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SOCIETY
F E T E L L U S
(Circa 1130 a.d.)
*3rratt0ktelJ anti Jlnnotatei
BY
REV. JAMES ROSE MACPHERSON, B.D.
LONDON:
24, HANOVER SQUARE, W.
1896.
JS
\f.5
CONTENTS.
PAGE
INTRODUCTION -..--- V
THE SITUATION OF THE CITY OF JERUSALEM, AND THE
HOLY PLACES WITHIN THE CITY ITSELF OR IN ITS
NEIGHDOURHOOD ----- I
DESCRIPTION OF THE PLACES LYING ROUND JERUSALEM - 8
THE STATIONS OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, "FROM EGYPT
TO GILGAL - - ^ - - - 14
IDUMEA, DAMASCUS, ARCHAS - - - - 22
SOURCES OF JORDAN, SUETHA - '- - -25
GALILEE --.-^.-28
SAMARIA, SICHEM - - - - - ' 3^
BETHLEHEM, HEBRON - - . "35
JERUSALEM AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD - - "36
JERICHO - - « - - - -44
LYDDA, JOPPA, C^SAREA - - - - '45
MOUNT CARMEL, ACRE, TYRE, SIDON, SAREPTA - - 48
BEYROUT, TRIPOLI - - - - - "51
JERUSALEM, THE TOWER OF DAVID, GODFREY OF BOUILLON 52
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PLAN OF JERUSALEM, TWELFTH CENTURY - - tO face p. 3
PLAN OF JERUSALEM, ABOUT I166 A.D. • - end of book
FETELLUS,
INTRODUCTION.
The Count de Vogue (in an appendix to his great work,
' Les Eglises de la Terre Sainte ') has divided the descrip-
tions of the Holy Places which were written during the
Middle Ages into two classes, — the first comprising such as
have a distinctly personal character, which would now be
called Journals, — the second embracing shorter works of an
anonymous character, which would now be known as
Guides, being designed to provide pilgrims with the infor-
mation they required, or to enable those who could not go
on pilgrimage to form some conception of the scenes of
the Holy Land. The most celebrated of the former class
is the work of Arculfus, which was the great authority on
the subject from the time in which it was written (about
A.D. 670) until it was displaced in public favour by other
works written in large numbers at the time of the Crusades,
such as those of Ssewulf, John of Wurzburg, John Phocas,
Wilbrand von Oldenburg, and the military histories of
Albert d'Aix, Guibert de Nogent, Wilham of Tyre,
Foulcher de Chartres, Jacques de Vitry, etc. Of the latter
class we have many representatives ; and when those of
them written during or after the Crusades are compared,
it is at once evident that they draw to a large extent upon
some common source, whole sentences being repeated by
one after the other. The Count de Vogue has been led
vi FETELLUS.
by his researches to recognise several types in these Guides,
more or less altered by the special writer to suit the time
and the circumstances of his work ; and two of these have
been found to be of special interest. The first type is
represented by the work which is now translated, dating
from the commencement of the twelfth century, and show-
ing the position of the country at the beginning of the
Crusades; the other, composed about 1187, and indicating
the changes introduced by the Latin occupation, is repre-
sented by the description of the country already translated
in the publications of this society — ' The City of Jerusalem.'
The former is a Latin type, the latter a Norman- French.
The oldest copy of a Guide of the first class which
the Count de Vogii^ was able to obtain, is one written
between the years 1151 and 1157, found in a MS. of the
National Library of Paris (Imperial Library — Fonds
Latin, No. 5,129) at the end of the Chronicle of Robert
the Monk. The volume was apparently written between
the dates that have been given, as the lists of the princes
contained in it stop at the Patriarch Foulcher (i 146-1157),
King Baldwin IIL (i 144-I162), and Count Raymond IL,
of Tripoli (1151-1187). The treatise appears, however, to
be of an earlier date than this : it is anterior to the building
of the choir of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (p. 2), it
follows by a short time the foundation of the Order of
the Templars (p. 39), and the historical precis which closes
it seems to have originally stopped at Baldwin IL (ob.
1 131), the allusions to King Fulke and King Baldwin III.
being added by a later writer. Its date may thus be
placed about 11 30. Its author is altogether unknown,
for although it passes under the name of Fetellus, it
is quite certain that he was not the writer of it, his name
being associated with it only because an edition of the
work executed by him was for long the best known form
of the treatise. Even of Fetellus very little is known, his
name being variously spelled Fctcllui and Fretellus, and the
only fact ascertained about him being that he was Arch-
INTRODUCTION.
deacon of Antioch about 1200. He abbreviated the original
text to a considerable e^ctent in his edition, specially in
the description of the Desert of the Wanderings, the
legends, and the natural history ; and he altered the parts
that betrayed an earlier date, such as that as to the
church ' begun ' at Tyre (p. 50), where he inserted fimdata
for inchoata, and added some later particulars. Other
editions of the work have also come down to us. Leon
Allatius published in 1653 under the name of Eugesippus
{^v^Ly^iKra, sive Opuscul. Grasc, etc., Cologne, 1653) a
description of the Holy Places, which, in spite of several
inaccuracies, is identically the same as the text of Fetellus,
a fact mentioned by M. de Vogiie as showing the great ease
with which such works were assigned to different authors.
On turning to the work itself, one finds it impossible to
say much in praise of its orderly arrangement, but in this
respect our unknown author is not unlike many of the
other Pilgrim writers. Beginning his description with an
account of the city of Jerusalem with its Holy Places, and
of the Sacred Sites in its neighbourhood, he alludes to the
various spots in the sacred city with which almost all
the pilgrims deal, carrying us to Bethlehem rather strangely
between his account of Jerusalem and that of the Valley
of Jehoshaphat and the. Mount of Olives; and then he
passes rapidly to the Jordan near Jericho, the Dead Sea,
Hebron and its neighbourhood, and back to the Dead Sea.
At this point he introduces a long statement as to the
route of the Exodus, in which he mentions some remark-
able legends, and gives many strange interpretations of the
names of the stations in the Desert of the Wanderings.
These explanations are at times altogether ludicrous, but
not more so than was general up to a comparatively recent
period. Having completed this list, and alluded to some
of the places noted in the first days of the occupation of
the Promised Land, he carries us to Damascus, the capital
of Syria, and proceeds by the sources of the Jordan and
their neighbourhood to the Sea of Galilee, Nazareth
viji FETELLUS.
Mount Tabor, Samaria, Sychem, and Jerusalem, merely
mentioning the Holy City at this stage as he passes south-
wards to Bethlehem and its neighbourhood. From the
south he returns to Jerusalem, and gives a somewhat
straggling statement as to its historical and topographical
position, describing to some extent its Sacred Sites. From
Jerusalem he passes northwards, but again returns to
some of the southern sites around Hebron, thence taking
us to Jericho, before proceeding by Lydda along the coast
to Cajsarea, Acre, Tyre, Sidon, Beirut, and as far as
Tripoli. He closes his work with a renewed reference
to Jerusalem, specially noticing the Tower of David in
connection with the name of Godfrey de Bouillon, inserting
the lines written on his tomb in the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre, this being the only notice of the original in-
scription known to us. The names of Godfrey's successors
are mentioned in a conchiding paragraph, in which he
has introduced an account of King Baldwin I., which,
following M. de Vogud, we have omitted.
The chief importance of this anonymous work arises,
as has been stated, from its presenting to us the condition
of the Sacred Sites at the time of the beginning of the
Crusades. In speaking of the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre, for example, the author mentions the choir as
in process of construction, while it was still possible to
enter the Rotunda by four gates on the eastern side. In
much of his description he is followed by other narrators
almost step by step, as will be seen on comparing some
sections, such as that relating to the North of Palestine,
with *John of Wiirzburg' (already in the hands of mem-
bers of the Society). The resemblances are so frequent,
and close as to render it quite impracticable to refer to
them in detail in the notes.
The translation of the treatise has been made from the
text inserted by M. de Vogud in an appendix to his work
which has been referred to (' Les Kglises de la Terre
Saintc,' par Le Comte Mclchior de Vogii^, Paris, i860,
INTRODUCTION.
pp. 412-433). For this text he has compared two MSS.
of ' Fetellus ' belonging to the thirteenth century, with the
earHer which has been already mentioned, one of the two
being in the National (Imperial) Library at Paris (F. de
S. Victor, No. 574, fo. 172), the other in the Imperial
Library of Vienna (MS. Cod., No. 609). In one or twa
cases the description of Jerusalem has been completed by
the Count de Vogue by the aid of a curious work found in
the National (Imperial) Library following the account of
the first Crusade by Tudebodus (Pierre Tudebove, i.e.,
Tueboeuf, a French Crusader) — Fonds Latin, No. 5,135 —
these additions being placed in notes, and indicated by
the letter T. M. de Vogue's notes have been, in general,
translated, and are marked by the letter V. References to
other Pilgrims are to the translations already published by
the Society ; and several allusions in the notes to the work
of M. Le Strange on 'Palestine under the Moslems,' pub-
lished for the Palestine Exploration Fund, are marked ' Le
Strange.'
Two maps have been introduced into this volume. The
first is the same as has been already published as illustra-
tive of the city of Jerusalem in the time of John of Wiirz-
burg and Theoderich, thirty or forty years later than our
pilgrim, and which, though in some points presenting a
later aspect of the city, yet is practically applicable to our
narrative. The latter (facing p. 3) is a facsimile of a most
interesting plan of Jerusalem, found in a twelfth-century
MS. at Brussels by M. Lelewel, and published by him in
his ' Geography of the Middle Age.' It has been repro-
duced by M. E. Charton in his * Voyageurs Anciens et
Modernes,' and by M. de Vogue, who, while speaking of
its conventional treatment of the form of the city and of
the relative distance of the various spots, notes that * the
form of the monuments and their general disposition are
rendered with a certain exactitude.' On the north it
marks the Porta S. Stephani Septentrionalis, on the west
the Porta David Occidentalis, on the south the Porta Syon
X FETELLUS.
Australis, on the east, a little to the north, the Porta
Josaphat Orientalis ; while at the same distance to the
south of the exact eastern point it shows, but does not
name, the Golden Gate. The streets are indicated as
Vicus Poite S. Stephani, Vicus Porte Montis Syon, Vicus
ad Portam Josaphat, Iter ad Portam Speciosam. The
monuments are Sepulcrum Domini, Lapis Salsus, Golgota,
Calvarie, Turris David, Ecclesia Latina, Forum Rerum Vena-
lium, Cambium Monete, Salomonis Claustrum, Templum
Salomonis, Templum Domini, Templum S. Anne, Piscina.
The environs of the city are indicated, beginning at the
north, as Monasterium S. Stephani, Mons Gaudii, Vicus ad
Civitatem, Vicus ad Bethleem duo leuge, Bethleem,
Presepe {manger), Sepulcrum Rachel, Fons Syloe, Mons
Syon, Cenaculum, Acheldemach, Sepultura Peregrinorum,
Bethania, Torrens Cedron, Vallis Josaphat, Mons Oliveti,
Ascensio Domini, Ecclesia S. Marie, Sepulchrum S. Marie.
On the east of the city are shown in a beautifully arbitrary
manner the chief sites visited by pilgrims : Hierico,
Nazareth, Desertum, Locus VI. Mons Excelsus, Mons
Thabor, Regio Penthapolis, Mons Liban., Jor, Dan, Mare
Galilee, Mare Tiberiadis, Lacus Genesar, Mortuum Mare,
Locus XL. ubi Dominus jejunavit, Mons excelsus super
quem assumptus est Dominus a Diabolo, Mons Synai,
Lapis percussus a Moyse, Mons Seyr. The two numbers
attached to the Mount of Temptation and to the Quaran-
tania are understood by M. de Vogli^ as referring to a
well-known notation, in which the different places of pil-
grimage were spoken of in a definite order ; but, as he also
points out, the Locus XL. is suspiciously like Locus
Quarentcmv, the name given during the Middle Ages to
ihe mountain near Jericho where our Lord fasted for forty
days.
Note. — The spelling of the geographical names, in almost
all cases, follows the original, in which uniformity is com-
pletely disregarded.
THE SITUATION OF THE CITY OF JERUSALEM,
AND THE HOLY PLACES WITHIN THE CITY
ITSELF, OR IN ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD.
The city of Jerusalem is situated in the hill-country of
Judea, in the province of Palestine, and has four entrances, — ■
on the east, on the west, on the south, and on the north.
On the east is the gate by which one descends to the
Valley of Josaphat, and by which one goes to the Mount
of Olivet, and to the river of Jordan^. On the west is
the Gate of David, which looks over against the sea, and
over against Ascalon. On the south is the gate which is
called that of Mount Syon, by which one goes out near
Saint Mary of Mount Syon. On the north is the gate
which is called the Gate of St. Stephen, because there he
was stoned outside of the city^ ; it is rarely opened. For by
the Gate of David we have entered the Holy City, having
on our right the Tower of David, not far from us as we
enter. The Tower of David is situated on the western
side, and it stands out above the whole city.
The Temple of the Lord is over against the sun-rising
' The eastern gate is evidently that generally known as the
St. Stephen's Gate ; the western is the Jaffa Gate ; the southern is the
old Sion Gate, to the east of the present gate of the Prophet David ;
the northern is the Damascus Gate. Cf. Le Strange, pp. 212, f. ; ' City
of Jerusalem,' p. 4, n.
2 St. Stephen is said below, p. 42, to have been stoned before the
western gate. See ' Abbot Daniel,' App. I.
2 FETELLUS.
in the lower part of the city above the Valley of Josaphat,
and it has four entrances,^ — on the cast, on the west, on the
south, and on the north. The highest point also of its
rock is in the centre, where there is an altar, and there
the Lord was presented by His parents, and was received
by the sainted Symeon, and there He used to ascend
when He preached to the people.
The Sepulchre of the Lord is below the city, a little to
our left as we go to the Temple. The Church of the
Sepulchre^ is round, of considerable beauty of construction,
and it has four gates which are opened over against the
sun-rising. The Sepulchre of the Lord is in the middle
of it, sufficiently well protected and decently adorned.
On the outside of it, on the east, is the site of Calvary,
where the Lord was crucified, and there one ascends by
sixteen steps, and there is a great rock where the Cross of
Christ was erected. Lower is Golgota^, where the blood
of Christ trickled down through the middle of the rock*,
and where there is an altar in honour of the sainted mother
of God^ Outside of this, over against the sun-rising, is
the place where the blessed Helena found the Holy Cross,
and there a large church is building*^. On the other side
over against the sixth hour {i.e., to the south) is a hospital
' The description of the Dome of the Rock, Kubbat-as-Sakhra,
given by different writers, from Ibn-al-Fakih (a.d. 903), is all but
exactly in accordance with its present condition.
" As to these buildings, see 'Abbot Daniel,' App. II.
3 The Chapel of Adam, under the Calvary Chapel.
4 Cf. 'Abbot Daniel,' p. 14; 'JohnofWiirzburg,' p. 32 ; ' Theoderich,'
pp. 20, f.
5 T. adds : ' From the site of Calvary it is thirteen feet over against
the west to the Centre of the World ; on the left side is the prison where
Christ was imprisoned ; between the prison and Mount Calvary is the
column where Christ was bound when they were leading Him to be
crucified.'
6 'The author alludes to the Choir of the Church of the Holy
l)**»ij«^-
JERUSALEM (PLAN OF THE TWELFTH CENTURY).
To face p. 3,
JERUSALEM AND THE HOLY PLACES. 3
for poor and infirm persons^, and the Church of S.t
John Baptist. And near at hand is St. Mary Latin^.
In the above-mentioned Church of the blessed John is
a stone water-pot in which the Lord made wine from
water.
The Temple of the Lord, as we have said, excels all
churches in beauty ; and there is in it another water-pot
of marble, in which similarly He made wine from water in
Chana of Galilee. And below the rock, which is in the
middle of the Temple, one descends by steps to the spot
where was once the Holy of Holies ; where Zacharias
was praying when the angel Gabriel announced to him
that the Blessed John the Baptist should be born, and
there is the place where the Lord was sitting when the
Pharisees brought to Him the woman taken in adultery.
On the south side also is the Palace of Solomon^. Over
against the sun-rising, at the side of the above-mentioned
palace, is the Church of St. Mary, where one descends by
many steps, and where is the cradle of the Saviour, and
His bath, and His mother's couch*. On the left (z'.e., north)
Sepulchre, the construction of which was begun at the time of his
voyage. It cannot have been far advanced, since one still entered the
Rotunda by four gates situated to the east.' — V.
^ A hostel was founded there by Charlemagne, which is spoken of
by Bernard the Wise. It may have been destroyed with the Church of
the Holy Sepulchre by the Khalif al Hakim, A.D. loio. The building
now spoken of is also alluded to by Saewulf.
2 T. adds : 'Where the altar of that monastery is placed, there
stood the glorious Virgin Mary, and with her His Mother's sister,
Mary of Cleopas, and Mary Magdalene, weeping and grieving, and
looking on Jesus hanging on the Cross. When Jesus saw there His
Mother and the disciple whom He loved. He said to His Mother,
*' Behold thy son," and to the disciple, " Behold thy mother." '
3 The Mosque el Aksa.
4 ' The oratory in the substructions of the south-east corner of the
Temple enceinte ; it was known in the Middle Ages as the " cradle " of
Jesus Christ; the Mussulmans call it to-day Mugharet 'Aha, "the
FETELLUS.
side of the Temple, beyond its walls, is the Church of
St. Anne, the mother of the mother of Christ, and outside
is said to be the Sheep-pool.
Not far beyond the walls of the city, to the south, is the
church which is called St. Mary of Mount Syon\ where
she, most blessed, left the body ; and in it is a place called
Galilee, where, after the Resurrection, Christ appeared to
His disciples, when Thomas was not there ; and in the
before-mentioned church, on the east, is the place where,
eight days after, the doors being shut. He again appeared
to His disciples, when Thomas also was present, saying,
* Peace be unto you,' and He showed them His hands and
His side, and offered them to be touched, as the Evangelist's
narrative relates. And above one ascends by steps to the
place where He supped with His Apostles, and in it is
the same table on which He supped, and there He gave
them His flesh and His blood to eat for the remission of
sins ; and there the Holy Spirit illuminated the Apostles
on the day of Pentecost. On the left side is the Church
of St. Stephen'-, where he was buried by John the
Patriarch, after he was brought from Cafargamala^ ; and
Grotto of Jesus Christ." ' — V. See Le Strange, pp. i66, f. Sir
Charles Wilson speaks (' John of Wiirzburg,' p. 22, n. i) of the cradle
of Christ as a stone niche, apparently taken from a Roman gateway,
shown in a small mosque beneath the level of the ground at the
south-east corner of the Haram. Cf. ' Niisir-i-Khusrau,' p. 33.
' Cf. ' The City of Jerusalem,' pp. 2, f. ' The Church of St. Mary
of Mount Sion is the Double Church of the Coenaculum, built by the
Crusaders, and now still extant in the Mosque of Neby Daud.'
— Major Conder's note, /.c. Cf. also Le Strange, p. 212, and
' Abbot Daniel,' pp. 36, f. This ' Galilee ' is spoken of by the author
of 'The City of Jerusalem,' Saewulf, John of Wiirzburg, Theoderich,
Maundeville, etc. See * Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly State-
ment,' 1889, p. 177.
» See ' Abbot Daniel,' App. I.
3 Caphar Gamala, now Bet'l eljemdl^ near Kh. el Yarmflk ; ' Palestine
Exploration Fund Quarterly Statement,' 1876, p. 16.
JERUSALEM AND THE HOLY PLACES. 5
lower down the mountain is Acheldemach — that is, the
Field of Blood, where strangers are buried. On the other
side of the mountain, on its descent, is the Church of
St. Peter^ where, when the cock crew, he wept bitterly
for his sin of denial. Lower also is a fountain, which
is called the Swimming Pool of Syloe, where, at the com-
mand of the Lord, the man born blind received sight ;
and the city of Jerusalem has no living water besides
this.
Bethleem, the city of David, is two great leagues from
Jerusalem, over against the ninth hour (z>., south-west),
and in it is the Church of St. Mary, built of considerable
beauty^, within which is the crypt where the most blessed
Virgin Mary bore the Saviour of the world, containing the
manger where Christ was laid ; and before the crypt is a
marble table on which the Mother of God ate with the three
kings, and before that crypt is still a well of sweet and cold
water, into which it is said that the star fell which guided
the three Magi to the entrance of that crypto Moreover,
those who go out from the Church find near the door two
crypts, one higher, the other lower. In the higher lies the
most blessed Paula, at whose feet lies her daughter, viz.,
the most sacred Virgin Eustochium. One descends to the
lower crypt by many steps, and there is the sepulchre in
which lies the most sacred body of the most blessed
Jerome, the renowned Doctor. This is Bethleem, where,
as well as in all its confines, Herod ordered the infants to
be cruelly slain.
^ Cf. * The City of Jerusalem,' p. 20 ; Le Strange, p. 212 ; ' Abbot
Daniel,' p. 37.
2 T. adds : ' On marble columns.'
3 Cf. 'The City of Jerusalem,' p. 42. Major Conder, in a note
there, speaks of the well as ' now shown on the road from Jerusalem
to Bethlehem, north of Mir Elias, and called Well of the Magi, or
Bir Kadismu.'
6 FETELLUS.
The Church of St. MaryS as it is called, in the Valley of
Josaphat, lies in the middle of the valley between Jerusalem
and Mount Olivet, where is the sepulchre of St. Mary, the
mother of God, where the blessed John, the Apostle,
buried her most sacred body. Outside that church is the
place which is called Gessemani, where is the crypt in
which Judas betrayed the Lord to the Jews, and about
a stone's-throw to the right is an oratory where He prayed
to His Father in the hour of His Passion, and His sweat
became as drops of blood rushing down to the ground,
and an angel appeared to Him comforting Him. On the
summit of that mountain is an oratory^ where the Lord
ascended into heaven. Near at hand is another church
where the Lord made the Pater-noster^. Reside it is
Bethfage, once a hamlet of priests. Over against the
third hour, about one mile distant, is Bethany, where the
Saviour raised Lazarus from the dead ; here is his
sepulchre, and hbre also is the Church of St. Mary Magda-
lene*, which was once the house of Symon the leper, where
the Lord forgave her her sins.
The river Jordan is far distant from Jerusalem, about
twenty miles, and the journey to it is sufficiently rough ;
moreover, Jerico is two leagues distant from the Jordan".
Now, the Jordan, coming from the north, runs to the
» Cf. ' The City of Jerusalem,' pp. 3, 26, f. ; 'Abbot Daniel,' p. 24 ;
Le Strange, p. 210.
2 ' The great Church of the Ascension was not yet built.' — V. The
church described by Arculf, pp. 22, f., having been destroyed in the
eleventh century, a small building was afterwards raised on the
summit, which in its turn was destroyed in 1187.
3 Cf. 'The City of Jerusalem,' p. 28; 'Abbot Daniel,' p. 24; Le
Strange, p. 211.
■• Cf. ' The City of Jerusalem,' p. 41.
5 T. adds : ' On the other side, a mile from Jericho, is the fountain
of Eliseus. The water of this fountain first received a blessing
from Eliseus the prophet by the mixture of salt'
JERUSALEM AND THE HOLY PLACES.
south. Near the Jordan is the Church of St. John the
Baptist^, where are about twenty Greek monks serving
God. Beyond the river is Arabia.
Not far from the very place where the Lord was baptized
is the Dead Sea, where the river Jordan fails. Here
were four cities, Sodoma and Gomorra, Adame and Seboim,
which once perished by the just judgment of God. The
Dead Sea is so called because nothing can live in it, but
neither can fish swim or live in it, nor can any creature
drink of it, and if any bird has flown above the sea, falling
there, it dies. And that sea is also called the River of the
Devil^. The mountain where the Lord fasted forty days
and forty nights is about three miles from Jericho^
' Cf. 'Antoninus,' App. I.
2 Cf. ' John of Wurzburg,' p. 60 ; ' Ernoul ' {' The City of Jerusalem '),
p. 57 ; ' Theoderich,' p. 54.
3 T. adds : ' From the river Jordan a journey of eighteen days
brings one to Mount Sinai, where Christ the Lord appeared to Moses
in a flame of a bramble bush and gave him the Law ; and here is a
great water-pot in a monastery, which never ceases to produce oil.'
A DESCRIPTION OF THE PLACES LYING
ROUND JERUSALEM.
Ebron, formerly the metropolis of the Philistines from
the time after the Flood down to the arrival of the children
of Israel ; a dwelling-place of the giants; a priestly city
and a city of refuge in the tribe of Jiidah ; six miles from
Jerusalem^ towards the south, on the borders of the desert
and Judah. It was in that district in which the Almighty
Creator formed our father Adam ; the site is preserved
under a fabric partly artificial, partly naturaP. Hebron
was founded by the giants seven years before Thanis, a
city of Egypt, was founded by them^ Hebron is called
Mambre from a friend of Abraham's. A mountain over-
hanging the city is called by the same name, at the foot
of which Abraham dwelt for a long time ; and here there
still exists that oak"* under which there appeared to him
three angels, one of whom he worshipped, informing us
that Agyas Trias, i.e., the Trinity in Unity, is to be vene-
rated^ ; when they were drawn, either by hospitality or
by love, to take their place at his table, he set before them
a calf from the herd, with milk and butter. In Ebron,
constrained by that vision, he built the first altar to the
» The actual distance is nineteen miles.
* ' Sub fabrica manus et nature sita tenetur.' The meaning can be
only guessed at.
3 Num. xii'i, 22.
4 Mentioned by almost every pilgrim. Cf. ' Tent Wi rk,' p. 241.
5 Cf. ' Abbot DanieV p. 44.
DESCRIPTION OF PLACES ROUND JERUSALEM.
Lord, sacrificing to Him upon it with favour. By the site
of the formerly named oak there is celebrated with much
grandeur yearly a feast of the Holy Trinity, amid the
general exultation of the Christians. The oak, as Jerome
testifies, spread from that time down to the time of the
Emperor Theodosius, and from it the present trunk is
said to have grown on its own roots ; however dry it may
be, it is proved to be still medicinal, insomuch that if any
rider carry away with him a piece of it, his horse does not
spill him^. Ebron is called Arde, which, in the Saracen
language, mean^ four, to which is prefixed Kariat/i, which
in the same tongue is citj. Cariatarbe^ is thus the City of
Four, because the first-formed Adam, and the three chief
patriarchs — Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob — lie buried together
in a double cave in the field of Effron, and with them their
four wives, our mother Eve, Sarah, Rebeccah, Leah.
Ebron is near the Valley of Tears. The Valley of
Tears^ is so called because in it Adam mourned for his
son Abel for a hundred years. In Ebron he begat Seth,
from whom Christ was to arise, and sons and daughters.
In Ebron is shown the field from the soil of which
they say that Adam was formed, being translated thence by
the Lord to the south to have dominion in the Paradise
of Eden, which in Greek and Hebrew means Source of
Delights. After his fall, ancient history shows him, driven
thence by the Lord to Ebron, ingloriously and as an
exile, returning laboriously to his native soil, miserable
and a husbandman. Those dwelling near that region dig
the above-named field, and take its soil for sale in some
1 'Animal suum non infundit ' has no meaning. 'Effundit' would
give the rendering in the text. 'Offundit' might also be read, 'does
not stumble.'
2 Kirjath-Arba means, of course, the city of Arba ; but the allusion
in Arba to Adam and the patriarchs is almost universally made.
3 Cf. 'John of Wiirzburg,' p. 58 ; 'Tent Work,' p. 240.
2 — 2
lo FETELLUS.
parts of Egypt and Arabia, where it is needed, for it is
used in different places as specie^ The field we have
mentioned, however deeply and widely it may have been
dug, yet at the close of the year, by the Divine dispensa-
tion, is found to be completely renewed ; the soil of the
field is of a red colour, wherefore the Hebrews have a
tradition that Adam was of a reddish colour. In Ebron
the spies Caleph and Joshua first touched the Holy Land
of promise. In Ebron David, having been elected king
by the Lord and anointed by Samuel, reigned seven
years, of whom the Lord says : ' I have found David, a
man after Mine own heart^.' In Ebron six sons of David
were born: Amon, of Achinoam ; Cclaab, of Abigail;
Absalom, of Maacha ; Adonias, of Aggith ; Saphatias, of
Abiathal ; Jatraan, of Aglal. Hebron was the possession
of Caleph, the son of Jephunneh, who destroyed out of it
the three sons of Enac, viz., Sesai and Achimam and
Tholmai^ In the hill country of Hebron, over against
the country of the Philistines, is Dabir, which was formerly
called Cariath Sepher, i.e., the City of Letters, which
Othniel took*.
Three miles from Ebron, towards the south, is the
burial-place of Loth, Abraham's nephew^
Ten miles from Ebron, towards the country of the
Philistines, is Bersabee, a handsome and honourable city
in Israel and long before ; it signifies tJie Well of the Oath,
because there Abraham and Isaac made a covenant with
* * Pro specie.' The meaning can only be guessed at. 'For medicine'
is a possible rendering, or perhaps it may be taken with ' for sale ' in
the sense of 'for a great price.' Cf. 'John of Wiirzburg,' p. 59
Theoderich, p. 53, speaks of the earth being ' dug up and eaten.'
2 Acts xiii. 22. 3 Josh. xv. 13, f.
< Josh. XV. 15, 17. Now cdh Dhahcriyeh.
^ The Abbot Daniel, wriimg about the same time, states (p. 47)
that Lot's sepulchre was shown at Sigor, mentioned below.
DESCRIPTION OF PLACES ROUND JERUSALEM, ii
Abimelech. In Bersabee Abraham planted a grove, where
he called upon the name of the Eternal God, as he
sojourned there for a long time, and after him Isaac, to
whom the Lord appeared there blessing him and his
seed.
Six miles from Ebron, towards the south, is Bethefaroel,
in the confines of Judea and Egypt, the country of the
Philistines and Arabia ; it was once a rich and populous
city. There the mother of the Saviour, as she fled from
Judea to Egypt with her Son Jesus, in accordance with
the warning of the angel, and led by her betrothed, Joseph,
first lodged.
Ten miles from Ebron, towards the east, is the lake
Asfaltis, The lake is called the Dead Sea, and also the
Sea of the Devil, because by his stimulation and instiga-
tion those four most miserable cities, Sodoma, Gomorra,
Seboim, Adama, were destroyed by sulphurous fire, and
from a condition of profuse luxury^' were submerged in
that lake, as they persisted in their baseness. Sodoma is
interpreted Silent Flock or Blindness ; Gomorra, Fear of
the People or Sedition ; Seboim, The Sea, or A Sea-station ;
Adama, Desirable"^. Above the Lake, a mile from it, in a
bend of Judea, is Segor^ Segor means little or small.
Segor is known as Bala, which means absorbed, and Zoara*,
which is a Syriac name ; by the union of those it is called
Balezora. This is the Segor to which Loth fled from
^ 'Ex superhabundantibus.'
2 Sodom signifies 'burning' ; Gomorra, 'culture,' 'habitation,' 'de-
pression' ; Zeboiim, 'gazelles,' 'hyenas' ; Admah, 'earth.'
3 As to vSegor, see Le Strange, pp. 286, ff., and 'Palestine Ex-
ploration Fund Quarterly Statement,' 1886, p. 19. The Segor of the
text, however, being in Judasa, is to the west of the Dead Sea, not to
the south-east, where the Arabian Zoar is.
4 ^ Zoiteirah. One still sees some remains of fortifications of the
time of the Crusades. Cf. De Saulcy, ' Voy. aut. de la Mer Morte.' —
V. This is a mistake. Cf. Le Strange, p. 288.
12 FETELLUS.
Sodoma under the guidance of the angels, it being reserved
from the fire and overthrow in answer to his prayers. In
the exit from Segor Loth's wife was changed into a
statue of salt, so that she still leaves her mark there.
Above Segor, on a mountain over against Judea, Loth,
having drunk too much, lay with his own daughters and
begat from them Moab and Ammon. Segor is called by
our compatriots Casale Paime^. The district of these five
cities is called Pentapolis, on account of the five cities.
That Pentapolis, before the cities and the region were
overthrown, was a well-wooded valley, embracing the
same cities in which Chodorlaomor or Chodolagomer, King
of the Elamites, and Amraphel, King of Sennaar, and
Ariog, King of Pontus, and Thades, King of Nations, made
war against Basa, King of Sodoma, and Barsa, King of
Gomorra, and Sennaab, King of Adama, and Semeber, King
of Seboim, and the King of Bala. These five being routed,
the victors carried avvay with them the goods of the
people of Sodoma and of Gomorra with their food, taking
captive thence Loth, Abraham's nephew.
Between Segor and Jerico is the district known as that
of Engadi, whence also are the vineyards of Engadi, where
the balsam used to grow in wonderful richness. Above
the Asphaltic Lake is much alum and much katranium'^.
Alum is the salt liquor of the earth, which in winter
coagulates from the slime and the water, and is matured
by the summer sun : it is called alum [alumen), from
lumen, because it exhibits light with coloured tinges.
Catraneum is a sort of black smelling liquor, very neces-
sary for anointing camels to remove the mange, and for
rubbing vines to drive away the worms that consume
• Cf. 'John of Wiirzbnrg,' p. 60.
" Liquid bitumen, oil of naphtha, or petroleum.' — V. Pilch. Cf.
' 1 hcoderich,* p. 54.
DESCRIPTION OF PLACES ROUND JERUSALEM. 13
them^. Near Asphaltis is a mountain which is almost
altogether of gem-like salt^. From the lake are extracted
mill-stones, now necessary in these districts. From the
lake bitumen is extracted, which is useful to doctors. The
lake is of such clearness that ancient buildings and ruins
can be clearly seen through it, but it is of such bitterness
that it cannot long be tolerated by any living creature, nor
can it be flown across by any bird. In the lake are
islands producing bright green apples, which appear most
desirable for eating, but such that if one plucks them they
immediately shrivel up and are reduced to ashes, exhaling
a smoke as if they were still burning. The wood of the
islands also often seems to be scattered over with ashes
and embers, as if representing the burning of the cities.
From the islands wood is brought by a ship, being needed
for the use of the locality. If one happens to spend the
night above the lake, and has laid one's bottle full of wine
or water on the ground, one finds it next day. from being
sweet to have become bitter and undrinkable. There is in
the lake over against Zodran the island which the blessed
Sabas visited to spend Lent in solitude, and where, on the
instigation of the devil, he was almost completely burned
up by a sudden whirl of fire, and was almost lifeless for
seven days, but he was preserved by the mercy of God
and regained his strength ; yet ever afterwards he remained
beardless, and on returning home he was scarcely recognised
as Sabas by his brethren.
Above the asphaltic districts, in the descent of Arabia,
is the ancient city of Sava^ which Chodorlagomer de-
I Cf. Le Strange, p. 64, quoting Istakhri and Ibn Haukal. 'Nasir-
i-Khusrau,' p. 18.
' Jebel- Usdum.
3 Shaveh Kiriathaim, Gen. xiv. 5,/.^., 'the Plain of Kiriathaim,' — not
identified. Kiriathaim may be the ruin of el Kitreiydt, between Dibon,,
Dhibdn, and Medeba, Medeba.
14 FETELLUS.
stroyed. The above-mentioned PentapoHs is in the con-
fines of Judea and Arabia.
Arabia, at the time of the departure of Israel from
Egypt, was a land of vast solitude and horror, a land
pathless and waterless ; but under the guidance of Moses
it was, by the mercy of God, irrigated by fountains, and is
rendered most fertile^ In Arabia the Lord detained the
people of Israel for forty years in forty-two stations, while
their garments were not worn away, satisfying them with
the dew of heaven and manna, each of them gathering
for his household the varied and solid delicacy. The
significations of these stations, and a catalogue of them I
have arranged so as to mention them in my work : through
them the true Hebrew who hastens to pass from earth to
heaven must run his race, and, leaving the Egypt of the
world, must enter the land of promise, i.e., the heavenly
father-land.
The first station is Ramesses^, a city on the confines of
Egypt, where the congregation of Israel entered the desert
on the next day after the Passover, in the sight of the
Egyptians whom they had to a considerable extent astutely
deprived of their gold and silver vessels. Ramesses is
interpreted commotion or tJiundering.
The second station, Socoth, where first they cooked
unleavened bread and first pitched tents. Socoth signifies
tabernacles or tents.
The third station, Ethan in the desert, in which, as the
Lord went before them, the column of fire showed to His
» * Uberrima et feralis.' The translation of the latter adjective may
be given up ; its ordinary meaning is 'deadly.'
= 'The author has followed the order indicated in Num. xxxiii.
The orthography of the names is often much altered.' — V. The name
Rameses is, of course, taken from the great king of that name.
STATIONS IN THE EXODUS. 15
people by night, and the cloud by day. Ethan means
fortitude or perfection^.
The fourth station, Fyairoth, which is over against
Belfeson. Yyd\\o\\i sxgm'^o.'s moictJi of the nobles^ ; Belfcson,
Lord of the north zvind'^.
The fifth station, Mara, the Red Sea being crossed
after three days. Mara signifies bitterness.
The sixth station, Helim, where they found twelve
fountains and seventy palm-trees.
The seventh station again at the Red Sea, some winding
of it being met with.
The eighth station in the Wilderness of Sin, which ex-
tends as far as Mount Synai. Sin signifies a bramble or
Jiatred'^.
The ninth station, Depheca^, which mc3.ns piilsation.
The tenth station, Alus*^, which signifies discontent. In
that wilderness, under the constraint of famine, Israel
murmured, receiving quails in the evening, manna the next
morning.
The eleventh station, Raphidin'', which signifies desola-
tion of the brave or bringing back of hands. Here, when
the people thirsted, the fountain flowed from the rock
Oreb ; there Joshua attacked Amalech ; there Getro^ came
to Moses ; there, in the absence of Moses, the people,
murmuring against God, forged a calf out of gold, worship-
ping it.
The twelfth station, the wilderness of Synai. Synai^ is
interpreted bramble. Mount Synai is in Arabia, of very
^ Etham, 'the fortress.'
2 Pi-hahiroth, ' the place where the reeds grow,' ' the entrance to
the bogs.'
3 Baal-zephon, ' the master of the north.'
* Sin, 'clay?' 5 Dophkah, 'knocking' or ' overdriving.'
^ Alush, 'a crowd.' 7 Rephidim, 'rests' or 'stays.' ^ Jethra
^ The most probable derivation of Sinai is from Seneh^ 'acacia.,'
16 FETELLUS.
lofty height, and hard of access, the ascent of it being of
three thousand and five hundred steps. Of Synai it is
said by the most holy hermits and monks who dwell there,
that from the time of Moses the place is the constant
walking-place of heavenly angels. Mount Synai always
smokes and flashes with fiery brightness. Of Synai it is
said, and it is true, that every Sabbath heavenly fire flies
around it, but does not burn ; some it touches, but it does
not hurt them, appearing most frequently as if in white
fleeces with a slight movement encompassing the mountain,
sometimes descending with an intolerable and terrible
noise, those most holy inhabitants fleeing thence through
the crypts and the cells of the cenobites. On the summit
of Synai is a venerable and beautiful church^, situated on
the spot where God gave to Moses the Law written with
His own finger on tablets of stone. Of so venerable
dignity is the before-named church, that none dare to
enter it, or even to ascend the mountain, unless they have
first rendered themselves acceptable by confession, and
afflicted themselves by fastings and prayers. So religious
are the monks and hermits, that they serve God alone
without any affection of body and mind ; so illustrious
their reputation, that from the confines of Ethiopia to the
utmost bounds of the Persians, they are venerated by
every Eastern tongue, possessing their property freely and
quietly among themselves. They have their cells through
Egypt, and in Persia, around the Red Sea and in Arabia,
from which all they require flows most liberally. They
are also so reverenced that no one presumes to offend them
in anything, and if one should happen to touch them in
any way, it is heavily avenged by God. Around the
* Reference is made to the Chapel on the summit of Jebel MCisa,
and also to the Convent of St. Catherine in the valley below, but the
passage is rather obscure.
STATIONS IN THE EXODUS. 17
mountain they dwell, each in his own cell, living not in
common, but of common property. In Synai the bramble
bush in which the Lord appeared to Moses in a flame of
fire still shows His marks.
The thirteenth station is the Graves of Lust^ ; there the
children of Israel lusted for flesh, on account of which the
anger of God attacked the people, and many perished,
whence also that place obtained its name.
The fourteenth station, Asseroth^ where Aaron and
Mary, disparaging Moses because he had taken an alien
wife, a daughter of the King of Ethiopia, were smitten by
the Lord. Her he had married at the time of his military
triumph, in the city of Saba, now called Maro^, some
distance from the Nile, between the Astabus and the
Astaburra, — a city rendered great and opulent by the con-
junction of art and nature. Asseroth signifies offence^.
The fifteenth station, Rethma, which means sound or
junipet^. From this place the twelve spies were sent to
the Land of Promise, from which they brought a cluster of
grapes.
The sixteenth station, Camoth, which (in Latin) means
division of a pomegranate^.
* Correct rendering of Kibroth-hattaavah,
2 Hazeroth.
3 Eusebius quotes from Artapanus the tradition that Moses, being
sent on an expedition against Ethiopia, advanced to its capital, Saba,
to which he gave the name of Meroe, from his adopted mother,
Merrhis. Tharbis, the daughter of the Ethiopian king, returned with
him as his wife. See Smith's ' Dictionary of the Bible,' s.v. Moses.
The Astabus and Astaburra are the Astapos and Astaboras of
Ptolemy, — the Blue Nile, or Bahr el-Azrak, and the Atbara, the most
northerly tributary of the Nile.
4 Hazeroth, ' lenced enclosures.'
5 Rithmah, from retein^ 'a broom bush.'
^ The name of this station is marvellously altered from Rimmon-
parez, 'pomegranate breach.'
i8 FETELLUS.
The seventeenth station, Lebna, which (in Latin) is
rendered /// t/ie side^.
The eighteenth station, Retsa, which is turned into
bridle^.
The nineteenth station, Celeta, which is interpreted chnrd^.
The twentieth, Mount Sepher, which is interpreted
beauty, i.e., Christ*.
The twenty-first, Araba, which signifies miracle^.
The twenty-second, Maceloth, which signifies in the
assembly, i.e., in the church^.
The twenty-third, Taath''', which is interpreted /^^r.
The twenty-fourth, Thare^ which signifies for service or
for pasture.
The twenty-fifth, Methca, which is turned into delight.
The twenty-sixth, Asmona, which signifies haste^^.
The twenty-seventh, Afferoth^^, which is interpreted
bonds or discipline.
The twenty-eighth, Baneiachan, which is interpreted
sons of necessity or of crashing^-.
The twenty-ninth, Gadgad^^, which signifies messenger, or
sharpness, or circumcision.
The thirtieth station, Gabatath, which is interpreted
goodness, i.e., Christ^^.
The thirty-first, Ebrona, that is, crossing.
The thirty-second, Asiongaber^^, which signifies to the
wood of a man.
' Libnah, ' whiteness.' = Rissah, ' dew.'
3 Kehelathah, ' assembling.' 4 Mount Shapher, ' mount of beauty.'
5 Haradah, ' place of terror.' ^ Makkeloth, 'assemblies.'
7 Tahalh, * under,' ' below.' s Tarah, * delay.'
9 Mithcah, ' sweetness.' '° Hashmonah, ' fatness.'
" Moseroth, rightly rendered ' bonds.'
" Bene-jaakan, [the wells of (Deut. x. 6)] 'the sons of Jaakan.'
'3 Hor-ha-gidgad, 'mountain of the thunder.'
M Jotbaihah, 'goodness.' '5 Eziongeber, 'the giant's backbone.'
STATIONS IN THE EXODUS. 19
The thirty-third, the Desert of Sin, which is Cades, or
Cades Barne. Sin is interpreted /lo/j/^. There Mary, the
sister of Moses and Aaron, dies and is buried. There
Moses twice struck the rock with the rod ; thence two
rivulets spread to irrigate those parts of Arabia.
The thirty-fourth station. Mount Or, in the confines
of Edom. There Aaron died in a place which is called
Horeth.
In the region of Or is Mount Eden, which is called a
mountain of sands, because it is situated in a sandy
district. It is an inaccessible mountain, and of marvellous
height, naturally erected like a tower, as if it had been
cut away artificially. Its circuit is more than a day's
march. On the sides of the mountain trees are rarely
seen. Many birds of different kinds fly round the moun-
tain in flocks, although the mountain seems to be without
greenness and moisture, far removed from all fertility,
being situated in a desert. As to it, those who live more
near to it assert positively that once the ascent of the
mountain was opened up to two men by the will of God,
the former of whom, with swift foot, speedy step, freely
overpassed the bounds of the mountain, while the second
could scarcely approach the middle of it, wearied^ breath-
less, and sitting down. The former, passing over the
higher parts, while he marvelled at the beauty of the
mountain, the tranquillity of the spot, the serenity of the
air, the redolence of the flowers, the odour of spices, the
variety of precious stones in the rivulets of the fountains,
and the shining of the fountains, the affluence of fruit-
bearing trees and the beauty of the fruit, the chatterings
and songs of birds, the shady spaces and their greenness,
joyfully wished and. vowed to live and die there if the
Lord permitted him. Looking around him, he marvels at
* Kadesh, ' the holy place ' ; Barnea, ' shaking.'
20 FETELLUS.
the absence of his companion, and immediately, joyful and
hilarious, laughing to himself and clapping his hands, he
hastens to the top of the mountain ; he calls his companion,
he invites his friend, whom he desires equally to dwell
with him on that mountain, where he says that there is
eternal spring, and he promises him as it were a second
paradise. But he, though diligently admonished by his
companion, we know not whether astonished by the
difificulty of the mountain, or driven back by Divine pro-
hibition, renounces the ascent and the entrance and the
remaining there ; but noting what he had heard and seen,
bidding farewell to his companion, he descended with
considerable toil, returning whence he had come, and
testifying what he had seen and heard. Around Mount
Eden are also other mountains, a good many hills, and
rocks and mounds, which are cut into from the summit
downwards by arches, by caves, by crypts, by cells of
diverse dwellings, in which they say that holy hermits and
monks dwelt in ancient times.
At the foot of Mount Eden there rises a fountain, short,
and with no rivulet, which, if you saw it, you would think
could scarcely suffice for two or three horses, yet it suffices
for several ; as to which it has also been proved that it
seems neither to be increased nor to be diminished.
The thirty-fifth station, Selmona^.
The thirty-sixth, Fynon^ : these two are not found in
the order of history.
The thirty-seventh, Hebar^ on the confines of Moab,
which signifies /iea/>s of passers- d)^.
The thirty-eighth, Oboth^, which is turned into Magi or
Phitons.
* Zalmonah. • Punon.
3 ' These two are given in Numbers in the inverse order.' — V.
4 Ije Abarim, ' ruins of the passages.*
STATIONS IN THE EXODUS.
The thirty-ninth, Dibungat^, in which Israel fought
against Seon, King of the Amorites, and Og, King of
Basan. Seon is interpreted temptation of the eyes ; Og,
conclusion ; Basan, confusion^.
The fortieth station, Selmon Deblataim^ Here, over
against Jericho, is the place Thaphon, where Moses wrote
Deuteronomy.
The forty-first station, Mount Abarim, over against the
face of Nabob. In Abarim Moses died, and in it he was
buried ; but his tumulus appears nowhere. In a cave under
Mount Abarim the Hebrews say that Jeremiah, foreseeing
the fall of Jerusalem, hid the Ark of God and its contents.
The forty-second station, in the plains of Moab above
the Jordan, not far from Jerico, but with the Jordan
between. There they pitched their tents from the home of
the wilderness as far as to Bessachatais in the plain of
Moab, where Israel was encamped when it was blessed by
Balaam above Mount Karnaim* in the mountain of Moab.
Karnaim is a cave in the mountain of Moab. It is inter-
preted * a mountain cut off because of a vehement rupture/
In some place of the before-named plain, Balac, by the
advice of Balaam, placed women for hire that by them
Israel might be deceived. There Finees transfixed Zambri
and a harlot with a spear. There Israel is numbered, and
a battle is entered on against the Midianites. There they
cross the Jordan, and after crossing it the children of
Ruben and Gat, and the half-tribe of Manasse, first
received a possession in the Land of Promise across the
Jordan. But Joshua pitched his camp in Galgala, having
set up there the Tabernacle of the Lord. Galgala signifies
* Dibon-gad.
= Sihon, ' sweeping all before him ' ; Og, ' the long-necked ' ; Bashan,
soft, sandy soil.'
3 Almon-Diblathaim. 4 Kerak (?).
22 FETELLUS.
rolling or revelation ; here Israel is warned not to bring
idols into the holy land : thence they come to Jerico and
besiege it, and utterly destroy it. Jerico is interpreted
moon or /alien away^.
Between the Jordan and Jerico, Bethagla, which signifies
house of the circle, because there his sons went about
(encircled) the funeral rites of Jacob in the manner of
mourners, bringing him back from Egypt to Ebron^.
Between Jerico and Galgala, Emecanchor, which signi-
fies Valley of Achor^ i.e., tumult of the people or of crowds'.
There Achan was stoned to death because he took of the
accursed thing. Jerico was founded and named by the
Jebusites. In Galgala Joshua circumcised the people a
second time, and they set up the stones which they had
taken from the Jordan, because the Tabernacle of Testi-
mony was fixed there for a long time.
Arabia joins Idumea in the confines of Bostron*, which is
Bosor, of which was Barach the Buzite^, But there is
another Bozor in the mountains of Idumea, of which
Isaias"^ speaks : ' Who is this that cometh with dyed
garments from Bosor ?' Portions of Idumea^ are Tracho-
nitis and Iturea, looking as it were to Damascus. Of
these, according to the Evangelist Luke, Philip had the
' Jericho, ' place of fragrance.' Older commentators derive it from
the Hebrew word signifying the moon.
2 Abel Mizraim. The place where this 'mourning' took place is not
identified. It lay 'beyond Jordan ' (Gen. 1. ii). It was placed by
St. Jerome also at Beth Hoglah, ^Ain Hajlah, on the west bank.
3 The Valley of Achor (Josh, vii.) is identified with the Widy el
Kelt, the deep ravine south of Jericho. Achor, * trouble.'
■4 ' Bostra in Auranitis. It is not proved that this is the Bosor of
Josh. XX. 8.' — V. A corruption of Bostra, Bozrah, the present
' Busrah.'
5 Job xxxii. 2. ^ Ixili. I.
7 * An error. Idumea was to the south of Palestine.' — V.
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY LAND. 23
tetrarchy. Us, the first-born of Aram, the grandson of
Shem, founded Trachonitis, from whom that land was
called the land of Us. From which was the blessed Job.
Bostron was formerly the metropolis of Idumea ; Idumca is
under Syria ; in Syria is Damascus.
Eliezer, the son of Abraham's steward, founded Damascus
in that field in which Cairn slew his brother^. Whence
Damascus signifies fraught of blood or kiss of blood.
Damascus was formerly the capital of Syria, but the
honour was transferred by Antiochus to Antioch. Syria
is named from Suri, the grandson of Abraham^, the son of
Ceturah. Damascus is known by a second name, Aram ; a
third, Arfath. Damascus is honoured in Syria as having
formerly been the metropolis. The district of Damascus
is called Sedrath, according to Zacharias^ ; Esau inhabited
parts of it, also holding Seir and Edom. From Edom
part of Syria is called Idumea. In Seyr is the city of
Idumea. In Idumea, not far from Damascus, is Mount Seir.
Seir was inhabited by Choreus*, whom Chodologomer slew.
In the confines of Idumea, three miles from the Jordan,
the river Jacob^ ; after it was crossed by Jacob when he
returned from Mesopotamia, he wrestled with the angel.
Four" miles from Damascus is the place in which Christ
appeared to Saul, saying • ' Saul, Saul, why persecutest
^ Several Moslem writers, beginning with 'Ali of Herat (a.d. 1173),
mention near Damascus the Cavern of Blood, where Cain slew Abel.
See Le Strange, pp. 240, 252, 259. Damascus, 'alertness.'
2 The name Syria is derived from Siir or Tyre^ being first used by
the Greeks for the country around Tyre, and afterwards applied to the
whole country. Cf Le Strange, p. 14.
3 This refers to Zech. ix. i, where ' Hadrach' is rendered ^i^pax in
LXX. ; it is probably a name for Syria.
4 ' The Horites' of Gen. xiv. 6.
5 Called faboc by John of Wiirzburg, who makes it two miles from
the Jordan.
6 Two, according to John of Wiirzburg.
3
24 FETELLUS.
thou Me ?' Whence also there is at Damascus a venerable
church erected in his honour, under the Greek archbishop.
Twenty-four miles from Damascus is Paneas^, at the
foot of Lebanon, towards the south, an eminent city,
which was called Belinas^, from Bilina, on account of the
beauty of its site, — and Cesarea Philippi, receiving from
Caijar his own name.
A mile from Damascus, towards the east, in the entrance
of the Valley of Bachar, is Malbech'', a city situated on a
remarkably fine site. This was founded by Solomon on
account of the affluence of goods and the amenity of its
forests, and he called it the Forest of Lebanon. He built
in it a house of ivory, whence it was also called the House
of the Forest of Lebanon.
At the foot of Lebanon arise Pharphar^and Abana, rivers
of Damascus. Abana, cutting off the mountains of Lebanon,
and flowing across the plain of Archas, joins the Great Sea
in that district to which the blessed Eustachius withdrew
in his desolation when deprived of wife and children^
Archas*', that almost impregnable city, was founded by
« Bdtiids.
* Cf. 'John of Wiirzburg,' p. 65, with quotation from William of
Tyre, xix., 11, given ther^, n. 6.
3 ' He evidently alludes here to Baalbeck in the Valley of the
Bequaa, only it is situated to the west of Damascus, and it is more
than twenty-five miles Irom it. The local tradition still assigns to
Solomon the gigantic construction of the Temple of the Sun.' — V.
4 The Biblical Pharphar was identified by the Crusaders with the
Orontes. Le Strange, p. 59. It is probably the Nahr Taura, a
branch of the Abana, Barada, (or more properly the Abana is the
Nahr Abanias^ also a branch of the Nahr BaradA). The Abana of
the text appears to be the Litany, Nahr el-Kasimiyeh, as in 'John of
Wiirzburg,' p. 65.
5 Cf. ' Theodericb,' p. 71.
* Area, Arcados, Archis, are the Crusading names of 'Arkah or
'Irkah, the ancient Phcenician city of the Arkites (Gen. x. 17), which
gave its name to a di^trict of the Damascus province on the sea-coast.
Le Siiange, p. 398.
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY LAND. 25
Arachius, the seventh son of Canaan, at the foot of
Lebanon, eight miles from the city of Tripolis, towards the
east. Archas is the beginning of Fenicia, of which Mount
Carmel is the termination, Palestine beginning there.
Lebanon divides Syria and Fenicia. Farfar runs through
Syria to Reblatai, i.e., Antioch\ and flowing close to its
walls, commits itself to the Mediterranean Sea in the
harbour of Solim^, i.e., of St. Synieon, ten miles from the
city.
At the foot of Lebanon, not far from Paneas, are Jor and
Dan, those fountains from which the Jordan is formed
under Mount Gelboa^, where Christ was baptized by John.
From the mountains of Geiboa to the Asphaltic Lake, the
valley through which the Jordan flows is called Gorius*.
Aulon, which is a Hebrew word, is also a name given to
that large and level valley which is fenced in on both sides
by continuous mountains from Lebanon to the Desert of
Pharan^ ; under Aulon is embraced the valley of Scitopolis,
i.e., the valley which stretches from Bethan^ to the Jordan.
In the north, above the Jordan, are Baal and Belmon^,
renowned cities, which the children of Reuben built. In
the north is Betharam, which the tribe of Gad built^. In
1 Riblah is again erroneously confused with Antioch below, p. 42.
2 ' The ancient Seleucia, now Soueideh.' — V. Struaeidiyeh.
3 The river Dan is here apparently identified with the Yarmuk
(Hieromax), as by John of Wiirzburg, p. 66. Cf. 'Abbot Daniel,'
p. 60.
* El Ghor.
s Aulon is the Greek, not Hebrew, name, avXojv (c/iannel), given by
St Jerome to the Valley of the Jordan and the Arabah.
^ ' Bethshan, Scythopolis.' — V. Bcisan.
7 Baal-Meon is mentioned (i Chron. v. 8) as a town in Reuben. It
was probably near Heshbon. It is difficult to understand what is
referred to in the text as ' Baal' Baal-Gad— ^a«/rt:j- (.?) — and BaaU
Hermon were in the north, but not in Reuben.
8 Betharam, one of the towns of Gad (Josh. xiii. 27), is identified as
Tell Raiiieh, near Kefrein, east of Jericho,
3—2
26 FETELLUS.
Aulon, above the Jordan, is Emnon, i.e., the Bethany in
which John baptized^ In an anj^^le of this Bethany is
Karnaim Emastaroth^, where they say that Job dwelt.
The Jordan divides Galilee and the district of Bostron.
Jordan means descent, because it always descends along its
course. The Dan sends its stream underground almost
the whole distance from its source to Meddan, not far from
Theman, which is the metropolis of Sueta^. Meddan is a
lovely and spacious plain, in which the channel of the
Dan appears clearly above ground, and therefore it is
called Meddan, because the Dan rises again midway in it.
In Saracen a broad way is called Medan^, in Latin fomm.
On this account it is called Meddan, because every summer
an innumerable multitude of people assemble and stay in
those plains, carrying or bringing with them whatever
saleable articles they can obtain, along with an immense
body of Parthians and Arabs to protect the people, and to
feed their flocks in those most fertile pastures. Meddan is
compounded of Med and Dan, Med being the Saracen for
water (the Latin aqiia^ ; Dan, a river. From the above-
named plain the Dan, again a river, flows through Suetha.
Now, Suetha3 js part of the land of Hus ; in Suetha the
* A confusion of Qinon and Bethany, but an interesting notice of
Bethany as the true reading of St. John i. 28.
=* Ashteroth Karnaim (Gen. xiv. 5) is probably to be identified with
Tell el AsKary on the Yarmuk, north of el Mezeirib (' Across the
Jordan,' p. 207).
3 'William of Tyre (xxii. 15) places this region sixteen miles from
Tiberias. He vaunts its fertility ; so too Albert d'Aix (x. 5). The
latter calls it Terra Grossi Rtistici : this is the environs of the Bahr
el Huleh. The Crusaders have given the name of Gros Paysan to an
Arab chief who governed that country and was defeated by Tancred
(Albert d'Aix, vii.).' — V. Ct * John of Wurzburg,' p. 66, n. 4, where
Sir Charles Wilson assigns as its limits from the Birket er Ram on the
north to the south oi Deraah, Edrei.
4 ' Meidan, place. This is probably the plain situated to the west
of Banias, which bears the r.a,me of Ard es Souk^ the plain of the
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY LAND. 27
monument^ of Job is still seen, and it is the scene of a
yearly feast observed by Greeks, and Syrians, and Gentiles.
From Suetha is Naaman^, from which was Sophar the
Naamatite. The Dan over against Galilee turns aside
under the city of Cedar^ and crossing the plains near the
medicinal baths of Spinetum^ it joins the Jor under
Gelboa^
In the plains of Spinetum, the third Prince of Galilee
from Tancred, Gervase*^ of Basil, sprung from a noble house
of the Franks, yielded to the triumph of Toldequin'', King
of Syria, and was taken by him as a captive to Damascus.
There the sameToldequin, not long after, being led beyond
himself by drinking, beheaded him, and thus rendered him
a celebrated martyr to God. Returning to himself on the
market! — V. It is identified by Sir Charles Wilson (' John of Wiirz-
burg,' p. 66, n. 3) with the Haiiran. The name occurs in Kh. el
Meddn ('ruins of the open space'), near KUTat el Husn (Gamala),
and in IVddy el Meddan, not far from el Mezeirib. Cf. 'John of
Wiirzburg,' I.e.; ' Theoderich,' p. 65.
' Pyramis.
2 Perhaps en Na^eimeh, a little east of ed Der'aah. See 'Across
the Jordan,' p. 179.
3 Gadara, Uinni Keis.
4 Both John of Wiirzburg (p. 66) and Theoderich (p. 66) speak of
the medicinal baths of Gadara as in 'the plain of thorns,' which is
evidently this Plain of Spinetum. The name ('John of Wiirzburg,'
I.e., n. 3) alludes to • the rank tropical growth in the ground watered
by the springs.'
5 So ' John of Wiirzburg,' p. 56 ; but, as is there noted^ the Yarmuk
joins the Jordan several miles to the north of Gilboa.
6 'Gervase was named Prince of Galilee by Baldwin I. in 1107, on
the death of Hugh of St. Omer, and was slain in the same year. His
name is wanting in most of the lists of the Latin princes of Tiberias.
Cf. Albert d'Aix (x. 7)-'— V.
7 'Toghteghin, Sultan of Damascus, called by the historians of the
Crusades Doldequin, Dochin, Hertoldin^ Tuldequin. The history of
the capture and the death of Gervase is recorded by Albert d'Aix
(x. 54, f.).'-V.
28 FETELLUS.
next day, filled with shame and rage because he had
destroyed such a man so insanely, he caused him to be
buried, but without his head ; and his ' vas^,' beautifully
ornamented with gold and precious gems, he kept as a
memorial dear to him, drinking from it.
The Jor not far from Paneas becomes a lake^ after-
wards the Sea of Galilee, beginning between Capharnaum
and Bethsaida. From Hethsaida were Peter and Andrew,
John and James, James the son of Alpheus.
Four miles from Bethsaida is Corozain^, in which Anti-
christ will be nourished.
Four miles off Cedar*, a most excellent city, of which it
is said : * he dwells with the inhabitants of Cedar^* Cedar
signifies in darkness.
