Chapter IV: Introduction (3)

He next came to the place where the angel appeared to the shepherds, and thence to Bethlehem, where our Lord was born, distant seven miles from Jerusalem. The place where Christ was born was once a cave under the earth, but it is now a square house cut in the rock, and the earth is dug up and thrown from it all round, and a church is now built above it, and an altar is placed over the site of the birth. There is another smaller altar, in order that when they desire to celebrate mass in the cave, they may carry in the smaller altar for the occasion. This church is a glorious building, in the form of a cross. After prayers here, Willibald came to a large town called Thecua, where the children were slain by Herod, and where there is now a church; here rests one of the prophets. And then he came to the valley of Laura, where there is a large monastery; here the abbot resides in the monastery, and he is porter of the church, with many other monks who belong to the monastery, and have their cells round the valley on the slope of the mountain. The mountain is in a circle round the valley, in which the monastery is built. Here rests St. Saba. He next arrived at the place where Philip baptized the eunuch, where there is a small church, in an extensive valley between Bethlehem and Gaza, where the travellers prayed. Thence they went to St. Matthew, where there is great glory on the Sunday. And while our bishop Willibald was standing at mass in this church, he suddenly lost his sight, and was blind for two months. And thence they went to St. Zacharias, the prophet, not the father of John, but another prophet. They next went to the castle of Aframia, where the three patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, repose, with their wives, and thence he returned to Jerusalem, and there, entering the church where the holy cross of our Lord was found, he recovered his sight.

After remaining some time at Jerusalem, Willibald set out on another journey, and came first to St. George, at Diospolis, which is ten miles from Jerusalem, and then to a town where there is a church of St. Peter the apostle, who here restored to life the widow named Dorcas. He went thence to the coast, far away from Jerusalem, to Tyre and Sidon, which stand on the sea-shore six miles from each other; after which he passed over Mount Libanus, to Damascus, and so again to Cæsarea, and a third time to Jerusalem, where he passed the following winter. And then he went to the town of Ptolemais, on the extreme bounds of Syria, and was obliged by sickness to remain there all Lent. His companions went forward to the king of the Saracens, named Emir-al-Mumenin, with the hope of obtaining letters of safe conduct; but they could not find the king, because he had fled out of his kingdom. Upon this, they came back, and remained together at Ptolemais until the week before Easter.

Then they went again to Emessa, and asked the governor there to give them letters, and he gave them a letter for each two, because they could not travel in a company, but only two and two, on account of the difficulty of obtaining food. And then they went to Damascus, and returned a fourth time to Jerusalem, where they remained a short period.

They now left Jerusalem by another route, and came to the town of Sebaste, which was formerly called Samaria, and they call the castle Sebastia. Here repose St. John the Baptist, and the prophets Abdiah and Elisha; and near the castle is the well at which our Lord asked for water of the Samaritan woman, and over which well there is now a church. And near is the mountain on which the Samaritans worshipped; for the woman said to our Lord, "Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship."[38] Here the travellers performed their devotions, and then they proceeded to a large town on the farthest borders of Samaria, where they reposed that night. And thence they continued their journey over an extensive plain covered with olive trees, and they were accompanied by a black with two camels and a mule, who was conducting a woman through the wood. And on their way they were met by a lion[39], which threatened them much with fearful roaring; but the black encouraged them, and told them to go forwards; and when they approached it, the lion, as God willed, hurried off in another direction, and they soon heard his roaring in the distance. They supposed he came there to devour people who went into the wood to gather olives. At length they arrived at a town called Thalamartha, on the sea-coast; and they proceeded onwards to the head of Mount Libanus, where it forms a promontory in the sea, and where stands the tower of Libanus. Nobody is allowed to pass this place without letters of safe conduct, for there is a guard in it; those who are without such letters, are seized and sent to Tyre. That mountain is between Tyre and Thalamartha. And so the bishop arrived again at Tyre.

Willibald had formerly, when at Jerusalem, bought balsam, and filled a gourd with it; and he took a gourd that was hollow, and had flax, and filled it with rock oil[40]; and poured some in the other gourd, and cut the small stalk, so that it fitted exactly and closed up the mouth of the gourd. So, when they came to Tyre, the citizens stopped them, and examined their burthens to see if they had any thing concealed; for if they had found any thing, they would immediately have put them to death. But they found nothing but Willibald's gourd, which they opened, and, smelling the rock oil in the stalk, they did not discover the balsam that was within. So they let them go. They remained here many days waiting for a ship, and when they had obtained one they were at sea all the winter, from the day of St. Andrew the apostle[41] till a week before Easter, when they reached Constantinople. Here repose in one altar the three saints, Andrew, Timothy, and Luke the evangelist; and the sepulchre of John Chrysostom is before the altar where the priest stands when he performs mass. Willibald remained there two years, and was lodged in the church, so that he might behold daily where the saints reposed. And then he came to the town of Nice, where the emperor Constantine held a synod, at which three hundred and eighteen bishops were present. The church here resembles the church on Mount Olivet, where our Lord ascended to heaven, and in it are the pictures of the bishops who were at the synod. Willibald went thither from Constantinople, that he might see how that church was built, and then returned to Constantinople.

