_Of the Desert between the Church of Saint Catherine and Jerusalem_. _Of
the Dry Tree_; _and how Roses came first into the World_
NOW, after that men have visited those holy places, then will they turn
toward Jerusalem. And then will they take leave of the monks, and
recommend themselves to their prayers. And then they give the pilgrims
of their victuals for to pass with the deserts toward Syria. And those
deserts dure well a thirteen journeys.
In that desert dwell many of Arabians, that men clepe Bedouins and
Ascopards, and they be folk full of all evil conditions. And they have
none houses, but tents, that they make of skins of beasts, as of camels
and of other beasts that they eat; and there beneath these they couch
them and dwell in place where they may find water, as on the Red Sea or
elsewhere: for in that desert is full great default of water, and
often-time it falleth that where men find water at one time in a place it
faileth another time; and for that skill they make none habitations
there. These folk that I speak of, they till not the land, and they
labour nought; for they eat no bread, but if it be any that dwell nigh a
good town, that go thither and eat bread sometime. And they roast their
flesh and their fish upon the hot stones against the sun. And they be
strong men and well-fighting; and there so is much multitude of that
folk, that they be without number. And they ne reck of nothing, ne do
not but chase after beasts to eat them. And they reck nothing of their
life, and therefore they fear not the sultan, ne no other prince; but
they dare well war with them, if they do anything that is grievance to
them. And they have often-times war with the sultan, and, namely, that
time that I was with him. And they bear but one shield and one spear,
without other arms; and they wrap their heads and their necks with a
great quantity of white linen cloth; and they be right felonous and foul,
and of cursed kind.
And when men pass this desert, in coming toward Jerusalem, they come to
Bersabe (Beersheba), that was wont to be a full fair town and a
delectable of Christian men; and yet there be some of their churches. In
that town dwelled Abraham the patriarch, a long time. That town of
Bersabe founded Bersabe (Bathsheba), the wife of Sir Uriah the Knight, on
the which King David gat Solomen the Wise, that was king after David upon
the twelve kindreds of Jerusalem and reigned forty year.
And from thence go men to the city of Hebron, that is the mountance of
twelve good mile. And it was clept sometime the Vale of Mamre, and
some-time it was clept the Vale of Tears, because that Adam wept there an
hundred year for the death of Abel his son, that Cain slew. Hebron was
wont to be the principal city of the Philistines, and there dwelled some
time the giants. And that city was also sacerdotal, that is to say,
sanctuary of the tribe of Judah; and it was so free, that men received
there all manner of fugitives of other places for their evil deeds. In
Hebron Joshua, Caleb and their company came first to aspy, how they might
win the land of Behest. In Hebron reigned first king David seven year
and a half; and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three year and a half.
And in Hebron be all the sepultures of the patriarchs, Adam, Abraham,
Isaac, and of Jacob; and of their wives, Eve, Sarah and Rebecca, and of
Leah; the which sepultures the Saracens keep full curiously, and have the
place in great reverence for the holy fathers, the patriarchs that lie
there. And they suffer no Christian man to enter into that place, but if
it be of special grace of the sultan; for they hold Christian men and
Jews as dogs, and they say, that they should not enter into so holy
place. And men clepe that place, where they lie, Double Spelunk, or
Double Cave, or Double Ditch, forasmuch as that one lieth above that
other. And the Saracens clepe that place in their language, _Karicarba_,
that is to say, ‘The Place of Patriarchs.’ And the Jews clepe that place
_Arboth_. And in that same place was Abraham’s house, and there he sat
and saw three persons, and worshipped but one; as holy writ saith, _Tres
vidit et unum adoravit_, that is to say, ‘He saw three and worshipped
one’: and of those same received Abraham the angels into his house.
And right fast by that place is a cave in the rock, where Adam and Eve
dwelled when they were put out of Paradise; and there got they their
children. And in that same place was Adam formed and made, after that
some men say: (for men were wont for to clepe that place the field of
Damascus, because that it was in the lordship of Damascus), and from
thence was he translated into Paradise of delights, as they say; and
after that he was driven out of Paradise he was there left. And the same
day that he was put in Paradise, the same day he was put out, for anon he
sinned. There beginneth the Vale of Hebron, that dureth nigh to
Jerusalem. There the angel commanded Adam that he should dwell with his
wife Eve, of the which he gat Seth; of which tribe, that is to say
kindred, Jesu Christ was born.
In that valley is a field, where men draw out of the earth a thing that
men clepe cambile, and they eat it instead of spices, and they bear it to
sell. And men may not make the hole or the cave, where it is taken out
of the earth, so deep or so wide, but that it is, at the year’s end, full
again up to the sides, through the grace of God.
And two mile from Hebron is the grave of Lot, that was Abraham’s brother.
And a little from Hebron is the mount of Mamre, of the which the valley
taketh his name. And there is a tree of oak, that the Saracens clepe
_Dirpe_, that is of Abraham’s time: the which men clepe the Dry Tree.
