and receiued it againe at his hands onely to appease the Pope being then his enemy To passe ouer the seuerall peoples that haue inhabited this Island and the times of their continuance as Britans Romans Danes and Saxons and to come to times more nere vnto vs for that my purpose is not to wade in vncertaine waters but briefly to touch the present state and condition of my country too sleightly slipt ouer by mine author William surnamed the Conqueror bastard sonne to Robert the sixth Duke of Normandy and cousin germaine vnto King Edward the Confessor by the mothers side pretending a title vnto this Kingdome by the guift of Edward his kinseman and also by a couenant confirmed by oth betwixt Harrold and him entred this land slue King Harrold in battaile and obtained the crowne by conquest vpon the fourteenth day of October 1066. Hee alterred the whole state of the country dispossessed the Inhabitants and distributed their lands by portions vnto his people that came in with him he raigned twenty yeeres eight monthes and sixteene daies and left the Kingdome to William his third sonne surnamed William Rufus who was flaine in hunting after hee had raigned twelue yeeres eleuen months and eighteene daies and hauing no issue left the gouernment to Henry his brother and youngest sonne to William the Conqueror Henry the first surnamed Henry Beuclarke raigned fiue and thirty yeeres foure months and eleuen daies and dying without issue male left the crowne vnto Stephen Earle Morton and of Bologne sonne to the Earle of Bloys and Adela William Conquerors daughter and nephew to King Henry the first Stephen raigned eighteene yeeres eleuen months and eighteene daies and Henry sonne to Maude the Empresse whose mother was Maude Queene of England wife to King Henry the first and daughter to Margaret Queene of Scots who was daughter to Edward the sonne of Edmund surnamed Ironsyde by which meanes the Saxon line was againe restored succeeded in his Kingdome Henry the second raigned foure and thirty yeeres nine months and two daies and then departing this life left the managing of the estate vnto his third sonne Richard surnamed Richard Ceur de Lyon Richard the first raigned nine yeeres nine months and two and twenty daies and dying without issue his brother Iohn disinheriting Arthur and Eleanor the right heires to the crowne as being the issue of Ieffrey Duke of Britan his elder brother who was fourth sonne to Henry the second and died before his father tooke vpon him the gouernment Iohn raigned seuenteene yeeres seuen monthes and Henry his eldest sonne raigned in his steed Henry the third raigned sixe and fiftie yeeres and one month and left his sonne Edward surnamed Long-shankes to rule after him Edward the first raigned foure and thirty yeeres eight monthes and nine daies and exchanging his Kingdome for the Kingdome of heauen left the crowne to his sonne Edward of Carnaruon so called because hee was borne there Edward the second raigned nineteene yeeres seuen months and sixe daies and beeing then deposed the gouernment was committed to Edward his sonne Edward the third raigned fifty yeeres foure monthes and seuen daies and left the Kingdome vnto Richard his grand-child the sonne of Edward the Black Prince who died before his father Richard the second was deposed when hee had raigned two and twenty yeeres foureteene weekes and two daies and Henry Plantagenet sonne to Iohn of Gante Duke of Lancaster fourth sonne to Edward the third got possession of the crown rather by force then by lawful succession Henry the fourth raigned thirteene yeeres six months and foure daies and his sonne Henry succeeded him in the Kingdome Henry the fifth whose valor France well knew raigned nine yeeres fiue months and foure and twenty daies and left the gouernment to his sonne Henry likewise Henry the sixth raigned eight and thirty yeeres sixe months and nineteene daies and Edward Earle of March eldest sonne to Richard Duke of Yorke clayming the crowne by liniall discent from Lionel Duke of Clarence third sonne to Edward the third and elder brother to Iohn of Gante Duke of Lancaster succeeded him in the gouernment Edward the fourth raigned two and twenty yeeres fiue weekes one day left the Kingdom to his son Edward Edward the fifth was murthered by Richard Duke of Glocester youngest sonne to Richard Duke of Yorke and youngest brother to Edward the fourth when hee had raigned onely ten weekes and foure daies Richard the third hauing butchered his Nephewes and vsurped the crowne of England was slaine by Henry the Seuenth when hee had raigned two yeeres two monthes and fiue daies and left the Crowne vnto the said Henry who was next heire from the house of Lancaster and married Elizabeth Daughter vnto Edward the Fourth next heire from the house of Yorke by which marriage hee revnited the two long deuided houses of Yorke and Lancaster Henry the Seuenth raigned three and twenty yeeres eight monthes and nineteene daies and left the Kingdome to Henry his Second sonne for his eldest sonne Arthur died before his father without issue Henry the Eight raigned seuen and thirty yeeres ten monthes and one day and left the charge of the gouernment to Edward his sonne Edward the Sixth raigned sixe yeeres fiue monthes and nineteene daies and Queene Mary his eldest sister succeeded him Queene Mary raigned fiue yeeres fiue monthes and two and twenty daies and her sister Queene Elizabeth raigned after her Queene Elizabeth raigned foure and forty yeeres foure monthes and foureteene daies Shee was the mirrour of the world for Gouernment and her sex considered beyond compare admirable religious prudent magnanimous mercifull beloued euill spoken of by none but onely the wicked neuer to bee remembred of any true hearted Englishman but which reioycing for her birth and sorrowing for her death Her Virgine life was such as that for politique respects beeing mooued to marry in the first yeere of her reigne her answere was that that estate liked her best wherein she then liued with all concluding for satisfaction to her subiects with a Deus Prouidebit God shall prouide an heire for this Kingdome which blessed bee God therefore our eyes haue after foure and forty yeeres of her gratious raigne now to our comfort seene But for your better satisfaction I will here set downe her words at large as they are penned by Maister Stow in his Annals of England AS I haue had good cause so doe I giue you all my hearty thankes for the good zeale and louing care you see me to haue as well towardes mee as the whole estate of your Country your petition I perceiue consisteth of three partes and mine answere to the same shall depend of two And to the first part I may say vnto you that from my yeeres of vnderstanding sith I first had consideration of my selfe to bee borne a seruitor of almighty God I happily chose this kinde of life in the which I yet liue which I assure you for
entred into great part of the Atlantick shore wherein many townes citties and Islands were discouered and found forth in all which places by his meanes the faith of Christ was made knowne and Churches there erected especially in those Islands which before lay desart the principall whereof was the Iland of Wood commonly called Medeyra now a most famous and fruitfull Iland But in the end as there is no certaintie in mortal matters in the yeare of our Sauiour Christ one thousand foure hundred and three score this Henry was surprised by death and for that he was neuer married he had lest al which he had got by his voiages traueling by sea vnto the crown of Portugal as his proper inheritance which being giuen by his own hands continued vnto the time of Iohn the second of that name without enuy or emulation of other forraine kings or Princes In which Kings daies Columbus a Genoan borne a very skilfull Sayler being repulsed vnregarded and dismissed by the same King Iohn to whome he promised to discouer the West Indies by the ayde and furtherance of Ferdinand and Elizabeth King and Queene of Castile he most fortunately attempted the voyage and found out those large and ample prouinces to their great and vnspeakeable profit shewing also how they might come to them by shippes This Iohn oftentimes reuoluing in his minde the affaires of the East Indies of whose fruitfulnesse many and sundry things were deliuered by auncient writers Amongst his other great labours and costes whereof hee was no niggard hee determined to send certaine men skillfull in the Arabian tongue vnto those prouinces and especially vnto Prestor Iohn whereof two of them which hee sent were Alfonsus of Payua borne at the white Castell and another Iohn Peter of Couilham both Portingales These luckely began their iourney from Schalabiton the seauenth day of May in the yeare of our Sauiour Christ one thousand foure hundred foure-score and six and fayning them selues to be Marchants for their more quietter passage they iournyed first to Barchiona from thence to Naples and so to Rhodes then taking their iourney from Alexandria they arriued lastly at Cayre and their getting the company of some Marchants they tooke their iourny towards Thor where taking shipping they arriued neere a certayne citty called Cuaquen sytuated on the Aethiopian shore from thence they sayled towards Adenes where they agreed betwixt themselues that Alphonsus should returne againe into Aethiopia vnto Prestor Iohn and that Peter should go forward into India but Iohn hauing found out Calecut Goa and the whole shore of the Malabars sayled to Zofala and from thence againe to Adenes so went straight to Caire expecting to finde his companion there and that they might returne together into Portingale to their king for they appointed when they went from Adene to meete againe at a time limited at the same Cayre whither when he was returned he receyued letters from King Iohn out of Portugale by the hands of two Iewes whereof one was called Rabbi Abraham a Biensian and the other Ioseph a Lamacensian by which letters he was certified that his fellow Alfonsus was there dead and whereby hee was also commanded not to returne into his country before hee had vewed Ormuzia and saluted Prestor Iohn of whose state the king did greatly desire to be certified Wherefore Iohn Peter not knowing what his companion Alphonsus had done in his life time went backe againe to Adenes accompanied with the same Rabbi Abraham and sent Ioseph backe againe to the King with letters signifiing his trauels and what he had done so taking water sayled from Adenes to Oromuzia where leauing Abraham the Iew and dispatching him with more letters to the King he determined to saile towards Mecha which when hee had deseryed he ernestly desired to see mount Synai from thence hee departed to Thor and againe taking shipping and passing ouer the straights of the Erythrean sea hee came to Zeila and from thence went all the rest of the way on foote vnto the court of Prestor Iohn who was then called Alexander of whome beeing very curteously receiued hee deliuered vnto him the letters which hee had from King Iohn offerring into his hands also the Topography or Mappe wherein he might see all our voyage This Alexander determining to send him backe to his King was preuented by death that hee could not doe it who being dead his brother surnamed Nau succeeded him in his place of whome this Iohn Peter could neuer obtaine licence to depart into his country and Nau dying likewise his liberty to depart was in like manner denied him by Dauid the Sonne of Nau and next heire to his Kingdome but seeing hee could by no meaues haue leaue to depart from that prouince and to mitigate and asswage the exceeding desire he had to returne home the King bestowed vpon him most ample and large gifts and then he tooke to his wife a noble woman of whome hee begot many children This man our Embassadors found out in the court of Prestor Iohn and had conferrence with him from whence when they departed in the yeare of our Lord one thousand fiue hundred twenty and sixe they were very desirous to take him with them into their country and he himselfe was as willing to depart but they could neuer get leaue of king Dauid for hee euer answered to their desires that hee receiued that man of his father Nau when he receiued his Kingdomes and that hee would regard him with the like care and loue as he did his Kingdomes And that there was noe cause why it should bee irckesome to him to liue amongst the Aethiopians where both from his fathers liberality and his owne he had receiued great welth and riches This Iohn Peter as our Embassadors reported was skilfull almost in all languages for which cause and more especially for his wisdome which was very great was he so earnestly retayned of the Aethiopian Emperors from whome they exactly understood the estate of Portugall and their nauigations by the often recytall whereof as he was very learned and eloquent he purchased the loue and affections of the people of Aethiopia both to him-selfe and to vs all After Iohn the second King of Portugall was dead and Emanuell most happily succeeded him in his Kingdome he sent a nauy whereof Vascus a Gama was gouenor in the yeare of our redemtion one thousand foure hundred ninty and seauen for Aethiopia who disankerring at Vlysbone and recouering and escaping that dangerous poynt called caput bonaespei at last arriued in East India where by armes they reduced many prouinces and citties vnder our subiection and gouernment which newes being made knowne in Aethiopia by the borderers as also by some Portugalls which at that time came out of India to Prester Iohns Court Helena the grand-mother of David who by reason of Dauids non age had the administration and gouernment of his Kingdomes sent one Mathew Armenius a skilfull man and learned in
