In the making of anything, both nature and art, although they have the whole of it in view, begin nevertheless with the parts; and first with the nobler parts, and so proceed,' forming one after another till there remits the whole which they had intended to make. I think that I had better proceed likewise in my arrangement of the account of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which I intend to write. Before I describe it (as a.whole) I shall first describe its principal parts, to wit, the holy sepulchre, which is the head and chief part of the whole church, from which the entire church is named, and afterwards I shall describe the Mount Calvary, etc. [125a] Now that I am about to give a description of the holy sepulchre, although it is not a matter of great importance, yet nevertheless I find no small difficulty in this task, and that on account of the discrepancies which are to be found in the books written about it by various pilgrims. For this reason also I would gladly describe its arrangement to my brethren in my writings as clearly as I beheld it with my eyes; but this is impossible, because I must needs write either more or less about it than what I saw. The chief points about which I must speak are the three following:

I. What the Lord's sepulchre was like at the time when the Lord's body was laid therein.

II. What that sepulchre which we visited and worshiped is like.

III. Whether this sepulchre is the same wherein the Lord Jesus was laid ; and in this third question lies the whole difficulty.

As touching the first, you must know that it is easy to give an idea of what the Lord's sepulchre was like at the time of the death of Christ. He who has beheld the ancient sepulchres in those countries will not find any difficulty in this, although it cannot be distinctly gathered from the words of the holy Evangelists, because they speak briefly and succinctly about this matter. Matthew says (chapter xxvii.), ' When Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out of the rock; and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre.' Mark says (chapter xv.), "Joseph bought fine linen and took Him down and wrapped Him in the linen, and laid Him in a sepulchre which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulchre.' And (chapter xvi.) he says of the stone which was rolled to the door that it was very great: and entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man,' etc. Luke (chapter xxiii.) says, `Joseph begged the body of Jesus, and took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid. ' Also, he says (chapter xxiv.), `The women . . . found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre, and they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus:' And in the same chapter 'Peter arose and ran unto the sepulchre, and stooping down he beheld the linen clothes laid on the ground. John says more than the others. In chapter xx. he says: ` In the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid. There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews' preparation-day, for the sepulchre was nigh at hand.' And (chapter xx.) he says that ` :Mary Magdalen . . . saw the stone rolled away from the sepulchre, and told it to Peter and John, who came to the sepulchre, and John stooped down and saw the linen clothes lie, yet went not in.'

After having read these accounts, a man who sees the ancient tombs in the Holy Land easily understands what the Lord's sepulchre must have been like; but it cannot possibly now be like what it then was, because of the church which has been built above it, and because of its decorations, as will be shown under the second head, and also because of the changes which the ground has undergone, because it once was a sepulchral building outside the walls of Jerusalem, but afterwards a wall has been built enclosing it, and buildings joined on to it, so that no part of the shape of the ground has remained like that described by the Evangelists.(b] If you wish to know what it was originally like, conceive a garden without the wall and ditch of the city, and between the ditch and the garden a public road, having the dry stone wall of the garden on the one side, and on the other the outer wall of the ditch, or rock, if the ditch were girded about with rock, as it is at Jerusalem. Furthermore, picture to yourself in the garden itself rocks rising out of the ground everywhere, both small and great ones, and amongst them one large and wide rock, solid, not hollow, standing up like a small house. Such was the garden of which John tells us that there was a garden near the place where Jesus was crucified, for Jesus was crucified outside the garden, upon the rock of the ravine, so that the public road divided the rock of the cross from the dry-stone wall of the garden. Indeed, all the gardens round about Jerusalem are full of rocks, and are of an uneven surface because of the rocks rising through it. Wherefore men who had large rocks in their gardens used to hollow them out, and hew in them sepulchres and chambers for the dead. But if the rock were very large, after they had hewn out one chamber, they would again cut a door on the further side of it, and hollow out another place to bury others of their friends in, and then they would again hew yet another chamber out of the rock. If the rock contained only one cave, it was called a simple cave, if two, a double cave, as we read in the twenty-third chapter of Genesis that Abraham bought a double cave. If it contained three chambers, it was called a triple cave, if four, a quadruple one, and so on. I have seen in certain gardens near the field which is called Aceldama, so many caves with walls of rock, one leading out of another, hewn one after another out of the living rock, that I did not dare to go as far as the last one, for after I had entered the third, and was no longer able to see the light which came through the door of the first cave, I stopped, frightened at the darkness: for, indeed, a man who went into them might lose himself and be unable to find the way out, because the ancients have cut very deep caverns into the rock to bury their dead in. So then Joseph of Arimathea, a man who was good and just, well born, and rich, powerful and wise, bought for himself this garden near the city at the side of the rock of Calvary, and caused the solid rock therein to be hollowed out. But when the Lord died, Joseph yielded up his right to this place, and gave both the garden and the rock to Christ, who was the first person buried therein, in the inner chamber. When He was taken down from the cross they carried Him from the rock of Calvary over the dry stone wall into this garden, anointed His body upon a stone prepared for this purpose, and bore it into the second cave; for the cave was a double one, and the first door, into the first cave, was wide and tall, leading into the middle of the cave. The door leading into the second cave was not opposite to the first door, because it was on a man's left hand as he went in. It was a low and small door, and on the right-hand side (126a] was the place where the Lord was laid, on the north side, for there the hewing out had been purposely neglected, and only so much of the stone cut away as the body of a man lying on his back would occupy in length and breadth, being at the height of three palms and a half above the. floor. Here observe that those who write about the Lord's sepulchre draw a distinction between the monument and the sepulchre: for the monument means the entire hollow rock and the whole chamber; but the sepulchre means the stone coffin or tomb which contained the body. Now; the monument of the Lord did not contain a movable sepulchre or coffin, but one made out of the rock itself. There was, however, in the outer part a hollow place made to lay a body in, which body was placed in the midst of the sepulchre in such sort that above it was covered as if by a wooden plank, and below there was a base left rising from the ground, whereon the body was laid. This is what the holy men of old seem to mean when they describe the Lord's sepulchre. The author of ` Historia Sacra' quotes the Venerable Bede, and says: The monument of our Lord was a round cell, hewn out of the rock beneath it; it is so high that a tall man can scarcely reach the top of it with his outstretched hand, and it has its entrance on the eastern side, against which a great stone was placed instead of a door. On the northern side of it is the place of the Lord's body, hewn out of the same stone, being seven feet in length, raised three palms high above the pavement, like a stone coffin set upon a base: The recess was cut in the wall itself, like those which are made in the walls of dwelling-houses to contain household utensils, and the coffin is not above this, but on the south side of it, so that it was, as it were, a recess or tomb lying sideways, having its opening not above, but at the side. The colour of the monument and of the recess is said to have been a mixture of white and red. Thus saith `the `Historia Sacra' aforesaid. This was the original form of the Lord's monument and sepulchre.

This arrangement was altered by the Emperor Aelius Hadrianus, who caused a temple of Venus to be built on this site, as has been already told, page 116a. He did not pull down the Lord's monument, or the rock Calvary, but was moved by God to include both of them within his temple, as they are at this day. But he showed such a want of reverence for the place as to set up an image of Jupiter in the cavern of the Lord's sepulchre, and upon the rock of Calvary he placed a statue of Venus, as may be read in Jerome's Epistle to Paulinus. In this ungodly and abominable condition the holy place remained for about one hundred and eighty years, being within the city wall, forasmuch as the aforesaid Hadrian filled up the ravine which served as a ditch to the city, and built a wall round it enclosing the temple within the city, as has been told on page 114b. Henceforth the place became forgotten, and the sepulchre of Christ was turned into the chapel and oratory of Jupiter, while the rock of Calvary was made into the hill of Venus. [b] Thus the place was altogether given over to the worship of daemons, and was filled with the errors of the heathen until the time of the blessed Helena, who cleansed it from the idolatrous shrines and reconsecrated it to Christ the Lord.

Secondly, we must see what the Lord's sepulchre is now, of what appearance and shape it is. For this description I avail myself of the account of the Lord's sepulchre which a respectable man named Johannes Tucher, a citizen of Nuremburg, has written in the German tongue. He spent many days at Jerusalem in the year 1479, one year, that is, before my first visit, and he examined the Lord's sepulchre with the most minute care, and took its measurements with his hands, feet, and outstretched arms. I had his account of it with me at Jerusalem, and found all that he had written concerning the holy sepulchre to be true; wherefore I have translated it from the German tongue into Latin, and have inserted it into my Book of Wanderings, as being a really true description, and written by a respectable and truthful man. But lest anyone should a be puzzled by the use of equivocal terms, it must be previously noted that wherever Master Johannes Tucher writes Klaftern in his German book, I have put `cubit,' which measure is understood to mean the distance between a man's outstretched arms, from the end of the middle finger of one hand to the end of the middle finger of the other hand; and where he writes Spanne, there I shall put ` palm,' which is understood to mean the distance across the outstretched hand from the beginning of the thumb to the end of the ear-finger, or middle finger. Now, the aforesaid man, Johannes Tucher, describes the Lord's monument and sepulchre as follows: `The Lord's monument appears from the outside to be like a low tower, not a lofty one, having twelve angles on its outside, at each of which angles stands a hexagonal stone column, one palm in thickness. These columns support a small vault which is above the monument, from which vault there projects a kind of cornice all round, which projects about half a foot beyond the columns. The whole round building, with its columns, measures twelve great cubits, measuring on the outside round about the whole monument, but measuring within it has rather less than nine palms in length, and the same in breadth. From the pavement to the top of the hollow vault it is of the height of a man and a half. The sepulchre or tomb within the monument is on the right-hand side of the little chambers covered with a slab of polished white marble, on which Mass can be celebrated, and it is four palms and three fingers wide; and measuring upwards from the pavement by hand, it is three palms and four fingers high. The door of the cave, through which one enters it, is four palms and a half and three fingers in height. The wall or hole through the rock at the door is three palms in thickness. The height of the whole monument [127a] or chamber, above the ground, together with the vault, is two great cubits and a half. Above the convex vault is built up a hexagonal tabernacle like a tower, with six pairs of columns, of two cubits in height, upon which rests the roof of the tabernacle, one cubit in height. The distance from the roof of this tabernacle upwards, measuring through the air straight up to the opening in the roof of the church, and which opens above the monument, and through which the church is lighted, is about six cubits. This opening is round, and as wide as the whole building of the monument, so that if the monument were movable, and were hoisted upwards, it could pass out through that opening. Hence it clearly appears that the Lord's monument stands in the open air, and is rained and snowed upon through the aforesaid opening. The tabernacle itself is artificially constructed of polished marble, and was once gilded within and without, columns and roof alike, as may be seen at this day. From the foundation of this chapel up to the topmost pinnacle of the roof of the tabernacle above the main building it measures five cubits and a half, while the distance up from the foundation to the opening in the roof of the church will be twelve cubits, or a little more. Moreover, as you go into the monument there is a kind of vestibule, which is six cubits wide all save one palm. The first door into the small chapel (of the sepulchre) is in the midst of this, and is in height one great cubit and three palms and a half. The chapel before the cave of the tomb, that is to say, the outer cave, has one cubit and a half in width, the same in length, and a small square window on each side. In this same outer cave, three palms from the door of the inner cave, is a square stone raised upon a base, measuring two palms and a half square, upon which stone the angel is said to have sat after the Lord's resurrection.' This stone is a part of the great stone which was rolled to the door of the monument, mention of which was made on page 102b.

