The Knights Of Rhodes - The Palace And The City Ebook Rar
Latrina Cobbett
Of the customs of Isles about Ind. Of the differencebetwixt Idols and Simulacres. Of three manner growing ofPepper upon one tree. Of the Well that changeth his odourevery hour of the day; and that is marvel,
How men know by the Idol, if the sick shall die ornot. Of Folk of diverse shape and marvellouslydisfigured. And of the Monks that gave their relief tobaboons, apes, and marmosets, and to other beasts,
See now, how dear he bought man, that he made after his ownimage, and how dear he again-bought us, for the great love thathe had to us, and we never deserved it to him. For moreprecious chattel ne greater ransom ne might he put for us, thanhis blessed body, his precious blood, and his holy life, that hethralled for us; and all he offered for us that never didsin.
Ah dear God! What love had he to us his subjects, whenhe that never trespassed, would for trespassers sufferdeath! Right well ought us for to love and worship, todread and serve such a Lord; and to worship and praise such anholy land, that brought forth such fruit, through the which everyman is saved, but it be his own default. Well may that landbe called delectable and a fructuous land, that was be-bled andmoisted with the precious blood of our Lord Jesu Christ; thewhich is the same land that our Lord behight us inheritage. And in that land he would die, as seised, toleave it to us, his children.
And, for as much as it is long time passed, that there was nogeneral passage ne voyage over the sea; and many men desire forto hear speak of the Holy Land, and have thereof great solace andcomfort; I, John Mandeville, Knight, albeit I be not worthy, thatwas born in England, in the town of St. Albans, and passed thesea 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 seenand gone through many diverse lands, and many provinces andkingdoms and isles and have passed throughout Turkey, Armenia thelittle and the great; through Tartary, Persia, Syria, Arabia,Egypt the high and the low; through Lybia, Chaldea, and a greatpart of Ethiopia; through Amazonia, Ind the less and the more, agreat 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 Ishall speak more plainly hereafter; and I shall devise you ofsome part of things that there be, when time shall be, after itmay best come to my mind; and specially for them, that will andare in purpose for to visit the Holy City of Jerusalem and theholy places that are thereabout. And p. 6I shall tellthe way that they shall hold thither. For I have oftentimes passed and ridden that way, with good company of manylords. God be thanked!
He that will pass over the sea and come to land [to go to thecity of Jerusalem, he may wend many ways, both on sea and land],after the country that he cometh from; [for] many of them come toone end. But troweth not that I will tell you all thetowns, and cities and castles that men shall go by; for thenshould I make too long a tale; but all only some countries andmost principal steads that men shall go through to go the rightway.
First, if a man come from the west side of the world, asEngland, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, or Norway, he may, if that hewill, go through Almayne and through the kingdom of Hungary, thatmarcheth to the land of Polayne, and to the land of Pannonia, andso to Silesia.
And the King of Hungary is a great lord and a mighty, andholdeth great lordships and much land in his hand. p. 7For he holdeththe kingdom of Hungary, Sclavonia, and of Comania a great part,and of Bulgaria that men call the land of Bougiers, and of therealm of Russia a great part, whereof he hath made a duchy, thatlasteth unto the land of Nyfland, and marcheth to Prussia. And men go through the land of this lord, through a city that isclept Cypron, and by the castle of Neasburghe, and by the eviltown, that sit toward the end of Hungary. And there passmen the river of Danube. This river of Danube is a fullgreat river, and it goeth into Almayne, under the hills ofLombardy, and it receiveth into him forty other rivers, and itrunneth through Hungary and through Greece and through Thrace,and it entereth into the sea, toward the east so rudely and sosharply, that the water of the sea is fresh and holdeth hissweetness twenty mile within the sea.
At Constantinople is the cross ofour Lord Jesu Christ, and his coat without seams, that is cleptTunica inconsutilis, and the sponge, and the reed, of thewhich the Jews gave our Lord eysell and gall, in the cross. And there is one of the nails, that Christ was nailed with on thecross.
And some men trow that half the cross, that Christ was doneon, be in Cyprus, in an abbey of monks, that men call the Hill ofthe Holy Cross; but it is not so. For that cross that is inCyprus, is the cross, in the which Dismas the good thief washanged on. But all men know not that; and that is evily-done. For for profit of the offering, they say that it isthe cross of our Lord Jesu Christ.
