102 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF
HERE BEGINNETH THE PILGRIMAGE TO THE HOLY LAND WHICH WAS MADE THROUGH THE HOLY LAND BY THOSE PILGRIMS WHO MEANT TO MAKE THE PILGRIMAGE TO MOUNT SINAI AFTER THE DEPARTURE OF THE OTHER PILGRIMS FROM JERU SALEM AND THE HOLY LAND.
[221 a] On the twenty-third, which is the day of St. Apollinaris the martyr, the pilgrims to Mount Sinai met early in the morning on Mount Sion. There they called for the Father Guardian, Brother John of Prussia, and the other elders of the convent, and begged them with many prayers that they would be graciously pleased to assign to them rooms in the convent wherein they could live and be entertained during the time that they were going to stay in Jerusalem. But the fathers raised great difficulties about this matter, and brought forward many reasons for which they could not have them in the convent. When the knights heard this, they tried to win their consent by gold, and they brought forth many ducats, which one of them offered to Brother John, saying: `Brother, take these pieces of gold, and grant, us a lodging, we pray thee, and get food for us; when those coins are spent, we will give you some more.' But not even so could they carry their point, for the fathers refused the gold, and spoke to the knights in these words: ' Lo! my lords the pilgrim knights, we have been taught by long experience that it is better for you to abide without rather than within with us; we, therefore, will help you to hire a lodging. You will then always have the convent at hand for spiritual consolation, and should any one of you fall ill, we will lay him up in our infirmary, and charitably take care of him. Moreover,
BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 103
that we may not seem altogether to refuse your requests, we receive among us your comrade and fellow-pilgrim, Brother Felix, even as we received him on your first coming hither. He shall stay in the cell which he now hath, and shall rest therein, and eat and drink with us in the refectory for as long as you shall remain here in the Holy City.' On hearing this, the pilgrims forebore to press the request which they had begun, while I returned thanks to the fathers for the kindness they had shown me, and. gratefully took up my lodging there as long as I remained in Jerusalem, going in and out with those venerable brethren as though I belonged to their house, without fear and with out annoyance from the Saracens. Thus I abode in the convent, excellently well provided for, and at no charges. Now the rest of the pilgrims hired a lodging in the house of Elphahallo, the under-Calinus, a Saracen. This house stands within the precincts of the Mount Sion and Jerusalem, on the hill as one goeth down to the holy sepulchre. In this house there were three chambers besides a little solar chamber, and in the midst thereof was a hall or court of a fair size, wherein stood vines covered with bunches of grapes, while beneath the house was a great cistern for the ceremonial bathings of the Saracens. Calinus gave up two of these chambers to the pilgrims, and he and his brother kept the third chamber with its furni ture. While the pilgrims sojourned in the house these men neither ate nor slept therein, but left it free to the pilgrims, so that they went in and out, slept and ate therein, buying what they wanted, and cooking them at their own pleasure. The pilgrims divided themselves into three companies, that thereby they might be better and more abundantly supplied with necessaries throughout the desert, and that the peace might- be better kept between them, which is no easy matter among such a number. Howbeit, the first and the second company always remained
200 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF
together by themselves, and the third in like manner remained by itself.
In the first company there were six pilgrims-to wit
In the second company there were eight pilgrims, whose names are as follows
In the third company were six pilgrims, whose names are here set down
And Brother Felix, of the Order of the Preaching Friars at Ulm, the writer of these wanderings, who brought the aforesaid archdeacon into our company. Indeed, he
BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 105
would never have essayed this pilgrimage had it not been for his trust in me, for he was a pure-bred Hungarian, and did not understand one word of German, albeit in the Latin, Sclavonian, Italian, and Hungarian languages he was well skilled. He was a man of noble birth, virtuous and learned, a great orator and mathematician, who, as I have said before, kept ever by my side, as will be seen hereafter. In this place, too, I must describe Elphahallo, the under-Calinus, in whose house the pilgrims were sojourning, of whom mention hath often been made before, and will be made hereafter. The hospital and the pilgrims at Jerusalem have two masters, an upper and a lower. The upper is called Sabathytanco and the upper Calinus; while the lower is called Elphahallo, the lower Calinus- that is to say, the master of the hospital and of the pil grims. Both of these Calini were also called dragomans- that is to say, protectors, conductors, or guardians of the Christian pilgrims. [222 a] Indeed, in every city there are some men to whom the Soldan grants the privilege of guiding Christians through the land and defending them from wrong, which men are officers of the Government, having powers granted them by the court of the Lord Soldan, and are called dragomans. In like manner, also, the Jews have their own dragomans or Calini. Now, in places whither many pilgrims often resort there are two Calini, an upper and a lower, as, for example, in Jerusalem and in Cairo. These are subject one to the other, and the lower receives his pay from the upper, while the upper wrings it out of the pilgrims. Now, when these dragomans are good and upright men, all goes well with the pilgrims; but when they are not, it is all over with the pilgrims, as will be shown hereafter. The upper dragoman of Jerusalem, Sabathytanco, was a tall old man, wealthy, and of austere morals, but he was hard upon the pilgrims, ever hurrying them from place to place, and exacted money from them
106 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF
grievously. Moreover, he did not keep his contracts well, and broke many of his promises, yet he protected us toler ably faithfully, and took pains to succour us when we called upon him for help. The under-Calinus of Jerusalem, Elphahallo, was an old man, I believe more than eighty years of age, a single-minded and upright Saracen, abound ing in moral virtue, but of so little knowledge oŁ the truth as to believe that all men may be saved in the faith wherein they are born, provided they keep it pure, while he de clared that all those who renounced their faith would be damned, wherefore he damned the Mamelukes, who where of his own faith and apostates from the faith of Christ; and all the Eastern Christians likewise, he said, deserved damnation, because they made themselves like to the pagans and swore fealty to their kings. He was of the same opinion about the Jews who dwelt among them. He had a high opinion of our faith and salvation, but believed that if he were to give up his own faith he could not be saved in ours, and he also believed that no renegade Christian could be saved in his own faith. I often con ferred with him on this subject, for he knew the Italian tongue and some bad broken German which he had learned from the pilgrims, with whom he had forty-eight times crossed the desert to Mount Sinai. Yea, he showed such love towards the Christians from beyond seas that he would risk his life with them-nay, more, would put him self in peril of death for their sake, forasmuch as, though he was an old man, and ruptured in the genitals, yet, nevertheless, he crossed the desert with the pilgrims, not with any view to reward, but in order that he might bear them company. He was much troubled to know how after his death pilgrims would be able to be guided through the desert and through those countries. Indeed, I myself also am disquieted about this, and I dread his death, even as I do that of Brother John, of whom 1 have spoken on page 183 b,
BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 107
This Calinus was once at Vienna, at the court of the Emperor Frederick III., and at Rome at that of Pope Nicholas V. This came to pass in the following manner One year he guided some knights over the desert, among whom was a puissant German knight, who tenderly loved him, and was often wont to urge him and beg of him that he would come to Germany with him across the sea; and he would do well by him and keep him safe. But to this the Saracen would in no wise consent. So when they were come to Cairo, where the Calinus is wont to leave his pilgrims and go back again to Jerusalem, this nobleman asked Calinus to come down as far as Alexandria in his company, and there he would let him go. But when they were at Alexandria, the nobleman suborned the captain of the galley on board of which he meant to cross the sea, to tell him alone the day and hour at which the galley would set sail; wherefore, as the galley was to sail late one night,. that evening the nobleman brought Calinus on board the galley with him. He did not know that the ship was about to set sail, and thought that on the morrow he would return to the city. But at the dead of night the vessel was silently let go, and, having a fair wind, made a long run out to sea, so that the Saracen was forced to stay with them and cross the sea. The knight took him both to the Emperor and to the Pope, and told them of the goodness and piety of the man, but he could not be con verted from his infidelity, and so he was brought back to Venice, and went home again by sea from thence. Here- after he has shown himself an even more faithful guardian of all Christians than before, for he brought back with him rich gifts from the Emperor, the Pope, and the nobility, and is wont to tell his own countrymen of the great liberality and glory of the Christians. As I have already said, their lordships the pilgrims dwelt in this honest man's house, to which house I went down almost every day,
108 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF going in and out of it as I pleased: and so much for this.
On the twenty-fourth day we pilgrims held a meeting on the Mount Sion to discuss together the pilgrimages which we meant to make in the Holy Land. We held this debate because we in no wise wished to give up to idleness those days which we were to spend in the Holy Land, but to make pilgrimages to this place and to that. We all agreed in this desire, but the devil, not being willing to suffer us to do this, sowed tares, and the pilgrims began to be at variance with one another and to dispute one with another about seeking holy places, and, as a consequence of this, about other matters also. Indeed, owing to their quarrels, they had two kitchen fires in the aforesaid house, two kitchens, two cooks, and separate buying of provisions, all of which could have been done easier and better under one management. Howbeit, the lords of the first and second company clubbed together, and had one fire and one kitchen management. But the lords of the third company, to which I belonged, lived by themselves; and the knight who was named Peter Velsch was himself cook and manciple to the company, and hired two poor German Jews to help him, who went with him to the market-place to buy what we wanted. Now, some of the pilgrims had a great longing to see and visit the holy places in Galilee- to wit, the village of Nazareth, Mount Tabor, the great plain of Esdraelon, the Sea of Galilee, Capernaum, Chorazin, the mount whereon Christ taught, that whereon he fed the people, Damascus, and so forth. But when we took counsel about this matter with the Father Guardian and the chief Calinus, our dragoman, they told us that there were many hindrances to this pilgrimage, and that we should be at exceeding great charges in buying off the ill- treatment of the Saracens, who in those parts are said to be exceeding hostile to Christians, insomuch that pilgrims
BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 109
seldom dare to go into Galilee. The Father Guardian declared to us that of a truth there would be more dangers in that pilgrimage than in crossing the desert to Mount Sinai. When [223 a] some of the pilgrims heard this they withdrew their proposal, and gave up the pil grimage to Galilee; but others would willingly have gone in spite of the dangers of which we were told; but for asmuch as we were severed into two companies, this pilgrimage was dropped, because one company without the other could not afford so much expense; moreover, they who would not go murmured against they who would, saying that before they came back from Galilee it would be time for us to start on our pilgrimage to Mount Sinai, and then they would have to wait for them, which they would not do. But herein they were mistaken, for they might have gone three times over before we set out from Jerusalem, as will appear hereafter. Thus, owing to the divisions among the pilgrims, many things were left undone which we might easily have done had we been all of one mind. For had we agreed together, for five ducats apiece we might have been taken all through Galilee, and through Galilee even unto Antioch, which was of old called Reblatha,1 as we read in 2 Kings xxv. 20, 21.
But above all we desired to see Nazareth. It is said nowadays to be a small village, wherein no honour is shown to Christ or to His servants; but of old, in the days of St. Jerome, it was the seat of an honoured archbishopric, over which St. Sylvanus presided, as we are told by Cyril in his letter to Augustine 'On the miracles of St. Jerome.'
On the twenty-fifth day, which is the Feast of St. James the Apostle, before sunrise, the brethren of Mount Sion arose, took all things needful from the sacristy, and went forth from the convent, and I with them, to the church of St. James, to hold services there. An account of this church
110 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF
is given on page 103 b. When we were come to the church, and I had let the brethren go into it, I ran swiftly down to the pilgrims' lodging, knocked at the door, with a stone, roused them up to hear the service, and went up again with them to the aforesaid church. There in the chapel of the beheading of St. James we chanted a solemn service, celebrated Mass one after another on that same altar, and went back to our places, wherein we abode for the rest of that day, because it was Saturday, which is always kept holy by the Saracens, even as the Lord's day is by us, and they will not suffer us to roam abroad through the city on the days whereon they are celebrating divine service.
