Prester, and he asked me many questions, among which was that I should
tell him what were the lives led by St. Jerome, St. Dominick, and
St. Francis, and what sort of men they were, and what country they
were natives of; because, in the letter of the captain-major, it was
mentioned that the King of Portugal had established houses of these
Saints in the places which he had taken; that is to say, in Manicongo,
in Benim, and in the Indies. I replied to him, but not consecutively,
that St. Jerome had been Patriarch of Jerusalem and a native of Greece
or Slavonia; that St. Dominic was a native of Spain, of the bishopric
of Osma; and St. Francis a native of Italy; and I gave a long account
of their orders, as I knew of them, and also referring to the book in
which I had their lives; and I spoke much to him of the great houses of
these blessed Saints which there are in Frankland; and that from them
had proceeded many other saints on account of the holy lives they led.
He then told me through the interpreter to show him the lives of these
saints, since I said that I had them. Then they put forward another
question, which they had already asked me before, namely, since we were
Christians and they also, how was it that there was difference between
them and us who doubted of the Churches of Antioch and Constantinople
and that of Rome; and that each followed its business like Rome and
Antioch, and that Antioch had anciently been the head until the
Council of Pope Leon, at which were three hundred and eighteen bishops?
I replied that I had already before told His Highness that there was
no doubt that Antioch in Greece had been the head, and that St. Peter
had been for five years bishop in it, and that later for twenty-five
years he had been bishop in Rome, and this would prove to be the truth
by the saying of Christ which said: “Upon thee, Peter, will I found
my Church”; and that St. Peter and St. Paul had suffered in Rome, and
their bodies lie there, where the true Church is. To this, there was no
further reply. Then they came to another matter, namely, whether we did
all that the Pope commanded. I told them we did, and that so we were
obliged to do by the article of our own holy faith in which we confess
that we believe in the Holy Mother the Church, which is the Catholic
Faith: and the Pope is the Church, and he whom he binds shall be bound,
and he whom he looses shall be loosed, and not only the living, but
also the dead, from the pains of Purgatory. Upon this, they answered
me: That if the Pope ordered anything which the Apostles had not
written, that they would break it; and if their _abima_ were to
order it, that they would burn it, that is, the order. I answered them,
that we observed whatever the Pope ordered, because he is the head
of the Church, and as his title is Holy Father, so he orders nothing
except holy things taken from the Books of the Prophets, from which the
Apostles took the same, and from the text of the gospels which the four
evangelists wrote; and also from those books of the Holy Mother Church,
from which the holy doctors take the things which are necessary, and
which lie dispersed in them, and which for simple persons are difficult
to understand, if the Holy Father, with his learned men, were not to
declare and teach them, because he and his learned men are illuminated
by the Holy Spirit. As also the Holy Father, Cardinals, Archbishops,
Bishops, Patriarchs, and other rectors of the Church are preachers
and proclaimers of their holy faith, of whom the country of the
Prester was greatly wanting, for if there were any learned men in his
country, they are so for themselves only, and not in order to proclaim,
declare, and teach others, and they should know that everything was not
declared nor written in the books, but on many heads, only by figures
and parables. And so wrote St. John, in the twentieth chapter of his
gospel, that Jesus Christ did many signs and miracles in the presence
of his disciples which are not written in the books. Still, upon this
they told me that we were not bound to observe what the Pope ordered,
but only the Council of Pope Leon, which was all of the Apostles. I
answered them, that I knew nothing else of the Council of Pope Leon,
except what I had already told them; that is, that in it it was
established and ordained that Our Lady should be called Mother of God,
and also that they made the great creed: and that by the Apostles we
are obliged to hold and believe all the things belonging to the Church
of Rome; and they taught us to believe in the Holy Mother Church, which
is the Catholic Faith, which is not more than one Church, that is, the
Roman, in which St. Peter is the head, and his successors in his chair
succeed him in the power which Christ gave him when he said to him: “I
give thee the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven.” And, although in other
times Constantinople was a head, it changed to Rome because there was
the truth. Then came the answer that my reasoning seemed to him to be
good. They came again with another question, asking why there were
not in Ethiopia nor in their country and lordships as many saints and
sainted women as in Italy, and that in Germany and in Greece there were
many saints? I replied, that it appeared to me that in those parts
there had ruled many Emperors and their lieutenants who were Pagans and
cruel men, and that the Christians who had been converted to the faith
of Jesus Christ were so constant in the faith, that they preferred