And the Jews made the cross of these four manner of trees; forthey trowed that our Lord Jesu Christ should have hanged on thecross, as long as the cross might last. And therefore madethey the foot of the cross of cedar; for cedar may not, in earthnor water, rot, and therefore they would that it should havelasted long. For they trowed that the body of Christ shouldhave stunken, they p.9made that piece, that went from the earth upwards ofcypress, for it is well-smelling, so that the smell of his bodyshould not grieve men that went forby. And the overthwartpiece was of palm, for in the Old Testament it was ordained, thatwhen one was overcome he should be crowned with palm; and forthey trowed that they had the victory of Christ Jesus, thereforemade they the overthwart piece of palm. And the table ofthe title they made of olive; for olive betokeneth peace, as thestory of Noe witnesseth; when that the culver brought the branchof 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 crosslying, 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 thattree that Adam ate the apple off; and that find theywritten. And they say also, that their scripture saith,that Adam was sick, and said to his son Seth, that he should goto the angel that kept Paradise, that he would send him oil ofmercy, for to anoint with his members, that he might havehealth. And Seth went. But the angel would not lethim come in; but said to him, that he might not have of the oilof mercy. But he took him three grains of the same tree,that his father ate the apple off; and bade him, as soon as hisfather was dead, that he should put these three grains under histongue, and grave him so: and so he did. And of these threegrains sprang a tree, as the angel said that it should, and barea fruit, through the which fruit Adam should be saved. Andwhen Seth came again, he found his father near dead. Andwhen 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; throughwhom, Adam and all that come of him, should be saved anddelivered from dread of death without end, but it be their owndefault.
p. 10Thisholy cross had the Jews hid in the earth, under a rock of themount of Calvary; and it lay there two hundred year and more,into the time that St. Helen, that was mother to Constantine theEmperor of Rome. And she was daughter of King Coel, born inColchester, that was King of England, that was clept then Britainthe more; the which the Emperor Constance wedded to his wife, forher beauty, and gat upon her Constantine, that was after Emperorof Rome, and King of England.
And if all it be so, that men say, that this crown is ofthorns, ye shall understand, that it was of jonkes of the sea,that is to say, rushes of the sea, that prick as sharply asthorns. For I have seen and beholden many times that ofParis and that of Constantinople; for they were both one, made ofrushes of the sea. But men have departed them in two parts:of the which, one part is at Paris, and the other part is atConstantinople. And I have one of those precious thorns,that seemeth like a white thorn; and that was given to me forgreat specially. For there are many of them broken andfallen into the vessel that the crown lieth in; for they breakfor dryness when men move them to show them to great lords thatcome thither.
And ye shall understand, that our Lord Jesu, in that nightthat he was taken, he was led into a garden; and there he wasfirst examined right sharply; and there the Jews scorned him, andmade him a crown of the branches of albespine, that is whitethorn, that grew in that same garden, and set it on his head, sofast and so sore, that the blood ran down by many places of hisvisage, and of his neck, and of his shoulders. Andtherefore hath the white p. 11thorn many virtues, for he thatbeareth a branch on him thereof, no thunder ne no manner oftempest may dere him; nor in the house, that it is in, may noevil ghost enter nor come unto the place that it is in. Andin that same garden, Saint Peter denied our Lord thrice.
Afterward was our Lord led forth before the bishops and themasters of the law, into another garden of Annas; and there alsohe was examined, reproved, and scorned, and crowned eft with asweet thorn, that men clepeth barbarines, that grew in thatgarden, and that hath also many virtues.
And the spear shaft hath the Emperor of Almayne; but the headis at Paris. And natheles the Emperor of Constantinoplesaith that he hath the spear head; and I have often time seen it,but it is greater than that at Paris.
Constantinople is a full fair city, and a good, and wellwalled; and it is three-cornered. And there is an arm ofthe sea Hellespont: and some men call it the Mouth ofConstantinople; and some men call it the Brace of Saint George:and that arm closeth the two parts of the city. And upwardto the sea, upon the water, was wont to be the great city ofTroy, in a full fair plain: but that city was destroyed by themof Greece, and little appeareth thereof, because it is so longsith it was destroyed.
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