Part 23 (1/2)
[407] Mosul.
[408] Cotton.
[409] The editor of the edition of our author, printed in 1727, observes, that one four feet long, in the Cotton Library, had a silver hoop about the end, on which is engraved, _Griphi unguis, divo Cuthberto Dunelmensi sacer_. Another, about an ell long, is mentioned by Dr. Grew, in his History of the Rarities of the Royal Society, page 26; though the doctor there supposes it rather the horn of a rock-buck, or of the _ibex mas_.
[410] Un-khan, or, as he was popularly called, Prester John, and the marvels of his dominions, were for several centuries a subject of great interest to the people of Western Europe, and were an object of anxious inquiry to all travellers in the East. A pretended letter from this monarch to the pope, describing his dominions, was published in Latin, French, and other languages. Much information relating to Prester John is found in Matthew Paris, who wrote before the middle of the thirteenth century. Marco Polo in his travels (book i. ch. xliii.) mentions the former subjection of the Tartars to him. Roger Bacon did not believe the extraordinary tales which were current relative to Prester John-_de quo tanta fama solebat esse, et multa falsa dicta sunt et scripta_. (Opus Majus, edit. Jebb, p. 232.) A most profound and learned dissertation on the personage and history of Prester John, by M. D'Avezac, will be found in the Introduction to his edition of the History of the Tartars, by John du Plan-de-Carpin, (published in the transactions of the Geographical Society of Paris,) 4to, 1838, p. 165-168.
[411] Ormuz.-The derivation is droll enough.
[412] Probably cocoa-nuts.
[413] This is apparently the giraffe.
[414] I have omitted some paragraphs preceding this, which are mere reproductions of the wonderful ethnographic stories of Pliny and Solinus.
[415] Here follows the story of the ants that keep the gold, taken from Pliny, Hist. Nat. xi. 31, and found in other ancient writers.
THE TRAVELS OF BERTRANDON DE LA BROCQUIeRE.
A.D. 1432, 1433.
To animate and inflame the hearts of such n.o.ble men as may be desirous of seeing the world, and by the order and command of the most high, most powerful, and my most redoubted lord, Philip, by the grace of G.o.d duke of Burgundy, Lorraine, Brabant, and Limbourg, count of Flanders, Artois, and Burgundy[416], palatine of Hainault, Holland, Zealand, and Namur, marquis of the Holy Empire, lord of Friesland, Salines, and Mechlin, I, Bertrandon de la Brocquiere, a native of the duchy of Guienne, lord of Vieux-Chateau, counsellor and first esquire-carver to my aforesaid most redoubted lord, after bringing to my recollection every event, in addition to what I had made an abridgment of in a small book by way of memorandums, have fairly written out this account of my short travels, in order that if any king or Christian prince should wish to make the conquest of Jerusalem, and lead thither an army overland, or if any gentleman should be desirous of travelling thither, they may be made acquainted with all the towns, cities, regions, countries, rivers, mountains, and pa.s.ses in the different districts, as well as the lords to whom they belong, from the duchy of Burgundy to Jerusalem. The route hence to the holy city of Rome is too well known for me to stop and describe it. I shall pa.s.s lightly over this article, and not say much until I come to Syria. I have travelled through the whole country from Gaza, which is the entrance to Egypt, to within a day's journey of Aleppo, a town situated on the north of the frontier, and which we pa.s.s in going to Persia.
Having formed a resolution to make a devout pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and being determined to discharge my vow, I quitted, in the month of February, 1432, the court of my most redoubted lord, which was then at Ghent. After traversing Picardy, Champagne, and Burgundy, I entered Savoy, crossed the Rhone, and arrived at Chambery by the Mont-du-Chat.
Here commences a long chain of mountains, the highest of which is called Mount Cenis, which forms a dangerous pa.s.s for travellers in times of snow. The road is so difficult to find, that a traveller, unless he wish to lose it, must take one of the guides of the country, called Marrons.
These people advise you not to make any sort of noise that may shake the atmosphere round the mountain, for in that case the snow is detached, and rolls with impetuosity to the ground. Mount Cenis separates Italy from France.
Having thence descended into Piedmont, a handsome and pleasant country, surrounded on three sides by mountains, I pa.s.sed through Turin, where I crossed the Po, and proceeded to Asti, which belongs to the duke of Orleans; then to Alexandria, the greater part of the inhabitants of which are said to be usurers-to Piacenza, belonging to the duke of Milan-and at last to Bologna la Gra.s.sa, which is part of the pope's dominions. The emperor Sigismund was at Piacenza; he had come thither from Milan, where he had received his second crown, and was on his road to Rome in search of the third[417]. From Bologna I had to pa.s.s another chain of mountains (the Appennines) to enter the states of the Florentines. Florence is a large town, where the commonalty govern.