On the twenty-sixth, being the Feast of St. Anne, the mother of the most blessed Virgin, we arose early, went to the church which stands on the place of the house of St. Anne, wherein she bore the mother of God, and begged those who dwelt there to let us in; but they would in no wise do so. So we prayed to St. Anne, and worshipped her daughter without the doors. You have been told about this church on page 140 a, and the place will be described on page 229 a. We now left that church, went out through St. Stephen's Gate, and went down into the Valley of Jehosaphat, to the end that we might hold divine service in the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin. But when we had come to the church it was shut, and we could not get in. So we left that place and went on to the grotto of Christ's prayer and agony, where we decked an altar and held divine service, though it was a thing which had never been seen before, that men of the Latin rite should hold service there. This place is described on page 144 a. When our Masses were over we visited the other holy places on [b] the Mount of Olives; but when we were come to the Church of the Ascension of our Lord, a Saracen withstood us and would not let us enter the church unless we paid him money. We threatened him that we
BROTHER'FELIX FABRI. 111
would complain of him to the Lord Naydan, the Governor of Jerusalem, but he took no heed of our words, and so we went home to our dinner on Mount Sion.
On the twenty-seventh day, which was the ninth Sunday after Trinity, all the pilgrims came up early to the service of Mass on Mount Sion, which service I myself chanted, for Brother Seraphinus, the canon in charge of the choir for that week, had begged me to chant the service in his stead, and administer the Sacrament to all the brethren who were not in priest's orders. To this I gladly assented, and counted it as an especial grace that I had been thought worthy to chant Mass for the convent in the place where we believe this most Divine Sacrament of the Eucharist was originally instituted, and that I should partake of this same Sacrament with the brethren in the same place wherein Christ first partook thereof with His disciples, eating of His own flesh on that spot, as I have told on page 94 b. After dinner we rested.
On the twenty-eighth I went down early with the manciple into the city, to the market-place and the street of the cooks, where I saw a great abundance of things for sale, a vast multitude of people, and many kitchens; for men do not cook in their own houses, as they do in our country, but buy their food cooked from the public cooks, who dress meat exceeding cleanly in open kitchens. There is no woman ever seen near the fire-nay, no woman is so bold as even to enter these kitchens, for the Saracens loathe food cooked by women like poison. Wherefore throughout all the East no woman knows how to bake a cake, but men alone are cooks. In those parts the kitchens must needs be common walls, since, owing to the dryness of the land, wood is dear, and there cannot be a kitchen in each house, as with us, because of the want of wood. After we had seen all this, we went home, and after service we dined. On the twenty-ninth day every one of the pilgrims
112 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF
bought himself a bed stuffed with cotton, for us to use both in Jerusalem and in our tents in the desert. I had one made for me also while I was at Jerusalem, and caused it to be carried for me across the desert, across the sea to Venice, and from Venice to Ulm to my own cell, wherein I have laid it up as a relic of my holy pilgrimage.
After dinner the Lord Naydan, the Governor of Jerusalem, the Lord Vaccardinus, and the Lord Sabathytanco, Saracen nobles, rode up to Mount Sion on horseback to refresh themselves; for the air on Mount Sion is always fresher than that in Jerusalem, and there fore the chief men are wont now and then to come up thither to refresh themselves, and to lie down in the church of the brethren, which is always cool. When they come, the brethren lay down carpets on the pavement, with cushions or pillows upon the carpets, and their lordships [224 a] recline thereon, leaning their elbows on the cushions ; for in those lands it is not the custom to sit on benches, or upon stools or chairs, but all recline on the ground ; and if they be rich and great men, carpets are laid down for them. When they were settled, the brethren brought them a repast in a tin dish, biscuits made with spices, some loaves of their bread, honeycakes, 1and fruits, grapes, almonds and melons, with cool water to drink, because they drink no wine. Of these their lordships ate with pleasure, while the Minorite brethren and we pilgrims stood round about them and served them, and their Saracen serving-men stood round about us. They asked us many questions through an interpreter, heard our answers with wonder, and seriously discussed what they heard with one another; for they were grave and ancient men, with long beards and of much experience, being the chief rulers of the Holy City, and of a noble presence. I Lebetunz. Cf. Germ. Lebkuche in Grimm's Dict.
BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 113
Now, on the day before the Father Guardian had sent two of the brethren from Mount Sion to Bethlehem, but a Saracen had fallen upon them on the way, and had beaten them with many blows, even to the shedding of blood. The Father Guardian denounced this Saracen to these lords, who promised him that they would punish him, and would so deal with him that he never would trouble any Christian again. After the complaint of the Father Guardian had been heard, we pilgrims came forward and made our complaint of the Saracen who would not let us into the Church of the Ascension of the Lord, as will be found under the heading of the twenty-seventh day, and besought them to grant us leave to visit the holy places without payment. They answered that we ought not to give anything to him who keeps the door of the Church of the Ascension, and that henceforth he never would demand anything of us. As for freedom to visit the holy places, they said, `You may go wherever you choose at your own pleasure; but we counsel you, when you are walking abroad, always to have some Saracen with you, that rude boys, whom we cannot hold in check, may not annoy you. And so passed that day, whereon both at dinner and at supper I committed excesses in eating too greedily of melons, which thing I did to my own hurt.
On the thirtieth I was ill all day, having an exceeding sharp attack of fever, and glowing with excessive heat, on account, I believe, of the melons, which at Jerusalem are very large and very sweet. However, Baptista, the brother in charge of the infirmary, tended me with anxious care, and straightway healed me by causing me to sweat; so that day I did not leave my cell.
On the thirty-first I heard that two of my brother pilgrims were sick, so taking a stick to lean upon, I went down from Mount Sion with great trouble, because of my
114 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF
weakness, as far as the pilgrims' lodging-albeit, the way up and down is fairly long-and, sick as I was, I visited the sick people there, and stayed with them all day; but in the evening two knights brought me up, well amused and almost whole again, to my own place to the Mount Sion, where we found the whole convent engaged in their daily round of the holy places; so I went round with them, as I had been wont to do at other times, and came back with the brethren into the dormitory to my own cell. The brethren of Mount Sion have this praiseworthy and holy custom, that every night, after compline has been sung and finished, they visit the holy places to obtain indulgences, in the following manner. First of all they go to the high altar, at the place where the Eucharist was instituted, and there prostrate themselves, kiss the place, and receive indulgences. Thence they go on to the place of the washing of feet, and after this they go round above the cloister to the place where the Holy Spirit was sent down, from whence they come down to the chapel of St. Thomas the Apostle, pass round the cloister, and enter the chapel of St. Francis, close to the gate and column of the Lord. Here they kiss the gate, go out of the cloister to the place where stood, the oratory of the blessed Virgin Mary, thence on to the place where Christ preached, and there turn themselves to the sepulchres of David and the other kings. From here they proceed to the Lord's kitchen, and from it to the sepulchre of St. Stephen, from whence they go round about and descend into the cave of David's penitence. From this cave they go on to the corner of Mount Sion, turn themselves eastward on their bended knees toward the Mount of Olives, worship all its holy places in one brief prayer, and then cast their eyes into the Valley of Jehoshaphat, and pray, looking towards the Church of the Assumption of the blessed Virgin, that
BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 115
by her merits and intercession we may hereafter cheerfully meet our judge on that spot. After this, still on the same spot, they turn themselves towards the North and the holy city of Jerusalem, pray, looking towards the holy temple of Solomon, and take in all the holy places of the Holy City in one glance. Having done this, they turn themselves from the North more toward the West, toward the Church of our Lord's Holy Sepulchre, the Church of the Anastasis, whereof, nevertheless, they can see nought save the highest part of the belfry or tower of the aforesaid church, seeing that the Mount Sion stands in the way, and looking thither they pray with great devotion. After this they rise up, pray when they come before the house of Annas, the high priest, go on from thence to the house of Caiaphas, offer prayer there, turn their faces towards the monastery, and come to the place of the separation of the Apostles. From thence they go on to the chapel of St. John, wherein he was wont to celebrate Mass, and daily administered the Sacrament to the blessed Virgin Mary. From that chapel they pass on to the house of the blessed Virgin, wherein she ended her days. From hence they go to the place where St. Matthias was chosen an apostle, where St. James was chosen a bishop, and where seven good men were chosen deacons, and thence they pass on to the cemetery of their brethren who are buried there, whom they address and pray for them. When they have done this, they go in again through the convent gate, and each man silently betakes himself to his cell to rest. In this fashion I went round with them every day while I was sojourning with them.
116 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF
[225 a] The month of August, on its first day, brought us a two-fold holiday: first, that of Peter the Apostle being loosed from his bonds; and secondly that of Mahomet, the prince of demons, in whose chains nearly all the world is bound. The first is known to us, the second is unknown to us, but of great solemnity to the Saracens, who on this day keep the feast of the lawgiving of Mahomet, because thereon the most unrighteous law of Mahomet was brought forth and publicly given to the people, and the Alcoran, a sea of.errors which has overflowed almost the whole world, was published abroad. This execrable and profane law derives its authority from a tincture of both the Old and the New Testaments, and hath within itself some truths, mixed with matter. utterly absurd, and, as is the way of all heretics, contains poison hidden in honey.
This was the first day of August, and also a Friday, which is kept holy by the Saracens throughout the year, not, indeed, because it is the sixth day of the week, but because it is the day of Venus: for Mahomet always re verenced the unchaste Venus, and therefore appointed her day to be kept holy for ever, even as we keep holiday on
BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 117
the Lord's day, and the Jews on their Sabbath, though for a very different reason. Wherefore on this day we did not dare to show ourselves out of doors, but kept out of sight in our own places, even as on Good Friday Jews are shut up by themselves, and are not suffered to go about the streets. On account of this accursed feast of Mahomet we were not able to keep the feast of St. Peter's chains properly, for my companions, the pilgrims, did not dare to go up from their lodging to Mount Sion to hear Mass, but we were unwillingly forced to pass that day in quiet without hearing Mass. For the infidels hold that whenever they keep a holiday or a fast day, or abstain from meat, or keep any day holy, whether for mourning or for joy, they will force all strangers and pilgrims to do likewise. So also do they in the matter of wine: since they do not use it them selves, they will not endure that pilgrims should drink it in their country, save in secret, when they are not looking on.
[b] On the second day, which is that of St. Stephen, Pope and Martyr, after hearing Divine service, we took some food and met at Mount Sion, with the intention of going round the whole city of Jerusalem on the outside to see its defences, or rather the ruins of its defences, not withstanding the exceeding great heat and the burning rays of the sun, for we could not do this save in the heat of the sun, at which time the Saracens stay in the shade. In the early morning, and in the evening, when the sun is less hot, they go into their gardens and walk about outside the gates, and they would not then have suffered us to make the circuit of the city; wherefore we chose their hour of rest wherein to do this. We began our circuit as follows: First, we crossed over as far as the tower of David on the west side, and from thence went to the Fish Gate, or Merchants' Gate, which is at the western corner, where the west wall joins the south wall. From this corner we went on to the
118 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF Fuller's Field, wherein at this present there stands a grove of trees, a mosque, and a Saracen burial-place, even as there was in the time of St. Jerome, as we read in his book 'On the distances of places.' In the Fuller's Field we turned towards the north, keeping the ditch of the Holy City on our right hands, and walking northward along the edge thereof. This ditch was once deep and wide; the city-wall is built upon a rock, and houses have been built upon the wall itself, looking down into the ditch. Beneath the rock itself we saw great caves, through which there is a way leading almost into the midst of the city under ground. Had we had the light of a torch we would have gone into this cave, and we were sorry that we had not brought one. Josephus, in the eighth chapter of the sixth book of his 'Jewish War,' calls these 'The King's Caves'; but why they are so called I have never read. But I suppose that there may have been some way into them within the city which was known to the king alone, through which he might go in and out of the city without any man's knowledge; or perhaps there was a way into them from the king's palace. Going forward from hence we went along a good way by the edge of the ditch, as far as the northern corner, where the west wall joins the north wall. In front of this corner there is a swelling or rising ground, whereon are the ruins of walls; and here once stood an exceeding lofty tower, which was called Phaselus, or Psaefinas Hippicus, from which there was a view to both seas, to wit, that on the eastern side, which is the Dead Sea, and that on the western side, which is our sea, the Great or Mediterranean Sea. This we read in the eighth chapter of the sixth book of Josephus's 'Jewish War'; yet I have oft-times wondered how this could be, seeing that to the westward the mountains over hang the Holy City.
