Chapter 8 |
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Chapter 10
OF THE DESERT BETWEEN THE CHURCH OF SAINT CATHERINE AND JERUSALEM.
OF THE DRY TREE; AND HOW ROSES CAME FIRST INTO THE WORLD
NOW, after that men have visited those holy places, then will they
turn toward Jerusalem. And then will they take leave of the monks,
and recommend themselves to their prayers. And then they give the
pilgrims of their victuals for to pass with the deserts toward
Syria. And those deserts dure well a thirteen journeys.
In that desert dwell many of Arabians, that men clepe Bedouins and
Ascopards, and they be folk full of all evil conditions. And they
have none houses, but tents, that they make of skins of beasts, as
of camels and of other beasts that they eat; and there beneath
these they couch them and dwell in place where they may find water,
as on the Red Sea or elsewhere: for in that desert is full great
default of water, and often-time it falleth that where men find
water at one time in a place it faileth another time; and for that
skill they make none habitations there. These folk that I speak
of, they till not the land, and they labour nought; for they eat no
bread, but if it be any that dwell nigh a good town, that go
thither and eat bread sometime. And they roast their flesh and
their fish upon the hot stones against the sun. And they be strong
men and well-fighting; and there so is much multitude of that folk,
that they be without number. And they ne reck of nothing, ne do
not but chase after beasts to eat them. And they reck nothing of
their life, and therefore they fear not the sultan, ne no other
prince; but they dare well war with them, if they do anything that
is grievance to them. And they have often-times war with the
sultan, and, namely, that time that I was with him. And they bear
but one shield and one spear, without other arms; and they wrap
their heads and their necks with a great quantity of white linen
cloth; and they be right felonous and foul, and of cursed kind.
And when men pass this desert, in coming toward Jerusalem, they
come to Bersabe (Beersheba), that was wont to be a full fair town
and a delectable of Christian men; and yet there be some of their
churches. In that town dwelled Abraham the patriarch, a long time.
That town of Bersabe founded Bersabe (Bathsheba), the wife of Sir
Uriah the Knight, on the which King David gat Solomen the Wise,
that was king after David upon the twelve kindreds of Jerusalem and
reigned forty year.
And from thence go men to the city of Hebron, that is the mountance
of twelve good mile. And it was clept sometime the Vale of Mamre,
and some-time it was clept the Vale of Tears, because that Adam
wept there an hundred year for the death of Abel his son, that Cain
slew. Hebron was wont to be the principal city of the Philistines,
and there dwelled some time the giants. And that city was also
sacerdotal, that is to say, sanctuary of the tribe of Judah; and it
was so free, that men received there all manner of fugitives of
other places for their evil deeds. In Hebron Joshua, Caleb and
their company came first to aspy, how they might win the land of
Behest. In Hebron reigned first king David seven year and a half;
and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three year and a half.
And in Hebron be all the sepultures of the patriarchs, Adam,
Abraham, Isaac, and of Jacob; and of their wives, Eve, Sarah and
Rebecca, and of Leah; the which sepultures the Saracens keep full
curiously, and have the place in great reverence for the holy
fathers, the patriarchs that lie there. And they suffer no
Christian man to enter into that place, but if it be of special
grace of the sultan; for they hold Christian men and Jews as dogs,
and they say, that they should not enter into so holy place. And
men clepe that place, where they lie, Double Spelunk, or Double
Cave, or Double Ditch, forasmuch as that one lieth above that
other. And the Saracens clepe that place in their language,
KARICARBA, that is to say, 'The Place of Patriarchs.' And the Jews
clepe that place ARBOTH. And in that same place was Abraham's
house, and there he sat and saw three persons, and worshipped but
one; as holy writ saith, TRES VIDIT ET UNUM ADORAVIT, that is to
say, 'He saw three and worshipped one': and of those same received
Abraham the angels into his house.
And right fast by that place is a cave in the rock, where Adam and
Eve dwelled when they were put out of Paradise; and there got they
their children. And in that same place was Adam formed and made,
after that some men say: (for men were wont for to clepe that
place the field of Damascus, because that it was in the lordship of
Damascus), and from thence was he translated into Paradise of
delights, as they say; and after that he was driven out of Paradise
he was there left. And the same day that he was put in Paradise,
the same day he was put out, for anon he sinned. There beginneth
the Vale of Hebron, that dureth nigh to Jerusalem. There the angel
commanded Adam that he should dwell with his wife Eve, of the which
he gat Seth; of which tribe, that is to say kindred, Jesu Christ
was born.
In that valley is a field, where men draw out of the earth a thing
that men clepe cambile, and they eat it instead of spices, and they
bear it to sell. And men may not make the hole or the cave, where
it is taken out of the earth, so deep or so wide, but that it is,
at the year's end, full again up to the sides, through the grace of
God.
And two mile from Hebron is the grave of Lot, that was Abraham's
brother.
