At the aforesaid corner we turned our backs to the church of Sion, and went down a long street leading westward, through many ruins of great walls, and we again came to a house which, like the last, is also a monastery. We knocked, and were let in, and entering the church we bowed ourselves to the earth in prayer. Then the priests of the church came to us and led us to a chapel on the left side of the church, which was the place (b) where Herod Agrippa beheaded the Apostle St. James the Great, the brother of John, as we read in the twelfth chapter of the Acts. This was James the Great, the brother of John, the kinsman of Christ, the third of the Apostles, in the order of their calling, the secretary of our Lord, the first of the Apostles to be martyred, whose body was carried by his disciples to the sea at Joppa, from which place they were miraculously wafted across the sea to Compostella, where at this day it is visited by all Christ's faithful people. In this place we recited antiphons and the rest of the appointed service, and received indulgences (^). This church is great and lofty, insomuch that it overtops every other church which is in Jerusalem, and is seen before them, for the first thing which one sees is the dome of this church. It has no windows, but light comes through an opening in the top, and fills the church. There are many chapels round about it, which are now ruined and desecrated. In the church itself hang many lamps, and in the midst there hang a hundred and twenty lamps in one chandelier. All the Easterns have many lamps in their churches, so that the vaults of the roofs are full of ropes and chains. In the wall of this church, on the outside, is an opening, or blind window, or closet, in which lie two great round stones, which were brought from Mount Sinai, and they say that angels brought them to the Virgin for her spiritual consolation, to the end that, as it was not fitting that the Virgin should make so long a pilgrimage, or should leave Jerusalem, she might nevertheless worship the holy Mount Sinai in these stones. This is a cathedral church, and has an archbishop and canons of the Armenian rite: howbeit, they are called Jacobites, and owe allegiance to the Church of Rome. The Archbishop is a grave man, handsome and reverend to behold, and we would fain have conversed with him, but could not understand one another's language. These Jacobites are not such dark-skinned men as the other Eastern Christians.

When we had seen the things aforesaid we came out of that monastery and went further along the street, and on our way we came to a place where a great stone is set up in the public road. This stone was thus set up by the Christians of old on that spot, because at that place on that road the Lord appeared to the three Maries when they were coming back from the sepulchre, saying, ' All hail!' and they came and held Him by the feet, and worshiped Him, as we read in the twenty-eighth chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel. So here we bowed ourselves to the earth, and kissed the place which Christ's feet had trod; and the stone, and received indulgences (^) Once there stood here a great church which the Saracens have destroyed, as they have done many other churches. Past this stone goes the way down from Mount Sion to [104a] the Lord's sepulchre, so that every day we pilgrims used to pass by this place, and I have sometimes passed by it six times in one day. It is the custom of all pilgrims, that whosoever they pass by any holy place, even when they have no set purpose of visiting holy places, they kiss the place and go their way. So whenever we passed by the aforesaid stone, we used to kiss it; but the Saracens who lived in a house over against the stone, seeing this, and being jealous of the devotion of the pilgrims, came by night and daubed the stone over with ordure, making it utterly foul and disgusting for us to kiss. Yet notwithstanding this one of the pilgrims wiped the stone with his clothes in a place where we could reach it to kiss it, so that we paid the place no less reverence, nay, even more, to the confusion of the Saracens. This dishonour was done to us by the Saracens at many holy places in Jerusalem and elsewhere.

Not much further, as we went towards the west, we came to the corner of Mount Sion, where it ends towards the west, and there stands the citadel of David. It stands there at the present day, an exceeding strong and fair castle and place of strength, on the top of a steep rocky crag, and round about it are ditches which were always naturally deep on that side on which the Mount Sion joins the city; at which place was Millo. On the south side it is fenced at the present day by a deep valley: the castle also has high walls, and many. towers and iron-barred gates. On another day I saw the whole of the castle on the inside. So now we stood still and gazed at the citadel of David, so often spoken of in Scripture, and Millo; and there we mused upon how Jerusalem must have looked in the days of old, for now it has been spoiled by its many sieges, and its deep valleys are filled up with heaps of ruins which have fallen into them. Close by the citadel of David is a way down into the city, and to the holy sepulchre, through a long street.

When we had gazed our fill upon the citadel of David, we turned about, setting our backs to the west, and returned by the way by which we came as far as the corner where the blessed Virgin stood waiting, as is told on page 103 a. From this corner we went on a little way towards the south, and came to a place where the roads cut one another in the form of a cross; so that a man standing in the midst of the cross made by the roads could go to the east or to the west, to the north; or to the south. Here is the place where the Apostles separated: for they had talked with the blessed Virgin in the upper chamber about their being scattered abroad throughout all the world, according to the commandment which was given them in the last chapter of St. Mark's Gospel. So after they had received the Holy Ghost, [b] and they had preached the Gospel throughout all Judaea, and some years had passed, forced by the persecution of the Jews, on the fifteenth of July, at the bidding of the blessed Virgin, they prepared to set out, carrying with them nothing save the articles of their faith, which the twelve Apostles had put together in that first council which they had held on Mount Sion. When the hour of their departure drew nigh, they bowed themselves with great reverence before the feet of the most blessed Virgin Mary, asking for her blessing and leave to depart, and the Virgin raised them up, embraced each of them, gave them her blessing and, herself in tears, sent them weeping on their way. They all came forth from the upper chamber together, till the men who were about to preach of the cross stood at that cross in the roads, and there, rushing into each other's embrace, and kissing one another they parted from one another with many tears, and were separated throughout the whole world, three going to the east, three to the west, three to the south, and three to the north, to the four quarters of the world. Matthew, Thomas and Bartholomew, with their disciples and followers went towards the east; Peter, Andrew, and James the Great to the west with their followers. To the south went James, John and Matthias with their disciples, and to the north went Simon, Thaddaeus and Philip with their followers, all of them preaching everywhere, that they might glorify the four quarters of the world with the doctrine of the Trinity. So, we stood in this place and gave thanks to God, who from this place sent forth the holy Apostles into all the world; glorying in whose faith we had returned thither. We bowed ourselves down to the earth, and received indulgences (^). In this place the sad separation and schism of my brethren of the convent of Ulm occurred to my memory, at which I myself was present, for it took place in the year of our Lord 1476, on the very day when the Apostles were divided. For, because we clave unto the Pope our Lord, and to the Roman church, as was meet, right, holy, and indeed necessary for us to do, we were forced to leave our convent and the city of Ulm, and were scattered abroad throughout the convents of the province, because we would not act profanely and contrary to the apostolic command, and held by the interdict which had been laid upon the country, and acknowledged the bishop given and confirmed by the pope, not him who was elected by the chapter and upheld by the Emperor. We remained in exile for three months, and then, after peace had been made again, we were recalled with great glory and honour. Wherefore we decreed that while the convent lasted, the day of the division of the Apostles should always be celebrated as a double feast, for a perpetual memorial of this thing, that those who came after us might learn and know that they must not disobey the command given to the Apostles out of fear of any tribulation, but rather go into exile, nay, even die. We endured many things during the time of the interdict, which lasted for about two years; but enough of this.

[105 a] Leaving the aforesaid place, we next came to a very sacred place, where once stood an oratory, wherein St. John the Evangelist daily celebrated Mass as long as he remained in Jerusalem after our Lord's ascension, and administered the sacrament to the most blessed Virgin Mary, who, had been commended to his care by our Lord from the cross, which sacrament she daily received with the greatest piety. Forasmuch as the sacraments of the new law were appointed and ordained to be received by all men, she, albeit full of grace, nevertheless received them from the hand of John, her own priest, in his parish, which was here. The most blessed Virgin took the sacrament (1) because of her humility; (2) to avoid giving offence; (3) to fulfil the command; (4) because of the doctrine of supererogation; (5) for the confusion of those heretics who declared that she was an angel and not a human being; (6) for the instruction of those who are made perfect. She nevertheless partook daily in an especial manner of the sacrament of penance, and every day, according to tradition, received the sacrament of the eucharist in this place from the hands of St. John. Though she was free from all sin, yet she often made the sacramental confession, not accusing herself of any crime, nor yet acknowledging herself to be ungrateful for the benefits conferred upon her; which is the usual confession of holy men who pass their lives without crime; but confessing the insufficiency of her merits that she should have deserved such a manifestation of the grace of God, a reward which she never could deserve de condigno*, nor could any creature, although she deserved it de congruo.

So we stood in this holy place and prayed devoutly, and we bowed ourselves to the earth and kissed the sacred footsteps, and received indulgences (^). There is no building now standing on this spot, save that there is a dry stone wall round about it, and in the midst of it stands a great stone, having a place in it hollowed out with iron tools, wherein they say that St. John used to keep the chalice of the eucharist.

Leaving this place, we came at no great distance to another place enclosed with a higher dry stone wall, wherein tradition' says that the house of the blessed Virgin stood, wherein she lived a domestic life for fourteen years. We are told in the Alcoran of Mohamet that she only survived five years, and that her years in all were fifty-three, as is said also by Nicholas de Cusa, Book II., chapter xv. Some say that she lived a longer, some a shorter time, after our Lord's ascension. When the end 0f her life was drawing nigh she begged John, who had come to visit her with the rest of the Apostles, to administer to her the sacrament of extreme unction, although she was not weak, or sickly, nor lacking strength, nor worn out with old age, and therefore was not bound to receive this Sacrament [b], because it is administered only to the sick; nevertheless she gave herself up to this privilege of immunity from weakness and concealed it until she came to the end of her life, just as she chose to conceal her privilege of virginity when she underwent the ceremony of purification enjoined by the law. Wherefore as she lay there with most burning love, with sweetest languor, she humbly received this sacrament, appointed as it was for sinners, and therein beheld the expression of the accomplishment of her victory in the past and of the fulness of her glory in the future: in the place of the remission of venial sins her preservation from all pain; in the place of the alleviation of sickness the glorification of her whole body. Having then received the sacrament she commended her soul into the hands of God, and departed from this life, while there stood round her bed the glorious company of the Apostles, and the spotless band of one hundred and twenty virgins, with many widows, to whom she left her body to be buried. Wherefore in this holy place we bowed ourselves down in prayer, chanted the appointed hymns of praise, and received plenary indulgences (^ ^) . This place is remarkable for being held in great reverence both by all Christians and by many Saracens, yet there is no building thereon save a dry stone wall. The Minorite brethren are using their endeavours with the Soldan to get leave to build a chapel and set up an altar in this place, for they dare not put any stones together with mortar without leave from the king, the Soldan, and they are in hopes of getting leave. I have since heard that when the brethren had got full license from the Soldan to work their will, and had been at great expense to build an oratory, those mad dogs the Saracens straightway broke into the oratory, and levelled the whole building with the ground; wherefore the place at the present day is even as it was when I saw it.

Not far from this place, as we went towards the church of Sion, we came to a red stone, where is the place wherein St. Matthias was chosen as an Apostle, as we read in the first chapter of the Acts, in the place of the traitor Judas, as whose successor he was chosen on this spot. Here we bowed ourselves to the earth in prayer, and received indulgences, singing the appointed hymns, and this place seemed all the more sacred and homely to us because his blessed body is kept among us in Germany in the city of Treves.

Leaving that place we went on our way, and came to the wall of the brethren's cemetery. In the wall is a white stone marked with a cross, and that is the place where the Apostle James the Less was elected and ordained Bishop of Jerusalem, and where the first Mass was celebrated by him. For this Apostle was so holy a man, that after our Lord's ascension the Apostles conferred upon him the honour of being the first of their number to celebrate Mass in the presence of the Apostles, and they ordained him Bishop of Jerusalem, thinking that he would be more acceptable to the people of Jerusalem than any other, for because of his exceeding great holiness of life he was suffered to enter into the holy of holies, which no other Apostle was permitted to do. He was a Nazarite from his mother's womb, drank no wine or strong drink, never ate flesh, iron never came upon his head, he never was anointed with oil, never used baths, and always [106a] wore linen. He knelt in prayer so often that he had hard skin on his knees like that on a man's heel. He was so greatly reverenced by the people by reason of his excessive holiness, that they used to strive one with another to touch the hem of his garment. It was a peculiarity of St. James that he was singularly like to our Lord, so much so that many were deceived by their likeness. In all the outlines of his body, and in his manner of conversation, in his face and in his life, he was as like to Jesus as though he had been His twin-brother; so that after our Lord's ascension many came up to Jerusalem from different parts of the world that they might see the Lord Jesus in the person of James. Among these was Ignatius the martyr, and St. Paul the Apostle, as we read in his Epistle to the Galatians i.19. For this cause he was called the Lord's brother. So in this place we said our prayers and received indulgences (^).

