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£«W 
 
TRAVELS 
 
 OF 
 
 LA BROCQUIERE. 
 
-ma — jh — am ■■ urn ^ iim mil* 
 
 |yg |/go jwo |/JC 
 
 Lt'Hii, n Z'uôâsAsif JOiy-ty^jSoj. ^yZorufman. ébl? PatervtJt+ûvTltm'. 
 
 
THE 
 
 TRAVELS 
 
 OF 
 
 BERTRANDON DE LA BROC&UIERE, 
 
 COUNSELLOR & FIRST ESQUIRE-CARVER TO PHILIPPE 
 L£ BON, DUKE OF BURGUNDY, 
 
 TO FALJESTIIE, 
 
 AND HIS 
 
 RETURN 
 
 FROM 
 
 JERUSALEM OVERLAND TO FRANCE, 
 
 DURING THE YEARS 14<3 C 2 & 14-33. 
 
 Extracted and put into modern French from a Manuscript 
 
 in the National Library at Paris, and published 
 
 BY M. LE GRAND d'aUSSY, 
 
 In the fifth Vol. of the Mem. de l'Institut. 
 
 TRANSLATED BY 
 
 THOMAS JOHNES. ESQ. 
 
 &t t\)t Ijafou press, 
 
 iiV JAMES HENDERSON'. 
 
 MDCCCVII. 
 
■ 
 
TO THE 
 
 - 
 * 
 
 MEMORY 
 
 OF 
 
 HIS MUCH-BELOVED SISTER 
 
 ELIZABETH, 
 
 WIFE OF JOHN H ANBURY WILLIAMS, £62. 
 
 OF COLDBROOK, MONMOUTHSHIRE, 
 
 Who exchanged the present Life for a better on the 2\st March, 
 M.DCCC.VI. 
 
 THE 
 
 FOLLOWING SHEETS ARE DEDICATED 
 
 BY 
 
 THOMAS JOHNES. 
 
 Hafod, March xxn. A, D. m.dccc.vu. 
 
TlJE mortal remains of the affectionate Relative 
 whose name is recorded in the preceding page, 
 and zvhose virtues will live, to his latest breath, 
 in the remembrance of the translator of the 
 following work-, are deposited in the church of 
 Llanfoyst, in Monmouthshire, — where, on a 
 monument erected to her memory by her most 
 disconsolate husband, is inscribed the following 
 epitaph, composed by theRevANM. Shepherd, 
 of Gateacre in the county of Lancaster. 
 
 Stranger, or Friend! with silent steps and slow, 
 Who wanderest pensive thro' this hallow'd gloom, 
 Muse on the fleeting date of bliss below, 
 And mark, with reverence due, ELIZA's tomb. 
 
 For 'tis not Pride that rears this sculptur'd stone, 
 To spread the honours of heraldic fame ! 
 Here love connubial pours the plaintive moan, 
 And dews, with bitter tears, ELIZA's name. 
 
 Here sad Remembrance fondly loves to dwell, 
 And wrings with woe a widow'd husband's breast, 
 "While aye she points to the dark narrow cell, 
 "Where the cold ashes of ELIZA rest. 
 
 Stranger, or Friend! hast Thou a partner dear? 
 Go, press her closer to thy aching heart : 
 With silent wing the moment hastens near, 
 The dreadful moment, when ye too must part! 
 
I ^V:"'i.ViS>.?t" l âif-i 
 
PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE, 
 
 ACCOUNTS of travels published by tlic 
 French have a very early origin. At the 
 beginning of the fifth century, Rutilius 
 Claudius Numatianus published one, which 
 has been handed down to us incomplete, 
 because death perhaps did not allow him 
 to finish it. The object of his travels was 
 his return from Rome to his own country of 
 Gaul ; but as he came by sea, he could only 
 describe the ports and harbours on the coast, 
 and thence has necessarily resulted a monotony 
 in his work, which a man of more genius 
 would have surmounted. Besides, he wished 
 to write a poem, which forced him to assume a 
 
 
2 
 
 poetical tone, and to give poetical descriptions, 
 or such as were so called. In fine, this poem 
 is in the elegiac measure; and every one knows 
 that this kind of versification, the property 
 of which is to interest the idea every two 
 verses, and to confine these verses to a perpetual 
 return of an uniform cadence, is perhaps of all 
 others the least suited to description. When 
 the imagination has much to paint, when at 
 every moment it has need of varied and brilliant 
 pictures, it requires great freedom to display 
 with advantage all its riches : it cannot, 
 therefore, consequently accommodate itself to 
 a double confinement, the infallible effect of 
 which would be to extinguish its fire. 
 
 A pagan in religion, Rutiiius has shewn 
 his aversion to the Christian doctrine in verses, 
 where, confounding Christians and Jews, he 
 speaks ill of both sects. 
 
 It is in consequence of the same sentiments 
 that, having seen on his voyage some monks 
 in the island of Capraia, he wrote against 
 
 
monks the following verses, which I shall 
 quote to give my readers an idea of his 
 
 style. 
 
 < __ m ^ „ _^_ , „_ 
 
 Squalet lucifugis insula plena viris. 
 Ipsi se monachos, graio cognomine, dicunt, 
 
 Quod, soli, nullo vivere teste, volunt. 
 Munera Fortune metuunt, dum damna verentur : 
 
 Quisquam sponte miser, ne miser esse queat. 
 Quaenam perversi rabies tarn crebra cerebri, 
 
 Dum mala formides, nee bona posse pati? 7 
 
 His work contains curious details in 
 geography, and even some for the antiquary 
 and historian ; such, for instance, as his 
 description of a saltmarsh, and the anecdote 
 of the burning of the books of the Sybils at 
 Rome by order of Stilico. There are also 
 some good verses, and among them this in 
 particular on a ruined town : 
 
 ' Cernimus exemplis oppida posse mori.' 
 
 But his composition is bad: his descriptions 
 are dry and cold, and his manner pitiful 
 and mean; — no genius, no imagination, and. 
 

 consequently no invention in the pictures he 
 attempts to paint. 
 
 Such is his work, at least so it has appeared 
 to me ; and it is probably on account of these 
 defects that his poem has been called by the 
 degrading name of * Itinerary,' under which 
 it is known. There is a french translation 
 of it by le Franc de Pompignan *. 
 
 About 505, Arculfus, a bishop of Gaul, 
 made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. On his 
 return, he wished to publish an account of it, 
 and employed a scots abbot, called Adamanus, 
 to arrange his manuscript notes and his own 
 verbal account. The relation composed by 
 Adamanus, entitled ' De Locis Sanctis./ and 
 divided into three books, was first printed by 
 Gretser, and afterward more completely by 
 Mabillon. Arculfus, having visited the holy 
 land, embarked for Alexandria, thence he 
 crossed over to the island of Cyprus, and 
 
 * In the Melanges de Litter, et Poésie, &cc. par l'Acad. dc 
 Montauban, p. 81. 
 
 
•from Cyprus he went to Constantinople, 
 whence he returned to France. 
 
 Such travels certainly promise a great 
 deal ; and the man who had to describe 
 Palestine, Egypt, and the capital of the 
 eastern empire, might assuredly have made 
 an interesting work. But the execution of 
 so vast a design required philosophy and 
 knowledge, in which his age was miserably 
 deficient. It is a pilgrimage, and not travels, 
 that the prelate has published. He neither 
 makes us acquainted with the laws, manners, 
 and usages of the people, nor with any thing 
 that concerns the places or countries he passes 
 through, but solely the relics and objects of 
 devotion that were revered there. 
 
 Thus, in his first book, which treats of 
 Jerusalem, he tells us of the column to which 
 Jesus was tied when he was scourged, — of the 
 lance that pierced his side, — of his shroud, — 
 of a stone on which he knelt to pray, and 
 which now bears the impression of his kneesy- * 
 
tf 
 
 m 
 
 of another stone from which he ascended to 
 Heaven, and which bears the print of his 
 feet, — of clothes worn by the Virgin, which 
 represent his portrait, — of the fig-tree on 
 which Judas hanged himself: — in short, of 
 the stone on which St Stephen expired, &c. 
 
 In his second book, he passes through 
 various parts of Palestine, visited by pilgrims, 
 and follows them in their errors. When at 
 Jericho, he mentions the house of the harlot 
 Rahab : in the plains, of Mamré, he speaks 
 of the tombs of Adam, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, 
 Sarah, Rebecca and Leah ; at Nazareth, he 
 tells us of the spot where the angel came to 
 announce to Mary that, though a virgin, she 
 should conceive ; at Bethlehem, of the stone 
 on which Jesus was washed on his nativity, — 
 the tombs of Rachel, David, St Jerome, and 
 of the three shepherds who came to the 
 adoration, &c. 
 
 The third book is, for the greater part, 
 dedicated to Constantinople ; but he only 
 
speaks of the true cross of St George, — of an 
 image of the Virgin which, having been 
 thrown by a Jew into the most disgusting 
 filth, had been picked up by a Christian, and 
 a miraculous oil had flowed from it. 
 
 For many ages, the descriptions of Palestine 
 contained nothing but the pious and coarse 
 fables invented daily by the Orientals, to give 
 credit to certain places which they endeavoured 
 to institute as pilgrimages, and thus quietly 
 draw to their own profit the money of the 
 pilgrims. These last greedily swallowed every 
 tale they heard, and scrupulously persevered 
 in paying their devotions at all the places that 
 had been pointed out to them. On their return 
 to Europe, this was all they had to relate : but 
 indeed this was all that was required from 
 them. 
 
 Nevertheless our saint (for at his death 
 he was declared such, as well as his editor 
 Adamanus) gives us, in his second book, some 
 historical account of Tyre and Damascus. 
 
***■»* !fW 
 
 
 
 He speaks also more in detail respecting 
 Alexandria; and I even find, under the last 
 head, two facts that have seemed to me worthy 
 of attention. 
 
 The first concerns the crocodiles, which 
 he represents as so numerous in the lower part 
 of the Nile, that the instant an ox, horse, or 
 ass, enters the river to drink, they are seized by 
 them, and dragged under water and devoured, 
 whilst at this day, if we believe the unanimous 
 accounts of modern travellers, crocodiles are 
 only seen in upper Egypt ; and it is a sort of 
 prodigy to see any near to Cairo, and thence 
 to the sea there is not a single one. 
 
 The other respects the island of Pharos, 
 on which Ptolomy Philadelphus constructed 
 a tower containing fires, to serve as a land-mark 
 to sailors, and which also had the name of 
 Pharos. It is known that after the time of 
 Ptolomy this island was joined by a mole to 
 the main land, having a bridge at each 
 extremity ; that Cleopatra completed the. 
 
isthmus, by destroying the bridges and carrying 
 on the mole; in short, that at this day the 
 whole island is connected with the main land : 
 nevertheless our prelate speaks of it in his time 
 as if it were still an island, ' In dextera parte 
 portus parva insula habetur, in qua maxima 
 turris est quam* in commune, Graeci et Latini, 
 ex ipsius rei usu, Pharûm vocitaverunt.' He 
 must doubtless have been mistaken; but 
 probably at the time he saw it the mole only 
 existed, and the immense quantities of earth 
 which make it part of the continent have 
 been since added; and he did not perhaps 
 consider a dyke made by the hand of man 
 capable of preventing an island from being 
 what nature had formed it. 
 
 In the ninth century, We had another 
 sort of travels by Hetton, monk and abbot 
 of Richenou, afterward bishop of Basil. He 
 was an able man of business, and employed as 
 such by Charlemagne, who sent him, in 811, 
 ambassador to Constantinople. On his return 
 
 c 
 
10 
 
 
 
 to France, he there published an account of 
 his mission, which, hitherto, has not been 
 found, and which we ought to regret the 
 more, as it would afford us many curious 
 details respecting an empire, whose connections 
 with France were then so numerous, and 
 carried on with such activity. We should 
 not, perhaps, consider it as totally lost : it 
 may be possible that this manuscript, after 
 remaining many centuries buried, accident 
 may bring to the knowledge of some of our 
 learned men, who will give it to the public. 
 
 This has happened to the travels of 
 another french monk, named Bernard, which, 
 being published in 870 and lost, have been 
 found again by Mabillon, and brought to 
 light. Like to those of Arculfus, they consist 
 only of travels to the holy land, more concise, 
 however, than his, and written with less 
 pretension, but with the exception of a few 
 details personal to the author, containing 
 only a dry enumeration of the holy places. 
 
il 
 
 which circumstance has caused this likewise 
 to be entitled ' De Locis Sanctis.' 
 
 The route, however, of the two pilgrims 
 was different. Arculfus sailed direct for 
 Palestine, and thence re-embarked to visit 
 Alexandria : on the contrary, Bernard first 
 disembarks at Alexandria; he ascends the Nile 
 as far as Babylon, descends it again to Damietta, 
 and, traversing the desert on camels, arrives at 
 Gaza in the holy land. 
 
 There he makes, like St Arculfus, different 
 pilgrimages ; fewer, however, than the latter, 
 whether from his profession not permitting him 
 such expenses, or whether he has neglected to 
 notice them. 
 
 I shall only remark, that in certain 
 churches new miracles had been invented 
 since the time of the bishop, — miracles which 
 he certainly would have mentioned had they 
 then existed ; for instance, that of the church 
 of St Mary, wherein it was said no rain ever 
 fell, although it was roofless. Such was thç 
 

 m 
 
 12 
 
 miracle to which the Greeks have given so 
 much celebrity, and which was performed 
 yearly on Easter-eve, in the church of the 
 holy sepulchre, when an angel descended from 
 heaven to light the waxen tapers, furnishing 
 the Christians of the town with a new fire, 
 which was communicated to them by the 
 patriarch, and which they devoutly carried, 
 with them to their homes, 
 
 Bernard relates an anecdote, in his passage 
 l 0ver the desart, deserving notice. He says* 
 that the Christian and pagan merchants had 
 established two caravansaries in this immense 
 ocean of sand, — the one called Albara, the other 
 Albacara, — where travellers might provide 
 themselves with all things necessary for their 
 journey. 
 
 This author also informs us of an 
 establishment formed by Charlemagne at 
 Jerusalem, in favour of those who spoke 
 * la langue romane,' and of the existence 
 of which the French, especially the men of 
 
13 
 
 letters, will not hear without a sensible 
 pleasure. 
 
 Charlemagne, the glory of the west, had, 
 by his conquests and great qualities, attracted 
 the attention of the celebrated caliph Haroun 
 al-Raschid, a man who had filled the east with 
 his renown. 
 
 Haroun, eager to testify to Charles 
 the esteem and consideration he bore him, 
 had sent him ambassadors, with magnificent 
 presents : and these ambassadors, our historians 
 say, were even charged to offer him the keys 
 of Jerusalem, on the part of their master. 
 
 Probably Charles had taken advantage 
 of this favourable opportunity to establish an 
 hospital or receptacle in the town for pilgrims 
 who should come from his french territories. 
 Such was the spirit of the times. This sort 
 of travels being thought the most holy that 
 devotion could imagine, a prince who 
 favoured them believed he deserved well 
 from religion. Charlemagne, besides, ha<| 
 

 
 WÊBmi 
 
 14, 
 
 a taste for pilgrimages; and his historian, 
 Eginhard, observes with surprise, that in spite 
 of his predilection for St Peter at Rome, he 
 had paid his devotions there but four times in 
 his life, 
 
 A great man, however, often shews himself 
 great in the midst of surrounding prejudices. 
 Charles had been the restorer of letters in 
 France : he had re-established orthography, 
 regenerated writing, and formed handsome 
 libraries : he would have his hospital at 
 Jerusalem furnished with a good library 
 also, for the use of the pilgrims; and the 
 establishment was in the entire possession of it 
 at the time of Bernard: ' nobilissimam habens 
 bibiiothecam, studio imperatoris.' The emperor 
 had even assigned twelve houses, situated in the 
 valley of Josaphat, with their lands, vineyards 
 and gardens, for the support and repairs of the 
 house, and the maintenance of the pilgrims. 
 
 Although Eginhard ought to have been 
 satiated with pilgrimages, he, however, made 
 
15 
 
 one to Rome, on his return through Italy, and, 
 when he entered France, another to St Michael's 
 mount. 
 
 In regard to this last, he observes that it 
 is situated on a rock on the shore of the coast 
 of Normandy, and washed twice a-day at high 
 water by the waves of the sea. But he adds, 
 that on the feast of trie Saint, the access to the 
 rock and to the chapel remains free, and that 
 the ocean forms, like the Red Sea in the time 
 of Moses, two great walls, between which the 
 passage remains perfectly dry; and that this 
 miracle only takes place on this day, and lasts 
 the whole of it. 
 
 Our national literature was in possession 
 of four books of travels ; one to the coasts of 
 Italy, one to Constantinople, and two to the 
 holy land. In the thirteenth century, a very 
 extraordinary ocurrence procured two to 
 Tartary. 
 
 This immense country, whose inhabitants, 
 in various times and under different names, have 
 
peopled, conquered, or ravaged the greater 
 part of Europe and Asia, found itself, if I 
 may so say, wholly in arms. 
 
 Fanaticised by the incredible conquests of 
 one of their chiefs, the famous Genghis-Khan* 
 and persuaded that the whole earth owed them 
 obedience, these warlike and ferocious wanderers 
 had marched, after the conquest of China, to 
 invade the north-eastern part of Europe. 
 
 Wherever their innumerable hordes had 
 passed, kingdoms had been ruined, whole 
 nations exterminated, or dragged into slavery. 
 Hungary, Poland, Bohemia, the frontiers of 
 Austria, were ravaged in a horrible manner. 
 Nothing could check this inundation: and if 
 it felt any resistance in one quarter, it threw 
 itself elsewhere with greater fury. In short, 
 all Christendom was panic-struck ; and, to use 
 the expression of one of our historians, ' ifc 
 trembled to the shores of the ocean *.' 
 
 La Chaise. Vie de St Louis, liv. v. p. 30 L 
 
17 
 
 In this general consternation, Innocent I\~. 
 wished to shew himself the common father of 
 the faithful. He was, at the time, in Lyons, 
 whither he had come to hold a council for the 
 excommunication of the redoubtable Frederick, 
 who had, three times before, been in vain 
 excommunicated by his predecessors. There, 
 while overwhelming the emperor with all his 
 thunders, Innocent formed a project, the idea 
 alone of which announces his intoxication 
 with power. It was nothing less than to send 
 apostolical letters to the Tartars, to persuade 
 them to lay down their arms, and embrace the 
 Christian religion : ' ut ab hominum strage 
 désistèrent, et fidei veritatem reciperent *.' 
 He gives these letters in charge to an 
 ambassador, and this ambassador is a cordelier 
 friar, called Jean du Plan de Carpin, (Joannes 
 de Piano Carpini) who on Easter-day, in the 
 year 1245, sets off with his companions, and, 
 
 ■ Vincent. Bellovac. Spec. Hist. lib. xxxij. cap. 2. 
 D 
 

 is 
 
 on the road, picks up a third companion, 
 a Polander, named Benedict. 
 
 Whether the order of St Dominick was 
 displeased to see such an honour conferred 
 exclusively on the order of St Francis ; whether 
 Innocent was alarmed for the safety of his 
 ambassadors in so long and dangerous a 
 journey; or whether, from some other motive 
 of which we are ignorant, he dispatched, by 
 another route, a second embassy, composed 
 
 solely of preaching friars.- These last, 
 
 amounting to five, had, for their principal, 
 one named Ascelin ; and among them was 
 friar Simon de St Quentin, of whom I shall 
 soon have occasion to speak. They were, like 
 the Cordeliers, bearers of apostolical letters, 
 and were charged with the same orders 
 respecting the Tartars, namely, to prevail 
 on these people to abstain from war of all. 
 kinds, and to receive baptism. 
 
 De Carpin had, however, with the above 
 instructions, received private and particular 
 
19 
 
 ©nes to examine attentively, and to collect 
 with care, whatever he should think worthy 
 of notice among this people and country. He 
 did so, and, on his return, published a relation 
 composed with this view, and, consequently, 
 entitled by him ' GestaTartarorum.' In fact, 
 all he says of his travels, and of what passed 
 on his journey, is comprised in one single 
 chapter. The seven others are filled with 
 descriptions of what relates to the Tartars, as 
 to the soil of their country, their manners, 
 usages, conquests, mode of fighting, &c. 
 
 I have discovered, among the manuscripts 
 of the national library, (No 2477, at page 66) 
 a more complete copy than that in Hackluyt, 
 containing a tolerably long preface by the 
 author, not in that edition. In short, at the 
 epocha when these travels first appeared, 
 Vincent de Beauvais had inserted the greater 
 part in his ' Speculum Historiale.' 
 
 This friar Vincent, a dominican monk* 
 reader or preacher to St Louis ? had been desired 
 
-wSft! 
 
 
 20 
 
 by that prince to undertake different works, 
 which in fact he produced, and they now 
 form a very considerable collection. Among 
 the number is a long and heavy historical 
 compilation, under the title of ' Speculum 
 Hisroriale,' in which he has inserted, or 
 intermixed, the accounts of our traveller. 
 To render it more interesting and complete, 
 he has added, by a very happy thought, certain 
 private details with which he was furnished 
 by his brother-monk, Simon de St Quentin, 
 one of the associates of Ascelin in the second 
 embassy. Having had an opportunity of 
 seeing Simon on his return from Tartary, he 
 learnt from him many things which he has 
 inserted in various parts of his ' Speculum 
 I listoriale,' particularly in the thirty-second 
 and last book. There, from what he had 
 written and published of Carpin, and what 
 he had learnt from Simon's conversation, he 
 makes a mixed relation, which he divides into 
 fifty chapters, and this is the account known 
 
fil 
 
 to us. Bergeron has given a translation of 
 it, in his collection of travels made during the 
 twelfth and three following centuries. He has, 
 however, thought proper to separate the two 
 relations of Carpin and Simon, in order to havç 
 memorials of the second embassy as well as of 
 the first. He has, consequently, detached six 
 chapters from the recital of Vincent, attributed 
 by him to Simon, making a separate article of 
 them, under the name of Ascelin, the chief 
 of the second legation, which is all we know 
 of it. As for the success of these two embassies, 
 I do not think it worth mentioning, for it 
 may easily be guessed what it must have been. 
 The same attended two others sent by St Louis 
 to those countries, though from a different 
 motive. 
 
 This monarch, in 1248, commenced his 
 disastrous expedition to Egypt, and had just put 
 into the island of Cyprus with his fleet, when he 
 received, on the 1 2th of December, in that island, 
 an embassy from the Tartars, the two principal 
 

 
 persons of which bore the names of David and 
 Mark. These adventurers gave out that they 
 were delegated to him by their prince, who 
 had been lately converted to the Christian faith, 
 and whose name they said was Ercalthay. 
 They likewise affirmed that the great khan 
 of the Tartars had also received baptism, as 
 well as the chief officers of his court and army, 
 and that he was anxious to form an alliance 
 with the king. 
 
 However gross this imposture may now 
 seem, Louis could not help swallowing it. 
 He resolved to send an embassy to these 
 converted khans or princes, to congratulate 
 them on their happiness, and to engage them 
 to favour and propagate the Christian religion 
 within their dominions. The ambassador he 
 named for this purpose was a preacning friar, 
 called Andrew Longjumeau, or Lonjumel, 
 to whom he added, as associates, two other 
 Dominicans, two clerks, and two officers of 
 his household. 
 
23 
 
 David and Mark, the better to impose 
 on him, affected to shew themselves fervent 
 Christians : they attended with him all the> 
 services for the celebration of Christmas, 
 and gave him to understand that a tent of 
 scarlet cloth would be a most agreeable present 
 to the khan. That was the object of these 
 two knaves. The king instantly ordered 
 a magnificent one to be made, and had 
 embroidered on it the annunciation, the 
 passion, and other mysteries of the Christian 
 religion. To this present he added another, 
 of every thing that was necessary, in vases 
 and in silver plate, for the use of a chapel. 
 In fine, he gave them relics, and some of the 
 wood of the true Cross ; that is to say, what 
 was in his opinion above all things in the 
 world. 
 
 But here I must not omit an observation, 
 which shews the spirit of that roman court 
 which believed itself to have the right of 
 commanding every sovereign, namely, that 
 
the legate whom the pope had placed in 
 the king's army as his representative, and to 
 order all things in his name, wrote, by means 
 of these ambassadors, to the two tartarian 
 princes, and in his letter announced that he 
 adopted and acknowledged them as children 
 of the church. He gained as much from his 
 pretensions, and the advances made in his letter, 
 as the king for his tent, his chapel and his relics. 
 Longjumeau, on his arrival in Tartary, sought 
 in vain for the prince Ercalthay, and this grand 
 khan, who had been baptised with his whole 
 court, and returned as wise as he had set out. 
 He ought, nevertheless, to have gained some 
 knowledge respecting the country ; for it was 
 said he had travelled there before, and when 
 David appeared in the presence of the king 
 at Cyprus, he pretended to know him, as 
 having seen him formerly in Tartary. These 
 circumstances have been transmitted to us by 
 the historians of the times. As for himself, he 
 has not left any account of his mission, and 
 
k may be thought he was ashamed of it. 
 Louis had been so coarsely duped that he 
 might also have felt some disgust, or at least 
 have gained prudence from experience; but, 
 à very few years after, he again suffered himself 
 to be deceived. It was in the year 1253, when 
 he was still in Asia. 
 
 Although, on obtaining his liberty from 
 the prisons of Egypt, he was bound by 
 every tie to return to France, where he had 
 so many wounds to heal and tears to dry, an 
 ill- understood devotion had conducted him to 
 Palestine, where, regardless of the duties he 
 Owed his subjects, and to himself as king, hé 
 not only lost two years, almost solely occupied 
 in pilgrimages, but, in spite of the exhausted 
 state of the finances of his realm, he expended 
 very considerable sums in rebuilding and 
 fortifying some trifling places of which the 
 Christians of that country were stiJl in the 
 possession. 
 
 E 
 
->-£«*> * *%■■ 
 
 During this time, a report Was current: 
 that a tartarian prince, named Sartach, had 
 embraced Christianity. The baptism of an 
 infidel prince was, for Louis, one of those 
 happy circumstances the charms of which it 
 was impossible for him to resist. He therefore 
 determined to send an embassy to Sartach, to 
 compliment him on the occasion, as he 
 had before done to Ercalthay. His former 
 ambassadors were Dominicans; but he now 
 fixed on the Franciscans, and appointed friar 
 Guillaume Rubruquis the principal. Pope 
 Innocent had also successively given an embassy 
 to each of these orders of monks; and to follow 
 such an example was the great delight of Louis. 
 He had so tender an affection for each of them 
 that his sole wish was, he said, to be able to 
 divide himself into two, that he might give 
 to each a half of himself. 
 
 Rubruquis, on his arrival at the court of 
 Sartach, might easily have satisfied himself 
 of the falsehood of the tales which the eastern 
 
27 
 
 Christians every now and then propagated, 
 concerning the pretended conversions of 
 tartarian princes. That he might not wholly 
 lose the fruit of his journey, he solicited this 
 chief to permit him to preach the gospel in his 
 dominions. Sartach replied, that he dared not 
 take on himself the granting so extraordinary 
 a request, and sent the converter to his father 
 Baathu, who sent him to the grand khan. 
 
 When Rubruquis and his companions 
 presented themselves before this last prince, 
 they were dressed in the copes of the church : 
 one bore a cross and a missal, another 
 a censor, Rubruquis himself the Bible and 
 Psalter, and thus he advanced, supported by 
 them, çhaunting canticles. This spectacle 
 which, from his monastic prejudices, he 
 thought imposing, was but a burlesque, and 
 produced no effect, not even the laughter of 
 the Tartar; and, without doubt, ill satisfied 
 with a very useless journey, he returned to give 
 an account of it to the king. 
 

 28 
 
 Louis was no longer in Syria. The death 
 of his mother, queen Blanche, had at last 
 recalled him to France, which he ought never 
 to have quitted, but whither, however, he did 
 not return until a further delay of a year, 
 Rubruquis was preparing to follow him, 
 when he received an order from his superior 
 not to leave the country, but to retire to the 
 convent of St Jean d'Acre, and thence to write 
 to the king, to inform him of the ill success of 
 his mission. He obeyed, and sent the king 
 an account, which time has preserved to us, 
 and which, like the preceding one, has been 
 translated by Bergeron. We are indebted for 
 it to the overbearing temper of a jealous and 
 harsh superior; for had the traveller obtained 
 permission to follow the king, and attend h;s 
 court, he would not, perhaps, have written any 
 thing. 
 
 Thus, therefore, of the four monkish 
 embassies sent to Tartary, as well by pops 
 Innocent as the king, the two Franciscans 
 
29 
 
 fcnly, Carpin and Rubruquis, have left us any 
 accounts ; and these works, although tinged 
 with the modes of thinking of the age, and 
 especially of the profession of those who 
 wrote them, are precious objects to us for the 
 interesting details they give of a distant country, 
 at that time scarcely known by name, and with 
 which, since that epocha, we have not preserved 
 any connection. 
 
 The courage of Rubruquis cannot fail of 
 being admired, who fears not to declare openly 
 enough to the king, that David was an impostor 
 who had deceived him. But Louis had the 
 fanaticism of conversions and proselytism; and 
 that, in some minds, is an incurable disorder. 
 
 Duped twice, he was so a third time shortly 
 afterward, respecting a king of Tunis, who., 
 he was told, was desirous of receiving baptism. 
 This baptism was a long time his chimera, anp! 
 he looked forward to the day when he should 
 be god-father to this prince, as the happiest of 
 his life. He would have willingly consented 
 

 ^M ^B 
 
 so 
 
 to have passed the remainder of his days in the 
 dungeons of Africa, if, at this price, he could 
 have seen him a Christian. It was for the 
 purpose of standing god -father to an infidel 
 that he sailed to the coasts of Tunis, and lost 
 a second fleet and a second army, and a second 
 time disgraced the french arms, which had 
 shewn such brilliancy at the battle of Bovines, 
 and at last perished by the plague, in the midst 
 of a pestiferous camp, and thus merited, by 
 the multiplied misfortunes of France, the 
 qualifications of martyr and saint. 
 
 With regard to Bergeron, every one must 
 agree, that by publishing his translation he has 
 done real service to literature and science; 
 and I am certainly very far from wishing to 
 depreciate the merits of it. I am, however, 
 convinced it would have been greater if he 
 had not made too free a translation of the 
 several pieces that form his collection, and, 
 above all, if he had not omitted so much of the 
 originals, which, indeed, spares us the detail of 
 
Si 
 
 many uninteresting circumstances, but which â 
 at the same time, deprives us of the inestimable 
 advantage of appreciating the author, and the 
 age he lived in. He himself tells us, in a 
 preliminary discourse to one of the travels 
 which he has printed, * that he had translated 
 it from very coarse Latin, in which it was 
 written, according to the taste of that age, to 
 display it in our language with more clearness 
 and elegance.' Hence it has happened, that 
 when promising to give us travels of the 
 thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, he has 
 given us modern ones, that have all nearly the 
 same physiognomy, whereas they ought to have 
 had their own proper features. 
 
 The collection of Bergeron, though good 
 for his time, is no longer so for ours. As it 
 contains works full of errors, we should wish 
 for notes, historical discussions, and learned 
 remarks ; and perhaps a new edition of these 
 ancient travels would be an useful undertaking, 
 and one which could not fail to be well 
 

 
 M 
 
 3^ 
 
 received by the public, more especially if the 
 original text was added to the translation. This 
 translation, however, ought to be scrupulously 
 faithful, and no omissions should be permitted ; 
 and extracts ought to be made of such parts 
 as the translator might judge it expedient to 
 retrench . It is not amusement a reader looks for 
 in these works, but instruction. The moment 
 any person attempts to disfigure such authors, 
 by giving to them a modern turn of expression, 
 for the use of the youth of both sexes, their 
 works are ruined. Have you travels, whatever 
 they may be, of such and such a century ? This 
 is what I ask, and what you should make me 
 acquainted with» 
 
 If there be any one among our men of 
 letters, who, to the knowledge of history and 
 geography, unites courage and patience with 
 the love of research, and whom the above 
 undertaking does not alarm, I inform him, 
 that in regard to the ' Speculum Historiale' 
 there are in the national library four manuscript 
 
S3 
 
 copies, under the numbers 4898, 4900, 490 1, 
 4902. 
 
