When we had finished chanting our curses over Judas we came down the slope of Mount Sion into the valley which divides Mount Sion itself from Mount Gihon, which valley is narrow, and joins the valley of Siloam [b] in the midst thereof. We crossed this narrow valley and came to the foot of Mount Aceldama on the opposite side, which mount stands on an elbow of Mount Gihon towards the north, even as Mount Calvary is on an elbow of Mount Sion towards the north. Natheless, I believe that that part which now is called Mount Aceldama, because of the field, was all of it in old times called Mount Gihon--that is to say, both the mount and the elbow of the mount, as hath come to pass with the Mount Sion and Mount Calvary aforesaid, and with Mount Sinai and Mount Horeb, for there the lower part is called Mount Sinai and the upper part Mount Horeb, as also with the Mount of Olives, whereof the lower part towards the south is called the Mount of Offence and the upper part is called the Mount of Olives. Even so this mount from the valley up to the field is called Mount Aceldama, and from the field upwards is called Mount Gihon. So we went up the Mount Aceldama, up a steep hill, dragging ourselves up cliffs and rocks, and we came to orchards of figs, pomegranates, and other fruit-trees. In these orchards there were many rocks rising high into the air, and walls of rock, wherein were hewn caves, single, double, triple, and quadruple, whereof I have spoken on page 125a. The ancients hollowed out these stony rocks for burial-places, as I have said on page 157a, and afterwards, in the days of the Christians, men, out of love for the Holy Land, chose these caverns for dwelling places, being unwilling to dwell anywhere save in sepulchres, that therein they might cheerfully await death. Whenever one of the saints of old could obtain for himself such a dwelling as this in the Holy Land, he thought that he had found a treasure. To these caverns the Apostles fled when they forsook the Lord in the garden, when He was carried away bound to be brought before the high-priests. They could not bear to forsake so sweet a Master, yet they could not follow him, nor was there any better place for them to abide in than a darksome cavern--nay, in these caves themselves they strove to make their way further in, as far, if possible, as the innermost bowels of the earth, that there, at least, they might find a place wherein to groan, weep, shriek, and howl aloud, for when standing at the mouths of these caverns they dared not utter loud moans and cries, lest they should be heard, but as far as they could they restrained their cries together with their sorrow within their own breasts. And, indeed, their breasts were so filled with grief, their throats, faces, and heads so swelled with woe, that they filled up their mouths with their clothes, lest their groans should burst forth and be heard at a distance. So in this holy place we walked in pitiful mood from one cavern to another, and scattered ourselves about among these caves, showing our respect for the places of the sorrow of the Apostles. As we stood within the caves one pilgrim would address another thus ' Lo, my brother, in this cavern perchance [162a] sat the beloved Apostle Andrew, lamenting the misfortune of his Master.' Another sitting opposite him would say, `And here sate the Apostle Bartholomew, grieving that he forsook so sweet a Master.' Again, in another cave, one would say, ` Here is a seat whereon it may be Thomas sat in doubt and sorrow.' From another cavern another pilgrim would cry out, `Lo, here in this darksome cave are two places where I believe two Apostles, Simon and Judas sat together.' Thus they strove one with another in devout jest, each one assigning a place to the Apostle whom he loved best. In this same orchard we entered one curious cave, exceeding like the Lord's sepulchre as it was in its original state. We said our prayers near these places, and received indulgences (^).

When we had viewed the hiding-places of the Apostles we went further up Mount Aceldama, up a steep rocky slope, a hard and stony path, in climbing up which some tenderly nurtured and luxurious knights became impatient, and murmured at the labour of our journey. We were, indeed, scorched by a most blazingly hot sun; natheless, we went upwards, and came to the holy field of Aceldama. About this field we are told in Matt. xxvi. that, before the Passion, it was called the Potter's Field, because it was owned by some potter. The Jews bought this field for those thirty pieces (of silver) which they gave to Judas for the Lord Jesus, that they might bury strangers therein, whose bodies had aforetime been cast forth unburied. Wherefore in this holy field we fell upon our faces, read the appointed prayers, and received plenary indulgences (^^).

When we had accomplished this, we sat down to rest and to view the place; and while we were sitting thus, a young Saracen came up to us carrying a basket full of grapes, some of which we bought, and so sat and ate them there in the field, and enjoyed ourselves well.

This field Aceldama lies on the slope of Mount Gihon, opposite to Mount Sion, on the south side thereof. On the field itself stands a building with four walls, like a low, square tower, covered by a vault resting on the side-walls. This vault has nine round openings in its upper part, through which the bodies of the dead are thrown. Now, since it stands upon the slope of the mount, on the upper side, where one [b] comes down the mount towards the building, one can walk on to the vault without climbing. The vaulted roof of this building measures fifty feet in width and seventy-two in length; from the openings down to the ground at the bottom is twenty-six feet. There is no way into this chamber save through these openings, and no one can enter it through them unless he be let down with ropes. It is a dwelling for the dead alone, and I believe that since the hour when it was finished no living man has entered this chamber, but he that hath once entered it will never come forth again until the day of judgment. I lay down upon my belly and put my head inside, and saw therein five fresh human corpses among dry bones. Above the vault there is now no building, but grass grows thereon, and in some places covers over the openings, so that they who walk thereon carelessly slip one of their feet into them. That holy woman Helena built a church upon this spot, which she caused to be dedicated to All Saints, up to which the monks who dwelt in the hiding-places of the Apostles were wont to go and celebrate divine service. Afterwards, when those monks were gone, brethren of the Order of Preaching Friars dwelt there, and had a convent there, for at the time when Robert, King of Sicily, as aforesaid, bought the Mount Sion and other places for the Minorites from the Soldan for much gold, the preaching friars called for the aid of pious men, and having collected together some money, bought the field Aceldama, that they might build a convent thereon, in the year of our Lord 1350, in which year Ludolphus, the parish priest of Suchem, was in the Holy Land, and wrote this in his book of his pilgrimage. When they had received the place they held it for a time, but were at length forced to forsake the place owing to the attacks of the Moors and the robbery which they suffered from the infidels. With regard to this, the Minorite brethren are well provided for on Mount Sion, having a quiet place within the city, well fortified with high walls and iron doors, as hath been said on page 97a. Yet, notwithstanding these, they are exceeding often in great perils from the constant attacks of the infidels, even in the night-time. Were they not brave men, they would long ago have forsaken the Mount Sion, because of their peril from the assaults of those hounds. So it was not possible for the preaching friars to remain in an unfortified place without the city, notwithstanding their having bought it from the Soldan, and having been admitted to it by him, for the infidels care nothing for this. So when the brethren were driven out of the place the Saracens cast down the church and other buildings, uprooting their very foundations, all save the sepulchral building, which is standing at the present day.

After the preaching friars some Greek monks, called Caloyers, dwelt there, but were forced by the same necessity to forsake the place, and that not many years ago, for I found in the caves and hiding-places marks which proved that a short time before men had dwelt therein. I very often used to come down to this place from Mount Sion and read my hours on the holy field, and I desired exceedingly that, if it were possible, [163a] I might end my days there among the brethren and be buried there. Wherefore I chose this place for my sepulchre, and begged the brethren of Mount Sion, if I happened to die in Jerusalem, to bury me in no other place save in that holy field, and to cast in my body through those holes. I can say of a truth that, other conditions being equal, I had rather have a convent there than upon Mount Sion, for there the brethren could plant gardens, vineyards, and fig-orchards, and the place is pleasant, looking as it does towards Mount Sion and the valley of Siloam, and it could get its water from the fountain of Siloam, which is hard by. There is also a view of the valley of Jehoshaphat, the Mount of Olives, etc.

Of this field they relate for a truth that the bodies of the dead when placed in it are straightway reduced to dust within three days and the dry bones alone left. So they say of the holy field which is at Rome, beside the church of St. Peter, to which earth was carried from hence over the sea and strewn over that field. So likewise the people of Pisa, when they bore rule in Syria, took earth from this field, freighted ships therewith, carried it to Pisa, and made a most costly burial-place therewith for the great men of their land. In these three cemeteries bodies are dissolved within three days, whereas in other cemeteries they are hardly altogether consumed in eighteen years.