Lo now, here is a description of the Lord's monument as it stands at this day, and the picture of the thing described may be seen with the eyes in the `Pilgrimage,' written by that noble and clever man the Lord Bernard von Braitenbach, Dean of the Metropolitan Church of Mainz, who accompanied me in my second pilgrimage, during which he caused the shape of the Lord's monument to be depicted in an artistic drawing, as he did also with other things, which shall be mentioned in their place. He had brought with him a clever and well-taught painter, whom he had hired, who was to draw the manners and customs, and the appearance of all the principal cities and places from the port of Venice onwards, which he did in a masterly and truthful manner. Whosoever therefore pleases may look at his pictures, and will clearly understand the aforesaid description.

This monument of the Lord stands in the midst of the church of the Lord's resurrection, just as the sepulchre is placed in the parish church of Ulm on Good Friday. But the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is round; and open above, as the reader will understand.

The holy sepulchre has, in a: manner of speaking, three entrances. The first is in the little court; which, I call the first cave, which little court 'has a wall, so low that a man standing within it can lean his stomach upon it and look round the church; [b] wherefore I have often sat upon that wall, and have looked down upon the goods of the merchants lying upon the pavement below. Indeed, the entrance to this little court is not nearly a door, for there is nothing above the head of him who enters it, inasmuch as it lacks the lintel; but the entrance lies between two walls facing one another, and if these walls were higher, and a lintel were put across, there would be a door. The second door is that which leads from the little court into the first cave in the monument itself. This door is closed by a gate and fastened with locks: the keys of this. door are now in the possession of the Latin Minorite brethren; but a few years ago the Georgians had them. The third door is that which leads from that chapel, or first cave, into the second cave, wherein is the Lord's sepulchre. This cave has no window, nor is there any light in it save what comes from nineteen lamps which burn in it, which lamps hang above the Lord's sepulchre; and inasmuch as the cave is small, the fire of the lamps makes a smoke and stench, which greatly troubles those who enter the place and remain therein. Besides the lamps there are many lighted candles burning upon the sepulchre; which are placed there by pilgrims out of piety. Thus, by the smoke of the lamps and candles together the whole inside surface has been completely blackened, albeit it is cased with white and polished marble throughout, both the pavement, the walls, and the vault. And so much for this.

In the third place we must see whether this monument and this sepulchre aforesaid is the same wherein the Lord was laid, from which also we believe Him to have risen. And this point is much more difficult than the other two: In order to decide it, I will quote what I have read in ancient and modern pilgrim books: for I should not like on my own responsibility to make any rash assertion which might either stop or weaken the reverence felt for the Lord's sepulchre among Christ's faithful people. Furthermore, a difficulty arises in this matter from the different and inconsistent descriptions of the holy sepulchre written by the ancients and moderns; and also from the varying condition of the city of Jerusalem, and its having been frequently laid in ruins, and even from the yearning devotion felt by those who visited the holy sepulchre and strove to carry away some part of it as a great relic. Doubts are caused likewise by the casing of the sepulchre, because neither within nor without, neither in the monument nor in the place where the body was laid, is there any rock or stone to be seen, but the whole, as has been told, is cased and covered over with white polished marble, which it was not originally. Let us therefore see what others think on this subject, and let us follow that account which seems the most probable.

A certain holy man named Arculfus, who visited the holy sepulchre, and was, as it seems to me, in Jerusalem long before the time of the Latin kings, and before the holy city was taken by the Saracens after the time of the Emperor Heraclius, says in his book: ` In the midst of the interior of the round church there is a round chamber cut out of a single piece of rock, within which men can stand and pray. The vaulted roof is about a foot and a half above the head of a man of no small stature. The entrance of this little [128a] chamber is towards the east. The whole of its outer surface is covered with choice marble, and the highest part of its roof, which is ornamented with gold, sustains a golden cross of no small size. The sepulchre of the Lord is on the northern side of this chamber, and is cut out of the same rock as it, but the pavement of the chamber is lower than that of the place of sepulture. This chamber is not covered within by any ornamentation, but through out its entire cavity shows the marks of the iron tools with which the workmen made it. The colour of the rock of the monument and sepulchre is twofold, red and white, mixed together, and so the same stone shows these two colours. Moreover, the sepulchre forms a couch capable of taking in one man lying on his back, and it is like a cave, having an opening which looks towards the south side of the monument from the opposite side. A low overhanging roof has been made above it. In this sepulchre twelve lamps, according to the number of the twelve Apostles, burn day and night."* The aforesaid Arculfus writes that he saw this, and many other things, which show that he must have seen the Holy Land a thousand years ago. I am much pleased with this description, because it agrees very much with the description given by the Venerable Bede, to be found on page 126.

A certain other pilgrim, who saw the Lord's sepulchre in the year of our Lord 1200, speaks of it thus: 'The cave, wherein is the sepulchre of the Lord, is everywhere coated with marble on the outside; but within it is bare rock, even as it was at the time of Christ's passion.' Now when he says that the whole outside of the cave was covered with marble, if he means the entire surface, both inside, and outside, then the cave was then in the same condition as at this day. But if he means to say that only the surface of the outer part was cased with marble, and that there was none inside, then it agrees with the former description: And this, I think, is what he did mean.

Another pilgrim speaks as follows: `The Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre is vaulted in a semicircular fashion, without any window, and within it is the sepulchre, which is hewn out of the solid rock; but, lest it should be picked at by pilgrims, it is cased with slabs of marble. The slab which covers the front part of it has three openings, through which the true rock of the holy sepulchre can be felt and kissed. This slab is so cunningly joined to the rock that one would think that it was all one stone.' The same writer says: ` I believe that no church contains any of the true rock of the Lord's sepulchre. For if, ' he goes on, `it could be carried away by pieces and grains at a time, it would have been carried off long ago, were it as large as a mountain.' This same man says that no lamps are burned in the sepulchre except when pilgrims are sojourning there, because they pay for oil.

Another pilgrim was at the Lord's sepulchre in the year 1430. He had gone thither at the instance of some cardinal to look into the matter, and he describes the holy sepulchre in the same manner as his predecessors; adding, however, what follows. ` It must be borne in mind,' says he, `that the monument which is built upon this most holy spot is not that wherein the dead body of Christ was originally laid, because Holy Writ tells us that the tomb of Christ was cut out of one solid stone, as all the ancient tombs are in those countries. But this one is made up of many stones, not very skilfully cemented together with mortar, nor is there any part of the true sepulchre there except that on the left-hand side of it there juts out from the wall of the chapel a stone of the size of a man's head, white in colour, seven palms high above the ground, which is kissed by pilgrims as a relic of the true sepulchre of Christ.' Thus says he.

[b] The last pilgrims who have visited it give contradictory accounts of it in their books, and every one of them attempts thus to describe what he thought he saw, because no one presumes to contradict him. Some say that under the marble slabs the rock of the monument and holy sepulchre still exists entire, albeit no part of it is visible. Others say that no man knows for certain or can affirm that the true rock is or is not under the slabs. Others plainly assert that there has not been a piece as large as a grain of millet left there of the true stone. For this they allege several reasons. First, the hatred felt for the Christians by the heathen, whose spite against the Christians is so keen that they destroy every single thing which the Christians love and reverence. Now, they knew that the sepulchre of Christ was our greatest object of veneration, and this caused them to rage all the more furiously against it and tear it to pieces. Moreover, they knew that while the sepulchre existed the Christians would always pant for the recovery of the city of Jerusalem, but that if it were done away with they would care less about it, therefore they left no part of it standing. For the Saracens were ofttimes harassed, conquered, and put to rout by the Christians, and these Saracens, even when they had won the victory and had driven the Christians out of Jerusalem, avenged upon the holy sepulchre the wrongs and troubles which they in past times had suffered at the hands of the Christians, by destroying it, and ruining the Church of the Holy Sepulchre as an insult to the Christians. Secondly, another reason is given why no part of the holy sepulchre remains in its place. When the Christians were for the last time conquered by the Saracens, and were forced to yield up Jerusalem to them and depart from it, they made a capitulation on the condition that they should be allow to leave the city with their lives, and everything which they could carry with them. The Saracens agreed to this that they should depart from Jerusalem carrying what they pleased with them. Then the Patriarch of Jerusalem with all his clergy, and the King of Jerusalem with all the chivalry of the holy city, departed from it; on the course of which removal it is believed that they carried away with them everything which was reputed holy, down to its very foundations--among which things the holy sepulchre was the chief--in order that they might leave nothing behind to be trodden under foot by the heathen. Even at the present day the faithful who visit those lands carry off many pieces of stone and earth as they are able, and they if could they would carry off the whole land, that it might not be trodden under foot by those swine. Let no one doubt this, that if it were possible to take away the whole place of the holy sepulchre, they would have take it away long ago; how much more then a rock, which they could carry away in pieces. Another reason why they say that nothing is left of the holy sepulchre is the rash zeal of the faithful, who cannot be restrained by any law of ordinance from carrying off pieces of the holy places, if they can. This argument proves that the rock of the holy sepulchre has been carried away long ago.

Others, on the other hand, combat these arguments; answering the first, that of the malice of the infidels, by declaring that it never was so fierce as to rage against the holy sepulchre, which is guarded by God and His angels, as has been told already on page 122b. We read that when that most inhuman tyrant, Chosroes, burned Jerusalem, and went to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to destroy it, he was seized with terror when he came near to the church, so that he hurried away from it, and could not reach the Lord's sepulchre. [129a] They knew also that, as long as the sepulchre existed, the Christians would spare no expense, but would always come to see it, and they might make much money out of them by tolls, and gain gold and silver for letting them enter the Lord's sepulchre: wherefore they preserved the holy sepulchre as a matter of profit and advantage, God increasing their love of money that thereby His sepulchre might be saved. Nor is it to be believed that the Saracens, when harassed by the Christians, would seek to revenge themselves upon a holy sepulchre so greatly to their own loss. I rather believe that they have allowed it to stand in order that the Christians may regard them more favourably, for they greatly fear them. Moreover, it does not seem reasonable to believe that the faithful, when they departed from Jerusalem, should have carried off from thence the holy sepulche, since it was a solid rock, growing out of the bowls of the earth; and supposing that they did cut off the rock level with the ground, whither, pray, did they carry the rocks which they cut off? I have never in any church seen a stone from the holy sepulchre of the size of a man's finger and yet I have been in many of the, principal churches of the East and West. Neither is it to be understood that all Christians were turned out of Jerusalem, but only the Latins, against whom war was being made, not the other Eastern Christians. When the Latins were turned out, the Easterns entered into a treaty with the Soldan, swore allegiance to him, and obtained possession of the sepulchre, as I shall show hereafter. Nay, not even all the Latins went away, but many of them stayed there, associating themselves with the Saracens: which men were excommunicated by the Pope. We also read that the Christians, when they were conquered by the Saracens, before leaving Jerusalem, made a treaty with them, that all pilgrims coming thither from the Latin countries should be admitted: to which they most willingly consented. So the Soldan continued to pay the dole which the King of Jerusalem had been wont to give every day to the pilgrims sojourning in the Hospital of St. John just as the King of Jerusalem had done. There was therefore no question about carrying away the holy sepulchre. Yet what we read in history is nevertheless true, that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was once destroyed, and the holy sepulchre itself, yet never entirely so. With regard to this matter I made the following experiment; While keeping my vigil in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, I took a lighted candle, and went to the Lord' monument, which I examined most carefully to see whether I could find any part that was not covered with marble. I found that on the outside the whole of it was cased in marble all the way round. When I entered the first door into the outer chapel, I found the walls on either side covered with marble, but I found that the wall before my face, that which divides the outer cave from the inner one, and in which is the door leading into the Lord's sepulchre, was bare; and on holding my light near it I saw a wall cut out of the rock, not made of ashlar work, but all of one piece, with the marks of iron tools plainly to be seen upon it. In the upper part there seemed to have been a fracture, which had been mended with stones and cement. From this it appeared to me that the lord's sepulchre had once been destroyed, but never completely rooted up; that what is now there is a restoration, and that it has stood for more than two hundred years as it appears this day, save that it is now more carefully encased with marble, lest the pilgrims should pick off pieces from the walls for relics, and for this same reason [b] the aforementioned slab with three openings was put in front of the holy sepulchre, because the pilgrims used to bore into it with iron tools in order to get off pieces of it. Though the pilgrims have always striven to get pieces of the holy sepulchre, they have never been allowed to do so, but other stones are offered them in the place of the true rock: for guardians are always present in the holy sepulchre, who stop those who want to break off pieces. Wherefore the argument about the indiscreet zeal of the faithful falls to the ground: for even supposing them to have this indiscreet zeal, they are not permitted to act indiscreetly.