 The two travellers of the 14th century, 
 who have published their accounts, are not 
 Frenchmen born ; but, as both wrote originally 
 in the french language, they belong to us under 
 the title of authors, and, in this respect, I am 
 bound to speak of them. One is Hay ton, 
 the Armenian, the other Mandeville, an 
 Englishman. 
 
 Hayton, king of Armenia, had been 
 despoiled of his dominions by the Saracens. 
 He applied for succour to the Tartars, who, 
 in fact, took up arms, and re-established him 
 on his throne. His negotiations and his 
 travels appeared to him deserving of being 
 transmitted to posterity, and, in consequence, 
 he drew up some accounts of them, which, 
 when on the point of death, he gave into 
 the hands of Hayton, his nephew, lord of 
 Courehi. 
 
MP" ■ WW!; 
 
 This last, after having taken a very active 
 part, as well in the affairs of Armenia as in the 
 wars which that kingdom had still to support, 
 came to Cyprus, and made himself a Prèmonstré 
 monk. It was in this island he learnt the french 
 language, which, being carried thither by the 
 Lusignans, was become the language of the 
 court, and of all who were not of the lowest 
 orders. 
 
 From Cyprus the monk Hayton had passed 
 to Poitiers, where he was desirous of publishing 
 the memoirs of his uncle, and also an account 
 of the events in which he himself had been 
 an actor and witness. He called his work 
 a History of the East., and intrusted the 
 publication of it to another monk, named 
 Faucon, to whom he dictated in French from 
 memory. This work had such success that 
 pope Clement V. ordered the same Faucon to 
 translate it into Latin, that those who did not 
 understand French might not lose theenjoyment 
 
35 
 
 of it. The latin translation appeared in 1 307 ; 
 and three manuscript copies of it are in the 
 national library, under the numbers 7514, 
 7515, A, and 6041. At page 180, at the 
 end of No. 7515, is the following note of the 
 editor, which confirms all that I have said of 
 this book. 
 
 * Explicit liber Jdstoriarum parlium erientis, 
 a religioso viro fratre Haytono, ordinis beati 
 Augustini, domino Churchi, consanguineo regis 
 J**rmeniae, compilato (compilatus) ex mandato 
 summi pontificis domini Clementis papas quinti, 
 in civitate Pictaviensi regni Franchie : quern 
 ego Nicolaûs Falconi, primo scripsi in gallico 
 ydiomate, sicut idem frater H. michi (mihi) 
 ore suo dictabat, absque nota sive aliquo 
 exemplari *. Et de Gallico transtuli in 
 Latinum ; anno Domini m.ccc. septimo, 
 mense Augusti.' 
 
 Bergeron has published the history of 
 Hay ton ; but instead of giving the original 
 * The copy, No. 7514, adds, ' a verbo ad verbuui.' 
 
56 
 
 french text, or at least the latin version of the 
 editor, he has merely given a french version of 
 this Latin, so that we have but a translation of 
 a translation. 
 
 In regard to Mandeville, he tells us, that 
 this traveller composed his work in three 
 languages, English, French and Latin. It is 
 a mistake, for I have, at this moment, under 
 my eye, a manuscript copy in the national 
 library, No. 10,024, written in 1477, as a note 
 at the conclusion by the copyist assures us. 
 Now in this copy there is the following passage : 
 * Je eusse mis cest livre en Latin, pour plus 
 briefment délivrez (to proceed more quickly, 
 to abridge the labour). Mais pour ce que 
 plusieurs ayment et entendent mieulx Romans 
 (le François) que Latin, l'ai-ge (je l'ai) mis 
 en Romans, affin que chascun l'entende, et 
 que les seigneurs et le chevaliers et aultres 
 nobles hommes qui ne seèvent point de Latin, 
 ou petit, (peu) qui ont esté oultre-mer, saichent 
 se je dy voir (vrai) ou non.' 
 
37 
 
 Besides, at the time of Mandeville, the 
 french language was spoken in England. It 
 had been carried thither by William the 
 conqueror, and none other was allowed to be 
 taught in the schools. All law proceedings, 
 and acts of parliament, were recorded in 
 French ; and, when Mandeville wrote in 
 French, it was his natural language. If he 
 had used the Latin, it would have been with a 
 view that other nations, ignorant of French, 
 might read his work. 
 
 In truth, his French shews the soil it 
 comes from, by the many anglicisms and 
 vicious expressions, the reasons for which are 
 readily guessed, as it is known that the farther 
 a rivulet flows from its spring-head the more 
 altered the water becomes ; but I consider this 
 as the smallest defect of the author : without 
 taste, judgment or criticism, he not only 
 admits into his work, indiscriminately, every 
 tale and fable he hears, but forges the like. 
 Inrnself at everv moment. 
 
35 
 
 If we believe him, he embarked on 
 &Iichaelmas-dayin the year 1 3 32, and travelled, 
 during thirty-five years, over the greater part 
 of Asia and Africa. Well, reader, have the 
 same courage as I have had, and peruse his 
 book ; and if you shall allow that he may 
 perhaps have seen Constantinople, Palestine 
 and Egypt, (which, however, I am far from 
 warranting) you will remain convinced that, 
 most assuredly, he has never set foot in any of 
 those countries which he describes as blindly, 
 viz. Arabia, Tartary, India, Ethiopia, &c. 
 
 If the fictions he imagines offered any 
 amusement or interest, — if he only used the 
 right of lying, which the greater part of 
 travellers have so long been in possession of, 
 he might be tolerated ; but in his travels the 
 geographical errors are so gross, the fables so 
 stupid, the descriptions of imaginary countries 
 and people so ridiculous, — in short, absurdities 
 60 revolting, that I know not what name to 
 give them, It would be disagreeable to treat 
 
39 
 
 an author as an impostor; but how much 
 more so to style him an impudent gabbler. 
 Yet how -can we otherwise treat a traveller» 
 who tells us of giants thirty feet high ; of trees 
 whose fruits are changed into birds that arc 
 eaten; of other trees that daily spring from 
 the earth, increasing in growth from sun-rise 
 to mid-day, and then decreasing and re-entering 
 the earth in the evenings ; of a perilous valley, 
 the fiction of which he had borrowed from our 
 old romances, wherein he meets with such 
 incredible adventures, that he would infallibly 
 have perished, if he had not prudently taken 
 the sacrament; of a river that springs from 
 the terrestrial paradise, and, instead of waters, 
 flows with precious stones. This paradise, 
 which he says is ' au commencement de la 
 terre,' is situated so high, that ' il touche de 
 près la lune.' In short, a thousand other 
 absurdities of the same sort, that mark not 
 the errors of stupidity and credulity, but wilful 
 lies and deceit. 
 
 I 
 
I even consider in the same light the 
 thirty-five years he says he employed to run 
 over the world, without ever thinking of 
 returning to his own country untu the gout 
 first tormented him. Although there exist 
 three printed editions of his travels; one of 
 1487 by Jean Crès, another of 1517 by 
 Regnault, the third of 154-2 by Canterel; they 
 are scarcely known but in the short extract 
 Bergeron has published of them. In fact, 
 this editor found them so improbable and so 
 fabulous, that he has reduced them to twelve 
 pages, although our manuscript consists of one 
 hundred and seventy-eight. 
 
 In the fifteenth centurv. we had two other 
 travels to the holy land ; the one which I am 
 now about to translate, the other by a carmélite 
 monk named Huen, printed in 1487, but of 
 which I shall not say any thing here, as it is 
 posterior to the other. 
 
 The same reason prevents me from? 
 noticing a work published by Mamerot, 
 
41 
 
 chaunter or canon of Troyes. Beside, this 
 work, entitled ' Passages faiz oultre Mcr par 
 les Roys de France et autres Princes et Seigneurs 
 François contre les Turcqs et autres Sarrasins 
 et Mores oultre-marins,' is not, properly 
 speaking, travels, but an historical compilation 
 of the different croisades that took place in 
 France, and which the author, after the false 
 chronicle of Turpin, and our romances of 
 chivalry, has made to commence under the 
 reign of Charlemagne. The national library 
 possesses a magnificent copy of this book, 
 ornamented with a great number of beautiful 
 miniatures and pictures. 
 
 I now come to the work of la Brocquière, 
 but this also requires some explanation. 
 
 •> 
 
THE 
 
 SECOND PART 
 
 The folly of the croisades, like all other follies 
 in France, had but a certain duration ; or, to 
 speak more correctly, like to some fevers, it 
 grew calm of itself after a few deliriums. Most 
 assuredly the croisade of Louis le jeune and the 
 two of St Louis, still more disastrous, had 
 brought on the kingdom a sufficiency of shame 
 and misfortunes to have made us believe this 
 fanaticism extinguished for ever. Superstition, 
 nevertheless, sought, from time to time, to 
 rekindle the flame. Often at confession, and 
 in certain cases that required public penance, 
 the clergy imposed, for satisfaction, a pilgrimage 
 to Jerusalem, or a croisade at a certain period,. 
 
ir ;*<*> I 
 
 
 4* 
 
 Many times the popes employed the whole 
 force of their politics, and the ascendancy of 
 their authority, to renew, among the princes of 
 Christendom, one of those holy leagues, where 
 their ambition had so much to gain, without 
 risking any thing but indigencies. 
 
 Philippe le bel, through a pretence of 
 zeal and religion, affected, for a moment, to 
 form another croisade in France. Philippe 
 de Valois, a prince the least qualified for so 
 difficult an enterprise, and one which required 
 so much talent, appeared, for some years, ta 
 occupy himself on this subject. He received 
 an embassy from the king of Armenia, opened 
 negotiations with the court of Rome, and even 
 ordered preparations for one in the port of 
 Marseille. In short, during the interval of 
 these movements, in the year 1 3 32, a Dominican 
 called Brochard, (sirnamed L'Allemand, from 
 the name of his country) presented him with 
 two latin works composed expressly for thi 
 purpose, 
 
45 
 
 In one of them, which consists of a 
 description of the holy land, he makes him 
 acquainted with the country, the object of his 
 intended conquest; and as he had resided 
 twenty-four years in that country, in quality 
 of missionary and preacher, few could allege 
 so many reasons as himself for speaking of it. 
 
 The other work, divided into two books, 
 * Par commémoration des deux épées dont il 
 est mention dans l'Evangile,' subdivided into 
 twelve chapters, ' à l'honneur des douze 
 Apôtres,' treated of the different routes for 
 an army to march thither ; of the precautions 
 necessary to be taken for the success of the 
 enterprise ; in fine, of the means to be adopted 
 and pursued to insure the undertaking. With 
 regard to this last, which solely concerns the 
 marine, and the art of war, we are surprised 
 to see such subjects handled by an author who 
 was but a simple monk. But who does not 
 know, that in the ages of ignorance, whoever 
 is less ignorant than hi contemporaries 
 
■ - » v . - I 
 
 46 
 
 arrogates to himself the right of discussing 
 every subject ? Besides, in the advice Brochard 
 was giving to the king and his generals, his 
 experience may have suggested some useful 
 hints ; and, after all, since in the class of 
 nobles, to whom these subjects belonged, no 
 one, perhaps, could be found who had the 
 same local knowlege, and an equal talent for 
 writing on them, why may he not have 
 hazarded that which they were unable to 
 perform ? 
 
 Whatever we may think of his motive, or 
 the excuse offered, it seems that his work made 
 a favourable impression on the king and his 
 council; for we see, at least by the continuator 
 of the chronicle of Nangis, that the monarch 
 sent, ' in terram Turcorum,' Jean de Cépoy, 
 and the bishop of Beauvais, with a small body 
 of infantry, ' ad explorandos portus et passus, 
 ad faciendas aliquasmunitiones etpraeparationes 
 victualium pro passagio terrae sanctae ;' and 
 that this small troop, after having gained 
 
47 
 
 some considerable advantages, considering the 
 weakness of its force, returned to France in 
 the year 1335. 
 
 All this noise, however, of armaments, 
 preparations and menaces, with which the 
 kingdom resounded for some years, ended in 
 vain boasting. I doubt not but that, at the 
 beginning, the king was in earnest : he had 
 suffered his vanity to be dazzled by the 
 brilliancy of a project that would fix the eyes 
 of all Asia and Europe on him; and moderate 
 understandings are unable to resist the 
 seduction of such chimeras. But, very soon, 
 ! ike all weak characters,fatigued with difficulties, 
 he sought for a pretext to put an end to it, and, 
 in consequence, demanded from the pope titles 
 and money, which he refused to grant him. 
 The expedition was then no longer talked of; 
 and all it produced was to draw on the king 
 of Armenia the vengeance of the Turks, for 
 having gone to France to solicit a league, and 
 succours against them. 
 
4& 
 
 During the following century, similar 
 vain boastings took place at the court of 
 Burgundy, though with a commencement 
 apparently more serious. 
 
 In the year 1432, one hundred years after 
 the publication of these two works of Brochard, 
 many great lords in the dominions of Burgundy, 
 and holding offices under duke Philippe le bon, 
 made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Among 
 them was his first esquire-carver, named la 
 Brocquière, who, having performed many 
 devout pilgrimages in Palestine, returned sick 
 to Jerusalem, and, during his convalescence, 
 formed the bold scheme of returning to 
 France overland. This would lead him to 
 traverse the western part of Asia and eastern 
 Europe, and, during the whole journey, 
 except towards the end of it, through the 
 dominions of Mussulmen. The execution of 
 such a journey, even at this day, would not be 
 without difficulties, and it was then thought 
 impossible. It was in vain his companions 
 
4-9 
 
 attempted to dissuade him from it : he was 
 obstinate ; and, setting out, overcomes every 
 obstacle, returns in the course of the year 
 1433, and presents himself to the duke in his 
 saracen dress, which he had been obliged to 
 wear, and on the horse that had carried him the 
 whole of this astonishing journey. 
 
 So extraordinary an adventure could not 
 fail to produce a great effect at court. The 
 duke had an anxious desire that the traveller 
 should reduce his account to writing, with 
 which he complied; but the work did not 
 appear for some years after, even posterior to 
 the year 14-38, since that period is mentioned, 
 as will be seen hereafter. 
 
 It was scarcely possible for the duke to 
 have his esquire-carver daily in his presence 
 and not to be sometimes desirous of questioning 
 him about this land of infidels; and as he 
 must have heard his accounts when at table, 
 his imagination could not avoid being heated, 
 
 H 
 
50 
 
 and he also must have formed chimeras of 
 croisade and conquest. 
 
 What makes me suppose that he put such 
 questions to la Brocquière, is the latter's having 
 inserted in his travels a long discussion on the 
 military force of the Turks, — on the means of 
 combating it successfully, — and concluding, 
 that even a small army, but well organised and 
 conducted, might, without risk, march to 
 Jerusalem. Assuredly such an episode, of so 
 great a length, and with so important a 
 conclusion, deserves notice in a work presented 
 to the duke, and composed by his orders ; and 
 we must agree, that it would have scarcely 
 been placed there without design, or without 
 a particular intention. 
 
 In fact, we see that from time to time 
 Philippe announced great schemes on this 
 subject ; but more occupied with pleasure than 
 with glory, as the fifteen acknowledged bastards 
 he left behind prove, all his vain boastings 
 evaporated in words. At last, however, 
 
51 
 
 there was a moment when all Christendom, 
 alarmed at the rapidity of the conquests of 
 the young and formidable Mohammed II. and 
 at the immense armament he was preparing 
 against Constantinople, thought there was 
 no other mode of forming a barrier against 
 him than a general league. 
 
 The duke, from the extent and population 
 of his dominions, was more powerful than 
 many kings, and might have acted an important 
 part in this coalition. He affected to make his 
 appearance in it one of the first ; and to do it 
 with eclat, he gave, at Lille in 1453, a splendid 
 and pompous feast, or rather spectacle with 
 machinery, altogether very odd,very inconsistent 
 in the multitude of its parts, but the most 
 astonishing of the sort of any that history has 
 handed down to us. This spectacle, which 
 I have elsewhere described *, and which 
 
 * M. le Grand d'Aussi refers, in a note, to his ' History 
 of the private Life of the French,' for a description of this 
 festival. As that book may not be much known in this 
 country, I shall translate an account thereof. 
 
52 
 
 swallowed immense sums of money, that, in 
 the present circumstances, might with ease 
 
 * Of all tlic entertainments that history has afforded us 
 any details, there is none which equals that given hy Philippe 
 le bon, duke of Burgundy, at Lille, in the year 1453. It 
 displays at once so much magnificence and so many puerilities, 
 such variety of machinery and automata, so many actors and 
 so many living animals, that I believe I shall gratify the 
 curiosity of my readers by describing it. Monstrelet gives an 
 abridged account ; but it is detailed at length by Matthieu de 
 Couci and Olivier de la Marche. What, however, renders 
 it interesting, is, that it was occasioned by one great event, 
 and almost the cause of another. 
 
 ' Mohammed II. one of the most redoubtable and 
 enterprising enemies the Christians had to encounter, menaced, 
 at this moment, Constantinople, which, in fact, he besieged, 
 and took some months afterward. The formidable armament 
 he had prepared for this expedition had made all Europe- 
 tremble. It was thought that no other means remained to 
 save Christendom than to form a general league and arm 
 against him ; and it was with this intent the duke of Burgundy 
 gave his grand pantomime-entertainment. 
 
 ' In an immense hall three tables were laid out, that 
 might, perhaps, more justly be called theatres, considering the 
 number of machines that were placed on each. That for the 
 duke was square, and had four ornaments. 
 
 * 1 . A church with its bell and organ, with four chaunters 
 to play on it, and sing when their time of acting should require it. 
 
 * 2. A statue of a naked child, placed on a rock, who 
 from his < broquette pissait eau-rose,' 
 
53 
 
 have been better employed, concluded with 
 some vows of arms, as well on the part of the 
 
 * 3. A vessel, larger than what would serve to navigate 
 on the seas, having on board a numerous crew, who performed 
 all the manoeuvres as if they had been really at sea. 
 
 ' 4. A rivulet that ran through a meadow ornamented 
 with shrubs and flowers : rocks, studded with saphires and 
 other precious stones, served as a boundary to it ; and in the 
 centre was a figure of St Andrew, from the end of whose cross 
 spouted out a stream of water. 
 
 * On the second table were seen nine ornaments. 
 
 ' I • A sort of pasty, in which were inclosed twenty 
 eight musicians, men and children, who were each to play on 
 a different instrument during certain interludes of the feast. 
 
 ' 2. The castle of Lusignan, with its ditches and 
 towers : from the two smallest, a stream of orangeade ran into 
 the ditches ; and, on the highest tower, Melusina was seen 
 disguised as a serpent. 
 
 ' 3. A windmill placed on a hillock. A magpie was 
 fixed on one of the sails, which served for a mark to all sorts 
 of persons, who amused themselves with shooting with 
 cross-bows. 
 
 ' 4. A vineyard, in the midst of which were placed 
 two casks, as emblems of those containing good and evil. 
 One held a sweet and the other a bitter liquor. A man richly 
 dressed, seated cross-legged on one of the casks, held in lus 
 hand a paper, by which he offered the choice of his liquors to 
 all who might wish to taste them. 
 
 * 5. A desert country, where a tyger was represented 
 fighting with a serpent, 
 

 U 
 
 duke as of several of the lords of his court ; 
 and this was the whole result of it. It took 
 
 * 6. A savage mounted on a camel, seeming on the 
 point of making a long journey. 
 
 * 7. À man with a long pole, beating a bush wherein 
 many small birds had taken refuge. Near to it was an orchard 
 inclosed by a trellis of roses, with a knight seated by his 
 mistress's side, who caught and eat the birds the other drove 
 from the bush. A kind of satirical allegory, ingenious enough, 
 and which probably gave rise to die proverbial expression, ' to 
 beat the bush fir another. 
 
 « 8 . Mountains and rocks covered with hanging icicles, 
 among which a fool was seen mounted on a bear. 
 
 * 9. A lake surrounded by various towns and castles'. 
 A vessel was on it sailing with all her sails set. 
 
 1 The third table, smaller than the preceding ones, had 
 but three decorations. 
 
 ' 1 . A travelling merchant, as passing through a village 
 widi his pack on his back. 
 
 ' 9-, Ah Indian forest full of automata of various 
 animals walking about. 
 
 * 3- A lion fastened to a tree, near which was a man 
 beating a dog. 
 
 ■ On the right and left of the buffet, which was set off 
 with vases of chrystal, cups ornamented with gold and precious 
 stones, and an immense quantity of gold and silver plate, were 
 two columns: one bore the statue of a naked woman, from 
 whose right breast flowed hippocras during supper-time ; the 
 lower parts of her body were covered widi a napkin loaded 
 with greek letters of a violet colour. 
 
55 
 
 place in February, and Mohammed captured 
 Constantinople in May. 
 
 * To the other column, a living lion was fastened, by 
 an iron chain. He was there placed to guard the naked woman, 
 as the inscription in golden letters on a shield announced — ' Do 
 not touch the lady.' 
 
 ' It is probable the naked woman, with the greek 
 letters, was intended to represent Constantinople despoiled, — 
 the lion, who forbade any one to touch her, the duke of 
 Burgundy, — and the man who beat the dog in presence of 
 the lion, sultan Mohammed. 
 
 * Beside the number of machines I have described, the 
 hall contained five scaffolds for those spectators who were not 
 of the supper, and particularly for the great crowds of foreigners 
 whom the report of this feast had brought to Lille. 
 
 * On the entrance of the duke and his court, he walked 
 about for some time to examine the various decorations ; after 
 which he sat down to table, and the maîtres d'hôtel served up 
 the supper. 
 
 ' Every course consisted of foity-four dishes, each of 
 which was lowered down from the roof by machinery, on 
 cars painted blue and gold, and with the device of the duke. 
 
 * The moment he was seated with his guests, the bell 
 cf the church tolled, and, instantly, three little choristers came 
 out of the pasty, and began to sing a very sweet air, by way 
 of grace : they were accompanied by a shepherd on his pipe. 
 Shortly after, a horse entered, escorted by fifteen or sixteen 
 knights in the liverv of the duke. He moved backward, and 
 bore on his bare back two masked trumpeters, seated back 
 -fo back ; and in tliis manner he made the circuit of the hall 
 

 
 
 56 
 
 The news of this disaster, the horrible 
 massacres that followed the conquest, and the 
 
 backward, attended by the knights, the two trumpeters playing 
 all the time symphonies. 
 
 * When they had quitted the hall, the organ of the 
 church was heard, and one of the musicians in the pasty 
 played on a german horn. A great automata, representing 
 an enormous wild boar, now entered, having on his back a 
 monster, half a savage and half a griffin ; and this monster 
 bore also a man on his shoulders. They had no sooner 
 departed than the chaunters in the church sang an air, and 
 three of the musicians in the pasty executed a trio : one played 
 on the douçaine (dulciana, probably dulcimer), the second on 
 the lute, and the third on another instrument. 
 
 ' Such were the different amusements that formed the 
 accompaniments to the first course : all, excepting the music, 
 were farces foreign to the feast. Those of the second course 
 had as little connection ; but they were preparatory to the last, 
 in which the object of this entertainment was to be pathetically 
 explained. 
 
 ' The entertainment of the second course consisted of 
 a dramatic pantomime that represented the conquest of the 
 golden fleece by Jason, — a kind of allegory that recalled to 
 the spectators the order of the golden fleece, which the duke 
 had instituted twenty-three years before. 
 
 ' For this spectacle, a small theatre had been erected at 
 one end of the hall, and which a large green silken curtain had 
 hid from the eyes of the assembly. On a sudden, a symphony 
 of clarions was heard behind this curtain : it was drawn up, 
 and Jason was seen fighting with, and bringing to the yoke, 
 
57 
 
 incalculable consequences it might have ofj 
 Christendom, spread universal alarm. The 
 
 two bulls that vomited flimes of fire, to whom had been 
 committed the defence of the garden of the Hesperides. The 
 hero next combats a monstrous dragon, cuts off his ljead and 
 tears out his teeth. He then ploughs a field with the bulls he 
 had earned, sows there the teeth of the dragon, and instantly 
 an army of soldiers spring from the earth, who fight together 
 most bitterly, and alternately kill each other. 
 
 ' The three acts of this sort of opera did not 
 immediately follow: the spaces between each act were 
 filled up by interludes in the taste of those of the preceding. 
 The first consisted of a youth who entered the hall mounted 
 on a large white stag, when they both sang a duo ; then 
 a fiery dragon, who flew round the hall. A hawking scene 
 was next presented, when two falcons were seen to strike 
 down a heion, which was instantly presented to the duke. All 
 these interludes were accompanied either by pieces on die 
 organ, by the chaunters in the church, or by the musicians 
 in the pasty, who every time executed an air on a different 
 instrument. 
 
 1 These successive spectacles, however, were but, as 
 I have said, a preliminary amusement, — or, to borrow the 
 expressions of the two authors from whom I make this 
 extract, were but ' a worldly pastime,' given to the spectators 
 to entertain them until the time of the grand scene, the scene 
 which was to explain the subject of this feast, and the real 
 cause of it. 
 
 ' It was opened by a giant dressed with a turban in the 
 morisco fashion, and clothed in a long robe of striped green 
 
 I 
 

 
 58 
 
 duke then thought it incumbent on him to 
 declare his intentions otherwise than by feasts, 
 
 silk. He held in his left hand a guisarme of the antique mode, 
 and with his right led an elephant. This animal bore on its 
 back a tower in which was a female to represent the church: 
 she had on her head a white veil, after the manner of nuns : 
 her robe was of white satin, but her mande was black, to 
 mark lier grief. When she was come near to where the 
 duke sate, she sang a triolet to have the giant stopped, and 
 then made a long complaint in verse, in which having displayed 
 the many ills she was suffering from the infidels, she implored 
 succour from the duke and die knights of the fleece then 
 present. 
 
 ' Different officers now entered with die king at arms, 
 of the order of the golden fleece, followed by two knights of 
 the order, each leading a damsel, one of whom was natural 
 daughter to the duke. The king at arms bore a live 
 pheasant, decorated with a collar of gold and precious 
 stones : approaching the duke, he made a profound obeisance, 
 and said, that it being the custom at grand festivals to offer 
 to the princes and gentlemen a peacock, or some noble bird, 
 for diem to make a vow upon, he was come with two ladies 
 to offer to his valour a pheasant. 
 
 ' The duke, in reply to this proposition, gave to the king 
 at arms a billet written in his own hand, that he had prepared 
 beforehand, die substance of which was read aloud, as follows. 
 He there vowed, to God pre-eminent, then to the glorious 
 virgin, his mother, and afterward to the ladies, and to the 
 pheasant, that if the king of France, his lord paramount, or any 
 other princes, would undertake a croisade against the Turks, 
 he would accompany or follow diem ; and that he himselC 
 
59 
 
 and announced a croisade. He consequently 
 levied large sums from his people, even formed 
 an army, and marched into Germany : but on 
 
 would combat the sultan body to body, if he would accept 
 his challenge. The lady representing the church having 
 thanked him, she made the circuit of the hall with her 
 elephant, during which time almost all the princes and 
 great lords present made vows on the bird of the most 
 extravagant nature — such as not to drink wine, not to be 
 seated at table, or not to lie down one day of the week, 
 until they should have met the infidel army — or have 
 been the first to attack it — or have overthrown the banner 
 of the sultan — or to return to Europe without bringing with 
 them a Turk prisoner. In short, one made a vow, (which 
 will give an idea of the religion of these new croisaders) that 
 if he could not obtain the last favours of his mistress before his 
 departure, he would marry the first damsel he should meet that 
 had twenty thousand crowns. 
 
 ' When the vows were ended, a troop of musicians 
 entered, accompanied by a great number of lighted torches. 
 Twelve ladies followed, every one attended bv a knight : each 
 personified a virtue. They formed a dance, and thus the 
 festival ended. 
 
 ' All this noisy vain boasting had no effect. The duke 
 levied large sums from his territories under pretence of this 
 croisade, and even advanced into Germany, when a convenient 
 illness made him return home ; and diis pretended lion permitted 
 Mohammed to beat the dog without any opposition.' 
 
 For further particulars, see * l'Histoire de la Vie privée 
 des François.' 
 
60 
 
 a sudden the raging lion stopped, — a very 
 convenient illness served for a pretext, and 
 he returned home again. 
 
 He nevertheless affected to talk of croisades 
 as before, and ordered one of his subjects, Joseph 
 Miélot, canon of Lille, to translate for him into 
 French the two treatises of Brochard that 
 I have before noticed. In short, when pope 
 Pius II. convoked at Mantua, in 1459, an 
 assembly of Christian princes, to form a league 
 against Mohammed, he did not fail to send 
 thither his ambassadors, at the head of whom 
 was the duke of Cleves. 
 
 Miélot finished his work in 1455, as the 
 short preface at the beginning informs us: the 
 two translations are in one of the manuscripts 
 which the national library has lately received 
 from Belgium. They are written in the same 
 hand with the travels of la Brocquière. 
 
 Although of the three works, this ought 
 to have appeared before the other two, 
 nevertheless the whole three, whether from 
 economy in binding cr from analogy of 
 
61 
 
 matters, have been united together, and thus 
 form a thick folio volume, numbered 314, 
 bound in wood, covered with red sheepskin, 
 and lettered on the back, ' Avis directif de 
 Brcchard.' 
 
 This manuscript, from the writing, 
 preservation, miniatures, and fineness of the 
 vellum, is very valuable; but its value is 
 greatly increased by other considerations, for 
 in my opinion it has been composed from 
 original treatises presented by their authors to 
 Philippe le bon, or from the copy commanded 
 by him to be made by one of his copyists from 
 the handwriting of the authors, placed perhaps 
 in his library. 
 
 I think I see a confirmation of this 
 assertion, not only in the beauty of the MS. 
 and in the escutcheon of the prince, which is 
 emblazoned in four places, and twice with his 
 motto, ' Aultre n'aray,' but also in the vignette 
 of one of the two frontispieces, as well as in 
 the miniature of the other. This vignette, 
 

 62 
 
 tvhich is at the beginning of the volume, 
 represents Miélot on his knees presenting 
 his book to the duke, who is seated and 
 surrounded by several courtiers, three of 
 whom are decorated, like himself with the 
 collar of the golden fleece. In the miniature 
 preceding the travels, la Brocquière is seen in 
 the same attitude. He is dressed as a Saracen, 
 and has near him his horse, which I have before 
 mentioned. 
 
 With regard to duke Philip, sirnamed 
 the Good, this is not the place to examine 
 whether he has truly deserved so glorious a 
 title, and whether history has not many 
 reproaches to make him of more than one 
 kind. But, as a man of letters, I must not 
 omit saying, in honour to his memory, that 
 learning has many obligations to him, and that 
 he was one of the princes from Charlemagne 
 to Francis I. who have done the most for it ; 
 that in the fifteenth century he was in the two 
 Burgundies, and in Belgium particularly, what 
 
£3 
 
 in the preceding century Charles V. had been 
 in France, and that, like Charles, he had 
 formed for himself a library ; had ordered 
 translations and original works ; had encouraged 
 men of letters, draughtsmen and able copyists ; 
 in fine, that he perhaps rendered to the sciences 
 more real services than Charles, because he was 
 less superstitious. 
 