Straightway after this we came to the place which is customarily honoured on account of the choosing of the seven deacons, of whose choosing we read in the sixth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. For as the number of the faithful was multiplied after the sending of the Holy Spirit, there arose a murmuring about the daily ministration, and some were over-burdened and some neglected. Wherefore they chose seven men of approved lives, habits, and grace, whom they appointed to the business of ministration, among whom St. Stephen was the chief, being full of grace and courage. So much for this. Here we gave praise to God, said the appointed prayers, and received indulgences (^).

Near the same place of election is believed to be the place where, after the coming of the Holy Spirit, the Apostles assembled a holy council, and gave the Church the twelve articles of her faith, which they had composed for her to preach; by faith in which articles we all are saved, and made God's children by adoption. Wherefore this place deserves to be greatly reverenced. In it we confessed the true faith, and hastened onwards to other holy places. [See page 152b] (^).

Round about the dry stone wall which encircles the base of the ancient church of Sion, there are certain places wherein the Saracens and Eastern Christians practise superstitious observances, more especially in a place near the place of the division of the Apostles, beneath a fig-tree, where there is a great heap of stones, to which Saracen women come every day, and burn incense upon a stone, and bury loaves of bread; for they declare that it is here, and not in Golgotha, where stands the church of the Holy Sepulchre, that the sepulchre of Jesus is--nay, they even look with scorn upon that church and the sepulchre therein, and do not look there, but here, for the sepulchre of Jesus, declaring that He who endured the cross, whom the Jews held to be Jesus, was indeed buried there below, but nevertheless that He was not Jesus, but another who was taken and put to death in His stead, and that He escaped, being the Son of God and of the Virgin, and therefore able to escape. He died here in peace, and was buried in this place, and here they call upon him to help them. For when they are in certain straits they betake them to [b] the Lord Jesus and the blessed Virgin Mary, yet not as believers, but with many superstitions, just as they oft-times send their infant children to the Christians to be baptized when they are sick, supposing that they. will be healed or improved in bodily health by baptism, not understanding or believing anything about the true and particular effect thereof. I several times went to this pile of stones when I did not fear that any Saracen would come thither, and scattered the stones which had been put together to receive the fire, turned out the things which they had hidden beneath the stones, and so left the signs of my vengeance there.

Beyond this spot, near the Convent of Sion, but beyond its precinct, on the southern, eastern and northern sides, on a spur of Mount Sion, the brethren have a large garden, which last year, by the Soldan's leave, they bought from a Saracen for much gold. We entered this garden, and first came to the cemetery of the friars, where they bury their deceased brethren, and there we prayed for their souls. Next we observed several deep cisterns therein, which the brethren found after they had bought the garden and began to dig it up. These cisterns were filled with earth and stones, but they cleaned them, arranged gutters to lead to them, and in rainy weather collect most excellent water in them: for the water of the cistern, which is in front of their refectory, which I have mentioned before on page 97a, is not sufficient to last them through the summer; indeed, it failed while I was living there; so the cisterns in this garden are very essential to them: for before they bought the garden they used to suffer greatly from want of water in dry hot years, but now that they own this garden they cannot want for water, which is thought to be a great thing in Jerusalem. In this garden, besides the cisterns, there are many trees of different kinds, such as figs, pomegranates, and the like, and pot-herbs for the use of the convent. This garden is square, and stands upon a spur of Mount Sion, where it has on the west side the convent, the church, and the ridge of the Mount Sion which is level with itself: on the other three sides it has valleys, and it is surrounded by a dry stone wall. On the south it has the valley of Aceldama and the Mount Gion, on the east the valley of Siloam and the Mount of Offence, and beyond it the valley of Jehoshaphat with the Mount of Olives; on the, north it has Millo and the Holy City. We walked all round the enclosure, and looked over its wall down into the valleys and across them to the mountains beyond. The view is a delightful one to a man who knows the Scriptures. The wall which encloses the garden stands on the edge of steep stone cliffs, and there may be seen at this day the exceeding ancient wall of Sion, and the foundations of her towers, and many things lie there before one's eyes which are mentioned in Holy Scripture, which can hardly be understood by one who reads it, as for instance about Millo, about Gion, about the valleys, and so forth. While we thus stood looking about us on this height, there arose a conversation among the lay pilgrim knights which is worth recording. We had lain down upon the wall, and were looking toward Jerusalem and the valley of Jehoshaphat. [107a] These laymen neglected all the things which lay before their eyes, and directed their gaze upon the temple which is called Solomon's Temple, admiring it and desiring to enter it and behold it, and they discoursed much one to another about how this temple had endured from the time of Solomon till the present day. While they talked thus I listened in silence, but after they had spoken long and unprofitably, I said to them: 'My lords and fellow pilgrims, what is the reason that you ask no questions, and make no remarks about the holy and wondrous sights which you have before your eyes, but your talk is only about a vain thing?' To this one of them made answer: `We know this Temple or Solomon by common report, and we have nothing holier, nothing more glorious or more beauteous within sight. As for the mountains and valleys round about we do not care for them, nor do we know them,' and they spoke truly, for they did not as yet know the Mount of Olives. To this I answered: `The Temple of Solomon is not in sight, for it was long ago brought to nought, and this temple which you now see is the fourth temple which has been built on that spot since Solomon's Temple. But granted that it were, the temple of Solomon, what have you to do with that temple? In it Christ is not worshiped, nay, He is blasphemed against daily, and Mahomet the accursed is praised. Was it for the sake of that abominable and desecrated church that you came to Jerusalem? Wherefore do you not look across the valley which is before you, and at the mount which is over against you?' When they said that they did not know these places, I said: `Lo, this valley is the valley of Jehoshaphat, into which all the world will be gathered together on the Day of Judgment and that mount over against you is the Mount of Olives, from whence Christ ascended into heaven. Let us talk of these; let us admire these; these are things with which we have to do: but not a word about that accursed temple.' Then we began a profitable discourse about the smallness of the valley of Jehoshaphat, and about many of the like subjects. When we ended this talk we brought to an end our pilgrimage to the holy places on Mount Sion which are on its top. The other holy places on Mount Sion we visited on another day, as will appear hereafter. So we went home, everyone of us to his own place; the lay pilgrims to the Hospital of St. John, the clergy to the convent of the friars.

Mount Sion is very often mentioned in Holy Scripture. The Mount Sion stands on the south side of the holy city, and stands higher than the rest of the city, though not much higher. [b] In old times it was encircled by valleys on all sides, even on the side which looks towards the city of Jerusalem, so that between it and the city there was a deep ravine, by which the city was cut off from the mount and men used to cross from the city to the mount by a wooden bridge. The kings of Judah tried to fill up this ravine, that Sion and Jerusalem might be one city, and took great pains to bring earth thither. As the Mount Sion stands upon steep rocks on every side, they poured earth into the ravine from the direction of the city, and also towards the east, so that the earth might be raised to the height of the walls of rock, and gardens be made round Mount Sion even as there are at the present day. Wherefore that place between the two, which they strove to fill up with earth and raise to the level of the city, they called Millo, that is, the `Filling-up,' whereof mention is made in 2 Sam. v. 9; 1 Kings ix.24; and 2 Chron. xxxii.5. Howbeit, this work was never fully completed, for some deep places have always remained between the two cities, and are there at the present day, as anyone may see who looks carefully for them in the garden of the friars and near the citadel of David. This mount begins at the Gate of the Waters or of the Fountain of Siloam on the east, and makes a half circle towards the south as far as the west, where was the tower of David, and at this day there is a castle there. Throughout the whole of this half circle there are steep rocks, and round the chord of that semi-circle also, which is Millo. Above this was the Mount Sion, and at this day it is so wide that the city of Bieberich would have room to stand thereon. On this mount, in very ancient times, there stood a citadel, which David took with much toil, and gave his own name to the city of Mount Sion, as we read in the eleventh chapter of the first book of Chronicles. This mount in the olden time was all but impregnable; everyone who, has read the books of the Maccabees knows what labours and troubles those most valiant men endured before they could drive out the Gentiles from the citadel of Sion. It is because of the strength of Sion that Jerusalem is called the daughter of Sion in Scripture, because as a daughter is protected by her mother, and stands at her feet, even so Jerusalem is protected by Sion, and stands beneath it, as for instance `Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh,' which means, `Tell ye the city of Jerusalem.' This phrase, `the Mount Sion,' wherever we meet with it in Scripture, is always to be taken in a good, never in a bad sense. Sometimes it means the state of supreme beatitude, the vision of the Divine essence; sometimes the host of angels, sometimes the Church triumphant, sometimes the Church militant, sometimes only the elect of God in the Church, sometimes those who live the contemplative life, sometimes certain persons in holy orders, sometimes prelates, sometimes preachers. This is the mount whereof it is said `The hill of Sion is a fair place, and the joy of the whole earth: on the north side lieth Jerusalem;' [Psa.xxlvii.2] for, indeed, Jerusalem lieth on its north side. Also,`Walk about Sion, and go round about her;' [Psa.xlviii.11] also, 'For the Lord hath chosen Sion;' [Psa.cxxxii.14] also, 'The Lord loveth the gates of Sion more than all the dwellings of Jacob; [Psa.lxxxvii.2] and, 'God will save Sion;' [Psa.lxx.36] and, 'O that salvation were given to Israel out of Sion.' [Psa.liii.7] Again, David says in his own person, and in that of Christ: 'I have set my King upon my holy hill of Sion; I will preach the law,' [Psa,ii.6] and 'Sion heard of it, and rejoiced.' [Psa.xcvii.8] Moreover, Isaiah speaks of [108a] 'Sion, the city of our strength;' and, `He shall give consolation to the mourners of Sion;' and, 'For Sion's' sake I will not hold my peace;' and, 'Sion, thy king reigneth.' In many parts of Scripture also we are asked to ascend the hill of Sion, as in the second chapter of Isaiah : `Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the lord;' and he tells us what it is that we ought to go up to: 'Sing ye unto the Lord, who dwelleth in Sion;' and, 'They shall come into Sion with praise.' Moreover, Isaiah, wishing to say something great about the mount, says: 'And it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it.' [Isa.ii.2] This saying has been fulfilled by the celebration on this mount of the most profound mysteries, on account whereof people of all nations of the world flow thither. The Jews show great folly with regard to this text, and veil it in a darkness caused by their own error, for they try to prove from it that Jesus was not the true Messiah, because at His coming the Mount Sion was not raised to a pinnacle above all other hills. They say that in the time of the Messiah God will carry Mount Tabor and Mount Sinai and Mount Carmel to the place where Jerusalem now is, and will place Jerusalem and those three mountains one above another, And will place Mount Sion on the top of the topmost mountain. And because Christ did not do this, therefore they say that He is not the Messiah. But we ought to reply to these unhappy blinded men, that this raising up of the Mount Sion is not to be understood of the place, but of its exceeding glory, in that Christ would thereon do great and marvellous acts, such as the institution of the sacraments, and the sending of the Holy Spirit, and other works, as is clear. From all this it is evident that the Mount Sion is a mount of great height and loftiness, great strength and power, great plenteousness and fulness, great beauty and pleasantness, great trustiness and security, great wealth and riches, great joy and gladness, great righteousness and equity, great purity and holiness, great doctrine and truth, great prophecy and telling of things to come. It is the mount of the completion of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New; the mount of the sacraments of Christ and of the gifts of the Holy Spirit; the mount of the Virgin Mary, whereon she dwelt, whereon she taught the Apostles, inspired the Evangelists, sent forth the Apostles to the world, and whereon she herself departed this life. The mount is at this day in the possession of Christians; it is a heritage of the clergy, a hospice for pilgrims: for thereon dwell only Christians, and no Saracen or Jew has any dwelling-place on the mount at this day, but there are only monasteries of Christian men thereon. Wherefore I one day asked a Saracen whom I knew well, why he did not build himself a house on Mount Sion rather than in Jerusalem, to which he answered: `Because Mount Sion is a desert through its lack of water; because water can be had more easily and in greater quantity in Jerusalem than on Sion.' It may be that God has ordained that Saracens should lack water on this holy mount, whereas the Christians who dwell thereon have plenty. This mount is exceeding high, not indeed with respect to those round about it, but with respect [b] to those which are far away: for the mountains of Arabia, when seen from Mount Sion, seem to be low, albeit they are very high, and Mount Sion is far higher than the mountains of Arabia. The convent of the Minorite Brethren stands in a most pleasant, beauteous, and lofty place. Before they came to Jerusalem there was there a convent of Canons Regular, but after the loss of the Holy Land the King of Sicily bought this place on Mount Sion from the Soldan, and also the chapel of the Blessed Virgin in the Valley of Jehoshaphat, and the church at Bethlehem, with the monastery there, and gave for them in gold, paid on the spot, thirty-two thousand ducats of approved weight. He also brought the Minorite Friars to Mount Sion, and entrusted to them the ownership and management of the aforesaid places: wherefore the Pope himself is wont often to constitute the Guardian of Mount Sion the Superior of the whole Eastern Church in those parts. The brethren have great privileges granted them by the Popes, whereof it does not belong to my subject to speak. The precincts of the convent of Mount Sion are very cramped, the church is small, the cloister narrow, the cells little. Yet albeit the house is small, twenty-four brethren dwell together therein, serving the Lord in a life spent under rule. Because of the insults and rage of the infidels, they have an iron door and beside the same fierce dogs, savage with strangers, who keep watch, and by their barking betray those who come thither to do any mischief, whether by day or by night. So much for this.