the Cnidian Phisitian of certaine women that bring foorth children but once in their life time and that their childrens heads become hoarie or gray as soone as they be borne and that there is a kind of people whose haires be hoarie or gray in their youth and waxe blacke in their age and yet they liue longer then we do It is sayd also that there is another sort of women which bring forth children when they be fiue yeares of age and liue not aboue the age of eight yeares There be some people that haue no neckes and haue their eyes in their shoulders and besides those which I haue alreadie spoken of there be certaine wild people liuing in woods with heads like dogges and their bodies couered with rough haire like bristles and make a very hideous and terrible noyse but these things and others of like kind which are spoken and written of India and of the sundrie sorts of people therein because he that should giue credit vnto them behooued to be of a very strong beleefe are to be reported more sparingly lest those which reade forraine writings should be more nice vnlesse they be mooued thereunto with great earnestnes to giue credit to those things which are in a manner apparent before our eyes The Cathaeians do now inhabit that part of India which lyeth betwixt Gedrosia and the riuer Indus which by them is now called Cathaia The people be of the Scythians race in whom may be perceiued great alteration of manners from that the Scythians were in the beginning if all be true which Armenius Aitonus reported of them in his Historie For saith he they be very wise and report of themselues that of all men they onely see and discerne with two eyes and that all other people bee altogether blind or of one eye at the least The quicknesse of their wittes is great indeede but their boasting and ostentation is greater They be generally perswaded that they excell all men in the subtiltie and knowledge of arts they be naturally white and pale of complexion with little eyes and no beards they vse letters in forme like vnto the Romain letters some of them be blinded in the folly of one superstition and some in another but all be voide of the true religion for some adore the Sunne some the Moone some Idols made of mettall and many of them an oxe through which diuersitie of false worshipping monstrous superstition is dispersed throughout the whole nation They haue no written lawes nor know not what faith is and though they shew great wit in their works yet haue they no knowledge thereby of diuine matters They be a timerous kinde of people and feare death greatly yet they make warres but it is with more policie then fortitude They vse darts in their warres and other sorts of weapons which to people of many other nations be vnknowne They haue paper money foure-square and stamped with the Kings Image which when it waxeth old they change with the king for coine that is new stamped their houshold stuffe is of gold siluer and other mettal They haue very litle oyle and with that the kings do onely vse to annoynt themselues And thus much of the Indians now will we speake of the Scythians which be next vnto the Indians Of Scythia and of the barbarous manners of the Scythians CAP. 9. SCythia a countrie in the North was so called of Scytha the son of Hercules as Herodotus reports but according to Berosus it was so called of another that was begotten of Scythia of old Araxis who was the wife of Noa These people at their first originall possessed but a small portion of ground but afterwards by their vertue and valor increasing by litle and litle and subduing many nations they obtained in the end great glory and gouernment for first they beeing few in number and contemned for their basenes contained themselues about the riuer Araxis but after they had gotten them a valiant Prince to be their king they amplified their possessions so as now they enioy all the vplandish and hilly Countries vnto Caucasus and all the champion ground vnto the Ocean and Maeotis poole and other places euen to the riuer of Tanais from whence Scythia stretcheth out in length towards the East the hill Imaus lying in the middle and diuiding it into two parts maketh thereof as it were two Scythias whereof one is called Scythia within the hill Imaus the other Scythia without Imaus The Scythians were neuer inuaded or at the least neuer vanquished by any forraine gouernement for they forced Darius king of Persia most shamefully to retire and flie from Scythia they killed Cyrus with all his hoast they ouerthrew the Captaine of Alexander the Great with all his Companie and as for the Romanes they might well heare of them but they neuer felt their forces The people be of great strength of bodie and very rude both in their wars and workes The Scythians at the first were not distinguished into Companies nor seuered one from another for that they neither possessed any grounds nor had any seates or houses to dwell in but wandered through wildernesse and desart places driuing their flockes and heards of beasts before them and carrying their wiues and children with them in carts They were subiect to no lawe but liued iustly one with another of their owne accords and no offence throughout their whole nation was accounted more haynous then theft because their cattell lay abroad in all mens sight not inclosed with walles or hedges They vsed neither gold nor siluer milke and honie was their vsuall meate they defended their bodies against the extremitie of cold with the skinnes of myce or rattes and other wilde beastes And the vse of wooll and woollen garments was vnknowne vnto them This was the manner of liuing of most of the Scythians but not of all for many of them as they bee farre distant from others in dwellings so be they as different in their manner of liuing as maintaining customes peculiar to themselues of which hereafter wee will relate in particular for as yet we shall speake of such customes as be generall to them all Most of the Scythians delight in humane slaughter for the first man a Scythian taketh in the warres his bloud he drinketh and of all those which he slayeth in battell hee presenteth the heades to the King for the heades beeing cut off how euer he tooke them he shall be partaker of the prey but not otherwise And he cutteth off the head round like a circle about the eares and then shaketh out al which is within the skull after this he pulleth off the skinne from the bodie and mollifying it with his hands like the hyde of a beast vseth it as a mantle and hangeth it at his bridle raines triumphing and glorying of such a prey And hee which hath the most of those mantles is adiudged the worthiest man There be many also which sow mens skins
custome when any man had his father deceased all his kinsfolke presented him with beasts which when they had killed and cut in small peeces they chopped his dead father that inuited them to the banket in peeces also and mingling all the flesh together made thereof a solemne feast then would they take the dead mans head and flea it and put out all the braines within the skull and couering it with gold vse it as an Idoll doing vnto him yeerely ceremonies and sacrifices these things did the sonne to the father and the father would doe to his sonne as the Greekes celebrate the daies of their natiuitie These people also bee accounted iust and that the wiues bee of equall strength with their husbands And such heretofore were the manners of the Scythians but afterwards being subdued by the Tartarians they followed their fashions and liue now like vnto them and bee all called by one name Tartarians Of Tartaria and of the customes and power of that people CAP. 10. TARTARIA which according to Vincentius is also called Mongal is scituated in the North-east part of the world and hath vpon the East the land of the Cathaians and Solangans vpon the South the Sarrasins the Naymans vpon the West and is compassed on the North with the Ocean sea it is called Tartaria of the Riuer Tartar which runeth through it and the Country for the most part is verie mountanous and full of hilles as much of it as is Champion is so mingled with sand and grauell as it is very barren but onelie where it is watered with running waters which bee very rare and geason And for this cause it is much of it desert and vn-inhabited with people There be no Cities or great townes in the whole country but onely one called Cracuris and wood is so scarce in most places there as the inhabitants be constrained to burne and boile their meate with horsdung beasts dung The weather there is very intemperate and most strange for in the Summer-time they haue such horrible and terrible thunders and lightnings as many men die for very feare it is euen now maruellous hot and by and by there will be extreame cold and snowes and the stormes and winds oftentimes bee so boysterous as people bee not able to ride against them but that they blow men downe from their horses pull trees vp by the rootes and doe the people many and great dammages It neuer raineth there in Winter and but seldome times in Sommer and then so small a raine as it scarce moystneth the earth The Country otherwise aboundeth with all kinds of beasts as Camels Oxen and such like and laboring beasts and Horses in such aboundance as it is thought that all the residue of the world hath scarce so many besides Tartaria was first inhabited of foure sundry sorts of people one sort whereof were called Iecchamongall that is to say great Mongals the second Sumongall which is watry Mongals and those called themselues also Tartars of the riuer Tartar neere which they dwelled the third were called Merchat and the fouth Metrit they had all like forme and lineaments of body and spake all one language The ancient Tartarians were of a rude behauiour and liued without manners lawes or other ornamentes of life and beeing of an obscure name and very basely esteemed of amongst all the Scythians followed their cattaile and paide tribute vnto them for their dwellings Shortly after this people being deuided as it were into certaine tribes or kindreds were first ruled by captaines who had the sole gouernment ouer them they paying tribute notwithstanding to their next bordering neighbours the Naymans But when by a certaine Oracle they had elected and created Canguista their first King hee taking vpon him the Empire did first abolish the worship of all euill spirits and false gods and made an Edict that all the Nation should worship the true God by whose prouidence hee would haue all men thinke that hee receiued his Kingdome Hee commanded likewise that all that by their age were able to beare armes should bee ready to attend the King at a certaine daie where when they were assembled the army was distributed in this manner First that the Decurions which were captaines ouer tenne souldiours should obey the centurions which were captaines ouer an hundred foote-men the centurions should be obedient to those which were Captaines and Coronels of a thousand men and those againe should be at the command of those which were gouernors of tenne thousand and then to trie the strength of his Empire and to haue experience of his subiects hearts hee commaunded that seuen of those Princes or Gouernours sonnes which ruled the people before hee was ordained King should bee slaine by the hands of their owne fathers This command of the King the father 's fulfilled although it seemed very bitter and cruel both for feare of the multitude and also for religions sake for they verily beleeued that the God of Heauen was first author and instituor of their Kingdome and that if they should not performe his command they should not onely transgresse and violate the law of a King but the law of God also Canguista being thus fortified and putting confidence in his power first subdued by battaile the Scythians which were next vnto him and made them tributary and with them all those to whom the Tartarians themselues before that time paide tribute from thence going forward to people more remote he had such prosperous and happy successe in the warres as hee subdued with his forces all Kingdomes Countries and Nations from Scythia to the Sunne rysing and from thence to the mediterranean sea and beyond so as now he may iustly be said to bee Lord and Emperour of all the East The Tartarians of all men be most deformed in body they bee for the most part little men hauing great eyes standing farre out of their heads and so much couered with eye-lids as the sight or opening of the eye is maruellous little their faces be broad and without beards except that they haue some few stragling haires vpon their vpper lips and chinnes they be all of them commonly slender in the waste and shaue all the hinder partes of their heades from one eare to the other and vppe to the crowne they weare the rest of their haires long like vnto our women of which long haire they make two strings or cords bynding or winding them ouer both their eares and in this manner be all Tartarians shaued and all those people also which liue amongst them Moreouer they be very nimble and actiue of bodie good horse-men but bad footemen and they neuer goe afoote but the poorest of them whither euer he hath occasion to goe rydeth either on horse or oxe-backe their women ride also vpon geldings and such as will not strike or kicke their bridles bee richly decked with gold siluer and precious stones They hold it a glorious thing to