 I shall give, in * the History of French 
 Literature,' which I am now writing, details 
 on all these different facts. I have discovered 
 numerous proofs of them in the manuscripts 
 that have passed from Belgium to France, or, to 
 speak more correctly, in the manuscripts of the 
 library from Brussels, which constituted one of 
 the most considerable parts of what came from 
 that country. This library, which in regard 
 to the french part of it, is especially confided 
 to my care, and consequently has been almost 
 wholly perused by me, was composed from 
 the libraries of private persons, of whom the 
 principals are as follow : 
 
^^H 
 
 «s^pap s^wp SJ'îîrJ' 
 
 64< 
 
 îttio, A certain number of manuscripts that 
 had formerly composed the library of Charles V. 
 of Charles VI. of John duke of Berri, brother 
 to Charles V. and which, during the troubles 
 of the kingdom under Charles VI. and at the 
 beginning of the reign of his son, were stolen 
 and carried away by the dukes of Burgundy. 
 Those of John are known from his signature, 
 written by himself on the last page of the 
 volume, and sometimes in many other places. 
 Those that belonged to the two kings of France 
 have the shield of France emblazoned, and 
 have dedicatory epistles, with miniatures, 
 representing the authors presenting their booKs 
 to the monarch, who is clothed in the royal 
 mantle. There are other manuscripts, taken 
 from the foregoing libraries, but for the theft 
 of them I cannot produce such authentic 
 proofs, because, in the number, many are not 
 ornamented with miniatures, or had not been 
 presented to the king, and therefore bear not 
 such marks as those before mentioned ; but I 
 
65 
 
 ean produce, in proof that they have been 
 acquired by the like means, so many probabilities, 
 and plausible conjectures, that they are, in my 
 eyes, equivalent to proof-positive. 
 
 îïdo, M 'inuscripts that legitimately belonged 
 to the dukes of Burgundy, that is to say, which 
 were either acquired by them, or dedicated and 
 presented to them, or commanded by them, 
 whether as original works or as simple copies. 
 In the class of those dedicated, the greater 
 number have been inscribed to Philippe le bom 
 Of those written by command, almost the 
 whole were for him ; and this confirms what I 
 before said, of the obligations literature has to 
 him, and what he did for it. 
 
 Stio, Manuscripts, which having belonged 
 to great lords in the dominions of Burgundy, 
 or to private persons, have passed at different 
 times, and by some means or other, into the 
 Brussels library. Among them, we must 
 particularly notice those of Charles de Croy, 
 count of Chimay, godfather to the emperor 
 
66 
 
 Charles V. knight of the golden fleece, created 
 by Maximilian, in I486, prince of Chimay. 
 His manuscripts are pretty numerous, and 
 bear, for a distinctive mark, his arms, and his 
 signature written by himself. 
 
 It results from the above, that in regard 
 to the meritsof the Brussels collection in French, 
 it can scarcely offer any but modern manuscripts. 
 I have indeed seen very few that were valuable 
 for their antiquity, their rarity, or the subject 
 of the work ; but many are curious for their 
 writing, their preservation, and especially for 
 their miniatures ; and these last will be 
 interesting objects to persons who, like me, 
 shall undertake a history of the arts in the 
 lower ages. They will prove, that in Belgium 
 the flourishing state of some manufactures had 
 considerably advanced the progress of the arts 
 of painting and drawing. But I return to the 
 three treatises of our volume. 
 
 I shall say but one word on Brochard's 
 description of Palestine, because the original 
 
61 
 
 Latin having been printed it is known, and 
 because Miélot, in the preface to his translation, 
 assures us, of what I am myself convinced of, 
 that he has not added any thing of his own. 
 Brochard, on his part, insists on his exactness. 
 He not only remained twenty-four years in that 
 country, but traversed it in its double diameter 
 from north to south, from the foot of Libanus 
 to Becrsheba, — and from west to east, from 
 the Mediterranean to the Dead Sea. la 
 short, he describes nothing, which to use the 
 words of his translator, « he had not bodily 
 seen, he himself being on the spot.' 
 
 The translation begins at page 76 of our 
 volume, and has this title: ' Le livre de la 
 description de la terre-saincte, fait en l'onneur 
 et loenge de Dieu, et compilé jadis, l'an 
 m. me xxxii. par frère Brochard, l'Alemant, 
 de l'ordre des Prescheurs.' 
 
 His second work being unpublished, 
 I shall speak of it more fully, but solely from 
 the translation by Miçlot. The work is 
 
:<^ : -J&~i$* 
 
 
 68 
 
 divided into two parts, and is entitled, e Advis 
 directif,' (counsels for marching) pour faire le 
 passage d'oultre mer. $ 
 
 For this expedition, says Brochard, there 
 are two different ways, by land and by sea; and 
 he advises the king to use them both at the same 
 time, — the first for his army, the second for the 
 transport of provision, tents, machines and 
 ammunitions of war, and for such as are 
 accustomed to the sea. This would require 
 from ten to twelve galleys, which by negotiations 
 may be obtained from the Genoese or Venetians. 
 These last have possession of Candia, Ncgropont 
 with other islands and important places on the 
 continent. The Genoese have Pera, near to 
 Constantinople, and Caffa in Tartary. These 
 two nations are beside well acquainted with the 
 winds and seas of Asia, with the language, the 
 islands, shores and ports of that country. 
 
 Should the voyage by sea be preferred, 
 the ports of Aigues-mortes, Marseille or Nice 
 may be chosen to embark f rpm ; and the island 
 
m 
 
 pf Cyprus would serve for a harbour to receive 
 them, in like manner as St Louis put in there. 
 But many inconveniencies arise from a sea 
 voyage, as well as the remaining so long on 
 board ship, which generally causes disagreeable 
 sicknesses in man and horse. This voyage 
 must depend also on the winds, and there is 
 always reason to fear tempests, and the ill 
 effects of change of climate. It even often 
 happens, that when it is intended merely to 
 put into a port, the vessel is detained by 
 contrary winds. Add to these dangers, the 
 wines of Cyprus, which are naturally too 
 ardent : if you mix water with them, you 
 destroy their flavour, — and if you do not, they 
 affect the brain and burn the entrails. When 
 St Louis wintered in this island, his army 
 suffered all these inconveniences ; for there 
 died two hundred and fifty counts, barons and 
 knights, of the highest nobility in his army. 
 
 There is another passage, including sea 
 and land, and which offers two roads, — the 
 
70 
 
 one through Africa, the other through Italy. 
 That through Africa is extremely dangerous, 
 on account of the fortified castles near which 
 you must march, the risk of wanting provision, 
 the desert you must pass through, and Egypt. 
 The road itself is also of an immense length ; 
 for if you set out from the streights of Gibraltar, 
 you will have 12500 miles to march before you 
 can arrive within two short days journey of 
 Jerusalem : if you set out from Tunis, 2400, 
 Conclusion — the road through Africa is 
 impossible, and must not be thought of. 
 
 The route through Italy presents three 
 different roads : one through Aquileia, Istria, 
 Dalmatia, the kingdom of Rassia (Servia), 
 and Thessalonica, the greatest city of Macedonia^ 
 which is but eight short days journey from 
 Constantinople. This was the route followed 
 by the Romans, when they made war in the 
 east. These countries are fertile, 4 but inhabited 
 by people disobedient to the church of Rome. 
 With regard to their valour and boldness to 
 
71 
 
 resist, they are beneath notice, not being in 
 any respect superior to women.' 
 
 The second is through la Puglia. The 
 embarkation must take place at Brundusium, 
 to disembark at Durazzo, which belongs to 
 my lord the prince of Tarentum. The army 
 would then advance through Albania, Blaque 
 and Thessalonica. 
 
 The third, in like manner, traverses la 
 Puglia; but it passes through Otranto, Corfou, 
 which belongs to my foresaid lord of Tarentum, 
 Desponte, Blaque, Thessalonica. This was the 
 road followed at the first croisade by Robert 
 earl of Flanders, Robert duke of Normandy, 
 Hugh brother to king Philippe I. and Tancred 
 prince of Tarentum. 
 
 After discussing the passages by sea, and 
 by sea and land, Brochard examines the one 
 wholly by land. It traverses Germany, 
 Hungary and Bulgaria, and was taken by 
 the greater part of the armies of France and 
 Germany at the first croisade, under the conduct 
 
VI 
 
 of Peter the hermit, and is that which thé 
 author advises the king to follow. But when 
 in Hungary there is the choice of two roads ; 
 the one through Bulgaria — the other through 
 Sclavonia, which constitutes part of the 
 kingdom of Rassia. Godfrey of Bouillon, his 
 two brothers, and Baldwin count of Mons* 
 took the first road. Raimond comte de Saint 
 Gilles, and Audemare bishop of Puy, and 
 legate from the holy see, followed the second, 
 although some authors pretend that they took 
 that through Acquileia and Dalmatia. 
 
 Should the king adopt this passage 
 overland, the army, when in Hungary, might 
 be divided into two, and then, for the greater 
 convenience of forage, each party might take 
 separate roads; the one through Bulgaria, the 
 other through Sclavonia. The king should 
 follow the first road, as being the shortest. 
 With regard to the Languedocians and 
 Provencals, who are near to Italy, they may 
 •be permitted to go by way of Brundusium 
 
7^ 
 
 Slid Otrànto. Their rendezvous would be at 
 Thessalonica, where they would meet the main 
 body which had marched through Aquileia. 
 To this advice, as to the advantages and 
 inconveniences of the different roads, the 
 Dominican adds some, others respecting the 
 princes through whose states it would be 
 necessary to pass, and on the resources which 
 may be found in these several states. 
 
 La Rassia, he says, is a fertile country, 
 with five gold mines, five of fil ver, and many 
 more producing gold and silver, at work. No 
 more than one thousand horse and six thousand 
 infantry, would be wanted for the conquest of 
 this country, and ' it would be an agreeable 
 and acceptable jewel to gain.' 
 
 The author wishes that no treaty of alliance 
 should be made with this king, nor with the 
 greek emperor ; and, the better to strengthen 
 his proposition, he relates some particulars 
 as to the persons of these two monarchs, and 
 especially of the first, whom he calls an 
 

 
 14 
 
 usurper. As for the other, he not only insists 
 that neither peace nor truce should be made, 
 but that war should be declared against him. 
 
 In consequence, he points out the means 
 to besiege Constantinople, Adrianople and 
 Thessalonica; and as from what has happened, 
 he no way doubts of what may again happen, 
 that is to say, the capture of Constantinople, he 
 proposes divers regulations for the government 
 of the empire of the east, when it shall be a 
 second time conquered, and for bringing it 
 again under the roman religion. 
 
 He concludes his ' Avis directifs,' by- 
 warning the croisaders to be on their guard 
 against the perfidy of the Greeks, as well as 
 against the Syrians, the Hassassins, and other 
 people of Asia. He enters into a detail of the 
 plots that will be laid for them, and shews 
 the manner of avoiding them. 
 
 Brochard, in his first part, has conducted 
 the Iiosl of on?- Lord by land to Constantinople, 
 and made it capture the town. In the second 
 
75 
 
 part, he causes it to pass the Dardanelles, 
 and leads it into Asia. He is, however, 
 perfectly acquainted with these countries; for, 
 independently of his twenty-four years residence 
 in Palestine, he had travelled over Armenia, 
 Persia, the grecian empire, &c. 
 
 According to him, the cause of the ill 
 success of the kings of France and England, 
 in the preceding croisades, was the 11-judged 
 attacks they made on the Turks and the sultan 
 of Egypt at the same time. He proposes to 
 make war only on the Turks, and to have them 
 alone for enemies. To do it with success, 
 he gives descriptions of Turkey, called by the 
 Greeks, Anachèly (Anatolia). He points out 
 the means of securing provision for the army 
 by sea, and gives the well-founded hope of 
 victory over a people necessarily abandoned 
 by Cod, because their malice is accomplished^ 
 and internally weakened by intestine wars, and 
 from the want of leaders, — whose cavalry is 
 composed of slaves, having little courage or. 
 

 *6 
 
 industry, with small weak horses, badly armed 
 with turkish bows and haubergcons of leather, 
 which may more properly be called cuirasses * ; 
 over a people, in short, who only fight as 
 they retreat, and who, after the Greeks and 
 Babylonians, are the most worthless of all the 
 east in deeds of arms. 
 
 The author declares, at the conclusion, 
 that in all that country there is scarcely a nation 
 which he has not seen march to battle ; and 
 that the single power of France, without any 
 aid whatever, may defeat, not only the Turks 
 and Egyptians -f, but also the Tartars, 
 excepting solely the Indians, Arabians and 
 Persians. 
 
 The Brussels collection contains another 
 copy of the ' Advis directif,' on paper in folio, 
 
 * The haubert and haubergeon (a lighter sort of 
 haubert) were a kind of netted shirts of iron, which fell half/ 
 way down the thigh. The turkish haubergeons, on the 
 eontrary, were so short, they might, according to our author, 
 be called by the name of cuirasses. 
 
 f The Turks and Egyptians ! ! friar Brochard, yoii 
 forget Louis le jeune and St Louis, 
 
77 
 
 *vith miniatures, No 352. This makes a 
 volume of itself. The vignette represents 
 Brochard writing at his desk ; and in the next 
 miniature, he is presenting his book to the 
 king : this is followed by another miniature, 
 where the king is seen on his march to the 
 holy land. 
 
 I have also found, in the same collection, 
 the two latin treatises of the author, united in 
 one volume folio on paper, No. 319, bound 
 in red sheepskin. The title of the first is 
 c Directorium ad passagium faciendum, editum 
 per quemdam fratrem ordinis predicatorum, 
 scnbentem experta et visa potius quam audita; 
 ad serenissimum principem et dominum 
 Philippum regem Francorum, anno Domini 
 
 M.CCCXXXII.' 
 
 The title of the second is, ' Libellus de 
 terra sancta, editus a fratre Brochardo, 
 Theutomco, ordinis fratrum predicatorum.' 
 At the end of this cony, we read that it was 
 written by Jean Reginaldi, canon of Cambray, 
 
"■'.' A---2 
 
 7S 
 
 As the other is undoubtedly of the same 
 handwriting, I am convinced it must also 
 have been written by Reginaldi. 
 
 It now remains for me to make my readers 
 acquainted with our third french work, the 
 travels of la Brocquière, which I am about to 
 publish. 
 
 The author was a gentleman, as may easily 
 be seen, when he speaks of horses, strong 
 castles, and tiltings. His account is out an 
 itinerary, which is often somewhat monotonous, 
 particularly in the descriptions of countries and 
 towns ; but this itinerary is interesting to the 
 history and the geography of the times. There 
 will be found in them very precious materials, 
 and sometimes sketches and pictures not 
 without merit. 
 
 Tlie traveller is a man of a prudent 
 and sensible mind, full of judgment and 
 understanding. The impartiality he displays, 
 when he speaks of the infidel nations with 
 which he has had occasion to be acquainted. 
 
79 
 
 will be admired, particularly his account 
 of the Turks, whose good faith, according 
 to him, was greatly superior to that of 
 many Christians. He has scarcely any of 
 the superstition of his age, but the devotion 
 to pilgrimages and relics : at the same time, he 
 shews little faith in the authenticity of the relics 
 which were displayed before him. 
 
 With regard to pilgrimages, it will be 
 seen by the perusal of his book how they had 
 been multiplied in Palestine; and his work 
 will be for us a memorial which, on one hand, 
 will convince us of the blind credulity of our 
 western devotees in adopting these pious fables, 
 and, on the other hand, of the criminal tricks 
 of the Christians in the holy land, who had 
 invented them to wheedle out the money from 
 the pockets of the croisaders and pilgrims, and 
 gain an income at their expense. 
 
 La Brocquière writes, like a military man, 
 in a frank and manly style, which announces 
 veracity and inspires confidence ; but he also 
 
80 
 
 Xvrites negligently, so that his subject is notf 
 always very clearly arranged, and at times he 
 begins to relate a fact, the continuation of 
 which is in some distant pages. Though this 
 confusion be rare, \ have taken the liberty to 
 correct, and to unite what was before divided. 
 
 Our manuscript has the same defect as 
 the greater part of other manuscripts, in the 
 Orthography of certain names, which frequently 
 vary in every page, and even sometimes in two 
 sentences that follow each other. I may be 
 blamed, perhaps, for noticing these variations 
 of a language which, though at that time 
 instable, is now fixed ; for instance, he writes, 
 Autcriche, Autherich, Anstrke, and Ostriche. 
 
 This I have corrected, and shall do the 
 same with those names the spelling of which 
 does not vary in the manuscript, but which 
 are differently written at this day. Other names 
 are completely changed, and are no longer the 
 same. We do not now call the Black Sea ' k 
 Mer Majeure,' nor the Danube * la DunoeV 
 
81 
 
 I am aware that it will be matter of 
 objection against me, that I have done wrong 
 in giving to an author expressions which were 
 neither his own, nor those of his time ; but 
 having well weighed the advantages and 
 inconveniences of a very literal translation, 
 I have been satisfied that so rigorous an 
 exactness would render the text unintelligible 
 and fatiguing for the generality of readers ; and 
 that, if we would have an author understood, 
 we must make him speak as he would have 
 spoken himself, had he been living among us. 
 In short, there are things of which good sense 
 ordains the suppression or change ; and it 
 would be ridiculous, for instance, to say like 
 la Brocquière, ' un seigneur hongre,' for ' un 
 seigneur hongrois ;' * des Chretiens vulgaires,' 
 for ' des Chretiens bulgares,' <kc. 
 
 M 
 
?;>."V 
 
THE 
 
 TRAVELS 
 
 OF 
 
 liA BROCOÏÏIERE. 
 
 HERE BEGINS THE JOURNEY OF BERTRANDON 
 DE LA BROCQUIERE TO THE HOLY LAND, 
 IN THE YEAR OF GRACE ONE THOUSAND 
 FOUR HUNDRED AND THIRTY-TWO. 
 
 A O animate and inflame the hearts of such 
 noble men as may be desirous of seeing the 
 world, and by the order and command of the 
 most high, most powerful, and my most 
 redoubted lord, Philippe, by the grace of God, 
 duke of Burgundy, Lorraine, Brabant and 
 Limbourg, count of Flanders, Artois and 
 
■ 
 
 14 
 
 Burgundy *, palatine of Hainault, Holland, 
 Zealand and Namur, marquis of the holy 
 empire, lord of Fnesland, Salins and Mechlin, 
 I, Bertrandon de la Brocquière, a native of the 
 duchy of Guienne, lord de Vieux-Chateau, 
 counsellor, and first esquire-carver to my 
 aforesaid most redoubted lord, after recollecting 
 every event, in addition to what I had made 
 an abridgement of in a small book by way 
 of memorandums, have fairly written out 
 this account of my short travels, in order 
 that if any king, or Christian prince, should 
 wish to make the conquest of Jerusalem, 
 and lead thither an army overland, or if any 
 gentleman should be desirous of travelling 
 thither, each of them may be made acquainted 
 with all the towns, cities, regions, countries, 
 rivers, mountains and passes in the districts, as 
 
 * Burgundy was divided into two parts, the duchy and 
 county. The last, since known under the name of Franche 
 Comté, hegan, at this period, to take that appellation; and this 
 is the reason why our author styles Philippe duke and copnt, 
 of Burgundy. 
 
85 
 
 -well as the lords to whom they belong, from 
 the duchy of Burgundy to Jerusalem. 
 
 The route hence to the holy city of Rome 
 is too well known for me to stop and describe it. 
 I shall pass lightly over this article, and not 
 say much until I come to Syria. I have 
 travelled through the whole country from 
 Gaza, which is the entrance to Egypt, to 
 within a day's journey of Aleppo, a town 
 situated on the north of the frontier, and which 
 we pass in going to Persia. 
 
 Having formed a resolution to make a 
 devout pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and being 
 determined to discharge my vow, I quitted, in 
 the month of February, in the year 1432, the 
 court of my most redoubted lord, which was 
 then at Ghent. After traversing Picardy, 
 Champagne, Burgundy, I entered Savoy, 
 crossed the Rhône, and arrived at Chambery 
 by the Mont-du-Chat. 
 
 Here commences a long chain of 
 mountains, the highest of which is called 
 
I'^'À'.....< 
 
 «s 
 
 Mount Cenis, which forms a dangerous pass 
 for travellers in times of snow. The road is 
 so difficult to find, that a traveller, unless he 
 wish to lose it, must take one of the guides 
 of the country, called ' Marrons.' These 
 people advise you not to make any sort of 
 noise that may shake the atmosphere round 
 the mountain, for in that case the snow is 
 detached, and rolls with impetuosity to the 
 ground. Mount Cenis separates Italy from 
 France. 
 
 Having thence descended into Piedmont, 
 a handsome and pleasant country, surrounded 
 on three sides by mountains, I passed through 
 Turin, where I crossed the Po, and proceeded 
 to Asti, which belongs to the duke of Orleans; 
 then to Alexandria, the greater part of the 
 inhabitants of which are said to be usurers, — to 
 Piacenza, belonging to the dukeof Milan, — and 
 at last to Bologna la Grassa, part of the pope's 
 dominions. The emperor Sigismund was at 
 Piacenza : he had come thither from Milan, 
 
87 
 
 where he had received his second crown, and 
 was on his road to Rome in search of the 
 third *. 
 
 From Bologna I had another chain of 
 mountains (the Appenines) to pass, to enter 
 the states of the Florentines. Florence is a 
 large town, where the commonalty govern. 
 Every three months they elect for the 
 government magistrates, called Priori, who 
 are taken from different professions; and as 
 long as they remain in office they are 
 honoured, but on the expiration of the 
 three months they return to their former 
 situations. 
 
 From Florence I went to Monte Pulciano, 
 a castle built on an eminence, and surrounded 
 on three sides by a large lake (Lago di Perugia), 
 
 * In 1414 Sigismund, elected emperor, had received the 
 silver crown at Aix la Chapelle. In the month of November 
 1431, a little before the passage of our traveller, he had 
 received the iron crown at Milan; but it was not until 1443 
 he received at Rome, from the hands of the pope, that of 
 gold. 
 
«8 
 
 thence to Spoleto, Monte-Fiasconé, and atf 
 length to Rome. 
 
 Rome is well known. Authors of veracity 
 assure us, that for seven hundred years she was 
 mistress of the world. But although their 
 writings should not affirm this, would there 
 not be sufficiency of proof in all the grand 
 edifices now existing; in those columns of 
 marble, those statues, and those monuments 
 as marvellous to see as to describe. 
 
 Add to the above the immense quantities 
 of relics that are there, — so many things that 
 our Lord has touched, such numbers of holy 
 bodies of apostles, martyrs, confessors and 
 virgins, — in short, so many churches where 
 the holy pontiffs have granted full indulgences 
 for sin. 
 
 I saw there Eugenius IV. a Venetian, who 
 had just been elected pope *. The prince of 
 
 * We shall sec, hereafter, that la Brocquière left Rome 
 on die 25 th march, and Eugenius had been elected on the first 
 days of the month. 
 
Salermim had declared war against him: he 
 was of the Colonna family, and nephew to 
 pope Martin *. 
 
 I quitted Rome the 25th of March, and, 
 passing through a town belonging to the 
 count de Thalamoné, a relation to the cardinal 
 des Ursins, arrived at Urbino ; thence, through 
 the lordships of the Malatestas,came to Rimini, 
 part of the Venetian dominions. I crossed three 
 branches of the Po, and came to Chiosa, a town 
 of the Venetians, which had formerly a good 
 harbour; but this was destroyed by themselves, 
 when the Genoese came to lay siege to Venice, 
 From Chiosa, I landed at Venice, distant 
 twenty-five miles. 
 
 Venice is a great and handsome town, 
 ancient and commercial» and built in the 
 
 * Martin V. preJecessor to Êugenius, was a Colonna ; 
 and there was a declared enmity between his family and that 
 of the Orsini. Eugenius, when established in the holy chair, 
 took part in this quarrel, and sided with the Orsini against the 
 Coloiinas, who wrre nephews to Martin. The last took up 
 arms, and made war on him. 
 
 N 
 

 WÊÊÊÊ 
 
 -â 
 
 SO 
 
 middle of the sea. Its different quarters being 
 separated by water form so many islands, so 
 that a boat is necessary to go from one to the 
 other. 
 
 This town possesses the body of St Helena, 
 mother of the emperor Constantine, as well as 
 many others that I have seen, especially several 
 bodies of the holy innocents, which are entire. 
 These last are in an island called Murano, 
 renowned for its manufactories of glass. 
 
 The government of Venice is full of 
 wisdom. No one can be a member of the 
 council, nor hold any employment, unless he 
 be noble and born in the town. It has a duke, 
 who is bound to have ever with him, during 
 the day, six of the most ancient and celebrated 
 members of the council. When the duke dies, 
 his successor is chosen from among those who 
 have shewn the greatest knowledge and zeal 
 for the public good. 
 
 On the 8th of May, I embarked to 
 accomplish my vow, on board a galley, with 
 
 I 
 
91 
 
 some other pilgrims. We coasted Sclavonia, 
 and successively touched at Pola, Zara, 
 Sebenico and Corfou. 
 
 Pola seemed to me to have been formerly 
 a handsome and strong town, with an excellent 
 harbour. We were shewn at Zara the body of 
 St Simeon, to whom our Lord was presented 
 in the Temple. The town is surrounded on 
 three sides by the sea, and its fine port is shut 
 in by an iron chain. Sebenico belongs to the 
 Venetians, as does Corfou, which, with a very 
 handsome harbour, has also two castles. 
 
 From Corfou we sailed to Modon, a good 
 and fair town in the Morea, under the same 
 masters ; thence to Candia, a most fertile 
 island, the inhabitants of which are excellent 
 sailors. The government of Venice nominates 
 a governor, who takes the title of duke, but 
 who holds his place only three years. Thence 
 to Rhodes, where I had but time to see 
 the town : to BafFa, a ruined town in the 
 
92 
 
 island of Cyprus, — and at length to JafFa, in 
 the holy land of promise. 
 
 At Jaffa, the pardons commence for 
 pilgrims to the holy land. It formerly 
 belonged to the Christians, and was then 
 strong : at present, it is entirely destroyed, 
 having only a few tents covered with reeds, 
 whither pilgrims retire to shelter themselves 
 from the heat of the sun. The sea enters the 
 town, and forms a bad and shallow harbour : 
 it is dangerous to remain there long for fear of 
 being driven on shore by a gust of wind. 
 There are two springs of fresh water; but one 
 is overflowed by the sea, when the westerly 
 wind blows a little strong. When any pilgrims 
 disembark there, interpreters and other officers 
 of the sultan * instantly hasten to ascertain 
 their numbers, to serve them as guides, and 
 
 * The sultans of Egypt are here meant. Palestine 
 and Syria were at that time under their power. The sultan 
 will be often mentioned in the course of the work, 
 
93 
 
 to receive, in the name of their master, the 
 customary tribute. 
 
 Ramie, the first town we came to from 
 Jaffa, is without walls, but a good and 
 commercial town, seated in an agreeable and 
 fertile district. We went to visit, in the 
 neighbourhood, a village where my lord Saint 
 George was martyred ; and, on our return to 
 Ramie, we continued our route, and arrived, 
 after two days, at ' the holy city of Jerusalem, 
 where our Lord Jesus Christ suffered death 
 for us.' 
 
 After performing the customary pilgrimages, 
 we performed those to the mountain where 
 Jesus fasted forty days ; to the Jordan, where 
 he was baptised ; to the church of Saint 
 John, near to that river; to that of Saint 
 Martha and St Mary Magdalen, where our 
 Lord raised Lazarus from the dead ; to 
 Bethlehem, where he was born ; to the birth 
 place of St John Baptist ; to the house of 
 £achariah ; and, lastly, to the holy cross, where 
 

 *4 
 
 the tree grew that formed the real cross, after 
 which we returned to Jerusalem. 
 
 The Cordeliers have a church at 
 Bethlehem, in which they perform divine 
 service, but they are under great subjection to 
 the Saracens. The town is only inhabited by 
 Saracens, and some Christians of the girdle *. 
 
 At the birth-place of St John Baptist, a 
 rock is shewn, which, during the time of 
 Herod's persecution of the innocents, opened 
 itself miraculously in two, when St Elizabeth 
 having therein hid her son, it closed again of 
 itself, and the child remained shut up, as it is 
 said, two whole days. 
 
 Jerusalem is situated in a mountainous and 
 strong country, and is at this day a considerable 
 
 * The caliph Motouakkek, in the year 235 of the 
 Ilegira, or the 8j6th of the Christian asra, ordered the 
 Christians and Jews to wear a broad girdle of leather, and 
 they wear it to this day in the east. From that epocha, the 
 Christians of Asia, and especially those of Syria, who are 
 mostly Jacobites, or Nestorians, were called Christians of the 
 Girdle. 
 
95 
 
 town, although it appears to have been much 
 more so in former times. It is under the 
 dominion of the sultan, to the shame and grief 
 of Christendom. Among the free Christians, 
 there are but two Cordeliers who inhabit the 
 holy sepulchre, and even they are harrassed by 
 the Saracens : I can speak of it from my own 
 knowledge, having been witness of it for two 
 months. In the church of the holy sepulchre 
 reside also many other sorts of Christians : 
 Jacobites, Armenians, Abyssinians from the 
 country of Prester John, and Christians of 
 the girdle ; but of these the Francs suffer the 
 greatest hardships. 
 
 When all these pilgrimages were 
 accomplished, we undertook another, equally 
 customary, that to St Catherine's on Mount 
 Sinai, For this purpose we formed a party of 
 ten pilgrims, sir André de Thoulongeon, sir 
 Michel de Ligne, Guillaume de Ligne, his 
 brother, Sanson de Lalaing, Pierre de Vaudrey, 
 Godefroi de Thoisi, Humbert Buffart, Jean do 
 
■ 
 
 96 
 
 la Roc, Simonet (his family name is left blank) 
 and myself*. 
 
 For the information of others, who like 
 myself, may wish to visit this country, I shall 
 say, that the custom is to treat with the chief 
 interpreter at Jerusalem, who receives a tax for 
 the sultan, and one for himself, and then sends 
 to inform the interpreter at Gaza, who, in his 
 turn, negotiates a passage with the Arabians 
 of the desert. These Arabs enjoy the right of 
 conducting pilgrims; and, as they are not 
 always under due subjection to the sultan, 
 their camels must be used, which they let to 
 hire at ten ducats a head. 
 
 The Saracen, who at this time held 
 the office of chief interpreter, was called 
 
 * These names, of which the five first are of great 
 lords in the states of the duke of Burgundy, shew that several 
 persons of the duke's court had formed a company for this 
 pilgrimage to Palestine, and are, probably, those who 
 embarked with our author at Venice, although he has not 
 before named them. Toulongeon was created, this same 
 year 1432, a knight of the golden fleece, but was not invested 
 "tvidi the order j for he was then a pilgrim, and died on the road ; 
 
91 
 
 Nattchardin. Having received the answer 
 from the Arabs, he assembled us before the 
 chapel, which is at the entrance and on the 
 left of the holy sepulchre: he there took down 
 in writing our ages, names, surnames, and very 
 particular descriptions of our persons, and sent 
 a duplicate of this to the chief interpreter at 
 Cairo. These precautions are taken for the 
 security of travellers, and to prevent the 
 Arabs from detaining any of them ; but I am 
 persuaded that it is done likewise through 
 mistrust, and through fear of some exchange 
 or substitution that may make them lose the 
 tribute-money. 
 
 When on the eve of our departure, we 
 bought wine for the journey, and laid in a 
 stock of provision, excepting biscuit, which 
 we were to find at Gaza. Nanchardin having 
 provided asses and mules to carry us and our 
 provision with a particular interpreter, we 
 set off. 
 
^H 
 
 
 
 m 
 
 9S 
 
 The first place we came to was a village 
 formerly more considerable, at present inhabited 
 by Christians of the girdle, who cultivate vines. 
 The second was a town called St Abraham, 
 and situated in the valley of Hebron, ' where 
 our Lord created our first father Adam.' In 
 that place are buried together, Abraham, Isaac 
 and Jacob, with their wives; but this sepulchre 
 is now inclosed within a mosque of the Saracens. 
 We were anxious to see it, and even advanced 
 to the gate ; but our guides and interpreter 
 assured us they dared not suffer us to enter in 
 the day-time, on account of the dangers they 
 should run, and that any Christian found 
 within a mosque is instantly put to death, 
 unless he renounce his religion. 
 