At the end of the two years they sailed, in company with the envoys of the pope and the emperor, to the isle of Sicily, to the town of Syracuse, and thence to Catania, and so to the city of Regia, in Calabria; and thence to the isle of Vulcano, where is Theodoric's Hell[42]. And when they arrived there, they went on shore to see what sort of a hell it was; and Willibald especially, who was curious to see the interior, was wishful to ascend to the summit of the mountain where the opening was; but he was unable to accomplish his wish, on account of the cinders which were thrown up from the gulf, and settled in heaps round the brim, as snow settles on the ground when it falls from heaven. But though Willibald was defeated in his attempt to reach the summit, he had a near view of the column of flame and smoke which was projected upwards from the pit with a noise like thunder. And he saw how the pumice-stone, which writers use[43], was thrown with the flame from the hell, and fell into the sea, and was thence cast on the shore, where men gathered it and carried it away. After having witnessed this spectacle, they sailed to the church of St. Bartholomew the apostle, which stands on the sea-shore, and came to the mountains which are called Didymi. Thence they went by sea to Naples.

FOOTNOTES:

[22] Probably Terracina.

[23] Probably this is a corruption of Neapolis, or Naples.

[24] Now Reggio.

[25] This evidently corresponds to the Πυγελα (or Pygela) of Strabo, which he calls πολίχνιον, a little town. Stephanus and Pomponius Mela also write Pygela, but Pliny has it _Phygala_. The site is now, according to Hamilton, (Trav. vol. ii. p. 22,) covered with fragments of Roman tiles and pottery; and near the road is the foundation of a large marble building, apparently a temple.

[26] Mr. Ainsworth, with whom I have consulted on this name, observes, "I can only suppose that we must read Trogilium for Strobolem, or that the latter was the native corruption of Trogilium, the name, according to Ptolemy, of the promontory which lies between Ephesus and the Meander, and which is opposite the island of Samos." In the Acts of the Apostles, xx. 15, it is written, "And we sailed thence, (Mitylena,) and came the next day over against Chios; and the next day we arrived at Samos, and tarried at Trogyllium; and the next day we came to Miletus."

[27] _i. e._ Miletus.

[28] The passage in the original is rather obscure. The later anonymous life of St. Willibald says that they came to the mount of the Galani, which having been ravaged by war, they were distressed for want of provisions. "Navim demum ingressi, ad montem Galanorum transfretarunt; quo bellorum tempestate tunc temporis depilato sævam passi sunt inediam."

[29] June 24, 722.

[30] Tortosa, now called Tartus.

[31] The Arca of Ptolemy, placed in the Antonine Itinerary, 18 M.P. from Tripolis, and 32 M.P. from Antaradon. Josephus (De Bel. Jud., lib. vii. c. 13) says the Gentiles called this Phœnician town Arcæa or Arcena. It is now called Tele Arka.

[32] _i. e._ Emir, or commander of the faithful. Willibald, not understanding the language, translated the title of the khalif into the name of a king, whom the biographer calls _Mirmumni_. In a similar manner the old Spanish and English historians frequently turned the same title into the name Miramomelin. The khalif here alluded to was Yézid II.

[33] In the desert of Quarantania.

[34] Nov. 11, 722.

[35] John, v. 8.

[36] Matth., xxvi. 41.

[37] Acts, i. 11.

[38] John, iv. 20.

[39] Lions were ever of very rare occurrence in Syria: perhaps it was some other wild animal peculiar to the country that Willibald saw. It may, however, be pointed out as a curious illustration of the words of Jeremiah (xlix. 19, and l. 44), "He shall come up like a _lion_ from the swelling of Jordan."

[40] _Petræ oleum._ No doubt the writer means naphtha, bitumen, or asphaltum.

[41] Nov. 30, 724.

[42] _Infernus Theodorici._ In the legends of this age, the craters of volcanoes were believed to be entrances to hell. A hermit, who resided on the Isle of Lipari, told a friend of pope Gregory the Great that he had seen the soul of the Gothic king, Theodoric, thrown into the crater of the Isle of Vulcano (Gregor. Magn. Dialog., lib. iv. c. 30). Hence the name given to it in Willibald's narrative.

[43] The medieval scribes made constant use of the pumice-stone, for smoothening their vellum and for making erasures.

THE VOYAGE OF BERNARD THE WISE.

A.D. 867.

In the year from the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ 867, in the name of the Lord wishing to visit the holy places at Jerusalem, I, Bernard, having taken for my companions two brother monks, one of whom was of the monastery of St. Vincent at Beneventum, and named Theudemund, and the other a Spaniard, named Stephen, we went to Rome, to Pope Nicholas, and obtained the desired licence to go, along with his benediction and assistance.

Thence we went to Mount Gargano, in which is the Church of St. Michael, under one stone, covered above with oak trees; which church is said to have been dedicated by the archangel himself. Its entrance is from the north, and it is capable of containing sixty men. In the interior, on the east side, is the image of the angel; to the south is an altar on which sacrifice is offered, and no other gift is placed there. But there is suspended before the altar a vessel in which gifts are deposited, which also has near it other altars. Benignatus is abbot of this place, and presides over a numerous brotherhood.