On the fourteenth day, beginning the day from the evening of the day before, because the procession to the holy places is appointed in that fashion, when the sun was setting, warning was given to all the pilgrims that they should straightway present themselves at the court or yard which lies before the (door of the) Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and that they should hurry over their supper, because the Moorish lords who keep the keys of the holy church were waiting for us there. So we made haste, and having taken with us the things which we meant to use, we came down to the court-yard of the aforesaid church, wherein we found a great disorderly crowd of Eastern Christians and Saracens--men, women, and children. Also.dealers in precious wares sat there and sold them, and some had loaves of bread, eggs, and grapes for sale; whereof we bought some, and put them in our scrips for the repast which we should take within the church. Now, as soon as all the Saracen lords who [109a] had to do with the opening of the church were present at the door of that holy temple, they took their places gravely and seriously. Before the door on either side thereof great stones of polished marble have been placed for benches, upon which these men sat with their faces turned away. They were men of a fine presence, well stricken in years, handsome, wearing long beards, and of solemn manners, dressed in linen clothes, and with their heads wrapped round and round with countless folds of very fine linen. When all of us were collected together before those doors, they opened the church doors with their keys, and, standing beside them, let us in two by two, counting us even as they did when we came out of our ship on to the land, as aforesaid, and they looked at us very keenly. It is said of them that they are greatly skilled in the art of physiognomy, and that as soon as they look upon any man they perceive his station in life, his disposition, and his desires. We went by them with shame and blushing, because it is a great confusion that Christ's faithful worshippers should be let into Christ's church by Christ's blasphemers; and they let in whom they please, and kept out whom they please; for they drove away from the church doors with blows from their staves and fists many Christians of other rites who wanted to come in together with us. I confess that while I was passing between them into the church I was filled with confusion and covered with blushes, nor could I look them straight in the face by reason of the shame which I felt: not because of the badge of the cross which I bore on my clothes, but because of their unrighteous and impious power over those who bear the cross. There sat those dogs, as though they were our judges, and doubtless judged us to be fools because of the cross of Christ, because the name and the sign of the cross is foolishness to them that are appointed to perish (I Cor. i.23). Thus, however, is it ordered by the Divine wisdom, that the followers of the Crucified shall be brought to the place where the cross stood by those who scoff at the cross, that by the foolishness of the cross they may believe and be saved. Now, as soon as we were all inside, the Saracens straightway pulled back the doors of the church quickly behind our backs, locked them with bolts and locks, as men are wont to do after they have pushed robbers violently into a dungeon, and went away with the keys, thus leaving us prisoners in the most delightful, lightsome, and roomy of prisons, in the garden of the most precious sepulchre of Christ, at the foot of the mount of Calvary, in the middle of the world. Oh how joyous an imprisonment! how desirable a captivity! how delightful an enclosure! how sweet a locking in, whereby the Christian is locked in and imprisoned in the sepulchre of his Lord!

Lo, my brethren! the truth compels me to begin by telling you of my own stupid carelessness and grievous irreverence, [b] for which I beseech you to pray to God on my behalf, that He may not lay up my misdeeds for punishment at the last. This was what befell me, unhappy wretch that I was; on my first pilgrimage. When we had been locked into the church, and no longer feared anyone, because no infidel was with us, we began in our joy to run to and fro through the church, seeking the holy places without any regular order, and every man went whither-soever he would at the bidding of his own spirit. I did not hurry, but went with a slow step towards the middle of the church, walking without any set purpose, and after I had gone forward about seventeen paces I stopped, and, lifting up my face, looked at the vault above me. I cast my eyes upon the upper windows with curiosity, as ill-bred men stare about in strange places and houses without respect for anyone, and so I stood by myself with wandering eyes. As I stood thus thoughtlessly, there came to me two ladies who were pilgrims, one of whom was a German, Hildegarde by name, and they fell down before my feet and lay there weeping and sobbing, kissing the stone whereon I was standing. I was surprised and astonished, and said in German to her, `What is the matter, Lady Hildegarde, that you should do so?' She answered me, scarce able to speak for weeping, `Lo, my brother! the stone whereon you stand is that whereon Joseph and Nicodemus laid the most precious body of our Lord when He was taken down from the cross; and they anointed Him and wrapped Him in His shroud upon this table of stone.' When I heard this I trembled, and, drawing back my feet with horror, I fell on the earth before the stone. Now I scarce dared to touch with my mouth that which before I had not feared to tread irreverently upon with my shod feet. `O Lord!' I prayed, `remember not the past sins of my youth, and the present sins of my ignorance. O Lord my God, Thy chosen servant Moses was bidden by Thee when in the desert of Midian to put his shoes from his feet because the ground whereon he stood was holy; and the holy Joshua did not dare to stand shod in the field of Jericho, yet I, who am devoid of all holiness, full of vices, have dared to trample with my shod feet all irreverently upon the place which Thou Thyself hast sanctified with Thy most precious body, naked and wounded; nor can I find any excuse, for we read that Uzzah was stricken dead by Thee because he put forth his hand to the wain which bore Thy ark when it was like to fall. And, behold, here we have incomparably more beneath our feet than the land of Midian, or the field of Jericho, and a stone which is more worthy of honour than the wain or the ark. Therefore, Lord God, have patience with me, and I will pay Thee all reverence and honour at Thy holy places, and will render to Thee whatever else is Thy due with all the piety of which I am capable, and which Thou Thyself shalt bestow upon me.' After having prayed thus I arose, and sought my lords and companions throughout the church, and I found them sitting together in the chapel of the Blessed Virgin, waiting till the procession should be formed. Now the Father Guardian called together all the pilgrims, and set forth to them the rules and customs of the Church, which he reduced to thirteen heads:

[110a] First, he told us that every pilgrim must buy a wax taper, which he must carry lighted in the procession. For many merchants had come in with us having wax tapers and other things for sale.

Secondly, he bade the pilgrims take care to walk orderly in the procession, so that one should not get in the way of another or push against him, as also we were bidden to do in the sixth article delivered to us at Rama; but forasmuch as in the procession now about to be formed there is more force and more pushing, therefore he here repeated this and several other commands given us there.

Thirdly, that we should consecrate this night to God, and take part in matins and other divine services without any slackness.

Fourthly, that we should not make the house, of prayer into a house of merchandise, and not sit and waste our time trafficking with the Eastern Christian merchants.

Fifthly, he begged all such as were priests to go and celebrate Mass without disputing one with another. For they are wont to quarrel about places; and all of them want to celebrate Mass in the holy sepulchre of our Lord, which is impossible in one day.

Sixthly, he appointed four altars for the celebrants that is to say, one in the holy sepulchre, one on Mount Calvary, one at the place of the unction of Christ, whereof I have already spoken, and a fourth in the chapel of the Virgin Mary. Besides these there are many other altars in different parts of the church; but they belong to schismatics and heretics, wherefore we did not celebrate Mass at them.

Seventhly, he bade all pilgrims make ready to confess themselves, and every one of them take the Communion after the service.

Eighthly, he gave authority to all pilgrim priests, and to his own brethren who had entered the church with us, to hear confession both actively and passively, and to absolve from all sins, even from those reserved for the Holy See, for the Guardian of Mount Sion has this power delegated to him by the Pope.

Ninthly, he forbade any priest to administer the Eucharist to any pilgrim as he stood at the place where he celebrated Mass; but he ordered that all should receive the sacrament after High Mass on Mount Calvary from the priest who officiated there, unless he should grant any special privilege to anyone.

Tenthly, he warned the pilgrims not to lay down, or leave about their property while they were making the round of the holy places in the church, lest they should lose it, because thefts often took place here, whence suspicion and much disturbance arose.

Eleventhly, in case anyone should wish to give alms at the holy places, and in giving them should wish to favour the Catholics rather than the schismatics, he explained to them which were the places of the Catholics and which were those of the schismatics.

Twelfthly, he warned us that, as has been already treated of in the first of the articles delivered to us at Rama, we must not break anything off at the holy places, neither must any man draw his coat-of-arms there, lest by their means holy places should be defiled.

Thirteenthly, he besought us that each of us would rouse himself to a spirit of lively devotion, and that we would profit by these most holy places, showing them that honour and reverence which is due to them. [b]

Having thus received the rules by which we were to be guided while in the holy temple, we each of us went to the merchants, and everyone bought candles of the whitest of wax, great or small, ornamented or plain, as he pleased: There was no lack of vainglory even in this, for some had candles curiously twisted and decorated with gilding and painting, which they carried with ostentation, and looked with scorn upon those who carried plain candles, blaming them for closefistedness. Some bought many candles, which they lighted in the Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre and then extinguished, and afterwards took them home with them to their own country, where they made their wives hold them lighted when they were in childbed, that they might be delivered without danger, for they say that these candles are useful for that purpose.

Now, while we were busied about buying our candles, the brethren with the Father Guardian were arraying themselves, putting on their sacred vestments, which they had brought with them from Mount Sion, to make a solemn procession round all the holy places in the same order herein they had made that on Mount Sion, as has been told on page 94a.

