Chapter 12 |
Index |
Chapter 14
OF THE PROVINCE OF GALILEE, AND WHERE ANTICHRIST SHALL BE BORN. OF
NAZARETH. OF THE AGE OF OUR LADY. OF THE DAY OF DOOM. AND OF THE
CUSTOMS OF JACOBITES, SYRIANS; AND OF THE USAGES OF GEORGIANS
FROM this country of the Samaritans that I have spoken of before go
men to the plains of Galilee, and men leave the hills on that one
part.
And Galilee is one of the provinces of the Holy Land, and in that
province is the city of Nain - and Capernaum, and Chorazin and
Bethsaida. In this Bethsaida was Saint Peter and Saint Andrew
born. And thence, a four mile, is Chorazin. And five mile from
Chorazin is the city of Kedar whereof the Psalter speaketh: ET
HABITAVI CUM HABITANTIBUS KEDAR; that is for to say, 'And I have
dwelled with the dwelling men in Kedar.' In Chorazin shall
Antichrist be born, as some men say. And other men say he shall be
born in Babylon; for the prophet saith: DE BABILONIA COLUBER
EXEST, QUI TOTUM MUNDUM DEVORABIT; that is to say 'Out of Babylon
shall come a worm that shall devour all the world.' This
Antichrist shall be nourished in Bethsaida, and he shall reign in
Capernaum: and therefore saith holy writ; VAE TIBI, CHORAZIN! VAE
TIBI, BETHSAIDA! VAE TIBI, CAPERNAUM! that is to say, 'Woe be to
thee, Chorazin! Woe to thee, Bethsaida! Woe to thee, Capernaum.'
And all these towns be in the land of Galilee. And also the Cana
of Galilee is four mile from Nazareth: of that city was Simon
Chananeus and his wife Canee, of the which the holy evangelist
speaketh of. There did our Lord the first miracle at the wedding,
when he turned water into wine.
And in the end of Galilee, at the hills, was the Ark of God taken;
and on that other side is the Mount Endor or Hermon. And,
thereabout, goeth the Brook of Torrens Kishon; and there beside,
Barak, that was Abimelech's son with Deborah the prophetess
overcame the host of Idumea, when Sisera the king was slain of Jael
the wife of Heber, and chased beyond the flome Jordan, by strength
of sword, Zeeb and Zebah and Zalmunna, and there he slew them.
Also a five mile from Nain is the city of Jezreel that sometime was
clept Zarim, of the which city Jezabel, the cursed queen, was lady
and queen, that took away the vine of Naboth by her strength. Fast
by that city is the field Megiddo, in the which the King Joram was
slain of the King of Samaria and after was translated and buried in
the Mount Sion.
And a mile from Jezreel be the hills of Gilboa, where Saul and
Jonathan, that were so fair, died; wherefore David cursed them, as
holy writ saith: MONTES GILBOAE, NEC ROS NEC PLUVIA, ETC.; that is
to say, 'Ye hills of Gilboa, neither dew ne rain come upon you.'
And a mile from the hills of Gilboa toward the east is the city of
Cyropolis, that was clept before Bethshan; and upon the walls of
that city was the head of Saul hanged.
After go men by the hill beside the plains of Galilee unto
Nazareth, where was wont to be a great city and a fair; but now
there is not but a little village, and houses abroad here and
there. And it is not walled. And it sits in a little valley, and
there be hills all about. There was our Lady born, but she was
gotten at Jerusalem. And because that our Lady was born at
Nazareth, therefore bare our Lord his surname of that town. There
took Joseph our Lady to wife, when she was fourteen year of age.
And there Gabriel greeted our Lady, saying, AVE GRATIA PLENA,
DOMINUS TECUM! that is to say, 'Hail, full of grace, our Lord is
with thee!' And this salutation was done in a place of a great
altar of a fair church that was wont to be sometime, but it is now
all down, and men have made a little receipt, beside a pillar of
that church, to receive the offerings of pilgrims. And the
Saracens keep that place full dearly, for the profit that they have
thereof. And they be full wicked Saracens and cruel, and more
despiteful than in any other place, and have destroyed all the
churches. There nigh is Gabriel's Well, where our Lord was wont to
bathe him, when he was young, and from that well bare he water
often-time to his mother. And in that well she washed often-time
the clouts of her Son Jesu Christ. And from Jerusalem unto thither
is three journeys. At Nazareth was our Lord nourished. Nazareth
is as much to say as, 'Flower of the garden'; and by good skill may
it be clept flower, for there was nourished the flower of life that
was Christ Jesu.