Leaving Mount Gargano, we travelled a hundred and fifty miles, to a city in the power of the Saracens, named Bari[44], which was formerly subject to Beneventum. It is seated on the sea, and is fortified to the south by two very wide walls; but to the north it stands exposed to the sea. Here we obtained from the prince of the city, called the sultan, the necessary arrangements for our voyage, with two letters of safe conduct, describing our persons and the object of our journey, to the prince of Alexandria, and to the prince of Babylonia[45]. These princes are under the jurisdiction of the Emir-al-Mumenin, who rules over all the Saracens, and resides in Bagada and Axinarri, which are beyond Jerusalem.

From Bari we proceeded to the port of the city of Tarentum, a distance of ninety miles, where we found six ships, having on board nine thousand captives of the Christians of Beneventum. In the two ships which sailed first, and which were bound for Africa, were three thousand captives; and in the two which followed them, and which went to Tunis, there were also three thousand. The two others, which likewise contained the same number of Christian captives, carried us to the port of Alexandria, after a voyage of thirty days. Here we were prohibited from landing by the captain of the sailors, who had sixty under his command, until we had given six _aurei_ for our leave. Thence we went to the prince of Alexandria, and showed him the letter which the sultan had given us, to which, however, he paid no attention, but obliged each of us to pay thirteen deniers, and then gave us letters to the prince of Babylonia. It is the custom of these people to take in weight only what can be weighed; and six of our sols and six deniers make three sols and three deniers of their money.

The city of Alexandria is adjacent to the sea. It was here that St. Mark, preaching the gospel, bore the episcopal dignity; and outside the eastern gate of the city is the monastery of the saint, with the church in which he formerly reposed. But the Venetians coming there obtained his body by stealth, and carrying it on shipboard, sailed home with it. Without the western gate is a monastery called The Forty Saints, in which, as well as in the former, there are a number of monks. The port is to the north of the city; on the south is the entrance to the Gyon, or Nile, which waters Egypt, and, running through the middle of the city, empties itself into the sea in the aforesaid port. We entered the river, and sailed to the south six days, and came to the city of Babylon of Egypt, where once reigned king Pharaoh, under whom Joseph built the seven granaries still remaining. When we went on shore at Babylon, the guards of the city carried us before the prince, a Saracen named Adalhacham, who inquired of us the object of our journey, and asked us from what princes we had letters. Whereupon we showed him the letters of the aforesaid sultan, and those of the prince of Alexandria; but they were of no service to us, for he sent us to prison, where we remained six days, and then, having consulted together, we obtained our liberty by giving more money. He then gave us letters, which effectually protected us from any further exactions, for he was second in command to the Emir-al-Mumenin aforesaid. Nevertheless, when we entered the cities mentioned in the following narrative, we were never allowed to leave them until we had received a paper or impression of a seal, for which we had to pay one or two deniers.

There is in this city a patriarch, by name Michael[46], who by the grace of God rules over the bishops, monks, and other Christians throughout Egypt. These Christians are tolerated by the pagans, on condition of paying for each person an annual tribute to the aforesaid prince, and they live in security and freedom. This tribute is three, or two, or one aureus, or for a meaner person thirteen deniers. But he who cannot pay thirteen deniers, whether he be a native or a stranger, is thrown into prison, until God or some good Christian redeem him.

We now returned by the river Gyon, and came to the city of Sitinulh, and thence proceeded to Malla; and from Malla we sailed across to Damietta, which has the sea to the north, and on all other sides the river Nile, with the exception of a small strip of land. We sailed thence to the city of Tamnis, in which the Christians are very pious, and exceedingly hospitable. This city possesses no land, except where the churches stand; and there is shown the field of Thanis, where lie, in the manner of three walls, the bodies of those who died in the time of Moses[47]. From Tamnis we came to the city of Faramea, where is a church of St. Mary, on the spot to which, by the admonition of the angel, Joseph fled with the child and its mother. In this city there is a multitude of camels, which are hired from the natives by travellers to carry their baggage across the desert, which is a journey of six days. At this city the desert begins; and it may well be called a desert, for it bears neither grass nor fruit of any kind, with the exception of palm-trees, and it is white, like a plain covered with snow. In the middle of the route there are two caravanserais, one called Albara, the other Albacara, in which the Christians and pagans traffic for the things necessary on the journey. But around them the earth is as barren as in the rest of the desert. After Albacara the earth becomes fruitful, and continues so to the city of Gaza, which was the city of Samson, and is very rich in all things. Then we came to Alariza, and thence we went to Ramula, near which is the monastery of St. George the Martyr, in which he rests. From Ramula we hastened to the castle of Emaus; and thence we went to the holy city of Jerusalem, where we were received in the hostel founded there by the glorious emperor Charles[48], in which are received all the pilgrims who speak the Roman tongue; to which adjoins a church in honour of St. Mary, with a most noble library, founded by the same emperor, with twelve mansions, fields, vineyards, and a garden in the Valley of Jehoshaphat. In front of the hospital is a market, for which every one trading there pays yearly to him who provides it two aurei.