And they say that it hath been there since the beginning of the world,
and was some-time green and bare leaves, unto the time that our Lord died
on the cross, and then it dried: and so did all the trees that were then
in the world. And some say, by their prophecies, that a lord, a prince
of the west side of the world, shall win the Land of Promission that is
the Holy Land with help of Christian men, and he shall do sing a mass
under that dry tree; and then the tree shall wax green and bear both
fruit and leaves, and through that miracle many Saracens and Jews shall
be turned to Christian faith: and, therefore, they do great worship
thereto, and keep it full busily. And, albeit so, that it be dry,
natheles yet he beareth great virtue, for certainly he that hath a little
thereof upon him, it healeth him of the falling evil, and his horse shall
not be a-foundered: and many other virtues it hath; wherefore men hold it
full precious.
From Hebron men go to Bethlehem in half a day, for it is but five mile;
and it is full fair way, by plains and woods full delectable. Bethlehem
is a little city, long and narrow and well walled, and in each side
enclosed with good ditches: and it was wont to be clept Ephrata, as holy
writ saith, _Ecce_, _audivimus eum in Ephrata_, that is to say, ‘Lo, we
heard him in Ephrata.’ And toward the east end of the city is a full
fair church and a gracious, and it hath many towers, pinacles and
corners, full strong and curiously made; and within that church be
forty-four pillars of marble, great and fair.
And between the city and the church is the field _Floridus_, that is to
say, the ‘field flourished.’ For as much as a fair maiden was blamed
with wrong, and slandered that she had done fornication; for which cause
she was demned to death, and to be burnt in that place, to the which she
was led. And, as the fire began to burn about her, she made her prayers
to our Lord, that as wisely as she was not guilty of that sin, that he
would help her and make it to be known to all men, of his merciful grace.
And when she had thus said, she entered into the fire, and anon was the
fire quenched and out; and the brands that were burning became red
rose-trees, and the brands that were not kindled became white rose-trees,
full of roses. And these were the first rose-trees and roses, both white
and red, that ever any man saw; and thus was this maiden saved by the
grace of God. And therefore is that field clept the field of God
flourished, for it was full of roses.
Also beside the choir of the church, at the right side, as men come
downward sixteen degrees, is the place where our Lord was born, that is
full well dight of marble, and full richly painted with gold, silver,
azure and other colours. And three paces beside is the crib of the ox
and the ass. And beside that is the place where the star fell, that led
the three kings, Jaspar, Melchior and Balthazar: but men of Greece clepe
them thus, _Galgalath_, _Malgalath_, and _Seraphie_, and the Jews clepe
them, in this manner, in Hebrew, _Appelius_, _Amerrius_, and _Damasus_.
These three kings offered to our Lord, gold, incense and myrrh, and they
met together through miracle of God; for they met together in a city in
Ind, that men clepe Cassak, that is a fifty-three journeys from
Bethlehem; and they were at Bethlehem the thirteenth day; and that was
the fourth day after that they had seen the star, when they met in that
city, and thus they were in nine days from that city at Bethlehem, and
that was great miracle.
Also, under the cloister of the church, by eighteen degrees at the right
side, is the charnel of the Innocents, where their bones lie. And before
the place where our Lord was born is the tomb of Saint Jerome, that was a
priest and a cardinal, that translated the Bible and the Psalter from
Hebrew into Latin: and without the minster is the chair that he sat in
when he translated it. And fast beside that church, a sixty fathom, is a
church of Saint Nicholas, where our Lady rested her after she was lighted
of our Lord; and forasmuch as she had too much milk in her paps, that
grieved her, she milked them on the red stones of marble, so that the
traces may yet be seen, in the stones, all white.
And ye shall understand, that all that dwell in Bethlehem be Christian
men.
And there be fair vines about the city, and great plenty of wine, that
the Christian men have do let make. But the Saracens ne till not no
vines, ne they drink no wine: for their books of their law, that Mahomet
betoke them, which they clepe their _Al Koran_, and some clepe it
_Mesaph_, and in another language it is clept _Harme_, and the same book
forbiddeth them to drink wine. For in that book, Mahomet cursed all
those that drink wine and all them that sell it: for some men say, that
he slew once an hermit in his drunkenness, that he loved full well; and
therefore he cursed wine and them that drink it. But his curse be turned
on to his own head, as holy writ saith, _Et in virticem ipsius iniquitas
ejus descendet_, that is for to say, ‘His wickedness shall turn and fall
in his own head.’
And also the Saracens bring forth no pigs, nor they eat no swine’s flesh,
for they say it is brother to man, and it was forbidden by the old law;
and they hold him all accursed that eat thereof. Also in the land of
Palestine and in the land of Egypt, they eat but little or none of flesh
of veal or of beef, but if be so old, that he may no more travel for old;
for it is forbidden, and for because they have but few of them; therefore
they nourish them for to ere their lands.
In this city of Bethlehem was David the king born; and he had sixty
wives, and the first wife was called Michal; and also he had three
hundred lemans.
And from Bethlehem unto Jerusalem is but two mile; and in the way to
Jerusalem half a mile from Bethlehem is a church, where the angel said to
the shepherds of the birth of Christ. And in that way is the tomb of
Rachel, that was Joseph’s mother, the patriarch; and she died anon after
that she was delivered of her son Benjamin. And there she was buried of
Jacob her husband, and he let set twelve great stones on her, in token
that she had born twelve children. In the same way, half mile from
Jerusalem, appeared the star to the three kings. In that way also be
many churches of Christian men, by the which men go towards the city of
Jerusalem.