Now, as for the thirty pieces of money, I have read a long rambling story which says that Terah, the father of Abraham, struck them at the bidding of King Ninus, with others of the same mintage; and that Abraham received them and brought them into this land, and that from him they were handed down to Ishmael by inheritance, all together, and that they never were divided from one another. They were paid by the Ishmaelites to the children of Jacob for their brother Joseph, whom they sold to them, and the brethren carried them down into Egypt to buy corn with. From Egypt they were carried into Sheba, as the price of merchandise. The Queen of Sheba gave them to Solomon among other presents, and he cast them into the treasury of the Lord's temple. Nebuchadnezzar carried them off together with the other treasures of the temple, and made a present of them to Godolia (sic), by whom they were sent to the kingdom of Nubia. When the Lord was born in Bethlehem, Melchior, the King of Nubia, offered them to the Lord, and the blessed Virgin and Joseph lost them in the desert when they were fleeing with the child. A shepherd found them, and kept them for thirty years. This shepherd, hearing the fame of the miracles of the Lord Jesus, came to Jerusalem sick; and, having received health from Him, offered the thirty pieces to Jesus. Since He would not receive them, he gave them to the priests of the temple, who set them aside as corban. When the Lord had been betrayed, they handed them over to Judas, who, moved by remorse, flung them down in the temple. The priests picked them up, and bought this field for them, and thus they became scattered separately throughout the world. I have seen one of them in Rhodes, and Johannes Tucher, of Nuremberg, [b] took a cast of it, had a leaden mould made, and cast silver coins in its likeness, which he distributed among his friends; indeed, when we were all gathered together in Nuremberg in the year 1485, to celebrate the meeting of the chapter of the province, the aforesaid man gave one of his pieces of silver to a certain brother of our order. It is about as large as those of the coins called blafardi,* which are marked with a cross; on one side there is a human face, on the other a lily. There once was an inscription, but it cannot now be seen. So much for Mount Aceldama.

Leaving the field of Aceldama, we climbed up Mount Gihon with great labour. On the top of it are the ruins of great walls, among which ruins are some Saracen dwelling houses. In the time of King David there was a strong castle on that hill, which belonged to the king, and was directly opposite to the house of David, which was on the topmost point of Mount Sion, where nowadays stands the convent of the brethren, and both there and elsewhere he had courts of his house looking one towards the other, and some of his household in each. Now, David, as we read in I Kings i., ordered Solomon to be mounted on the king's mule, and led to Gihon, whither the whole, force of the host followed him; and they anointed him king over Israel, and blew trumpets and cried aloud, `Long live the king!' Josephus tells us that when David heard this he sank down again upon his couch, and worshiped God ; for, indeed, the sound of one blowing a trumpet or shouting on Gihon can be heard on Sion. But Adonijah, and Joab, and the rest, who were feasting as they sat beside the fount of Rogel, beside the stone of Zoheleth, intending Adonijah to be king--these men heard the sound of the trumpets on Gihon, and were sore afraid when they learned the truth, and rose and went every man his way; for they were at the foot of Gihon, in a shady valley below the valley of jehoshaphat and the valley of Siloam, where were gardens, even as there are at the present day, and water, even as at the present day there is a fountain there; and a certain great stone, which young men used to lift to prove their strength, which stone was called Zoheleth, and there was a pleasant place wherein Adonijah had made ready his feast. But when they heard the shouting in the mount above them, `Long live the king!' their council was broken up, as aforesaid.

The house of Gihon in the time of Christ was the house of the high priests and the other priests, and when they wished to treat of anything especially secret, they passed over to it, and it was the house of their secret councils. Herein the chief priests and Pharisees assembled a council, saying, `What shall we do? for this man . . .' as we read in St. John's Gospel. So on this spot Christ's death was decided upon. It is believed that it was in this house that the Jews decided to fight against the Romans, Titus and Vespasian, in consequence of which Jerusalem was destroyed. It may be that the Apostles were scourged in this house, as we read in Acts v., which scourging took place in the presence of the consuls alone, because they feared the people, as we are told in the same place. And whenever any matter needed discussion, in which they feared the people, they used to pass over to this house, [164a] that they might be apart from mankind, and nevertheless might be in a strong place. Wherefore this house received the name of `the house of evil counsel,' and this name it has kept even unto this day. When we had seen this house, we did not descend into the valley, but went along the ridge of Mount Gihon to the road which leads to Bethlehem, which we crossed in an easterly direction, went round the valley which lies between the mounts Sion and Gihon, and came to the Fuller's Field, where Rabshakeh stood and blasphemed the Lord God of Israel, as we read in Isaiah xxxvi. It was called the Fuller's Field, because the fullers used to dry their cloths therein. So we went back into Jerusalem by the road of the Fuller's Field, and the pilgrims who lodged in the hospital passed into the city through the Fish Gate; but we entered near the citadel of David, and reached our own place, passing along the ridge of the Mount Sion.

Here endeth the pilgrimage throughout the city of Jerusalem.

On the evening before the sixteenth of July our guides came on horseback to Mount Sion, and our drivers with their asses, to lead us to Bethlehem. So when we were all provided with asses we went down from Mount Sion, on the southern side, crossed the valley between the pools, and climbed the Mount Gihon by the royal road, along which went the three kings who were sent by Herod to seek the Child born in Bethlehem. This is a very holy and pleasant road from Jerusalem, along which we read that the holy patriarchs, fathers, and prophets have walked; for instance, Abraham, when he came from Chaldaea with his wife Sara; Lot, with his wife when he came from the parts beyond the mountains; Jacob, and all the holy men, David, Elias, and Isaiah, all of whom we read walked along this way. So we ascended Mount Gihon with joy, and on the top of it came among the dry stone walls of delightful gardens, wherein grow divers sorts of precious fruit-trees and vines and figs, for they of Jerusalem have their gardens there. When we had passed through the gardens we came to some old ruined walls, where the inn is said to have stood, in which the three kings lodged when they were on their way to Bethlehem with their gifts. From hence we went on, and came to a stony place, where they say that the blessed Virgin sat down to recover her breath when pregnant, and we were shown the place where she sat. So in this [b] place we dismounted from our asses, and showed respect to the place with feelings of wonder and delight-which, indeed, we felt throughout the whole journey--while we also pitied the tender and pregnant maiden for her long journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem, which is more than ten German miles.

(Here follows a dialogue between a pilgrim and St. Joseph, in which the latter assures him that it was for his sake that they rested here, not for the Virgin's, as she was incapable of feeling fatigue.)

When this dialogue was finished we remounted our asses, and went onward. When half-way we came to three cisterns, which is the place where the star which they had seen in the East appeared a second time to the Magi, whereat they rejoiced exceedingly, as we read in the second chapter of St. Matthew. These three cisterns are said to [165a] have been dug in the places where the three kings stood looking at the star, which had disappeared when they entered into Jerusalem. At this place we rejoiced together with the three Magi, reading and singing that which is appointed in the processional.

Leaving this place, we came to a church of the Georgians, which is said to stand on the spot where the prophet Elijah was born. We entered it, and worshiped God, and received indulgences for seven years (^), and honoured the prophet Elijah. But here a doubt arises as to how Elijah can have been born here, seeing that his surname denotes that he was born at Thebes, since in I Kings xvii. he is called the Thesbite. For there are three Thebes--one in Syria, in the province of Galilee, wherein was the high tower from which a woman flung a piece of a millstone, and brake the skull of Abimelech, who was strivings to undermine the tower, who, when he felt that he was dying, bade them smite him with the sword, lest it should be said that a woman slew him (Judges ix.). The second Thebes is in Egypt, and from it a whole province is named the Thebaid. This was once a great and rich city, as we read in the legend of St. Maurice about the Theban legion. Some say that this place is Cairo, or New Babylon, as shall be told in its place. The third is in Greece. Elijah the prophet came from the first, and obtained his name from it. Howbeit, to save the truth of my story, it may be said that possibly the same thing befell Elias, which befell Christ our Lord, who was conceived at Nazareth, and born at Bethlehem, and yet is called Jesus of Nazareth, not of Bethlehem. So Elijah, who was conceived in Thebes, and born in the hippodrome, yet is called Elijah the Thesbite, not Hyppodrontes. I have, however, read somewhere that once a farmhouse stood here, which also was called Thebes. Worthy indeed is the birthplace of so great a prophet to be reckoned among the holy places, for he was born three thousand years ago, and is-not yet dead, but shall come before the judge, and restore all things, as we read in Malachi iv. and 3 Matthew xvii.

Leaving that place, we went on, and came to the field of Habakkuk. Of this prophet we read in Daniel xiv.* that he cooked a mess of pulse, and when he had cooked was carrying it to this field to the reapers; but the angel of the Lord caught him by the top of his head, and bore him away by the hair of his head, and by the power of his breath set him down in Babylon, in the place of lions, and he gave Daniel his dinner.

