to the first Court of Parliament which is there by them so ratified and confirmed as no one can appeale from it and he which is found guiltie before them must pay vnto the Courts three-score pounds of Tours weight and some are adiudged to pay more according to the quality of the offence but if the party so condemned thinke that his cause was not well vnderstood and discussed and that he had some iniurie done him thereby receiuing some losse or hinderance hee may bring the matter thus crazed by misinformation againe into question before the Iudges but it shall not be heard vnlesse he pawne and put into their hands an hundred and twenty pounds to stand to their censure The fourth Court in the Court of Requests and is kept by the Masters of the Kings pallace or Masters of requests and supplications and none shall haue their causes heard there but only the kings seruāts or such as haue some priuiledges from the King and they shall not be molested in other Courts of this Court there be onely sixe Iudges it is lawfull to appeale from them to the Parlament If in handling controuersies any great difficulty arise it must be decided by the assembly of all the Iudges and Councellors of euery Court together which happeneth oftentimes in matters proposed by the King touching the gouernment of the Commonwealth for no law can be throughly established without the consent of this Senate or Parlament-house In this Parlament the Peeres of France and other masters of Requests that be the kings fauorites may sit as assistants vnto the Iudges and their places be next vnto the Presidents of the first Court or Chamber but all matters touching the king or any of the Peeres be defined and determined by the Peeres themselues and the Iudges of the first Court. There be twelue chiefe Peers elected out of all the Nobility of France whereof sixe be spirituall men six temporall the spirituall Peeres be the Bishop of Rhemes the Bishop of Lavdunum and the Bishop of Langres which be called Episcopi Duces or chiefe Bishops the Bishop of Beuvois the Bishop of Noyon and the Bishop of Challons which be Episcopi Comites or secundarie Bishops The sixe secular Peeres be the Duke of Burgundie the D. of Normandie and the Duke of Aquitania which bee chiefe Princes or Arch-dukes the Duke of Flanders the Duke of Tholousa and the Duke of Campania which be secundary Princes These twelue according to the opinion of Robertus were first instituted by Charles the great who taking them with him into the warres called them his Peeres as hauing equall power in assisting of the King and they were euer present at his coronation and yeelded obedience to no other Court but onely to the King and his Court of Parliament And these be the ancient and later maners of the Gauls and French-men and their customes most worthie of memorie Of Spaine and of the manners of the Spaniards CAP. 23. SPAINE the greatest country in Europe is situated betwixt France and Affricke and bounded with the Ocean sea and the Pirenaean hils It is comparable to any other country both for fertilitie of soyle and aboundance of fruites and vines and so sufficiently stored with all kind of commodities that be either necessarie or behoofull as it affordeth great part of her superfluitie to the city of Rome and all Italy ouer If you require gold siluer or pretious stones there they are in aboundance if mynes of Iron and sundry other mettals you shall find no defect if wines it giueth place to none and as for oyles it excelleth all other nations of Europe besides that they haue such store of salt as they neuer boyle it but dig it out of the earth in full perfection Yea there is no part of their ground be it neuer so barren but it yeeldeth increase of one thing or other the heate of the Sunne is not there so violent as in Affricke nor be they tossed with such continuall stormes and tempestuous winds as France is but there is an equall temperature of the heauens and wholesomnes of the ayre ouer all the Region it beeing greatly wasted with marine winds without such foggie mists and infectious exhalations as proceed from fennes and moorish grounds There is great plenty of hempe flaxe and broome the pill or skin wherof serueth to tye vp their vines and it affordeth more vermilion then any other countrie besides The currents of their riuers be not so swift and violent as they thereby become hurtfull but gentle and mild to water and manure their fields and medowes and the armes of the Ocean sea which adioyne vnto them affoord great store of fish and yet for no one thing was Spaine more commended in times past then for the swiftnesse of their horses whereof grew this fiction That the Spanish horses were conceiued of the winds Spaine taketh her beginning at the Pyrenaean hilles and winding by Hercules pillars extendeth to the Northerne Ocean so as all places contained within that compasse may iustly be said to be of Spaine The breadth of Spaine as Appianus writeth is ten thousand stadia the length much answerable to the breadth it ioyneth vnto France only at the Pyrenaean hils and on al other sides it is inclosed with the sea it is distinguished and knowne by three names Tarragon Bethica and Lusitania Tarragon the chiefe citties whereof were called Pallantia and Numantia now called Soria at the one end ioyneth vnto France and vnto Bethica and Lusitania at the other The Mediterranean sea runneth by the South-side thereof and vpon the North it lyeth opposite to the Ocean the other two prouinces be diuided by the riuer Anas so as Bethica the chiefe citties whereof were Hispalis and Corduba looketh West-ward into the Atlanticke sea and into the Mediterranean vpon the South Lusitania lyeth opposite onely to the Ocean the side of it vnto the Northerne Ocean and vnto the Western at the end the city Emerita being once the chiefe Cittie of that Prouince Spaine was first called Iberia of the riuer Iberus and after that Hesperia of Hesperus the brother of Atlas and lastly it was named Hispania of Hispalis now called Sibilia Their bodies bee very apt to indure both hunger and labour and their minds euer prepared for death they bee very sparing and strict both in their diet and euery thing else and they be much more desirous of warres then of peace So much as if warres be wanting abroade they wil grow to ciuill dissention and home-bred garboiles among themselues They will suffer torments euen vnto death rather than reueile a thing committed to their secrecie hauing more care of their credits and trust reposed in them then of their liues They be maruellous nimble and swift of pace and of an vnquiet and turbulent disposition their horses be both speedie and warlike and their armes more deare vnto them then their bloud They furnish not their tables with daintie
Queene Margaret in the yeare of our Lord God 1506. 14 Magdalin Colledge founded by the Lord Audley in the yeare of our Lord 1509. and enlarged by Sir Christopher Wrey Lord chiefe Iustice of England 15 Trinity Colledge founded by k. Henry the 8. for the inlarging whereof he added thereunto Michael house and Kings hall and made therof one Colledge in the yeare of our Lord 1546. so as now the names of Michaell house and kings hall is almost worne out of memorie 16 Gonvel and Caius Colledge first founded by one Gonvell about the yeare of our Lord 1348. and perfected by Iohn Caius Doctor of Phisicke and by him called Gonuell and Caius Colledge in the yeare of our Lord 1557. 17 Emanuell Colledge founded by Sir Walter Mildmay in the yeare of our Lord 1588. 18 Sidney-Sussex Colledge founded by Francis Sidney Countesse of Sussex for the erecting whereof she bequeathed at her death fiue thousand pounds it was begun in the yeare of our Lord 1597. Now hauing thus farre spoken of the Country in particular it resteth to say something with like breuity of the seuerall sorts of people that inhabite the same their proceedings in courses of law as well spirituall as temporall and their seuerall Courts The whole number of English men may therefore be diuided into these foure ranckes or degrees of people that is to say Gentlemen or Noblemen Cittizens Yeomen and artificers or labourers Of Gentlemen or Nobility there be two sorts to wit the king himselfe the Prince Dukes Marquesses Earles Vicounts and Barons And this sort of Gentlemen are called Nobilitas maior and the second sort of Gentlemen or Nobility which are also called nobilitas minor consisteth of Knights Esquires and priuat Gentlemen into which ranke of gentry are added Students of the lawes and schollers in the Vniuersities next vnto the Gentry are cittizens whose fame and authority for the most part extendeth no further than their owne citties and boroughes wherin they liue and beare rule sauing that some few of them haue voices in our high Senate of Parlament The third order or degree are the Yeomanrie which are men that liue in the country vppon competent liuings of their owne haue seruants to do their businesse for them serue vpon Iuries and Inquests and haue generally more employment in the gouernement of the common-wealth then citizens haue And the last and lowest sort of our people are artificers or labourers which though they be rude and base in respect of our gentry yet are they much improoued and bettered by conuersing with Gentlemen cittizens and yeomen so as if those authors were now liuing that haue written so contemptuously of all estates of our people vnder the degree of gentry and saw the ciuilitie now generally practised amongst most of vs they would not for some few of the rascalitie censure and condemne all as base and ignoble All these seuerall sorts and degrees of people in our kingdome may more briefly bee deuided into two Orders or ranckes that is to say the Nobilitie and the Commons vnder the title of Nobilitie are comprehended all the Nobilitas maior together with the Bishops that haue place in the vpper house of Parlament and by the commons are meant the nobilitas minor cittizens yeomen and labourers who by common consent elect from amongst them Knights and Burgesses to possesse the lower house of Parlament who haue their voices there in the name of the whole multitude of commons for the making and establishing of lawes ordonances and statutes The Parlament therfore is the highest most absolute Sessions or iudiciall Senate in the whole kingdome consisting of the King himselfe and the Lords spirituall and temporall in their own persons which is the higher house and the whole body of the commons represented by the Knights and Burgesses lawfully elected and those are called the lower house In this high Court of Parlament are such new lawes made and ordained and such old statutes abrogated and annihilated in part or in all as are agreâ—â— vppon by consent of both houses and confirmed by the King so as whatsoeuer is there decreed and constituted is inuiolably to be obserued as established by the generall assembly of the whole kingdome