_Of the Customs of Saracens_, _and of their Law_. _And how the Soldan
reasoned me_, _Author of this Book_; _and of the beginning of Mohammet_
NOW, because that I have spoken of Saracens and of their country—now, if
ye will know a part of their law and of their belief, I shall tell you
after that their book that is clept _Alkaron_ telleth. And some men
clepe that book _Meshaf_. And some men clepe it _Harme_, after the
diverse languages of the country. The which book Mohammet took them. In
the which book, among other things, is written, as I have often-time seen
and read, that the good shall go to paradise, and the evil to hell; and
that believe all Saracens. And if a man ask them what paradise they
mean, they say, to paradise that is a place of delights where men shall
find all manner of fruits in all seasons, and rivers running of milk and
honey, and of wine and of sweet water; and that they shall have fair
houses and noble, every man after his desert, made of precious stones and
of gold and of silver; and that every man shall have four score wives all
maidens, and he shall have ado every day with them, and yet he shall find
them always maidens.
Also they believe and speak gladly of the Virgin Mary and of the
Incarnation. And they say that Mary was taught of the angel; and that
Gabriel said to her, that she was for-chosen from the beginning of the
world and that he shewed to her the Incarnation of Jesu Christ and that
she conceived and bare child maiden; and that witnesseth their book.
And they say also, that Jesu Christ spake as soon as he was born; and
that he was an holy prophet and a true in word and deed, and meek and
piteous and rightful and without any vice.
And they say also, that when the angel shewed the Incarnation of Christ
unto Mary, she was young and had great dread. For there was then an
enchanter in the country that dealt with witchcraft, that men clept
Taknia, that by his enchantments could make him in likeness of an angel,
and went often-times and lay with maidens. And therefore Mary dreaded
lest it had been Taknia, that came for to deceive the maidens. And
therefore she conjured the angel, that he should tell her if it were he
or no. And the angel answered and said that she should have no dread of
him, for he was very messenger of Jesu Christ. Also their book saith,
that when that she had childed under a palm tree she had great shame,
that she had a child; and she greet and said that she would that she had
been dead. And anon the child spake to her and comforted her, and said,
“Mother, ne dismay thee nought, for God hath hid in thee his privities
for the salvation of the world.” And in other many places saith their
_Alkaron_, that Jesu Christ spake as soon as he was born. And that book
saith also that Jesu was sent from God Almighty for to be mirror and
example and token to all men.
And the _Alkaron_ saith also of the day of doom how God shall come to
doom all manner of folk. And the good he shall draw on his side and put
them into bliss, and the wicked he shall condemn to the pains of hell.
And among all prophets Jesu was the most excellent and the most worthy
next God, and that he made the gospels in the which is good doctrine and
healthful, full of clarity and soothfastness and true preaching to them
that believe in God. And that he was a very prophet and more than a
prophet, and lived without sin, and gave sight to the blind, and healed
the lepers, and raised dead men, and styed to heaven.
And when they may hold the Book of the Gospels of our Lord written and
namely _Missus est Angelus Gabriel_, that gospel they say, those that be
lettered, often-times in their orisons, and they kiss it and worship it
with great devotion.
They fast an whole month in the year and eat nought but by night. And
they keep them from their wives all that month. But the sick men be not
constrained to that fast.
Also this book speaketh of Jews and saith that they be cursed; for they
would not believe that Jesu Christ was come of God. And that they lied
falsely on Mary and on her son Jesu Christ, saying that they had
crucified Jesu the son of Mary; for he was never crucified, as they say,
but that God made him to sty up to him without death and without annoy.
But he transfigured his likeness into Judas Iscariot, and him crucified
the Jews, and weened that it had been Jesus. But Jesus styed to heavens
all quick. And therefore they say, that the Christian men err and have
no good knowledge of this, and that they believe folily and falsely that
Jesu Christ was crucified. And they say yet, that and he had been
crucified, that God had done against his righteousness for to suffer Jesu
Christ, that was innocent, to be put upon the cross without guilt. And
in this article they say that we fail and that the great righteousness of
God might not suffer so great a wrong: and in this faileth their faith.
For they knowledge well, that the works of Jesu Christ be good, and his
words and his deeds and his doctrine by his gospels were true, and his
miracles also true; and the blessed Virgin Mary is good, and holy maiden
before and after the birth of Jesu Christ; and that all those that
believe perfectly in God shall be saved. And because that they go so
nigh our faith, they be lightly converted to Christian law when men
preach them and shew them distinctly the law of Jesu Christ, and when
they tell them of the prophecies.