to die for Christ rather than worship idols and follow a bad sect;
and on that account it seemed to me that there were many martyrs in
those parts, and so many confessors and virgins, because, seeing the
constancy and fortitude of the martyrs, and hearing the many and great
preachings which, since the ascension of Christ until now, there have
always been in Frankland, they would always follow the true faith, and
thus there were there many saints, men and women. Upon this came an
answer, that what I had said was true, and that he rejoiced to hear it
so clearly put; but that I should send him word if I knew how long it
was since this country of Ethiopia belonged to Christians and had been
converted to the faith of Jesus Christ. I sent to tell him that I did
not know, but it seemed to me that it would not be a long time after
the death of Christ, because this country was converted by the eunuch
of Queen Candace, who was baptised and instructed in the faith by the
Apostle St. Philip; and that the Apostle St. Matthew had also arrived
in these parts, but that I did not know whether this country had again
belonged to Gentiles or to other nations. The answer came, that only
the country of Tigray, which is in Ethiopia, had been converted by
this eunuch, and the rest had been won and converted by arms, as he
did every day; and the first conversion of Queen Candace was ten years
after the death of Christ, and since that time until now Ethiopia had
always been ruled and governed by Christians, and therefore there had
not been martyrs here, neither had it been necessary, and that many
men and women in their kingdom led holy lives and went to Jerusalem
and died saints; and he wished me to show him next day the lives of
St. Jerome, St. Francis, and St. Dominic, and Quirici, whom they call
Quercos, and the life of Pope Leon.
CAP. LXXXIV.--_How the lives of the said Saints were taken to
him, and how he had them translated into his language, and of
the satisfaction they felt at our mass, and how Prester John
sent for us and clothed us._
On the following day, Thursday, the 21st of the said month, Prester
John sent for my _Flos Sanctorum_, telling me to send it with
the lives of the before-named saints marked. I sent him the book with
the lives of those saints marked, and they soon sent back the book,
and with it came two friars who said that the Prester ordered them to
write the name of each saint in their writing over each figure, and
also the pictures of the Passion of Christ: and as to the pictures of
the Passion, they were to put where and how each subject had happened,
and as to the lives of the saints they put their names. Having taken
away the book, it was again sent back with the friars, and a message
that they were to put from what country each saint was, and where he
suffered, and what life each had led; and this for all the saints in
the _Flos Sanctorum_. We did what he commanded with respect to
those saints, and found out where they lived, and were born, and where
they died, and other particulars. On the following Friday, the said
friars came with the book to extract the lives of the before-mentioned
saints. We spent several days in drawing them up, as they were long,
and it was a very laborious task to translate our language into theirs.
Besides these lives, we compared some lives of other saints which they
possessed with those of our _Flos Sanctorum_; they were those of
St. Sebastian, St. Antony, and St. Baralam;[168] of this St. Baralam
they had the life, but not his feast day, and they inquired of me very
earnestly for his day; I found myself in sore straits, because I did
not find it in any calendar, and I came upon it later in the calendar
of an almanack, and when I told them the day, they at once ordered it
to be put down in their books, and the day to be observed. I did not
venture to go there without taking the calendar book with me, because
they used to ask for the day of some saint, and wanted me to tell it to
them at once off hand.
On Sunday, St. Catharine’s day,[169] Prester John sent some canons
and priests of the principal clergy of his house to hear our Mass,
which we used to sing on Saturdays, Sundays, and feast-days. They were
there from the beginning to the end. The interpreter told us that
these men said that at this office they had heard a Mass not of men
but of angels; and at all that we said, there was present a Venetian
painter, who said that his name was Nicolas Brancaliam, a resident
in this country of more than forty years (and he knew the language
of the country well); he was a very honourable person, and a great
gentleman, although a painter. He was like the herald[170] of these
canons and priests, and told them what was being done in the Mass, such
as the “Kyrios”, the “Gloria”, the “Dominus vobiscum”, which meant
“calamelos”, which means “the Lord be with you”; and so of the epistle
and gospel and all other things. This man was herald, and they said
that he was a friar before he came to this country. These canons and
priests spread the fame of this office of Mass throughout the district,
and said they never expected to see such another, and they complained
of nothing else except that one priest only said the Mass, and that the
communion was not given to all that were there. I gave the answer which
I have before related in another chapter; it seemed to me that they
were satisfied with the answer, and from this time forward many more
came to our Mass.
