_Of the Ilandes of Grece._
[Illustration]
ABOUT Grece be many yles that men cal Calastre,[1] Calcas Settygo,
Thoysoria, Mynona, Faxton, Molo, Carparte and Lempne, and in this yle
is mount Athos that passeth the clowdes & there are divers
speaches and many countries that are obedient to the Emperour of
Constantinople, that is to say Turcoply, Pyncy, Narde, Comage and many
other, Tracy & Macedony, of which Alexander was king. In this countrey
was Aristotle borne, in a citie that men call Strages, a little from
the citie of Tragie, & at Strages is Aristotle buried, and there is an
aulter on his tombe, and there they make a greate feast every yeare
as he were a saint, & upon his aulter the lordes holde their great
counsayles and assemblies and they think, that through the inspiration
of God & him, they should have the better councill. In this countrey
are right highe hilles, there is an hill that men call Olimphus that
departeth Macedonie and Tracy, and is as high as the cloudes, and the
other hill that men call Athos is so highe, that the shadow of him
stretcheth unto Olimphus and it is neare lxxvii myle between, and
above that hill is the aire so cleere, that men may fele no wynde
there, and therefore may no beast live there the ayre is so drye, and
men say in the countrey that Philosophers somtyme went up to these
same hilles and helde to their noses a sponge wet with water for to
have ayre, for the ayre was so drye there & above in the pouder[2] of
the hill they wrote letters with their fingers, and at the yeares ende
they came againe and found those letters which they had written the
yeare before without any defaute,[3] and therefore it seemeth well
that these hilles passe the cloudes to y^e pure aire.
At Constantinople is the Emperours palaice which is fayre and well
dight,[4] and therein is a palaice for justing,[5] and it is made
about with stages that eche man may well see and none greve,[6] other
& under these stages are stables vauted for the Emperours horses and
all the pillers of these stables are of marble. And within the church
of Saint Sophy, an Emperour wold haue layd the body of his father when
he was dead, and as they made the grave they found a body in the
earth & upon that body lay a great plate of fine gold & there upon
was written in Ebrew, Greke & Latin letters that sayde thus: _Jesus
Christus nascetur de virgine Marie, et ego credo in eum_. That is to
say, Jesu Christ shal be borne of the Virgin Mary & I believe in him.
And the date was that it lay in the earthe 200[7] yeare before our
Lord Jesu Christ was borne, and yet is that plate in the treasory of
the Church, and men say that it was Hermogenes[8] the wise man. And
neverthelesse if it be so that men of Grece be Christen, yet they vary
from our fayth, for they say that the holy ghoste commeth not out of
the sonne, but all onely of the father, and as they are not obedient
to the Church of Rome, nor to the Pope, and they saye that theyr
Patryarkes haue as much power over the sea, as the Pope hath on this
syde the sea. And therefore Pope John the XXII. sente letters to
them, how Christen fayth should be all one, and that they shoulde be
obedient to a pope that is Christes Vykar in earthe, to whome God gave
plaine[9] power to binde and to assoyle,[10] and therefore they should
be obedient to him. And they sent him divers aunsweres, and among
other they said thus. _Potentiam tuam summam circa subjectos tuos
firmiter credimus. Superbitatem tuam sustinere non possumus. Avaritiam
tuam satiare non intendimus. Dominus tecum fit, quia Dominus nobiscum
est. Vale._ That is to say, we beleve wel that thy power is great upon
thy subjectes. We may not suffer thy pryde. We are not in purpose to
fulfille thy covetyse.[11] Our Lorde be with thee, for our Lorde is
with us. Farewell. And other aunswere might not be haue of them. And
also they make theyr sacrament of the aulter of therf bread,[12] for
our Lord made it of therf bread when he made his maunde.[13] And on
sherthursday[14] make they theyre bread in tokening of the maunde, and
they dry it at the sonne,[15] and kepe it all the yeare & give it to