There be three manner of wayes by one custome of England whereby definitiue iudgements are giuen by act of Parlament by battell and by great assise The manner of giuing Iudgement in the Parlament in matters depending betwixt Prince and subiect or partie and party concerning lands and inheritances is by preferring of billes into the houses of Parlament and by the allowance or disallowance thereof but such billes are seldome receiued for that the Parlament is chiefly summoned and assembled for the setling and establishing of matters for the good of the King and common-wealth not to busie themselues in priuate quarrels The triall by battell likewise though it bee not vtterly abrogated and altogether annihilated yet is it quite growne out of vse at this day So as the most vsuall manner of Iudgement is by the verdict of twelue men lawfully impaneled and sworne to giue a true verdict concerning the matter in question be it for life or land or any thing tending to the hurt or good of any subiect whatsoeuer These twelue men ought to be Legales homines as wee terme them that is men of good quality fame and abilitie and they are to giue their verdict according to their euidence before a lawfull Iudge in their Sessions at termes and times vsually appointed for those purposes And for that there be many suites of diuers natures therefore bee the trials therof in diuers courts and before diuers Iudges whereof the chiefest bench or tribunall seate of Iudgement is the Kings bench so called for that the Kings of England haue sat there theÌ„selues in person and this Court is chiefly for pleas of the Crowne the Iudges whereof bee called Iustices of the Kings bench and they be commonly foure or fiue in number whereof one is head and therfore called the Lord chiefe Iustice of the Kings bench and by that place he is also Lord Chiefe Iustice of England Next vnto the Kings bench is the Court of Common pleas which is for all matters touching lands and contracts betwixt partie and partie and of this Court be likewise foure or fiue Iudges the chiefest whereof is called the Lord chiefe Iustice of the Common-pleas and this court may well be called the Common-pleas as being the chiefest place for the exercise of the Common law And there may none plead at the Common pleas barre but Sergegeants at the law onely wheras in all other Courts councellors that be called to the barre may plead their Clyents causes as well as Sergeants The third Court for practise of the common law is the Exchequer where all causes are heard that belong to the Kings Treasury The Iudges of this Court are the Lord high Treasurer of England the Chancelor of the Exchequer the Lord chiefe Baron and
for he expected not their comming but certified mee that hee could not stay their comming for that your custome is to create a new chiefe Gouernour of the Fleete once euery three yeares in which meane time hee that was newly created came thither and this was the cause that the Embassadors staied longer then was needfull But now I send my Messages by Christopher the brother of Licontius whose name at his baptisme is Zoga Zabo which is as much to say as the grace of the Father and hee shall manifest my desires before you In like manner I send Francis Aluarez vnto the Pope of Rome who in my name shall yeeld my obedience vnto him as is fitting O Sir King my brother giue eare and attend indeuor to embrace that friendship which your Father opened betwixt vs and send your Messengers and Letters often vnto vs for I greatly desire to see them as from my brother for so it should be seeing wee are both Christians And seeing the Moores which be wicked and naught accord and agree together in their sect And now I pretest I will neuer hereafter admit any Embassadors from the Kings of Egypt nor from other Kings which send Embassadors vnto me but from your highnesse which I much desire should often come for the Kings of the Moores account me not their friend by reason of our disagreement and disparitie in religion yet they faine friendship that by that meanes they may more freely and safely exercise merchandise in our kingdomes which is very profitable vnto them for they carry great store of gold wherof they be very greedy out of my kingdoms though they be but hollow friends vnto me and their commodities bring me but little pleasure but this hath beene tollerated because it hath been an ancient custome of our former Kings and though I make no warres vpon them nor vtterly ouerthrow them and bring them to destruction yet in this I am to be borne withall lest if I did so they should violate and pull downe the holy Temple which is at Ierusalem wherein is the sepulcher of our Sauiour Christ which God hath suffered to be in the power of the wicked Moores and also least they should make leuell with the ground other Churches which be in Egypt and Syria And this is the cause why I doe not inwade and subdue them which thing greatly irketh me and I am the rather perswaded so to doe seeing I haue no bordering Christian king to assist me and to cheere and incourage my heart in that or the like enterprise And therefore my selfe O King haue no great cause to reioyce of the Christian Kings of Europe vnderstanding that they agree not together in one heart but that warres bee very rife amongst them Bee you all of one Christian-like minde for you ought all of you to bee content of a firme peace amongst you And certainly if any of my neighbouring Christian Kings were ioyned with me in an amiable league as they ought I would neuer depart from him one houre And of this I know not well what I should say or what I should do seeing they seeme to be so ordained by God Sir send your Messengers more often vnto mee I beseech you for when I looke vpon your letters then mee thinkes I behold your countenance And surely greater friendship ariseth betwixt those wich bee farre distant then those which dwell neere together by reason of the great desire wherewith they bee delighted for he which hath hidden treasures though he cannot see them with his eyes yet in his heart hee euer loueth them most ardently as our Sauiour Iesus Christ saith in the Gospell where thy treasure is there is thy heart also And in like manner ought you to make mee your treasure and to cowple your heart sincerely with mine O my Lord and brother keepe this word for you bee most prudent and as I heare much like vnto your Father in wise-dome which when I vnderstood I forthwith gaue praise vnto God and laying aside all griefe conceiued ioy and said Blessed is the wise sonne and of great estimation the sonne of King Emanuell which sitteth in the throne of his fathers kingdomes My Lord beware then faint not seeing thou art as strong as thy father was nor shew thy forces to be weake against the Moores and Gentiles for by the assistance of God and thine owne vertue thou shalt easily vanquish and destroy them neither shalt thou say that thou hadst small power left thee by thy father for truely it was great inough and God shall euer bring thee helpe I haue men money and munition in aboundance like the sands of the sea and the starres of heauen and we ioyning our forces together may easily destroy the rudenes and barbarousnes of the Moores And I desire nothing else of you but skilfull men which bee able to instruct my souldiers to keepe their orders and rankes in battell And thou O King art a man of perfect age King Salomon tooke vpon him the gouernment of his kingdome when he was but twelue yeares of age yet of great power and more wise then his father And my selfe likewise was but a childe of eleuen yeares of age when my father Nav departed this life and being entred into my Fathers seate by Gods ordinance I obtained greater wealth and forces then euer my Father had for in my power bee all the borderers and Nations of the Kingdome Wherefore both of vs ought to giue incessant thankes vnto God for so great benefites receiued Giue care vnto mee my brother and Lord for this at one word I desire of you that you will send vnto mee learned men that can carue images imprint bookes and make Swordes and and all kinde of weapons for the warres head Masons likewise and Carpenters and physitions that haue skill to make medicines and cure wounds I would also haue such as can drawe gold into thin plates and bee able curiously to carue and ingraue gold and siluer and such likewise as haue knowledge to get gold and siluer from out the veines of the earth and to worke in all manner of mettall mines Besides these I shall much esteeme of such as can make couerings for houses of leade and will teach others how to make tiles of chalke or clay To conclude I shall haue vse of all manner of Artificers and especially of such as can make Gunnes Helpe mee therefore I pray you in these things as one brother should helpe another and so God will helpe you and deliuer you from all euill God will heare thy prayers and petitions as hee hath receiued holy sacrifices at all times as first of all the sacrifices of Abell and of Noe when hee was in the Arke and that of Abraham when hee was in the land of Madian and that of Isaac when hee departed from the Ditch or Trench of the Oath and that of Iocob in the house of Bethlem and of Moses in Aegypt and Aaron in the Mount and
holy father which art ordained of God to be the consecrator and sanctifier of all nations and the possessor of Saint Peters seate to you bee giuen the keyes of the kingdome of heauen and whatsoeuer you either binde or loose vpon earth shall be bound or loosed in heauen as Christ himselfe hath said and as S. Mathew hath written in his Gospell I the King whose name the Lyons doe worship by the grace of God called Athani Tingil that is to say virgins incense which name I receiued in baptisme but now when I first tooke vpon mee the gouernment of the kingdome I assumed vnto me the name of Dauid the beloued of God the piller of faith the kinsman of the stock of Iuda the son of Dauid the son of Salomon the son of the piller of faith the son of the seed of Iacob the son of the hand of Mary the son of Nav by the flesh Emperour of great high Ethiopia and of great kingdomes dominions lands King of Xoa of Caffate of Fatigar of Angote of Baru of Baaligaze of Adea of Vangue of Goiame where is the head of the riuer Nilus of Damaraa Vaguemedri Ambeaa Vague Tigri Mahon of Sabain where Saba was Queene of Bernagaes and Lord vnto Nobia in the end of Egypt All these Prouinces be within my power and many other which now I haue not reckoned nor haue I expressed these kingdomes prouinces in their proper names for pride or vaine-glory but for this cause onely that God may be praised more and more who of his singular benignity hath giuen vnto the kings my predecessors the gouernement of such great and ample kingdomes of the Christian religion and yet surely hee hath made me worthy of a more excellent fauour and grace then other Kings that I might continually deuote my selfe to