In Some Measure These Sections Do Not
Strictly Belong To The Present Chapter, As Limited To The Reign Of Alfred,
And the ninth century; but as they contain isolated circumstances, which do
not otherwise properly arrange themselves into the order
Of our plan, they
may be considered as forming a kind of appendix to the era of Alfred. The
number of these might have been considerably increased from different
sources, chiefly from Hakluyt, who collected them from the ancient
historians; but as they contain hardly any information, except historical,
which does not enter into our plan, the selection here given has been
deemed quite sufficient for this work.
SECTION VII
The Travels of Andrew Leucander, or Whiteman, in the Eleventh Century[1].
Andrew Leucander, or Whiteman, as his Latinized name is explained by Leland
the antiquary, was an English monk, and third abbot of the monastery of
Ramsay, who was much addicted to the study of the liberal sciences,
devoting incredible exertions, both by day and night, to their cultivation,
in which he profited exceedingly. Having a most ardent desire to visit
those places where Christ our Saviour had perfected all the mysteries of
our redemption, of which he only knew the names in the course of studying
the Scriptures, he went from England to the holy city of Jerusalem, where
he visited all the places which had been illustrated by the miracles,
preaching, and passion of Christ; and on his return to the monastery he was
elected abbot. He flourished in the year of our redemption, 1020, under
Canute the Dane.
[1] Hakluyt, II. 39.
SECTION VIII.
The Voyage of Swanus to Jerusalem in 1052[1].
Swanus or Sweno, one of the sons of Earl Godwin, being of a perverse
disposition, and faithless to the king, often quarrelled with his father
and his brother Harold; and, becoming a pirate, he disgraced the virtues of
his ancestors, by his robberies on the seas. At length, being guilty of the
murder of his kinsman Bruno, and, as some report, of his own brother, he
made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem; and on his return towards England, he was
intercepted by the Saracens, by whom he was slain.
SECTION IX.
A Voyage of three Ambassadors from England to Constantinople and the
East, about the year 1056[2].
Upon the holy festival of Easter, King Edward the Confessor, wearing his
royal crown, sat at dinner in his palace of Westminster, surrounded by many
of his nobles. While others, after the long abstinence of the lent season,
refreshed themselves with dainty viands, on which they fed with much
earnestness, he, raising his mind above earthly enjoyments, and meditating
on divine things, broke out into excessive laughter, to the great
astonishment of his guests. But no one presuming to inquire into the cause
of his mirth, all kept silence till dinner was ended. After dinner, when
the king had retired to his bed-chamber, to divest himself of his robes,
three of his nobles, Earl Harold, an abbot, and a bishop, who were more
familiar with him than any of the other courtiers, followed him into the
chamber, and boldly asked the reason of his mirth, as it had appeared
strange to the whole court that his majesty should break out into unseemly
laughter on so solemn a day, while all others were silent. "I saw," said
he, "most wonderful things, and therefore did I not laugh without cause."
And they, as is customary with all men, became therefore the more anxious
to learn the occasion of his mirth, and humbly beseeched him to impart the
reason to them. After musing for some time, he at length informed them,
that seven sleepers had rested during two hundred years on Mount Ceelius,
lying always hitherto on their right sides; but that, in the very moment of
his laughter, they had turned themselves over to their left sides, in which
posture they should continue asleep for other seventy-four years, being a
dire omen of future misery to mankind. For all those things which our
Saviour had foretold to his disciples, that were to be fulfilled about the
end of the world, should come to pass within those seventy-four years. That
nation should rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and
there would be in many places earthquakes, pestilence, and famine, and
terrible apparitions in the heavens, and great signs, with great
alterations of dominion; wars of the infidels against the Christians, and
victories gained by the Christians over the unbelievers. And, as they
wondered at these things, the king explained to them the passion of the
seven sleepers, with the shape and proportion of each of their bodies,
which wonderful things no man had hitherto committed to writing; and all
this in so plain and distinct a manner, as if he had always dwelt along
with them.
In consequence of this discourse, the earl sent a knight, the bishop a
clerk, and the abbot a monk, as ambassadors to Maniches the emperor of
Constantinople, carrying letters and presents from the king. The emperor
received them very graciously; and after a friendly entertainment, sent
them to the bishop of Ephesus with letters, which they name sacred,
commanding him to admit the English ambassadors to see the seven sleepers.
And it came to pass, that the prophetic vision of King Edward was approved
by all the Greeks, who protested that they were assured by their fathers,
that the seven sleepers had always before that time reposed on their right
sides; but, upon the entry of the Englishmen into the cave where they lay,
their bodies confirmed the truth of the foreign vision and prophecy to
their countrymen. Neither were the calamities long delayed, which had been
foretold by the king. For the Agareni, Arabians, and Turks, enemies of the
people of Christ, invading the country of the Christians, spoiled and
destroyed many cities of Syria, Lycia, and the lesser and greater Asias,
and, among the rest, depopulated Ephesus, and even the holy city of
Jerusalem.
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