Part 4

[Footnote 7: This is not so. The Epistle to the Colossians was addressed to the inhabitants of Colossæ, a city in Phrygia--which is clearly shown by his referring in cap. 4, v. 13, to two neighbouring cities. "For I bear him record, that he hath a great zeal for you, and them that are in _Laodicea_, and them in _Hierapolis_."]

[Footnote 8: _Pynson_ and others say 800.]

[Decoration]

CAP: V.

_Of a young man and his lemman._

GO unto the tombe of the same woman that you hast lien by & op[=e] it, behold well that which thou hast begotten on hir and if thou let for to go, thou shalt haue a great harme, and he went and opened the tombe and there flew out an head[1] right hideous for to see, the which head flew all about the citie and countrey, and sone after the citie and the countrey sanke downe, & ther are many perilous passages. Fro Rodes to Cipres is five hundred mile and more, but men may go to Cipres and come not at Rodes. Cipres is a good yle & a great, and there are many good cities, and there is an Archbishoppe at Nichosy,[2] and foure other Bishops in the lande. And at Famagost is one of the best havens on the sea that is in the worlde, and there are christen men and Sarasins and men of all nations. In Cipres is the hill of the holy crosse, and there is the crosse of the good thefe Dismas, as I sayd before, and some wene[3] that there is halfe of the crosse of our lord, but it is not so, and they do wrong that make men to believe so. In Cipres lieth S. Simeon, of whome the men of the countrey make a great solempnitie, and in the Castell of Amours lyeth the body of Saint Hillarion, and men kepe it worshipfully, and beside Famagost was sainct Barnarde[4] borne.

[Footnote 1: An edder, or adder--really meaning a winged serpent.]

[Footnote 2: Nicosia.]

[Footnote 3: Imagine.]

[Footnote 4: Barnabas.]

[Decoration]

CAP: VI.

_Of the maner of hunting in Cipres._

IN Cipres men hunte with Pampeons[1] that be lyke to Leopards, and they take wylde beastes right well and they are somewhat more than lions, and they take more sharply wilde beastes then houndes. In Cipres is a maner that lordes and other men eate upon the earthe, for they make diches within the earth all about the hall depe to the knee, and they pave them, and when they will eate, they goe therein & sit there, this they do to be more freshe, for that lande is hotter then it is here. And at great feastes and for strange men, they set formes and bordes as they do in this countrey, but they had lever[2] sit in the earth. From Cipres men go by lande to Hierusalem, and by sea, and in a day and a night he that hath good wind may come to that haven of Tyre that now is called Sur, and it is also at the entre of Surry.[3] There was sometime a fayre citie of christen men, but the Sarasins haue destroyed the most parte thereof, and they kepe y^e hauen righte well, for dread that they haue of Christen men. Men might go right to that haven and come not in Cipres, but they go gladly to Cipres to rest them on the lande, or else to by[4] thinges that they haue nede of to their living. Upon the sea side men may find many rubies, and there is a well that holy write speaketh of

_Fons ortorum et puteus aquarum viventum._

That is to say, The well of gardeines and diches of waters living. In the citie of Tyre sayde the woman to our Lorde, _Beatus venter qui te portavit et ubera que succisti_. That is as much to say, Blessed be the body that bare thee, and the pappe of the which thou suckest. And there our Lorde forgave the woman of Canee hir sinnes, and there was also in that place wont to be the stone on which our Lord sat and preached & on the same stone was founded the Church of Sainct Saviour. And upon that See is the citie of Saphon, Sarep, or Sodome and there was wont to dwell Elias the prophet & there was raised Jonas the prophete the widowes sonne, and fiue myle from Saphen is the citie of Sydon, of which citie Dido that was Eneas wife after the destruction of Troy was queene, and that founded the Citie of Carthage in Affryke and now is called Didonsart. And in the citie of Tyre raigned Achilles, the father of Dido and a myle[5] from Sidon is Beruth, & from Beruth to Sardena is three days journey and from Sardena is five myle to Damas.

[Footnote 1: Large wild dogs; they are described by _Jacobus de Vitriaco_ (the Cardinal), in his _Historiæ Orientalis_, thus: "_Papiones_ quos appellant, canes silvestres, acriores quam lupi."]