religion because he hath made me Adell that is the Lord and enemie of the Moores and Gentiles which worship idols I send vnto you to kisse your holines feete after the manner of other Christian Kings my brethren to whom I am nothing inferior neither in religion nor power for I within mine owne kingdomes am the piller of faith neither am I aided with any forreine helpe for I repose my whole trust and confidence in God alone who gouerneth and sustaineth me vp from the time wherein the Angell of God spake vnto Phillip that hee should instruct in the true faith the Eunuch of the mighty Queene Candace the Queene of Ethiopia as shee was going from Ierusalem to Gaza And Phillip did then baptize the Eunuch as the Angell commaunded and the Eunuch baptized the Queene with a great part of her houshold and of her people which hath euer sithence continued Christians remaining for all times after that firme and stable in the faith of Christ And my predecessors hauing no other aid but onely Gods asistance haue planted the faith in very large kingdomes which I my selfe doe likewise daily contend to effect For I remaine in the great bounds of my kingdomes like a Lyon incompassed about with a mightie wood and hedged and inclosed against the Moores that lye in waite for me and other nations which bee enemies to the Christian faith and refuse to heare the word of God or my exhortations But I my selfe being girded with my sword doe persecute and expell them out by little little indeed by Gods diuine helpe which I neuer found wanting which happeneth otherwise to Christian kings for if the limits of their kingdoms be large it may easily be obtained for that one may assist minister helpe vnto another and receiue further helpe by your holines benediction of which I am partaker seeing in my bookes be contained certain letters which long since Pope Eugenius sent with his benediction vnto the king of the seed of Iacob which blessing giuen by his own hands being accepted and taken I do enioy and thereof greatly reioyce And I haue the holy temple which is at Ierusalem in great veneration vnto which I oftentimes send oblations due by our pilgrimes and many more and fatter I would haue sent but that the passages bee hindred by Moores and Infidels for besides the taking away from our messengers our gifts and treasures they will not suffer them to passe freely but if they would suffer vs to trauell I would come into the familiarity fellowship of the Romane Church as other Christian Kings do to whom I am nothing inferior in the christian religion for euen as they belieue I confesse one true faith and one Church and I most sincerely beleeue in the holy Trinity in one God and the virginity of our Lady the virgin Mary and I hold and obserue all the articles of the faith as they were written by the Apostles Now our good God hath by the hand of the most mighty and Christian King Emanuell made the passage open and plaine that we may meete by our Embassadors and that we being Christians ioyned in one faith might serue God with other Christians But while his Embassadors were in my Court it was reported vnto me that K. Emanuel was dead that his son my brother Iohn had the rule of his fathers kingdome wherupon as I was sorrowful for my fathers death euen so I reioyced greatly at the happy entrance of my brother into his kingdome so as I hope that we ioining our power and forces together may make open the passages both by sea and land by the regions of the wicked Moores and greatly terrifying them vtterly expell them from their seates and kingdomes that the way being made fit peaceable christians may freelie come and go to the temple of Ierusalem And then shall I bee pertaker of his diuine loue in the Church of the Apostles S. Peter and S. Paul And I couet greatly to obtaine the sacred benediction of the Vicar of Christ for without doubt your holinesse is Gods Vicar and when I heare many things of your holines by trauellers pilgrimes that go and come miraculously from our countries to Ierusalem from thence to Rome they breed in me an incredible ioy pleasure but I should bee more glad if my Embassadors could make a shorter cut in their iourneies to bring newes vnto me as my hope is they will once do before I dye by the grace of almighty God who euer keepe you in health and holines Amen And I kisse your holines feet and humbly beseech you to send me your blessing These letters also your holines shall receiue at the hands of my brother Iohn King of Portugall by our said Embassador Francis Aluarez These Epistles translated by Paulus Iouius I haue ioined to this worke for the better knowledge of this historie wherein we haue changed nor altered nothing although in many places they require alteration some few excepted which being badly translated into Spanish out of the Arabian and Abesenicke language did cleane alter the whole order of the Epistles The same Iouius also in his
much as in me lyeth I may defend and protect my country-folkes against the bitter taunts and reprehensions of many who setting aside all reuerence will not stick to defame reuile that most potent Prince precious Iohn and vs his subiects with slanders and reproches calling vs Iewes and Mahometans because we obserue Circumcision and keepe holy the Sabbath day like vnto the Iewes and also for that like the Mahometans wee fast vntill the Sunne going downe which they alledge is vnfit for a Christian man to do and this they obiect against vs most bitterly that we allow and hold it as lawfull for Priests to marry as for lay people this also they omit not to speake against vs and that most nippingly for that we as it were distrusting in our first Baptisme be re-baptized once euery yeare that women be circumcised as well as men which custome was neuer vsed amongst the Iewes Furthermore because we hold that a difference of meats is most religiously to be obserued and last of all because we call those children halfe Christians which before Baptisme be wont to be called Pagans to which slanders and misreports I am inforced to say thus much that I may purge our people from such reproches and calumnies that I may make the Doctors of the holy Romane church more affable vnto vs by whom how holily I know not I haue bin forbidden to receiue the body of our Lord euer since I came into Portugall which is the space of 7. yeares and that which I speake with griefe and teares I am reputed amongst the Christian brethren as an Ethnicke and one accursed which he that quickeneth and refresheth all things may see and discerne to whose Iudgement I commit all these matters And I am not sent from my most mightie Lord the Emperour of Aethiopia vnto the Bishop of Rome and vnto Iohn the most renowned king of Portugall to mooue disputations and contentions But to begin friendship and felowship and not either to increase or diminish humane traditions but that I should inquire and diligently vnderstand touching the Heresies of Arrius Prince of Heretickes whether the Christians of Europe would meete with vs to ouerthrow the opinions of this man for the destroying of whose errors there was a Councell assembled together at Nicea vnder Pope Iulius consisting of three hundred and eighteene Bishops and withall that I might know whether that be obserued among the Christians of Europe which the Apostles teach in their bookes of Synods that is That a Councell should be celebrated in the church of Christ twise euery yeare to dispute of matters of faith the first of which Councels by the Apostles desire should be assembled at the feast of Penticost the other the tenth of October as also to vnderstand how we did agree together touching the errors of Macedonius for which cause there was a Councel of an hundred and fifty bishops assembled together at Constantinople vnder Pope Damasus and likewise of the errors of Nestorius for whome there was a Councell of two hundred Bishops assembled together in Ephesus vnder Pope Celestine Lastly that I might also know of the fourth Chalcedonian councel wherein for the errors of Eutiches were assembled 632. bishops at which time S. Leo was bishop of Rome from which Councell after many disputations and nothing concluded for the peace of the church the matter beeing left as it was they all departed home euery one remaining in his owne opinion The bookes of which Councels and of others which were celebrated afterwards our most mightie Lord the Emperour of Aethiopia hath in his keeping and of this cockle which the enemy of truth the diuel hath sowne amongst Christians my Lord is much grieued and all his subiects which beleeue in Christ Our countri-men euen from the beginning of the primitiue Church haue acknowledged the bishop of Rome to be the chiefe Bishop whome at this day wee obey as the Vicar of Christ In whose court we would often bee but that the iourney is ouer long and many kingdomes of the Mahometanes betwixt vs that may hinder our passage so as though you should enter into all those great dangers yet you can effect nothing although that most wise and inuincible King Emanuel of happie memorie who was the first that by his nauigations not without Gods celestiall assistance made passage into East India gaue great hope that it might afterwards be done more commodiously for he hauing ouercome the Ocean with his nauie brought the red sea into his subiection being no whit deterred with the greatnesse of the coast so as hee might increase the faith of Christ and as it were make a way open to make vse of our friendship And seeing that is now done and that each nation may receiue ayde from the other wee hope that in short time by the Portugals forces and our owne all the Mahometans and other vnbeleeuing Ethnickes shall be driuen and expelled from the whole Erithraean sea and from all Arabia Persis and India In like manner we trust by the power of Iesus Christ that it will come to passe that peace beeing established amongst all the Christians of Europe the enemies of the crosse shall bee expelled also from the mediterranean places Pontus and other Prouinces that according to the words of Christ There may be vpon earth one lawe one fold and one shepheard Of which thing we haue two Oracles or predictions one out of the Prophecy of S. Ficator the other of S. Synoda the Eremit who was borne in the vttermost rock of Egypt neither of which two differeth from other And since the time that my most mighty Lord receiued the ambassadors of the most famous king Emanuel the truth of these oracles doth seeme to hasten to an end for truly our Prince thinks of nothing more than of that meditating also both by his councell forces how he may root out all Mahometans from the face of the earth For these causes and for others which I haue layd open before the most famous King Iohn the sonne of Emanuel was I sent hither by my most mightie Lord as an Ambassadour and not for friuolous and vaine disputations And I pray with an vnfained heart that the great and mighty God may bring the decrees and indeauours of our Prince for which I was sent to a happie end and to his glorie Amen Hauing gone thus far I will now briefly expound somthing by the way of the state of our Patriarke and Emperour And first you must vnderstand that by a sollemne custome our Patriarke is created by the voyces of our Monkes of Hierusalem which remaine there about the sepulcher of our Lord his election creation is in this maner The Patriarke being dead our Emperour Prester Iohn â—endeth foorthwith a speedie messenger vnto Hierusalem vnto the Monkes there as is sayd who receiuing the message and the gifts which our Lord the Emperour sendeth vnto the holy Sepulcher they presenrly and with all possible expedition
