_What time John Maundevil departed out of England._
AND I John Maundevil that went out of my countrey and passed the sea,
the yeare of our lord MCCCXXII and I haue passed through many landes
and yles and countreys, and now am come to rest. I haue compyled this
boke and do wryte it the yeare of our Lord MCCCLXVI at XXXIV yeare
after my departing from my countrey, & for as much as many men beleve
not that they see with theyr eyen, or y^t they may conceive & know in
their mynde, therefore I made my way to Rome in my coming homewarde,
to shew my boke to the holy father the pope,[1] and tell him of the
mervayles y^t I had sene in diverse countreys; so that he with his
wise counsel wold examine it, with diverse folke y^t are at Rome, for
there dwell men of all nations of the world, and a lytle time after
when he & his counsel had examined it all through, he sayde to me
for a certayne that it was true for he sayd he had a boke of latin
contayning all that and much more, of y^e which _Mappa Mundi_ is made,
the which boke I saw, & therefore the pope hath ratyfied & confirmed
my boke in all poyntes. And I pray to all those that rede this boke,
that they will pray for me and I shall pray for them, & all those that
say for me our Lord's prayer & that God forgive me my sinnes, I make
them parteners & graunt them part of all my good pylgrimages and other
good dedes which I ever dyd or shall do to my lyves ende & I pray
to God of whome all grace cometh, that he will, all the readers and
hearers that are christen, fulfil with his grace, and saue them body
and soule & bring them to his Joy that euer shall last. He that is in
the Trinitie, the Father, the Sonne, and the Holy Ghost, that liveth &
raigneth God without ende