cast in our teeth with as much folly as impiety when that false Prophet Mahomet had infected his people nation with these pestilent euils he made established a law and least by men of vnderstanding it might be resisted and abrogated hee ordained a capitall punishment against the breakers thereof commanding and decreeing in his Alcaron that no one should presume vpon paine of death to dispute thereof by which ordinance and decree it appeared most euidently that in that law was no sincerity which as a hidden mistery hee couered and sealed vp so closely that all men were forbidden to meddle with it so as the people should not by any meanes know what that was which hee had done In the dooing whereof and in setling his new sect hee chiefly vsed the councell and helpe of Sergius a Monke and a Nestorian heretick and to the end his law might be more populer and better esteemed of all nations hee tooke some-thing out of all sects of euery nation holding first that Christ is much to bee praised and affirming him to bee a man of great sanctity and of singular vertue and that hee was of more then humaine condition calling him sometimes the word some-times the spirit and some-times the very soule life or breath of God and that hee was borne of a Virgin then did he greatly extoll the Virgin Mary assenting to the myracles written by the Euangelists so farre as they disagreed not from his Alcaron The Gospels hee said were corrupted by the Apostles Disciples and therefore ought to be corrected by his Alcaron and the more to win and allure the mindes and affections of the Christians vnto him he would needs bee baptised by Sergius and then to procure the good-will of other sects he denied the Trinity with the Sabellians affirming with the Manechees that there were but two persons in diuinitie hee denied that the Sonne is equall to the Father with Eunomius with Macedonius he held that the holy Ghost is a creature with the Nicholites that it is lawfull for one man to haue many wiues and hee allowed of the old Testament although said he it is faulty in many places with these circumstantiall tales he couered an incredible allurement wherewith mens mindes bee sonest intysed which was the giuing to his people free liberty and power to pursue their lustes and all other pleasures for by these meanes this pestilent religion hath crept into innumerable Nations so as now how few the number of true beleeuers is in respect of the great multitude of misbeleeuers may well bee gathered by this That not all Europe professe Christ but the greatest part thereof together with all Asia and Affricke beleeue in Mahomet and his accursed religion The Sarrasins which first imbraced the impiety and madnesse of that false prophet Mahomet inhabited in that part of Arabia which is called Petrea there where the land vpon the one side ioyneth to Iudaea and Aegipt and they bee called Sarrasins of a place called Sarracus neere vnto the people called Nabathei or as they themselues would haue it of Sara the wife of Abraham wherevpon they yet perswade themselues that of all men they bee the ligitimate and sole successors of the diuine promise Some of them were husbandmen some followed their flockes but the greatest part were souldiors and beeing hired and retained by Heraclius to serue in the Persian warres and finding themselues deceiued by him after hee had obtained the victory they incenced with ire and ignominie departed thence into Syria hauing a Mahomet for their captaine and councellor where they won Damascus and then their army and prouision necessary for the warres increasing more and more they made warres vpon Aegipt and brought it to subiection after that they subdued Persis Antioch and Ierusalem and so augmenting and increasing euery day both in fame and force voide of all feare of any that could resist them the Turkes a cruell and barbarous nation of Scythia beeing by their neighbours expulsed from the Caspian hilles descending by the narrow passages of the hil Caucasus first into Asia the lesse and after that into Armenia Media and Persis by their force and armes brought all those people vnder their subiection and gouernment when the Sarrasins to defend the confins of their Country went forth to meete the Turkes but being not able to make their partie good and to encounter them they were in very short time brought to such desperations as they were contented the Turkes should raigne with them in Persia so as the would imbrace the faith of Mahomet so as whether nation had the greater losse can hardly bee iudged either they that departed from such a Kingdome or those which for desire of rule were forced to receiue so pestilent a religion And both Nations beeing thus bound with the bonds of one religion were for a space so confounded in name as there was no difference betwixt Turkes and Sarrasins yet now the name of Turkes is onely knowne and the other vtterly abolished and forgotten There bee diuers sorts of horsemen that serue in the warres amongst the Turkes As first the Thimarcini which bee such as dwell in Citties and pay tribute and are to the number of fourescore thousand and these by the Kings leaue and permission possesse in the nature of pay or wages townes villages and castles each one as hee deserueth and bee euer readie at the call of the Sensachus that is hee that is captaine of that Prouince to whom they pay tribute they bee now deuided into two armies one in Asia the other in Europe vnder the conduct of two great captaines whereof one gouerneth in Asia and the other in Europe Which captaines in their Countries speech bee called Bassaes the other sort of souldiers bee naturall and are called Aconiziae These serue in the warres without wages and alwaies goe before the company of footmen for prey yeelding the fifth part of their prey vnto the King in the name of the chiefe captaines or generalls part of the bootie and of these there be about the number of some fortie thousand The third sort bee the Charrippi the Spahiglani and the Soluphtari the best of which bee they Charippi and the most famos souldiors in dignity these continually attend vpon the King and be about eight hundred in number all elected out of the Scythians and Persians and of no other nation else and these are to fight venterously in the presence of the King when need requireth The Spahi and Soluphtari are such as at the first when they were children attended vpon the King to doe some vile and dishonourable businesse but when they once become to bee of mans estate the King giueth them power to marry wiues so as they growing greater by their wiues dower and by their wages doe for the most part execute the Office of Orators garding and attending vpon each side of the King when hee goeth abroade and of these there bee a thousand and three
shall equally inherit their fathers goods only this is obserued that one sonne shall haue as much as two daughters no one may keepe two or more wiues in one house nor yet in one cittie for auoyding of scolding contention and vnquietnesse that would bee amongst them but in euery city they may keepe one and the husbands háue liberty to be diuorced from their wiues three sundrie times and so oft to take them againe and the woman diuorced may stay with her husband that receiueth her againe if she please The Turkish women be very decent in their apparell vpon their heades they weare myters set vpon the top of their veiles wherwith their heads beeing bound in a comely fashion one side or edge of the veile hangeth downe vpon the right or left side of their heades wherewith if they go from home or come into their husbands presence at home they may foorth-with couer or maske their whole faces but their eyes for the wife of a Turke dare neuer come where a company of men be gathered together neither is it lawfull for them to go to markets to buy and sell Likewise in their great Temple the women haue a place farre remote from men and shut vp so close as no one can come to them nor hardly see them Which closet is not allowed for all women but onely for the wiues of noble men or heade Officers and that onely vpon Friday at their noone-tide prayer which they obserue with great solemnitie as is said and at no times else There is seldome any speech or conference betwixt men and women in any publike place it beeing so out of custome as if you should stay with them a whole yeare you shold hardly see it once but for a man to sit or ride with a woman is accounted monstrous married couples do neuer dally or chide in the presence of others for the husbands do neuer remitte the least iot of their authoritie ouer their wiues neither will the wiues omit their obedience towards their husbands The great Lords that cannot alwaies tarry with their wiues themselues depute and set Eunuchs to be keepers ouer them which obserue and watch them so warily as it is vnpossible for them to talke with any man but their husbands or to play false play with their husbands To conclude the Sarrafins yeeld so much credit to Mahomet and his lawes as they promise assured happines and saluation to the keepers thereof to wit a paradise abounding with all pleasures a garden situated in a pure and temperate Climate watered on all parts with most sweete and delectable waters where they shall enioy all things at pleasure dainties of all sorts to feede them silkes and purple to cloath them beautifull damfels euer readie at a call to attend them with siluer and golden vessels and that Angels shall bee their cuppe-bearers and minister vnto them milke in golden cuppes and red wines in siluer And on the other side they threaten hell and eternall damnation to the transgressors of his lawes And this also they firmely beleeue that though a man haue beene neuer so great a sinner yet if at his death he onely beleeue in God and in Mahomet he shall be saued The manners and customes Of the Christians and of their originall and Customes CAP. 12. CHRIST Iesus the true and euerlasting Sonne of God the Father omnipotent the second Person in the holy indiuidual coequall and eternall Trinitie by his incomprehensible decree and mysterie hidden from the world to the end that hee might raise and reduce vs miserable and vnfortunate wretches lost and forlorne by the disobedience of our fore-fathers Adam and Eue and therefore for many ages exiled and excluded out of the heauenly countrie and in heauen to repaire the auncient ruine of Lucifer and the Angels for pride expelled thence for supply of which vacancie we were chiefly created was one thousand sixe hundred and ten yeares since by the co-operation and working of the holy Ghost conceiued man and borne in Iudaea of the blessed Virgin Mary being of the house and lineage of Dauid from the thirtith yeare of whose age vnto the 34. at which time through the enuie and hatred of the Iewes he was crucified he trauersed ouer all the land of Iudaea exhorting the Iewes from the ancient law of Moses and the Gentils from the prophane worship of Idols