vessels or glasse vessels and kept them in their houses for the space of a yeare during which time they reuerenced them very religiously offering vnto them the first fruits of their increase Some say that thee that did most excell others in comlinesse of body skill in breeding cattell strength and riches him they elected for their King And that they had an ancient lawe that the Priests of Memphis might when they pleased depriue the King of his life by sending vnto him the messenger that caryed the signe of death and ordaine an other to raigne in his steed They beleeued that there was one immortall God and that hee was maker of the world and gouernor of all things any other God they esteemed mortall who was their vncertaine King as is said And hee that best deserued of their citty him next vnto their King they reuerenced as God And such was the state of Aethiopia at the beginning and for a long continuance these their customes and manners of their nation But at this day as Marcus Antonius Sabellicus out of whose history wee haue taken most matters which wee treate of both in this and the bookes following saith that hee had intelligence from some that were borne in those countries that the King of Aethiopia whome wee call Pretoian or Presbiter Ioan or Ioan and they Gyam which in their language signifieth mighty is so potent a Prince that hee is sayd to haue vnder him as his vassalls three-score and two Kings And that all their great Bishops and states of all those kingdomes are wholy guided by him at whose hands the order of Priesthood is obtained which authority was by the Pope of Rome giuen and annexed to the Maiesty of their Kings and yet hee himselfe is no Priest nor neuer entred into any holy orders There be a great number of Archbishops and euery one of them who euer hath the least hath twenty Bishops vnder his iurisdiction The Princes and other Bishops of great dignity when they goe abroad haue carried before them a crosse and a golden vessell filled with earth that the sight of the one may put them in minde of their mortality and the other of our Sauiours passion Their Priests are suffered to mary for procreations sake but if they bury one wife it is vtterly vnlawfull for them to mary an other Their Temples are very large and farre richer then ours and for the most part builded vp to the topp arch-wise They haue many religious houses and families of holy orders as Antonians Dominicks Calaguritans Augustines and Macarians who be all arrayed by permission of their Archbishops with apparell of one coulour Next vnto Almighty God and his Mother the blessed Virgin Mary Saint Thomas surnamed Didimus is chiefly honoured in that country They hold an opinion that their great King whom they call Gyam was ingendred of King Dauid and that the race of that one family hath continued euer since hee is not black as most of the Aethiopians are but rather white The citty Garama is now the Kings seate which consisteth not of Bulwarkes and houses with strong wals but of tents or tabernacles made of fine flaxe or silke imbrodered with purple and placed in decent and seemely order The King according to his custome liueth for the most part abroade not contayning himselfe within the circuite of the Citty aboue two daies together ether because they account it absurde and effeminate or that they are prohibited by some lawe They haue in redinesse vpon any little occasion tenne hundred thousand men well instructed in feates of armes fiue hundred Elephants besides an infinit number of Horses and Camels There be also throughout the whole kingdome certaine stipendary families the issue whereof haue a gentle incision made in their skinne and bee marked with a hot iron with the signe of the Crosse In warres they vse bowes speares cotes of male and helmets the order of Priesthood is in greatest dignity next vnto whome are the sages or wizards whom they call Balsamati and Tenquati They esteeme much also of innocency and honesty accounting them the first step to wisdome the Nobility are the third in honor and dignity and the stipendary the last the Iudges discerne of causes of life and death but referre the decree to the Praefect of the citty who is called Licomagia who alwaies representes the person of the King written lawes they haue none but iudge according to equity and right If any man bee convicted of adultery hee shall pay for his punishment the fortith part of his goods but the adulteresse shal receiue a domesticall reuenge by her husband for he shall punish her whome it doth most concerne The husbands assigne dowers for their wiues requiring noe portion with them There women are attired with gold wherof that country doth much abound pearles also and silke both men and women weare garments downe to the feete with sleeues and not open in any place all colours are alike vnto them except blacke which is there vsed onely for mourning garments They bewaile the dead for the space of forty dayes The second courses in their greatest banquets consist of raw flesh which beeing finely minced into small peeces and strawed ouer with sweete spices they feed vpon most hungerly wollen cloath they haue none insteed wherof they are clothed either with silke or flax they vse not all one language but diuers and distinguished by diuers names They exercise them-selues eyther in husbandry or about cattle they haue euery yeare two haruests two summers All the people of Lybia from this Aethiopia or India to the vtmost part of the west honour the impiety of Mahomet and liue in the same kinde of religion that those Barbarians practise which are now in Aegipt and bee called Moores as it is thought of their wandring or straying abroad for that country of Libia also was no lesse hatefull than the Sarasins in those accursed times wherein was the greatest alteration in humaine matters the manners of people loue of deuotion and names of all Nations being for the most part changed Of Aegipt and the ancient customes of that country CAP. 5. EGipt a region in Affricke or as some will haue it next adioyning to Affricke was so called of Aegiptus the brother of Danaus King of Argyues before which time it was called Aeria This country as Plinie in his first booke witnesseth ioyneth Eastward to the red sea and to Palaestyne vpon the West it hath Cyrene and the residue of Affricke and extendeth from the South to Aethiopia and from the North to the Aegyptian sea The most famous citties of that country were Thebes Abydos Alexandria Babilon and Memphis now called Damiata and the great citty Cayrus or Alcir which is the Soldans seate In Egypt as Plato reporteth it doth neuer raine but the riuer of Nylus ouer-flowing the whole land once euery yeare after the summer Solstice maketh the whole
land such other commodities as the country affoordeth as colour medicines wooll or such like and somtimes cattel also It is not lawfull for the King to put any man to death for one onely cause nor for one Persian to commit any heynous offence against another of his owne family or kindered The Persians haue many wiues a peece and keepe diuerse concubines besides for increase of issue and the Kings reward those most liberally that haue begot most children in a yeare nor bee their children once brought into their fathers sight before they bee fiue yeares of age but all that while are brought vp with their mothers chiefly for this cause that if any of them in those yeares of education should miscarry and dye their losse should be no greefe or molestation to the father They celebrate their mariages all at one time of the yeare that is in the vernall Aequinoctium and the Brides-groome eateth nothing the first night he lieth with his wife but an Apple or the marrow of a Cammell The Persian children from the first yeare of their age to the foure and twentith practise nothing but riding shooting throwing the dart and chiefly to learne to speake the truth Their schoole-maisters are men of great continencie and seuerity and such as sometimes in rime some-times in prose rehearse vnto them for their instructions tales and histories containing the commendations of their gods and the deeds of worthy men They haue a place appointed them to practise in whether they are summoned by the sound of some winde instrument at vsuall houres and their teachers are often demanded and examined by others how their children do profit They practise running also choosing one of the Princes sonnes to be their Captaine and guide the field wherein they run their races is at the least thirty stadia in length and that they may the better indure both heate and cold they often exercise themselues in swimming and wading ouer great waters insomuch as they will eate their meate and go about their husbandry and other businesse with weapons in their hands and wet garments on their backs their meate is the gumme or turpentine that issueth out of Firre trees Acornes and wilde Peares but that which they vsually eat after their runing other exercises of their bodies is a kinde of heard bread and salt herbes called garden Cresses and flesh either broyled or boyled and their vsual drinke is water They hunt alwaies on horsbacke with darts bowes and slings In the fore-noone they either plant trees dig vp rootes make weapons or practise fishing their children be addorned with gold and many other dainties The stone Pyropus which is a kind of Carbuncle stone of a firy rednesse is with them in great estimation therefore they apply it not to any dead bodie nor yet the fire for the great honor reuerence they yeeld vnto it from the twentith yeere vnto the fiftith they be souldiours and follow the warres they haue no vse of pleading neither doe they buy or sell any thing They bee armed in the warres with a kinde of target in form of a wheele and besides their quiuer of arrowes they haue weapons called sangars and short swords caps with high crowns and on their breasts rough brest-plates ful of skales The Princes weare a kind of garment that is three double about their shoulders and cotes with sleeues hanging downe to their knees the out-side whereof is of diuers collours and the lyning white In the Sommer time the Persians be clothed in purple