In the aforesaid field of Habakkuk are found round white pebbles, just like white peas.*

[I66a] Proceeding farther, we came to a place which Jerome in his book 'On the Distances of Places' calls Chabrata, where there is the sepulchre of Rachel, the wife of Jacob, who, being here on the highroad, wishing to go to Bethlehem with Jacob, travailed, and bore Benjamin, and died through the hardness of her labour; and here stands the pillar of Rachel's grave to this day, as we read in the thirty-seventh chapter of Genesis (Gen. xxxv. 19, 20). The Jews say that the reason why Jacob did not take his dearly-beloved wife Rachel to Hebron, to the sepulchre of his fathers, but buried her in the public way, was that by the spirit of prophecy he was aware of what should thereafter come to pass; for after Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed the city and burned the temple, and was leading away the people of God captive into Persia along this road, as he was passing by this sepulchre, Rachel, by a Divine miracle, uplifted her voice from out of the sepulchre, addressing the enemy and invoking the Divine mercy, as we read in the thirty-first chapter of Jeremiah, ' In Rama was a voice heard,' etc. Howbeit, Catholic doctors expound the weeping of Rachel as being for the murder of the Innocents (Matthew i.). Rachel, according to Jerome, is called the mother of the children of Bethlehem, and of that country--albeit, they were the children of Leah--because Rachel had her own tomb there, with a pillar solemnly set up over it. This pillar is a lofty pyramid, built of squared and polished white stone, and shaped like the new chapel which stands in the midst of the new cemetery of `All Saints' at Ulm, save that the sepulchre of Rachel is all built of stone, and has not a particle of wood in it. Over against this tomb Jacob set up twelve stones, according to the number of his twelve sons. By the side of this chapel the Saracens have made a trough to put drinking water in. We read of this sepulchre in the first Book of Samuel, where we are told that Samuel proved Saul to be king by the sign that by Rachel's sepulchre he found two men leaping great ditches. This place is venerated alike by Saracens, Jews, and Christians. We said our prayers there, received indulgences (^), and going on our way came to a place which now is barren, but which once was delightful, for it was there that Solomon planted one of his gardens. These gardens are described on page 249, a, b. Here we saw Bethlehem, and greeted it.

We stood on the site of the aforementioned garden, and there we first beheld from afar, about half a German mile away, Bethlehem, the city of David and of Christ; the church of the blessed Virgin, wherein is the place of the Nativity, rose above everything else that we could see. When we beheld this gracious city, we straightway dismounted from our asses, and right joyfully saluted the city with heartfelt prayers such as these: ' Hail, Ephrata! thou most fertile region, whose fruit is God. Hail, Bethlehem! the house of bread, wherein is hidden that bread which fell from heaven. Of thee Micah once prophesied that thou shouldst not be the least among the princes nay, the greatest--for from thee came forth He that shall rule the world.' [I Matt. ii. 6 ; Micah v. 2.] In thee was born from a virgin mother that Prince who, before the time of Lucifer, was begotten by God the Father; in thee the seed of David abided until the virgin bore a Child. O Bethlehem, I know not with what praises I can extol thee, for thou didst contain within a poor hovel Him whom the heavens could not contain. Hail, Bethlehem! that art made admirable both to the East and to the West; for as, the wisdom of the Magians once came to thee from the East, so now the devotion of pilgrims cometh to thee from the West.'

When we had finished our greeting we remounted our asses, and with great joy and swiftness hastened on our way to Bethlehem. Some wept for joy and piety; some, in their mirth, sang [b] the well-known Christmas hymns: Puer natus in Bethlehem, unde gaudet Jerusalem,' and `Resonet in laudibus, cum jucundis plausibus,' and `In dulci Jubilo nu singent und sind fro,' etc.; and we all sang in chorus the angels' hymn, `Gloria in excelsis Deo,' etc. Our guides, the Moorish Saracen lords, though they were not affected by our mirth, yet listened in silence, and seemed to me to be more cheerful than they were wont to be. I never saw pilgrims so merry as on that road. I myself have traversed it six times, and always with an unspeakable feeling of joy. Now, between us and Bethlehem there lay a deep and great valley, separating us from it; howbeit, it was not needful for us to go down into the valley, but we were fain to circle round the head of the valley, and walk along the edge thereof as far as Bethlehem on a high ridge of hills, on a spur of which the blessed city stands aloft. In the very midst of the valley we saw the place where the Saviour's birth was announced to the shepherds. The legends of the Three Kings tell us that when the three Magi with their hosts were crossing the valley at this place that they might enter into, Bethlehem, the shepherds who then were in the valley seeing the unwonted star, and the host which followed :- them, hurriedly climbed up the hill to see who they might be, and whither they were going. When they understood that they were seeking the new-born Babe, they began to tell them all that had befallen them on the night when the Child was born, and how they had been taught by a messenger from heaven that this Child should be the Saviour of the world. When the Magi heard this they rejoiced more abundantly, because they had found other witnesses besides the star, and, opening their purses, gave precious gifts to the poor shepherds for their good news. We therefore halted in this place, and praised God for His marvellous acts, and wished joy to those devout kings. And so with much mirth we went on our way.

In this world no joy, not even spiritual joy, can be unalloyed, and even if it seems pure and unmixed at the time, yet straightway it becomes overcast by some untoward event. This we proved to be true on this journey, for we set out from Jerusalem with cheerfulness, and the nearer we came to Bethlehem the more joyous we became, as hath been shown above; howbeit, by the dispensation of. God our mirth was cut short in a sufficiently frightful fashion. As we drew near to the holy city; lo! a host of Arabs came towards us, coming forth from Bethlehem, at whose aspect our guides were confounded and terrified, and we too were alarmed; nevertheless, we, pilgrims crowded together in one body, and sent on our Saracen guides and the captains of our galleys in front of us; [167a] and so, with our company thus disposed, we went on our way, full of fear, to meet the robbers who were moving against us, for neither the place nor the time admitted of running away, and had we done so we should have offered our backs to those plunderers. When we came up to them, and our leaders would have gone further on, they withstood them, and took possession of the road, so that no man could pass by; and there we stood for more than an hour, because our guides and the captains were making terms with them, and they wrangled much and noisily with them, yet no man did another any manner of hurt: for Easterns do not proceed straightway to personal violence unless they are driven to repel force by force, and these Arabs were not unfriendly to us, but were only extorting money from us, which they say is their lawful right, as we shall often see hereafter. Had we forcibly marched on against their will, they would, indeed, have let us go, seeing that we were more in number than they, but they in the meanwhile would have called together all their companions, and would have besieged us in Bethlehem, and brought us into the direst straits; perhaps they would have been glad if we had burst through them by force, as they would then have had greater cause of complaint against us, and we could have done nothing against them, although we were more in number, because they were armed with spears, swords, and bows, while we were unarmed, all save our guides, who did indeed carry arms. After much talk it was settled that if we wanted to enter Bethlehem we must pay twenty-four ducats; if not, we might return to Jerusalem. So we opened our purses, and all paid money, each man his own share, and went on our way, while our plunderers remained on the spot, dividing the spoil amongst them. Now, when we were a good way off them, there burst forth from the city another host of Arabs, who were their accomplices, who charged into the column of the pilgrims, and with much jeering and shouting passed through the midst of us, dragging and pushing us about, throwing the pilgrims' caps off their heads, and discomposing us much with their rough jokes. In this disturbance the following adventure befell me: As I was riding on my ass among the rest, an Arab on, a horse rode against me, wishing to make his way in among us, as the rest of his comrades had done, and in order that the pilgrims should make way for him to pass through, and leave a road open to him, he couched his spear, and pointed it straight in my face; but because of the press I was not able to make way for him, nor yet to fall off my ass, which I would willingly have done, wherefore I was forced with much terror and alarm to await his shock as he rode at me. As he came he tore my cap off my head with a strong blow of the sharp steel, and passed me by with a laugh. I was glad because I was unhurt, and sorrowfully dismounted from my ass to look for my cap in the confusion; howbeit, a certain pilgrim had picked it up, and gave it to me. I was well contented that the Arab knew so well the art of touching things just as he pleased with the point of his spear, for had he held it pointed the thickness of one finger lower [b], he would have run it through my skull. These men were some scoundrelly servants to those who had fined us, who were going out with joy to meet their masters, rejoicing with them at the money which they had received, and scoffing at us.