Within this city, besides others, there are four principal churches, connected with each other by walls; one to the east, which contains the Mount of Calvary, and the place in which the cross of our Lord was found, and is called the Basilica of Constantine; another to the south; a third to the west, in the middle of which is the sepulchre of our Lord, having nine columns in its circuit, between which are walls made of the most excellent stones; of which nine columns, four are in front of the monument itself; which, with their walls, include the stone placed before the sepulchre, which the angel rolled away, and on which he sat after our Lord's resurrection. It is not necessary to say more of this sepulchre, since Bede has given a full description of it in his history[49]. I must not, however, omit to state, that on Holy Saturday, which is the eve of Easter, the office is begun in the morning in this church, and after it is ended the _Kyrie Eleison_ is chanted, until an angel comes and lights the lamps which hang over the aforesaid sepulchre[50]; of which light the patriarch gives their shares to the bishops and to the rest of the people, that each may illuminate his own house. The present patriarch is called Theodosius[51], and was brought to this place on account of his piety from his monastery, which is fifteen miles from Jerusalem, and was made patriarch over all the Christians in the Land of Promise. Between the aforesaid four churches is a parvis without roof, the walls of which shine with gold, and the pavement is laid with very precious stone; and in the middle four chains, coming from each of the four churches, join in a point which is said to be the middle of the world.

There is, moreover, in the city, another church on Mount Sion, which is called the Church of St. Simeon, where our Lord washed the feet of his disciples, and in which is suspended our Lord's crown of thorns. St. Mary is said to have died in this church. Near it, towards the east, is a church in honour of St. Stephen, on the spot where he is believed to have been stoned. And, indirectly to the east, is a church in honour of St. Peter, in the place where he denied our Lord. To the north is the Temple of Solomon, having a synagogue of the Saracens[52]. To the south of it are the iron gates through which the angel of the Lord led Peter out of prison, and which were never opened afterwards.

Leaving Jerusalem, we descended into the Valley of Jehoshaphat, which is a mile from the city, containing the village of Gethsemane, with the place of the nativity of St. Mary. In it is a round church of St. Mary, containing her sepulchre, on which the rain never falls, although there is no roof above it. There is also a church on the spot where our Lord was betrayed, containing the four round tables of his Supper. In the Valley of Jehoshaphat there is also a church of St. Leon, in which it is said that our Lord will come at the Last Judgment. Thence we went to Mount Olivet, on the declivity of which is shown the place of our Lord's prayer to the Father. On the side of the same mountain is shown the place where the Pharisees brought to our Lord the woman taken in adultery, where there is a church in honour of St. John, in which is preserved the writing in marble which our Lord wrote on the ground[53]. At the summit of the mountain, a mile from the Valley of Jehoshaphat, is the place of our Lord's ascension, in the middle of which, on the spot from which he ascended, is an altar open to the sky, on which mass is celebrated. Thence we proceeded to Bethany, which is to the south, on the ascent of the mountain, one mile from the top; there is here a monastery, with a church containing the sepulchre of Lazarus; near which, to the north, is a pool in which, by our Lord's command, Lazarus washed himself after he had been raised from the dead; and he is said to have been subsequently bishop in Ephesus forty years. On the western declivity of Mount Olivet is shown the marble from which the Lord descended on the foal of an ass. Between these, to the south, in the Valley of Jehoshaphat, is the pool of Siloah.

When we left Jerusalem on the way to Bethlehem, the place of our Lord's nativity, distant six miles, we were shown the field in which Habakkuk was at work when the angel of the Lord ordered him to carry his meal to Daniel in Babylon, which is to the south, where Nebuchadnezzar reigned, but which is now the haunt of serpents and wild beasts. At Bethlehem there is a very large church in honour of St. Mary, in the middle of which is a crypt under a stone, the entrance of which is from the south, and the egress from the east, in which is shown the manger of our Lord, on the west side of the crypt. But the place in which our Lord cried, is to the east, having an altar where masses are celebrated. Near this church, to the south, is a church of the Blessed Innocents, the martyrs. One mile from Bethlehem, is the monastery of the Holy Shepherds, to whom the angel appeared at our Lord's nativity. Lastly, thirty miles to the east of Jerusalem is the river Jordan, on which is the monastery of St. John; in which space there are also many other monasteries. Among them, one mile to the south of the city of Jerusalem, is the church of St. Mamilla, in which are many bodies of martyrs slain by the Saracens, and diligently buried there by her.

We returned from the holy city of Jerusalem direct to the sea, where we took ship, and sailed sixty days in very great peril, from the violence of the wind. At length we landed at _Mons Aureus_, where is a crypt containing seven altars, and having above it a great forest; which crypt is so dark, that none can enter it without lamps. The abbot there is Dom Valentine. Thence we went to Rome, within which city, to the east, in a place called Lateran, is a well-built church in honour of St. John the Baptist, where is the special see of the popes; and there, every year, the keys are carried to the pope from every part of the city. On the west side of Rome is the church of St. Peter, the chief of the Apostles, where he rests; the magnitude of which is unequalled by any church in the whole world, and it contains a variety of ornaments. In which city repose innumerable bodies of saints.