vnto his new doctrine and religion those followers which he could get he called his disciples out of which electing twelue and appearing vnto them aliue after his death as hee had fore-told them he would he gaue them commission that as his Legats and Apostles they shold go into all places of the world and preach to all people such things as they had seene and learned of him Simon Peter who long before was by Christ ordained chiefe head ruler of his Church after him when after the receiuing of the holy Ghost the Apostles went some to one people some to another to preach as they were allotted and sent came first to Antioch where consulting and erecting a Church or chief seat or Chaire for the practise of Religion he with many other of the Apostles which often repaired vnto him celebrated a Councel in which amongst other things it was decreed that the professors and imbracers of Christs doctrine and true religion should after him be called Christians This chiefe Chaire of the Church beeing afterwards translated from Antioch to Rome he and his successours were very carefull and vigilant to reduce the Christian religion being as yet indigested vnpolished and little practised and the professors thereof into better order vniformity Out of the law of Moses which Christ came not to abolish but to fulfill out of the ciuill and politick gouernment of Romans Greeks and Aegyptians and out of both sacred and prophane rites lawes ceremonies of other nations but most especially by the wholesome doctrine and direction of Christ Iesus and the inspiration of the holy Spirit when they had vndertaken this busines and saw that not only among the Hebrewes but in al other nations else the people be diuided into religious and laitie and that all of them by an excellent subordination are in dignity and degrees different one from another as that the Emperor of Rome was Monarch of the whole world and that next vnto him were Consuls Patricians Senators by whose direction and aduice the state and common-wealth was well gouerned Again that in euery other country of the world were Kings Dukes Earles Presidents Lieutenants Deputies Tribunes of souldiers Tribunes of the common-people Praetors Captains Centurions Decurions Quaternions Sheriffes Treasurers Ouer-seers Portars Secretaries and Sergeants and many priuate people of both sexe That in the temple of the fained gods the king was chiefe sacrificer and that there were Arch-Flammins Proto-Flammins Flammins and Priests That also amongst the Hebrewes the High Priest was chiefe sacrificer vnder whome were inferiour Priests Leuites Nazareans Extinguishers of lights Exorcists
others of his acts and decrees these are likewise to be found that whosoeuer was victor in the games of Istmos was rewarded with an hundred Drachmas and he that got the best in the games of Olimpus had fiue hundred He that killed a Dogge-wolfe had fiue Drachmas out of the common treasury but hee that killed a Bitch-wolfe had but one for the rewarde due for slaying the Dogge-wolfe was the worth of an Oxe and the price of a sheepe for killing the shee-Wolfe and their ancient manner was to persecute these kinde of beasts as enimies to their cattell and grounds He ordained that the children of such as were slaine in the warres should be brought vp at the common charge that men by that meanes beeing assured that their children should bee cared for though themselues miscarry might bee more throughly incouraged to fight and behaue themselues valiantly and venterously commanding also that those which lost their eyes in the warres should euer after be sustained by the common purse and withall he very worthily prouided that the ouersee-ers or they that had the ward of Orphanes should not keepe together in the same house with the childrens mothers and that none should be gardians that might by possibility inherite the Orphanes goods if they should hap to die during their nonage and wardship Furthermore he forbad all Iewellers to reserue in their custody the stampe or seale of any ring after they had sold it And that hee which putteth out an others eye should loose both his owne eyes adiudging it also a capitall offence for any one to take vp that which is none of his owne and keepe it to himselfe Furthermore hee established that Princes or rulers being found drunke should be punished with present death aduising the Athenians likewise to reckon and account their daies according to the course of the Moone Of all fruites and commodities he only permitted wax and honey to bee transported out of Attica into other countries and he esteemed no man meete or worthy to be made free of the Cittie vnlesse he were an artificer and would with his whole familie come dwell at Athens or such as were doomed from their natiue soile to perpetuall exile and banishment These lawes being ingrauen and recorded in woodden tables were by Solon established to continue for a hundred yeeres presuming that if the City were so long inured with them they would euer after remaine without alteration but Herodotus is of opinion that these lawes which Solon made for the Athenians were enacted but for ten yeeres continuance Now that these lawes might be esteemed more sacred and bee more carefully obserued and kept Solon after the manner of other law-giuers which fathered their statutes and decrees vpon some one god or other as Draco had done before him auouched that Minerua was the author and inuentor of his lawes and so caused both the Senatours and people to sweare themselues to the performance therof at a stone which stood in the Senate-house The Athenians were not strangers at the beginning nor was their City first inhabited by any rabble of wandring people but in the same soile they now inhabite their were they borne and the selfe same place which is now their seat and habitation was also their original and foundation The Athenians were the first that taught the vse of clothing and of oyle and of wine instructing those which formerly fed vpon acornes how to plow plant sow and gather fruites In a word Athens may iustly bee termed the temple and sanctuary of learning eloquence and ciuil conuersation The three lawes which Secrops enacted against women for the appeasing of god Neptunes wrath for that by womens suffrages Neptune was scorned and Minerua preferred before him were then in force and obserued which were these First that no woman should enter into the Senate-house Secondly that no child should be called after his mothers name and the third that no one should call women Athenians or women of Athens but women of Africa Those which were slaine in the warres according to Thucydides were buried in this manner following First they pitched vp a tent or pauillion three daies before the funerals wherein were put the bones of those which were slaine euery one laying some thing what he thinketh fittest vpon his dead friends relikes thereby to know him againe then were the bones of al those which were slaine of each seuerall tribe inclosed in chestes or coffins made of cypres tree and euery coffin carried by a seueral coach or carre belonging to the tribe whereof the dead parties were after this there was an empty bed or herse brought with them purposely for such as were missing and could not be found amongst the slaine bodies which done all those which were present as well Citizens as strangers indifferently conueied them forth and interred them in a publike monument or sepulcher neere vnto Calistus tombe in the suburbes of the City the women all the while weeping and lamenting the losse of their friends which is the vsuall place for buriall of all such as perish in battaile vnlesse they were of the Citie of Marathron who for their singular and extraordinary valor and prowesse were intombed in their owne City When they were thus interred some one choyse Cittizen esteemed for his wisdome and by reason of his dignity and worth fit for such an imployment was elected and assigned to pronounce a funerall oration or sermon in the due commendation of those which were slaine which being ended euery one departed to his seuerall home And this was there vsuall forme of buriall of such as were slaine in the warres Of Laconia and of the customes and ordinances of the Laconians or Lacedemonians CAP. 3. LACONIA a Prouince in Peloponesus is also called Ocbalia and Lacedemonia of Lacedemon the sonne of Iupiter and Taygete by whom a famous and mighty City was builded in that country and called after his name Lacedemon This Citty was likewise called Sparta of Spartus the sonne of Phoroneus and was the Palace or Court of Agamemnon When Lycurgus that famous Philosopher brother vnto King Polydictes gouerned in Laconia as tutor or protector vnto his brother Polydictes sonne hee altered the state of that City and Country and adorned them with wholesome lawes and good ordinances the people wherof before his time were the worst mannered and had the least gouernment both in their owne cariages towards strangers almost of al the people of Greece as vsing no commerce custome nor conuersation with other people Lycurgus therefore couragiously taking the matter vpon him abrogated and disanulled all their auncient lawes ordinances and customes and in their steed instituted lawes more ciuill and much more lawdable And first he elected certain of the most ancientest wisest sagest men of al the common-wealth to consult and aduise with the Kings whereof there were euer two created of all matters of state and gouernment which
Citie of the Region is called Vilna it is a Bishops seate and as bigge as all Cracouia with the suburbes the houses whereof ioyne not together but stand one a good distance from an other as they doe in the Countrie hauing orchardes and gardens betwixt them There bee in it two very stronge castles or holdes one scituated vpon a hill and the other lower vpon the plaine or champion ground This cittie of Vilna is distant from Cracouia the chiefe citie of Poland one hundred and twenty miles About the Citie there are certaine Tartarians haue places assigned them for to dwell in who tilling and manuring the ground after our manner doe labour and carry commodities from one place to an other They doe speake the Tartarian tongue and worship the Religion of Mahomet Of Liuonia Prussia and of the souldiors called Mariani in Spaine CAP. 8. LIVONIA now professing the true and sincere religion ioyneth Northward vnto Ruthenia and the borders of Sarmatia or Poland The Tartarians a people of Scythia haue made often incursions into that Country The people of Liuonia were first made pertakers of the Christian religion by souldiors of Spaine called Mariani of Marianus whereas before they acknowledged and adored no other god but euill spirits There hath beene very much controuersie and wars about the possession of that countrie sometimes one sometimes an other getting the vpper hand and gouernment It is inuironed vpon the West part thereof with the Sarmatian sea and with a gulph of an vnknowne bignesse the mouth whereof Westward is not very farre from Cimbrica Chersonesus the which is now called Dacia or Denmarke about this gulphe Northward there doth dwell or inhabite a sauadge and wilde kinde of people which beeing voide of any language vsed in other lands doe exchange there Merchandise by signes and beckes Prussia the inhabitantes whereof bee called Pruteni pertaketh now with Germania and Sarmatia which countries it incountreth vpon the West This land if Ptolomeus report a truth is washed with the famous Riuer Vistula from the Cittie Tornum to Gedanum where it falleth into the Baltean sea it lyeth beyond Germany and reacheth from the riuer Vistula to the Sarmaticke Ocean Vpon the East and South is the Prouince of the Massouitae the inhabitants whereof be Polanders and the Saxons vppon the West Prussia is an exceeding fruitefull countrey well watered and very populous It is pleasant withall and abounding with cattell there is very good fishing and much hunting Iornandes writeth that this land was inhabited by a people called Vlmerigi at such time as the Gothes remooued from the Iland of Scandinavia into the continent and maine land And Ptolomeus reporteth that the Amaxobij the Aulani the Venedes and the Gythones dwelt neere the riuer Vistula or Wixell The people of this Countrey were worshippers of euill Spirits vntill the time of the Emperour Fredericke the second and than our Ladies souldiers which bee also called Deiparini or Mariani after they had lost the towne of Ptolomais in Siria returned into Germanie and beeing men of haughtie and noble spirits and very expert in feats of armes and to the end their courages should not be danted and they out of vse by ouer-much idlenesse they came