From this corner we turned eastwards, and went ion
BROTHER FELIX FABRL 119 along the edge of the ditch. Here we saw a great part of the ancient walls, for the wall was two-fold, in such sort that there were passages within the wall, in the midst thereof, both above and below; and the rocks, on which the wall was founded, were artificially squared in many places, above which places towers had stood. Indeed, the city was well fenced on this side, because there it can be more easily attacked than elsewhere, [226 a] wherefore it was here that Saladin, King of Egypt, took the city from the Christians in 1187, the last year of their rule. Going on further we came to the Gate of Ephraim, or of St. Stephen, which is at the eastern corner, where the north wall joins the east wall. This east wall has no ditch in front of it but the Valley of Jehoshaphat, along the edge of which it is raised aloft; and albeit there is a little path leading along by the side of the wall, above the valley, from the eastern corner of the wall to the southern corner thereof, yet we did not dare to continue our circuit along that path because of the Saracens' burying-ground, which lies in front of the Golden Gate, and which we might not cross without exposing our selves to great peril, as may be seen on page 82 a and 141 b. So we left this path and went down from the corner, down the steep slope into the Valley of Jehoshaphat, even to the brook Cedron, along which we went, having the Mounts of the temple and city on one side and the Mount of Olives on the other side, till we came to the foot of the Mount Sion in the valley of Siloam. Here we turned to the west ward, and went up through the valley which divides the Mount Sion from Mounts Aceldama and Gihon, even to the Fuller's Field, where we began our circuit, and entered the Holy City through the Fish Gate. I went with my lords the pilgrims into their lodging, and we refreshed our selves there, for we were hot, tired and exceeding weary. So passed this day. Whosoever would have a view of the
120 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF
size and the defences of Jerusalem in the days of old, let him read Josephus's `Jewish War,' Book VL, ch. viii. Yet lest I be thought to avoid saying anything clear about the size of this most Holy City, be it known that it is by no means so large as the common vulgar believe it to be, who think 'that it must be as great in circuit as is the fame of its name and virtues. Very excellent things have been said of thee, thou city of God, and are now said, and shall be said as long as the world endureth. This city is, and ever hath been, less than the greatest cities, but greater than the middle-sized ones, and is spoken of even by the Gentiles: for Hecataeus, a philosopher of Abdera, saith, 'Jerusalem is an exceeding strong city, having a circuit of some fifty stadia, and is inhabited by more than one hundred and twenty thousand people,' and he goes on to say more about her, as we read in Eusebius's Praeparatio Evangelica, Book VIII., ch. ii., iii.
Another philosopher, Timochares, who wrote a history of Antioch, tells us that `Jerusalem measures forty stadia round about, and is fenced on all sides by exceeding steep valleys; it is watered by many springs, which burst forth .within it; albeit, there are no living waters for a circuit of forty stadia round about the same.' -And he saith much more, as may be read in the aforesaid work of Eusebius, Book X., ch. iv.
Now, Josephus, who was a Jew and a distinguished writer of history, tells us in the fifth chapter of the afore- mentioned book of his history that `the entire extent of the city of Jerusalem was contained within a circuit of thirty-three stadia,' and he tells us many excellent things about her in the aforesaid chapter. I am the more inclined to believe his words, because he was a citizen and a captain of the people of the Jews in Jerusalem at the time of its destruction by Titus.
BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 121
From all these authorities it is clear that Jerusalem, before the extension made by the Emperor, Aelius Hadrian, was a greater city than Ulm (which is one of the middle- sized cities) is at the present day. Indeed, I myself have often measured Ulm, and it hath in circuit twenty-five stadia and seventy-five long paces, which make half a stadium. Thus ancient Jerusalem was greater than Ulm by eight stadia.
Now, many years after the time of Josephus, the Em peror Aelius rebuilt Jerusalem, which had been laid waste, and enclosed the place of Calvary and of the Lord's sepulchre within the walls, thus enlarging it by so much, and it was according to this enlarged plan that the afore- mentioned two philosophers made their measurements of its boundaries. Or if they wrote before the enlargement, they included the Mount Sion, which Josephus does not include in his measurement; for by taking in the Mount Sion, together with the Mount Calvary and Golgotha, a great circle is formed, measuring no less in its circuit than Augsburg, a city of Suabia, which is reckoned among the great cities of Germany. Yet when one looks at the city of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives it does not seem so great, because it stands on an uneven site, not on a flat one, and hath within it many spaces which cannot be seen. For the Mount Sion by itself would contain a city of no small size, were it all built over, as the ruins upon it prove that it once was. For the description of this city see here after, page 255 b.
On the third day, which is that of the Invention of St. Stephen, and which was the tenth Sunday after Trinity, on the evening of the previous Saturday, we begged their
122 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF
lordships the Saracen rulers of the Holy City to be so good as to let us into the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. To this they agreed, provided that we would pay the usual tax of five ducats for each person. But we entreated them that they would deal more mercifully with us, and abate this extreme severity, seeing that we were now few in number, because we meant often to enter in thither before our departure, and if they would not abate somewhat of the accustomed tax we should not be able to enter it either now or at any future time. So after long pleadings and disputes we overcame them by our importunity, and we agreed that whensoever we would enter the Church of the Holy Sepulchre we should each time pay only the tax of one single person-that is to say, five ducats. This satis fied us. So when we were met together in the courtyard of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Moorish lords came with the keys and unlocked the doors, and we went in and spent that night watching round about the holy sepulchre after the manner described on page 110 a. When morning dawned we sang Mass in the Chapel of the Blessed Virgin, which is described on the aforesaid page, and we said private Masses as long as we pleased undisturbed. When all this was over the Saracens came, opened the doors, and cast us out. We now all went together to the holy Mount Sion, and caused a Mass to be said at the place where the body of St. Stephen was found buried, about which place see page 100 b. When divine service was over we agreed that after dinner we would visit some places within the Holy City to which we had not hitherto been.
After dinner we met upon Mount Sion, took with us Elphahallo, the sub-Calinus, and entered Jerusalem by the Dung Gate or Gate of the Dunghill, whereof mention is often made in Scripture, more especially in Nehemiah, ch. ii.
BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 123
It was called the Dung Gate of old, and is so called at this day, because all dirt and dung is carried out through it and cast down toward the valley, wherefore out of the mass of rubbish thrown there a heap has grown up like a little hill, [227 a] so high that it overlooks the city wall at that place. When we had passed through it we came to the sheep market, from thence we went into a narrow street wherein dwelt many Nubian Christians, and we knocked at the door of their church. When the door was opened we went in and said a prayer there. This church was pretty large, but dark; and, indeed, all the Eastern churches are dark and gloomy. This church stands upon the place where once stood the house of Mary, the mother of John, whose surname was Mark, at whose door Peter knocked when he was brought out of prison by the angel, whereof the sweet story may be read in the twelfth chapter of the Acts. Going on a little way from this place we came to another house of Eastern Christians, and when we were let in they showed us a cistern in the courtyard of the house, saying that it was here that Christ appeared to St. Thomas the Apostle; for while he was about to draw out some water, and was standing on one side of the cistern, the Lord Jesus stood on the other, and commanded him that he should go to India. This is said by the Eastern Christians to have come to pass here; but the Lombardic `Legend' declares that it took place at Caesarea, as also do other books of our Church. Thence we went to another house, where also there was a church, wherein the Eastern Christians say that the holy Apostles, James and John, were born; for it is said that their father, Zebedee, dwelt there with his wife, but, falling into poverty, they departed thence into Galilee, and gained their living by fishing beside the sea of Galilee. For this cause we are told in John xix. that `that disciple was known to the high priest.' Near
124 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF
this house there stood a Saracen mosque, with the door open, and as we saw no Saracens we entered into it, but saw therein nothing beautiful, nothing religious, nothing desirable, only an empty building, vaulted, round, with white-washed walls, lamps hanging from the painted roof, and a pavement covered with mats, whereon they go through their genuflections and posturings when they say their prayers. After seeing this we went out again. These places aforementioned are near the Temple of the Lord, which they call Solomon's Temple.
After this we went toward the temple, and in the court yard thereof we saw many Saracens standing with pails, pots, and pitchers to draw water, which there bursts forth abundantly from a water-pipe, whereat I did greatly wonder, for I had always read and heard that the Holy City was without living water; but afterwards I learned by experience that this water springs up far away from the Holy City, and is brought into Jerusalem by underground channels and aqueducts, whereof I shall speak in their place, page 249 a, b. From this place we went up towards the temple to a street covered with a vaulted roof, through which we went to the great gate leading into the court of the temple. In [b] this street were many shops and doors for merchants on either side When they saw us hurrying along towards the gate of the temple, many people ran, up to us to keep us from entering thither. We told them by signs that we would not go in, but would only pray to God without the gate, and so they suffered us to go to the gate, where we prayed on our bended knees, looking toward the Temple of the Lord; but even this was annoying to the Saracens, and they cried out at us. The gate of the court yard itself was a great one, made of exceeding heavy bars of iron. They say that this iron gate is that spoken of in Acts xii. 10, through which the angel led out Peter into
BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 125
the street, because Peter's prison was within it. Thence we came back again along the street, and, fetching a com pass, came to another vaulted street, through which like wise there is a way into the temple, and in which likewise there were merchants sitting in shops. We entered this, and went up it even to the gate of the temple, taking no heed of the cries and murmurs of the Saracens; neither did we give ear to the commands of Calinus, our guide, who kept doing all that he could to keep us from looking at the temple, for the Saracens were plaguing him for suffering us to come so near to the temple. This gate they say is the Beautiful Gate' of the temple, beneath which Peter healed the lame man, when he and John went up to the temple to pray at the ninth hour, and he said, `Silver and gold have I none,' as is told in Acts iii.
Leaving this place, we went on further through the streets of houses which stand round about the temple, and came to another part of the courtyard, where, beside the wall of the courtyard, a very costly new mosque was being built as an oratory for his lordship the Soldan, wherein he might pray whensoever he was in Jerusalem. So we went up to the place, and would have gone up to where the workmen were to see it, but we were told that no man dared to go up to the workmen without leave from Thadi, the bishop of the Saracens' temple. So we entered the house of Thadi, which was hard by, to ask him for leave. The house of this bishop was spacious and lofty, with a vaulted roof, decorated with polished marble, and adorned with carpets; like a church save that it had no altars; and I now believe that it was a Saracen mosque, into which, however, men of all creeds are admitted, because of the bishop, who has his lodging adjoining it, and his house hold; for I saw women and boys looking at us through an opening in the roof. Now, the bishop came out to us, and
126 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF
he was a grave and ancient man, reverend and bearded. When he understood what we wished, he consented straight way, and caused us to be taken into the mosque, bidding one of his friends to accompany us. We went up into the mosque, and found many artificers and labourers there, making wondrous thin panelling out of polished marble of divers colours, and adorning both the pavement and the walls [228 a] with pictures. Moreover, the upper part was glowing with gold and costly colours, and the windows, which were glazed, lighted the building most excellently well. In that wall which rises from the courtyard of the temple there were great and tall windows, not as yet glazed, but open, through which we saw the court of the temple and the temple itself, and beheld the marvellous costly work at that place, which will be described in the account of the temple, on page 260 and before. When we had seen these things, we gave the artificers drink-money and came out again. I do not believe that after us any Christian will ever go into that mosque, because they will presently dedicate it by their own accursed rites to the detestable Mahomet, and, when that has been done, they will let no Christian go in. So we went home to our own places.