It is clear, also, from what has been said, that the Lord's sepulchre originally had its upper part pointed, so that it was like a roof, and covered the tomb with a ridged back, as the coverings of tombs are wont to be made; but the faithful have planned down this raised part, and have made the cover flat, like a table, so that Mass can be celebrated in the holy sepulchre upon the tomb.

From all that has been said about the holy sepulchre,the devout and quiet pilgrim should grasp this fact, that whether the cave as it stands at the present day be the true and entire monument of Christ, or whether a part of it be there, or whether none of it be there, matters very little either one way or the other, because the main fact connected with the place abides there, and cannot by any means be carried away or demolished, the fact, to wit, that this was the place of the most holy burial and resurrection of Christ, where, albeit there may not be the very monument wherein Christ's body was laid, there is nevertheless a monument erected to Christ, and in which the sacrament of His body has ofttimes been celebrated: it is a double cave, exactly like the original tomb, and equally holy, reverend, and venerable: even as the tables which Moses made in the likeness of the first tables which broke contained the same commandments, and were equally holy and reverend, so that they were deposited in.the ark of the covenant as most important and most holey relics. Let this suffice about the holy sepulchre.

In some of the ancient pilgrims' books I have found the following verses, which they found carved upon the stones of the holy sepulchre, which inscription, however, I did not see.

Above the flat slab of the sepulchre was written:

• `Here He lay dead, when Death by dying He o'ercame;
• Here slept the Lion which awake the world did tame.'

• `Ye that do pass My sepulchre to-day
• Behold the print of where My body lay
• For three long days, when I did die for thee,
• And chained fierce Behemoth, who erst-was free.
• I burst for aye the direful bonds of hell,
• And raised My children up, in heaven with Me to dwell.'

• `Life once died, and was buried in this grave,
• That death was life, and us from death did save.
• For He that crushed hell's pow'r beneath His feet,
• And bravely led.His troops the foe to meet,
• That Lion bold in triumph hence did rise;
• Hell groans, Death mourns that he hath lost his prize.'

Mount Calvary holds the second place, next to the holy sepulchre, in dignity and sanctity. Wherefore, although its description has been given already on page 117b, yet it is repeated here because it here finds its proper place; and certain points which were forgotten elsewhere are here noted Herein it should be noted that Mount Calvary, or Golgotha is a place on the north side of Mount Sion, and that there is a difference when one speaks of ' Mount' Calvary and of the `rock' or `cliff' of Calvary. Mount Calvary includes a great part of the city. The place of Calvary is the whole enclosure containing the entire church. The rock of Calvary contains only the cross of Christ and those of the thieves. Mount Calvary is the name given to the whole of the high ground, which reaches from the ancient gate, part of which is still standing, up as far as the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Indeed, it is a good way up the hill from the cross-road, where Christ said to the weeping women, ' Ye daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for Me,' and so on, up to the place of the crucifixion; and up above there is a wide space, whereon stands the whole Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and all of this region is Mount Calvary or Golgotha, so that in this ,sense the Church of the Holy Sepulchre lies upon Mount Calvary. But the rock of Calvary is the place or monticle whereon stood the holy cross with our Lord and the two thieves, as has been shown before. There are three ways leading. up to this most holy rock. The first is from the church of Golgotha, from the place where is the centre of the world; the second is from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which lies below it; and the third is from the outer court of the church. This ascent has been blocked up by the Saracens, as have the other doors leading into the church, lest anyone should be able to get into the church without their knowledge. So then the rock of Calvary is the rock of the cross; and Mount Calvary is all uphill from the house of the Rich Man, or from the afore-mentioned cross-way: yet it must not be supposed that Mount Calvary is a lofty place, overlooking all the places. round about it, because both on the western and the southern side there are higher places than it; but it is called a mount by comparison with those places from which one ascends to it, as has been said. So much for this. For a further account of this mount see page 115, sq., and page 255.

In describing the Temple or Church of the Holy Sepulchre, we shall consider four points: First, ` Who founded it?' Second, `What glory and honour did it receive in old times? ' Third, `What is its condition at the present day?' Fourth, `Who they are who officiate therein, and the differences between the various sects who worship Christ therein.' The result of a careful consideration of these four will be a full description, and consequently complete understanding thereof.

Who built the Church of the Lord's Sepulchre is a doubtful matter, because of the various accounts given by those who have written on the subject. Some imagine that this church was the temple of Venus, which the Emperor Aelius Hadrianus built on the site of the crucifixion and resurrection, and that St. Helena, when she came, cast out the idols and consecrated the building to Christ.

Some, again, say that she utterly destroyed the aforesaid temple, and built this church. We also read in the books of the wars between the Christians and the Saracens, that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was often destroyed by the infidels and rebuilt by the believers. Chosroes endeavoured to destroy this church, but was terrified by its Divine power and fled from it. When the Tartars occupied the Holy Land and Jerusalem, they are said to have overthrown the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at the time when the city was taken. But not long after this the Emperor of Constantinople came to Jerusalem, and rebuilt the church in the same fashion as before. After this the Saracens wreaked their anger against the Christians upon this church, and utterly destroyed it; but one of the Emperors of Constantinople rebuilt it. For a true and trustworthy account of this, see page 264b, where also the place of the crucifixion and that of the sepulchre are described.

In the days of old this temple was very glorious both in its structure and its services, and was not only sacred because of the holy places which it enclosed, but also because of the most precious relics which were preserved in it. There once was kept the holy cross, as is described on page 111a, and the other instruments of Christ's passion which were found by St. Helena. There once was displayed a great chain, which was put round the neck of the Lord Jesus when He was taken in the garden, which chain was also put round the necks of the pilgrims who visited the church, and many miracles were wrought by it. There also was shown a great silver cup, of which the Lord Jesus partook at the last supper with His disciples, and of which He said, `This cup is the new testament in My blood' (Luke xxii. 20). There, too, was the basin wherein the Lord Jesus washed the feet of His disciples at the last supper. In this church was that most precious napkin which the most blessed Virgin Mary bound about the head of the Lord Jesus when He was taken down from the cross, as has been told on page 117. Of this napkin we read, in John xx., that Peter when he entered into the sepulchre saw the linen clothes lying there, and the napkin that was about the head of Jesus not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. Thus it remained lying in the sepulchre for some days after Christ's resurrection. Now, a certain Jew, as rumours were spread abroad of Christ's resurrection, secretly entered the Lord's sepulchre, and seeing this napkin neatly folded up, took it away to his own house, for he was a poor and wretched Jew. From the hour when he brought that napkin into his house (113a] the Lord blessed the house of that Jew, and he became rich and renowned. When the Jew perceived this, he locked up the napkin with the utmost care as a most valuable treasure, yet was he not converted to Christ, but remained obstinate in his unbelief to the end, when, calling his two sons to him, he divided his substance between them, giving the napkin to the elder, and all his other property to the younger. The elder son treated the napkin with scorn, although his father said it was more precious than all his other wealth, and exchanged it with his younger brother; thus the napkin came into the hands of the younger brother, who prospered more and more every day, while, on the other hand, the elder's fortune declined daily. When the inheritor of the napkin was himself in extreme old age, he bequeathed it to his best beloved son, telling him of its virtues and of the place in which it was found. He received the napkin and suddenly became a rich man, and thus the Jews of that family continually became richer and more respected. The napkin descended by hereditary right from father to son to the fifth generation, in which there was a dispute between two brothers about the napkin, and the matter became public. Hearing of this, the Christians urged their claim to the napkin as their own property; but the Jews were by no means willing to give it to them, and there arose a great tumult in Jerusalem, the Christians fighting with the Jews for the napkin. To allay this disorder the wise men determined to call in a judge and arbitrator on the matter, who should neither be a Christian nor a Jew, and by whose decision both parties should abide. When this was agreed upon, Mabius, a king of the Saracens, was called in to give sentence about the napkin, and all the circumstances were related to him by both parties. On the appointed day all the people, Christian, Jewish, and others, were called together; he sat on a seat of judgment in a public place, and ordered the napkin to be brought to him. It was brought to him in a casket. He next ordered wood to be brought, and a great fire to be lighted in the midst of the people. The Jews stood on one side of this fire, the Christians on the other, and the heathen between them. When the king took the napkin, he cried with a loud voice: ` Lo, Jesus of Nazareth, here is Thy napkin. Decide Thou to which party it belongs.' Saying thus he hurled the napkin into the flames. After it had been thrown in and had remained in the fire for some little time, all thought that it must be burnt. But, lo! of a sudden it rose from the fire unharmed, soared aloft, began to fly, even as a bird flies with outstretched wings, and after fluttering round and round for some time in the air, gradually began to descend. All stood with eager faces and uplifted hands watching to which party it would fly. Guided by an angel, it settled on the arms of the Christians, who received it on their bended knees, and with great rejoicing bore it to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. There it remained for many years, and was greatly venerated, as being not the least among the relics of the holy sepulchre.

Furthermore, in old times the Lord distinguished this holy church by many miracles, among which was that notable one, that on every Easter Eve, when all the people were gathered together and all lights put out, so that there was not a single spark in the whole church, [b] of a sudden while the clergy chanted the service and the people prayed, in a moment lightning came down from heaven, and as it were fired the whole church, so that no one who was present could steadfastly behold that celestial radiance, by which the Paschal candles and all the other lamps and tapers were lighted. When this had been done it departed. This miracle took place for many years, and as soon as it ceased the Lord's sepulchre fell straightway into the hands of the heathen. They also say that when at last the Holy Land was recovered that holy fire returned, and lighted the candles; but when it ceased to come the Christians were driven out. For it is an evident sign to the Christians, if that Easter fire appears, that they are worthy inhabitants of the holy city and possessors of the Lord's sepulchre. If it appears not, then even though they may be actually in possession of the Holy Land, yet their kingdom will soon pass away. At the present day all the Christians who are in Jerusalem assemble in the church on Easter Eve, and the Greeks shut their priest into the Lord's monument with an unlighted candle, which he brings forth lighted, with a loud cry, and from which all the lamps are lighted. But it is not lighted by a miracle, but artificially, albeit the ignorant mob raises its cries to heaven, praising God, as though a miracle had been wrought, and so they noise it abroad among the people and even among the Saracens. I have heard it as a truth that the Saracens say: ` If the Christians really had their Easter fire brought down from heaven as they say they do, and could prove it to us, we should be willing to be converted to the faith of Christ.' But, alas! we see not our tokens, there is not one prophet more; no, not one is there among us that understandeth any more. With regard to this miraculous lighting of the fire and of the Easter candle, Jerome says nothing about it in those of his works which I have read, though he has nevertheless written an elegant treatise and an admirable letter to Presidius the deacon on the subject of the lighting of the Easter candle. Neither does Gregory of Tours, a writer on the subject of ancient miracles, make mention of that fire.