Capharnaum is situated at the upper end of the sea ; its
faith is spoken of by Christ. Two miles from Capharnaum
is the descent of the mountain^, on which He preached
the sermon to the multitudes, and where He cured the
leper.
A mile from that descent is the place where the Lord
fed five thousand men, whence that place is called the
table'. Adjoining it is the place where Christ ate with
them after His resurrection.
Above the shore of the Sea of Galilee is Gergersa^, the
* No possible translation of the word commends itself.
' ' Bahr el Huleh— the lake of Merom or of Semechonitis.' — V.
^ Sir Charles Wilson identines with Gainala, opposite Tiberias,
KuPat el Husn. John of Wiirzburg gives the distance as six miles.
4 See above, p. 32, n. 3.
s Ps. cxx. 5, of course not referring to this Cedar. Y.&d.z.x— black
s/cin.
6 'Apparently a hill to the north of Khan Minieh.'— See Sir Charles
Wilson's note to 'John of Wiirzburg,' p. 68.
7 'The "Mensa Christ!" was above Khan Minieh, where the
APdserct ' Aisa is now shown.' — Ibui.
• Gerasa, perluips Kcrsa, on the eastern shore.
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY LAND. 29
place where He healed those who were vexed by
demons.
At the left of the head of the sea, in the hollow of a
mountain, is Genezareth, a place bearing gold, from which
is the Marsh of Genezareth^
Two miles from Genezareth is Magdalum-, from which
came Mary Magdalene. This, moreover, is Zabulon and
Nephtalim, from which came Tobias. In the higher parts
of this Galilee were twenty cities, which King Solomon
gave in a gift to Yram, King of Tyre.
Two miles from Magdalum is the city of Cynereth, which
is Tyberias ; the younger Herod founded Tyberias in
honour of Tyberius Ceesar, calling it by his name. From
Tyberias the lake is called that of Tyberias ; its circuit is
about one day's journey. Moreover, it is of such a
character in itself, that without receiving the filth of the
city and of the neighbouring castles, it would be rendered
undrinkable, and smelling^.
Four miles from Tyberias is the city of Betulia*. From
it came Judith, who slew Olofernes.
Four miles from Tyberias, towards the north, is Dothaim^,
where Joseph found his brothers, and where they sold
him.
Twelve miles from Tyberias is Nazareth, a city of
* The Marsh of Gennesareth is spoken of by several pilgrims, e.^.,
* The City of Jerusalem,' p. 45.
2 Magdala, Mejdel.
3 Cf. a remarkable statement as to this in ' Nisir-i-Khusrau,'
pp. 16, f.
4 'This name is wrongly given to the village of Safed, situated near
the Lake of Tiberias.' — V. ' The distance is hopelessly wrong.' —
C. W. W. (note to ' John of Wiirzburg,' p. 69). Bethulia is probably
Methilia^ five miles south of Jenin.
s 'Apparently Khan Jubb Yiisef, north of the Sea of Galilee.' —
C. W. W. {Ibid.). The true site of Dothan, Tell DotliaUy is north of
Samai ia.
30 FETELLUS.
Galilee, in which Jesus was brought up. Nazareth is
interpreted a flower. In the synagogue of Nazareth Jesus
opened the book of Ysaias and expounded out of it to the
Jews. On the highest point of Nazareth, towards the east,
a remarkable fountain arises, from which, in His boyhood,
Jesus used to draw water for His mother's service and His
own^.
Two miles from Nazareth is the city of Sephoris^, by the
way leading to Acon^ ; it derived its name from Sephet,
its founder. From Sephoris was the blessed Ann, the
mother of the mother of Christ.
Five miles from Nazareth is Ghana of Galilee*, an
ancient city in the tribe of Asser ; in it Jesus, when a boy^,
turned water into wine. From Ghana came Symon the
Gananean, and Philip, and Nathanael.
A mile from Nazareth, southwards, is a place called the
Precipice^. It is the brow of a mountain from which His
parents wished to cast down Jesus, when He disappeared
from them.
Four miles from Nazareth, towards the south, is Mount
Thabor, in the middle of Galilee, a lofty mountain of
wonderful roundness : on it Jesus was transfigured, and
manifested His brightness to those with Him. At the
descent of Mount Thabor Melchisedech met Abraham'
» Cf. ' The City of Jerusalem,' p. 44, and ' Theoderich,' pp. 68, t.
» Seffurieh.
3 'Akka, St. Jean d'Acre.
4 Kefr Kenna must be the site alluded to. Cf. * John of Wurzburg,*
p. 4, • Theoderich,' p. 69.
5 John of Wiirzburg also speaks of our Lord as ' a child ' at the
time of the miracle, p. 4.
^ Jebel Ka/sy, overlooking the Plain of Esdraelon. Cf. ' The City
of Jerusalem,' p. 54 ; 'John of Wiirzburg,' p. 4.
7 This is in accordance with an old Jewish tradition, found in many
pilgrims : 'Abbot Daniel,' p. 68, 'John Phocas,' p. 14, 'Theoderich,'
p. 67.
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY LAND. ti
returning from the slaughter of Amalech, and offered him
bread and wine. Two miles from Thabor, towards the
east, is Mount Hermon^ of both of which the Psalmist
says : ' Thabor and Hermon shall rejoice in Thy name^.'
There is also another Hermon in Idumea, near Antilebanon.
Under Thabor Melchisedech and Abraham treated about
the giving of tithes.
Two miles from Thabor is Naym^, once a city in Israel ;
in its gate Jesus restored the widow's son to life. Above
Naym is Mount Endor*. Between Endor and Thabor, in
the plain of Naym, is the Kadumim^, i.e., the torrent Cyson ;
under its bank, at the instigation of Dedbcra, Barach over-
came the Idumeans, Sysara being slain by Gahel [Jael],
Three miles from Thabor, towards the east, is Sarong
Five miles from Thabor is Jezrahel, i.e., Zarain", an
ancient city. In Jezrahel reigned Ahab and Jezebel. Of
Jezrahel was Naboth, who was slain by the machinations of
Jezebel, v/here afterwards she was hurled down and slain
by Jehu. Her monument^ is still there. Close to Jezrahel
is the plain of Macedo, where King Josiah was defeated
and slain by the King of Samaria, his body being carried
to Syon and buried there.
A mile from Jezrahel are the mountains of Gelboa^,
where Saul and Jonathan fell. In the mountains of Gelboa
is a village of the name ofGelboa^*^.
' Le.,JebeledDahy. ^ Psa. Ixxxviii. 13. 3 Nain, i\««.
4 Nain is at the foot oi/ebel ed Duhy.
5 The Kishon, Nahr el Mukutfa.
6 If this be a reference to the Plain of Sharon, it is sufficiently
remarkable ; but there is a Tell Sdreni close to the Jordan Valley
south of Beisan.
7 ' Still the name of the village which has replaced Jezreel.' — V.
Zerin.
2 Pyramis. 9 Jebel Fttku'a,
^° The ndime Jelbon is still given to a village on the high range east
of the Plain of Esdraelon.— P.E.F.M., ii. 84.
32 FETELLUS.
Two miles from Gelboa, Scitopolis, the metropolis of
Galilee, uhich is Bethsan^, above the walls of which the
head of Saul was hung. In Galilee is the village of
Helchisi^, from which was Nahum the prophet.
Five miles from Jezrahel is the town of Geninum^ where
Samaria begins. Between Geninum and Maggedo is Ger^,
the place where Jehu, King of Israel, slew Ahaziah, King
of Judea.
Ten miles from Geninum is Samaria, from which the
district around took its name, which Sennacherib founded ;
from Samaria are the Samaritans. Razed to the ground by
Antiochus, it was rebuilt by Herod, the son of Antipater,
in honour of Augustus Caesar, and was named Augusta,
which is in Greek Sebast. Here John the Baptist is
said to have been buried between Eliseus and Obadiah^,
having been slain by Herod across the Jordan in the castle
of Macheronta. His body is said to have been burned
by Julian the Apostate, and the ashes given to the wind.
His head had long before been taken to Alexandiia by
Marcellus, a priest ; it was afterwards carried to Aquitaine,
along with the Three Innocents, by Felicius, a monk, in
the reign of Pipin. He was then returning from the
slaughter of the Vandals, and twenty of his soldiers who
* Beisan. ^ Elkosh is not identified, but probably was in Galilee.
3 Jenin. 'The ancient Ginaea, seven leagues to the south of Naza-
reth.'—V.
* 'The Ascent of Gur' (2 Kings ix. 27) is not identified. The Gcr
of the text lies between Jenin and Lejjiin (Megiddo), but no appro-
priate site suggests itself.
5 Very ancient tradition, from the time of St. Jerome (' St. Paula,'
p. 13), makes Samaria the place in which the Baptist was buried. —
Cf. 'Ant. Mar.,' p. 6, ' Willibald,' p. 26 ; William of Tyre. By some
this is also represented as the scene of his imprisonment and death.
According to St. Jerome, Samaria is also the burial place of Elisha
and Obadiah. The Tomb of the Baptist is described in P.E.F.M.,
ii. 214.
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY LAND. 33
had fallen in the war were restored to life by the merits of
the blessed John. His finger, with which he pointed out
Jesus coming to his baptism, was carried with her among
the Alps by the blessed virgin Tygris, and there it is held
in the greatest reverence in the Church of Maurienne^
From Sebaste was that mother who, under the constraint
of famine, ate her own son. Which so happened of Mary
in Jerusalem. In Samaria Eliseus prophesied, feeding a
hundred prophets in caves. In Samaria is the city of Suna,
of which was the Sunamite woman^. Of Samaria was
Symon Magus.
Four miles from Sebaste is Sichem^, which Emor and
his sons built and called by the name of Sychem ; it was
afterwards called Neapolis, i.e., New City. Thence the
sons of Jacob destroyed Sychem, slaying Emor, grieved by
his adultery with their sister. In Sichem the bones of
Joseph, which had been brought from Egypt, were buried.
In Sichem, at the foot of Garizim, near a fountain, Jero-
boam made the golden calves ; the one he placed in Dan,
the other in Bethel. The Samaritans and the Syrians
relate that four mountains overshadowed Sychem, Jebal
and Dan to the east, Bethel and Garizim to the south,
which Jerome repeats as to two, saying that they are in
the Land of Promise above Jerico, z'.e., Gebal, where,
according to the command of Moses, Joshua built an altar
to the Lord of unhewn stones, and beside it Garizim ; from
these the voices of those who mutually bless and curse one
another can be heard.
Luzan^ above Sichen, a mile from it, was founded by
^ St. Jean de Maurienne, in Savoy, so called from the relics of the
Baptist. John of Wiirzburg speaks of the 'virgin' as 'Thecla'
(p-7)- ^
2 Santer, between _/<?«£« and Sebusiiyeh.
3 Ndblus.
♦ Kh. Lozch on Gerizim, near the Samaritan place of sacrifice. It
34 FETELLUS.
the Jebusitcs ; in Hebrew it is called Ulamaus : here
Abraham, at the command of an angel, wished to sacrifice
his son Isaac\ while his young men waited for him at the
foot of the mount with the ass. However, a ram was
sacrificed instead of him. In imitation of Abraham, the
Gentiles represent this every year. The Sultan of the
Persians is the greatest man among them, and the Emir of
Menfhis ; v^ith their own hands they sacrifice camels.
After Jacob's sleep in that place, and the vision of the
ladder, it was called by him Bethel, i.e., the House of God.
But after Jeroboam placed the golden calf there, it was
called Bctheul, i.e., the House of the Idol. It was also
called by Abraham, ' The Lord sees.' Jacob there erected
a stone for a monument.
A mile from Sychem is the town of Sychar^, close to the
estate which Jacob gave to his son Joseph. In it is the
Fountain of Jacob, which, however, is a well. Above it
Jesus is said by the Evangelist to have talked with the
Samaritan woman, where a church is now built^ Not far
from Sychem is the place of the terebinth*, under which
Jacob hid away the idols.
Six miles from Sychem is Thanazare^, towards the south,
the city of Joshua, where he lived and died, his sepulchre
being still in this place.
is confused with Bethel (Luz) also by John of Wiirzburg (p. 8) and
Theoderich (p 62).
» The Bordeaux Pilgrim mentions this as a Samaritan tradition
(p. 18); cf. 'City of Jerusalem,' p. 62, 'John of Wiirzburg,' p. 9,
' Theoderich,' p. 62.
=» 'Askar.
3 Cf. 'Arculfus,' p. 41, ' Bord. Pil.,' p. 18, n. 7.
4 Gen. XXXV. 4-6. The terebinth was probably at the place called
el 'AmUd (' John of Wiirzburg,' p. 8, n. 7).
s Timnath-Heres (or Timnath-Serah) is identified with Ke/r 'Hdris,
nine miles south of Ndblus.
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY LAND. 35
Ten miles from Sychem is the castle of St. Gilles^
[Egidius], which took its name from a count of St. Gilles^,
who encamped there in the army of the Franks on the day
before they saw Jerusalem.
Fourteen miles from the above-named castle is Jeru-
salem, the most sacred metropolis of Judaea.
Four miles from Jerusalem is Efifrata, which was built by
the Jebusites, which Jacob afterwards called Bethleem,
i.e., House of Bread, where. Christ was born. From Beth-
leem were Booz and Obeth, the father of Isai, i.e., Jesse,
the father of King David, of whose stock Christ was
descended. In Bethleem, close to the Place of the
Nativity, is the manger in which the infant Jesus lay ; it
was brought to Rome by Queen Helena, and honourably
laid in the Basilica of St. Mary the Greater^.
A mile from Bethleem, southwards, the star shone on
the shepherds when the Lord was born, where also the
' Gloria in excelsis ' was chanted by the angels*. To
Bethleem the Magi came to adore the Lord, where also
the infants were slain by Herod.
The greater part of the Innocents rest buried three
miles to the south of Bethleem^.
Two miles from Bethleem, towards the west, is Ramale,
of which it is said: *A voice was heard in Rama^' In
» Sinjil.
2 ' Raymond IV., Count of Toulouse, called of St. Gilles. First
Crusade.' — V.
3 John of Wiirzburg, p. 54. mentions this in reference to * the hay
oat of the manger.
4 The narrow plain to the east of Bethlehem is the traditional site
of the ' Gloria in excelsis.'
5 Antoninus, p. 24, places the Tomb of the Innocents half a mile
from Bethlehem ; John of Wiirzburg, p. 34, says that the greater
number are buried four miles to the south of Bethlehem, and two
miles from Tekoa.
^ Identified with er Ram, five miles north of Jerusalem. The allu-
sion in the text is to Beit Jala.
36 FETELLUS.
Bethleem the body of the blessed Jerome, and the bodies
of Paula and Eustochium, rest.
Four miles from Bethleem is Thecua^, of which was
Amos the prophet, whose body lies there in a tomb.
From its confines Habakkuk was borne by the angel to
Babylon^; in Thecua many of the prophets used to meet
together to discuss Divine things.
Four miles from Bethleem, towards Hebron, is the
Church of St. Karitoth'^ where, as he was himself passing
from this world, all his companions equally passed with
him. The blessed Karitoth was afterwards borne to
Jerusalem, where he is still seen in the body^.
A mile from Bethleem, by the way leading to Jeru-
salem, is Kabrata^, the place where Rachel, after giving
birth to Benjamin, died of her pangs, and where she was
buried by Jacob, above whose tomb twelve lamps were
placed by Jacob, which still remain.
A mile from Kabrata, between Bethleem and Jeru-
salem, on the right is Betharacha, the place where the
angel smote in one night 185,000 of the army of Senna-
cherib. Sennacherib fled, and returned to Ninive, and
was slain by his sons.
According to the tradition of the Hebrews, it is said that
the first-born of Noah, Shem, whom they call Melchisedech,
first founded Salem after the flood, where he reigned as
king and priest ; afterwards the Jebusites were in posses-
sion of it, calling it Jebus after the name of their ancestor
Jebus, the third son of Canaan. Joining these, it is called
» Tekoa, now Teki'ia. * Cf. 'Theoderich,' p. 55.
3 At Khurcitun, near TekiVa.
■♦ Cf. 'John of Wiirzburg,' p. 48; and see there n. 6. Also cf.
* Theoderich,' p. 43.
5 Apparently a corruption of Kabr Rdhil, 'Tomb of Rachel,' or
of Kubbet Rdhil^ * Dome of Rachel.' See Sir Charles Wilson's note
to ' John of Wiirzburg,' p. 55. Cf; ' Theoderich,' p. 51.
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY LAND. 37
Jebus Salem. It was afterwards called by Solomon
Jerosolyina, as if it were Jebus Salomonia. By poets it is
called Solyma ; by Elius Adrian, who restored it, Elia}-.
This is Sion, which in Hebrew means observatiori^, Jeru-
salem meaning Vision of Peace.
Jerusalem is the metropolis of Judaea — as it were, the
navel of the earthy situated in the middle of the world.
Whence David says : ' He wrought salvation in the midst
of the earth*.' Jerusalem excels all cities in the world in
prayer and alms. In Jerusalem David reigned thirty-three
years, after Saul was rejected. Of Jerusalem was Ysaias
the Prophet, who was sawn with a wooden saw by King
Manasseh. In Jerusalem is Mount Moria, i.e., the thresh-
ing floor of Hornam the Jebusite, above which David saw
the smiting angel, where also the Temple was afterwards
built by Solomon.
3,102 years from Adam, 1,400 from the Flood, 1,200 from
the departure of Abraham from Mesopotamia, 502 from
the departure of Israel from Egypt, 240 from the founda-
tion of Tyre, the Temple of the Lord began to be built.
King Solomon built the Temple, i.e.. Bethel^ and the altar,
which he devoutly and solemnly dedicated at incomparable
expense. This Nabugodonosor, in the time of King
Zedekiah, profaned and utterly spoiled, and overthrew the
city, causing Zedekiah, with his sons, to be brought before
him at Reblata^, i.e., Antioch, which is called by other two
' See ' Eucherius,' p. 7, n.
2 Sion, according to Gesenius, means ' a sunny place.'
3 Cf. 'Abbot Daniel,' p. 13, * Arculfus,' pp. 16, f.
4 Psa. Ixxiv. 12.
5 This may be an allusion to the tradition that the Sakhra was the
Bethel of Jacob's vision (Williams, ' The Holy City,' p. 204 ; Robert-
son Smith, ' Encyc. Brit,,' s. n. Temple j Hayter Lewis, ' Holy Cities,'
p. 20). Cf. 'John of Wiirzburg,' p. 11.
^ Riblah, 2 Kings xxv. 6, f., is identified with Ribleh, on the east
bank of the Orontes, thirty-five miles north-east of Baalbek.
38 FETELLUS.
names, Emmath^ and Epiphania ; here he slew the sons of
Zedekiah while he was present, and deprived him of his
eyes. After this Nebuzardam completely destroyed Syon
and the Temple, but it was afterwards rebuilt by Ezra the
Scribe and Nehemiah, under Cyrus, King of the Persians.
The Temple was again destroyed by Antiochus, and was
rebuilt under the Maccabees. It was profaned by Pompey,
who stayed in it when he fled from the face of Julius
Caesar. Lastly, that third Temple was completely destroyed
under Titus and Vespasian. Of this they say that it was
rebuilt by Helena under the Emperor Constantine ; others
say by the Emperor Heraclius, others by Justinian
Augustus, others by a certain Emir of Memphis in Egypt,
in honour of Alachiber^, i.e., the Supreme God, as a
Saracen inscription plainly declares. For on the arrival of
the Franks nothing of the Law or of Greek was found to
be painted in it. The present temple is called the fourth.
In the one before it the boy Jesus was circumcised ; His
foreskin was presented in the Temple by an angel to
Charles the Great, and by him was brought to Aquisgranum*,
in Gaul ; it was afterwards transferred by Charles the Bald
to Aquitaine, in the district of Poitou, near Carrofus*.
In the Temple Jesus was presented by His mother, and
was received by Simeon. From the Temple Jesus cast
out those who bought and sold : He freed the adulteress
from her accusers. From the Temple the blessed James
» Hamath (Hemath, Amosvi. 14) is the modern //a;«a, in the Valley
of the Orontes, north of Damascus.
2 John of Wiirzburg writes ' Allah Kebir.' Abbot Daniel says, p. 21
that the Temple was built by a Saracen chief, Amir (' Omar '). See
' William of Tyre,' i. 2, viii. 3. According to the Arab tradition, ' Omar,
about the year 635 (a.h. 14) built a mosque over the Rock as the
ancient site of the Temple. The present Dome of the Rock is prac-
tically identical with the building of the Khalif 'Abd al Malik in the
year 691 (a.h. 72).
3 Aix la Chapelle. < Charroux.
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY LAND. 39
was hurled. In the Temple the birth of his son was
announced by an angel to Zacharias. Between the Temple
and the altar Zacharias, the son of Barachias, fell. This
altar was afterwards turned by the Saracens into a dial,
which may still be seen in the halP. In Jerusalem, by the
side of St. Ann, not far from the gate by which one goes
to Josaphat, is the Sheep-pool^. In the middle of Jeru-
salem Jesus raised a damsel from the dead^. In Jerusalem
the second James was slain by Herod with the sword,
whence he was taken to Joppa, afterwards to Spain*.
Below the site of the Temple is the dwelling of the new
soldiers^ who guard Jerusalem. In Jerusalem is a
Xenodochium, or Muscomion. Xenodochium is the Greek
for a reception-house for strangers and the poor ; Mus-
comion, ie.y a hospital, where the sick are gathered from
the streets and the villages and taken care of. Outside
the walls of Jerusalem, between the Tower of Tancred and
the Gate of St. Stephen, is a station for lepers. Hyrcanus,
the prince of the Jews, is said to have been the first to
institute Xenodochia with money which he abstracted from
the Sepulchre of David. In the suburbs of Jerusalem, in
the Valley of the Sons of Ennon, towards the south, is
Thopheth, the place in which the people of Israel were
I ' The Altar of the Children of Israel ' is of Christian invention ;
Le Strange, p. 131. Cf. 'The City of Jerusalem,' p. 37, n. 3, 'John of
Wiirzburg,' p. 15, n. i.
» Cf. * The City of Jerusalem,' p. 25, n. i.
3 Cf. ' John of Wiirzburg,' p. 44.
4 Tradition with great unanimity, but without any foundation, con-
nects St. James, the brother of St. John, with Spain.
s On the capture of Jerusalem by the Crusaders, A.D. 1099, the
Haram Area was given over to the Knights of the recently-established
Order of the Temple. They left the Dome of the Rock unchanged ;
but they m^ade considerable alterations on the Aksa Mosque, building
their armoury on its west side along the south wall of the area, and
stabling their horses in the substructions of the south-east angle to the
west of the CradU of Jesus. See Le Strange, p. 107.
4
40 FETELLUS.
not ashamed to worship the idols of the Gentiles. The
Valley of Ennon signifies the Valley of Gehennon, because
in it the Hebrews sacrificed their sons to demons. It was
also called the Valley of Idols, because in it they wor-
shipped idols. The Valley of Gethsemani is the Valley of
Josaphat ; the Valley of Ennon joins Gethsemani. Under
Solomon's Palace^, in a bend of Syon, almost in the Valley
of Josaphat, is the swimming - pool of Syloe, which,
according to the tradition of the Hebrews, is said to flow
from Sylo. Siloe brings its stream along in silence,
because underground. Under Syloe is the Fountain of
Rogel^, close to which the blessed Ysaias is said to be
buried^. Close to the Fountain of Rogel is Zoeleth^ the
rock above which Adonijah sacrificed victims. Above
Syloe, to the south, is the Fish-pool of the Fuller, and a
field, adjoining the Field of the Potter, in which is Achel-
demach, where strangers are buried. Above Acheldemach
is Gyon, where King Solomon was anointed as king by
Zadok the priest. In the Valley of Josaphat they say
that the blessed James was buried, and thence was taken
to Constantinople. In the Valley of Josaphat, under a
pointed monument"' King Josaphat was buried.
A mile from Jerusalem, towards the Dead Sea, is Bethany,
where Simeon had Jesus as his guest, where also Mary
merited the forgiveness of sins, where He raised Lazarus.
Between Bethany and Mount Olivet is Bethfage.
In Mount Syon Jesus washed the feet of His disciples,
and supped with them. In Jerusalem Judas sold Jesus to
the Jews. In a bend of Mount Olivet is the place where
» The Crusaders' name for the Mosque el Aksa.
= ^At'/i Umm ed Dcraj^ ' The Virgin's Fountain,' but the traditional
site is Blr Eyiib.
3 The spot is still shown. 'John of Wiirzburg,' p. 50, n. 2.
4 I Kings i. 9. Za/nucilch, opposite En Rogel.
5 J'yniiiiis.
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY LAND. 41
Jesus prayed to His Father, when He said to Peter :
* Couldst not thou watch with Me one hour ?' Thence
returning to Gcthsemane, He was betrayed to the Tews by
Judas. Whom he presented, bound, to Annas and
Caiaphas within Solomon's porch. Thence He was taken
to Syon, to the place which is called Litostrotos, which is
still shown before the door of a church. Thence He was
led to Calvary, and after many insults He was crucified
between the robbers. In the square of the merchants is a
church which is called ' the Latin,' because the Latins have
held that place from the time of the Apostles ; it is the
place where first after the Passion the mother wept for her
Son, the disciple for his Master. Under the site of
Calvary, to the right, in the entrance of the church, is an
oratory on the place where the three Maries are said to
have mourned for Him while He suffered on the Cross.
Not far from that place Joseph buried Jesus. On the
night of the Passover, while many are in expectation, a
fire is Divinely poured down every year\ and the Sepulchre
of the Lord is honoured. In the place which lies in the
middle between the Sepulchre and the site of the Passion,
Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene. In the place called
Career {the prison) Jesus was detained while the cross was
preparing for Him.
Eight miles from Jerusalem is Eutheropolis, /.<?.,
Emaus^, on the way to which the Lord appeared to the
two disciples as they walked. In Mount Syon He appeared
to His disciples in the absence of Thomas, and afterwards
* 'An allusion to the Miracle of the Fire; the Catholic pilgrims
previous to the thirteenth century, who mention it, are Bernard the
Wise, 869; Richard de la Grace-Dieu, 1027 (Labbe, ^/(5/. Manusc,
i. 178) ; and Foulcher de Chartres. To this list must be added the
anonymous authors of our description and of "The City of Jerusalem,"
ii. 2 [p. 3 5] -'--v.
« ' An error. Eleutheropolis is Beit Jibrin' — V.
4—2
42 FETELLUS.
when he was present. In Mount Olivet He ascended to
the Father, where also rests the body of the blessed
Pelagian In Mount Syon the blessed Mary died, and
thence she was taken to Josaphat by the Apostles. In
Mount Syon the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples.
In Mount Syon David and Solomon, and the other kings
of Jerusalem, are said to be buried. Before the gate of
Jerusalem, which looks to the west, the blessed Stephen
was stoned^ ; thence he was carried to Syon and buried
with Nicodemus.
Between Jerusalem and Josaphat is a church where they
say that Saul sat while Stephen was stoning. Not far
from Jerusalem is a cave where a lion carried in one night,
by the will of God, twelve thousand martyrs destroyed
under Chosroes^.
At a distance of two miles is the place where the wood
of the Lord's Cross grew. Not far from the site of Calvary
is the place where the Holy Cross was found. When the
site of Calvary had been diligently sought out, Helena
caused it to be cleansed, the idol of Venus being broken in
pieces, which Hadrian had set up there to the ignominy
of the Christians.
Alongside of Mount Olivet is the Mount of Offence,
where King Solomon, seduced by his wives, built a fane to
Chamos and Moloch.
Three miles from Jerusalem is Anathot*, from which
came Jeremiah of Anathot.
A mile from Jerusalem, towards Gagas, is the place
which is called Scopulus^ where the tribe of Levi went
out to meet Alexander.
' Cf. 'Abbot Daniel,' p. 26, 'John Phocas,' p. 22.
' See above, p. i.
3 Cf. 'John of Wiirzburg,' p. 49, ' Theoderich,' p. 56.
4 'Anaia, three miles north-east of Jerusalem.
5 Scopus, the hill to the north of Jerusalem, P.E.F.Q.S., 1873, p. 20;
1S74, pp. 93, in.
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY LAND. 43
Five miles from Jerusalem, towards the south, is the
towni to which Mary came to salute Elizabeth, where John
is said to have been born.
Two miles from Jerusalem, by the road which leads to
Neapolis, is Mount Gabaath, and the city of Finees
where he was buried^.
A mile from Emaus, towards the south, is Gabatha,
where Habakkuk rests. From Gabaat Saul was elected in
Galgala. In Gabaat the wife of the Levite is cor-
rupted^.
Between Jerusalem and Ascalon, close to Bethany, is
Abuezer, the place where the Philistines took the Ark of
God*.
Bethoron is in the tribe of the sons of Joseph, to which
Joshua pursued the kings. There are two Bethorons, an
Upper and a Lower^. Solomon built the Upper, the Lower
was given as a possession to the Levites. In the country
of Bethoron the prophet Joel was born and buried.
Seven miles from Jerusalem, by the road which leads to
Neapolis, is Gabaon^, from which came the Gabaonites.
There is another Gabaon, close to Rama and Remmon ;
there Solomon merited the Divine oracle, where also the
sun is said to have stood still while Joshua (the son) of
Nun was fighting.
In the mountains of Ebron is Ziph, which is also called
* ^At'n Karhn.
= The site of Gibeah of Phinehas is doubtful. The traditional site is
Aivertah^ south of Ndbltis, where his tomb is shown ; Jibta, seven
miles west of Tell A stir ^ has been suggested — P.E.F.M., ii. 2S8.
3 Gibeah of Benjamin (or of Saul) is not identified.
4 Eben-Ezer may be Detr Aban, east of 'Ain Shams — P.E.F.M.,
iii. 24.
5 Beit ' Ur el Foka and Beit ' Ur el Tahta.
^ There was probably only one Gibeon, now the village of El Jib^
north of Jerusalem— P.E.F.M., iii. 94. The second Gabaon is Geba»
now Jeba.
44 FETELLUS.
CarmeP ; here was the village of Carmel from which Nabal
came. In this Carmel David asked loaves for his young
men from Nabal, as he fled from the face of Saul. Abigail,
meeting him in the descent of Carmel, appeased him with
large gifts ; whom, after Nabal's death, David married.
There is another Ziph, from which came the Ziphites : in
its desert Jonathan visited David when he was hid from
the face of Saul, where also David stole Saul's shield and
spear.
Eight miles from Emaus, by the road which leads to
Hebron, is the city of Ccyla^, where David once dwelt.
Nine miles from Jerusalem, by the road which leads to
Ramatha"* is Mount Mod in*, from which came Mattathias,
the father of the Maccabees, once an almost impregnable
city, from which one could see both seas — the Great Sea
and the Dead Sea. In Modin, Mattathias and his four
sons, and two grandsons, rest under monuments^ that are
still left.
In the descent from Jerusalem to Jericho is Adonim,
which is now called the Red Cistern^ It is mentioned by
our Lord in speaking of the man who fell among robbers.
Thirteen miles from Jerusalem is Jericho, Over against
Jerico, on the arrival of Elijah and Elisha, the Jordan
was divided, where also Elijah, on being taken up, left
Elisha his cloak, which is held in great affection at
Constantinople. As Jesus walked through Jericho,
Zacchaius climbed up a sycamore in it. In Jericho, at
the time of the blessed Sabas, there was kept a guest
' 'Ziph and Carmel are two distinct localities to the south-east of
Hebron, five or six kilom. from one another.' — V. Ziph is now
identified with TV// Zi/, south of Hebron, quite near e/ Kurmtil.
» Keilah, now Khurbet Ktla^ in the Hebron mountains.
3 Er Ramleh, near Lttdd. 4 El Midieh. s Pyramis.
6 ' Now Khan el Ahmar; the pilgrims of the fourteenth century
call it the " Red Tower." '—V.
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY LAND. 45
house of marvellous charity which he presided over, in
which he happened to entertain a friend of his from
Medeba, a city of Arabia, named Thomas. While they
were eating, and with them the most holy men Paul and
Theodore, it was announced to the blessed Sabas that
there was no wine, nor, indeed, any liquor except a little
colocynth broth for cooking the vegetables for their break-
fast. This was brought before the blessed Sabas and was
consecrated by him, when it was changed into such
abundance of wine that it sufficed for all in the hospital for
three continuous days ; some of it he gave to Thomas
and his friends on their return home, and a little of it was
reserved, and it restored to health infirm persons who were
anointed with it. Before Jericho the blind man, who was
restored to sight by the Lord, was sitting by the way-
side.
At the second stone from Jericho is the place where
Jesus fasted for forty days and forty nights, which is now
called Quarentena\ where also the devil, tempting Him,
said : ' Command that these stones be made bread.'
Two miles from Quarentena, towards Galilee, is a lofty
mountain^, from which the devil showed Jesus all the
kingdoms of the world. Under Quarentena is the rivulet
of that fountain^ which Elisha rendered drinkable instead
of bitter, by scattering salt upon it.
Twenty miles from Jerusalem is Ltdda*, which is
Diospolis. It means double city". In the confines of
Diospolis is Thanna^, once a large town : here Judah
^ ' There was there a church dependent on the Canons of the Holy-
Sepulchre. Cartul. du S.-S., pp. 30, 235.' — V. The Mons Quarantana
is behind ^Ain es Sultan, the ancient Jericho.
2 Kurn Stirtabeh. 3 ' Ain es Sultan. 4 Lydda, Ludd.
5 'An absurd play on the word Diospolis, which does not signify
" Two Cities," Dyopolis, but " City of Jupiter." '—V.
^ Timnath, Gen. x.xxviii. ; the Timnah of Josh. xv. 10 is identified
46 FETELLUS.
clipped his sheep, when he lay with Thamar at the place
where two ways met, a mile from Thanna, begetting from
her Phares and Zaram.
Four miles from Diospolis is Arimathia^ t.e., Ramatha
Sophim, the city of Elkanah and Samuel, from which the
Evangelist says that Joseph was, and where he was buried.
His body was lately taken to Bethleem by a Bethlecmite,
now a bishop, and there were found with him the bandages^
with which Joseph took Jesus down from the cross, and
one of the nails of the Lord, both of which are now
deposited in the chapel of the King of Jerusalem.
Two miles from Diospolis, towards the sea, is the Castle
of Balnea, where Nicodemus carved a wooden likeness of
the Saviour's form, which is now venerated at Lucca in
Italy.
Two miles from Diospolis, above the sea, is Joppa, in
which Peter raised Tabitta, where also the disc appeared
to Peter^ ; there is shown there a stone in which the marks
of the chains of Andromeda are seen*.
Six miles from Joppa is Assur^, which Solomon built.
Twenty miles from Assur, towards the east, is Dor*^,
which, in honour of Augustus Csesar, Herod called
Cesarea ; where he also constructed a harbour of white
marble, in which Peter baptized Cornelius, his house being
changed into a church, and ordained him as bishop, where
with the ruins of 'fibnah, on the south side of the JVdtfy Siir&r
(Valley of Sorek).
' Arimathea is not identified, nor is Ramathaim-Zophim. The
place referred to is Rantieh, north of Lydda.
2 Tenaliis — Toraliis ? 3 Acfs x. ii.
*> Cf. Kenrick's * Phoenicia,' p. 20, referred to by Dean Stanley,
'Sinai and Palestine,' p. 275. Cf. also ' St. Paula,' p. 4.
s 'Arsur or ArsOf, otherwise Apollonia, a stronghold of the
Crusaders.' — V.
^ 'An error ; Doris Tanturah, about four Iciigiies north of Cacsarea.'
— V Taniiira \% eight miles from C?E5area,
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY LAND. 47
rest four virgins, prophetesses. They say that in this
Cesarea Eusebius ' the Doctor ' was bishop. In Cesarea
was the Tower of Strato^, where Herod was sitting in his
purple vestments when he was smitten by the Divine
vengeance and died. In the time of the Saracens, Cesarea
flourished so greatly that between Babilon and Balilonia,
i.e., Baldach in Persia and Menfis in Egypt^, it grew
like their paradise ; and there the nobles and the powerful
were buried. In the circuit of the city, among gardens,
were various small caves, constructed of sawn stones, in
which spices and aromatics were mingled in the fire, so
that the whole city was redolent of the combining wafted
odours, to the shutting out of all bad smells and the
exhilaration of the countenances of the citizens. But now
all this has come to nothing.
In the rivers of Cesarea are crocodiles', horrible serpents.
The mouth of the crocodile is distinguished from all mouths
in this respect, that its upper jaw is movable, while its
lower is fixed*. The crocodile has no lower exit. The
crocodile, having eaten its food, seeks its wonted paths on
the river bank, where, raised on its arms, its neck extended,
and its mouth open, as if to incorporate the breeze, it falls
asleep. When it is fast asleep worms come to it, which
eat of the food of the crocodile, and they enter its belly,
one of them acting as the janitor and watch of the rest,
fearing lest if it should awake it should seal them up
* According to Josephus, the original name of Caesarea.
2 ' Bagdad and Cairo.' — V.
3 ' Pliny records the same fact, and the Arabs still assert it. One of
the rivers, situated between Arsuf and Cacsarea, still bears the name
of " Nahr el Temsah," the Crocodile River. Cf. Guerin, De Ora
PalestincB, etc., pp. 46, 66.' — V. The name of the river is Nahr ez
Zerka, the Shihor Libnath of Josh. xix. 26 (?). The existence of
crocodiles in it at present is no longer doubtful.
4 'This error as to the position of the jaws of the crocoJile is still
very widely spread.' — V.
43 FETELLUS.
below^. Thus the crocodile is deceived by its own. The
crocodile bates man above all animals.
There is another serpent, called Ydrus, which loves man
above all creatures ; it no less hates the crocodile and the
crocodile it, so that they mutually seek one another. But
the ydrus renders itself shapeless with mud, so as not to
be recognised by its enemy, and offers itself to the
crocodile, which, walking round it two or three times,
ignorantly swallows it. The ydrus eats through the prison
in which it has been shut up, shakes the viscera, dissipates
the liver, tears the heart in pieces, perforates the sides,
and comes out after slaying its enemy. How crocodiles
come to be at Cesarea I shall state shortly. In ancient
days two brothers reigned at Cesarea with equal authority ;
the elder of them, because he was not reigning alone,
plotted for the death of his brother, who was also noted as
a leper, thinking with himself, that if he could get two
pairs of crocodiles from the Nile to the before-named
rivers, his brother, who frequented the river baths in the
summer-time, would perhaps be killed, and that he would
obtain the kingdom. This actually happened thus, and so
the elder reigned alone.
Ten miles from Cesarea, towards the east, is Scariathias,
from which Judas the traitor was called Scarioth.
Six miles from Scariathias, is Porfirium^, at the foot of
Carmel, above the sea, once a goodly city.
Carmel is a mountain, where for some time Elias con-
' ' Ejus labio superiori super vene inferum replicat aculeutn,' which
follows in the text at this point, is not capable of translation ; the text
must be corrupt.
2 ' During all the Middle Ages, Haifa, at the foot of the Bay of
Carmel, was con'^idered as situated on the site of the ancient Porphy-
rium ; this is an error ; that city was more to the north : Haifa has
replaced Sycaminum' —V. Porphyrium was e= ' t miles north of
Sidon.
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY LAND. 49
versed with Elisha, where he sacrificed to God before the
440 priests of Baalim, and merited the heavenly fire.
Thence, seizing the priests, he slew them with the sword,
above the torrent of Cyson. Whence, fleeing from Jezebel,
he came to Horeb. Now, Horeb is by the side of Synai.
Three miles from Carmel is Mount Kaim\ at the foot of
which, near a fountain, Lamech slew his forefather. Cairn,
with an arrow, and with his bow his leader.
Ten miles from Mount Kaim is Achon^, called Tholo-
mais by Ptolemy, King of Egypt, who founded it. Here
there arrives the greater number of ships (coming to any
port) on the sea-coast of the Christians from Aschalon to
Mount Taurus, to which the necessary supplies of Asia
flow from Africa and Europe. Here once a year, in the
month of August, it happens that on the sea shore, not
far from the walls towards the east, fountains spring up,
rendering their rivulets to the sea, which act as solvents to
those drinking of them according to their pleasure. On
this account they are frequented by those staying between
the Euphrates and the Nile.
Sixteen miles from Achon is Tyre, which in ancient
times was called Sarra, from a fish which abounds there,
which the Syrians in their language call Sar, from which is
derived the name by which this kind of little fish is called
sarrce, or sardines^. The Hebrews call Tyre Sor, or in
the common tongue Sur. The Phcenicians founded Tyre,
coming from the Red Sea.
* Crusading tradition represents Cain as killed by Lamech at Cain
Mons, the ancient Jokneam, possibly the Cyamon of Judith, now Tell
Keimnn. — P.E.F.M., ii. 69.
2 'Akka or St. Jean d'Acre. (Accho of Jud., i. 31.) It is men-
tioned by Strabo under the name Ptolemais, the origin of which is
unknown. — P.E.F.M., i. 145, etc.
3 ' One remarks the naivetd of these etymologies, based on jeux
de mots. Tsor means " a rock.'' ' — V.
50 FETELLUS.
Fourteen miles from Tyre is Sydon.
Sydon was founded by Sydon, the first-born of Canaan,
the son of Ham, from whom the Sydonians^ are descended.
In Tyre and Sydon Fenix reigned, who was the brother of
Cathmus of Thebes in Egypt^, who came to Syria. From
his name he called those people Fenycians, and the whole
province Fenycia, of which Tyre had the first rank. In
Tyre reigned Hiram when Solomon reigned in Jerusalem ;
and Apollonius when Antiochus reigned in Antioch.
Tyre, as the Syrians assert, would not receive Jesus as He
walked along that coast, but when Jesus was raised from
the dead, it received in His name Paul preaching to it the
Law and the Gospel. He afterwards, falling on his knees,
prayed on the sand that the clemency of Christ might
strengthen it in the faith. Before Tyre is the stone^ on
which they say that Jesus sat, which remained uninjured
from His time until the expulsion of the Gentiles from the
city, but was afterwards broken by the Franks and also
the Venetians : above the remains of it on its own site a
church has been begun in honour of the Saviour*. Tyre
has, according to the Venerable Bede, given so many
martyrs to God, the number of whom belonging to itself
alone science reckons. Tyre is the burial-place of Origeiu
Tyre was taken by Alexander the Great^ who extended
* * Sydones sive Sydonii.'
» Phcenix, according to tradition, was the brother of Cadmus, and
the son of Agenor. The name Phoenicia may be derived from <poivtK,
a palm-tree, but probably means 'the lowland.'
3 ' Mentioned also by J, Phocas.' — V. ' Phocas,' pp. lo, f.
4 The cathedral of Tyre was probably built in the latter half of the
twelfth century by the Crusaders, on the site of the church erected by
Paulinus and consecrated by Eusebius, A.D. 323, in which Origen had
been buried. Its ruins show it to have been one of the most beautiful
of Crusading churches.
s B.C. 332. Alexander, as is well known, profiting by a submarine
bar of sand, joined the island on which the city was built to the main-
land by a dyke.
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY LAND. 51
the land by a wall, since it was then surrounded also by
the sea. In our time Tyre was vigorously besieged both
by sea and by land, and was taken by the Patriarch
Warmund, of blessed memory, with the aid of the Vene-
tians, by the permission of the grace of God\ From the
confines of Tyre and Sydon came the Canaanite woman
who said to Jesus : ' Son of David, have pity on me !'
Departing from these regions, Jesus, returning to Galilee
through the midst of DecapoHs, restored hearing to the
deaf and speech to the dumb.
Six miles from Sydon, above the sea, towards Tyre, is
Sarepta'-^ of the Sydonians, where Elias was sent by the
Lord to the widow of Sarepta, that she might provide him
with food. While they remained together, the little oil in
the cruse and the modicum of meal afforded sufficient
food : here Elias raised the widow's son, viz., Jonah, the
son of Amathus''. A woman collected two faggots in
Sarepta. In the mountains of Sydon and Sarepta is
Gethagofer*, the town from which came the above-named
Jonah. Of Sydon was Dido, who built Carthage in Africa.
Sydon was acquired by the Phoenicians, and held by them ;
they confirmed its name Sydon on account of the abund-
ance of fish, because in their language Sydon signifies fish.
Eighteen miles from Sydon is Beritus^ a most wealthy
city. In Beritus is an image of our Saviour", wrought by
^ Gormond, Patriarch of Jerusalem, 1118-1128. The siege of Tyre
was concluded June 29, 1124.
2 Surafetid.
3 ' It is nowhere said that the child raised by Elias was the prophet
Jonah.'— V.
4 Gath-Hepher of Josh. xix. 13, now el Mesh-hed, three miles
north-east of Nazareth, in which the tomb of Jonah is shown. —
P.E.F.M., i. 365.
^ Beiriit.
6 Cf. 'Abbot Daniel,' p. 55 ; *The City of Jerusalem,' p. 48. The
$2 FETELLUS.
Nicodemus with his own hands : not long after the Passion
of Christ it was ignominiously crucified by some Jews in
mockery, and it brought forth blood and water. On
account of this many believed in Christ. Whoever is
anointed with a drop from the image, is restored to
health.
Twenty miles from Berytus, towards the east, is Byblium^,
which is Gibeletum, or, in the Hebrew tongue, Gobel. To
its harbour, in the time of Solomon, wood was brought
from Lebanon for the building of the house of the Lord in
Jerusalem, and thence to Joppa.
Twenty miles from Gibeletum, towards the east, is
Tripolis^, the city of the provincials ; it is marvellously
fortified by walls and the sea.
Twelve miles from Tripolis, towards the east, is the
Albana, a river of Archas, where the kingdom of Jeru-
salem begins.
At Jerusalem a public prayer for the dead and a public
benefit were originated by Judas Maccabaeus, and a common
hospital by Hyrcanus. The tower which is now called
that of David was built by Herod. Titus and Vespasian,
when they destroyed the city, left it standing as a sign
of their victory. But the citadel which David built for
himself, where he dictated the Psalter, had its site within
the church which now fortifies and decorates Syon, towards
Bethleem on a very lofty mound, down to the time of
the younger son of Mattathias, who destroyed both the
citadel and the mound. But Titus and Vespasian, when
incident, but not the name of the maker, is mentioned in the 'Acts
of the Second Council of Nicasa,' A.D. 787, but is there assigned to
about the year A.D, 765, Cf. Quaresmius, Elucid. T. S.
' Jebcil, on the Syrian coast. The Hebrew Gebal, Greek Bibios,
and Giblet of the Crusading Chronicles.
« Tarabiilus.
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY LAND. 53
the city was destroyed, took from it not only its inhabi-
tants, but also the Ark of the Covenant, and what was in
it, and carried them to Rome with them, as appears
sculptured in the triumphal arches between the Palladium
and the Palatine Hill, close to the Church of Santa Maria
Nuova^
The keys of the above-named tower having been taken
by Duke Godfrey from the hand of the Patriarch Dago-
bert, he arranged as kindly as he could as to the patri-
archate and the honours of the churches, and he first
merited to ascend the summit with the title, not of one
who reigned, but of the slave of God. But he had vowed
that if God would give Aschalon into his hands, he would
give the whole of Jerusalem to those serving God in the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and that he would increase
the dominion of the patriarch. But when the following
year was scarcely completed, he came to that end which
he could not pass. He was buried with incomparable
mourning before Golgotha, v/here our Lord was crucified ;
and these verses were written in his tomb ;
' Marvellous star, here lies Duke Godfrey,
Eg> pt's terror, putter to flight of Arabs, scatterer of Persians ;
Though elected king, king he would not be entitled
Nor crowned : but he was " the slave of Christ."
His was the care to restore to Syon her rights,
And as a Catholic to follow the sacred dogmas of right and equity ;
All schism to put away from around him, and to cherish right.
Thus also with the saints could he deserve a diadem —
The army's mirror, the people's strength, the clergy's anchor.'
He was succeeded by Baldwin his brother ; he had been
first Consul of Edessa, and was elected by the whole clergy
^ ' The author alludes to the well-known bas-relief of the Arch of
Titus at Rome. The church which he mentions is that of St. Francesca
Romana, built in the eighth century by Paul I. under the name of
Santa Maria Nuova, rebuilt in the ninth under Leo IV., and dedicated
by Paul V. to St. Frances after her canonization in 1608.' — V.
54 FETELLUS.
and people. While he reigned the Idumean and Amalech
were silent, the Arab and the Philistine trembled, Damascus
and Tyre and Aschalon paid tribute^ .... He was
succeeded in Syon by him who had succeeded him at
Edessa, Baldwin du Bourg, a man wise, and of great
valour; after him came the venerable Fulke III., Count of
Anjou and Maine.
» ' Here comes in a history of Baldwin I., which is foreign to our
purpose.' — V.
INDEX.
r
A.
Abana, 24
Abarim, 21
Abigail, 44
Abraham, Oak of, 8
Abuezer, 43
Accon (Ptolemais), 49
Aceldama, 5, 40
Achor, Valley of, 22
Adam, 8, 9
Adam a, 7, il
Adonim, 44
Ain Karim, 43
Aix-la-Chapelle, 38
Alachiber, 38
Albana, 52
Altar of Children of Israel, 39
Alum, called Katranium, 12
Anathoth, 42
Andromeda, Chains of, 46
Anne, St., Church of, 4
Antioch, 25, 37
Arabia, 14
Archas, 24, 52
Arimathea, 46
Ascension, Oratory of the, 6
Asfaltis, Lake, 11
Ashteroth-Karnaim, 26
Assur, 46
Aulon, 25
Baal, 25
Baalbeck, 24
Bala, II
Balnea, 46
Barachias, 39
Beersheba, 10
B.
Belinas, 24
Belmon, 25
Beritus (Beyrout), 51
Bethany, 6, 40
„ of Baptist, 26
Betharacha, 36
Betharam, 25
Bethefaroel, 11
Bethel, 34
„ (Temple), 37
Beth Hoglah, 22
Bethlehem, 5, 35
Bethoron, 43
Bethphage, 6, 40
Bethsaida, 28
Bethsan, 25, 32
Bethulia, 29
Bitumen, 12
Bozrah, 22
Byblium, 52
Csesarea of Palestine, 46, 47
„ Philippi, 24
Cain, 49
Calvary, Mount, 41, 42
Cana of Galilee, 30
Caphar Gamala, 4
Capharnaum, 28
Career, 41
Cariatarbe, 9
Carmel, Mount, 48
„ Village of, 44
Casale Palme, 12
Cave of the Lion, 42
Cedar, 27, 28
Ceyla, 44
Charroux, 38
5
56
FETELLUS.
Chorazin, 28
Church of St. Anne, 4
„ St. John the Baptist, 3
„ St. John on the Jor-
dan, 7
„ St. Jean de Maurienne,
33
„ St. Karitoth, 36
„ St. Mary, at Bethle-
hem, 5
„ St. Mary, on Mount
Sion, 4
., St. Mary, in Haram
Area, 3
„ St. Mary the Great, 6
„ St. Mary the Latin, 3
„ St. Mary Magdalene, 6
„ St. Peter, 5
„ St. Stephen, 4
„ the Holy Sepulchre, 2
„ The Latin, 41
„ the Paternoster, 6
Cinnereth, 29
Cornelius, 46
Cradle of Jesus, 3
Crocodile River, 47
Crypt of Nativity, 5
D.
Damascus, 22
Dan, River, 25, 26
David, Tower of, i, 52
Dead Sea, 7, n
Debir, 10
Deborah, 31
Devil, River of the, 7, 1 1
Dido, 51
Diospolis, 45
Dome of the Rock, i, 3
Dothaim, 29
E.
Ebal, 33
Eben Ezer, 43
Eden, Mount, 19
Effrata, 35
Eleutheropolis, 41
Elisha, Burial-place of, 32
„ Fountain of, 45
Elkosh, 32
Emmaus, 41
Endor, 31
Engedi, 12
Epiphania, 38
Ethan, 14
Eusebius, 47
Eustachius, 24
Fire, The Holy, 41
Forest of Lebanon, 24
Fuller's Pool, 40
Gabaath, 43
Gabaon, 43
Gadara, 27, 28
Galilee, Church of, 4
„ Sea of, 28
Gath Hefer, 51
Gebal, 52
Genin, 32
Gennesareth, 29
Ger, 32
Gerasa, 28
Gerizim, Mount, y^
Gervase of Galilee, 27
Gethagofer, 51
Gethsemane, 6, 40, 41
el Ghor, 25
Gibeah, 48
Gibeletum, 52
Gibeon, 43
Gilboa, Mount, 27, 31
Gilgal, 21
Gilles, St., 35
Godfrey of Bouillon, 53
Golgotha, 2, 53
Gomorrha, 7, 11
Gyon, Mount, 40
H.
Habakkuk, Legend of, 36
Hamath, 38
Hebron, 8
Helena, Empress, 2, 35
Hermon, 31
Hiram, King of Tyre, 29
Holy Spirit, Descent 01, 4, 42
Hor, 19
Hospital and Church of St. John
the Baptist, 3
el Huleh, 28
Idumaea, 22, 23
Isaiah, 37, 40
Iscariot, 48
INDEX.
57
J.
Jacob, River, 23
Jael, 31
Jebel-Usdum, 13
Jeremiah, 21
Jericho, 6, 44
Jerome, St., 5, 36
Jerusalem, 1-5, 6, 35, 36, 42, 52
„ Gates of, i
Jezebel, 31
Jezrahel (Jezreel), 31
Job, 27
John the Baptist, Burial-place of,
32
John the Baptist, Church and
Hospital of, 3
Jonah, 51
Joppa, 46
Jor, 25, 27, 28
Jordan, 6, 7, 26
Josaphat, Valley of, 6, 40
Joseph of Arimathea, 46
Judith, 29
K.
Kabrata, 36
Kadumim, 31
Kaim, 49
Karitoth, St., 36
Karnaim, 21
Katraniuni (alum), 12
Keilah, 44
Kings, Tombs of the, 42
Kirjath-Arba, 9
Kirjath-Sepher, 10
Kishon, 31, 49
L.
Last Supper, Place of the, 4
Lebanon, Forest of, 24
Lepers, 39
Litostrotos, 41
Lot, Sepulchre of, 10
Lot's Wife, 12
Luzan, 33
Lydda, 45
M.
Magdalum, 29
Malbech, 24
Manger at liethlehem, 35
Mary, St., Church of, m Haram
Area, 3
Mary, St., Church of, on Mount
Sion, 4, 42
„ the Great, 6
,, the Latin, 3
Maries, Oratory of the Three, 41
Matathias, 43
Megiddo, 31
Meddan, Plain of, 26
Melchizedech, 30, 31, 36
Mensa Christi, 28
Merom, Lake of, 28
Moab, Plains of, 21
Modin, Mount, 44
Moriah, 37
Moses, 17
Muscomion, 44
N.
Naaman, City of, 27
Nain, 31
Nazareth, 29
Neapolis, 33
Nebuchadnezzar, 37
Nicodemus, 46, 52
O.
Obadiah, Burial-place of, 32
Offence, Mount of, 42
Olives, Oratory on the Mount
of, 6
Orontes, River, 25, 26
P.
Palace of Solomon, 3, 40
Paneas, 24
Paternoster, 6
Paula and Eustochium, 5, 36
' Pavement,' The, 41
Pelagia, Sepulchre of, 42
Pentapolis, 12, 14
Pharphar, 24, 25
Phoenicia, 50
Porfirium, 48
Precipice, The, 30
Prison, The Lord's, 41
Ptolemais, 49
Q.
Quarantana, Mount of, 7, 45
R.
Rachel, Tomb of, 36
Ramah, 35
58
FETELLUS.
Ramatha Sophim, 46
Rameses, 14
er Ramleh, 44
Red Cistern, The, 44
Riblah, 25, 37
Rogel, 40
S.
Sabas, St., 13, 44
Samaria, 32
Sarepta, 51
Saron, 31
Scariathias, 48
Scopus, 47
Scythopolis, 25, 32
Seboim, 7, 1 1
Sebaste, 32
Segor, II
Seir, 23
Seleucia ad Mare, 25
Sepulchre, Church of the Holy,
2,42
Sepphoris, 30
Shaveh-Kiriathaim, 13
Sheep-pool, 4, 39
Shunem, 33
Sichem, 33
Sidon, 50
Siloam, 5, 40
Simon the Leper, 6
Sinai, 15-17,49
Sinjil, 35
Sion, 40, 41
Sodom, 7, 1 1
Solomon, Palace of, 3
„ Porch of, 41
Spinetum, 27
Stephen, St., i, 42
Strato, Tower of, 47
Succoth, 14
Suetha, 26, 27
Sychar, 34
Syloe, 5, 40
* Table,' The, 28
Tabor, 30
Tekoa, 36
Templars, Knights, 39
Temple, i, 3, 37-39
Thanazare, 34
Thanna, 45
Thecua, 36
Theman, 26
Thopheth, 39
Tiberias, 29
Timnath, 45
Timnath-Heres, 34.
Titus, Arch of, 53
Tochteghin, Sultan, 27
Trachoniiis, 27
Tripolis, 52
Tyre, 49, 50
U.
Us (Uz), 23, 26
V.
Valley of Sons of Ennon, 39
,, Josaphat, 6, 40
„ Tears, 9
Venus, Image of, 42
X.
Xenodochium, 39
Ziph, 43, 44
Zoar, II
Zoheleth, 40
Z.
THE END.
BILLING AND SONSj PRINTERS, GVILPFORD.
Reference Table.
/. The' pinncvde'.
2. SouMe/ of Sinvarv they Jizat-
3. The^ Stahlee.
4. BeouuubifixL Gute/.
5. Place/ of ZlxxJiarias.
6. Chapel' of S. James.
7. GcLnorvs' CLoistere.
8. CaTwrvs'A.bbey
9. Betheedoy.
10. Ch. of SP Anne,.
11. Ov. of S^ Mary Magdalene/.
""{ziy^^'
12. Arch/.
13. CnnoTv^ CLoietere.
14. Ch^ SP Mary the Great.
16. Civ. SP Mary the, LaUirv.
16. HffspixiK' of Sv Sahaj.
17. Ch. of St James the, Great.
18. Hou^Be of thje, Germarte.
19. CharrveL HoijuM^ ofthje,LUnv,
ZO. Places at' which SP Stgyhtru fvae starved/.
21. The/Poj^ehtent. Praetorianv.
22. Pooh of Siloe/ andU OcJo ofMoyd<.
23. Cfv. oFSP SoATvovur.
Aeeidarri/a.a
icoo Tt/tt o
( ' I ' I I I ' I ' M I M ' I ' I I I
PALESTINE PILGRIMS' TEXT SOCIETY.
KSWeller.JJtho.
^6280 Ttft,' liiHa
Referenc
1. The, piruuudje^.
2. House' of Sirr
3. The' StaJblee.
4. BeauiifitL' Go
5. PLouoe^ of Zcua
6. Oiapel of Sl
7. Gouvons' CLoi
8. Canorvs\Abl
9. Bethesdcu.
JO. Cfv.ofSPAru
11. (K.ofS^Ma.
19
PoiH
'atr
1Z Aroh'.
13. Gnnorvs' Ch
H. CfuSPMcu
16. Cfv. S^Mo
16. MpspijX' t
17. Ch.ofStJ
18. MouMe, of^
19. Charneli
ZO. Fhtceat'y
21. The'Pcurej
22. Pool of S
23. Cfv. of Si'
vo Feet o
I ' I ' I ' I ' I ' I ' I ' I ■ I ' I ' I
Scale
lOon
—i
PALESTINE PILGRIMS' TEXT SOCIETY.
yS.'iyeller.J/iho
^alc0tin£ pilgrims' lext (Soxiety.
DESCRIPTION OF
THE HOLY LAND
BY
JOHN OF WtjRZBURG.
(a.d. 1160-1170).
'(ITrjinslatcb bj
AUBREY STEWART, M.A.,
LATE FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE.
WITH NOTES
BY
MAJOR-GENERAL SIR CHARLES W. WILSON, R.E., K.C.B.,
K.C.M.G., F.R.S., D.CL., LL.D.
LONDON :
24, HANOVER SQUARE, W.
1896.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
TAGE
PREFACE TO JOHN OF WURZBURG'S DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY
LAND, ABRIDGED FROM TOBLER . . . ix-xi
DEDICATORY EPISTLE . . . • .1-2
CHAPTER I.
NAZARETH — THE LORD'S LEAP (SALTUS DOMINl) — SEPPHORIS
CANA OF GALILEE — -TABOR HERMONIIM NAIM
ENDOR CISON JEZRAHEL — MAGEDDON — GELBOE SCY-
THOPOLIS — GYNiEA . . . . '3-6
CHAPTER II.
SAMARIA — ^DOTHAIM (tHE CISTERN OF JOSEPH) — SEBASTE
SICHEM — SICHAR BETHEL (LUZA) — GARIZIM — GEBAL —
SILO — RAMA . . . . . '7-9
CHAPTER III.
JERUSALEM — MOUNT MORIAH — THE HISTORY OF THE
TEMPLE . . . . . . .9-12
CHAPTER IV.
THE 'TEMPLE OF THE LORD' — THE TRADITIONS — THE
DESCRIPTION OF THE TEMPLE, AND OF THE SPACE ROUND
ABOUT IT ..... 12-20
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER V.
PAG»-
THE PALACE OF SOLOMON — THE HOUSE OF THE TEMPLARS —
THE STABLE — THE HOSPICE OF SIMEON THE JUST — THE
CRADLE OF CHRIST .... 20-27
CHAPTER VI.
BETHANY — BETHPHAGE THE CHURCH OF MARY MAG-
DALENE .,..,, 22-24
CHAPTER vn.
MOUNT SION — THE CHAMBER OF THE LAST SUPPER — THE
CHURCH OF SION .... 25-2C
CHAPTER Vni.