So when we were all standing in order with our lights burning, the precentor at the head of the procession began in a loud and cheerful voice to sing the Salve Regina, which we all took up, and chanting this hymn we came in procession to the chapel of the glorious Virgin Mary, to the altar in front of the chapel. In this place, according to ancient tradition, the blessed Virgin Mary remained from the hour in which her Son was taken down from the cross till that of His resurrection from the dead, and she did not enter again into the city of Jerusalem. For near the rock of Calvary there were in a garden several poor men's dwellings, even as at the present day there are gardens without the city, with houses in them; wherein the owners of the gardens dwell when they take their pleasure, but at all other times poor men inhabit them. So after the Lord Jesus, as He hung upon the cross, had commended His mother to the care of John, she was led away from the cross, but would on no account suffer herself to be led far away from the cross of her Son, or to enter the city, knowing that in all Jerusalem there was no lodging for her because of the shame of her Son, which was so great that men shrank even from receiving His mother into their houses. She, therefore, suffered herself to be led to a dwelling not far from the cross, that she might not fail to be with her Son when He was dying and giving up the ghost, but might share all His agony; moreover, she wished to see and know what would be done with her Son's body after death, in order that if it were cast away, as were the bodies of other condemned persons, she might carry it off for herself, or that, if it were buried; she might be present at the burial, and perform the funeral offices, as, indeed, she did. For when she saw Joseph and Nicodemus making ready to bury her Son, she herself ran to them full of sorrow, and attended the burial, after which she was brought into this dwelling, and would not move further away from the spot. Indeed, other fond mothers are wont to do this for their beloved sons, and if they were suffered they would always remain weeping at the tombs of their dear ones, [111a] even as Mary Magdalen, who could hardly be torn away from the tomb of her brother Lazarus, as we read in the eleventh chapter of St. John. How much more, then, the most blessed Virgin Mary, who loved her Son incomparably, more than any mother or friend could love their dear ones! It was, then, to this place that Christ first came after His resurrection. Vincentius, of the Order of Preaching Friars, tells us that when the Lord arose from the dead He sent the angel Gabriel before Him to announce to His mother the advent of her most glorious Son, immediately after which her Son Himself appeared, clothed in exceeding white raiment, with a cheerful countenance, beauteous, glorious, and joyous His scars shone resplendent, His whole being seemed to rejoice, and He most fondly greeted her, leading after Him all the saints whom He had brought out of the nether world. But who can tell with what joy the glorious Virgin was possessed? Wherefore in this holy place we sang our hymns with joy, and when we had sung them and finished the service contained in the processional, we drew near to the place, and kneeling there, received plenary indulgences (^ ^) .

Thence, singing the appointed hymn, we went forward towards the right hand. Here is a sort of recess, or blind window in the wall, in which recess stands a large part of that most precious pillar to which the Lord Jesus was bound naked in the house of Pilate, and was cruelly scourged with whips and rods. We went up one by one, and touched the sacred pillar with our hands, passing them through an iron grating. Here, also, we received plenary indulgences (^ ^) . In old times this pillar was brought entire from the house of Pilate to the Mount Sion, wherefore Jerome says of Paula: `She' (that is, the holy Paula),`was shown on Mount Sion the pillar which supported the porch of the church, which pillar was red with the blood of the Lord, and to which Jesus when in bonds was brought to be scourged.' But after the destruction of the old church of Sion, as I have said before, one part was brought hither. A third piece is in the church of St. Praxede at Rome. A fourth is at Lyons in the church of St. Hyrcanus the just, and other pieces of it beside these are to be found in churches in other parts of the world also. The piece which stands in this place is one palm and the thickness of three fingers in width, and four palms in height, and is of a purple colour, sprinkled with red spots. This is due either to the nature of the stone, or, as Jerome and Bede appear to think, to a miracle.

In this place we turned to the opposite part of the chapel, and there also there is a recess in the wall, in which a piece of the most blessed cross was kept for two hundred years. It was thickly studded with gold, silver, and jewels by the most illustrious Helena, who found it, and who, as she found it entire, caused it to be cut in two; and left one piece here, while she translated the other to Constantinople. As long as the holy cross stood in this place, the Eastern [b] Church prospered and increased, contained most holy men, and ever triumphed over the enemies of the cross of Christ; but as soon as it was taken away the Church dwindled and became a mere wreck. We did honour to this place, albeit it was empty, and we sang there the hymn of the holy cross which is in the processional: for though it was absent, we saw it as though it were present, for, as we thought, a certain virtue breathes forth from that reliquary, as though left behind there by the wood of the holy cross. Nor is this to be wondered at: for if after the wine has been poured out the vessel still retains the scent of the wine, even so this reliquary, wherein was enclosed the wood which hath the savour of life eternal still retains the scent thereof. Indeed, that the place may be the more worthy of respect, they have set up a cross therein, which cross has a small fragment of the true cross of Christ inserted into it. We kissed this fragment, and received indulgences (^)

When we had finished our service in that place we set out, singing another hymn, to the middle of the chapel where is the place whither the three crosses were brought after their invention, that it might be proved which cross was the cross of Christ. A dead man was brought, and at the touch of the cross of Christ he arose alive. Here is chapel of the Latins, and no nation has any right therein save only the Latins, and the guardians of the holy sepulchre, who represent the Latins, perform service therein. Behind this chapel they have chambers wherein they cook, eat, sleep, and do their needs. The Minorite Brethren generally have three brethren dwelling in that place. I have slept for many hours at a time in the dormitory of the brethren.

After our visit to this chapel we went out of it in procession into the church, down four steps, and at the foot of the steps we straightway came to a place where there were two circles in the pavement, five paces distant one from the other, made of polished and variegated marble. We stood round about these circles, chanting the service proper for this place, as contained in the processional. This is said to be the place where the Lord Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalen in the form of a gardener. The Lord stood in the place where one of the, circles is, and Mary where the other circle is. It was here that Mary fell at His feet, and that he would not suffer Himself to be touched, because He was not yet ascended to the Father, as may be read at length in the twentieth chapter of St John's Gospel.

The event which here took place may inspire with zealous devotion the pilgrim who takes to heart the example set by Mary. As she did not find Him whom she sought in the sepulchre, she ran about all the corners of the garden, hither and thither, glowing with such a fire of love that she forgot her womanly weakness, and neither feared the black darkness nor the terrors of the persecutors, nor recked of the guardians of the place, but ran to and fro, weeping, panting, groaning. No doubt, had she been told, [112a] `Lo, He whom you seek has already crossed the Great Sea, passed over the Alpine mountains, withdrawn Himself from the east to the west, and is now in the furthest country towards the westward; she would, in spite of a thousand dangers, have straightway crossed the sea, have passed over the mountains, have scoured the west country, and have made her way even to Ireland, which is the furthest of all lands towards the west. But the gracious Lord appeared to her here, in this place, and never will hide Himself from those who come hither from the west through so many perilous lands and so many dangerous seas, that they may seek Him whom they love. I do not reckon the promise given in the eighth chapter of Zechariah: `Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Behold, I will save my people from the east country and from the west country, and I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.'[Zech.viii.7]

So here we bowed ourselves to the earth at the feet of the Lord Jesus, kissed His footprints, and received indulgences (^).

Leaving this place, we went on our way singing in procession, and entered a darksome chapel hewn out of the rock, which has no windows, but contains one altar within it, and has two small doors. This chapel in the time of Christ was a prison or lock-up near the Mount Calvary, built to the intent that condemned criminals appointed to die might be locked up therein while the instruments of their torture were being made ready, such as crosses, gallows, wheels, wood for fires, and the like, and also that they might drink and make themselves drunk therein, for it was the custom that those who were to be punished with death should first be made drunk with the strongest wine, that they might fear death less, and endure their torments with greater courage: so, that they might drink the more deeply, they were shut in here with wine, that they might do so without shame. Wherefore when the Lord Jesus was brought out hither with His cross, they shut Him up in this cell, while the three holes were being made in the rock of Calvary for the three crosses, that in the meantime He might drink. They gave the Lord 'wine mingled with myrrh' (Mark xv. 23), which was exceeding bitter, wherefore He refused the proffered drink, as we are told in the same passage.

In this venerable cell we reflected, not without sorrow, how the Lord Jesus wept therein, and awaited the torture of the cross with equal dread and desire. We therefore entered a one by one, with sighs and groans, and each in turn bowed himself to the earth and kissed the footprints of our Saviour, and there we received indulgences (^).

Continuing our course, we passed on from the prison of Christ to another chapel with three blocked-up windows, where, after the Lord Jesus was fastened to the cross, His crucifiers stood and cast lots for what each one should take of the garments of Jesus, and they parted His raiment into four parts, one part for each soldier. [b] But His seamless tunic they cast lots for, because it would have been useless if cut. So they sat down in this place and cast lots, showing great contempt for Christ. Here we were; moved with compassion for the nakedness of Christ, and when we had finished chanting the service we kissed the place, and received indulgences (^).

When we came out of that chapel we went forward to the places beyond, chanting a mournful hymn of the coronation of the Lord, how He was crowned with a crown of thorns, and we came to another dark chapel, whose only window was blocked up with stones, and wherein was a fair altar, unbroken, but without hangings, etc. Beneath this altar stands a round stone, which seems to have been a section cut out of a column. This stone at the time of Christ's passion stood in the house of Pilate, in front of the stable for mules, as a seat: for it was so arranged as to be convenient for sitting on. So when they wished to crown the Lord with a crown of thorns, they rolled this stone from its place to the praetorium, made the Lord Jesus sit thereon, and crowned Him with thorns while He sat upon this stone. After Christ's passion the faithful brought that stone hither, for a perpetual memorial of that most cruel and despiteous coronation. We therefore prostrated ourselves, and with worship of the Lord touched this stone with our hands, and kissed it with our mouths, and received indulgences (^). We recalled to our memory all that the Lord had suffered while He sat upon that stone, how the Lord Jesus was clad in mockery in a scarlet robe, holding a reed in His hand instead of a sceptre, crowned with a crown of thorns, blindfolded, spat upon, buffeted, smitten with men's hands, wounded with the reed, addressed with 'Hail,' called `King of the Jews,' named a prophet, wounded by a thousand pricks of the thorns, exposed to public derision, and how thus loaded with scorn He sat upon this stone like a king upon a throne, clearly showing that His kingdom was not of this world. Wherefore the saints do not recognise Christ as King, except as He sat crowned upon this stone. We read of St. Martin, that an evil spirit appeared to him, wearing a golden crown and a purple robe, and compassed about with splendour, saying that he was Christ. To him Martin answered: `I know not Christ save wearing the crown of thorns and the marks of the cross.' Hearing this; the demon was confounded, and fled. We read likewise of St. Catharine, of Siena, that when she had been shamefully slandered by some wicked woman, she was troubled and betook herself to the Lord, beseeching Him to defend her innocence. Christ appeared to her, having in His right hand a crown of gold, glittering with pearls, and in His left a crown of thorns, bristling with spikes, and said to her: `Choose which thou wilt; either in the course of this life to be crowned with the crown of thorns, and I will lay up for thee another precious crown for life eternal; or, take this precious crown now, and this thorny one shall be laid up for thee after death.' The virgin answered, `Lord, in this life I have always chosen to be moulded in the likeness of Thy most blessed passion, and I now make my choice: Saying this she, with both her hands, snatched the crown of thorns from the hand of the Saviour, and placed it upon her own head with such force, that after the vision had passed away she felt a distinct pain in her head from the pricks of the thorns. So likewise the glorious King Baldwin of Jerusalem, who was the first Latin Christian who reigned there, had for his ensign of royalty a crown not of gold (113a] but of thorns; and always on days of solemn state, even when other kings were present, he went crowned with thorns; saying that it would be unseemly for a sinful man to walk abroad as King of Jerusalem, tricked out with a crown of gold, when the King of Heaven had been crowned in Jerusalem with a crown of thorns. Round about Jerusalem there grow exceeding sharp thorns, whereof I wove a crown and carried it to Ulm with me. We ought not to believe that it was sea-thorns which were used to crown Christ, but the common thorns which grow in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem, on the Mount Sion, and on the Mount of Olives, and in the valleys: for the crowning of Christ was not a premeditated act of either Jews or Gentiles, but when He was brought before the judge and accused of having said that He, Christ, was a King, then of a sudden it came into their minds that He ought to be crowned in mockery and with torment, and they brought thorns from the nearest bushes, or perhaps found them in the kitchen of the house (of Pilate) among the faggots of wood for the fire, for I have seen with my own eyes that even at the present day they have no firewood save thorns, and their kitchens are full of exceeding sharp thorns for burning in the fire.