When we were near the city of Bethlehem, about a bowshot from its gate, we came to a place where was the well of David, which is called the well of David because, as we read in 2 Samuel xxiii. 14, 15, David desired to drink thereof when he was in an hold, and the well was set about with the enemy, notwithstanding which three mighty men of the host of David brake through the camp of the Philistines, and drew water from the well of. Bethlehem, which is by the gate, and. brought it to David, who would not drink thereof, but poured it out unto the Lord. This well is a large deep and wide grotto, having on its upper side three mouths or openings apart from one another, through which water is drawn from the pool; and it contains plenty of clear, wholesome, cool water, some of which we drew out and drank. Howbeit, the. common people and the dwellers in Bethlehem now look with disgust upon this water, because a few days before our visit a Saracen woman, trying to draw water, and doing so carelessly, fell through the mouth of the well, and was drawn out dead. From that well we came to the side of the blessed city of Bethlehem, but did not enter it, passed along by the side of it towards the east, through the ruins of many walls, and entered the courtyard of the church of the blessed Virgin, where we gave up our asses to their drivers, entered the holy church, and, falling upon our faces, received plenary indulgences (^^). When we rose from our prayers, we were greatly astonished and filled with admiration at the size and beauty of the church. Here in the church we found the same traders who had been with us in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, who offered us candles for sale, and we bought candles of them, for it was already dark within doors, and the sun was setting.

The brethren arranged our procession in the manner described on pages 94d and 110b, for we brought out all our ornaments and furniture with us on the back of an ass from Sion to Bethlehem; and when every man was standing in his place, all alike bearing lighted candles in their hands, the precentor began the hymn of a confessor, `Iste confessor Domini,' etc. Singing this hymn, we went out of the church into the cloister, to the left side thereof, and, passing through a door in the cloister, went [168a] down nineteen steps into a fair vaulted chapel. In this chamber was the study of St. Jerome, wherein he underwent many hard labours. Here he translated the entire Bible from Hebrew and Chaldee into Latin, both into the classical and the vernacular tongue, as he himself bears witness in his epistle to Sophronius about a new edition, and in his epistle about Hebrew questions; here also he wrote his prologues, epistles, glosses, and commentaries. Here he corrected, divided, and arranged the Psalter as it is used at this day by the Roman Church; he dictated the versicle ` Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,' etc.; he joined many disciples to himself, whom he taught ; he ever preserved his virginity; he made a savage lion tame and gentle; and he carried on an endless warfare against heretics, vicious clerks, and wicked monks. He was always at work, and in this cell he so wearied himself that when lying on his bed he was forced to drag himself up, holding by his hands to a rope which hung from a beam above him, and so perform the duties of a monastery as best he could. He toiled at these labours for fifty-five years and six months. In this place we prayed, and received plenary indulgences (^^) with thanksgiving.

There is another chapel adjoining this one, not far from the Lord's manger, where he chose his burial-place, as we are told in the epistle of Eusebius. Here St. Jerome, while still alive, ordered his sepulchre to be made, wherein after the death of that glorious Father of the Church was laid his body, splendid by reason of the signal miracles which it had wrought. This sepulchre is entire at the present day, but is empty, and is decorated with slabs of marble. His body was translated from Bethlehem to Constantinople, and from thence to Rome, where at the present day it rests in a costly tomb in the church of S. Maria Maggiore. So after we had said our prayers in this place we received (^) indulgences. We read in his letter to St. Cyril of Jerusalem that, out of devotion to St. Jerome, St. Augustine crossed the sea that he might behold this place. The body could not be taken out of the grave, for when it was taken out it was found in the grave again on the morrow, until Jerusalem was conquered by the infidels; then it permitted itself to be translated to Rome, as we read in the last epistle of St. Cyril.

Adjoining this is another crypt, wherein is buried St. Eusebius, the disciple of the blessed Jerome. This Eusebius, who was a native of Cremona, and was styled the disciple of St. Jerome, was a man of great eloquence, and who, amongst other works, wrote an account of the life, miracles, and death of his teacher in an elegant narrative addressed to Damasus, the Bishop of Oporto,* and to that singular Christian Roman senator, Theodosius.

After this we went up again out of the crypt, re-entered the church, crossed through the midst of it, going to the right-hand side from the side opposite thereto. We ascended into a chapel which adjoins that same side of the choir, and there before the altar we brought out our hymns and antiphons for the Lord's circumcision, and `Salve Regina,' the hymn to the blessed Virgin, and we bowed ourselves down, and kissed the place beneath the altar, and [b] received plenary indulgences (^^). It was in this holy place that the Lord Jesus was circumcised on the eighth day, for He could not have been circumcised in the cave wherein He was born, and in which the Virgin lay after childbirth, because of the darkness, and it may be that the circumcisers disliked the smell of the stable; so they carried out the boy Jesus, and circumcised Him here. The holiness of this place is proved by the sweet smell which is shed abroad from it, for while a man stoops down to kiss the place, an unusual odour is breathed out towards him, which delights him and inclines him to worship. This place is of immeasurable holiness, seeing that here first were the fountains of the great deep burst open, and cleansing came upon the whole earth, not of water to drown it, but of blood to make it alive; for as in Noah's flood all upon whom the waters came perished, even so all upon whom came the flood of Christ's blood were given life. In this place we pilgrims boasted that we had now been at all the places, and had kissed all the places, wherein we read that the Lord Jesus shed His most precious blood--that is to say, I., here in the circumcision, where first the fountains of the great deep--that is to say, Christ's veins--were burst open. II. In the place of Christ's agony on the Mount of Olives, page 184b. III. At the place of scourging and crowning with thorns, page 138. IV. At the place where He fell while bearing the cross, page 123. V. At the place of the crucifixion, page 116. VI. At the place where His side was pierced. Moreover, this place is venerable because of the sweetest name of Jesus, because here first it was given to save the world, because there is no other name upon earth by which we may be saved but only the name of Jesus. Here was the ointment poured forth, whereof the bride speaks in Solomon's Song (i.3), 'Thy name is as ointment poured forth.'

When we had finished offering our praises in the place of the circumcision, the precentor began the hymn `Hostis Herodes impie,' singing which we circled round to the lefthand side of the church, and again went up to the side of the choir into a chapel adjoining the choir, which chapel stands on the place where the Magi dismounted from their camels and dromedaries, before the inn above which the star stood. Here they brought out their gifts from their scrips, and arranged them ready to be offered, and decked themselves out with most precious robes, that they might appear in splendid and courtly wise before the new-born. King. So in this place we kneeled and received indulgences (^). At the side of this place stands a well, whence the servants of the Magi drew water for their beasts, and we likewise went to it and looked down into it. So here, in the company of the holy kings, we made ready to enter the inn with joy and due devotion.

Rejoice now, O pilgrim, and be joyful, dearly beloved brother, for straightway thou shalt behold the most holy and sweetest of places, which is worshiped and adored alike by the faithful and by infidels. I say unto you that many kings and prophets--nay, many popes, bishops and cardinals, emperors, dukes and noblemen, priests and laymen--have wished and yearned to see what you see, and have not seen it. Now, when we were standing beside the altar and well aforesaid, the precentor began to sing the merry Christmas hymn, 'Christe, redemptor omuium, ex patre patris unice,' etc. We sang this hymn to the same tune to which it is sung in our order, but wherever the word ' day' occurs in the hymn we sang 'place.' Where in the hymn come the words 'This present day doth witness bear,' we sang' This present place doth witness bear'; and where in the hymn the words are 'For this Thy natal day' we said ' For this Thy natal place,' and so on. So singing this song, we left the aforesaid place, turned towards the wall of the choir, passed through a doorway adorned with polished marble of the purest whiteness, and descended by sixteen steps beneath the choir into a crypt which was of itself dark, but which was lighted by many lamps, above which lay the stone beneath which the Saviour of the world, Jesus Christ, was born. When we had finished the proper praises appointed in the processional we went up one after another to the altar at the head of the grotto, bowed our faces, to the earth, and kissed beneath the altar the place of the most sweet nativity of Christ, in which place there lies a white marble slab, cunningly wrought into the figure of a sun, because here the Sun of righteousness arose, here the immaculate Virgin Mary shed abroad eternal light, and here, through the mystery of the Incarnate Word, the new light of her glory shone upon the eyes of our mind. So we most devoutly, and with tears of joy, bowed ourselves to the earth before that stone and worshiped it--that stone whereon we are told that the wondrous Boy lay after He had come forth from the Virgin's womb. Indeed, this is proved to be so by a clear sign the wondrous and delightful odour which he who imprints his kisses on the stone perceives. The sweet odour which breathes forth from that place upon our senses is something Divine and above everything else. One sees the place to be quite void of any matter which could produce scent, and yet the place smells as though it were a storehouse of perfume, save that its intensity is greater than that of the strongest pigment. Nor do I say this with reference to its mystical meaning, but in plain fact I declare that I perceived it every time that I bowed myself down to kiss the holy stone; neither is this perception confined to any particular person, but this grace is bestowed upon all who kiss the place, even to the unhappy Saracens themselves, so that they may know for certain that Mahomet lied when he said in his abominable Alcoran that the holy nativity came to pass in a lonely spot, in a garden, beneath a palm tree, as we are told by Master Nicholas of Cusa in his translation of the Alcoran, Book III., ch. xvii. Not only these places, but all the places wherein we read that the Lord Jesus appeared naked, enjoy this privilege of exhaling a sweet odour. Nor need anyone wonder at this, since we read that the same thing takes place from the tombs and sepulchres of the saints. So we, being attracted by that sweet odour, remained for a long time kissing the sacred stone, and received plenary indulgences (^^).*