On the fourth day, after dinner, we went down the Mount Sion together, led in a half-secret fashion by a Jew, who said that he would show us some things which were hidden. As we were going down, we came to the south side of the church, which stands near the Temple of the Lord, where, in the days of the Christians, there used to be a way up some stone steps to a high door, through which one entered that church. We climbed up to this door over the ruins of the walls, and kissed the wall in which the door is, for the sake of the plenary indulgences which are to be gained there (tt).nnIt is said that there were fifteen steps leading
BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 127
up to that wall, up which the Virgin Mary and her Child thrice a year miraculously ascended into the temple with out a guide. It was upon these steps that David wrote fifteen psalms, which are called `the psalms of degrees.' We visited this place with fear and in silence, for, had the Saracens seen us, we should have been in danger, which was why we chose the time when they take their rest. From that place we went further down, and came to an exceeding ancient wall, enormously strong, built of huge squared rocks, and this wall is tolerably high, albeit it once was much higher, as may be seen from the ruins, for the place is full of squared stones scattered round about. It is said that upon this wall stood the house of the forest of Lebanon, which was the king's house, built by Solomon, whereof we read in i Kings vii., where he saith, `Glory,' etc. This house was called the house of the forest of Lebanon, because its upper part was built of timber which was hewn from the forest of Lebanon. The author of the Speculum Historiale says that this house was built of twofold material; the lower part was of stone, and was called Nethota, that is to say, the place of perfumes, wherein the spices and pigments for the use of the temple and of the king's house were stored up, that by reason of the (cool) earth and the (thick) wall they might long keep their freshness. The upper part was of wood, of the timber from Lebanon, wherefore it was called the house of the forest, the house of Lebanon, or the house of the forest of Lebanon. Some, however, think that it was so called because it was planted round about on every side with trees and [b] groves for pleasure, which grew as thick as the forest of Lebanon. In the upper part arms were stored, that, by reason of the wood, they might not grow rusty; and not only arms for fighting, but for show and display of royal state.
128 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF
Albeit, in I Kings vii. 1, 2, a distinction is drawn between the `king's house' and the `house of the forest of Lebanon,' nevertheless some commentators say that they were one and the same, and this I myself believe. That this king's house wars in this place seems to agree fairly well with Holy Scripture, which often says that the kings of ) Jeru salem went up into the temple from the king's house. It is clear from Jeremiah1 . . . that this cannot be taken to mean the king's house and palace on Mount Sion, wherein David and Solomon dwelt before the building of the temple, because the Mount Sion is higher than the temple, and one goes downwards from it to the place of the temple; albeit, from the courtyard one always went up steps into the temple itself. But from the house of which we are now speaking there is a considerable ascent into the temple. So here we stood still awhile, and wondered at this huge wall, and talked to one another about these matters. On the very top of this broken wall there is a great squared stone, moved aside out of its regular course, so that it stands forth strangely at the corner of the wall: Because this stone is now. the highest in the wall, and juts out strangely from it, men have fabled it to be the stone mentioned in Ps. cxviii. 22, and in Matt. xxi. 42, `The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner.' Nicholas de Lyra says that when the temple was being builded a certain stone was many times offered to the hands of the builders, and could nowhere be put into a fitting place, wherefore it was rejected; but when one wall had to be joined to the other by a corner-stone at the head of both, no stone could be found more fitting for the purpose than that rejected one. The same tale is
BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 129
told of a beam of the wood of the holy cross, which also was rejected when a house was being builded.
But it seems to me that this stone, albeit the corner stone, yet is not the head of the corner, because it is plain that, the wall was once much higher.
When we had viewed this wall from the outside, guided by the Jew, we climbed up over the ruins to the wall itself, and there is one of the great square blocks which has been torn by vast force out of the wall, so that there is a hole through the wall into Nethotam. So we bent ourselves down and went in, one after another, and at first we could see nothing whatsoever, because it is the nature of the eyes that those who go into the shade out of the sunlight can see nothing; but after we had stood still there for awhile, we got back our sight by degrees, and beheld great vaulted buildings. There were here seven rows of columns, supporting the vaults and upper buildings, which were built above them in the days of old, though at this day there stands an olive grove above it at the side of the temple. The Jews and Saracens say that these under ground chambers were the stables of Solomon's horses; but it is better to say that here was Nethota, that is to say, the spice-house and store-house of perfumes, as is set forth above; [229 a] for here he laid up those most precious spices which were brought by the Queen of Sheba, whereof we read in I Kings x. 10. Nor is it to be believed that Solomon kept beasts in that most noble house, whereat the Sibyl of Sheba wondered, especially seeing that it was near the temple, whereunto the stalling of horses would have been irreverent; but he caused cities to be built else where for his chariots, his horses, and his horsemen, as we read in I Kings ix.19.
Now, beneath these vaults there were many heaps of stones piled high up, whereof the Jew who brought us
130 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF
into that place told us that the Jews pile up these stones to occupy a place beforehand, for they hope that erelong they will again inhabit the Holy Land; and therefore their pilgrims, who come from far countries, take places before hand, in which places they hope that they shall dwell after the return. Above in the vault there is one place where a great hole is broken through, through which the Saracens cast down all the sweepings of the temple and courtyard. We were in great fear there, for had the Saracens found us there, they would indeed have treated us ill. Had we not been afraid, we might have climbed up over the rubbish into the courtyard of the temple. So when we had seen all the aforesaid sights, we went out through the hole by which we had come in, went round the Mount Moriah, which is the mount of the temple, and up the hill to the wall of the Holy City, as far as the corner where the east wall joins the south wall. In this wall I saw bigger and longer stones than I have ever seen in any city wall, yet they were not such noble blocks as Josephus tells (Book VI., ch. viii.) us there were in the wall of Jerusalem, which were twenty cubits in length and ten in width. This wall looks towards the Valley of Jehoshaphat and the brook Cedron, over against the Mount of Olives. Now, there is built into this wall, at a height of six cubits from the ground, a stone, which seems to have been part of a marble column. It is partly contained within the wall, and partly juts out from it, in such sort that a man who was at that height could stand upon the stone, with his back against the wall, or could sit upon. it even as a man sits upon a horse, with his legs hanging down. The Saracens have a fable about this stone, that, on the day of judgment, when all men are gathered together in the Valley of Jehoshaphat, Mahomet will come and take his seat upon that stone to judge the world. So they honour that stone as the judgment-seat
BROTHER FELIX FABRI, 131
of Mahomet. Not many years have passed since a certain false prophet of the Saracens carne to Jerusalem, whom all the people honoured as one of the saints of God. One day he called together all the people of the city to this place, saying that he would make signs to them, and speak to them, showing them the manner of the judgment of the world, according to which Mahomet will deal with the Saracens in the last judgment. When all were standing on the hill side, to see and hear the form of the judgment, this child of the devil climbed up to the stone by a ladder, and sat down thereupon, having his back towards the wall, and his, face towards the people who stood below, and he began to prophesy to them. But as he was speaking, he began to move about more and more, and as he did not notice the slipperiness of the stone, lo' of a sudden, he leaned over to one side, fell down below, and perished, with his neck broken, and his whole body dashed to pieces; whereat the silly people were confounded, and went back into the city, every man to his own home. Thus did that false prophet, [b] contrary to his intention, show them the truth, not by words, but by deeds. Herein the Saracens agree with us, that they believe that there will be a judgment on the last day, but as to the place of the judgment, they are all at variance, for the Saracens who dwell in Jerusalem, Judaea, and Palestine say, even as we do, that all nations shall be gathered together into the Valley of Jehoshaphat, and they place therein three judges, to wit, God, Christ, and Mahomet. God will sit on the pinnacle of the Temple of the Lord, Jesus on the top of the Mount of Olives, and Mahomet, who will be counsellor to them both, will sit, upon the aforesaid stone. But the Saracens who dwell in Syria, Mesopotamia, and Cappadocia say that the judg ment will be at Damascus, on the tops of the towers there. The Saracen Arabs say that it will be at Mecca, where is
132 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF
the sepulchre of Mahomet. The Saracens of Egypt and Libya say that it will be at Cairo. Others say Constantinople. Thus each man invents that which pleases himself, and they make up endless foolery.
We stood beneath the aforesaid stone, and took our fill of laughter, both at the madness of Mahomet, and at the fall of his prophet, and then we went down from the wall, and came into the city1 of the Jews, which is on the slope of the hill above the Valley of Jehoshaphat; and here we mocked at the Jew who was our guide, and told him that the Jews were wise in having placed their city in the place of judgment, that they might rise without the trouble of journeying thither to be eternally damned. From this burying-ground we went down to the highroad, up which we went to the Mount Sion to our own places. When we entered the lodging of their lordships the pilgrims, the lords knights invited me and two of the Minorite fathers, two Jews, one Saracen and one Mameluke, to sup with them, and we supped merrily together-albeit we were of different faiths and customs. It is because of this converse with the infidels that a man is obliged to get leave from our lord the Pope when he wishes to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
On the fifth day, which is the glorious Feast of our father St. Dominic, the patriarch of the Preaching Friars, after divine service and dinner were over, Sabathytanco, the chief Calinus, came and exacted from each pilgrim five ducats, in part payment of the sum contracted for, saying that he had not enough money in hand to begin to make preparations for taking us across the desert. So, lest he should thereafter say that we had been the cause of a long delay, we gave him the money, every man five ducats. When he had got this gold, he became more
BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 133
cheerful, and promised us that he would grant whatever request we might make of him, provided that he were able so to do. We therefore asked him to cause us to be brought into the birthplace of the blessed Virgin Mary, in which we had not hitherto been. He replied: ` O my lords pilgrims, this is a hard matter for which you have asked, because you cannot enter into the chamber of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, save through a mosque con secrated to the use of the Saracens, into which it is not lawful for you to enter. Were the Saracens looking on, I should not dare to lead you in thither on any terms, wherefore you must wait till evening, when I will send my. son Abre to you, who will lead you by secret paths to the place, and I will arrange that you shall be let in. Mean while, I myself will be with their lordships the governors, watching for an opportunity to keep them back, that they may not see you visiting the place for which you are intending.' Saying this, the man left us. [23o a] When evening was come, we waited almost until sunset, thinking that the man had made sport of us; but, lo ! his son Abre, about nineteen years old, came to us on Mount Sion, with one servant with him, and led us through secret lanes in Jerusalem to the gate of Ephraim, which is the gate of St. Stephen, and we came to the church, which now is a Mameria.1 When this was unlocked, we entered the mosque, and went from the church into the cloister. Now, at. the side of the church there is a window above the ground, like the windows of the chambers wherein weavers work, or like the windows of cellars, through which light and air comes into them. Through this window is the way into the birthplace of the blessed Virgin, for the infidels have blocked up the door of the crypt which used to be in the church, because they care nothing about this
134 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF
place. So one of the pilgrims first put his feet through this window, and then let himself drop into the crypt, after which he stood beneath the window, and served as a ladder for each of the others; for he held his hands up against the wall, and he who wished to come down first put his feet upon this man's hands, and then set one of his feet upon his head or shoulders, and, from his shoulders jumped down to the ground. Thus we all went down into the place over that pilgrim, who was a knight of a noble family, and, lighting candles, as the.place. was dark, we began to go round it. We came to a cave, wherein they say that Joachim and Anna, the parents of the blessed Virgin, were first buried. From thence we went on into another larger underground chapel, which once was beauteously painted, and where it is believed that the blessed Virgin was born. Here we began with cheerful voices to sing the hymns for the Nativity of the blessed Virgin; which are appointed in the processional of the Holy Land; we received plenary indulgences (tt), and kissed the earth after the manner of pilgrims. This holy place stands beneath the choir of the church, and in it was the couch whereon Anna bore the blessed Virgin Mary, even as the place of Christ's birth is beneath the choir of the church at Bethlehem, as a con futation of that most lying Alcoran, which declares the Virgin Mary to have been born in Egypt, and to have been the daughter of Miriam, the sister of Aaron, as is told above on page 140 b. So when we had seen the place, one of the pilgrims, again helped by the others, got up through the window into the cloister, and he stretched his hands down, and, pulled each of us up to him, one after another. We went round about the cloister, and saw the cells there, both above and below, which are finely wrought, for this in the time of the Christians was a convent of nuns of the order of St. Bene't. We went into the church,
BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 135
which is now a mosque, and scanned it narrowly. We noticed that this church had once been beauteous and decorated, for the walls had been painted, but the Saracens have destroyed the paintings by covering them with white wash. Howbeit, in many places, the whitewash has fallen off, and the Christians' paintings can again be seen. There was painted the story of the conception and birth of the blessed Virgin Mary; how Joachim was cast out of the temple because his wife was barren; how he abode in the desert with his shepherds; how the angel appeared to him there; how, beneath the Golden Gate, he rushed into his wife's arms; and how Anna bore Mary. I have read in a certain pilgrim's book that the Saracens explain these paintings as referring to their own Mahomet; and there used to be an old woman who dwelt near this Saracen church, who, with floods of tears, [b] used to tell people how in these paintings was set forth Mahomet's life and his paradise, putting a carnal meaning upon all of them. When we had seen all these sights, we came forth from the church, grieving that so fair a church and so famous a convent, on so exceeding holy a spot, should belong to the Saracens.