On this Sunday, the Prester sent a very good horse to the ambassador,
at which some of our company murmured, as though it grieved them. Also
on this Sunday, and at such hours that we were already asleep, the
Prester sent to call us. We went and entered with the formalities of
other occasions, and we arrived before the first curtains; there they
gave us rich garments, and they bade the ambassador enter beyond the
curtains, and there they gave him his dress: then they bade us all
enter (for we were now dressed) before the presence of the Prester
where he was upon the platform, with the state of the former time. And
then many things took place, among which the first was, that the Franks
might go away in peace, and the ambassador and his company, and that
one Frank of those who were here at first, and who was named Nicolas
Muça, should remain, and that he would write by him; and that he had to
write with letters of gold, and that he could not write immediately,
so that the ambassador should go on slowly at his own pace, and the
Frank would carry the letters to him. The ambassador replied that he
would not go away without an answer, because thus he could not give a
good account of himself, and that he would wait as long as His Highness
ordered, but withal he entreated His Highness to dismiss him in good
time, so that he might meet with the fleet of the captain-major in
Masua. The Prester answered with his own words, that he was pleased,
and asked the ambassador whether he would remain at Masua as captain.
The ambassador said that his wish was to go and see the King of
Portugal his sovereign, but that in this he would do whatever His
Highness commanded, because the King of Portugal and his captain-major
would hold that to be for his service; and with that he sent us to our
tents.
CAP. LXXXV.--_Of the sudden start which Prester John made for
another place, and of the way in which they dealt with the
ambassador respecting his baggage, and of the discord there was,
and of the visit the Prester sent._
On Monday, the 25th of the said month, in the morning, they told us
that Prester John was going away to another place (as in fact he did
go), and it was in this wise. He mounted a horse and set out with two
pages, and no other people; he passed in sight of our tent, caracoling
with his horse. There was a great tumult in our quarter, and cries
of: the Negus is gone, the Negus is gone, and this throughout all the
district: everybody started off after him as hurriedly as he could.
Before his departure orders were given to give us fifty mules to carry
flour and wine, and of these they did not give more than thirty-five
for the said flour and wine, and the fifteen to carry our baggage, and
also they sent us certain slaves. Of these fifteen mules and slaves,
the ambassador took what he wanted, saying that all was his. We were
put in charge of an honourable gentleman named Ajaze Rafael. Ajaze is
a title of lordship, Rafael is his name: this person was a priest, and
another great captain was told to watch over us. They said that they
would send and give us two cows each day.
On Tuesday we set out on our journey after the court, we may have gone
quite four leagues, and we did not reach the place where the Prester
was. On Wednesday we travelled and reached the court, and we took up
our quarters in a large plain close to a river, which might be half
a league from the King’s tent. When we were settled there came to us
an honourable friar, who is the second of those of Prester John, and
he is the head and captain over the scribes of Prester John, that is
of the scribes of the Church characters. This man is Nebret of the
friars of Aquaxum, and he told the ambassador that his lord sent him to
learn how we had come, and how we were, and he also told us that they
would give us everything that he ordered to be given us. The ambassador
answered that he kissed His Highness’s hands for this visit, and that
we had come very well, and that they had given him all the things which
His Highness had ordered. Upon this Jorge d’Abreu said that he should
not say that, for that they had not given all the mules, and those
that they had given were one-eyed or blind, and the slaves were old
and worth nothing, and that such as they were everything was for the
ambassador, that he had taken it without giving anything to any one.
The ambassador replied that he should not say so, that all the mules
and slaves and other things were perfect. Jorge d’Abreu answered: If
they gave perfect mules and slaves and other things, you have got them,
and to you they give mules and horses, and to the others they give
nothing, henceforward it must not be so. All this passed before the
friar who had come to pay a visit; and when he went, the ambassador
said to Jorge d’Abreu: For God’s sake do not let us cause discontent,
let us make ready for our journey, for there are mules in abundance,
some have been given us, and others will be given. After this they
got into such discussions that they took to swords and lances, and I
with my crozier in the midst making peace, for these acts seemed to me
evil. There were a good number of blows and thrusts, but there was only
one small wound, which was given to Jorge d’Abreu; and the said Jorge
d’Abreu and Lopo da Gama went out of the tent, and the rest remained
within it.