And a little from Hebron is the mount of Mamre, of the which the
valley taketh his name. And there is a tree of oak, that the
Saracens clepe DIRPE, that is of Abraham's time: the which men
clepe the Dry Tree. And they say that it hath been there since the
beginning of the world, and was some-time green and bare leaves,
unto the time that our Lord died on the cross, and then it dried:
and so did all the trees that were then in the world. And some
say, by their prophecies, that a lord, a prince of the west side of
the world, shall win the Land of Promission that is the Holy Land
with help of Christian men, and he shall do sing a mass under that
dry tree; and then the tree shall wax green and bear both fruit and
leaves, and through that miracle many Saracens and Jews shall be
turned to Christian faith: and, therefore, they do great worship
thereto, and keep it full busily. And, albeit so, that it be dry,
natheles yet he beareth great virtue, for certainly he that hath a
little thereof upon him, it healeth him of the falling evil, and
his horse shall not be a-foundered: and many other virtues it
hath; wherefore men hold it full precious.
From Hebron men go to Bethlehem in half a day, for it is but five
mile; and it is full fair way, by plains and woods full delectable.
Bethlehem is a little city, long and narrow and well walled, and in
each side enclosed with good ditches: and it was wont to be clept
Ephrata, as holy writ saith, ECCE, AUDIVIMUS EUM IN EPHRATA, that
is to say, 'Lo, we heard him in Ephrata.' And toward the east end
of the city is a full fair church and a gracious, and it hath many
towers, pinacles and corners, full strong and curiously made; and
within that church be forty-four pillars of marble, great and fair.
And between the city and the church is the field FLORIDUS, that is
to say, the 'field flourished.' For as much as a fair maiden was
blamed with wrong, and slandered that she had done fornication; for
which cause she was demned to death, and to be burnt in that place,
to the which she was led. And, as the fire began to burn about
her, she made her prayers to our Lord, that as wisely as she was
not guilty of that sin, that he would help her and make it to be
known to all men, of his merciful grace. And when she had thus
said, she entered into the fire, and anon was the fire quenched and
out; and the brands that were burning became red rose-trees, and
the brands that were not kindled became white rose-trees, full of
roses. And these were the first rose-trees and roses, both white
and red, that ever any man saw; and thus was this maiden saved by
the grace of God. And therefore is that field clept the field of
God flourished, for it was full of roses.
Also beside the choir of the church, at the right side, as men come
downward sixteen degrees, is the place where our Lord was born,
that is full well dight of marble, and full richly painted with
gold, silver, azure and other colours. And three paces beside is
the crib of the ox and the ass. And beside that is the place where
the star fell, that led the three kings, Jaspar, Melchior and
Balthazar: but men of Greece clepe them thus, GALGALATH,
MALGALATH, and SERAPHIE, and the Jews clepe them, in this manner,
in Hebrew, APPELIUS, AMERRIUS, and DAMASUS. These three kings
offered to our Lord, gold, incense and myrrh, and they met together
through miracle of God; for they met together in a city in Ind,
that men clepe Cassak, that is a fifty-three journeys from
Bethlehem; and they were at Bethlehem the thirteenth day; and that
was the fourth day after that they had seen the star, when they met
in that city, and thus they were in nine days from that city at
Bethlehem, and that was great miracle.
Also, under the cloister of the church, by eighteen degrees at the
right side, is the charnel of the Innocents, where their bones lie.
And before the place where our Lord was born is the tomb of Saint
Jerome, that was a priest and a cardinal, that translated the Bible
and the Psalter from Hebrew into Latin: and without the minster is
the chair that he sat in when he translated it. And fast beside
that church, a sixty fathom, is a church of Saint Nicholas, where
our Lady rested her after she was lighted of our Lord; and
forasmuch as she had too much milk in her paps, that grieved her,
she milked them on the red stones of marble, so that the traces may
yet be seen, in the stones, all white.
And ye shall understand, that all that dwell in Bethlehem be
Christian men.
And there be fair vines about the city, and great plenty of wine,
that the Christian men have do let make. But the Saracens ne till
not no vines, ne they drink no wine: for their books of their law,
that Mahomet betoke them, which they clepe their AL KORAN, and some
crepe it MESAPH, and in another language it is clept HARME, and the
same book forbiddeth them to drink wine. For in that book, Mahomet
cursed all those that drink wine and all them that sell it: for
some men say, that he slew once an hermit in his drunkenness, that
he loved full well; and therefore he cursed wine and them that
drink it. But his curse be turned on to his own head, as holy writ
saith, ET IN VIRTICEM IPSIUS INIQUITAS EJUS DESCENDET, that is for
to say, 'His wickedness shall turn and fall in his own head.'
And also the Saracens bring forth no pigs, nor they eat no swine's
flesh, for they say it is brother to man, and it was forbidden by
the old law; and they hold him all accursed that eat thereof. Also
in the land of Palestine and in the land of Egypt, they eat but
little or none of flesh of veal or of beef, but if be so old, that
he may no more travel for old; for it is forbidden, and for because
they have but few of them; therefore they nourish them for to ere
their lands.
In this city of Bethlehem was David the king born; and he had sixty
wives, and the first wife was called Michal; and also he had three
hundred lemans.
And from Bethlehem unto Jerusalem is but two mile; and in the way
to Jerusalem half a mile from Bethlehem is a church, where the
angel said to the shepherds of the birth of Christ. And in that
way is the tomb of Rachel, that was Joseph's mother, the patriarch;
and she died anon after that she was delivered of her son Benjamin.
And there she was buried of Jacob her husband, and he let set
twelve great stones on her, in token that she had born twelve
children. In the same way, half mile from Jerusalem, appeared the
star to the three kings. In that way also be many churches of
Christian men, by the which men go towards the city of Jerusalem.
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