[Footnote 2: Liefer, rather.]

[Footnote 3: Syria.]

[Footnote 4: Buy.]

[Footnote 5: Other editions say 16 miles.]

CAP. VII.

_Of the haven of Jaffe also named._

WHO so will go lenger upon the sea and come nerer to Hierusalem--you shall go from Cipres by sea to porte Jaffe, for that is the next haven to Hierusalem, for from that haven it is but a days journey & a halfe to Hierusalem And that haven is called Jaffe, and the towne Affe after one of Noyes[1] sonnes that men call Japheth that founded it, and now it is called Jops. And ye shall understand that it is the eldest town of the world, for it was made before Noes floud and there be the bones of a giaunts side that be XL fote long.

[Footnote 1: Noah's.]

CAP: VIII.

_Of the haven of Tyre._

AND who arriveth at the first haven of Tyre, or of Surrey beforesayde, may go by land if he will to Hierusalem, and he goeth to the citie of Acon in a day, it was called Tholomayda, and it was a citie of christen men sometime, but it is now destroyed and it is on the sea. And it is from Venice to Acon by the sea two thousand and Lxxx myle of Lombardy & from Calabre or fro Cicill it is to Acon a thousand three hundred miles of Lombardy.

CAP. IX.

_Of the hill Carme._

AND the yle of Grece[1] is right in the mid way, and beside this citie of Acon towarde the sea at viii[2] hundred furlonges on the righte hande towarde the southe is the hil Carme[3] where Elias the prophet dwelled, and there was the ordre of Carme[4] fyrst founded. This hyl is not ryghte greate, ne hygh, and at the foote of this hill was sometime a good citie of chrysten men, that was called Cayphas, for Cayphas founded it, but it is nowe all wasted. And at the lyfte syde of the hyll is a Town that men call Saffre, and that is sette upon another hil, there was Sainct James and saynt John borne, and in the worshippe of them is there a faire church made. And from Tholomayda that men now call Acon, to a great hill that men call Ekale[5] de Tyrreys is an hundred furlongs, and beside that citie of Acon runneth a lyttle ryver that men call Belyon, and there nere is the fosse of Minon[6] all round that is a hundred cubytes or shaftments[7] broade, and it is all full of gravell, cleare shyninge, whereof men make white glasse cleare, and men come from far countreys by shippe, and by lande with cartes to take of the gravell & if there be never so much taken thereof in a daye, on the morow it is full againe as ever it was, and that is great marvaile, and there is alwaye winde in that fosse that styreth alway the gravell and maketh it troubled. And if a man put or do therein any mettal, as sone as it is therein it waxeth glasse, and the glasse that is made of this gravell if it be done[8] into the gravell tourneth againe into the gravell as it was before & some say that it is a swallow[9] of the sea gravell.[10]

[Footnote 1: Crete.]

[Footnote 2: _Pynson_ and others say 120 furlongs.]

[Footnote 3: Carmel.]

[Footnote 4: Carmelite friars.]

[Footnote 5: The scale, or ladder, of Tyre.]

[Footnote 6: Meaning the sepulchre of Memnon.]

[Footnote 7: A shaftment was a measure taken from the top of the extended thumb to the outmost part of the palm--usually taken as six inches.]

[Footnote 8: Buried.]

[Footnote 9: Whirlpool.]

[Footnote 10: This story is said to come from Solinus, and is mentioned in Münster's Cosmographia, and in other books.]

CAP. X.

_How Sampson slew the King and his enimies._

ALSO from Acon beforesaid, men go three[1] journeys to the citie of Philisten, that now is called Gaza, that is to say the rich citie & it is right fayre and full of folke and it is a little uppon the sea, and from that citie broughte the strong Sampson the gates of the Citie uppon a highe hill, where he was taken in the Citie, and there he slewe the King in his palace, and many thousande more with him, for he made an house to fall on them. And from thence shal men go to the citie of Cesaryen,[2] and so to the castell of Pylleryns[3] and then to Askalon, and so forth to Japhat[4] and so unto the holy citie of Hierusalem.

[Footnote 1: _Pynson_ and others say four.]

[Footnote 2: Cæsarea.]