and in winter in changeable collours The head attires for their Priests or Magi be like vnto Bishops miters The common people bee clothed with two coates hanging downe to the middle of their legs and a great bundel of linnen cloath bound about their heads Their beds and pots be trimmed with gold siluer They consult of no serious matter but when they be halfe drunke esteeming that consultation to be more firme thē that which is with sobriety deliberatiō kinsmen equals salute one an other with a kisse the baser sort of people reuerence their betters by bowing their bodies vnto them They bury their dead bodies in the earth annoynting them first with wax but their Priests or wise-men they cast out without burial to be deuoured of birds their custome was also for sonnes to lie with their owne mothers and these in times past were the manners and customes of the Persians Herodotus also reciteth more of their maners very worthy of remembrance as that it was held a horrible and heynous offence to laugh or spit before the King That they scoffed at the Greekes who were of opinion that the gods tooke their original from men That whatsoeuer was vnlawful to be done was by them thought vnfitting to be spoken That it was a vile thing to bee in debt but to lie was most abhominable That they did not bury their dead bodies before they were pulled in peeces by dogges and which in the opinion of other nations was thought most absurde that parents being brought to pouertie might get money by being Pandars to their owne daughters which custome was alowed amongst the Babylonians also The Persians at this day being ouercome by the Sarrasins and infected with the madnesse of Mahomet liue altogether in darkenesse It was once a warlike nation and had for a long space the gouernment of the East but now for want of excercise in armes it fayleth much of his ancient glory Of India and of the monstrous and prodigious customes and manner of liuing of the people of India CAP. 8. INDIA a Country in the East and the vtmost bound of all Asia is so vast and large a country as it is thoght to be the third part of the whole world Pomponius writeth that it is as much in compasse by the sea shore as a ship will saile in forty daies and forty nights with a full winde It is called India of the riuer Inde where it finisheth his course vpon the West part and beginning at the meridionall sea stretcheth out vnto the vttermost part of the East extending Northward to the hill Caucasus It containeth sundry sorts of people and hath such great aboundance of Cities and walled townes therein as some are of opinion that there is no fewer then fiue thousand nor may it seeme strange that it hath so great numbers of people and Cities considering that the Indians of all other people neuer departed from their natiue soile The most famous riuers in that Country are Ganges Indus and Hypanis but the greatest of them is the riuer Ganges The Country by reason of the Westerne windes is most holsome they haue two haruests in the yeere and the wind bloweth Easterly all winter wine they haue none although there be that affirme that the Musican soile yeeldeth some wine in the South part of India is great store of Narde Cynamon Pepper and Sugar-cane as in Arabia and Aethiopia It produceth Ebon-trees
hundred out of this order be elected for the most part all the chiefe Gouernours and men of great authority and dignity There bee three orders of footemen first the Ianizaries who while they be young vnder the age of twelue yeeres bee elected out of the whole Empire by the Serchers Inquisitors or Muster-maisters and for a space trained vp in military discipline in publicke places of excercise and then sent into the warres cloathed in short garments and round cappes turning vpwards and armed with shields swords and bowes these defend the camps and besiege Citties and are more in number then twentie thousand The Asappi be of the second order which be footmen armed with a light armor they vse swords shields long speares and weare red caps to distinguish them from the Ianizaries these gal the enemies horses in battaile and the number of them is answerable to the greatnesse of the army and at the least 4000. of them goe with the King and it is decreed that their wages shall surcease when the wars are ended The regall army consisteth of two hundred thousand fighting men but the company of footmen which be either voluntaries or such as haue bin dismissed from the wars and bee sommoned to serue againe serue without wages with these be mixed slaues pages skullions and drudges carpenters pioners and victuallers of the campe These make waies euen and plaine in rugged and rough places build bridges ouer riuers pooles erect Rampires and Bulwarkes against the enemie and make all others things ready which be profitable for the assaulting and conquering of Citties Vsurers Bankers Exchangers and Brokers that sell garments for souldiors and an infinite rabble of such like people follow the campe also least any thing should bee wanting that is necessary for the souldiors But their is no one thing so much to bee admired and wondred at in that people as their celerity in action their constancy and perseuerance in dangers and their obedience of gouernment for they loose their liues for the least offence that is they wil swim deepe riuers and whitlepits clime the steepest hils and when they be commanded run head-long through thicke or thin rough or smooth not so much regarding their liues as the will of the commander they most patiently endure both watching and want their is no sedition no tumult no clamors or outcries raysed in their armies and in the night time there is such continual and husht silence in their campes as they wil rather suffer captiues to escape then to haue any tumults or hurly burly raised amongst them Of all men now liuing the Turkes make warres most orderly so that it needs not seeme strange to any what the cause should bee that hath raised them to this height at this day that about two hundred yeeres since there was no nation like them For it may bee truely said of them that they bee an inuincible Nation vnlesse they bee vanquished by some great plague or pestilence or else by ciuill dessention amongst themselues The souldiours bee attired verie comely wearing nothing that is vndecent or vnhonest in their saddles and bridles is neither curiositie nor superfluity and none of them goe armed but when they be in fight and at other times they haue their armour carried after them in cariages They vse no Standards or Ensigns but Launces vpon the tops whereof hang downe certaine threeds of diuers sundrie collours by which each captaine is knowne of his company yet they vse drummes and physes to summon and incite them to fight the battaile finished all the army is set in readinesse and viewed by the Register who is one of the noble men that they may know who and how many were slaine in the fight and for the ordaining of others in their places In all their assemblies and banquets they pray for the souldiours but more deuoutly for such as were slaine in defence of their country esteeming those happy and blessed that died not at home amidst the sorrow and lamentations of their wiues and children but abroad amongst the out-cries of their enemies clattering of armour and shattering of speares They describe extoll and chaunt out the victories of their ancestors thinking thereby to make their souldiours more forward and couragious Their buildings and dwelling houses bee made for the most part of timber and morter and very few of stone vnlesse the houses of great men Bathes and Temples which be commonly builded of stone yet there be some of the Plebeians or common people of such exceeding wealth as some one alone is able of himselfe to furnish and set forth a whole army but beeing as indeed they are very frugal and shunning all sumptuousnesse they cherish humility and patiently indure this voluntary pouerty And for this cause they vtterly renounce all pictures and so much abhorre and detest the caruing of Images as they terme Christians Idolaters because they bee delighted in these things contending that they affirme the truth in saying so They vse no seales at all to their letters neither the King nor no man else but giue credit so soone as they heare the name of him that sent it or view the stile of the writer neither is there any vse of belles no not so much as any of the Christians that dwelleth amongst them are once permitted to vse them They play at no game for money or any thing else but persecute all gamesters with many ignominies and reproaches no man of what dignitie estate or condition soeuer hee is of desireth to sit vpon any stoole forme or seate to sustaine him from the ground but disposing and placeing his bodie and garments in comelie and decent order sitteth him downe vpon the ground as children doe The table wherevpon they eate their meate is made for the most part of an oxe-hide or of a stagges skin vndrest and the haire on beeing made rounde and some foure or fiue handfull in breadth and with many iron rings sowed vnto the sides thereof through which they put a leatherne thong by which deuise it is opened shut and carried like a purse No one doth enter into any house Church or other place wherein they may sit but they must first put off their shooes for they account it vnhonest and vndecent for any one to sit with his shooes on and therefore they vse such manner of shooes as they can easily put off and on The places wherein they sit either in their houses or Churches are couered with course woollen blankets or else with mats and sometimes by reason of the basenesse and vncleannesse of the places they be borded or plancked Both men and women weare long and large garments made open with a slit before that they may the better couer and bend themselues when they purge their bodies of their naturall excrementes in doing whereof they bee very precise that they turne not their faces towardes the Sunne rysing which way the doe turne themselues when they pray they bee very