With regard to this fire there is a beautiful story to be found on page 264. Besides what I have told you, there used to be assemblies and disputations in this church against heretics, and those who were present at them were convinced of their errors either by the arguments of the true faith or by miracles, as, for instance, Cyril in his epistle to Augustine alludes to some leaders of heretical sects who were confuted therein.

There remains for us to see what the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is like at the present day. Herein it must be noted that this church has three names, because it is a double church, and each part has its own name, and the whole also has its own name.

The church in which the Lord's monument stands is called the Church of the Holy Sepulchre; the church in which is the centre of the world, near Calvary, is called the Church of Golgotha. Both these churches together are called the Church of the Anastasis, or Resurrection of the Lord. It is, in truth, only one church, whereof the nave, which contains the holy sepulchre, is called the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The choir of this same church is called the Church of Golgotha, because it stands on the place called Golgotha. The church is a great and costly one, and were there nothing more than the nave in which the Lord's sepulchre stands, not counting the choir, yet this by itself would make a large church. This church, not counting the choir, is round, supported throughout its entire circuit by marble columns; its diameter between the columns is seventy-three feet, and from the rear of the columns to the wall of the church is thirty feet. This space extends all round, and forms a passage between the columns and the outer wall of the church. This passage is vaulted over, and its vault rests on one side upon the aforesaid [132a] columns, on the other on the circular outer wall. Above this vault there once was a public circular passage, and altars, and close to the door of the church there is a stone staircase leading up to these galleries. At the present day there are various chambers and choirs, divided one from another by walls, in which Christians of other rites perform their worship. Arches extend from one column to another, above which a wall rises up to the roof. In this wall are windows, through which one can look into the church from the circular gallery above the vault, and can look down upon the Lord's sepulchre. The highest part of this round church has not a stone roof, but a wooden one made of beams of cedar, so arranged that, instead of meeting in a pinnacle, the beams which rise from the wall opposite to one another meet in a great circle, and form a round opening, through which light is spread throughout the whole church, and immediately beneath which opening, exposed to the weather, stands the Lord's monument. This is explained above on page 127a. The planks and beams are covered with lead on their outer side, that side, I mean, which looks towards the sky, but on their under side they are painted in divers colours. The walls under the roof and under the arches are adorned with pictures from the New Testament in mosaic work, but these most precious figures are dropping to pieces with age, and there is no one to restore the fallen parts. Round about this round church there are many chapels, as was shown in the account of the procession. In the midst of it is the Lord's sepulchre. On its eastern side is a large and beautiful choir, into which the door of the holy sepulchre looks directly, as they stand door to door. In the midst of the choir there is a large and lofty dome vaulted above the place where lies the centre of the earth, and there is a way up to the top of this dome on the outside, where one can see by experiment that this is the centre of the world, as I have said before, page 117 b. This choir belongs to the Greeks, and beside the altar is the marble patriarchal throne, on which is written in very ancient Latin letters Crucifixum in carne laudate, et sepultum propter nos glorificate, resurgentemque a mortuis adorate.' Above the place where the cross was set up, the author of `Speculum Historiale' says that there was the following inscription : O Theos, God, Basileus imon, our King, pro anon, before the ages, ergase, wrought, sophias, salvation, en meso, in the midst, Tisgis, of the earth. In this church there are many chapels both above and below, within and without, now desecrated, but in which once lamps used to burn, and whose altars were once bright with gold and their windows with glass; but now there are no lamps, the altars are destroyed, the windows closed and blocked up with stones. The greater part of the windows are blocked up with stones, and all the doors are blocked up save one, whose keys are kept by the Saracens, by which door one enters the church. On the western side steps lead up to a firmly closed door, by which St. Mary of Egypt once endeavoured to gain admittance, but was driven away until she vowed to amend her life, as we may read clearly set forth in the `Lives of the Fathers.' [b] In consequence of this blocking up of the windows and doors the church is dark, but the pavement of the whole church is level, and of polished marble, so that even when walking in the dark one does not stumble. In one part of the church, outside the wall, there is a large cistern, containing excellent water for the use of the guardians of the church. In another place also there is a way out of the church into an uncovered court, surrounded by lofty walls, in which are decent places for men to do their needs. This church has connected with it a lofty tower built of white marble stone, wherein once hung bells, and the beams and woodwork to support them may still be seen in the upper part where they used to hang. But when Jerusalem was lost the bells we're all cast down, for heathens of the rite of Mahomet cannot endure bells, because they have a commandment in their Alcoran not to use bells for the service of God, nor to suffer them to be so used. Yet it is said that they like to hear their chimes; but that the only reason why they do not have them is for fear that they should imitate us, against which the accursed Mahomet always took precautions. This tower is the first part of all to be seen when one comes from Bethany to Jerusalem, as I have often noticed. The lintel above the door of the church is of the whitest marble, and on the outer side is sculptured with figures representing our Lord's entry into Jerusalem riding upon an ass, His casting out the buyers and sellers from the temple, and His raising of Lazarus; but the figures have been broken by violence and their limbs mutilated. Above the doors of the church these verses are said to have been inscribed on the stone, though I could not see them:

• 'Anno milleno centeno quominus uno,
• Quindecies Nilo jam Phoebi lumine tacto,
• Vitae plus sacra studio quam mitigare acre,
• Jerusalem Franci capiunt virtute potenti.'*

In the courtyard of the church stand columns of most costly marble, which support an entablature, and adorn the cloister. If anyone wishes to see the form of this church, let him look at the `Pilgrimage,' written by that eminent lord and clever man, Lord Bernhard of Braitenbach, Dean of the Metropolitan Church of Mainz, where he will be able to see its image drawn clearly as if he were standing in the courtyard and beholding it with his eyes.

Fourth and lastly we must consider those who dwell in the aforesaid church, and who the men are who hold their services therein. In connection with this subject we shall see a horrible and portentous matter; for this church is made after the pattern of Noah's Ark, wherein were all the different kinds of beasts, clean and unclean alike, with the exception of fishes. Even so here no fish, that is to say, no one who is sunk in the waters of unbelief, no idolater, no one who positively denies Christ, can find a place; nor can he obtain standing room there, [133 a] just as a fish cannot live out of water. Only the followers of Christ, abide there, and that whether they be clean in the true belief, or unclean with heretical depravity, whether they be of the civilized household of the Catholic faith, or wild men of the woods of schismatic dissent. Whatsoever race worships Christ as God, in whatever manner it believes this dogma, whether it believes Him to be coeternal with the Father and coequal, or no ; whether it regards Him as a creator or a mere creature, a real man or a phantom; whether they believe that He suffered, or did not suffer; that He died, or did not die; that the sacraments have any power, or not; that the Pope is the Vicar of Christ, or not: every one of these sects finds persons of their own belief in this church, and are allowed to enter it. At the present day, if there were to come any sect polluted with so atrocious a heresy that none of those already in that holy church would be willing to admit it to their services, yet the Soldan would assign to this same sect a choir and abiding-place of its own in that church, even though it believed Christ to have been a beast and no man, provided only it said that Christ was its God. There no one is shut out, no one is turned away: whosoever pays the Saracens the church fee, five ducats for entrance, he enters in, however unclean he may be. They will not open the church to any Christian without payment of the five ducats, and herein they do not spare even the brethren of Mount Sion, whom they will not admit without payment of this fee save at the season when pilgrims visit Jerusalem, with whom they pass in gratis. At the time when the pilgrims are away from Jerusalem, the brethren are not able to change the guardians of the church, but those who are sent in thither in charge of pilgrims, and are deputed to be guardians of the holy sepulchre, remain there unrelieved till the arrival of next season's pilgrims. Those brethren who are placed there as guardians cannot go out of the church, neither can the other brethren come in, unless they pay the fee; and the fee must be paid if they wish to change the guardians.

However, twice a year they throw open the doors of the church, and admit all Christians gratis, to wit, from Good Friday until Easter Monday, and from the vigil of the Invention of the Cross till vespers on the day following. On those days the church is crowded with men and women from all the countries of the world, and there is a great deal of pushing and disorder by reason of the multitude of people. Then one hears spoken there all the languages of the world, and at those times a market of precious rarities is held within the church. Save on these two occasions, the church is never opened except for ready money: not as it was long ago when times were different; for then Catholic Christians were able to enter it free, at any hour, nor was any heretic or schismatic, under any pretext, admitted into that church, either free or for a price. But since the Lord's sepulchre has been taken by the enemy, the pilgrims are become prisoners, so that they can do nothing in Jerusalem save what the Saracens please.

A few years ago it was the custom for the Saracens to open the church at sunrise, to keep the pilgrims locked up therein till vespers, and to turn them out at sunset: and this was bearable; but now they manage it the contrary way, for they open the doors for us late, and turn us out in the morning, which is very troublesome and uncomfortable, because we get little or no sleep on those nights which we pass in the church, because of the frequent visits which are made to the holy places in procession, the long continuance of Divine service, the yells and strange outcries of the Eastern Christians, who fill the church all night long with their discordant clamour, the bargaining of the traders and, lastly, the extraordinary number of the fleas, [b] who are jumping all about the pavement, and whenever a man lays himself down to sleep or to pray, he is straightway covered with fleas, and can get no rest. Whence they come I know not, save that perchance they may be bred naturally from the marble, and it may be that the guardians of the church feed them, and do not kill them. After such a night of toil and watching, the instant we are turned out we are forced to go on to other holy places which must be visited, and thus undergo more fatigue, so that the pilgrims are quite worn out by watching, fasting, and labouring, and are scarcely allowed time for eating a morsel of food. Wherefore this rule presses hard upon them in this respect, although from other points of view it is better than the other; for I would much rather be shut up in the church by night than by day.

As the variety of created beings ornaments the universe, and displays the wondrous perfection of the Creator, so the different nations, manners, languages, and rites would greatly adorn the Catholic Church, and show the wondrous perfection of our Redeemer, if only the obstinate and abominable errors of heathens, heretics, and schismatics were not found among them, although even these prove God to be wondrous and perfect. Thus the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is more beautiful than all the other churches in the world from the variety of the nations who praise God therein, yet it is rendered hideous and shocking by the abominable errors of those who enter it. In the good old times Christians from all parts of the world, and speaking all languages, used to enter it, desiring to worship God, without any errors, treacheries, or superstitions, while excommunicated persons, schismatics, and outcast heretics, of whom, alas! the temple is now full, by whom the holy building is defiled, were then denied admittance. Howbeit, there are seven different kinds of Christians in this church, whereof each has its own sect, its own ritual, and its own choir, together with various deadly errors even in the essentials of the faith. Of these errors it would take long to tell; but should anyone wish to gain carne insight into this matter, let him read the Book of the Pilgrimage of my Lord the Dean of Mainz, which was written for him by that eminent and venerable Doctor of Divinity, Father Martin Roth, of the Dominican convent of Pforzheim, who, as becomes his learning, has added to that Book of Pilgrimage a long and accurate dissertation on the doctrinal errors of the dwellers in Jerusalem. Hereafter I shall not touch at all, or only very slightly, on this subject, but shall only tell briefly what places in the holy church are held by these nations.