In front of the church stands a great and exceeding ancient tree, which they say was planted by the most blessed Virgin Mary when she was still a little child, under the care of her parents, who are believed to have dwelt on this spot; for albeit Joachim and Anna dwelt for many years at Nazareth, yet when the most blessed Virgin's time was come to be conceived and born, they were prompted by the Holy Spirit to remove from Galilee to Judaea, to Jerusalem, that they might end their days there in God's service, near the Temple of the Lord, not knowing for how great a mystery God had kept them childless. When they were come from Nazareth to Jerusalem they bought
136 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF
a house near the temple, above the sheep-pool, wherein the blessed Virgin Mary was conceived and born, as John of Damascus bears witness, saying, `The Virgin Mary was born in Joachim's house, called the house of the sheep, because it is near the sheep-pool. In course of time the Christians built a church on the site of that holy house, to which church was joined a convent of nuns of the Order of St. Bene't, who were exceeding wealthy ladies, even down to the last year of our Lord, 1187, when the city was taken by the Saracens. When the city was taken there was done in this monastery a deed worthy to be for ever remembered, albeit some declare that it took place else- where in a convent of Clares.1
On the sixth, which is the day of the Lord's Transfigu ration, we met on Mount Sion in the morning, and half the brethren of Mount Sion went up with us to the Mount of Olives and the Church of the Lord's Ascension, with chalices and other things needful, and there we solemnly sang a Mass of the Lord's Transfiguration, just as though we had been on Mount Tabor. Many Eastern Christians [b] were present at our Mass, because they count the day of the Lord's Transfiguration among their most solemn festivals. For this cause they consecrate almost all their churches in honour of St. Sophia, that is, of the Transfiguration of the Lord; and like as we cause to be painted in our churches the Crucifixion, and the Last judgment, so in the churches of the Easterns the chief painting is that of the Lord's Transfiguration, with Moses and Elias, and the three Apostles lying on the ground. After we had finished our Masses, we walked round the church, and climbed as high as we could on the top of it to view the country round
BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 137
about; for from it one can see as far as the Dead Sea, and far and wide over the Holy Land. In the church itself stand polished marble columns, among which there is one which the Eastern Christians embraced with their arms, laughing the while, and they all tried to touch the fingers of one hand with the fingers of the other. Unless a man has rather long fingers, he cannot touch one hand with the other while embracing that column. The superstitious Easterns believe that he who can do this will be more fortunate than the others, and that it is a sign of some exceeding good thing. I stood in that place for a long time, and watched their follies. After them we Westerns played the same game in jest, spanning the column, and I was just able to join the tips of my two longest fingers with a strong hugging and pressure. For an account of this church, see page 148 a.
After this, we went round about the Holy Mount, and visited its holy places. We entered the city by St. Stephen's. Gate, and went up to kiss the House of Pilate But when we heard that the master of the house was not in the city, we. knocked, and were let in by his daughters, and visited the places of Christ's martyrdom. Had the man been there, he would on no account have let us in, nor could he have been prevailed upon to do so either by prayer or money. Howbeit, his two pleasant daughters appeared to us, and led us to the place where the Lord is believed to have been scourged. This is a round vaulted chapel, at the side of which there is a way up to the upper part of the house ; but they keep this holy place uncleanly and without honour, for it is, as it were, the sink of the house, into which all dirt is cast. Notwithstanding this, we went down into the dirt, offered our prayers, and received plenary (TT) indulgences. But whether the Lord was crowned in the same place wherein He was scourged I
138 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF
know not; it seems from the Gospels of Matthew and of Mark that He was publicly scourged without, and crowned in the hall within; but, in John ix., the scourging and crowning are put together. But the truth is that, owing to the pulling down and rebuilding of houses, these places are hard to find. About this house, see page 138 a. I have been let in thither twice; and it is thought a great thing for a pilgrim to have been in the aforesaid place, for not one out of a thousand is able to get in. When we were going out we gave the girls some madini,1 which they received with much gratitude, and told us, through an interpreter, that, whensoever their father was away [232 a], they would willingly let us come in. He is a cruel father to his daughters, and also to all Christian people, whom he will not endure so much as to look upon; wherefore, because the Christians sympathise with his daughters because of the man's cruelty, they are attached to us, and let Christians into the house in despite of their father: They were two good-looking, rather tall girls, and, when we came in, they. laid aside their veils, and spoke to us with smiling countenances, a thing which they would not have dared to do with Saracens.
On the seventh day, before sunrise, I had said my matins and was standing in the upper walk of the cloister of thE
BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 139
brethren of Mount Sion as the day was breaking. While I gazed down into the Valley of Gehinnon, I was seized with a longing to go that very morning so far down the valley that I should no longer be able to see the Mount Sion, to seek for the well of En Rogel and the stone Zoheleth, whereof we are told in I Kings i. 9, and to see the places Toph and Tophet, which are mentioned in Jeremiah vii. 31, 32, and throughout the whole of Jere miah xix. This place is the valley of the sons of Hinnom, which is called the Valley of Hinnon, or the Valley Jehennon or Gehenna (Joshua xviii. and 4 Esdras i.) ; and thence I might go yet further down the valley, and see whether the brook Cedron hath running water in it in, the lower ground, as many think that it hath: the truth whereof I shall show hereafter. After this I might climb up the Mount of Offence, whose skirts reach down even to Gehenna. Of this mount we read in I Kings xi. 7. All these things likewise I wished to see, and prove for myself. I therefore left the place where I had been standing that I might go to the Father Guardian, to beg of him to.give me one of the brethren as a companion, with whom I might visit the aforesaid places; but I did not dare to awaken that venerable man, who was still asleep. So I plucked up spirit, and began this long journey alone, for it was still early morn, and I knew that the Saracens would not rise from their beds before sunrise. I went down from Mount Sion and came into the king's garden, which of old appertained to the king's court, through which King Zedekiah and all his men of war fled from the face of the Assyrians, as we read in 2 Kings xxv. 4. In this garden I found most excellent ripe figs, whereon I broke my fast, till I could eat no more. At length I went down from the king's garden to the bathing-pool of Siloam, and the cleft in the rock from whence the fountain of Siloam springs
140 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF
forth. Here I entered in, drank of the holy water, and bathed my eyes and face. I had never before seen this water flowing so abundantly as at that hour, for that fountain doth not always pour forth its waters, nor always in the same volume, as is told afore, page160 b. Having thus refreshed myself, and having obtained plenary indul gence (ft) at the holy water, I went on my way from the water of the fountain, and came down to the bottom of the valley, to the brook Cedron, and saw no man. The sun had now risen, and was shining on the tops of the mountains, but where I was [b] it was still partly dark, and, dripping with morning dew. I went down into the Valley of Gehenna, and hurried along the exceeding rough bed of the brook, as far as where the valley bends round, so that I could no longer see the Mount Sion or the Mount of the Temple. When these were taken out of my sight, I stood still and examined the bed of the brook, which I found to be as dry as it is higher up, in Jerusalem; nor could I in any wise see how it could have an underground course there, in an exceeding deep valley, full of rocks. I was moved to make this examination by certain descriptions of the Holy Land, in which I had read that the brook Cedron was an everflowing river, but that by reason of the many destructions of the holy city, whose walls and ruins were cast down into the valley, the bed of the river was choked up. But since that is a true proverb which saith no man can stop a stream, they say that the river itself, which they call the brook, still holds its natural and unceasing course beneath these ruins, as hath been set forth above, page 142 a, and on many pages afterwards to page 170. But I now could not see how this could be true, because I was a long way below the ruins of Jerusalem, and could not see a drop of running water. Moreover, at another time I went down this same valley, even to the Dead Sea, as may be
BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 141
seen on the whole of page 236, yet I saw no water running down it. Howbeit, it is possible that once there was a river there, and now it is no more there, as befell the Numicius, a river in the Laurentine country, which has been made famous by the songs of Maro and other Latin poets, into which they say that Aeneas the Trojan fell, and from the waters of which alone the ancients used to pour libations in the worship of the goddess Vesta. Of a truth, this river at this day is not; for it dwindled away by degrees, and first shrunk to a fountain, and then at last the fountain itself became dry, as may be read in Boccacius his `Treatise on Rivers.' But one cannot gather from the most ancient Scriptures that a river always flowed over this torrent bed, but only that in winter time there was sometimes a rush of waters down it, caused by rain and melted snow. So much for this.
I next turned towards Jerusalem1. . . . . . . and went hurriedly up the torrent bed to the place where I could see the Holy City, whose most pleasant aspect breathed into me a new spirit of joy and cast out fear from me, for while I was in the lower valley I was afraid, because the Valley of Gehenna is a horrible place, more especially in its lower part, where it lacks the brightness of the Holy City beam ing down upon it from above. While on my way up Gehenna I came to the place where the Valley of Siloam joins the Valley of Siloam (? Sion). Here it is said was the well Rogel, and here at the present day stands a great and deep cistern, but no well. By this well in the days of old there were groves, and there was a place of pasture where the young men were wont to try and prove their strength; and here was the stone Zoheleth-that is to say, the stone of drawing, because he who could draw that stone was a strong man. So here I saw neither the well nor the stone, 1 The text here is so corrupt as to be unintelligible.
142 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF
only a cistern and many rocks. Here it was that Adonijah made a feast and a plot to make himself king. Here, too, were the groves and the idol worship, and many evil deeds have been done in this Valley of Ennon or of Gehenna. [233 a] This valley and place is called Gehennon, from Ennon, who once was its owner. Now, Ennon is being interpreted `the course of death' or `the well of sorrow,' and means that in the last judgment the reprobate will be led through that valley to the place of death, as may be read on page170 b. Of a truth, all the names of that valley strike horror into the mind, for it is called (1) Ennon, the course of death; (2) Gehenna, the valley of sorrow; (3) Hennon, the valley of slaying; (4) Jehenna, the depth of death; (5) Toph, the punishment of fools; (6) Tophet, the wide-reaching punishment of sorrow; (7) Cedron; useless pain; (8) Chela, the fire of the Lord; (9) Chrinarus, the judgent of devouring fire. Besides these names the valley is called the valley of slaughter (Jer. xix;) and the valley of slaying (Jer. vii.). How hateful and accursed this valley is may be seen in the aforesaid chapters of Jeremiah and in chapter xxxii., also in what I have written on page 170 a, b. Frequent mention is made in Scripture of the high places of Toph, in the Valley of Ennon, which must be understood to mean that in this deep valley there stood high altars to idols. This valley and mount was defiled by that most zealous king, Josiah, who, as it were, laid an excommunication upon it, which he carried out upon those who entered into it, and put to death all the priests of the valley in it, as is told in 2 Kings xxiii. For like as the Valley of Jehoshaphat was holy and blessed, together with its mount, which is the Mount of Olives, even so was the Valley of Ennon profane and accursed, together with its mount, which is the Mount of Offence. Wherefore from that valley hath been taken this name, Gehenna, to signify the valley of everlasting damnation in hell.
BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 143
Now, when I had viewed the aforesaid valley, I turned myself toward its eastern side, at the foot of the Mount of Offence, and went up its slope to the mount itself, which is lower than the Mount of Olives, on whose shoulder it lies on its southern slope. On the top thereof I found a great house, but it was empty, whereat I was exceeding well content, for I should not have been a welcome guest to Saracens dwelling therein. On this mount Solomon set up two profane buildings-to wit, the temple of Moloch and the house for his concubines-whereby he greatly offended God, wherefore it was called the Mount of Offence, as may be seen in I Kings xi. 7.
This idol Moloch was worshipped with an exceeding cruel ritual, wherefore it was expressly forbidden (Levit. xx. 2) to sacrifice to him. Notwithstanding this, Solomon, led by his women, set up a temple to Moloch on that mount, and brought the people to worship him, and gave pay to the priests of the idol. The ritual wherewith this idol was worshipped consisted of the killing of children. Moloch was a great image of a man, cast in brass, and hollowed out within throughout all his members. He stood on a pillar in the midst of his temple with out- stretched hands and arms as though longing and expecting to receive a gift in his arms, like a tender mother who stretches forth her arms to take her babe, for the arms of the idol were fashioned in such sort that a child [b] could lie in them as though in his mother's arms. At the time of the sacrifice, when a child was to be immolated there, the priests used to put live coals within the body of the idol, and make it glowing and fiery; they then took an innocent and healthy child from the hands of its parents,
144 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF
who had brought it to be sacrificed, and set it in the arms of the idol. And to the end that the parents and friends of the child who stood round about might not be beyond measure troubled by the shrieks of the child, priests stood hard by the idol and made a great noise with loud-sounding drums, cymbals, and trumpets, that the parents of the dying child might not hear its voice, and they continued to sound these instruments until the child was burned in the embrace of the idol and perished. When he had been thus consumed, the priests and all who were present at the sacrifice congratulated the parents with joyous counten ances on their having been thought worthy to have had a child taken up into the fellowship of the gods. From that day forth all the idolaters reverenced the whole of that family as having been ennobled, and believed that all the kinsfolk of the child which had been sacrificed would be more fortunate for all time to come. A like rite was observed.among the Gentiles in the worship of Saturn, and it may be that the god whom the Greeks name Saturn was he whom the Hebrews call Moloch, for there were brazen statues of Saturn of wondrous size, whose hands were stretched out to the ground round about them in such sort that the young men who were forced to go up to these idols fell into a great pit full of fire. This we read in Casa, De Ev. Spir., Book IV., ch. vii. and viii.
Many idols-or, rather, devils in the shape of idols- could not be appeased save by the death of innocents, and it was the custom to sacrifice children for many reasons, for which see Casa, De Ev. Spir., Book IV., ch. vii. and viii. The practice of human sacrifice came to an end in the time of the Emperor Hadrian. They used to perform this most cruel rite on this mount and in this valley, and, no doubt, greatly offended God thereby. The idol Moloch is men tioned in Jer. xxii. 2, Amos v. 25, 26, and Acts vii. 43,
BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 145
Moreover, it was on this mount that Solomon is said to have built a house for his concubines, whose number was exceeding great, wherefore we read in the Song of Solomon (ch. vi.), 'There are threescore queens and fourscore concubines, and virgins without number. 'If, then, this text applies to him and be taken of Solomon literally, without any spiritual meaning, he must needs have had many houses for so many women. So he built castles and palaces for the queens, and built this house for the concu bines, while he arranged lodgings for the virgins in the houses of their parents. But the daughter of Pharaoh, about whom he is believed to have sung the Song of Songs, of whom he said, `My dove, my undefiled one is fair,' dwelt with him on Mount Sion. But, forasmuch as the house there was sacred, because the ark of the Lord had sojourned therein, he built her a house in Millo, as we are told in I Kings ix. 24, that she might ever be near him.
Having viewed this place and this mount, I went down into the valley at a quick pace, bearing towards the Mount of Olives. I reached the bottom of the valley close to the Pyramid of Jehoshaphat. I examined this pyramid with great care, and entered it, climbing in through the window. Some say that this pyramid is the pillar which Absalom reared up for himself, as we are told in 2 Sam. xviii. 18, where we read,`Now, Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself a pillar, which is in the king's dale, and he called the pillar after his own name, the Hand of Absalom.1 But it does not seem as though this could stand, because we nowhere read that the Valley of Jehosha-
146 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF
phat and the brook Cedron are called the King's Dale. The author.of the Speculum Historiale says that this valley is two stadia distant from Jerusalem. Neither hath this pillar been reared up, seeing that it is hewn from the solid rock; but Absalom's pillar was a stone of polished marble set upright. (234 a) Now, when I had seen these things, I crossed over the brook Cedron, went up to the Mount Sion, and came in to dinner full of sweat and in a burning heat. When the Father Guardian and the brethren heard that I had visited all these places unmolested, they were astonished.
On the eighth day, before it was light, I went down with some of the brethren to the cave of Christ's agony, whereof I have spoken on page 144, and there, seeing that it was the sixth day of the week, we celebrated a Mass of the Lord's Passion, after which we went up to Galilee. Now on the northern side of the Mount Galilee there is a lofty mountain, which is a great way off, seeing that it is four stadia distant from Jerusalem. On this mount Solomon built a temple to Chemosh,1 the idol of the Moabites, and in this same place in the time of the Maccabees there was built a strong castle, from which the city of Jerusalem was much vexed in the days of the Greek and Roman dominion. Going onward, we came down from that place (Galilee), not, indeed, directly toward the city, but toward the north, where we came into a fairly fertile valley, planted with trees, through which leads the road whereby one goes from Jerusalem to Nazareth, and as we went on we came to the village wherein the blessed Virgin and Joseph sought the child Jesus among their kinsfolk and acquaintance, and when they found Him not, turned back again to Jerusalem, as is told in Luke ii. 45. In this valley we came to a place full of ancient ruins, where once it is
BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 147
said stood the village of Anathoth, from whence came the prophet Jeremiah, who was hallowed while yet in his mother's womb, born of the seed of the priests, began to prophecy while still a boy, and both foretold and saw with his eyes the destruction of Jerusalem, as we are told by Jerome in his prologue to Jeremiah. Now the same Jerome in his book 'On the distances of places' names this village Arabath, and says that it was a village of priests for the priests owned villages and farms round about Jerusalem, wherefore Gethsemane and Bethphage and Nob and Anathoth were villages of priests, wherein they fed the beasts offered for firstfruits or for tithes. There was special prophecy to the priests of Anathoth, as we see in Jer. xi. 21, 23. So after we had seen Anathoth in ruins, which, indeed, we could hardly discern, we came back into Jerusalem, entered it by St. Stephen's Gate, and went up to Mount Sion, kissing the holy places throughout the city on our way.
On the ninth day, which was a Saturday, and the eve of St. Laurence, I went very early in the morning before sunrise with some of the brethren into the valley of Jehoshaphat to the church of the sepulchre of the most blessed Virgin Mary, where we celebrated. Indeed, every Saturday the Father Guardian sends some of the brethren to celebrate there, and I often used to go with them. After our Masses were over, we climbed up the Mount of Olives, and went down the other side of it into Bethany, where we saw and kissed the holy places, and returned to the Mount Sion. When we were come thither, we found all their lordships the pilgrims assembled together in the monastery waiting for me, that. they might give an answer to a certain Mameluke who had ordered all the pilgrims to be brought into his presence, that he might debate certain matters with them. [b] For it had been heard in
148 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF
the court of the Lord Soldan at Cairo that Christian pilgrims from the West, puissant and noble lords, were in Jerusalem. Wherefore he had sent forth from Egypt this Mameluke, who was the dragoman of the Christians in Cairo, to learn who we were and whence we came; more over, if we were of France, he had it in his orders to bring us captive to Jerusalem; for what cause I know not. But after he had heard from Sabathytanco, our dragoman, that we were not come from France, he came with him to Mount Sion, ordered us all to be brought to him, and greeted us after a friendly sort both in Latin and Italian. `If,' said he, `you please, you may journey down into Egypt with me to-morrow by the king's highway, and in ten days we shall be in Cairo, from whence I will send you with an escort into Arabia to Mount Sinai; and when you come back from thence you may stay in my house for as long as you please.' By these words and other good promises he so wrought upon us that we should assuredly have de parted with him had our plans and our baggage been in any kind of order; but we had hitherto prepared none of the things which are needful for this journey. Howbeit, we thanked the man for his kind offer, and begged him that whenever by God's grace we should reach Matharea and the garden of balsam on our way from Mount Sinai, he would be so good as to lead us quickly from thence into Cairo, and send us straightway down the Nile from Cairo to Alexandria, that we might not miss the ships at Alexandria which were going to Venice. All this he promised that he would faithfully do, and promised us many more things, whereat we were greatly pleased. More remains to be told about this man in his own place. His name was Tanquardinus, and he came to us in sheep's clothing, but inwardly he was a ravening wolf, as will appear on page 70, Part II. So, after he had held this
BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 149
discourse with us, he departed, and went back to Egypt.
After dinner we pilgrims all went together to the bath or hot-house, wherein we bathed and washed ourselves with the Saracens. This hot bath is like that at Rama, spoken of on page 84 a. After our bath we entered the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
(235 a) On the eve of the tenth day, which was the Feast of St. Laurence the martyr, and the eleventh Sunday after Trinity, we were again let into the Church of the Most Holy Sepulchre of the Lord, in the manner aforesaid, and that night we watched beside the holy sepulchre, went the round of the holy places, as we had done before, celebrated Masses after Matins, and at sunrise sang a Mass in the Lord's tomb, after which the Moors cast us out. Three of the Minorite brethren of Mount Sion, young men, were with us in the Church of the Lord's Resurrection, and these I begged to come down with me into the Valley of Jehoshaphat, because it was still early morning. This they were quite willing to do, provided that I would make their excuses to the Father Guardian for not having obtained his leave, which I promised to do and did. So we went through the city, and went down into the street of the cooks, wherein I bought from the cooks for the brethren and for myself pastry made with eggs, cakes, meat pies, roasted meat, bunches of grapes, and figs. With these provisions we went down into the valley, crossed the brook to the farm at Gethsemane, and there sat down in the shade under the olive-trees, and breakfasted merrily together. We had no drink, but we sucked the grapes instead of drink. These grapes were exceeding sweet, and
150 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF
were both black and white ones. After we had finished breakfast, and kissed the nearest holy places, we went up the Mount Sion, and sat down to dinner with the brethren. After dinner their lordships the pilgrims came to Mount Sion, and begged the dragoman to take us to Bethlehem. They had collected and hired asses and drivers, and came to us with them; so we mounted our asses, and set out from Jerusalem with Sabathytanco the Saracen. When we came to the hill as one goes up the Mount Gion, over against Mount Sion, a host of Arabs met us, who had heard of our journey, though I know not who had betrayed it to them, and barred the way against us unless we paid toll and money, for, which they asked a pretty large sum of money. This we refused to pay; so after we had wrangled with one another for some time, they forcibly drove us back again into Jerusalem.