After we had shown respect to the place of the Lord's nativity, we turned ourselves towards the manger, which is about seven paces distant from the aforesaid place. When we came to this manger we most devoutly bowed ourselves into it, and kissed it, received plenary indulgences (^^), and were refreshed by an odour like that already mentioned. Nor is this to be wondered at, since the flower of balsam was placed in this manger, for the most blessed Virgin Mary wrapped the Child in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in the manger, because there was no room in the inn, and there the shepherds, guided by the angel, found the Child. This manger stands beneath an overhanging stone, wherein earlier pilgrims say that they saw iron rings and bolts, to which beasts were tied. When Christ lay there, there stood tied up an ox and an ass, who knew and worshiped their Lord, as we read in the first chapter of Isaiah. In old times also there used to be shown the stone which the Virgin mother put beneath the head of her little one, because she had no pillow or anything of that sort; but she covered the stone with hay. Wherefore the Church sings, `He endured to lie in the hay; He did not abhor the manger,' etc. Now, the manger of the Lord was of stone, cut out of the same rock which overhung it, as are the mangers in that country to this day. I do not understand what is commonly reported, that St: Helena took away a wooden manger from this place, put a marble one in its place, and translated the true manger to Constantinople, whence it is said to have been translated to the Lateran Church at Rome; unless we should say that Joseph perhaps may have made a manger of wood, and placed it upon the manger of stone. One must say in that case, as many do, that Joseph brought the ox and the ass to that place with him from Nazareth. Now, the manger which is now in that place is marble, made of white and very highly-polished slabs, which cover the true place of the Lord's manger, and it is decorated with an intricate pattern--a thing deplored by Chrysostom, who says: `Oh that I might be permitted to behold the manger wherein the Lord lay! Nowadays we Christians, as it were, to show our respect, have taken away clay, and set up silver; but to me what was cast away was more precious, for silver and gold is admired by the Gentiles, but Christian faith and piety admires that manger of clay, because He who was born in that manger despises silver and gold. I do not blame those who [171a] did this to show Him honour, neither do I blame those who made gold and silver vessels for use in the Temple; but I admire God, the Creator of the world, who was born not amid gold and silver, but in clay.'

Thus far Chrysostom. Indeed, the mangers in that country are either made of stone or of clay, not of planks or trunks of trees. This modern manger is four palms in length, and a little less than three in width. The slab of polished marble which stands opposite to one who kneels before the manger is very curiously polished, like a mirror, and there results from this the following remarkable circumstance, that if carefully and minutely looked at there appears in it the figure of an old bearded man, lying on his back on a mat, in the dress of a dead monk, and beside him the figure of a lion. This picture is not produced by art or work, but by simple polishing alone, without any design on the part of the polisher; even as we often see when tables made of knotty wood are planned, sometimes after they have been smoothed and polished various figures appear in them which come there without any design on the part of the workman; so it has happened here. They say, however, that this figure was made by the divine ordinance because of the transcendent sanctity of the glorious St. Jerome. This figure is not seen by all, but only by those to whom it is pointed out, and who know of it; he who knows not of it would never be able to see it. So when I was first shown it, I thought that the friar who was showing it to me was joking when he said that he saw the image of St. Jerome in the stone, nor could I see it by myself, until the friar with his finger pointed out to me the outline on the stone, and then I distinctly saw it, just as though it had been delicately painted. In the epistle of Cyril to Augustine about the miracles wrought by St. Jerome we read that in ancient times there was a carved image of St. Jerome in the church on Mount Sion, which was famous for the signal miracles which it wrought.

After we had seen the holy manger we turned away from it to the altar which stands before it at a distance of two or three paces, where is the place in which the blessed Virgin Mary sat with the Boy Jesus on her lap, when the three kings came in with their gifts, and offered them to her. In this place likewise we fell upon our faces, as did the three kings, and offered ourselves to the Lord Christ, and received indulgences, singing the hymn of the three kings, and the proper prayers (^). We learn from the second chapter of St. Matthew with what reverence and piety these three kings offered their gifts. Nor should we believe that these gifts, besides their mystical meaning, were small in themselves. The book tells us that the first of them, Melchior, King of the Arabs, offered coined gold, and a small golden cloth, which could be enclosed in the hand, which cloth Alexander the Great had had made out of all kinds of gold taken from all the countries under his dominion, and enclosed it in his hand in token of empire, and, which after his time came into the kingdom of Arabia. Now, when Melchior placed that cloth in the Child's hand, it straightway [b] was turned into ashes, to prove that Christ's Kingdom was not of this corruptible world (John xviii. 36). It is also said that this king presented to Christ the thirty pieces of silver, for which he was afterwards betrayed, as is explained on page 163a. The second, Balthasar, King of Saba, brought abundance of frankincense; and the third, Caspar, King of the Ethiopians, brought precious myrrh. Some, however, say that each of them presented all these three things.

After we had accomplished our offering in the place of the offering of gifts, we went down the crypt to its end, and in the corner on the left-hand side of the crypt we came upon a small hole, beneath which is a deep well; howbeit, water cannot be drawn forth from thence, because of the buildings above it. In the time of Christ it was an open well, and into it is said to have fallen the star by whose guidance the Magi were brought from the East, and there it is said to have been resolved into its original substance. This is the opinion of many doctors of the Catholic Faith, and for a memorial of it this hole has been left. St. Gregory, Bishop of Tours, in his book of miracles, written in the time of the blessed Pope Gregory, says: `There is in Bethlehem a great pool, whence the glorious Virgin Mary is said to have drawn water, wherein to those who often look upon it a miracle is shown, to wit, that star which appeared to the three Magi; for the devout come and lie on the edge of this pool, and cover their heads with linen clothes, and then he whose merits have gained him the privilege sees the star pass across the pool on the surface of the water from one side to the other, in the same manner wherein stars are wont to cross the vault of heaven. And, though many look into the pool, yet only those of sound mind see the star. I have heard several persons assert that they have seen it, and of late Dyacimus . . . declares that he saw it five several times, but that it was only seen by two persons.'

Not far from the opening of the well is a doorway, through which we passed into another grotto, which is venerable through having been dwelt in by the Virgin Mary. The legends tell us that on the report of the shepherds and the arrival of the three kings many came from Jerusalem, entered into the (larger) grotto, and worshiped the Child and Mary His mother. When Mary perceived this, fearing Herod, she fled away secretly out of the outer grotto, entered the inner one, and dwelt there. However, in her haste she left behind her in the outer grotto, lying in the manger, a long shift, wherein according to the custom of that country she had been delivered. She likewise left behind her the swaddling clothes in which the Child was first wrapped, and the stone which she had put under His head, and the hay upon which He lay. All these things remained in the manger, and were by Divine Providence preserved entire and uncorrupted until the time of St. Helena, who found them, as will be shown on page 178a.

Now in this second cave, into which she fled for refuge, there was a prominent stone or rock, whereon the blessed Mary was wont to sit to suckle the babe. It chanced one day that a drop of milk from the Virgin's breast fell upon this stone, and from that time to this drops of liquid have continued to ooze forth from that stone. This liquid is of a milky colour, mixed with a redness as of some drug, and its dripping cannot be checked. Pilgrims place small flasks beneath it, catch the drops as they fall, and take them to parts beyond the sea, saying that this is the milk of the blessed Virgin. This is how it comes to pass that in many churches the blessed Virgin's milk is shown among the relics, as for instance in Cologne at the altar in the Capitol.* and in Kyrchen, a convent of nuns of (172b) the Dominican Order, and in various other places throughout Italy, France, and Germany.

Far be it from me to take away by these words any of the honour, praise, and reverence due to the blessed Virgin Mary; for it is possible that the milk may have been preserved elsewhere, or miraculously given to someone, or that the rock upon which the drop of milk is said to have fallen may from that drop of heavenly milk have received the power of perpetually dropping milk. For if oil continually oozes forth from the tomb of St. Nicholas and from that of St. Waldburgis in Cistania, that thereby the Lord may show the peculiar virtue of His saints, what wonder if this rock should drip with milk, that thereby He may prove the dignity and transcendent virtue of His mother?