THE PRAYER OF CHRIST IN GETHSEMANE — THE CHAPEL WITH
THE GROTTO — THE CHURCH OF THE SAVIOUR — THE PLACE
OF THE BETRAYAL . . . , 26-28
CHAPTER IX.
THE JUDGMENT-HALL OF PILATE — THE TOWER OF DAVID — THE
BUILDING IN WHICH THEY SUPPED — GALILEE OR PLACE OF
THE COCK-CROWING — THE CHURCH OF THE GREEKS — THE
CHAPEL OF THE FLAGELLATION — THE WAY BY WHICH
CHRIST WENT TO CALVARY . . . 28-3C
CHAPTER X.
THE PLACE CALVARY — THE PRISON OF OUR LORD — THE
SEPULCHRE OF ADAM — THE RENT AND HOLE IN THE ROCK
^THE ALTAR OF THE LORD's PASSION, AND OF HIS HOLY
BLOOD ...... 30-33
CHAPTER XI.
THE CHOIR OF THE CANONS — ^THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH —
EMMAUS — THE WASHING OF THE FEET ON SION . 34-35
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XII.
PAGE
THE MONUMENT AT THE SEPULCHRE OF OUR LORD — THE
ALTAR AT THE HOLY SEPULCHRE — THE INSCRIPTIONS —
THE NEW CHURCH — THE CHOIR OF THE CANONS — THE
CHURCH OF THE RESURRECTION — THE PROCESSION 35-38
CHAPTER XIII.
THE canons' CLOISTER — THE CRYPT WITH THE ALTAR OF ST.
HELENA — THE CONSECRATION OF THE CHURCH OF THE
HOLY SEPULCHRE THE FOUR ALTARS — THE CANONS'
CHOIR THE QUARREL BETWEEN THE GERMANS AND
THE FRANKS ..... 38-4 1
CHAPTER XIV.
THE CHURCH OF THE ASCENSION ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVES —
THE POURING FORTH OF THE HOLY GHOST ON MOUNT
SIGN — THE ASSUMPTION OF THE VIRGIN. • 42-43
CHAPTER XV.
ACELDAMA — MOUNT GION — THE CHURCH AND HOSPITAL OF
ST. JOHN — THE CONVENT OF THE NUNS OF ST. MARY THE
GREAT — THE MONASTERY OF ST. MARY THE LATIN — THE
MONASTERY OF ST. SABAS — THE CHURCH AND MONASTERY
OF THE MARTYRDOM OF ST. JAMES THE GREATER — THE
HOUSE OF THE GERMANS . . . 434^
CHAPTER XVI.
THE CHAPEL OF ST. PETER OF THE FETTERS— THE IRON GATE
THE CHURCH AND MONASTERY OF ST. ANNE — THE POOL
OF THE SHEEP -GATE — THE CHURCH OF ST. MARY MAGDA-
LENE— THE TRIPLE MARKET — THE ARCH WHERE THE
BLESSED MARY RESTED — THE CHURCH OF ST. CHARITON 46-48
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XVII.
PAGB
THE PLACE OF THE STONING OF ST. STEPHEN — THE CHARNEL-
HOUSE OF THE LION — GABAA — THE MOUNT OF OFFENCE —
THE POOL OF SILOE — THE OAK OF ROGEL — THE CHAPEL
AND SEPULCHRE OF JAMES, THE SON OF ALPHiEUS — ^THE
PYRAMID OF JEHOSAPHAT THE HERMITS' CAVES — THE
CONVENT IN THE UPPER PART OF THE VALLEY OF
JEHOSAPHAT — THE SEPULCHRE OF THE VIRGIN MARY 49-5 ^
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE SEPULCHRE OF ST. MARY — THE CHAPEL — THE INSCRIP-
TIONS— GETHSEMANE .... S^SS
CHAPTER XIX.
BETHLEHEM — THE MANGER — THE PLACE OF THE NATIVITY
THE APPEARANCE OF THE STAR — THE SEPULCHRE OF THE
INNOCENTS — THE SEPULCHRE OF ST. JEROME — THE PLACE
OF THE SHEPHERDS — THECUA — THE CHURCH OF ST.
CHARITON — THE SEPULCHRE OF RACHEL . 54-55
CHAPTER XX.
THE RIVER JORDAN — THE DESERT OF QUARANTANA — THE
MOUNT OF TEMPTATION — THE FOUNTAIN OF ELIS^US —
THE PLACE OF THE BLIND MAN — JERICHO — BETHAGLA
ENGADDI ...... 56-58
CHAPTER XXI.
HEBRON — THE DOUBLE CAVE — THE VALLEY OF TEARS — THE
FIELD OF DAMASCUS — THE OAK OF MAMBRE . 5^ 59
CHAPTER XXII.
THE LAKEASPHALTITES — SEGOR(pALMARIA) — JEWISH BITUMEN
THE CAVE OF KARNAIM — ARABIA — MOUNT SINAI — HELIM
— MOUNTS HOREB AND ABARIM — IDUM.EA . 59-6^
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXIII.
PAGE
THE PLACE WHERE MARY VISITED ELIZABETH — MODIN LYDDA
CiESAREA PALiESTINA MOUNTS KAIN AND CARMEL 6 1 -62
CHAPTER XXIV.
PHCENICIA LIBANUS — TYRE — SAREPTA — SIDON — BERYTUS —
ARPHAT ...... 63-64
CHAPTER XXV.
DAMASCUS — IDUMiEA — HUS — SUETA — THEMA — NAAMAN —
THE RIVER JABOC — MOUNT SEIR — DAMASCUS AGAIN —
MOUNT LIBANUS — THE RIVERS ABANA AND PHARPHAR
— THE HARBOUR OF ST. SIMEON — ANTIOCH — PANEAS —
AULON DAN — MEDAN JOR — THE SEA OF GALILEE 64-67
CHAPTER XXVI.
BETH SAID A CHORAZAIN — CEDAR — CAPHARNAUM — THE
* TABLE ' — GENES ARETH MAGDALUM TIBERIAS
BETHULIA — DOTHAIM — GERGESA . . • 67-69
CHAPTER XXVII.
TO THE READER , . . . . 69-7;?
PREFACE
JOHN OF WURZBURG'S DESCRIPTION OF THE
HOLY LAND,
ABRIDGED FROM TOBLER.
As for who John of Wurzburg was, nothing certain is
known save what he himself tells us, that he was a priest
in the church at Wurzburg, On the first page of the
Tegernsee manuscript is written in another hand : 'This
book belongs to the monastery of St. Quirinus at
Tegernsee. It contains a description of the Holy Land,
and especially of the city of Jerusalem, by the Lord John,
Bishop of Wiirzburg.' Also upon the cover of the book,
beside the table of its contents, are the words ' By John,
Bishop of Wurzburg '; but in the register of the bishops of
Wurzburg there is no one to be found of the name of John.
On the other hand, we know of one Theoderich that he
was Bishop of Wurzburg. In the catalogue of the Bishops
of the Cathedral Church of Wurzburg in the National
Library at Munich, we find ' Theoderich was appointed
bishop in the year 1223. He held the office for one year,
two months, and fourteen days. He died 1224 (according
to Potthast, February, 1225), in the reign of Frederick II.'
It appears, therefore, highly probably that Dietrich, to
whom our friend John addressed his Dedicatory Epistle,, is
X PREFACE.
the same Theoderich, a translation of whose ' Libellus ' will
shortly be published. Supposing him to have made a
pilgrimage to the Holy Land in his twenty-fifth year, he
would have been seventy-six years of age when he was
chosen as bishop, which might very well be. Beyond this,
nothing certain is known about John of Wurzburg.
With regard to the time at which his pilgrimage took
place, we learn from J. A. Fabricius, in his ' Library of
Mediaeval Latinity,' IV. 170 b, that John wrote his book
not long after the year 1200; and Bernard Fez in his
• Thesaurus' conjectures (L Ixxxvii.) that it must have been
in the thirteenth century that John applied himself to
writing an account of what he had seen. A careful investi-
gation of his descriptions leaves no room for doubt that his
visit to Jerusalem took place during the time of the establish-
ment of the Frankish kingdom therein. It appears probable,
from a comparison of the two writers, that John of Wurzburg
visited the church of the Holy Sepulchre before its restora-
tion, and Theoderich during that process. We read (/. of
W., ch. xii.) that the dome of the chapel of the Holy
Sepulchre was of silver, and subsequently that the anti-
phonal hymn Christus resurgens was inscribed round about
the chapel in silver letters. But verily we know from
Phocas (ch. xxi.) that the Greek Emperor Manuel
Comnenus^ covered the Holy Sepulchre with gilding, and
Theoderich (ch. v.) says that he read the hymn in golden
letters ; from which we may argue that Theoderich must
have seen the church later than John. Probably John was
at Jerusalem between the years 1160 and 1170. See De
Vogii^ {Eglises, p. 183). It is certain that he was present,
on St. James's Day (July 25), at the feast of St Anne
(ch, xxvi.).
The pilgrim was a warm German patriot, as appears
from his remarks in ch. xiii,, which have greatly irritated
the French writer Verrier. Bernard Fez calls his defence
of the German Crusaders ' A noble passage, and one which
' Manuel Coinnenus reigned 1143-1180.
PREFACE. xi
is most honourable to our nation, wherein John amply
proves that it is an injustice to the Germans to attribute
the recovery of the Holy Land to the Franks alone.'
• As for the contents of his book, it is true that E. Robin-
son [BibllcaL Researches, II. 538, Boston, 1856) says: 'The
tract has little value'; but this is too hasty a judgment,
evidently given without having carefully read and maturely
weighed it. Its description of the churches in the twelfth
century is of great interest, and its list of inscriptions is
of no little worth. The description of the Temple of the
Lord and of the church of the Holy Sepulchre may be
given as an example. With regard to geography also,
we must certainly put a high value on this pamphlet.
We learn from the preface that what is herein described
was not all personally seen by the pilgrim, but that of
some he was an eye-witness, and some he has borrowed
from others ; probably from the short historical and
geographical description^ of the Holy Land and the neigh-
bouring countries which was then so popular, and from
which most of the writers of this period seem to supple-
ment their own narratives. We may assume that John
landed at Acre, the usual pilgrim route, that he personally
visited Nazareth (ch. i.), that he went from thence by way
of Ginaea and Neapolis to Jerusalem, that he also visited
Bethlehem, and returned home by way of Joppa. Thus
far John represents himself as an eye-witness, and as de-
scribing what he himself had seen, and also further on he
makes the same assertion in a more restricted sense. He
says in the ' Dedicatory Epistle ' that he now only intends
to write about that which is to be found within, or not far
beyond, the walls of Jerusalem, but not about places at a
distance. Herein one must not take him literally : for
in the very first chapter he goes on to say that he intends
to give only a brief description of Nazareth and of the
places between it and Jerusalem. It must not be forgotten
that in spite of the Prankish Government, many regions
^ The old compendium^ see preface to Theoderich.
xii PREFACE.
were insecure, and that the pilgrim had to content himself
with visiting fewer places, although to a devotee these were
the places of the deepest interest ; from which it results
that his description of many spots lacks the delightful
freshness and novelty of an eye-witness. But even in the
description of places in which our Wiirzburg priest set his
foot, much seems to have been superficially copied from
others, just as the love of transcribing sets so many pens in
motion at the present day. However, whether we call this
transcribing or plagiarism, when it is done with moderation,
and not merely mechanically, we ought to pardon, nay,
even to encourage it, for historical facts of remote antiquity
cannot be invented.
The writer's language is ordinary mediaeval Latin, but
is somewhat less polished than that of Theoderich. Many
of his descriptions are clear and distinct, and such as could
only have been written by an educated man. We cannot
give much praise to his arrangement of his materials, which
is extremely confused. He makes several allusions to the
seven seals of the Revelation of St. John, all of which have
been omitted in the present edition.
N.B. — The references in the notes are to the English
translations of the Pilgrims.
DEDICATORY EPISTLE.
John, who by the grace of God is that which he is^ in the
church of Wiirzburg, wishes health and a sight of the
heavenly Jerusalem to his beloved friend and follower
Dietrich,^ whose portion is in that same.
My knowledge of your moral disposition, so similar to
that of all good men, and also your strenuous zeal to serve
and obey God, besides the ties of domestic companionship,
have so bound me by love to carry out your desires — which
on your part I always assume will be just and kindly- -
that no wishes of yours, which stand in need of my labours
to accomplish them, shall, as far as my powers can reach,
fall short of satisfactory completion. For this cause, when
I went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the love of our
Lord Jesus Christ, I nevertheless did not forget you who
were absent, having through my affection for you described
as clearly and diligently as I was able those venerable
places which our Lord, the Saviour of the world, has sanc-
tified by His bodily presence, together with His glorious
mother Mary, ever virgin, and His reverend troop of dis-
ciples, more especially in the Holy City of Jerusalem ; and
I have also endeavoured by means of my pen to make a
1 On the mouldings of Bishop West's chapel in Ely Cathedral the
sentence ' Gracia Dei sum id quod sum' constantly occurs. Bishop
West died 1533.
2 This person is supposed to be the Theoderich who wrote the
' Libellus de Locis Sanctis' (see the Introduction to Theoderich),
Sepp always calls him Theoderich of Wiirzbursf.
DEDICATORY EPISTLE.
collection of the inscriptions thereon, whether they be
written in prose or in verse.
This description I conceive will be acceptable to you for
this reason, that when each of these places has by it been
made known to you, should you ever by Divine inspiration
and protection come hither, they will all present them-
selves to your eyes naturally, and without any delay or
difficulty in finding them, as well known objects ; or if
perhaps you may not go thither and behold them with your
corporeal eyesight, nevertheless by such knowledge and
contemplation of them you may obtain a more devout
sense of their holiness. I am well aware that long before
modern times these same places, not only those in the
aforesaid city, but even those at a great distance from it,
have been described in writing by a reverend man ;* how-
ever, as, during the long period which has elapsed since that
time, the city having often been captured and destroyed
by enemies, these same holy places, of which we think so
much, both those within the walls and those a short dis-
tance without them, have been overthrown, and perhaps
afterwards altered in form ; for this reason our pious care
about their sites, which we have described as eye-witnesses,
must not be thought superfluous or unnecessary. About
those, however, which are situated far off in the neighbour-
ing province, we have not proposed to ourselves to speak,
knowing that they have been already sufficiently described
by others.
^ Either Arculfus, or the Venerable Bede.
JOHN OF WURZBURG'S DESCRIPTION
OF THE HOLY LAND.
CHAPTER I.
NAZARETH — TtiE LORD'S LEAP (SALTUS DOMINI)— SEP-
PHORIS — CANA OF GALILEE — TABOR — HERMONIIM —
NAIM — ENDOR — CISON — JEZRAHEL — MAGEDDON —
GELBOE — SCYTHOPOL.S — GYN/EA.
Now because our redemption was begun in the city of
Nazareth through the incarnation of our Lord, whereof
annunciation was made by an angel, we propose to begin
our description with this same city, which is about sixty
miles distant from Jerusalem, and to touch briefly and
compendiously upon the places which lie between it and
the Holy City, albeit we know that others have already
written at greater length about them.
This same city (of Nazareth), which is ten miles distant
from Tiberias, is the chief town of Galilee, and is properly
called ' The City of the Saviour,' because He was conceived
and brought up within it ; wherefore ' He was called a
Nazarene.' Nazareth is, being interpreted, ' a flower,' or
'a shrub,' 1 and is justly so named, because therein grew
the flower with whose fragrance the whole world is filled ;
that flower, the Virgin Mary, from whom the Archangel
^ Nctser, the proper Hebrew name of Nazareth, means a shooty or
sprout. ' Paula and Eustochium ' (p. 15).
I
JOHN OF WURZBURG'S
Gabriel announced in that same Nazareth that the Son of
the Most Highest should be born, saying, ' Hail, Mary,' etc.
To whom she answered, * Behold the handmaid of the
Lord.'i Of Nazareth it was said, * Can any good thing
come out of Nazareth ?2 In Nazareth runs that little
fountain^ from which Jesus in childhood was wont to draw
water and take it to His mother.
A mile from Nazareth to the southward is the place
which is called ' the precipice,' down which those who
found Jesus wished to cast Him, but in a moment He dis-
appeared from them, and at this day it is commonly called
'The Lord's Leap.'*
At the second milestone from Nazareth is the city of
Sepphoris,^ on the road which leads to Accon.^ Anna,
the mother of Mary, who was the mother of our Lord, came
from Sepphoris. It is also said that the Blessed Virgin
Mary was born in Sepphoris ; but according to Jerome, as
he tells us in the preface to the book on the birth of the
Blessed Mary, which he addressed to Heliodorus, she is said
to have been born in the city of Nazareth itself, and in the
same chamber wherein she was afterwards with child by
converse with the angel. This is still shown there in a
particular place, as I have seen and noted.
Four miles from Nazareth, and two from Sepphoris,
towards the east, is Cana of Galilee,^ from which came
Philip and Nathaniel, wherein the child Jesus, when sitting
with His mother at the wedding-feast, turned the water
into wine.
Four miles from Nazareth, towards the east, is Mount
» Luke i. 28-38. =" John i. 46.
' See the same legend in Theoderich (xlvii.) and ' The City of
Jerusalem,' p. 44.
* Luke iv. 29. The ()vec\p\ce /edt'/ K'a/sy is 950 feet high and over-
looks the Plain of Esdraelon. See 'The City of Jerusalem,' p. 53.
" Scffnrich, Theoderich (xlviii.). ^ 'Akka, St. Jean d'Acre.
' Ke/r Kennn, see also Theoderich (xlviii.). The Russian Abbot
Daniel (p. 72) apparently places Cana at Kh. Kix>i<t.
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY LAND. 5
Tabor/ whereon Jesus was transfigured in the presence of
His apostles, to wit, Peter, James, and John, and also
Moses and Elias ; which feast is solemnly celebrated at
Jerusalem on St. Sixtus's Day,^ especially by the Syrians,
because there the voice of the Father also was heard
saying, ' This is My beloved Son,'^ etc. He forbade Peter
and John and James to tell any man what they had seen,
until the Son of Man should rise from the dead. There
Peter said, ' Lord, it is good for us to be here,' etc. Two
miles from Tabor, towards the East, is Mount Hermon.^
On the way down Mount Tabor Abraham, when returning
from the slaughter of Amalek, was met by the Lord Mel-
chizedek,^ who also was Sem, the son of Noah, king and
priest of Salem, who offered to him bread and wine, which
is a type of the altar of Christ under grace.
Two miles from Tabor is the city of Naim,'' at whose
gate Jesus restored to life the son of the widow, whom the
inhabitants say was Bartholomew, who afterwards became
an apostle. Above Nairn is the Mount Endor,'' at whose
foot, beside the brook Cadumim,^ which is also called the
brook Kishon, Baruch, the son of Amon, by the counsel of
Deborah the prophetess, conquered the Iduma;ans, when
Sisera was slain by Jahel the wife of Heber the Kenite,
and Baruch pursued Zeb and Zeba and Salmana across
Jordan and slew them with the sword, having destroyed
1 See the descriptions of Mount Tabor from Greek sources in
Abbot Daniel (p. 66) and Joannes Phocas (pp. 13, 14).
=^ On August 6. ^ Matt. xvii. 5.
* The range oijebel cd Duhy is identified here with Harmon. See
Theoderich (xliv.).
^ It was an old Jewish tradition that Melchizedek was Shem, The
meeting of Melchizedek and Abraham on Tabor is mentioned by-
Daniel (p. 68), Phocas, and Theoderich (xlvL).
^ Nain, Nein.
'' K^^2x^n\X-^ Jcbel ed Duhy is intended, the hill at the foot of which
Kain lies.
^ From the rendering of the Vulgate.
I — 2
JOHN OF WURZBURG'S
their army under and near Mount Endor.i Wherefore in
the Psalms, ' Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in Thy-
name,'^ etc. Six miles from Nazareth, five miles from
Naim, is the city of Jezrahel, also called Zaraim, which
now is commonly called Little Gallina.^ Of this city was
Jezebel, that most wicked queen, who took away Naboth's
vineyard from him, who for her covetousness was cast
down from the top of her palace and slain, whose monu-
ment (pyramis) is to be seen at this day. Near Jezrahel
is the plain of Mageddon/ in which King Ozias was over-
come and slain by the King of Samaria, and was afterwards
carried to Zion and buried there.
A mile from Jezrahel are the mountains of Gilboa,^ on
which Saul and Jonathan fell fighting. Wherefore David
said, * Ye mountains of Gilboa, upon you be neither dew
nor rain,' ctc.^ Two miles from Gilboa, towards the East,
is Scythopolis, the chief city of Galilee, which is also called
Bethsan,'^ that is, the House or City of the Sun. Above
its walls they hanged the head of Saul. Five miles from
Jezrahel is the town of Genon, which now is called Great
or Greater Gallina.^
^ The exploits of Barak the son of Abinoam, and of Gideon
(Judges iv., vii. 25, viii. 21) are attributed here to the same person,
Baruch, the son of Amon.
2 Ps. Ixxxix. 12.
' JezreelfZcr'inj- it is called by William of Tyre (xxii. 26) Parvuin
Geriniwi; and by Theoderich (xliv.), Cursus Gallinarum. Tobler
supposes that the word ' Gallina' contains an old form Gelin.
* That is, the plain of Esdraelon, to the west of Jezreel. The
allusion is to the death of Ahaziah, 2 Kings ix. 27.
s Jehel FuM'a. « 2 Sam. i. 21.
» Beisdn, i Sam. xxxi. 1 1 . ? Jenin.
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY LAND.
CHAPTER II.
SAMARIA — DOTHAIM (THE CISTERN OF JOSEPH) — SEBASTE
— SICHEM — SICHAR — BETHEL (LUZA) — GARIZIM
GEBAL — SILO — RAMA.
At the town of Genon, Samaria begins.^ Between it and
Sebaste extends a plain which they call Dothain,^ in which
near the roadside is still to be seen the old cistern into
-which Joseph was put by his brethren. Ten miles from
Genon is the city of Samaria,^ which is also called Sebaste
and Augusta, after Augustus ; wherein was buried the fore-
runner of the Lord, John the Baptist, who was beheaded
"by Herod beyond Jordan, near the Dead Sea, in the castle
of Machaerunta,* but whose body was brought by his
disciples to Sebaste, and buried there between Elisha and
Abdias,^ Afterwards his body was taken from thence by
Julian the Apostate, and is said to have been burned and
its ashes given to the winds, but without the head, which
had before this been conveyed to Alexandria, thence to
Constantinople, and finally to Gaul into the province of
Poitou, and without the forefinger with which he had pointed
to Jesus when he came to be baptized, saying : ' Behold
the Lamb of God,' etc. This forefinger was taken away
by the blessed Virgin Thecla into the Alps, and there is
preserved with great respect in the Church of (St. Jean de)
^ Josephus, An^., xx. 6, § i ; B./., iii.3, § 4. Compare Theoderich
(xliv.).
- The plain at TIV/ Dotlidn. See P. F. M., ii. 169. Gen. xxxvii.
17-28.
^ ^ebustieh. * Machoerus, Mekaur.
^ The tradition that Elisha, Abdias (Obadiah), and St. John Baptist
■were buried at Samaria, is as old as Jerome's time (St. Paula, pp. 13,
14). Theoderich (xliii.) gives a very similar description of Samaria.
The tomb is described in /-*. F. M., ii. 214.
JOHN OF WURZBURG'S
Maurienne.^ The name of Samaria belongs alike to the
city and to the country.
Four miles from Samaria is Neapolis,^ which is also
called Shechem, standing between Dan and Bethel. This
land is called Sichem from Sichem,^ whose father was
Hamor, who ravished Dinah when she walked abroad in his
country. To Sichem were brought the bones of Joseph
from Egypt. In Sichem, near the fountain, Jeroboam
made the two golden calves, which, like Aaron, he made
to be worshipped by the ten tribes which he had seduced
and led away from Jerusalem with him. One of these
calves he set up in Dan, and the other in Bethel.* The
sons of Jacob destroyed this city of Sichem, and also slew
Hamor, being grieved because of the adultery of Dinah
their sister. Sichem at the present day is called Neapolis,
that is to say, the ' New City.' Sichar^ is before (east of)
Sichem, near the field which Jacob gave to his son, wherein
is the well of Jacob, which also is the well above which we
are told in the Gospel that Jesus sat when weary with
journeying, and talked with the woman of Samaria, at
which place a church is now being built.*^ Near Sichem
is the terebinth beneath which Jacob hid the idols in
Bethel.'^ A mile from Sichem is the city of Luz,^ wherein
Abraham lived for a long time, and where also Jacob saw
in a dream the ladder, whose top reached up to heaven,
* In Savoy ; the place takes its name from the relics of St. John
the Baptist.
- Adbliis. 2 Gen, xxxiv. 2.
■* I Kings xii. 28, 29. Compare the description of Shechem by
Theoderich (xlii.).
^ The modern 'Askar. See P. F. M., ii. 168.
" Theoderich (xlii.) describes the church as completed, and served
by nuns. The well was in front of the altar. It is described in
P. F. M., iii. 437.
^ Gen. XXXV. 4-6. The terebinth was probably at the place called
EPA mud.
" The place alluded to is apparently that now known as Kh. Lottsah^
on Gerizini, near the Samaritan place of sacrifice.
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY LAND.
and the angels going up and down by it, and straightway
when he awoke said : ' This is none other than the house
of God, this is the gate of heaven.'^ Raising a stone for a
memorial and pouring oil over it, he called the name of the
place Bethel, which had before been called Luz. Now
Bethel is on the side of Mount Gerizim,^ which mountain
looks towards Mount GebaP to the northward, opposite
Dan beyond Sichem. In this mount of Bethel Abraham
is said to have purposed to sacrifice his son.
Twenty miles from Sichem, four miles from Jerusalem,
on the road which leads to Diospolis,^ is Silo,^ a mountain
and city, which also is called Rama, where the ark of the
covenant and the tabernacle of the Lord remained from
the coming of the children of Israel up to the times of
Samuel the prophet and David the king.
CHAPTER III.
JERUSALEM — MOUNT MORIAH — THE HISTORY OF THE
/ TEMPLE.
-Twenty-four miles from Sichem, sixteen miles from
Diospolis, seventeen miles from Hebron, ten miles from
Jericho, four miles from Bethlehem, sixteen from Bersabce,®
twenty-four from Ascalon, and as many from Joppa, and
sixteen miles from Ramatha,^ is Jerusalem, the most holy
^ Gen. xxviii. 17.
'^ The author and Theoderich (xlii.) follow the Samaritan tradition,
•which was adopted by the late Dean Stanley, See also ' The City of
Jerusalem,' p. 62. The tradition that Abraham offered Isaac on
Mount Gerizim was known to the Bordeaux Pilgrim (p. 18).
* Mount Ebal. Gebal is the form used by Jerome in the ' Onomas-
ticon.'
* Lydda, Ludd.
^ Shiloh. The place identified with it is Neby SamwU.
* Beersheba, Bir-cs-Seb'a. ' Ramleh.
lo JOHN OF WURZDURG'S
metropolis of Judaea, also called Sion, whereof it is said,
'Very excellent things are spoken of thee, thou city of
God.'^ It is also called ^lia after yElius Hadrianus, who
built it or rather transformed it.
Jerusalem, the glorious metropolis of Judaea, is, according
to philosophers, placed in the middle of the world. In it
David reigned for thirty- four years and half a year. In Jeru-
salem is Mount Moriah, upon which David saw the angel
smiting the people of God with an unsheathed sword,- and
fearing lest he and the city should be punished because he
had sinned in numbering the people, fell down on the earth
in true penitence and deep affliction, and was heard by the
Lord and obtained pardon. Of David the Lord said : ' I
have found a man after my own heart.' Upon Mount
Moriah, when David was king, was the threshing-floor of
Araunah the Jebusite, from whom David wished to buy it
to build thereon a house for the Lord, because he had
received compassion from Him in that place, and the angel
of the Lord had held his hand and spared him there. He
bought it, but he was forbidden by the Lord to enter upon
this work, because he was a man of blood.^ Wherefore
he handed over the treasure which he had prepared for
this purpose to his son Solomon, who was permitted by
the Lord to do it, that he might therewith build a house
for the Lord.
And King Solomon built on the threshing-floor a Temple,
which is, being interpreted, Bethel, and an altar, which he
also dedicated at a vast expense, asking of the Lord that
whosoever should seek therein for counsel on any matter
whatsoever he should be heard, which was granted him by
the Lord. Wherefore the house of the Lord is the house
of counsel. God afterwards punished the sins of the princes
and the people by making Nebuchadnezzar despoil the
Temple by the hands of Nabuzarda (Nebuzaradan), his chief
steward, in the time of King Sedezia (Zedekiah), who was
* Ps. Ixxxvii. c. 2 Sam. xxiv. 16, 17. ^ 1 Chion. xxviii. 3.
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY LAND. ii
deprived of his city, and everything that was beautiful
either in the Temple or in the city was brought to Babylon
by Nebuchadnezzar, and the people were ordered to be
brought before him at Babylon. Shortly afterwards Pharaoh
Necho destroyed both the Temple and the city,^ Now,
however, lest the tale should appear foolish to the narrator
and tiresome to the listener, were I to enumerate under
what kings and by whom the building and destruction of
the first, second, and third temples took place, I will
endeavour, my beloved friend, to give the truest account
that I can of this present Bethel. As for Bethel, it is not
known exactly in what king's reign it was restored. Some
say that it was rebuilt in the reign of the Emperor Con-
stantine, by Helena his mother, in honour of the holy cross
which was found by her : others that it was built by the
Emperor Heraclius in honour of the cross of our Lord,
which he had brought back in triumph from Persia ; others
by the Emperor Justinian ; others that it was built by some
Emperor of Memphis in Egypt in honour of AllaJi Kebir,
that is, ' God most high,' because to Him all languages join
inj rendering their devout service.^ This present Temple, I
say, is that whereof we are told that therein the child Jesus
was circumcised on the eighth day after His birth.^ His
foreskin was presented by an angel from heaven at Jeru-
salem to Charles, the great king,^ and was by him brought
into Gaul to Aix la Chapelle, but subsequently was trans-
lated by Charles the Bald to Aquitaine, to the province of
Poitou, to the church at Carusium (Charroux), which he
had built for himself in honour of our Saviour, and royally
* Herod., ii. 159.
* Theoderich (xvi.) says that the Temple or church, now the ' Dome
of the Rock,' was built by Helena and Constantine ; Abbot Daniel
(p. 21), by a Saracen chief. Amir (Omar). See also William of Tyre,
i, 2 ; viii. 3.
^ According to generally received tradition, following Epiphanius,
Bishop of Salamis, Christ was circumcised in the stable at Beihlehtm.
* Charlemagne.
JOHN OF WURZBURG'S
endowed with most ample possessions, placing it under
the religious care of monks, which relic has been from that
time to the present day solemnly kept and worshipped
there.
CHAPTER IV.
THE 'TEMPLE OF THE LORD '—THE TRADITIONS— THE
DESCRIPTION OF THE TEMPLE, AND OF THE SPACE
ROUND ABOUT IT.
Now let us proceed to the presentation of our Lord*
adding, however, with regard to His circumcision — which
took place in the ' Temple of the Lord,' on the eighth day
— that this rite, although the cutting off of the flesh signi-
fied in the minds of the people the laying aside of vices,
yet as it belonged to the Old Testament, which in Him
received its fulfilment, ought from henceforth to cease.
Circumcision is not counted among the Sacraments of the
New Testament, nor is it connected with any of the seven
seals. As we have already said, our Lord Jesus Christ was
presented in the Temple by His Mother, and was received
into the arms of the holy Simeon, who in the spirit of
prophecy began : ' Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant
depart,' etc. In the Temple our Lord Jesus Christ, while
He was staying at Jerusalem, having come of age, in His
twelfth year disputed with the Jews, and often afterwards
used to teach them, although they hated Him. In the
Temple He praised the offering of the poor widow, which
she put into the treasury, because she had given all that
she had. The devil placed Jesus upon the pinnacle of the
Temple, which is thought to be above the side of the outer
wall,^ having beneath it windows, as it were, pinnas or
^ The 'pinnacle' was at the south-east angle of the Haram en-
closure.
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY LAND. 13
cifinas^ and, tempting Him for the third time because of
His baptism and fast, said : ' If Thou be the Son of God,
cast Thyself down from hence.' It is said that the Blessed
Virgin Mary, when three years of age, was presented in the
Temple of the Lord on November 21, as these verses
inscribed there teach us :
* At three years old, with seven companions dear,
The handmaid of the Lord was offered here.'
There she frequently received consolation from the angels,
whence the verse :
' With bread of life the angels feed
The Blessed Virgin in her need.'
The presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Temple
took place on November 21, wherefore the following
prayer is said in the same Temple:
Prayer.
* O God, Who after three years wast pleased to receive the presenta-
tion in the Temple of the Holy Mother of God, who is the Temple of
the Holy Spirit ; Have respect unto the prayers of Thy faithful people,
and grant that we, who now keep the feast of her presentation, may
ourselves be made into a Temple meet for thee to dwell in, through
pur Lord,' etc., etc.
Our Lord Jesus Christ cast out the buyers and sellers
from the Temple, in proof of which on the right side of the
Temple there is shown to this day a stone, which is treated
with great veneration, being covered with lamps and orna-
ments, it having been trodden on and bearing the mark of
the Lord's foot, when He alone by Divine strength with-
stood so many men and cast them forcibly out : which
stone is joined to another stone, upon which, as if upon an
altar, is a painting of our Lord's presentation thereon,^ as
* I have entirely failed to discover the meaning of these words, and
therefore insert them in the text unchanged. — (A. S.)
^ The ' Mark of the Lord's foot ' is now shown as the ' Footprint of
Muhammad.' The ' Place of the Presentation,' and the ' Stone oa
14 JOHN OF WURZBURG'S
is shown by the picture and its superscription, which is as
follows :^
•The King of Kings, of virgin mother born,
Was here presented. This is holy ground.
Here Jacob saw the ladder ; here he built
His altar. Well may we hang gifts around.'
But as for Jacob, who is depicted as having laid his head
upon the same stone when he saw in his dream the ladder
reaching up to heaven by which the angels were ascending
and descending, with all respect to the Temple, this is not
true, although the following verse^ is written there :
' Jacob, this thy land shall be.
And thy children's after thee.'
But this did not take place here, but a long way off, as he
was on his way to Mesopotamia — to wit, near the greater
Mahumeria.^
In the Temple our Lord set free the woman taken in
adultery from her accusers, saying : ' Let him who is with-
out sin,' etc. ; and He also said, when her accusers were
going out in silence : ' Woman, go in peace, and hereafter
sin no more.' The place is shown in a small crypt of the
same Temple, the entrance to which is on the left-hand
side of the Temple, and it is called the * Confessio ' (place of
confession).* It is said that Zacharias entered into the same
which Jacob laid his head,' were apparently at the north-east corner of
the SaMra/i, in the 'Dome of the Rock,' atornearthe 'Praying Place
of the Prophets.' They are mentioned by Theoderich (xv.), Joannes
Phocas (p. 20), and Innominatus VII. The capitals from these
* places ' have been found much mutilated in the minaret at the north-
west angle of the Haram area. — See F. F. Q. S., 1874, P- 269.
^ Theoderich (xv.) only gives the first and last lines. The picture
was probably a fresco or a mosaic.
^ Compare Theoderich (xv.). It may be remarked that John does
not directly mention the Sakhrah.
* Mahumeria the Great is el-Bireli, to the north of Jerusalem
There was a little Mahumeria also, in the district of Bethsurie, Beit
Siirtfc.
■ * The cave beneath the Sakhrah was considered by the Crusaders
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY LAND. i$
place, when he was assured by an angel of the conception of
John. All this is explained by a picture with an inscrip-
tion as follows : ' The angel said to Zacharias, " Fear not,
Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard," ' etc. Above the lintel
of the door is an image of Christ, with the inscription :
* From sin I set the people free,
If they confess their sins to me.'
In the Temple, at the altar which stood in the open air,
distant from the Temple more than twenty-two paces,
Zacharias, the son of Barachias, suffered martyrdom, and
upon this altar the Jews in the Old Testament used to
offer turtle-doves and pigeons. It has since then been
changed by the Saracens into a sun-dial, and may be seen
at this day, and is noticeable, because, even at the present
day, many Saracens come to it to pray, as it points towards
the south, the direction in which they pray.^
Now this same Temple of the Lord, which has been
adorned by someone both within and without with a won-
drous casing of marble, has the form of a beautiful rotunda,
or rather of a circular octagon — that is, having eight angles
disposed in a circle, with a wall decorated on the outside
from the middle upwards with the finest mosaic work, for
the remainder is of marble. This same lower wall is con-
tinuous, save that it is pierced by four doors, having one
door towards the east,^ which adjoins a chapel dedicated
to be the ' Holy of Holies,' and called the ' Confessio.' It was orna-
mented with designs and inscriptions intended to recall the apparition
of the angel to Zacharias, and the woman taken in adultery before
Jesus. Joannes Phocas (p. 20) places the tomb of the prophet
Zacharias, whom the Jews slew, in the cave. Innominatus VII.
mentions in the cave a column which the Saracens adored as the
altar on which Abraham would have offered his son. This is now the
' Place of Abraham.'
^ This place is mentioned by Innominatus VII. It appears to have
been on the platform of the ' Dome of the Rock,' not far from the
Minbar es-Saif^ or summer pulpit. Daniel (p. 20) places the scene of
Zacharias' martyrdom in the cave beneath the Sakhra.
The Bab en-Neby Dand, or ' Gate of the Prophet David.'
i6 JOHN OF WURZBURG'S
to St. James,! for on that side he was thrown down from
the roof of the Temple and killed with a fuller's club,
having been the first high priest under the new law of
grace in Jerusalem. Wherefore these verses are inscribed
in the same chapel, on the side of the wall :
* Alphasus's son, like to the Lord in face,
Flung from the Temple, perished in this place ;
Here with a fuller's club the rascal crowd
Slew James the Just, for preaching Christ aloud.'
Round the vaulted dome^ of the same chapel, within and
above, are written the following :
* Son of Alphreus, brother of our Lord,
A Nazarene was James who preached the Word.
An Israelite, indeed, in whom no guile
Was found — a fisherman he was erstwhile.
By felon hands down from the Temple thrown,
Struck by a club, his soul to Christ hath flown.'
On the north side it has a door leading to the Canons'
cloisters,^ upon the lintel whereof many Saracen letters are
inscribed. In that same place beside that same door is the
site of that sweet water,^ whereof the prophet says : ' I saw
water coming out of the side,' etc. At the entrance to the
Temple towards the west, above the vestibule, is an image
of Christ, with this inscription around it : * My house shall
be called the house of prayer.' It also has a door on the
'^ The Kubbct cs-Silsileh, or ' Dome of the Chain.' The ' Chapel of
St. James ' is described by Theoderich (xvi.), and mentioned by In-
nominatus VIL, and in ' The City of Jerusalem' (p. 13) ; but it is not
alluded to by the Abbot Daniel and Phocas.
^ Ciboriuvi. The same word is used for a dome in Theoderich
(xxiii.).
' The Bdb d-Jcnneh^ or ' Gate of Paradise.' The Canons* cloisters
were on the north side of the Platform; the Abbey of the Canons
occupied the north part of the Haram. See 'City of Jerusalem,'
pp. 13, 15, and notes.
* Apparently an allusion to the large cistern in front of the north
door.
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY LAND. 17
south,^ looking towards the building of Solomon. On the
west also it has a door^ looking towards the Sepulchre of
our Lord, where also is the beautiful gate^ through which
Peter was passing with John when he answered the lame
man who begged for alms : ' Silver and gold have I none,'
etc. Each of these two doorways^ — I mean that on the
north and on the west side — has six doors arranged in
pairs of leaves : that on the south side has four, and that on
the east only two. Each of the doorways has a handsome
porch.*
So much for the lower part of the wall ; now in the
upper part of the said wall, I mean where the admirable
mosaic^ work is, there are windows inserted in such a
manner that there are five on each of the eight sides,
except the sides on which the doors of the Temple are,
which contain only four windows ; and the whole number
of the windows is thirty-six. Between this external cir-
cumscribing wall and the inner great marble columns
— which are twelve in number, and support the inner,
narrower, higher, and altogether round wall, which is
pierced by twelve windows, and has beneath it four piers
of squared stones — between the former, I say, and the
latter are sixteen columns and eight piers of squared
marble, with a space of eight paces between them, which
piers sustain on either side a roof, between the outer wider
wall and the inner and narrower one, with most beautifully
adorned beams above them supporting the roof itself,
affording an uninterrupted space for walking in any
^ The Bd^ el-Kibleh^ or ' Gate of Prayer ;' the * building of Solomon '
is the present Mosque el-Aksa.
* The Bdb el-Gharby, or ' Western Gate.'
* The Bdb es-Silsileh, or ' Gate of the Chain,' by which the street
passing over Wilson's Arch enters the Haram. It is mentioned in
this position by Saswulf, Theoderich, and in ' The City of Jerusalem.'
* The porches in front of the four doors giving access to the ' Dome
of the Rock' remain apparently unchanged.
" Portions of the external mosaics were exposed to view in 1874,
during some repairs to the building.
18 JOHN OF WiJRZBURG'S
direction, and having leaden pipes to carry off the rain
water.i Above this narrower wall is raised on high a
round vault, painted within, and covered without with
lead, on the summit of which the figure of the Holy Cross
has been placed by the Christians, which is very offensive
to the Saracens, and many of them would be willing to
expend much gold to have it taken away ; for although
they do not believe in Christ's Passion, nevertheless they
respect this Temple, because they adore their creator
therein, which nevertheless must be regarded as idolatry on
the authority of Saint Augustine, who declares that every-
thing is idolatry which is done without faith in Christ.
Round about the Temple and partly under its roof on
the outside as you go up on the west is this inscription :
' May this house enjoy eternal peace from the eternal
Father. Blessed be the glory of the Lord in His holy
place.' On the south side is : ' The Lord's house is well
built upon a firm rock. Blessed are they who dwell in thy
house ; they shall praise thee for ever and ever.' On the
east is : * Of a truth the Lord is in this place, and I knew it
not. In Thy house, O Lord, all men shall tell of Thy glory.'
On the north is : ' The Temple of the Lord is holy ; the
Lord careth for it ; the Lord hath built it.' In the inside
of the Temple is written in great letters on the upper
cornice round the building the ' Respond '^ 'Hear my
hymn, O Lord,' with its answering verse, * Look upon me^
O Lord.' On the lower cornice also are written in golden
letters several verses of the hymn, * Jerusalem the blessed.'
This Temple, so beautifully built and adorned, has on
* The meaning seems to be that between the two walls there was
an intermediary roof with a panelled ceiling, over which there was a
gallery, running all round, with leaden pipes for getting rid of the
rain water. The external wall was surmounted by arcades decorated
with mosaics, which were uncovered in 1874. See P. F. Q. S., 1874,
pp. 153-157.
2 Antiphonal hymn of two or more verses. According to Theoderich
(xv.) the verses were written above the arches of the choir.
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY LAND. 19
all sides of it a wide and level platform, paved with stones
fitted together, which platform is of a square shape, and is
ascended on three sides by many steps.^ Indeed, this
platform is very ingeniously built up, in consequence of the
nature of the ground. It has in its east wall a wide
entrance through five arches, which are connected by four
great columns,^ and this wall opens thus towards the
'Golden Gate, through which our Lord on the fifth day
before His Passion rode in triumph, sitting upon an ass,
and was greeted by Jewish boys with palm branches, who
sang praises and said * Hosanna to the Son of David,' etc.
This gate by the Divine protection has always remained
unharmed, although since that time Jerusalem has often
been captured and destroyed by hostile armies. This gate,
moreover, in pious remembrance of our Lord's divine and
mystic entrance when He came up from Bethany over the
Mount of Olives to Jerusalem, is closed within, and blocked
up with stones without, and is never opened to anyone
except on Palm Sunday, on which day every year, in
memory of what there took place, it is solemnly opened to
a procession and to the whole people, whether they be
citizens or strangers. After the patriarch has preached a
sermon to the people at the foot of the Mount of Olives,
•when the service for that day is over, it is closed again for
a whole year as before, except on the day of the Exaltation
of the Holy Cross, upon which also it is opened. ^ At the
foot of the city walls near this gate is a famous burying
place.*
1 The platform on which the * Dome of the Rock ' stands. It is
about ten feet high, and approached from the east, west, and south by
flights of steps which terminate in arcades. Compare the description
in Theoderich (xiv.) ; and of the present condition of the platform in
the 'Notes to the Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem.'
2 The arcade at the top of the flight of steps ; there is no wall
•above the level of the platform.
^ The opening of the Golden Gate on Palm Sunday, and on the
day of the Exaltation of the Cross, is mentioned by Theoderich (iii.,
-XX.).
* The burial-place at the foot of the walls near the Golden Gate is
2
20 JOHN OF WURZBURG'S
The platform has on the south side a wide entrance
through three large arches connected together by two
columns, and on the same side it has another entrance
wider than the first. On the west side, towards the city,
it has a beautiful entrance, through four arches connected
by three columns of marble. On the north side this plat-
form is in one part narrowed by the Canons' cloister being
built upon it ; but on the remainder of that side it is
beautifully wide and has a fair entrance.^ On the
southern and western sides there is also a level space,
handsome and of ample size ; on the north side also there
is a small piece of level ground which projects beyond the
platform. 2
Let this description of the aforesaid Temple and its
surroundings suffice ; we shall not be envious of any one
who can write a better.
CHAPTER V.
THE PALACE OF SOLOMON — THE HOUSE OF THE
TEMPLARS — THE STABLE — THE HOSPICE OF SIMEON
THE JUST — THE CRADLE OF CHRIST.
As you descend the chief street^ there is a great gate, by
which entrance is obtained into the wide courtyard of the
now reserved for Moslems, and is held to be of great sanctity. During
the Frank occupation of Jerusalem it was celebrated as the place
where the Crusaders who fell when the city was stormed were buried.
See chap. xiii.
^ The flights of steps, with the arcades which terminate them, were
on the east, west, and south sides of the platform ; on the north side
at the west end the ground rises nearly to the level of the platform,
and here was the Canons' cloister.
' This last sentence refers to the Haram Area, and not to the plat-
form on which the ' Temple of the Lord' stood. The meaning is that
on the north side the Haram Area {plafitties) and the platform {atrium)
are, for a short distance, on the same level.
• Three of the MSS. read, 'As you descend the former and larger
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY LAND. 2r
Temple. On the right hand towards the south is the
palace which Solomon is said to have built, wherein is a
wondrous stable of such size that it is able to contain
more than two thousand horses or fifteen hundred camels.^
Close to this palace the Knights Templars have many-
spacious and connected buildings, and also the foundations
of a new and large church which is not yet finished.^ For-
that house possesses much property and countless revenues
both in that country and elsewhere. It gives a consider-
able amount of alms to the poor in Christ, but not a tenth
part of that which is done by the Hospitallers. The house
also has very many knights for the defence of the land of
the Christians ; but they have the misfortune, I know not
whether truly or falsely, to have their fair fame aspersed
with the reproach of treachery, which indeed was clearly
proved in the well known affair of Damascus^ under King
Conrad.*
Close to the buildings of the Templars, on the eastern
side, upon the wall of the city, was the dwelling of Simeon
the Just, in which he is said to have frequently received
the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of our Lord, with
hospitality, to have cherished her and given her food.
Thus he did on that night, on the day following which, to
wit, on the fortieth day after our Lord's birth, he was to
street, from which the aforesaid side-street leads, there is a gate, etc'
By this larger street we must understand the street of the Temple
(David Street), and by the side-street which adjoins, it the I^z^e dcs
Ale mans.
1 The ' Stables of Solomon,' at the south-east corner of the Haram
Area. See ' Notes to the Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem.'
^ The foundations of the apse of the Templars' Church are still
visible outside the east side of the Aksa Mosque. The mosque itself
is the Palace of Solomon alluded to above. Compare Theoderich
(xvii.).
3 John alludes to the siege of Damascus in July, A.D. 1148, when
the Templars were said to have received bribes from the Moslems to
persuade Conrad to raise the siege.
^ Conrad III., King of the Romans.
2—2
22 JOHN OF WURZBURG'S
present the Child and His Mother in the Temple. While
he was holding Him in his arms and was about to present
Him before the altar, he perceived by the spirit of pro-
phecy that this would be He, who for so long a time back
had been looked for with unspeakable desire by the ancient
fathers, and sang prophetically, * Lord, now lettest Thou
Thy servant depart in peace,' etc. In this same house,
which now has been changed into a church, the blessed
Simeon lies buried, as the verse which is written there tells
us. Below, in the crypt of this same church, the wooden
cradle of Christ is still preserved and is shown with great
veneration.!
CHAPTER VI,
BETHANY — BETHPHAGE — THE CHURCH OF MARY MAG-
DALENE.
When the time of the Lord's Passion was drawing nigh,
Jesus, our Lord, came to Bethany late in the evening
before Palm Sunday, and on the following morning — that
is, on the Lord's Day — He entered the Holy City with the
solemnity of which I have spoken. Bethany^ is two miles
distant from Jerusalem, and is the town in which Simon or
Lazarus often received Jesus as a guest, when Mary and
Martha devotedly ministered to Him. In Bethany Mary
Magdalene broke the alabaster-box, and, to show her
devotion, poured the precious ointment upon the head of
the Saviour as He sat at table, with the scent of which
ointment the whole house was filled. It is also said that
the same Mary Magdalene in the same place, or rather in
^ The ' Cradle of Christ ' is now a stone niche, apparently taken
Irom a Roman gateway. It is shown in a small mosque beneath the
level of the ground at the south-east corner of the Haram.
^ It is remarkable that John does not mention a church or convent
at lieihany. See also Theodcrich (x.k.).
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY LAND. 23
another — to wit, in the house of Simon the Leper — long
before, while she was yet a sinner, had been led by her
penitence to come to the feet of our Lord, when He was in
like fashion sitting at table, and to have washed the feet of
Jesus with her tears, and wiped them with her hair, and to
have anointed them with another ointment — that of repent-
ance— and thus to have obtained from the Lord pardon for
her sins. Wherefore, when we find anywhere in the Holy
Scriptures that another Mary came to His feet, and that
another anointed His head, our learned men explain that
it was another — that is, a changed woman — because in the
one case she came as a sinner in the bitterness of repent-
ance, and in the other as a pardoned woman in an ecstasy
of devotion. Now there is within the walls of the Holy
City a church,^ near the Church of St. Anne, on the north
side, near the city wall, which is consecrated in honour of
St. Mary Magdalene, wherein live Jacobite monks, who
declare that on that spot was the house of Simon the Leper,
who invited our Lord to supper, at which Mary Magdalene
came and fell at the feet of Jesus, which she washed with
her tears and kissed, wiping them with her hair, and
anointing them with ointment. This they assert, and
actually show the very place (marked upon the pavement
by a cross) where Mary fell at the feet of Jesus, and prove
it to have been so by pictures ; and to this day they show
Mary's hair, which is contained in a transparent vase on
the spot.
They also say that there was another Mary, who was the
sister of Lazarus and of Martha, who broke an alabaster-
box in Bethany, which was the town wherein they all three
lived, and poured precious ointment on the head of our
Lord : and her sepulchre is said to be visible at this day in
Tabaria,- with her body buried therein. But they admit
^ The ruins of the church, known as El-Mdnuiniyeh, still remain.
According to the author of ' The City of Jerusalem ' (xxii.), the church
was in the quarter of the city called 'Jewry.'
- John uses here the Arabic form of Tiberias.
24 JOHN OF WURZBURG'S
that the body of Mary Magdalene rests in our own country,
being buried at Verzih'acum.^ This they declare, as I
have heard with my own ears ; but, as has been said above,
our learned doctors say that the Mary who anointed the
feet and the head of Jesus, and the sister of Lazarus, were
one and the same, and she once was a sinner. However,
the text of the Gospels is very hard to understand on this
point, and causes even the most careful reader to be uncer-
tain whether Simon the Pharisee had a house in Bethany,
and invited our Lord to it, which does not seem possible,
because the whole of that town belonged to Lazarus and
his sisters. And if this Simon had a house somewhere else
— perhaps in the place which has been above described — it
would necessarily follow that there, at the first time, Mary
must have anointed not only the feet of Jesus but also His
head, as may be understood from our Lord's own words in
the Gospel,^ where he says : ' Simon, I entered into thy
house,' etc. But another time when He was in Bethany
— as it were, in His own house — the same Mary anointed
His head alone, breaking a box of alabaster over Him^
■wherefore we read in the Gospel -.^ 'When Jesus was in
Bethany,' etc. If anyone wishes to receive more certain
knowledge about this matter, let him come himself and
inquire about the order and truth of this act from the more
learned inhabitants of this country, for I have learned this
in the Scriptures and not entirely from these men.
Between this Bethany and the top of the Mount of
Olives, about half-way, was Bethphage, a village of priests,
traces of which still remain in two stone towers, one of
which is a church.*
^ Vezelai, in Burgundy. 2 Luke vii. 44. ' Matt. xxvi. 6, 7.
* See, as to the identification of the mediasval Bethphage, P, F,
Quarterly Statement^ 1878, pp. 51.6a
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY LAND. 25
CHAPTER VIL
MOUNT SIGN — THE CHAMBER OF THE LAST SUPPER —
THE CHURCH OF SION.
When, as we said, the time of the Lord's Passion was
drawing nigh, after the raising of Lazarus, He came to
Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. On that day, after the
solemn entry of which we have spoken. He returned to the
Mount of Olives, intending to remain there until the fifth
day of the week, on which He meant to eat with His
disciples that Supper at which He brought the Old Testa-
ment to an end and began the New. When His disciples
asked Him where He wished to eat the Passover, He sent
some of them into the city that they might go and make
ready for Him a habitation or fitting place for the accom-
plishment of the Sacrament of this Supper, of which we
read more at large in the Gospel.^ ' Go ye into the city,
and there shall ye meet a man bearing a pitcher of water :
follow him,' etc. This ' chamber of the Last Supper ' {Cce-
naculuni) has been found upon Mount Sion in the place
where Solomon is said to have built a magnificent edifice,
of which we read in the Song of Songs r^ 'King Solomon
made himself a chariot (or a bed),' etc. This chamber
{Coenacuhwtf was in the upper story of the house, and was
large and wide, and on one side our Lord is said to have
supped with His disciples to celebrate the mysteries, where
also He alluded cautiously to His betrayer, comforting the
rest with regard to His Passion, which was shortly to take
place, and giving them under the form of bread His body
to eat, and under the form of wine His blood to drink,
saying : ' Do this, as often as,' etc.
^ Luke xxii. 10. " Solomon's Song iii. 9.
^ Compare the descriptions in Theoderich (xxii.) ; ' City of Jeru-
salem'; Abbot Daniel (xli.) ; and Phocas, p. 18.
26 JOHN OF WURZBURG'S
- After having supped in the upper part of this house, it
seems probable that our Lord, while setting forth this same
mystery, gave His disciples an example of humility in the
lower part of the house by washing their feet. Whether
you choose to think that this was done before supper or
after, as is hinted by a certain commentary upon that text
in the Gospel of St. John :^ ' He riseth from supper,' etc.,
whether this was done before or after matters little, yet
one would like to know it, because at the present day the
representation of the event in the Church of Mount Sion
hints at its having taken place in two different places, for
on the left side of the said church, in the upper story, is a
painting of the Supper, and in the lower — that is to say,
in the crypt'-' — there is to be seen a representation of the
washing of the Apostles' feet.
CHAPTER Vni.
THE PRAYER OF CHRIST IN GETIISEMANE — THE CHAPEL
WITH THE GROTTO — THE CHURCH OF THE SAVIOUR
— THE PLACE OF THE BETRAYAL.
These mysteries being thus accomplished, He retired with
His disciples to pray on the Mount of Olives, at the foot
and slope of which mount He dismissed His disciples and
departed from thence alone for about a stone's-throw, that
is, to Gethsemane, He prayed to His Father, saying,
' Father, if it be possible,' etc., where through the agony of
His flesh His sweat was as drops of blood, and returned tO'
His disciples and found them sleeping, when He reproached
Peter especially, saying, * Couldst thou not watch with Me
for one hour ?' and to the other disciples, ' Sleep on now
and take your rest,' etc. Then retiring from them for a
^ John xiii. 4.
^ See Theoderich (xxii.) ; ' City of Jerusalem ' (i.).
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY LAND. 27
third time to the same place, and offering the same prayers
to God the Father, He was at length comforted by the
Father and by Himself, after which the Lord, returning to
His disciples for the third time, said : ' Watch and pray.'
These particular places, namely, that where the disciples
remained behind, and where the Lord prayed, are plainly
to be seen in the valley of Jehosaphat, for near the larger
church, wherein is the tomb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, of
which we shall speak hereafter, at the present day on the
right hand of the entrance to it, there is a chapel with a
grotto,^ in which the disciples remained behind sorrowful
and heavy with sleep, while the Lord thrice went apart
from them and as many times returned to them. This is
shown by a picture which still exists. But the place where
our Lord prayed is enclosed within a new church, which is
called the ' Church of the Saviour,'^ in whose flooring
stand out three unwrought stones, upon which it is said
that the Lord prayed, kneeling thrice. These stones are wor-
shipped, and receive offerings from Christ's faithful people
with the utmost devotion. At the aforesaid grotto our
Lord, knowing that Judas was drawing nigh with his
rabble — for after supper, while the other disciples remained
with our Lord, Judas went away alone to the Jews to bar-
gain with them for the betrayal of our Lord, and having
received the thirty pieces of silver as the price of His
betrayal, was now drawing nigh with a multitude — Jesus, I
say, knowing this, said in this same grotto to His disciples,
'Rise, let us be going; behold, he is at hand,' etc. So,
having left Gethsemane, being recognised by the kiss of
Judas, He was arrested, bound, carried away by the host
which had been sent after Him. Now in that aforesaid
grotto there are shown five marks in one stone, which they
say were imprinted on it by the five fingers of our Lord ;
of our Lord, I mean, when He was already taken, and was
holding Himself back from His persecutors who were
^ This place is now shown as the ' Grotio of the Agony.'
" Compare ' City of Jerusalem' (xxiv.) and Abbot Daniel (xxiii.).
iff JOHN OF IVURZBURG'S
violently dragging Him away. However this may be, we
know without doubt that He was able to perform deeds of
much greater power and might.^
CHAPTER IX.
THE JUDGMENT-HALL OF PILATE — THE TOWER OF DAVID
— THE BUILDING IN WHICH THEY SUPPED— GALILEE,
OR PLACE OF THE COCK-CROWING — THE CHURCH OF
THE GREEKS — THE CHAPEL OF THE FLAGELLATION
— THE WAY BY WHICH CHRIST WENT TO CALVARY.
Our Lord was betrayed, as we have said, by His disciple,
was taken and bound by a Roman soldier, and brought to
Mount Sion, where at that time stood the Pratorimn, or
Judgment-hall, of Pilate, which was called the Pavement, in
Hebrew GahbatJia? For at that time the finest and
strongest part of the whole city was on the top of that
mountain, and also the Tower of David, which was the
watch-tower and bulwark of the rest of the city, was built
thereon, so that the lower part of the city, being as it were
brought forth and cared for by it like a mother, is called
its daughter, whence the words, * Tell ye the daughter of
Sion,'^ etc. But afterwards, when the city which was there
was destroyed, and removed to another place, where it
stands at this day, by the Emperor yElius,'* the mount also
was shorn of much of its height and was brought low, the
^ Compare Theoderich (xxiv.). According to Abbot Daniel (xxiii.)
the ' cavern where Christ was delivered ' was seventy feet from the
Tomb of the Virgin. The marks of Christ's fingers on the stone are
mentioned by an anonymous pilgrim quoted by Tobler from C. C. Rafn,
' Antiquitds russes,' ii. 419.
- According to Theoderich (xxv.) this place was between the
Church of St. Mary and the walls of the city.
* Isaiah Ixii. 11 ; Zech. ix. 9 ; Matt. xxi. 5 ; John xii. 15.
* Hadrian.
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY LAND. 29
tower being taken away from it together with the other
buildings. However, at the present day the place where
the Judgment-hall {PrcEtoriuvi) and the Tower of David
stood, is shown. At that time, close to the Judgment-hall
on the south side, stood the great building wherein the
Lord supped with His disciples. Near the Judgment-hall
on the east side was the hall into which He was led in
bonds and was kept there all night, watched by guards and
by the chiefs of the Jews, until the hour of appearing in
court on the following morning. In this Judgment-hall
Peter denied the Lord thrice before cock-crow ; and there,
too, when the cock crowed, and the Lord turned and looked
upon him, he piously remembered the words of Jesus, was
truly penitent, and wept bitterly, retreating into the grotto
which at the present day is called ' The Place of Cock-crow,'
and vulgarly ' Galilee.'
On the Mount Sion Christ appeared to His disciples ;
wherefore on the right-hand side of the church the following
verse may be found written :
' Here risen Christ was seen by men of Galilee,
And Galilee this place shall ever called be.'
On the road which leads down from Sion into the valley of
Jehosaphat, under the gate of Mount Sion, over this same
grotto, a church has been built,i which at the present day
is in the hands of Greek monks.
Now on the morrow, after the unjust sentence had been
passed, the condemned One was scourged in a place in
front of the Judgment-hall, was buffeted and spat upon,
dressed in the scarlet robe, and pricked by the crown of
thorns, as is shown by the inscription placed on the spot,
which runs thus :
' Here was He crowned in vain.
Who o'er the world doth reign.'
^ Compare the description of the Galilee church in Theoderich
(xxv.), where it is said to belong to the Armenians. Abbot Daniel
(xlii.) says that thirty-two steps led down to the grotto or cavern.
