And there is a vault under the church, where that Christian men dwell
also. And they have many good vines. And in the church, behind the high
altar, in the wall, is a table of black wood, on the which sometime was
depainted an image of our Lady that turneth into flesh: but now the image
sheweth but little, but alway, by the grace of God, that table evermore
drops oil, as it were of olive; and there is a vessel of marble under the
table to receive the oil. Thereof they give to pilgrims, for it heals of
many sicknesses; and men say that, if it be kept well seven year,
afterwards it turns into flesh and blood. From Sardenak men come through
the vale of Bochar, the which is a fair vale and a plenteous of all
manner of fruit; and it is amongst hills. And there are therein fair
rivers and great meadows and noble pasture for beasts. And men go by the
mounts of Libanus, which lasts from Armenia the more towards the north
unto Dan, the which is the end of the Land of Repromission toward the
north, as I said before. Their hills are right fruitful, and there are
many fair wells and cedars and cypresses, and many other trees of divers
kinds. There are also many good towns toward the head of their hills,
full of folk.
Between the city of Arkez and the city of Raphane is a river, that is
called Sabatory; for on the Saturday it runs fast, and all the week else
it stand still and runs not, or else but fairly. Between the foresaid
hills also is another water that on nights freezes hard and on days is no
frost seen thereon. And, as men come again from those hills, is a hill
higher than any of the other, and they call it there the High Hill.
There is a great city and a fair, the which is called Tripoli, in the
which are many good Christian men, yemand the same rites and customs that
we use. From thence men come by a city that is called Beyrout, where
Saint George slew the dragon; and it is a good town, and a fair castle
therein, and it is three journeys from the foresaid city of Sardenak. At
the one side of Beyrout sixteen mile, to come hitherward, is the city of
Sydon. At Beyrout enters pilgrims into the sea that will come to Cyprus,
and they arrive at the port of Surry or of Tyre, and so they come to
Cyprus in a little space. Or men may come from the port of Tyre and come
not at Cyprus, and arrive at some haven of Greece, and so come to these
parts, as I said before.
I have told you now of the way by which men go farrest and longest to
Jerusalem, as by Babylon and Mount Sinai and many other places which ye
heard me tell of; and also by which ways men shall turn again to the Land
of Repromission. Now will I tell you the rightest way and the shortest
to Jerusalem. For some men will not go the other; some for they have not
spending enough, some for they have no good company, and some for they
may not endure the long travel, some for they dread them of many perils
of deserts, some for they will haste them homeward, desiring to see their
wives and their children, or for some other reasonable cause that they
have to turn soon home. And therefore I will shew how men may pass
tittest and in shortest time make their pilgrimage to Jerusalem. A man
that comes from the lands of the west, he goes through France, Burgoyne,
and Lumbardy. And so to Venice or Genoa, or some other haven, and ships
there and wends by sea to the isle of Greff, the which pertains to the
Genoans.
And syne he arrives in Greece at Port Mirrok, or at Valoun, or at Duras,
or at some other haven of that country, and rests him there and buys him
victuals and ships again and sails to Cyprus and arrives there at
Famagost and comes not at the isle of Rhodes. Famagost is the chief
haven of Cyprus; and there he refreshes him and purveys him of victuals,
and then he goes to ship and comes no more on land, if he will, before he
comes at Port Jaffa, that is the next haven to Jerusalem, for it is but a
day journey and a half from Jerusalem, that is to say thirty-six mile.
From the Port Jaffa men go to the city of Rames, the which is but a
little thence; and it is a fair city and a good and mickle folk therein.
And without that city toward the south is a kirk of our Lady, where our
Lord shewed him to her in three clouds, the which betokened the Trinity.
And a little thence is another city, that men call Dispolis, but it hight
some time Lidda, a fair city and a well inhabited: there is a kirk of
Saint George, where he was headed. From thence men go to the castle of
Emmaus, and so to the Mount Joy; there may pilgrims first see Jerusalem.
At Mount Joy lies Samuel the prophet. From thence men go to Jerusalem.
Beside their ways is the city of Ramatha and the Mount Modyn; and thereof
was Matathias, Judas Machabeus father, and there are the graves of the
Machabees. Beyond Ramatha is the town of Tekoa, whereof Amos the prophet
was; and there is his grave.
I have told you before of the holy places that are at Jerusalem and about
it, and therefore I will speak no more of them at this time. But I will
turn again and shew you other ways a man may pass more by land, and
namely for them that may not suffer the savour of the sea, but is liefer
to go by land, if all it be the more pain. From a man be entered into
the sea he shall pass till one of the havens of Lumbardy, for there is
the best making of purveyance of victuals; or he may pass to Genoa or
Venice or some other. And he shall pass by sea in to Greece to the Port
Mirrok, or to Valoun or to Duras, or some other haven of that country.