When we had left that chapel we went on our way, circling round the church on the inside, chanting the hymn of St. Helena, as is appointed in the processional, and we came to a great door in the wall of the church, as though through this door there were a passage to the outside of the church. Through this door we passed into darkness, which we dispelled with our lights, and straightway we felt under our feet stone steps, down which we went by thirty steps or stairs into a chapel which is called the chapel of St: Helena, and which is underground. There, when we had finished chanting our service, we knelt and prayed and received indulgences (^). This chapel is of good size, its only walls being the rock out of which it is hewn, and in like manner the steps from the church above lead down between walls of rock. Above it is vaulted, and gets its light through the vaulted roof, which vault is supported by six marble columns. It is said that at the time of Christ's passion these columns supported the judgment-hall wherein the Lord was judged, and that they were brought hither by St. Helena. These columns are black and, polished, and continually sweat; water drips from them drop by drop, and when a man wipes away these drops with his hand or his clothes, straightway other drops burst forth. The common people say that they began this miraculous sweat when Christ was being punished in the judgment-hall, and that this sweating is their tears over the innocence of Christ Jesus. We ought not altogether to reject the opinion of the common people, which of a surety is not altogether idle; for if stones can be said to sing praises to the Redeemer when men are silent, as, we read in the nineteenth chapter of St. Luke, what wonder is there if stones [b] should weep for the death of the Redeemer while men laughed it to scorn? As on Palm Sunday the Jewish boys and the disciples of Christ cried `Hosanna,' and the stones were silent, yet had these been silent the stones would have cried out, even, so had men wept for His innocent and cruel death, these stones would not have shed tears. But since men did not weep, the rocks shed tears, even as we read that they were rent asunder when Christ died. There is therefore no improbability in the pious belief of the populace, which declares that these columns wept at his death, save only, that it is not mentioned in Scripture: indeed, it is easier for a stone to weep than to sing praises. Furthermore, they say, that these columns weep thus continually because men rejoice and laugh, when they ought to be ever bewailing Christ's passion and their own sins and the wretchedness of this wicked world; and they say that if men would cease from excessive mirth these columns would cease from shedding tears. Other simple-minded men tell one in all good faith about these columns, that during Christ's passion the Virgin Mary being filled with sorrow and weeping alone, thus addressed the columns, `There is nothing,' said she, `that shares my grief, and how can I endure to bear such a weight of bitterness alone? Weep with me, ye stones.' At these words they began to drip with water. These columns are perhaps alluded to in Wisdom xi.: `They were given water from the depths of the rock, and relief from thirst from the hard rock,' in Habbakuk ii.11: `For the stone shall cry out of the wall,' and in Job ix. 6: `Which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble.' That which I have said above about these columns I heard from devout and simple Catholics, and from devout women, at whose piety I should be loth to scoff, or to despise their zeal. Yet I know full well that what can be done by natural causes ought not to be ascribed to miracles: for there is a certain stone, a sort of marble, called endyosoia from which water continually oozes, in whatever part of a building it be placed, because by its exceeding cold nature it condenses the air round about it, and turns it into water, as though in stones which are possessed of the proper qualities it were easy to turn water into air by refining it, and air into water by condensing it, wherefore air which has been made water on the surface of a stone naturally oozes into drops as it drips from the stone. Something of the same kind is said to take place in the old palace at Constantinople, in one room of which there are marble shells of a stone of this same sort, which shells of their own accord fill themselves with water, and when they are emptied, become full again without being filled by any man. The common people look upon this with astonishment, as a miracle, yet it comes to pass by the operation of nature. In like manner I believe these columns to be endrosic, that is, made of stone which is naturally wet and dripping with water.

In this same chapel there is a stone shell built into the wall, near the altar, which is meant to contain holy water, but which is always empty and devoid of holy water. When a man puts his head into this shell and listens, he hears a sound like the roaring and crackling of flames of fire, or like the rushing of many waters, but especially when a man is alone in the chapel, and desires to hear this noise, he hears a terrible disturbance, as I myself have frequently heard. Simple-minded folk when they hear this noise are much alarmed, and say that beneath it is purgatory, and that this sound is caused by the infliction of punishment and by the roars of the torturers; but I believe that this noise is caused down here by people walking about in the church above.

On either side of the stairs are large and lofty caverns hewn out of the rock, which once were consecrated chapels with altars (114a). They are altogether without light. It is wondrous to see the piety of the men of old in this and the like matters. This chapel contains two altars, and near the greater of the two, on its right-hand side, there is a stone chair, and near the chair is a window cut through the rock, through which one can see into the pit wherein the holy cross was found. They say that when Helena had found the holy cross, she first built this chapel, and while she sat in this chair continually cast her eyes through the window into the cave wherein she had found the cross. She sat there constantly, and pointed out to the builders the shape in which they were to build the church, and paid the expenses. In one of those darksome chapels was her bed, and there she abode with her maidservants by day and by night until the whole church was finished. Some call this the chapel of St. James, and say that St. James, who was the first Bishop of Jerusalem, had his throne therein; wherefore they call that chair St. James's throne. But this is against reason, seeing that in the time of St. James there was no church there, but only a place without the city walls, and of ill fame because of its nearness to Mount Calvary.

From this chapel we again descended by sixteen steps, which are on the right-hand side, singing the hymn of the holy cross, and we came into another chapel which is entirely dark and deprived of daylight, but is lighted by many lamps. At the foot of that chapel there is a pit twenty-two feet in length overhung by the rock, in which pit the sainted Empress Helena found that most precious treasure, which had lain hidden therein for more than three hundred years. There she found the three crosses, the nails, the crown of thorns, the plate on which the title placed over the cross was written, the iron head of the lance, with which the heart of Christ was pierced, the reed with the sponge, and all the instruments which were made use of in the crucifixion of Christ and of the two thieves, all of which they had thrown into this place together with the crosses, regarding them as unclean. We stood round about this holy cave chanting hymns of praise, glorifying the cross which was found there; one after another we bowed ourselves down and kissed the place, and received plenary indulgences (^ ^).

Now in the place where we imprinted our kisses we perceived a sweet scent which was breathed forth from the cave, by which odour we were very greatly edified, refreshed, and comforted, to think that we had been found worthy to catch the last relics of that most sweet scent which breathed forth from that cave when Judas Quirinus came upon the cross as he dug, as we read in the account of the invention of the holy cross.

This place is terrible, and is sunk deep among the rocks. Now how it came to pass that the crosses were buried so deep down in the bowels of the earth will be easily seen by anyone who understands and has read of the position of the holy city. The ancient city of Jerusalem was encircled by a deep chasm on the western side, where the Lord was crucified, which chasm reached from the south to the north along the entire length of the city. This chasm made a natural, not an artificial ditch for the city, and was formed of craggy rocks opposite to one another on either side of the chasm. Above the crags and rocks on the inner margin ran [b] the city wall, and the rocks of the outer margin stood up as defences for the city. Among these rocks on the outer margin there was one called Calvary, and below it was a place called Golgotha. On Calvary the Lord was crucified together with two others, and when they were taken down from the crosses, their executioners threw the crosses into that chasm, together with all the other instruments belonging to those who had been crucified, because Calvary stood on the edge of the chasm, and they could have done nothing else but draw the crosses out of the holes in the rock, and throw them into that pit, even as they were wont to throw other refuse into it; whereby the crosses were soon covered, for every day they cast down refuse there from the city wall. At last, when Titus destroyed Jerusalem, in the forty-third year after Christ's passion, he caused the walls and towers in that place to be cast down into that chasm, and thus day by day the crosses became more and more deeply covered. Seventy-seven years later came the emperor Aelius Hadrianus, who, out of hatred for the Christians, built on Golgotha a most impure temple wherein he placed a marble statue of Venus, as we are told by St. Jerome in his epistle to Paullina, while out of hatred for the Jews he set up a statue bearing his own likeness in the place where the Temple of the Lord had once stood, where the Jews had made an oratory for themselves. As soon as the emperor's back was turned to the city, the Jews destroyed the imperial statue. When Hadrian heard this, he returned, drove out the Jews from the city, destroyed it, down to the very ground, and went his way. Thus for a second time were the walls cast down into the chasm upon the crosses. Not long afterwards Caesar returned, rebuilt the city afresh, and gave orders that the ancient west wall should be entirely thrown down into the chasm, that the chasm should be filled up and levelled with the rest of the ground, that the temple of Venus should be enclosed within the circuit of the city wall, and the city made so much larger. Thus it came to pass that this chasm, in which the holy cross lay for about one hundred and eighty years, as Jerome . . . tells us, until St. Helena came, and could scarcely find the spot, which had fallen into oblivion. Wherefore she cleaned out this cavern, and caused it to be consecrated, and built her own chapel and dwelling above it, as it is at this day. So we stood in that place, rapt as it were in admiration of the rocks and stones beneath which the holy cross was found, for the precipitous rocks overhung our heads, and threatened to fall upon us. In this holy chasm pilgrims are inspired with great devotion, but the Eastern Christians and even the Saracens indulge in vain superstitions about it, and scrape off pieces from these racks for medicines, for they declare that one sick of a fever will be cured straightway if he drink some wine and water in which a piece of these rocks has been placed. Moreover when anyone suffers with headache, he forthwith causes his head to be shaved, and sends the hair which has been cut off it to the guardians of the temple, that they may place it upon the spot where the cross was found; and when this is done, the patient is cured. So also do they when one suffers from toothache, for they then shave his beard off and send the hair to the cave, that he may be healed . . . Hence it comes to pass that all the crannies in the rocks and between the stones are stuffed full of hair. There can be no doubt that this profane rite has been handed down to them from the idolaters of old times. Diodorus, in the fourth chapter of his second book of ancient history, tells us that the Egyptians of old when they were making vows to their gods for the safety or cure of sick people, used to shave off their hair, and put it into gold or silver vessels, which they sent to those who ministered to the idols in their temples, and they were healed. Thus do these wicked men even at the present day. Behind the place of the invention of the holy cross [115a] there is a deep hole in the rock, which is full of men's hair and beards. And albeit the Saracens and Turks are unbelievers, natheless they use that place and Calvary for their superstitions. In this cave is an admirable echo, the like of which I have not heard in any choir or church; wherefore when I have been there alone I have often sung in a full and loud voice the antiphons relating to the invention of the holy cross and other hymns.

After we had finished all that was to be done in the holy cave we presently came up again and re-entered the church through the door. As we resumed our procession the precentor began in a loud voice to sing the hymn Vexilla regis prodeunt, etc. Singing this we came to the way up to the most holy Mount Calvary, up which we went by eighteen stone steps from the church below it. Above we entered a light, beauteous chapel, adorned with polished and variegated marble, and wherein there hung many lighted lamps. In it stood three altars, adorned with paintings done in mosaic work. This chapel is built of vaulted work, supported by a marble column in the midst of the building. On the under side of the vault are paintings of David and Solomon, David with the text Qui edebat panes meos magnific, [Ps.xli.9] etc., and Solomon with the text Sapientia aedificavit sibi domum, Prov.ix,1] and a picture of the sacrifice of Isaac. This chapel is built above the Mount Calvary. When we were all come into it, and now before our eyes was displayed that wondrous stone, that desirable rock, with its admirable socket-hole wherein the most holy cross bearing the Crucified One was inserted--when we beheld these things, scared and bewildered at their exceeding great holiness, we fell down upon our faces on the earth, and one heard no longer psalmody, but lamentation; no longer the singing of hymns, but wailings and groans. No one was here who could withhold himself from tears and cries; for echo could have so hard a heart that it would not be rent in that place, where he beheld before his eyes the hardest rock to have been rent? Who would not even weep aloud in the place where Christ our God cried with a loud voice as He hung upon the cross; where likewise He prayed for those who had crucified Him, promised Paradise to the thief, commended His deeply-sorrowing mother to the care of John, and drank the vinegar mingled with gall; when He said that all was finished, yielded up His spirit into the hands of the Father, and breathed His last; where the soldier pierced His side with his lance, and there came forth blood and water. Lo, devout pilgrim, it was here that Abel was slain by his brother, Isaac was bound for sacrifice by his father, the brazen serpent was set up by Moses, the paschal lamb was slain according to the Law, God was slain by man, Jesus was crucified in the flesh, thy King was hung upon the cross, thy Lord was condemned to death, the meek and lowly and innocent was drenched with blood; offering Himself both as priest and as victim. These thoughts and others of the like nature occurred to our minds at this most solemn place, and we remained for a long time bowed to the earth in prayer. When we had finished our prayer we went one after another to the holy rock, which projects above the floor, and each one [b] as best he could crawled to the socket-hole of the cross, kissed the place with exceeding great devotion, and placed his face, eyes, and mouth over the socket-hole, from whence in very truth there breathes forth an exceeding sweet scent, whereby men are visibly refreshed. We put our arms and our hands into the hole down to the very bottom: and by these acts we received plenary indulgences (^ ^) .