Here I separated from my companions; I myself proceeded thence to St. Michael _ad Duas Tumbas_[54], which is a place situated on a mountain that runs out two leagues into the sea. At the summit of this mountain is a church in honour of St. Michael; the mountain is surrounded by the tide twice every day, at morning and evening, and men cannot go to the mountain until the sea retires. But on the Feast of St. Michael the sea does not join round the mountain when the tide comes in, but stands like walls to the right and left, so that on that day all who wish to perform their devotions there can pass to the mountain any hour of the day, which they cannot do on other days. There Phinimontius, a Breton, is abbot.

Now I will tell you how the Christians keep God's law both at Jerusalem and in Egypt. The Christians and Pagans have there such a peace between them, that if I should go a journey, and in the journey my camel or ass which carries my baggage should die, and I should leave everything there without a guard, and go to the next town to get another, on my return I should find all my property untouched. The law of public safety is there such, that if they find in a city, or on the sea, or on the road, any man journeying by night or by day, without a letter, or some mark of a king or prince of that land, he is immediately thrown into prison, till the time he can give a good account whether he be a spy or not.

The people of Beneventum, in their pride, slew their prince, Sichard, and did great injury to the Christian faith; then they had quarrels and contentions among themselves, until Louis, the brother of Lothaire and Charles[55], obtained the empire over them. And in Romania many crimes are committed, and there are bad people there, banditti and thieves, and so men cannot go to Rome to visit St. Peter, unless they join together in troops, and go armed. In Lombardy, under the reign of the aforesaid Louis, there is tolerably good peace. The Bretons also have peace among themselves; and it is there the custom that if any one injure another, a third immediately comes, whoever he may be who witnesses it, and takes up the cause of the injured man as though he were his neighbour. And if any one is proved to have stolen more than four deniers, they slay him, or hang him on a gallows[56].

I will add, in conclusion, that we saw in the village of Gethsemane squared marble stones of that fineness that a man might see any thing he liked in them, as in a looking-glass.

FOOTNOTES:

[44] The Saracens had established themselves at Bari in the early part of the century, and it was now the head seat of their power on the coast of Italy. Their predatory excursions into the territory of Beneventum caused the emperor Louis II. to prepare an expedition against them, and he took Bari after a siege of four years, and returned to Beneventum in 871, while his troops laid siege to Tarentum, which, however, was not taken from the Saracens till a somewhat later period. The Christian captives mentioned by Bernard, as carried in such numbers into slavery in Africa and Egypt, had been carried off in the incursions into the territory of Beneventum. To judge from the numbers embarked in one ship, they must have been packed up almost as close as negroes in a slave-ship.

[45] This is the Egyptian Babylon, now Fostat, or, as it is often called, Old Cairo. Bagdad (Bagada) was, for many ages, the capital of the Saracen empire, and residence of the khalifs. It is doubtful what place is meant by _Axinarri_, which, in Mabillon's text, is called _Axiam_.

[46] This was the patriarch Michael I., who ruled over the Melchite portion of the Coptic Christians from 859 to 871. There was at this time a schism among the Christians of Egypt.

[47] Of the places here visited by Bernard, Sitinulh is perhaps Menuph; Malla is Mahalleh; and Tamnis is Tennis, or Tennesus, the field of Thanis, answering to "the field of Zoan," Psal. lxxviii. 12. Faramea (in the next page), is Farama or Pelusium. The caravanserais are perhaps _al-bir_ (the well) and _al-bákara_ (the pulley), both common names given to wells; but it is uncertain now what were the particular spots alluded to by Bernard. Alariza would seem to be Al-arish.

[48] Charlemagne. We have no other account of Charlemagne's foundations at Jerusalem; but the khalif Haroun-er-Raschid is said to have shown great favour to the Christian pilgrims from respect for the Frankish emperor, and even to have sent him the keys of the Holy Sepulchre and of Jerusalem. A legend prevalent in the twelfth century made the emperor visit Jerusalem in person; and an Anglo-Norman poem on Charlemagne's pretended voyage to the Holy Land, composed in that century, was printed by M. Fr. Michel in 1836.

[49] See "Bede's Ecclesiastical History," book v. chaps. 16 and 17. Bede professedly takes his account from Adamnan's narrative of the travels of bishop Arculf, and the description referred to will be found at p. 2 of the present volume.

[50] This was a very celebrated miracle in the middle ages, and will be remembered as the cause of the persecution of the Christians in the Holy City, and of the destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, by the khalif Hakem, in A.D. 1008 or 1010. An eastern Christian writer, Abulfaragius, tells us that "the author of this persecution was some enemy of the Christians, who told Hakem that, when the Christians assembled in their temple at Jerusalem, to celebrate Easter, the chaplains of the church, making use of a pious fraud, greased the chain of iron that held the lamp over the tomb with oil of balsam; and that, when the Arab officer had sealed up the door which led to the tomb, they applied a match, through the roof, to the other extremity of the chain, and the fire descended immediately to the wick of the lamp and lighted it. Then the worshippers burst into tears, and cried out _kyrie eleison_, supposing it was fire which fell from heaven upon the tomb; and they were thus strengthened in their faith." This miracle was probably instituted after the time when so much encouragement was given to the pilgrims under the reign of Charlemagne. It is not mentioned in the works that preceded Bernard, but it is often alluded to in subsequent writers, and continues still to be practised by the Greeks.