And from thence he shall go by land to Constantinople, and he shall pass
the water that is called Brace Saint George, the which is one arm of the
sea. And from thence he shall by land go to Ruffynell, where a good
castle is and a strong; and from therein he shall go to Puluual, and syne
to the castle of Sinope, and from thence to Cappadocia, that is a great
country, where are many great hills. And he shall go though Turkey to
the port of Chiutok and to the city of Nicæa, which is but seven miles
thence. That city won the Turks from the Emperor of Constantinople; and
it is a fair city and well walled on the one side, and on the other side
is a great lake and a great river, the which is called Lay. From thence
men go by the hills of Nairmount and by the vales of Mailbrins and strait
fells and by the town of Ormanx or by the towns that are on Riclay and
Stancon, the which are great rivers and noble, and so to Antioch the
less, which is set on the river of Riclay. And there abouts are many
good hills and fair, and many fair woods and great plenty of wild beasts
for to hunt at.
And he that will go another way, he shall go by the plains of Romany
coasting the Roman Sea. On that coast is a fair castle that men call
Florach, and it is right a strong place. And uppermore amongst the
mountains is a fair city, that is called Tarsus, and the city of
Longemaath, and the city of Assere, and the city of Marmistre. And when
a man is passed those mountains and those fells, he goes by the city of
Marioch and by Artoise, where is a great bridge upon the river of Ferne,
that is called Farfar, and it is a great river bearing ships and it runs
right fast out of the mountains to the city of Damascus. And beside the
city of Damascus is another great river that comes from the hills of
Liban, which men call Abbana. At the passing of this river Saint
Eustace, that some-time was called Placidas, lost his wife and his two
children. This river runs through the plain of Archades, and so to the
Red Sea. From thence men go to the city of Phenice, where are hot wells
and hot baths. And then men go to the city of Ferne; and between Phenice
and Ferne are ten mile. And there are many fair woods. And then men
come to Antioch, which is ten mile thence. And it is a fair city and
well walled about with many fair towers; and it is a great city, but it
was some-time greater than it is now. For it was some-time two mile on
length and on breadth other half mile. And through the midst of that
city ran the water of Farphar and a great bridge over it; and there was
some-time in the walls about this city three hundred and fifty towers,
and at each pillar of the bridge was a stone. This is the chief city of
the kingdom of Syria. And ten mile from this city is the port of Saint
Symeon; and there goes the water of Farphar into the sea. From Antioch
men go to a city that is called Lacuth, and then to Gebel, and then to
Tortouse. And there near is the land of Channel; and there is a strong
castle that is called Maubek. From Tortouse pass men to Tripoli by sea,
or else by land through the straits of mountains and fells. And there is
a city that is called Gibilet. From Tripoli go men to Acres; and from
thence are two ways to Jerusalem, the one on the left half and the other
on the right half. By the left way men go by Damascus and by the flum
Jordan. By the right way men go by Maryn and by the land of Flagramy and
near the mountains into the city of Cayphas, that some men call the
castle of Pilgrims. And from thence to Jerusalem are three day journey,
in the which men shall go through Caesarea Philippi, and so to Jaffa and
Rames and the castle of Emmaus, and so to Jerusalem.
Now have I told you some ways by land and by water that men may go by to
the Holy Land after the countries that they come from. Nevertheless they
come all to one end. Yet is there another way to Jerusalem all by land,
and pass not the sea, from France or Flanders; but that way is full long
and perilous and of great travel, and therefore few go that way. He that
shall go that way, he shall go through Almayne and Prussia and so to
Tartary. This Tartary is holden of the great Caan of Cathay, of whom I
think to speak afterward. This is a full ill land and sandy and little
fruit bearing. For there grows no corn, ne wine, ne beans, ne peas, ne
none other fruit convenable to man for to live with. But there are
beasts in great plenty: and therefore they eat but flesh without bread
and sup the broth and they drink milk of all manner of beasts. They eat
hounds, cats, ratons, and all other wild beasts. And they have no wood,
or else little; and therefore they warm and seethe their meat with
horse-dung and cow-dung and of other beasts, dried against the sun. And
princes and other eat not but once in the day, and that but little. And
they be right foul folk and of evil kind. And in summer, by all the
countries, fall many tempests and many hideous thunders and leits and
slay much people and beasts also full often-time. And suddenly is there
passing heat, and suddenly also passing cold; and it is the foulest
country and the most cursed and the poorest that men know. And their
prince, that governeth that country, that they clepe Batho, dwelleth at
the city of Orda. And truly no good man should not dwell in that
country, for the land and the country is not worthy hounds to dwell in.
It were a good country to sow in thistle and briars and broom and thorns
and briars; and for no other thing is it not good. Natheles, there is
good land in some place, but it is pure little, as men say.
I have not been in that country, nor by those ways. But I have been at
other lands that march to those countries, as in the land of Russia, as
in the land of Nyflan, and in the realm of Cracow and of Letto, and in
the realm of Daristan, and in many other places that march to the coasts.
But I went never by that way to Jerusalem, wherefore I may not well tell
you the manner.