On the left hand side of the socket-hole is a great rent in the rock, from the top to the bottom, which is believed to have been made at Christ's death. We went up to this rent one after another, and kissed it, putting our heads into it, and as much of our bodies as we could. Moreover on either side of the holy socket there are two other sockets, in which the crosses of the two thieves, Dysmas and Gesmas, who were crucified together with Jesus, were placed; but these sockets cannot be seen, because upon them stand low pillars, upon whose heads there are iron spikes, upon which wax candles and lights are stuck, so that these pillars are as it were candlesticks. Howbeit, we kissed the pillar which stood at the right hand of the cross. About these crosses see above, page 67a.

On the wall behind the holy rock is a new picture, very precious, of the Crucified One, the blessed Virgin, and St. John the Evangelist. We were on the Mount Calvary with our procession for more than an hour, giving ourselves up to prayer and devotion, and night came on, it being about the ninth hour, before midnight. Nicholas de Cusa tells us about the rending of the rock itself in his 'Persuasio ad Soldanum', in Book III., chapter xvii. of his edition of the Coran.

The place Calvary is not called a mount in Scripture, but it is only common talk which speaks of it as a mount; since in truth it is not a mount, but a rock or crag, somewhat raised above the ground, and yet the mount Calvary has not this distinction, as may be clearly seen in the figure. The rock, mount, and place was from the beginning very worthy of respect, because

Adam, our first parent, died here;

Abraham was blessed here by Melchisedech;

Isaac was brought hither by his father to be sacrificed;

The brazen serpent was set up here;

The Lord Jesus was crucified and died here.

Not that the Mount Calvary contains a large part of the city. The place Calvary means the entire site of the church. The rock of Calvary supports the cross alone. Now before the enlargement of the city this crag stood opposite to the city wall, on the brink of a deep cleft which encircled the city on the western side, as I have said before on page 114 a, b. It was not far from the city wall, because the cleft itself, though deep, was not so wide, but that a man could throw a stone from the city wall as far as the crag of Calvary. How great this crag may have been, cannot well be ascertained, but this much is clear, from the form of the church itself, that it was once larger than it now is, because when it was enclosed within the new wall it was necessary to cut away a part of it. Now, although that rock was near the wall, as I have said, yet it was a long way round to it from the pavement, where the Lord took up the cross, to the Gate of judgment, and from the gate crossing over the ravine by the bridge to the rock, which rock did not stand exactly opposite to the bridge, but a considerable distance away from it, so that one had to turn up along the edge of the ravine. Here stood the crag on the edge of the ravine in such a posture, that the Lord, when crucified thereon, had His back turned to the east and towards the city, but turned His face towards the west. Whether the Lord was crucified on the top of the crag, or (116a) lower down, may well be doubted, because on account of the buildings on the site one cannot tell how wide the rock was at the top. I believe that the Lord was nailed to the cross at the foot of the crag, and that when He was fastened thereon, they dragged Him and the cross together up to the top, and there fixed the cross in the rock.

The place of Calvary was worthy of honour from ancient times before the crucifixion of Christ. In it was found the hairless skull of Adam, from which the place was called Calvary, or Calvary and Golgotha, which is the same thing. The Jews venerated this place from ancient times, because they believe that in it Abraham made ready to sacrifice his son Isaac as we are told (in Scripture). Wherefore here is believed to have been one of the high places wherein the people used to offer sacrifice, and even built a temple, for which they are often reproved in the books of the Kings, where it is said, even of pious kings, 'He did that which was good in the sight of the Lord, nevertheless he took not away the high places, for the people still offered sacrifice upon the high places.' For there were certain places in the Holy Land in which some memorable acts have been done by the Lord, and in which, before the building of the temple, the Lord used to be worshiped, which, after the building of the temple, was forbidden to be done. Of these places were Shiloh, and Gilgal, and the Mount of Olives, and the place of Calvary. Upon this high place in particular the people used to offer sacrifice beyond measure, because upon it was set up the brazen serpent whereof we read in the twenty- first chapter of Numbers; which serpent was greatly worshiped by the people up to the time of King Hezekiah, who brake it to pieces, as is told in the eighteenth chapter of the second book of Kings.

The ancients respected this place because it was here that Melchisedech met Abraham and offered him bread and wine: and here is the centre of the world, all of which matter will presently be explained.

Now when the Jews had lost their kingdom, and were governed by foreign-born Gentile kings, who hated them, these kings, to spite the Jews, turned the place of Calvary and Golgotha into a place for the punishment of evildoers, in which thieves, robbers, murderers and blasphemers were punished and put to death, in order that they might make the place abominable to the Jews out of scorn for them and the place continued to be held in scorn up to the tip of Christ, after whose resurrection and ascension the place began to be respected and worshiped by Christians. But the idolatrous emperor Aelius Hadrianus would not suffer this, but built a temple of Venus there, set up the statue of an harlot on the rock of Calvary, and thus cast dishonour upon the place, making it odious to Christians, as Jerome tells us in his epistle to Paullina. Thus it remained abominable to Christians for one hundred and eighty years, until St. Helena came, cleared away all the rubbish by which the place was defiled, and wondrously beautified it, as will be shown in my account of the church. As touching this mount, see below, pages 130, 255. See also St. Bernard's sermon to the Knights Templars, chapter x.

After we had kissed the holy rock we descended again in procession to the floor of the church, and entered a chapel which is underneath the chapel of Mount Calvary, and from which rises the rock of the cross of Christ, which rock rises up even into the chapel above. In this place we fell upon the earth and kissed it with great devotion adoring Jesus upon the cross, upon which He was nailed in that place. For if the rock were there as it is at this day, Christ could not have been nailed to the cross upon it, but at its foot, and this must needs have been [b] there place of the nailing to the cross, albeit on this matter the is no text of Scripture or certain proof, except that the shape of the ground appears to prove it. In this place we recalled to our memories the shameful stripping of Christ, how they stripped Him here and robbed Him of all his garments, how by the taking off of His garments the wounds caused by His scourging were torn open for the second time, and how when He was naked He sat on the ground bowed down both out of shame because He was entirely naked, and out of weakness, because He was covered with wounds. When the cross was ready, and His crucifiers were about to drag Him on to it, He gathered strength to rise, and, bending His knees before the cross, prayed, saying, `Eternal Father, receive Me Thy beloved Son, whom I offer Thee as a spotless sacrifice for the salvation of mankind for the remission of sins.' Having spoken thus He readily gave Himself up to the hands of His crucifiers, who cast Him down upon the cross and cruelly stretched Him out thereon. Seeing this His most sorrowful mother ran up and brought a veil to cover her Son's middle, wherewith He remained covered. The Place where the blessed Virgin and John stood at the foot of the cross is near this place, although the entrance to it is outside the church, as will be shown in its place. This also is to my mind a proof that Christ was nailed to the cross down below, and was raised above the rock together with the cross, amid the noisy scoffings of the Jews.

After we had kissed the place wherein I imagine that Christ was nailed to the cross, we went on our way towards an altar which is built against the rock of Calvary, on the right hand side of which we saw the rent in the rock, which reaches from the top of it quite down to the earth. In this same place, Adam, our first parent, according to many authorities, died and was buried. There is no contradiction to this in what is said in the fourteenth chapter of the Book of Joshua, that Adam was buried in Hebron among the children of Anak, that is, among the giants, because it is said in the Supplement to the Chronicles that Adam died and was buried on Mount Calvary, and that afterwards his body, all save the head, was translated to Hebron, to the double cave there. The head of Adam was found a long time afterwards on Mount Calvary. For this reason painters are wont to draw a human skull at the foot of the cross. Wherefore Ambrose and Athanasius, Chrysostom and Jerome in his epistle to Marcella, and in many other places, and the Hebrew doctors declare that Adam* sinned here, and was buried here, to the end that Christ might expose his own body in the place where the human race became corrupted, and that incorruption might arise from the place where corruption was sown. Thus Antonius, St. Jerome also, often says the same thing: howbeit, in one place he says that to say that Adam was buried there is a smooth saying, and meant to please the ears. So we kissed the place of the rending of the rock, and the burial-place of our father Adam.

Moreover the Eastern Christians say in this place was buried Melchisedech, the first priest of Jerusalem, of whom we read in the fourteenth chapter of Genesis, and in the hundred and tenth Psalm. But this is not received by the Latin and Western Church, because of the Apostle's words in the seventh chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews, where it is said that Melchisedech had no father, no mother, no lineage, and no beginning of his days, or end to his life. This, however, must not be taken to mean that Melchisedech was never born and never died, or that he existed without parents, as the Melchisedechian heretics declare, who say that he was not a man, as . . . but it must be taken to mean that he did indeed have parents, and a beginning and an end to his life, but that no one could ever find this out, because he was a type of the eternal priesthood of Christ. Wherefore Jerome in his Epistle to Evagrius [Evangelus (?)] wonderfully inveighs against those who say that Melchisedech was not a man, but a son of God or an angel. Those who say this are held by the Church to be Melchisedechian heretics.

In this chapel are buried the Latin kings,* who [117a] with great valour and exceeding great toil brought back the Holy Land into the hands of the Christians and conquered it, and harassed the Saracens beyond measure, so that it is a wonder that they do not pull down the church because of their bodies, The kings who are buried here are the following; First, King Godfrey of Bouillon, Duke of Lorraine, who, after the taking of Jerusalem in the year of our Lord, 1096**, was elected King of Jerusalem by the whole of the princes of the West, and who on his death was buried here in the church of the Holy Sepulchre. Second, King Baldwin (I.). Third, King Baldwin (II.). Fourth, Fulke. Fifth, Baldwin (III.). Sixth, Amalric. Seventh, Baldwin (IV.). Eighth, Baldwin (V.). Ninth, Guy. This last king was a coward, and neglected the holy city and the kingdom of Jerusalem. The Lord Bertrand,*** Count of Tripoli, revolted against him, albeit he also was a Catholic. Now as King Guy was powerful, and Bertrand could not conquer him by means of his own people, he called the Soldan, the King of Egypt, to help him against the King of Jerusalem, made an alliance with the Saracens, and thus conquered Guy. But the Saracens and heathen peoples, seeing the dissent of the kingdom, and that the Christians were divided amongst themselves, banded themselves together, and took the holy city, from whence they cast out the Christians, and consequently the Christians lost the entire Holy Land. The afore-mentioned kings reigned eighty-eight years and nineteen days in Jerusalem, and their kingdom passed away and was joined to the kingdom of Egypt, as it is at this day.

See how far I have wandered away from my subject; but I will now return to it. The aforesaid chapel beneath Mount Calvary belongs to the Nubian Christians, who conduct their services therein, and say that King Melchior.* one of the three magi of whom we read in the second chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel, was a King of Nubia, and that when he came from Nubia and had drawn nigh to Jerusalem, he would not enter the city, but was entertained near Mount Calvary, and that therefore this place has been assigned to them from old times. When we had finished the processional service and received indulgenccs (^), we left this chapel.