30 JOHN OF WURZBURG'S
This place is further pointed out by a chapel which stands
close to the greater church on Sion, on the northern side
of it, which contains a picture of what took place, with the
following inscription :
* He whom the saints commend was by sinners' voice condemned,
He for His servants' sake did scourge and buffet take.
Beneath the cross He fell, but Simon helped Him well ;
He doth not suffer loss who bears that blessed cross.'
At the same place, after the sentence and condemnation to
the cross had been passed upon Him, they placed upon the
Lord's shoulder the cross which had been prepared for
Him, that it might be carried to the place of crucifixion,
that the prophecy might be fulfilled, ' The government
shall be upon His shoulder,'^ etc. There came, however,
a certain man of Cyrene, whom they forced to serve
them by bearing the cross to the place Calvary, for mys-
tical reasons.2
CHAPTER X.
THE PLACE CALVARY— THE PRISON OF OUR LORD — THE
SEPULCHRE OF ADAM — THE RENT AND HOLE IN THE
ROCK — THE ALTAR OF THE LORD'S PASSION, AND OF
HIS HOLY BLOOD.
There was at that time over against the site of the old
city a place called Calvary, outside the city, which was set
apart for those who were condemned to death, from whose
baldness {calvitas) — their hair being cut off and their skulls
^ Isaiah ix. 6.
- John and Theoderlch (xxv.) place the Prcviorium on Mount
Sion, and the Via Dolorosa led thence through the old Sion Gate to
the Church of the Sepulchre. The ' House of Pilate ' was shown to
the north of the Harain Area. At the end of the Latin occupation the
Praioiiinn was identified with the 'house,' and the Via Dolorosa.
occupied its present position. See ' The City of Jerusalem ' (xxi.).
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY LAND. 31
bleached by the wind, being stripped of the flesh and not
buried in the earth — the place was called Calvary, or
because criminals were made bald, that is, condemned,
there. This place, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha,
was an ancient^ rock, just as at the present day in many
•cities high places outside the walls are set apart for the
execution of those who are condemned to death. Mean-
while, while the rock was being prepared to receive the
cross, our Lord was kept bound as it were in prison in a
certain place which there was in the fields, which place is
now formed into a chapel, and is to this day called ' The
Prison of the Lord,'^ and is exactly opposite to Calvary,
in the left-hand apse of the church. Others, however, have
•other opinions about this place, as I heard on the spot.
After this, at the place Calvary, by the orders of Pilate,
and at the instigation of the Jews, the Roman soldiers
stripped our Lord of His tunic, gave Him vinegar mingled
with gall to drink, and fastened Him to the cross. While
Jesus was suffering upon this, John, His friend, at His
command, received His Mother into his own keeping, that
one virgin might watch over another ; for Jesus said to His
Mother, ' Woman, behold thy son,' arguing, as some say,
with John, or rather with Himself, as though He said,
* This I suffer from My sonship, which is caused by your
motherhood ; but 1 have not from it the power to work
miracles.' Wherefore in another place, at the wedding at
Chana in Galilee, He said, ' Woman, what have I to do
with thee ?' Thus He spoke to His Mother ; then He
said to John : * Behold thy mother,' meaning in the matter
of filial service and care.
At Calvary, while the Victim offered for all the world
was suffering on the cross, He promised the robe of
immortality to the thief who hung on his right hand, who
asked His pardon. On the gibbet of the cross He was
1 One MS. reads 'lofty.'
^ The ' Prison of the Lord' is still shown, in the position assigned to
it by John.
32 JOHN OF WURZBURG'S
pierced by a spear, and poured forth blood and water, by
the drops of which the eyes of Longinus were opened,^
who had struck Him out of kindness and acknowledgment,
that is to say, that Jesus might not live in torture any
longer. As our Lord was thus dying on the cross, and of
His own will giving up the ghost, the veil of the Temple
was rent from the top to the bottom, and the rock in
which the cross was fixed was split through the midst, in
the place where it was touched by His blood ; through
which rent the blood flowed to the lower parts, wherein
Adam is said to have been buried, and who was thus
baptized in the blood of Christ.^ It is said to be in
commemoration of this that a skull is always represented
in paintings at the foot of the Cross ; but this baptism of
Adam in the blood of Christ means nothing more than
that Adam was redeemed b};- the blood of Christ, since
the Scripture tells us that he was buried at Hebron. It is
rather Death and destruction which is personified by the
hideous human face which is wont to be painted beneath
the feet of the crucified One, because our Lord said, ' O
Death, I will be thy death,' that is, thy destruction. The
place of Calvary is on the right hand as you enter the
larger church, and in the upper part of it the famous rent
of the rock is adored with much ceremony, and is plainly
shown to all comers to this day. This same upper part
is beautifully ornamented with the finest mosaics, which
represent the Passion of Christ and His burial, with various
passages from the prophets bearing testimony to that
event.
Observe that in this same place, whether the cross was
fixed in the round hole which to this day is shown open,
and into which the offerings of the faithful are cast, or in
^ According to tradition, Longinus was blind of one eye ; but when
some drops of the blood and water spirted into it he recovered his
sight, and was converted.
- This tradition is commemorated in ^ picture in the 'Chapel of
Adam,' beneath Calvary.
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY LAND. 33
the place where an upright shaft of round stone^ is shown,
as some declare that it was, and which moreover appears
to be more in accordance with the form of the ground and
the flowing of blood from His right side into the rent in the
rock, the face of our Lord when He hung on the cross is
always said to have been turned towards the east of
necessity, because of His position.
Close to this place in the upper part towards the right
hand there is placed an altar, dedicated in honour of our
Lord's Passion, and the whole of that place receives its
name from the same Passion. The lower part of this same
Calvary contains an altar, and is called the Chapel of the
Holy Blood,2 because the blood of the Lord is said to
have flowed so far through the rent in the rock, to a place
which at the present day is marked at the back of the
aforesaid altar by a kind of depression in the rock, where
hangs a lamp with an ever-burning flame. On the outside,
at the entrance to Calvary ,3 are the following verses :
* Our Lord was hither brought, betrayed, was crucified and washed,
Wherefore this famous Calvary is holy ground for aye ;
The blood which Jesus freely shed upon this hill will save,
Redeem us, and protect us, and will wash our sins away.'
^ This ' shaft of round stone ' is not mentioned by any other writer.
' Now the 'Chapel of Adam.'
s Compare Theoderich (xii.). There has been little change in the
form of the chapels connected wi.th Calvary since the Latin occupation
of Jerusalem.
34 JOHN OF WURZBURG'S
CHAPTER XI.
THE CHOIR OF THE CANONS — THE CENTRE OF THE
EARTH — EMMAUS — THE WASHING OF THE FEET ON
SION.
In the midst of the choir of the Canons,^ not far from
Calvary, is a spot which is formed into the shape of an
altar by raised slabs of marble supported by an open iron-
work lattice, beneath which slabs are certain small circles
on the pavement, which they say mark the centre of the
earth, according to the text, ' His salvation hath He
wrought in the midst of the earth/ ^ In this same place
also it is said that the Lord appeared to the blessed Mary
Magdalene after His resurrection, and the place is greatly
venerated, having a lamp hanging within it. In the same
place some declare that Joseph obtained the body of Jesus
from Pilate for burial, and on the same day, that is, on the
sixth day of the week, took His body from the cross,
washed it reverently, anointed it with precious ointment
and perfumes, rolled it in a clean linen (?) cloth, and buried
it at no great distance, in his garden, in the new tomb
which he had hewn out of the rock for himself. Thence
He descended into Hell, to set man free. In this same
place the Lord truly rose from the dead, the lion of the
tribe of Judah, having overcome death. There the angel
of the Lord appeared to the holy women, when the stone
had been rolled away from the mouth of the Sepulchre,
and told them that Jesus was really risen from the dead,
saying, ' Go, tell my brethren,' and, again, * Tell His dis-
ciples and Peter.'
^ See the descriptions of the Chorus doniinorian^ in Theoderich
(vii.) and the ' City of Jerusalem ' (vii.). The ' centre of the earth ' is
still shown, but the apparition of Christ to Mary Magdalene is not
now connected with the spot.
^Ps. Ixxiii. 12. See Willis's ' Church of the Holy Sepulchre,' p. 9a
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY LAND. 35
On the same day, when the day was far spent, Christ,
concealed under the form of a stranger, appeared to two
of His disciples as they walked sorrowing for His death
on the way to Nicopolis,^ that is, Emmaus, a town which is
six miles from Jerusalem to the westward, where He was
received as their guest, and was known of them in breaking
of bread, but straightway disappeared. Afterwards He
appeared to all the Apostles except Thomas, on Mount
Sion, when the doors were shut, saying to them, ' Peace be
unto you.' Moreover, eight days afterwards He appeared
on the same mount to Thomas and the other disciples, and
offered him His wounds to feel ; whereupon Thomas said,
' My Lord and my God.' These apparitions are shown by
a picture to have happened in a place on Mount Sion, that
is to say, in the crypt of the greater church, with a distinct
representation of each event, in which place also our Lord
is depicted as washing His disciples' feet.^ After the
resurrection Jesus also showed Himself to His disciples
three times beside the sea of Tiberias and upon it, and
also in many other places besides these, that He might
prove that He had risen from the dead, and that we
should rise hereafter.
CHAPTER XIL
THE MONUMENT AT THE SEPULCHRE OF OUR LORD—
THE ALTAR AT THE HOLY SEPULCHRE — THE INSCRIP-
TIONS— THE NEW CHURCH — THE CHOIR OF THE
CANONS — THE CHURCH OF THE RESURRECTION — THE
PROCESSION.
The monument which contains the Holy Sepulchre of our
Lord is almost round in form, and is decorated on "the
inside with mosaic work. It is entered from the east
1 Some INISS. have Eleutheropolis. The distance, six miles, would
apply better to Kulonicli than to ^ Ainivcis^ Nicopolis.
- In the Cccnacnlitin. See chap. vii.
36 JOHN OF WURZBURGS
through a little door, in front of which is an ante-chamber
of almost square shape, with two doors. Through one of
these, persons entering the monument are admitted to the
Sepulchre, and through the other those who are leaving it
pass out. In that ante-chamber also the guardians of
the Sepulchre dwell. It has also a third little door, which
opens towards the choir. Outside this same monument,
that is to say at the head of the Sepulchre, there is an
altar with a kind of square canopy built over it, whose
three walls are beautifully formed of iron lattice work, and
this altar is called the altar of the Holy Sepulchre. The
monument has above it a cup-like dome, the upper surface
of which is covered with silver, and which rises high in the
air towards the wide space open to the sky, which is made
in the larger building above it, which building being of a
round form, on a circular ground plan, with a wide space
all round the monument (of the Holy Sepulchre), has at
its end a continuous wall adorned with painted figures of
various saints on a large scale and lighted by numerous
lamps. In the narrower circuit of this larger building
eight round columns of marble, and the same number of
square bases, adorned outside with the same number of
marble slabs, and placed all round (the central point),
sustain an entablature under the roof, which we have said
is open in the middle.^
Below are various verses which are to be seen in dif-
ferent places. On the lintel of the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre :
'Woman, wherefore weep'st thou, kneeling unto Him thou seekest
dead ?
Touch Me not, behold Me living, worthy to be worshipped.'
^ Protccttim= porticuvi, a portico or ante-chamber. Atter the tire of
1808 it was rebuilt in a slightly altered form, and is now called the
'Chapel of the Angels.'
- See note on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (Abbot Daniel,
Appendix H.).
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY LAND,
On the lintSl of the inner entrance to the Sepulchre of
our Lord : -
* The place and guardian testify Christ's resurrection ;
Also the linen clothes, the angel, and redemption.'
Within, '^t the place where the Lord was laid :
' By friends God's flesh was from the cross with tears ta'en down ;
He bore these pains for us who now doth wear the crown.'
Within, close to the Sepulchre of the Lord :
' With spice anointed, in this tomb Christ Hes,
By merit now the just to heaven may rise ;
Man's glad, the ghosts are stirred, all hell doth groan.
For Eve's sin Christ's coming doth atone.'
Also in the same place, but in the middle :
* Here Christ was laid within this sepulchre of rock.
His burial heaven's gate to mortals doth unlock.'
We have'said that the aforesaid number of columns are
arranged in a circle ; but now on the eastern side their
number and arrangement are altered, because of the new
church which has been built on to them, the entrance into
which is at that point. This new and newly-added build-
ing contains a spacious choir of the Canons, and a spacious
sanctuary, which contains a high altar dedicated in honour
of the Anastasis, that is, of the Holy Resurrection, as is
shown by a picture in mosaic work placed above it. For
this picture contains the figure of Christ rising, having
burst the gates of hell, and bringing up our ancient father
Adam from thence. Outside the sanctuary of this altar and
within the circuit of the cloister is contained a space suffi-
ciently wide in all directions, both through this new church
and also through the old building round about the afore-
mentioned monument, to be suitable for a procession, which
takes place every Sunday night from Easter to Advent at
vespers, to the Holy Sepulchre, with the respond, 'Christus
3—2
38 JOHN OF WURZBURG'S
resurgens,' the text of which respond^ also is inscribed on
the extreme outside margin of the monument in raised
letters of silver. When this respond has been sung, the
precentor straightway begins, ' But in the evening,' etc.,
with the psalm, ' My soul doth magnify the Lord,' and
with the collect for the resurrection, ' Almighty and ever-
lasting,' etc., prefaced by the versicle, ' From this Sepulchre
the Lord arose.' In the like fashion the mass of the
resurrection is celebrated on every Sunday throughout
this time.2
CHAPTER Xin.
THE canons' cloister — THE CRYPT WITH THE ALTAR
OF ST. HELENA — THE CONSECRATION OF THE CHURCH
OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE — THE FOUR ALTARS —
THE CANONS' CHOIR — THE QUARREL BETWEEN THE
GERMANS AND THE FRANKS.
At the head of this same new church towards the east,
close to the Canons' cloister,^ is a place sunk deep, like a
* The text (Rom. vi. 9, 10) is given by Theoderich (v.), who says that
the letters were of gold. Hence it has been conjectured that John of
Wiirzburg must have seen the Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre before the
gilding thereof spoken of by Phocas, A.D. 1185. This gilding was done
by Emmanuel Comnenus, who reigned at Constantinople 1143-1180.
^ It is remarkable that John of Wiirzburg makes no mention of the
'holy fire,' whereas Theoderich (vii.) circumstantially describes it.
The anonymous Icelanders ('Antiquitds russes,' ii. 418, 422) also
allude to the fire. The first says : ' Above the Sepulchre the church is
open to the sky. Through this opening the fire comes on the eve of
the feast of Easter Day, if Christian men possess the city, and lights
the candles standing under it.' And the other writes : ' Towards the
north, in the Temple of the Sepulchre, are candles, which are lighted
by fire from heaven every year on the eve of Easier Sunday, and
remain alight for all the year.'
•' The Claitslritm (iojin'/io?-utn, or Canons' cloister, was outside the
east wall of the Church of the Sepulchre. The door wi)ich led to the
cloister and the Canons' houses has been closed, but can be seen from
the Abyssinian courtyard outside the church. A fuller description
is given by Theoderich (ix.).
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY LAND. 39
crypt, in great retirement, wherein the Empress Helena is
said to have found the Lord's cross.^ This place also
contains an altar consecrated in honour of the said Helena,
which empress took away with her to Constantinople the
greater part of that sacred wood ; but the remainder, which
was left at Jerusalem, is carefully and reverently preserved
in a certain place, in another part of the church, opposite
±0 Calvary.
This place, albeit long ago consecrated by Christ's blood
-which was shed therein, was in modern times, although a
work of supererogation, consecrated by the venerable priests
on July 15th. To this fact the following verses written
beneath some gilded work on the spot still bear witness :
' This place was hallowed by Christ's blood before,
Our consecration cannot make it more ;
Howbeit, the buildings round this stone in date,
Were on July the fifteenth consecrate.'
On the same day of the same month, though at a much
earlier time, when the Holy City had long been held in
•captivity under the dominion of Saracens of divers sorts, it
was set free by a Christian army, to commemorate which
deliverance they celebrate that day after the renewal of
the consecration in divine service by singing at the first
mass, ' I.cBtare, Jerusalem^ and at the high mass of dedica-
tion, ' Terribilis est locus.^
On the same day also four altars were consecrated in the
same church, to wit, the high altar, the upper altar in
Calvary, and two altars in the opposite aisle of the church,
to wit, one in honour of St. Peter, and one in honour of
the Protomartyr St. Stephen.^
On the following day, both in the giving of alms and in
the prayers, they make solemn mention of all the faithful
^ The two chapels of St. Helena and the ' Finding of the Cross '
are referred to. Theoderich (x.) alludes to both chapels. See * Notes
to the Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem,' for the present aspect of the
.chapels.
f Neither of the two last places is now shown in the church.
40 JOHN OF WURZBURG'S
dead, more especially of those who fell on the occasion of
the storming of Jerusalem, whose burying-place near the
Golden Gate is most famous. Three days afterwards is
the anniversary of noble Duke Godfrey of happy memory,
the chief and leader of that holy expedition, who was born
of a German family. His anniversary is solemnly observed
by the city with plenteous giving of alms in the great
church, according as he himself arranged while yet alive.
But although he is there honoured in this way for him-
self, yet the taking of the city is not credited to him with
his Germans, who bore no small share in the toils of that
expedition, but is attributed to the French alone. Where-
fore some disparagers of our nation have actually obliterated
the epitaph on the famous Wigger,^ made glorious by so
many brave deeds, because they could not deny that he
was a German, and have written over it the epitaph of
some French knight or other, as may at this day be seen
on the spot ; for his coffin is visible and still exists outside
in a corner between the great church and the Chapel of
St. John the Baptist, with his name struck out and another
name written there. In proof, and as an example of the
contempt with which our people are treated, and in praise
of the French, the following epitaph may be read on the
outer side of the monument :
* One thousand and one hundred years, save one,
Since Blessed Mary bore her glorious Son ;
When rose upon July its fifteenth sun,
By Frankish might Jerusalem was won.'
In answer to which I have written :
* Not Franks — Franconians, warriors far more brave,
From Pagan yoke Jerusalem did save ;
Franconian Wigger was, each Frank well knew ;
Franconian Gimtram, and Duke Godfrey, too,
And easy 'twere to prove my words are true.'
^ For Wigger, or Wicker, of Swabia, see Wilken's 'History of the
Crusades,' ii. 39, 72, 108. Tobler, in a note to his edition of John
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY LAND. 41
Although, however, Duke Godfrey and his brother
Baldwin, who was made king in Jerusalem after him,
which the duke had through humility refused to be before
him, were men of our country, yet since only a few of our
people remained there with them, and very many of the
others with great haste and homesickness returned to their
native land, the entire city has fallen into the hands of
other nations — Frenchmen, Lorrainers, Normans, Proven-
cals, Auvergnats, Italians, Spaniards, and Burgundians, who
took part in the crusade ; and also no part of the city, not
even in the smallest street, was set apart for the Germans.^
As they themselves took no care about the matter, and had
no intention of remaining there, their names were never
mentioned, and the glory of delivering the Holy City was
ascribed to the Franks alone; and they at this day, together
with the other aforesaid nations, bear rule in the aforesaid
city and the neighbouring country. Indeed, this province
of Christendom would long ago have extended its boundaries
beyond the Nile to the southward, and beyond Damascus
to the northward, if there were therein as great a number
of Germans as there are of the others. However, omitting
these considerations for the present, let us return to our
appointed task.
of Wiirzburg, p. 439, says : ' Whereabouts the Chapel of St. John
before the Church of the Sepulchre stood, is not yet clearly ascer-
tained.' The French anonymous writer, published by me, says : ' On
the left hand before the door is the altar of S. Jehan batiste.' Left
here seems to mean on the east side. If, then, it adjoined the Chapel
of St. Mary of Egypt, it may well be that the lately discovered tomb
of Philippe d'Aubigny may be considered to be that of Wicker. The
inscription on this tomb says : ' Here lies Philip d'Aubigny ; may his
soul rest in peace. Amen.'
^ Yet there was a few years later a liue des Alemans (Germans*
Street). See 'City of Jerusalem' (xi.).;
42 JOHN OF WURZDURG'S
CHAPTER XIV.
THE CHURCH OF THE ASCENSION ON THE MOUNT OF
OLIVES— THE POURING FORTH OF THE HOLY GHOST
ON MOUNT SION — THE ASSUMPTION OF THE VIRGIN.
On the Mount of Olives^ the place of the Lord's ascension
is pointed out, in the middle of a church which has since
been built over the spot, with an opening in the roof above
it. From this place, while His disciples and other men of
Galilee and His Mother looked on with wonder, He was
carried up into heaven in a cloud, having previously charged
His disciples not to depart from Jerusalem before they had
received from the Father the promised Holy Ghost, the
Comforter, to complete their consolation. This took place
on the tenth day after the Lord's ascension, and on the
fiftieth day after His resurrection — to wit, on the day of
Pentecost, when the disciples were abiding in a certain
chamber^ of the aforesaid building on Mount Sion, in
which our Lord is said to have supped, waiting for the
fulfilment of the promise, which to this day is shown in the
same place in a mosaic picture in the sanctuary, in the apse
of the aforesaid church ; for therein, in the likeness of a
picture, are the twelve Apostles with their portraits, and
the Holy Ghost descending upon each of their heads in the
form of fiery tongues, with the inscription, ' Suddenly there
came a sound from heaven,' etc.
In the same church, on the right hand as you enter it,
there is a place called an altar, consisting of polished slabs
of marble formed into the shape of a dome, on the spot
^ Compare the description of the Church of the Ascension in
Theoderich (xxvii.) ; Abbot Daniel (xxv.) ; and ' The City of Jeru-
salem ' (xxv.). An Icelandic pilgrim mentions a Church of St. Michael
on the Mount of Olives, in which was a rock with an imprint of our
Lord's foot (' Antiquites russes,' ii. 419).
^ The Caiuiciduin. See chap. vii.
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY LAND.
where the Blessed Mary is said to have given up the ghost,
and to have left this present world ;^ where also her Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ, is represented in a painting on the
opposite wall as receiving her soul in the presence of His
disciples. Round the building which is constructed over
this place is the following inscription : 'The Holy Mother
of God is exalted above the choirs of angels,'
CHAPTER XV.
ACELDAMA — MOUNT GION — THE CHURCH AND HOSPITAL
OF ST. JOHN — THE CONVENT OF THE NUNS OF ST.
MARY THE GREAT — THE MONASTERY OF ST. MARY
THE LATIN — THE MONASTERY OF ST. SAB AS — THE
CHURCH AND MONASTERY OF THE MARTYRDOM OF
ST. JAMES THE GREATER — THE HOUSE OF THE
GERMANS.
Having seen these things, and having briefly described
the places where they took place, together also with a
description of the places adjoining them, let us return to
the Holy City of Jerusalem itself, and describe the new
holy places and the venerable ancient ones which have
been newly built and dedicated to the service of religion.
By parenthesis be it noted that in that city Judas
received thirty pieces of silver for the betrayal of our Lord,
with which the field called Aceldama — that is, the Field of
Blood — was bought, and was set apart to bury strangers in
even to this day, which field is situated on the left hand of
Mount Sion along the road which leads to Ephrata.^
^ The scene of the Virgin's death was in the lower story of the
church, where the washing of the Apostles' feet is said to have taken
place.
^ The present site of Aceldama seems to be intended, though it can
hardly be described as on the road to Bethlehem. The Mount Gion
would in this case be the hill above.
44 JOHN OF WURZBURG'S
Above this field and joining it is the Mount Gion whereon
Solomon received the royal crown, and the other kings
were wont to be anointed on that mount.
And note that our Lord raised a girl from the dead in
the midst of Jerusalem, and worked many miracles therein.
Over against the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which we
have described above, on the opposite side (of the way),
towards the south, is a beautiful church built in honour of
John the Baptist, annexed to which is a hospital,^ wherein
in various rooms is collected together an enormous multi-
tude of sick people, both men and women, who are tended
and restored to health daily at a very great expense. When
I was there I learned that the whole number of these sick
people amounted to two thousand, of whom sometimes in
the course of one day and night more than fifty are carried
out dead, while many other fresh ones keep continually
arriving. What more can I say ? This same house sup-
plies as many people outside it with victuals as it does
those inside, in addition to the boundless charity which is
daily bestowed upon poor people who beg their bread from
door to door and do not lodge in the house, so that the
whole sum total of its expenses can surely never be calcu-
lated even by the managers and stewards thereof. In
addition to all these moneys expended upon the sick and
upon other poor people, this same house also maintains in
its various castles many persons trained to all kinds of
military exercises for the defence of the land of the
Christians against the invasions of the Saracens. Close to
this Church of St. John is the convent of nuns built in
honour of the Blessed Mary, which at its head almost
touches the buildings of the aforesaid church, and is called
the Convent of St. Mary the Great.^ Not far from hence,
on the same side of the same street, is a convent of monks,
which also is built in honour of the Blessed Mary, and is
^ The Church and Hospital of the Knights of St. Tohn, which
occupied a portion of the Murislan.
* Compare Theoderich (xiii.).
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY LAND. 45
called the Convent of St. Mary the Latin/ wherein the
head of St. Philip the Apostle is preserved with great
reverence, and is also displayed to those who come to
worship it and ask to see it.
In the street which leads from the Gate of David down
the hill towards the Temple, on the right-hand side, near
the Tower of David, is a convent of Armenian monks, built
in honour of St. Sabas,- the most reverend abbot, for
whom, while he was yet alive, the Blessed Virgin Mary
wrought many miracles. In the same quarter, not far
away, down the descent beyond another street, there is a
large church built in honour of St. James the Great,^
inhabited by Armenian monks, and they have in the same
place a large hospice for the reception of the poor of their
nation. Therein is preserved with great veneration the
head of that Apostle, for he was beheaded by Herod, and
his body was placed by his disciples on board a ship at
Joppa and carried to Galicia,^ but his head remained in
Palestine. This same head is at the present day exhibited
in this church to pilgrims.
As you descend this same street, beside the gate which
leads to the Temple, on the right-hand side, there is a kind
of passage^ through a long portico, in which street is a
^ There is a difficulty with regard to the position of these churches.
John of Wiirzburg gives them in the following order : Church and
Hospital of St. John, Convent of St. Mary the Great, and Convent of
St. Mary the Latin. Theoderich (xiii.) gives them in the same order,
and places them all in line on the south side of the street that passes
in front of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The description of the
city in the ' Citez de Jhenisalem,' however, places the Church of St.
Mary the Latin between St. Mary the Great and the Hospital of St.
John,
- The Metochia of the Laura of St. Sabas. See Abbot Daniel,
p. 3, note 3.
^ This church, in the street leading from the Tower of David to
the Sion Gate, is still in the hands of the Armenians.
* Compostella.
• The Rue dcs Alemans. ' City of Jerusalem ' (xi.).
46 JOHN OF IVURZDURG'S
hospice and a church, which has been newly built in honour
of St. Mary, and which is called the House of the Germans,
upon which hardly any men who speak any other language
bestow any benefactions.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE CHAPEL OF ST. PETER OF THE FETTERS — THE IRON
GATE— THE CHURCH AND MONASTERY OF ST. ANNE
— THE POOL OF THE SHEEP-GATE — THE CHURCH OF
ST. MARY MAGDALENE — THE TRIPLE MARKET— THE
ARCH WHERE THE BLESSED MARY RESTED — THE
CHURCH OF ST. CHARITON.
In the same street, near the gate by which one goes up to
the Mount Sion, is a chapel, built in honour of St. Peter,-^
in whose crypt, which is very deep and dark, is said to
have been the prison in which St. Peter was carefully
watched by the orders of Herod, being bound with iron
chains, and guarded by soldiers both within and without ;
but all that care was by the divine power made of no
effect, for the same night, by the ministry of an angel, St.
Peter guided by an angel passed out unharmed, his chains
being broken, and the gates both of the prison and of the
city being opened, and he said : ' Now I know of a surety
that God hath sent His angel,' etc. At the entrance to
this chapel the following verses are written, describing the
miracle that was wrought there :
•Arise and take thy cloak, Peter, tby cnam is broke ;
Arise and leave this place, set free by Heaven's grace.'
* O, now I know, indeed, from prison I am freed ;
Christ's love to me be praised, that me from bonds hath saved.'
In the crypt of this Church of the Fetters, at the service
on St. Peter's Day, I celebrated mass, with the collect
* Compare Theoderich (xxi.), where the number of sieps leading
down to the crypt is given.
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY LAND. 47
proper to be used at that place : * O God, who in this place
didst cause the Apostle St. Peter to be set free from his
bonds and to escape unhurt,' etc. The chapel is a small
one, and is not enriched by endowments or decorated with
ornaments in a manner worthy of so great a miracle and
so great a chief of the Apostles. The gate which leads
towards the Mount Sion is called the Iron Gate, and
opened of its own accord to the angel and Peter.
Opposite to the court of the Temple, that is, on the
north side, near the gate by which one goes to the valley
of Jehosaphat, there is a large church built in honour of
St. Anne,i wherein is shown in a picture how by divine
ordinance and warning the Blessed Virgin was born of
her and Joachim, as is set forth at greater length in the
life of St. Anne, whose festival is celebrated in that
church on the day of St. James the Great with great
solemnity, whereat I myself was present. In this same
church God is worshipped by a college of consecrated and,
I hope, accepted nuns. As one leaves this church, on the
left hand, at no great distance, down a lane, is the Pool of
the Sheep-Gate,^ or Piscina Probatica,vjh.{c\x in the time of
Jesus an angel of the Lord was wont to trouble at certain
times. Whatever sick man entered the water first after it
had been troubled was healed of whatever disease he had
been suffering from. It is called the ' shQQ'^-^ooX' probaton
in Greek, because at the sacrifices the entrails of the
victims were washed there : indeed, the water was red with
the (blood of the) victims who were cleansed there. Before
this sheep-pool Jesus restored the sick man to health,
saying to him, * Take up thy bed and walk.'
Thence from the same street, that which leads out
of the Gate of Jehosaphat, higher up it, in the next side
street, which runs off from this street, on the right hand,
up towards the city wall, is the church built in honour of
1 The present Church of St. Anne, north of the Haram Area.
2 This probably refers to the Birket Isiail. See note on Pool of
Bethesda, in Bordeaux Pilgrim (Appendix III.).
48 JOHN OF WURZBURG'S
St. Mary Magdalene/ in which are Jacobite monks, and
about which we have already said all that we know. By
the aforesaid street^ one goes straight from the Gate of
Jehosaphat to the street which leads to the Gate of St.
Stephen, from whence (one goes) from the northwards,
towards those triple or rather manifold streets which con-
tain all manner of things for sale (the bazars), to the front
of the great Church of the Holy Sepulchre. In the midst,
I say, of this street,^ there is an ancient stone arch across
the street,^ beneath which the Blessed Virgin Mary is
said to have rested, together with her blessed Offspring,
who was as yet but a tiny infant, and to have suckled
Him there. This event is commemorated there by a
picture, and the place, which is shut off by a slight
enclosure from the public path, being sacred, although
without the presence of a church, is looked upon and
worshipped with due reverence.
Also, leading out of the street which leads from the
Gate of St. Stephen towards the side of the Church of the
Holy Sepulchre,'* not very far to the north of the Holy
Sepulchre, there is a small street^ in which in a church
of the Syrians rests the blessed body of the holy martyr
Chariton, which is there held in great veneration by the
Syrian monks, which body, being at the present day
almost entire, is kept in a wooden coffer, the lid of which
is taken off when it is shown to pilgrims.** This holy
father was slain by the Saracens in his convent on the
banks of the Jordan," together with his monks, because
he acknowledged the name of Christ.
^ Now cl-Mamnniych. See note, p. 23.
'■' The Jehosaphat Street of ' La Citez de Jhcrusalem,' which runs
from the present St. Stephen's Gate westward to the street el- Wad.
=' The 'Ecce Homo' Arch.
* The modern street Tarik Bab cl-Ainiid.
' Apparently the modern street Khot cl-Khdnyah.
® Tobler quotes from Rafn's 'Antiquitds russes ' the account of a
pilgrim from Iceland, who states that the body and hair were in a
perfect state of preservation.
' The Convent of St. Chariton was near Tekoa. See chap. xix.
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY LAND. 49
CHAPTER XVII.
THE PLACE OF THE STONING OF ST. STEPHEN — THE
CHARNEL-HOUSE OF THE LION — GABAA — THE
MOUNT OF OFFENCE — THE PpOL OF SILOE — THE
OAK OF ROGEL — THE CHAPEL AND SEPULCHRE
OF JAMES, THE SON OF ALPH^US — THE PYRAMID OF
JEHOSAPHAT— THE PIERMITS' CAVES— THE CONVENT
IN THE UPPER PART OF THE VALLEY OF JEHOSAPHAT
— THE SEPULCPIRE OF THE VIRGIN MARY.
Outside that gate of Jerusalem which looks towards the
west, on which side the city was liberated by the second
Israel, the blessed Protomartyr Stephen fell, overwhelmed
by stones ;^ his body was conveyed thence into the church
of Sion, and was buried between Nicodemus, Gamaliel, and
Abibon. It was afterwards reinterred at Constantinople,
and finally buried by St. Laurence at Rome. Wherefore
on his tomb there is the verse :
' Hither hath Byzantium sent Sion's victim innocent.'
Outside the gate of Jerusalem, beside the pool,- which
looks towards the south, may be seen the cave to which a
lion, at the bidding of God Almighty, carried the bodies
of about twelve thousand martyrs who perished at the
hands of Chosroes. Wherefore it is called ' The Charnel-
house of the Lion.'
Two miles from Jerusalem, on the way which leads to
Sichem, is the Mount Gabaa,^ in the tribe of Benjamin.
A mile from Jerusalem, on the shoulder of the Mount of
Olives, is the Mount of Offence,^ which joins it, but is
^ See note on the church and the massacre of St. Stephen in Abbot
Daniel (Appendix I.).
- The Elrket Mamilla. The cave is mentioned by Theoderich
(xxxvii.).
^ Possibly yi?^^^ is intended.
* The present Jcbd Baten el-Hawa.
50 JOHN OF WURZBURG'S
divided from it by the road which leads from Jehosaphat
through Bethphage to Bethany. It is called the Mount of
Offence, because Solomon set up thereon the idol Moloch,
and worshipped it.
Quite close to Jerusalem, on the side of the hill under
Solomon's palace, in the valley of Jehosaphat, is the Pool of
Siloe/ to which Jesus sent the blind man whose sight He
had restored, to wash his eyes therein. He went and
washed and received his sight. Wherefore Siloe is inter-
preted ' Sent.' It was not to this same water that Naaman,
the Prince of Syria, was sent by the prophet Elisha, but to
the Jordan, that after washing thrice therein he might be
healed of his leprosy, which he looked upon with contempt,
and said, * Are not Abana and Pharphar ' — the rivers, that
is, of my own country — * better rivers than this ?' At last,
however, agreeing to carry out the advice of his servant, he
fulfilled the command of the prophet, and was healed.
Siloe, according to the tradition of the Syrians, is said to
flow from Silo. Siloe brings its stream silently, because
it flows underground. Close to Siloe is the Oak of Rogel,
beneath which the holy Isaiah is buried. ^
In the valley of Jehosaphat is buried the blessed James,
the son of Alphaeus,^ who, as has been told above, was cast
down from the Temple. There is a fair chapel in this
same valley wherein is a proof* of his burial, with these
verses written above it :
' The lawless Jews assail Alpbasus's son ;
He for God's name and love to death is done.
Alphffius's son, down from the Temple cast,
By pious hands was here interred at last.'
However, the Apostle of God was afterwards translated
from thence to Constantinople.
1 The Bir/:i'^ Silwdn.
- A tree, to which the same tradition is attached, still grows at this
spot.
^ A rock-hewn sepulchre, immediately north of the Tomb of
Zechariah, is now shown as the Tomb of St. James.
■• Imiiciiiin, i.e., a picture in which his burial is depicted.
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY LAND. 5t
In the valley of Jehosaphat, under a sharp-pointed
pyramid, is buried that King Jehosaphat^ from whom the
valley has received its name. The interpretation thereof is
The Valley of Judgment,' in allusion to the text, ' I will
gather together all nations.' This same valley has many
caverns in every part of it, in which religious persons live
the lives of hermits.
The whole valley belongs to the convent which stands in
the upper part of the valley above the bank of the brook
Kedron,2 beside the garden in which our Lord often met
His disciples. In the crypt of this convent is shown at the
present day the sepulchre of the Blessed Virgin Mary, of
which we shall speak at greater length.
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE SEPULCHRE OF ST. MARY — THE CHAPEL — THE
INSCRIPTIONS — GETHSEMANE.
On the day of the translation the body of the most Blessed
Virgin Mary was borne to the church in the valley of
Jehosaphat,^ all the twelve Apostles of the Lord being pre-
sent, according to her desire, and was there buried with due
Jionour in the middle of the crypt, which is adorned with a
wondrous casing of marble and magnificent paintings in
various colours. Her sepulchre, although her body is no
longer there, is admirable both for its casing of marble and
•for the dome-like structure of gold and silver by which it
is covered. • Upon it is the following inscription :
* From hence, from Jehosaphat's vale, a path leads to the sky,
The Virgin here, God's trusting handmaid, once did lie ;
1 Apparently the present Tomb of Absalom. The Tomb of
Jehosaphat is now shown immediately to the north of it.
- The convent appears to have been built over the present Tomb
•of the Virgin.
'^ Compare the tradition as given by Abbot Daniel (xxi.), who says
that the body was carried by the Apostles. The legend is given in
.the apocryphal ' Book of John concerning the falling asleep of Mary.'
4
52 JOHN OF WURZBURG'S
Spotless, from hence she rose, to her heaven's gate did ope.
Poor sinners' Light and Way, their Mother and their Hope.'
Her blessed body is not there, because we are told that
when on the eighth day, according to the Hebrew custom,
the sepulchre was visited and looked into, the body was
not found there. From this there has arisen a pious belief
that not only her soul, but also her body, was raised with
great glory by her Son into heaven, which Jerome seems
to hint at doubtfully, rather than to assert, in the letter
which begins, ' You oblige me, Paula and Eustochium,'
etc. However this may be, we believe that the Blessed
Virgin Mary, solely because she was found worthy to bear
her creator, is worthy of all honour and canonization, as
well for her body as for her soul, and that her Son being
all-loving and all-powei'ful was both willing and able to do
this. Her sepulchre is also honoured and adored because
of a certain connection and likeness of its honours to those
which are paid to the sepulchre of her blessed Son. At
the entrance to the crypt may be seen the following picture
and inscription :
• Ye heirs of life, come, praise the Lord, to whom
Our life we owe, who hath revoked our doom.'^
On the left side the image of Jerome holds this inscrip-
tion :2
******
Now, her sepulchre is shown at this day, and was shown
in our presence, in the valley of Jehosaphat, in the midst of
it, where a church with a wondrous casing of marble has
been built in her honour, in which she is affirmed by all
to have been buried. Now, on the right hand of the
entrance to this church an image of the Holy Basil holds
these words :
' Bitt'rest of God's Mother's foes,
Julian th' Apostate rose ;
^ Theoderich (xxiii.) quotes the same verses.
• The inscripdon is wanting in the MSS.
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY LAND. 53
First in power and in place
Of the cruel heathen race ;
At the Mother's bidding, he
Perished in his tyranny.
Glory be for evermore
To the Queen whom we adore,
Once entombed beneath this floor.'
These and very many other praises of the Virgin are
placed at the entrance to the crypt. In the interior, on
the walls which surround the tomb and on the ceiling, the
following inscription is written : On the wall on the right
hand: ' Mary the Virgin has been taken up to a mansion
in heaven,' etc. Further on, reaching round the church,
is the text : ' Behold thou art fair, my love, behold thou
art fair, thou hast dove's eyes,' etc., down to Mily of the
valley ' ; and to this is added : ' The daughters of Sion
have seen her.' * From this place of a truth the glorious
Virgin ascended into heaven. I pray you rejoice, because
she is raised to heights unspeakable and reigns for ever
with Christ.' In the fore-part is written : ' Mary has been
taken up into heaven ' ; and on the opposite side is, ' The
Holy Mother of God hath been exalted,' etc. ; and in the
middle: 'The multitude of angels standing round about
the Blessed Mary as she sits upon the throne declare
that she hath made her way to the kingdom of heaven.'
At the foot of Mount Olivet, on the side nearest to the
city, where now the sepulchre of the Blessed Virgin Mary
is shown, was a small village which was called Gethse-
mane.i
^ The village of Gethsemane is mentioned by Abbot Daniel (xx.),
but no trace of it remains at the present day.
4—2
54 JOHN OF WURZBURG'S
CHAPTER XIX.
BETHLEHEM — THE MANGER — THE PLACE OF THE
NATIVITY — THE APPEARANCE OF THE STAR — THE
SEPULCHRE OF THE INNOCENTS — THE SEPULCHRE
OF ST. JEROME— THE PLACE OF THE SHEPHERDS —
THECUA — THE CHURCH OF ST. CHARITON — THE
SEPULCHRE OF RACHEL.
Bethlehem is, being interpreted, the house of bread, and
is a city of Judaea, which is also called Ephrata, and not
without cause, since from the flower of Nazareth there
proceeded therein the fruit of life ; from the Virgin Mary, I
mean, the Son of the living God, Christ Jesus, who is the
bread of the angels and the life of the whole world. In
Bethlehem, at the place of His birth, is the manger in
which the infant Jesus Himself lay. Whence that saying
of the prophet : ' The ox knoweth his owners, and the ass
his master's crib.' The hay out of it, in which the child
Jesus lay, was carried to Rome by the Empress Helena,
and reverently deposited in the Church of St. Mary the
Great. In the place of our Lord's nativity may be read
these two verses inscribed in gilded mosaic work :
* Of angels' virtues chief beyond compare,
A Virgin here the Very God did bear.'
Into Bethlehem, led by the new star, came the three
kings from the East to worship the child Jesus, and that
they might show their reverence for the King of the angels
they presented to Him the mystic gifts of gold, frankin-
cense, and myrrh. In Bethlehem and its neighbourhood
Herod ordered the innocents to be slain, the greater part
of whom lie buried to the southward, four miles from
Bethlehem and two from Thecua.^
' The Tomb of the Innocents is mentioned by Antoninus Martyr
(p. 24), who states that it was half a mile from Bethlehem.
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY LAND. 55
In Bethlehem, below the church, not far from the manger
of our Lord, rests the body of St. Jerome ;^ and Paula
and Eustochium, to whom Jerome himself wrote letters,
lie buried in Bethlehem likewise.
One mile from Bethlehem the star shone to the shepherds
when the Lord was born, and an angel appeared saying,
' Glory to God on high, and on earth peace to men of good
will.'^ Three miles from Bethlehem is Thecua,^ the town
of Amos, who lies buried there. Four miles from Bethlehem
towards the south is a Church of St. Chariton,'^ where, when
he himself departed from this world, his monks, whose
pious master he had been, perished with him, as they had
been previously warned by God, because he had been a
pious father to them. Indeed, they were so fervent in their
love towards him that they did not wish to live after his
death ; and in the aforesaid church their skeletons are to
be seen, in the very postures into which they were thrown
by their agony of grief at the death of their father. They
have since been translated to Jerusalem.
A mile from Bethlehem, on the road which leads to
Jerusalem, is Chabratha,^ the place in which Rachel died
after bearing Benjamin, and was buried there by her
husband Jacob, in a tomb above which Jacob placed
twelve great stones, for a remembrance of each of his
twelve sons, the pyram.id formed by which may be seen
by those who pass by.*^
* The Tomb of St. Jerome is still shown in a rock-hewn chamber
beneath the Church of the Nativity.
* Luke ii. 14. 3 Tekoa, now TehVa.
* At the present village of Khureiti'm, near TekiVa.
* Other readings are Cabrata, Kabrata, Crypta ; it is apparently a
corruption of the Arabic Kab7- Rdkil, 'Tomb of Rachel'; or Kubbet
Jidhil, ' Dome of Rachel.'
* The pyramid of stones is also mentioned by Theoderich (xxxii.).
56 JOHN OF WURZBURG'S
CHAPTER XX.
THE RIVER JORDAN — THE DESERT OF QUARANTANA —
THE MOUNT OF TEMPTATION — THE FOUNTAIN OF
ELIS^US— THE PLACE OF THE BLIND MAN — ^JERICHO
— BETH AGLA — ENGADDI.
Our Lord, when he was twenty-nine years and thirteen
days old, as Luke tells us, and was beginning his thirtieth
year, wishing to put an end to circumcision and to renew
the old man with holy water, came into the desert to
John, His forerunner, and was baptized by him in the
Jordan, in a place distant three miles from Jericho,^ where
the voice of the Father thundered above Him, saying,
' This is my beloved Son,' etc. The Jordan is a river
which flows from two sources, to wit, Jor and Dan, which
rise at the foot of Mount Lebanon, and after proceeding
for a long distance separate, combine their waters near the
mountains of Gilboa.^ When Christ was being baptized,
moreover, the Holy Ghost came upon Him in the likeness
of a dove, showing that it was He, not John, who possessed
the power of sanctifying the waters. Near the same spot,
that is to say, two miles from Jericho, on the left hand, is
the desert which is called Quarantana, on a high rock in
which Jesus performed His fast of forty days and nights,
and when He was hungry there the devil tempted Him,
saying: 'Command that these stones be made bread.' ^
Two miles from Quarantana towards Galilee is that
exceeding high mountain* on which he tempted Jesus for
1 Near the /Czisr el-VeMd, 'Monastery of St. John.' See An-
toninus (Appendix I.).
2 The junction of the Jordan and the Yarmuk is intended (p. 66) ;
but it is several miles to the north of Gilboa.
^ Matt. iv. 3. The Mons Quarantana is behind 'Ain es-Sul/dn, the
ancient Jericho.
* A'urn Surtabeh, in the Jordan Valley.
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY LAND. 57
the second time, showing Him all the kingdoms of the
world, and saying, * All this will I give thee,' etc.
Near Quarantana is a brook which flows from the
fountain^ which the holy Elisaeus cured of barrenness,
and made sweet instead of bitter. Before Jericho by the
roadside the blind beggar, hearing that Jesus was passing
by, cried out : * Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy on
me,* and was worthy to receive light from Him, both
without and within. Thirteen miles from Jerusalem to the
northwards 2 is Jericho, the city of Rahab the harlot, who
-entertained the four spies of the Children of Israel, saved
their lives, concealed them and fed them. It was also the
city of ZaccliKus, who, when he heard that Jesus was
walking in those parts, because he was small of stature,
climbed a sycamore tree, that he might see Him and
speak to Him, judging himself and begging for pardon.
It was also the city of those boys who, when the holy
Elisaeus was going up to Jerusalem, mocked him, saying,
^ Go up, thou bald head,' etc.
Three miles from Jericho, and two miles from the
Jordan, is Bethagla,^ which is, being interpreted, the place
of the circle, because that there, after the manner of
mourners, Jacob's sons and people went in a circle round
his tomb, when they were bringing him from Egypt to
Hebron.
Engaddi, in the tribe of Judah, where David hid him-
self in the wilderness, is in the ' Aulon,''* that is to say, in
the plain country of Jericho. However, a large Jewish
^ ^Az'n es-SultCin.
2 The direction of Jericho from Jerusalem is really about
E.N.E.
* Kasr Hajla, Beth-Hogla. The 'threshing-floor of Atad,' where
Joseph and his brothers mourned seven days over the body of Jacob,
was probably near the Egyptian frontier, and not at Beth-Hogla,
where Jerome placed it.
* The name, auXw, channel, by which the Jordan Valley and the
Arabah were known in Jerome's time.
58 JOHN OF WURZBURG'S
village beside the Dead Sea is called Engaddi,^ at which
balsam is grown, and from which it is exported. This is
the reason that vineyards were termed Engaddi.
CHAPTER XXI.
HEBRON— THE DOUBLE CAVE— THE VALLEY OF TEARS —
THE FIELD OF DAMASCUS — THE OAK OF MAMBRE.
On the other side of Jerusalem, a little towards the south,
is the city of Hebron, which once was the chief city of the
Philistines and the dwelling place of giants, one diccta^
distant from Jerusalem. This was arranged as a city of
priests and a city of refuge in the tribe of Judah, being-
in that country wherein the Creator made our common
father Adam out of clay, and breathed into him the breath
of life. Hebron is called Kariatharbe,^ which in the
Saracenic language means * The City of Four'; Kariat/t,
city, arba, four, because four patriarchs are buried in the
double* cave therein, namely, Adam, Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, and their wives, our mother Eve, Sara, Rebecca,
Lia. Now Hebron is situated near the Vale of Tears.
The Vale of Tears is so called because therein Adam
mourned his son Abel for a hundred years ; and therein
afterwards, at the bidding of an angel, he knew his wife,
of whom he afterwards begot his son Seth, from whose
* En-gedi, now ^Ainjidy^ on the west shore of the Dead Sea.
' A day's journey.
Kirjath-Arba, ' The City of Arba,' from Arba, the father of Anak ;
afterwards called Hebron. St. Paula (p. 9) calls it ' the town of the
four men.'
* By this we are to understand a tomb cut in the rock, with an
atrium, or ante-chamber, and the actual sepulchre or sepulchres cut
beyond it (Tobler).
° In A.D. 333 the Bordeaux Pilgrim mentions only the three
patriarchs and their wives. Adam is mentioned by St. Paula, A.D..
382. Eve was added at a later date.
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY LAND. 59
family Christ was descended. Two miles from Hebron
is the sepulchre of Lot, the nephew of Abraham. In
Hebron there is a field, and the earth thereof is red.^
This is dug out by the inhabitants and eaten by them, and
is exported to Egypt, and sold there for a great price.
By the ordinance of God the aforesaid field, however
deeply and widely it be dug into, at the end of the year
is always found renewed as before.
Near Hebron is the Mount Mambre,^ at whose foot is
that terebinth tree which is called 'dirps/^ that is, holm-
oak or oak, beneath which Abraham dwelt for a long
time, under which he saw three angels and worshipped
one of them, and, entertaining them as worthily as he was
able, comforted them and fed them.
The aforesaid oak is declared by Jerome to have existed
up to the time of the Emperor Theodosius, and from it
the present one is said to have sprung, which at this day
is seen and held dear by the people of that place. Though
it is dry, yet its healing qualities are proved by the fact
that if a horseman carries a piece of it with him, his horse
will never stumble. Hebron was the first place reached
by Joshua and Caleb and their ten companions. In
Hebron David reigned seven and a half years.
CHAPTER XXII.
THE LAKE ASPPIALTITES — SEGOR (PALMARIA) — JEWISH
BITUMEN — THE CAVE OF KARNAIM — ARABIA — MOUNT
SINAI — HELIM — MOUNTS HOREB AND ABARIM —
IDUM^A.
Ten miles from Hebron to the eastward is the Lake
Asphaltites, which is also called the ' Dead Sea,' and is
^ Compare the description of Hebron, and the field with red earth,
in Theoderich (xxxiv.).
^ Probably Rdmet el-Khulil, Terebinthus, near Hebron.
* Perhaps a corruption of the Greek Spvg
6o JOHN OF WiJRZBURG'S
indeed dead, because it contains no living thing, and the
' Sea of the Devil,' because by its means those four most
unhappy cities, Sodom, Gomorrah, Seboim, and Aduma,
because they went on still in their wickedness, were burned
with fire and brimstone, and sank in that lake.^
Above the lake, on the slope of Judaea, is Segor, which
is also called Bala and Zara, the fifth of those cities, which
was saved from drowning by the prayers of Lot, and is to
be seen at this day, and is called Palmaria.^ On the way
as one goes out from Segor, Lot's wife was turned into a
pillar of salt, whose remains are still to be seen. Above
the shores of the aforesaid lake much alum and pitch is
found and collected by the inhabitants, and out of the sea
is drawn bitumen, known as Jewish bitumen, which is
valuable for many purposes. Segor, however, is called by
its own citizens the town of Palma.
Above the lake Asphaltites.as one goes down to Arabia,
is the cave of Karnaim,^ in the mountain of the Moabites,
into which Balak, the son of Beor, led the prophet Balaam,
that he might curse the children of Israel ; this cave, on
account of its steep precipice, is called * Cut Off.' The
lake Asphaltites divides Judzea from Arabia. Arabia in
the time of the children of Israel was a desert, uninhabited,
desolate, pathless, and waterless. Therein the Lord kept
them for forty years, raining manna upon them to eat, and
bringing forth water from the rock.
In Arabia is Mount Sinai,* whereon Moses remained
for forty days and as many nights without any food,
and whereon the Lord gave Moses the law written with
^ The opinion that the cities were submerged in the lake is a very
old one, and lasted until the middle of the present century. An
examination of the geology of the district has shown the impossibility
of a submergence.
■ The allusion is clearly to Jericho, or some place near it, which is
identified with Zoar. Compare Abbot Daniel (Ivi.), who also places
Segor west of the Dead Sea and Jordan.
^ Compare Theoderich (xxxv.). The place is possibly Kerak.
* Jebel Miisa, in the Sinaitic Peninsula.
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY LAND. 6i
His own finger on tablets of stone. In Arabia is the
valley of Moses,^ wherein he twice struck the rock, which
sent forth two streams of water for the people of God, by
which at this day that entire country is watered. In
Arabia the pillar of fire went before the children of Israel
by night, and a cloud fenced them about every day. In
Arabia is Helim,^ where the children of Israel's camp was
measured out, being that place in the desert where, when
they came out of the Red Sea, they found the twelve
fountains and the seventy palm trees. In Arabia are
forty halting-places of the children of Israel. In Arabia
is Mount Horeb,^ on which Aaron lies buried. In Arabia
is Mount Abarim,'* in which the Lord buried Moses,
whose tomb is nowhere to be seen. In Arabia is that
royal mount ^ v/hich the Lord Baldwin, the first King of
the Franks in Jerusalem, conquered and joined to that
land for the Christians, and made strong for a bulwark to
the land of David. Arabia joins Idumaea near Bostron.*
Idumaea is the land of Damascus. Idumaea is, however,
under Syria. The head of Syria is Damascus.
CHAPTER XXIII.
THE PLACE WHERE MARY VISITED ELIZABETH — MODIN
— LYDDA— C/ESAREA PAL.ESTINA — MOUNTS KAIN AND
CARMEL.
Four miles from Jerusalem towards the south is the
town '^ in which Zacharias was dwelling at the time when
^ Probably the IVddy el-Leja/t, near /ei>el Mnsa, in which the
traditional rock is now shown.
2 Wddy GJmrundel, or Wddy Useit, running into the Red Sea.
' That is. Mount Hor, Jebel Harun^ near Petra.
* Joannes Poloner, a.d. 1422, says that Mount Abarim, in which
Moses was buried by angels, stands between Petra and Areopolis.
** Montroyal, or Mons Regalis, was east of the ^Arabah, between
Kerak and Petra.
® A corruption of Bostra, Bozrah the present Biisrah.
' 'Ain Kurt in.
62 JOHN OF WURZBURG'S
Mary the Mother of Jesus, already bearing the Son of
God within her womb, came in haste to greet Elizabeth
her cousin, when she was pregnant of John, who they say
was born at that place.
Six miles from Jerusalem southward, on the road which
leads to Ramatha,^ is Mount IModin,^ from whence came
Mathathias, the father of the Maccabees, who lie buried
there, and their tombs are to be seen at this day. Eight
miles from Modin, on the road leading to Joppa, is
Lydda,^ which is also called Diospolis, in which the body
of St. George is buried, and is exhibited there, at the
distance of one mile from Ramatha.
Sixteen miles from Mount Carmel southward is Crcsarea
Palaestina/ the metropolis, the city of Cornelius the cen-
turion, whom St. Peter baptized there and made him a
bishop ; where also is the tower of Strato, and where
Herod built a harbour of white marble against the coming
of Augustus. Herod himself built the tower which domin-
ates Jerusalem, which is also called the tower of David.
Josephus tells us that he built this tower, and named it
Antonia.
Eight miles from Nazareth in the direction of Carmel
is Mount Cain,^ at whose foot, beside a fountain, Lamech,
the father of Noah, slew Cain, his chief, with his bow and
arrows. Wherefore in his madness and wrath he said :
' I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to
my hurt' Of Cain the Lord had said : ' Whoso kills
Cain shall be punished sevenfold.' Seven miles from
Mount Kain is Mount Carmel, of which we read in the
Song of Songs, ' Thy neck is as Mount Carmel,' and
whereon the holy Elias (Elijah) chose to abide for a long
time, and his disciple HelisjEUs (Elisha) with him.
^ Er-Ramlch, on the plain near Lydda,
^ This can scarcely have been el-Medieh, which is nearer to Lydda
than to Jerusalem.
" LitdtL * Kaisariyeh.
° Apparently Caimont, the present Kaiim'm^ Jokneam.
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY LAND. 63
CHAPTER XXIV.
PHCENICIA — LIBANUS — TYRE — SAREPTA — SIDON —
BERYTUS— ARPHAT.
LiBANUS divides Idumaea from Phcenicla. In Phoenicia
is the city of Sors,i that is, Tyre, the most celebrated city
of the Phoenicians, and the capital, which, according to the
Syrian, refused to receive Christ within its gates when He
was walking on the sea-shore, and which, as is testified by
the sacred page, has produced martyrs to God, whose
number His knowledge alone can tell. Tyre contains the
tomb of Origen. Outside of Tyre is the large marble
stone upon which Jesus sat, which remained uninjured
from the time of Christ to that of the driving out of the
heathen from the city, but was afterwards broken by the
Franks and Venetians. However, over the remains of
that stone a church has been built in honour of the
Saviour.
Eight miles from Tyre, to the northward, by the sea-
side, is Sarphen,^ which is Sarepta in the land of Sidon,
wherein the prophet Elias once dwelt, and wherein he
raised to life Jonas, the son of the widow who had hospit-
ably entertained him and comforted and fed him. Six
miles from Sarphen is Sidon, a noble city, from which
Dido came, who founded Carthage, in Africa. Sixteen
miles from Sidon is Berytus,^ a very wealthy city. In
Berytus, not long after our Saviour's Passion, an image
of Him was, by the Jews, fixed upon a cross in mockery,
to show their contempt for Him, and brought forth blood
and water, wherefore many believed in Him who was
indeed crucified, and were baptized. Whosoever were
^ From Siff, the Arab name of Tyre.
^ From Surafejid.
^ BdriH.
64 JOHN OF WURZBURG'S
anointed with the drops which fell from the image were
made whole from whatsoever disease they had been suffer-
ing from. Arphat^ is a city of Damascus.
CHAPTER. XXV.
DAMASCUS — IDUM^A — HUS — SUETA— THEMA — NAAMAN
— THE RIVER JABOC — MOUNT SEIR — DAMASCUS AGAIN
— MOUNT LIBANUS — THE RIVERS ABANA AND PHAR-
PHAR—THE HARBOUR OF ST. SIMEON — ANTIOCH —
PANEAS— AULON — DAN — MEDAN — JOR — THE SEA OF
GALILEE.
For Damascus in Syria see history. Damascus, the
capital of Syria, is a venerable metropolis. Damascus
was built in Syria by Heliezer, the servant of Abraham,
in the field in which Cain killed Abel his brother. Esau
dwelt in Damascus, and also in Seir and in Edom ; Seir
means hairy ; Edom means red or red-haired. From
Edom the whole of that country is called Idumaea, which
is mentioned in the Psalm : ' Over Idumrea will I cast My
shoe,' etc. It is also called Edom, wherefore the prophet
said : ' Who is he that cometh from Edom, and with dyed
garments from Bosra ?' A part of that land is Hus,^ of
which was the holy Job ; which is also called Sueta, of
which was Bildad the Shuite, and in which also is Thema,
the chief city of Idumaea. From Thema came Eliphaz the
Themanite, in which place there is a town Naaman, from
which came Sophar the Naamanite. These were Job's
three comforters.
In the country of Idumaea, two miles from the Jordan,
^ Either Arphad, Rtiad; or Arpad, Tell Erfdd.
^ The land of Hus was apparently in the Haurdn, and its name
Sueta, perhaps, derived from Suweideh. See p. 66.
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY LAND. 65
is the river Jaboc,^ after crossing which, when he was
returning from Mesopotamia, Jacob wrestled with an
angel, who changed his name from Jacob into Israel. In
Idumaea is Mount Seir,^ beneath which is Damascus.
Two miles from Damascus is the place in which Christ
appeared to Saul, saying : ' Saul, Saul, why persecutest
thou Me ?' whereat an exceeding great light from Heaven
shone around Paul. In Damascus Ananias baptized Saul,
giving him the name of Paul. From the walls of Damas-
cus Paul was let down, because he feared the rage of his
persecutors.
Libanus is, being interpreted, whiteness, and is men-
tioned in the Song of Songs, ' Come from Libanus, my
dove/ At the foot of Libanus rise Abana and Pharphar,
rivers of Damascus ; the Abana^ flows through the
jnountains of Libanus and the flat country of Archas,
making its way to the great sea in the parts to which the
holy Eustachius retired after the loss of his wife and
children, while Pharphar* flows through Syria to Antioch,
and, passing by its walls, pours itself into the Mediter-
ranean Sea ten miles from Antioch, in the harbour of
Solim, which is the harbour of St. Simeon.^ Antioch was
for seven years the seat of St. Peter the Apostle, who for
seven years wore the Pontifical izara there. At the foot
of Libanus is the city of Paneas, or Belinas,*^ which is also
called Caesarea Philippi.
At the foot of Libanus spring up Jor and Dan, those
* The river alluded to is not known ; the Jabbok is the IV. Zerka
to the south.
' Mount Hermon.
' The Abana is here identified with the Leontes, Nahr el-Kasimiyeh,
which flows through the lower portion of the plain of Ccele-Syria, and
enters the sea north of Tyre.
* The Pharphar is identified with the Orontes.
" Apparently Suweidiyeh, the harbour of Antioch.