When we were come back into the Holy City we asked the dragoman and Calinus to supply us with asses and a safe conduct, wherewith we might go down to the Dead Sea to view the same. When 'the two Saracen Calini heard this they threw great difficulties in the way of this pil grimage, and brought forward many reasons by which to cause us to turn back from this pilgrimage which we had proposed. Their first reason was somewhat theological, for they argued that we had come thither from parts beyond sea that we might visit the holy places which the Lord hath blessed, and which our Christ hath hallowed, not for the sake of seeing ungodly places which the Lord hath cursed [b], such as the Dead Sea, which the Saracens them selves call the accursed sea, and which they said ought to be shunned and loathed by every believer in the Scriptures;
BROTHER FELIX FABRI 151
and they told us that we ought to be content with having seen the blessed Jordan. Their second reason for being unwilling to take us to the Dead Sea was on account of the Arabs and Midianites, who dwell in those deserts, and wander about the King's highway for plunder. Pilgrims cannot be well defended against their attacks unless they be put to flight and hurt with swords and arrows, for they are unarmed and naked. Now, our guides were not willing to hurt these men for our sakes, but said that they had rather that we should be robbed than that they should be hurt. Indeed, these Arabs are so hungry and wretched that without weapons they will attack armed men and jeopard their lives for bread. The third reason. They said that about the shore of that sea there were many harmful and poisonous animals, both great and small, such as lions, bears, wild boars, snakes, worms, and the like. The fourth reason. They said that the King Soldan had forbidden any strangers to be taken to this sea, and that this was because of the most venomous but most noble serpent, the Tyr, lest it might come to pass that he should be caught by the foreigners and taken out of the country, for he is found nowhere else in the world save only on the shores of the Dead Sea; wherefore the Soldan hath for bidden the people of the land, on pain of death, to catch those serpents and sell them to any man, but to bring them into Egypt to himself. Howbeit, poor men often break this law, and sell them to Christian merchants, in Damascus and Beyrout as well as in Alexandria and Cairo. Of this serpent is made that most powerful and precious drug tyriack, neither is there any true tyriack save that which is taken from this serpent, from which it gets its name. The shape of this serpent is said to be this: His length is about half an ell, and his thickness about that of a man's thumb. His colour is yellow, with a certain mixture
152 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF
of red, and by nature he is always born and remains blind, and always rages terribly, gliding along exceeding swiftly with an angry hiss. Against his bite no remedy is known, and unless the limb which is poisoned by his venom be straightway hewn off, the whole body incontinently becomes inflamed, swells up, and bursts. He attacks all creatures, so that sometimes great beasts are found dead beside this sea from the poison of the tyr. When he is angry, he puts. forth a fiery tongue; he whirls round exceeding swiftly; in his anger his whole body glows like hot iron, and his head, which at other times is small, swells out till it is larger than his body. On his face he has bristles like a boar. If he bites a horse, his rider takes the poison also and dies. Had not the Author of nature deprived this creature.of eyes, no man could come near him, nor could he be caught by any means, for the serpent is exceeding cunning. Physicians and apothecaries deal with this serpent as follows in the making of tyriack: they take one that has been caught alive, and put him in a wide, empty basin, wherein he can run to and fro and seek for a way out, but cannot get out; and while [236 a] he is thus crawling round, trying to get out, they get sticks and needles, and therewith prick him and greatly rouse him to anger. Now, when he is kindled and swelled with anger, all the venom which at other times is spread abroad through his body runs together into his head and tail; then at one stroke with a sharp knife or razor both of these are cut off; but if only one part, either the head or the tail, be cut off, the middle part will be use less. This creature is taught by nature to withhold his venom, and it is only by great art that he can be circum vented. These poisons are sold for a great price, more than gold or precious stones. The Lord Soldan, King of Egypt, hath laid up in his treasures these two especial things, which grow in his dominions, to wit, balsam, and the
BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 153
serpent tyr. Wherefore, as pilgrims are not let into the garden of balsam without the very greatest caution, as is told on page 65, Par II., even so they may not wander on the shores of the Dead Sea because.of.the tyr and because of the Jew's pitch, which likewise is found nowhere save there on the shore.
The fifth reason for hindering us is the stench and evil smell arising from that sea, whereby a man who is not accustomed to it easily takes infection, sickens, and dies.
Sixth reason. They said that there was nothing beau teous there, and that we should see nothing .pleasant, but should have hard toil, useless expense, and many alarms. Some of the pilgrims, when they heard of these and other hindrances, drew back, saying that they would not go down thither if they were, paid for it. But others, in spite of them, were .eager to go, and so for a second time we were divided into two parts, even as befell us before in the matter of the pilgrimage to Galilee and Nazareth, as may be seen on page 222 a. Howbeit, the greater part of the pilgrims asked to be led down thither, nor would they give it up, even if it should be needful to beg the Lord Naydan, the governor, for leave and safe conduct. On hearing this Sabathytanco sent on that same day to Ameth, the governor of Bethlehem, a brave and faithful Moor, who was allied to the Arabs and did not fear them, asking him to come that same night from Bethlehem to Mount Sion in Jerusalem, with fourteen mules or asses, and take the pilgrims to the Dead Sea and back again for a sum of money to be ar ranged with himself. We, for our part, provided food and drink for two days and one night, to be carried with us on this journey.
154 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF
On the eleventh day, before it was light, Ameth came to the Mount Sion with mules, asses, and slaves, and they knocked at the door of the convent and asked for the pilgrims, but no one of them was in the convent save me alone. So I ran down in the dark from Sion to Millo, to the house of Elphahallo, in which their lordships the pil grims lay, where I knocked at the door with a stone and waked them, and those who wished to go on the pilgrimage came up with me. We now mounted our beasts and went down from Mount Sion into the Valley of Siloam, and when we came to the bathing pool we went down into the depths [b] of Toph and Gehenna, through the dread Valley of Gehenna, and it was still dark; yet the nights did not seem to me to be so dark in these parts beyond the seas as they are in our country, for there are no clouds or mist there to dull the brightness of the stars. Meanwhile the sun rose, and we kept going on ever downwards, through a narrow valley with steep overhanging rocks on either side, till the sun was high in heaven. This valley was exceeding rough, being full of rocks and stones, from which the earth had been washed away by the rush of water in flood-time. At these times the waters rush down there with such force as to tear great rocks from their places and hurl them along. The upper end of this valley is the Valley of Jehoshaphat, and the brook Cedron, nor could I trace there any con tinuous flow of water, as I have said before on page 232.
When on our way down we had ridden two good German miles, the valley began to be steeper and rougher, and where it was thus narrow we came to the monastery of St. Saba the Abbot, where we entered the monastery, and were respectfully welcomed by the Caloyers or Greek monks. In the monastery we found many Arabs of the
BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 155
desert, both husbandmen and highway-robbers, at the sight of whom we were desperately frightened, suspecting that we were betrayed: and we suspected our guide him self, Master Ameth, of meaning to plot evil against us. When he observed this, he came with the chief of those robber Arabs to the chamber into which we had been brought, and both of them pledged their troth to us, and promised we should be safe both in our bodies and goods. If, however, we chose to graciously bestow a fee or small present upon them, we should have them at our service, and they would come down to the sea with us and defend us. So we gave them some madini, on receiving which they were satisfied, and we were comforted, and our minds were set at ease. We now brought forth from our scrips the things which we had provided at Jerusalem, and bottles of wine, and we ate and drank: moreover, we gave some biscuits to our guide and the Arabs, and the monks brought us cold water to wash our feet withal and to drink. After we had eaten and refreshed ourselves we went into the church, where we prayed to God and received indul gences (t) for seven years: moreover, we went into the sepulchre of St. Saba and prayed there. This sepulchre I believe to be empty, forasmuch as the body of this saint rests at Venice, as is shown on page 40. After we had seen these sights, their lordships the pilgrims lay down on the ground in the shade and went to sleep, but I could in no wise sleep or rest, but rambled about by myself through all parts of the monastery, both down in the valley and up above, and narrowly examined all the caves and huts of the holy monks of old with great admiration, and also with peril of falling as I climbed up and down over rocks and crags, and the ruins of old buildings. Moreover, I came into the following danger in these my solitary wanderings: I came to a narrow pass, close to the cell of
156 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF
St. Saba, where a wall stands out from the rock on one side, but on the other side there is nothing but a horrible open precipice or overhanging cliff. Through this [237 a] pass only one man can go at a time; I do not mean one this way and one that way, but one man alone, taking care lest he fall down below. As I was passing through this place I met an Eastern Christian, who perhaps was a servant of the monastery. This man on seeing me came forward toward me, and after I had stepped some way backwards, as he saw that I was sore afraid, he began to jest with me, as though he would cast me down into the abyss. When I besought him as well as I could with signs to let me pass in peace, he would not, but signed to me that he would throw me over unless I gave him some money. Hearing this, I opened my purse and gave him one madinus, on receiving which he let me go. From that hour forth and ever after I have abhorred the com pany of Christians of that sort more than that of Saracens or Arabs, and have trusted them less. Though perhaps he would not have thrown me down the precipice even had I given him nothing, yet it was wicked in him to play with a man whom he had never seen before, in a place of such danger, and to take money for leaving me in peace. If an Arab had met me and done so, I should have been pleased at his play, and should have held him to be a good pagan, but I believe no good of that Christian. When I was come back to my lords the pilgrims, I told them what that Christian had done to me, and we told the matter to Ameth, our patron, who reproached him most bitterly, and was. exceeding ill pleased with him. He told us that these Eastern Christians are the least to be trusted of any men. We remained in that monastery for about five hours, till the raging heat of the sun had abated.
BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 157.
This monastery of St. Saba the Abbot is one of the most wondrous things which I have seen in all my travels. But whether this was the convent of that St. Saba, of whom we read in the 'Lives of the'Fathers,' I am uncer tain ; for we read that St. Saba had a monastery in Syria, and was Father Superior over thirteen thousand monks, whereas this monastery is in Judaea; albeit Judaea is itself a part or nation of Syria. The monks who dwell in the monastery at this day say that St. Saba the Abbot, the founder and father of that monastery, had at one and the same time in his convent fourteen thousand monks, a thing which one who hears it can scarce believe; but when he sees the place, he agrees that though the number may not have been so great, yet he sees that a mighty swarm of monks must have dwelt there. These monks were and are now of the rule of St. Basil, Greeks, even as are the monks in the monastery of St. Catherine below Mount Sinai. We Western monks wonder much whence such a multitude of monks could get food and raiment; but he who hath seen the customs, food, and dress of the Eastern monks, wonders no more. Our food is plenteous and various, our raiment, is manifold and costly, our houses and monasteries are of divers sorts, delicately wrought and sumptuous ; but there is nought of this sort even at this present day among the Eastern monks. Of a truth I believe that the expenses of one convent of twenty brethren of Western monks of the greater orders are greater than those of a convent of an hundred Eastern monks. They spend little on buildings, for they have little huts woven out of common bushes, wherein one cannot stand save with a bent back; and their churches are not much more ambitious than the huts of the monks, for like them they
158 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF
have walls of wattled bushes daubed over with mud, only loftier than the monks' huts. In their dress one sees nothing costly, nothing becoming, even at the present day, albeit the modern Eastern monks have greatly fallen away from the perfection of their forerunners, who went about clothed in sheepskins and goatskins, with cloaks woven of palm leaves, while many of them endured the heat of the day and the cold of the night naked for many years, with no dwelling save caves in the rocks; nor did they abide ever in one place, but roamed through the heart of the wilderness, set themselves far apart from all mankind, and took no thought about either their food or their raiment. Indeed, the food and drink of all Easterns, more espe cially of monks, is exceeding scanty, and wine is drunk as a rule but seldom by laymen, and never by monks. Thus they live with very small expense: whereas, on the con trary, the Western monks are maintained with most lavish expenditure: wherefore St. Jerome inveighs against them in one of his epistles, saying that they surfeit themselves until they are sick. On' account of this saying the Western monks were wroth with him. A certain holy man, a Western monk, when he heard of this saying of St. Jerome, replied that thereby Jerome reproached certain gluttonous Eastern monks, and meant that the appetite which Westerns, have by nature becomes gluttony among the Easterns, as we may read in the Speculum Historiale, Book XVIII., chs. x. and xii. There also we learn that some Western monks once went into the wilderness of Egypt, to the end that they might see the Eastern monks. Some of them came to the cell of an old man, and after prayer and exhortation were invited to dinner by the old man. When they were seated at table he set before five brethren half a loaf, and a bunch of herbs which are like mint, full of leaves of a taste like honey. One of the brethren ate up
BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 159
this provision which was meant for all five, and he was by no means satisfied. Indeed, the composition of the bodies of the Easterns and Westerns is different, seeing that they are affected by different influences of the heavenly bodies. Wherefore it is certainly true that many things are by nature necessary to Westerns, which to Easterns would be superfluities and sinful luxury, and this holds good of houses and dwelling-places, clothes, food, and drink. Moreover; in days of old the monks used to till the earth, and of the fruits thereof a portion was given to each man to deal with as he pleased: and they had so great an abundance that in the East they lacked poor men to feed, and were forced to send corn to parts beyond the sea for the poor in the West to eat. From this it is clear that many monks could dwell together by the hundred and thousand at a time, even as in this monastery of St. Saba.