[Footnote 3: Pilgrims.]

[Footnote 4: Jaffa.]

CAP. XI.

_The waye to Babylon whereas the Soudan dwelleth._

AND whoso wyll go through the lande of Babylon where the Soudan[1] dwelleth, to have leave to go more sykerly[2] throughe the Churches & countreys, and to go to mount Sinay before he come to Hierusalem, and then turne agayne by Hierusalem; he shall goe from Gaza to the castell Dayre. And after a man commeth out of Surry, and goeth in the wildernesse, where the waye is full sandy, and the wyldernesse lasteth eyght Journeys,[3] where men findeth all that them nedeth of vytayles and men call that wyldernesse Archelleke,[4] and whan a man commeth out of this deserte, hee entreth into Egypte, and they call Egypte, Canopat,[5] and in another language men call it Mersyne,[6] and the fyrste goode towne that men fynde is called Beleth, and it is at the ende of the Kingdome of Alape,[7] and from thence men come to Babylon and to Kayre,[8] and in Babylon is a fayre churche of our lady, where she dwelled vii yeare when she was oute of the lande of Jewes, for dreade of Kynge Herode. And there lyeth the bodye of Saynte Barbara vyrgyn, and there dwelled Joseph whan he was solde of his brethrene, and there made Nabugodonosor put the children in (_the_) fire, for they were of right[9] trouth, the which chyldren men call Anania, Azaria, and Misael (as y^e psalme of Benedicite saith) but Nabugodonosor called them thus, Sydrac, Mysac, Abdenago, that is to say, God glorious, God victorious, God over all Kingedomes, and that was for myracle that he made Goddes sonne, as he sayd, go wyth those chyldren throughe the fyre. There dwelleth the Soudan, for there is a faire citie and a stronge castell and it standeth upon a rocke. In that Castell is always dwellyng to kepe the castell and to serve the soudan, above viii[10] thousand persons or folk that take all theyr necessaries at the Soudans courte. I should well knowe it, for I dwelled with him soudiour[11] in his warres a great while agayne the Bedions,[12] and he wold haue wedded me to a great princes daughter ryght richly, if I would haue forsaken my faith.

[Footnote 1: Sultan.]

[Footnote 2: Certainly, surely.]

[Footnote 3: Day's march.]

[Footnote 4: Athylec, Abylech, Alhylet, Alhelet, Abylet.]

[Footnote 5: Query Canopus, a city 12 miles from Alexandria, named after the pilot of Menelaus' vessel, who was buried here.]

[Footnote 6: Mersur, Morsyn.]

[Footnote 7: Aleppo.]

[Footnote 8: Cairo.]

[Footnote 9: True faith.]

[Footnote 10: Other editions say 6,000.]

[Footnote 11: Soldier.]

[Footnote 12: Bedouins.]

CAP. XII.

_Yet here followeth of the Soudan and of his Kingdomes that he hath conquered, which he holdeth strongly with force._

AND ye shall understand that the Soudan is lorde of v Kingdomes: the which he hath conquered and gotten to him by strength, and these be they--the Kingdome of Canopate (_that is_) the Kingdome of Egipte, the Kingdome of Hierusalem: whereof David and Salomon were Kings, the Kingdome of Surry, of the which the citie of Damas[1] was the chiefe, the Kingdome of Alape in the lande of Dameth, and the Kingdome of Arabya: which was one of the three Kinges that made offeryng to our Lorde when he was borne, and many other landes he holdeth in his hande, and also he holdeth Calaphes[2] that is a great thing to the Soudan, that is to say, among them Roys[3] yle and this vale is colde.

And then men go uppon the mount of Sainct Katherina and that is much higher than the mount Moyses. And there as saint Katheryn was graven[4] is no church ne castell, ne other dwelling place, but there is an hyll of stones gathered togither, about the place there she was graven of Aungels, there was wont to be a chapell, but it is all cast downe & yet lyeth there a great parte of the stones.

But under the foote of mount Sinay is a monasterie of Monkes, and there is the church of Sainct Katherine wherein be many lamps brenning, and they have oyle onlye enough to eate and to brenne, and that they haue by myracle of God, there come certaine of all maner of byrdes euery yeare once, lyke pylgrymes and eche of them bringeth a braunch of olyve in token of offering, whereof they make much oyle.