CAP. LXXXVI.--_How the Prester was informed of the quarrels of
the Portuguese, and entreated them to be friends, and what more
passed, and of the wrestling match and the baptism we did here._
The friar who came to pay a visit and who came at the beginning of
these quarrels made mention of them to the Prester, and afterwards on
Friday morning there came a message from Prester John to say that the
mules and slaves that he had ordered to be given to carry our baggage,
he had not ordered them to be given up to us, but that we should give
them in charge to an _azmate_ who had to conduct us, and that we
should now give in charge to him the mules and slaves, and he would
have charge of them, and of conveying our baggage, and that he well
knew that neither the ambassador, nor those that came with him, were
merchants to undertake to convey baggage or goods, nor to load it
or carry it, and that if they gave over the mules and slaves to the
person he sent, the ambassador and his people would not have any other
trouble than to travel, and that the azmate would take care to have
our baggage carried. Then they gave over the mules and slaves to the
person sent by the Prester. When this was done, the Prester sent for
the ambassador and all of us, and we went at once. The first message
that came from within was to say: why do you quarrel; and that he
entreated us to be friends. The ambassador answered that this was not
the first time, because these two men, that is, Lopo da Gama and Jorge
d’Abreu were much opposed to him and to the service of the King of
Portugal, for which he came, and that he begged His Highness to order
them to keep apart from his tent and company. Whilst this answer was
going, there came another message to beg that we would be good friends.
The ambassador sent word that he was not going to be his friend, nor
should he go in his company: and many other things passed. During this
they told us to sit in a green field of long grass; and we having sat
down in a great heat, we arose with great cold, because the stay there
was from ten o’clock until night: and in like manner Jorge d’Abreu and
Lopo da Gama were called there. So messages came and went to them, as
to us, and what they were I do not know, because we were very far from
one another. It was already quite dark and very cold as we were without
food, and the ambassador sent word to the Prester to give us leave, for
it was not usual to keep such persons day and night without necessity,
and without food in the cold fields. Then they gave us leave and we
came to our tent, and Jorge d’Abreu and Lopo da Gama went by order of
the Prester to the quarters of the great Betudete. A message was sent
after us to the ambassador asking him not to take ill the stay in the
field, that he had done it in order to hear both sides, and that his
desire was not to annoy him, but to give him satisfaction and send him
away with joy: he also sent to ask if he had here any good wrestlers;
the ambassador, however, excused himself as it was night. When we were
in the tent there came large presents of bread and wine and meat, and
messages repeating that we should not be angry at the delay they had
made.
On Sunday, the 2nd day of December, of the said year 1520, in the
afternoon, our Portuguese painter, named Lazaro d’Andrade, was standing
near the King’s tent, and was invited to wrestle, and he wrestled; and
in the beginning of it they broke one of his legs. After this breakage,
Prester John gave him a dress of rich brocade, and they brought him
to our tent on men’s shoulders. On Monday, the next day, Prester John
sent to ask the ambassador if he had other wrestlers to send them to
wrestle with his, and as it seemed to the ambassador that there were
here others who were invited for this purpose, who might go and avenge
the painter, he sent there two chosen wrestlers, namely a servant of
the ambassador named Estevan Palharte, and one Ayras Diz, who came with
the clerk of the embassy. When they were at the wrestling, Ayras Diz
entered first to wrestle with the man who broke the painter’s leg, and
he broke his arm, so he at once returned to our tent with his broken
arm. Estevan Palharte did not wrestle, because he found himself alone
and was afraid. This wrestler who broke a leg and an arm is a page of
the Prester, and is named Gabmaria, which means servant of St. Mary,
and he had been a Moor; he is a strong broad shouldered man, and they
say he is a man who is cunning with his hands, in working silk and
gold, and making fringes,[171] tassels, and cloths. This day there came
a message to the Prester from his Betudete who was in the war, saying
that he was sending to him thence much gold and slaves, and the heads
of some great men who had been killed there, and that he had had a
great victory over the enemy. Whilst we were in this plain and district
of the Prester, there were some Franks in their tents, and the wife of
one of them named mestre Pedro Cordoeiro, a Genoese, happened to be
delivered, and when the child was eight days old, he requested me to
baptize it. As it was a child born in the country and at court, and
so few days old, for they do not baptize male children except after
forty days, I was not willing to baptize it without letting Prester
John know of it, because the many others that I had baptized were
our slaves of ten and twelve years of age. I went to the tent of the
Prester and sent to tell him how they required of me baptism according
to our custom, and that His Highness should give his orders what I was
to do. A message came at once that I was to baptize it and give it
all the sacraments as is done in Frankland and in the Roman Church,
and to allow to come to the baptism and sacraments as many of the
people of the country as wished to be present: and he ordered oil to
be given me. I celebrated this baptism on the 10th of December, there
came to it many people of the most honourable and principal people at
Court. At this baptism we held a cross uplifted, because such is their
custom. I officiated as slowly as I was able. The people who were
present were astonished, according to their gestures and what was said
by the Franks and our interpreters who understood them; and the Court
people said that this office was ordained by God, and they went away
as much comforted as if they had eaten good viands, and they very much
praised our offices both baptism and mass, because we officiated very
deliberately, and they seemed to them more perfect than their own.
