That Castle Let Make King Baldwin, That Was King Of
France, When He Had Conquered That Land, And Put It Into Christian
Men's Hands For To Keep That Country; And For That Cause Was It
Clept The Mount Royal.
And under it there is a town that hight
Sobach, and there, all about, dwell Christian men, under tribute.
From thence go men to Nazareth, of the which our Lord beareth the
surname. And from thence there is three journeys to Jerusalem:
and men go by the province of Galilee by Ramath, by Sothim and by
the high hill of Ephraim, where Elkanah and Hannah the mother of
Samuel the prophet dwelled. There was born this prophet; and,
after his death, he was buried at Mount Joy, as I have said you
before.
And then go men to Shiloh, where the Ark of God with the relics
were kept long time under Eli the prophet. There made the people
of Hebron sacrifice to our Lord, and they yielded up their vows.
And there spake God first to Samuel, and shewed him the mutation of
Order of Priesthood, and the mystery of the Sacrament. And right
nigh, on the left side, is Gibeon and Ramah and Benjamin, of the
which holy writ speaketh of.
And after men go to Sichem, some-time clept Sichar; and that is in
the province of Samaritans. And there is a full fair vale and a
fructuous; and there is a fair city and a good that men clepe
Neople. And from thence is a journey to Jerusalem. And there is
the well, where our Lord spake to the woman of Samaritan. And
there was wont to be a church, but it is beaten down. Beside that
well King Rehoboam let make two calves of gold and made them to be
worshipped, and put that one at Dan and that other at Bethel. And
a mile from Sichar is the city of Luz; and in that city dwelt
Abraham a certain time. Sichem is a ten mile from Jerusalem, and
it is clept Neople; that is for to say, the New City. And nigh
beside is the tomb of Joseph the son of Jacob that governed Egypt:
for the Jews bare his bones from Egypt and buried them there, and
thither go the Jews often-time in pilgrimage with great devotion.
In that city was Dinah, Jacob's daughter, ravished, for whom her
brethren slew many persons and did many harms to the city. And
there beside is the hill of Gerizim, where the Samaritans make
their sacrifice: in that hill would Abraham have sacrificed his
son Isaac. And there beside is the vale of Dotaim, and there is
the cistern, where Joseph, was cast in of his brethren, which they
sold; and that is two mile from Sichar.
From thence go men to Samaria that men clepe now Sebast; and that
is the chief city of that country, and it sits between the hill of
Aygnes as Jerusalem doth. In that city was the sittings of the
twelve tribes of Israel; but the city is not now so great as it was
wont to be. There was buried Saint John the Baptist between two
prophets, Elisha and Abdon; but he was beheaded in the castle of
Macharim beside the Dead Sea, and after he was translated of his
disciples, and buried at Samaria. And there let Julianus Apostata
dig him up and let burn his bones (for he was at that time emperor)
and let winnow the ashes in the wind. But the finger that shewed
our Lord, saying, ECCE AGNUS DEI; that is to say, 'Lo! the Lamb of
God,' that would never burn, but is all whole; - that finger let
Saint Thecla, the holy virgin, be born into the hill of Sebast; and
there make men great feast.
In that place was wont to be a fair church; and many other there
were; but they be all beaten down. There was wont to be the head
of Saint John Baptist, enclosed in the wall. But the Emperor
Theodosius let draw it out, and found it wrapped in a little cloth,
all bloody; and so he let it to be born to Constantinople. And yet
at Constantinople is the hinder part of the head, and the fore part
of the head, till under the chin, is at Rome under the church of
Saint Silvester, where be nuns of an hundred orders: and it is yet
all broilly, as though it were half-burnt, for the Emperor Julianus
above-said, of his cursedness and malice, let burn that part with
the other bones, and yet it sheweth; and this thing hath been
proved both by popes and by emperors. And the jaws beneath, that
hold to the chin, and a part of the ashes and the platter that the
head was laid in, when it was smitten off, is at Genoa; and the
Genoese make of it great feast, and so do the Saracens also. And
some men say that the head of Saint John is at Amiens in Picardy;
and other men say that it is the head of Saint John the Bishop. I
wot never, but God knoweth; but in what wise that men worship it,
the blessed Saint John holds him a-paid.
From this city of Sebast unto Jerusalem is twelve mile. And
between the hills of that country there is a well that four sithes
in the year changeth his colour, sometime green, sometime red,
sometime clear and sometime trouble; and men clepe that well, Job.
And the folk of that country, that men clepe Samaritans, were
converted and baptized by the apostles; but they hold not well
their doctrine, and always they hold laws by themselves, varying
from Christian men, from Saracens, Jews and Paynims. And the
Samaritans lieve well in one God, and they say well that there is
but only one God, that all formed, and all shall doom; and they
hold the Bible after the letter, and they use the Psalter as the
Jews do.
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