I Have Told You Now Of The Way By Which Men Go Farrest And Longest
To Jerusalem, As By Babylon And Mount Sinai And Many Other Places
Which Ye Heard Me Tell Of; And Also By Which Ways Men Shall Turn
Again To The Land Of Repromission.
Now will I tell you the
rightest way and the shortest to Jerusalem.
For some men will not
go the other; some for they have not spending enough, some for they
have no good company, and some for they may not endure the long
travel, some for they dread them of many perils of deserts, some
for they will haste them homeward, desiring to see their wives and
their children, or for some other reasonable cause that they have
to turn soon home. And therefore I will shew how men may pass
tittest and in shortest time make their pilgrimage to Jerusalem. A
man that comes from the lands of the west, he goes through France,
Burgoyne, and Lumbardy. And so to Venice or Genoa, or some other
haven, and ships there and wends by sea to the isle of Greff, the
which pertains to the Genoans.
And syne he arrives in Greece at Port Mirrok, or at Valoun, or at
Duras, or at some other haven of that country, and rests him there
and buys him victuals and ships again and sails to Cyprus and
arrives there at Famagost and comes not at the isle of Rhodes.
Famagost is the chief haven of Cyprus; and there he refreshes him
and purveys him of victuals, and then he goes to ship and comes no
more on land, if he will, before he comes at Port Jaffa, that is
the next haven to Jerusalem, for it is but a day journey and a half
from Jerusalem, that is to say thirty-six mile. From the Port
Jaffa men go to the city of Rames, the which is but a little
thence; and it is a fair city and a good and mickle folk therein.
And without that city toward the south is a kirk of our Lady, where
our Lord shewed him to her in three clouds, the which betokened the
Trinity. And a little thence is another city, that men call
Dispolis, but it hight some time Lidda, a fair city and a well
inhabited: there is a kirk of Saint George, where he was headed.
From thence men go to the castle of Emmaus, and so to the Mount
Joy; there may pilgrims first see Jerusalem. At Mount Joy lies
Samuel the prophet. From thence men go to Jerusalem. Beside their
ways is the city of Ramatha and the Mount Modyn; and thereof was
Matathias, Judas Machabeus father, and there are the graves of the
Machabees. Beyond Ramatha is the town of Tekoa, whereof Amos the
prophet was; and there is his grave.
I have told you before of the holy places that are at Jerusalem and
about it, and therefore I will speak no more of them at this time.
But I will turn again and shew you other ways a man may pass more
by land, and namely for them that may not suffer the savour of the
sea, but is liefer to go by land, if all it be the more pain. From
a man be entered into the sea he shall pass till one of the havens
of Lumbardy, for there is the best making of purveyance of
victuals; or he may pass to Genoa or Venice or some other. And he
shall pass by sea in to Greece to the Port Mirrok, or to Valoun or
to Duras, or some other haven of that country. And from thence he
shall go by land to Constantinople, and he shall pass the water
that is called Brace Saint George, the which is one arm of the sea.
And from thence he shall by land go to Ruffynell, where a good
castle is and a strong; and from therein he shall go to Puluual,
and syne to the castle of Sinope, and from thence to Cappadocia,
that is a great country, where are many great hills. And he shall
go though Turkey to the port of Chiutok and to the city of Nicaea,
which is but seven miles thence. That city won the Turks from the
Emperor of Constantinople; and it is a fair city and well walled on
the one side, and on the other side is a great lake and a great
river, the which is called Lay. From thence men go by the hills of
Nairmount and by the vales of Mailbrins and strait fells and by the
town of Ormanx or by the towns that are on Riclay and Stancon, the
which are great rivers and noble, and so to Antioch the less, which
is set on the river of Riclay. And there abouts are many good
hills and fair, and many fair woods and great plenty of wild beasts
for to hunt at.
And he that will go another way, he shall go by the plains of
Romany coasting the Roman Sea. On that coast is a fair castle that
men call Florach, and it is right a strong place. And uppermore
amongst the mountains is a fair city, that is called Tarsus, and
the city of Longemaath, and the city of Assere, and the city of
Marmistre. And when a man is passed those mountains and those
fells, he goes by the city of Marioch and by Artoise, where is a
great bridge upon the river of Ferne, that is called Farfar, and it
is a great river bearing ships and it runs right fast out of the
mountains to the city of Damascus. And beside the city of Damascus
is another great river that comes from the hills of Liban, which
men call Abbana. At the passing of this river Saint Eustace, that
some-time was called Placidas, lost his wife and his two children.
This river runs through the plain of Archades, and so to the Red
Sea.
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