When we were come out of that chapel we walked some nine steps further in procession, singing the hymn of Christ's passion, Pange lingua gloriosi praelium certaminis, and came to the place where there lies on the floor of the church a black stone, sprinkled with some red spots, and well polished, which stone is said to have been there at the time of Christ's passion, hard by the sepulchre of Joseph of Arimathea; for the Jews wash their dead, and lay the body upon a table either of wood or of stone, and there perform the usual services of washing and anointing. Now Joseph, who had hewn a sepulchre for himself out of the rock at that place, had likewise caused a polished marble table to be made for himself, whereon his body might be washed and anointed. But as he gave up his own sepulchre to Christ, even so did he with his stone of unction. So when Joseph and Nicodemus and those who helped them had loosed Christ's body from the cross, they bore him hither, and laid Him naked upon this holy stone, where they anointed His wounds with unguents, and wrapped Him in linen cloths [b]. At these funeral services the most glorious and most sorrowful Mary was present, sitting and holding the wounded head of her Son in her lap, and binding it up with a napkin, while Mary, Magdalen most carefully anointed those sacred feet which she had once anointed in life, and, as their work needed it, they rolled his most precious body upon this stone. On this most sacred store I, alas, stood in ignorance, as has been told above, on page 109a, b. We ranged ourselves round about this stone in procession, and when we had finished singing we all one after another knelt and kissed it, and received plenary indulgences (^ ^) , From this place they carried the body of the Lord to the sepulchre, which is about fifty paces distant from it. Above this place there is a cord stretched from one wall to the other, from which hang many lighted lamps. After the procession they laid a table upon this stone, and anyone who chose celebrated Mass thereon.

When we had visited all the holy places before we entered the Lord's sepulchre we marched in procession; swerving aside from the path by which the body of the Lord Jesus was carried to the sepulchre, and entered the church of Golgotha, which is the choir of the entire building. Here, when we were come to the middle of the choir, we halted round about a stone which is round, and raised above the other stones of the pavement, in the midst whereof is a round hole, into which a man could put his fist, that is to say, his clenched hand. They say that this stone lies in the central point of the whole world, and the Eastern Christians say that the Lord Jesus, before His passion, stood here with His disciples, and pointed to this spot with His finger, saying, 'Lo, here is the middle of the world.' Ancient histories also tell us that before the building of this temple a tall marble pillar was set up in this place by philosophers, which pillar at the summer equinox threw no shadow at mid-day, as the sun stood directly over it. A certain knight who was a pilgrim in my company wished to prove this by experiment, and having obtained leave from the Lord Sabathytanco, the master of the hospice, who was called the Chief Calinus, he ascended with some of his comrades above the vaulted roof of the choir, which vaulted roof is very lofty and has steps by which it can be ascended. On the topmost part of the roof is a high place cunningly built of stone, whereon a man may stand without peril and look round about him. To this place that knight ascended at midday, to see whether his body would cast any shadow. He declared to us that in very truth he saw no shadow proceeding from his body, for he stood directly above that place round which we stood, because the dome is so built as to stand above that place, in order that the experiment may be made there. But I do not see that the fact that the sun shines at mid-day so directly above men's heads' that their bodies cast no shadow is any true and certain proof that the spot where it does so is the middle of the world, for I have read in several books about many places where at certain times men's bodies cast no shadow, as we are told by Dionysius in his third book of 'Antiquities' of this sort, about a certain island which lies in the ocean towards the southward, wherein about mid-day no object whatever casts any shadow, because the sun is straight overhead: and yet this island is a very long way from Jerusalem. Also Peter de Abano,* Conciliator, in his book about learning, etc., page 67, says that the same thing takes place in the city of Athens, where he himself has proved it by experiment. At the city of Syene, too, upon the Nile, the same thing is said to happen when the sun is in the summer tropic. Ptolemy, too, in his third and fourth map of Africa brings in many regions where the noonday sun stands directly overhead: and what is more than this, in the same map many places are noted where twice in the year the sun stands overhead without casting any shadow. For example there are many places in Asia, as may be seen in the sixth map, in the ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth: and it is well known that these places are not the middle of the world. Many have held a certain island to be the middle of the world; in which island the noonday sun always fails to cast a shadow. Howbeit, the opinion of the vulgar is that any place is the middle of the world, because they believe that mankind are spread all round about the world, and. stand with their feet the opposite way to ours, so that each man has his own zenith, and each man treads with his feet upon what to him is the middle of this globe or world. But Augustine in his treatise 'De Civitate Dei,' Book XVI., chapter ix., altogether denies the existence of any antipodes, because neither Scripture, history, nor, experience, teaches us to believe in them, and it is impossible to reach the other side of the globe because of the vast extent of the ocean, which it is, impossible for any of our shipping to traverse. See about these matters in the `Speculum Naturae,' Book. VII., chapter x. But the infallible truth of Holy Scripture proves by its testimonies that Jerusalem is in the middle of the world. However, many say that Jerusalem is indeed the middle of the habitable world, but is not in the middle of the entire scheme of the universe. Whichever of these opinions is true, we must believe the Holy Scripture, which declares that Jerusalem lies in the midst of the earth, and tells us that our Saviour worked out our salvation in the midst of the earth. Wherefore in the first place Ezekiel in his fifth chapter says, 'This [118a] is Jerusalem; I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her.' Secondly, in the 74th Psalm we read, 'He hath wrought his salvation in the midst of the earth.' Wherefore Hilarius says, `The place where the cross stood is, as it were, a point in the centre of the earth, in order that all men might have equal opportunities of obtaining knowledge of God.' For the place where the cross was set up, and the rock, stand to the right hand of this central point, and from it there is a door in the choir leading up to Mount Calvary. As then Christ is the central person in the Trinity, and the Mediator between God and man, as He holds the middle position in the scheme of the Redemption of the world, even so He chose the middle point of the world and set up His cross in the same. There appears to be an allusion to this in Genesis ii.: `The tree of life also in the midst of the garden,' meaning `the cross of Christ in the midst of the world.' Moreover in Deut. vii. 21: `The Lord thy God is among you,' And of the church of the Holy Sepulchre it is said in Leviticus xxvi.11: I will set my tabernacle among you,' that is, `I will set up the temple of My sepulchre in the midst of the world.'

So in this place we rejoiced with exceeding great joy, that we had come from the uttermost parts of the earth to the middle thereof safe and sound, and after we had offered praises to God we received indulgences (^).

When we departed from this place, and from the church of Golgotha, we passed out again, by the door through which we came in, into the church of the Holy Sepulchre, and came to the place where the three Maries, when they came to anoint Jesus, saw rolled away from the mouth of the sepulchre that stone about which they had been anxious on their way, saying, `Who will roll away the stone for us from the mouth of the sepulchre?' and when they looked they found that it was rolled away. We entered into this place and bowed ourselves to the earth, kissed it, and received indulgences (^).

Be it noted, that wherever this drawing or symbol of the holy sepulchre occurs, and as many times as you find it, so many times you may know that I watched throughout the night in the church of the holy sepulchre during my second pilgrimage. During my first I passed three nights therein.

Rouse up yourselves now, my lords and brother pilgrims, arise and hurry onward with a swifter pace, but come not save in a cheerful mood. Lay aside all sorrow, wipe away the tears from your eyes, refrain from lamentations, and all together sing that sweet Easter song Alleluia: for after the gloomy Jewish Sabbaths a genial light has shined forth upon the word from the squalid and darksome sepulchre which we are about to enter: for the world has received far brighter light from thence than from the glimmering bodies in the firmament. Come then with joy and praise, look upon the place where the Lord was laid, and behold the end of your pilgrimage. So hereupon the preceptor in a pleasant and cheerful voice began the paschal hymn, Ad coenam agni providi, etc., and we walked on in procession chanting it, and came to the most precious sepulchre of the Lord Jesus, before which we rang out our Easter hymns with many an Alleluia, with as great, or it may be with even greater joy than if we had reached happy Easter day after a sad and toilsome Lent. For as on Mount Calvary we pitied our Lord Christ, and shed tears, so here we rejoiced with our Redeemer, and offered to him sweet tears of joy and lively songs: and rightly so; for Jesus our Saviour after His tears and sorrow, after His mockings and scourgings, after His cups of vinegar and gall, after His torture and wounds upon the cross, after His terrible death itself, after His piteous burial, after He had descended into the everlasting shades of hell, after He had broken the iron bars, after He had bound the prince of darkness, and set free all the chosen patriarchs, rose glorious and triumphant from this tomb we now behold, from this darksome cave, there shone forth so bright a light, there darted forth so brilliant a ray, there gleamed such snowy whiteness, there became such blessed peace, there came forth such happiness, there breathed forth such salvation as made earth, sea and sky to rejoice together. In this sepulchre, in this tiny hut did the eagle renew its youth, the lion roused up its cub, the phoenix renewed its life, Jonah came forth unharmed from the whale's belly, the candlestick was clad with gold, the tabernacle of David which had fallen down was set up again, the sun shone forth after being behind a cloud, the grain of wheat which had fallen into the earth and died became quickened, the stag again put forth his horns, Samson bore away the gates and broke through his guards, Joseph was brought forth from prison, shaved, gaily dressed, and made lord of Egypt. The sack-cloth of Christ Jesus was cut away; He was clothed with gladness, and besides all this, our toilsome pilgrimage, our weary wanderings are here ended and brought to rest. Here, then, I pray you, let us lay aside our pious plaints of sorrow, our clouds of grief, [119a] and let us draw a quiet breath in happiness: let us who have followed our Redeemer to His tomb with sorrow, now take part in the joy of His glorious resurrection. Come, then, gather yourselves together, knights and kindly pilgrims, enter the most holy sepulchre and see with your eyes, feel with your hands, touch with your mouth the place where the Lord lay. So we joyously went in, one after another, into the most precious sepulchre of the Lord Jesus, kissed the most holy bier, and received entire and plenary indulgences (^ ^) for all sins: We were indeed filled with an especial joy here, greater than what we felt at the other holy places. Thus St. Bernard in the second chapter of his sermon to the Knights Templars says that the sepulchre hath as it were the pre-eminence among the holy and desirable places, and that something more of devotion is felt at the place where He lay at rest than at those where He moved about in life. Thus, too, the remembrance of His death excites our piety more than that of His life: I suppose because His death was cruel, while His life was pleasant by comparison, and because our human weakness is more attracted by the repose of sleeping than the toil of living among men, more by the safety of death than by righteousness of life. The life of Christ is to me a rule by which to live, His death is my redemption from death. Here we received spiritual refreshment and indulgences, and passed out with joyous thanksgiving, and thus our procession came to an end one hour before midnight. (The description of the holy sepulchre appears on page 124b.) When the procession was over the pilgrims drew together according to their several companies, into the various corners of the church, each company sitting in its own place, for we were wearied and worn out, and we made a sober meal. After we had eaten we leaned our heads against the wall for a short rest, and lay asleep upon the pavement. I myself abode with the brethren of Mount Sion in the chapel of the blessed Virgin, who had given me a quiet place to sleep in, but I could by no means close my eyes to sleep. Wherefore I arose straightway, lit my candle, and joined the watchers at the holy places: for indeed the greater part of the pilgrims were wandering about all the aforesaid holy places as each one pleased, passing hither and thither as the spirit of prayer moved them: for a pilgrim may enter the Holy Sepulchre, ascend the Mount Calvary, or descend into the chapel of the Invention of the Cross, and the other places as often as he pleases. In these solitary visits to the holy places men feel greater devotion and abstraction from the world than when they do so in the general procession, in which there is much pushing and disorder, and disturbance, and singing, and weeping, whereas in the other case there is silence and peace. As I went the round of the places for the second time, I went down to the place of the Invention of the Cross, and there read my matins. I took great delight in that underground place, because it was quiet and suited to me, for the Mount Calvary and the Lord's sepulchre, and the other places up above were filled with an unbroken throng of pilgrims, and very noisy. Meanwhile some of my lords and their servants were running to and fro in the church above me, hunting in every corner, seeking for me to hear their confessions, and never guessed me to be in that place. At last they came down to where I was, and I heard them there, sitting in the chair of St. Helena, whereof I have already made mention on page 114a.