vnto the Emperor declaring vnto him that the people of Prussia which border vpon Germanie were vtterly ignorant of the Christian Religion and that they made often incursions vppon the Saxons and other their bordering neighbours stealing from them whole heards of cattell shewing him moreouer that they had a desire to suppresse that barbarous nation wherunto the Emperor consented and gaue the kingdom to his two brethren as their lawfull inheritance if they could conquer it by armes the Dukes Gouernors of Massouia which before had proclaimed themselues Lords of that land surrendred their estates and titles foorthwith to the Emperours brothers which gift was thankefully taken by the Emperour himselfe who commending his brothers intent gaue vnto them what letters and commission they desired signed with the golden seale These breethren prouiding themselues for the warres in a short time brought vnder their subiection all the Countries which were vnder the Prussian gouernement on each side the riuer Vistula who beeing conquered by battell willingly submitted themselues to their subiection and imbraced the true faith and Christian Religion therewithall exchanging their speech for the Almaine toung Nere vnto the riuer Vistula grew an Oke where the victors atchieued the conquest and there they first erected a Castell which shortly after as many things in time grow great of small beginnings grew vppe into a great towne and was called Maryburge it is now the chiefe cittie of the Countrey and his seate which hath the gouernement of that whole order of souldiers which holy order of warfare had his beginning from the Almaines and there is none but Almaines which enter into that order or bond and those too must be nobly or worshipfully descended at their entrance into that order they are enioyned to be alwayes in readines to fight against the enemies of the holy Crosse of Christ they be cloathed in white cassockes with blacke crosses sowed on them all of them suffering their beards grow long but onely such as be Priests and are employed in their seruices The souldiers in steade of the Canonicall houres repeate the Lords prayer for they bee altogether vnlearned yet bee they very rich and their power as great as if they were Kings They haue many conflicts with the Polonians for incroaching vppon the Confines of their countrey in which sometimes they haue the better and sometimes the worse and they will neuer refuse to submit all their forces to the hazard of the warres what euer the euent or successe be There is a little Region bordering vppon Prussia and Lithuania called Samogithia it is closed and enuironed round about with woods and waters and is fiftie myles in length the people thereof be very tall and of a comely stature and yet very vnciuill and of rude behauiour they marry as oft as they will and without respect of kindred or blooud for the father beeing dead the sonne may marry his step-mother and one brother deceased his other brother may marry his wife Money they haue none their buildings be base and low and their houses for the most part made of hempe stalkes and reedes and fashioned like boates or helmets vppon the ridge or toppes whereof is made a window to giue light to the whole house and in euery house is but one fire which is euer burning both to dresse their meate and drinke and other necessaries belonging to their bodies as also to expell the violence of cold which is there very vehement and extreame a binding frost continuing for the most part of the yeare These houses haue no chimneys in them for all the smoke goeth out at the window The people bee much inclined to diuination and witchcraft the god in whome they repose most confidence and trust and which they
other great and famous riuers and brookes there be fountaines like-wife of sweete waters hot bathes and mines of Salte and it is equall to any other country for all sorts of mettals yea all Italy France and Spaine store them-selues with siluer and other mettalls out of Germany and there is some gold gotten so as if those old writers were now liuing and beheld the present estate of Germany as now it is they would doubtlesse thinke it strange and wonder to see such alteration to perceiue each place so holsome and conuenient to dwell in the ayre so temperate the soyle so fertile such aboundance of wine and all kinde of graine such planting of trees such beautifull buildings of Citties Temples and Sanctuaries such aduancement of religion such ciuility amongst cittizens decencie in apparell experience in feates of armes such furniture and prouision for warres and such store of all manner of ornaments besides the extraordinary sincerity and perfection of the Peeres and Nobility if I say they beheld and marked all these things well I am of opinion they would not condemne the ground as barren rude ill fauoured or little beholding to the heauens yea they should see how true that saying is That good things are spoiled for want of workemanship and well husbanding the ayre is there more calme and temperate in winter then in other countries and therefore it produceth more excellent fruites yet be their summers more intemperate through which intemperature many of those fruites be often-times corrupted and spoiled besides there bee many venemous beasts and other creatures pernitious and hurtfull to the inhabitants and yet for all this is it hardly to bee iudged what Prouince may be compared vnto it much lesse preferred before it The reason why this country assumeth the name of Germany is for that there is such a sympathy and concordance amongst all the people both in the disposition of their bodies their manners and courses of life as all of them agree and liue together like brothers and equalls It was first called Teutonia of Tuisco the sonne of Noe and Alemanin of Mannus his sonne who were said to be the first authors and originall of that nation though some be of a contrary opinion and affirme that Germany was first inhabited by such as were there bred and borne and not by such as were brought from other places of which opinion is one which hath written thus Well situated toward the North dâ—th lye the Germaires soyle A people famous through the world that neuer fell the foyle Of forren foes no heate nor cold nor paines can them molest For that they scorne to spend their time in idlenesse and rest Borne certes in that land they were with first that were aliue Nor but from Demogorgons loynes can pedigree deriue Those did the Greekes Adelphi name whom Latins Germans call Because in vnity and loue they liue like brethren all A name which vnto noble hearts doth yet grea honor yeeld Large lims hath laâ—ish nature lent their huged trunkes to weld Vnto their bodies answerable that be both tall and straight Their necks and all their body else is Alablaster white Their eyes their haires and bushie locks of yellow coulor be In temperature their members all and bodies doe agree What inwardly is thought or meant their outward voice forth showes Their toungs be traytors to their hearts their secret to disclose Their speach is not effeminate but lostie bigge and strong So that their valiant warlike hearts may knowne be by their tong They loue to wander much ahroad to hunt and eke to ride And some by Arts and Sciences their liuings doe prouide Some Bacchus tender budding sprouts do winde on naked piles And some do till the fertile earth that barren was ere whâ—les Some men in trauell much delight their youthfull dayes to spend And other to Mineruaes lawes their course do wholy bend Or hoysing vp their sailes aloft do cut through forren flouds And store their wants with sundry sorts of far-fetcht strangers goods If forren foes be wanting then within themselues thcile iar A light occasion will suffice to stir them vp to war And all the while that cruell Mats doth bloudy flag display They hold it then no iniury to rauish filch and prey Some in Hircinian woods delight to hunt the tusked Bore And some the brazen-footed Hart with yelping Hounds to gore Through forrests woods and mountains some pursue the cruell Beare And some with Eaulcons talents seeke the silly birdes to teare And pluming of their fethers cleane disperse them in the ayre No enterprice so doubâ—full is but they will hazard all Nor can the feare of grifley death thâ—iâ— valianâ— mindes appall If wrongs be done they seeke reuenge but fo their countries good Or kin or friends they will not stick to spend their deerest bloud Theâ— constant be in Christ his faith and him do duly serue Nor from sincere religion doe sela or neuer swâ—rue Their dealings honest true and iust all lying they detest And euermore their toung declares what 's hidden in their brest The Germaines before they began their battels vsed to chaunt forth a song or holy hymne in honor of Hercules holding opinion that he was once in that country when they ioyned battell they would crie out with a most greeuous and clamourous noyse not so confused and dissonant as terrible to their enemie Their eyes bee for the most part blew their lookes sterne and their hayre red or yellow they be tall of stature and naturally very sodaine and head-long in all their enterprises but they cannot away with much labour and toyle nor can they indure heate and thirst so well as the Frenchmen can but cold they can indure passing well Of gold and siluer they made no account for the plate and Iewels of siluer which were sent them from forraine Princes they esteemed as base and vile as earthen vessels But since by trafficke and trading with other countries the vse thereof hath crept in amongst them And there bee some hold opinion that there is neither siluer nor gold gotten there as yet and but small store of Yron which was the cause that they vsed no swords in the warres but long Speares or Iauelins with short Yron pikes being a very fit and handsome weapon to fight withall both aloofe and neere at hand Their horsemen fought with shields and those short speares and footmen with stones and darts and both of them naked or in little short gabberdines or cassacks the souldiers were distinguished and knowne one from an other by the coulour of their shields which were painted with select and curious coulours and but few of them wore either priuie coates helmets or head-peeces Their horses were neither well shapt nor speedie paced nor could they runne the ring or career like Italian horses but onely straight forward hee that lost his shield in fight was seuerely punished for hee was vtterly excluded from their sacrifices and not admitted to
him at his pleasure but to the end that no one should be ouerthrowne or spoiled by anothers enuie or malice without cause there was this prouision made that the accused might challenge the single combat with one of his accusérs and if he ouercame the other he scaped free and forfeited nothing He that killed his Duke was killed himselfe and all his goods confiscate for euer without redemption and he that stirred vp sedition against him forfeited to the Duke 600. shillings When an armie was conducted into the enemies land the souldiers had no cause to fall out amongst thēselues for prouision for euery one might take what would serue his turn but he which wrangled without cause was forced either to yeeld himselfe to the law of armes in that case prouided or suffer fifty stripes with a truncheon before his Lieutenant And the Lieutenants and Gouernors were to haue a special care euery one with in his limits or county that the souldiers did not spoile prey vppon the enemie before they were commanded by the Duke for if any fault were committed through their negligence they were to make it good If a free-man damnified or wronged another he was constrained to make good as much as the party was hindred and was amerced besides at 40. shil but such offences were death in seruants and their master made restitution for them because they forbad them not the committing of such crimes If a seruant stole or purloyned any thing from the soldiers in the campe and was therof conuicted he lost his hand for that offence and his master notwithstanding restored the value of the goods stolne and a free-man for such a fault was mulcted at forty shillings ouer and aboue the due restitution of the thing stolne If any one were commanded by the king or duke to kill another and he did it the king or duke which commanded him ought for euer after to defend and protect him from danger if the king or duke which was his protector died his next successor did take vpon him the like warrantie and protection of that man If the Duke were so stubborn and rebellious as to contemne and despise the decrees of the king he was depriued of his Duke-dome and was vtterly void of all hope