[51] Theodosius was patriarch of Jerusalem from 863 to 879.

[52] _i. e._ the Mosque of Omar.

[53] The event alluded to occurred in the Temple, and not on the Mount of Olives. The notion mentioned in the text must have arisen from a wrong reading of the first verses of John, viii. It is stated in the Gospel, John, viii. 6, "But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not." This writing on the ground was worked up into a popular legend in the middle ages, according to which Christ is represented as writing on the ground the secret sins of all the persons assembled to condemn the woman; and this, we are told, was the cause that they all slunk away ashamed.

[54] Mount St. Michel, on the coast of Brittany, which was commonly called St. Michel _ad tumbam_ or _ad tumbas_, and was a place of great celebrity in the romantic, as well as in the religious, legends of the middle ages. It is more than probable that, before the foundation of the monastery, the top of the mount was occupied by a cromlech, like so many of the islands on this coast.

[55] Sichard was a cruel and oppressive tyrant, and was deservedly hated by his subjects. At length, having attempted to violate the wife of one of his nobles, the latter excited the people of Beneventum to revolt; and they burst into his palace; and slaughtered him, towards the end of the year 839. This act of popular vengeance was succeeded by a period of domestic troubles, which favoured the designs of the Saracens, and ultimately brought Beneventum under the power or protection of the emperor Louis II., or the Germanic, (the brother of Lothaire and Charles the Bald, and grandson of Charlemagne,) who was emperor and king of Germany from 840 to 876.

[56] Salomon III. was count of Brittany at this time; but history hardly bears out Bernard's boasts of the peace and good government of the country under his rule.

THE TRAVELS OF SÆWULF.

A.D. 1102 AND 1103.

I, Sæwulf, though conscious of my own unworthiness, went to offer up my prayers at the Holy Sepulchre; but, owing to my sins, or to the badness of the ship, being unable to proceed thither by the direct course on the open sea, I will commence with an enumeration of the different islands at which we touched.

Some pilgrims embark at Bari, others at Barlo (Barletta?), some at Siponte, or at Trani; while others take ship at Otranto, the entrance port of Apulia. We set sail from Monopoli, one day's journey from Bari, on Sunday, being the feast of St. Mildred[57]. But starting at an unlucky hour, as happened to us again on a subsequent occasion, we had not proceeded more than three miles, when the mercy of God alone saved us from perishing; for the same day the violence of the waves wrecked our vessel, but with God's help we all reached the shore in safety. We then went to Brandia[58], and again our ship, being refitted, set sail on an unlucky day[59], and reached the town of Corfu, on the eve of St. James the Apostle[60]. From thence we were driven by a tempest to the island of Cephalonia, which we reached on the 1st of August. Here Robert Guiscard died[61]; we also lost some of our party, which was the cause of sadness to us. We next touched at Polipolis[62]; after which we came to the celebrated island of Patras, the city of which we entered for the sake of praying to St. Andrew the Apostle, who suffered martyrdom and was buried here, but was afterwards translated to Constantinople. From Patras we went to Corinth, which we reached on the eve of St. Lawrence[63]. St. Paul preached the word of God here, and wrote an epistle to the citizens. In this place we suffered many contrarieties. Thence we sailed to the port of Hosta[64]; from which place we proceeded, some on foot, others on asses, to the city of Thebes, vulgarly called Stivas. On the eve of St. Bartholomew the Apostle[65], we came to Nigropont, where we hired another ship. Athens, where the Apostle Paul preached, is two days' journey from Corinth; St. Dionysius was born and taught there, and was afterwards converted by St. Paul. Here is a church of the blessed Virgin Mary, which has a lamp that burns always and never wants oil.

We went afterwards to the island of Petalion[66]; thence to Andros, where are made rich sindals and samits and other stuffs of silk. We then touched successively at Tinos, Syra, Miconi, and Naxia, near which is the famous island of Crete. Next we came to Carea (Khero), Amorgo, Samos, Scio, and Meteline. We then proceeded to Pathmos, where St. John the Apostle and Evangelist, banished by Domitian Cæsar, wrote the Revelations. On the side towards Smyrna, a day's journey distant, is Ephesus, where he afterwards entered the sepulchre living; the apostle Paul, moreover, wrote an Epistle to the Ephesians. Then we came to the isles of Lero and Calimno, and afterwards to Ancho[67], where Galen, the physician most celebrated among the Greeks, was born. Thence we passed over to the port of Lido[68], a city destroyed, where Titus, the disciple of St. Paul, preached. Next, to Asus, which is interpreted silvery.