Beside the afore-mentioned cave is another cave into which we could not enter without bending our backs. When one is within one finds a tolerably large place at the side of the other cave on the left hand. Into this cave were cast many thousand bodies of the Holy Innocents whom Herod slaughtered, seeking Christ among them. So here we said our prayers and received indulgences (^). Some of the pilgrims when in this cave searched among the dust on the ground by the light of their candles for some relics of the Holy Innocents, but they found none at all [b], seeing that the faithful have long ago carried them away, and the relics of these innocent children are now scattered throughout the churches of the world. At Venice, in the island of Murano, there are nearly a hundred bodies of the Innocents in one tomb. At the Dominican convent at Nuremberg I have seen one entire body of one of the Innocents. At the Dominican convent at Strasburg they also have one of their bodies entire. At Basle at the Dominican convent they have one hand and several joints of them in a precious monstrance. At the Dominican convent at Ulm they have a tiny shirt stained with blood and pierced with sword strokes, which belonged to one of the little Innocents. Noblemen who go to Jerusalem take a special interest in the relics of the Holy Innocents, I know not for what reason. There was in our company an exceeding rich nobleman, who turned over the dust of that cave seeking for relics, and finding none, went to Sabothytaneo, the elder Calinus, the Saracen protector of the pilgrims, and through an interpreter promised that he would give him a hundred ducats if he would procure an entire body for him. Calinus told him in reply that the bodies of these children had been removed to Cairo, where the Lord Soldan had them in his own keeping, and sold them to whom he chose, and that there was no man in the whole kingdom save him alone who was permitted to sell the bodies of these children. When the knight heard this he meditated going to St. Catherine's with the rest, that he might buy a child when he came to Cairo. Now this bargain struck me as being insulting, tricky, and unjust, wherefore I betook me to a man of knowledge and inquired of him about this matter, what one was to think about these bodies of children which were sold by the Soldan. I was assured by him that it is a fact that Saracens and Mamelukes receive the bodies of still-born children, or of children who have died soon after their birth, slash them with knives, making wounds, then embalm the bodies by pressing balsam, myrrh, and other preservative drugs into the wounds, and sell them to Christian kings, princes, and wealthy people as bodies of the Holy Innocents. So they pay great sums of gold and silver, and believe that they receive the bodies of holy children, whereas they receive the bodies of damned children. Thus are Christ's faithful people mocked and robbed of their money, for these infidels know our ardent desire for the possession of relics, and therefore set out for sale wood said to be part of the Holy Cross, and nails, and thorns, and bones, and many other things of the same kind, to delude the unwary and cheat them out of their money. I do not set much value upon new relics brought from parts beyond the sea, especially those which have been purchased from Saracens or from Eastern Christians falsely so called. It is not,so with holy pebbles from the holy places, etc. So we came forth from the cave of the Holy Innocents, and went no further.

Leading from that cave there is a narrow passage cut through the rock, which the Minorite brethren made by stealth, so that they might go into and out of the place of Christ's nativity from the chapel of St. Nicholas, [173a] where they hold their services. Wherefore they take every means of hiding that passage even from pilgrims, lest it should come to the knowledge of the Saracens and Eastern Christians, because they would straightway block up the passage, and the brethren would lose their holy place. I myself, by the gift of God and the kindness of the Minorite brethren to me, have sometimes been admitted through that secret passage into the most holy place of Christ's nativity, when I have been spending the whole night alone there, after all the doors of the church and grottoes were closed.

So we came out of the cave of the Holy Innocents by the same passage by which we entered it into the cave or crypt of Christ's nativity, where we prostrated ourselves a second time, and kissed the holy places--the place of the nativity, the manger, and the place where the Virgin sat when she received the offerings of the three kings. While we were standing amid these holy places there came into my mind the rapturous vision beheld by the most blessed Paula the pilgrim in this place; for she declared in the hearing of St. Jerome that she saw the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, wailing in the manger, the shepherd's coming and praising God, the Magi worshipping, and the star shining above. Moreover, she beheld the Virgin with both her eyes continually suckling the child, and all the other mysteries of the nativity. Wherefore upon this spot she was induced to bind herself to the perpetual service of God, as we are told by St. Jerome in his 'Pilgrimage of St. Paula.'

When we had finished our prayers we came up out of the cave and brought our procession to an end. We now went into the cloister and separated into our various companies, brought out of our scrips the food which we had brought with us from Jerusalem, and ate it and drank water. The water of the wells of Bethlehem is cooler, clearer, wholesomer, and sweeter than any that I have seen in parts beyond sea. We had plenty of this water for nothing. Indeed, any amount of toil seems bearable to a pilgrim so long as he has fresh water; they care nothing for cooked victuals, or wine, or beds, or anything but cold and pure water. So after we had eaten and drunk some folded their limbs for sleep on the place where they had eaten, but the greater part, scorning rest, re-entered the church and kept holy vigil beside the manger of the Lord, employing themselves with unceasing prayer.

At midnight the sacristan ran round the cloister with a board (nola), and roused the sleepers for morning service, which the brethren read in the grotto of the nativity, after which we began the solemn service 'Dominus dixit ad me,' etc., which is chanted throughout the world on the night before Christmas Day. The Father Warden and his attendant clergy, all dressed in their holy vestments, went in procession to the altar above the place where Christ was born, and so we chanted the service in the grotto. After the service some devout laymen received the Holy Sacrament. The priests celebrated service at the altar of the circumcision, and [b] in the chapel of the three kings, in the upper church, and below at the altar of the Lord's nativity. So we continued to perform divine service until it was bright day.

After we had finished our masses we straightway mounted our asses, and went down from Bethlehem into the valley that we might visit the Church of `Gloria in Excelsis,' where the shepherds were watching at the hour of the Lord's birth. On the way down we came upon a desecrated and half-ruined chapel, which was placed there in memory of what took place on that spot; for it is said that when Joseph was warned in a dream by the bidding of an angel to flee with the Child and his mother into Egypt, as we read in Matthew ii., he arose, and made haste to flee out of Bethlehem, and went down at this place into the valley, wishing to go down the valley to Sodom, and thence up again across the Jordan, and so set out by the road by which the children of Israel came into the land, for he did not know that there was a shorter way to Egypt, because he had never before seen Egypt. But when he reached the spot where this chapel stands, an angel met him, and pointed out to him the way to Hebron, and from Hebron to Gaza, and so along the shore of the Mediterranean Sea to Egypt. So at this place we said our prayers, and received indulgences (^). When we had received our indulgences, and had gone down but a short way from this place, we came to some ruined walls on a hill, and here also we learned that a chapel once stood, built in memory of the following event: When the angel had departed from the shepherds, and they were on their way up to Bethlehem to see the Child that had been born, while they went up they began to waver, for deep anguish came upon their hearts, and their spirits were tortured by strange doubts as to whether the vision which they had beheld might not be a snare and a delusion, and thus they might be running into some danger. Now, while they were standing in this place conferring one with another on these matters, and praying to the Lord, lo! the angel of the Lord appeared among them, and assured them of the truth of the matter. They fell on their knees with thanksgiving, and then climbed up the path at a faster pace. So here likewise we gave thanks, and received indulgences (^^), and went on our way.

From hence we went down hill, through olive-yards, and came into a wide valley full of ploughed fields and meadows. In the midst of this valley we saw great ruined walls, and the remnants of ancient buildings, towards which we turned ourselves. When we came to the place, we found a church, ruined and cast down, yet with its front part still remaining. Now, the precentor began in a loud voice the angels' hymn, `Gloria in excelsis Deo, etc., and we went on `Et in terra pax,' etc., with great solemnity. Singing thus, we entered the ruins, and, still going on our way, went down into the choir, wherein a desecrated altar still stands. Here we sang with great zeal `Gloria in excelsis Deo,' and the antiphons (174a) 'Quem vidistis pastores,' etc., and `Angelus ad pastores in ait,' etc. After singing, we prayed in silence, and received indulgences (^). This church stands on the spot where the shepherds were together at the hour of Christ's nativity, and here the angel of the Lord appeared, and stood beside them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and he said: `I bring you good tidings of great joy,' etc., as we read in the second chapter of St. Luke's Gospel. In this church also is the burial-place of these shepherds; for when they were dying they would not be buried anywhere save in the place of the joyous appearance of the angel, where they had heard a multitude of the heavenly host singing `Glory to God in the highest.' St. Helena built the church on this spot, and beside it a convent of nuns,* whereof even at the present day there may be seen among the ruins a wheel and a parloir, such as nuns are wont to have. This was called the convent of 'Gloria in excelsis!