euer to recouer his former estate and dignity If the Duke had a son so froward foolish or arrogant as through the counsell and abetting of lewd and euil persons he went about to depose his father from his gouernment so that his father were yet well able to gouerne to conduct an armie to get vp vpon his horse and to carry armes and was neither deafe nor blind well able to performe the kings command he was dis-inherited and for euer after vncapable of the Dukedome or if his father pleased he was banished to perpetuall euile for offending his father in so high a degree against the law He that by rashnesse indiscretion or drunkennesse bred a scandall in the Dukes Court forfeited forty shillings and was for euer after lyable to make good the value of the inconuenience that arose of that ill example but a seruant for such a fault lost his hand If any thing were found in the Dukes Court and taken vp and concealed one night vnreuealed it was accounted theft and such an offendor forfeited into the Dukes Exchequer fifteene shillings because the Dukes house was accounted a publike house He that detracted or by his ill speeches depraued the Dukes gouernement was punished at fifteen shillings and forced to finish and make perfect all that he was commanded to do that all pleas or suites might be dispatched and ended euery fifteenth day in each seuerall Countie of the countrie for the doing wherof all the free-men assembled together and they which neglected the meeting forfeited fifteene shillings the Iudge to the end hee might do iustice and iudge vprightly had a booke of the law lying open before him which serued as a rule and pattern wherby to iudge of all controuersies And if the inditement were without partialitie and that he iudged vprightly without respect of persons or rewards hee then had and enioyed to himselfe the ninth part of the composition but if the iudgement were partiall or smelled of briberie he forfeited the double value of that which by his false sentence and corruption was payed and was fined moreouer at forty shillings He which killed the Duke payd either vnto his friends or vnto the king for composition 1460. shillings whereof his friends had six hundred And it was euer obserued that the composition for the death of the Duke was three times as much as for the death of any of his friends The Agilolsingi out of which family the Dukes be euer created had the fourth part of the composition and then the Huosi the Trozzi the Sagavi the Hahilingi and the Aennonni had the one halfe of that which remained Hee that killed a free-man payd either vnto the Duke or vnto his parents that was slaine 8. pounds hee that put out a free-mans eye or cut off his hand or foot payed 40. shillings he that lamed him payd 12. shillings and for a maim 20. shillings for a wound 3. shillings for striking out a cheeke tooth or grinding tooth 12. shillings and for euery other tooth 6. shillings They were very strictly forbidden to molest or hurt strangers in so much as he which iniured any of them payd vnto the party grieued the double value of the wrong sustained and besides forseited 8. pounds into the Dukes Exchequer he that slue a stranger forfeted an hundred pounds in gold If a seruant molested or sold a free-man were complained of to the Iudg he escaped not without some great punishment as the losse of hand or eye Libertines which had bin manumitted made free had more easie compositions by the one halfe then those which were free-born All incestuous mariages were there vtterly prohibited so as it was not lawful for any man to marry his first wiues mother his sonnes wife his daughter-in-law his step mother his brothers or sisters daughter his brothers wife or wiues sister and those which offended in any of these points all his goods were confiscate by the Iudge hee that prophaned the Lords day with any manner of worke after the first warning and admonition had fiftie lashes vpon the backe with a whip and if he offended againe the second time he forfeited the third part of all his goods and for the third offence he lost his libertie for it is fitting that he which will not be free vpon that day shold be a slaue for euer after A seruant for labouring vpon the Lords day was beaten but if he held on his course without amendement his right hand was cut off And a stranger for the like fault hauing beene warned aforehand paid 12. shillings He that detained a freeman against his will in seruitude and bondage or forcibly tooke away his inheritance or goods was forced to
carkasse himselfe and gaue vnto the owner an other beast as good as his was If hee strooke out his eye he paide vnto the owner the third part of the price that the beast was worth and if he cut off either taile or eare hee paide twelue pence a tremissis for euery horne But hee which committed any of these outrages either for hatred contempt or despite his penalty was doubled hee which tooke an other mans horse or oxe to keepe for hire and lost him by his owne default paide the full price for him and had no hire but if hee purged himselfe by his oth that the beast was not lost by his neglect then hee had the hide allowed him Hee which receiued into his house an other mans goods were it gold siluer apparell or any thing else either to sell or to keepe and that his house together with those goods were burned by misfortune if hee would depose that his owne goods were burned with them and that hee had no profit nor commodity by those goods so committed vnto him hee made no restitution for them If a house were on fire and one making shew to quench the fire did steale and purloine any thing thence he paide fouretimes the value of that which he stole and made composition besides according to the Statutes If a thing was in contention betwixt two to whom the propertie belonged it was not lawfull for any one whatsoeuer either to giue it or sell it vntill it was decided to whom the right property did appertaine If a woman buried her husband and remained a widdow afterwards she had an equall portion with one of his children both of the goods and of the yeerely profit of the liuing but if shee married an other husband she then tooke such goods onely as she had of her owne and her dower and departed the house the same day shee married and that portion which was allotted vnto her after the death of her husband during her widdow-hood was equally deuided amongst her children If a man had children by diuers wiues they all of them equally inherited but the mothers children inherited such goods onely as belonged vnto her and the sonne of a bond-woman might not inherit with the sonne of a free-woman If a man died without issue and made no will his wife so long as shee kept her selfe widdow enioyed the one halfe of all her husbands goods and the other halfe remained to his kinsfolke But if she died or married againe shee then presently departed and carried with her such goods onely as were her owne and due vnto her by the law and that part which she had was distributed to her husbands kinsfolkes likewise If either man or woman died and neither deuised their goods by testament nor gaue them away in their life time and had no kindred liuing within seuen degrees then were all their goods confiscate and escheated into the Dukes Exchecker He which sold any thing and tooke money for it was to confirme the sale either by writing or in the presence of two witnesses at the least and no sale was firme and good vnlesse hee which sold it did it voluntarily and vnconstrained Hee which sold an other mans goods without the owners consent or priuity restored the same againe and an other as good as that was besides but if the thing so sold could not be gotten againe then he paide two other things as good as that was which he sold Hee which bought any thing and gaue earnest for it was forced to stand to his bargaine vnlesse the other party were willing to release him or else he lost the thing hee gaue earnest for and paide the full price agreed vpon notwithstanding If a man sold a thing which was nought hee was constrained to take it againe at any time within three daies or else hee was deposed and brought one other to sweare with him that hee knew not of the fault and so the bargaine stood currant If a bond-man purchased his free-dome by his owne purse and not with his maisters money and the deceite were discerned hee was restored againe to his maister because his maister receiued no other thing for him but that which was his seruants which hee knew not of And the same law that was in buying and selling was likewise in exchanging If any one entred into an other mans ground and claimed it for his owne hee paide for his rashnesse sixe shillings and restored the ground to the owner againe A witnesse produced to giue testimony neither could nor ought to bee resisted vnlesse in case of one that is dead in which case hee was to make good his euidence by battaile and if he hap to get the victory hee was then creditteds and no longer impugned If there were many witnesse then one was elected by lot to sweare and the manner of his oth was thus I am elected as a witnesse and I offer my selfe to be deposed and as God shall helpe mee and him whose hand I hold I am produced as a witnesse to speake the truth touching this matter now in question and then ioyning all their hands together to sweare and protest the truth hee alone holding in his other hand one other that sweareth with him deposed as seemeth him good and if hee swore false and was conuicted of periury hee restored and made good vnto the partie damnified by his false oth as much as hee was hindred thereby and paide twelue shillings more for composition or else defended his innocency by battaile If one champion killed the other in battaile if he were a free-man then the party that vniustly procured him to vndertake the combate paide twelu shillings for composition but no more He which solde any thing from a freeman that was dead and buried paide vnto his parents or friends forty shillings and restored that which hee stole away He that murthered a freeman secretly casting his body either into a riuer or other base place whereby hee was depriued of due sunerals and exequies did first pay forty shillings and afterwards a were-geld If a freeman was slaine and cast into a riuer or into the sea and after his body hapt to be cast vpon shore if any one tumbled him into the water againe hee forfeted forty shillings And if a seruant or bond-man were so slaine and cast vp then hee which aduentured to throw him in againe forfeted nine pounds Hee which slue a man and tooke his apparell from him paide twise the worth of his apparell and hee which cut or mangled the carcasse of a dead man paide twelue shillings for euery member hee so cut or mangled Hee which found the body of a dead man and out of his compassion affoorded it buriall lest it should bee deuoured by beasts or birds the friends or maister of the dead man gaue him twelue pence for his paine He which remoued an other mans ship or boate out of his place restored vnto the owner either the same againe in