Our next station was the famous island of Rhodes, which is said to have possessed one of the seven wonders of the world, the idol called Colossus, which was a hundred and twenty feet high, and was destroyed by the Persians, with nearly all the province of Romania, when they were on their way to Spain. These are the Colossians, to whom St. Paul the Apostle wrote his epistle[69]. Hence, it is a distance of one day to the city of Patera, where St. Nicholas the archbishop was born, and where we arrived in the evening, after escaping a violent storm. Next morning we sailed to an entirely desolate town called Mogronissi of St. Mary, which means Long Island, which it would appear by the churches and other buildings had been inhabited by the Christians, after they had been driven by the Turks from Alexandria[70]. Then we came to the city of Myra, where St. Nicholas was archbishop, and which is the port of the Adriatic Sea, as Constantinople is the port of the Ægean Sea. After having worshipped at the sepulchre of the saint, we sailed to the island which is called Xindacopo[71], which means sixty oars, on account of the force of the sea; near it is the port and district of Finica. Thence we sailed over the broad part of the Adriatic Sea[72], to the city of Paffus (Baffo), which is in the isle of Cyprus, where all the Apostles met after the ascension of our Lord, and held a council for the arrangement of the affairs of the gospel, on which occasion they sent forth St. Barnabas to preach; after whose death St. Peter went thence to Joppa, and sowed the seed of God's word there, before he ascended the episcopal see of Antioch.

After leaving the isle of Cyprus, we were tossed about by tempestuous weather for seven days and seven nights, being forced back one night almost to the spot from which we sailed; but after much suffering, by divine mercy, at sun-rise on the eighth day, we saw before us the coast of the port of Joppa, which filled us with an unexpected and extraordinary joy. Thus, after a course of thirteen weeks, as we took ship at Monopoli, on a Sunday, having dwelt constantly on the waves of the sea, or in islands, or in deserted cots and sheds (for the Greeks are not hospitable), we put into the port of Joppa, with great rejoicings and thanksgivings, on a Sunday[73].

And now, my dear friends, all join with me in thanking God for his mercy shown to me through this long voyage; blessed be his name now and evermore! Listen now to a new instance of his mercy shown to me, although the lowest of his servants, and to my companions. The very day we came in sight of the port, one said to me (I believe by divine inspiration), "Sir, go on shore to-day, lest a storm come on in the night, which will render it impossible to land to-morrow." When I heard this, I was suddenly seized with a great desire of landing, and, having hired a boat, went into it, with all my companions; but, before I had reached the shore, the sea was troubled, and became continually more tempestuous. We landed, however, with God's grace, without hurt, and entering the city weary and hungry, we secured a lodging, and reposed ourselves that night. But next morning, as we were returning from church, we heard the roaring of the sea, and the shouts of the people, and saw that every body was in confusion and astonishment. We were also dragged along with the crowd to the shore, where we saw the waves swelling higher than mountains, and innumerable bodies of drowned persons of both sexes scattered over the beach, while the fragments of ships were floating on every side. Nothing was to be heard but the roaring of the sea and the dashing together of the ships, which drowned entirely the shouts and clamour of the people. Our own ship, which was a very large and strong one, and many others laden with corn and merchandise, as well as with pilgrims coming and returning, still held by their anchors, but how they were tossed by the waves! how their crews were filled with terror! how they cast overboard their merchandise! what eye of those who were looking on could be so hard and stony as to refrain from tears? We had not looked at them long before the ships were driven from their anchors by the violence of the waves, which threw them now up aloft, and now down, until they were run aground or upon the rocks, and there they were beaten backwards and forwards until they were crushed to pieces. For the violence of the wind would not allow them to put out to sea, and the character of the coast would not allow them to put into shore with safety. Of the sailors and pilgrims who had lost all hope of escape, some remained on the ships, others laid hold of the masts or beams of wood; many remained in a state of stupor, and were drowned in that condition without any attempt to save themselves; some (although it may appear incredible) had in my sight their heads knocked off by the very timbers of the ships to which they had attached themselves for safety; others were carried out to sea on the beams, instead of being brought to land; even those who knew how to swim had not strength to struggle with the waves, and very few thus trusting to their own strength reached the shore alive. Thus, out of thirty very large ships, of which some were what are commonly called dromunds, some gulafres, and others cats[74], all laden with palmers and with merchandise, scarcely seven remained safe when we left the shore. Of persons of both sexes, there perished more than a thousand that day. Indeed, no eye ever beheld a greater misfortune in the space of a single day, from all which God snatched us by his grace; to whom be honour and glory for ever. Amen.

We went up from Joppa to the city of Jerusalem, a journey of two days, by a mountainous road, very rough, and dangerous on account of the Saracens, who lie in wait in the caves of the mountains to surprise the Christians, watching both day and night to surprise those less capable of resisting by the smallness of their company, or the weary, who may chance to lag behind their companions. At one moment, you see them on every side; at another, they are altogether invisible, as may be witnessed by any body travelling there. Numbers of human bodies lie scattered in the way, and by the way-side, torn to pieces by wild beasts. Some may, perhaps, wonder that the bodies of Christians are allowed to remain unburied, but it is not surprising when we consider that there is not much earth on the hard rock to dig a grave; and if earth were not wanting, who would be so simple as to leave his company, and go alone to dig a grave for a companion? Indeed, if he did so, he would rather be digging a grave for himself than for the dead man. For on that road, not only the poor and weak, but the rich and strong, are surrounded with perils; many are cut off by the Saracens, but more by heat and thirst; many perish by the want of drink, but more by too much drinking. We, however, with all our company, reached the end of our journey in safety. Blessed be the Lord, who did not turn away my prayer, and hath not turned his mercy from me. Amen.