* Now Bdmds. ' Dicitur et Paneas : Sed nostri Latini corrum-
pentes nomen, sicut poene omnium aUarum urbium, Belinas vocant.*
Will. Tyr., xix. 11.
66 JOHN OF WURZBURG'S
two fountains which form the Jordan, at the foot of the
mountains of Gilboa. The valley between the mountains
of Gilboa and the Lake Asphaltites is called Gorius or
Aulon,^ which is a Hebrew word. This name is also
given to that great and fertile valley which is bordered by
mountains on either side from Libanus to the desert of
Pharan. The Jordan divides Galilee from Idumaea and
the land of Bostron,^ which is the second city of Idumaea.
Jordan means ' descent.'
Dan flows underground almost from its source as far as
Medan,^ wherein it openly resumes its course above
ground. This plain is called Medan, because Dan is in
the midst of it, and is called Medan in the Saracen
language, but platea in Latin. Medan is also called ' the
market place,' because at the beginning of summer an
innumerable number of people assemble there, bringing
with them all kinds of things for sale, and a vast number
of Parthians and Arabians remain there all through the
summer, both to protect the people and to pasture their
flocks. Medan is compounded of ' nied ' and * dan ' ; in
the Saracen tongue w^</ signifies 'water,' and dan a 'river.*
After leaving the aforesaid plain, Dan, which is now
become a river, passes through Sueta,* where is the
^ Gorius, from the Arabic G/wr, the name by which the gpreat
•depression of the Jordan Valley is now known. It was called Aulon
by the Greeks. See p. 57.
- Bostra, Busrah.
* John of Wiirzburg identifies Dan with the Yarmuk. Medan is
perhaps from Meidan, an open space ; or from the IV. Meddan, which
is one of the branches of the Yarmuk. The place alluded to is pro-
bably El-Mezeirib^ and the plain that of the Haiirdn. See Theoderich
(xlv.).
* The land of Sueta, or Suite, is mentioned by William of Tyre and
other historians of the Crusades without any clear definition of its
position or extent. It apparently extended from Birket er-Ratn, Lake
Phiala, to the south of Dera, Edrei. The Yarmuk, the River Dan of
the Crusaders, ran through it, and it perhaps derived its name from
Suwcideh, near Jebel Haurdn. A district in the neighbourhood of
Vera is still called Zuweit.
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY LAND. 67
pyramidal monument of the blessed Job, which is still in
existence, and is held in reverence by the kings and
nations. Dan, tending towards Galilee of the Gentiles,
flows through it by the city of Cedar,i beside the medi-
cinal baths,2 through the plain of thorns.^ and joins Jor ;
Jor, not far from Paneas, makes the Lake* thereof out of
itself, and afterwards takes the Sea of Galilee, between
Bethsaida and Capharnaum.^ as its beginning.
CHAPTER XXVI.
BETHSAIDA — CHORAZAIN — CEDAR — CAPHARNAUM — THE
' TABLE ' — GENESARETH — MAGDALUM — TIBERIAS —
BETHULIA — DOTHAIM — GERGESA.
From Bethsaida* came Peter and John, Andrew, and
James the son of Alphaeus. Six miles from Bethsaida is
Chorazain,'^ wherein Antichrist, the misleader of the
world, will be nursed. Of Chorazain and Bethsaida Jesus
said : ' Woe to thee, Chorazain, woe to thee, Bethsaida.'
Six miles from Chorazain is Cedar,i g, most excellent city,
of which we read in the Psalms : * I have dw^elt among the
inhabitants of Cedar.' Cedar is, being interpreted, ' in
the darkness.^ Capharnaum,^ on the right-hand side of
^ Gadara, Umm Keis.
2 The hot springs of Gadara, Amatha.
' Theoderich (xlv.) places tb' hot springs of Gadara in 'the plain
of thorns,' probably so named from the rank tropical growth in the
ground watered by the springs.
■' The el-Huleh Lake.
' John of Wiirzburg places Capernaum west of Jordan, and Beth-
saida and Chorazin on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee.
' The position of Bethsaida is not known, unless et-Tell be the
place referred to.
^ Possibly Gamala, KaVat el-Husn, is intended.
^ Probably Tell Hitm is the Capernaum of John of Wiirzburg.
5
68 JOHN OF WVRZBURG'S
the sea, is the city of the centurion, and in it Jesus healed
the son of the centurion, of whom he said : ' I have not
found such great faith in Israel.' In Capharnaum Jesus
did many miracles, and taught in the synagogue. Caphar-
naum is, being interpreted, ' most beautiful house,* or
'daughter of beauty,' which to us signifies the Holy
Church, to which all who come from Libanus, that is,
from the whiteness of virtue, shall in it and by it be ren-
dered even more resplendent.
Two miles from Capharnaum is the slope of the moun-
tain* whereon the Lord preached to the multitude and
sent forth His disciples and taught them, and there also
He healed the leper. A mile from the slope is the place
where He fed five thousand men with five loaves and two
fishes.2 Wherefore that place is called * The Table,' as
it were the place of feeding, and below it is the place
where, after His resurrection, Christ appeared to His
disciples, and ate with them a piece of cooked fish by the
sea-side,^ which sea the same Lord walked over dry-shod,
when, about the fourth watch of the night, He appeared
to Peter and Andrew while they were fishing ; when, as
Peter wished to come to Him over the sea and began to
sink, Christ said to him : ' O thou of little faith, wherefore
didst thou doubt ?' and there also another time He quieted
the sea when His disciples were in danger. At the head
of the sea, on the left hand, in a hollow of a mountain, is
Genesareth,* ' the place which breeds wind,' which is felt
to this day by those who visit it.
Two miles from Genesareth is Magdalum,^ the birth-
place of Mary Magdalene. This country is called Galilee
of the Gentiles, and is situated in the tribes of Zabulon
and Naphtalim. In the upper parts of this Galilee were
* Apparently a hill to the north of /CMn Minieh.
* The ' Mensa Christi ' was above Khdn Minieh^ where the M'asgret
'/It'sa, 'Winepress of Jesus,' is now shown.
' The shore of the Lake at 'A in et-Tur.
* The plain eUGhuweir. ' Mejdel.
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY LAND. Og
Uie twenty cities which King Solomon gave to his friend
Hiram, King of Tyre. Two miles from Magdalum is the
city of Cinereth, which is also called Tiberias, after Tiberius
Caesar, which in His youth Jesus often visited. Four
miles from Tiberias is the city of Bethulia,^ to which
Judith belonged, who during the siege of her city most
cunningly slew Holofernes and saved her people. Four
miles from Tiberias towards the south {? north) is
Dothain,2 where Joseph found his brethren feeding their
flocks, and they out of hatred for him sold him to the
Ishmaelites there. Sixteen miles from Nazareth, towards
the east, upon the Sea of Galilee, is Gergesa,^ the village
wherein the Saviour restored to health those who were
tormented by devils, and from which He sent the herd of
swine down a steep place into the sea.
CHAPTER XXVII.
TO THE READER.
Thus, as well as I am able, I have described the Holy
Places in the sacred City, starting from the Church of the
Holy Sepulchre, and going round about, through the Gate
of David, till I returned to the same place. I have omitted
many of the chapels, and smaller churches which are main-
tained there by men of various nations and languages.
For there are Greeks, Bulgarians, Latins, Germans, Hun-
garians, Scots, Navarrese, Bretons, English, Franks,
Ruthenians, Bohemians, Georgians, Armenians, Jacobites,
Syrians, Nestorians, Indians, Egyptians, Copts, Capheturici,
Maronites, and very many others, whom it would take
long to tell : so with these let us make an end of this
little work. Amen.
^ Apparently Safed, but the distance is hopelessly wrong.
^ Apparently Khdn Jubb Yusu/y north of the Sea of Galilee.
'' Site unknown.
C — 2
70 JOHN OF WURZBURG'S
FORM OF PRAYER FOR THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE
RECOVERY OF THE CITY OF JERUSALEM FROM THE
INFIDELS, AND FOR THE TRANSFIGURATION OF OUR
LORD, USED IN THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF THE
HOLY SEPULCHRE AT JERUSALEM.
Form of Prayer for the Recovery of the City of
ferusalem.
The Ides of July (July 15) are the Feast of the Conse-
cration of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Upon that
day a great festival is held in commemoration of the
deliverance of Jerusalem by the Christians. In allusion
to this the Introit^ before the Mass consists of the
versicles, ' Laetare ferusalem. Kyrie Eleyson. Cunctipotens
geiiitor Deus,' and the prayer :
'Almighty and Everlasting God, who by Thy marvellous goodness
hast rescued Jerusalem Thy city from the hands of the heathen and
^ 'The Mass answers to our Communion Service. The musical
portions of the Altar Service were latterly all contained in the Gradiiale^
or Grayle, so called from one of the principal elements being the
Responsorhim Graduale, or respond to the Lectio Epistolce. In earlier
times, these musical portions of the Missal Service were commonly
contained in two separate books, the Graduale and the Tropariiim.
The Graduale, being, in fact, the Antiphonartum of the Altar Service
(as indeed it was called in the earliest times), contained all the pas-
sages of Scripture, varying according to the season and the day, which
served as Introits {Aniiphonce et Psabni ad Jntroitum) before the
Collects, as Gradual Responds or Gradttals to the Epistle, as Alleluia
versicles before the Gospel, as Offertoria at the time of the first
oblation, and as Communiones at the time of the reception of the
consecrated elements. The Troparium contained the Tropin or pre-
liminary tags to the Introits, the Kyries, the Gloria in excelsis, the
Sequences or Proses ad Sequentiatn before the Gospel, the Credo in
unutn, the Sancius and Benedicitis, and the Agnus Dei — all, in early
times, liable to have insertions ox farsurce of their own, according to
the season or day, which, however, were almost entirely swept away
(except those of the Kyrie) by the beginning of the thirteenth century.'
Extract from ' The Chronicles of the Collegiate Church or Free
Chapel of All Saints, Derby,' by J. Charles Cox and W. H. St. John
Hope. Seo also the Missal, ' In Die Dedicationis Ecclesia;,' etc.
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY LAND. 71
restored it to the Christians ; Be present with us, we beseech Thee,
and help us, that we, who every year devoutly keep this holy day, may
be found worthy to attain to the joys of the Heavenly Jerusalem,
through Our Lord,' etc.
After the Epistle is sung the verse, * Surge^ illutninare.^
The Alleluia (or versicles sung before the Gospel) is
Dies Sanctificatus, with the Gradual, or Processional Hymn,
Otnnes de Saba.''
After the Gospel is sung the verse * Cum intraret Jesus
Hierosolymam.^
After the Creed the Offertoria, or sentences read at the
time of the first oblation, are ' Dextra Domini' etc.
The Secreta, or Prayer at the Consecration of the
Elements, is :
' O Lord, we beseech Thee, graciously receive this offering which we
humbly present unto thee, and by its mystical power grant that we
who keep holy this day whereon Jerusalem was rescued from the
hands of the heathen, may in the end be worthy to become citizens of
the Jerusalem which is in Heaven, through our Lord,' etc., etc.
At the Communio, or Prayer at the time of the reception
of the consecrated elements, is sung the versicle 'Jerusalem^
Surged etc.
The Prayer.
' Grant, O Lord, that the Sacrifice whereof we have partaken may
give health both to our bodies and to our souls, that we who rejoice
this day over the freedom of Thy city Jerusalem, may be made worthy
to inherit the Jerusalem which is above, through,' etc.
A t the Service on the Day of our Lord's Transfiguration.
Prayer.
' O God, who wast pleased to transfigure Thyself upon the Mount
according to our substance ; Grant, we beseech Thee, that the light
which Thou didst graciously show to Thy disciples may be shown to
us also, who with the Father,' etc.
The Transfiguration of Our Lord upon Mount Tabor
is celebrated on the eighth day before the Ides of August
(August 6).
72 DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY LAND.
The Introit is * Benedicta sit sancta. Per Do mi man.'
The Prayer.
* God, who as at this time didst reveal Thine only begotten Son,
wondrously transfigured in the heavens, to the fathers of ihe Old and
New Testament ; Grant, we beseech Thee, that by doing those things
which are pleasing in Thy sight, we may attain to the eternal con-
templation of the glory of Him in whom Thou, His Father, didst
declare Thyself well pleased ; through our Lord,' etc
The Secreta, or Prayer at the Consecration of the
Elements :
*0 Lord, Holy Father Almighty, receive, we pray Thee, the obla-
tions which we offer in memory of the glorious Transfiguration of Thy
Son, and mercifully grant that we, being set free from earthly troubles,
may be made partakers in heavenly joys, through our Lord,' etc., etc.
The Communio, or Prayer at the time of the reception of
the Consecrated Elements :
*0 God, who hast hallowed this day by the Transfiguration of
Thine Incarnate Word, and by Thine acknowledgment of Him by
Thine own voice as Thy Son ; Grant, we pray Thee, that by virtue of
this sacred food we may be made worthy to become members of His
body, who bade us do this in remembrance of Himself, Jesus Christ
Thy Son our Lord, who with Thee,' etc., etc
Btl.LING AND SONS, PRINTERS, GUILDPORP.
Pakstine f ilgdms' %txt §odtt^.
THE PILGRIMAGE
OF
JOANNES PHOCAS
IN THE
HOLY LAND
(In the Year 1185 a.d.).
'JEransIatcb bg
AUBREY STEWART, iM.A.
LONDON:
24, HANOVER SQUARE, W,
1896.
It is proposed to take the pamphlets of Phocas, Theodoricus, and
John of Wiirzburg together, and to edit them as a description of
Jerusalem and the Holy Land in the latter part of the twelfth century.
The translation of Phocas is issued in advance ; the notes on the
narratives of the three writers will appear with the last pamphlet
issued. — C. W. W.
THE PREFACE OF LEO ALLATIUS.
Whilst, my excellent friend Nihusius, I was at Chios,
diligently turning over various MSS., obtained in various
places, there came into my hands the * brief description,
by Joannes Phocas, of the (holy) places in Palestine and
Syria,' not very well written in very small characters
upon silk. He appeared an elegant and accurate writer,
considering the time at which he lived, and consequently
I had intended to read him carefully, but being occupied
with other business, neglected to do so. Many years
afterwards, when at Rome, I was recalling to my memory
the MSS. which I had seen, and in the course of familiar
conversation the subject of the * Holy Places ' had been
mentioned, I again remembered Phocas, and conceived
a great desire to obtain him for myself. I wrote again
and again to my friends, and even to him who had given
me the use of the MS. I begged and prayed and even
offered rewards ; but I only wasted my time. I always
received a prompt answer to all my inquiries, except only
about this one writer. Consequently, I at last ceased to
trouble about him. However, after a year had passed,
while I was interested in other matters, MSS. reached
me from a friend who had just come from Chios. While
I was looking over their titles, behold ! Phocas appeared,
dropped as it were from the skies, not written in another
hand, but the very original which I had seen at Chios,
expressed? It is, therefore, my duty, as far as lies in my
iv PREFACE.
torn away from the rest of the volume to which it had
been joined. I should try in vain to express the joy
which I felt. I should not have gained such a prize if I
had found a treasure. Consequently I girded myself to
the task of translating him, and spent a good many days
in polishing my version. Joannes, a Cretan by birth, had
a father named Matthew, who subsequently assumed the
monastic habit, and died in the Island of Patmos. Joannes
himself, when he grew up, served in the army under
Emmanuel Comnenus. He mentions, in chapter xxiv.,
an old Spaniard, ' who formerly for many years exercised
himself in ascetic labours on a great rock near the Sea of
Attalia, where I myself have spoken to him when I was
serving under our glorious Emperor Comnenus Porphyro-
genitus.' He often alludes to this same emperor in his
book. He married, and had a son, but his son's name
has been cut off by the binders of the book, when they
were cutting the margins of the leaves level with a knife.
Subsequently he became a monk, and visited the Holy
Places in the year 1185. All this I have gathered from a
marginal note in red letters : ' An Account written by
John the priest, the most holy Phocas, who practises
religion in the Island of Patmos, how he saw the holy
places in the j'ear 1185. At the beginning of the book
was written * I the son of Phocas of Crete write this, by
name . , .'
A BRIEF DESCRIPTION,
BY
JOANNES PHOCAS,
OF THE CASTLES AND CITIES, FROM THE CITY OF ANTIOCH
EVEN UNTO JERUSALEM ; ALSO OF SYRIA AND
PHCENICIA, AND OF THE HOLY PLACES IN PALESTINE.
I. Now wherefore should I, who have enjoyed the sight
of the holy places, and have beheld the regions in which
God once manifested Himself, when He brought forth His
fugitive people out of Egvpt by the means of Moses with
signs and wonders and with a mighty hand, having struck
down the nations and their rulers, Sihon, king of the
Amorites, and Og, king of Basan, and all the kingdoms
of Canaan, and with an outstretched arm planted therein
a strange people, which He increased, as the Holy Scrip-
tures tell us, and which places He at last hallowed by the
holy incarnation of His only begotten Son, and accom-
plished the wondrous work of our regeneration, — why, I
ask, should I alone taste of this blessing, and imitate the
manner in which gluttons deal with food ? Where shall
we find in such conduct that catholic and brotherly kind-
ness by which our love for one another is manifested, and
whereby alone the peculiar graces of human nature are
expressed ? It is, therefore, my duty, as far as lies in my
JOANNES PHOCAS.
power, to attempt to depict the country by words as
though by a map, and indirectly by writing to describe to
religious students those things which I have beheld
directly with my eyes. To those who have seen these
places I shall appear to labour in vain ; for if the object
of my writing be to imitate the actual spectacle, then, as
all imitation is wont to fall short of the original, it is clear
that I shall give them less pleasure than that which has
its seat in their eyes. What, then, does my book' aim at ?
Those persons who have never beheld with their eyes
these most excellent places, but who frequently meet with
mention of them, will, I imagine, be more distinctly
taught by my book than by those which speak of them
without defining what they are. It ought also to be more
likely to afford some pleasure even to those who have
beheld them, if it be pleasant to listen to accounts o/
what it is enjoyable to behold.
II. Now when the godly city of Antioch stood upon the
banks of the river Orontes, it rejoiced in vast theatres,
beauteous colonnades, massy temples, numerous inhabi-
tants, and boundless wealth, so that it notably surpassed
almost all the cities of the East. Time, however, and the
hands of the barbarians have extinguished its prosperity,
albeit it still can boast of its towers and its strong ram-
parts, and of the charming babble of its divided waters, as
the river gently spreads around and encircles the city,
twining about its towers with its moist embraces. In
addition to this, it is admirably supplied with water by
the streams which flow from the fountain of Castalia,*
whose waters gush forth briskly, and are by many channels
led through the whole city, and lave it with their waters,
thanks to the vast works and generous heart of the founder
* One of the fountains of Daphne, Beit el-Md, named from the far-
faincil Castalian sprinjj at Delphi.
JOANNES P HOC AS.
of the city, who brought the stream by an aqueduct from
its very source through the mountains into the city.
Without the walls lies the famous suburb of Daphne,*
adorned with groves of all sorts of trees, and * the won-
derful ' mountain which was inhabited by the wonderful
Simeon.f Near these is the Mount Maurus,t and the crag
Scopelus, wherein many holy men in olden times sought
for God and found Him, and now are among those whose
so\ils are saved, § and dwell in the thickets of these moun-
tains, enamoured of His beauty. The fountain of Castalia
springs up between two hills, and, bending its course
along the foot of the hill which is nearest to the sea,
swiftly discharges a surprising amount of water. Here we
behold a great portico, roofing over the spring, wherein
the water which plenteously bursts forth is divided
into two streams. The one of these is conveyed in lofty
channels, becomes an aerial river, and pours down from
above into the city on the right hand ; the other overflows
upon the ground on the left hand of the fountain, floods
the marshes, and, after watering the whole meadow of
Daphne, joins the stream of the Orontes on the left-hand
side. The 'wonderful' mountain which rises between the
city and the sea is a beautiful object, and is most pleasant
to behold ; for it borders upon the city and upon Roso,
and upon one side joins the crag Scopelus, and on the
other the hill called Caucasus. || The river Orontes runs in
* Beit el- M a, about five miles from Antioch.
t This is not the great Simon Stylites, but a man of the same name
v;ho was born at Antioch, and lived for 45 years on a pillar erected on
a hill called * the wonderful ' (ro Onvftaarov), now Mar Sz'm'an between
the mouth of the Orontes and Antioch.
% Apparently for Mount Taurus, really Mount Amanus.
§ Krti vvv tCov aix)Zou'e.vix)v Eiai.
II Evidently a corruption of Mons Cas\us, /edel O^r'a. Scopelus is
the promontory Rhosicus Scopulus, Rdsel-Khanzirj and Roso the town
or district of Rhesus, Arstis.
JOANNES PHOCAS.
countless meandering curves round the base of this moun-
tain, and then discharges its waters into the sea. It was
on the summit of this mountain that that great man Hved
a Hfe of contemplation, and, having lifted up his heart,
lifted up his body also, and strove to rise into the air
together with his body, and to hang half-way between God
and man. How this strange life was arranged for this
holy man I will explain to you. Having by the hands of
masons hollowed out the summit of this wondrous moun-
tain, he formed a monastery out of the solid living rock,
in the midst whereof he hewed out a natural pillar, upon
which he took his stand, setting his feet upon a rock, as
the Scripture hath it, and built a beautiful church looking
towards the East, dedicated to God, in which he was wont
to call together his disciples : so he remaining out of
doors, and they standing all night long within the church,
did service to God in the way that became saints.
HI. Next to this and to Antioch comes Laodicea,* a
great and populous city, albeit time hath dimmed its
splendour also, and after it Gabalaf or Zebel. Next to
Gabala comes a castle which is named Antarada,J or
Tortosa. And in this manner various forts lie along the
coast as far as Tripolis, while along the interior of the
country there stretches a great mountain-range, inhabited
by the people called Chasysii,§ a Saracen nation, which
neither professes Christianity nor the doctrines of
Machumet, but worships God according to a heresy of
Its own. They call the chief man among them the
ambassador of God, and those who are sent by his
commands to the governors of great provinces slay them
* Latakieh. f Jebeleh. J Antaradus, Tar/us.
§ The Assassins, or sect of the Ismaiiians, whose chief, under the
name of the 'Old Man of the Mountains,' acquired such an evil
reputation amongst the Crusaders.
JOANNES P HOC AS.
with swords, leaping upon them unawares, and perish as
soon as they have accomphshed their daring deeds, fight-
ing few against a multitude after the perpetration of their
crime. This they regard as martyrdom and the putting
on of immortality.
IV. After this mountain-range comes the Mount Libanus,
which is very beautiful and renowned in the Scriptures, a
very great mountain clad in a robe of snow, hanging from
it even as ringlets, overgrown with pine, cedar, and cypress-
trees, and adorned with numerous other fruit-bearing
trees of various kinds. The side thereof next the sea is
inhabited by Christians, while the Saracens dwell on the
side that looks towards Damascus and Arabia.* From its
ravines and hollows m.any rivers gush forth into the sea,
beauteous and excessively cold at the time when the snow
is melting, and chills the streams which feed them. At
the foot of this mountain is Tripolis, which was built by
its founder upon a peninsula ; for a small spur, branching
out from Libanus, runs out into the sea in the shape of a
tongue, rising high at its eastern end. Upon the summit
of this rising ground the builder of the city laid its founda-
tions. The city is of the very smallest with regard to the
extent of ground that it covers, but is worthy of ad-
miration for the height of its walls and the beauty of its
buildings.
V. Next comes Zebelett; and then comes Berytus,J a
large and populous city, set round about with spacious
meadows, and adorned with a fair harbour. The harbour
is not a natural one, but has been wrought by art, and is
embosomed in the city in the form of a half-moon, and at
the two extremities of the half-moon are placed, as horns.
* Compare ' Abbot Daniel,' Ixxxv.
t Jebeil. Daniel has Zebel.
i Beirut.
JOANNES P HOC AS.
two great towers, from one of which a chain is drawn
across to the other, and shuts in the ships within the
harbour. This place is on the border between Syria and
Phcenicia.
VI. Next comes Sidon and the famous twin harbour
therein, whose situation has been admirably described by the
historian of Leucippe* ; for if you visit the place, with its
harbour and outer harbour, you will find the reality exactly
agreeing with the description given in his writings. Outside
the city, at a distance of about three bow-shots, stands a
church, surrounded by a colonnade of great length, upon
the upper part of the apse whereof is placed a four-sided
stone, whereon, according to the report of the vulgar,
Christ the Saviour of the world used to stand and teach
the multitude.
VII. After Sidon stands the fortress of Saraphtha,t built
upon the very beach of the sea, and in the midst of the
city a church dedicated to the prophet Elias is built
upon the site of the house of the widow who showed him
hospitality.
VIII. After this comes the city of Tyre, which surpasses
in beauty almost all the cities of Phoenicia : it is built,
like Tripolis, upon a similar peninsula, but is of very
much greater extent, and possesses much more majestic
and beautiful buildings than the latter. Its outer harbour
is comparable to the harbour of Berytus, though the one
much surpasses the other in size and beauty, and excels it
in the height of its towers. Outside of the city, at a dis-
tance of about two bowshots, is a very great stone, upon
which, according to tradition, Christ sat when He sent
* The reference is to Achilles Tatius, who wrote the ' Loves of
Clitophon and Leucippe,' a kind of novel, in the first chapter of the first
book of which there is a dcbcription of the city and harbour of Sidon.
f Sarepta, Sitrafend.
JOANNES PHOCAS. \\
the holy Apostles Peter and John into the city to buy
bread : they went away, brought it, and set out together
with the Saviour to the neighbouring fountain, distant
about one mile, where the Saviour sat down, and after
having eaten with the Apostles, and drunk of the water.
He blessed the fountain ; and in truth the fountain
remains an inexpressible wonder even to this day, for,
springing up in the midst of the meadows there, it sur-
prises and delights wayfarers. It is also said to be
bottomless. Its construction and shape are as follows.
Those who first made it a labour of love to build up this
fountain encircled it with an octagonal tower, which they
carried up to no small height, and having built the angles
of it like spouts, and hollowed out channels on the top of
lofty arches, they have forced the pent-up water to pour
itself forth upon the corresponding meadows below each
spout, as though out of a pipe ; the water, plashing down
loudly, waters all the meadows round about the fountain
with plenteous streams. He who stands upon the top of
this tower, as it were upon a watch-tower, can behold the
moving masses of foliage below, and the whole coronal of
meadows constantly irrigated even at high noon.
IX. Beyond this is situated Ptolemais, or Acce,* which
is a large city, and so populous as to surpass all the rest.
It receives all the merchant ships, and thither all pilgrims
for Christ's sake by sea and by land betake themselves.
Here, the air being corrupted by the enormous influx of
strangers, various diseases arise, and lead to frequent
deaths among them, the consequence of which is evil
smells and corruption of the air, and the misfortune of
this city is beyond remedy. On the right of it is Carmel
and the sea-shore of the whole country of Palestine. The
regions on the left of it contain Galilee and Samaria.
* St. Jeaii a Acre.
12 JOANNES P HOC AS.
X. Now the first place after Ptolemais is Semphori,* a
city of Galilee, almost entirely uninhabited, and displaying
not even a remnant of its former prosperity. After this is
Cana,t a very small fortified place, as it appears at this
day. Here the Saviour turned the water into wine. And
now comes the city of Nazareth, built at the bottom of
the ravines leading down from various hills, in the midst
of which it stands, wherein the great mystery was an-
nounced by the Archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mother of
God, through the great and rich mercy of Him who for
our salvation was made flesh, Christ our God. At the
entering in of the first gate of this large village you will
find a church of the Archangel Gabriel ; and there is to be
seen a little grotto on the left side of the altar in this
church, in which a fountain wells up, pouring forth a
transparent stream, wherein the immaculate Mother of
God, when she was given by the priests to the just
Joseph, and was kept in his house, used to come daily
and draw water : but in the sixth;]: month of the Fore-
runner, when she was about to draw water as usual, she
received the first embrace from Gabriel, and, being dis-
turbed in mind, went back trembling to the house of
Joseph, where she heard the angel say, ' Hail, Mary, full of
grace !' and answered, * Behold the handmaid of the Lord;
be it unto me according to thy word,' and thereupon
received the Word of God into her immaculate womb.
After this, the house of Joseph was altered into a beautiful
church, upon the left side whereof is a cave, not opening
into the bowels of the earth, but upon the surface. Its
mouth is adorned with white marble. Above it the
painter's hand has drawn a winged angel descending,
* Sepphoris, Seffilrieh.
t Apparently Kefr Kcnna.
% That is, from the conception of John the Baptist.
JOANNES P HOC AS. 13
who greets with good tidings the Virgin Mother, whom he
finds gravely working at a grave piece of needlework, and
he is depicted as though he were conversing with her.
Rut the Virgin, terrified at the unexpected vision, and
hurriedly turning herself round, has all but dropped the
purple from her hands. Trembling and leaving her
chamber through fear, she meets a woman who was her
relative and friend, and embraces her with friendly
salutations. Entering, then, within the mouth of the
cave, you descend a few steps, and then you behold the
ancient house of Joseph, wherein, as I said before, the
archangel announced the good tidings to the Virgin when
she came home from the well. At the spot upon which the
Annunciation took place there is a cross carved out of
black stone upon white marble, and above it an altar; on
the right-hand of the altar is seen a little chamber, in
which the Ever- Virgin Mother of God used to dwell. On
the left-hand side of the place of the Annunciation may
be seen another small windowless chamber, wherein
Christ our Lord is said by sacred tradition to have dwelt
after the return from Egypt until the beheading of the
Forerunner. For then, according to the sacred tradition,
Jesus, hearing that John had been betrayed, left Nazareth
and dwelt in Capernaum. Beyond this is a range com-
posed of various hills, among which is the steep place
down which the Jews intended to cast our Lord, but
He passed through the midst of them and went to
Capernaum.
XL Beyond this range of hills is a great plain, wherein,
but near the hills, is Mount Tabor, the earthly heaven, the
joy of the soul, and the delight of all who are of the true
faith ; for there is a divine favour which overshadows it,
breathing forth spiritual grace. It is a round hill of
moderate height ; upon the top thereof are two monaa-
14 JOANNES PI f OCAS.
teries, wherein Christians who are vowed to the same Ufa
invoke the mercy of God in hymns in various tongues. The
monastery in which took place the Transfiguration of Christ
for our salvation is inhabited by a number of Latin monks ;
but on the left that holy place is sanctified by the holy
presence of Nazarenes of our Church. Now the Blessed
Transfiguration of Christ took place on the summit of the
hill, where stands the Latin monastery, the holy altar
whereof stands on the place where the Lord was trans-
figured between Elias and Moses, and between the three
chosen disciples, Peter, John, and James. This place is
surrounded with a brazen railing ; upon the place whereon
the feet of our Lord rested there is to be seen a boss of
exceeding whiteness, whereon is carved the figure of the
Holy Cross, and from which an unspeakable perfume is
breathed forth, and delights the senses of those who visit
it. About a stone's-throw outside the monastery is a
small grotto, wherein, after His glorious Transfiguration,
Christ entered and ordered His disciples to tell no man of
what they had seen until He should rise from the dead.
Towards the northern side of the mountain is the grotto
of Melchisedec, which is well worth seeing, being ex-
cavated with several mouths, wherein are chambers both
beneath the earth and above the earth, and various
dwellings, and cells serving as habitations for ascetics,
wherein many of the greatest saints have passed their
ascetic lives.* Near this grotto is a church, built upon the
very place whereon Melchisedec met Abraham returning
from the slaughter, and blessed him and made him his
guest. Looking from this hill towards the east, you will
see the marshes and the channel of Jordan, blessed among
rivers. Stretching your eyes still farther, you will see the
* See the curious account of ihe cave or groUo in 'Abbot Daniel
(Ixxxviii.), who visited it in no6 7 a.d.
JOANNES P HOC AS. " 15
parts of Lebanon which look towards the east, and two
great hills, between which Damascus is built. Moving
your eye aside a little to the left of the Jordan, you will
see the sea of Tiberias clearly and without any difficulty,
on the opposite side of which appears a slight rising
ground, whereon the Saviour blessed the waves, and fed
the five thousand, and after the Resurrection ate with His
disciples, after the draught of the hundred and fifty-three
fishes ; and on the northern side of the same hill, another
range of hills encircles the plain at a distance of about
twelve stadia or even more. Within its circuit lies the
city of Naeim,* wherein the Lord raised the widow's son
from the dead. Towards the eastern side of the same
city may be seen the place (called) Endor, and between
Thabor and Naeim and Endor runs the brook Kishon,
whereof David says : * Do unto them as unto the
Midianites ; as to Sisera, as to Jabin at the brook of
Kison, which perished at Endor.'^j"
XI L At a distance of one day's journey from hence
stands the city of Sebaste,J which Herod the Tetrarch
restored in honour of Caesar ; wherein Herod the lesser
cut off the venerable head of John the Baptist, than whom
there was none greater among those born of women, in
the very midst of a feast. In the midst of this city is the
prison into which he was cast because of his reproofs of
Herodias, and wherein he was beheaded. This prison is
subterranean, and twenty steps lead down td it ; in the
midst of it is an altar standing upon the place where he
was beheaded by the soldier.§ On the right-hand of this
altar is a coffin, wherein is placed the body of the holy
Zacharias, the father of the Forerunner ; and on the left-
hand is another coffin, wherein lies the body of the holy
* Nain, Nein. f Psalm Ixxxiii. % Sebustiyeh.
§ Speculator.
i6 JOANNES PHOCAS.
Elizabeth, his mother. On each side of the prison are
stored up the remains of various saints and of the disciples
of the Forerunner. Above the prison stands a church,
wherein have been placed two coffins, wrought of white
marble, whereof the one on the right-hand contains the
dust of the burned body* of the venerable Forerunner,
the other the body of the prophet Elisseus ; and above, in
a golden vessel, the left hand of the Forerunner, itself
also covered everywhere with gold. In the midst of the
upper part of the city stands a hill, upon which in ancient
times stood Herod's palace, where the feast took place,
and where that wicked damsel danced and received the
sacred head of the Baptist as the reward for her dancing.
At the present day, however, the place has become a
Roman monastery. The church of this monastery is
covered by a vault. On the left side of the altar is a little
cell, in the midst of which is a medallion of marble, lying
at the bottom of a very deep excavation, wherein was
made the discovery of the sacred head of the Forerunner,
revered by angels, which had been buried in that place by
Herodias.
XIII. Next, after a journey of about fifteen stadia, is
Sichar, the chief city of the Samaritans, which afterwards
was called Neapolis,t lying between two hills, upon the
lower parts of each whereof its foundations encroach for
a considerable distance. Of these mountains, that on the
right-hand,J according to the Samaritans, is that whereon
.God talked with Abraham and demanded Isaac in sacri-
fice, and hereon, according to their tradition, the patriarch
consummated the sacrifice, albeit they know not what
they say ; for that holy mountain is the rocky Golgotha,
upon which the Saviour endured His passion for the
salvation of the world. At the foot of this hill is the
* dTori^pw0€(c. -j- Nablus, % Mount Gerizim.
JOANNES PHOCAS. 17
place which Jacob gave to Joseph his son, wherein is the
well of the same Jacob, where the Lord sat down when
weary and talked with the woman of Samaria, as is told
in the holy Gospel. It was about this same hill that the
woman said to the Lord, ' Our fathers worshipped in this
mountain,' and the Lord taught all men, by His conversa-
tion with her, how those who worship in spirit and truth
ought to worship.
XIV. From Samaria to the Holy City is reckoned
eighty-four stadia ; the road is all paved with stone, and,
albeit the whole of that region is dry and waterless, yet it
abounds with vineyards and trees. The Holy City is
placed in the midst of ravines and hills, and the sight
thereof is wondrous ; for at the same time the city
appears on a height and low-lying, being high when com-
pared with the country of Judaea, but low as compared
with the hills with which it is connected. This holy place
is divided into two parts : the Holy City is built upon the
lower part of the hill on the right-hand, and its circuit
reaches up to the ravine ; the upper part of this is all
overgrown with vines, wherein took place the stoning of
the protomartyr Stephen. To the left of this, and on the
other side of the ravine, is the Mount of Olives, where the
Lord often loved to walk, and has hallowed the whole
place by His prayer, His teaching, and finally by His
wondrous Ascension to the Father. The holy Sion is in
front of the Holy City, lying towards the right-hand side
of it. Now the description of it is as follows : There is a
castle, wherein is the Holy Sion, the mother of the
Churches ; this church is of great size, with a vaulted
roof. When one has entered the beautiful gates thereof,
on the left side is the house of St. John the Evangelist,
wherein the thrice-blessed Virgin dwelt after the Resurrec-
tion, and where she fell asleep. In that place there is a
i8 JOANNES PHOCAS.
small cell surrounded by an iron railing, and two bosses
on the spot where the Blessed Virgin yielded up her soul to
her Son and to God. On the right side of the church, on
the right-hand side of the altar, there is an upper chamber,
having a stair of sixty-one steps leading to it. This
church has four arches and a dome. On the left side of
the upper chamber may be seen the place where the
Lord's Supper took place; in the apse* took place the
descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles. In the
lower part of this church took place the Washing (of the
Apostles' feet) ; and opposite it is a church on the spot
where the building stood into which Christ entered to the
Apostles, although the doors were closed. Here, after his
stoning, the protomartyr Stephen was buried, and was
removed by Gamaliel to another place. On the north
side of the city stands the tower which is called the
Tower of David, and it is a very great tower ; but, though
it be declared to be David's Tower by all men who dwell
in Jerusalem, yet, as it seems to me, there is a plausible
objection to this ; for Josephus tells us that this tower was
built of polished white marble — both it, and the church,
and the other two towers which were afterwards built by
Herod and named after Phaselis and Mariamne ; yet this
tower may be seen to have been built of common stone.
Perhaps the tower which we see at the present day has
been built upon the foundation of a very ancient one.
Near this tower is a gate leading into the city, by which,
♦ 'Ev T(p fivaKiTov firjiiaTOQ. Mval is defined by Sophocles as the upper
part of the <coyx'y of a church ; of the latter word he says : • fcoyx'?. nu '/»
concha, absis, apsis, or apse of an edifice. Inscr. 4556. The apsis of
a church is a hollow semi-cylinder surmounted by the fourth part of a
hollow sphere. Its basis constitutes the /3r;/in, where the holy table
stands. As the Eastern Christians regularly pray towards the east, the
absis is in the middle of the east end of the church.' — Sophocles's
Lexicon.
JOANNES P HOC AS. 19
if you enter, you will proceed along a wide street, on the
right-hand of which, near the Royal Palace, stands the
hospice of our holy father Sabba.* Passing about an
arrow-shot along the street, you will find the celebrated
Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the appearance of which is
as it has been described by many writers. The grotto
which serves as a sepulchre for the Lord's Body is double,
and in the one part of it lies the stone which was rolled
away (from the mouth of the sepulchre), protected by a
casing of white marble ; and in the other part, on the north
side, is a hewn rock, rising about one cubit above the pave-
ment,whereonwas laid the naked corpse of the Giver of Life,
which is now to be seen ornamented round about with pure
gold, through the love and faith of my lord and master,
Manuel Comnenus, Porphyrogenitus.t Near it is the site of
Golgotha, wherein is the Place of a Skull, and the socket
wrought in the stone for the Cross, and the rent of the
stone that was rent at the time of the Passion of the
Cross. Beneath the rent is a hollow place in the rock, in
which is Adam's skull, and the stains of the blood of our
Lord which were shed over it. The church built over
Golgotha is formed of four arches and a dome ; and near
this church is a vast subterranean church, wherein was
discovered the venerable and life-giving Cross of Christ
* This is the same hospice at which the Russian Abbot Daniel
lodged ; see ' Abbot Daniel,' i. and note.
t The Emperor Manuel Comnenus succeeded to his father's throne
on April 8th, 11 43. 'A reign of thirty-seven years is filled by a per
petual, though various, warfare against the Turks, the Christians, and
the hordes of the wilderness beyond the Danube. The arms of Manuel
were exercised on Mount Taurus, in the plains of Hungary, on the
coast of Italy and Egypt, and on the seas of Sicily and Greece ; the
influence of his negotiations extended from Jerusalem to Rome and
Russia ; and the Byzantine monarchy, for a while, became an object
of respect and terror to the powers of Asia and Europe.' — Gibbon
' Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,' ch. 48.
JOANNES PHOCAS,
our Lord. Towards the eastern side of the city is a
church, which is the Holy of Holies. This church is
most exceedingly beautiful, having a vaulted roof, and
standing upon the ancient foundation of the renowned
Temple of Solomon, decorated both within and without
with variegated marbles and mosaics. On the left side of
this church are two vaulted chambers, in one of which is
depicted the Presentation of our Lord Christ, because in
that place the just man Simeon received our Lord Christ
into his arms, and in the other the wondrous ladder
which Jacob saw reaching up to heaven, with the angels
of God ascending and descending it ; and beneath the
picture of this ladder is to be seen the stone upon which
Jacob laid his head. On the right-hand may be found an
opening leading down to a grotto beneath the church,
wherein is buried the prophet Zacharias, whom the Jews
slew, according to the Gospel, between the Temple and the
altar. Without the church is a large paved court, bein g
I imagine, the ancient floor of the Temple. Near the gate,
which leads to the holy Gethsemane is the Church of
St. Joachim and St. Anna, wherein the birth of the
immaculate Virgin took place, and near to this the waters
of the ' pool which is near the Sheep-gate '* spring forth.
XV. Beyond this, outside of the city, towards the
eastern part thereof, in the midst of the great ravine-like
chasm which divides the Mount of Olives from the Holy
City, lies the place called Gethsemane, wherein is the
tomb of our most blessed Lady the Virgin, and the garden
wherein our Saviour often rested with His disciples.
Here also are three churches ; that furthest to the left,
lying in a hollow place beneath the earth, contains the
* That is, Bethcsda ; the pool alluded to is apparently the Piscina
Probaiica, close to the Church of St. Anne, which has recently been
discoveieJ.
JOANNES P HOC AS. it
blessed tomb of the Virgin. Now this church is very
long, and entirely covered by a semicircular vault.* In the
midst of the church stands the tomb, which is like a
pulpitjt wrought of stone in the shape of a building com-
posed of four arches. On the eastern side of it there is,
as it were, a bedj wrought out of the same stone, and
decorated with white marble, whereon the immaculate
body of the Blessed Virgin was laid by the Apostles after
it had been brought from Sion. Above this there is
another church, which is a grotto, wherein the Lord's
Prayer was spoken, and the Apostles grew heavy with
sleep and slept. At the foot of the Mount of Olives, about
a stone's-throw distant, stands the third church, at the
place where the Gospel tells us that our Lord, after
reproaching His disciples because of their indolence,
betook Himself again to prayer, when sweat ran from
Him like drops of blood. In this garden the Betrayal
took place, and Judas deceitfully kissed his Master, and
the rabble of the Jews held Him fast. On the opposite
side of the garden, on the upper part of it, over against
Sion, is a church, and under it a grotto, into which Peter
entered after the Denial, and wept bitterly. Here is a
picture of the Apostle in his grief. Above Gethsemane
and the Church of the Lord's Prayer the Mount of Olives
is to be seen, divided, as I said before, from the Holy
City by the Valley of Jehosaphat and the Valley of
Weeping ; the place is, therefore, a hill, which is a little
higher than the city ; wherefore it does not appear very
large when viewed from the direction of the city, but if
you look at it from the direction of Jordan and Bethany,
it looks very lofty indeed, for it rises by a gentle ascent
* 'O Si rotovTOQ vaoQ kar'tv 6 ttolq SoXuitoc, tnifiliKtig, KvXivSpiorbg.
f 'Afiliiltv.
X Capsuln, aKfiiTTukov,
22 JOANNES P HOC AS.
from the desert. On the top of the Mount is the place
where our Saviour often conversed with His disciples after
His Resurrection, and where afterwards He wrought that
most sublime miracle, His Ascension. Near this, in a
grotto below, may be seen the place wherein St. Pelagia
performed her ascetic labours, and wherein her blessed
body now rests in a stone coffin. Near this is another
church, where our Lord gave His disciples the prayer
* Our Father.' On the left side of the city is a monastery
of Latin monks, built, it is said, upon the foundations of
an old monastery, founded by the celebrated Melane. In
front of this mountain, behind the city, as you come from
Samaria, is a monastery,* into which, after the blessed
protomartyr Stephen was stoned and laid in the place
which we have mentioned, his holy and blessed body was
brought by Gamaliel. The ravine, which starts from
Gethsemane, proceeds as far as me lauraf of .St. Saba and
the desert of Ruba,t which lies around the Dead Sea and
Sodom.
XV L Immediately beyond Gethsemane, not more than
an arrow-shot distant, stands the building called the
' Kettle,'§ which is built upon the rock in a square form,
of the height, I think, of two spears, and tapering like a
pyramid from the base to the summit, wherein an Iberian
monk has shut himself up, and is working out his own
salvation. Next to this is a great hill, in which are
various artificial grottos, which are called after the name
of the Virgin, and are inhabited by a few orthodox and by
* At Caphar Gamala. ' Abbot Daniel,' app. i.
•f- Aavpa ag.t). : a group, Or row, of monastic cells ; not to be con-
founded with KotvojSiov, for the members of a \avpa did not live in
common. Soph. Diet., s. v. It is now the Convent of Mar Saba.
J Tr;c Tov Pov/3a ipijfiov. See 'Abbot Daniel ' xxxviii. and note.
§ Vid. Soph. Diet., s.v. »fo»'»cor;//os:. Apparently the monument known
as Absalom's pillar.
JOANNES PHOCAS.
a larger number of Armenian and Jacobite monks. After
this, the ravine widens at the place where is the Valley of
Lamentations, and beyond this is the Potter's Field,
which was bought with the price of our Lord to bury
strangers in. After this comes the Pool of Siloam, which
by its overflowing waters the whole of that dry country.
Beyond this are to be seen meadows of small extent in the
flat part of the valley, with trees growing in them. The
spring itself is surrounded and adorned by arches and
numerous columns. Thus, as I have already said, this
valley arrives at the laura of St. Saba, a distance of eleven
miles. There the valley widens into a great dry chasm,
in which are to be seen the laura, the church, and the
tomb of the saint. In front of the laura, on both sides of
the ravine, are grottos and small towers, inhabited by
those who have despised the world and its luxuries for the
Kingdom of Heaven's sake, who endure its unendurable
heat, and by means of a quenchable fire quench that
which is unquenchable. Upon the spot where stands the
church and. the tomb of the holy father Saba, who was
inspired by God, the ravine divides into three parts, and
becomes of great depth. The saint built towers along
the edge of it, and in the midst of these great towers built
the church, and all around it wrought these, the newest of
ascetic cells, as is recorded in the account of his mar-
vellous life. This church is full of interest, being very
large, long, full of light, with its pavement adorned with
marbles, which, though of small cost and brought from
the wilderness, are nevertheless curiously worked. In
front of the temple is a paved court, and in the midst
thereof is the tomb of our great father Saba, rising about
a palm above the ground, and adorned with a slab of the
whitest marble. Close by and round about this, and also
beneath the earth, may be seen the sepulchres of those
24 JOANNES PfWCAS.
holy fathers whose light has shone in the wilderness, and
among them those of the ancient poets, SS. Cosmas and
John.* Here are nearly forty inspired men, eminent
beyond all others, of whom six converse directly with
God, their names being Stephanus, Theodorus, Paulus ;
the fourth comes from Megalopolis, the fifth is a Spaniard,
and the sixth is Joannes Stylita, celebrated among man-
kind for his spiritual insight.
XVII. Returning, then, to the Holy City, not by the
valley, but across the neighbouring mountain-ridge, at a
distance of six miles from it, you will find the monastery
of our holy father Theodosius the Coenobiarch.f This
monastery is encircled by various towers, and about an
arrow-shot in front of it is the chamber in which, as we
read in his ' Life,' extinguished coals were lighted in the
saint's hand. In the midst of the monastery, on a rising
ground, stands the church, which has a circular roof, and
beneath it a grotto, in which is the tomb of the saint, and
adjoining it several chambers, in which lie the relics of
great saints. When you descend the steps into this
grotto you will find on the side of it the rnouth of another
grotto, into which the disciple of Saint Basilius entered,
and, at the saint's bidding, chose his own tomb, as we
are told in the Lives of the Fathers, lay dead therein, and
• This is thought to mean John of Damascus. ' Le Menologc que
I'on croit etre de I'empereur Basile, mais qui n'est pas de grande autoriid,
raconte que Saint Damascene, apres avoir did reldgud en divers
endroits, et souvent mis en prison, Pnit sa vie par le martyre. Les
autres historiens grecs ne disent rien de semblable : au contraire,
Jean Phocas, qui ecrivait dans le xiic si6cle, assure dans la description
qu'il a faite de la Palestine, que I'on montrait encore de son temps dans
le monastere de Saint Sabas, a I'entrde de I'eglise, le tombeau de Saint
Damascene, ce qui est une preuve certain qu'il y mourut en paix.' —
Ceillier, ' Histoire Gdndrale des Auteurs Ecclesiastiques.' Paris, 1862.
Vol. xii., p. 68.
t Chief of a monastery — abbot. Now Khurbet Dcir Ibn 'Obeid.
JOANNES PHOCAS.
afterwards for forty days at the time of service was seen
singing hymns together with the saint and the brethren.
XVIII. Opposite the aforesaid monastery, more to-
wards the right-hand, in the depths of the wilderness of
Jordan,* is the monastery of Saint Euthymius the Great,t
which also is fortified with towers and great ramparts.
In the midst of this stands a church which, hke the other,
has a round roof : beneath it is a grotto, and in the midst
of the grotto is the tomb of Euthymius the Great, which
is like the monument of the inspired Saba, being covered
like it with white marble. Herein also are buried the
remains of the holy fathers Pasarion and Domitian.
XIX. Beyond this monastery there is an interval of twelve
miles, after which you will find a great ravine, down the
middle of which a torrent flows. On the opposite side of
this ravine is the monastery of Choziba,| a thing not to be
believed when described, and inspiring wonder when
beheld ; for the cells of the monks are the mouths of
caves, and the church itself and the cemetery is excavated
out of the solid rock, and is heated to such a degree by
the rays of the sun that one can see pyramidal-shaped
tongues of flame bursting forth from the rock. The water
which is drunk by the monks is of the following descrip-
tion : it is like that of a stagnant pool, which has been
warmed by the noonday sun at midsummer, and thoroughly
heated by the fiery rays. In this monastery I saw many
holy men, one of whom is a worker of wonders, and one
who holds direct converse with God. The name of this
ancient is Luke. It was with some danger that I climbed
into and out of this monastery, both because of the pre-
cipitous nature of the place, and the overpowering heat of
the sun.
* ITspt TO fiaQog Ttjg iprifiov tov lopSavov,
f Klitirbet Mini.
% Deir el-Kelt. See ' Abbot Daniel,' xxvii.
26 /CANNES P HOC AS.
XX. After this comes a long, narrow, and very rough
road, leading to the back of the wilderness, before you
come to which you see in the midst of it two mountains,
between which the road to Jericho passes : on this road
there is no stone pavement, but, nevertheless, the outline of
it can be faintly traced ; but, at the present day, all the
neighbouring country abounds with springs of water for
the use of the monasteries which have been founded in the
wilderness, for the land, having been divided and parcelled
out among these holy monasteries, has become well wooded
and full of vines ; so that the monks have built towers upon
their fields, and reap rich harvests from them. The
appearance of the whole desert, and Jordan, and the Dead
Sea of Sodom, according to my conjecture, is much like
that of Achris,* with only this difference, that water flows
out of the Lake at Achris and waters many of the sur-
rounding valleys, which are called strougas by the inhabi-
tants, while here the Jordan flows into the lake. Moreover,
the width of the wilderness is many times as great as that
of the plain of Achris.
XXI. On the right-hand side of the double mountain
of which I have spoken lies the side of the Dead Sea, and
beyond it Segor. There, beyond this desert, the great
desert of Ruba may be seen after one has passed between
the two monasteries, I mean that of St. Euthymius and
that of the Laura. On the left of the mountains and of
the road may be seen the hill whereon the Saviour, after
his forty days' fast, underwent the two temptations by the
Tempter, who retired conquered and covered with shame;
and opposite to this hill, at a distance, I should say, of six
miles, there is a hill with a church upon it, whereon the
Archangel Michael conferred with Joshua, the son of
Nun.
♦ Achris, in lllyria, or according to 'Acta Sanctorum' in Macedonia.
JOANNES PHOCAS. 27
XXII. On the banks of the Jordan are built three
monasteries, namely, that of the Forerunner, of Chrysos-
tom . . . the monastery of the Forerunner having
been levelled with the ground by an earthquake, now by
the munificent hand of our Emperor, Manuel Comnenus
Porphyrogenitus, crowned by God,* has been entirely re-
built, the prior being entrusted with the superintendence
of the restoration. At a distance of about two bowshots
from hence flows Jordan, the most holy of rivers, wherein
my Lord Jesus, having embraced poverty, wrought out by
baptism the great mystery of my redemption ; and on its
bank, about a stone's-throw distant, is a square vaulted
building, wherein Jordan, bending back its stream, em-
braced the naked body of Him who covereth the heavens
with clouds, and the right hand of the Forerunner tremb-
lingly touched His head, and the Spirit in the likeness of
a dove descended upon its kindred Word, and the voice of
the Father bore witness to the Redeemer's being His own
Son.
XXIII. Between the monastery of the Forerunner and
the Jordan is the little hill of Hermoniim,-|- whereon the
Saviour stood and was poiiited out to the crowd by the
finger of John the Baptist, as Him that taketh away the
sins of the world. Between the monasteries of the Fore-
runner and that of Calamon, the monastery of S. Gerasi-
mus had been washed away even to its foundations by the
waters of Jordan, so that no part of it remains visible
except a few remains of the church, and two grottos, and
a pillar for recluses, wherein is built-up a tall old Spaniard,
a very pleasing and admirable person, from whose con-
versation we derived much benefit ; for indeed a species
of divine grace adorns this old man. We consider it
necessary to relate to all those who take an earnest
* Ofoff-t-fZ/e, t See Psalm xlii. 6.
28 JOANNES PHOCAS,
delight in heavenly things, by way of a treat, a miracle
which was wrought a few days before our visit to him.
The eddying and tortuous waters of Jordan have, as may
be expected, many pieces of land adjacent to them, on
which a great quantity of reeds are wont to grow.
These reeds are the haunt of lions, two of which used
every Saturday to come to the old man's cell, and, rubbing
their heads against the column, asked for food by the
expression of their eyes, which, being willingly given them,
they returned rejoicing to their haunts beside the bends of
the river. Their food was vegetables moistened with water,
and bread made either of corn or of barley-meal. Once,
when they came and demanded their usual food by the move-
ments of their eyes, the old man had no means of satisfy-
ing the creatures, for it happened that for an interval of
twenty days that holy man had received no food ; he
therefore said to them, * Ye beasts, since I have had no
means of refreshing the weakness of my own nature by
any sort of food now for twenty days, or of supplying my-
self with the usual necessaries, by the command of God,
who is easily able to fulfil our needs, it is necessary that
you should proceed to the stream of Jordan, and bring to
me a small piece of wood, from which I may make little
crosses, and give them for a blessing to men who have
made a vow of pilgrimage ; and they, according as each
man is disposed, will give me in return some small coins,
with which we may buy provisions both for me and
for you.' So he spoke, and the beasts hearkened to him,
and^ as though endued with reason, proceeded to the stream
of Jordan; and after a while, O miracle! they bore two
logs of wood upon their necks, and, laying them down at
the base of the column, ran promptly away to the marshes
of Jordan. But enough of this ; let us proceed to the
description of the places.
JOANNES PHOCAS. 2g
XXIV. The monastery of Calamon also is built with
towers and curtain-walls,* and in the midst of it stands a
church built with cement, covered by a vault, resting
upon cylindrical arches. With this is connected on the
right hand another exceedingly small vaulted church,
built, it is said, in the times of the Apostles, in the apse
of which is a picture of the Virgin with the Saviour Christ
in her arms, being in form, colour, and size like that of the
oBTjy^Tpia in the imperial city. There is an ancient tra-
dition that it was painted by the hand of the Apostle and
Evangelist St. Luke ; and what tends to corroborate this
story are the frequent miracles wrought by the picture,
and the thrilling perfume which proceeds from it. Next
to this, about five stadia distant, is the monastery of
Chrysostom ; and about a bowshot from this is a hermitage,
wherein a tall man lives a contemplative life. He is a
Spaniard, of simple habits and modest speech, who
formerly for many years practised asceticism upon a stone
set up near the Sea of Attalia,-!- where I myself met him
when I was serving in the army of the most glorious
Emperor Comnenus Porphyrogenitus.
XXV. Beyond the Jordan, opposite to the place of our
Lord's baptism, is much brushwood, in the midst of which,
at the distance of about one stadium, is the grotto of John
the Baptist, which is very small, and not capable of con-
taining a well-built man standing upright, and opposite
this, in the depth of the desert,J is another grotto, in which
the Prophet Elias dwelt when he was carried off by the
fiery chariot. Beyond these grottos, upon the banks of
the Jordan, is said to be the wilderness wherein the vener-
able Zosimus was thought worthy to behold the angelic
* Kopru-fr, curtain. Soph. j.t/. See 'Abbot Daniel ' xxxiv.
t The Gulf of Adalia.
X Kariaov, nepi to (SdOog rijg ipijuov.
30 JOANNES P HOC AS.
Egyptian lady.* Beyond the hills is the wilderness leading
to Sinai, and Rhaetho, and the Red Sea. Here endeth
my discourse about the wilderness.
XXVI. On the right-hand side of the Holy City of
Jerusalem, in the direction of the Tower of David, there
is a hill covered with vines, and on the lower part thereof
a monastery of Spanish monks, within the circuit of which
it is said that the wood for the glorious Cross was cut.
Beyond this begins the mountain region, very properly so-
called, since for a distance of many stadia the hills become
steeper and steeper. About fourteen stadia from the
Holy City may be seen the house of Zacharias the
prophet, wherein after the Annunciation the Immaculate
Virgin rose and walked with speed, and embraced Eliza-
beth, whose child leaped within her womb for joy, as
though saluting its lady by its leaping, and the Virgin pro-
nounced that admirable prophetic song. There is a castle
at this place, and a church built over a grotto ; in the inner-
most recesses of the grotto took place the birth of the
Forerunner, and at a distance of about two bowshots,
on a higher part of the mountain, is the stone which split
asunder and received within itself the mother of the
Baptist, with her child in her arms, when she was fleeing
away during Herod's massacre of the children.t
XXVII. Outside of Jerusalem, between the two roads,
one of which leads to the mountain region and the other
to the monastery of the Abbot and the Laura, is a
mountain, and a road thereon leading from the holy
Mount Sion to Bethlehem. The city of Bethlehem is
about six miles distant from the Holy City. Half-way
between it and the Holy City stands the monastery of the
* Compare the description of the Jordan district in 'Abbot
Daniel,' xxvii.-xxxv.
t ' Abbot Daniel,' lix., Ix. The home of Zacharias and the holy
places mentioned were at ^Aiii Kdrim.
JOANNES P HOC AS. 31
holy prophet Ehas, which was built by ^odly men in very
ancient times, but has been entirely thrown down by an
earthquake. This, however, that universal benefactor,
my master and Emperor, has raised from its foundations,
at the prayer of a Syrian, who is the chief of the com-
munity. The tomb of Rachel forms a triangle with the
monastery and Bethlehem, being formed in the shape of a
vault supported by four arches. On the left-hand side ot
holy Bethlehem, and half-way between it and the Abbot's
monastery, one sees a field, and in the midst of the field
a grotto, wherein the blessed shepherds who watched by
night heard the angels' hymn, as they sang * Glory to God
in the highest, and on earth peace and salvation to the
world,' through the birth of my God from the Virgin
Mother. The holy Bethlehem is built upon a rocky hill,
wherein is the sacred grotto and the manger, and the well
from which David desired to drink ; and a church of great
length is to be seen, built upon the top of the grotto ; it is
of great size, in the figure of a cross, roofed with beams of
imperishable wood ; but the ceiling above the altar is
formed of a stone vault. This most beautiful and vast
church was also built by the munificent hand of my world-
saving Emperor, who has also adorned the entire church
with golden mosaic-work : wherein in many places, and
especially in the sacrarium itself, above the holy grotto,
the pastor in charge of those in that place who follow the
Latin rite has placed the beauteous portrait of the
Emperor, probably meaning thereby to thank him for his
magnanimity. Now the position of the grotto, of the
manger, and of the well is as follows : On the left side of
the sacrarium (/3»;/xa) is the opening into the holy grotto,
and close by is that well of which our forefather David
desired to drink both bodily and spiritually. Two men
who were highest in his favour cut their way through the
JOANNES PHOCAS.
enemy's camp, drew the water in the bucket, and brought
it to allay his burning thirst, and he performed that cele-
brated action of pouring it as a libation in honour of God,
the fame of which is still noised abroad. From the
entrance of the grotto to the bottom is a descent of six-
teen steps. Upon the northern side of it is that holy inn,
wherein the Virgin was delivered of the Saviour Christ,
and all creation beheld God in the flesh, and the whole
world was made new, and I, mortal as I am, am made rich
in the divinity of my God and Creator, who took my
poverty upon Himself. One step below this may be
seen the manger of the beasts, of an equal-sided quad-
rangular shape, which the ancients have covered with
white marble, leaving a round aperture in the middle of
it, through which a portion can be seen of that manger
which contained the Infinite One, which is wider than the
heavens, and far more extensive than the earth, and the
sea, and the parts below the earth : for it easily contained
Him, when an infant, whom they were not able to con-
tain. I leap for joy as I write, and am altogether in the
spirit within that holy grotto. I see the cloth which
covered our Lord at His birth, the laying of the new-born
babe in the manger, and I am thrilled by the thought of
the Saviour's love for me, and His extreme poverty,
through which He has made me worthy of the Kingdom of
Heaven. Yet I think that the grotto is a palace, and that
the King sat upon the Virgin's bosom as upon a throne,
and I see choirs of angels encircling the grotto, and the
Magi bringing gifts to the King. I am filled with all
manner of delight, and rejoice to think what grace I have
been thought worthy to receive. The artist has painted
with a skilful hand in that grotto the mysteries which
there took place. In the apse is figured the Virgin reclin-
ing upon her bed, with her left hand placed beneath her
JOANNES P HOC AS. 33
right elbow, and leaning her cheek upon her right hand
as she looks at her infant, showing her innate modesty in
her smiling expression and in the colour of her cheeks ; for
her colour is not changed, nor is she pale, like one who
has recently borne a child, and that for the first time ; for
she who was thought worthy to bear a child who was more
than man must also have been spared the pains of child-
birth. Beyond her are the ox and the ass, the manger
and the babe, and the company of shepherds in whose
ears the voice of Heaven rang so that they left their flocks,
allowing their sheep to pasture unwatched upon the grass
beside the spring, giving their dog charge of them, while
they raised their necks heavenwards, listening eagerly to
the sound of the voice, standing in various attitudes, as
each thought that he could stand most easily ; their shep-
herds' crooks appear useless, but their eyes are fixed
upon Heaven, and drawing their right hands backwards
as if to hurl a dart, they eagerly strain their ears : yet they
did not need to hear the voice a second time, since eyes
are more trustworthy than ears; for an angel meeting
them shows them the babe lying in the manger. The beasts
do not turn round to behold this sight, but stupidly betake
themselves, the one to the grass, and the other to the
above-mentioned spring; but the dog, a creature that is
savage with strangers, appears to be intently gazing
upon the unwonted spectacle; while the Magi, leaping
from their horses, bearing their gifts in their hands,
and bending their knees, present them to the Virgin
with awe.