This field is the field of Boaz, wherein Ruth, the Moabitess, when she was gleaning after the reapers, who would have driven her away, by her virtue turned the heart of the lord of the field toward her, and married him, and in this field she was thought worthy to become a mother in the genealogy of Christ, as may be read in the whole book of Ruth, and in the first chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel. In the fields of this country David pastured his father's sheep, and here he tore in pieces a lion which came against him, and slew a bear. David boasted in the presence of King Saul about his victory over these beasts, and gained courage to attack even the giant Goliath, the Philistine, as we read in I Samuel xvii. We may,suppose that he slew many lions and bears in this place, because the son of Sirach saith, ch. xlvii., 'He played with lions as with kids, and with bears as with lambs.'

This valley reaches to the eastward as far, as Sodom and the Dead Sea, near which, because of the waters of Jordan, many wild beasts of various kinds roam about, and come up by night along the valleys to prey upon the folds of the flocks, and carry off domestic animals if they are able. So David met these beasts as they came up, and slew them. So on the night and at the hour of the nativity the shepherds were in this valley keeping watch over their flocks by night. With regard to this the question has been asked: `How could the shepherds keep their watch by night when it was winter time, and the earth was bound hard with frost, and covered with snow? To this the Easterns answer that these shepherds watch their flocks twice in the year--that is to say, in the spring, and in the winter-time, for in Eastern parts the summer and winter do not generally alter the whole country as they do in Western parts. Very cold valleys may be found there in summer-time, so cold that in the month of August the country people find ice and snow in shady places in those valleys, and place it in earthenware vessels, which they sell to rich men in cities, who cool their wine therein. There are also some mountains so cold that they always have their peaks covered with snow, as the Mount Lebanon, of which Jeremiah says, ch. xviii., `The snow of Lebanon will never fail.' Candia, an exceeding hot island, is never without snow in certain valleys and on certain peaks, as is plainly to be seen by those who sail thither in summer time. On the other hand, some valleys may be found which are so hot that snow or ice could never remain therein for an hour, even in midwinter, and mountains also which are bareheaded by reason of the heat without any green vegetation whatever. The Vale of Bethlehem is one of these warm valleys, which knows not of snow, nor of ice. In it, about the Feast of the Nativity of the Lord, the barley begins to grow a beard, and therefore beasts are sent thither from other places that they may pasture and grow fat therein in the winter, and people hire certain pieces of ground for a time. Wherefore, in their language, the time of the Lord's nativity is called the time when grass grows. During the summer the ground is dry, and baked by the glowing heat of the sun, and in September, when the heat of the sun becomes cooler, all the green things which grow in the earth begin to flourish even as they do in our country in April, save that the plants do not put forth flowers. Yet this season is not hot, but fresh, and men may feel cold during it; but in May is full harvest-time. From all this it is clear that at the time of Christ's nativity shepherds could stay out with their flocks in this valley, because it was warm and green, nor was the ground hard with frost, as perchance it may have been higher up, where Christ was born, where there were both snow, ice, and frost. It is, furthermore, clear from the words used that there were not only two or three shepherds there, but many all through the valley, because there were flocks and herds there not only from Bethlehem, but from all the regions round about, with their keepers, who remained there day and night. There must needs have been many of them, because of the attacks of lions, bears, and wild boars, and because of the robbers, who, from ancient times even to the present day, haunt the desert places by the Jordan, living entirely on theft and rapine, against whom there must needs have been many shepherds, who could not only with their voices, but with their clubs, keep off wild beasts and beastlike men from their flocks. These shepherds all went up into Bethlehem on the night of the nativity at the bidding of the angel, and found the Babe, wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in the manger. It may, however, have been that three among them, who were the chiefs, bore rule over the rest, and that it is the sepulchres of these three which are in the church aforesaid. This subject is treated of by the Venerable Bede in his homily on the text 'Pastores loquebantur,' etc., where he says: 'The angels appeared to the shepherds in a place which, from the meeting together of sheep, had from of old been called "the land of the flocks," one mile to the east of Bethlehem, where even at the present day the tombs of those shepherds are shown in a church.' Thus says Bede. Wherefore Jerome, in his letter to the brethren about the holiness of vigils, calls these shepherds exceeding holy men. I have many times been in the valley where they kept their watch in the hottest weather, when all green things were dried up, yet I always saw flocks of sheep and goats there. In another part of the valley opposite to Bethlehem there is a farm standing in a pleasant situation, wherein we saw the ruins of great walls, and it is said that in that place stood the convent of S. Paula and her maidens. So after we had seen the aforesaid places, we remounted our asses, and rode towards Bethlehem; and when upon the mountain we saw the original arrangement of the place of Christ's nativity better than we could when in the place itself, even as the position of the Holy Sepulchre is seen better from the gardens near Aceldama than in the Sepulchre Church itself, as has been told already. On the hill of Bethlehem we saw wide cliffs and rocks appearing out of the ground, beneath which were roomy caverns, the dwellings of poor people who have no proper houses. Such was the birthplace of Christ in the beginning, as I shall prove.

When we had come up as far as the wall of Bethlehem we circled round the wall and sought among the foundations and the steep cliff on which the wall stands for a certain hollow cave, which, however, we were not able to find. I had read in a very ancient book of pilgrimage, written by some saint, that when the Lord was born, Joseph, as was customary, made ready a bath for the Babe in an earthenware pot. After he had bathed the Child Joseph took the pot, carried it out of the inn, and poured the holy water at random down the wall on to the rocks which projected from among the foundations. For the place of the nativity stands high, having below it a precipitous hill and rocks, whereon the inn itself stood. Now the holy water, when it fell from on high, fell into a hollow rock, in which the whole of that sacred liquid was received and preserved, and for many years that water remained there without wasting and without corruption. In days of old pilgrims were led to this pool, and washed their faces therein, and drank thereof, and filled their water-bottles, and took it to parts beyond sea for a bodily medicine, because many sick people were made better by tasting thereof; yet, how much soever might be taken away, the quantity of the water did not grow less-a miracle, because there was no spring to replenish it. So we sought for this grotto with the holy water, but could not by any means find it; nor is this strange, seeing that in the meanwhile great changes have been wrought in the a place by reason of the huge buildings which have been erected there. In latter times, when the Christians possessed the Holy Land, the King of Jerusalem fortified Bethlehem with lofty walls and towers round about it, and so the old arrangement of the place has been done away. We went into Bethlehem, and found the Moorish lords, our guides, ready to depart, for they had not gone down with us into the valley, but had remained quietly waiting for us in the church. They were bitter against us because of our delay, and were in a hurry to return to Jerusalem before [b] sunrise, lest we should suffer from the heat.

When the hour for leaving Bethlehem was come, we all ran to the grotto of the Lord's nativity, that we might bid farewell to the Boy Jesus and the Virgin mother. From the piety of pilgrims a custom has arisen, that when they kiss the holy place of Christ's nativity for the last time each pilgrim should offer a sum of money, placing it upon the sacred stone of the Lord's nativity, for love of God and the Virgin, and for the repair of the church, and the support .of the brethren who dwell there. During this giving of oblations by the pilgrims there took place a detestable deed, which, in truth, I am afraid to tell out of respect to pilgrims. Yet I will tell it, that those who are not able to come to those holy places may learn that a holy place does no good to those who are not well disposed in their hearts, and that a place which is not holy is no hindrance to men of good will. I, indeed, believe that in these most holy places the Enemy tempts the unwary, and lies in wait for them more than elsewhere. The empyrean heaven, of all places the most sublime, did not avail Lucifer; that most noble Paradise did not guard our first parents from sin; the chamber of the Last Supper, the most holy of places, did not keep St. Thomas from unbelief. Wherefore in the fortieth Canon it is written that 'neither places nor orders bring us nearer to our Creator, but it is our own good deeds which bring us near to Him, or our evil deeds which separate us from Him.' Now, when, after the pattern of the three kings, my lords the pilgrims were offering their gifts at the place of the nativity, giving, some gold, some silver, some golden rings, and some wax, there came a certain knight who threw down a ducat upon the stone, as many had done before him. After that knight came an Eastern pilgrim, who bowed himself down to kiss the place, and while in the act of kissing it he stealthily stretched out his sacrilegious hand, drew towards himself from the heap the two nearest ducats, and then rose, went his way, and mingled with the band of pilgrims. O thief and robber, worthy to be hung on a thousand gibbets! O plunderer, that ought to be torn into a thousand pieces, and mangled with wheels of fire! O sacrilegious one, that should be burned in fire to ashes! O spoiler that oughtest to lose thy head, and to be plunged into the depths of the sea! What impiety what cruelty moved thee to this! What unbelief blinded thee, that in so exceeding holy a place as this, wherein the Christian with his mind's eyes sees the needy Virgin, the poor Infant, and the beggar Joseph, thou shouldst steal from both of them! Moreover, if thou dost not believe this nor behold it, wherefore dost thou bow down in this place? Why bearest thou the sign of the Cross? How wast thou so rash as to presume to come hither? But if thou art a believer, and yet didst not fear to rob the Babe because of the childhood which He put on for thy sake, how didst thou not fear the eyes of His sweetest mother, who sitteth by the side of the Babe, and most carefully watcheth all that is done round about her child ? Are we to suppose that they do not see, because they see with more patience, as also with more wisdom, than man seeth. And if thou didst not regard the Babe nor the mother because of their endless loving-kindness, out of which they do not straightway punish sin, but wait with long-suffering, yet certes thou shouldst have feared her grave and serious husband Joseph (170a), upon whom the care of both of them rested, and who gazes upon them both, and never turns away his eyes. Furthermore, if these things appear to thee to be vain, and thou declare neither the Babe, nor His mother, nor Joseph, to be present here, yet why did not that exceeding sweet odour, which breathes forth from this place, left behind by the infant limbs of the Boy Jesus and the body of His most chaste mother, draw thee back from the act of sacrilege? Perchance it was with thee, as it was with that most avaricious of men, the traitor Judas, who was all the more enraged, stirred up and egged on to the selling and cruel betrayal of his Master by the exceeding sweet scent of the ointment which was poured on the head of Jesus, with the scent whereof it is written that the whole house was filled. Of a truth I suspect that hadst thou been here in the time of the three kings thou wouldst have filched away their presents, and wouldest without shame or excuse have plundered the young Child, His most delicate mother, and the poor Joseph. But why do I dwell any longer on this? Thy theft doth no harm to the Babe, for at this day three kings do not come from the East together, but many run hither in troops from the four quarters of the world, and daily make oblations which are accepted by the Babe. Neither doth thy theft deprive of their merit those who give offerings, as it doth not him from whom thou hast stolen this trifle, nor rob him of his piety, which it shows in those who made the offerings, and storeth up vengeance for thee with other wicked men in its own good time. In such terms as these doth Jerome inveigh against another act of sacrilege committed in this same church, in his objurgatory Epistle against Sabinianus the deacon, the seducer of the virgin Susanna.