the world presently all his kinsfolke and friends flocke about him bewayling greatly his natiuity and saying that seeing he is borne he must of necessity suffer and indure all humaine and worldly calamities and againe when one is departed out of this life they commit him to the ground with great ioy and exultation shewing what and how many euills he hath escaped to liue for euer in eternal happinesse But those which dwell beyond the Crestonae haue many wiues a yeere and when a man dieth there is great controuersie amongst his wiues all their friends being accited to giue their iudgements of the matter which of those wiues was best beloued of her husband and she that is adiudged to haue beene deerest vnto him in his life time which shee esteemeth a great honour vnto her is both by the men and women adorned and gallantly decked vp and so brought vnto her husbands tombe and there killed by one of her own deerest friends and interred with her dead husband all the other wiues lamenting and accounting that a great crosse and disgrace vnto them All other Thracians in generall sell their children openly nor be virgins there restrained from accompanying with their neerest kin no not with their owne fathers but may lie with whom they please and yet husbands be very chary of their wiues chastity for they buy them of their parents with great summes of money and the signe them in the forheads with certaine markes which kind of marking is held a very generous and worthy thing but to be without those markes is an argument of ignominy and basenesse where diuers maides are to be married those which be most beautifull be first taxed and prized and beeing once prized their parents will not by any meanes giue them in marriage for lesse money then they were rated at and when all the fairest bee bought then those which be deformed be sold at more easier prices so as in conclusion all goe away In their banquets both men and women sit round about a fire whereinto they cast the seeds of certaine herbes which grow in those parts the very smell and sauour whereof doth so stop and stifle them as their senses be dulled and they as pleasant and iocund as if they were merry drunke To liue idlely and by theft they account an honest course of life but to labour and husband the ground they hold base and ignoble The gods which they chiefly worship and religiously adore be Mars Bacchus Diana and Mercury but they swere onely by Mars accounting him as the author and orignall of their race The people of Thrace exceed all other men in bignesse and stature of body their eyes be gray their lookes grim frowning and menacing their speech terrible and themselues long of life Their buildings be very low and base their diet is nothing dainty they haue no vines but great store of apples the King is elected as well by the voices of the commons as by the nobility and they elect such a one as is of approued good manners singular clemency and by reason of his age of very great grauity and one that hath no children for hee which is a father is not admitted amongst them to bee a gouernor bee his life and conuersation neuer so vprigh◠and lawdable and if at any time in all his raigne he chance to haue a child he is therfore depriued of his gouernment For by no meanes will they admit that their Kingdome should become hereditary and though the King be neuer so iust and rightfull Yet will they not allow him the whole power in his owne hands and to rule as he list himselfe but he must bee assistwith forty Rectors or Iudges to the end he should not be sole Iudge in capital causes and if the King himselfe bee found faulty of any offence he is punished with death yet not with such a death as any one shall lay violent hands vpon him but by the common consent of all he is deposed from his Kingly authority and then famished to death whom when hee is dead the great men bury on this manner First they lay forth his body vpon the ground for the space of three daies and then fall to banquetting and slaying of all sorts of beasts for sacrifices which done they weepe ouer him burne his body and bury his bones in the ground and lastly vpon his monument they proclaime and set out combats of all sorts and especially the Monomachia which is the single combat or fighting of two hand to hand The armour and weapons which as Herodotus writeth they vsed in the warres against Darius were helmets made of foxes skinnes souldiours coates and short cassockes ouer them and vpon their legges they were buskins made of fawnes skinnes their weapons wore dartes targets short poyniardes and bowes wherein they bee so skilfull and expert as they alleadge that they were the first inuentors of that weapon Their language and the Scythians is al one Pliny writeth that all Thrace was once deuided into fifty Stratageas which are counties or captainships that part of Thrace which was once called Getica where Darius the sonne of Hydaspis was wel-nigh ouerthrowne is now called Valachia of the Flacci a family of Rome For the Romaines after they had ouercome and vtterly vanquished the Getes sent thither a Colony vnder the conduct of one Flaccus wherevpon the countrie was first called Flaccia and afterwards by corruption Valachia which opinion carrieth more likely-hood of truth for that the Romaine language is yet spoken in that Countrie but they speake it so corruptly as a Romane can scarce vnderstand it the Romaine letters also bee there vsed sauing that the forme or fashion of the letters is somewhat alterred their rites and ceremonies of Religion doe ioyntly agree cohere and are all one with the Greekes The Daci afterwardes possessed this Countrie of whom for a certaine space it was called Dacia but now it is enioyed by the Almaines the Siculi and the Valachians The Almaines or Teutones were a verie valiant and hardie people sent thether out of Saxonie by Charles the Great who in their owne naturall language and dialect were called Seibemburges of the seuen Cities which they inhabited The Siculi or Sicilians were an ancient people of Hungaria and such as abandoning their owne Countrie first came thither from out of Scythia and seated themselues in that Countrie Of the Valachians were two sortes of people and of two sundrie factions the Dragulae and the Dani otherwise called Davi for there doe some Greeke writers reporte that the Getes and Daui were the names of seruantes which in times past came thither from other places The Dragulae being neither equall nor matchable to the Danes nor able to make their partie good with them not much aboue a hundred yeere since brought the Turkes into that coūtry by whose force armes the Dani were almost vtterly killed and vanquished had not that valiant man Iohn Huniades brought aide
three or foure other Barons which be called Barons of the Exchequer Besides these three Courts of the common law and the court of the Councell for the Marches of Wales whereof I haue spoken before there is a Court for the North part of England which is likewise called the Councell hauing a President Iustices and assistants as in the Councell of Wales and the same forme of proceeding And for the more ease and quiet of the subiect the King by his commission sendeth the Iudges and Barons of the Exchequer twise a yeare into euery seuerall County of the countrie as well to see the lawes executed against malefactors as for the triall and determining of causes depending betwixt partie and party These two Sessions are vsually called the Assises or Goale deliuery and their manner of proceedings is by Iurors who are to giue their verdicts according to euidēce And for because the time of these Iudges commission is ouer short to determine all matters that may arise in halfe a yeare the Iustices of peace in their seuerall Counties haue their Sessions likewise which be kept foure times in the yeare and be therefore called the quarter Sessions in which Sessions are heard and determined all pettie causes for the more ease of the Iudges in their circuits And for the better maintenance of peace in euery part of the Realm there be diuers other petty Courts as county Courts hundred Courts towne Courts Leets Court Barons and such like all which hold plea according to the course of the common law Next vnto these Courts of common law is the Court of Star-chamber which is the court of the kings Councell therin sit as Iudges the L. Chancelor as chiefe the L. Treasurer and the rest of the priuy Councel both spirituall and tēporall to gether with the chiefe Iustices of both benches And in this court be censured all criminall causes as periurie forgerie cousenage ryots maintenance and such like The court of Wards and Liueries is next which is a court of no long continuance being first ordained by Henry the 8. the matters that are determinable in that court are as touching wards and wardships and the Iudges are the Master of the wards and liueries the Atturney of the court of wards and other officers and assistants Then is there the Admirals court which is only for punishment of misdemeanors done at sea the Iudges of which court be the Lord high Admirall of England and a Iudge with other officers The Duchie court which is a court for the determining of matters depending within the Duchy of Lancaster wherein be Iudges the Chancelor of the Duchie and the Atturney And a late erected court called the court of the Queens reuenues for the deciding of controuersies amongst the Queenes tenants Next vnto these are the courts of Equity which are the Chancery and the court of Requests The court of Chancery which is commonly called the court of conscience is chiefly for the mitigation of the rigor of the cōmon lawe wherein the Lord high Chancelor of England is chiefest Iudge and moderator to whom are ioyned as assistants the M. of the Rolles and certaine graue Doctors of the ciuill law which are vsually called Masters of the Chancery The court of Requests is much like to the Chancery and is chiefly for the kings seruants the Iudges wherof are the Masters of Requests which bee alwaies reuerent men and well seen in the ciuill law and one of them is euer attendant on the King to receiue supplications and to answer them according to the Kings pleasure Hauing thus passed ouer the seueral courts of common law the courts of Equity and those which are of a mixt nature betwixt the common ciuill law I wil only name the spirituall courts the chiefest wherof are these The first and most principal is the conuocation of the Clergy which is a Synod of the chiefest of the Clergie of the whole Realme held only in Parlament time in a place called the Conuocation house where cannons are ordained for church-gouernment And this court may be called a generall Councell next vnto which are the particular Synods of both Prouinces Canterbury and York and are called prouinciall Synods Then is there the Archb. of Cāterburies court called the Arches the court of Audience the Prerogatiue court the court of Faculties the court of Peculiars with many other courts in each seuerall Dioces In all which courts what matters are there handled their Iudges and assistants and all their whole manner of proceedings I leaue to the report of such as are better acquainted in those courts And thus much may suffice for the present estate of our country as it is now in the ninth yeare of the raigne of our dread Soueraign Lord K. Iames the first whome God graunt long to rule and raigne ouer vs. OF IRELAND HIBERNIA an Iland bordering vpon Brittaine on the North and West side and much about halfe as big as Brittaine was so called according to some ab hyberno tempore that is to say of the winter season The ground there is so exceeding rancke and the grasse so pleasant and delicious withall that their beasts in Sommer time will kill themselues with