 After the valley of Hebron, we traversed 
 another of greater extent, near to which the 
 mountain whereon St John performed his 
 penitence was pointed out to us. Thence we 
 crossed a desert country, and lodged in one of 
 
90 
 
 those houses built through chanty, and called 
 Khan : from this khan, we came to Gaza. 
 
 Gaza, situated in a fine country near the 
 sea, and at the entrance of the desert, is a 
 strong town, although uninclosed. It is 
 pretended that it formerly belonged to the 
 famous Samson. His palace is still shewn, 
 and also the columns of that which he pulled 
 down ; but I dare not affirm that these are the 
 same. 
 
 Pilgrims are harshly treated there ; and 
 we should have likewise suffered, had it not 
 been for the governor, a man about sixty 
 years of age, and a Circassian, who heard our 
 complaints, and did us justice. Thrice were 
 we obliged to appear before him : once, on 
 account of the swords we wore,— and the two 
 other times, for quarrels which the Moucres 
 Saracens sought to have with us. 
 
 Many of us wished to purchase asses; for 
 the camel has a very rough movement, which 
 is extremely fatiguing to those unaccustomed 
 

 100 
 
 to it. An ass is sold at Gaza for two ducats ; 
 but the Moucres not only wanted to prevent 
 our buying any, but to force us to hire asses 
 from them, at the price of five ducats to Saint 
 Catherine's. This conduct was represented to 
 the governor. For myself, who had hitherto 
 rode on a camel, and had no intentions of 
 changing, I desired they would tell me how 
 I could ride a camel and an ass at the same 
 time. The governor decided in our favour, 
 and ordered that we should not be forced to 
 hire any asses from the Moucres against our 
 inclinations. 
 
 We here laid in fresh provision necessary 
 for the continuation of our journey ; but on 
 the eve of our departure, four of my companions 
 fell sick, and returned to Jerusalem. I set off 
 with the five others, and we came to a village 
 situated at the entrance of the desert, and the 
 only one to be met with between Gaza and 
 St Catherine's. Sir Sanson de Lalaing also 
 there quitted us, and returned ; so that 
 
101 
 
 our company consisted of sir Andrew de 
 Toulongeon, Pierre de Vaudrei, Godefroi de 
 Toisi, Jean de la Roe, and myself. 
 
 We thus travelled two days in the desert 
 absolutely without seeing any thing deserving 
 to be related. Only one morning I saw, 
 before sun-rise, an animal running on four 
 legs, about three feet long, but scarcely a palm 
 in height. The Arabians fled at the sight of 
 it, and the animal hastened to hide itself in a 
 bush hard bv. Sir Andrew and Pierre de 
 Vaudrei dismounted, and pursued it sword 
 in hand, when it began to cry like a cat on the 
 approach of a dog. Pierre de Vaudrei struck 
 it on the back with the point of his sword, but 
 did i; no harm, from its being covered with 
 scales like a sturgeon. It sprung at sir 
 Andrew, who, with a blow from his sword, 
 cut the neck partly through, and flung it on 
 its back, with its feet in the air, and killed it. 
 The head resembled that of a large hare : the 
 feet were like the hands of a ycun^ child, with 
 
102 
 
 
 a pretty long tail, like that of the large green 
 lizard. Our Arabs and interpreter told us it 
 was very dangerous *. 
 
 At the end of the second day's journey, 
 I was seized with such a burning fever that it 
 was impossible for me to proceed further. My 
 four companions, distressed at this accident, 
 made me mount an ass, and recommended me 
 to one of our Arabs, whom they charged to 
 reconduct me, if possible, to Gaza. 
 
 This man took a great deal of care of me, 
 which is unusual, in respect to Christians. He 
 faithfully kept me company, and led me in the 
 evening to pass the night in one of their 
 camps, which might consist of fourscore and 
 some tents, pitched in the form of a street. 
 These tents consist of two poles stuck in 
 the ground by the bigger end, at a certain 
 distance from each other, and on them is 
 
 * From this vague description, it should seem that the 
 animal spoken of was the great lizard, called Monitor, because 
 it is pretended that it gives information of tire approach of a 
 crocodile. As for the terror of the Arabs, it was groundless. 
 
 
103 
 
 placed another pole cross-way, and over this 
 last is laid a thick coverlid of woollen, or 
 coarse hair. 
 
 On my arrival, four or five Arabs, who 
 were acquainted with my companion, came to 
 meet us. They dismounted me from my ass, 
 and laid me on a mattress which I had with 
 me, and then, treating me according to their 
 method, kneaded and pinched me so much with 
 their hands *, that from fatigue and lassitude 
 I slept and reposed for six hours. 
 
 During all this time no one did me the 
 least harm, nor took any thing from me. Jt 
 would, however, have been very easy for them 
 so to do ; and I must have been a tempting 
 prey, for I had with me two hundred ducats, 
 and two camels laden with provision and 
 wine. 
 
 I set out, on my return to Gaza, before 
 day; but when I came thither, I found neither 
 
 * This is what is called in French ' Masser,' a method 
 used in everal parts of the east for certain disorders. 
 
.v-àù*' 
 
 
 ■H 
 
 104 
 
 my four companions who had remained behind 
 nor sir Sanson de Lalaing. The whole five 
 had returned to Jerusalem, carrying with them 
 the interpreter. Fortunately I met with a 
 Sicilian Jew to whom I could make myself 
 understood; and he sent me an old Samaritan, 
 who, by some medicines which he gave me, 
 appeased the great heat I endured. 
 
 Two days after, finding myself a little 
 better, I set off in company with a Moor, who 
 conducted me by a road on the sea-side. We 
 passed near to Ascalon, and thence traversed 
 an agreeable and fertile country to Ramie, where 
 I regained the road to Jerusalem. 
 
 On the first day's journey, I met on my 
 road the governor of that town, returning 
 from a pilgrimage with a company of fifty 
 horsemen and one hundred camels, mounted 
 principally by women and children, who had 
 attended him to his place of devotion. I passed 
 the night with them, and the morrow, on my 
 return to Jerusalem, took up my lodgings 
 
10; 
 
 with the Cordeliers at the church of Mount 
 Sion, where [ met again my five comrades. 
 
 On my arrival, I went to bed, that my 
 disorder might be properly treated ; but I was 
 not cured, or in a state to depart, until the 
 19th of August. During my convalescence, 
 I recollected that I had frequently heard it 
 said that it was impossible for a Christian to 
 return overland from Jerusalem to France. 
 I dare not, even now when I have performed 
 this journey, assert that it is safe. I thought, 
 nevertheless, that nothing was impossible for 
 a man to undertake, who has a constitution 
 strong enough to support fatigue, and has 
 money and health. It is not, however, 
 through vain boasting that I say this; but, 
 with the aid of God and his glorious mother, 
 who never fail to assist those who pray to them 
 heartily, I resolved to attempt the journey. 
 
 I kept my project secret for some time, 
 without even hinting it to my companions: 
 I was also desirous, before I undertook it, 
 

 i mm 
 
 106 
 
 to perform other pilgrimages, especially those 
 to Nazareth and Mount Tabor. I went, in 
 consequence, to make Nanchardin, principal 
 interpreter to the sultan, acquainted with my 
 intentions, who supplied me with a sufficient 
 interpreter for my journey. I thought of 
 making my first pilgrimage to Mount Tabor, 
 and every thing was prepared for it ; but when 
 I was on the point of setting out, the head of 
 the convent where I lodged dissuaded me, and 
 opposed my intentions most strongly. The 
 interpreter, on his side, refused to go, saying, 
 that in the present circumstances I would not 
 find any person to attend me ; for that the road 
 lay through the territories of towns which 
 were at war with each other, and that very 
 lately a Venetian and his interpreter had been 
 there assassinated. 
 
 I confined myself therefore to the second 
 pilgrimage, in which sir Sanson de Lalaing 
 and Humbert wished to accompany me. We 
 Jeft sir Michel de Ligne sick at Mount Sion, 
 
107 
 
 and his brother William remained, with his 
 servant, to attend on him. The rest of us set 
 off on the day of mid-August *, with the 
 intention of going to Jaffa by way of Ramie, 
 and from Jaffa to Nazareth ; but, before I 
 departed, I went to the tomb of our lady, to 
 implore her protection for my grand journey 
 home. I heard divine service at the Cordeliers, 
 and saw there people who call themselves 
 Christians; ' but some of them are very strange 
 ones, according to our manner.' 
 
 The principal monk at Jerusalem was so 
 friendly as to accompany us as far as Jaffa, 
 with a cordelier friar of the convent of 
 Beaune. They there quitted us, and we 
 engaged a bark from the Moors, which carried 
 us to the port of Acre. 
 
 This is a handsome port, deep, and well 
 inclosed. The town itself appears to have 
 been large and strong; but at present there 
 
 * Is not this a contradiction to what he says just before '. — T. 
 
'*«'<*'• 
 
 10S 
 
 do not exist more than three hundred houses, 
 situated at one of its extremities, and at some 
 distance from the sea. With regard to our 
 pilgrimage, we could not accomplish it. Some 
 Venetian merchants, whom we consulted, 
 dissuaded us, and, from what they said, we 
 gave it up. They told us, at the same time, 
 that a galley from Narbonne was expected at 
 Baruth ; and my comrades being desirous to 
 take that opportunity of returning to France, 
 we consequently followed the road to that 
 town. 
 
 We saw, on our way thither, Sur, an 
 inclosed town, with a good port, then Se\de, 
 another sea-port tolerably good. Baruth has 
 been more considerable than it is now, but its 
 port is still handsome, deep, and safe for 
 vessels. On one of its points we see the 
 remains of a strong castle which it formerly 
 had, but which is now in ruins *, 
 
 * Sur is the ancient Tyre, — Seyde, Sidon, — Baruth, 
 Berites, What la Brocquière here says is interesting for 
 
109 
 
 As for myself, solely occupied with my 
 grand journey, I employed the time we staid 
 in this town in seeking information concerning 
 it ; and to this end addressed myself to a 
 genoese merchant, called Jacques Pervézin, 
 He advised me to go to Damascus, assuring 
 me that I should find there merchants from 
 Venice, Catalonia, Florence, Genoa, and 
 elsewhere, whose counsels might guide me. 
 He even gave me a letter of recommendation 
 to a countryman of his, named Ottobon 
 Escot. 
 
 Being resolved to consult Escot before 
 I proceeded farther, I proposed to sir Sanson 
 to go and see Damascus, without, however, 
 telling him any thing of my project. He 
 accepted my proposal with pleasure, and we 
 set out under the conduct of a Moucre. I have 
 before said that the Moucres in Syria are the 
 
 geography : it proves that all these sea-ports of Syria, formerly 
 50 commercial and famous, but at this day so degraded and 
 completely useless, were, in his time, for the greater part, fit 
 Jbr commerce. 
 

 fTîl 
 
 110 
 
 people whose trade is conducting travellers, and 
 hiring out to them asses and mules. 
 
 On quirting Baruth, we had to traverse 
 some high mountains to a long plain, called 
 the valley of Noah, because it is said, that 
 Noah there built the ark. This valley is not, 
 at the utmost, more than a league wide ; but 
 it is pleasant and fertile, watered by two rivers, 
 and peopled by Arabs. 
 
 As far as Damascus, we continued to 
 travel between mountains, at whose feet are 
 many villages and vineyards. But I warn 
 those who, like me, shall have occasion to 
 make this journey, to take good care of 
 themselves during the night, for in my life I 
 never felt such cold. This excess of cold is 
 caused by the fall of the dew, and it is thus 
 throughout Syria . The greater the heat during 
 the day, the more abundant the dew, and the 
 cold of the night. 
 
 It is two days journey from Baruth 
 to Damascus. The Mohammedans have 
 
Ill 
 
 established a particular custom for Christians 
 all through Syria, in not permitting them to 
 enter the towns on horseback. None, that 
 are known to be such, dare do it, and, in 
 consequence, our Moucre made sir Sanson and 
 myself dismount before we entered any town. 
 Scarcely had we arrived in Damascus than about 
 a dozen Saracens came round to look at us. 
 1 wore a broad beaver hat, which is unusual in 
 that country ; and one of them gave me a 
 blow with a staff, which knocked it off my 
 head on the ground. I own that my first 
 movement was to lift my fist at him ; but the 
 Moucre, throwing himself between us, pushed 
 me aside, and very fortunately for me he did 
 so, for in an instant we were surrounded by 
 thirty or forty persons ; and if I had given 
 a blow I know not what would have become 
 of us. 
 
 I mention this circumstance to show that 
 the inhabitants of Damascus are a wicked race, 
 and, consequently, care should be taken to 
 

 U2 
 
 «void any quarrels with them. It is the same 
 in other mohammedan countries. I know by 
 experience that you must not joke with them, 
 nor at the same time seem afraid, nor appear 
 poor, for then they will despise you ; nor rich, 
 for they are very avaricious, as all who have 
 disembarked at Jaffa know to their cost. 
 
 Damascus may contain, as I have henrd, 
 one hundred thousand souls. The town is 
 rich, commercial, and, after Cairo, is the most 
 considerable of all in the possession of the 
 sultan. To the north, south and east, is an 
 extensive plain : to the west a mountain rises, 
 at the foot of which the suburbs are built. 
 A river runs through it, which is divided into 
 several canals : the town only is inclosed by a 
 handsome wall, for the suburbs are larger than 
 the town. I have nowhere seen such extensive 
 gardens, better fruits, nor greater plenty of 
 water. This is said to be so abundant,, 
 that there is scarcely a house without a 
 fountain. 
 
113 
 
 The governor is only inferior to the sultaÀ 
 in all Syria and Egypt; but as at different 
 times some governors have revolted, the sultans 
 have taken precautions to restrain them within 
 proper bounds. Damascus has a strong castle 
 on the side toward the mountain, with wide 
 and deep ditches, whereof the sultan appoints 
 a captain of his own friends, who never suffers 
 the governor to enter it. 
 
 It was, in 1400, destroyed, and reduced 
 to ashes by Tamerlane. Vestiges of this 
 disaster now remain ; and toward the gate 
 of St Paul there is a whole quarter that has 
 never been rebuilt. There is a khan in the 
 town, appropriated as a deposit and place of 
 safety to merchants and their goods. It is 
 called Khan Berkot, from its having originally 
 been the residence of a person of that name, i- or 
 my part, I believe that Berkot was a Frenchman ; 
 and what inclines me to this opinion is, that on 
 a stone of the house are carved flowers de luce, 
 which appear as ancient as the walls. 
 
-.'--]& 
 
 114 
 
 Whatever may have been his origin, he 
 was a very gallant man, and to this day enjoys 
 a high reputation in that country. Never 
 during his lifetime, and while he was in power, 
 could the Persians or Tartars gain the smallest 
 portion of land in Syria. The moment he 
 learnt that one of their armies was advancing, 
 he instantly marched to meet it, as far as the 
 river, beyond Aleppo, that separates Syria 
 from Persia, and which, from a guess of the 
 situation, I believe to be the river Jehon which 
 falls into the Misses in Turcomania. The 
 people of Damascus are persuaded that had 
 he lived, Tamerlane would never have carried 
 his arms thither. Tamerlane, however, did 
 honour to his memory ; for when he took the 
 town, and ordered it to be set on fire, he 
 commanded the house of Berkot to be spared, 
 and appointed a guard to prevent its being 
 hurt by the fire, so that it subsists to this day. 
 
 The Christians are hated at Damascus. 
 Every evening the merchants are shut up in 
 their houses by persons appointed for tjiis 
 
115 
 
 purpose, and who, on the morrow, come to 
 open their gates when it may please them. 
 
 I found there many genoese, Venetian, 
 calabrian, florentine, and trench merchants. 
 The last were come thither to purchase several 
 articles, and particularly spiceries, with the 
 intention of taking them to Baruth, and 
 embarking them on board the galley expected 
 from Narbonne. Among them was Jacques 
 Coeur *, who has since acted a great part in 
 France, and was master of the wardrobe to 
 the king. He told us the galley was then at 
 Alexandria, and that probably sir Andrew and 
 
 * Jacques Coeur was an extraordinary character, and 
 a strikin„ instance of the ingratitude of monarchs. 
 
 Although of low origin, he raised himself by his 
 abilities to high honours, and acquired by his activity 
 immense riches. He was one of the most celebrated 
 merchants that ever existed ; and had it not been for his 
 superior management of the finances, the generals, able as 
 they were, of Charles VII. would never have expelled the 
 English from France. 
 
 Should time be allowed me, I shall probably publish 
 a selection from curious papers, illustrative of his life, and of 
 other events that took place in France duiing the reigns of 
 •Charles VI, Charles VII. and Louis XI. T.J. 
 
1\6 
 
 his three companions would embark on board 
 at Baruth. 
 
 I was shewn the piace, without the walls 
 of Damascus, where St Paul had a vision, was 
 struck blind, and thrown from his horse. He 
 caused himself to be conducted to Damascus, 
 where he was baptised ; but the place of his 
 baptism is now a mosque. 
 
 I saw also the stone from which St George 
 mounted his horse when he went to combat 
 the dragon. It is two feet square ; and they 
 say, that when formerly the Saracens attempted 
 to carry it away, in spite of all the strength 
 they employed they could not succeed. 
 
 Having seen Damascus, sir Sanson and 
 myself returned to Baruth, where we found 
 sir Andrew, Pierre de Vaudrei, Geoffroi de 
 Toisi and Jean de la Roe, who had come 
 thither, as Jacques Coeur had told us. The 
 galley arrived from Alexandria two or three 
 days afterward ; but, during this short interval, 
 we witnessed a feast, celebrated by the Moors 
 in their ancient manner. It began in the 
 
117 
 
 evening at sun-set. Numerous companies, 
 scattered here and there, were singing and 
 uttering loud cries. While this was passing, 
 the cannon of the castle were fired, and the 
 people of the town launched into the air, 
 ' bien hault et bien loing, une manière de feu 
 plus gros que le plus gros fallot que je veisse 
 oneques allumé.' They told me, they 
 sometimes made use of such at sea, to set fire 
 to the sails of an enemy's vessel. It seems to 
 me, that as it is a thing easy to be made, and 
 of little expense, it may be equally well 
 employed to burn a camp or a thatched 
 village, or in an engagement with cavalry to 
 frighten the horses. 
 
 Curious to know its composition, I sent 
 the servant of my host to the person who made 
 this fire, and requested him to teach me the 
 method. He returned for answer that he 
 dared not, for that he s' ould run great danger 
 were it known ; but as there is nothing a Moor 
 will not do for money, I offered him a ducat, 
 which quieted his fears, and he taught me all 
 
r-v-v ^H 
 
 115 
 
 he knew, and even gave me the moulds in 
 wood, with the other ingredients, which I have 
 brought to France. 
 
 The evening before the embarkation, I 
 took sir André de Toulongeon aside, and, 
 having made him promise that he would not 
 mnke any opposition to what I was about to 
 reveal to him, I informed him of my design 
 to return home overland. In consequence of 
 his promise, he did not attempt to hinder me, 
 but represented all the dangers I should have 
 to encounter, and the risk I shouid run of being 
 forced to deny my faith to Jesus Ch>ust. 
 I must own that his representations were 
 well founded; and of all the perils he had 
 menaced me with, there was not one I did 
 not experience, except denying my religion. 
 He engaged his companions to talk with me 
 also on this subject; but what they urged 
 was vain : I suffered them to set sail, and 
 remained at Baruth. 
 
 On their departure, I visited a mosque 
 that had originally been a handsome church, 
 
119 
 
 built, as it is said, by St Barbara. It is added, 
 that when the Saracens had gained possession, 
 and their criers had, as usual, ascended the 
 tower to announce the time of prayer, they 
 were so beaten that from that day no one has 
 ventured to return thither, 
 
 There is also another miraculous building 
 that has been changed into a church, which 
 formerly was a house belonging to the Jews. 
 One day these people finding an image of our 
 Lord began to stone it, as their fathers had in 
 times past stoned the Original ; but the image 
 having shed blood, they were so frightened 
 with the miracle, that they fled and accused 
 themselves to the bishop, and gave up even 
 their house in reparation for their crime. 
 A church was made from it, which at present 
 is served by the Cordeliers. 
 
 I was lodged at the house of a Venetian 
 merchant, named Paul Barberico; and as I had 
 no way entirely renounced my two pilgrimages 
 to Nazareth and mount Tabor, in spite of the 
 
*'■/#£*##' 
 
 120 
 
 obstacles which it had been said I should meet 
 with, I consulted him on this double journey. 
 He procured for me a Moucre, who undertook 
 to conduct me, and bound himself before him 
 to carry me safe and sound as far as Damascus, 
 and to bring him back from thence a certificate 
 of having performed his engagement, signed 
 by me. This man made me dress myself like 
 a Saracen. The Franks, for their security in 
 travelling, have obtained permission from the 
 sultan to wear this dress when on a journey. 
 
 I departed with my Moucre from Baruth 
 on the morrow after the galley had sailed, and 
 we followed the road to Seyde that lies between 
 the sea and the mountains. These frequently 
 run so far into the sea that travellers are forced 
 to go on the sands, and at other times they are 
 three quarters of a league distant. 
 
 After an hour's ride, I came to a small 
 wood of lofty pines, which the people of the 
 country preserve with care. It is even forbidden 
 to cut down any of them ; but I am ignorant 
 
121 
 
 of the reason for such a regulation. Further 
 on was a tolerably deep river, which my Moucre 
 said came from the valley of Noah, but the water 
 was not good to drink. It had a stone bridge 
 over it, and hard by was a khan, where we 
 passed the night. 
 
 On the morrow, we arrived at Seyde, 
 a town situated near the sea, and inclosed on 
 the land side by ditches, which are not deep. 
 
 Sur, called by the Moors ' Four,' has 
 a similar situation . It is supplied with excellent 
 water from a spring a quarter of a league to 
 the southward of the town, conducted to it by 
 an aqueduct. I only passed through ; and it 
 seemed to be handsome, though not strong, 
 any more than Seyde, — both having been 
 formerly destroyed, as appears from their 
 walls, which are not to be compared to those 
 of our towns. 
 
 The mountain near Sur forms a crescent, 
 the two horns advancing as far as the sea : the 
 void between them is not fiUed with villages, 
 
Ï22 
 
 though there are many on the sides of the 
 mountain. A league farther, we came to 
 a pass which forced us to travel over a bank, 
 on the summit of which is a tower. Travellers 
 going to Acre have no other road than this, 
 and the tower has been erected for their 
 security. 
 
 From this defile to Acre, the mountains 
 are low, and many habitations are visible, 
 inhabited, for the greater part, by Arabs. 
 Near the town, I met a great lord of the 
 country, called Fancardin : he was encamped 
 on the open plain, carrying his tents with him. 
 
 Acre, though in a plain of about four 
 leagues in extent, is surrounded on three sides 
 by mountains, and on the fourth by the sea. 
 I made acquaintance there with a Venetian 
 merchant called Aubert Franc, who received 
 me well, and procured me much useful 
 information respecting my two pilgrimages, 
 by which I profited. With the aid of his 
 advice, I took the road to Nazareth, and, 
 
123 
 
 having crossed an extensive plain, came to the 
 fountain, the water of which our Lord changed 
 into wine at the marriage of Archétréclin * : it 
 is near a village where St Peter is said to have 
 been born. 
 
 Nazareth is another large village, built 
 between two mountains ; but the place where 
 the angel Gabriel came to announce to the 
 virgin Mary, that she would be a mother, is 
 in a pitiful state. The church that had been 
 there built is entirely destroyed ; and of the 
 house wherein our lady was when the angel 
 appeared to her, not the smallest remnant 
 exists. 
 
 From Nazareth I went to Mount Tabor, 
 the place where the transfiguration of our Lord, 
 
 * Architriclinus is a latin word, formed fiom the 
 Greek, which the evangelist applies to signify the master of 
 the house, or major domo, who presided at the marriage of 
 Cana. Our ignorant authors of the lower ages took it for 
 the name of a man, and made a saint of him, whom 
 they called Saint Archétréclin. In la Broccruière's account, 
 Archétréclin is the bridegroom at Cana, 
 
12* 
 
 Und many other miracles, took effect. These 
 pasturages attract the Arabs who come thither 
 with their beasts ; and 1 was forced to engage 
 four additional men as an escort, two of whom 
 were Arabs. The ascent of the mountain is 
 rugged, because there is no road : I performed 
 it on the back of a mule, but it took me two 
 hours. The summit is terminated by an 
 almost circular plain of about two bow-shots 
 in length, and one in width. It was formerly 
 inclosed with walls, the ruins of which, and 
 the ditches, are still visible : within the wall, 
 and around it, were several churches, and one 
 especially, where, although in ruins, full 
 pardon for vice and sin is gained. 
 
 To the east of Mount Tabor, and at the 
 foot of it, we saw the Tiberiade beyond 
 which the Jordan flows: to the westward is an 
 extensive plain, very agreeable from its gardens, 
 filled with date palm trees, and small tufts of 
 trees planted like vines, on which grows the 
 cotton. At sun-rise, these last have a singular 
 
125 
 
 effect, and, seeing their green leaves covered 
 with cotton, the traveller would suppose it had 
 snowed on them *. 
 
 1 descended into this plain to dinner, for 
 I had brought with me chickens and wine. 
 My guides conducted me to the house of a 
 man, who, when he saw my wine, took me for 
 a person of consequence, and received me well. 
 He brought me a porringer of milk, another 
 of honey, and a branch loaded with dates. 
 They were the first I had ever seen. I noticed 
 also the manner of manufacturing cotton, in 
 which men and women were employed. Here 
 my guides wanted to extort more money from 
 me, and insisted on making a fresh bargain to 
 reconduct me to Nazareth. I had not my 
 sword with me, for I confess I should have 
 drawn it; and it would have been madness 
 
 * M. de la Brocquière is here probably mistaken. 
 The cotton tree resembles in its leaves the vine ; but the cotton 
 is formed in capsules, and not on the leaves . There are many 
 trees, whose leave are covered externally with a white down, 
 frut none that in this manner produce cotton. 
 

 12S 
 
 in me, and in all who shall imitate me. 
 The result of the quarrel was, that I was 
 obliged to give them twelve drachms of their 
 money, equivalent to half a ducat. The 
 moment they had received them, the whole 
 four left me, so that I was obliged to return 
 alone with my Moucre. 
 
 We had not proceeded far on our road 
 when we saw two Arabs, armed in their 
 manner, and mounted on beautiful horses, 
 come toward us. The Moucre was much 
 frightened ; but, fortunately, they passed us 
 without saying a word. He owned, that had 
 they suspected I was a Christian, they would 
 have unmercifully killed us both, or, at the 
 least, have stripped us naked. 
 
 Each of them bore a long and thin pole, 
 shod at the ends with iron ; one of which was 
 pointed, the other round, but having many 
 sharp blades a span long. Their buckler was 
 round, according to their custom, convex at 
 the centre, whence came a thick point of iron; 
 
127 
 
 and from that point, to the bottom; it wa& 
 ornamented with a long silken fringe. They 
 were dressed in robes, whose sleeves, a foot and 
 a half wide, hung down their arms; and, 
 instead of a cap, they had a round hat, 
 terminated in a point of rough crimson wool, 
 which, instead of having the linen cloth twisted 
 about it like other Moors, fell down, on each 
 side of it, the whole of its breadth. 
 
 We went to lodge at Samaria, because I 
 wished to see the lake of Tiberias, where, it is 
 said, St Peter was accustomed to fish ; and by so 
 doing some pardons may be gained, for it was 
 the ember-week of September. The Moucre 
 left me to myself the whole day. Samaria is 
 situated on the extremity of a mountain. We 
 entered it at the close of dav, and left it 
 at midnight to visit the lake. The Moucre 
 had proposed this hour to evade the tribute 
 exacted from all who go thither; but the night 
 hindered me from seeing the surrounding 
 country. 
 
' 
 
 128 
 
 T went first to Joseph's well, so called 
 from his being cast into it by his brethren. 
 There is a handsome mosque near it, which I 
 entered, with my Moucre, pretending to be a 
 Saracen. 
 
 Further on is a stone bridge over the 
 Jordan, called Jacob's Bridge on account of 
 a house hard by, said to have been the 
 residence of that patriarch. The river flows 
 from a great lake situated at the foot of 
 a mountain to the north-west, on which 
 Namcardin has a very handsome castle. 
 
 From the lake, I took the road to 
 Damascus. The country is tolerably pleasant ; 
 and although the road leads between mountains, 
 they are generally from one to two leagues 
 asunder. There is, however, one narrow 
 place, where the road is only wide enough for 
 a horse to pass. The tract all around it, to 
 the right and left, for the space of about a 
 league in length and breadth, is covered with 
 immense flint stones, like pebbles in a river. 
 
1<29 
 
 the greater part as big as a wine-turn 
 Beyond this pass is a handsome khan, 
 surrounded by fountains and rivulets. Four 
 or five miles from Damascus is another, the 
 most magnificent I ever saw, seated near a 
 small river, formed by a junction of springs 
 rising on the spot. The nearer you approach 
 the town, the finer is the country. 
 
 I met, near Damascus, a very black 
 Moor, who had rode a camel from Cairo in 
 eight days, though it is usually sixteen days 
 journey. His camel had run away from him ; 
 but, with the assistance of my Moucre, we 
 recovered it. These couriers have a singular 
 saddle, on which they sit cross-legged ; but 
 the rapidity of the camel is so great, that 
 to prevent any bad effects from the air, they 
 have their heads and bodies tightly bandaged. 
 
 This courier was the bearer of an order 
 from the sultan. A galley and two galliots, 
 of the prince of Tarentum, had captured, 
 before Tripoli in Syria, a vessel from the. 
 
 s 
 

 
 130 
 
 Moors; and the sultan, byway of reprisal, had 
 sent to arrest all the Catalonians and Genoese 
 who might be found in Damascus and 
 throughout Syria. This news, which my 
 Moucre told me, did not alarm me : I entered 
 boldly the town with other Saracens, because, 
 dressed like them, I thought I had nothing 
 to fear. This expedition had taken up seven 
 days. 
 
 On the morrow of my arrival, I saw the 
 caravan return from Mecca. It was said to 
 be composed of three thousand camels, and, 
 in fact, it was two days and as many nights 
 before they had all entered the town. This 
 event was, according to custom, a great festival. 
 The governor of Damascus, attended by the 
 principal persons of the town, went to meet 
 the caravan, out of respect to the Alcoran, 
 which it bore. This is the book of law 
 Mohammed left to his followers. It was 
 enveloped in a silken covering, painted over 
 with moorish inscriptions ; and the camel, 
 
131 
 
 that bore it was, in like manner, decorated 
 all over with silk. 
 
 Four musicians, and a great number of 
 drums and trumpets preceded this camel, and 
 made a loud noise. In front, and around, were 
 about thirty men, — some bearing cross-bows, 
 others drawn swords, others small harquebuses, 
 which they fired off every now and then*. 
 Behind the camel followed eight old men, 
 mounted on the swiftest camels, and near them 
 were led their horses magnificently caparisoned 
 and ornamented with rich saddles, according 
 to the custom of the country. After them 
 came a turkish lady, a relation of the grand 
 seignior, in a litter borne by two camels with 
 rich housings. There were many of these 
 animals covered with cloth of gold. 
 
 The caravan was composed of Moors, 
 Turks, Barbaresques, Tartars, Persians, and 
 
 * The author does not mention what sort of harquebuses 
 these were ; but it is remarkable, that our portable fire-arms, 
 the invention of which is very recent in Europe, were, at that 
 time, in use among the Mohammedans of Asia. 
 
152 
 
 other sectaries cf the false prophet Mohammed. 
 These people pretend, that having once made 
 a pilgrimage to Mecca, they cannot be damned. 
 Of this I was assured by a renegado slave, a 
 Bulgarian by birth, who belonged to the lady 
 I have mentioned. lie was called I Iavauldoula, 
 which signifies, in the turkish language, ' servant 
 of God,' and pretended to have been three times 
 at Mecca. 1 formed an acquaintance with 
 him, because he spoke a little Italian, and 
 often kept me company in the night as well as 
 in the day. 
 