CAP. LXXXVII.--_Of the number of men, horse and foot, who go
with the Prester when he travels._
We departed from this place, turning back by the road by which we had
come. The people who continually go on the road with the Court is a
thing scarcely credible: for certainly the distance between each place
of encampment is three or four leagues, and the people are so many and
so close together that they look like a procession of Corpus Domini in
a great city, without diminution in any part of the road. The people
are of this kind; the tenth part of them may be well-dressed people,
and the nine parts common people, both men and women, young people,
and poor, some of them clothed in skins, others in poor stuffs, and
all these common people carry with them their property, which all
consists of pots for making wine, and porringers for drinking. If they
move short distances, these poor people carry with them their poor
dwellings, made and thatched as they had them; and if they go further
they carry the wood of them, which are some poles. The rich bring very
good tents. I do not speak of the great lords and great gentlemen,
because each of these moves a city or a good town of tents, and loads,
and muleteers, a matter without number or reckoning. I do not know what
to say of those on foot. We Portuguese and the Franks often talked of
these mules, because in the winter that is coming, as is reported,
for many lords go to pass the winter at their lands, the Court cannot
move with less than fifty thousand mules, and from that upwards, the
number may reach a hundred thousand. There are very few horses, and
the led mules are twice or thrice as many as the others, these are not
reckoned in the number of mules. Of the horses many are very handsome,
and as they are not shod, they soon founder, so they do not travel upon
them: neither do I reckon these, therefore I say very few horses. If
the Prester travels far, the villages remain full of foundered horses,
and afterwards they take them away at leisure. I do not reckon the
mules with packs; the male mules serve as well for the saddle as the
female; they serve in one manner only, those that are saddle mules for
the saddle, and the pack mules for packs. There are also a quantity of
ponies[172] for packs, but they founder like the horses. There are many
asses which serve better than the ponies, and many pack oxen, and in
many districts camels which carry large loads, these in the flat lands.
CAP. LXXXVIII.--_Of the churches at Court, and how they travel,
and how the altar stones are reverenced, and how Prester John
shows himself to the people each year._
Prester John rarely travels in a straight direction, nor does anyone
know where he is going. This multitude of people travels along the
road until they find a white tent pitched, and there they settle down
each in their own places. Frequently Prester John does not come to
this tent, but sleeps in the monasteries and large churches which are
in the country. In the tent which is thus pitched they do not neglect
to make solemn observances of instrumental music and chaunts, yet not
so perfect as when the lord is there: moreover, the churches always
travel with the Court, and there are thirteen of them. They travel by
the straight road, although Prester John goes off the road. The altar
stone or stones of all the churches are conveyed with much reverence,
and are only carried by mass priests, and always four priests go with
each stone, and four others outside of these to do them reverence; they
carry these stones on a trestle[173] raised on men’s shoulders, and
covered with rich cloths of brocade and silk. In front of each altar
or stone, for all go together, walk two deacons, with thurible and
cross, and another with a bell ringing it. And every man, or woman,
who is going on the road, as soon as he hears the bell goes off the
road, and makes room for the church; and if he is riding a mule he
dismounts and lets the church go by. Also, whenever the Prester travels
with his Court, four lions always go before him, these too travel by
the straight road, and they go bound with strong chains, that is to
say, with two chains, one behind and one before, and many men conduct
them; to these also people give up the road, but it is from fear. We
travelled on our road, with various halts, till the 20th of December,
when we stopped at the great gullies which have the gates, where
we passed in coming,[174] and there they gave us quarters in large
fields, when Prester John’s tents were pitched. They at once began to
make a very high platform in one of the tents for Prester John to show
himself on Christmas-day, because he generally shows himself three
times a year, that is, once at Christmas, another time at Easter, and
another on Holy Cross day in September. They say that he makes these
three exhibitions of himself because his grandfather, the father of
his father, who was named Alexander, was kept by his courtiers hidden
for three years when dead, and they were masters of his kingdoms and
lordships: for up to that time no one of the people ever saw their
king, and he was not seen except by a very few of his servants and
courtiers; and at the request of the people the father of this David
showed himself these three days, and so does this one. They say that if
he goes to war, he goes uncovered in the sight of all, and even when
travelling, as will be related further on, where we saw him.
CAP. LXXXIX.--_How Prester John sent to call me to say mass for
him on Christmas-day, and of confession and communion._