chiefe guide and conductor in all their trauels and very propitions vnto them in trafficke and trading All the spoiles they tooke in the warres they vowed and consecrated vnto Mars for their victory obtained so as in many Cities you might see great heapes of warlike spoiles laide together and if any one stole any part of the prey to his owne purse hee was seuerely punished The Gaules perswaded themselues that they were the of spring of Pluto the god of riches and therefore they celebrated the beginning of their feasts the night before the feast day supposing that night to bee consecrated vnto Dis The men suffered not their children once to come into their sights before they were growne to mans estate that they were able to manage armes holding it vnfitting and absurde that the sonne while hee is a childe should approach neere the presence of his father The husbands looke how much money they receiued with their wiues in portion so much did they adde vnto it out of their owne stocke and all the increase that came of that coyne was reserued and kept for him or her that was suruiuer The husbands had power and authority of life and death as well ouer their wiues as ouer their children and if any mans wife were conuicted of witch-craft or sorcery she was put to death by her husbands neighbours and friends either by fire or by some other greeuous torments In their funerals all those things which the deceased person held deere vnto him in his life time yea the beasts he loued best were burned with him and not much before the Country was conquered by Iulius Caesar their seruants and retainers were burned with their Maisters dead bodies In their Cities which were maruellous wel gouerned a few of the most worthy and substantialest men amongst them ruled the rest hauing at the first one chiefe ruler ouer them who continued his office for a yeere and in warres they vsed likewise to appoint one to take the charge and command vpon him of al matters belonging to the warres If any priuate person heard any thing spoken by strangers touching the common-wealth they were to make report thereof to the Magistrates though some things they might conceale without danger It was not lawfull for any one to mutter any thing in secret of the common-wealth but in publike places and hee that came last into the councel-house was put to death If any factious fellow raised any tumult or mutiny there was sent vnto him an officer with a sword in his hand ready drawne to proclaime silence and if hee desisted not at the second or third proclamation the officer would curtaile so much of his cloake or cassocke thereby to put him to disgrace as the remnant that was left would serue him to no purpose The chiefe Magistrates had golden maces carried before them they wore chaines about their neckes and bracelets on their armes The common people wore short cloakes and in steed of coates a loose garment slit on the one side that would scarce couer halfe their buttocks their wool is very rough long and shaggy so as their cassockes they called Lenae were maruellous rugged and hairy They tooke great delight in trimming dressing their haire They be tal of stature and for the most part pale of complexion and their armor and weapons are answearable to the proportion of their bodies for they wore long swords hanging at their right sides and long shields proportionable to their speares wherewith they might couer their thighes some of them also had bowes and were very good archers but yet they vsed shooting more in fowling and birding then in the warres and few of them would goe into the field either with slings or clubs They lay vpon the ground and eate their meate sitting vpon straw the substance of their meate was either milke or flesh and especially hogs-flesh for they haue such store of swine feeding in their fields and so large so strong and so swift that strangers that know not their nature are as fearefull of them and in as much daunger as if they were wolues They haue sheepe in as great aboundance as swine whereof when they bee fed and powdred they send many to Rome and diuers other parts of Italy and there sell them Their buildings dwelling houses were made of wood in proportion of shels beeing very large with many spars or rafters They bee naturally cruell and simple withall and in the warres more valiant then politike and much more addicted to follow the warres then husbandry The French women be exceeding fruitful in so much as Gallia Belgica alone sent vnto the warres at one voyage aboue three hundred thousand fighting men when they haue had any victory they bee wonderfull ioyfull and as much amazed after an ouerthrow Their custome was when the battaile was ended and the souldiors departed the field to cut off the heads of their vanquished foes and to hange them at there horse neckes and so to carry them home and there to sticke them vpon poles for a spectacle vnto others But the heads of worthy and renowned souldiors if any such were slaine they would season with odors of Cedar-tree and keepe them for strangers to looke vpon not suffering them to bee ransommed for their weight in gold The ancient Country guise was to weare chaines of gold bracelets and garments spangled with gold In their Diuinations their manner was to strike a man ordained for that purpose vpon the backe and then by his impatience and manner of affliction in his death to Iudge of future euents They had other sorts of humaine sacrifices also for some they would shoot to death and then hang them vpon gibbets within their Temples and some of them would make a great huge Image and put therein men wood sheepe and diuers other sorts of cattaile and so sacrifice them altogether The Frenchmen by reason of their continuall labour and exercise were wont to bee very macilent leane and lanck bellyed for they were so carefull to auoyde all pampering and excesse that if any young mans belly did out-grow his girdle he was openly punished But at this day the French-men by reason of their commerce conuersation and continuall acquaintance with the Romaines are greatly altered from what they were and their manners much bettered for they bee now most ardent professors of the true Religion and all vnder the gouernement of one King Their marriages be solemnized after the Italian rites they be very studious in all the liberall arts and in diuinity especially which is well demonstrated by the great multitude of Students in the citty of Paris which is now the most famous and renownedst Vniuersitie in all Christendome The lawes in France be executed by Magistrates but instituted by the kings their horsmen in time of warres go al in compleat armor and their footmen in light harnesse they haue many good archers that shoote well in long bowes and their bowes be not
cal Ale and Beare and they haue much wines brought them out of other countries There bee many villages borrowes and cities whereof London is the chiefest of the nation the Kings seat and the most famous for trafficke and trading These are their customes and manners they vse in this age which are much differing from their customes they vsed the time of Iulius Caesar for at that time it was not lawfull for them to eate Hare Hen or Goose and yet would they norish and keepe them for their pleasures The people that inhabited the middle part of the country liued for the most part vpon milke and flesh beeing vtterly destitute of corne and cloathed themselues with skinnes Their faces they would die with woad to the end that in battaile they might breed a great terror to their enemies They wore long haire hanging downe about their shoulders and shaued all parts of their bodies but their heads one woman would haue tenne or more husbands at one time and it was lawfull for the brother to enioy his brothers wife the father the sonnes and the sonne the fathers and the children were accounted children to them all Strabo dissenting from the opinion of Caesar saith that the English are farre taller then the Frenchmen and of a shorter haire Thicke woods serued them in steed of cities wherein they builded them cabbines and cottages harboring themselues and their cattaile vnder one roofe The country is more subiect to raine then snow and when the weather is faire the earth is couered sometimes with a blacke clowde that for the space of foure houres together you shall see no Sunne at high noone Scotland the vttermost part of Britan towards the North is deuided from the other part of the Island onely with a riuer or small arme of the sea Not farre distant from Scotland lieth Ireland the people whereof vse one kinde of habite in no point differing one from an other They speake all one language and vse the selfe same customes They haue nimble wits and are very apt to reuenge vsing great cruelty in the warres though otherwise they bee sober and can indure all manner of wants with great facility They are naturally faire but nothing curious in their apparel The Scots of whom I spake before as some are of opinion were so called of the paynting of their bodies for it was an vsual and auncient custome there and especially amongst the rudest and barbarous kinde of people to paint and die their bodies armes and legs with varnish or vermillion which custome if all bee true as is written by ancient authors was practised by the Britans especially in time of warre the more to terrifie the enemy as before is said Aeneas Siluius saith that the shortest day in winter there is not aboue three houres long and it is a thing worthy the noting to see how poore folkes there stand about the Temples of their gods begging stones of passengers for them to burne for the country affoordeth but small store of fuell and the stones which they craue and get together in this manner are of a fat and sulphery condition and wil burne like coles Aeneas saith that hee heard there was a tree in Scotland that in Antumne whē the leaues were withered they fell of the tree into a riuer by vertue of the water were turned into birds This tree he saith hee sought for in Scotland but could not find it and that lastly it was told him by some that knew the Country well that this strange miracle was to be seene in one of the Isles of Orcades And thus farre mine Author concerning the estate of this Island by which appeareth the little acquaintance both hee and those writers out of which hee frameth this collection had with it for else would they not so sleightly haue slipt ouer the commendation of so worthy a Country and therefore I thought it not amisse in this place to supply their defects with this short addition of mine owne wherein happely you may perceiue a more liuely description of this our Realme of Great Britany and the condition of the inhabitants then could well bee expected from meere strangers BRITANNIA sometimes called Albion the worthiest and renownedst Island of all the world is in compasse as is said before according to the opinion of the best writers about 1836. English miles It is sytuated in a most milde temperate clymate the ayre beeing neither too hot in Sommer nor too cold in winter through which temperature it aboundeth with all sorts of graine fruits and cattaile that be either necessary or behoueful for mans life for besides that the Country is wholesome pleasant and delightsome there bee such store of ponds riuers and running waters for fish and foule such aboundance of forrests and chases for timber and fuel such large fields champion grounds for corne and graine such pastures and meadowes for sheepe and cattaile such orchards and gardens for pleasure and profit such hunting and hawking in fields fluds and forrests such strong castles such stately buildings such goodly cities and walled townes such beautifull houses of the Nobility disperced in all parts of the country such large territories such renowned vniuersities for the aduancement of learning and good letters such practise of religiō such places for pleading such trafficke and trading such maintainance of Iustice such generous dispositions in the nobles such ciuility amongst citizens such intercourse amongst the commons in a word such is the pompe riches florishing state of this Realme vnder the gouernment of our most gratious Prince King Iames that England at this day is so amply stored with natures richest guifts that she is not onely furnished with things sufficient to serue her selfe but sendeth forth sundry of her superfluous commodities into other countries also and for al things may iustly bee compared if not preferred to any country in Christendome who were the first inhabitants of this Island and why it was so called I finde it so diuersly reported that I rather leaue euery man to his opinion then by setting downe mine owne incurre the censure of ignorance and indiscretion but howsoeuer although it hath bin inhabited by sundry nations and deuided into seuerall Kingdoms yet doe I not finde that euer it admitted any other forme of gouernment but the Kingly authority only no not when it was dismembered into many Kingdomes but that then euery King had a perfect and absolute command ouer his subiects nor that any King of England either then or since it grew into a Monarchy did euer receiue his authority from any other Prince as his supreme but that euery King within the limits of his Kingdome was next vnto God sole and absolute gouernor the idle example of King Iohn onely excepted who without consent of his commons or establishment by act of parliament forced therevnto by the rebellion of his Nobles aided by the Dolphin of France resigned his crowne to the Popes Legate
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