The Latin Christians are the first in place: they are true Catholics, and are called Franks by the Saracens; they dwell in this church, and are orthodox in faith, devout professed monks, religious men, of the Minorite order, who, as aforesaid, have a convent an Mount Sion, containing many brethren; [134a] that is to say, twenty-four. They live under the regular rule of their order, supported by the alms of the devout pilgrims who came thither from Christendom, and of same believing princes whose devotion towards the holy places and Christian piety moves them not to omit to send their yearly charitable offerings thither. Indeed, the late Dupe Philip of Burgundy, of blessed memory, bestowed open the holy places an annual sum of one thousand ducats as long as he lived, for the salvation of his own soul and the support of the brethren who serve God there, as did also his son Charles while he was in this world. So likewise his successor in modern times, the most illustrious and puissant Lord Maximilian, Duke of Austria and Burgundy, now of late elected most glorious King of the Romans, imitating the example of his predecessors in the Duchy of Burgundy, sends the brethren their usual subsidy. For an account of these brethren and their convent, see the description of our visit to the holy places on Mount Sion within the precincts of that monastery, on the thirteenth day of this month, especially on pages 96b and 108b.

The brethren, on behalf of all Latin Christians, keep at least three of their number in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, as guardians of the most holy monument. These friars remain there day and night, and represent the whole body of the Latin and Roman Church. Their provisions are handed to them through holes in the door of the church by the brethren of Mount Sion. They have the best and most holy places in the church, for they own the keys of the most precious sepulchre and cave of the Lord Jesus, and open it to whomsoever they please, and say Masses in it whenever they choose: nor dare the priests of other sects celebrate Mass there, save with the express leave and permission of the Latins. It would take long to tell how this so remarkable power over the most holy tomb of the Lord came into the hands of us Latins. It is not very long since the Georgians bore rule over the Lord's sepulchre. Indeed, it is a wonder that the other Christians of the other sects should suffer the Latins to have these privileges, seeing that there is no sect of Christians of whom so few dwell in Jerusalem as the Latins, and that in their way of life, customs, and dress they are more unlike the Saracens than any other Christians whatever. Furthermore, three of the lamps which are always burning in the holy sepulchre belong to the Latins, and are supplied by them with oil and fire; the remaining sixteen are kept up by the other sects. The Latins also own the chapel of the Blessed Virgin, described above, page 110b, and there they say Mass and her hours. Behind this chapel they have a roomy place for sleeping, cooking, eating, and doing their needs. In that chapel three lamps are kept burning. On Mount Calvary the Latins have an altar of their own, and three lighted lamps upon the rock of Christ. In the place of the Invention of the Cross of Christ they have one altar, and one lighted lamp in the cave where Christ's cross was found. They have also one lighted lamp at the place [b] where the Lord's body was anointed after it was taken down from the cross.

The Bohemians are still in communion with the Latins in Jerusalem, and when they come to Jerusalem they dwell with the Latins, and take part in their services, although they have left the Church of Rome, and their heresies wax greater every day. So likewise the Glagolae* dwell with us, albeit they do not say Mass in Latin, but in their own mother tongue, because they receive their holy orders at Rome, and are not heretics.

The Georgians, who are also called Nubians, and who are most generally known as Christians of the Cincture, come from parts very far distant from the Holy Land, and are warriors, who even train their women to fight. They are Christians, but tainted throughout with the same errors as the Greeks. In the Church of the Holy Sepulchre they own Mount Calvary, and they always have a guardian of the holy rock shut up in the church. They have not had this holy place long, but only for the last fifteen years ; for they offered presents to the King of Egypt, the Soldan, who turned out the [135a] Armenians from it and put in the Georgians in their stead. They also own the place and cave of the Invention of the Holy Cross, and three lamps therein, which, however, they seldom light. They also own the chapel beneath Mount Calvary, wherein the Latin Kings of Jerusalem were buried, whereof I have told you on page 117a

.

There are also Jacobites in the church, who in their own countries in the East possess many kingdoms. They are peculiarly heretical, and err damnably on many points. They keep up the rite of circumcision; they administer the sacrament in both kinds to children at their mother's breast, and labour under manifold errors about the manhood of Christ. These people own a small chapel adjoining the Lord's monument, wherein they have an altar and lamps. They likewise own the place where the Lord was anointed, and have there seven lighted lamps.

The Abassini [sic], or Indian Christians, who live under the rule of an abbot, also own a part of our Church of the Holy Sepulchre. They are men of very austere life, very poor, and full of errors. Their laity zealously assemble for Mass on festival days, and thereon all of them, of both sexes, begin to sing praises, and to jump with their feet and clap their hands together, assembling together in circles of six or seven, or as many as nine or ten; and sometimes they sing in this manner all night long, more especially on the night of Christ's resurrection, when they never cease singing and running to and fro until the dawn of day, and they do this with such fervent zeal that many of them fall ill through their labours. But though they perform these works, and keep these days holy, yet they are tainted with most pernicious errors, and are heretics abhorred by the Holy Church. They follow the Jews, Saracens, and Jacobites in observing the useless, nay, damnable rite of circumcision, and they brand their children on the face with a pencil of hot iron, and do not care to receive baptism with water. These men have a chapel, in which, beneath the altar, stands the stone, whereon our Lord sat when He was crowned with the crown of thorns; and they have a lamp and an altar, Their chapel and its altars, in which they hold service daily, is on the left-hand side as you come into the holy sepulchre, between the columns of the church, shut in, instead of walls, by cloths and mats, and other hangings, which are suspended by ropes.

The Syrian Christians dwell in miserable slavery under the rule of various heathen princes, and are tainted by the errors of the Greeks, whom they imitate. They are heretics, faithless, treacherous and thievish, and are jealous of their wives, like the Saracens. These men also are with us in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and possess the chapel of St. Helena, where they perform their service. They live by the side of the Indians in a tent, surrounded by cloths and the like.

The aforementioned Christian nations remained in Jerusalem when the city was taken by the Saracens: the Latins, the patriarch and the King of Jerusalem, were then driven out, with all their followers, and the Church.of the Holy Sepulchre was handed over to these Christians, on condition, however, that they bought the places in it for which they wished: as indeed they did. So the confusion of this mixed multitude began in the church in .the year of our Lord 1187, on the eleventh day of October, and since then all the aforesaid nations, except the Latins, have continued to dwell in Jerusalem, as subjects and tributaries to the Saracens. The holy city remained for many years without the Latin Christians, until Robert, King of Sicily, bought certain holy places from the Soldan for much gold, and handed them over to the Minorite brethren, who possess them even to this day. About .these places see above, page 108b. Besides the nations already mentioned, there are many in Jerusalem who do not profess the Christian faith, to wit, Saracens, Jews, Turks, Samaritans, and Mamelukes, of all of whom a perspicuous account is given by the oft-mentioned magnificent Lord Bernard of Braitenbach, who, sparing no expense on the proper composition of his Itinerary, or Book of his Pilgrimage, procured that venerable teacher, enlightened theologian, and graceful orator, Father Martin Roth (sic), of the Order [136a] of St. Dominic, who has written the book of the travels of the aforesaid lord in an ornate and cultured style, and has clearly described the various nations who dwell in Jerusalem with all their errors, frowardnesses and customs, blaming them for their errors, and setting forth most valuable theological doctrines, together with solutions of many difficult points. He also hired a man of art, named Erhard Rewich, a most cunning painter, who has drawn the seaports, cities, places on land, especially in the Holy Land, and the dresses of the aforesaid nations to the life, and has fitted his pictures to the words of the text. He, therefore, who chooses, may read this book, and will find therein much which I have passed over. I will now proceed further with my own wanderings.

On the fifteenth day, which is the feast of the Separation of the Apostles, beginning the day, that is, on the preceding eve, word was sent to all the pilgrims, that at sunset they must climb to the top of Mount Sion, because our masters, the guides, wished to take us that same evening to Bethlehem. When we were all come to the open space on Mount Sion we found our asses standing there with their drivers: so each of us ran about shouting and seeking for his own driver, as I have described on page 84b.

Having got our asses,. we stood there and waited for a long time for our guides, who at last, just as the sun was setting, came sorrowfully, and told us that Midianites, Arabs and Bedouins had come up to Bethlehem from Sodom and the wildernesses about Jordan, and were lying in wait for us there, that they might fall upon us with arms in their hands and rob us: wherefore this time we must needs stay in Jerusalem, until these thievish folk should depart from Bethlehem. So the beasts were taken away to their own place, and we made the round of the holy places of Mount Sion, and prayed long at the place of the Separation of the Apostles, whose feast-day was nigh at hand. About this place see page 104a.

When the sun had set, the pilgrims went down to their hospital to rest, but many of them remained with us on Mount Sion, and kept vigils in the holy places. At midnight we rose together with the brethren for the morning service of lands, after which we began to say private Masses, each in whatever place he chose, until it grew light. When the fifteenth day of July began to dawn, before sunrise, we who were on Mount Sion went down to the hospital and roused up our brethren the pilgrim lords for a pilgrimage. When they were ready we came out of the hospital, with some of the brethren of Mount Sion, and Calinus Elaphallo, the Saracen, with his stick, who afforded us safe-conduct, [b] and kept the boys from throwing stones at us. First of all we went to the courtyard of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and there prostrating ourselves at the place where Christ fell beneath the cross, as described above, we received plenary indulgences (^).

After this we came out of the courtyard into a street which leads from Mount Sion to Mount Calvary, and from thence leads down into the city through all its length. The greatest length of the city is from north to south, and its least width from east to west. When we had gone down some way into the town down that street, up which the Lord Jesus ascended to Mount Calvary, carrying His cross, we came to an ancient gate, broken on the right-land side, whereof no more remained than one side, reaching from the ground to the curve which supported the arch, all the rest being gone. Even that part which remains is now built into some houses, so that we could not come at it, but stood over against it and looked at it. It has been a lofty, great, and well built gate, as we could see excellently well from its ruins, and was built of squared hewn stone. This gate, before the enlargement of the city by Aelius Hadrianus, was called the Old Gate, because it stood there in the time of the Jebusites. Afterwards it was called the Gate of Judgment, because judgment was given therein after the manner of the ancients, and those who had been judged and sentenced therein, were sent out of it to be executed. Both of these names, which are one and the same, to wit, the Old Gate and the Gate of Judgment, are mentioned in the third chapter of the Book of Nehemiah.

Out of this gate the Lord was led to be crucified, carrying His cross; wherefore it is said of this gate in the Epistle to the Hebrews, chapter xiii : `Jesus, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate.' Let us human pilgrims then go out to Him without the gate, bearing His reproach. Who, I pray you, could behold this gate save with devout compassion ? From hence Abel went forth to the field of Afrem* to be slain. Through this came Isaac carrying the wood that he might be sacrificed upon the mountain. Here was seen the cluster of grapes borne upon the staff. At this gate we repeated the prayers appointed in the processional, and knelt and received indulgences (^).