The entrance to the city of Jerusalem is from the west, under the citadel of king David, by the gate which is called the gate of David. The first place to be visited is the church of the Holy Sepulchre, which is called the Martyrdom, not only because the streets lead most directly to it, but because it is more celebrated than all the other churches; and that rightly and justly, for all the things which were foretold and forewritten by the holy prophets of our Saviour Jesus Christ were there actually fulfilled. The church itself was royally and magnificently built, after the discovery of our Lord's cross, by the archbishop Maximus, with the patronage of the emperor Constantine, and his mother Helena. In the middle of this church is our Lord's Sepulchre, surrounded by a very strong wall and roof, lest the rain should fall upon the Holy Sepulchre, for the church above is open to the sky. This church is situated, like the city, on the declivity of Mount Sion. The Roman emperors Titus and Vespasian, to revenge our Lord, entirely destroyed the city of Jerusalem, that our Lord's prophecy might be fulfilled, which, as he approached Jerusalem, seeing the city, he pronounced, weeping over it, "If thou hadst known, even thou, for the day shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children with thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another."[75] We know that our Lord suffered without the gate. But the emperor Hadrian, who was called Ælius, rebuilt the city of Jerusalem, and the Temple of the Lord, and added to the city as far as the Tower of David, which was previously a considerable distance from the city, for any one may see from the Mount of Olivet where the extreme western walls of the city stood originally, and how much it is since increased. And the emperor called the city after his own name Ælia, which is interpreted the House of God. Some, however, say that the city was rebuilt by the emperor Justinian, and also the Temple of the Lord as it is now; but they say that according to supposition, and not according to truth. For the Assyrians[76], whose fathers dwelt in that country from the first persecution, say that the city was taken and destroyed many times after our Lord's Passion, along with all the churches, but not entirely defaced.

In the court of the church of our Lord's sepulchre are seen some very holy places, namely, the prison in which our Lord Jesus Christ was confined after he was betrayed, according to the testimony of the Assyrians; then, a little above, appears the place where the holy cross and the other crosses were found, where afterwards a large church was built in honour of queen Helena, but which has since been utterly destroyed by the Pagans; and below, not far from the prison, stands the marble column to which our Lord Jesus Christ was bound in the common hall, and scourged with most cruel stripes. Near this is the spot where our Lord was stripped of his garments by the soldiers; and next, the place where he was clad in a purple vest by the soldiers, and crowned with the crown of thorns, and they cast lots for his garments. Next we ascend Mount Calvary, where the patriarch Abraham raised an altar, and prepared, by God's command, to sacrifice his own son; there afterwards the Son of God, whom he prefigured, was offered up as a sacrifice to God the Father for the redemption of the world. The rock of that mountain remains a witness of our Lord's passion, being much cracked near the foss in which our Lord's cross was fixed, because it could not suffer the death of its Maker without splitting, as we read in the Passion, "and the rocks rent."[77] Below is the place called Golgotha, where Adam is said to have been raised to life by the blood of our Lord which fell upon him, as is said in the Passion, "And many bodies of the saints which slept arose."[78] But in the Sentences of St. Augustine, we read that he was buried in Hebron, where also the three patriarchs were afterwards buried with their wives; Abraham with Sarah, Isaac with Rebecca, and Jacob with Leah; as well as the bones of Joseph, which the Children of Israel carried with them from Egypt. Near the place of Calvary is the church of St. Mary, on the spot where the body of our Lord, after having been taken down from the cross, was anointed before it was buried, and wrapped in a linen cloth or shroud.

At the head of the church of the Holy Sepulchre, in the wall outside, not far from the place of Calvary, is the place called Compas, which our Lord Jesus Christ himself signified and measured with his own hand as the middle of the world, according to the words of the Psalmist, "For God is my king of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth."[79] But some say that that is the place where our Lord Jesus Christ first appeared to Mary Magdalene, while she sought him weeping, and thought he had been a gardener, as is related in the Gospel. These most holy places of prayer are contained in the court of our Lord's Sepulchre, on the east side. In the sides of the church itself are attached, on one side and the other, two most beautiful chapels in honour of St. Mary and St. John, as they, participating in our Lord's sufferings, stationed themselves beside him here and there. On the west wall of the chapel of St. Mary is seen the picture of our Lord's Mother, painted externally, who once, by speaking wonderfully through the Holy Spirit, in the form in which she is here painted, comforted Mary the Egyptian, when she repented with her whole heart, and sought the help of the Mother of our Lord, as we read in her life. On the other side of the church of St. John is a very fair monastery of the Holy Trinity, in which is the place of the baptistery, to which adjoins the chapel of St. John the Apostle, who first filled the pontifical see at Jerusalem. These are all so composed and arranged, that any one standing in the furthest church may clearly perceive the five churches from door to door.