XXVni. About two miles outside holy Bethlehem, in
the Abbot's monastery, there is a grotto wherein the Magi
were warned by an oracle not to return to Herod, and
they returned by another way to their own country.
About six miles beyond this Laura, near the desert of
JOANNES P HOC AS.
Ruba, in the monastery of St. Chariton,* and at a con-
siderable distance beyond it, is the double tomb of Abra-
ham, which is in Hebron, and the oak of Mamre, beneath
which the patriarch Abraham entertained the holy Three.
This is the description (of the holy places) from Ptolemais
through Galilee, as far as Jerusalem, the Holy City, the
Jordan, and the holy wilderness. Those on the sea-coast
are as follows : —
XXIX. At a distance of about six miles from Jerusalem,
the Holy City, is the city of Armathem,t wherein the great
prophet Samuel was born ; and at a distance of about
seven miles, or rather more, beyond it, is the large city of
Emmaus,t built upon a rising ground in the midst of a
valley. Here for about four-and-twenty miles extends
the country of Ramplea,§ wherein may be seen a very great
church of the great and holy martyr George. || Here also
was he born, and did great works for holiness, and here,
too, is his blessed tomb. The church is oblong, and in
the apse, under the place of the holy table, one sees the
mouth of his sepulchre, faced all round with white marble.
It is worth while to tell what I heard from the priests of
this church as to what took place a few years ago at the
tomb of the saint. They said that the present intruded
Bishop of the Latin rite ventured to open the mouth of
the sepulchre, and that when the marble slab which closed
it was taken away there was disclosed a large grotto, on
the inner side of which was found the tomb of the saint ;
when, however, he endeavoured to open this also, fire was
seen to flash forth from the sepulchre, and left one of the
men half burned and another burned to death.
* ' Charison ' in the Latin translation. Khurbet el-Khureitun^
between the Frank Mountain and Tekoa.
t NebiSamwil. J 'Amwas. § Ramleh.
II The Church of St. George at Lydda, Liidd.
JOANNES P HOC AS. 35
XXX. Beyond this country is Caesarea Philippi,* a large
and populous city, built on the shore of the sea. In it
is a truly wonderful harbour, made by human skill, an
enormous expenditure having been incurred by Herod for
its construction. Here it was that Christ asked the
Apostles, * Whom do men say that I, the Son of man,
am?' and Peter answered him, 'Thou art the Christ,
the Son of God,' showing by his words the fervour of
his love.
XXXI. Beyond this is the Mount Carmel, about which
we read much both in the Old and the New Testament.
It is a long ridge, beginning at the Bay of Ptolemais and
Caipha,t and reaching as far as the mountains of Galilee.
At the end of the range which is nearest to the sea is the
cave of the prophet Elias, in which that marvellous man,
after having lived like the angels, was caught up into
Heaven. At this place there was once a large monastery,
as the ruined buildings which remain at the present day
tell us ; but time, which wears out all things, and successive
invasions of the enemy, have ruined it utterly. However,
some time ago a monk, an ordained priest, with white
hair, a native of Calabria, in consequence of a vision of
the prophet, came to that place, where he dwelt in the
ruins of the monastery, having built a little rampart,
and a tower, and a small church, and collected together
about ten brethren: and he inhabits that holy place at
this day.
XXXII. Here let my description end, now that I have
accomplished the circuit of the holy places. If my readers
shall think this a useful work, I shall consider myself to be
recompensed for my toil and amply rewarded ; if not, let
* Really Caesarea Palasstina, now Kaisarlyeh, 'Abbot Daniel,
(Ixv.) falls into the same curious error.
Haifa.
36 JOANNES PHOCAS.
this, my child, return to me who begat it, and by its
babbhngs remind me of those holy places, so that I may
be sweetly refreshed in imagination by the remembrance
of them.
THE END.
BILLING AND SONS, PRINTERS, GUILDFORD>
Reference Table.
/. The, piiinxicLe:
2. HovLBC' of Sinxxrrv they Just-
3. The, Stahles.
4. BrxLuti/vJj Gate/.
5. Plaxx/ of ZxixharixuB.
6. Chapel of SP Jcumee.
7. CdnoTLs' CLaieters.
8. Couvorve' Abbey
9. Betheedjcu.
10. Cfv.ofSpAnne.
11. Ov. of S*: Mary MoLgdalerve^
;2 Ar6hj.
13. Carutrts' CLoiaters.
/4. CtuSPMary th/i Great/.
16. Civ. SPMctry the, Lcutirv.
16. Sfpspice, of Sr Saba/.
17. Chi.cfS.tTames the, Great.
18. HovLse of the. Germane.
19. CharrveL IIouJBe/ ofOve/Liorv.
ZO. Place/ at' Which Sr Stgyhfin/ was stanedj.
Z1. The/PaA/ehvent. Pracloriurrv.
22. Pooh of SiLoei anjdb OaJo ofRogeL.
23. Ch/. ofSP ScwiotAjr.
A.c^tcLcimjLL Q
Sf
PAteSTINE PILGRIMS' TEXT SOCIETY.
KS-WellerJitho.
^akstinc pilgrims' '^ixt §oddr).
THEODERICH'S DESCRIPTION
OF THE HOLY PLACES.
(Circa 1172 a.d.)
AUBREY STEWART, M.A.
LONDON :
24, HANOVER SQUARE, W.
1896.
PREFACE TO THEODERICH, BASED UPON
THAT OF TOBLER.
Nothing certain seems to be known of Theoderich except
his name. It is probable that he is the Dietrich mentioned
in John of Wiirzburg's * Introductory Epistle,' but there is
no certain proof of this, nor have we any means of identi-
fying him with * Theodericus, Praepositus de Werdea,' or
' Theodericus, Praepositus de Onolsbach,' whom we find
mentioned in the records at Wurzburg at the end of the
twelfth century. Probably, as is stated in the Preface to
John of Wurzburg, he was that Theoderich who became
Bishop of Wurzburg in 1223. He was, we know, a German,
and, almost certainly, a Rhine-lander ; for he tells us how
on Palm Sunday he and his companions buried their fellow-
pilgrim named Adolf of Cologne in the Potter's Field near
Jerusalem, while the comparison of the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre at Jerusalem with the church at Aix la Chapelle
proves that he was familiar with that country.
Theoderich and John of Wurzburg in many parts of
their narratives, especially when describing what they did
not personally behold, agree very closely, using in some
instances the same words. They may have copied one
another, but it seems more probable that both of them, or
at any rate John of Wiirzburg, as also Eugesippus Fretillus
and other writers, copied this part from a brief geographical
and historical account of the Holy Land and its neighbour-
iv PREFACE TO THEODERICH,
hood which was then much in men's hands, and which will
here for the sake of shortness be called ' the old compen-
dium.' A certain amount of light is given us by the ex-
pressed intention of John of Wiirzburg to write only about
Jerusalem and its neighbourhood — * the holy places within
and without the walls being those which alone we mean to
describe .... whereas we have no intention of giving any
account of those which are in the neighbouring province,
knowing that enough has been already said about thcin by
other writers.' It is worthy of remark that Thietmar (ed,
Laurent, xxvi.) does the exact opposite of this, although
there was much to be said about Jerusalem, because that
city had already been thoroughly described by many
writers. Indeed, John of Wiirzburg docs not carry out his
intention, since he gives a circumstantial account of the
holy places of Galilee also, whereby he excites the suspi-
cion that in so doing he merely acted as a copyist, since
one would not willingly suppose that the account of the
more distant regions was added to that of the topography
of Jerusalem and its neighbourhood by another hand.
Theoderich starts with the distinct declaration that his
description rests partly upon what he himself saw, and
partly upon trustworthy accounts received from others
(Prologu?, chs. XXV. and li.) ; but even when he is dealing
with these 'trustworthy accounts,' or with the 'old com-
pendium,' he proceeds far more sclf-reliantly than John.
Moreover, his narrative, besides being fuller, contains many
vivid touches which are wanting in the other. The people
shouting their 'Dex aide' and 'Holy Sepulchre' while
awaiting the descent of the holy fire on Easter Day ' not
without tears'; the stacking up of the pilgrims' crosses on
the top of the rock of Calvary, and the bonfire made of
thcin on Easter Eve ; the ignorant pilgrims who piled up
heaps of stones in the valley of Ilinnom and expected to
BASED UPON THAT OF TOBLER.
sit upon them in the Day of Judgment ; the account of how
terribly he and his companions were alarmed at the Sara-
cens— 'un peuple criard,' Kinglake calls the Arabs in
'Eothen/ quoting Lamartine — who were beginning to
plough up a field by the side of the road to Shechem,
and yelling horribly, ' as is their wont when they are setting
about any piece of work '; the description of what he saw
with his own eyes {yiditmts) of the wealth and charity of
the Hospitallers, and of the power of the Templars ; the
l^orman-French names of ' Belmont,' 'Fontenoid,' and ' Mont-
joye,' which sound so strangely in the country of the Bible ;
the throng of ships in the dangerous harbour of Acre, with
his own ' buss ' amongst them ; and the view from the
Mount of Temptation over the wide darkling plain,
covered with numberless pilgrims, each bearing a torch,
and watched, no doubt, by the ' infidels ' on the Arabian
hills beyond Jordan — all these are invaluable helps towards
forming a picture of the Holy Land in the time of the
Frankish kings. A distinction must be made between
Avhat Theoderich saw and what he only describes by
hearsay ; the former is clear, complete, and full of new
facts, while the latter is brief, and, as a rule, confusedly
written. He appears to have landed at Acre (Ptolemais),
journeyed thence to Jerusalem, visited Jericho and the
Jordan, and returned by the same road, although he may
have personally visited Nazareth by way of Tiberias and
Mount Tabor. His account of the Sea of Gennesareth is
hopelessly confused, probably through copyists' errors.
However, he not only describes clearly all that he saw, but
•describes it so naively and intelligently as to win the
reader's esteem. Our Saviour lies nearer his heart than
anyone else. He speaks of His Mother with due respect,
but, shows no trace of the mariolatry of later ages. He is
superior to many travellers of the present day in that he
PREFACE TO THEODERICH,
directs no sarcasm against men of other faiths ; and one
can hardly expect to find in him the modern historical
and critical spirit. The book contains so few of the pious
reflections behind which men often conceal their ignorance
of the affairs of this life, that one could wish for more and
fuller expressions of the writer's personal feelings. Such as
there are are upright and honourable, and are spoken from
the heart. Although the writer, as we learn from Chapter
XXIX., was a priest, he never obtrudes his priestly dignity
upon us; indeed, it seems almost strange that he never
alludes to having read prayers, or even having performed
his devotions at any of the holy places. At the period at
which he wrote, spiritual things were held in honour as a
matter of course, so that it appeared unnecessary for him
to make any effort to excite the feelings of his readers or
hearers.
There can be no doubt that the pilgrimage of
Theoderich took place in the time of the Crusaders, before
their expulsion from Jerusalem in ii 87. A number of
particulars prove that he sojourned in the city while it was
still under the rule of the Frankish kings. All we have
left to do is to fix the exact year. In Chapter XXX.
we read that Emaded-Din Zenghi, called Sanginus or
Sanguineus,^ beheaded six monks in a monastery on
the banks of the Jordan.
This apparently took place in 11 38, when the Turks
crossed the Jordan, and made a plundering raid through
the districts of Jericho and Tekoa. Eight years after this
* razzia ' Zenghi was murdered. In Chapter XII. we find
the name of the patriarch Fulcher, who held the patriarchate
from 1 146 to 1 1 57.
In the Temple of the Lord, Theoderich (ch. xv.), besides
the date i loi, read that it was finished in the sixty-third year
^_ See Gibbon, ch. lix.
BASED UPON THAT OF TOBLER.
after the taking of Jerusalem, which brings us to the year
1 164. In Chapter XLV. we find it mentioned that Paneas
was taken by the Mohammedans in the year 1171. The
description of the tombs of the kings in Chapter XII. brings
us down to Amaury or Amalrich, who died on the nth of
June, 1 173.
Thus it appears that 1173 is the latest date mentioned :
the next thing to be considered is whether the tombs were
rightly pointed out to him, which is no very easy matter.
Theoderich came from the Chapel of St. Helena into the
great Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and proceeded into the
south transept, with the altar close by to the southward.
Here he mentions five^ tombs on the south side in front of
the door, whereof the first, being that of the brother of the
reigning King of Jerusalem (Baldwin III.), was abutting
on the choir of the canons, which is called at the present
day the Catholicon of the Greek Church. In case the
words * the tomb of the brother of the King of Jerusalem,
named Baldwin,' should not be sufficiently clear, the
explanation, I think, is given by the sentence : 'The fourth
tomb is that of the father of the present king, that is, of
Amalrich.' According to chronological order the tombs
are as follows :
First Godfrey's, which stands third as you go from the
tomb of Baldwin III. towards the choir, next to Baldwin
IL's.
Secondly, Baldwin I.'s, the second in the row.
Thirdly, that of Baldwin II. (du Bourg), the father of
Queen Milicent, and of Judith, the Abbess of St. Lazarus of
Bethany, the fifth in the row.
Fourthly, Fulke's, the father of Baldwin III. and of
Amalrich, the fourth in the row.
And fifthly, that of Baldwin III., the first in the row.
^ See Appendix.
viii PREFACE TO THEODERICH,
Now, no one can deny that Theoderich made his
pilgrimage to the Holy Land during the life-time of King
Amalrich, who reigned from 1162 to 1173. It is very
important to observe that the tomb of Baldwin III. was
pointed out as that of the brother of the king, because the
actually reigning king was assumed to be well known, and,
therefore, one easily sees why his tomb does not occur
in the list, because he was still alive. We have already,
therefore, mention of the year 1 171, and we must not go
beyond the year 1173, in which Amalrich died, so that the
pilgrimage of Theoderich must have taken place between
the year 1171 and 1173.
Other less definite considerations point to the same date.
Theoderich says of the Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre (ch. v.),
that on account of the partial fading of the colours he was
quite unable to read the inscriptions on the arches ; which
is a proof that he made his visitation late, yet not at
the very latest time, since we do not hear of the chapel
being divided into two parts (see Phocas and Innom., IV.,
ch. XV.), and Phocas dwells especially upon the fact that
the Emperor Manuel Comnenus, who reigned from 1 143 to
1 1 80, entirely covered the sepulchre with gilding. It is
very likely that Theoderich saw the Chapel of the
Sepulchre during the time of its restoration, since,
although he could not read the faded inscriptions, he tells
us that he read the antiphonal hymn Christus resurgens in
golden letters, whereas John of Wurzburg describes it as in
silver letters. Theoderich saw the gilded turret above the
chapel with its dome and cross when the gilding was
bright and fresh, John merely speaks of a cupola covered
with silver ; which proves, what we have already gathered
from the * Introductory Epistle ' of the latter, that he was
the precursor of Theoderich.^ From Theoderich we also
' See ch. xxv., note.
BASED UPON THAT OF TOBLER.
learn that the Templars were engaged in building a new
•church on Mount Moriah, about which he uses the
same expression as John of Wiirzburg, who says : * Cum
extructione novae ecclesiae noiidum tamen consummatae!
Moreover, the theory that John was the earlier pilgrim is
supported by the latter's remark that at Shechem 'a
church is now being built ' over Jacob's Well, whereas
Theoderich speaks of it as being already built. It does
not, however, seem to accord with this evidence that
Theoderich speaks of the church of the Pater Noster, or
of our Saviour, as 'being now building,' whereas John
speaks of it as already built. At any rate, we may gather
from this that the two pilgrimages left but a short interval
between them. Lastly, we may remark that Theoderich
mentions a new cistern on the way from Jerusalem to
Bethlehem, in his description of the valley of Hinnom,
which, without doubt, was the Lacus Germani, the Birket
es- Sultan of the present day, of which we find no other
mention previous to ii 76. On the other hand, we know
that the well of Job (Bir Eyub), at the confluence of
Hinnom and Cedron, was first discovered by Germanus
in 1 1 84, and could not, therefore, be alluded to by
Theoderich.
From internal evidence we learn that Theoderich's
pilgrimage took place in the spring of the year, at the
passagiiini vernale, in March, or Easter, not the passagium
aestivale, in August, on St. John's Day. Theoderich saw
ripe barley in the plain of Jericho on the Monday after
Palm Sunday, and on the Wednesday in Easter week he
was at Acre on his way home.
The references in the notes are to the English
translations of the pilgrims.
I
CONTENTS.
MAP OF JERUSALEM ... - - frontispUXe
PREFACE - ------ ill
THEODERICH'S DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY PLACES - - I
APPENDIX - - - - - - - 75
INDEX - - - - - - - - 83
THEODERICH'S DESCRIPTION.
HERE BEGINNETH THE LITTLE BOOK
AVRTTTEN BY THEODERICH ABOUT THE HOLY PLACES.
INTRODUCTION.
TheODERICH, the meanest of all monks and Christian
men, addresses himself to all worshippers of the holy and
indivisible Trinity, and more especially to the lovers of
our most gracious Lord Jesus Christ.
' So may they learn on earth below to share our Saviour's pain,
That they with joy hereafter may deserve with Him to reign.'
We have been careful to note down, in writing on paper,
everything relating to the holy places wherein our Healer
and Saviour, when actually present in the flesh, accomplished
the duties and mysteries connected with His blessed man-
hood and our salvation, which we have cither ourselves
beheld with our eyes or have learned from the truthful
tales of other men. This we have done in order that,
according to the best of our ability, we may satisfy the
desires of those who are unable to proceed thither in their
actual person, by describing those things which they cannot
see with their eyes or hear with their ears. Be it known to
each of our readers that we have laboured at this task to the
intent that by reading this description or tale he may learn
alw ays to bear Christ in remembrance, and by remembering
I
TIIEODERICirS DESCRIPTION.
Him may learn to love Him, by loving may pity Him who
suffered near these places ; through pity, may acquire a long-
ing for Him, by longing for Him may be absolved from his
sins; by absolution from sin may obtain His grace, and by
His grace may be made partaker of the kingdom of
heaven, being thought worthy thereof by Him who with
the Father and the Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth for
ever and ever. Amen.
Here beginneth the little book written by Theoderich
about the holy places.
I. — The Ruin of the Land, and the Changing
OF ITS Names.
It is evident to all those who read the pages of the Old
and New Testament, that the land of Canaan was, by
Divine ordinance, given for a possession to the twelve
tribes of the people of Israel ; which land — being divided
into the three provinces of Judaea, Samaria, and Galilee —
was of old enriched by many cities, towns, and castles.
The names and situations of all these cities were in olden
days well known to everyone ; but the moderns, being
strangers in the land, and not its original inhabitants,
know only the names of a few places which we shall
describe in their proper place. For since our dearest
Lord Jesus Christ required vengeance for His blood —
which was shed upon the cross by the cruel hands of the
impious Jews — the Roman princes, Vespasian and Titus,
entered Judaea with an army, levelled the Temple and
city with the ground, destroyed all the cities and villages
throughout Judaea, and drove the murderers themselves out
of their own country and forced them to depart and live
among foreigners. In consequence of this all works and
constructions of that people, and of the entire province.
THEODERICIPS DESCRIPTION.
have been destroyed, so that although some traces of
certain places still remain, yet nearly all their names have
been altered.
II.— Judaea,
First, then, we must speak of Judaea, which is known
to have been the chief province of the Jewish kingdom,
which we have been enabled to examine with our own
eyes and ears. Therein, as the eye in the head, is placed
the Holy City of Jerusalem, from whence, through our
Mediator with God, our Lord Jesus Christ, grace and
salvation and life have flowed forth to all nations. Judaea
is bounded on the west by the Great (Mediterranean) Sea
on the south is separated by the desert from the mountains
of Arabia and Egypt, on the east is limited by the river
Jordan, and on the north is skirted by Samaria and
Idumaea.i Now, Judaea is for the most part mountainous,
and round about the Holy City rises into very lofty ranges,
sloping on all sides down to its aforesaid boundaries, even
as on the other hand one ascends to it from them. These
mountains are in some places rough with masses of the
hardest rock, in others are adorned with stone excellently
-fitted to be cut into ashlar, and in others are beautified by
white, red, and variegated marble. But wherever any
patches of earth are found among these masses of rock the
land is seen to be fit for the production of everj?' kind of
fruit — wherefore we have seen the hills and mountains
covered with vineyards and plantations of olive-trees and
fig-trees, and the valleys abounding with corn and garden
produce.
Mount Seir, or Edom.
THEODERICH'S DESCRIPTION.
III. — Jerusalem. — The Valleys of Josaphat and-
Gehinnom. — Mount OF Rejoicing (Mons Gaudii).
— Tomb of Josaphat. — Position of the Holy
City; its Fortifications, Gates, Streets, Houses,
Cisterns, Wood.
Now, on the very topmost peak of these mountains, as is
affirmed both by Josephus and Jerome, is placed the city
of Jerusalem, which is held to be holier and more notable
than all the other cities and places throughout the world,
not because it is holy in itself, or by itself, but because it
has been glorified by the presence of God Himself, and of
our Lord Jesus Christ and His holy Mother, and by the
dwelling therein, the doctrine, the preaching, and the
martyrdom of patriarchs, prophets, apostles and other
holy men. Albeit it has round about it mountain ridges
higher than itself, yet it is in itself hilly, being built upon a
mountain. Hence it follows that it attracts the eyes of
beholders away from all the mountains by which it is
surrounded. Now, between the Hill of IMoriah, upon which
stands the Temple of the Lord, and the Mount of Olives,.
which raises its head higher than any of the other mountains,
lies the brook Cedron and the Valley of Josaphat, which.
valley starts from the Mount of Rejoicing^ (Mons Gaudii),
from whence one enters the city on the northern side,
passes by the Church of St. Mary, which is so called after
her name, passes the tomb of Josaphat, King of Judaea,
from whose death it itself has received this name, and
passes close to the bathing pool of Siloe, where another
* The situation of Ramatbaim is uncertain ; but the place long
pointed out as Samuel's Tomb is the height most conspicuous of all'
in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem immediately above the town of
Gibeon, known to the Crusaders as * Montjoye,' being the spot from
which they first saw Jerusalem, now called Neby Samwil, 'the Prophet
Samuel.'— Smith's ' Dictionary of the Bible,' Art. * Samuel.' See also
note to ch. x\xi.x.
THEODERICH'S DESCRIPTION.
valley meets it, which valley^ bends its course from the
dght-hand corner of the city past the new cisterns between
.the Mount Sion and the field Acheldemach, thus em-
bracing two sides of the city with a very deep ravine.
The tomb of Josaphat stands in the midst of this valley*
built of squared stone in the form of a pyramid. Round
about it there are a great number of dwellings of servants
of God, or hermits, all of which are placed under the care
of the Abbot of St. Mary's. Now, the longest part of the
city reaches from north to south, and the width of it is from
west to east, and it is most strongly fortified by walls and
Taastions on the top of the mountain above the aforesaid
valleys. There is also a barrier, or fosse, placed outside the
"wall, and furnished with battlements and loopholes, which
they call the Barbican. The city has seven gates, whereof they
firmly lock six every night until after sunrise ; the seventh
is closed by a wall, and is only opened on Palm Sunday and
on the day of the Exaltation of the Cross. Now, the city,
being of an oblong form, has five angles, one of which is
transverse. Almost all its streets are paved with great stones
below, and above many of them are covered with a stone
vault, pierced with many windows for the transmission of
light. The houses, which are lofty piles of carefully
wrought stonework, are not finished with high-pitched
roofs after our fashion, but have them level and of a flat
shape. The people catch the rain-water which falls upon
them and store it up in cisterns for their own use — they
use no other water, because they have none. Wood
suitable for building or for fires is dear there, because
the Mount Libanus — the only mountain which abounds
in cedar, cypress, and pine-wood — is a long way off from
them, and they cannot approach it for fear of the attacks of
the infidels.
* See belowj ch. xxxii.
THEODERICIPS DESCRIPTION.
IV. — The Tower of David. — Mounts Sion and
MoRiAH. — The Field Aceldama. — Mount Gion.
— The House of Pilate.— Antonia.
The Tower of David is the property of the King of
Jerusalem, and is incomparably strong, being built of
squared stones of immense size. It stands near the western
gate, whence the road leads towards Bethlehem, together
with the newly-built solar chamber and palace which ad-
joins it, and it is strongly fortified with ditches and barbicans.
It is situated on the Mount Sion. Wherefore we read in the
Book of Kings, ' Now David took Sion.' It is also situated
over against the Temple of the Lord, in the part of the
city which extends sideways, having the Mount Sion on
the south and the Mount of Olives on the east. Now, the
Mount Sion reaches from the tower as far as the Church
of St. Mary without the walls, and from the church nearly
as far as the palace of Solomon, and as far as the way
which leads from the Beautiful Gate to the tower, being
wider, but lower, than the Mount of Olives, And although
the Mount Moriah, which overhangs the Valley of Josa-
phat, and on which stands the Temple of the Lord and the
palace of Solomon, may be thought to be a great hill, yet
the Mount Sion overtops it by as much as the latter seems,
as aforesaid, to overtop the Valley of Josaphat. In the
field of Acheldemach, which is only separated from it by
the aforementioned valley, is the pilgrims' burying-ground,
in which stands the Church of St. Mary, the Virgin Mother
of God,i wherein also on the holy day of Palm Sunday we
buried one of our brethren, by name Adolf, a native of
1 Fabri, who was in Jerusalem A.D. 1483, says that there was once
a church in the field of Aceldama, which was built by the Empress
Helena, and dedicated to All Saints.
THEODERICirS DESCRIPTION.
Cologne. This field is overhung by the Mount Gion,
whereon Solomon was crowned, as may be read in the
Book of Kings.
Of the other buildings, whether public or private, we
have scarcely been able to find any traces, or at least very
few, with the exception of the house of Pilate, near the
Church of St. Anne, the mother of our Lady, which stands
near the sheep-pool. Of all the work which Joscphus tells
us was built by Herod, and which now is utterly ruined,
nothing remains save one side, which is still standing, of
the palace which was called Antonia, with a gate placed
outside, near the court of the Temple.
V. — The Church of the Holy Sepulchre ; first,
THE Chapel thereof.
It only remains, then, that we should tell of the holy
places, on account of which the city itself is called holy.
We have thought, therefore, that it would be right to begin
with the Holy of Holies ; that is, from the sepulchre of
our Lord. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, of marvel-
lous workmanship, is known to have been founded by the
Empress Helena ; and its outer wall being carried, as
it were, round the circumference of a circle, makes the
church itself round. The place of our Lord's sepulchre
occupies the central point in the church, and its form is
that of a chapel built above the sepulchre itself, and
beautifully ornamented with a casing of marble. It is not
in the form of a complete circle, but two low walls proceed
from the circumference towards the east, and meet a third
wall. These walls contain three doons, 3 feet wide and
7 feet high, one of which opens on the north, another on
the east, and another on the south side. The entrance is
by the northern door and the exit by the southern door.
THEODERICIPS DESCRIPTION.
The eastern door is set apart for the use of the guardians
of the sepulchre.!
Between these three small doors and the fourth door —
that by which one goes into the sepulchre itself — is an
altar which, though small, is of great sanctity, whereon
our Lord's body is said to have been laid by Joseph and
Nicodemus before it was placed in the sepulchre.- More-
over, above the actual mouth of the sepulchre, which
stands behind the altar, these same men are shown in a
picture of mosaic-work placing our Lord's body in the
tomb, with our Lady, His Mother, standing by, and the
three Maries, whom we know well from the Gospel, with
pots of perfumes, and with the angel also sitting above the
sepulchre, and rolling away the stone, saying, ' Behold the
place where they have laid Him.' Between the opening
and the sepulchre itself a line is drawn in a semicircular
form, which contains these verses :
' The place and guardian testify Christ's resurrection,
Also the linen clothes, the angel, and Redemption.'
All these things are portrayed in most precious mosaic-
work, with which work the whole of this little chapel is
adorned. Each of these doors has very strict porters,
who will not allow fewer than six, or more- than twelve,
people to enter at one time ; for, indeed, the place is so
narrow that it will not hold more. After they have
worshipped they are obliged to go out by another door.
No one can enter the mouth of the sepulchre itself except
by crawling upon his knees, and having crossed it, he
finds that most-wished-for treasure — I mean the sepulchre
wherein our most gracious Lord Jesus Christ lay for three
1 Compare the account given in Abbot Daniel, ch. x., and note.
' That which is now shown as the 'Stone of Unction' is opposite to
the door of the church. Tobler's comment on these variants of the
legend is, '■ Diese sage licbte den Wimdcl^ See ch. vii., note.
TIIEODERICH'S DESCRIPTION.
days — which is wondrously adorned with white marble,
gold and precious stones. In the side it has three holes,
through which the pilgrims give their long-wished-for kisses
to the very stone whereon their Lord lay, which measures
2^- feet in width, and the length of a man's arm from the
elbow and one foot also. The floor between the sepulchre
itself and the wall is large enough to allow five men to
pray on their knees with their heads turned towards the
sepulchre. Round about this building outside are ranged
ten pillars, which, with the arches which they support,
make a circular enclosure, beneath which is a base, having
this text of Scripture carved upon it in letters of gold^ :
* Christ having risen from the dead dieth no more. Death
hath no more dominion over Him : for in that He liveth,
He liveth unto God,'^ At His head, which was turned
towards the west, there is an altar surrounded by partition
walls, doors, and locks of iron, with lattice-work of cypress-
wood decorated with various paintings, and with a roof of
the same kind and similarly decorated, resting upon the
walls.3 The roof of the work itself is formed of slabs of
gilt copper, with a round opening in the middle, round
which stand small pillars in a circle, carrying small arches
above them, which support a cup-shaped roof. Above the
roof itself is a gilded cross, and above the cross is a dove,
likewise gilded.* Between every two columns through-
out the circle, from each arch hangs a lamp. In like
manner also, two lamps hang between each of the lower
columns all round the circle. Round the lower arches, on
every arch, verses are written, which upon some of them
we were not able to read because of the fading of the
1 John of Wiirzburg, ch. xii., says 'silver.' See note.
2 Rom. vi. 9, lo.
^ See Abbot Daniel, Appendix II.
^ Probably the work of the Emperor Manuel Comnenus. See John
of Wiirzburg, ch. xii., notes, and Phocas, ch. xiv.
THEODERICirS DESCRIPTION.
colours. We were only able to read six plainly, which were
written on three of the arches :
' Within tliis tomb was laid
He who the world hath made : ,
Ye who His tomb do see
Haste ye to be
A temple meet for me.
Lamb of God blest !
Patriarchs old.
Longed, ere their rest,
Him to behold.
Brought forth at Ephrata,
Suffered at Golgotha.
He from his rocky bed,
Adam our father led,
Bore him on high ;
Conquered the devil's arts,
And Soith to sinking hearts,
" Rise, it is I !" '
Also round the iron enclosure which, as we have said
before, is placed at the head of the sepulchre, above which
is the lattice- work, there runs a scroll containing these
verses :
* 'Twas here the victory o'er Death was won
And life for us begun ;
To God the pleasing sacrifice was given,
The victim fell ;
Our sins are all forgiven ;
There is joy in heaven.
And grief in hell ;
Ends the Old Testament,
God hath a New one sent :
We learn from this, O Christ, who here hast bled.
That holy is the ground whereon we tread.'
VI. — The Church or Rotunda itself.
Now, the pavement of this church is most beautifully laid
with Parian and various coloured marble. The church
itself is supported below by eight square pillars, which are
THEODERICWS DESCRIPTION. ii
called piers, and sixteen monolithic columns ; but above,
since it is vaulted both above and below, like the church at
Aix-la-Chapelle, it is supported in the same fashion on
eight piers and sixteen pillars. The lower string-course,
which runs round the whole church, is covered with inscrip-
tions in Greek letters. The surface of the wall which lies
between the middle and the upper string-courses glows with
mosaic work of incomparable beauty. There, in front of the
choir, that is, above the arch of the sanctuary, may be seen
the boy Jesus wrought in the same mosaic, but of ancient
workmanship, depicted in glowing colours as far as the
navel, with a most beauteous face ; on His left hand His
Mother, and on His right the Archangel Gabriel pronounc-
ing the well-known salutation, ' Hail, Mary, full of grace ;
the Lord is with thee, blessed among women, and blessed
the fruit of thy womb.' This salutation is written both in
Latin and in Greek round the Lord Christ Himself.
Further on, on the right-hand side,i the twelve apostles
are depicted in a row in the same mosaic, each of them
holding in his hands praises of Christ in words alluding
to the holy mysteries. In the midst of them, in a recess
slightly sunken into the wall, sits in royal splendour, wear-
ing the trabea,2 the Emperor Constantino, because he,
together with his mother Helena, was the founder of the
church. Also, beyond the apostles, the blessed Michael
the archangel glitters in wondrous array. On the left
follows a row of thirteen prophets, all of whom have their
faces turned towards the beauteous Boy, and reverently
address Him, holding in their hands the prophecies with
which He inspired them of old. In the midst of them,
1 On the south side ; Tobler points out that the ancient Christian
practice of separating men and women in church is carried out in this
mosaic.
* The old Roman robe of state.
THEODERICirS DESCRIPTION.
opposite to her son, sits the blessed Empress Helena,
magnificently arrayed. Upon the wall itself rests a leaden
roof supported by rafters of cypress-wood, having a large
round opening in the midst, through which the light comes
from above and lights the whole church, for it has no other
window whatever.
VII. — The Choir of the Canons.^
Moreover, there adjoins this church a sanctuary, or holy
of holies, of marvellous workmanship, which was subse-
quently built by the Franks, who likewise most sweetly
sing praises therein- both by day and by night; that is to
say, at the canonical hours, according to the course of the
Virgin Mary. They hold prebends, and half the offerings
of the holy sepulchre are assigned to them for income,
while the other half is appropriated for the use of the
patriarch. The high altar is dedicated to the name and
in honour of our Lord and Saviour, and behind it is
placed the patriarch's seat, above which hang from the arch
of the sanctuary a very great and adorable picture of our
Lady, a picture of St. John the Baptist, and also a third
picture of the holy Gabriel, her bridesman. In the ceiling^
^ ' Chorus dominorum,' evidently the translation of the German
' Domherrenchor.' ' King Godfrey also instituted canons with
prebends, and gave them habitations round about the church.' Gul.
Tyr. ix. 9. 'In Ecclesia Dominici Sepulchri sunt Canonici Sancti
Augustini, qui habent Priorem, sed soli Patriarchae obedientiam
promissunt' See also ' Brocardi Descriptio Terrae Sanctae,' a.d. 1230.
- Compare ch. xi.
" Cdatura. I find under the word 'ceding with syllurc' in the
•Promptorium Parv-ulorum,' ed. Albert Way, 186^, the following
note : The Catholicon explains celo to signify sctilpere, piitgere, and
celamcn or cdatura sculptured or painted decoration, Lydgate, in
the 'Troye Boke,' uses the word 'celature' to describe vaulted work
of an elaborate character. It appears doubtful whether the verb to
cele, and the word ceiling, which is still in familiar use, are derivable
from coclo, or may not be traced more directly to caelum and the
THEODERICH'S DESCRIPTION. 13
of the sanctuary itself is represented our Lord Jesus Christ
holding His cross in His left hand, bearing Adam in His
right, looking royally up towards heaven, with His left foot'
raised in a gigantic stride, His right still resting on the
earth as He enters heaven,^ while the following stand
around — that is to say, His Mother, St. John the Baptist,
and all the apostles. Under His feet a scroll, reaching
across the arch from one wall to the other, contains this
inscription :
•Praise Him crucified in the flesh,
Glorify Him buried for us,
Adore Him risen from death. '^
Beyond this, on a higher scroll drawn across the same
arch, is the passage of Scripture, * Christ ascending on high
hath led the flesh captive, and hath given gifts to men.'^
About the middle of the choir there is a small open altar of
great sanctity, on the flooring whereof is marked a cross
inscribed in a circle, which signifies that on this spot Joseph
and Nicodemus laid our Lord's body in order to wash it
after they had taken it down from the cross.^ Before the
French ciel^ signifying not only vaulting or ceiling, but also the canopy
or baldaquin over an altar ; the hangings of estate over a throne which
are sometimes called dais, from the thrdne being placed in that part
of an apartment to which that name properly belonged ; and lastly,
the canopy of a bed, ' celler for a bedde, del de lit,' Palsg. A.S.
^ Tobler, in his note on this passage, remarks that there is in the
Bavarian National Museum at Munich an ivory carving of the
fourth century, on which Christ is represented in precisely this
attitude.
2 Compare Fabri, vol. i., p. 343, Stuttgart, 1843,
* Psa. Ixviii. 18 ; Eph. iv. 8.
* The altar described here is that of the compas or centre of the
earth. See John of Wiirzburg, ch. xi., and note. Possibly Theoderich
confused his cicerone's account of this altar with that of the altar in
the Angel Chapel. What is now shown as the ' Stone of Unction,'
and mentioned by Fabri and other writers, stands in another part of
the church. Innominatus VH, says, 'To the eastward of the
14 THEODERICH'S DESCRIPTION.
door of the choir is an altar of no small size, which, how-
ever, is only used by the Syrians in their services. When the
daily Latin services are over, the Syrians are wont to sing
their hymns either there outside the choir, or in one of the
apses of the church ; indeed, they have several small altars
in the church, arranged and devoted to their own peculiar
use. These arc the religious sects which celebrate divine
service in the church at Jerusalem : the Latins, Syrians,
Armenians, Greeks, Jacobites,^ and Nubians.^ All these
differ from one another both in language and in their
manner of conducting divine service. The Jacobites use
trumpets on their feast days, after the fashion of the Jews.
Vin.— The Holy Fire.
It is customary in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre,
both in the church itself and in all the other churches in
the city, at daybreak on the morning of Easter Even, to
put out the earthly lights, and to await the coming of light
from heaven f for the reception of which light one of the
silver lamps, seven of which hang there, is prepared. Then
all the clergy and people stand waiting with great and
anxious expectation, until God shall send His hand down
from on high ; often, among other prayers, shouting loudly
and not without tears, 'God help us!' and 'Holy Sepulchre !'*
Meanwhile, the patriarch or some of the other bishops who
sepulchre, in the midst of the choir, is the middle of the world, where
the Lord was laid when Nicodemus took Him down from the cross.'
■* The Jacobites (a ' familiar sound,' says Gibbon, writing in 1788,
' which may startle an English ear ') were so called after James Bara-
daeus, or Zanzalus, who reorganized the sect of Monophysites, or
believers in the unity of the human and Divine natures of Christ.
^ Copts.
' See Abbot Daniel, ch. xcvii., for references to authorities on the
subject of the holy fire.
■* The war-cries of the Crusaders.
THEODERICIPS DESCRIPTION. 15
have assembled to receive the holy fire, and also the rest of
the clergy, bearing a cross in which a large piece of our
Lord's cross is inserted, and with other relics of the saints,
frequently visit the holy sepulchre to pray there ; watching,
also, whether God has sent His gracious light into the
vessel prepared to receive it. The fire is wont to appear
at certain hours and in certain places ; for sometimes it
appears about the first hour, sometimes about the third,
the sixth, or the ninth, or even so late as the time of com-
pline. Moreover, it comes sometimes to the sepulchre
itself, sometimes to the Temple of the Lord, and sometimes
to the Church of St. John. However, on the day when our
humble selves, with the other pilgrims, were awaiting the
sacred fire, immediately after the ninth hour that sacred
fire came ; whereupon, behold, with ringing of church-bells,
the service of the Mass was said throughout the whole
city, the baptismal and other services having been pre-
viously celebrated. As soon as the holy fire arrives, it is
customary to present it to the Temple of the Lord before
anyone, except the patriarch, has lighted his candle at it.^
IX. — The Chapels of St. Mary and of the Holy
Cross. — The Lord's Prison. — The Altar of
St. Nicholas. — The Door leading into the
Cloister.
Upon the west side of the church, near the door, from
which one mounts more than thirty steps from the church
up to the street, in front of the door itself, there is a chapel
dedicated to St. Mary, which belongs to the Armenians.
Also, on the left-hand side of the church, towards the
north, there is a chapel dedicated to the holy cross,
'^ See John of Wiirzburg, ch. xiii., note i ; Abbot Daniel, ch. xcvii.
note.
i6 THEODERICirS DESCRIPTION.
wherein is also a great part of the venerable wood itself,
contained in a case of gold and silver ; and this chapel is
in the hands of the Syrians. Again, on the same side,
opposite this chapel, towards the east, is a chapel of
peculiar sanctity, wherein is a most holy altar dedicated
to the holy cross, and a large piece of the same blessed
wood covered with gold, silver, and jewels, is kept in a
most beauteous case, so that it can be easily seen. When
necessity requires it, the Christians are wont to carry this
holy symbol against the pagans in battle. This chapel
is also wondrously decorated with mosaics. Heraclius, the
Roman emperor, rescued this cross from Cosdre,i the king
of the Persians, during the war which he waged with him,
and restored it to the Christians. Near this chapel, on the
eastern side of it, one enters a dark chapel by about twenty
steps, wherein is a most holy altar, under the pavement
whereof may be seen the mark of a cross.- In this place
our Lord Jesus Christ is said to have been imprisoned
while He was waiting for Pilate's decision at the place of
His passion for a long time, until His face was veiled and
the cross erected on Calvary that He might be hung
thereon. Also, behind this chapel, there is an altar dedi-
cated to St. Nicholas.^ Beyond this is the gate of the
cloister through which one goes into the canons' cloister,
which stands round about the sanctuary. After one has
made the circuit of the cloisters, and is re-entering the
church from the other side of this door, one notices a figure
of Christ on the cross painted above the door of the
cloisters so vividly as to strike all beholders with great
remorse. Round it these verses are inscribed ;
^ Chosroes.
- This means, I suppose, ' in the pavement under which,' etc.
'^ Apparently on the site of the modern Chapel of St. Longinus. —
Tobler.
TIIEODERICirS DESCRIPTION. 17
' You that this way do go,
'Twas you that caused my woe;
1 suffered this for you,
For my sake vice eschew.'
X. — The CnArEL of St. Helena. — The Grotto
WHEREIN THE CROSS WAS FOUND.
To the eastward of this one goes down thirty Gteps and
more to the venerable Chapel of St. Helena the Empress;,
which is situated outside of the church itself, where there
is a holy altar dedicated to her. Hence again, on the right
hand, one descends fifteen or rather more steps into a
subterranean cave, where, on the right-hand corner of the
cave, one may see an open altar, and beneath it a cross cut
on the pavement, at which spot the empress is said to have
discovered the cross of our Lord. There is an altar there
•dedicated to St. James. This chapel has no other window
than the great opening in its roof.^
XI. — The Chapel of the Flagellation. — The Tomb
OF Duke Godfrey and of the Kings of Jeru-
salem.— The Chapel under the Campanile. —
The Chapel of John the Baptist, and its
Vicinity.
In another part of the church — that is to say, on the
'right hand, at the back of the choir — there is a fair altar,
wherein stands part of the column round which our Lord
•was tied and scourged.^ Beyond this, on the south, before
1 See ' Notes to the Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem.' John of
Wiirzburg alludes to these two chapels. Theoderich, Tobler tells us,
is the first writer who distinctly describes the Chapelof the Invention
- of the Cross.
2 This column is mentioned by Saewulf, a.d. 1102, before the
■Crusaders' church was built. See Willis's ' Church of the Holy
Sepulchre,' London, J. Parker, 1849, p. 92, note. It is shown at the
2
iS THEODERICH'S DESCRIPTION.
the door of the church, may be seen five tombs/ whereof
the one nearest to the door, which is of white marble and
costly workmanship, is that of the brother of the King of
Jerusalem, named Baldwin; and the second one is that of
King Baldwin, the brother of Duke Godfrey, whereon is
the following inscription :
' Here Baldwin lies, a second Judas Maccabee,
His country's hope, the Church's pride and strength was he j
Cedar and Egypt, Dan and Damascus insolent,
Dreaded his might, and gifts and tribute humbly sent.
Ah, well-a-day ! he lies 'neath this poor monument.'
The third tomb, beyond this, is that of his brother, Duke
Godfrey himself, who by his sword and his wisdom re-
covered the city of Jerusalem, which had been invaded by
the Saracens and Turks, and restored it to the Christians,
replaced on his throne the patriarch who had been driven
out by the infidels, established a body of clergy^ in the
church, and settled endowments upon them, that they
might be strong to fight in God's cause. The fourth tomb
is that of the father^ of the reigning king, Amalric ; the
fifth is that of the father of the Abbess of St. Lazarus.
Also on the south there is a door, through which one
enters the chapel under the Campanile ; and from it one
passes into another chapel of great sanctity, dedicated to
John the Baptist, wherein also is a font ; and from thence
one goes again into a third chapel. From the first chapel
one ascends to the street by forty steps or more.
present day in the Chapel of the Apparition, in which services ars-
neld according to the Latin rite. See Fabri, i. 287.
^ See Appendix.
- See ch. vii., note.
^ King Fulke, the father of Baldwin III. and Amalric. The fifth
*omb was that of Baldwin II., whose daughter Judith was abbess of
the convent of St. Lazarus of Bethany. His eldest daughter, Queen
Milicent, married Fulke of Anjou, who was the ancestor of our Plan-
tajrenet kin^s.
THEODERICIPS DESCRIPTION. 19
XII.— Mount Calvary.— The Outside Vestibule
BEFORE Golgotha. — The Chapel of the Cruci-
FLKioN.— The Chapel of Golgotha.— The Door
of the Church.
It remains now to speak of Mount Calvary, which shines
in the Church as doth the eye in the head ; from whence,
by the death and blood-shedding of the Son of God, h'ght
and eternal life shall be poured forth for us. Before the
entrance or door of the church, which is covered with solid
bronze and is of a double form, one mounts by about
fifteen steps to a small chamber, which is railed in and
adorned with paintings. Here, at the top of the stairs,
stand guardians watching the gate, who only allow as many
pilgrims as they choose to enter, lest by excessive pres-
sure, as often happens there, crushing or danger to life
should take place. From that vestibule one ascends by
three steps, through another door, into a chapel pre-eminent
in sanctity and holiness beyond all other places under the
sun, which chapel is formed by four arches of great
strength. Its pavement is beautifully composed of various
kinds of marble, and its vault or ceiling is most nobly deco-
rated with the prophets — that is to say, David, Solomon,
Isaiah, and some others — bearing in their hands texts
referring to Christ's Passion, wrought thereon in mosaic so
beautifully that no work under heaven could be compared
with it, if only it could be clearly seen ; for this place is
somewhat darkened by the buildings which stand round
about it. The place in which the cross stood on which the
Saviour suffered death is on the eastern side, raised on a
high step covered on the left hand side with the finest Parian
marble, and displays a round hole almost wide enough to
take in a man's head, in which it is known that the cross
2 — 2
20 THEODERICirS DESCRIPTION.
itself was fixed ; into which hole pilgrims, out of the love
and respect which they bear to Him that was crucified, are
wont to plunge their head and face. On the right hand the
Mount Calvary itself, rising up higher, displays a long,
wide, and very deep rift in the pavement, where the rock
was rent asunder when Christ died. Yawning above and
in front with a frightful cleft, it proves that the blood which
flowed from Christ's side as He hung upon the cross found
its way quite down to the earth. On the top of this rock
it is customary for pilgrims to place the crosses which they
have carried with them from their own countries ; and we
saw a great quantity of them there, all of which the
guardians of Calvary are wont to burn in the fire on Easter
Even. In that chapel there is an altar of much sanctity,
and on Good Friday the whole service for the day is cele-
brated at it by the patriarch and all the clergy. On the
wall on the left side of the altar there is a most beautiful
painting of our Lord upon the cross, with Longinus
standing on His right hand piercing His side with his
spear ; on His left Stephaton offering Him vinegar with
the sponge and reed ; with His mother also standing on
His left hand, and St. John on His right ; while two great
scrolls, covered throughout with Greek inscriptions, are
carried all round this work.
On the right hand also of the same altar a picture shows
Nicodemus and Joseph taking down the dead Christ from
the cross ; where also is the inscription, ' The Descent of
our Lord Jesus Christ from the Cross.' From hence one
descends fifteen steps into the church, and comes to the
chapel which is called Golgotha, of great sanctity, but very
dark ; at the back of which is a deep recess, which enables
the beholders to see the end of the cleft in the rock which
came down from Calvary. In that place it is said that the
blood of Christ stood, after it had run down thither through
THEODERICirs DESCRIPTION. 2r
the cleft. Moreover, above the arch which forms the
boundary of Golgotha, or, in other words, upon the west
side of Calvary, there is a picture painted upon the wall,
in which these verses may be seen in golden letters :
* This place was hallowed by Christ's blood before,
Our consecration cannot make it more ;
Howbeit, the buildings round this stone, in date
Were on July the fiflee.nh consecrate,
By Fulcher patriarch in solemn state.'^
Outside the gate of the chuich, in the space between thv-^
two doors, stands the Lord Christ in a saintly garment, as
though just risen from the dead ; while Mary Magdalene
lies prostrate at His feet, but not touching them. The
Lord holds out towards her a scroll containing these
verses :
* Woman, wherefore weep'st thou, kneeling unto Him thou seekest dead ?
Touch Me not, behold Me living, worthy to be worshipped.'
XIIL— The Chapel of the Three Maries.— The
Chapel of the Armenians. — Another Little
Chapel. — The Street and Market. — The
Church and Hospital of St. John the Baptist.
— The Church of St. Mary the Great.— The
Church of St. Mary the Latin.
As one goes out of the church towards the south, one
finds a sort of square courtyard paved with squared stone,
on the left side of which, near Golgotha, on the outside,
there is a chapel dedicated to the three Maries, which
belongs to the Latins.^ Further on towards the south
^ These verses, with the exception of the last one, are quoted by
John of Wiirzburg, ch. xiii.
* As we know that the Chapel of St. John the Baptist and of M^ry
Magdalen were on the west side of the fore court, we must look for
the chapel of the three Maries, that of the Armenians, and the ' other
little chapel ' upon the east side. — Tobler.
22 THEODERICH'S DESCRIPTION.
there is another chapel, which is in the hands of the
Armenians. Further on there is another little chapel. As
one comes out of this open space, on the left there is a
vaulted street full of goods for sale.^ Opposite to the
church is the market-place. Here, in front of the church,
stand six columns,^ with arches above them ; and here, on
the south side of the church, stands the Church and Hos-
pital of St. John the Baptist.^ As for this, no one can
credibly tell another how beautiful its buildings are, how
abundantly it is supplied with rooms and beds and other
material for the use of poor and sick people, how rich it is
in the means of refreshing the poor, and how devotedly it
labours to maintain the needy, unless he has had the
opportunity of seeing it with his own eyes. Indeed, we
passed through this palace, and were unable by any means
to discover the number of sick people lying there ; but we
saw that the beds numbered more than one thousand. It
is not every one even of the most powerful kings and
despots who could maintain as many people as that house
does every day ; and no wonder, for, in addition to its
possessions in other countries (whose sum total is not easily
to be arrived_at), the Hospitallers and the Templars have
conquered almost all the cities and villages which once
belonged to Judaea, and which were destroyed by Vespasian
and Titus, together with all their lands and vineyards ; for
they have troops stationed throughout the entire country,
and castles well fortified against the infidels. Next to this,
to the east as one stands there, comes the Church of St.
Mary,'' in which nuns, under the rule of an abbess, celebrate
Divine service daily. This place is said to have been dedi-
^ See 'The City of Jerusalem,' translated by Capt. C. R. Conder
R.E., for this series, ch. xvi.
- Their appearance, with the arches above them, probably resembled
tliat of the existing arcade at the entrance to the Harnm Area.
' Sjc John of Wiirzburij, ch. v., note. * Ibid.
THEODERICH'S DESCRIPTION.
cated to St. Mary because, while our Saviour was beinrr
maltreated on the way to His Passion, she is said to have
been shut up by His command in a chamber which then
stood upon that spot. Moreover, there closely follows
another church on the east of this, which is also dedicated
to our Lady, because while our Lord v/as enduring such
suffering for our salvation, she fainted from excess of
sorrow, and was carried by men's hai.Tds thither into a sub-
terranean grotto, where in the indulgence of her grief she
tore her hair from her head, which hair is preserved to this
day in a glass vessel in that church. There is also in this
church the head of St. Philip the Apostle, lavishly adorned
with gold ; and the arm of St. Simeon the Apostle, and the
arm of St. Cyprian the bishop. In this church monks
serve God under a rule and under the orders of an
abbot.i
XIV. — The Temple of the Lord : the Courtyard,
THE Stairs. — The Subterranean Grotto. — The
Great Pool. — The Houses. — The Gardens. — The
School of St. Mary. — The Great Stone. — The
Cloister and Conventual Buildings of the
Clergy, and the other Pools.
Hence by a street which bends a little towards the south
one comes through the Beautiful Gat3 cf the Temple to
the Temple of the Lord, crossing about the middle of the
city ; where one mounts from the lower court to the upper
one by twenty-two steps, and from the upper court one
enters the Temple. In front of these same steps in the
lower court there are twenty-five steps or more, leading
^ For the position of these convents see Williams's ' Memoir on
Jerusalem,' London, J. W. Parker, pp. 17, 18 ; and Tobler's elaborate
note on this passage. See also his note on Innominatus I., ch. ii.
-24 THEODERICH'S DESCRIPTION.
down into a great pool,^ from which it is said there is a
subterranean connection with the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre, through which the holy fire which is miracu-
lously lighted in that church on Easter Even is said to be
brought underground to the Temple of the Lord. In this
pool victims which were to be offered in the Temple of
the Lord were washed according to the precepts of the
law. Now, the outer court is twice as large, or more, than
the inner court, which, like the outer one, is paved with
broad and large stones. Two sides of the outer court
exist to this day ; the other two have been taken for the
use of the canons,^ and the Templars, who have built
houses and planted gardens on them. On the western
side one ascends to the upper court by two ranges of steps>
and in like manner on the southern side. Over the steps,
before which we said that the pool is situated, there stand
four columns with arches above them, and there, too, is the
sepulchre of some rich man, surrounded by an iron grille,
and beautifully carved in alabaster. On the right, also,
above the steps on the south side, there stand in like
manner four columns, and on the left three. On the
eastern side also there are fifteen double steps, by which
one mounts up to the Temple through the Golden Gate,
according to the number of which the Psalmist composed
fifteen psalms, and above these also stand columns.
Besides this, on the south side above the two angles of the
inner court, stand two small dwellings, whereof that
towards the west is said to have been the school of the
Blessed Virgin. Now, between the Temple and the two
^ * In Templo Domini Abbas est et Canonici regulares. Et est
sciendum, quod aliud est Templum Domini, aliud Templum militiae,
illi clerici sunt, isti milites.' — ' Brocardi Descriptio Teirae Sanctae,'
A.D. 1230.
^ This account agrees materially, though not in detail, with that
given by John of Wiirzburg, ch. iv.
TIIEODERICirS DESCRIPTION.
sides of the outer court — that is to say, the eastern and
the southern sides — there stands a great stone like an
altar, which, according to some traditions, is the mouth of
some pools of water which exist there ; but, according to
the belief of others, point out the place where Zacharias,
the son of Barachias, was slain. On the northern side
are the cloister and conventual buildings of the clergy.
Round about the Temple itself there are great pools of
water under the pavement. Between the Golden Gate
and the fifteen steps there stands an ancient and ruined
cistern, wherein in old times victims were washed before
they were offered.
XV.— The Description of the Temple: the Place
WHERE Christ was presented, and where
Jacob saw the Ladder.
The Temple itself is evidently of an octagonal shape in
its lower part. Its lower part is ornamented as far as the
middle with most glorious marbles, and from the middle
up to the topmost border, on which the roof rests, is most
beauteously adorned with mosaic work. Now, this border,
which reaches round the entire circuit of the Temple,
contains the following inscription, which, starting from the
front, or west door, must be read according to the way of
the sun as follows : On the front, ' Peace be unto this
house for ever, from the Father Eternal' On the second
side, ' The Temple of the Lord is holy ; God careth for it ;
God halloweth it.' On the third side, ' This is the house ;
of the Lord, firmly built' On the fourth side, ' In the
house of the Lord all men shall tell of His glory.' On the ;
fifth, * Blessed be the glory of the Lord out of His holy
place.' On the sixth, ' Blessed are they which dwell in
Thy house, O Lord.' On the seventh, ' Of a truth the
TIIEODERICirS DESCRIPTION.
Lord is in His holy place, and I knew it not.' On the
eighth, 'The house of the Lord is well built upon a firm
rock.' Besides this, on the eastern side over against the
Church of St. James^ there is a column represented in the
wall in mosaic work, above which is the inscription, *The
Roman Column.* The upper wall forms a narrower circle,
resting on arches within the building, and supports a
leaden roof, which has on its summit a great ball with a
gilded cross above it. Four doors lead into and out of the
building, each door looking to one of the four quarters of
the world. The church rests upon eight square piers and
sixteen columns, and its walls and ceilings are magnifi-
cently adorned with mosaics. The circuit of the choir
contains four main pillars, or piers, and eight columns,
which support the inner wall, with its own lofty vaulted
roof. Above the arches of the choir a scroll extends all
round the building, bearing this text : ' " My house shall
be called the house of prayer," saith the Lord. In it who-
soever asks, receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him
who knocks shall be opened. Ask, and ye shall receive ;
seek, and ye shall find.' In an upper circular scroll simi-
larly placed round the building is the text : * Have Thou
respect unto the prayer of Thy servant, and to his suppli-
cation, O Lord my God, that Thine eyes may be open and
Thine ears turned towards this house night and day. Look
down, O Lord, from Thy sanctuary and from the highest
heaven. Thy dwelling-place.'^
At the entrance to the choir there is an altar dedicated
to St. Nicholas, enclosed in an iron enclosure, which has
on its upper part a border containing this inscription : in
^ The little mosque now called the Kubbet es-Silslle, or ' Dome of
the Chain ' (see Edrisi s. v.), was called ' The Chapel of St. James' by
the Ciusaders.
I Kings viii. 28 sqq.
THEODERICH'S DESCRIPTION.
front, 'In the year iioi, in the fourth indiction, Epact li,'
and on the left side, ' From the taking of Antioch 63 years,
from the taking of Jerusalem 53.' On the right side,
*From the taking of Tripoli 52 years, from the taking of
Berytus 51 years, from the taking of Ascalon 11 years.'
Moreover, there is a place towards the east at the side
of the choir which is surrounded by an iron enclosure with
doors, and which is worthy of the greatest reverence,
seeing it was there that our Lord Jesus Christ was pre-
sented by His parents when He was brought to the
Temple with an offering on the fortieth day after His
birth. At the entrance of the Temple the aged Simeon
took Him in his arms and carried Him to the place of
presentation, in front of which place these verses are in-
scribed :
'The Virgin's child, the King of kings, was offered here ;
This place we therefore deck with presents and revere.*
Near this place, at scarcely a cubit's distance, is the
stone which the patriarch Jacob placed under his head,
upon which he slept when he saw the ladder reaching up
to heaven, by which the angels were ascending and de-
scending, and said, ' Of a truth the Lord is in this place,
and I knew it not.' In front of this place are the following
verses :
'Jacob, with body resting, but with mind awake,
Here saw the ladder, and his altar here did make.'^
■^ These lines appear to be an incorrect version of those given by
John of Wiirzburg, ch. iv. They are quoted in nearly the same words
by Innominatus VII.
28 THEODERICirS DESCRIPTION.
XVI. — The CriAPEL of St. James without the Temi-le.
— The Place therein where our Lord was
questioned about the Middle of the World.
—Where Ezekiel saw the Waters. — The Crypt
under the Choir. — The Windows. — The High
Altar. — The History (of the Temple).
Hence, through the eastern gate, one enters the Chapel
of St. James the Apostle, the brother of our Lord, who was
murdered by the impious Jews by being cast down from
the pinnacle of the Temple, and his skull broken with
a fuller's club, and was first buried in the valley of
Josaphat near the Temple, but was afterwards translated
hither by the faithful with all honour, as became him, and
placed in a sepulchre, above which is written the following
epitaph :
' Say, stone and grave, what king's bones here find room ?