We went on from hence and came to the places where, at the time when Christ was brought out of the gate there stood tents, and when men were brought out to be put to death, there were some kindly men who paid for wine for the condemned ones to drink, and they were given strong wine to drink on this spot, that by drinking it they might become cheerful, because we are told in the sixth (sic) chapter of Esdras that `wine turneth every thought into jollity and mirth, so that a man remembereth neither sorrow nor debt; and it maketh every heart rich' (Esdras I.iii.20, 21). From this place, too, they carried away wine in cups and pitchers to the place of torture, that the men might be made drunk there also, as has been told above, page 112. So likewise does the Talmud bid men do, for it enjoins that those who are about to die should be made drunk, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, 'Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts. Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more' (Prov. xxxi. 6). Now, when the Lord Jesus came to these tents with His cross, and the two thieves who were to be crucified with Him, they hurried onwards with the Lord Jesus, but halted with the other two, and brought them drink: and for the Lord Jesus they brought wine mingled with myrrh, from the inn which stood at the place of crucifixion, and offered it to Him, but He would not receive it, as we read in Matt. xxvii. We do not read that the other two carried their crosses, but their comrades carried them for them. But our Lord Jesus bore His own cross, because all His friends had left Him, and His acquaintance stood afar off. They were in a greater hurry with the Lord Jesus than with the others, because Pilate had given sentence unwillingly, and had been driven by their importunities to yield to their will, and they were afraid that perhaps he might revoke the unjust sentence which he had given: wherefore they hurried. We stood round about this place and prayed, being filled with love and compassion.

As we went down the hill from that place we came to the place of Veronica, who is said to have been the woman that had an issue of blood for twelve years, who was healed by privily touching the hem of the Lord's garments, and whom He called `Daughter,' and greatly commended for her faith, as we read in the ninth chapter of St. Matthew. Some say that this woman was Martha; but Eusebius, in the seventh book of his ` Ecclesiastical History,' says that she who was healed by the Lord, and became His follower, was Veronica, who was a matron of especial piety and modesty. She, hearing the noise of the people who were passing her house with those who were to be crucified, ran out of doors in tears, and met the Lord Jesus labouring beneath the burden of the cross. Seeing His face covered with spittle and blood, she drew forth her handkerchief, and wiped the Saviour's face : the image of the face remained imprinted upon her handkerchief, as though it had been painted there, which kerchief the woman kept by her, and drew much solace from it; and that pictured face became celebrated for many signs and wonders wrought by it, and waxed famous. This woman, together with her kerchief, was brought to Rome at the command of Tiberius Caesar, by the soldier Volusianus; for Caesar was stricken down by a heavy sickness, of which as soon as he had seen that sainted woman, and touched the image, he was healed. After working this cure she continued to dwell at Rome till her death, greatly respected for her holiness and virtue, being one of the founders of the Church of God, together with the Apostles Peter and Paul, and Clement. By her will she left the image itself, imprinted upon the linen cloth, to Pope Clement and his successors, and is at the present day in the church of St. Peter, where it is visited by Christ's faithful people with the greatest devotion. This sacred napkin has retained the name of the woman to the present day, and is called Veronica.* [b] I saw this `Veronica' at Rome on Ascension Day, 1476.

On this subject many have from time to time written beauteous songs of praise, chief among which, and most familiar in men's mouths, is that which runs thus

• ' Hail, holy print of our Redeemer's face
• Wherein doth shine the splendour of God's grace
• Imprinted on a napkin white as snow,
• And given Veronica, His love to show,'

From hence we went on downwards through the city, and came to an ancient yet beautiful house, which is said to have been the house of the rich glutton, whose proper name was Dodrux, though the Lord was loth to pronounce it in the Gospel, just as He told the name of the poor man for the reason given by Gregory in his sermon on that parable. This Dodrux, who was rich and luxurious, denied to the sick beggar Lazarus even the crumbs which fell from his table. We looked upon this house with respect on account of the merits of that poor man, and received indulgences (^). Moreover, all of us pilgrims, both rich and poor, received these examples for the amendment of our lives; the rich learned self-denial and pity from the rich man of pleasure, and the poor man who died and was buried, while the poor were taught lessons of hope and patience by the poor Lazarus, full of sores, who was carried into Abraham's bosom. We are told about these two men, the rich man and the beggar, in Luke xvi.

From thence wee went onward, and came to a place where two roads intersect one another, and form a cross, so that he who stands in the midst of it can walk in any direction. Christ, when He was come to this crossing of the ways, was wearied with bearing His cross, and laid it down that He might have a short rest to regain His breath. But the villainous Jews were in a great hurry, for the reason which I have explained under the heading of the ` Booths'; and while He stood there, one Simon of Cyrene came up, who had been a heathen, and had become a proselyte, and who was in secret a disciple of Christ. This man they impressed and forced him to carry the cross behind Christ, as we read in St. Luke, chapter xxiii. He most unwillingly bore his Master's cross, because he was as yet ignorant of its mystery, and of salvation. We therefore ran up to this place, and both pitied Christ and rejoiced with Him: we pitied Him because there was none to help Him save this Simon, who unwillingly helped Him to bear the cross; but we rejoiced with Him, because there was now not merely one solitary countryman come from the nearest village to bear the cross of Jesus, but many barons, nobles, and honourable men were now here present, [138a] from distant cities and castles, all of whom had come hither of their own accord from parts beyond the sea, all most willingly bearing their Lord's cross. In this place we bowed ourselves to the earth, and after having said the appointed prayers we received plenary indulgences (^^).

On this spot there once stood a church, which now has been utterly destroyed.

As we went further along that most hard and toilsome path of the Lord, over which He passed in the passion of the Cross, we came to the spot where the Lord, while bearing His cross, hearing and seeing pitiful outcries of women who were following Him, turned away His eyes and His face from the raging mob to the women who loved Him, and were mourning for Him, saying, 'Ye daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for Me,' etc. In this holy place we flung ourselves down upon the ground, and with sobs and tears kissed the footprints of our Saviour, and received indulgences (^). Here, also, there once stood a church, of which, however, there are now no traces to be seen.

As we went further along this holy and sorrowful way, not without plenteous tears from the devout pilgrims, we came to a place where, on the right-hand side of the road,there is a little hillock whereon the Virgin Mary stood in the deepest grief, all through the morning on which her Son was in the hall of judgment before the judge, that she might see whither He was led away, and might follow Him, But when she beheld her Son walking between the two thieves, bearing His exceeding heavy cross, wearing the crown of thorns upon His head, with His face livid with blood and befouled with spittle, and surrounded with troops of armed men, she fell down in her horror and swooned away. Here we halted with our minds filled with renewed grief, and after saying the appointed prayers we bowed ourselves down to the earth, and kissed the ground at this holy place, when we received plenary indulgences. In this place there once stood a stately church, which was called St. Mary of the Swoon, because she fainted away there. This church the Saracens have destroyed, leaving its walls, which were very strongly built of squared stone, standing, in order that a Saracen might build a house for himself upon them, because it stands in a pleasant and high situation: for from the place of Calvary all the way to the house of the Rich Man is down hill, and from the place where Simon was forced to bear the cross behind Jesus, the ground rises all the way to this spot, where stand the walls of the church with no house raised upon them. The following strange story is told of this place. Though many Saracens have tried .to build themselves houses upon those old walls, yet none of them could ever finish his building, but after all his toil and expense what he had set up suddenly fell down, and this happened so often, that no one now attempts to build anything upon this spot, but they let the ruins of the wall stand unused. As a proof of the sanctity of this place, and that some day a church will be built here, it is said that even the stones cannot be taken away from hence.

Going on from thence, further.along the street, we came to the place where, at the time of Christ's passion, was the Seat of Judgment, which was called in Hebrew Gabbatha, and in Greek Lychostratus, but which is called in Latin, the Hill of grief, because it was a hill of great sorrow to those upon whom sentence was passed. This place is mentioned in the nineteenth chapter of St. John's Gospel. In this place there stands a high arch, built of squared stones, reaching from one side of the street to the other, and covering the street over like a gate. Above the arch is built a wall as long as a man's body. Into this wall are built two square white stones, which are of polished marble, separated one from the other, looking down the street, as though they had been put into the wall for ornament. At the time of Christ's passion this place, Lychostratus, was paved with slabs of marble, and in that pavement there were two white polished square stones raised above the rest, one of them beneath the seat of judgment, so that the judge when sitting on that seat rested his feet upon the stone, while the other was in the middle of the pavement, and upon it was placed the person who was to be tried. Round about these stones were benches for the counsel and judges. So Pilate came out to this place Gabbatha, to pass sentence of death against Jesus, seated on the tribunal, and resting his feet upon the stone, and the Lord Jesus, soon to be borne to His death, stood upon the stone of culprits. These two stones were taken up by the faithful, and built into the wall above this arch for a perpetual remembrance of this deed. So in this place we bent our knees, and after worshipping the Lord, received lndulgences. Here we recalled to our minds the impious accusations brought against Christ by the Jews, and the unjust proclamation, and the terror of the unjust judge, and the silence of Christ, and many other things which came to pass in this holy place.

When we had finished our prayers in the aforesaid place, we rose up, passed through the aforesaid arch, and came to the house of Pilate, wherein every Christian knows what torment the Lord endured. In it there was the judgment-hall, whither the Lord Jesus was led, tied fast by hard bonds, and, with an iron chain about His neck, was confronted with His judge, accused, examined, sent to Herod, brought back again to this house, questioned, scourged, crowned with thorns, mocked in divers ways, and when covered with scorn shown to the people. Wherefore before the door of that house we bowed ourselves down to the earth with plenteous weeping, and said the prayer appointed in the processional, and received plenary indulgences (^^). When we arose we kissed the stones of the walls. We would willingly have entered the house, but they who dwelt therein would not open it, so we stood without even as the Jews stood when they delivered up Christ to the judge. [139a] They did this because they would not enter the house lest they should be defiled and unable to eat the passover, whereas we longed with all our hearts to enter it, that we might be cleansed from our defilements and uncleannesses, and be sanctified; howbeit, at this time we were not let in. After the knights had left Jerusalem, I made my way into it by stratagem, as will be told hereafter--page 23 b. Although that house, together with all the others, was cast down by Titus, yet some of the walls remained, upon which, when it was rebuilt, a new house was placed, and thus the appearance of the original house was done away. However, the arched doorway, through which the Lord was brought in and out, has remained standing, though now the entrance to the house is not under that arch, but elsewhere, and the old gate, although still standing, is built up. On the capitals and arch-stones of the old gate are carved wheels, and squares, and triangles, as though they were astrological signs ; and I believe that the ancients carved these figures for superstitious reasons. At the time of Christ's passion this house was large, and contained many chambers, but now it is small enough within, although the place of the scourging is covered with a vault, and always was so. At the present day the tenants of the house cast all the refuse and filth of the household into this holy place. In this house formerly stood the seven sweating columns mentioned on page 113a. It used to be entered by an ascent of twenty-eight marble steps. As the Lord was being dragged in a prisoner with fury and violence, He fell on the eleventh step upon His holy face, with such force that blood flowed from His nose and face, and ran on to the stair. These steps, according to tradition, have been translated from Jerusalem to Rome, and have been placed in the church of St. John Lateran, leading up to the Holy of Holies, and whensoever anyone climbs them he receives plenary indulgences. The greatest reverence of all is shown to those stairs, up which pilgrims may not go save on their bare knees; and when they come to the eleventh step, they prostrate themselves and pray there for a longer time and with greater fervour than on the others, and kiss the place where the marks of bloodshed are to be seen; which place is guarded by iron bars. It is not only unlettered and simple people who do this, but great Cardinals and exceeding learned men climb these stairs in the aforesaid fashion to obtain indulgences: and they say that they once stood in the house of Pilate.