Now, when my lords the knights had made their offerings, and were counting up what they had given, we found out that there must have been a thief among them, and, looking round, we saw that Eastern, and felt no manner of doubt that he had done this evil. We laid hold of him in the holy grotto, and on searching him found the gold on him. We made him restore it to the proper place, and when he had done this we drove him out of our company. This theft took place on my first pilgrimage;, and on my second the same thing happened through a certain Saracen who had come in with us, and who, bowing down at the holy place as though he would pray, secretly filched away some money from thence. Howbeit, some of the pilgrims who were standing beside him and saw his trick followed him, and we laid hold of him, and dragged him into the holy grotto, despite of his shouts and struggles. With great force we opened his hands, and found the money, which we took, and with indignation thrust out the infidel thief from the grotto. At last we kissed the place, and by the permission of the holy mother went up out of it, and on coming out of the church mounted our asses, and returned to Jerusalem by the road by which we came. When there we dined, and after dinner we laid ourselves down to rest. On the previous night we had watched beside the Lord's manger, and on the following night we were to watch at the Lord's most holy tomb.

Having put our own pilgrimage to Bethlehem first, it now remains for me to describe the place itself. I shall first describe the city, and, secondly, the place of the Lord's nativity.

Bethlehem is an ancient city, which in old time had some name which [b] the Scriptures do not give, for I cannot find by what name it was called before it was named Ephrata. It was named Ephrata from the wife of Caleb, who is buried there, who was so named, as we are told by the author of the Speculum Historiale. They say that this Ephrata, Caleb's wife, was Miriam, the sister of Moses, who, before she was stricken with leprosy, was named Miriam; but after her infection with leprosy, and fear being cured therefrom, was named Ephrata, and who died and was buried in the desert of Sin, as we are told in Num. xx.1. Caleb afterwards dug her up, and buried her in Bethlehem, which was not then called by that name, and gave her name to the city, calling it Ephrata. That Ephrata was Caleb's wife is agreed by all, but that she was Moses's sister is denied by many, as may be seen in Nicholas de Lyra's commentary on Chronicles ii., where it is distinctly stated in the text that Ephrata was Caleb's wife. St. Jerome holds that Ephrata was the sister of Moses; wherefore, in his letter to Principia the virgin, he says: 'Miriam, the sister of Moses, sings the victories of the Lord, and marks our Bethlehem and Ephrata by her name for a sign to them that come after her.' So for many years this blessed city was named Ephrata, even until after the famine, which took place in the days of Elimelech, after which there was such plenty there that it was called Bethlehem, which is, being interpreted, `the house of bread.' About this famine and the plenty which followed it one may read in the whole book of Ruth. `Beth' in Hebrew signifies ` a house,' and ` lechem,' `bread'; wherefore `Bethlehem' means `the house of bread.' Here it should be noted that the names of the cities and villages of the Holy Land for the greater part begin with ' Beth,' after which syllable comes another, which tells the peculiarity of the place; as here Bethlehem, the house of bread, because of the abundance of corn which was there after a great and long famine. Bethany is called the village of the jawbone, because it was a village of priests, and sheep were bred there to be sacrificed on the altar, whereof the jawbone fell to the priests as their portion. So Bethany is called `the house of obedience,' because one of the kings of Jerusalem built a castle there to the end that it should be obedient to the king's court, and to the city of Jerusalem, and the Mount Sion. So Bethsames is called `the house of the sun,' because of the temple which stood therein, in which the sun was worshiped. Bethel was called 'the house of God,' because there Jacob beheld the secrets of heaven, and said: `This is none other than the house of God,' as we read in Gen. xxviii.17. So Bethagla is called 'the house of mourning,' because there Jacob's sons mourned for their father when he died, as we read in the last chapter of Genesis, etc., . . . and in the case of many other names of villages beginning with `Beth,' whose interpretation you get in Jerome's book on the interpretation of Hebrew names. A like fashion of naming castles, towns, and cities prevails in Germany, save that in German the syllable which signifies `house' is put last in the word, whereas in Hebrew it is put first. We say in German Offenhusen, which is in Latin open house, and in Hebrew Bethboforon. We also say in German Schafhusen, the house of the sheep in Latin, which is in Hebrew Bethanania. So Ochsenhusen, house of the ox, Betschor, Gaishusen, house of the goat, Bethess. So a village near Ulm is called Dreckshusen, the house of dung, Bethsevell. And if the Germans were at this day the owners of the Holy Land, then Bethlehem might rightly be called Brothusen, Bethphage Baggahusen, Bethsames Sonnahusen, Bethagla Flanhusen, Bethsaida [177a] Fruchthusen, Bethaven Abgotthusen, Bethhara Berghusen, Bethaben Steinhusen, Bethrama Hochhusen, and so in many other instances.

Now, the city of Bethlehem was noble, and the dwelling of nobles from old times; wherefore it may be that before it was named Ephrata and Bethlehem, it may have been called Bethtonforon--that is, `the house of nobles'--albeit, we do not learn its true name from the Scriptures. Although it was a city of nobles, yet was it never a large city, seeing that the form of the place forbids this. It stands upon a mountain ridge, which is long, but not wide on the top; moreover, it stands on a horn or brow of the mountain, in such sort that the ground whereon it stands is set about with valleys on the north; east, and south, and curves back towards Jerusalem on the western side. Here it once had ditches, walls, and towers, as may plainly be seen even at the present day. I have walked round the City, and have most carefully inspected its site. At the present day the village is fairly populous, and its inhabitants take no heed of walls or ditches. The greater part of those who dwell there are Eastern Christians, who are in league with the Saracens, and even with the Arabs, and who support themselves from the country round about, for the soil round about Bethlehem is exceeding fertile, abounding in corn, wine, oil, and pasture. In the division of the land among the twelve tribes of Israel, it fell to the lot of the tribe of Judah, and to the portion of Phases, a most noble family of that tribe.

The blessed Jerome has shown how worthy Bethlehem is of praise in many of his writings; more especially in the epistle to Marcella he says: `With what speech can I tell you of the inn of Mary--with what words can I describe to you the Saviour's Grotto? Indeed, the manger wherein the Babe wailed is better honoured by silence than by inadequate speech. Here are wide porticos and gilded ceilings. Lo! out of Bethlehem, in this tiny corner of the earth, was born the Founder of the heavens; it was here that He was wrapped in swaddling clothes, that He was seen and worshiped by the shepherds and the Magi. This spot, I trow, is holier than the Tarpeian Rock, whose being so often struck by lightning proves that it is displeasing to God. There there is, indeed, a holy church, and a believing people, and a populous city, but ambition . . . . In Christ's village there is a secure rusticity; there is silence, save for the singing of psalms, whithersoever you turn yourself ; he that holds the plough chants