When it was midnight, the sacrist ran about the church with a wooden plank, and very noisily gave the signal for morning prayers. When I heard this, I straightway ascended, appointed for those whose [b] confession I had not yet heard another time at which I would hear them, and entered the sacristy, which adjoins the chapel of the Blessed Virgin, where I vested myself for the celebration of Mass (for this church, like that of Bethlehem, has the privilege that Masses may be said in it even at midnight). When I was ready I came forth, went into the most holy sepulchre of our Lord, where I was the first to obtain a place wherein to say Mass. undisturbed, and there I most pleasantly celebrated the Mass for the Lord's Resurrection. After my Mass I administered the sacrament to several noblemen in the holy sepulchre itself, by permission of the Father Guardian. After me other priests came to celebrate Mass, both in the holy sepulchre and in three other places, as I have told you on page 110a, under the sixth head.

However, the greatest struggle among the priests is to say Mass at the holy sepulchre, especially when many priests are present; for they stand outside the sepulchre and wait for the one who is celebrating to finish, and as soon as he leaves the altar, another straightway runs up to it, and while he who has been celebrating disrobes himself, six or more priests stand round him, all struggling to obtain his sacred vestments, and when he takes off his surplice, all the six or more lay hold of it and pull at it, and use such offensive words one to another that they all but come to blows. I have seen priests striving thus one with another who waxed so wroth that one said to the other, `Give up the surplice to me.' Another on the opposite side of it said, `I will keep hold of it; you are not worthy to go before me.' The other answered, `You are not worthy to celebrate Mass at all; I go before you because I am worthier than you: And with this they went so far as even to use vile and disgraceful language and curses, while they dragged at the surplice as though they would tear it asunder. Lo, whoever heard a more unreasonable dispute! What folly, what rash presumption, what blindness! I opine that men who can wrangle thus must have a blind, foolish sort of piety, execrable alike to God and to man, and that it is incomparably better for such men to refrain themselves--nay, better were it for them never to have seen Jerusalem, than that they should thus blindly meddle with sacred things. I vigorously joined my expression of sorrow to that of the laymen who were present, and who were looking on greatly scandalized at this scene. Perhaps from my want of piety I did not feel such interest in the saying of Mass as they did, and I would rather have left Jerusalem without celebrating than I would have fought for a place. Yet both in my first and my second pilgrimage I always got a place without any dispute, even at the spots which are most sought after. I have seen some others who did not indeed struggle or dispute, but rushed in and laid hold of the surplice for themselves by main force so impatiently and masterfully that no one dared to oppose them. Such men I hold to be worse priests and more presumptuous even than those who dispute. All this arises from want of order, because the matter is not reduced to any system. On my first pilgrimage there were many priests, and few laymen, and the matter was not subject to any rules, so that many disputes of this kind took place. On my second pilgrimage there were few priests and many laymen, and the Father Guardian, who was a wise man, had arranged everything very well, so that the ceremony was performed in peace.

The reasons why the priests are in such a hurry and strive one with another for a place, are various. One of them is the frenzy of devotion which men feel at the holy places, which becomes so great as to produce unbridled zeal, especially among those who have no discretion or piety, (120a] for such men are always afraid that they will not be allowed time for the full indulgence of their devotions. Another is, that many priests have made a vow that they will celebrate one or two Masses in the holy sepulchre, and so they strive and struggle that they may fulfil their vow. Another reason is that many come thither who are sent by others, who cannot themselves fulfil their vow of pilgrimage thither. When they send these men in their place they entrust them with the saying of so many Masses in the Holy Sepulchre, and exact oaths from them and pay their expenses; wherefore these men are afraid lest they perjure themselves, and so they hurry and quarrel. Another reason is that they wish when they return to their own country to be able to say with truth, `I celebrated Mass in the Holy Sepulchre,' and it seems to them, if they could not get a place, that it would be a shame to them and a scandal that they should so depart from Jerusalem. Another reason is that sometimes knights who are present give a priest a ducat to celebrate a Mass for them in the holy sepulchre, and these priests scuffle very vigorously. Moreover, some priests have been charged by their superior prelates to celebrate so many Masses in the holy sepulchre; and some when they leave those dear to them promise them that they will say Mass in the Lord's sepulchre for them. All these classes of men eagerly struggle for a place. Another cause is perhaps a superstitious one; for it is said that every Mass which is said in the Lord's sepulchre does in truth set free a soul from purgatory. The same thing is said of Masses said in the Catacombs at Rome, and that more especially those souls are freed on behalf of whom the celebrating priest says the Mass. Those who believe this are in a prodigious hurry, and injure themselves, offend their brethren, and are a scandal to laymen in their eagerness to help these souls. Another reason is that some believe that Masses said in the holy sepulchre are more efficacious both for the celebrant and for other persons, whether dead or alive, and more likely to obtain grace. Another cause is the covetousness and irreverence of some men, who will not give way to any man, but always push for the first place, because they know not how to wait in patience. There is another reason, which perhaps is the first as well as the last: it is, that the pilgrims know well that they are not allowed to pass more than three nights in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and that they have not time for more than three Masses, wherefore each man struggles to be the first to get his Mass said in the holy sepulchre, and will not rest until he has said it, because he fears that time will fail him, as it often does fail many, who depart in sorrow without having said a Mass in the holy sepulchre. So, as aforesaid, we celebrated our Masses, and at sunrise the sacristan again ran round the whole church with his wooden board, and gave the signal for the celebration of High Mass at prime and tierce on the Mount Calvary. So we all went up into the holy mount, and the Father Guardian with his attendants, dressed in their sacred vestments, came up to the altar, and the precentor began the service of the Holy Cross with the prayer, Nos autem gloriari,and we all took part in this service with loud voices. After the service.my lords the knights and all the lay pilgrims received the sacrament (121a) with great piety, and the service lasted until the hour of eight in the morning. At the very instant when we had finished, the Saracens came to turn us out.

After we had finished our services and Masses there came the pagan Moorish lords, who threw open the gates of the church, making a great noise with the doors, that we might go forth more quickly. On hearing this we were frightened and disturbed at our separation from such delightful places, and we ran round from one holy place to another, kissing them; but as the pilgrims delayed their going by acting thus, the Moors became angry, banged the doors of the church so violently that the hinges creaked, and ran about with frightful yells among the holy places, from which they drove the pilgrims by force, and turned every one of us out of the church, except only the usual guardians. When they had turned us out they shut the church doors and went their way, leaving us in the courtyard outside. There we addressed ourselves to the visiting of certain holy places near to the church.

First then on leaving the door of the church we turned to the right, where against the wall of the church there is a stair of stone steps leading up to Mount Calvary. At the top of these steps there was once a door through which one could pass to the rock of Calvary, but this door has now been built up by the Saracens. Under these steps there is a door through which one enters a chapel which is within the walls of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, but which is surrounded by a wall on the inside, so that no one can enter the church through it, because the Saracens have built up its inner door also. In this chapel is the place where the most blessed Virgin Mary and St. John the Evangelist stood beneath the cross, at the foot of the rock of Calvary, when the Lord Jesus saw them both, and commended John, to the care of His mother, and His mother to the care of His disciple. In this holy place we bowed ourselves to the earth and lay prostrate there, and received indulgences (^).

This place belongs to the Indians; who conduct their services there.

In this place we reflected upon the immeasurable sorrow of the blessed Virgin, because we knew that she there suffered all the pangs of every bodily suffering. All the cruelties which were exercised upon the bodies of the martyrs were trifling, or rather were even as nothing, in respect of her agony, whose measureless extent did indeed pierce the very innermost recesses of her kindest of hearts. `There stood by the cross of Jesus,' we are told by the Evangelist, `Mary, His mother,' not as idle or busied with vain tasks, [122 a] but with a troubled mind, and a piteous voice, saying: `O my Son, that wert once my delight and my joy, and art now a grief keener than the sharpest-pointed sword! Oh, how unhappy is this day both for me and for Thee; who can heal the wounds of my sorrows, or comfort the wretchedness of Thy miserable mother, when I see my Son made as it were a leper, Thou that wert fairest of all the children of men, and treated as a malefactor and numbered with transgressors, Thou that art the holiest of the saints? Above all my unbearable sorrows is this, that I see Thee to all appearance forgetful of me, Thy widowed mother. Now, even now, Thou art dying, and sayest no word to me. What shall I do without Thee, my Son? Whither shall I betake myself? To whom shall I fly for refuge? Thou art my Father, Thou art my Brother, Thou art my glory. O forsaken one that I am, who see so great a Son fainting upon the cross! O my most loving Son, speak to me, Thy mother, that I may hear Thy voice, that so by hearing Thy mere words I may be made more patient to endure my punishment, which tortures me through my love of Thee, lest I faint in this ineffable anguish. To whose charge, I pray Thee, wilt Thou leave me, Thy orphan?' With these and other lamentations like to these, the Virgin Mary lamented in this place the misfortunes of her Son and of herself. Her Son, seeing this, said: ` Woman, behold Thy Son. We pitied the mother in this place, even as on Calvary we had pitied the Son. But how warm a love she felt above all others for the Evangelist himself, who stood there in such deep affliction! The blessed Virgin and John and the others did not stand upon the rock, beneath the arms of the cross, but at the foot of the rock, opposite to Christ's face.

After we had said our prayers in the afore-mentioned place we passed into another chapel, which is dedicated to the holy angels, This chapel is served by Jacabites, and we knelt therein and received indulgences (^).

After this we conferred with one another as to why a chapel of the holy angels should be built adjoining this most holy church. The answer which we received was, that this chapel was built because of the effectual protection which the angels extend to this church. For had the holy angels not always guarded this church and the Lord's Sepulchre with especial care, it would long ago have been utterly destroyed by the infidels. Moreover, pilgrims who came from parts beyond the sea to the Sepulchre of the Lord escape many risks and deadly perils through the guardianship of the angels, to whom they return thanks in this chapel, and beg that they may be brought happily home again under the same angelic safe-conduct.

From this chapel we passed on to another one, which is dedicated to John the Baptist, and which belongs to the Georgians. When we had entered it we bowed ourselves in prayer, and received indulgences (^). It is quite according to reason that that he who was the greatest among those born of women should have a place and oratory beside the greatest church among all churches; and likewise because the most holy Baptist pointed to Christ with his finger and said 'Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world,' which saying we knew [b] was fulfilled in this spot, whereon He offered Himself as a sacrifice to take away the sins of the whole world. Moreover, the Baptist has a chapel there, in order that the Saracens themselves may be more inclined to spare the church, because they hold the Baptizer of Christ in great honour.

As we went further on we came upon another chapel, which is dedicated to St. Mary Magdalen, on the left hand side (of the court), close to the bell-tower. This was once a large church with a convent of nuns attached to it, but at the present day the greater part of it has been destroyed. Service is performed in this chapel by the Greeks. It was very right of the ancient fathers of the church to build the church of St. Mary Magdalen adjoining the most holy church of the Holy Sepulchre: for when all the Apostles had gone away from this place and left the sepulchre, Mary Magdalen herself remained alone in the garden, walking to and fro and seeking (for the Lord), and could not bear to leave the place: by which piety she deserved to have a house of prayer here, that she might be held in honour on this spot for evermore. In this chapel we said the appointed prayers, received indulgences (^), and went on our way to the other holy places.

The four chapels aforesaid stand round about the courtyard or parvise of the church of the Holy Sepulchre, and one can enter them from the court without any ascent or descent. After we had visited them, as has been said, we turned back to the right-hand side of the court, and there passed through a door into a dark passage through some old buildings in which we could see nothing whatever, because the place is dark, and we had just come out of the bright sunshine into that gloomy place. We went forward a few paces through this darkness, and came to some stone steps, up which we went, and found some tiny cells and chambers in which some wretched Eastern Christians dwell. We knocked at the doors of these, and found only one person there, a little old black slave-woman, who, when she saw us, unlocked the chapel to see which we had come up thither. It is indeed a beautiful chapel, floored with polished and variegated marble, and is situated upon Mount Calvary, on that side of the rock where the cross stood, but without the walls of the church. This chapel is said, according to the opinion of the Catholic doctors, Augustine and Jerome, and the Rabbis of the Jews, to be built upon the spot where Abraham, following the command of the Lord, was about to sacrifice