Leaving the aforesaid house, and going further along the street, we came to another street leading upwards from it. Here we left the street down which we had come from Mount Calvary, mounted up this street, and came to a great house, which was the house of King Herod, to which the Lord Jesus was brought from Pilate up this ascent. Herein He was scoffed at by Herod's army, mocked with a white garment, and tormented in divers ways, as we are told by the Evangelists. It is said that the white garment of Christ, with which He was mocked in the house of Herod, was in the shape of the scapular worn by the Dominicans and Carthusians. We bowed ourselves to the earth and prayed before this house, [b] and after (^) having received indulgences we arose. During my first pilgrimage I was unable to obtain entrance to this house, because there was there a school of Saracen boys therein, in which boys were taught. In my second pilgrimage we were suddenly driven away from the house, because the Governor of the city kept his concubines in it, for which reason, even after the departure of the pilgrims, we could not gain admittance to it.

We hurriedly left the house of Herod, that we might not offend the Governor, and went down again to our former street, wherein we stopped before the door of a house. In this house it is said that the Pharisee dwelt who desired that Jesus should eat with him, and when He was there a woman of the city, which was a sinner, came and did Him wondrous service out of penitence and devotion, as we read in Luke vii., so that, as Gregory says, the tears of that sinful woman would soften even a stony heart into penitence. She made all her beauties into as many sacrifices, and turned her many vices into many virtues, that if any part of her had dishonoured God in sin, all of her might serve God in penitence. We prostrated ourselves before the door of this house, and received indulgences (^^).

There seems to be a discrepancy among the Evangelists with regard to this house. Luke, in his account of the matter, appears to imply that it took place in Jerusalem. But in Mark xiv., John xii., and Matthew xxvi., it is said to have taken place at Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper. Hence some learned doctors, for example Jerome (`Contra Jovinianum,' chapter xlvi.), say that the Evangelist Luke speaks of some other woman, not of Mary Magdalen, who is mentioned by the other three, and who did her service in Bethany, whereas it was another woman who did so in this house. The places shown as holy places agree with this, because we are here shown the house of Simon the Pharisee, and in Bethany we are shown the house of Simon the leper. Unless--which I myself am more inclined to believe to be true--one prefers rather to, say that Mary Magdalen came to this house at the outset of her conversion, and washed the Lord's feet with her tears, that it was afterwards, near the time of His passion, that she poured the ointment upon His head as He sat at meat, and that she who did this was one and the same woman.

Rising up from our prayer at the aforesaid house, we hurried forward on our way, and came to another large house, built of squared, hewn and carved stone, which house adjoins the courtyard of the temple of the Lord. This house is said to have been the school of the blessed Virgin, wherein she learned her letters when she was presented by her parents to the servants of the temple that she might be bound over to the service of God. We viewed this house with admiration, and a doubt arose in our minds as to whether the blessed Virgin Mary learned her letters from any man, and what Jew could have been her schoolmaster, since we read in the seventh chapter of the Book of Wisdom: ` The Creator of all things hath taught me wisdom:' [140a] For the Lord of all things loved her, therefore she herself is `a teacher of His ways' (Wisdom viii.).

From this it would appear that she was not taught by man. Moreover, Damm tells us that the blessed Virgin was not outdone in learning by any of the great ones of the Church. Indeed, there, have been some holy men who have not been taught by man, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ, as St. Paul tells us that he was taught in the first chapter of the Epistle to the Galatians. Solomon, too, learned wisdom, not from man, but by Divine inspiration. All the other Apostles also became the teachers of the world by divinely inspired learning. Moreover, St. Thomas Aquinas says that he learned more by prayer than by reading. So, too, St. Catherine of Siena was taught by the Lord Jesus, and could read books and the Scriptures, yet she knew not the name or powers of any one letter, and could not tell `a' from `b,' or `b' from `c' which proves her teaching to have been miraculous. St. Mary of Egypt likewise, when in the desert, learned the Scriptures by Divine revelation. "Wherefore, then, beloved brother-wanderer, dost thou show me the school wherein thou sayest that the blessed Virgin Mary learned her letters? If she was not surpassed in learning by any of the greatest theologians, how could she have been taught by man? Seeing that others have gained knowledge of the Scriptures by inspiration, what Jew would have been the teacher of her who from the beginning of her ways possessed eternal wisdom ?" "Pause, my beloved brother, and do not by any means scorn this house, but believe it to have been the school of the blessed Virgin. Though she was worthy to be a teacher of men, yet for humility's sake she deigned to become a scholar, even as she underwent purification according to the law, not of necessity, but out of humility. Thus likewise the Lord Jesus, with His eternal 'wisdom, sat among the doctors, hearing them and asking them questions ; albeit, neither by listening to them, nor by questioning them, could he add to His knowledge." So we went up to the wall of that house, and kissed it, and received indulgences (^), and said the appointed prayers.

Going a little further on from thence, we came to a place where, on the right-hand, was a vaulted passage. This passage was whitewashed, and in it hung lighted lamps. We stood outside this passage, and looked through it into the temple courtyard, -and saw, too, the temple itself, which is called Solomon's temple. So we bent our knees and worshiped the true Lord of that temple, and received there (^^) plenary indulgences.

Although at the present day this temple is used as a mosque, and the accursed Mahomet is worshiped there, yet once it was an exceeding holy church, as it will some day be again, and has been hallowed by many miracles wrought therein by our Saviour. For this reason the indulgences hold good in spite of Mahomet, because the church stands in a most sacred place, and was built and consecrated to Christ long ago. About this temple, and its description, and who built it, and its model, I shall tell you on page 257a and the following pages. As for the Saracen mosques, which the Canons calls ` mesquitas,' see the 'Speculum Historiale,' Book XXIV., chapter lxxxii.; and also Part II, page 104, of this work.

[b] We were soon driven away from our view of the temple, for the Saracens cannot endure with patience that we should look upon this temple, or that we should even come nigh it on any pretence. We therefore went away from it, and, going along the street, entered another street to the left, where we came to a great church, connected with which is a goodly monastery, with all the offices connected by a cloister. Here once dwelt nuns of the Order of St. Benedict, who were wealthy and pious. Beneath this church is the birthplace of the blessed Virgin Mary, because here stood the house of Joachim and Anna. The Saracens have made this church into a mosque, and therefore they will not allow us to enter it. So we stood before the door of the church and said the appointed prayers, and received plenary indulgences (^^). However, after the pilgrims had gone home, we who remained behind in Jerusalem did manage to get into this church, but in secret, and with great difficulty, as will be found described on page 220b, where, also, there is a description of the place and convent.

It should be noted that the Saracens make special efforts to blot out this church even from the memories of Christians, because therein is a proof of the untruthfulness of the Alkoran; for the Alkoran says that the blessed Virgin Mary was the daughter of Miriam, the sister of Aaron and Moses, which is an utterly false imagination, as may be seen in the text of the Alkoran, Book I., chapter i., and Book III., chapter xvii.

We were led along a narrow lane, close beside that church, and knocked at the door of a house in which dwelt some poor Saracens, who opened the door, but would not let us come in unless we first gave them some pence. After this had been done, we went in, and descended some stone stairs into a small court or open space, which once was enclosed by walls, and still is so in part. Round about it there are arched doors. On this spot, in the days of Christ, was the sheep-pool, called in Hebrew Bethsaida, where the Lord Jesus healed the man who was sick of the palsy, as is told in John v. This pool contained the water which in rainy weather ran off the roof of the temple, and in it the sheep and other beasts which were offered in sacrifice in the temple were washed. Moreover, Solomon caused the wood which the Sibyl showed him, and whereon she prophesied that Christ should suffer, to be plunged into the depths of this cistern. There it lay hid up to the time of Christ's passion, when it rose to the surface of the water, and was taken out and made into Christ's cross. It is supposed that it was on account of the reverence, due to this wood that an angel came down from heaven and troubled the water, after which troubling the first man who entered it was healed. There the Lord healed one who had awaited the troubling of the water for thirty-eight years, as we are told in John v.

After we had seen that cistern we went on our way, and came to the end of the city on the north side at the gate I which once was called the Gate of Ephraim, because the way to Mount Ephraim leads through it; but now it is called the Gate of St. Stephen, because he was led out of it and stoned in the valley beyond it. Through this gate leads the road to Sichem, Samaria, and the province of Galilee. So we went out of this gate, and as soon as we were outside, we left the northern roads along which the gate looks, and turned aside to the eastward towards Mount Olivet, having the holy city on our tight hands as, we walked. When we came to the corner of the wall where the northern wall joins the eastern one, we turned our faces away from the east, and looked along the wall towards the south, where we saw another great city gate on the east side, whose lofty tower has been thrown down and ruined. This gate is termed the Golden Gate, and through it the Lord Jesus entered the city on Palm Sunday, sitting upon an ass, while beneath it Joachim and Anna met together in obedience to a former command, because they had been told by a divine oracle that of them the Virgin Mary should be born. Moreover, it was here also that the following glorious miracle took place: When the Emperor Heraclius, having conquered his enemies, and regained the cross which had been taken by the Persians, wanted to ride on horseback through this gate in imperial state, he no sooner came up to the gate than the stones joined themselves together, and became a closed solid wall: nor could he enter until he had laid aside all worldly pomp, when at last, barefooted and humbled, he was permitted to enter with all his army, bearing the Lord's cross.

Up to this gate the Lord was led in triumph, from the Mount (of Olives) to the temple, with palms and green boughs, as also we read in the thirteenth chapter .of the First Book of Maccabees that Simon entered it; and in the Second Book of Maccabees, and the tenth chapter, we read of the green boughs and palms. The Saracens will not allow us to come near this [b] gate, and we could by no means obtain leave to go thither, because without it is the Saracen burying-ground, over which they will not suffer Christians to walk. However, we knelt looking towards it from afar off, and after worshipping God received plenary indulgences (^^). These indulgences are given to everyone who stands opposite this gate afar off, and worships it, as many times as he does it. It is believed that the ruinous walls which now stand there are indeed the ruins of the true Golden Gate, through which the Lord entered, sitting on an ass; because Titus, when he destroyed Jerusalem, left some towers standing for fortresses and watch-towers, whereof the tower of the Golden Gate was one, and was left standing together with its wood-work. This wood-work is at the present day covered with plates of gilded copper. The Saracens cut off pieces and scraps of these plates and nails, and sell them to the Christians, because many Christians take great pains to get a piece of that gate, and often risk their lives by going thither at night and tearing little pieces off it. Some lavish their money instead, and bribe some Saracen to pluck morsels off the gate, and to give them copper or wood in return for gold or silver. The reason why relics from this gate are so dear is because it is said (whether it be a vain superstition or not, I cannot tell) that whosoever carries about a morsel of that gate with him will be proof against apoplexy, falling sickness, and plague. In days of old, when the Christians possessed Jerusalem, a great feast was celebrated at this gate on Palm Sunday. On the previous Saturday, or vigil of Palm Sunday, all the clergy went forth to Bethany, and kept the vigil all night in the church of St. Lazarus. In the early dawn they went forth in procession from Bethany to Bethphage, where they set one of the great bishops, dressed in his priestly vestments, upon an ass, and went in procession towards the holy city. As they came down from the Mount of Olives, the rest of the clergy and religious orders, with all the populace of the city, came in procession to greet them, carrying boughs of palm, and after the fashion spoken of in the Gospel, they cut boughs from the olive-trees and strewed them in the way, and spread out their garments in the way, crying, 'Hosanna!' etc. When they came up from the valley towards the gate, the gate used to be shut, and young men stood upon the tower thereof, singing Gloria, laus, etc. When they had done singing this hymn they brought the bishop into the temple with great rejoicings. After the loss of the holy city, and the driving out of the Latins from thence, the Armenians continued to celebrate this festival with their bishop for many years, until at the instigation of the devil they (the Saracens) began to bury their damned dead here, after which they blocked up the gate. Nowadays, therefore, they hurry through Palm Sunday in the following manner: On that day itself, after divine service and the eating of food, the brethren of Mount Sion go out to Bethany, thence walk in singing procession up to Bethphage, [142a] where they set one of the brethren in his priestly vestments upon an ass, and accompany him towards the city singing praises. As they descend the Mount of Olives the other Eastern Christians run to meet them with boughs of palm and olive, and with strewing of garments in the way, and lead him as far as the brook Cedron, where the procession ends, for they dare not mount up towards the city singing praises in this fashion, lest the Saracens should break up their procession by pelting it with stones. It is wonder enough that they suffer them to do thus much, for a hundred or even fifty years ago they would not have permitted it, and as little as twenty years ago the Christians had not as much liberty as they now have. May God make it still greater, for His own praise's sake, that the mouths of those who sing of Him in these most holy places may not be for ever shut.