And also they say, that they know well by the prophecies that the law of
Mahomet shall fail, as the law of the Jews did; and that the law of
Christian people shall last to the day of doom. And if any man ask them
what is their belief, they answer thus, and in this form: “We believe
God, former of heaven and of earth, and of all other things that he made.
And without him is nothing made. And we believe of the day of doom, and
that every man shall have his merit, after he hath deserved. And, we
believe it for sooth, all that God hath said by the mouths of his
prophets.”
Also Mahomet commanded in his _Alkaron_, that every man should have two
wives, or three or four; but now they take unto nine, and of lemans as
many as he may sustain. And if any of their wives mis-bear them against
their husband, he may cast her out of his house, and depart from her and
take another; but he shall depart with her his goods.
Also, when men speak to them of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Ghost, they say, that they be three persons, but not one God; for their
_Alkaron_ speaketh not of the Trinity. But they say well, that God hath
speech, and else were he dumb. And God hath also a spirit they know
well, for else they say, he were not alive. And when men speak to them
of the Incarnation how that by the word of the angel God sent his wisdom
in to earth and enombred him in the Virgin Mary, and by the word of God
shall the dead be raised at the day of doom, they say, that it is sooth
and that the word of God hath great strength. And they say that whoso
knew not the word of God he should not know God. And they say also that
Jesu Christ is the word of God: and so saith their _Alkaron_, where it
saith that the angel spake to Mary and said: “Mary, God shall preach thee
the gospel by the word of his mouth and his name shall be clept Jesu
Christ.”
And they say also, that Abraham was friend to God, and that Moses was
familiar speaker with God, and Jesu Christ was the word and the spirit of
God, and that Mohammet was right messenger of God. And they say, that of
these four, Jesu was the most worthy and the most excellent and the most
great. So that they have many good articles of our faith, albeit that
they have no perfect law and faith as Christian men have; and therefore
be they lightly converted, and namely those that understand the
scriptures and the prophecies. For they have the gospels and the
prophecies and the Bible written in their language; wherefore they ken
much of holy writ, but they understand it not but after the letter. And
so do the Jews, for they understand not the letter ghostly, but bodily;
and therefore be they reproved of the wise, that ghostly understand it.
And therefore saith Saint Paul: _Litera occidit_; _spiritus autem
vivificat_. Also the Saracens say, that the Jews be cursed; for they
have befouled the law that God sent them by Moses: and the Christian be
cursed also, as they say; for they keep not the commandments and the
precepts of the gospel that Jesu Christ taught them.
And, therefore, I shall tell you what the soldan told me upon a day in
his chamber. He let void out of his chamber all manner of men, lords and
others, for he would speak with me in counsel. And there he asked me how
the Christian men governed them in our country. And I said him, “Right
well, thanked be God!”
And he said me, “Truly nay! For ye Christian ne reck right nought, how
untruly to serve God! Ye should give ensample to the lewd people for to
do well, and ye give them ensample to do evil. For the commons, upon
festival days, when they should go to church to serve God, then go they
to taverns, and be there in gluttony all the day and all night, and eat
and drink as beasts that have no reason, and wit not when they have
enough. And also the Christian men enforce themselves in all manners
that they may, for to fight and for to deceive that one that other. And
therewithal they be so proud, that they know not how to be clothed; now
long, now short, now strait, now large, now sworded, now daggered, and in
all manner guises. They should be simple, meek and true, and full of
alms-deeds, as Jesu was, in whom they trow; but they be all the contrary,
and ever inclined to the evil, and to do evil. And they be so covetous,
that, for a little silver, they sell their daughters, their sisters and
their own wives to put them to lechery. And one withdraweth the wife of
another, and none of them holdeth faith to another; but they defoul their
law that Jesu Christ betook them to keep for their salvation. And thus,
for their sins, have they lost all this land that we hold. For, for
their sins, their God hath taken them into our hands, not only by
strength of ourself, but for their sins. For we know well, in very
sooth, that when ye serve God, God will help you; and when he is with
you, no man may be against you. And that know we well by our prophecies,
that Christian men shall win again this land out of our hands, when they
serve God more devoutly; but as long as they be of foul and of unclean
living (as they be now) we have no dread of them in no kind, for their
God will not help them in no wise.”
And then I asked him, how he knew the state of Christian men. And he
answered me, that he knew all the state of all courts of Christian kings
and princes and the state of the commons also by his messengers that he
sent to all lands, in manner as they were merchants of precious stones,
of cloths of gold and of other things, for to know the manner of every
country amongst Christian men. And then he let clepe in all the lords
that he made void first out of his chamber, and there he shewed me four
that were great lords in the country, that told me of my country and of
many other Christian countries, as well as they had been of the same
country; and they spake French right well, and the soldan also; whereof I
had great marvel.