 In our conversations, I frequently questioned 
 him about Mohammed, and where his body was 
 interred. He told me it was at Mecca ; that 
 the shrine containing the body was in a circular 
 chapel, open at the top, and that it was through 
 this opening the pilgrims saw the shrine; that 
 among them were some, who, having seen it, 
 had their e)es thrust out, because they said, 
 after what they had just seen, the world could 
 no longer offer them any thing worth looking 
 
133 
 
 at. There were in fact, in this caravan, two 
 persons, the one of sixteen and the other of 
 twenty-two or twenty-three years old, who had 
 thus made themselves blind. 
 
 Hayauldoula told me also, that it was not 
 at Mecca where pardons for sin were granted, 
 but at Medina, where St Abraham built a 
 house that still remains *. The building is in 
 the form of a cloister, of which pilgrims make 
 the circuit. 
 
 With regard to the town, it is seated on 
 the sea-shore. Indians, the inhabitants of 
 Prester John's country, bring thither, in large 
 ships, spices, and other productions of their 
 country ; and thither the Mohammedans go 
 to purchase them. They load them on 
 camels, and other beasts of burden, for the 
 markets of Cairo, Damascus, and other places, 
 
 * Our traveller is mistaken. The tomb of Mohammed 
 is at Medina and not at Mecca ; and the house of Abraham 
 is at Mecca, and not Medina, where pilgrims gain pardons, 
 and where that great commerce is carried on# 
 

 134 
 
 as is well known. The distance from Mecca 
 to Damascus is forty days journey across the 
 desert. The heat is excessive ; and many of 
 the caravan were suffocated. 
 
 According to the renegado slave, the 
 annual caravan to Medina should be composed 
 of seven hundred thousand persons ; and when 
 this number is incomplete, God sends his 
 angels to make it up. At the great day of 
 judgment, Mohammed will admit into paradise 
 as many persons as he shall please, where 
 they will enjoy honey, milk, and women at 
 pleasure. 
 
 As I was incessantly hearing Mohammed 
 spoken of, I wished to know something about 
 him ; and, for this purpose, I addressed myself 
 to a priest in Damascus, attached to the 
 Venetian consul, who often said mass in his 
 house, confessed the merchants of that nation, 
 and, when necessary, regulated their affairs. 
 Having confessed myself to him, and settled 
 my worldly concerns, I asked him if he were 
 
135 
 
 acquainted with the doctrines of Mohammed. 
 He said he was, and knew all the Alcoran. I then 
 besought him, in the best manner I could, that 
 he would put down in writing all he knew of 
 him, that I might present it to my lord the 
 duke of Burgundy. He did so with pleasure; 
 and 1 have brought with me his work. 
 
 My intention was to go to Bursa ; and, 
 in consequence, I was introduced to a Moor, 
 who engaged to conduct me thither in the 
 track of the caravan, on paying him thirty 
 ducats and his expenses ; but as I was advised 
 to distrust the Moors, as people of bad faith, 
 and subject to break their promises, I did not 
 conclude the bargain. I say this for the 
 instruction of those who may have any concerns 
 with them, for I believe them to be such as 
 they were described to me. Hayauldoula, on 
 his part, procured me the acquaintance of 
 some caramanian merchants, but I took 
 another resolution. 
 
^H 
 
 135 
 
 In regard to the pilgrims that go to 
 Mecca, the grand Turk has a custom peculiar 
 to himself; at least, I am ignorant if the other 
 mohammedan powers do the same ; which is, 
 that when the caravan leaves his states, he 
 chooses for it a chief, whom they are bound 
 to obey as implicitly as himself. The chief of 
 this caravan was called Hoyarbarach : he was 
 a native of Bursa, and one of its principal 
 inhabitants. I caused myself to be presented 
 to him by mine host and another person, as a 
 man that wanted to go to that town to see 
 a brother : they entreated him to receive me 
 in his company, and to afford me his security. 
 He asked if I understood Arabic, Turkish, 
 Hebrew, the vulgar tongue, or Greek ? When 
 they replied that I did not, he answered, ' Well, 
 what can he pretend to do ?' 
 
 However, representations were made to 
 him, that on account of the war I dared not 
 go thither by sea, and that if he would 
 
137 
 
 condescend to admit me I would do as well 
 as I could* He then consented ; and, having 
 placed his two ands on his head and touched 
 his beard, he told me in the turkish language, 
 that I might join his slaves ; but he insisted 
 that I should be dressed just like them. 
 
 I went immediately after this interview, 
 with one of my friends, to the market, called the 
 Bazar, and bought two long white robes that 
 reached to my ancles, a complete turban, a linen 
 girdle, a fustian pair of drawers to tuck the 
 ends of my robe in, — two small bags, the one 
 for my own use, the other to hang on my 
 horse's head while feeding him with barley 
 and straw, — a leathern spoon and salt, a carpet 
 to sleep on, — and lastly a paletot (a sort of 
 doublet) of a white skin, which I lined with 
 linen cloth, and which was of service to me 
 in the nights. I purchased also a white tarquais 
 (a sort of quiver) complete, to which hung a 
 sword and knives ; but as to the tarquais and 
 sword, I could only buy them privately, — for 
 
 T 
 
Hh 
 
 13g 
 
 if those who have the administration of justice 
 had known of it, the seller and myself would 
 have run great risks. 
 
 The damascus blades are the handsomest 
 and best of all Syria ; and it is curious to 
 observe their manner of burnishing them. 
 This operation is performed before tempering; 
 and they have, for this purpose, a small piece 
 of wood, in which is fixed an iron, which they 
 rub up and down the blade, and thus clear off 
 all inequalities, as a plane does to wood : they 
 then temper and polish it. This polish is so 
 highly finished, that when any one wants to 
 arrange his turban, he uses his sword for a 
 looking- ""lass. As to its temper, it is perfect, 
 and I have nowhere seen swords that cut so 
 excellently. 
 
 There are made at Damascus, and in 
 the adjoining country, mirrors of steel, that 
 magnify objects like burning glasses. I have 
 seen some that, when exposed to the sun, have 
 reflected the heat so strongly as to set fire to a 
 plank fifteen or sixteen feet distant. 
 
139 
 
 I bought a small horse that turned out 
 very well. Before my departure, I had him 
 shod at Damascus; and thence, as far as Bursa, 
 which is near fifty days journey, I had nothing 
 to do with his feet, excepting one of the fore 
 ones which was pricked by a nail, and made 
 him lame for three weeks, so well do they 
 shoe their horses. The shoes are light, thin, 
 lengthened towards the heel, and thinner 
 there than at the toe. They are not turned 
 up, and have but four nail holes, two on each 
 side. The nails are square, with a thick and 
 heavy head. When a shoe is wanted, and it is 
 necessary to work it to make it fit the hoof, it 
 is done cold without ever putting it in the fire, 
 which can readily be done because it is so thin. 
 To pare the hoof, they use a pruning knife, 
 similar to what vine- dressers trim their vines 
 with, both in this as well as on the other side 
 of the sea. 
 
 The horses of this country only walk and 
 gallop ; and, when purchased, those who have 
 
I ■XSRSS 
 
 40 
 
 the best walk arc preferred, as in Europe those 
 who trot the best. They have wide nostrils, 
 gallop well, and are excellent, costing little on 
 the road; for they eat only at night, and then 
 but a small quantity of barley with chopped 
 straw. They never drink but in the afternoon ; 
 and their bridles are always left in their mouths, 
 even when in the stable, like mules : when there, 
 they have the two hinder legs tied, and they 
 are intermixed all together, horses and mares. 
 All are geldings, excepting a few kept for 
 stallions. Should you have any business with 
 a rich man, and call on him, he will carry 
 you, to speak with you, to his stables, which 
 are, consequently, kept always very cool, and 
 Very clean, 
 
 We, Europeans, prefer a stone-horse of a 
 good breed, but the Moors esteem only mares. 
 ]n that country, a great man is not ashamed 
 to ride a mare, with its foal running after the 
 dam. I have seen some exceedingly beautiful, 
 sold as high as two or three hundred ducats. 
 
141 
 
 They are accustomed to keep their horses 
 very low, and never to allow them to get fat. 
 The men of fortune carry with them, when 
 they ride, a small drum, which they use in 
 battle, or in skirmishes, to rally their men : it 
 is fastened to the pummel of their saddles, 
 and they beat on it with a piece of flat 
 leather. I also purchased one, with spurs, and 
 vermilion-coloured boots, which came up to 
 my knees, according to the custom of the 
 country. 
 
 As a mark of my gratitude to Hoyarbarach, 
 I went to offer him a pot of green ginger, but 
 he refused it ; and it was by dint of prayers 
 and entreaties that I prevailed on him to accept 
 of it. I had not any other pledge for my 
 security than what 1 have mentioned ; but I 
 found him full of frankness and good will, 
 more, perhaps, than I should have found in 
 many Christians. 
 
 God, who had protected me in the 
 accomplishment of this journey, brought me 
 
142 
 
 acquainted with a Jew of Caffa, who spoke 
 the tartar and italian languages ; and 1 requested 
 him to assist me in putting down in writing the 
 names of every thing I might have occasion to 
 want for myself and my horse, while on the 
 road. On our arrival, the first day's journey, 
 at Bailee, I drew out my paper to know how 
 to ask for barley and chopped straw, which 
 I wanted to give my horse. Ten or twelve 
 Turks near me, observing my action, burst 
 into laughter, and, coming nearer to examine 
 my paper, seemed as much surprised at our 
 writing as we are with theirs. They took a 
 liking to me, and made every effort to teach 
 me to speak Turkish : they were never weary 
 of making me often repeat the same thing, 
 and pronounced it so many different ways 
 that I could not fail to retain it ; so, when we 
 separated, I knew how to call for every thing 
 necessary for myself and horse. 
 
 During the stay of the caravan at 
 Damascus, 1 made a pilgrimage about sixteen 
 
145 
 
 miles distant, to our lady of Serdenay. To 
 arrive there, we traversed a mountain a full 
 quarter of a mile in length, to which the 
 gardens of Damascus extend. We then 
 descended into a delightful valley, full of 
 vineyards and gardens, with a handsome 
 fountain of excellent water. Here, on a rock, 
 has been erected a small castle, with a church 
 of greek monks, having a portrait of the virgin 
 painted on wood, whose head has been carried 
 thither miraculously, but in what manner I am 
 ignorant. 
 
 It is added, that it always sweats, and that 
 this sweat is an oil *. All I can say is, that 
 
 * Many authors of the 1 3th century mention this virgin 
 of Serdenay, that was famous during the croisades ; and they 
 speak of this oily sweat, that had the reputation of doing 
 miracles. These fabulous accounts of miraculous sweatings 
 were common in Asia. Among others, that which exuded 
 from the tomb of the bishop Nicholas, one of those 
 saints Avhose existence is more than doubtful, was much 
 vaunted. This pretended liquor of Nicholas was even an 
 object of adoration ; and we read, that in 1 65 1 , a clergyman at 
 Taris, having received a phial of it, demande! and obtained 
 

 14* 
 
 when I went thither I was shewn at the end of 
 the church, behind the great altar, a niche 
 formed in the wall, where I saw the image, 
 which was a flat thing, and might be about one 
 foot and a half high by one foot wide. 1 cannot 
 say whether it is of wood or stone, for it was 
 entirely covered with clothes. The front was 
 closed with an iron trellis, and underneath 
 was the vase containing the oil. A woman 
 accosted me, and with a silver spoon moved 
 aside the clothes, and wanted to anoiht me 
 with the sign of the cross on the forehead, the 
 temples and breast. I believe this was a mere 
 trick to get money : nevertheless, I do not 
 mean to say that our lady may not have more 
 power than this image. 
 
 I returned to Damascus, and on the 
 evening of the departure of the caravan 
 settled my affairs, and my conscience, as if 
 
 permission from the archbishop to expose it to the veneration 
 of the faithful.—//^, de Paris, &c. from Le Boeuf, t. 1 . 
 part 2. p. 557. 
 
145 
 
 I had been at the point of death ; bat suddenly 
 I found myself in great trouble. I have before 
 mentioned the messenger whom the saltan 
 had sent with orders to arrest all the genoese 
 and catalonian merchants found within his 
 dominions. By virtue of this order, my host, 
 who was a Genoese, was arrested, his effects 
 seized, and a-Moor placed in his house to take 
 care of them. I endeavoured to save ai! I 
 could for him ; and that the Moor might not 
 notice it, I made him drunk. I was arrested 
 in my turn, and carried before one of their 
 cadies, who are considered as somewhat like 
 our bishops, and have the office of administering 
 justice. This cadi turned me over to another 
 cadi, who sent me to prison with the merchants, 
 although he knew I was not one; but this 
 disagreeable affair had been brought on me by 
 an interpreter who wanted to extort money 
 from me, as he had before attempted on my 
 first journey hither. Had it not been for 
 Antoine Mourrouzin, the Venetian consul, I 
 
 u 
 
14(7 
 
 must have paid a sum of money ; but I 
 remained in prison, and, in the mean time, the 
 caravan set off. 
 
 The consul, to obtain my liberty, was 
 forced to make intercession, conjointly with 
 others, to the governor of Damascus, alledging 
 that I had been arrested without cause, which 
 the interpreter well knew. The governor sent 
 for a Genoese, named Gentil Imperial, a 
 merchant employed by the sultan to purchase 
 slaves for him at Caffa. He asked me who I 
 was, and my business at Damascus. On my 
 replying that I was a Frenchman returning 
 from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, he said they 
 had done wrong to detain me. and that I 
 might depart when I pleased, 
 
 I set off on the morrow of the sixth of 
 October, accompanied by a Moucre, whom I 
 had first charged to carry my turkish dress out 
 of the town, because a Christian is not 
 permitted to wear a white turban there. At a 
 short distance, a mountain rises, on which I 
 
147 
 
 was shewn a house, said to have been that of 
 Cain. During the first day we travelled over 
 mountains, but the road was good. On the 
 second day we entered a fine country, which 
 continued cheerful until we came to Balbeck. 
 
 My Moucre there quitted me, as I had 
 overtaken the caravan. It was encamped 
 near a river, on account of the great heat in 
 these parts : the nights are nevertheless very 
 cold, which will scarcely be believed, and 
 the dews exceedingly heavy. I waited on 
 Hoyarbarach, who confirmed the permission 
 he had granted me to accompany him, and 
 recommended it to me not to quit the 
 caravan. 
 
 On the morrow morning, at eleven 
 o'clock, I gave my horse water, with oats 
 and straw, according to the custom of our 
 countries. This time the Turks said nothing 
 to me; but at six o'clock in the evening, 
 when, having given him water, I was about 
 fastening the. bag, that he might eat, they 
 

 
 H8 
 
 opposed it, and took off the bag; for they 
 never suffer their horses to eat but during the 
 night, and will not ailow one to begin eating 
 before the rest, unless when they are at grass. 
 
 The captain of the caravan had with 
 him a mameluke of the sultan, who was a 
 Circassian, and going to Caramania in search 
 of a brother. This man seeing me alone, 
 and ignorant of the language of the country, 
 charitably wished to serve me as a companion, 
 and took me with him ; but, as he had no tent, 
 we were often obliged to pass the nights under 
 trees in gardens. 
 
 It was then that I was obliged to learn to 
 sleep on the ground, to drink nothing but water, 
 ai.d to sit cross-legged. This posture was at 
 first painful, but it was still more so to 
 accustom myself to sit my horse with such very 
 short stirrups, — and I suffered so much, that 
 when I had dismounted, I could not remount 
 without assistance, so sore were my hams; but 
 
149 
 
 after a little time, this manner seemed even 
 more convenient than ours. 
 
 That same evening I supped with the 
 mameluke; but we had only bread, cheese 
 and milk. I had, when eating, a table-cloth, 
 like the rich men of the country. These cloths 
 are four feet in diameter, and round, having 
 strings attached to them, so that they may be 
 drawn up like a purse. When they are used, 
 they are spread out; and when the meal is over, 
 they are drawn up with all that remains within 
 them, without their losing a crumb of bread or 
 a raisin. But I observed, that whether their 
 repast had been good or bad, they never failed 
 to return thanks aloud to God. 
 
 Balbeck is a good town, well inclosed 
 with walls, and tolerably commercial. In the 
 center is a castle, built with very large stones. 
 At present it contains a mosque, in which, it 
 is said, there is a human skull, with eyes so 
 enormous that a man may pass his head 
 through their openings. I cannot affirm this 
 
150 
 
 for fact, as none but Saracens may enter the 
 mosque. 
 
 From Balbeck we went to Hamos, and 
 encamped on the banks of a river. It was 
 there I observed their manner of encamping 
 and pitching their tents. The tents are neither 
 very high nor very large, so that one man can 
 pitch them, and six persons may with ease 
 repc» c .e in them during the heat. In the course 
 of the day they lay open the lower parts, to 
 give passage to the air, and close them in the 
 night tiuie. One camel can carry seven or 
 eight with thin poles : some of them are very 
 handsome. 
 
 As my companion, the Mameluke, and 
 myself, had no tent, we fixed our quarters in a 
 garden. There we were joined by two 
 Turcomans of Satalia, returning from Mecca, 
 who supped with us. These men, seeing 
 me well clothed and well mounted, having a 
 handsome sword, and well furnished tarquais, 
 proposed to the Mameluke, as he afterwards 
 
51 
 
 owned when we separated, to make away with 
 me, considering that I was but a Christian, 
 and unworthy of being in their company. He 
 answered, that since I had eaten bread and salt 
 with them, it would be a great crime ; that it 
 was forbidden by their law ; and that, after all, 
 God had created the Christians as well as the 
 Saracens. 
 
 They, however, persisted in their design ; 
 and as I testified a desire of seeing Aleppo, 
 the most considerable town in Syria after 
 Damascus, they pressed me to join them. 
 I was ignorant of their intention, and accepted 
 their offer; but I am now convinced they only 
 wanted to cut my throat. The Mameluke 
 forbade them to come any more near us, and 
 by this means saved my life. 
 
 We set out from Balbeck two hours 
 before day; and our caravan consisted of from 
 four to five hundred persons, with six or seven 
 hundred camels and mules ; for it had great 
 
^H 
 
 
 151 
 
 
 quantities of spicery. I will describe the order 
 of its march. 
 
 The caravan has a very large drum; and 
 the moment the chief orders the departure, 
 three loud strokes are beaten. Every one then 
 makes himself ready, and, when prepared, 
 joins the file without uttering a word. Ten 
 of our people would, in such cases, make more 
 noise than a thousand of theirs. Thus they 
 march in silence, unless it be at night, or that 
 any one should sing a song celebrating the 
 heroic deeds of their ancestors. At the break 
 of day, two or three placed at a great distance 
 from each other cry out, and answer one 
 another, as is done from the towers of the 
 mosques at the usual hours. In short, a little 
 before and after run-rise, devout people make 
 their customary prayers and oblations. 
 
 To perform these oblations, if they be near 
 a rivulet, they dismount, and, with feet naked, 
 they wash their whole bodies. Should there, 
 
153 
 
 be no rivulet near, at the usual time for these 
 ceremonies, they pass their hands over their 
 bodies. The last among them washes his 
 mouth and the opposite part, and then turns 
 to the south, when all raise two fingers in the 
 air, prostrate themselves, and kiss the ground 
 thrice: they then rise up and say their prayers. 
 They have been ordered to practise these 
 ablutions instead of confessions. Persons of 
 rank, to avoid failing in their performance, 
 always carry, when they travel, leathern bottles 
 full of water, which are suspended under the 
 bellies of camels or horses, and are generally 
 very handsome. 
 
 Hamos (Hems) is a good town, well 
 inclosed with walls and ditches • en glacis,* 
 situated in a plain on the banks of a small 
 river. Here terminates one end of the plain 
 of Noah, which is said to extend as far as 
 Persia. Tamerlane made his irruption through 
 this plain when he took and destroyed so many 
 cities. At the extremity of the town is a 
 
- 
 
 
 15 i< 
 
 handsome castle, constructed on a height, with 
 glacis as far as the walls. 
 
 From Hems, we went to Hama. The 
 country is fine ; but I saw few inhabitants 
 excepting Arabs, who were rebuilding some 
 of the ruined villages. I met with a merchant 
 fromVenice in Hama, named Laurent Souranze. 
 He received me well, lodged me in his house, 
 and shewed me the town and castle. It has 
 good towers, with strong and thick walls, built, 
 like the castle of Provins, on a rock, in which 
 deep ditches have been cut. At one end of 
 the town is the castle, strongly and well built 
 on an elevation, which is fortified by ditches, 
 and surmounted by a citadel which commands 
 the whole ; and the sides are washed by a river, 
 said to be one of the four that flowed out of 
 paradise. I know not if this be fact or not : 
 all that I know is, that it runs east-south-east, 
 and loses itself near Antioch. 
 
 Here is the greatest wheel I ever saw. 
 It is put in motion by the river, and supplies 
 
155 
 
 the inhabitants, although numerous, with the 
 necessary quantity of water. The water falls 
 into a trough cut in the castle-rock, and thence 
 is conducted to the town, where it flows through 
 the streets in an aqueduct formed on great 
 square pillars twelve feet high, and two wide. 
 I was in want of several things to be like my 
 fellow-travellers, of which the Mameluke 
 having informed me, my host Laurent carried 
 me himself to the bazar to purchase. The 
 things wanted were small silken bonnets, in 
 the fashion of the Turcomans, a cap to wear 
 under them, turkish spoons, knives with their 
 steel, a comb and case, and a leathern cup, — 
 all of which are suspended to the sword. 
 I likewise bought some finger-stalls to draw 
 the bow, another tarquais complete — to save 
 the one I had, which was very handsome — and 
 lastly a capinat, which is a robe of fine white 
 felt, impenetrable to the rain. 
 
 On the road I made acquaintance with 
 some of my fellow-travellers, who, when they 
 
 
156 
 
 found out that I lodged with a Frank, came 
 
 to ask me to procure them some wine. This 
 
 liquor is forbidden them by their religion, and 
 
 they dare not drink it before their own 
 
 countrymen ; but they hoped to do it without 
 
 risk at the house of a Frank, and yet they were 
 
 returning from Mecca ! J spoke of it to my 
 
 host Laurent, but he said he was afraid to 
 
 comply, from the great dangers he should run 
 
 were it known. I went to carry them this 
 
 answer; but they had been more fortunate 
 
 elsewhere, in procuring some at the house of 
 
 a Greek. They proposed that I should 
 
 accompany them to partake, whether from 
 
 pure friendship, or to authorise them to 
 
 drink wine in the presence of the Greek. 
 
 This man conducted us to a small gallery 
 
 where we all six seated ourselves in a circle on 
 
 the floor. He first placed in the midst of us a 
 
 large and handsome earthen jug, that might 
 
 contain four gallons at least: he then brought 
 
 for each çf us a pot full of wine, which he 
 
157 
 
 poured into the jug, and placed beside it two 
 earthen porringers to serve for glasses. 
 
 The first who began, drank to his 
 companion, according to their custom ; this 
 did the same to the next, and so on the others. 
 We drank in this manner for a long time 
 without eating ; at length, I perceived that I 
 could no longer continue it without suffering, 
 and begged of them, with uplifted hands, to 
 permit me to leave off; but they grew very 
 angry, and complained as if I had been resolved 
 to interrupt their pleasure and do them an 
 injury. Fortunately there was one among 
 them more acquainted with me than the rest, 
 and who loved me so that he called me 
 1 Kardays,' that is to say, Brother. He 
 offered to take my place, and to drink for me 
 when it should be my turn. T his appeased 
 them, and, having accepted the offer, the party 
 continued until evening, when it was nccebsary 
 for us to return to the khan. 
 
158 
 
 The captain of the caravan was, at the 
 moment, seated on a bench of stone, and had 
 before him a hghted torch. It was not difficult 
 for him to guess whence we came, and, 
 consequently, four of our companions slipped 
 away, and one only remained with me. 
 I mention all this, to forewarn any persons 
 that may travel through these countries, to 
 avoid drinking with the natives, unless they 
 shall wish to swallow so much as will make 
 them fall to the ground. 
 
 The Mameluke, who was ignorant of my 
 debauch, had, during that time, bought a 
 goose for us both. He had just boiled it ; 
 and, for want of verjuice, had dressed it 
 with the green leaves of the leek : I eat of it 
 with him, and it lasted us for three days. 
 
 I should have liked to have seen Aleppo ; 
 but the caravan taking the strait road to 
 Antioch, I was forced to give up all thoughts 
 of it. As the caravan was not to set out for 
 
159 
 
 two days, the Mameluke proposed that we 
 should ride forward, the more easily to procure 
 lodgings. Four turkish merchants desired to 
 be of our party, and we six travelled together. 
 
 Half a league from Hama, we came to 
 the river, and crossed it by a bridge. It had 
 overflowed, although there had not been any 
 rain. Here I wished to give my horse some 
 water; but as the bank was steep, and the river 
 deep, had not the Mameluke come to my aid, 
 T must inevitably have been drowned. 
 
 On the opposite side of the river is a long 
 and vast plain, where we met six or eight 
 Turcomans, accompanied by a woman. She 
 wore a tarquais like them ; and, on enquiring 
 into this, I was told that the women of this 
 nation are brave, and in time of war fight like 
 men. It was added, and this seemed to me 
 very extraordinary, that there are about thirty 
 thousand women who thus bear the tarquais, 
 and are under the dominion of a lord, 
 

 160 
 
 named Turcgadiroly, who resides among the 
 mountains of Armenia, on the frontiers of 
 
 Porçi 
 
 v-I OlU.» 
 
 The second day's journey was through a 
 mountainous country, tolerably fertile, though 
 ill watered ; but we saw nothing but ruined 
 houses. As we travelled, my Mameluke 
 taught me to shoot with the bow, and made 
 me buy finger-stalls and rings for this purpose. 
 At length we arrived at a village that was 
 rich in woods, vineyards and corn fields, but 
 having no other water than what was in 
 cisterns. 
 
 This district seemed to have been formerly 
 inhabited by Christians; and I own it gave me 
 great pleasure when I was told, that it had all 
 belonged to Franks, and the ruins of churches 
 were shewn me as a proof of it. 
 
 We fixed our quarters in this village ; and 
 it was then I first saw the habitations of the 
 Turcomans, and women of that nation with 
 
161 
 
 Uncovered faces. They commonly hide them 
 under a piece of black tammy, to which 
 those who are wealthy attach pieces of money 
 and precious stones. The men are good 
 archers. I saw several draw the bow, which 
 they do sitting, and at a short distance ; and 
 this gives to their arrows great rapidity and 
 strength. 
 
 On leaving Syria, we entered Turcomania, 
 called by us Armenia. The capital is a very 
 considerable town, named Antequayé by them, 
 and by us Antioch. It was very flourishing 
 in former times, and has still handsome walls 
 in good repair, which inclose a large tract of 
 ground, and even some mountains ; but its 
 houses are not more than three hundred in 
 number. It is bounded on the south by a 
 mountain, on the north by a great lake, 
 beyond which is an open and fine country. 
 The river that comes from Hama runs 
 alongside the walls. Almost all the inhabitants 
 are Turcomans or Arabs ; and their profession 
 

 
 162 
 
 is breeding cattle, such as camels, goats, cows 
 and sheep. 
 
 The goats are, for the most part, white, 
 and the handsomest 1 have ever seen, not 
 having, like those of Syria, hanging ears ; and 
 their hair is soft, of some length, and curling. 
 Their sheep have thick and broad tails. They 
 also feed wild asses, which they tame : these 
 much resemble stags in their hair, ears and 
 head, and have, like them, cloven feet. I know 
 not if they have the same cry, for I never heard 
 them. They are large, handsome, and go 
 with other beasts ; but I have never seen them 
 mounted *. 
 
 For the carriage of merchandise they use 
 the buffalo and ox, as we do the horse. They 
 also use them to ride on; and I have seen 
 large herds, some carrying goods and others 
 men. 
 
 * This animal cannot be an ass, for it has a cloven 
 foot, which the ass has not. It may probably be a sort of 
 antilope, or rather a buffalo. 
 
163 
 
 The lord of this country was Ramedang, 
 a rich, powerful and brave prince. For some 
 time he was so redoubtable that the sultan was 
 alarmed, and afraid to anger him ; but, wishing 
 to destroy him, he practised with the karman, 
 who could more easily deceive Ramedang 
 than any other, having given him his sister in 
 marriage. In consequence, one day, as they 
 were eating together, the karman arrested him 
 and delivered him to the sultan, who put him 
 to death, and took possession of Turcomania, 
 giving, however, a portion of it to the karman. 
 On leaving Antioch, I continued my road with 
 the Mameluke, and we first crossed a mountain 
 called Negre, on which he pointed out to me 
 three or four handsome castles in ruins, that 
 had belonged to the Christians. The road is 
 good, and incessantly perfumed by the number 
 of laurels with which the country abounds; 
 but the descent is twice as rapid as the ascent. 
 It finishes at the gulph of Asacs, which we 
 call Layaste, because, in fact, it takes its name 
 
164 
 
 from the town of Ayas. This gulf extends 
 itself between two mountains inland for upward 
 of fifteen miles : its breadth may be about 
 twelve, but I refer for this to the sea charts. 
 
 At the foot of the mountain, near the 
 road, and close to the sea-shore, are the ruins 
 of a strong castle, defended on the landside by 
 a marsh, so that it could only be approached 
 by sea, or by a narrow causeway across the 
 marsh. It was inhabited, but the Turcomans 
 had posted themselves hard by. They occupied 
 one hundred and twenty tents, some of felt, 
 others of white and blue cotton, all very 
 handsome, and capable of containing, with 
 ease, from fifteen to sixteen persons. These 
 are their houses, and, as we do in ours, they 
 perform in them all their household business 
 except making fires. 
 
 We halted among them : they placed 
 before us one of the table-cloths before 
 mentioned, in which there remained fragments, 
 of bread, cheese and grapes. They then 
 
1<S5 
 
 brought us a dozen of thin cakes of bread, 
 with a large jug of curdled milk, called by 
 them Yogort. The cakes are a foot broad, 
 round, and thinner than wafers : they fold 
 them up as grocers do their papers for spices, 
 and eat them filled with the curdled milk. 
 
 A league further is a karavansera, where 
 we lodged. These establishments consist of 
 houses like the khans in Syria. 
 
 In the course of this day's journey, 
 I overtook on the road an Armenian, who 
 spoke a little Italian. Finding I was a 
 Christian, he entered into conversation with 
 me, and told me many things of the country, 
 its inhabitants, and likewise of the sultan, 
 and Ramedang, lord of Turcomania, whom 
 I have already mentioned. He said, that 
 this last was of a large size, very brave, 
 and the most expert of all the Turks in 
 handling a battle-axe and sword. His mother 
 was a Christian, and had caused him to be 
 baptised according to the greek ritual, to take 
 
166 
 
 from him the smell and odour of those who 
 are not baptised *. But he was neither a good 
 Christian nor a good Saracen; and when they 
 spoke to him of the two prophets, Jesus and 
 Mohammed, he said, ' For my part, I am for 
 the living prophets : they will be more useful 
 to me than dead ones.' 
 
 His territories on one side joined those of 
 the karman, whose sister he had married, and 
 on the other Syria, which belonged to the 
 sultan. Every time the subjects of the latter 
 passed through his country, he exacted tolls 
 from them. But at length the sultan prevailed 
 on the karman, as I have before noticed, to 
 betray his brother-in-law to him ; and at this 
 moment he possesses all Turcomania as far as 
 Tharsus, and even one day's journey further. — 
 That day, accompanied by the Armenian, we 
 
 * The Christians of Asia were perfectly persuaded that 
 the infidels had a disagreeable smell that was peculiar to them, 
 and which baptism took away. This superstition will be 
 again noticed. The baptism was, according to the greek 
 rityal, by immersion. 
 