Passing quickly by the Golden Gate, we came down a steep, rough and stony path to a place where stands a stone, the top whereof is flat. Upon this stone those butchers, who were about to stone the holy protomartyr Stephen, laid down their clothes that they might more readily throw stones and slay the saint with harder blows. Saul, being a young man, witnessed this sight, and being filled with a burning zeal for Judaism, kept watch over all their clothes, in order that they might throw stones freely, and thus he might be of more use to them than anyone else. So Saul sat upon the clothes upon this stone, raging against Stephen and blaspheming Christ. We therefore kissed this place and received indulgences (^).

From thence we went down a little lower, towards the brook Cedron, and came to the place where Stephen was stoned, where he prayed on his knees for his stoners, arid received their stones with joy: wherefore the hymn says of him: Lapides torrentis illi dulces fuerunt. We are told by St. Augustine how great was the value of St. Stephen's prayer; ' had Stephen not prayed, the Church would have lost Paul.' So in this place we kissed the very stones, and received indulgences (^); indeed, the place is full of very clear pebbles from the brook. Here once stood a venerable church, whose ruins can scarcely be traced at this day, though on the left-hand some walls still remain. This place is exceeding sacred, forasmuch as in this place Stephen was the first to repay to the Saviour the death which the Saviour deigned to undergo for all men.

Proceeding onwards from hence, we went down into the valley of Jehoshaphat as far as the brook Cedron. This valley has another name, Cela, according to Jerome, and the brook Cedron is called Chrinarus. It is called the valley of Jehoshaphat because the King Jehoshaphat caused a stately sepulchre [b] to be hewn out there for himself, which I shall describe on page 176. The bottom part of this valley is called the brook Cedron, which brook in summertime is dried up and parched, but in winter runs with water from the melting snow. It is said that once upon a time cedars were planted along the banks of that brook; and that after them it was named Cedron, that is, `of the cedars.' This valley and brook come from the northward and stretch along towards the south. They part the mount of the city and temple, and the hills of Sion and Gihon, from the Mount of Olives and the Mount of Offence. They are continued by the valley of Siloam and the valley of Hermon, which bends towards the east, and reaches as far as Sodom. Wherefore the brook Cedron, whenever it contains any water, sends its waters down into the Dead Sea, by a long winding course through this crooked valley. Some declare that the brook Cedron once had waters always flowing in it, and that at the present day it has an underground channel, because the bottom of the valley has been choked up with ruins by the many destructions of the holy city, underneath which ruins they say that the brook continually flows. This I do not believe to be true, because I have gone along that valley all the way down to Sodom, a long way from Jerusalem, through exceeding deep torrent-beds, where no ruins have ever been cast down, and yet I could not see a single drop of this ever-flowing water, but only a dry torrent-bed, through which water runs regularly in its season. Nor can anyone doubt that if this channel had in old times had water always running in it from a fountain, Holy Scripture would not have been silent about it; or if there were still a perpetual run of water beneath the earth, the people of Jerusalem would call in the aid of all the Easterns, and would dig down to its banks, seeing that living waters are precious in Jerusalem, and the people stand in need of them, and long ago some device would have been contrived whereby these waters might have been carried straight up into the city, even as the waters of the fountain of Siloam, which are said by Nicholas de Lyra to have once flowed up into the city above them; which appears to me to be very strange, because that fountain lies deep down at the foot of Mount Sion.

These aforesaid valleys, this torrent-bed and fountain of Siloam, and the mountains spoken of a little while ago, will often be mentioned hereafter: wherefore I have thought fit to make this short preface, for the better understanding of what follows. Now, when we had come to the bottom of the valley, we crossed over the brook by the stone bridge, which is built upon arches, and came to the foot of the Mount of Olives. When we had gone up it a little way from the brook, we came to the Dragon Well, of which we read in the second chapter of Nehemiah. At this place I discoursed to my lords the knights about the zeal of Nehemiah: how he came to Jerusalem out of captivity from a far country, and rode round about the city by night to view its ruins, and stood beside that well considering how with the leave of Artaxerxes, the king, he might rebuild the walls of Jerusalem which had been thrown down, and the ruined towers, the levelled gates, the desolate houses and the burnt temple. This work of his is a reproach to our princes, who take no heed about the recovery [143a] of the holy city, as though we had no need of it. I do not remember anywhere to have read why this well is called the Dragon Well; but I suppose that it was because it once had water running from some spring, from which the waters were brought into this cistern through dragons or snake-like curved pipes. So also the district of Drachonitis (Trachonitis) is so called because it has no waters save such as are brought through dragons--that is, snaky underground passages.

Thence we went upon our way, but turned down to our left hand to the church of the sepulchre of the most blessed Virgin, which is hewn out of the stony rocks, deep in the bowels of the earth. Some say that when it was begun to be built it was not beneath the earth, but above it, and that it has been covered over by the earth brought down by the rain-water from the Mount of Olives, and by the filling up of the valley. Above the entrance there is a building made in the likeness of a chapel, and before the door there is a courtyard paved with square slabs of marble. We went down into this cave, and hurried towards the entrance to the church, but when we came to the church door we found it locked, and no guardian of the church there. However, some Saracens who were sitting at the door told us that he would be there presently. Indeed, the door-keeper of this church is a Saracen, who has inherited this office from his father, whom what follows befell. This Saracen--I mean the father of him who is now door-keeper--as a reward for some service, received from the Soldan the gift of this church, that he might make money from the pilgrims who visited it. So when he became possessed of the church, and saw that the Christians were exceeding zealous to visit it, he raised the sum which those who entered it were wont to pay, so much, that he wanted each person who came in to pay no less than three ducats. In consequence of this burden the pilgrims gave up visiting this church, no one entered it any more, and the place became almost forgotten. But on one night the blessed Virgin Mary appeared in a dream to that greedy Saracen, and most bitterly upbraided him, saying: `Oh enemy of God, lost both in mind and body, perverter of the law, that takest away the honour due to me, how hast thou waxed so rash as to presume to shut my doors against my servants the pilgrims ? Arise, therefore, swiftly, and throw open the doors of my sepulchre to all pilgrims without money and without price, otherwise thy body shall be filled full of worms, and thy house shall soon be made desolate.' Saying thus she disappeared. The Saracen, full of fear, awoke, arose trembling, revealed all to his family, the words which he had heard, and forbade them thenceforth to deny entrance to the church to any Christian, but bade them open it to all free of charge, and this he enjoined upon his posterity after him. [b] So it has been done even to this day. Now as we stood at the church door there came to us a Saracen, a man well stricken in years, the son of the aforesaid man to whom the blessed Virgin appeared. He unlocked the door, and let us go in, saying to each man in his own tongue: `Go, worship God, and praise the Virgin Mary.' When we entered the door we went down fifty-two marble steps into a deep cave, and while we were going down them the precentor began in a loud voice to sing the hymn `0 gloriosa domina,' etc.

We followed him, singing with great joy, and came to the sepulchre of the most blessed Virgin, in the midst of the church. We entered it one after the other, kissed the holy tomb with the greatest devotion, and with thanks giving received a plenary (^^) indulgence. After the hymn `0 gloriosa domina,' etc., we sang `Salve regina,' and other hymns. We were very merry in this holy place, and sang cheerfully. I have never heard so sweet and musical an echo as here, and in the cave of the Invention of the Cross, as I have already noted. I have at times been in this church alone for one or two hours, and have prayed or sung as I pleased, for the voice of one who sings there cannot be heard above. I have often noticed, as indeed I have often been in that church, that pilgrims are always merrier and more joyous there than in the other holy places: and rightly are they so, for from this place the glorious Virgin ascended into heaven, where unspeakably exalted she reigneth with Christ world without end. `On this spot,' says Jerome, `the queen of the world was snatched away from this wicked life, wherefore rejoice, because being certain of her own imperishable glory she went from hence to the palace of heaven, and translated her glory thither from this present world to the end that she might with confidence intercede for our sins. No one can doubt that at the moment of the Assumption of the most, blessed Virgin all the heavenly Jerusalem rejoiced with ineffable joy, and made merry with all thanksgiving. It is believed that the Saviour Himself came swiftly hither with all the armed host of the kingdom of heaven, restored her to life by reuniting her body and soul, and with joy placed her beside Him on His throne.' Nor ought we to think that it was by chance that the most blessed Virgin Mary chose her place of sepulture in the valley of Jehoshaphat, but to the intent that the sinner who fears to stand in this valley on the dreadful day of judgment which is to come, may now take up his place beforehand in that valley, and pray to the Mother, show forth his obedience to her, and thus cease to fear being called into this valley a second time if he shall obtain the favour of the Mother who will be his judge. The blessed Virgin left behind her for our consolation her veil and clothing, which at the instance of the empress Helena have been translated to Constantinople by Juvenalis the Patriarch of Jerusalem.

The church of the blessed Virgin in the valley of Jehoshaphat is called the church of the Assumption, and beside it was once a monastery of monks of the order of St. Bene't, and a mitred Abbot; but now not even the ruins of this monastery can be seen, but.there are gardens of olives and fig-trees round about the church. The church, itself, as I have said, is now underground, although in former times it was not so, as is clear when one looks at the walls, [144a] wherein the windows still remain, though without light, because the floods of rain-water bringing down earth from the mountains have covered it up, and it receives no light, save that at its east end there is an opening made up to the sky, and through. this hole light enters it, and lights only one corner of the church. This opening is surrounded in its upper part with an enclosing wall just as though it were a cistern. This church, according to Jerome in his sermon on the Assumption, is wondrously built of marble slabs, but on that side which lies to the northward of the sepulchre it is not cased with marble, but there is to be seen the bare rock from which the sepulchre was hewn out. The church is lofty and vaulted, and contains many altars. The Virgin's sepulchre stands in the midst of it, and is a small chamber, like the Lord's sepulchre, splendidly ornamented and lighted with lamps, more even than the Lord's sepulchre itself. It has two entrances; one leads from the west opposite the holy tomb, which stands on the eastern side of it, having the head towards the south, and the feet towards the north. There is another door on the north side, and one goes in through the one, and out through the other, which is not done in the Lord's sepulchre. Masses also are said in the sepulchre itself, like as they are in the Lord's sepulchre. I myself have celebrated many Masses therein, and all Christians, of whatever sect they may be, are allowed to celebrate Mass there, and that place is not appropriated by any sect ; but the other altars throughout the church belong to various sects, for the altar which is nearest to the sepulchre belongs to the Armenians; a second, beneath a dark vault, belongs to the Georgians. A