feeding and supersluosly grazing if they be not driuen from pasture some part of the day This Island breedeth neither spider nor toade nor any other venimous or infectious creature nor will any liue that are brought thither out of other Countries but dye instantly as soone as they do but touch this Countries soyle Bees there be none the aire is very temperate and the earth fruitfull and yet be the people exceeding barbarous vnciuill and cruell For those which prooue vanquishers in their battels swill and drinke vp the bloud of their slaine enemies and then defile and gore their owne faces with it And whether they do right or wrong it is all one vnto them When a woman is deliuered of a male child the first meate she giueth him shee putteth into his mouth with her husbands sword point signifying by that manner of feeding and also praying after her countrey fashion that the child may dye no other death but in the field amongst his enemies Their greatest gallants adorne the hilts and pummels of their swords with beasts teeth which bee as white as Iuorie and brought thither out of other countreys And their chiefest delight and greatest glorie is to be souldiers Those which inhabite the hilly and mountainous part of the countrie liue vppon milke and apples and are more giuen to hunting and sporting then to husbandrie The Sea betwixt England and Ireland is very raging vnquiet and troublesome all the yeare long and but in summer hardly nauigable Yet do they sayle ouer it in boates or whirries made of Ozier twigs and couered with Oxe hides or buffe skins they abstaine from meate all the while they are vpon the seas And this sea according to the opinion of the best writers is in breadth one hundred and twenty
simple and they couet for nothing but to suffice nature they eate flesh some-times boylde and sometimes broyld and dresse their meate them-selues reiecting the Arte of Cookery and all seasoning of their meates with salte or spices as friuolous and vnnecessary They worship the Firmament the Sunne and the rest of the celestiall bodyes they catch diuerse sorts of fishes and birds and they haue great store of Olyue trees and Vines which naturally hold their increase so as they haue Oliues and Grapes in aboundance without trauell or cost These Ilands also produce serpents that bee great ones but nothing hurtfull the flesh whereof is maruelous sweete and delicious Their garments are of a sine white Cotton or Downe which groweth in the middle of Reedes which being dyed with the Iuyse of these sea fishes that coloureth purple they make themselues purple garments thereof There be also diuerse sorts of liuing creatures of strange and almost incredible natures They obserue a certaine order and strict course in their dyet eating but onely one kinde of meate vppon one day for some day they eate fishes an other day fowles an other flesh of beasts and some-times Oyle and the table where they eate theyr meate is very meane and simple They bee addicted to diuerse exercises for some serue and are serued in course some are imployed in fishing some in fowling some in sundry Artes and manuall occupations and all of them in generall are busied in some one thing or other that redoundeth to their common good In their sacred ceremonies and vpon holy dayes they sing lawdes and himnes in honor of their gods and especially of the Sunne to whome they dedicate themselues and their Islands They bury their dead bodyes vpon the sea coast couering the carcasse with sand that by the flowing and inundation of the waters there may bee a great heape of sand in the place where the corpes are buryed The canes whereof they eate the fruite as they say doe increase and decrease according to the disposition of the Moone The water of their fountaines is both sweet and holsome alwayes hotte vnlesse it bee mingled either with wine or cold water When Iambolus and his companion had liued in that Iland seauen yeares they were forced to depart for the Ilanders held them to bee euill liuers and of bad behauiour and conuersation and therefore prouiding their shippe ready and victualling her they set forward on their iourney though fore against their wills and at the foure months end they came to the King of India by whome they were afterwards safely conducted through Persia and brought into Greece Of the Iland called Taprobane and of the manners of the Inhabitants CAP. 26. TAPROBANE before mans venterousnesse by exquisit searching into euery creeke and corner of the sea had truely and throughly discouered it was held to be as it were an other world that wherein the Antipodes were supposed to dwell But Alexander the great by his prowesse and valour remooued the ignorance of this common error which did much augment and increase the glory of his name for Onesicritus the praefect of his nauie being by him sent to search out what manner of land it was what commodities it yeelded and how and by whom it was inhabited made it most apparent and manifest vnto vs. The length of the Iland is seauen thousand stadia and fiue thousand in breadth and it hath a riuer running through the middle of it that deuideth it into two parts Some part of this Iland is wholy replenished with beasts and Elephants which be farre bigger then India breedeth any and some part of it is well peopled There bee great store of Pearles and precious stones of diuerse kindes It is situated East and West and beginneth at the sea called fretum Indioe from Prasla a countrie in India into Taprobane at the first discouery thereof was the space of 25. dayes sayling but it was with such boates as the riuer of Nilus carried that were made of reedes for at this day with our shippes it is not aboue seuen dayes sayle The sea that deuideth the Iland in twaine in many places is very shallow being not aboue seuen foote deepe but in some other places againe the channell is so exceeding deepe that no anchor can reache the bottome In sayling they obserue not the course of the starres for the North pole and the seauen starres doe neuer appeare to their view and the Moone is no longer seene in their Horizon but from the sixt day after his change to the sixteenth but the cleere and radiant starre called Canopus shineth there very bright and the Sunne riseth vppon their right hands and setteth vppon their left With coyne they were altogether vnacquainted vntill the raigne of the Emperour Claudius and it is reported that they were greatly amazed at the sight of money because it was stamped with sundry figures and similitudes and yet in weight and substance was all one In stature and bignesse of body they exceed all other men of what nation so euer They dye and coulour their hayre browne their heires bee gray or blew their visage grimme and sterne and their voyce harshe and terrible Those which dye an vntimely death liue commonly till they bee a hundred yeare old but those which spend out the full course of nature liue till they bee maruelous old farte exceeding mans ordinary frayltie They neuer sleepe in the day time and but part of the night neyther for they risâ— exceeding early Their buildings bee meane and lowe and their victualls alwayes alike they haue great store of Apples but no Vines They honor Hercules as their God Their Kings are elected as well by the voyces of the commons as by the nobility for the peoples care is to choose one of great clemencie and vnprooueable manners and such a one as is well striken in yeares and withall that hath no children for he which is a father is not there admitted to be a King be he neuer so good and vertuous and if the King at any time during his raigne hap to haue a child he is therefore instantly deposed and depriued of all Princely iurisdiction and this they doe for because they will not haue their kingdome become hereditary Moreouer bee their King neuer so iust and vpright yet will they not commit the absolute gouernment wholy into his hands for to the end he should not be sole Iudge in capitall causes there be forty Rectors or Guides annexed vnto him as his assistants and if the iudgement of the King and his forty assistants seeme partiall or distastfull to any one he may from them appeale to the people who haue likewise seuenty Iudges allowed them for the determining of such causes as come to them by way of appeale and the sentence that is pronounced by these seuenty Iudges must of necessity stand inuiolable The King in his apparell differeth much from the people and if he be found guilty of any offence
after for infamous persons which punishment as some thinke was imposed vpon the father of Euripydes who had his beginning from the people of Baeotia The Assiryans sell their virgins in the open market to any that desire to marry them and those which be most beautyfull bee first sould and then the rest but when they come to the most deformed they make proclamation by a common cryer how much mony any one will take to marry them and so by this meanes that which is gotten for the saile of the faire virgins is bestowed in placing the foule in like-manner they ioyne together those that in their manners bee most like for grauity and humanity With the Persians that which is esteemed dishonest to bee done is held vnfitting to bee spoken if any one kill his father they esteeme him a changeling and not a naturall childe if the King command any one to bee beaten or whipped hee is as thankefull as if he had receued a great benefit because the King remembred him they which haue many children are for that cause regarded of the King and they teach their children as well to speake the truth as to learne any art whatsoeue◠Amongst the Indians when any one is deceiued or cozoned of that which hee lent or left in trust with an other he bringeth not his action against him that deceiued him but imputeth the fault to him selfe because he trusted him if any one cut of the hand or pull out the eye of an artificer hee is punished with death for it hee which is guilty of any haynous offence is by the Kings command shauen which is the greatest ignominy amongst them that may bee when an Indian man dyeth one of his wiues which hee most loued in his life time is layde on the pyle and burned with him And there is great controuersie and stryfe amongst them euery one hauing their friends to speake and plead for them who shall bee shee that shall bee burned with her deceased husband for each one desireth it The Lacedemonians thinke it not fitting nor honest to bestow themselues in learning any other arts then such as belong to the warres the men dyet all together in one place they reuerence all old men as their parents and as the men haue exercises proper to them-selues so haue the maides likewise to themselues It is not lawfull for strangers to dwell at Spatta nor for a Spartane to trauell into other countries they giue power and licence to their wiues to take the fairest men they can finde to beget children of them whether they be