And two mile from Nazareth is the city of Sephor, by the way that
goeth from Nazareth to Akon. And an half mile from Nazareth is the
Leap of our Lord. For the Jews led him upon an high rock for to
make him leap down, and have slain him; but Jesu passed amongst
them, and leapt upon another rock, and yet be the steps of his feet
seen in the rock, where he alighted. And therefore say some men,
when they dread them of thieves in any way, or of enemies; JESUS
AUTEM TRANSIENS PER MEDIUM ILLORUM IBAT; that is to say, 'Jesus,
forsooth, passing by the midst of them, he went': in token and
mind, that our Lord passed through, out the Jews' cruelty, and
scaped safely from them, so surely may men pass the peril of
thieves'. And then say men two verses of the Psalter three sithes:
IRRUAT SUPER EOS FORMIDO & PAVOR, IN MAGNITUDINE BRACHII TUI,
DOMINE. FIANT IMMOBILES, QUASI LAPIS, DONEC PERTRANSEAT POPULUS
TUUS, DOMINE; DONEC PERTRANSEAT POPULUS TUUS ISTE, QUEM POSSEDISTI;
and then may men pass without peril.
And ye shall understand, that our Lady had child when she was
fifteen year old. And she was conversant with her son thirty-three
year and three months. And after the passion of our Lord she lived
twenty-four year.
Also from Nazareth men go to the Mount Tabor; and that is a four
mile. And it is a full fair hill and well high, where was wont to
be a town and many churches; but they be all destroyed. But yet
there is a place that men clepe the school of God, where he was
wont to teach his disciples, and told them the privities of heaven.
And, at the foot of that hill, Melchisedech that was King of Salem,
in the turning of that hill met Abraham in coming again from the
battle, when he had slain Abimelech. And this Melchisedech was
both king and priest of Salem that now is clept Jerusalem. In that
hill Tabor our Lord transfigured him before Saint Peter, Saint John
and Saint Jame; and there they saw, ghostly, Moses and Elias the
prophets beside them. And therefore said Saint Peter; DOMINE,
BONUM EST NOS HIC ESSE; FACIAMUS HIC TRIA TABERNACULA; that is to
say, 'Lord, it is good for us to be here; make we here three
dwelling-places.' And there heard they a voice of the Father that
say; HIC EST FILIUS MEUS DILECTUS, IN QUO MIHI BENE COMPLACUI. And
our Lord defended them that they should not tell that avision till
that he were risen from death to life.
In that hill and in that same place, at the day of doom, four
angels with four trumpets shall blow and raise all men that had
suffered death, sith that the world was formed, from death to life;
and shall come in body and soul in judgment, before the face of our
Lord in the Vale of Jehosaphat. And the doom shall be on Easter
Day, such time as our Lord arose. And the doom shall begin, such
hour as our Lord descended to hell and despoiled it. For at such
hour shall he despoil the world and lead his chosen to bliss; and
the other shall he condemn to perpetual pains. And then shall
every man have after his desert, either good or evil, but if the
mercy of God pass his righteousness.
Also a mile from Mount Tabor is the Mount Hermon; and there was the
city of Nain. Before the gate of that city raised our Lord the
widow's son, that had no more children. Also three miles from
Nazareth is the Castle Safra, of the which the sons of Zebedee and
the sons of Alpheus were. Also a seven mile from Nazareth is the
Mount Cain, and under that is a well; and beside that well Lamech,
Noah's father, slew Cain with an arrow. For this Cain went through
briars and bushes as a wild beast; and he had lived from the time
of Adam his father unto the time of Noah, and so he lived nigh to
2000 year. And this Lamech was all blind for eld.
From Safra men go to the sea of Galilee and to the city of
Tiberias, that sits upon the same sea. And albeit that men clepe
it a sea, yet is it neither sea ne arm of the sea. For it is but a
stank of fresh water that is in length one hundred furlongs, and of
breadth forty furlongs, and hath within him great plenty of good
fish, and runneth into flom Jordan. The city is not full great,
but it hath good baths within him.
And there, as the flome Jordan parteth from the sea of Galilee, is
a great bridge, where men pass from the Land of Promission to the
land of King Bashan and the land of Gennesaret, that be about the
flom Jordan and the beginning of the sea of Tiberias. And from
thence may men go to Damascus, in three days, by the kingdom of
Traconitis, the which kingdom lasteth from Mount Hermon to the sea
of Galilee, or to the sea of Tiberias, or to the sea of Gennesaret;
and all is one sea, and this the tank that I have told you, but it
changeth thus the name for the names of the cities that sit beside
him.
Upon that sea went our Lord dry feet; and there he took up Saint
Peter, when he began to drench within the sea, and said to him,
MODICE FIDEI, QUARE DUBITASTI? And after his resurrection our Lord
appeared on that sea to his disciples and bade them fish, and
filled all the net full of great fishes. In that sea rowed our
Lord often-time; and there he called to him Saint Peter, Saint
Andrew, Saint James and Saint John, the sons of Zebedee.
In that city of Tiberias is the table upon the which our Lord ate
upon with his disciples after his resurrection; and they knew him
in breaking of bread, as the gospel saith: ET COGNOVERUNT EUM IN
FRACTIONE PANIS. And nigh that city of Tiberias is the hill, where
our Lord fed 5000 persons with five barley loaves and two fishes.
In that city a man cast a burning dart in wrath after our Lord.
And the head smote into the earth and waxed green; and it growed to
a great tree. And yet it groweth and the bark thereof is all like
coals.