[Footnote 1: Damascus.]

[Footnote 2: Khalifs.]

[Footnote 3: Who are accounted there as kings.]

[Footnote 4: Buried.]

CAP. XIII.

_For to returne fro Sinay to Hierusalem._

NOW sythen a man hath visited this holy place of Sainct Katheryn and he will torne to Hierusalem, he shall fyrst take leave of the Monkes, and recommend him specially to their prayers, then those Monks will freely giue to Pilgrims victuals to pass through the Wildernesse to Surry & that lasteth well xiii Journeys. And in that wyldernesse dwell many Arabyns that men call Bedoins and Ascoperdes,[1] these are folk that are full of all maner of yll condycyons, and they have no houses, but tentes, the wyche they make of beastes skinnes, as of camelles and other beastes the whyche they eate, and thereunder they lye, and they dwell in places where they maye fynde water, as on the rede sea, for in that wildernesse is greate defaute of water, and it faileth ofte where a man findeth water one time, he fyndeth it not another tyme, and therefore make they no houses in those countreys. These men that I speake of tyll not the land, for they eate no breade, but[2] yf it be anye that dwelleth neare a goode towne. And they rost al theyre fishes and flesh upon the hote stones agaynst the sonne, and they are stronge men and well fyghtynge, and they do nothinge but chace wyld beastes for theyr sustenaunce, and they sette[3] not by theyr lyves, therfore they dreade not the Soudan nor no prince of all the worlde. And they haue greate warre wythe the Soudan, and the same tyme that I was dwelling with him they bare but a shelde and a speare for to defende them with, and they holde[4] none other armour, but they wynde theyr heades and neckes in a great lynnen clothe,[5] and they are men of full yll kynde.

[Footnote 1: Or Giants from the Arabic _askhaf_, a tall, big-boned man. It will be remembered that Sir Bevis of Southampton brought home a Giant Ascapart--who probably was one of them.]

[Footnote 2: Unless.]

[Footnote 3: They value not.]

[Footnote 4: Have.]

[Footnote 5: A turban.]

CAP. XIIII.

_As men are passed this wyldernesse againe comming to Hierusalem._

AND when men are passed this wyldernesse towarde Hierusalem they come to Barsabe[1] that was sometime a fayre and a lykyng towne of Christen men, and yet is some of their churches, and in that towne dwelled Abraham the Patryarke. This towne of Barsabe founded Uryas wife, of whom David engendred Salomon the wyse that was Kyng of Hierusalem, and of the xii kindes[2] of Israell, and he raigned xl yeare. And from thence go men to the vale of Ebron, that is from thence nere xii myle and some call it the vale of Mambre,[3] and also it is called the vale of Teeres, for as much as Adam in that vale he wept a hundred yeare the death of his sonne Abel that Cayne slew. And Ebron was sometime[4] the principall Citie of the Philistines & there dwelled giaunts & there it was so free, that all that had done evill in other places were there saved. In Ebron Josue and[5] Calope and theyr felowship came fyrst to espy how they might wynne the lande of promyssion. In Ebron David raigned fyrst vii yeare and a halfe & in Hierusalem he raigned xxxii[6] yeare and a halfe, and there be the graves of the Patryarkes--Adam, Abraham, Jacob and theyr wyves, Eve, Sare, Rebecca[7] and they are in the hanging[8] in the hyll. And under them is a right fayre Churche Kirnelde[9] after the facion and maner as it were a Castell, the which the Sarasins keepe right well, and they haue that place in greate worship for the holy Patryarkes that lieth there, and they suffer no Christen men ne Jewes to come therein but they have speciall grace of the Soudan, for they holde Christen men and Jewes but as houndes that should come in no holy place, and they call the place Spelunke[10] or double cave or double grave; for one lyeth on another, and the Sarasins call it in theyr language Caryatharba, that is to say the place of Patryarkes, and the Jewes call it Arboth. And in that same place was Abrahams house, and that was the same Abraham which sat in his dore, and saw three persons and worshipped but one, as holy wryt witnesseth saying, _Tres videt et unum adoravit_. That is to saye, he saw three and worshipped but one, and him took Abraham into his house.