Cittizens or strangers It is vnseemly for a Spartane to make any gaine of any thing their money is made of Lether and if any man haue either gold or siluer found in his house hee dyeth for it They account it the greatest glory that may bee to shew themselues humble and obedient vnto Magistrates and farre more happy are they accounted amongst them that dye an honourable death then those which liue in great prosperity Their children by a certaine custome they vse are whipped round about a pillar till most of them bee runne away and those which tarry still vnder the whipps haue Garlands giuen them for a reward for they hold it vnhonest to take any dastard for their companions schoole-fellowes or friends Old men when they draw neere their deaths bee censured who of them haue liued well and who otherwise when an armie is conducted without the limitts of their country a certaine Priest which they call Pirphorus that is to say a fire-bearer maketh and kindleth a fire at the Altar of Iupiter their guide which fire he carieth before the King keeping it euer from going out The King when he goeth to the warres is attended with Prophets and Soothsayers Phisitions and Minstrils and they vse Pipes or Flutes in the warres in steed of trumpets and those which fight be adorned with garlands All men arise to the King to doe him reuerence but the officers called Ephori and the King is sworn before he enter into his Kingdome to gouerne according to the lawes of the common-wealth The Cretenses were the first of all the Grecians that obeyed the lawes ordained by King Minos who was first that obtained dominion of the sea This Minos when hee inuented and framed those lawes fained that hee learned them of Iupiter and therefore for the space of nine yeeres together he would vsually goe vnto a certaine hil wherein was a denne consecrated to Iupiter and euer when hee returned backe hee brought some new lawes to the Cretenses as though hee had beene their instructed by Iupiter Of this Minos and his fained conference with Iupiter Homer speaketh thus Amongst them saith hee is the City called Gnossus where Minos who had often conference with the great god Iupiter raigned nine yeeres The Cretensian children be broght vp altogether in one publike place and that very hardly and painefully for they be much accustomed to hunting when they bee yong and to run barefooted as also to goe armed to the Pirrichan vawting or leaping whereof Pyrrichicus Cydoniates a Cretensian born is said to be the inuentor which is a very laborious difficult exercise for youth The men in like maner eate together in one publike place by reason of their sustenance and prouision all things be indifferently ministred vnto them the gifts or presents which amongst them be in most request be weapons The Autariatae if any of there souldiors faint or sick by the way wil rather kil them then leaue them liuing in a strang place The Triballi set their army in foure squadrons or orders the first ranke consisteth of those which bee feeble and weake the next vnto it of such as bee stronge and lustie the third of horse-men and the last of women which when all the rest be put to flight sticke to their enemies still pestring and afflicting them with their reuilings and skoldings The Cusiani bewaile those which bee borne into the world and account them happy and blessed that depart out of this life The Cij whē they haue burned their dead bodies gather vp all their bones and beate them to poulder in a morter and then taking ship they lanch into the deepe where putting the poulder into a siue they scatter and disperce it in the winde till all be blowne away and consumed The Tauri a people of Scythia when their King is dead bury with his body such of his friends as hee loued best in his life time and on the other side the King when any of his friends die cutteth off part of the lap of his eare either more or lesse as his deceased friend was of deserts The Sindi when they bury any one looke how many enemies hee slew in his life time iust so many fishes doe they cast into his sepulcher with him The Colchi bury not their dead bodies in the ground but hang them
many languages into Portugale to King Emanuell and that his Embassage might carry more credit and authority she sent with him a noble yong man called Abesynus which two I haue often met in our Court and haue had familiar conference with them This Mathew came by diuers iournies to Goa vnto Alphonsus Albuquercus viceroy there of whome hee being receiued very curteously and dispached thence liberally rewarded he arriued in our nauy at Vlispone in the yeare of Christ 1513. who shewing to the King the cause of his Ambassage presented him with a crosse finely wrought made of that tree whereof our Sauiour Christ was Crucified which crosse I haue oftentimes seene and worshipped while my brother Fructus a Goes was the Kings chamberlaine and had it in his custody the Queenes letters which hee brought vnto King Emanuell purported thus much A letter of Helena the grand-mother of Dauid Precious Iohn Emperor of Aethiopia written vnto Emanuell King of Portugall in the yeare of our Lord. 1509. IN the name of God the Father the Sonne and Holy Ghost one God in three presons the health grace and benediction of our Lord and Redeemer Iesus Christ Sonne of the blessed Virgin Mary borne in Bethlem bee vpon our deere brother the most Christian King Emanuell gouernor of the sea and conqueror of the Barbarous and incredulous Moores Our Lord God prosper thee and giue thee victory ouer all thine enimies and that your Kingdomes and dominions by the deuout prayers of the Messengers of our Sauiour Christ to witte the foure Euangelists S. Iohn Luke Marke and Mathew whose sanctity and prayers be euer thy defence may extend and stretch them-selues wide and broad These are to certyfie you most deere brother that there came vnto vs from your great and famous Court two Messengers whereof one was called Iohn who affirmed him-selfe to be a Preest and the other Iohn Gomez and desired of vs souldiors and prouision for the warres wherefore wee haue sent vnto you our Embassador Mathew the Brother of our seruice with the lycence of Marke the Patriarch who giueth vs his benediction sending vs Preests from Ierusalem hee is our father and father of all our dominions the piller of the faith of Christ and of the Holy Trynitie hee at our request sent vnto your great Captaine and leader of those Souldiers which make warres in India for the faith of our Sauiour Iesus Christ to signifie vnto him that wee were ready and willing to send vnto him Souldiers and prouision for the warres if neede required and because wee haue heard it reported that the Prince of Caire hath sent forth a great Nauy against your Forces to be reuenged as we be well assured of the losses and dammages which hee hath often receiued of the Captaines of your Armie which you haue in India whom God of his great goodnesse vouchsafe to assist and so to prosper their proceedings euery day more and more that all those vnbeleeuers may once become subiect to your gouernment We therefore to withstand their assaults will forthwith send an Armie which shall stay at the sea of Mecha that is to say at Babel mendell or if you thinke it more fitting at the hauen of Inda or Thor that so you may destroy and roote out all those Moores and miscreant vnbeleeuers from the face of the earth so as the gifts and obiations which be brought and offered at the holy Sepulcher be no more deuoured of dogges for now is come that time promised which as is said Christ and his mother Mary foretold to wit that in the latter daies a King should arise from out some Christian Region that should abolish and bring to nought the vniuersall stocke of the Barbarians and Moores And now certainely is that time come which Christ promised to his blessed Mother Moreouer what euer our Embassador Mathew shall say vnto you accept it and giue credit vnto it as that which proceedeth from our owne person for he is one of the chiefest of our Court and therefore haue wee sent him vnto you Wee would haue committed these things vnto your Messengers which you sent hither but that wee were afraide lest our businesses might bee taken otherwise then wee intended We haue sent vnto you by this Mathew our Embassador a Crosse made vndoubtedly of a peece of that Tree whereupon our Sauiour Christ was crucified at Ierusalem Which peece of sacred wood was brought to vs from Ierusalem and thereof wee made two Crosses whereof one remaineth with vs the other we haue deliuered to our Embassador to be presenred to you the wood is of a blacke colour and hangeth at a little siluer ring Furthermore if it shall seeme good vnto you either to giue your daughters in marriage to our sonnes or that we shall giue oue our sonnes to your daughters it shall be very acceptable vnto me and profitable to vs both and the beginning of a brotherly league betwixt vs which coniunction of matrimony we shall euer desire to enter into with you as well hereafter as for the present time And thus wee end with our praier vnto God that the saluation and grace of our redeemer Iesus Christ and of our blessed Lady the Virgin Mary may extend and remaine both vpon you your sonnes and your daughters and all your family Amen Moreouer these are to certifie you that if wee would make warres and ioyne our Armies together wee should by Gods helpe be strong inough vtterly to destroy and root out all the enemies of the faith of Christ But our kingdomes and dominions are so scituated in the middle of the land as by no meanes wee can haue passage into the sea In the sea therefore wee haue no power wherein praise be giuen to God you bee the strongest of all Princes Iesus Christ bee your guide for your affaires which you haue done and atchieued heere in India seeme rather to bee done by miracle then by man but if you would furnish a Nauy of a thousand shippes we will giue you prouision and aboundantly minister vnto you all things necessary for such a Nauy This letter with some other Articles of the Faith religion manners and state of the Ethiopians which Mathew expressed before King Emanuell and his Councell I haue by the intreaty of Iohn Magnus Gothus Archbishop of Vpsalia in the kingdome of Suetia with whom I had extraordinary familiarity and frindship in Prussia translated out of the Portingall language wherein I found it written into Lattine which letter together with the said articles were afterwards imprinted at Antwerp without my priuity These things vnderstood from the Aethiopian Embassadors King Emanuell as he was exceeding wise and most desirous to encrease the Christian religion instituted an Embassage sufficiently furnished with very graue and reuerend men the chiefest whereof were Edward Galuanus a man well stricken in yeares and of great wisedome and experience And Francis Aluarez a Priest and of very renowned authority with the King who was also old