Also in the head of that sea of Galilee, toward the septentrion is
a strong castle and an high that hight Saphor. And fast beside it
is Capernaum. Within the Land of Promission is not so strong a
castle. And there is a good town beneath that is clept also
Saphor. In that castle Saint Anne our Lady's mother was born. And
there beneath, was Centurio's house. That country is clept the
Galilee of Folk that were taken to tribute of Zebulon and Napthali.
And in again coming from that castle, a thirty mile, is the city of
Dan, that sometime was clept Belinas or Cesarea Philippi; that sits
at the foot of the Mount of Lebanon, where the flome Jordan
beginneth. There beginneth the Land of Promission and dureth unto
Beersheba in length, in going toward the north into the south, and
it containeth well a nine score miles; and of breadth, that is to
say, from Jericho unto Jaffa, and that containeth a forty mile of
Lombardy, or of our country, that be also little miles; these be
not miles of Gascony ne of the Province of Almayne, where be great
miles. And wit ye well, that the Land of Promission is in Syria.
For the realm of Syria dureth from the deserts of Arabia unto
Cilicia, and that is Armenia the great; that is to say, from the
south to the north. And, from the east to the west, it dureth from
the great deserts of Arabia unto the West Sea. But in that realm
of Syria is the kingdom of Judea and many other provinces, as
Palestine, Galilee, Little Cilicia, and many other.
In that country and other countries beyond they have a custom, when
they shall use war, and when men hold siege about city or castle,
and they within dare not send out messengers with letters from lord
to lord for to ask succour, they make their letters and bind them
to the neck of a culver, and let the culver flee. And the culvers
be so taught, that they flee with those letters to the very place
that men would send them to. For the culvers be nourished in those
places where they be sent to, and they send them thus, for to bear
their letters. And the culvers return again whereas they be
nourished; and so they do commonly.
And ye shall understand that amongst the Saracens, one part and
other, dwell many Christian men of many manners and diverse names.
And all be baptized and have diverse laws and diverse customs. But
all believe in God the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost; but
always fail they in some articles of our faith. Some of these be
clept Jacobites, for Saint James converted them and Saint John
baptized them. They say that a man shall make his confession only
to God, and not to a man; for only to him should man yield him
guilty of all that he hath misdone. Ne God ordained not, ne never
devised, ne the prophet neither, that a man should shrive him to
another (as they say), but only to God. As Moses writeth in the
Bible, and as David saith in the Psalter Book; CONFITEBOR TIBI,
DOMINE, IN TOTO CORDE MEO, and DELICTUM MEUM TIBI COGNITUM FECI,
and DEUS MEUS ES TU, & CONFITEBOR TIBI, and QUONIAM COGITATIO
HOMINIS CONFITEBITUR TIBI, etc. For they know all the Bible and
the Psalter. And therefore allege they so the letter. But they
allege not the authorities thus in Latin, but in their language
full apertly, and say well, that David and other prophets say it.
Natheles, Saint Augustine and Saint Gregory say thus:- Augustinus:
QUI SCELERA SUA COGITAT, & CONVERSUS FUERIT, VENIAM SIBI CREDAT.
Gregorius: DOMINUS POTIUS MENTEM QUAM VERBA RESPICIT. And Saint
Hilary saith: LONGORUM TEMPORUM CRIMINA, IN ICTU OCULI PEREUNT, SI
CORDIS NATA FUERIT COMPUNCTIO. And for such authorities they say,
that only to God shall a man knowledge his defaults, yielding
himself guilty and crying him mercy, and behoting to him to amend
himself. And therefore, when they will shrive them, they take fire
and set it beside them, and cast therein powder of frankincense;
and in the smoke thereof they shrive them to God, and cry him
mercy. But sooth it is, that this confession was first and kindly.
But Saint Peter the apostle, and they that came after him, have
ordained to make their confession to man, and by good reason; for
they perceived well that no sickness was curable, [ne] good
medicine to lay thereto, but if men knew the nature of the malady;
and also no man may give convenable medicine, but if he know the
quality of the deed. For one sin may be greater in one man than in
another, and in one place and in one time than in another; and
therefore it behoveth him that he know the kind of the deed, and
thereupon to give him penance.
There be other, that be clept Syrians; and they hold the belief
amongst us, and of them of Greece. And they use all beards, as men
of Greece do. And they make the sacrament of therf bread. And in
their language they use letters of Saracens. But after the mystery
of Holy Church they use letters of Greece. And they make their
confession, right as the Jacobites do.
There be other, that men clepe Georgians, that Saint George
converted; and him they worship more than any other saint, and to
him they cry for help. And they came out of the realm of Georgia.
These folk use crowns shaven. The clerks have round crowns, and
the lewd men have crowns all square. And they hold Christian law,
as do they of Greece; of whom I have spoken of before.
Other there be that men clepe Christian men of Girding, for they be
all girt above. And there be other that men clept Nestorians. And
some Arians, some Nubians, some of Greece, some of Ind, and some of
Prester John's Land. And all these have many articles of our
faith, and to other they be variant. And of their variance were
too long to tell, and so I will leave, as for the time, without
more speaking of them.
Chapter 12 |Index | Chapter 14