Alas! that it is great slander to our faith and to our law, when folk
that be without law shall reprove us and undernim us of our sins, and
they that should be converted to Christ and to the law of Jesu by our
good ensamples and by our acceptable life to God, and so converted to the
law of Jesu Christ, be, through our wickedness and evil living, far from
us and strangers from the holy and very belief, shall thus appeal us and
hold us for wicked livers and cursed. And truly they say sooth, for the
Saracens be good and faithful; for they keep entirely the commandment of
the holy book _Alkaron_ that God sent them by his messenger Mahomet, to
the which, as they say, Saint Gabriel the angel oftentime told the will
of God.
And ye shall understand, that Mahomet was born in Arabia, that was first
a poor knave that kept camels, that went with merchants for merchandise.
And so befell, that he went with the merchants into Egypt; and they were
then Christian in those parts. And at the deserts of Arabia, he went
into a chapel where a hermit dwelt. And when he entered into the chapel
that was but a little and a low thing and had but a little door and a
low, then the entry began to wax so great, and so large and so high as
though it had been of a great minster or the gate of a palace. And this
was the first miracle, the Saracens say, that Mahomet did in his youth.
After began he for to wax wise and rich. And he was a great astronomer.
And after, he was governor and prince of the land of Cozrodane; and he
governed it full wisely, in such manner, that when the prince was dead,
he took the lady to wife that hight Gadrige. And Mahomet fell often in
the great sickness that men call the falling evil; wherefore the lady was
full sorry that ever she took him to husband. But Mahomet made her to
believe, that all times, when he fell so, Gabriel the angel came for to
speak with him, and for the great light and brightness of the angel he
might not sustain him from falling; and therefore the Saracens say, that
Gabriel came often to speak with him.
This Mahomet reigned in Arabia, the year of our Lord Jesu Christ 610, and
was of the generation of Ishmael that was Abraham’s son, that he gat upon
Hagar his chamberer. And therefore there be Saracens that be clept
Ishmaelites; and some Hagarenes, of Hagar. And the other properly be
clept Saracens, of Sarah. And some be clept Moabites and some Ammonites,
for the two sons of Lot, Moab and Ammon, that he begat on his daughters
that were afterward great earthly princes.
And also Mahomet loved well a good hermit that dwelled in the deserts a
mile from Mount Sinai, in the way that men go from Arabia toward Chaldea
and toward Ind, one day’s journey from the sea, where the merchants of
Venice come often for merchandise. And so often went Mahomet to this
hermit, that all his men were wroth; for he would gladly hear this hermit
preach and make his men wake all night. And therefore his men thought to
put the hermit to death. And so it befell upon a night, that Mahomet was
drunken of good wine, and he fell on sleep. And his men took Mahomet’s
sword out of his sheath, whiles he slept, and therewith they slew this
hermit, and put his sword all bloody in his sheath again. And at morrow,
when he found the hermit dead, he was full sorry and wroth, and would
have done his men to death. But they all, with one accord, said that he
himself had slain him, when he was drunken, and shewed him his sword all
bloody. And he trowed that they had said sooth. And then he cursed the
wine and all those that drink it. And therefore Saracens that be devout
drink never no wine. But some drink it privily; for if they drunk it
openly, they should be reproved. But they drink good beverage and sweet
and nourishing that is made of gallamelle and that is that men make sugar
of, that is of right good savour, and it is good for the breast.
Also it befalleth some-time, that Christian men become Saracens, either
for poverty or for simpleness, or else for their own wickedness. And
therefore the archflamen or the flamen, as our archbishop or bishop, when
he receiveth them saith thus: _La ellec olla Sila_, _Machomete rores
alla_; that is to say, ‘There is no God but one, and Mahomet his
messenger.’
Now I have told you a part of their law and of their customs, I shall say
you of their letters that they have, with their names and the manner of
their figures what they be: Almoy, Bethath, Cathi, Ephoti, Delphoi,
Fothi, Garothi, Hechum, Iotty, Kaythi, Lothum, Malach, Nabaloth, Orthi,
Chesiri, ȝoch, Ruth, Holath, Routhi, Salathi, Thatimus, Yrthom, Aȝaȝoth,
Arrocchi, ȝotipyn, Ichetus. And these be the names of their a. b. c.
Now shall ye know the figures. . . . And four letters they have more than
other for diversity of their language and speech, forasmuch as they speak
in their throats; and we in England have in our language and speech two
letters more than they have in their a. b. c.; and that is Þ and ȝ, which
be clept thorn and ȝogh.