sick men instede of gods body. And they make but one unction when they
Christen Children, and they anoynt no sick men, and they say there is
no purgatory, and soules shall haue neither joy ne payne untill the
day of dome.[16] And they say that fornication is no deadly sinne, but
a kindly thing, and that men & women shoulde wed but once, and who
so weddeth more than once theyr children are bastards and gotten in
sinne, and theyr priestes also are wedded, and they say that usury or
simony is no deadly sinne and they sell benefices of holy churche,
and so did men of other places and is great sclaunder,[17] for now is
Simony King crowned in holy churche, God amende it when his will
is. And they say that in Lent men should not singe masse but on the
Saterday and on the Sonday, and they fast not the Saterday no tyme in
the yeare, but if it be Christmas or Easter even. And they suffer no
man that is on this side the Grece sea to sing at theyr aulters, and
if it fall that they do through any hap,[18] they wash theyr aulters
as sone without tarieng with holy water, and they say that there
should be but one masse sayde at one aulter in a day. And they say
that our Lorde did neuer eate meate but that he made a token[19]
of eating. And also they say that we sinne deadly in shaving of our
berdes, for the berde is a token of a man, and a gift of our Lord and
they saye that we sinne in eating of beastes that were defended[20] in
the olde lawe, as swyne, hares and other beastes.
And thus they saye that we sinne in eating of fleshe on the dayes
before Ashwednesday, and in eating of fleshe on the Wednesdaye, and
when we eate chese or egges on the Fryday and they curse all
those that eate no fleshe on the Saterday. Also the Emperour of
Constantinople maketh the Patriarkes, Archebishoppes and Bishoppes,
and he giveth all the dignities of the churches, and depryveth them
that are unworthy, although it be so that these touch not the way,
nevertheless they touch that which I haue behight[21] to shew a parte
of the custome, maners, and diversitie of countries, and for this is
the first countrey that is discordaunt from our faithe and letteth[22]
our faithe on this side the sea, therefore haue I sette it here that
ye may see the diversitie between our faith & theirs, for many men
haue great liking to here speake of straunge things.
[Footnote 1: Calliste, which Ferrarius, in his _Lexicon
Geographicum_ (edit. 1670), says is an island in the Ægean
Sea. The other islands have different names in different MSS.,
but are not worth the trouble of identifying, except Lampne
as Lemnos--where Mandeville places Mount Athos. _Plutarch_
and _Pliny_ said that, in the summer solstice this mountain
projected its shadow on the market-place of Myrina, the
capital city of Lemnos, and that a brazen cow was there
erected to mark the termination of the shadow; but this is as
probable as the distance given, namely, seventy-seven
miles, which is manifestly erroneous. The spelling of the
geographical names is very bad, and renders it a difficult
task to identify them: for instance, if it were not a
well-known fact that Aristoteles was born and buried at
Stagira, it would be very difficult to identify Strages as
being the same place. Again, Olimphus is used instead of
Lemnos, in connection with the shadow of Mount Athos.]
[Footnote 2: Powder, dust.]
[Footnote 3: Uninjured.]
[Footnote 4: Furnished.]
[Footnote 5: Jousting or tilting.]
[Footnote 6: Inconvenience.]
[Footnote 7: _Pynson_ and other editions say Two thousand.]
[Footnote 8: Here the chronology is somewhat involved, as
Hermogenes lived in the time of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus,
_who was born_ A.D. 121.]
[Footnote 9: Plenary.]
[Footnote 10: Absolve.]
[Footnote 11: Covetousness.]
[Footnote 12: Unleavened bread.]
[Footnote 13: Last Supper.]
[Footnote 14: Shrove Thursday.]
[Footnote 15: In the sun.]
[Footnote 16: Doom, or the day of judgment.]
[Footnote 17: Scandal.]
[Footnote 18: If by chance they should do so.]
[Footnote 19: Only seemed to eat.]
[Footnote 20: Forbidden.]
[Footnote 21: Promised.]
[Footnote 22: Hinders.]