167 
 
 once more lodged with the Turcomans, who 
 again served us with milk. It was here I saw 
 women make those thin cakes I spoke of. 
 This is their manner of making them : they 
 have a small round table, very smooth, on 
 which they throw some flour, and mix it with 
 water to a paste, softer than that for bread. 
 This paste they divide into round pieces, 
 which they flatten as much as possible with a 
 wooden roller, of a smaller diameter than an 
 ^gg, until they make them as thin as 1 have 
 mentioned. During this operation, they have 
 a convex plate of iron placed on a tripod, and 
 heated by a gentle fire underneath, on which 
 they spread the cake, and instantly turn it, so 
 that they make two of their cakes sooner than 
 a waferman can make one wafer. 
 
 I was two days traversing the country 
 round the gulf. It is handsome, and had 
 formerly many castles belonging to Christians, 
 at present destroyed. Such was the one seen 
 to the eastward before we arrived at A>as. 
 
1(58 
 
 The inhabitants are Turcomans, who are a 
 handsome race, excellent archers, and living 
 on little. Their dwellings are round, like 
 pavilions, covered with felt. They live in the 
 open plain, and have a chief whom they obey ; 
 but they frequently change their situation, 
 when they carry their houses with them. In 
 this case, they are accustomed to submit 
 themselves to the lord on whose lands they 
 fix, and even to assist him with their arms, 
 should he be at war. But should they quit 
 his domains, and pass over to those of his 
 enemy, they serve him in his turn against the 
 other ; and they are noway thought the worse 
 of for this, as it is their custom, and they are 
 wanderers. 
 
 On my road, I met one of their chiefs 
 hawking with falcons, with which he took 
 tame geese. I was told, that he might 
 have under his command ten thousand 
 Turcomans. The country is favourable to 
 the chace, but intersected by many small 
 
\G9 
 
 rivers that fall into the gulf. Wild boars are 
 here abundant. 
 
 About the centre of the gulf is a defile 
 formed by a rock, under which the road 
 passes : it is not two bow-shots from the sea ; 
 and this passage was formerly defended by a 
 castle, which made it very strong, but it is 
 now in ruins» 
 
 On leaving this streight, we entered a fine 
 extensive plain inhabited by Turcomans : my 
 companion, the Armenian, pointed out to me 
 a castle on a mountain, where were only people 
 of his nation, and the walls of which were 
 washed by a river called Jehon. We travelled 
 along the banks of this river to a town called 
 Misse-sur- Jehon, because it runs through it. 
 
 Misse, situated four days journey from 
 Antioch, belonged to the Christians, and was 
 a considerable city. Many churches, half 
 destroyed, still remain : the choir of the great 
 church is yet entire, but converted into a 
 mosque. The bridge is of wood, the former 
 
 z 
 
170 
 
 stone one having been carried away by the 
 floods. One half of the town is completely 
 in ruins : the other half has preserved its wails, 
 and about three hundred houses, filled with 
 Turcomans. 
 
 From Misse to Adena,the country continues 
 level and good, inhabited by Turcomans. 
 Adena is two days journey from Misse, and 
 I there proposed to wait for the caravan. It 
 arrived : I went with the Mameluke, together 
 with some others, many of whom were great 
 merchants, to lodge near the bridge, between 
 the river and the walls of the town ; and it was 
 there I observed the manner of theTurks saying 
 their prayers and offering sacrifice. They no 
 way hid themselves from my notice, but on 
 the contrary seemed well pleased when I said 
 my Pater noster, which seemed to them 
 wonderful. I sometimes heard them chaunt 
 their prayers at the beginning of the night, — 
 when they seat themselves in a circle, and 
 shake their bodies and heads while they sing 
 in a very uncouth manner. 
 
171 
 
 One day, they carried me with them to 
 the stoves and baths of the town ; and as I 
 refused to bathe, for I must have undrest 
 myself, and was afraid of showing my money, 
 they gave me their clothes to keep. From this 
 moment, we were much connected. 
 
 The bath-house is very high, and terminated 
 by a dome, in which a circular opening is 
 contrived to light the whole interior. The 
 stoves and baths are handsome, and very clean. 
 When the bathers come out of the water, they 
 seat themselves on small hurdles of thin osiers, 
 dry themselves, and comb their beards. 
 
 It was at Adena 1 first saw the two young 
 men who had got their eyes thrust out at Mecca, 
 after having seen the tomb of Mohammed. 
 
 The Turks bear well fatigue and a hard 
 life: they are not incommoded, as I have 
 witnessed, during the whole journey, by 
 sleeping on the ground like animals. They 
 are of a gay, cheerful humour, and willingly 
 sing songs of the heroic deeds of their ancestors. 
 
172 
 
 Any one, therefore, who wishes to live with 
 them must not be grave or melancholy, but 
 always have a smiling countenance. They are 
 also men of probity, and charitable toward 
 each other. 1 have often observed, that should 
 a poor person pass by when they are eating, 
 they would invite him to partake of their 
 meal, which is a thing we never do. 
 
 In many places, I found they did not bake 
 their bread half as much as ours. It is soft, 
 and, unless a person be accustomed to it, is 
 difficult to be chewed. In regard to meat, 
 they eat it raw, dried in the sun. When any 
 of their beasts, horse or camel, is so dangerously 
 ill that no hopes remain of saving its life, they 
 cut its throat, and eat it not raw, but a little 
 dressed. They are very clean in the dressing 
 their meat, but eat it dirtily. They, in like 
 manner, keep their beard very neat and clean, 
 but never wash their hands but when they bathe, 
 when they are about to say their prayers, or 
 when they wash their beards and hinder parts. 
 
173 
 
 Adcna is a tolerably good commercial 
 town, well inclosed with walls, situated in a 
 fine country, and sufficiently near the sea. 
 The river Adena, which is wide and rises 
 among the high mountains of Armenia, flows 
 beneath its walls. It has over it a long bridge, 
 and the broadest I ever saw. Its inhabitants 
 and prince are Turcomans : the prince is 
 brother to the brave Ramedang, whom the 
 sultan had murdered. I was told the sultan 
 had his son in his power, but dared not suffer 
 him to return into Turcomania. 
 
 From Adena, I went to Thuro, which we 
 call Tharsis. The country continues good, 
 though near the mountains, and is inhabited 
 by Turcomans, who live in villages or in tents. 
 The district around Tharsis abounds in corn, 
 wine, wood and water. It was a famous 
 town, and very ancient buildings are still seen 
 in it. I believe this was the town besieged by 
 Baldwin, brother to Godfrey of Bouillon. 
 At present it has a governor appointed by the 
 

 174 
 
 sultan, and many Moors live within it. It is 
 defended by a castle, with ditches ' à glacis,* 
 and by a double wall, which in some parts is 
 triple. A small river runs through it, and 
 there is another at a short distance. 
 
 I found there a cypriot merchant, named 
 Antony, who had resided in this country a long 
 time, and knew the language well. He talked 
 to me very pertinently about it ; but he did 
 me another favour, that of giving me some 
 good wine, for I had not tasted any for several 
 days. 
 
 Th arsis is but sixty miles from Curco, a 
 castle built on the sea-shore, belonging to the 
 king of Cyprus. 
 
 In this whole country, they speak the 
 turkish tongue, which begins even to be spoken 
 at Antioch, the capital, as I have before said, 
 of Turcomania. It is a very fine language, 
 laconic, and easily learnt. 
 
 As wc had to cross the high mountains 
 of Armenia, Hoyarbarach, the chief of our 
 
115 
 
 caravan would have it all assembled ; and, for 
 this purpose, he waited some days for those in 
 the rear to come up. At last we departed, 
 on the eve of All-souls-day. The Mameluke 
 advised me to lay in provision for four days. 
 1 consequently purchased a sufficiency of bread 
 and cheese for myself, and of oats and barley 
 for my horse. On quitting Tharsis, we 
 travelled three french leagues over a fine 
 champaign country, peopled with Turcomans; 
 and then we entered on the mountains, which 
 are the highest I have ever seen. They skirt 
 on three sides the country I had travelled over 
 from Antioch : the sea bounds the other on 
 the south. 
 
 We first passed through woods during a 
 whole day, but the road is not bad. We lodged 
 in the evening at a narrow pass, where there 
 seemed to have been formerly a castle. The 
 second day's journey was not at all disagreeable, 
 and we passed the night at a caravansera. The 
 third, we followed the banks of a small river, 
 
17G 
 
 and saw on the mountains an innumerable 
 quantity of speckled partridges. 
 
 In the evening, we halted on a plain about 
 a league in length and a quarter wide, where 
 four great valleys met ; — the one by which 
 we had come, — another that runs northward 
 towards the country of the lord called 
 Turcgadirony, and towards Persia : the third 
 runs eastward, and I know not whether this 
 also does not lead to Persia : the last extends 
 to the westward, and it is that which I followed, 
 and which conducted me to the country of 
 the karman. Each of these four has a river, 
 and the four rivers run to this last country. 
 
 It snowed much during the night. To 
 save my horse from the weather, I covered 
 him with my capinat, the felt robe, which 
 I used for a cloak; but I myself caught cold, 
 and got that disagreeable disorder, a dysentery. 
 Had it not been for my Mameluke, I should 
 have been in great danger; but he assisted me, 
 and made me instantly quit the place in which 
 
117 
 
 I was. We both, therefore, set off very early, 
 and ascended the high mountains where the 
 castle of Cublech is situated, and is the highest 
 I am acquainted with. It is seen two days 
 journey off; hut sometimes we turned our 
 backs to it, by reason of the windings of the 
 mountains, sometimes also we lost sight of it, 
 as it was hidden by their height. No one can 
 penetrate into the country of the karman 
 but on foot over the mountain on which 
 this castle is built. The pass is narrow, 
 and in some places has been perforated by 
 the chissel, but it is every where commanded 
 by Cublech. This castle, the last which the 
 Armenians lost, belongs at this day to the 
 karman, who had it in his division after the 
 death of Ramedang. 
 
 These mountains are covered with 
 perpetual snow, having only a road for horses, 
 although there are some plains scattered among 
 them. They are dangerous on account of the 
 Turcomans who inhabit them ; but during the 
 
 A A 
 

 178 
 
 four days I was travelling among them, I never 
 perceived a single dwelling. 
 
 On leaving the mountains of Armenia, to 
 enter the country of the karman, there are 
 still others to be crossed. On one of them is 
 a pass, having a castle called Lève, where a 
 toll is paid to the karman. This toll was 
 farmed to a Greek, who, on seeing me, judged 
 from my features that I was a Christian, and 
 stopped me. If I had been forced to return I 
 should have been a dead man, for I was 
 afterward assured, that before I had gone half 
 a league my throat would have been cut, for 
 the caravan was at a great distance. Fortunately 
 my Mameluke bribed the Greek, and, in 
 consideration of two ducats that I gave him, 
 he opened the passage. 
 
 Further on is the castle of Asers, and, 
 beyond that the castle of a town called Araclie 
 (Eregli.) 
 
 On descending the mountain, we entered 
 a plain as level as the sea : then are seen sonic 
 
179 
 
 heights toward the north, which, scattered 
 here and there, appear like so many islands in 
 the midst of the waves. It is on this plain 
 that Eregli is situated, a town formerly 
 inclosed, but now in the greatest state of ruin. 
 I found there, however, some provision ; for 
 my last four days journey from Tharsus had 
 afforded me nothing but water. The environs 
 of the town are covered with villages, inhabited 
 chiefly by Turcomans. 
 
 On quitting Eregli, we met two gentlemen 
 of the country, who appeared to be men of 
 distinction : they shewed great friendship to 
 the Mameluke, and carried him to regale at 
 an adjoining village, the dwellings of which 
 are cut out of the rock. We passed the night 
 there, but I was forced to stay the remainder 
 of the time in a cavern, to take care of our 
 horses. When the Mameluke returned, he told 
 me that these two men had asked who I was, 
 and that in his answer he had misled them, 
 by saying I was a Circassian, who could not 
 speak Arabic. 
 
ISO 
 
 From Ercgli to Larande, whither our 
 route lay, is two days journey. This town, 
 though not inclosed, is large, commercial, and 
 well situated. There was, in ancient times, a 
 great and strong castle in the center of the 
 town, the gates of which are now visible : they 
 are of iron, and very handsome, but the walls 
 are destroyed. There is a fine plain between 
 these two towns ; and after I left Lève I did 
 not notice a single tree in the open country. 
 
 There were in Larande two cypriot 
 gentlemen, the one named Lyachin Caslrico, 
 the other Léon Maschero, who both spoke 
 very tolerable French *. They inquired of 
 me my country, and what had brought me 
 thither : I replied, that I was a servant of my 
 lord of Burgundy, that I came from Jerusalem 
 
 * The Lusignans, when kings of Cyprus, toward the 
 end of the twelfth century, had introduced the french 
 language into that island. It was at Cyprus, when St Louis 
 put in there on his croisade to Kgypt, that die code called ' the 
 Assizes of JeiusalenV was drawn up and published, and which 
 became the code of laws for the Cypriots. The french 
 language continued to be that of the court and of well 
 educated persons. 
 
1S1 
 
 to Damascus, and was following the caravan. 
 They appeared astonished that I had been 
 su fibred to pass ; but when they had asked 
 whither I was going, and I had answered, 
 that I was on my return overland through 
 France to my foresaid lord, — they told me it 
 was impossible to be done, and that if I had 
 a thousand lives, I should lose them all. In 
 consequence, they proposed that I should 
 return to Cyprus with them ; for there were 
 at that island two galleys that had come thither 
 to convey back the daughter of the king, who 
 had been betrothed in marriage to the son of 
 my lord of Savoy * ; and they doubted not 
 but the king, from the love and respect he 
 bore to the duke of Burgundy, would grant 
 me a passage on board one of them. I replied, 
 that, since God had graciously permitted that 
 
 * Louis, son to Amadseus VIII. duke of Savoy. He 
 married in 1432 Anne de Lusignan, daughter to Jean II. king 
 of Cyprus, deceased in the month of June, and sister to 
 Jean III. then on the throne. 
 
mmm^mmmm 
 
 Ï82 
 
 ■ 
 
 I should arrive at Larande, he would probably 
 allow me to go further; but that, at all events, 
 I was determined to finish my journey as I had 
 begun it, or die in the attempt. 
 
 I asked them, in my turn, whither they 
 were going. They said their king was just 
 dead : that during his life there had always 
 been a truce with the grand karman, and that 
 the young king and his council had sent them 
 to renew this alliance. Being curious to make 
 acquaintance with this great prince, whom his 
 nation reverences as we do our king, I 
 entreated permission to accompany them, to 
 which they consented. 
 
 I met likewise with another Cypriot at 
 Larande, called Perrin Passerot, a merchant, 
 who had resided some time in the country. 
 He was from Famagousta, and had been 
 banished from that town, because he and one 
 of his brothers had attempted to deliver it up 
 to the king, as it was then in the hands of the 
 Genoese. 
 
183 
 
 My Mameluke also met with five or six of 
 his countrymen. They were young Circassian 
 slaves, who were on their way to the residence 
 of the sultan. He was desirous to regale them 
 on their meeting ; and as he had heard there 
 were Christians at Larande, he guessed they 
 would not be without wine, and begged of me 
 to procure him some. By dint of inquiry, and 
 for half a ducat, I was enabled to purchase the 
 half of a goat-skin full, of which I made him 
 a present. 
 
 He shewed great joy on receiving it, and 
 instantly went to his companions, with whom 
 he passed the whole night drinking. He himself 
 swallowed so much that on the morrow he was 
 near dying on the road, but he cured himself 
 by a method which is peculiar to them. In such 
 cases, they have a very large bottle full of water, 
 and as their stomach becomes empty, they drink 
 water as long as they are able, as if they would 
 rinse a bottle, which they throw up, and then 
 «3rink of it again. He was thus employed on 
 

 184 
 
 the road until mid-day, when he was perfectly 
 recovered. 
 
 From Larande we went to Qulongue, 
 called by the Greeks ' Quhonguopoly *.' 
 These places are two days journey distant 
 from each other. The country is fine, and 
 well furnished with villages, but wants water, 
 and has no trees but such as have been planted 
 near houses for their fruit, nor any other river 
 but that which runs near the town. 
 
 This town is considerable and commercial, 
 defended by ditches ' en glacis,' and good walls 
 strengthened with towers, and is the best the 
 karman possesses. There remains a small 
 castle : formerly there was a very strong one 
 in the center of the town, but it has been 
 pulled down to furnish materials to build the 
 prince's palace. 
 
 I staid there four days, that the ambassador 
 from Cyprus and the caravan might have time 
 
 * The copyist has written it further on Quohongue ani 
 Sukongue. I shall write it henceforward Couhongue. 
 
18. 
 
 to arrive. When the ambassador came, I 
 asked him when he intended to wait on the 
 karman, and repeated my request to be present, 
 which he promised to grant. There were, 
 however, among his slaves four greek renegadoes, 
 one of whom was his usher at arms, who united 
 in their efforts to dissuade him from it ; but 
 he replied, that he saw no inconvenience, 
 and, beside, that I had shewn such eagerness 
 to witness the ceremony, that he should take 
 pleasure in obliging me. 
 
 He was apprised of the hour when he 
 might make his obeisance to the prince, inform 
 him of the object of his mission, and offer his 
 presents ; for it is an established custom in the 
 east never to appear before a superior without 
 bringing presents. His were six pieces of 
 camlet of Cyprus, I know not how many ells 
 of scarlet, forty sugar loaves, a peregrine falcon, 
 two cross-bows, and a dozen of bolts. 
 
 Some genets were sent him to carry the 
 presents ; and he and his attendants were 
 
 B B 
 
'^*mmsmzmmm$& 
 
 no 
 
 mounted on horses, which the great lords, 
 who had come to the palace to attend è the 
 prince during this ceremony, had left at the 
 gate. 
 
 The ambassador made use of one of them, 
 but dismounted at the entrance of the palace, 
 when we were ushered into a large hall where 
 there might be about three hundred persons. 
 The prince occupied the adjoining apartment, 
 around which were arranged thirty slaves 
 standing : he was himself in a corner, seated 
 on a carpet on the ground, according to the 
 custom of the country, clad in a crimson and 
 gold cloth, with his elbow leaning on a cushion 
 of another sort of cloth of gold. Near him 
 was his sword, his chancellor standing in 
 front, and, at a little distance, three men 
 seated. 
 
 The presents were first laid before him. 
 which he scarcely deigned to look at ; then the 
 ambassador entered, attended by an interpreter, 
 because he did not understand the turkisti 
 
187 
 
 language. After the usual reverences, the 
 chancellor demanded his credential letters, 
 which he read aloud. The ambassador then 
 addressed the king by means of his interpreter, 
 and said, that the king of Cyprus had sent him 
 to salute him, and to request that he would 
 accept the presents now before him, as a mark 
 of his friendship. 
 
 The prince made no answer, but caused 
 him to be seated on the ground after their 
 manner, below the three persons before 
 mentioned, and at some distance from the 
 prince. He now inquired after the health of 
 his brother the king of Cyprus, and was told 
 that he had lost his father, and had 
 commissioned him to renew the alliance that 
 had subsisted between the two countries during 
 the lifetime of the deceased, for which he was 
 very anxious. The prince answered, that he 
 desired it as earnestly. He then questioned 
 the ambassador when the late king died, the 
 age of his successor, if he were prudent, if his 
 

 188 
 
 country was obedient ; and, as to these last 
 questions, the answer was ' Yes :' he seemed 
 well pleased. 
 
 After these words, the ambassador was 
 told to rise, which he did, and took leave of 
 the prince, who did not move more at his 
 departure than at his entrance. On leaving 
 the palace, he found the same horses which 
 had carried him thither; and, having mounted 
 one of them, he was reconducted to his lodgings : 
 but he was scarcelv entered when the ushers 
 of arms presented themselves, for in these 
 ceremonies it is customary to give them money, 
 and the ambassador did not neglect it. 
 
 He next went to pay his compliments to 
 the son of the prince, to offer him presents 
 and deliver his letters. Pie was seated like his 
 father, with three persons near him ; but when 
 the ambassador made his reverence, he rose up, 
 then reseated himself, and placed the ambassador 
 above these three personages. As for us who 
 accompanied him, they placed us far behind. 
 
189 
 
 Having noticed a bench, I was about to seat 
 myself on it without any ceremony; but I was 
 pulled off, and made to bend my knees and 
 crouch on the ground like the rest. 
 
 On our return home, an usher of arms to 
 the son visited us, as those of the father had 
 done, who also received some money. These 
 people, however, are satisfied with a little. 
 
 The prince and his son, in their turn, sent 
 the ambassador a present for his expenses, 
 which is likewise one of their customs. The 
 first sent fifty aspres, the second thirty. An 
 aspre is the money of the country, and fifty 
 are equal in value to a Venetian ducat. 
 
 I saw the prince go through the town in 
 procession on a Friday, which is a holiday to 
 them, when he was going to say his prayers. 
 His guards were about fifty horsemen, the 
 greater part his slaves, and about thirty 
 infantry, who surrounded him. He bore a 
 sword in his belt, and had a tabolcan at the 
 pummel of his saddle, according to the custom 
 
190 
 
 of the country. He and his son have been 
 baptised in the greek manner, to take off the 
 bad smell; and i was told that the son's mother 
 was a Christian. It is thus all the grandees 
 get themselves baptised, that they may not 
 stink. 
 
 His territories are considerable : they begin 
 one day's journey on this side Tharsus, and 
 extend to the country of Amurath Bey, the 
 other karman I spoke of, and whom we call 
 the Grand Turk. In this line they are, as it 
 is said, twenty leagues wide ; but they are 
 sixteen days journey in length, as I know well 
 from having travelled them. They extend, as 
 they assured me, on the north-east, as far as 
 the frontiers of Persia. 
 
 The karman possesses also a maritime 
 coast, called the Farsats. It extends from 
 Tharsus to Courco, which belongs to the 
 king of Cyprus, and to a port called Zabari. 
 This district products the most expert sailors 
 known, but they have revolted against him. 
 
191 
 
 The karman is a handsome prince, about 
 thirty-two years old, and married to a sister of 
 Amurath Bey. He is well obeyed by his 
 subjects, although I have heard people say 
 he was very cruel, and that few days passed 
 without some noses, feet or hands being cut 
 off, or some one put to death. Should any 
 man be rich, he condemns him to die that he 
 may seize his fortune ; and it is said, that the 
 greater part of his nobles have thus perished. 
 Eight days before my arrival, he had caused one 
 to be torn to pieces by dogs. Two days after 
 this execution, he had caused one of his wives 
 to be put to death, even the mother of his eldest 
 son, who, when I saw him, knew nothing of 
 this murder. 
 
 The inhabitants of the country are a bad 
 race, — thieves, cheats, and great assassins : they 
 kill each other, and justice is so relaxed that 
 they are never arrested for it. 
 
 I found at Couhongue Antoine Passerot, 
 brother to Perrin Passerot whom I had seen at 
 
192 
 
 Larande. They had both been accused of 
 attempting to deliver Famagousta to the king 
 of Cyprus, and had been banished. They had 
 retired to the states of the karman ; the one to 
 Larande, the other to Couhongue. Antony 
 had been unfortunate. Vice sometimes blinds 
 people; and he had been caught with a 
 mohammedan woman, and the king had 
 forced him to deny his religion to escape 
 death ; but he appeared to be still a staunch 
 Catholic. In our conversations, he told me 
 many particulars of the country, of the 
 character and the government of the prince, 
 and especially as to the manner in which he 
 had taken and delivered up Ramedang. 
 
 The karman, he said, had a brother 
 whom he banished from the country, and who 
 took refuge at the court of the sultan, where 
 he found an asylum. The sultan did not 
 dare to declare war against him, but gave 
 him to understand, that unless he delivered 
 Ramedang into his hands he would send his 
 

 brother with troops so to do. The karman 
 made no hesitation, and rather than fight 
 with him committed an infamous treason in 
 regard to his brother-in-law. Antony added, 
 that he was weak and cowardly, although his 
 people are the bravest in all Turkey. His real 
 name is Imbreymbas; but he is called Karman, 
 from his being the lord of the country. 
 
 Although he is allied to the grand Turk, 
 having married his sister, he detests him for 
 having taken from him a portion of the karman. 
 He is, however, afraid to make war on him, 
 as he is the stronger; but I am persuaded 
 that if he saw him successfully attacked by the 
 Europeans, he would not leave him in peace. 
 
 In traversing his country, I passed near 
 the frontiers of another, called Gasserie, 
 which is bounded on one side by the karman, 
 and on the other by the high mountains of 
 Turcomania that extend toward Tharsis and 
 Persia. Its lord is a valiant warrior, called 
 Gadiroly, who has under his command thirty 
 
 c c 
 
19* 
 
 thousand turcoman men at arms, and about 
 one hundred thousand women as brave and as 
 fit for combat as men. 
 
 There are four lords continually at war 
 with each other, — Gadiroly, Quharaynich, 
 Quaraychust, and the son of Tamerlan, who 
 is said to govern Persia. 
 
 Antony told me, that when I quitted the 
 mountains on the other side of Eregli, I had 
 passed within half a day's journey of a celebrated 
 town where the body of St Basil is interred, 
 and spoke of it in such a manner that I had 
 a wish to see it : but he so strongly represented 
 that I should lose more by separating myself 
 from the caravan, and expose myself to great 
 risks by travelling alone, that I renounced all 
 thoughts of it. 
 
 He owned to me, that his intentions were 
 to accompany me to my lord the duke ; for 
 that he had no desire to become a Saracen, and 
 that, if he had entered into any engagements 
 on this head, it was solely to escape death. It 
 
195 
 
 had been ordered that he should be circumcised, 
 and he was expecting the execution of it daily, 
 which gave him many fears. He was a very 
 handsome man, about thirty-six years old. 
 
 He told me also, that the natives offer up 
 public prayers in their mosques, like as we do 
 in our churches on Sundays, in behalf of 
 Christian princes, and for other objects which 
 we ask from God. Now one of the things 
 they pray to God for is, to deliver them from 
 the coming of such a man as Godfrey of 
 Bouillon. 
 
 The chief of the caravan making- 
 preparations to depart, I went to take leave 
 of the cypriot ambassadors. They had 
 flattered themselves that I would return with 
 them, and renewed their entreaties, assuring 
 me that I should never complete my journey; 
 but I persisted. It was at Couhongue that 
 the caravan broke up. Hoyarbarach took 
 with him only his own people, his wife, two 
 of his children, whom he had carried with 
 
.c#5aa 
 
 
 100 
 
 him to Mecca, one or two foreign women, 
 and myself. 
 
 I bade adieu to my Mameluke. This 
 good man, whose name was Mohammed, 
 had done me innumerable services. He was 
 very charitable, and never refused alms when 
 asked in the name of God. It was through 
 charity he had been so kind to me, and I must 
 confess that without his assistance I could not 
 have performed my journey without incurring 
 the greatest danger; and that, had it not been 
 for his kindness, I should often have been 
 exposed to cold and hunger, and much 
 embarrassed with my horse. 
 
 On taking leave of him, I was desirous 
 of shewing my gratitude ; but he would never 
 accept of any thing except a piece of our fine 
 curopean cloth to cover his head, which seemed 
 to please him much. He told me all the 
 occasions that had come to his knowledge, 
 on which, if it had not been for him, I should 
 have run ri^ks of being assassinated, ançi 
 
197 
 
 warned me to be very circumspect in my 
 connections with the Saracens, for that there 
 were among them some as wicked as the 
 Franks. I write this to recal to my reader's 
 memory, that the person who, from his love to 
 God, did me so many and essential kindnesses, 
 was a man not of our faith. 
 
 The country we travelled through, on 
 leaving Couhongue, is handsome, with tolerably 
 good villages, but the inhabitants are wicked. 
 Iloyarbarach forbade me to go out of my 
 quarters when we halted, even in villages, for 
 fear lest I should be assassinated. There is 
 near this place a celebrated bath, to which sick 
 persons come for a cure of their several disorders. 
 There are the remains of many houses that 
 formerly belonged to the knights-hospitallers 
 of Jerusalem, with the cross of Jerusalem on 
 them. 
 
 After three days march, we came to a small 
 town, called Achsaray, situated at the foot of 
 a high mountain that shelters it from the south, 
 

 
 The country is level, but not populous, and 
 the natives have a bad character : I was 
 consequentiy forbidden to leave my house in 
 the evening. 
 
 I travelled the ensuing day between two 
 high mountains, whose tops are crowned 
 with wood. The district is well peopled, 
 partly by the Turcomans, and consists of 
 pasture and marsh land. I there crossed a 
 little brook that divides this country of karman 
 from that of the other karman possessed by 
 Amurath Bey, called by us the Grand Turk. 
 This division resembles the former, in being a 
 flat country, with mountains here and there. 
 
 On our road, we passed a town with a 
 castle, called Achanay, and further on we 
 came to a caravansera, where we intended to 
 pass the night, but we found there twenty-live 
 asses. Our commander refused to enter, and 
 preferred returning a league back to a large 
 village, where we lodged, and found bread, 
 cheese and milk. 
 
a 99 
 
 From this place we went to Carassar, 
 which took two days. Carassar, in the turkish 
 language, signifies « black stone.' It is the 
 capital of the country that Amurath Bey took 
 by force of arms. Although uninclosed, it is 
 a place of considerable trade, and has one of 
 the finest castles I have seen, but without any 
 other water than what is collected in cisterns. 
 ft is seated on the summit of a high rock, so 
 round that it might be thought to be worked 
 withachissel. Belowit is the town, surrounding 
 it on three sides; but both are commanded by 
 a mountain, from the north east to the north 
 west. The other side opens to a plain, through 
 which runs a river. Not long ago, the Greeks 
 had gained possession of this place, but 
 afterward lost it by their cowardice. 
 
 They dress sheeps feet here with a 
 cleanliness I have no where seen, i regaled 
 myself with them the more eagerly, as I had 
 not eaten any dressed meat since I had lefr 
 Couhongue. They cook also a nice dish with 
 
 
9i3' 
 
 
 200 
 
 green walnuts. Their manner is to peel them, 
 cut them into two, and put them on a string : 
 then they are besprinkled with boiled wine, 
 which attaches itself to them, and forms a jelly 
 like paste all around them. It is a very agreeable 
 food, especially when a person is hungry. We 
 were obliged to lay in a stock of bread and 
 cheese for two days, as I was disgusted with 
 raw meat. 
 
 Two days were employed in journeying 
 from Carassar to Cotthay. The country is 
 good, well watered, having no very high 
 mountains. We traversed one end of a forest, 
 which seemed to me only remarkable for 
 consisting entirely of oak, taller and larger 
 than any I had hitherto met with, having 
 besides, like fir-trees, branches only at the top. 
 
 We took up our quarters for the night at 
 a caravansera, distant from any habitations. 
 We found there barley and straw in plenty, 
 and we could the more easily have supplied 
 our wants, as there was but a single servant 
 
201 
 
 to take care of them ; but the owners never 
 have any thing to fear of this kind, for at such 
 places there is no man so bold as to take the 
 smallest article without paying for it. 
 
 On our road was a small river, renowned 
 for its water. Moyarbarach went to drink of 
 it with his women, and wished me to do the 
 same, he himself offering me some in his leathern 
 cup. This was the first time on the journey 
 that he had done me this favour. 
 
 Cotthay, although pretty considerable, is 
 without walls; but it has a handsome and large 
 castle, composed of three forts rising one above 
 the other, on the declivity of a hill, which has a 
 double inclosure. This place was the residence 
 of the son of the grand Turk. 
 
 There was a caravanscra in the town, 
 whither we went to lodge. It was already 
 occupied by a party of Turks, and we were 
 obiiged, according to custom, to turn our 
 horses together pell-mell. On the morrow 
 morning, when making ready to depart, 
 
 D D 
 
■■ 
 
 202 
 
 Î perceived that one of my straps had been 
 taken, which served to fasten on my horse's 
 crupper, my carpets and other things I carried 
 behind me. 
 