Saint James the Just : he lies within this tomb.'
The chapel itself is round, being wide below and narrow
above, supported by eight columns, and excellently adorned
with paintings. As we return from it by the same door, on
the left hand, behind the jamb of the door, there is a place,
5 feet in length and breadth, whereon our Lord stood
when He was asked where He was in Jerusalem, which
they assert is placed in the middle of the world, and He
answered, 'This place is called Jerusalem.' Also behind
the same door, on the opposite site to the afore-mentioned
place, that is, on the northern side, there is another place
which contains those waters which the prophet Ezekiel saw
flowing down from under the Temple on the right side.^ As
we return into the great church, on the south side near the
choir, indeed, underneath the choir, there is a door through
which, down about forty- five steps, one enters the crypt,
' Ezek. xlvii. i, 2.
THEODERICirS DESCRIPTION.
whither the Scribes and Pharisees brought the woman
taken in adultery to the Lord Jesus and accused her,
whose sins the holy Master forgave and acquitted her.
In memory of this, indulgences are granted to pilgrims
at this place. The church itself has in its lower story
thirty-six windows, and in its upper story fourteen, which,
added together, make fifty, and it is dedicated to our Lady,
St. Mary, to whom also the high altar is consecrated. The
church itself is said to have been built by the Empress St.
Helena and her son the Emperor Constantine.
Let us consider how many times, and by whom, the
Temple has been built or destroyed. As we read in
the Book of Kings, King Solomon first built the Temple
by Divine command at a great expense — not in a round
form, as we see it at this day, but oblong. This Temple
lasted until the time of Sedechia, King of Judah, who was
taken by Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, and led away
captive into Babylonia, and with him Judah and Benjamin
were likewise made captive and led away into the country
of the Assyrians. Shortly afterwards Nabuzardan his
steward came to Jerusalem with an army and burned both
the Temple and the city; and this is the first destruction of
the Temple. After seventy years of captivity the children of
Israel returned to the land of Judah, led by Zorobabel and
Esdras, by the favour and permission of Cyrus, the King of
the Persians, and they rebuilt the same Temple in the same
place, and adorned it to the best of their ability. In re-
building the Temple and the city they worked, it is said,
holding a stone in one hand and a sword in the other,
because of the continual assaults of the Gentiles who lived
round about them. So, then, this was the second building
of the Temple. Afterwards the city, as may be read
in the Book of Maccabees, though not entirely destroyed
by Antiochus, King of Syria, yet was for the most part laid
30 THEODERICH'S DESCRIPTION.
in ruins, the ornaments of the Temple utterly destroyed,
the sacrifices forbidden, the walls broken down, and the
Temple, as well as the city, made, as it were, into a
wilderness. After this, Judas Maccabeus, and his brethren,
by God's help, put Antiochus to flight, drove his generals
out of Judaea, and rebuilt and restored the Temple, replaced
the altar, and instituted sacrifices and offerings as of old by
regular priests. This was the third building of the Temple,
and it remained until the time of Herod, who, we are told
by Josephus, although the Jews deny it, razed this Temple
to the ground and built another greater one of more
elaborate workmanship. This was the fourth building of
the Temple, which endured until the days of Titus and
Vespasian, who took the whole country by storm, and
overthrew both the city and Temple to their very founda-
tions. This was the fourth destruction of the Temple.
After this, as has been said a little way before, the Temple
which we now behold was built by the Empress Helena
and her son the Emperor Constantine, in honour of our
Lord Jesus Christ and of His holy Mother. This was the
fifth restoration of the Temple.
XVn. — The Palace of Solomon.^ — The House and
Stables of the Templars. — Thehi Gardens,
THEIR Stores of Wood and Water, their
Granaries and Refectories, their New and
Old Hall, and their New Church.
Next comes, on the south, the palace of Solomon, which is
oblong, and supported by columns within like a church, and
at the end is round like a sanctuary and covered by a great
^ 'There is also another immense temple besides the Dome of the
Rock, and it is from this, the Temple of Solomon, not from the
Temple of the Lord, that the Templars take their name.'— Jacques de
Vitry, 'History of Jerusalem,' book i.
THEODERICH'S DESCRIPTION.
31
round dome, so that, as I have said, it resembles a church.^
This building, with all its appurtenances, has passed into the
hands of the Knights Templars, who dwell in it and in the
other buildings connected with it, having many magazines
of arms, clothing, and food in it, and are ever, on the watch
to guard and protect the country. They have below them
stables for horses built by King Solomon himself in the days
of old, adjoining the palace,^ a wondrous and intricate build-
ing resting on piers and containing an endless complication
of arches and vaults, which stable, we declare, according to
our reckoning, could take in ten thousand horses with their
grooms. No man could send an arrow from one end
of their building to the other, either lengthways or
crossways, at one shot with a Balearic bow. Above it
abounds with rooms, solar chambers, and buildings suitable
for all manner of uses. Those who walk upon the roof of
it find an abundance of gardens, courtyards, ante-chambers,
vestibules, and rain-water cisterns ; while down below it con-
tains a wonderful number of baths, storehouses, granaries,
and magazines for the storage of wood and other needful
provisions. On another side of the palace, that is to say, on
the western side, the Templars have erected a new building.
I could give the measurements of its height, length, and
breadth of its cellars, refectories, staircases, and roof, rising
with a high pitch, unlike the flat roofs of that country ; but
even if I did so, my hearers would hardly be able to believe
me. They have built a new cloister there in addition to
the old one which they had in another part of the building.
Moreover, they are laying the foundations of a new church
of wonderful size and workmanship in this place, by the
^ See the translation of Procopius, * De ^dificiis,' in this series,
book v., ch. vi, and Appendix I. ; also John of Wiirzburg, ch. v., note 2^
- John of Wiirzburg (ch. v.) declares that these stables could hold
more than two thousand horses or fifteen hundred camels. See
* Notes to the Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem.'
THEODERICH'S DESCRIPTION.
side of the great court.^ It is not easy for anyone to gain
an idea of the power and wealth of the Templars — for they
and the Hospitallers have taken possession of almost all
the cities and villages with which Judaea was once enriched,
which were destroyed by the Romans, and have built
castles everywhere and filled them with garrisons, besides
the very many and, indeed, numberless estates which they
are well known to possess in other lands.
XVIII. — The Ancient Walls round the Temple. —
The Ruins op^ Antonia. — Moria. — The Church
OF the Bath, or of the Manger of our Lord.
— The House of Simeon the Just.
Now, the city wall on the southern and eastern sides
surrounds all their dwellings, but on the west and the
north a wall built by Solomon encloses not only their
houses, but also the outer court and the Temple itself. On
the north side of the court one wall and one gate remain
entire among the ruins of Antonia which Herod built.
The hill itself on which the Temple stands was in ancient
times called Moria, and upon it David saw the angel of the
Lord smiting the people with an unsheathed sword, when
he said to the Lord, ' Lo, I have sinned, and I have done
wickedly ; but these sheep, what have they done .-' Let
Thine hand, I pray Thee, be against me, and against my
father's house.'- On this hill was the threshing-floor of
Araunah the Jebusite, which David bought of him to build
a house for the Lord. Here by a postern there is a
narrow way between the eastern wall of the city and the
garden of the Templars, whereby one comes to the most
holy church which is called the Church of the Bath, or of
the Manger of the Lord our Saviour. In it the cradle of
^ See John of Wiirzburg, ch. v., note 2. This church was destroyed
by Saladin. ^ 2 Sam. xxiv. 17.
THEODERICH'S DESCRIPTION. 1%
the Lord Christ is worshipped, which cradle stands in a
place of honour at the east end on a high wall in front of a
window. On the south side one sees a great basin made
of stone lying on the ground, in which it is known that he
was bathed as a child ; and on the north side is the bed of
our I.ady, on which she lay while she suckbd her child at
her breast. One descends into this church by about fifty
steps, and it once was the house of the just Simeon, who
rests therein in peace.
XIX.— The Bathing-pool of Siloe.
As one goes southwards from this church or from the
angle of the city itself, down the sloping side of the hill,
along the outwork which the Templars have built to
protect their houses and cloister, where also in ancient
times the city itself stood, a little path leads to the
bathing-pool of Siloe, which we are told is so called
because the water of that fountain comes thither by an
underground course from Mount Silo. This appears to
me to be doubtful, because our mount, on which the city
stands, and several other mountains, lie between them, and
no valley leads directly from the mountain to the pool, nor
is it possible that there can be an underground passage
through such great mountains because of the distance; for
Mount Silo is two miles distant from the city. Wherefore,
without pronouncing any decision upon this point, let us
tell our hearers that which we know to be true. We
declare it to be the truth, that the water bubbles up out of
the earth like a fountain, and that after filling the pool and
running down to another pool close by, it appears no more.
One descends into the pool by thirteen steps, and round
about it are piers bearing arches, under which a paved
walk has been constructed all round it, made of large
stones, upon which those who stand can drink the waters
3
34 THEODERICH'S DESCRIPTION:
as they run down.^ The second pool is square, and
surrounded by a simple wall. This bathing-pool was once
within the city, but is now far outside it ; for the city has
lost almost twice as much in this direction as it has gained
in the parts near the holy sepulchre.
XX. — Bethany.— Bethphage.— The Golden Gate,
WITH ITS Chapel.
Now, we ought to arrange the course of our account
according to the Passion of Christ, who by His grace
permits us so to partake of His sufferings that we may be
able thereby to partake of His kingdom hereafter. A
mile from Jerusalem is Bethany, where stood the house of
Simon the leper, and of Lazarus and his sisters Mary and
Martha, where our Lord was frequently received as a
guest.2 Bethany stands near the valley of Olives, in which
the mount ends towards the east. So on Palm Sunday
our dearest Lord Jesus Christ set out from Bethany, came
to Bethphage, which place is half-way between Bethany
and the Mount of Olives, and where now a fair chapel has
been built in His honour,^ and sent two of His disciples to
fetch the ass and her colt. He stood upon a great stone
which may be seen in the chapel, and sitting upon the ass
went over the Mount of Olives to Jerusalem, and was met
by a great crowd as He descended the side of the
1 See the Bordeaux Pilgrim in this series, Appendix iii.
- See John of Wuizburg, ch. vi. He does not mention any church
or convent at Bethany. We know, however, that there was a convent
at Bethany dedicated to St. Lazarus, of which Judith, one of King
Fulke's daughters, was abbess. See John of Wiirzburg, ch. xi., and
Theoderich, xxviii. There was a church of St. Mary Magdalen in
Bethany, which once had been the house of Simon the Leper. See
Tobler's note.
^ John of Wiirzburg says (ch. vi.) : ' Between this Bethany and the
top of the Mount of Olives, about half-way, was Bethphage, a village
of priests, traces of which still remain in two stone towers, one of which
is a church.'
THEODERICWS DESCRIPTION. 35
■mountain. He went on, beyond the valley of Josaphat
and the brook Cedron until He arrived at the Golden
Gate, which is twofold. As He approached it, one of the
doors opened of itself, for the bolt fell out, and, violently
drawing out its ring, made the other door fly open with a
loud noise : wherefore a chapel has been consecrated in
honour of it, wherein this ring, which is covered with
gilding, is regarded with great reverence. The gate itself
is never opened except on Palm Sunday and on the day of
the Exaltation of the Cross,i because the Emperor Hera-
clius passed through it with a large piece of the wood
of the cross which he had been brought from Persia. Our
Lord entered into the Temple that same day, and remained
there teaching every day until the fourth day of the week
XXI. — Peter's Prison.
With Him, therefore, I wish to ascend on to Mount Sion,
and behold what He did after this ; but, first, I wish to be
imprisoned with Peter, that with him I may be taught by
Christ not to deny Him, but to pray. On the way by
which men go from the Temple to Mount Sion they pass a
fair chapel, wherein, at a great depth beneath the earth,
seeing that one descends twenty steps and more in order
to enter it, is that prison in which Herod the younger
bound St. Peter, and from which the angel of the Lord led
Jiim forth.2 At the entrance of this chapel these verses are
inscribed :
'Arise, put on thy cloke, Peter, thy chains are broke ;
Arise and leave this place, set free by Heaven's grace.'
• O now I know indeed from prison I am freed ;
Christ's love to me be praised, that me from bonds hath saved.'
^ September 14.
2 John of Wiirzburg (ch. xvi.) describes this chapel, and tells us that
he celebrated Mass there on St. Peter's Day (August i). He quotes
the verses without any variation.
3—2
36 THEODERICH'S DESCRIPTION.
XXII.— Mount Sion. — St. Mary's Church. — The
Place where she died. — The Room of the Last-
Supper. — The Place where the Holy Ghost
CAME DOWN. — Where Christ washed the.
Apostles' Feet. — Where Thomas felt the.
Lord's Wounds. — The Tomb of St. Stephen.
The Mount Sion, which stands to the southward, being-
for the most part without the city walls, contains the
church dedicated to our Lady, St. Mary, which is well
fortified with walls, towers, and battlements against the
assaults of the infidels, wherein regular monks serve God
under an abbot.^ When you enter it you will find in the
middle apse, on the left hand, the holy place whereat our
Lord Jesus Christ received the soul of His beloved Mother,
our blessed Lady, Mary, and raised it to heaven. This
work is square below, and above round, supporting a dome.
By about thirty steps on the right hand one mounts into
the upper chamber,^ which is situated in the extremity of
the apse. Here may be seen the table at which our Lord
supped with His disciples, and after the departure of the
traitor gave to those disciples 'His mystical body and
blood. In this same upper chamber, at a distance of more-
than 30 feet to the southward of that place, there stands
an altar in the place where the Holy Ghost descended upon
the Apostles. From hence one descends by as many steps
as one ascended, and sees in the chapel beneath the upper
chamber the stone basin, built into the wall, wherein the
Saviour washed the feet of the Apostles in that place ;
where close by, on the right hand, there stands an altar in
^ ' In ecclesia Montis Sion est Abbas et Canonici regulares.' He
was a mitred abbot. ' Brocardi DescriptioTerrae Sanctae,' a.d. 1230.
- Compare the descriptions given by John of Wiirzburg (ch. vii.), the
* City of Jerusalem' (ch. i.), the Abbot Daniel (ch. xli.), and Phocas.
THEODERICWS DESCRIPTION. 37
the place where Thomas felt the Lord's side after His
resurrection, which for this cause is called the Altar of the
Finger. From this place one passes through a kind of
anteroom round the sanctuary of the church, and finds on
the left-hand side thereof a holy altar, beneath which,
without doubt, the body of St. Stephen, the proto-martyr,
was buried by John, Bishop of Jerusalem — which body, we
read in history, was afterwards translated by the Emperor
Theodosius from Constantinople to Rome, it having been
first translated from Jerusalem to Constantinople by the
Empress Helena. Before the choir a column of precious
marble stands near the wall, and simple-minded people
are wont to make the circuit of it.
XXni. — The Brook Cedron. — Gethsemane. — St.
Mary's Church. — The Chapel of the Sepul-
chre.— The Little Chapel on the Stairs. — The
Legend about a Jew who wished to drag away
THE Body of the Blessed Mary.
From hence after His supper the Lord went out across
the brook Cedron, where there was a garden. The brook
Cedron passes through the midst of the valley of Josaphat.
In the place where that garden was the church of St.
Mary, with its conventual buildings, has been founded,
wherein her own body was buried. Through a porch one
descends by more than forty steps into a crypt, in which
her holy sepulchre stands, covered with most costly decora-
tions of marble and mosaic work. At the entrance to this
crypt these two verses are written :
*Ye heirs of life, come praise our Queen, to whom
Our life we owe, who hath revoked our doom.'^
^ These and the following verses are quoted by John of Wiirzburg.
38 THEODERICH'S DESCRIPTION.
This sepulchre has around it twenty columns, carrying-
arches, a border,^ and a roof above it. On the border itself
are inscribed these verses :
*From hence, from Jos'phat's vale, a path leads to the sky !
The Virgin here, God's trusting handmaid, once did lie ;
Spotless, from hence she rose, to her heaven's gate did ope,
Poor sinners' Light and Way, their Mother and their Hope.'
Moreover, the roof has a round dome above it, supported
by six pairs of columns, with a ball and cross above it, and
between each pair of these little columns all round the
dome there hangs a lamp. One enters the sepulchre from
the western side, and leaves it on the northern side. Her
Assumption is excellently painted on the ceiling above»
which contains this sentence under a straight line : * Mary
hath been taken up into heaven; the angels rejoice and
bless our Lady, singing her praises.* Round the sanctuary
of the church itself also runs a scroll, containing this in-
scription : ' The Holy Mother of God hath been exalted
to the Kingdom of Heaven, above the choir of angels. *^
From hence one ascends into the church by as many steps
as one descended by into the crypt. The church itself and
all the conventual building connected with it are strongly
fortified with high walls, strong towers, and battlements
against the treacherous attacks of the infidels, and has
many cisterns around it. As one goes out of the crypt
one sees a very small chapel placed on the steps them-
selves. In the church, also, the Syrians have an altar of
their own. Also on the ceiling above the steps by which
one descends into the crypt the Assumption of our Lady
is shown in a painting, wherein her beloved Son, our Lord.
Jesus Christ, is present with a multitude of angels, and
^ Limbtis. This word is used very loosely by our author. Here it
seems to mean a 'tambour,' extending round the church above the
arches, and carrying the upper range of columns with the dome.
THEODERICH'S DESCRIPTION. 39
having received her soul, is bearing it away into heaven,
while the Apostles stand by in deep sorrow and devotedly
minister to her. When her body is placed upon its most
holy bier, a Jew is trying to pull away the covering which
veils it, and an angel is cutting off both his hands with a
sword ; his hands are falling upon the ground, and the stumps
remain on his body. For there is a tradition that when
our Lady's soul had departed from her body on Mount
Sion, as has been told in former chapters, and the holy
Apostles had reverently placed her most blessed body
upon a bier, and were carrying it along the road leading
towards the east, outside the city wall, to bury it in the
valley of Josaphat, the Jews, among whom the burning
hatred and envy with which they had so long persecuted
her Son was not yet extinct, met it with the intention of
offering some insult to it ; and one of them, bolder and
unluckier than the rest, came up to the litter on which her
holy body lay, and endeavoured with wicked audacity to
tear away the veil with which it was covered ; but the
merits of the blessed Virgin Mary and the vengeance of
Heaven severely punished his rashness, for both his hands
and arms withered, which struck terror into the rest and
caused them to flee swiftly away.
XXIV. — The Church of Gethsemane. — The Church
OF the Prayers (of our Saviour). — The High
Place where the Patriarch blesses the Palm
Branches. — The Way by which our Lord was
led Captive.
As you journey from thence to the southward, towards
the Mount of Olives, you meet with a church of no small
size, called Gethsemane,^ into which our Saviour entered
^ The village of Gethsemane is mentioned by Abbot Daniel (xx.),
and by John of Wlirzburg (xviii.). No trace of it remains at the present,
day.
4o THEODERICH'S DESCRIPTION.
when He came out of the garden with His disciples, and
said to them, 'Sit ye here, while I go hither and pray.'^
So as soon as you enter it you find a holy altar, and on the
Jeft hand you enter into a subterranean grotto, and find
four places marked, in each of which three of the Apostles
lay and fell asleep. There is also on the left a great rock
at the angle of the entrance to the grotio, upon which
Christ pressed His fingers, leaving six^ holes imprinted on
it. Indeed, a little higher up, towards the Mount of Olives,
He offered up three prayers, in a place where now a new
church is being built.^ The place of one of these prayers
is in the left-hand apse, that of another in the midst of the
choir, and that of the third in the right-hand apse. In the
space intervening between Gcthsemane and the places of
the prayers, on the side of the Mount of Olives, where the
crowds met our Lord with palm-branches, there is a high
place built up of stones, where on Palm Sunday the palm-
Branches are blessed by the patriarch. It was near these
places that, while Jesus was trembling and falling, Judas
came with lanterns and torches and arms, and the officers
of the Jews arrested Him, led Him away, and brought Him
to the hall of the chief priest, or of Caiaphas. After they
had mocked Him there all night, they brought Him in the
morning before Pilate, His judge.
- St. Mark xiv. 32.
"^ John of Wurzburg says 'five.'
^ This account reads as though there were two churches. John of
Wiirzburg (viii.) speaks only of the Chapel of the Agony, and the 'new
rliurch enclosing the place where our Lord prayed, in whose flooring
(.and out three unwrought stones,' etc.
THEODERICH'S DESCRIPTION. 41
XXV. — The Pavement^ on Mount Sion. — The
Chapel of our Lord, with the Column of
THE Scourging. — The Church of Galilee. —
The Grotto into which Peter fled.— The
Via Dolorosa.
After he had asked Him many questions, Pilate caused
Him to be led to the judgment hall, and sat down, by-
way of a judgment-scat, in the place which is called the
Pavement, which place is situated in front of the Church
of St. Mary, on Mount Sion, in a high place near the city
wall. Here is a holy chapel dedicated to our Lord Jesus
Christ, wherein stands a great part of the column round
which the Lord was bound by Pilate and ordered to be
scourged, after He had been condemned by him to be
crucified ; and there pilgrims in imitation of Him are wont
to be scourged. In front of the church, on a stone cut in
the likeness of a cross, these words are inscribed : * This
place is called the " Pavement," and here the Lord was
judged.' Beyond this, towards the east on the right hand,
one descends from another part of the street down fifty
steps to the church called Galilee,^ where are kept two
links of the chain with which St. Peter was bound.
Further on, on the left-hand side of the altar, one descends
by about sixty steps into a very dark subterranean grotto^
into which St. Peter fled after his denial of Christ, and hid
himself in the corner of it. There he is depicted sitting,
^ Tobler's admirable note makes it abundantly clear that in the
time of Theoderich, in the last days of the Frankish kingdom of
Jerusalem, the house of Pilate, the Praetorium, and the prison had been
confused with one another.
2 It was also called ' Gallicantus,' or ' In Gallicantu,' though this
name properly belonged to the Grotto of the Cock-crowing within
the church. Abbot Daniel (xlii.) says that thirty-two steps led down to
this grotto. See John of Wiirzburg, ch. ix.
42 THEODERICH'S DESCRIPTION.
resting his head upon his hands, while he weeps over his
holy Masters sufferings and his own denial of Him, while
the servant-maid threateningly presses on him, and the
cock stands and crows before his feet. This church is in
the hands of the Armenians.^ From hence our Lord was
led round about the city wall, where then there were
gardens and now are houses, and was crucified.^ For, as
the Apostle says, 'Our Lord suffered without the gate.'
Now, according to the best of our ability, we have told
what we learned with our own eyes about Christ and His
holy places. We shall now tell what is known about His
friends and about other places. After this we shall tell of
some things which were seen by ourselves, and some which
were related to us by others.
XXVL— The Palace of Pilate.— The Church of
St. Anne. — The Pool of the Sheep-gate.— The
Church and Dwellings of the Lepers.— The
Great Cistern of the Hospitallers.— The
Church of St. Stephen.— The Hospice at the
Gate of St. Lazarus.— The Church of St.
Chariton.
By the side of the street which leads to the eastern gate
near the Golden Gate, beyond the house or palace of Pilate,
which we have already said adjoins the same street, stands
the Church of St. Anne, the mother of our Lady, St. Mary,
to whose tomb one descends into a subterranean grotto
by about twenty steps. Therein nuns serve God under the
rule of an abbess. He who goes on to its northern side
will find the Sheep-pool, which lies in a deep valley near a
1 John of Wiirzburg (ch. ix.) calls them Greeks.
2 The topographical points raised in this sentence are too complex
for discussion in a note. The chief authorities will be found in the
'Dictionary of the Bible,' art. 'Jerusalem.'
THEODERICH'S DESCRIPTION. 43
rocky hill, crowned by some ancient building. This pool,
as we are told in the Gospel, has five porticos, in the
furthest of which stands the altar. Whosoever makes the
circuit of the city walls, beginning his journey at the Tower
of David, will find at the western angle of the city the
church and dwellings of the lepers^ which are handsome,
and kept in good order. Passing by the great cistern of
the Hospitallers, before you reach the northern gate, you
find, upon a hill, the Church of St. Stephen,^ the proto-
martyr, who, when he was cast out of that gate and stoned
by the Jews, saw the heavens opened in that place. In the
midst of the church there is a place raised on steps en-
closed by an iron railing, in the midst of which is a holy
altar of a hollow form, which stands at the place where he
was stoned, and where the heavens opened above him.
This church is subject to the Abbot of St. Mary the Latin
At the gate itself stands a venerable hospice, which in
Greek is called a xenodochium. When you have gone some
distance along this road,^ taking the road to the left,
towards the east, you will find a church belonging to the
Armenians,^ wherein a saint named Chariton reposes, whose
bones are covered with flesh, as though he were alive.
XXVII. — The Mount of Olives.— The Church of
OUR Saviour'' (or of the Ascension).— The
Little Church of St. Pelagia. — The Pater
NosTER Church.
After this, as the time and hour of His ascension was
drawing near, our Lord climbed the Mount of Olives, stood
1 See Abbot Daniel, Appendix I.
- See John of Wiirzburg, ch. xvi.
* John of Wiirzburg calls them * Syriana'
^ * In ecclesia Montis Oliveti est Abbas et monachi nigri,' * Brocardi
Descriptio Terrae Sanctae,' a.d. 1230. He, as well as the Abbot of
Mount Sion, of the Temple, was a mitred abbot.
44 THEODERICirS DESCRIPTION.
there upon a great stone, and, in the sight of his Apostles,
and graciously bestowing upon them His blessing, ascended
into heaven. Now, the Mount of Olives, as we have
already said, is the highest of all the mountains which sur-
round the city. It abounds with fruits of all kinds, and
contains on its topmost point a church of the highest
sanctity dedicated to our Saviour. Indeed, in those parts
no consecration, beyond the height^ of the mountain itself,
is wont to be bestowed upon the places which have been
glorified by the presence of our Lord. One ascends into
the church by twenty great steps ; in the midst of the
church there stands a round structure, magnificently
decorated with Parian marble and blue marble, with a
lofty apex, in the midst whereof a holy altar is placed,
beneath which altar is to be seen the stone on which the
Lord is said to have stood when He ascended into heaven.
In the church Divine service is performed by canons. It is
strongly fortified against the infidels with towers both great
and small, with walls and battlements and night patrols.
As one comes out of the church one comes upon a little
church on the western side thereof, which is dark, being in
a subterranean grotto. When one has descended twenty-
five steps into this, one beholds, in a large stone coffin, the
body of St. Pelagia,- who ended her life immured there in
the service of God. Also on the west, beside the road
which leads to Bethany, on the side of the Mount of Olives,
there is a church of great sanctity, on the place where the
Saviour sat when He was asked by His disciples how they
ought to pray, and taught them to pray, saying, 'Our
Father which art in heaven,' This He wrote for them
with His own hand. This writing is under the altar itself,
so that pilgrims may kiss it. From the middle of the
^ Text probably corrupt. — A. S.
* The legend of St. Pelagia is recounted by Fabri, vol. i.
THEODERICH'S DESCRIPTION.
45
church, also, a way leads down about thirty steps into a
subterranean grotto, in which the Lord is said to have
often sat and taught His disciples.
XXVIII. — Bethany. — The Church of St. Lazarus. —
The Church of Mary and Martha.— The Red
Cistern, with its Castle. — The Garden of
Abraham. — The Towers and House there.
So having finished Jerusalem, which in my story has the
same importance that the head has in the body, I must now
put in the other places and, as it were, limbs of this body.
Next comes Bethany, which also is fortified not less
by the nature of the ground than by the strength of the
works there. Here is a holy double church, one part
whereof is glorified by the body of St. Lazarus, whom our
Lord raised from the dead on the fourth day, and who ruled
the church at Jerusalem for fifteen years ; the other by
the remains of his sisters, Mary and Martha. Nuns serve
God there under an abbess. Here our Lord and Saviour
was frequently entertained as a guest. To the eastward,
beyond Bethany, at a distance of four miles from Jerusalem,
there stands on a mountain the Red Cistern, with a chapel
attached to it. Into this cistern Joseph is said to have
been thrown by his brethren.^ Here the Templars have
built a strong castle.^ More than three miles further on
is the garden of Abraham, in a beauteous plain near the
Jordan, being half a mile from it. Its twofold extent^
includes a great plain watered by a beauteous brook.
^ John of Wiirzburg (ch. ii.) places this cistern on the plain of
Dothaim, between Genon and Sebaste, or Samaria.
2 Tobler has an interesting note on this passage. He is unable with
certainty to identify this site with that of the Templars' Bourg
Maledoin, which may either have been here or on the summit of
Quarantana.
^ The text here seems to be corrupt.
46 THEODERICirS DESCRIPTION.
The width of this plain extends as far as the Jordan,
and its length reaches down as far as the Dead Sea ; it
has soil fit for growing all manner of fruit, and abounds
in wood, which, however, is prickly like thistles. We saw
the garden itself, full of trees bearing innumerable apples,^
but of a small size ; and we also saw ripe barley there on
the Monday after Palm Sunday.
Many towers and large houses are possessed there by
the power of the Templars, whose practice, as also that of
the Hospitallers, is to escort pilgrims who are going to the
Jordan, and to watch that they be not injured by the
Saracens either in going or returning, or while passing the
night there.
[Tobler conjectures that here occurs a considerable lacuna
in the text]
XXIX. — ^The Jordan. — ^The Mount Quarantana. —
The Fountain of Elisha.
A mile distant from hence is the Jordan, which, running
in a winding and twisting stream along the mountains
of Arabia, pours itself into the Dead Sea, and thereafter
appears no more. Between the Red Cistern and the afore-
said valley lies a frightful wilderness, into which our Lord
Jesus was brought that He might be tempted by the devil.
At the end of this wilderness is a terrible mountain, very
lofty, and so precipitous as to be almost inaccessible,*
which, while it rears its huge peak above, yawns with a
deep and gloomy valley below. This place the laity call
Quarantana, and we may call Quadragena, because it was
^ A vague term for fruit of all kinds.
^ It was for the purpose of defending the pilgrims down these
passes that, in 1118, the nine knights banded together who formed the
nucleus of the Order of the Templars. , See Stanley's ' Sinai and
Palestine,' ch. vii., p. 314.
THEODERICirS DESCRIPTION. 47
here that our Lord sat fasting for forty days and forty
nights. The road to the place where our Lord sat goes
along the middle of the mountain's side, not straight,
but made crooked by many irregularities of the ground,
and being everywhere slippery, in some places forces
pilgrims to crawl on their hands. At the top is a gate,
and when you have passed through it and proceeded a
little way farther you will find a chapel built on to a
grotto, made by human labour, and dedicated to our Lady.
From hence you ascend by a toilsome path which leads
upwards without any stepc; passing over the huge and
rugged clefts of the mountain, you enter another gate,
and, by a path which bends back agan two several times,
you gradually arrive at a third gate. Passing through
this you will see a little altar dedicated to the holy cross,
and on the right hand of the little chapel which contains it
the sepulchre of a saint named Piligrinus, whose hand,
still covered with flesh, is shown there.
Now, ascending by about sixteen steps to the top, you
will find on the east side a holy altar, and on the west
the holy place itself where our Lord sat, and, as we have
already said, fasted forty days and nights, and where, after
His fast, angels ministered unto Him. This place is
situated in the middle of the mountain, for its peak reaches
upwards as far as its depth opens downwards.
On its summit may be seen a huge rock, on which the
devil is said to have sat while he tempted Him. From
this mountain a view extends to a great distance beyond
Jordan into Arabia, and even the frontier of Egypt beyond
the Dead Sea may be seen. The crest of Mount Quaran-
tana and its subterranean caves are full of victuals and
arms belonging to the Templars, who can have no stronger
fortress or one better suited for the annoyance of the
infidels. As one ascends or descends this mountain, that
48 THEODERICirS DESCRIPTION.
is to say, at its foot, a great fountain^ bubbles forth, which
supplies the Garden of Abraham and the whole plain
round about with water. There, on the plain which is
watered by the brook running from this fountain, pilgrims,
as we have already said, are wont to pass the night, that
they may go on to Quarantana to pray, and may wash
themselves in the waters of the Jordan. They are pro-
tected on three sides by the garden itself from the ambus-
cades of the infidels ; on the fourth side they are guarded
by patrols of the Hospitallers and Templars.
XXX.— The Place on the Banks of the Jordan
WHERE OUR Lord was baptized. — The Church
AND Convent.— The Castle of the Templars. —
Jericho.— The Mountains of Gilboa.
When our humble selves also had visited this place in
order to pray there, desiring to wash in the waters of
Jordan with the rest, we descended the mountain after sun-
set, just as darkness was coming on ; and, looking out
from its heights over the flat plain below us, we saw,
according to our reckoning, more than sixty thousand men
standing thereon, almost all of them carrying candles in
their hands — all of whom could be seen by the infidels
from the mountains of Arabia beyond Jordan. Indeed,
there was a still larger number of pilgrims in Jerusalem
who had recently visited this place.
In the very place where our Lord was baptized by John
there is a great stone, whereon our Saviour is said to have
stood while He was being baptized, and thus the water of
1 The Fountain of Elisha. ' No one,' says Mr. Grove, ' who has
visited the site of Jericho, can forget how prominent a feature in the
scene are the two perennial springs which, rising at the base of the
steep hills of Quarantana behind the town, send their streams across
the plain towards the Jordan,' etc. — ' Dictionary of the Bible,' art.
* Elisha' ; 2 K. ii. 15-19.
THEODERICH'S DESCRIPTION. 49
the Jordan came to Him, but He did not enter it. On the
very bank of Jordan a church is built, in which six monks
who inhabited it were beheaded by Sanginus,^ the father of
Noradin. There is here a strong castle of the Templars.
As you return by the direct path from the Jordan to
Jerusalem, on the flat plain before you enter the mountain
district, you come upon Jericho, past which flows a brook
which runs down from the mountains of Jerusalem, and
■which is now reduced to a small town. It is, however,
situated in a fertile soil, where all fruits soon ripen.
Many roses grow there which expand a lavish abundance
■of petals. Wherefore the comparison, 'Like a rose planted
in Jericho,' befits our Lady. It also is remarkable for
large and excellent grapes. This place is under the juris-
diction of the Church of St. Lazarus in Bethany, but much
of the land lies uncultivated on account of the inroads of
the Saracens. To the north of this road, on the right hand,
the Mountains of Gilboa, by the side of the aforesaid
plain, can be clearly seen.
XXXI.— The Desert2 Elim.— The Valley of Moses.
— The Mountains of Sinai, Hor, Abarim, and
THE Mount Royal. — The Place where the
Children of Israel passed over the Jordan.
The desert through which the Lord once led the children
of Israel, after they had come up from the Red Sea, lies
1 'Zen^hi (1127-1145) proved his first arms against the Franks in
the defeat of Antioch. Thirty campaigns in the service of the caliph
and sultan estabhshed his military fame. . . . After a siege of
twenty-five days he stormed the city of Edessa, and recovered from
the Franks their conquests beyond the Euphrates. The corruption of
his name into Sanguin afTorded the Latins a comfortable allusion to
his sanguinary character and end: "Fit sanguine sanguinolentus."
Gul. Tyr., xvi. &,, 5, 7.'— Gibbon, ch. lix.
^ Here begins the ' old compendium,' which is copied by Theoderich,
John of Wiirzburg, and Eugesippus Fretillus with great uniformity.
4
, 50 THEODERICH'S DESCRIPTION.
between Egypt and Arabia. It was there that He fed
them, as we read (in the Bible), with bread from heaven,,
and brought forth water out of the rock for them. But
the desert in which the children of Israel found twelve
wells of water and three-score and ten palm-trees is on the
borders of Arabia, and is called Elim.^ In Arabia, also,
there is a valley which is called the valley of Moses,^
because he therein twice struck the rock with his staff, and
brought forth water from the rock for the people, from
which fountain the whole land is now watered. In the
same district is the Mount Sinai on which Moses fasted
forty days and nights, and also received thereon the law
written by the finger of God upon stone tables. Mount
Hor, upon which Aaron was buried, is in Arabia, as like-
wise is Mount Abarim, upon which the Lord buried
Moses, whose tomb, however, is not to be found. There
is also in Arabia a mountain which is called the Mount
Royal,3 which Baldwin, King of Jerusalem, conquered in
war and placed under the dominion of the Christians.
These are the boundaries and provinces through which
the children of Israel passed when they came up out of
Egypt and had passed over the Red Sea, slaying Sihon,
King of the Emoreans, and Och, the King of Basan, which
countries lie between Idumaea and Arabia ; crossed the
Jordan at the very place where Christ was baptized, and
having taken Jericho on the plain, gained possession of the
promised land, as we are told. At the time of the passage
of the children of Israel Arabia was so utter a wilderness
that it had not even any distinguishing name.
Theoderich resumes his personal narrative with the words, * These are
the boundaries,' etc.
^ Exod. XV. 27. ^ Wady Mousa.
' Monreal.
THEODERICII '5 DESCRIPTION. 51
XXXII. — The Valley of Ennon, near Jerusalem.—
The New Cistern.— The Chapel of St. Mary,
WHERE SHE WAS WONT TO REST. — CHABRATPL\, THE
Tomb of Rachel.
Whosoever passes out of the western gate of the city
near the Tower of David, and directs his path towards the
south, will pass through the valley of Ennon,^ which skirts
two sides of the city near the new cistern ; and at the
distance of more than half a mile he will arrive at a chapel
of special sanctity, dedicated to our blessed Lady Mary,
where she was often wont to rest when she journeyed from
Bethlehem to Jerusalem. At its door stands a cistern,^ at
which passers-by are wont to refresh themselves. Beyond
this is a field in which lie numberless heaps of stones,
which the simple pilgrims delight in collecting there,
because they say that on the Day of Judgment they will
take their seats upon them. Close by is the place which
is called Chabratha, where Rachel, the wife of Jacob, died
after she had brought forth Benjamin. After she had been
buried there Jacob piled up twelve stones over her grave,
and now a pyramid stands there to which her name is
attached.
XXXIII.— Bethlehem.— The Church of St. Mary.
— The Chapel of the Nativity. — The Manger. —
The . Tomb of Joseph of Arimathea and St.
Jerome. — The Place where ' Glory to God in
THE Highest' was sung.
Next comes the famous city of Bethlehem, in which,
according to the predictions of the prophets, our dearest
Lord Jesus Christ was born man, wherein is a holy church'^
^ See ch. iii.
2 The Birket es Sultan. See Tobler's note.
* See Stanley's ' Sinai and Palestine,' ch. xiv., 32, p. 439.
4—2
52 THEODE RICH'S DESCRIPTION.
honoured by the distinction of being a bishop's cathedral
church. The high altar is dedicated to our blessed Lady-
Mary. At the extremity of the right-hand apse, by the
side of the door, one descends by twenty-five^ steps into
i> subterranean grotto, where is a holy altar of a hollow
form, having a cross marked upon the ground. This altar
consists of four small columns, which support a large piece
of marble. Upon this place are written the following two
verses :
'Of angels' virtues chief beyond compare
A virgin here the Very God did bear.'
On the right hand, or towards the west, in this same cave
one descends four steps, and so comes to the manger,
wherein once not only lay hay for cattle, but food for angels
was found. The manger itself has been encased in white
marble, with three round holes on the upper part, through
which pilgrims offer to the manger their long-wished-for
kisses. This crypt is, moreover, beautifully decorated
with mosaic work. Above the cave stands a holy chapel
vaulted in a double form, wherein on the south side is
a holy altar, and on the west the tomb of Joseph of
Arimathea is shown in the wall. Not far from the manger
of the Lord is the tomb of St. Jerome, whose body is said
to have been translated from thence by Theodosius the
Younger to Constantinople. On the roof of the church
itself a star of well-gilded copper glitters on the end of
a lance, in allusion to the three Magi, who, as we read in
the Gospel, came thither by the leading of a star, and,
finding the Child Jesus there with Mary his Mother, adored
Him. A mile from Bethlehem the angel appeared to the
shepherds, and the glory of the Lord shone round about
them, where also appeared a multitude of the heavenly
host, singing ' Glory to God in the highest.'
* Phocas, ch. xxii., says 'sixteen.'
THEODERICirS DESCRIPTION. 53
XXXIV.— Hebron.— The Double Cave.— The Red
Earth.— Mambre.— The Oak.
Further on, towards the south, near the Dead Sea, is
Hebron, where Adam, after he was driven out of Paradise,
is said to have dwelt and been buried. This city was a
city of priests in the tribe of Juda, and was a dwelling-
place of giants, and was in olden days called Cariatharbc,
or the 'city of four,' because four venerable patriarchs are
buried there in a double cave — that is to say, Adam, the
first created man ; Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the three
patriarchs ; and their four wives, Eva, Sara, Rebecca, and
Lya. This city was before this named Arbe, and in its
territory — that is, at the extremity of it — there was a
double cave looking towards Mambre, which Abraham
bought for a price from Ephron, the son of Seor the
Hittite. In the country near the city is found the red
earth, which is dug up by the inhabitants and eaten and
exported to Egypt. Of this earth Adam is said to have
been made. Now this earth, however much of it may be
dug out in extent or in depth, is said to be restored next
year as much as it was before, by the Divine powei'. Near
this city is the mountain Mambre, at whose foot stands
the oak which the moderns call 'dirps,'^ beneath which
Abraham beheld three angels and adored one, and hos-
pitably entertained them. This oak lasted until the time
of the Emperor Theodosius, and from its trunk or root
another has grown, which, although partly withered, still
exists, and is so wholesome that as long as a horseman
holds a piece of it in his hands his horse will not founder.
Hebron was the first place reached by Caleb and Joshua
1 Probably an attempt to render the Arabic word duleb or didb —
♦oak.'
54 THEODERICH'S DESCRIPTION.
and their ten companions, who were sent by Moses from
Cadesbarne to spy out the Promised Land. This city was
afterwards the cradle of the kingdom of David, who by
the Divine command reigned therein for seven years.
XXXV.— The Sepulchre of Lot.— The Lake As-
PHALTiTEs.— Segor.— The Statue of Salt.—
Carnaim.
Two miles from Hebron was the sepulchre of Lot,
Abraham's nephew. Ten miles from Hebron, towards the
east, is the Lake Asphaltites, which is also called the
* Dead Sea,' because it receives into itself nothing living, or
the ' Sea of the Devil,' because at his instigation the four
cities of Sodom, Gomorra, Seboim, and Adima went on in
their wickedness and were burned with fire of brimstone
from heaven, and were sunk in this lake, which rose in the
place of the aforesaid cities. The water of this pool is
shocking from its hideous colour, and its stench drives
away those who approach it. Once a year, on the anniver-
sary of the destruction of those cities, stones and wood and
things of other kinds are seen to float upon the surface of
the lake, in testimony of their ruin.
Near the lake is the city of Segor, which is also called
Bala and Cara, which was saved from destruction by the
prayers of Lot, and remains to this day. As Lot went out
of it his wife looked back, and was turned into a statue of
salt, which endures unto this day, and which, as it grows
smaller when the moon is waning, so also increases in size
when she waxes, and has its face turned behind its back.
This lake also produces bitumen, which is called Jews'
pitch, and is of great use to sailors. Round about its banks
is likewise found alum, which the Saracens call 'katranum.'
Moreover, above the lake, as one goes down to Arabia, is
THEODERTCH'S DESCRIPTION. 55
the city of Carnaim, on the mountain of the Moabites, upon
which Balac, the son of Beor, the King of the Moabites,
placed Balaam, the seer, to curse the children of Israel :
which mountain, on account of its steep precipice, is called
■•Cut off.' This lake divides Judaea from Arabia.
XXXVI.— Gaza.— Ascalon.—Joppe.—Arimathia. —
The Field of Abacuc.
Ten miles westward from Hebron, on the shore of the
Mediterranean Sea, stands Gaza, which is now called
Gazara, wherein Samson did many great deeds, and carried
away its gates by night. Eight miles from Gaza, on the
shore of the Mediterranean Sea, is Ascalon, a very strongly
fortified city. These cities used to stand in Palestine, or,
rather, in the country of the Philistines. On the shore of
the same Mediterranean Sea is Joppe, wherein the Apostle
Peter raised Tabitha from the dead, and which the moderns
call Jafis. Near it is Arimathia, from which came Joseph,
the noble counsellor,^ who buried Christ. There, also, that
is, in the land of Juda, is the field where Abacuc the prophet
was carried off by an angel when he had kneaded bread in
a trough, and was going into the field to take it to the
reapers, and was carried away to Babylon, that he might
take food to Daniel in. the den of lions.^
XXXVII.— The Charnel-house of the Lion, near
Jerusalem.
As you go out of the Holy City towards the west, by
the gate near the Tower of David, on the right hand there
is a path which leads to a chapel, wherein one descends by
^ Decurio.
- This legend is mentioned by Johannes Poloner, * De Civitatibus et
Locis Terrae Sanctae.' — See ' Dictionary of the Bible,' s.v. 'Habakkuk.
56 THEODERICH'S DESCRIPTION.
about one hundred steps, into a very deep subterranean,
cave, and finds the bodies of numberless pilgrims, which are
said to have been brought thither in the following manner :
All the pilgrims who came one year to pray, as usual,
found the city full of Saracens, and being, therefore, unable
to enter it, besieged those who were in the city. But as
they had neither food nor arms sufficient for the accom-
plishment of so arduous a feat, they began to be in great
straits for want of provisions. While they were thus in
want, the Saracens, seeing that they were unable to resist,
suddenly sallied forth from the city, and put them all to the
sword. Now, as a stench arose from the corpses of so
many men, they determined to burn them all ; but that
same night a lion appeared, sent from God, who cast all the
bodies into that cave, which has a narrow mouth. Every
particle of them may be carried across the sea ; indeed,
when it is put on board, the ships are said to go home of
their own accord.
XXXVIIL— The Church of the Holy Cross.— The
Place in the Wood, or of St. John. — The
Mountains of Modin, or Belmont. — Emmaus, or
FoNTENOiD. — The Mountains of Sophim.— Rama-
tha. — Bethoron. — Silo, or the Mountain of
the Holy Samuel.
Next, beyond a certain mountain, follows a most fruitful
and beautiful valley, wherein stands a noble church, dedi-
cated to our Lord Jesus and to His beloved Mother, wherein,
under an open altar, men worship the holy place in which
stood the trunk of the tree from which was cut the cross
whereon the Saviour hung for our salvation. This church
belongs to the Syrians, and is strongly fortified with towers,
•walls, and battlements, against the treacherous attacks of
'TIIEODERICWS DESCRIPTION. 57
the infidels ; it is, moreover, adorned with houses, dining-
rooms, chambers, and dwellings of all kinds, suitable for all
kinds of uses, raised high aloft in stonework. This tree is
said to have been cut down by King Solomon, who marked
it with the figure of the cross, and put it away in a fitting
place, to await the coming of the Saviour, because he fore-
saw in the spirit that salvation would be brought to the
world through Christ's death. From thence one passes on
to St. John's, or to the place which is called * In the Wood,'
where his father, Zacharias, and his mother, Elizabeth,
lived, and where St. John himself was born, where also St.
Mary, after she had received the salutation of the angel at
Nazareth, came and saluted St. Elizabeth. Near this place
are the mountains of Modin, upon which Mathathias sat
with his sons when Antiochus took the city and the children
of Israel by storm. These mountains are called by the
moderns Belmont. Near these mountains is the castle of
Emmaus, which the moderns call Fontenoid, where the
Lord appeared to two of His disciples on the very day of
His resurrection. Not far from hence are the mountains
of Ephraim, which are called Sophim ; and soon comes
Ramatha, a great city, which is now called Rames, of which
Helchana, the father of the prophet Samuel, and Anna, his
mother, were natives. Near the Sophim is Bethoron,
which now is called Beter. On the right hand, or western
side of that district, two miles from Jerusalem, one ascends
the mount Silo, from which springs of sweet water flow into
the valleys beneath it. There the ark of the covenant of
the Lord remained from the entering in of the children of
Israel into the Promised Land, until the time of Heli the
priest, in whose time the ark itself was forced by the sins
of the Hebrews to be captured by the Philistines and kept
by them until, struck by a scourge from heaven, they placed
this same ark on a waggon and unwillingly brought it back
S8 THEODERICWS DESCRIPTION.
to Bethsames,^ seven months after it had been captured.
Here, as the anger of the Lord raged fiercely against both
the priests and the people because they had kept the ark,
the men of Cariathiarim,^ or Gabaa, came and took it away
from Bethsames, and kept it in their own country ; and
afterwards King David and all Israel brought it away with
singing and hymns of praises, and deposited it in the city
of David, on the mount Sion. After this, when King
Solomon had built the Temple of the Lord, as aforesaid, on
Mount Moria, where the threshing-floor of Areuna the
Jebusite had been, he placed the ark in the Temple. In
Silo, also, the prophet Samuel was buried, whence changing
its former name, the place was called St. Samuel's, and
there dwells there a convent of professed monks, called
gray monks.^
XXXIX. — Lydda.— Cacho.— Caesarea of Palestine.
— Mount Caipha (Carmel) and the Town.
Six miles to the west of Silo, on the plain, is Lydda,
the burial-place, according to tradition, of St. George the
Martyr. Wherefore the place has lost its ancient name,
and is called St. George's by the moderns. From hence
one goes down by the way which leads towards Achon, or
Ptolemais, through a pleasant and beauteous plain which
extends between the mountains and the flat country by
1 Beth-shemesh. i Sam, vi.
" Kirjath-jearim. 2 Sam. vi.
^ Praemonstratensians. I n the ' Voiage Nouveau de la Terre Sainte,*
A.D. 1670, par Le Seigneur de la Croix, there is an interesting
account of the order of Montjoie. ' This order derives its origin from
some pious Christians who built a strong dwelling on a mountain
between Rama and Jerusilem, called Montjoie, because it was from
thence that the Crusaders first saw the Holy City. They used to help
pilgrims on their way. They lived under the rule of St. Basil, and
wore a green (?) gown with a star-shaped green cross,' says De la
Croix, who adds that they subsequently migrated to Spain,
THEODERICH'S DESCRIPTION. 59
the seashore ; whereon are many cities and towns, both
new and old. Among these are Caphar Gamala, Caphar
Scmala, a fortress which the moderns call Cacho, which is
situated in a very fertile valley, the fortified town which
is now called Caesarea of Palestine, and was once called
the Tower of Strato, and the Mountain of Caipha,i near
which stand a half-ruined town of the same name.
Herein it is said that the thirty pieces of silver were
made which were given to the traitor Judas as the price of
the blood of Christ ; and on the top of the mountain there
is a castle of the Templars, which enables mariners to
recognise the mainland from a distance.
XL. — The Nev/ Castle of Accaron. — The Grove of
Palms. — Ptolemais.
Further on by the seashore, opposite Accaron, a great
castle of that name stands in a rich country, and is called
the New Castle.^ Near it is a very large grove of palm-
trees, and three miles further on is Ptolemais itself, a great,
rich, and populous city. However, the harbour, or road-
stead, of Ptolemais is difficult and dangerous of access
when the wind blows from the south, and the shores
tremble under the continual shocks which they receive
from the waves, which are there heaped into great masses.
For since the fury of the sea is not broken by the inter-
vention of any mountain, the terrible waves boil over more
than a stone's-throw on to the land. In this city the
Templars have built a large house of admirable workman-
ship by the seashore, and the Hospitallers likewise have
founded a stately house there. Wherever the ships of
pilgrims may have landed them, they are all obliged to
1 Haifa.
^ This, Tobler thinks, can hardly be identified with the ' Chasteau-
neuf of Wilken (i., suppL, pp. 35-38).
6o THEODERICH'S DESCRIPTION.
repair to the harbour of this city to take them home again
on their return from Jerusalem. Indeed, in the year when
we were there — on the Wednesday in Easter week — we
counted eighty ships in the port besides the ship called a
' buss,' on board of which we sailed thither and returned.
Along the road which leads from Jerusalem through the
aforementioned places to Ptolemais one meets with many
deserted cities and castles, which were destroyed by
Vespasian and Titus ; but one also sees very strongly
fortified castles, which belong to the Templars and Hos-
pitallers.
XLI. — The Little Church at the Spot from
WHENCE Pilgrims first see Jerusalem. — The
Village of Mahumeria^ and the Church of
St. Mary. — Another Village. — Sichem, or
Neapolis. — The Saracens.
Two miles from the Holy City, on the northern side»
there is a little church at the place where pilgrims, filled
with great joy at their first sight of the city, are wont to
lay down their crosses, and also take off their shoes and
humbly strive to seek Him who deigned for their sakes to
come thither poor and humble. Three miles from hence
is a large village called Mahumeria^ by the moderns, where
close by a church dedicated to St. Mary stands a great
cross of hewn stone, raised upon seven steps ; which steps
are ascended by pilgrims, who from thence behold, not
without groans, the Tower of David, standing, as aforesaid,
on the mount Sion, at a distance of more than four miles.
1 Burckhard, quoted by Tobler on the subject of the mosque at
Hebron, says : ' Sed de ecclesia cathedral! fecerunt Saraceni Mar-
mariam (Sonst Mahomeria, Moschee),' etc. Tobler's Thcoderich,
p. 213. See John of Wiirzburg, ch. iv., note.
^ See John of Wiirzburg, ch. iv.
THEODERICIPS DESCRIPTION. 6l
The old name of this village has escaped my memory.
Eight miles from hence another great village stands on a
lofty mountain height, whence by a precipitous path one
descends through a beauteous and boundless plain and
over some other mountains to a very strongly fortified city,
which in ancient days was called Sichem, or Sichar, but
now is called Neapolis, or the New City. As we passed
along this road we were met by a multitude of Saracens,
who were proceeding with bullocks and asses to plough up
a great and beauteous plain, and who, by the hideous yells
which they thundered forth, as is their wont whenever
they set about any work, struck no small terror into us.
Indeed, numbers of the infidels dwell there throughout the
country, as well in the cities and castles as in the villages,
and till the ground under the safe-conduct of the King of
Jerusalem or that of the Templars or Hospitallers.
XLII. — Sichem again. — The Well and Church of
Jacob. — Cain and Abel. — The Terebinth of
Rachel. — Bethel, or Luza. — Mounts Gerizim
AND Ebal.
The aforementioned city of Neapolis is situated in
Samaria, and abounds in springs and rivers, vineyards,
oliveyards, and trees of all kinds, while its soil is fertile
and excellently cultivated. When our Lord Jesus came
liither, being weary with His journey. He sat down beside
the spring, where He talked with the woman of Samaria.
Now, the well upon which our Lord sat is half a mile
distant from the city, and stands in front of the altar in a
church which has been built over it, wherein God is served
by nuns. This well is known as Jacob's Well, and stands
upon the land which he gave to his son Joseph. This city
was once destroyed by the sons of Jacob, who slew Sichem,
62 THEODERICH'S DESCRIPTION.
its prince, the son of Hamor, the Hivite, because he had
ravished Dinah, their sister. This city stands between Dan
and Bethel, and in it Jeroboam, King of Israel, made two
golden calves, whereof he set up one in Dan and the other
in Bethel. Near Sichem are two mountains ; one, whereon
Cain is said to have offered sacrifice to God of the fruits of
the earth, dry and desert ; the other, whereon Abel like-
wise offered sacrifice to God of the fatlings of his flock,
rich in trees and plenteous in fruits of all kinds. To Sichem
were brought the bones of Joseph from Egypt, and near it
is the terebinth beneath which his mother Rachel hid
the idols which she had stolen from Laban, her father.
A mile to the eastward thereof is Bethel, which before was
called Luza, where Isaac's sacrifice by his father Abraham
took place, and where also Jacob, sleeping with his head
laid upon a stone, beheld the ladder reaching up to heaven
and the angels of God ascending and descending by it,
and the Lord Himself standing above the same. Close by
one sees the mount Gerizim, over against the mount
Hebal, from which Moses ordained that the people should
be blessed or cursed according as they had deserved.
XLIII. — Samaria or Sebaste. — The Crypt of Heli-
SAEUS AND ABDIA. — THE SEPULCHRES OF THE
Seventy Prophets.
Six miles from hence is Samaria, also called Sebaste,
which the moderns call St. John's, and which stands on a
strong though not high mount. From it the province of
Samaria itself has received its name, and its great ruins
give it the appearance of a city. It is rich in its soil, and
plenteous in vineyards and all fruits. In this place the
disciples of St. John the Baptist^ buried the body of their
master, after his head had been cut off by Herod the
^ See John of Wiirzburg, ch. ii.
THEODERICH'S DESCRIPTION. Ci
Younger in the castle of Machaeriinta, as a present for
a dancing girl. It is said to have been afterwards
burned by Julian the Apostate. His head, however, was
first carried to Alexandria, was translated thence to an
island called Rhodos, and was afterwards removed to
Constantinople by the Emperor Theodosius. Moreover,
a piece of his arm is preserved there, and is held most
sacred. He was buried in the crypt between the prophets
Helisaeus and Abdia, in the cave in which that prophet
once fed seventy prophets, who are also buried there. One
goes into it down thirty-five steps.
XLIV. — GiNAEA. — Jezrahel. — The Mountains of
GiLBOA. — SCYTHOPOLIS. — ThE CaSTLE OF SaPHAM.
— Mount Hermon.— Another Castle.
Ten miles from hence is the town of Genin,i at which
place Samaria begins. Five miles from Genin is Jezrahel,
which is now called Ad Cursum Gallinarum. Here dwelt
Naboth, who was stoned for the sake of his vineyard by
that most impious woman Jezabel, whom afterwards Jehu
caused to be trampled upon by his horses' feet there.
Near Jezrahel is the field of Mageddo, wherein Ozias, King
of Juda, was conquered and slain by the King of Samaria.
Many ruins of this city are still to be seen, as also a
pyramid called by the name of Jezabel. A mile from
Jezrahel to the eastward are seen the mountains of Gilboa.
Two miles from it stands the city which once was called
Bethsan, or ' The House of God,' and which is now called
Scythopolis, upon whose wall we read that the heads of
Saul and of his sons were hung when the strangers
(Philistines) had slain them in war. This city marks the
eastern border of Galilee, whose capital it is. In its
The Arabic Dschenin, See John of Wiirzburg, ch. i., note.
64 THEQDERICH'S DESCRIPTION.
neighbourhood, on a lofty mountain, the Hospitallers have
built a very strong and spacious castle, that they may
protect the land on this side the Jordan against the
treacherous attacks of Noradin, the despot of Aleppo.
There is also close by, on the west, a castle of the Templars,
named Sapham, strongly fortified to repel the inroads of
the Turks, Beyond this, towards the Mediterranean, is
Mount Hermon, at the foot of which, on the west side, the
Templars have built a castle of no small size, in whose
grounds they have made a large cistern with a wheeled
machine for drawing water.
XLV, — Tiberias.— The Place called the Table. —
The Sea of Galilee. — The Mountain whereon
OUR Lord was wont to pass the Night. —
PANEAS, or BELINAS. — JOR AND DAN. — ThE
Jordan. — The Plain of Medan.— The Valley in
the Fields.
Beyond this come most beauteous and most fertile
plains, at the end of which, towards the north, stands the
city of Tiberias upon the Sea of Galilee, where our Lord
satisfied five thousand men with five loaves and three
fishes. Hence this place is called the Table, and traces
of the miracle may be seen there to this day. Near, also, is
the place at which the Lord appeared to His disciples
after His resurrection, and ate part of a fish and a honey-
comb in their presence. Here is that Sea of Galilee upon
which our Lord came walking to His disciples about the
fourth watch of the night, when, as Peter walked upon the
waves and was beginning to sink. He took him by the
hand, and said : * Oh, thou of little faith, wherefore didst
thou doubt V Here also, at another time, when His
disciples were in danger, He made the sea quiet. Near the
same sea, not far from Tiberias, is that mountain into
THEODERICH'S DESCRIPTION. 6$
Avhich He ascended, seeing a multitude, whereon He often
sat and addressed His disciples and the people, and on
which He was wont to pass the night. Here also He
deigned to heal the leper. At the foot of the mount
Libanus, which is the boundary of Galilee towards the
north, IS the city of Paneas, which being afterwards rebuilt
by Philip, the tetrarch of Ituraea and the region of
Traconitis, was called Caesarea Philippi, in memory of his
own name and likewise in honour of Tiberius Caesar, under
whom he governed. This city, which is called Belinas by
the moderns, was rescued from the infidels, in the year
Ji6i since the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, by the
Christians, who have established a garrison of their own
people in it. In this country two springs, to wit, Jor and
Dan, both rise, which flow separately as far as the
mountain of Gibel, and there form the Jordan. The
Jordan, as has been said in former chapters, flows from the
Gibel mountains to the lake Asphaltites through the
valley which is called ' The Great Valley,' or ' The Valley
of the Meadov/s,' which is bounded on both sides by a
continuous chain of mountains from Libanus to the desert
of Pharan. Its course divides Galilee from Idumaea and
the land of Bosra, which is the second capital of the
Idumaeans, next to Damascus. Dan from its source flows
underground as far as the plain named Medan, where it
displays its channel quite openly. An innumerable
multitude of people assemble on this plain every year at
the beginning of summer, bringing with them all manner
of things for sale, and with them come a vast number of
Parthians and Arabs to protect the people and their flocks,
which remain in those parts throughout the summer.
After leaving this plain, Dan passes through Sueta, in
nvhich the monument of the blessed Job still exists, and is
Jield sacred by the inhabitants. Thence it flows towards
5
66 THEODERICH'S DESCRIPTION.
Galilee of the Gentiles to the city of Cedar, passes by the
plain of the thorns,^ where the medicinal places are, and
joins (its waters to those of) Jor, The Jordan, however,
flows out of the lake far away from Paneas, and after
passing between Bethsaida and Capharnaum through the
Sea of Galilee, makes a fresh start.