But, if this matter please to any worthy man that hath gone by that way,
he may tell it if him like, to that intent, that those, that will go by
that way and make their voyage by those coasts, may know what way is
there. For no man may pass by that way goodly, but in time of winter,
for the perilous waters and wicked mareys, that be in those countries,
that no man may pass but if it be strong frost and snow above. For if
the snow ne were not, men might not go upon the ice, ne horse ne car
neither.
And it is well a three journeys of such way to pass from Prussia to the
land of Saracens habitable. And it behoveth to the Christian men, that
shall war against them every year, to bear their victuals with them; for
they shall find there no good. And then must they let carry their
victual upon the ice with cars that have no wheels, that they clepe
sleighs. And as long as their victuals last they may abide there, but no
longer; for there shall they find no wight that will sell them any
victual or anything. And when the spies see any Christian men come upon
them, they run to the towns, and cry with a loud voice; _Kerra_, _Kerra_,
_Kerra_. And then anon they arm them and assemble them together.
And ye shall understand that it freezeth more strongly in those countries
than on this half. And therefore hath every man stews in his house, and
in those stews they eat and do their occupations all that they may. For
that is at the north parts that men clepe the Septentrional where it is
all only cold. For the sun is but little or none toward those countries.
And therefore in the Septentrion, that is very north, is the land so
cold, that no man may dwell there. And, in the contrary, toward the
south it is so hot, that no man ne may dwell there, because that the sun,
when he is upon the south, casteth his beams all straight upon that part.
CHAPTER XV
_Of the Customs of Saracens_, _and of their Law_. _And how the Soldan
reasoned me_, _Author of this Book_; _and of the beginning of Mohammet_
NOW, because that I have spoken of Saracens and of their country—now, if
ye will know a part of their law and of their belief, I shall tell you
after that their book that is clept _Alkaron_ telleth. And some men
clepe that book _Meshaf_. And some men clepe it _Harme_, after the
diverse languages of the country. The which book Mohammet took them. In
the which book, among other things, is written, as I have often-time seen
and read, that the good shall go to paradise, and the evil to hell; and
that believe all Saracens. And if a man ask them what paradise they
mean, they say, to paradise that is a place of delights where men shall
find all manner of fruits in all seasons, and rivers running of milk and
honey, and of wine and of sweet water; and that they shall have fair
houses and noble, every man after his desert, made of precious stones and
of gold and of silver; and that every man shall have four score wives all
maidens, and he shall have ado every day with them, and yet he shall find
them always maidens.
Also they believe and speak gladly of the Virgin Mary and of the
Incarnation. And they say that Mary was taught of the angel; and that
Gabriel said to her, that she was for-chosen from the beginning of the
world and that he shewed to her the Incarnation of Jesu Christ and that
she conceived and bare child maiden; and that witnesseth their book.
And they say also, that Jesu Christ spake as soon as he was born; and
that he was an holy prophet and a true in word and deed, and meek and
piteous and rightful and without any vice.
And they say also, that when the angel shewed the Incarnation of Christ
unto Mary, she was young and had great dread. For there was then an
enchanter in the country that dealt with witchcraft, that men clept
Taknia, that by his enchantments could make him in likeness of an angel,
and went often-times and lay with maidens. And therefore Mary dreaded
lest it had been Taknia, that came for to deceive the maidens. And
therefore she conjured the angel, that he should tell her if it were he
or no. And the angel answered and said that she should have no dread of
him, for he was very messenger of Jesu Christ. Also their book saith,
that when that she had childed under a palm tree she had great shame,
that she had a child; and she greet and said that she would that she had
been dead. And anon the child spake to her and comforted her, and said,
“Mother, ne dismay thee nought, for God hath hid in thee his privities
for the salvation of the world.” And in other many places saith their
_Alkaron_, that Jesu Christ spake as soon as he was born. And that book
saith also that Jesu was sent from God Almighty for to be mirror and
example and token to all men.
And the _Alkaron_ saith also of the day of doom how God shall come to
doom all manner of folk. And the good he shall draw on his side and put
them into bliss, and the wicked he shall condemn to the pains of hell.
And among all prophets Jesu was the most excellent and the most worthy
next God, and that he made the gospels in the which is good doctrine and
healthful, full of clarity and soothfastness and true preaching to them
that believe in God. And that he was a very prophet and more than a
prophet, and lived without sin, and gave sight to the blind, and healed
the lepers, and raised dead men, and styed to heaven.
And when they may hold the Book of the Gospels of our Lord written and
namely _Missus est Angelus Gabriel_, that gospel they say, those that be
lettered, often-times in their orisons, and they kiss it and worship it
with great devotion.
They fast an whole month in the year and eat nought but by night. And
they keep them from their wives all that month. But the sick men be not
constrained to that fast.
Also this book speaketh of Jews and saith that they be cursed; for they
would not believe that Jesu Christ was come of God. And that they lied
falsely on Mary and on her son Jesu Christ, saying that they had
crucified Jesu the son of Mary; for he was never crucified, as they say,
but that God made him to sty up to him without death and without anno
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