Every three months they elect for the government magistrates, called priori, who are taken from different professions; and as long as they remain in office they are honoured, but on the expiration of the three months they return to their former situations. From Florence I went to Monte Pulciano, a castle built on an eminence, and surrounded on three sides by a large lake (Lago di Perugia), thence to Spoleto, Monte Fiascone, and at length to Rome.
Rome is well known. Authors of veracity a.s.sure us that for seven hundred years she was mistress of the world. But although their writings should not affirm this, would there not be sufficiency of proof in all the grand edifices now existing, in those columns of marble, those statues, and those monuments as marvellous to see as to describe? Add to the above the immense quant.i.ties of relics that are there; so many things that our Lord has touched, such numbers of holy bodies of apostles, martyrs, confessors, and virgins; in short, so many churches where the holy pontiffs have granted full indulgences for sin. I saw there Eugenius IV., a Venetian, who had just been elected pope[418]. The prince of Salernum had declared war against him; he was of the Colonna family, and nephew to pope Martin[419].
I quitted Rome the 25th of March, and, pa.s.sing through a town belonging to count de Thalamone, a relation to the cardinal des Ursins, arrived at Urbino; thence I proceeded through the lords.h.i.+ps of the Malatestas to Rimini, a part of the Venetian dominions. I crossed three branches of the Po, and came to Chiosa, a town of the Venetians, which had formerly a good harbour; but this was destroyed by themselves when the Genoese came to lay siege to Venice. From Chiosa, I landed at Venice, distant twenty-five miles.
Venice is a large and handsome town, ancient and commercial, and built in the middle of the sea. Its different quarters being separated by water form so many islands, so that a boat is necessary to go from one to the other. This town possesses the body of St. Helena, mother of the emperor Constantine, as well as many others that I have seen, especially several bodies of the Holy Innocents, which are entire. These last are in an island called Murano, renowned for its manufactories of gla.s.s. The government of Venice is full of wisdom. No one can be a member of the council, nor hold any employment, unless he be n.o.ble and born in the town. It has a duke, who is bound to have ever with him, during the day, six of the most ancient and celebrated members of the council. When the duke dies, his successor is chosen from among those who have shown the greatest knowledge and zeal for the public good.
On the 8th of May I embarked to accomplish my vow, on board a galley, with some other pilgrims. We sailed along the coast of Sclavonia, and successively touched at Pola, Zara, Sebenico, and Corfu. Pola seemed to me to have been formerly a handsome and strong town, with an excellent harbour. We were shown at Zara the body of St. Simeon, to whom our Lord was presented in the Temple. The town is surrounded on three sides by the sea, and its fine port is shut in by an iron chain. Sebenico belongs to the Venetians, as does Corfu, which, with a very handsome harbour, has also two castles.
From Corfu we sailed to Modon, a good and fair town in the Morea, also belonging to the Venetians; thence to Candia, a most fertile island, the inhabitants of which are excellent sailors. The government of Venice nominates a governor, who takes the t.i.tle of duke, but who holds his place only three years. Thence to Rhodes, where I had but time to see the town; to Baffa, a ruined town in the island of Cyprus; and at length to Jaffa, in the Holy Land of Promise.
At Jaffa, the pardons commence for pilgrims to the Holy Land. It formerly belonged to the Christians, and was then strong; at present it is entirely destroyed, having only a few tents covered with reeds, whither pilgrims retire to shelter themselves from the heat of the sun.
The sea enters the town, and forms a bad and shallow harbour; it is dangerous to remain there long for fear of being driven on sh.o.r.e by a gust of wind. There are two springs of fresh water; but one is overflowed by the sea when the westerly wind blows a little strong. When any pilgrims disembark here, interpreters and other officers of the sultan[420] instantly hasten to ascertain their numbers, to serve them as guides, and to receive, in the name of their master, the customary tribute.
Ramle, the first town we came to from Jaffa, is without walls, but a good and commercial town, seated in an agreeable and fertile district.
We went to visit, in the neighbourhood, a village where St. George was martyred; and, on our return to Ramle, we continued our route, and arrived, after two days, at the holy city of Jerusalem, where our Lord Jesus Christ suffered death for us. After making the customary pilgrimages, we performed those to the mountain where Jesus fasted forty days; to the Jordan, where he was baptized; to the church of St. John, near to that river; to that of St. Martha and St. Mary Magdalene, where our Lord raised Lazarus from the dead; to Bethlehem, where he was born; to the birth-place of St. John the Baptist; to the house of Zachariah; and, lastly, to the holy cross, where the tree grew that formed the real cross, after which we returned to Jerusalem.
The Cordeliers have a church at Bethlehem, in which they perform divine service, but they are under great subjection to the Saracens. The town is only inhabited by Saracens, and some Christians of the girdle[421].
At the birth-place of St. John the Baptist, a rock is shown, which, during the time of Herod's persecution of the innocents, opened itself miraculously in two, when St. Elizabeth having therein hid her son, it closed again of itself, and the child remained shut up, as it is said, two whole days.