XLVI. — Bethsaida. — Cedar. — Chorazain. — Caphar-
naum.— Bethulia. — The Lake of Gennesareth.
— MaGDALUM. — CiNNERETH (TiBERIAS). — MOUNT
Tabor. — Nain. — Endor.
This is Bethsaida to which Peter and Andrew, John, and
James the son of Alphaeus belonged. Four miles from
Bethsaida is Chorazain, in which it is believed that Anti-
christ will be born, because the Lord rebuked them, saying,
*Woe to thee, Chorazain! woe to thee, Bethsaida!' Five
miles from Chorazain is Cedar, a fine city, of which the
prophet saith in the Psalm, ' I have had my dwelling with
the inhabitants of Cedar.' Capharnaum, also on the right-
hand side of the same sea, is the city of the centurion
whose child our Lord raised from death. Four miles from
Tiberias is the city of Bethsaida, whence came Judith who
slew Holofcrnes. Four miles from Tiberias, towards the
south, is Dothaim, where Joseph found his brethren. On
the left-hand side of the same sea, in the hollow of a moun-
tain, the little plain of Gennesareth juts out, which, since
being on all sides surrounded by hills it feels no wind that
blows, is said to make a wind for itself by the emission of
its own breath. Two miles from Gennesareth is the town
Magdalum, from which came the Magdalen. This province
is called Galilee of the Gentiles, and is in the tribes of
^ See John of Wiirzburg, ch. xx. /;///., and ch. xxv. fin.j and
Stanley's * Sinai and Palestine,' ch. xi.
THEODERICWS DESCRIPTION. 67
Zebulon and Nephthalim. In the upper parts of this
Galilee are those twenty cities which King Solomon is said
in the Book of Kings to have given to Hiram, King of
Tyre. Two miles from Magdalum is Cinereth, which is
also called Tiberias, of which we have already spoken.
Five miles to the west of Tiberias is Mount Tabor,^ of
great height, whereon our Lord Jesus Christ was trans-
figured in the presence of His disciples. On this mountain
a glorious church has been built and dedicated to the
Saviour, in which monks serve God under an abbot. It is
said that the service of Mass was celebrated for the first
time in this church. On the skirts of this mountain
Melchisedech, the priest of the most high God, and King
of Salem, met Abraham as he was returning from the
slaughter of Abimelech, and offered him bread and wine.^
Two miles from Tabor is the city of Nain, at whose gate
our Lord raised up the widow^s son from death and
restored him to her. Above Nain is Mount Endor, at
whose foot, on the banks of the brook Cadumim, which is
the brook Cison, Barach, the son of Abinoem, acting by the
advice of Debora the prophetess, triumphed over Jabin,
King of the Idumaeans, and Sisara, the captain of his
host, pursued Zeb and Zebee and Salmanna, the kings of
the Ismahelites, Agarenes, Amalechites and Amonites,
across the Jordan, and on his return from pursuing them
found Sisara himself slain by Jahel, the wife of Heber the
Cinaeite, with a nail driven through his temple into the
ground.3
1 See John of Wlirzburg, ch. i., and the description of Mount Tabor
from Greek sources in Phocas (pp. 13, 14), and Abbot Daniel (p. 66).
^ Gen. xiv. 18 sqq.
* Judges iv., v.; Ps. Ixxxiii. 12. See also Stanley's 'Sinai and
Palestine,' p. 340.
5-2
68 THEODERICII'S DESCRIPTION.
XLVIL— Nazareth. — The Church of St. Mary. —
The Grotto of the Annunciation.— The Tomb
OF Joseph.— The Birthplace of the Blessed
Mary. — The Miracle wrought at the Fountain
of Gabriel. — The * Place of the Casting Down.'
Four miles from Tabor towards the west, on the road
which leads to Accon, stands the most glorious city of
Nazareth, in which is a venerable church, which enjoys the
honour of being the cathedral church of a bishop, and
which is dedicated to our blessed Lady Mary. In the left-
hand apse cf this church one descends by about fourteen
steps into a subterranean grotto, in which at the east end
there is a small cross marked on the ground beneath an
open altar, which marks the place at which the angel
Gabriel delivered the message of Christ to our Lady. On
the left hand of this altar, that is, to the north thereof, her
husband Joseph, the bringer-up of the Saviour, lies buried.
Over him is placed an altar. On the right hand, that is,
on the south side, there is a place with a small cross marked
on the ground, and arched above, wherein the blessed
Mother of God came forth from her mother's womb at her
birth. All men tell of a great and wondrous miracle about
this city, that whenever the infidels attempt to attack it,
they are stricken with blindness or some such plague from
heaven, and are forced to desist. A fountain in this city
flows forth through a spout fashioned in marble like the
mouth of a lion,i from which the child Jesus often used to
draw water and take it to His mother. This fountain is
said to derive its origin from the following events : Once
when the boy Jesus came to draw water from the cistern His
pitcher was broken by His comrades in their play, and He
1 I have given the probable meaning of the corrupt cupellum, hoc
est leonis de marmote^ etc.— A. S.
THEODERICWS DESCRIPTION. 69
drew the water and carried it to His Mother in the lap of
His tunic. As she refused to drink it, as He did not seem
to have brought it in a sufficiently cleanly manner, He, as
though in a rage, flung it out of His lap on to the ground ;
and from the place where it fell the fountain which still
flows is said to have burst forth. A mile to the south of
Nazareth is the place which is called the 'Place of the
Casting Down,' because the Jews wished to cast Christ
down it when He passed through the midst of them and
went His way.
XLVni. — Sepphoris. — Chana of Galilee. — The
Castle of the Templars. — Ptolemais. — The
Road which leads from thence to Jerusalem
BY the Mountains, and the Road which leads
to Jerusalem by the Seaside.
Two miles from Nazareth is Sepphoris, a fortifi::d city
on the road to Accon. Hence came the blessed Anna, the
mother of the Mother of Christ. Four miles from Nazareth,
two miles from Sepphoris towards the east, is Chana^ of
Galilee, from whence came Philip and Nathanael, and
where our Lord turned water into wine. Also three miles
from Sepphoris on the road to Accon is a very strong
castle of the Templars, and a little more than three miles
further is Accon, or Ptolemais, itself Now, this road which
leads from Accon, through Nazareth, Samaria, and Neapolis,
to Jerusalem, is called the Upper Road ; and that which leads
from Accon through Caesarea and Lydda to Jerusalem is
called the Seaside Road.
^ See John of Wiirzburg, ch. i., note.
70 THEODERICH'S DESCRIPTION.
XLIX. — Damascus. — Hus. — Sueta.— Theman. — Naa-
MAN. — Arphat. — Amat. — Sepharnaim. — The
Brook Jabok.— Mount Seir. — The Place where
Saul was converted into Paul. — The Rivers
Pharphar and Abana. — The Plain Archas. —
Antioch.
Arabia joins Idumaea in the district of Bosra. Idumaea
is a province of Syria. Damascus is the chief city of the
Idumaeans, and is the city which Eliazar, the servant of
Abraham, built in the field in which Cain slew his brother
Abel. In Damascus once (lived) Esau and Seir and Edom,^
after whom all that land is called Idumaea. A part of it is
called Hus, from which came the blessed Job ; and a part,
also, is called Sueta,^ from whence was Baldach"* the Suite.
In this same province is the city of Theman, whence came
Elephat^ the Theman ite. There, also, is the city of Naaman,
whence came Zophar the Naamathite. Arphat^ and Amat
and Sepharnaim are cities of Damascus. In the country of
the Idumaeans, two miles from the Jordan, runs the brook
Jabok, after he had forded which, on his return from Meso-
potamia, Jacob wrestled with an angel, who changed his
name from Jacob into Israel. In Idumaea is Mount Seir,
upon which stands Damascus. Two miles from Damascus
is the place where Christ overthrew Saul and raised up
Paul, making a friend out of an enemy, and a teacher of
the truth out of a persecutor of it. At the foot of the
mountains of Libanus rise Pharphar and Abana, the rivers
^ Gen. XXX. 6, passim. ' See ch. xlv. ^ Bildad the Shuhite.
* Eliphaz. ° See John of Wiirzburg, ch. xxiv.
* In the time of the Crusades Areas was a mountain fortress, 5,000
paces from the sea, and as many from Tripoli. Its ruins are men-
tioned by Rey, v. 69. It is the modem Erek.
THEODERICH'S DESCRIPTION. 71
'of Damascus, whereof one, namely Abana, runs through
the plain of Archas^ and empties itself into the Mediter-
ranean Sea. Into those parts the blessed Eustachius
retired after the loss of his wife and sons. Pharphar runs
through Syria to Antioch, flows beneath its walls, and ten
miles away from the city pours itself into the Mediterranean
Sea at the port of Solim,i which is called the port of St.
Simeon. In this city St Peter first obtained the pontifical
dignity, and it is still the seat of a patriarch.
L. — Phoenicia. — Tpie Metropolis. — Mamistra. —
ANTIOCHIA.— TRIPOLIS, or TURSOLT. — GiBELETH.
— Berytus. — The Wonderful Image there.
Libanus divides Phoenicia from Idumaea. The city of
Tyre is the chief city of the province of Phoenicia, whose
inhabitants, the Syrians say, refused to receive Christ when
He walked by the seashore, but He Himself said that He
was not sent save to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
The following are the great walled cities by the sea which,
being in Syria, the province of Palestine and Judaea, are
subject to the dominion of the Christians : Mamistra and
Antioch, and Tripolis, which is called Tursolt by the
moderns, as also the city which contains the very strong
•castle which is called Gibeleth, are cities of the province of
Coele Syria. Next, to the southward, on the seashore,
comes Berytus, called by the moderns Baruth, a rich and
strong city, large and populous, wherein the Jews, the
enemies of the cross of Christ, once crucified an image of
^ This must be Seleucia ad Mare, now Suweidiyeh, the harbour of
Antioch. Tobler suggests that the name may be a contracted form of
Sulewtdn, the prince of Iconium, A.D. 1084, who was lord of Antioch.
It is mentioned by John of Wiirzburg, ch. xxv., as likewise are most of
the places mentioned in these last chapters of Theoderich.
72 THEODERICH'S DESCRIPTION.
Him, thinking to offer an insult to Him. After they had
done all the shameful deeds which they had learned that
their fathers did to Christ on the cross, they even pierced
the side of the image with a spear, and when blood and
water flowed forth, even as it did from Christ when He
hung on the cross, they, adding sin to sin, caught it in
vessels and dared to tempt^ God ; but Almighty God
turned their evil into good : for since they would have had
even more cause to hate Him if the effects of Divine virtue
had not resulted from it, they anointed the limbs of cripples
with the same blood, and seeing that those who were
anointed with this sacred fluid immediately recovered their
health, they bent their necks to the profession of the
Christian faith. This figure is to this day preserved as
a sacred relic in the church of that city, which is eminent
as being the cathedral church of a pope.^
LI. — SiDON. — Sarepta. — Tyre.— The Castle Scan-
DALiuM. — The Castle of Imbertus.— Ptolemais
AND THE other CITIES BY THE SEASIDE.
Sixteen miles from Berytus is Sidon, a noble city, from
which came Dido, who founded Carthage in Africa. Six
miles from Sidon is Sarphan, which is also called Sarepta
of the Sidonians,^ in which the widow fed Helias the
prophet, and in which, also by means of the same prophet,
God raised the widow's son, that is, the prophet Jona, from
the dead. Eight miles from Sarphan is Tyre, which the
-^ I read ieinptare instead of ieviperarc^ of which I can make
nothing. — A. S.
2 St. Peter was first enthroned at Antioch. See John of Wiirzburg,.
ch. xxiv., XXV.
^ 2 Kings xiv. 25. The legend that the son of the widow of Zare-
phah was the prophet Jonah is mentioned bv Jerome.
THEODEIUCWS DESCRIPTION. 73
moderns call Sur, which stands by the seashore, and sur-
passes all the other cities in the strength of its towers and
walls. This city is quadrangular in shape, and presents
the appearance of an island. Nearly three of its sides are
surrounded by the sea ; the fourth is very strongly fortified
with ditches, barbicans, towers, walls, battlements, and
loopholes. It has only two entrances, which are guarded
by quadruple gates with towers on either side. It is re-
markable, like Accon, for having a double harbour ; in the
inner harbour are moored the ships of the city, and in the
outer one those of foreigners. Between the two harbours
two towers, built of great masses of stone, project into the
sea, having {between them) by way of a door a huge chain
made of iron — this door when closed renders entrance or
exit impossible, but permits it when open. This city is
honoured by being the seat of a bishop. Four miles from
hence is a castle named Scandalium, through which waters
which rise above it run in their downward course to the sea
at that place. Three miles from thence is a large village,
which is called by the moderns the Castle of Imbertus.^
Four miles further comes Accaron, or Ptolemais, and three
miles further Old and New Caipha. Sixteen miles further
is Caesarea of Palestine, which, with the harbour which ad-
joins it, was splendidly built by King Herod. Also four-
teen miles further is Joppa or Jafis, with a harbour which
is dangerous to shipping in southerly gales. Beyond these,
in order, are Gaza, or Gazara, and the very strong fortress
of Ascalona, all of which have been described already. All
these cities are on the sea coast, and all of them are large
and enclosed by walls.
This account of the holy places, wherein our Lord Jesus
Christ appeared in bodily presence, having taken on Him-
\ Casale Lamberti on Marino Sanuti's map
U THEODERICH'S DESCRIPTION.
self the form of a servant for our sake, we have put together
partly from what we have ourselves seen, and partly from
what we have heard from the truthful reports of other men,
in the hope that the minds of those who read cr hear it may
be roused to love "Him through their knowledge of the
places which are therein described.
APPENDIX TO THEODERICK.
ON THE POSITION OF THE TOMBS OF THE LATIN KINGS
AT JERUSALEM.
In Chapter XL Theoderich says : Ad meridiem ante
ipsius ecclcsiae j'amtam quinqiie septdchra videntur. * To
the south (of the Column of the Flagellation), before the
door of the church, there are five tombs,' etc. The exact
position of the tombs is not determined by these words,
but from them and what follows it appears almost certain
that the writer meant that all the five tombs were close
together, in one straight line, and ranged in the following
order: Baldwin III., Baldwin L, Godfrey, Fulke, Baldwin
II. (du Bourg). It will be observed that Godfrey's tomb
is the middle one of these five, he having been able to
choose the best place, and that roughly speaking the other
kings appear to have got as near to him as they could,
although Fulke seems to have managed to get nearer than
his father-in-law, Baldwin du Bourg. This arrangement
does not agree in the least with that which we find in
Professor Willis's^ plan of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre,
in which the tombs of Godfrey and Baldwin are placed in
front of the Calvary Chapel, but there is no indication of
the position of the others. In the text, pp. 103, 104, Willis
says : ' The tomb of Godfrey de Bouillon, the first king,
1 'Architectural History of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at
Jerusalem,' by the Rev. R. Willis. Cambridge : Printed at the
University Press, 1849. ^
76 THEODERICirS DESCRIPTION.
stood at the entrance to the chapel (of Adam) against the
north pier, and the tomb of Baldwin I., his brother and
successor, exactly similar to it, against the south pier.
Other kings were entombed against the south wall of
enclosure of the choir.'
This arrangement, which Willis seems to have copied
from Zuallart or Cotovicus, cannot be made to agree with
Theoderich's words quoted above. Dr. Tobler, in his
valuable monograph entitled ' Golgotha,'^ inclines to the
view that more than two kings were buried before Calvary.
After mentioning the two masses of masonry to the right
and left of the chapel, which probably, he observes, contain
the tombs of Godfrey and Baldwin I., he continues : * Sonst
bemerkt man kein Spur von Grabmalern mehr, abschon
sich solche von andern Konigen und von Mitgliedern der
koniglichen Familie in der Kirche vorfanden, zum Beispiel
von Baldwin II., unter seinen Ahnen. Allein eine andere
Reihe von Grabern lehnte sich an die Sudseite des
Domherrenchors. Die Grabschrift eines Neffen von
Baldwinus IV., hatte vor anderen das besondere Schicksal,
fur die Nachwelt aufbewahrt zu werden.'^ It is agreed,
however, that all traces of the tombs of the Latin kings
were swept away in the restoration of the church after the
fire in 1808.
Dr. Tobler's plan, like that of Professor Willis, marks
the place of Godfrey and Baldwin I.'s tombs, but does not
notice the tombs along the choir-wall. Zuallart's plan
gives an arrangement like a small walled garden in front
of the Chapel of Adam, with the tombs of Godfrey and his
1 ' Golgotha, seine Kirchen und Kloster,' Bern und St. Gall, 1851.
- The epitaph runs as follows :
' Septimus in tumulo puer isto Rex tumulatus
Est Baldevinus Regum de sanguine natus.
Quern tulit e mundo sors primae conditionis,
Ut Paradysiacae loca possideat regionis.'
APPENDIX. 77
brother to the right and left of the entrance, which is in
the middle of the west wall. It is noticeable that in the
model of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the British
Museum, there is such an enclosure, but it is placed in
front of what is called the Chapel of the Crucifixion.
Moreover, the model contains a piece of bone or ivor}-,
divided into four portions, extending between two piers cf
the choir opposite to the Stone of Unction, which may be
intended to mark the place of the tombs of the later kings.
Indeed, the language of some of the authorities, especially
of Cotovicus, leads one to suppose that there were four
sepulchres here, and that the tomb of the child Baldwin V.
was a small one, added as an after-thought, in such a
position that it and its epitaph escaped the destruction
which befell the others. But the model is too rudely made
to justify one in founding a theory upon it, more especially
as a table of reference by which it seems to have been
originally accompanied has been lost. With regard to the
enclosed space, in which the two tombs are represented as
standing, Tobler says: ' Wenn Schubert (IL, 1549) sagt,
dass vor der Kapelle sonst ein Anbau mit zwei steinern
Sargen der zwei ersten lateinischen Konige war, so ist es
dahin zu berichtigen dass der ehemalige Vorbau oder
Vormauer verschwand und mit der Kapelle Adam
verschmolzen wurde.' The two tombs, with their prismatic
roofs, are mentioned by Zuallart, p. 186; Cotovicus, p. 165,
and Furer. See also Pococke, ii. 25.
I now proceed to give the authorities which I have
consulted on this subject. WiUiam of Tyre (born 11 30,
date of death uncertain) says in his History that Godfrey
(died 1 100) was buried * sub loco Calvariae, ubi passus est
Dominus, ubi et successoribus ejus usque in praesentem
diem pro sepultura deputatus est locus.' Gul. Tyr., ix. 23.
Baldwin I. (died 11 18) was buried 'juxta fratrem,' Gul.
78 THEODERICWS DESCRIPTION.
Tyr., xi. 31. Baldwin II. (died 1151) was buried * inter
praedecessores piae recordationis rcges, sub monte
Calvaria?, ante locum qui dicitur Golgatha, multa suorum
cura,' etc. Fulke (died 1 142) was buried ' in ecclesia
Dominici Sepulchri, sub monte Calvariae, introeuntibus ad
dextram, secus portam, inter alios felicis memoriae reges
ejus praedecessores.' Gul. Tyr,, xx. 27. Baldwin III
(died 1 162) 'in ecclesia Dominici Sepulchri, ante Calvariae
locum — honorifice inter suos praedecessores sepulturae
traditus est.' Amalric (died 1173) 'sepultus est inter
praedecessores secus fratrem, in eadem linea, ante locum
Calvariae.' Gul. Tyr., xxi. 33.
At this point William of Tyre's history ends, but it is
continued in French by another hand. Of Baldwin IV.
the writer of the continuation says : * Lendemain I'en-
fouirent a mostier du Sepulcre, la ou les autres rois ont
este enfouis puis le tans de roi Godefroi de Bullion. II
estoient enfouis entre monte Calvaire, la ou Jesus Christ fu
mis en croix, et le sepulcre ou il fu cochie, et tot est
dedens le mostier du sepulcre, monte Calvaire et Golgotas.*
Book xxi. ad fin.
The writer does not say where Baldwin V. was buried.
It will be observed that this almost contemporary writer
says nothing about the row of tombs along the wall of the
choir, and, indeed, describes the position of the tombs of
Fulke and Amaury in language which seems to render it
impossible that they should have been there.
Willibrand of Oldenburg, in 121 1, says: 'Ipsa vero
ecclesia marmoreis tabulis et aureis picturis ' (probably the
gilding done by Manuel Comnenus, Phocas, ch. xiv.)
'valde est ornata : in capite suo habens chorum largum et
pulchrum, in cujus aditu ossa Regum fidelium requiescunt
in marmoreis sarcophagis.' Jean d'Ibelin, Count of Jaffa,
writing in the thirteenth century, says that Godfrey and
APPENDIX. 79
Baldwin were buried *souz monte Calvaire devant Golgatas *
(ch. cclxxiii.), but says nothing of their successors.
Sir John Maundeville, 1322, says: 'And there in
Golgotha is an altar, before which lie buried Godfrey and
Baldwin, and other Christian kings of Jerusalem.'
Breydenbach, dean of the cathedral of Mainz, in his
book, dated 1489, says : ' Et a lissue dudit temple nous
veismes les sepultures des roys chrestiens devers midi
dudit temple cest assavoir du roi Melchisedeth, du roy
Waldanus, du due Gaudeffroy de Bullon premier roy de
Jerusalem, auquel sept autres roys dudit royaume de
Jerusalem succederent sans moyen qui tous sont la enselvi
asses honorablement,' etc. (ii.).
Cotovicus, who sailed from Venice in 1598 (his book
bears date 1619), after mentioning the tombs of Godfrey
and Baldwin in front of Calvary (he says that the Baldwin
buried there is Baldwin II.), goes on to say : ' Egredientibus
a dextris quatuor alia sese offerunt Regia sepulchra muro
Chori adjuncta ;' and a fifth with a legible epitaph, quoted
above — the same which Zuallart, mistaking the meaning
of the word ' Septimus,' with which the epitaph begins,
calls the ' tomb of Baldwin the Seventh.'
Zuallart, who made the pilgrimage in 1586, gives a plan
showing the five tombs along the choir wall, opposite to
the Stone of Unction. He likewise gives a drawing of the
tombs of the two first kings, with a note to the words ' Hie
est Baldwinus de :' ' Isy dit dessus avec le legat Vitriacus que
ce dit dernier epitaphe est de Baudoyn premier du nom :
quelques autres sont de I'opinion que c'est celuy du second,
a raison qu'il fit la guerre aux Egyptiens, Damasceniens,
et autres plusque le premier. Et selon I'archevesque de
Tyr, il semble que ce fut Baudoyn troisiesme, qui exigea
tribut des ditz Egyptiens.' (We learn from St. Jerome
that Kedar was in Arabia, and not in Egypt.) Zuallart
THEODERICH 'S DESCRIPTION.
CToes on to say : ' Entre la susdite pierre ' (that marking the
spot where the Virgin and St. John stood) 'et celle appellee
de Tonction, contre le mur du coeur de I'Eglise, sont
encore des sepultures bien anciennes, et haut eslevees, des
Roys Latins de Jerusalem leurs Raynes et enfans,
successeurs dudit Godefroy de Bullion, desquelles les
inscriptions sont fort effacees reserve celle de Baudoyn
septiesme (^zV), lequel deceda en enfance. La mort
duquel engendra les haines et dissentions qui survindrent
entre le Roy Guy de Lusignan et Raymond troisieme du
nom, Compte de Tripoly, lequel machina le mine dudit
Roy et Royaume de Jerusalem.'
Quaresmius, writing at leisure upon the spot before 1629,
says that all the kings, with the exception of Godfrey and
Baldwin I., are buried ' extra sacellum Adae, et non longe,
ex parte Aquilonari juxta murum e regione Petri Unctionis
Domini, ibi etenim sunt quatuor sepulchra . . . fracta et
demolita, et unius legitur epitaphium,' He proceeds to
quote the epitaph, and to discuss the question whether the
King Baldwin whom it commemorates was Baldwin IV. or
Baldwin V. He also states that the writer of the
'Epitome Bellorum Sacrorum,' which is to be found in
the fourth volume of Henricus Canisius's 'Lcctiones
Antiquae,' enlarges upon the subject of the burial-places
of the Latin Kings of Jerusalem. — Quaresmius, v. i. (Ant-
werp, 1639).
The writer of this ' Epitome,' which is supposed to be
drawn from original sources, says of Godfrey, ' sepultus
est sub monte Calvariae Princeps nobilissimus,' etc. Of
Baldwin L: ' In Domino requievit, et ex opposito sepulchri
sui felicis germani sub sancto monte Calvariae in Domino
est tumulatus. Nota, in marmore monumenti ejus sculpta
sunt haec metra ut patet infra :
APPENDIX. 8i
' " Rex Waldewinus, Judas alter Machabaeus,
Spes patriae, vigor Ecclesiae, virtus utriusque," etc.
Super sepulchrum germani sui juxta ostium a dextris in
Capella Georgitarum sculpta est haec prosa : Hie jacet
inclytus Gotfridus de Bullon, qui totam istam terram
acquisivit, cujus anima regnat cum Christo.'
Of the others, Baldwin II. ' obiit in pace: in modica
distantiaasepulchro Christi, juxta murum chori, sub lapide
requiescit tumulatus.'
Fulke ' in loco aliorum regum piae memoriae tumulatur.'
Baldwin III. ' de hoc seculo migravit, suis cum paribus
sanctae sepulturae honore Regio commendatus.'
Almaricus ' cum honore in Domino requievit'
Baldwin IV., ' more aliorum defunctorum Regum, juxta
Chorum Sancti Sepulchri contra montem Calvariae
traditur sepulturae.'
Baldwin V. 'juxta suum avunculum in medico
sepulchro Regio est tumulatus.'
From the comparison of all these authorities it follows
that, without doubt, Godfrey and one of the Baldwins were
buried in front of the so-called Chapel of Adam : also that,
along the wall of the choir, opposite to the Stone of
Unction, four or five tombs were until a very recent date
shown as those of the other Latin kings of Jerusalem who
were buried in the church. More than this I conceive
one can hardly find grounds for affirming. William of
Tyre appears to be the only writer whose account
Theoderich's agrees with, and who not only says nothing
about two of the kings being in one place and the rest of
them in another, but expressly states that Amaury was
buried in the same line with the rest, that Fulke was
buried 'introeuntibus ad dextram,' which cannot be
interpreted to mean ' against the choir wall/ and that
6
82 THEODERICH'S DESCRIPTION.
they were all buried ' in front of Calvary.' The later
pilgrims, however, seem unanimous in separating them. I
have, I believe, quoted all the evidence of any value ; the
reader must decide for himself as to which theory is the
more probable.
INDEX.
A.
Aharim, 50
Abraham, Garden of, 45, 48
Aceldama, 5, 6
Accon, Accaron (Ptolemais), 59, 69, 73
Ad Cursum Gallinarum, 63
Adima, 54
Adolf, a Pilgrim, 6
Aix-la-Chapelle, 11
Alum, called Katranum, 54
Amat, 70
Ancient walls round the Temple, 32
Anne, St., Church of, 42
Antioch, 71
Antiochus, King of Syria, 29, 57
Antonia, 7, 32
Arimathea, 55
Ark, the 57
Armenians, 42, 43 ; Chapel of the, 21
Arphat, 70
Ascalon, 55, 73
Assumption, Church of the 37, 38
B.
Babylon, 55
Bala, 54
Beautiful Gate, 23
Belinas, 65
Belmont, 57
Berytus (Beyrout), 71
Beter, 57
Bethany, 34, 44, 45
Bethphage, 34
Bethel, 62
Bethlehem, 51
Bethoron, 57
Bethsaida, 66.
Bethsan, 63
Bitumen, 54
C.
Cacho, 59
Cadesbarne (Kadeshbarnea), 54
Cadumin, bronk, (}^
Caesarea of Palestine, 59, 73
Caesarea Philippi, 65
Caipha (Haifa), 59, 73
Calvary, Mount, 19
Cana of Galilee, 69
Canaan, 2
Caphar Gamala, 59
Capharnaum, 66
Caphar Semala, 59
Cara, 54
Cariatharbe (Kirjath Arba), 53
Carnaim, 55
Cedron, 4, yj
Chabratha, 51
Chapel of St. Helena, 17
„ St. James without the
Temple, 28
„ St. John the Baptist, 18
„ St. Mary, at the place
„ where she was wont to
rest, 51 ; in the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre, 15
„ St. Pelagia, 44
„ St. Peter's Prison, 35
„ St. Piligrinus, 47
„ Our Lady on Mount
Quarantana, 47
„ Our Lord on Mount Sion,
41
„ the Annunciation at Naza-
reth, 68
„ the Armenians, 21
„ the Cockcrowing (In Galli-
cantu), 41
„ the Crucifixion, 20
„ the Flagellation, 17
„ the Holy Cross, 15
„ the Holy Sepulchre, 7
„ the Invention of the Cross,
17
„ the Nativity, at Bethlehem,
„ the Three Maries, 21
„ the Washing the Disciples'
Feet, 36
\
INDEX.
Chapel under the Campanile, i8
Chariion, St., 43
Cliarnel- House of the Lion, 55
Choir of the Canons of the Holy
Sepulchre, 12, 14
Chorazain, 66
Church at the spot where Pilgrims
first see Jerusalem, 60
Church and Convent beside Jordan, 48
Church of Galilee, 41
„ Gethsemane, 39
„ St. Anne, 7, 42
„ St. Chariton, 43
„ St. John the Baptist, 22
„ Si. Lazarus, 45
„ St. Mary, at Bethlehem, 51
„ St. Mary, at Mahumeria, 60
„ St. Mary, on Mount Sion,
36
„ St. Mary the Great, 22
„ St. Mary the Latin, 23
„ St. Pelagia, 44
„ St. Stephen, 43
„ SS. Mary and Martha, 45
,, the Ascension, 44
„ the Assumption, 37
,, the Bath, 32
„ the Holy Cross, 56
„ the Holy Sepulchre, 7-21
„ the Lepers, 43
„ the Manger, 32
,, the Paternoster, 44
„ the Prayers, 40
„ the Templars, 31
Cistern of the Hospitallers, 43
Cison, brook, 67
Coinpas, 13, note
Constantine, il, 29, 30
Crucifixion, Chapel of the, 20
Damascus, 1 8, 65, 70
David, Tower of, 6, 60
Dead Sea, 46
Deborah, 67
Dothaim, 66
E.
Ebal, 62
IClim, 49, 50
Llisha, Fountain of, 47
>.mmaus,57
1-^ndor, 67
}uinoii, 51
Kphraim, Mountains of, 57
luislachais, St., 71
LzeUiel, 2S
Finger, Altar of the, 37
Pire, the Holy, 14
Flagellation, Chapel of the, \^
,, Column of the, 4!
Fontenoid, 57
G.
Gabaa,-58
Galilee, 64, 65
,, Church, of, 41
Gallicantus, Chapel of, 41
Gaza, 55, 73
Genin, 63
Gennesareth, 66
George, St., 58
Gerizim, Mount, 62
Gethsemane, 37, 39
Gil)eleth, 71
Gilboa, Mountains of, 49, 63
(Jion, Mount, 7
Golden Gate, 5, 24, 35
Golgotha, 20
Gomorrha, 54
H.
Habbakuk (Abacuc), Legend of, 55
Haram area, the, 23
Hebal, see Ebal
Hebron, 53
Helena, Empress, 7, II, 17, 29
,, Chapel of St., 17
Hermon, 64
Herod, 30, 73
Pliram, King of Tyre, 67
Holy Cross," Chapel of the, 15
,, Church of the, 56
Hor, 50
Hospice at the Gate of St. Lazarus, 43
Hospital and Church of St. John the
Baptist, 22
Hospitallers, Knights, 22, 46, 59, 60,
61
I.
Imbertus, Castle of, 73
I Ituraea, 65
Idumaea, 3, 65, 71
J.
Jabok, the brook, 70
Jahel (Jael), 67
Jacob's Stone, 27
Jafis (Joppa), 55
Jericho, 49
Jerome, St., 4, 79
Jerusalem, 4-42
Jesus, Legend of, 68
Jew, Legend of a, 39
INDEX.
85
Jews at Beyrouth, Legend of, 71
Jews' Pitch, 54
Jezebel, 63
Jesrahel (Jezreel), 63
Job, 65
John the Baptist, Chapel of, 18
John the Baptist, Church and Hos-
pital of, 22
John's, St., 62
Joppa, 55. 73
Jordan, 45-48, 65
Josaphat, Tomb of, 4
Joseph, 66
Joseph's Tomb, 68
Joseph of Arimathea, 52, 55
Josephus, 4, 7, 30
K.
Katranum (alum), 54
Kings, Tombs of the Latin, 18, and
Appendix
Kirjath-Arba, see Cariatharbe
Kirjath-Jearim, 58
Last Supper, Place of the, 36
Lazarus, St., 45, 49
Lepers, 43, 65
Libanus, Mount, 5
Little Chapel on the Stairs of the
Church of the Assumption, 38
Little Chapel without the Church of
the Holy Sepulchre, 22
Lord, Our, Chapel of, 41
Lot, Sepulchre of, 54
Luza, 62
Lydda, 58, 69
M.
Machaerunta, 63
Magdalum, 66, 67
Mahumeria, 60
Mamistra, 71
Manger at Bethlehem, 52
Manger of the Lord, 32
Mary, St., Chapel of, in the Church of
the Holy Sepulchre, 15
Mary, St., Church of, at Mahumeria,
60
,, Church of, on Mount
Sion, 5, 36
,, Church of the Assumpiion
of, 37
,, the Great, 22
,, the Latin, 23, 43
Maries, the Three, 8 ; Chapel of, 21
Medan, Plain of, 65
Melchizedech, 67
Middle of the World, 13, 28
Moab, 54, 55
Modin, Mountains of, 57
Montjoye, 4, 60
Moriah, 6, 32, 58
Mosaics, 8, II
Mount Royal (Monreal), 50
N.
Nain, 67
Nativity, Chapel of the, 52
Nazareth, 68
Neapolis, 61, 69
Nebuchadnezzar, 29
Nicholas, St., Altar of, 16, 26
Nicodemus, 8, 13, 20
Noradin, 49, 64
O.
Olives, Mount of, 4 ; Church on the,
44
P.
Palm Branches, Place where the
Patriarch blesses the, 40
Paneas, 65
Paran, see Pharan
' Pavement,' the, 41
Pelagia, Church of St., 44
Peter's Prison, 35, 41
Pharan, 65
Phoenicia, 71
Pilate, House of, 7, 40, 42
Piligrinus, St., 47
Prison, the Lord's, 16
Prison, Peter's, 35, 41
Ptolemais, 59, 69, 73
Q-
Quarantana, Mount of, 46, 47
Quaresniius, 80
R.
Rachel, 51
' Red Cistern,' the, 45, 46
Red earth, 53
Rhodos, 63
Rotunda, 10-12
S.
Salmanna, 67
Samaria, 3, 61, 62
Samuel, 4, 58
Sanginus, 49
Sapham, 64
Saracens, 61
Sarepta, 72
Sarphan, 72
Scandalium, 73
School of the Virgin, 24
86
INDEX.
Scythopolis, 64
Seaside Road, the, 69
Seboim, 54
Sebaste, 62
Seir, or Edom, 3
Segor, 54
Seleucia ad Mare, 71
Sepharnaim, 70
Sepulchre, Chapel of the Holy, 7-10
,, Church of the Holy, 7-23
Sepphoris, 69
Sheep-pool, 42
Sichar, 61
Sichem, 61
Sidon, 72
Silo, 33> 57. 58
Siloe, 33
Simon the Leper, 34
Sinai, 50
Sion, 60
Sion, Mount, 6, 36
Sodom, 54
Solim, 71
Solomon, Palace of, 30
Sophim, 57
Stephaton, 20
Stephen, St., 36
„ Church of, 43
Strato, Tower of, 59
Sueta, 65
Syrians, 14, 16, 38, 56
Table, Place called the, 64
Tabor, Mount, 67
Templars, Knights, 22, 30-32, 46,
49, 59- 69
Temple, 23, 25, 28
,, Ancient walls round the, 32
Terebinth of Rachel, 62
Theodosius, 53
„ minor, 52
Thomas, St., 36
Tiberias, 66
Trabea, 11
Trachonitis, 65
Tripoli, 71
Tursolt, 71
Tyre, 72
V.
Valley of Gehinnom, 4
„ Josaphat, 4, 37
,, Moses, 50
W.
Walls, Ancient, round the Temple, 32
♦ Wood, in the,' Place called, 57
Z.
Zeb, 67
Zebee, 67
Zorobabel, 29
THE END.
BILLINCJ AND SONS, PRINTERS, GUILDFORD
A CRUSADER'S LETTER FROM *THE
HOLY land;
[1281.]
The originals of the MSS., of which translations are here
given, belong to the collection known as ' The Royal
Letters,' preserved in her Majesty's Record Office. They
are in the form of two letters ; the first, from Sir Joseph
de Cancy, a Knight of the Hospital of St. John of Jeru-
salem, to King Edward L, endorsed 'News from Syria';
the second, from King Edward to Sir Joseph, thanking him
for the account furnished by him of the progress of events
in the Holy Land. The former MS., though in excellent
condition as far as the parchment goes, and a beautiful
specimen of handwriting, has been rendered nearly illegible
by the immoderate use of an infusion of nut-gall, with
which it has been covered by some reader of many years
ago, too idle or too inexperienced to read it without the
aid of this destructive agent. It has, however, not without
great difficulty, been almost all deciphered. The date of
this letter is towards the close of the Christian occupation
of Syria, and it was written in the city which a few years
afterwards became the scene of the last fierce struggle
between the Franks and Saracens.
The city of St. Jean d'Acre, anciently called Accho by
the Phoenicians, and afterwards named Ptolemais by the
Greeks, and Akka by the Mahomedans, into whoss
3 A CRUSADER'S LETTER FROM ' THE HOLY LAND.
hands it fell in the year 636 A.D., was first captured by the
Crusaders under Baldwin I,, King of Jerusalem, in 1 104,
and was retaken in 1184 by Saladin, only to be again
captured by Cceur de Lion and Philip Augustus in 1191.
From that time till 1291 it remained in the hands of the
Christians, and flourished under the governance of the
Knights of the Hospital, in honour of whose patron saint the
city was named. In 1236 Earl Richard of Cornwall, with
other English nobles, among whom were the Earl Marshal,
the Earls of Chester and Salisbury, Sir Ralph Lucy, and
Sir Richard Siward, assumed the Cross, but his departure
was delayed till about Whitsuntide of 1240, in which year,
on the nth of October, he arrived at Acre. Earl Richard's
stay in the Holy Land, however, was very short; for
having concluded a truce with the Sultan of Babylon, he
embarked at Acre on the 3rd of May in the following year,
after having strengthened the Castle of Ascalon, and
caused the bones of all the Christians who had fallen in
battle to be buried in a cemetery built at his own expense.
He landed in Sicily at Trapani, and reached England on
the 1st of February, 1242. Of the Knights who had
accompanied him to Palestine, Sir Hugh Wake, Sir
Robert Marmion, Sir Peter de Bruis, Sir Guischard
Leideit, Sir Eustace de Stuteville, Sir Hamo Pecche, Sir
Baldwin de Bettuen, Sir John Fitzjohn, Sir John de
Beaulieu, Sir Gerard Furnival, Earl Richard's brother
Geoffrey, and many more, perished during this crusade.
In 1252 the bones of William ' Longsword,' Earl of
Salisbury, who had fallen at Mansourah in" 1250, were
brought to Acre and buried there. In 1268 Prince
Edward of England, with his cousin Hbnry, Earl
Richard's son, and many English lords, also "assumed
the Cross, a loan of 30,000 marks having been obtained
(rom King Louis of France, upon a mortgage of the
A CRUSADER'S LETTER FROM ' THE HOLY LAND: 3
Tevenues of Bordeaux, to defray the expenses of the
crusade. The Prince started from Portsmouth in May,
1270, joined his wife, the Princess Eleanor, at Bordeaux,
and embarked with her on board the fleet that was waiting
for them at Aigues-Mortes — then a seaport, though now,
■owing to the going-back of the sea, some miles inland — to
join King Louis before Tunis. The French King died on
the 25th of August in the same year, and his son Philip
the Bold abandoned the siege shortly after, and returned
to France, leaving Prince Edward unsupported. Prince
Edward, however, was so bent upon going on, that, accord-
ing to Rishanger, upon someone trying to dissuade him, he
smote his breast, and swore by the ' Blood of God ' that he
would get to Acre, though all should leave him but his
varlet Fowin. At Acre, in June, 1272, happened the
romantic incident of which Sir Walter Scott, in ' Ivanhoe,'
has made King Richard the hero — the attempted murder
of Prince Edward by the assassin Anzazim, whose assault
was anticipated and the assassin himself slain on the spot
by an English Knight named Latimer — and his recov<ery
through the devotion of the Princess Eleanor. ' For when,'
says Speed, 'no medicine could extract the poyson she did
it with her tongue, licking dayly, while her husband slept,
his ranckling wounds, whereby they perfectly closed, yet
she herself received no harme ; so soveraigne a medicine
is a wife's tongue anoynted with the vertue of lovely
affection.'
The English army deserted by its allies, wasted witH
sickness, and hopeless of any supplies from France, Prince
Edward most unwillingly concluded a truce with the
Sultan, which was to last for ten years, ten months and ten
days, and returned to England through Italy and France,
his father being dead in the meantime, and he him.SfU
I — 2
4 A CRUSADER'S LETTER FROM * THE HOLY LAND:
proclaimed King, ' though men were ignorant whether he
was alive, for he had gone to distant countries beyond the
sea, warring against the enemies of Christ.' The Sultan^
Bibars I., who had obtained the throne of Egypt by
murdering his predecessor Melik-Modafifer Koutouz with his
own hand while on a hunting-party with him, soon broke
this truce, and is represented by an ancient MS. Chronicle
as overrunning the plain of Armenia, putting all he met to
the sword, so that the dead amounted to more than
200,000, and taking prisoners 10,000, or more, and horses
and other beasts, over 300,000. The King of Armenia was
forced to retreat into the mountains ; and of his subjects,,
those who could took to the sea : and so did many merchants
and others who had escaped from the Saracens, but they
fell into the hands of corsairs and robbers. In 1276
Sultan Bibars is said to have gained a great victory over
the Mongols under Mango-Timour, brother of Abaka
Khan, their reigning chief, and his ally Livon, or Leo 11.^
King of Armenia on the plain of La Chamelle, called in
the ' Chanson d'Antioche ' La Camellerie, the ancient
Emesa and present Homs. An historian of the thirteenth
century, the Monk Alton, nephew of Alton, the predecessor
of Livon n. on the throne of Armenia, and a favourite
protege of Pope Clement V., who provided him with a Pre-
monstrant Abbey in the town of Poitiers, to enable him to-
find leisure to write an account of his wanderings in
countries then little known, says, in his ' Fleur des Histoires
d'Orient,' that Bibars was defeated in this battle, but that
he soon repaired the check which he then experienced.
Four years afterwards another battle was fought on this
same plain, not far from the monument of Khaled-ben-
Walid, between Bihar's successor, the Sultan Melik-Man-
sour-Kelaoun, and the Tartars under Mangou Timour and
Abaka. It lasted from daybreak till the evening, and re-
A CRUSADER'S LETTER FROM ' THE HOLY LAND.' 5
suited — according to the Chronicle — in the complete defeat
■of the latter, and their expulsion from the country, while it
had such an effect upon Mangou Timour that he died
soon afterwards of chagrin. This is presumably the
principal subject of narration contained in the letter from
Sir Joseph de Cancy, who appears to have been entrusted
by Prince Edward with the task of supplying him with the
news of passing events in Palestine after he himself had
•quitted the Holy Land. The account of the battle here given
does not, howeve; , bear out the assertion of its having resulted
in a great victory for the Sultan, but rather represents it
as drawn ; but De Cancy's narrative may perhaps have
been a little coloured in favour of the Mongols, for about
that time the Hospitallers had suffered much at the hands
of the Saracens, and especially of Sultan Bibars, though
they had greatly distinguished themselves by their valour
against him, who had become a very scourge of the
Christians in the East, In 1268 ninety of these Soldiers
ot the Cross had fallen one after the other in the defence
of the Castle of Assur ; and in the next year a party of
them sustained the siege of another town for two months,
and when the place fell perished to a man. The Grand
Master mentioned by De Cancy was Nicholas Lorgue, who
commanded the Hospitallers during their defence of the
fortress of Margat — the present El Markab, a little inland
from the sea coast, between Ruad and Jebeleh — which was
carried by assault after a siege of thirty-eight days by
Kelaoun, in the month of June, 1284. The family of De
Cancy himself appears to have been one of distinction. A
Walter : de Cancy was made Baron de Cancy by King
Stephen, and was succeeded by his son Aufrid. The last
baron was Simon de Cancy, whose lands were forfeited for
his rebellion against King John in 121 5 ; but in the'
■following reigns the name appears frequently in the In-
6 A CRUSADER'S LETTER FROM * THE HOLY LAND.'
quisitions relating principally to lands in Lincolnshire and
Yorkshire, in one of which, taken at York in 1304, Thomas
de Cancy is called Baron of Skirpenbeck.
According to the Chronicle of the Sheik Koth-Eddin-
lounini, Sultan Bibars came to an end a very short time
after the events recorded in this notice in a manner befitting
a monarch who has been compared to Nero in wickedness,,
though for his bravery to Caesar. In order to avert a
prediction that in this year a great prince would die, from
himself, Bibars caused one of Saladin's family, Melik-
Kaher-Beha-Eddin-Abd-el-Melik, a valiant Emir, whose
prowess in arms had violently excited his jealousy, to be
poisoned, and the poisoned wine, having been carelessly
left in one of the Sultan's apartments, was drunk by
himself in mistake. He was immediately seized with fever
and sickness, and died at the Castle of Damascus, accord-
ing to the principal authorities, in May, 1277. He is said
to have put to death 280 Emirs on suspicion of attempts
against his life on four different occasions.
Kelaoun's reign of eleven years is recorded by his his-
torians as a series of successes against the Franks and
the Tatars. His last great exploit was the taking by
assault of the town of Tripoli, which he burnt after the
realization of a great booty, only to rebuild it shortly after-
wards. He died in 1290, at the outset of a march from
Cairo to Acre — on whose conquest he was bent in revenge
of the massacre of some Mussulman merchants — in his tent
pitched opposite the Mosque of Tibr, outside the walls of
Cairo, on the night of Saturday, the second of the month
Dhou'lhidjah, after commanding his son and successor,.
Melik-Aschraf-Khalii, not to bury his remains until he had
made himself master of Acre. Kelaoun, who is represented
as a fine handsome man and much respected, is said by
A CRUSADERS LETTER FROM ' THE HOLY LAND.' 7
some to have died of poison administered by one of his
Emirs. Makrizi merely records his death by fever after a
few days' illness.
News from Syria.
'TO THE MOST HIGH AND PUISSANT LORD,
my lord Edward, by the Grace of God, most worthy King
of England, Lord of Ireland, and Duke of Aquitaine, the
least and lowest of his servants, Joseph de Cancy, humble
brother of the Holy House of the Hospital of St. John of
Jerusalem, dwelling at Acre, kneeling in the service of your
Highness, sendeth greeting.
' Forasmuch as your worthy lordship commanded us to
continue sending you news of events as they befell in the
Holy Land, know ye, sire, that after our Master was come
to Tripoli in the close of the month of October, as we have
already informed you by our letter written during the
passage of the Holy Cross, the hosts of the Tartars and
Saracens drew so near as to place the Saracens between our
men and the Tartars, so that neither we nor the Prince
[of Antioch, Boemond VII.] — the King of Cyprus [Hugh
III.] not being yet come up — could join the Tartars, nor
they send to us as they had settled to do. Upon this the
armies advanced to the close. The Soldan divided his
army, which consisted of 50,000 horsemen, into three bat-
talions, and he himself was with that of the centre, which
they call the " Heart," after their custom. Sangar Layfs-
car,^ Lord of Saone^ and our marches of Margat, was cap-
tain of the left, and the right was commanded by a valiant
Turk named Heysedin Laffram.^ The Tartars, .seeing the
array of the Saracens, also formed their people, who
numbered 40,000 horsemen, into three battalions, for their
^ Sonkor-aschkar. ^ Sahioun. ^ Izz-eddin-Aibek-Afram.
8 A CRUSADER'S LETTER EROM ' THE HOLY LAND.'
Chief had sent the rest of his men to his eldest brother
Abagua, who was marching through La Berrie,^ imagining
that Abagua would reach Damascus before him. In one of
these three battalions was the King of Armenia with his
power and 2,000 Tartars and 1,000 Georgians ; and a Turk
named Samagar, who had become Tartar, was also in his
company with 3,000 of his countrymen whom he had
brought from Turkey, and who called themselves Tartars.
The King of Armenia, thus arrayed, threw himself upon
the Saracens' left, and so broke and discomfited it that few
escaped being put to the sword, and of this left battalion
none would have escaped but for the disloyalty of Samagar,
who fled with most of his people without either striking or
receiving a blow. The right battalion, commanded by
Manguodamor, closed with the Soldan's right, in which he
had lo.oco Tartars without counting their allies, and put
them to rout, but their discomfiture was not nearly so com-
plete as that which had been inflicted upon their comrades
m the left. Manguodamor, who is a valiant, bold, and
trusty knight, with the remnant of his people, threw him-
self upon the division in which was the Soldan, and then
ensued a great carnage, and the battle raged from before the
hour of tierce until sunset And now, had it not been for
the Soldan's gallant bearing, and his prudence and valour,
the fate of the left wing would have befallen himself also ;
but in the midst of the disasters which surrounded him,
seeing his men so evil-handled and killed and some turn-
ing in flight, he commanded his trumpets and nakirs to
sound, and rally round his person those who survived ;
without which all would have been destroyed, for of his
entire host 600 men alone obeyed the call. The Tartars,
imagining that the Saracens were completely defeated,
rushed to the pillage, and entirely took the tents of the
' The desert between the Euphrates and Syria.
A CRUSADER-' S LETTER FROM ' THE HOLY LAND? 9
Soldan and other Saracens, with so great a spoil that no
one could with certainty tell us the value thereof. And ot
the rabble who followed the camp, who made it like a city-
full of people, so many were slain that the number could
not be known. With which said spoil most of the Tartars
returned to their fastnesses, as men who are very covetous,
riding on the horses of the dead Saracens, which were
better than their own, and leaving their sorry beasts behind
them. And know ye this, sire, which is considered a great
marvel, never was booty taken from one side or the other
that could be reckoned, nor could anyone say that anyone
had been wounded or afterwards hurt to the death [onqes
piles niot trait d'une part ni d'autre qui aconter face ni qe
nul puisse dire qe nul fust feri ni nafre de pues a la mortj.
'The Soldan, seeing the great cloud of dust raised by
those who were thus departing with the spoil, and fancying
it was caused by the Tartars, marched towards it. Man-
guodamor, who was at hand, and had got together a few
men amounting to no more than sixty horsemen, advanced
to meet him, thinking they were his own people : for the
Kings of Armenia and Georgia had gone forward with
their following into the country of the Saracens. Now,
when the Soldan and his people saw Manguodamor, and
recognised his companies by their ensigns, they suspected
that an ambush was Hid for them, and that the display of
so small a force was intended to betray them into it.
Manguodamor, on the other hand, seeing the weakness of
his own hand, and the danger of awaiting an attack by the
Soldan, fell back and went his way. The Soldan saw this,
and imagining him to have done so for the purpose of
hastening up his whole army, retired in haste. And so
night parted them. So neither the one nor the other held
the field ; but because the Soldan was the last to retreat,
men thought the victory ought to belong to him. But
lo A CRUS^XDEF^S HETTER FROM '^HE HOLiY land:
well may one say with truth that never since the first
conquest of their , country have the Saracens received so
great a check or been so completely cowed as they were
then and are still.
' The King of Armenia, with a great portion of his host,
returned to the battlefield, and finding it unoccupied
thought to pitch his tents and remain there till the
morrow, which, as he was preparing to do, came the traitor
Samagar with a part of his men, saying, " Sir King, why
dost thou this ? Our lord Manguodamor is gone." The
King answered that he wished to encamp there for the
night, for his men were worn out with fatigue ; but
Samagar maintained that it would be great treason and
disloyalty to do so after their chief had left. So, after
many words, the King believed him, and ordering his
troops to horse, rode all night till he had passed the place
from which the tents had been moved, but found not
Manguodamor. The King halted for a short time to rest
his horses, but Samagar went his way. Then the King
turned towards his own country and passed through the
Dry Lands, where there is neither water nor grass, inso-
much that many of his horses and companions died of
thirst upon the road or perished through the toil they
underwent, till he reached his kingdom at last safe and
sound, but in evil ph'ght, while many of his followers who
had tarried behind came as they best could : for Samagar's
people had robbed them by the way, stripping them to the
skin, and leaving them no horses to ride. The Soldan
took counsel with his people by which road he might
safest return to his dominions. Some advised that he
should go by the sea-coast into the country of the
Christians, with whom he had truce ; others by La 13erric,
where the Tartars should not find him ; while others again
advised him to choose the shortest and straightest path.
A CRUSADER'S LETTER FROM ' THE HOLY LAND: it
With these he agreed, and so came to a town which is
called Le Lagon/ where he had formerly camped on his
advance against the Tartars. The Count of St. Sevrin,
bailiff of Acre, sent messengers and presents to him in
order that he might see and ascertain his condition, which
they found poor and little enough and his attendance
scanty. The Soldan, because he would not that the Franks
should know his poverty and misfortune, making courteous
reply to the Count, departed by night, and marched into
Babylon.2 There he tarried some days, and caused a tax
to be levied on all his subjects, taking a third upon those
who had 10,000 bezants, and so from each, rich and poor,
according to his condition, whereby his subjects are much
discouraged with him, and think themselves doomed to
death or ruin. Then he caused to be proclaimed throughout
the land of Egypt that all those who wished to receive
their pay to go to Margath^ and into Armenia should come
and take it and make ready for the journey. And he
caused this proclamation to be cried once in each week for
one month, in spite of which most persons say that he will
not quit Babylon because of his great losses in men and
horses.
' On the other hand, sire, he has put to death fifteen
Emirs, as well of those who deserted him in the field,
as of those whom he had left behind in Babylon
and those whom he had cast into prison, by reason of which
things his subjects are much disheartened and filled with
hatred against him. None of his people for all these
threats which he has made, are as yet come to Babylon or
Damascus at the time of writing these present letters, yet
it is true that the Chastelain of Saphet'^ and his other bailiff
^ Lejjun, on the south side of the plain of Esdraelon, the Roman
Legio, find ancient Megiddo.
2 Cairo. ^ El Markab. * Safed.
12 A CRUSADER'S LETTER FROM ' THE HOLY LAND.*
on our marches have made the Bedouins, who were in the
, pasturage near us, retire into the mountains, because they
j $ay that the herbage must be kept for the coming of the
Soldan. And we suspect them to give out this that they
may make us wish to enter into some evil truce with them,
which may God forbid we should do ! Moreover, sire, we
understand by the mouths of good and trustworthy persons
lately come from the parts about Hamous^ that there is so
great a panic there and in Hallamp^ and La Chamelle that
each day men fear a surprise by the Tartars, who have
sworn to come without fail ; but this we think cannot be
till the setting in of winter. Wherefore the Soldan of
Hamous seeing these things, has sent his wife and children
and most of the treasure of the city into Babylon. On the
other side the men of Baudac understanding by the
Soldan's letter that the Tartars had been defeated, rose
in revolt against the rulers whom the Tartars had set over
them. Abagua being then near at hand in La Berrie,
hearing this rode thither and took the city of Baudac,
which was subject to him at the time of the revolt, putting
all the men-at-arms to the sword and cutting off the thumbs
of the footmen and .... for you know, sire, that they
draw with the thumb.
'Other news have we none, at the time of writing these
presents to send to your Highness, save that we have
garrisoned our castle with brethren and men-at-arms, as it
behoved us, promptly. Our Master, at the prayer of the
King of Armenia, and considering the evil plight he was
in and the ravages committed by the Turcomans in his
kingdom since his return by burning and laying waste the
city of Lays and other of his towns and villages, has sent
him lOO horsemen, 50 brethren well appointed, and 50
* Hamah, the ancient Epiphania. ^ Aleppo.
A CRUSADEIi'S LETTER FROM ' THE HOLY LAND.* ij
Turcoples. But know ye, sire, that never in our remem-
brance was the Holy Land in such poor estate as it is at
this day, wasted by lack of rain, divers pestilences, and the
paynim — the greater part of Babylon left unsown for fear
of war, and the reason above mentioned ; and not only this
country but Cyprus and Armenia are in the same condition
.... the King of Sicily will suffer no provisions to be sent
out of his dominions into Syria because of his war with the
Greeks, as we understand. Therefore, sire, as we have
already written to your Highness, if any of the great lords
of your country should come to these parts he would do
well to advise the King of Sicily to permit provisions to be
carried into Syria as in former times they were wont to be.
And know, sire, the Holy Land was never so easy of
conquest as now, with able generals and store of food ; yet
never have we seen so few soldiers or so little good counsel
in it. May your worthy and royal Majesty flourish for all
time by increase of good for better. And would to God,
Sire, that this might be done by yourself, for it would be
accomplished without fail if God would give you the desire
of coming here. And this is the belief of all dwellers in
the Holy Land, both great and small, that by you with the
help of God shall the Holy Land be conquered and brought
into the hands of Holy Christendom. These news, Sire,.
are .... those which you may believe in spite of any
other things that may be told to you. And pardon us,
Sire, that our letter is so long, for we could not more briefly
inform you of these things, the certainty of which your
Majesty has left me here to record.
'Written on the last day of May.
'To the most noble, excellent, and puissant King of
England.
14 A CRUSADERS LETTER FROM * THE HOLY LAND.'
It was probably Sir Joseph de Cancy's account of Sultan
Kelaoun's victory that occasioned the following letter from
King Edward, the draft of which is still preserved among
the ' Royal Letters ' in the Record Office, though a good
deal damaged by damp and time.
' EDWARD, BY THE GRACE OF GOD, King of
England, Lord of Ireland, and Duke of Aquitaine, to his
dearest in Christ and faithful secretary, brother Joseph de
Chauncy, greeting : For the accounts which you have sent
us in your letters from the Holy Land we give you great
thanks, because we are made the more joyful the oftener we
hear good news of that land and its condition : the which we
vehemently wish and desire to hear more frequently. And
whereas you desire to hear prosperous reports of our state, we
signify unto you, in order to the increase of your comfort,
that on the day of the making of these presents, we and our
Ouccn and our children arc — blessed be the Most High —
flourishing in full health of body ; which we would rather
know of yourself by true relation than hearsay. For the
rest we have received, with cheerful hand, your New Year's
gift of jewels which you have sent to us — to wit — two
Circassian saddles and two saddle-cloths ; and two Ger-
falcon's hoods and four Falcon's hoods, for which we
return you our abundant thanks. Wishing you to know
that we have not considered these presents as small,
because we have weighed the goodwill of the giver more
than the gifts themselves in this case. Nor indeed do we
at present want any more hoods as by reason of arduous
matters of our kingdom which intimately concern us, and
do not as yet wish to keep more falcons than we already
have. But as regards those stones of rubies which you
have sent us And because we much wish
that you should be near us, for our solace and convenience
A CnUSADER'S LETTER FROM ' THE HOLY LAND! 1 5
we will and require you that you ' hasten your arrival in
England by the best and quickest means you can — and
this as we entirely trust in you — you shall in no case
omit cf the Hospital in England or the posses-
sions of the same we will have in commendation and uphold
them as far as we can by law, as you have requested. Con-
cerning your own estate, which may the Most High prosper,
we desire that you certify us thereof by frequent notification.
Given at Worcester on the 20th day of May, in thetenth
year of our reigni' [1282].
Both Aiton and Makrizi agree in stating that the battle
resulted in a great victory for the Sultan, which is not
borne out by De Cancy, although he acknowledges that
though neither party held the field, yet Kelaoun being the
last to retire, had been by some accredited with the victory.
At- any rate, such' evidence as DeGancy's-— a soldier
himself, contemporary with and not improbaJDly an eye-
witness of the fight — is of the highest value, and more to
be relied on than the tale of any chronicler, monk or
layman, writing at a distance, from the words of others,
and some years after the event — in the case of Makrizi a
century after it, or more.
It is not uninstructive to contrast the despatch of news
from Syria in the thirteenth century — as evidenced by
these two letters — with the flight of intelligence in modern
days. The battle of La Chamelle occurred, according to
the Ghronicle, in the commencement of December — by De
Cancy's own showing, after the close of October — 1280.
His letter to the King, with an account of it, was written
on the 31st of May, 1281, nearly five months after the
event, and the King acknowledged the receipt of the des-
patch on the 20th of May, 1282, almost exactly one year
'^f.er it was written. The full details of the battle of Tel-
i6 A CRUSADER'S LETTER FROM ♦ THE HOLY LAND*
el-Kebir were published in the daily papers all ever
England within twenty-four hours after it was fought.
To my knowledge, this letter has never been published
in England, but a copy of it appears in the ' Lettres des
Rois et des Reines ' of Champollion-Figeac. That it has
been at some period examined — and carefully examined —
most likely with the view of utilising it in a history or
memoir of the Crusades, seems to be proved by the fact
that it is now ruined and nearly obliterated by the use of
a chemical agent that up to not so very distant a date was
used extensively and with disgraceful recklessness to revive
the ink of faded manuscripts, from the after effects of which
many most interesting and valuable of our national records
have suffered irremediably.
This translation is offered with great deference to the
Society which of all others is the most likely to appreciate
the value of the original, and the most capable of enhancing
that value by its own researches.
William Basevi Sanders.
DS
102
P2
1896
V.5
Palestine Pilgrims' Text
Society, London
The library
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