 At first, 1 began to cry out with much 
 noise and anger; but there was a turkish slave 
 present, one belonging to the sultan's son, 
 a man of weight and about fifty years old, 
 who, hearing me speak the language very 
 incorrectly, took me by the hand, and 
 conducted me to the gate of the caravansera, 
 when he asked me in Italian who I was r 1 was 
 stupified to hear him thus speak, and replied 
 that I was a Frank. ' Whence do you 
 come ?' ' From Damascus, in company with 
 Hoyarbarach, and I am going to Bursa to 
 meet one of my brothers.' * Indeed Î but 
 you are a spy, and come to make your 
 remarks on this country. If you were not, 
 would you not have embarked, and returned 
 home by sea?' 
 
 This unexpected accusation confounded 
 me : I answered, however, that the Venetians 
 
203 
 
 and Genoese were carrying on so bitter a war 
 that I was afraid to venture by sea. He asked 
 whence I came ? ' From the kingdom of 
 France,' was my answer. * Are you from 
 the neighbourhood of Paris ?' I replied, 
 I was not, — and in my turn asked if he were 
 acquainted with Paris? He said he had 
 formerly been there with a captain, named 
 Bernabo. ' Take my advice,' continued he: 
 6 return to the caravansera, seek your horse, 
 and bring him hither to me, for there are 
 some albanian slaves, who will steal from you 
 every thing he carries. While I am taking 
 care of him, do you go and breakfast, and 
 procure for yourself and your horse provision 
 for five days, for so long will you be on the 
 road without meeting with any.' 
 
 I followed his advice, and went to 
 purchase provision. I breakfasted also the 
 more heartily as I had not, for two days tasted 
 meat, and was told that I must not expect to 
 meet with any for five days more. 
 
204 
 
 When I quitted the earavansera, I took 
 the road to Bursa, leaving that leading to 
 Troy on my left, between the south and west 
 points. There were many high mountains, 
 several of which I had to pass over. 1 had 
 also two days journey through forests, after 
 which I traversed a handsome plain in which 
 are some villages good enough for the country. 
 Half a day's journey from Bursa, we came 
 to one that supplied us with meat and 
 grapes, — which last were as fresh as in the 
 time of vintage : this mode of preserving them 
 is a secret they have. The Turks offered 
 me some roast meat ; but it was not half 
 dressed, and as the meat was roasting on 
 the spit we cut off slices. We had also 
 some kaymack, buffalo cream ; and it was so 
 good and sweet that 1 eat of it till I almost 
 burst. 
 
 Before we entered this last village, we 
 noticed the arrival of a Turk from Bursa, 
 who had been sent to the wife of Hoyarbarach, 
 
205 
 
 to announce to her the death of her father. 
 She shewed great grief on the occasion, and 
 I had then, for the first time, an opportunity 
 of seeing her face uncovered. She was a most 
 beautiful woman. 
 
 There was at this place a renegado slave, 
 a native of Bulgaria, who through affectation 
 of zeal, and to shew himself a good Saracen, 
 reproached the Turks of the caravan for having 
 allowed me to be in their company, saying it 
 was sinful in them to do so, who were returning 
 from the holy pilgrimage to Mecca. In 
 consequence, they notified to me that we 
 must separate, and I was obliged to set off 
 for Bursa. 
 
 I departed, therefore, on the morrow, an 
 hour before day, with the aid of God, who 
 had hitherto conducted me. He now guided 
 me so well, that I never asked my road more 
 than once on the whole way. 
 
 On entering the town, I met numbers of 
 people coming out to meet the caravan, for 
 
■M 
 
 20(5 
 
 such is the custom. The most considerable 
 look on it as a duty, and it constitutes a 
 festival. Several of them, supposing I was 
 one of the pilgrims, kissed my hands and 
 robe. When I had entered the town, I was 
 greatly embarrassed, for I had come to a square 
 that had four streets opening from it, and 
 I knew not which to take. God again pointed 
 out to me the right one, that which leads to 
 the bazar, where the merchants reside with 
 their merchandize. I addressed myself to the 
 first Christian I saw, and fortunately he 
 happened to be one of the Espinolis of Genoa, 
 the very person to whom Parvesin of Baruth 
 had given me letters. 
 
 He was much surprised to see me, and 
 conducted me to the house of a Florentine, 
 where I was lodged, as well as my horse. 
 
 I remained there ten days, and employed 
 thai time in examining the town, being 
 conducted by the merchants, who took great 
 pleasure in so doing 
 
207 
 
 Of all the towns in the possession of the 
 Turks, this is the most considerable. It is of 
 great extent, carries on considerable trade, and is 
 situated at the foot of the north side of mount 
 Olympus, whence flows a river which, passing 
 through the town, divides itself into several 
 branches, forming, as it were, a number of 
 small towns that make it look larger than it is. 
 
 It is at Bursa that the turkish sultans are 
 buried. There are many handsome buildings, 
 and particularly a great number of hospitals, 
 among which there are four, where bread, wine 
 and meat are frequently distributed to the poor 
 who will accept of them for the sake of God. 
 At one of the extremities of the town, toward 
 the west, is an handsome and vast castle, built 
 on an eminence that may well contain a 
 thousand houses. There is also the palace of 
 the sultan, which they told me was a very 
 delightful place within side, having a garden 
 and pretty pond. The prince had at that time 
 fifty wives ; and he often, as they said, amuses 
 
■ Pt 
 
 208 
 
 himself in a boat with some of them on this 
 piece of water. 
 
 Bursa was also the residence of Camurat, 
 bashaw, or, as we should say, governor or 
 lieutenant of Turkey. He is a very brave 
 man, the most active the Turk has, and the 
 most able to conduct any enterprise, which 
 qualities have been the principal cause of his 
 elevation to this lieutenancy. 
 
 I asked if he governed the country well, 
 and if he knew how to make himself obeyed ? 
 I was told that he was obeyed and respected 
 like Amurath himself, and had for his salary 
 fifty thousand ducats a-year ; and that, when 
 the Turk went to war, he brought him, at his 
 own expense, twenty thousand men ; but that 
 he had likewise his pensioners, who in this case 
 were bound to supply him at their charges, one 
 with a thousand men, another with two, another 
 with three thousand, and so on with the rest. 
 
 There are in Bursa two bazars; one where 
 all sorts of silken stuffs, rich and brilliant 
 
209 
 
 diamonds are sold, great quantities of pearls, 
 and cheap cotton cloths, and a variety of 
 other merchandise, the enumeration of which 
 would be tiresome. In the other bazar, cotton 
 and white soap are sold, and constitute a great 
 article of commerce. 
 
 I saw also, in a market-house, a lamentable 
 sight, — a public sale of Christians for siaves, 
 both men and women. The custom is to 
 make them sit down on benches, and he who 
 comes to buy sees only the face, the hands, and 
 a little of the arm of the females. I witnessed 
 at Damascus the sale of a young black girl, of 
 not more than fifteen or sixteen years of age : 
 she was led along the streets quite naked, 
 excepting the belly, the hinder parts, and a 
 little below them. 
 
 It was at Bursa that I eat, for the first time, 
 caviare and olive oil. This food is only fit for 
 Greeks, and when nothing better can be had. 
 Some days after the return of Hoyarbarach, 
 I went to take leave of him, and to thank him. 
 
 E K 
 
 I 
 

 210 
 
 for the means he had procured me of continuing 
 my journey to this place. I found him in the 
 bazar, seated on an elevated stone bench, with 
 many of the principal inhabitants of the town. 
 The merchants had accompanied me in this 
 visit : some of them, Florentines by nation, 
 interested themselves on behalf of a Spaniard, 
 who, having been a slave to the sultan, found 
 means to escape from Egypt and come to 
 Bursa. They begged I would take him with 
 me. I carried him at my expense as far as 
 Constantinople, where I left him ; but I am 
 persuaded he was a renegado, and I have never 
 heard any thing of him since. 
 
 Three Genoese had bought spices from 
 the merchants of the caravan, and intended 
 carrying them to Pera, near Constantinople, 
 and on the other side of the streights which 
 we call the streights of St George, for sale. 
 Wishing to take the advantage of their company, 
 I waited for their departure, and for this reason 
 staid at Bursa, for no one can pass this streight 
 unless he be known. In this view, they 
 
211 
 
 procured me a letter from the governor, 
 which I carried with me ; but it was useless, 
 for I found means to cross with them. We 
 set out together; but they made me, for 
 greater security, buy a high red hat with a 
 huvette of iron wire *, which I wore as for as 
 Constantinople. 
 
 On leaving Bursa, we travelled northward 
 over a plain, watered by a deep river, which, 
 about four leagues lower down, falls into the 
 gulph between Constantinople arid Gallipoli. 
 We had a day's journey among mountains, 
 which wood and a clayey soil made very 
 disagreeable. There was on the road a small 
 tree bearing a fruit somewhat bigger than our 
 largest cherries, and of the shape and taste of 
 strawberries, but a little acid. 'It is pleasant 
 to eat; but if a great quantity be eaten, it 
 mounts to the head, and intoxicates. It is 
 ripe in November and December f. 
 
 * Huvette, — a kind of ornament worn on the hat. 
 t From the description, it seems to be the Arbutus Andrachne. 
 
- H 
 
 É12 
 
 From the summit of the mountain, the 
 gulph of Gallipoli is visible ; and, when we 
 had descended it, we entered a valley terminated 
 by a very large lake, round which many houses 
 are built. It was there I first saw turkish 
 carpets made. I passed the night in this 
 valley, which is very fertile in rice. 
 
 On pursuing our road, we came sometimes 
 to mountains, valleys, pasture-lands, and great 
 forests, which would be impossible to pass 
 without a guide, and where the horses plunge 
 so deeply in the soil they can hardly extricate 
 themselves. I believe, for my part, that this 
 is the forest spoken of in the history of Godfrey 
 of Bouillon, which he had such difficulty to 
 traverse, 
 
 I passed the night on the further side of it, 
 at a village within four leagues of Nicomedia, 
 which is a large town, with a harbour for 
 shipping. This harbour is called Lenguo, and 
 commences at the gulph of Constantinople, 
 and extends to the town, where it is a bow-shot 
 
213 
 
 in breadth. All this country is difficult 
 to travel ; but beyond Nicomedia, toward 
 Constantinople, it is very fine, and tolerably 
 good travelling. It is more peopled with 
 Greeks than Turks ; but these Greeks have 
 a greater aversion to the latin Christians than 
 the Turks themselves. 
 
 I coasted the gulph of Constantinople, 
 and, leaving the road to Nicea, a town 
 situated to the northward near the Black Sea, 
 I successively lodged at a village, in ruins, 
 inhabited solely by Greeks, — then at another, 
 near to Scutari, — and lastly at Scutari itself, 
 on the sTe'ght, and opposite to Pera. 
 
 The Turks guard this passage, and receive 
 a toll from all who cross it. It has rocks that 
 would make it easy of defence, if they were 
 fortified. Men and horses can readily embark 
 and disembark. My companions and I crossed 
 in two greek vessels. The owners of my boat 
 took me for a Turk, and paid me great honours; 
 
tmt^^mmm . ■■ hi ' m®w%& 
 
 
 but when they saw me, after landing, leavt 
 my horse at the gate of Pera to be taken care 
 of, and inquire after a genoese merchant, named 
 Christopher Parvesin, to whom I had letters, 
 they suspected I was a Christian. 
 
 Two of them waited for me at the sate ; 
 and when I returned for my horse, they 
 demanded more than I had agreed on for my 
 passage, and wanted to cheat me. I believe 
 they would even have struck me, had they 
 dared : I had my sword and my good tarquais ; 
 but a genoese shoemaker, who lived hard by, 
 coming to my aid, they were forced to retreat. 
 I mention this as a warning to travellers, who, 
 like me, may have any thing to do with the 
 Greeks. All those with whom 1 have had any 
 concerns have only made me more suspicious, 
 for 1 have found more probity in the Turks. 
 
 These people love not the Christians of 
 the roman persuasion, and the submission which 
 they have since made to this church was more 
 
215 
 
 through self-interest than sincerity *. Therefore 
 J have been told, that a little before I came to 
 Constantinople, the pope, in a general council, 
 had declared them schismatics and accursed, 
 and had devoted them to be the slaves of 
 slaves -f. 
 
 * In 143S John Paleologus II. came to Italy to form 
 an union between the greek and latin churches, which took 
 place the ensuing year at the council of Florence. But this 
 step, as la Brocquière remarks, was, on the part of the emperor, 
 but a political operation, dictated by interest, and without 
 consequence. His dominions were then in so miserable a 
 state, and himself so harassed by the Turks, that he was 
 anxious to procure the aid of the Latins ; and it was with this 
 hope that he had come to inveigle the pope. This epocha, 
 of 1438, is of consequence to our travels; for it proves, since 
 la Brocquière quotes it, that he published it posterior to that 
 year. 
 
 f A false fact. The general council that took place 
 a little before he came to Constantinople was that of Basil in 
 1431, when, far from anathematising and cursing the G reeks, 
 it was occupied about their re-union. This pretended 
 malediction was undoubtedly a report, which those who were 
 against this re-union spread abroad in Constantinople ; and 
 the traveller seems to have understood it by the expression, it 
 was told me. 
 
■■ 1 
 
 mm m: 
 
 C 216 
 
 Pera is a large town, inhabited by Greeks, 
 Jews and Genoese: the last are masters of it, 
 under the duke of Milan, who stvles himself 
 Lord of Pera. It has a podestat and other 
 officers, who govern it after their manner. 
 
 A great commerce is carried on with the 
 Turks; but the latter have a singular privilege, 
 namely, that should any of their slaves run 
 away, and seek an asylum in Pera, they must 
 be given up. 
 
 The port is the handsomest of all I have 
 seen, and I believe I may add, of any in the 
 possession of the Christians, for the largest 
 genoese vessels may lie alongside the quays ; 
 but as all the world knows this, I shall not 
 say more. It, however, seems to me, that on. 
 the land side, and near the church, in the 
 vicinity of the gate at the extremity of the 
 haven, the place is weak. 
 
 I met at Pera an ambassador from the 
 duke of Milan, named Sir Benedicto de 
 
21 
 
 Fourlino. The duke, wanting the support or 
 the emperor Sigismond against the Venetians, 
 and seeing Sigismond embarrassed with the 
 defence of his kingdom of Hungary against 
 the Turks, had sent an embassy to Amu rath, 
 to negotiate a peace between these two princes. 
 
 Sir Benedicto, in honour of my lord of 
 Burgundy, gave me a gracious reception. 
 He even told me, that to do mischief to the 
 Venetians, he had contributed to make them 
 Jose Salonica, taken from them by the Turks; 
 and certainly in this he acted so much the 
 worse, for I have since seen the inhabitants of 
 that town deny Jesus Christ, and embrace 
 the mohammedan religion. 
 
 There was also at Pera, a Neapolitan, 
 called Peter of Naples, with whom I was 
 acquainted. He said he was married in the 
 country of Prester John, and made many 
 efforts to induce me to go thither with him. 
 I questioned him much respecting this country, 
 and he told me many things which 1 shall here 
 
 F F 
 
■MM 
 
 218 
 
 insert; but I know not whether what he said be 
 the truth, and shall not therefore warrant any 
 part of it *. 
 
 Two days after my arrival at Pera, I 
 crossed the haven to Constantinople, to visit 
 that city. It is large and spacious, having the 
 form of a triangle : one side is bounded by the 
 streights of St George, — another, toward the 
 south, by the bay, which extends as far as 
 Gallipoli, and on the north side is the port. 
 
 There are, it is said, three large towns 
 on the earth, each inclosing seven hills, — 
 Rome, Constantinople and Antioch. Rome 
 is, I think, larger and more compact than 
 Constantinople. As for Antioch, as I only saw 
 it when passing by, I cannot speak of its size : 
 
 * The manner in which our traveller here announces 
 the relation of the Neapolitan shows how little he believed it ; 
 and in this, his usual good sense does not forsake him. This 
 recital is, in fact, but a tissue of absurd fables, and revolting 
 marvels, undeserving to be quoted, akhough they may generally 
 be found in authors of those times. We shall omit diem, antl 
 let the traveller continue his narration. 
 
219 
 
 its hills, however, appeared to me higher than 
 those of the two others. 
 
 They estimate the circuit of the city of 
 Constantinople at eighteen miles, a third of 
 which is on the land side toward the west. It 
 is well inclosed with walls, particularly on the 
 land side. This extent, estimated at six miles 
 from one angle to the other, has likewise a deep 
 ditch, ' en glacis,' excepting for about two 
 hundred paces at one of its extremities, near 
 the palace called la Blaquerne. I was assured 
 that the Turks had failed in their attempt to 
 take the town at this weak part. Fifteen or 
 twenty feet in front of this ditch, is a false bray 
 of a good and high wall. At the two extremities 
 of this line, were formerly handsome palaces 
 which, if we may judge from their present ruins, 
 were also very strong. I was told they had 
 been destroyed by an emperor, when taken 
 prisoner by the Turks and in danger of 
 his life. The conqueror insisted on his 
 surrendering Constantinople, and, in case of 
 
^^^^^^^^^^^B 
 
 
 220 
 
 refusal, threatened to put him to death. The 
 other replied, that he preferred death to the 
 disgrace of afflicting Christendom by so great 
 a loss, and that his death would be nothing in 
 comparison. When the Turk saw he could 
 gain nothing by this means, he offered him his 
 liberty on condition that the square in front of 
 iSt Sophia should be demolished, with the two 
 palaces. His project was, thus to weaken the 
 town, that he might the more easily take it. 
 The emperor accepted his offers, the proof of 
 which exists at this day. 
 
 Constantinople is formed of many separate 
 parts, so that it contains several open spaces to 
 a greater extent than those built on. The 
 largest vessels can anchor under its walls as at 
 Fera : it has beside a small harbour in the 
 interior, capable of containing three or four 
 galleys. This is situated to the southward, 
 near a gate, where a hillock is pointed out 
 composed of benes of the Christians, who 
 flftcr the conquests of Jerusalem and Acre, by 
 
221 
 
 Godfrep-of Bouillon, were returning by this 
 streight. When the Greeks had ferried them 
 over, they conducted them to this place, which 
 is remote and secret, where they were murdered. 
 The whole, although a very numerous body, 
 would have thus perished, had not a page 
 found means to re-cross to Asia, and inform 
 them of the danger that awaited them. On 
 this, they spread themselves on the shores 
 of the Black Sea ; and from them are said 
 to be descended those rude Christians who 
 inhabit that part of the country, — Circassians, 
 Mingrelians, Ziques, Gothlans and Anangats. 
 But as this is an old story, I know of it no 
 more than what was told me. 
 
 The city has many handsome churches ; 
 but the most remarkable and principal is that 
 of St Sophia, where the patriarch resides, with 
 others of the rank of canons. It is of a circular 
 shape, situated near the eastern point, and formed 
 of three different parts, — one suoterraneous, 
 another above the ground, and a third over 
 
that. Formerly it was surrounded by cloisters, 
 and was three miles, as they say. in circumference. 
 It is now of smaller extent, and only three 
 cloisters remain, all paved, and incrusted with 
 squares of white marble, and ornamented with 
 large columns of various colours *. The 
 gates are remarkable for their breadth and 
 height, and are of brass. 
 
 This church, they say, possesses one of 
 the robes of our Lord, — the end of the lance 
 that pierced his side, — the sponge that was 
 offered him to drink from, — and the reed that 
 was put into his hand. 1 can only say, that 
 behind the choir, I was shewn the gridiron on 
 which St Laurence was broiled, — and a large 
 stone, in the shape of a wash-stand, on which, 
 they say, Abraham gave the angels to eat, 
 
 * Two of these galleries, or porticos, called by our 
 author cloisteis, as well as the columns, still subsist. These 
 last are formed of different materials, porphyry, granite, 
 marbf , &c. ; and this is the reason why tiie traveller, not 
 being a naturalist, represents diem as being of various 
 colours. 
 
223 
 
 when they were going to destroy Sodom and 
 Gomorrah. 
 
 I was curious to witness the manner of the 
 Greeks performing divine service, and went to 
 St Sophia on a day when the patriarch officiated. 
 The emperor was present, accompanied by his 
 wife, his mother, and brother, the despot of 
 the Morea *. A mystery was represented, the 
 subject of which was the three youths whom 
 Nebuchadnezzar had ordered to be thrown into 
 the fiery furnace -f. 
 
 The empress, daughter to the emperor of 
 Trebisonde, seemed very handsome ; but, as I 
 was at a distance, I wished to have a nearer 
 view, — and I was also desirous to see how she 
 
 * This emperor was John Paleologus II. — his brother 
 Demetrius, despot or prince of the Peloponesus, — his mother 
 Irene, daughter to Constantine Dragasés, sovereign of a small 
 country in Macedonia, — his wife Maria Comnencs, daughter 
 to Alexis, emperor of Trebisonde. 
 
 f These devout farces were then as common in the 
 greek church as in die latin. They were called ' Mysteries' 
 in France ; and this is the name given by our traveller to the 
 one he saw in St Sophia. 
 
^^^^^^^B 
 
 mounted her horse ; for it was thus she had 
 come to the church, attended only by two 
 ladies, three old men, ministers of state, and 
 three of that species of men to whose guard 
 the Turks entrust their wives. On comma: 
 out of St Sophia, she went into an adjoining 
 house to dine, which obliged me to wait until 
 she returned to her palace, and consequently to 
 pass the whole day without eating or drinking. 
 At length she appeared. A bench was brought 
 forth, and placed near her horse, which was 
 superb, and had a magnificent saddle. When 
 she had mounted the bench, one of the old men 
 took the long mantle she wore, passed to the 
 opposite side of the horse, and held it in his 
 hands extended as high as he could : during 
 this, she put her foot in the stirrup, and bestrode 
 the horse like a man. When she was in her 
 seat, the old man cast the mantle over her 
 shoulders ; after which one of those long hats, 
 with a point, so common in Greece, was given 
 to her: it was ornamented at one of the 
 
225 
 
 extremities with three golden plumes, and was 
 very becoming. 
 
 I was so near that T was ordered to fall 
 back, and consequently had a full view of her. 
 She wore in her ears broad and flat rin^rs, set 
 with several precious stones, especially rubies. 
 She looked young and fair, and handsomer 
 than when in church. In one word, I should 
 not have had a fault to find with her, had she 
 not been painted, and assuredly she had not 
 any need of it. 
 
 The two ladies mounted their horses at 
 the same time that she did : they were both 
 handsome, and wore, like her, mantles and 
 hats. The company returned to the palace 
 of la Blaquerne. 
 
 In the front of St Sophia is a large 
 and handsome square, surrounded with walls 
 like a palace, where games were performed in 
 ancient times*. I saw the brother of the 
 
 * The Greek Hippodrome, — at present the Atmeidan, 
 e>( the Turks. 
 
 G G 
 
r»m.c 
 
 
 emperor, the despot of the Morea, exercising 
 himself there, with a score of other horsemen. 
 Each had a bow, and they galloped along 
 the inclosure, throwing their hats before 
 them, which, when they had passed, they 
 shot at ; and he who with his arrow pierced 
 his hat, or was nearest to it, was esteemed 
 the most expert. This exercise they had 
 adopted from the Turks, and was one of 
 which they were endeavouring to make 
 themselves masters. 
 
 On this side, near the point of the angle, 
 is the beautiful church of St George, which 
 has, fronting Turkey in Asia, a tower at the 
 narrowest part of the streights. 
 
 On the other side, to the westward, is a 
 very high square column, with characters 
 traced on it, and bearing on the summit an 
 equestrian statue of Constantine in bronze. 
 He holds a sceptre in his left hand, with his 
 right extended towards Turkey in Asia, and 
 the road to Jerusalem, as if to denote that the 
 
227 
 
 whole of that country was under his government. 
 Near this column are three others, placed in a 
 line, and of one single piece, bearing three gilt 
 horses, now at Venice *. 
 
 Jn the pretty church of the Panthéacrator, 
 occupied by greek monks, who are what we 
 should call in France Grey Franciscan Friars, 
 I was shewn a stone or table of divers colours, 
 which Nicodemus had caused to be cut to be 
 placed on his tomb, and which he made use of 
 to lay out the body of our Lord, when he 
 took him down from the cross. During this 
 operation, the virgin was weeping over the 
 body ; but her tears, instead of remaining on 
 it, fell on the stone, and they are all now to be 
 seen upon it. I at first took them for drops of 
 wax, and touched them with my hand, and 
 then bended down to look at them horizontally, 
 and against the light, when they seemed to me 
 like drops of congealed water. This is a thing 
 
 * There are four, — and now at Paris. 
 
228 
 
 that may have been seen by many persons as 
 well as myself. 
 
 In the same church arc the tombs of 
 Constantine and of St Helena, his mother, 
 raised each about eight feet high on a column, 
 having its summit terminated in a point, cut 
 into four sides, in the fashion of a diamond. 
 
 It is reported that the Venetians, while in 
 power at Constantinople, took the body of 
 St Helena from its tomb, and carried it to 
 Venice, where they say it is now entire. It is 
 added, that they attempted the same thing in 
 regard to the body of Constantine, but could 
 not succeed ; and this is probable enough, for 
 to this day two broken parts are to be seen, 
 where they made the attempt. 'J 'he two tombs 
 arc of red jasper. 
 
 In the church of St Apostola is shewn 
 the broken shaft of the column to which our 
 Saviour was fastened when he was beaten with 
 rods, by order of Pilate. This shaft, longer 
 than the height of a man, is of the same stone 
 
229 
 
 with the two others that I have seen, at Rome 
 and at Jerusalem ; but this exceeds in size the 
 other two put together. 
 
 There are likewise in the same church, in 
 wooden coffins, many holy bodies, very entire, 
 and any one that chooses may see them. One 
 of them had his head cut off, and that of 
 another saint has been given him. The Greeks, 
 however, have not the like devotion that we 
 have for these relics. It is the same in respect 
 to the stone of Nicodemus and the pillar of our 
 Lord, — which last is simply inclosed by planks, 
 and placed upright near one of the columns on 
 the right hand of the great entrance at the front 
 of the church. 
 
 Among the fine churches, t shall mention 
 one more as remarkable, namely that called La 
 Blaquerne, from being near the imperial palace, 
 which, although small and badly roofed, has 
 paintings, with a pavement and incrustations 
 of marble. I doubt not but there may be 
 others worthy of notice, but I was unable to 
 
BJ^l 
 
 230 
 
 visit them all. The latin merchants have one 
 situated opposite to the passage to Pera, where 
 mass, after the roman manner, is daily said. 
 
 There are merchants from all nations 
 in this town, — but none so powerful as the 
 Venetians, who have a bailiff that regulates 
 all their affairs, independent of the emperor 
 and his officers. This privilege they have 
 enjoyed for a long time *. It is even said, 
 that they have twice by their galleys saved 
 the town from the Turks ; but, for my part, 
 I believe that God has spared it, more for the 
 holy relics it contains than for any thing else. 
 The Turks have also an officer to superintend 
 their commerce, who, like the Venetian bailiff, 
 is independent of the emperor : they have even 
 the privilege, that if one of their slaves shall 
 run away, and take refuge within the city, on 
 their demanding him, the emperor is bound to 
 give him up. 
 
 * Since the conquest of the east by the Latins in 1204, 
 to which conquest the Venetians greatly contributed. 
 
231 
 
 Thisp rince must be under great subjection 
 to the Turks, since he pays him, as I am told, 
 a tribute of ten thousand ducats annually ; and 
 this sum is only for Constantinople, for beyond 
 that town he possesses nothing but a castle 
 situated three leagues to the north, and in 
 Greece a small city called Salubria. 
 
 I was lodged with a catalonian merchant, 
 who having told one of the officers of the 
 palace that I was attached to my lord of 
 Burgundy, the emperor caused me to be asked 
 if it were true that the duke had taken the 
 Pucelle d'Orléans, which the Greeks would 
 scarcely believe. I told them truly how the 
 matter had passed, at which they were greatly 
 astonished *. 
 
 * The Pucelle having bravely fought the English and 
 the duke of Burgundy, leagued against France, had been 
 made prisoner in 1430, by an officer cf Jean de Luxembouig, 
 the duke's general, and, being afterward sold by Jean to the 
 English, was burnt by them the following year. This 
 atrocious vengeance had resounded dironghout Europe. At 
 Constantinople, public rumour had attributed it to the duke ; 
 but the Greeks would not believe that a Christian piince could 
 
HHB 
 
 <mo 
 
 The merchants informed me, that on 
 Candlemas-day there would be a solemn 
 service performed in the afternoon, similar 
 to what we perform on that day, and they 
 conducted me thither. The emperor was 
 at one end of the hall, seated on a cushion. 
 The empress saw the ceremony from a window 
 in an upper apartment. The chaplains who 
 chaunt the service are strangely ornamented 
 and dressed : they sing the service by heart, 
 ' selon leurs dois.' 
 
 Some days after, they carried me to see a 
 feast given on account of the marriage of one 
 of the emperor's relations. There was a 
 tournament after the manner of the country, 
 but which appeared very strange to me. 
 
 I will describe it. In the middle of a 
 square, they had planted, like to a quintany, 
 a large pole, to which was fastened a plank 
 three feet wide, and five feet long. Forty 
 
 have been capable of such an atrocity, which seemed to them, 
 says our author, as some tiling impossible. 
 
233 
 
 cavaliers advanced to this spot, without any 
 arms or armour whatever but a short stick. 
 They at first amused themselves by running 
 after each other, which lasted for about half 
 an hour, — then from sixty to fourscore rods 
 of Alder were brought, of the thickness and 
 length of those we use for thatching. The 
 bridegroom first took one, and set off fall 
 gallop toward the plank, to break it : as it 
 shook in his hand, he broke it with ease, 
 when shouts of joy resounded, and the 
 instruments of music, namely nacaires, like 
 those of the Turks, began to play. Each 
 of the other cavaliers broke their wands in 
 the same manner. Then the bridegroom 
 tied two of them together, which in truth 
 were not too strong, and broke them without 
 being wounded *. Thus ended the feast, and 
 
 * La Brocquière must have thought these justings 
 ridiculous, from being accustomed to our tournaments, where 
 me knights, cased in iron, fought with swords, lances and 
 battle-axes, and when, very frequently, men were killed, 
 wounded, or trodden under foot by the horses. This has 
 
 H H 
 
1254- 
 
 every one returned to his home safe and sound. 
 The emperor and empress had been spectators 
 of it from a window. 
 
 My intentions were to leave Constantinople 
 with this sir Benedict de Fourlino, who, as I 
 have said, had been sent ambassador to the Turk 
 by the duke of Milan. There was a gentleman 
 named Jean Visconti, and seven other persons 
 in his company, with ten led horses; for when 
 a traveller passes through Greece, he must 
 absolutely carry every necessary with him. 
 
 I departed from Constantinople the 23d 
 January 1433, and first came to the pass of 
 Rigory, which was formerly tolerably strong : 
 it is formed in a valley through which runs an 
 arm of the sea, twenty miles long. There was 
 a tower, but the Turks have destroyed it. In 
 this place, there remain a bridge, a causeway and 
 a greek village. In the way to Constantinople 
 by land, there is but this pass, and another 
 
 made him twice say, that in this justing with sticks no one. 
 was wounded. 
 
<2'}5 
 
 lower down, still more dangerous, on a river 
 which there discharges itself into the sea. 
 
 From Rigory I went to Thiras, inhabited 
 also by Greeks : it has been a good town, and 
 a pass as strong as the preceding one, from 
 being formed in like manner by the sea. At 
 each end of the bridge, there was a large tower; 
 but tower and town, all have been destroyed 
 by the Turks. 
 
 I went from Thiras to Salubria. This 
 town, two days journey from Constantinople, 
 is situated on the gnlph, that extends from 
 this place as far as Gallipoli, and has a small 
 harbour. The Turks could never take it, 
 although it is not strong toward the sea. It 
 belongs to the emperor, as well as the whole 
 country hitherto ; but this country is completely 
 ruined, and has but poor villages. 
 