chiefly to be feared c. And in the conclusion of the same letters is mentioned that his sonne Iohn Paleologus which dyed about two yeares before the King of the Romaean Kings was called to the celebration of the sacred Synode And that Ioseph the Patriarch of Constantinople came with him with a great number of Archbishops and Bishops and Prelates of all sorts among whom were the Proctors or Factors of the Patriarckes of Antioch Alexandria and Ierusalem who when they had ioyned themselues together in loue of holy faith and religion the vnity of the Church being ordained and established all the difficulties and troubles of ancient time which seemed erronious contrary to religion were by Gods diuine assistance vtterly taken away abolished which things being rightly established and set in order the Pope himselfe brought great ioy vnto them all This booke of Pope Eugenius wee haue sent vnto you which wee haue kept vncorrupted and wee would haue sent vnto you the whole order and power of the Popes blessing but that the volume of these things would seeme too great for it would exceed in bignes the whole booke of Paul to all the nations he writ vnto The Legates which brought these things vnto vs from the Pope were Theodorus Peter Didymus and George the seruants of Iesus Christ and you shall do well most holy Father to command your bookes to be looked ouer where I suppose some memory of these things which we write of may be found out Wherefore holy father if you will write any thing vnto vs beleeue it confidently that we will most diligently commit it to our bookes that the eternall memory of those things may remaine to our posterity and surely I account him blessed whose memory is preserued in writing in the sacred citty of Rome and in the seate of the Saints S. Peter and S. Paul for these bee Lords of the kingdome of heauen iudges of the whole world And because that this is my beliefe I therfore send these letters that I may obtaine grace of your holines and your most sacred Senate that from thence may come vnto me a holy benediction increase of all good things And I most earnestly beseech your holines to send vnto me some images pictures of the Saints especially of the virgin Mary that your name may be often in my memory that I may take continuall pleasure in your gifts Furthermore I heartily intreate you to send vnto me men learned in the Scriptures workmen likewise that can make images swords and all maner of weapons for the warre grauers also of gold and siluer and Carpenters Masons especially which can build houses of stone and make couering for them of lead and copper wherby the roofes of the houses may be defended And besides these such as can make glasse instruments of musicke and such as be skilfull in musicke those also that can play vpon Flutes Trumpets and pshalmes shall be most welcome deere vnto vs and these workmen I much desire should bee sent me from your Court but if there be not sufficicient store in your court your holines may command them of other Kings who will obey your command most readily When these shal come to me they shall bee honorably esteemed of according to their deserts from my liberality shall be amply rewarded and if any shall desire to returne home he shall depart with liberall gifts whither hee please for I will not detaine any one against his will though I should haue great fruit and benefite by his industry But I must now speake of other matters demand of you most holy father why you exhort not the Christian kings your children to lay aside thir armes and as becommeth brethren to accord and agree amongst themselues seeing they be thy sheepe and thou their sheepheard for your holines knoweth right well what the Gospell commandeth where it is said That euery kingdome diuided in it selfe shall be desolated and brought to ruine And if the Kings would agree in their hearts conclude an assured league and peace together they might easily vanquish all the Mahometans and by their fortunate entrance and sudden irruption vtterly burst and throw downe the sepulcher of that false Prophet Mahomet For this cause holy father indeuour your selfe that a firme peace and assured league of friendship may bee concluded and established amongst them admonish them to be assistant aiding vnto me seeing in the confines of my kingdomes I am on all sides inclosed and incompassed about with those most wicked men the Mahometane Moores for those Mahometane Moores yeeld mutual aid one to another the kings with kings petty kings with petty kings do sincerely and constantly assemble themselues against vs. There is a Moore very neere neighbour vnto me to whom the other bordering Moores minister weapons horses and munition for the warres These be the kings of India Persis Arabia and Egypt which things grieue and molest mee exceedingly euery day when I behold the enemies of the Christian religion ioyned together in brotherly loue and to enioy peace to see the Christian kings my brothers to be nothing at all moued by these iniuries nor to yeeld mee any helpe as assuredly behoueth Christians to doe seeing the impious brood of Mahomet do aid and assist one another neither am I he that for that purpose should require Souldiers prouision for warres of you seeing I haue Souldiers left of mine owne but onely I desire your praiers and orisons wishing also fauour grace with your holines with all Christian Kings my brethren for I must seeke to obtaine friendship of you that I may bee fully instructed and furnished of those things which I formerly desired to the terror of the Moores that my neigbours the enemies of the Christian faith may vnderstand that the kings do fauor aid me with a singular care affection which surely will redound to the praise of vs in common seeing we agree together in one verity of religion and faith and in this councell wee will conforme which shall be firme and absolute with that which shal fall out to be more profitable God therfore fulfill all your desires about the praises of Iesus Christ and of God our Father to whom all men giue praises for euer and euer And you most holy Lord and father imbrace me I beseech you with all the Saints of Iesus Christ which be at Rome into which embracings let all the boderers of my kingdomes and those which dwell in Ethiopia be receiued giue thanks to our Lord Iesus Christ with your spirit These letters your holinesse shall receiue at the hands of my brother Iohn King of Portugall the sonne of the most mighty King Emanuell by our Embassador Francis Aluarez Other letters from the same Dauid Emperour of Ethiopia written to the Pope of Rome in the yeare of our Lord God 1524. and interpreted by Paulus Iouius HAppy and
after that if an Infidell call you to supper and that you will goe eate of all things which be set before you making no question for conscience sake and againe if any one shall say this is sacrificed to Idols eate not of it because of him that shewed you and for conscience sake c. All these things Paul speaketh to please those which were not yet confirmed in the faith because there arose many disputations and contentions betwixt those and the Iewes for the appeasing whereof he did more easily yeeld vnto them and conforme himselfe vnto their will which were not throughly confirmed in the faith And this hee did not that he would breake the law but that by gratifying others in releasing them from ceremonies hee might thereby winne them to the faith The same Apostle saith Let not him that eateth despice him that eateth not let not him that eateth not condemne him that eateth because hee which eateth eateth to the Lord and hee which eateth not eateth not to the Lord wherefore it is very vnworthily done to reprehend strangers that bee Christians so sharply and bitterly as I haue beene oftentimes reprehended my selfe both for this matter and for other things which belonged not to the true faith but it shal be better and more standing with wisdome to sustaine such Christians whether they bee Greekes Americans or Aethiopians or of any other of the seuen Christian Churches in charity and imbracings of Christ and to suffer them to liue and be conuersant amongst other Christian brothers without contumelies or reproches for we bee al the sons of baptisme and ioyne together in opinion concerning the true faith and there is no cause why wee should contend so bitterly touching ceremonies but that each one should obserue his owne ceremonies without the hatred rayling or inueighing of other neither is he that hath trauelled into other nations and obserueth his owne country ceremonies therefore to be excluded from the society of the Church Moreouer that which we haue in the Acts of the Apostles to wit how Peter saw Heauen opened a certaine vessel descending like vnto a great sheet bound or closed vp at the foure corners wherein were all kind of foure footed beasts and serpents of the earth and foules of the aire and a voice said vnto Peter arise Peter kil and eate to whom Peter said God forbid Lord for I did neuer eate of any thing commune or vncleane and the voice replied vnto him againe saying that which God hath made cleane doe not thou cal commune or vncleane which words being repeated three times the vessel was againe taken vp into Heauen which done the spirit sent him into Caesaria vnto Cornelius a deu out man and one that feared God with whom when Peter spake the holy Ghost fell vpon all those which heard the word of God and when they had receiued the holy Ghost Peter commanded that all Cornelius houshold should be baptised But when the other Apostles and brethren which were in Iudea heard that Cornelius was baptised they were displeased at Peter that hee had giuen Baptisme and the word of God to the Gentiles saying why wentest thou to men that be not circumcised and didst eate with them but when Peter had declared vnto them the whole vision they were pacified and gaue thankes vnto God saying And therefore hath hee giuen repentance vnto the Gentiles for their saluation And they remembred the word of the Lord which hee spake when he ascended vp into heauen Go throughout all the world and preach the Gospell vnto all creatures he that beleeueth and is baptized shall be saued but hee which beleeueth not shall be damned Then the Apostles began to preach the Gospel through out all the world vnto euery creature in the name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost and the sound of them went throughout all the world And this vision wherein both cleane and vncleane things did appeare we in Aethiopia expound thus That by the cleane beasts was meant the people of Israel and by the vncleane beasts the people of the Gentiles And for this cause be the Gentiles called vncleane for that they bee worshippers of Idols and willingly do the workes of the diuel which be vncleane and whereas the voyce sayd vnto Peter Kill that we interpret in this manner Peter baptize and when it is said Peter eate that is interpreted as if he had sayd Teach and preach the lawe of our Lord Iesus Christ to the people of Israell and to the Gentiles Moreouer it is most certaine that it cannot bee found in any place of the Scriptures that either Peter or the other Apostles did kill or eate any vncleane beast after this vision And also we must vnderstand when the Scripture speaketh of bread he meaneth not meate or corporal nourishment therby but the explication and exposition of Christ his doctrine and of the Scriptures And surely it were well done for all teachers and preachers of this sheet which was shewed vnto Peter to teach high and great matters and not pettie or light things and such as do seeme little to appertaine vnto saluation nor thereby cunningly to hunt after this document as though it should be conuenient or lawfull for vs to eate vncleane things seeing no such thing can bee gathered out of the Scriptures for what is the cause that the Apostles in their bookes of Councels haue taught vs not to eate beasts that be strangled suffocated or killed ' of other beasts or bloud because the Lord loueth cleannes and sobriety and hateth gluttony and vncleannesse And our Lord also greatly loueth those that abstaine from flesh but much more those that fast with bread and water and herbes as Iohn Baptist the Eremite did beyond Iordane who did euer eat herbes and S. Paul the Eremite who remained in the wildernesse foure score yeares euer fasting and S. Anthonie and Saint Macarius and many other their spirituall children which did neuer tast flesh Therefore my brethren we ought not to despise and inueigh against our neighbors because Iames saith Hee which detracteth his brother or condemneth his brother detracteth the law and condemneth the law Paul also teacheth That it were better for euery one to liue contented with their owne traditions then to dispute with his Christian brother of the law and againe Not to know more than is behoofull but to be wise vnto sobrietie and vnto euery one as God hath diuided the measure of faith wherfore it is vndecent to dispute with our brethren of the law or of the difference of meates because the meate doth not commend vs to God especially seeing Paul the Apostle saith We shall neither abound if we do eate nor want if we do not eat And therfore let vs seek those things which be aboue and the celestiall food and leaue off these vaine disputations Al these things which I haue written concerning Traditions I haue not done to breed disputation but that as