[Footnote 1: Beersheba.]

[Footnote 2: Tribes.]

[Footnote 3: Mamre.]

[Footnote 4: Formerly.]

[Footnote 5: Jehoshua and Caleb (see Numbers, cap. 13).]

[Footnote 6: _Pynson_ and others say 33 years and a half.]

[Footnote 7: All other editions have "and of Lya," or Leah, who is evidently here forgotten.]

[Footnote 8: Caves cut in the side of the rock.]

[Footnote 9: Crenelated or battlemented.]

[Footnote 10: Lat. _Spelunca_, a cave.]

CAP. XV.

_Here foloweth a lyttle of Adam & Eve and other things._

AND right nere to that place is a cave in a Roche where Adam and Eve dwelled whan they were dryven out of Paradyse, and there got they theyr chyldren. And in that place was Adam made as some men saye, for men called sometime that place the felde of Damasse,[1] for it was in the worshippe[2] of Damasse; and fro thence he was translated into Paradyse as they saye, and afterwarde he was driven out of Paradyse, and put there agayne, for the same daye that he was put into Paradyse, the same day he was driven out, for so soone he synned. And there begynneth the yle[3] of Ebron that lasteth nere to Hierusalem, and the Aungell bad Adam that he should dwell wyth his wyfe, and there they engendred Seth, of the which kyndred[4] Jesu Christ was borne. And in that vale is the felde where men draw out of the earth a thinge the which men in that countrey call Chambell and they eate that thinge in the stede of spyce & they beare it to sell, and men may not grave[5] there so deepe ne so wyde, but it is at the yeares ende full againe up to the sydes through the grace of God. And two myle from Ebron is the grave of Loth[6] that was Abraham's brother.

[Footnote 1: Damascus.]

[Footnote 2: _Pynson_ and others say lordship.]

[Footnote 3: Vale.]

[Footnote 4: Kindred or tribe.]

[Footnote 5: Dig.]

[Footnote 6: Lot.]

CAP. XVI.

_Of the dry tree._

WHEN a lyttle from Ebron is the mounte of Mambre, of the which mount the vale toke his name, and there is the tree of oke that the Sarasins call dypre,[1] that is of Abraham's time, that men call the dry tree. And they say that it hath ben from the beginning of the worlde, and was sometime grene and bare leaves, unto the tyme that our Lorde dyed, and so did all the trees in the worlde, or else they fayled in their heartes, or else they faded, and yet is there many of those in the worlde. And some prophesies say, that a lorde or prince of the weste syde of the worlde shall winne the lande of promission, that is the holy lande, with the helpe of Christen men, and he shall do singe[2] a masse under that tree, and the tree shall waxe grene and beare fruite and leaves, and through that miracle many Sarasins and Jewes shal be turned to the Christen fayth, and therefore they do great worship therto, and kepe it right[3] basely. And yet though it be dry, it beareth a great vertue, for certainly he that hath a lyttle thereof about him, it healeth a sicknesse called the falling evill, and hath many other vertues also, and therefore it is holden right precious.

[Footnote 1: _Pynson_ and others read Dyrpe or Dirpe.]

[Footnote 2: Cause a mass to be sung.]

[Footnote 3: To keep it carefully.]

CAP. XVII.

_Fro Bethlehem._

FROM Ebron men go to Bethlehem in halfe a daye, for it is but five myle, and it is a fayre waye & thorow[1] woddes full pleasaunt. Bethlem is but a little citie long and narowe, and well walled, and enclosed with a great diche and it was wont to be called Effrata as holy wryte sayth _Ecce audivimus eum in Effrata_ &c., That is to saye, Lo we herde him in Effrata. And toward the ende of the citie toward the East, is a ryght fayre churche and a gracious and it hath many toures, pinacles and kirnelles[2] full strongly made & within that Church is xliiii great pyllers of marble & betwene this church the field[3] florished, as ye shall here.

[Footnote 1: Through woods.]

[Footnote 2: Battlements.]

[Footnote 3: The flowered field.]

CAP. XVIII.

_Of a fayre mayden that should be put to death wrongfully._