To return to my subject, the aforesaid monastery is thus arranged: It takes up a long stretch of the Valley of Gehenna, which valley is there deep and narrow, and bristles on either side with 'precipitous rocks, wherewith the valley is fenced as with a wall for no small distance along it. All this space was once the monastery. The rocks on either side are cavernous, not hollowed out, but naturally hollow, so as to afford most fitting dwellings for monks who wish to give themselves up to prayer and contemplation. These caves are roofed in above by over- hanging rocks and beetling crags. Howbeit, the benign Creator has so directed the work of nature that these caverns run along lengthwise in regular order after the fashion of cells. At the bottom, at the foot of the rock, there is a row of caves, and higher up there is another row above them, and a third aloft, above these; while on the crest there are dwellings built by human art, in such sort that one side of the valley shows four stories of cells.
150 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF
The lowest row of cells or caves are entered from the torrent-bed on the same level; there is a way up to the story above, and there in front of the cells there is a pro jecting rock, reaching in front of the mouths of the caves, in such sort that before the doorways there is an open pathway; and so there is in the story above that. Now, the caves in each story are separate, like the cells along one side of a dormitory, not made so by man's work and skill, but so built by nature. In the places where nature has not sufficed to make a complete chamber, it has been helped by human art; when two caves have an opening in the party- wall between them, the opening has been stopped up with a wall, or out of one great cavern two or three dwellings have been made by intermediate walls, while sometimes too narrow a cavern has been enlarged by cutting away the rock. Whosoever of the brethren could not have a cave of his own down in the valley itself, hewed out a cave for himself in the wall thereof, or in the rock above it at the top; wherefore even at this day, both down in the valley and above it, there are as many ruins of walls as though there had- been a city there. Some of the built cells are still standing, and many huts built of dry stones. Moreover, it seems that there were once tall towers, stately rooms, and great houses, both upon the top of the rock, in the rock itself, and on the ground below. The church of the place still stands unharmed ; it is fairly large, and is founded upon a rock, which rock juts out from the upper part of the side of the valley, and has no foundation, but is open all round, save only in the place where it comes out from the side of the valley.
Beneath the rock whereon the church stands is a large and darksome hollow leading deep into the mountain, from which flows out a stream, but a very small one, of living water, whereby the monks there support life, and it is called
BROTHER FELIX FABRI 161
the Fountain of St. Saba. One shudders to see the church and other buildings standing upon a rock which hangs in the air without any foundation. Near the church is the rock-hewn cell of St. Saba, to which one goes by that dizzy ascent whereof I have already made mention. On the other side of the church, too, above this rock, there are the cells of monks, who still dwell there to the number of six. They never could abide there were they not in league with the Arabs, who succour them and protect them against the Saracens, and the place is, as it were, an open castle of Arabs, and a refuge for the same, wherefore it is never free from Arab robbers.
Above the valley are wide arable fields, which the monks of old used to till not only for themselves, but from out of those fields they gathered oil and corn, by the work of their hands, for the poor of Syria and Palestine. As long as this monastery, with the rest of the Holy Land, was still in the hands of the faithful, the same rule was followed by the monks in divine service as that which was practised in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, both in the daytime and by night. When any hour was struck in the Church of the Lord's Resurrection, straightway their lord ships the canons regular of Mount Sion also struck it. After them struck the monks on the Mount of Olives throughout all their churches. When this was heard in Bethany, it was struck throughout the churches of that place also, [b] and the noise of these bells reached as far as St. Saba, who were heard ringing in the places round about; and so they kept up the rule that the first stroke was always given in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and the same hour was sounded throughout the entire Holy Land. But all these things have passed away since the holy sepulchre has come into the hands of the infidels. All the instruments of God's praise are silent, and the
162 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF
monastery of St. Saba has been brought almost to nought. The monks who now dwell there told us how it was that so great a monastery was laid desolate. After the Holy Land was lost for the last time, these monks defended themselves for many months against the attacks of the Saracens, waged war stiffly with the infidels, and several times put them to flight. At length the King Soldan in his own person came down upon them from Jerusalem with his army, and. asked them to become Saracens. They sent back word to him that if he would see fit to become a Christian, they were prepared to serve him, but that if he would not, they would defend themselves to the death. Hearing this, the Soldan moved his host against them, and, after waging a long war, conquered the monks, broke into their monastery, and sent them to heaven by divers torments; but he did not touch the church, though he destroyed all the cells and the ways leading up to the caves, and brought about the piteous desolation that now is. Howbeit, he left there certain monks who had taken oaths of fealty to him. And thus it stands even to this day.
DEPARTURE FROM ST. SABA.
So when the heat of the sun began to slacken, we took our scrips and our asses, and went down the dangerous path down the crags into the valley, leading our asses. Mounting our beasts, we went down into the lower parts of Gehenna along the midst of the torrent-bed, shut in on either side by exceeding steep walls of rock, and having beneath our feet a surpassingly rough, stony, untrodden road. Thus we went on, slowly and wearily, for several hours. I wanted to go on in the Valley of Gehenna even to the Dead Sea, that I might have seen the brook Cedron falling into the sea, but our guide was
BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 163
of another mind; for when we had gone a long way down, we, passed into another valley-a wide and beauteous one, and a fertile, were there any to till it-which reaches lengthwise from north to south, even as the Valley of Gehenna reaches from the east to the west. These two valleys are the opposite of one another in position, in condition, and in name. In position, as hath been said, this valley is nowise joined to the Dead Sea, but it separates holy mountains. In condition, forasmuch as the one is barren, stony, darksome, and so forth, whereas this other is rich, grassy, wide, and bright. Moreover, they differ also in name, for the other is called Gehenna,-the Valley of Cursing, but this is called the Valley of Blessing, whereof we read in 2 Chron. xx. 26, where we are told that it gained this name from the praise of God which Jehoshaphat, the King of Jerusalem, and the people of Judaea, offered up there after they had overthrown their enemies. In this valley we saw the ruins of ancient buildings. Going further, we came to [239a] a certain place, wherein was a countless number of holes of asps and serpents, both great and small, but we saw no beast, for they only come forth at night. Ameth, our guide, told us that in that place there were snakes as thick as a man's arm, and as long as a lance. After we had journeyed northwards through the Valley of Blessing for a long time, we left that valley, set our faces towards the east, and went down across trackless mountains, down steep hillsides and precipices, and we had the sea before our eyes, fully in sight, though it was yet a great way off. So now. we quickened our pace, and went down fast, because the sun was near setting, and thus at last we came into the land of Sodom, to the shore of the Dead Sea, at the head thereof, where it taketh Jordan into its jaws. Now, Ameth, our guide, and the Moors, his servants,
164 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF
kept a long way off the sea because they loathed it, and scorned to go down to its accursed water, but we rode down even to the water, hobbled our asses, and dismounted. We saw by the ruins that once a great square house must have stood there, partly built on the land and partly in the sea. Great stones from these ruins lay on the shore, not covered with water, yet lying in the water, and upon these we went out some twelve paces into the sea, and saw, touched, and tasted the waters whereof so many marvels are told. This water is clear, but exceeding salt and thick, wherefore sometimes in Scripture it is called the saltest sea. Wherefore when any man takes of that water and puts it to his mouth, straightway by reason of its extreme saltness the inside of his mouth is burned even as though he had put boiling water there; this I proved in my own person. Furthermore, since the water is thick and exceed ing salt, he who puts his hands into it feels a pricking in his hands as though they were full of fleas and gnats, and he is forced to rub them as though he had the itch in them, and this he will suffer for many hours; neither can this water be easily wiped off the hands, but it is as though one had dipped one's hands in oil. Also a stench proceeds from the water which causes loathing, and turns men's stomachs, so that the pilgrims could not stay there for long. The stones which lie in the sea with a part of them out of the water are all as though they had been covered with ice, and the whole shore near the water is white as though it were covered with fresh snow, yet there is no ice nor snow in that place, but exceeding sharp-tasted and bitter salt. I believe that one spoonful thereof would be salter than ten spoonfuls of our salt.
The rest of the ground which is not besprinkled with salt, but which is close by, is black, and looks as though it had been burned up with a devouring fire. It is atoning
BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 165
or the wickedness of the people of Sodom, as will be shown more clearly hereafter. The common people say that the ruined walls, over which we went into the sea, are the remains of the house of Lot, the son of Abraham's brother, who dwelt in Sodom, as we read in Gen. xiii. As we lingered a little while beside this sea, our guides, Ameth and his men, stood on the higher ground above us, and called upon us with loud shouts to come away; and, indeed, [b] we were in a hurry to leave the place, for we had no pleasure there, but loathing and fear, even as though we were standing in a pit of corpses, by reason of the stench, or in a place wherein by some exceeding stem judgment a vast multitude of men hath been put to death with the cruellest torments. We feared the wrath of the Almighty, lest He should include us sinners in the punish ment which bad befallen the people of Sodom. Moreover, the day was almost done and the sun close upon setting, so we went up again from the sea to our guides and our beasts, and made ready to depart. But before departing there is somewhat to be said about this sea.
The nineteenth chapter of the book of Genesis tells us the origin of the Dead Sea. For there was no sea here from the beginning of creation, nor was there so much as a lake or standing water, but the river Jordan ran through that country in his bed, and watered the valley, and all the land round about this valley was pleasant and fertile, even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as is said in Gen. xiii. Therefore was it called the famous valley (Gen. xii.),1 because it abounded in all good things. It was likewise called the Valley of the Forest, because it
THE BOOK QF THE WANDERINGS OF
stood thick with trees and leaves, for therein there were fruit-trees and orchards like a forest, and great store of fruit-bearing timber. Of this we are told in Gen. xiv. It was also called the Valley of the Plain, for that on the one side of Jordan were trees, but on the other arable fields, wherefore it was called by both names, the Valley of the Forest and the Valley of the Plain. It was also called the Valley of Asphalt, or Asfalt, or Alphanites [? Asphaltites], all of which are the same, because there were in it many wells of bitumen, whereof we read in Gen. xiv. 10, which they used instead of mortar, and exceeding strong walls were built therewith. In the sands of that valley were found precious stones, such as sapphires and the like; gold, too, was found in the earth thereof, as is told in Job xxxiii., where he seems to be speaking of this valley. In this most famous and noble valley there were five great royal cities-to wit, Sodom, Gomorrha, Adamah, Zeboiim, and Belah, which is Zoar, whose names are given in Gen. xiv. 2, wherefore this country was called by the Greeks Pentapolis, from penta, which is `five,' and polis, which is `city,' because of the five noble cities, whereof Sodom was the head. Now, the men of that country were exceeding wicked, and sinned, grievously before the Lord (Gen. xviii.), leading very shameful lives, in all abominations beyond the bounds of reason, like blind, senseless beasts, wherefore Sodom is, being interpreted, blind. Now, albeit in those five cities there was a very great multitude of men, yet were they all sinful, insomuch that in none of them were there, found two righteous men; for had these been found, God never would have destroyed that land, as is told in Gen. xviii. Their chief sins were six in number, as given in Eiek. xvi. The first was pride, which is the root of all evil, which they took in themselves and [240 a] despised others. The second was fulness of bread, because they
BROTHER FELIX FABRI 167 lived riotously, ever drunken, and full of meat. The third was abundance, because they abounded in ill-gotten riches. The fourth was idleness, because their sons and their daughters, their old men and their young men, were all idle, and were made rich without labour by reason of the goodness of the land. The fifth was that they did not stretch out their hands to the poor and needy, because they were hard-hearted, and would not give shelter to any stranger, as we read in Gen. xix. that there was no place for strangers to lodge in save the common street. Indeed, they made it one of the laws of their town that no man should take in strangers to lodge in his house, because the land was a land of plenty, and many poor men betook them to that valley from strange countries, because living there was easy. But they thought the poor a burthen, and made a law that poor men and strangers should be driven forth, wherefore they put a girl to a cruel death because she had shown hospit