 Thence I came to Chorleu, formerly 
 considerable, — destroyed by the Turks, and 
 now inhabited by them and Greeks. — Next to 
 Chorleu is Misterio, a small inclosed place.,. 
 
uuk^B 
 
 £56 
 
 inhabited only bv Greeks, — with one single 
 Turk, to whom his prince has given it. 
 
 From Misterio we came to Pirpasy, where 
 there are none but Turks. The walls have 
 been thrown down. — Zambry is the next place 
 to Pirgasy, and is equally destroyed. 
 
 We next came to Adrianople, a large 
 commercial town, very populous, and situated 
 on a great river called the Mariza, six days 
 journey from Constantinople. This is the 
 strongest town possessed by the Turk in 
 Greece, and here he chiefly resides. The 
 lieutenant or governor of Greece lives here 
 also ; and many merchants from Venice, 
 Catalonia, Genoa and Florence are likewise 
 residents. The country from Constantinople 
 hither is good, and well watered, — but thinly 
 peopled, having fertile vallies that produce 
 every thing but wood. 
 
 The Turk was at Lessère *, a large town 
 in Pyrre, near to Pharsalia, where the decisive 
 
 * Q. if not Larissa (Seres), in Phrygia, 
 
237 
 
 battle was fought between Caesar and Pompey, 
 and sir Benedict took the road thither to wait 
 on him. We crossed the Mariza in a boat, and 
 shortly after met fifty women of the Turk's 
 seraglio, attended by about sixteen eunuchs, 
 who told us they were escorting them to 
 Adrianople, whither their master proposed 
 soon following them. 
 
 We came to Dy modique *, a good town, 
 inclosed with a double wall. It is defended on 
 one sde by a river, and on the other by a large 
 and strong castle, constructed on an elevation 
 which is almost round, and which may contain 
 within its extent three hundred houses. In the 
 castle is a dungeon, wherein I was told the Turk 
 keeps his treasure. 
 
 From Demetica, we came to Ypsala -j- : 
 it has been a tolerable town, but is totally 
 destroyed. I crossed the Mariza a second time. 
 It is two days journey from Adrianople, and 
 
 * Q. Demetica. 
 f Q. Cypsela. 
 
238 
 
 the country throughout was marshy, and 
 difficult for the horses. 
 
 Ayne *, beyond Ypsala, is on the sea-shore, 
 and at the mouth of the Mariza, which at this 
 place is full two miles wide. When Troy 
 flourished, this was a powerful city, and had 
 a king : at present, its lord is brother to the 
 lord of Matelin, and tributary to the Turk. 
 
 On a circular hillock is the tomb of 
 Polydorc, the youngest of the sons of Priam. 
 The father had sent this son, during the siege 
 of Troy, to the king of Eno with much 
 treasure ; but, after the destruction of Troy, 
 the king, as much through fear of the Greeks 
 as the wish to possess this treasure, put the 
 young prince to death. 
 
 At Eno, I crossed the Mariza in a large 
 vessel, and came to Macri, another maritime 
 town to the westward of the first, and inhabited 
 by Turks and Greeks. It is near to the island 
 of Samandraf, which belongs to the lord 
 
 * Eno. f Q. Samothraki. 
 
239 
 
 of Eno, and seems to have been formerly 
 considerable : at present, the whole of it is in 
 ruins, excepting a part of the castle. 
 
 Caumissin, whether we came next, after 
 having traversed a mountain, has good walls, 
 which make it sufficiently strong, although it 
 is small. It is situated on a brook, in a fine 
 flat country, inclosed by mountains to the 
 westward ; and this plain extends, for five or 
 six days journey, to Lessère. 
 
 Missy was equally strong, and well 
 fortified ; but part of its walls are thrown 
 down, and every thing within is destroyed : 
 it is uninhabited. 
 
 Peritoq, an ancient town, and formerly 
 considerable, is seated on a gulph which runs 
 inland about forty miles, beginning at Monte 
 Santo, where are such numbers of monks. 
 Greeks are the inhabitants, and it is defended 
 by good walls, which have, however, many 
 breaches in them. Thence to Lessère, the 
 road leads over an extensive plain. It was 
 
 

 240 
 
 near Lesscre, they say, that the grand battle 
 of Pharsalia was fou si ht. 
 
 o 
 
 We did not proceed to this last town ; 
 for hearing the Turk was on the road, we 
 waited for him at Yamgbatsar, a village 
 constructed by his subjects. When he travels, 
 his escort consists of four or five hundred horse ; 
 but as he is passionately fond of hawking, the 
 greater part of this troop was composed of 
 falconers and goshawk-trainers, a people that 
 are great favourites with him ; and it is said, 
 that he keeps more than two thousand of 
 them. Having this passion, he travels very 
 short days journies, which are to him more an 
 object of amusement and pleasure. 
 
 He entered Yamgbatsar in a shower of 
 rain, having only fifty horsemen attending 
 him and a dozen archers, his slaves, walking 
 on foot before him. His dress was a robe of 
 crimson velvet, lined with sable, and on his 
 head he wore, like the Turks, a red hat : to 
 save himself from the rain, he had thrown 
 
241 
 
 over this robe another, in the manner of a 
 mantle, after the fashion of the country. 
 
 He was encamped in a pavilion which 
 had been brought with him ; for lodgings are 
 nowhere to be met with, nor any provision, 
 except in the large towns, so that travellers 
 are obliged to carry all things with them. 
 He had numbers of camels and other beasts 
 of burden. 
 
 In the afternoon he came out of his 
 pavilion to go to the bath, and I saw him at 
 my ease. He was on horseback, with the 
 same hat and crimson robe, attended by six 
 persons on foot. I heard him speak to his 
 attendants, and he seemed to have a deep 
 toned voice. He is about twenty-eight or 
 thirty years old, and is already very fat. 
 
 The ambassador sent one of his attendants 
 to ask him, if he could have an audience, and 
 present him the gifts he had brought. He 
 made answer, that being now'occupied with 
 his pleasures, he would not listen to any 
 
 i i 
 
242 
 
 matters of business ; that, besides, his bashaws 
 were absent; that the ambassador must wait 
 for them, or return to Adrianople* 
 
 Sir Benedict accepted the latter proposal, 
 and, consequently, we returned to Caumissin, 
 whence having repassed the mountain I have 
 spoken of, we entered a road formed between 
 two high rocks, and through them flows a river. 
 A strong castle, called Coloung, had been 
 built on one of these rocks, for its defence, 
 but it is now in ruins. The mountain is partly 
 covered with wood, and is inhabited by a 
 wicked race of assassins. 
 
 At length we arrived at Trajanopoly, a 
 town built by the emperor Trajan, who did 
 many things worthy of record. He was the 
 son of the founder of Adrianople; and the 
 Saracens say, that he had an ear like to that of 
 a sheep *. This town was very large, near to 
 
 * Trajanopoly was not so called from having been 
 built by Trajan, but because he died there. It existed before 
 his time, and was named Selinunte. 
 
the sea and the Mariza; but now nothing, 
 is seen but ruins, with a few inhabitants. 
 A mountain rises to the east of it, and the sea 
 Jies on the south. One of its baths bears the 
 name of Holy Water. 
 
 Further on is Vyra, an ancient castle, 
 demolished in many places. A Greek told 
 me the church had three hundred canons 
 attached to it. The choir is still remaining, 
 but the Turks have converted it into a mosque. 
 They have also surrounded the castle with a 
 considerable town, inhabited by them and 
 Greeks. It is seated on a mountain, near the 
 Mariza. 
 
 On leaving Vyra, we met the lieutenant 
 of Greece, whom the Turk had sent for, and 
 
 Adrian was not the father of Trajan, but his adopted 
 son, and, in this right, became his successor. 
 
 Adrianople was not founded by Adrian. An 
 earthquake had ruined it, and he ordered it to be rebuilt, and 
 gave it his name. Such errors are excusable in an author of 
 the fifteenth century. As for the sheep's ear, he speaks of it 
 as a 6aracenic fable. 
 

 tfâlRfS I 
 
 Ê44 
 
 he was on his road to him with a troop of 
 one hundred and twenty horse. He is a 
 handsome man, a native of Bulgaria, and 
 had been the slave of his master; but as he 
 has the talent of drinking hard, the prince 
 gave him the government of Greece, with a 
 revenue of fifty thousand ducats. 
 
 Demetica, on my return, appeared much 
 larger and handsomer than I thought it the 
 first time ; and if it be true that the Turk has 
 there deposited his treasure, he is certainly in 
 the right to do so. 
 
 We were forced to wait eleven days in 
 Adrianople. At length he arrived, on the 
 first day of Lent. The mufti, who is with 
 them what the pope is to us, went out to meet 
 him, accompanied by the principal persons of 
 the town, who formed a long procession. He 
 was already near the town when they met him, 
 but had halted to take some refreshment, and 
 had sent forward part of his attendants. He did 
 not make his entry until night-fall. 
 
245 
 
 During my stay at Adrianople, I had 
 the opportunity of making acquaintance with 
 several persons who had resided at his court, 
 and consequently knew him well, and who 
 told me many particulars about him. In the 
 first place, as I have seen him frequently, 
 I shall say that he is a little, short, thick man, 
 with the physiognomy of a Tartar. He has 
 a broad and brown face, high cheek bones, 
 a round beard, a great and crooked nose, 
 with little eyes ; but they say he is kind, good, 
 generous, and willingly gives away lands and 
 money. 
 
 His revenues are two millions and a half 
 of ducats, including twenty-five thousand 
 received as tribute -money *. Besides, when 
 he raises an army, it not only costs him 
 nothing, but he gains by it; for the troops 
 
 * There must be here an error of the copyist, for 
 25,000 ducats as tribute is too small a sum. We shall see, 
 further on, that the despot of Servia paid annually 50,000 
 for himself alone. 
 
245 
 
 that are brought him from Turkey in Europe, 
 pay at Gallipoli, the comarch, which is three 
 aspers for each man, and five for each horse. 
 It is the same at the passage of the Danube. 
 Whenever his soldiers go on an expedition, 
 and make a capture of slaves, he has the 
 right of choosing one out of every five. He 
 is nevertheless thought not to love war, and 
 this seems to me well founded. He has, in fact, 
 hitherto met with such trifling resistance from 
 Christendom that, were he to employ all his 
 power and wealth on this object, it would be 
 easy for him to conquer great part of it *. His 
 
 * The sultan mentioned here under the name of 
 .Amourat Bey ; is Amurath II. one cf the most celebrated of 
 the ottoman princes. History records many of Iris victories, 
 which are indeed for the most part posterior to the account of 
 our traveller. If he did not conquer more, it was owing to 
 having Huniade or Scanderbeg opposed to him But his glory 
 was eclipsed by that of his son, the famous Mohammed II. 
 the tenor of Christians, and surnamed by his countrymen 
 * the great,' who twenty years after this period, in 1453, 
 took Constantinople, and destroyed what little remained of 
 the greek empire. 
 
247 
 
 favourite pleasures are hunting and hawking ; 
 and he has, as they say, upwards of a thousand 
 hounds, and two thousand trained hawks of 
 different sorts, of which I have seen very 
 many. 
 
 He loves liquor, and those who drink 
 hard : as for himself, he can easily quaff off 
 from ten to twelve gondils of wine, which 
 amount to six or seven quarts *. When he 
 has drunk much, he becomes generous, and 
 distributes his great gifts : his attendants, 
 therefore, are very happy when they hear him 
 call for wine. Last year, a Moor took it into 
 his head to preach to him on this subject, 
 admonishing him that wine was forbidden by 
 the prophet, and that those who drank it 
 were not good Saracens. The only answer 
 the prince gave was to order him to prison : 
 
 * The quarte, so called from being the fourth part of 
 die chenet, which contained four pots and one french pint. 
 The pot held two pints, consequently the quarte made two 
 bottles more than half aseptier; and twelve gondils made 
 twenty-three bottles. 
 
248 
 
 he then banished him his territories, with orders 
 never again to set his foot on them. 
 
 He unites, to his love for women, a taste 
 for boys, and has three hundred of the former 
 and about thirty of the latter, which he prefers, 
 and when they are grown up he recompenses 
 them with rich presents and lordships. One 
 of them he married to a sister of his, with an 
 annual income of c 25,O0O ducats. 
 
 Some persons estimate his treasure at 
 half a million of ducats, others at a million. 
 This is exclusive of his plate, his slaves, the 
 jewels for his women, which last article is 
 estimated alone at a million of gold. I am 
 convinced, that if he would for one year 
 abstain from thus giving away blindly, and 
 hold his hand, he would lay by a million of 
 ducats without wronging any one. 
 
 Every now and then he makes great and 
 remarkable examples of justice, which procures 
 him perfect obedience at home and abroad. 
 He likewise knows how to keep his country 
 
249 
 
 in an excellent state of defence, without 
 oppressing his turkish subjects by taxes of 
 other modes of extortion. 
 
 His houshold is composed of five thousand 
 persons, as well horse as foot ; but in war-time 
 he does not augment their pay, so that he does 
 not expend more than in time of peace, contrary 
 to what happens in other nations. 
 
 His principal officers are three bashaws, 
 or visir bashaws. The visir is a counsellor, — 
 the bashaw a sort of chief, or lieutenant. These 
 three have the charge of all that concerns 
 himself or his houshold, and no one can speak 
 with him but through them. When he is in 
 Greece, the lieutenant of Greece has the 
 superintendance of the army, — and when in 
 Turkey, the lieutenant of Turkey. 
 
 He has given away great possessions, but 
 he may resume them at pleasure. Besides, 
 those to whom they have been given, are 
 bound to serve him in w r ar, with a certain 
 number of troops, at their own expense. 
 
 K K 
 
^^^^H ^^^H 
 
 250 
 
 It is thus that Greece annually supplies 
 him with thirty thousand men, whom he may 
 lead whither he pleases, — and Turkey ten 
 thousand, for whom he only finds provisions. 
 Should he want a more considerable army, 
 Greece alone, as they tell me, can then furnish 
 him with one hundred and twenty thousand 
 more ; but he is obliged to pay for these. The 
 pay is five aspers for the infantry, and eight for 
 the cavalry. 
 
 I have, however, heard, that of these 
 hundred and twenty thousand, there was but 
 half, that is to say, the cavalry, that were 
 properly equipped, and well armed with 
 tarquais and sword : the rest were composed 
 Oi men on foot miserably accoutrcu, — some 
 having swords without bows, others without 
 swords, bows, or any arms whatever, many 
 having only staves. It is the same with the 
 infantry supplied by Turkey, one half armed 
 with staves. This turkish infantry is nevertheless 
 more esteemed than the greek, and considered 
 as better soldiers. 
 
251 
 
 Other persons, whose testimony I regard 
 as authentic, have since told me, that the troops 
 Turkey is obliged to furnish, when the prince 
 wants to form an army, amount to thirty 
 thousand men, and those from Greece to twenty, 
 without including two or three thousand slaves 
 of his own, whom he arms well. 
 
 Among these slaves are many Christians; 
 and there are likewise numbers of them among 
 the troops from Greece, Albanians, Bulgarians, 
 and from other countries. In the last army 
 from Greece, there were three thousand Servian 
 horse, which the despot of the province had 
 sent under the command of one of his sons. 
 It was with great regret that these people came 
 to serve him, but they dared not refuse. 
 
 The bashaws arrived at Adrianople three 
 days after their lord, bringing with them part 
 of his people and his baggage. This baggage 
 consists of about a hundred camels, and two 
 hundred and fifty mules and sumpter horses., 
 as the nation does not use waggons. 
 
252 
 
 Sir Benedict was impatient to have an 
 audience, and made inquiries of the bashaws 
 if he could see the prince : their answer was a 
 negative. The reason of this refusal was, that 
 they had been drinking with him, and were 
 all intoxicated. They, how r ever, sent on the 
 morrow to the ambassador to let him know 
 they were visible, when he instantly waited on 
 each with his presents; for such is the custom 
 of the country, that no one can speak to them 
 without bringing something: even the slaves 
 who guard their gates are not exempted from 
 it. I accompanied him on this visit. 
 
 On the following day, in the afternoon, 
 he was informed that he might come to the 
 palace. He instantly mounted his horse to go 
 thither with his attendants, and I joined the 
 company ; but we were all on foot, he alone 
 being on horseback. 
 
 In front of the court, we found a great 
 number of men and horses. The gate was 
 guarded by about thirty slaves, under the 
 

 253 
 
 command of a chief, armed with staves. 
 Should any person offer to enter without 
 permission, they bid him retire : if he persist, 
 they drive him away with their staves. 
 
 What we call the court of the king, the 
 Turks call * porte du seigneur/ Every time 
 the prince receives a message or an embassy, 
 which happens almost daily, « il fait porte.' 
 c Faire porte,' is for him the same as when 
 our kings of France hold royal state and 
 open court, although there is much difference 
 between the two ceremonies, as I shall presently 
 show. 
 
 When the ambassador had entered, they 
 made him sit down near the gate, with many 
 other persons who were waiting for the prince 
 to quit his apartment and hold his court. The 
 three bashaws first entered, with the governor 
 of Greece and others of the great lords. His 
 chamber looked into a very large court : the 
 governor went thither to wait for him. — At 
 length he appeared. His dress was, as usual, 
 

 MM |M ■H ■■■■ 
 
 25* 
 
 a crimson satin robe, over which he had, by 
 way of mantle, another of green figured satin, 
 lined with sable. His young boys accompanied 
 him, but no further than to the entrance of the 
 apartment, when they returned. There was 
 nobody with him but a small dwarf, and two 
 young persons who acted the part of fools*. 
 
 He walked across an angle of the court to 
 a gallery, where a seat had been prepared for 
 him. It was a kind of couch covered with 
 velvet, with four or five steps to mount to it. 
 He seated himself on it, like to our taylors 
 when they are going to work, and the three 
 bashaws took their places a little way from him. 
 The other officers, who on these days make 
 part of the attendants, likewise entered the 
 gallery, and posted themselves along the walls 
 as far from frim as they could. Without, 
 
 * Having fools was a very ancient custom at the 
 eastern courts. It had been introduced by the croisaders to 
 the courts of Christian princes, and was continued at that of 
 Fiance until die reign of Louis XIV. 
 
:dj 
 
 but fronting him, were twenty wallachian 
 gentlemen seated, who had been detained by 
 him as hostages for the good conduct of their 
 countrymen. Within this apartment were 
 placed about a hundred dishes of tin, each 
 containing a piece of mutton and rice. 
 
 When all were placed, a lord from Bosnia 
 was introduced, who pretended that the crown 
 of that country belonged to him, and came in 
 consequence to do homage for it to the Turk, 
 and ask succour from him against the present 
 king. He was conducted to a seat near the 
 bashaws; and when his attendants had made 
 their appearance, the ambassador from Milan 
 was sent for. 
 
 He advanced, followed by his presents, 
 which were set down near the tin dishes. 
 Persons appointed to receive them raised them 
 above their heads, as high as they could, that 
 the prince and his court might see them. 
 While this was passing, sir Benedict walked 
 
256 
 
 slowly toward the gallery. A person of 
 distinction came to introduce him. 
 
 On entering, he made a reverence without 
 taking off the bonnet from his head, and when 
 near the steps of the couch he made another 
 very low one. The prince then rose, descended 
 two steps to come nearer to the ambassador, 
 and took him by the hand. The ambassador 
 wished to kiss his hand, but he refused it ; and 
 by means of a jew interpreter, who understood 
 the turkish and italian languages, asked how 
 his good brother and neighbour the duke of 
 Milan was in health. The ambassador having 
 replied to this question, he was conducted to a 
 seat near the Bosnian, but walking backwards, 
 with his face toward the prince, according to 
 the custom of the country. 
 
 The prince waited to reseat himself, until 
 the ambassador had sitten down : then the 
 different officers on duty who were in the 
 apartment sat down on the floor, — and the 
 
237 
 
 person who had introduced the ambassador 
 went to seek for us his attendants, and placed 
 us near the Bosnians. 
 
 In the mean time, a silken napkin was 
 attached to the prince, and a round piece 
 of thin red leather was placed before him, for 
 their usage is to eat only from table-coverings 
 of leather, then some dressed meat was brought 
 to him in two gilded dishes. When he was 
 served, his officers went and took the tin 
 dishes I have spoken of, and distributed them 
 to the persons in the hall, one dish among 
 four. There was in each a piece of mutton, 
 and some clear rice, but neither bread nor any 
 thing to drink. I saw, however, in a corner 
 of the court a high buffet with shelves, which 
 had some little plate on them, and at the foot 
 was a large silver vase, in the shape of a drinking 
 cup, which I perceived many to drink out of, 
 but whether water or wine 1 know not. 
 
 With regard to the meat on the dishes, 
 some tasted of it, others not ; but before all 
 
 L L 
 
HB 
 
 
 
 258 
 
 Were served, it was necessary to take away, for 
 the prince had not been inclined to eat. He 
 never takes any thing in public, and there arc 
 very few persons who can boast of having 
 heard him speak, or of having seen him eat 
 or drink. 
 
 On his going away, the musicians, who 
 were placed in the court near the buffet, began 
 to play. They played on instruments, and 
 sung songs that celebrated the heroic actions 
 of turkish warriors. When those in the gallery 
 heard anything that pleased them, they shouted, 
 after their manner, most horrid cries. Being 
 ignorant on what they were playing, I went 
 into the court, and saw they were stringed 
 instruments, and of a large size. 
 
 The musicians entered the apartment, 
 and eat whatever they could find. At length 
 the meat was taken away when every one rose 
 up, and the ambassador retired without having 
 said a word respecting his embassy, which is 
 never customary at a first audience. 
 
259 
 
 There is also another custom, that when 
 an ambassador has been presented to the prince, 
 this latter, until he shall have given him his 
 answer, sends him wherewith to pay his daily 
 expenses, and the sum is two hundred aspers. 
 On the morrow, therefore, one of the officers 
 of the treasury, the same who had conducted 
 sir Benedict to the court, came to him with 
 the above sum. Shortly after, the slaves who 
 guarded the gate came for what is usually 
 given them : they are, however, satisfied with 
 a little. 
 
 On the third day, the bashaws let the 
 ambassador know, they were ready to learn 
 from him the subject of his embassy. He 
 immediately went to the court, and I 
 accompanied him ; but the prince had closed 
 his audience, and was just retired, and only 
 the three bashaws, with the Beguelar or 
 governor of Greece were now remaining. 
 When we had passed the gate, we found these 
 four seated on a piece of wood that happened 
 
260 
 
 to be withoutside of the gallery. They sent to 
 desire the ambassador would come forward, 
 and had a carpet placed on the ground 
 before them, on which they made him seat 
 himself, like to a criminal before his judge, 
 notwithstanding there were present great 
 numbers of people. 
 
 He explained to them the object of his 
 mission, which was, as 1 heard, to entreat their 
 lord, on the part of the duke of Milan, to consent 
 to yield up to the roman emperor Sigismond, 
 Hungary, Wallachia, Bulgaria as far as Sophia, 
 Bosnia, and the part of Albania he now possessed 
 which was dependant on Sclavonia. They 
 replied, they could not at that moment inform 
 the prince of his request, as he was occupied ; 
 but that within ten days he should have his 
 answer, if they should then have received it 
 from him. There is likewise another custom ; 
 that from the time when an ambassador is 
 announced as such, he can never speak with 
 the prince personally. This regulation was 
 

 261 
 
 made since the grandfather of the present prince 
 was murdered by an ambassador from Servia. 
 That envoy had come to solicit from him some 
 alleviation in favour of his countrymen, whom 
 the prince wanted to reduce to slavery. In 
 despair at not obtaining his object, he stabbed 
 him, and was himself massacred the instant 
 after *. 
 
 * The grandfather of Amurath II. was Bajazet I. 
 who died prisoner to Tamerlane, whether treated with kindness 
 by the conqueror, as some authors pretend, or confined in an 
 iron cage, according to others. This story of the Servian 
 cannot therefore regard him. But we find in the life of 
 Amurath I. father to Bajazet, and, consequently, great 
 grandfather to Amurath II. a circumstance that may have been 
 the foundation for this story of the assassination. 
 
 This prince had just gained a complete victory over the 
 despot of Servia, in which he was made prisoner, and was 
 passing over the field of battle near to a sei~vian soldier, 
 mortallv wounded, who, knowing him, exerted his remaining 
 strength and poinarded him. 
 
 According to others, the despot, named Lazarus, or 
 Eleazer Bulcowitz, finding himself attacked by Amurath, with 
 an irresistible army, and seeing no other chance of opposing 
 him but by treason, gains over one of the great lords of his 
 fouit, who, feigning discontent, passes over to the party of 
 
M^,Aiï*!.titeWMMv:& 
 
 2<S2 
 
 On the tenth day, we went to the court 
 to receive the answer. The prince was there, 
 as at ihe first time, seated on his couch; but 
 he had with him in the gallery only those that 
 served his table. I saw neither buffet, minstrels, 
 nor the lord of Bosnia, nor the Wallachians, 
 but only Magnoly, brother to the duke of 
 Cephalonia, whose manners to the prince were 
 those of a respectful servant. Even the bashaws 
 were without, and standing at a distance, as 
 well as the greater part of the persons whom 
 I had before seen in the interior, but their 
 number was much lessened. 
 
 the sultan, and assassinates him. (Du Cange Familise Bisant. 
 p. 334.) 
 
 According to another account, Amurath was slain 
 in the combat j and La&uus, being made prisoner by the 
 Turks, was hewed to pieces on the bleeding corpse of their 
 master. 
 
 It seems, from the recital of la Brocquièrc, that the 
 account of the assassination by the Servian, is the true one. 
 This at least appears probable, from die precautions taken at 
 the Ottoman Porte against foreign ambassadors; for at this 
 day, wnen they are mcioduced to the sultan, they are held by 
 the sleeves of their coats. 
 

 i>63 
 
 During the time we were made to wait 
 without, the chief cadi, with his assessors, 
 administered justice at the outward gate of the 
 palace, when I saw some foreign Christians 
 come to plead their cause before him : but 
 when the prince rose up, the judges ended 
 their sittings and retired to their homes. 
 
 I saw the prince pass with his attendants 
 to the great court, which I was unable to do 
 the first time. He wore a robe of cloth of gold 
 and green, somewhat rich, and he seemed to me 
 to have a hasty step. 
 
 When he had re-entered his apartments, 
 the bashaws, seated as on the preceding day on 
 the piece of wood, sent for the ambassador. 
 Their answer was, that their master charged 
 him to salute, in his name, his brother the 
 duke of Milan ; that he was very desirous of 
 doing much for him, but that his present 
 request was unreasonable ; that from regard 
 to him their prince had frequently abstained 
 from pushing his conquests further in Hungary, 
 
 4 
 
264 
 
 I 
 
 
 which he might easily have done, and such a 
 sacrifice ought to satisfy him ; that it would 
 be too hard for him to surrender all he had 
 won by the sword ; and that in the present 
 circumstances, he and his soldiers had no 
 other theatre to occupy their courage besides 
 the territories of the emperor, and that he 
 should be the more unwilling to renounce 
 them, because hitherto he had never met the 
 emperor's forces without beating them, or 
 putting them to flight, as was well known to 
 all the world. 
 
 The ambassador, in fact, knew this 
 personally, for in the last defeat of Sigismond 
 before Couloubath, he had witnessed his 
 disa.st^r • h* 3 h a t d ev p n *be nirrVit- nrprpdin 0, thf. 
 battle, quitted his camp, to wait on the Turk. 
 In our conversations, he told me many 
 particulars on this subject. I saw also two 
 genoese cross-bowmen, who related to me 
 how the emperor and his army had re-passed 
 the Danube in his gallies. 
 
o 
 
 265 
 
 The ambassador having received his 
 answer from the bashaws, returned to his 
 lodgings ; but he was scarcely arrived, when 
 he received, on the part of the sultan, five 
 thousand aspers, with a robe of crimson 
 camocas lined with yellow calimanco. 
 
 Thirty-six aspers are worth a Venetian 
 ducat; but of the five thousand aspers, the 
 treasurer deducted ten per cent, as fees of 
 office. 
 
 I saw also, during my stay at Adrianople, 
 a present of another sort, made likewise by the 
 sultan to a bride on her wedding day. This 
 bride was daughter to the Bcgler Bey, governor 
 of Greece ; and the daughter of one of the 
 bashaws, attended by upwards of thirty other 
 women, had been charged to offer it. Her 
 dress was of crimson tissue and gold : her 
 face was covered, according to custom, with 
 a very rich veil ornamented with diamonds. 
 The attendant ladies had magnificent veils, 
 and their dresses were robes of crimson velvet, 
 
 M M 
 
— — — 1 
 
 26(5 
 
 and robes of cloth of gold without fur. They 
 were all on horseback, riding astride like men, 
 and some of them had superb saddles. 
 
 In front of the procession marched thirteen 
 or fourteen horsemen, and two minstrels also on 
 horseback, as well as other musicians carrying 
 a trumpet, a very large drum, and about eight 
 pairs of tymbals, which altogether made a most 
 abominable noise. After the musicians came 
 the present, and then the ladies. This present 
 consisted of seventy broad platters of tin loaded 
 with different sorts of sweetmeats, wet and dry, 
 and of twenty other platters having on them 
 sheep skinned, painted red and white, and all 
 had a silver ring suspended from the nose, 
 and two others in the ears. 
 
 I had an opportunity of seeing, while at 
 Adrianople, numbers of Christians chained 
 who were brought thither for sale. They 
 begged for alms in the street; but my heart 
 bleeds when I think on the shocking hardships 
 they suffer. 
 
267 
 
 We left that town on the 12th of March, 
 under the escort of a slave whom the sultan had 
 ordered to accompany the ambassador. This 
 man was of great utility to us on the road, 
 more especially in regard to lodgings, — for 
 wherever he demanded any thing for us, it was 
 eagerly and instantly granted. 
 
 Our first day's journey was through a 
 beautiful country, ascending the Mariza, 
 which we crossed at a ferry : the second, 
 though the roads were good, was employed in 
 passing through woods. At length, we entered 
 Macedonia, between two mountains opening 
 to an extensive plain, which may be forty miles 
 wide, and is watered by the Mariza. 1 there 
 met fifteen men and ten women chained by the 
 neck, inhabitants of Bosnia, whom the Turks 
 had just carried off in an excursion which they 
 had made thither. Two Turks were leading 
 them for sale to Adrianople. 
 
 Shortly after, we arrived at Philopoppoli, 
 the capital of Macedonia, and built by king 
 
Û6S 
 
 Philip. It is situated in a plain on the Mariza, 
 in an excellent country where all sorts or 
 provision are sold very cheap. It was formerly 
 a considerable town, and indeed is so now. 
 Within it are three mountains, two of which 
 are at one of its extremities toward the 
 southward, and the other in the centre. On 
 this last had been constructed a large castle, 
 in the form of a crescent, now destroyed. 
 I was shown the situation of king Philip's 
 palace, which has been demolished, but the 
 walls still remain. Philipoppoli is inhabited 
 chiefly by Bulgarians, who follow the greek 
 ritual. 
 
 I crossed the Mariza by a bridge, on 
 
 f*P VI H if 
 
 \ivir 
 
 Philipoppoli and rode a whole dav 
 over the plain I mentioned : it terminates at a 
 mountain sixteen or twenty miles in length, 
 covered with wood. This place was in former 
 times infested by robbers, and very dangerous 
 to pass. The Turk has ordered, that whoever 
 inhabits these parts shall be free : in consequence, 
 
269 
 
 two villages have been erected and inhabited by- 
 Bulgarians, in one of which, situated on the 
 confines of Bulgaria and Macedonia, I passed 
 the night. 
 
 Having crossed the mountain, we came to 
 a plain six miles long by two broad, — then to 
 a forest sixteen miles in length, — then to another 
 great plain wholly shut in by mountains, well 
 peopled with Bulgarians, and having a river 
 running through it. 
 
 After three days journey, I came at last to 
 a town named Sophia, which had been very 
 considerable, as may be judged from the 
 ruins of its walls, now thrown down ; but 
 it is at present the best in Bulgaria. It has 
 a small castle, and is situated near a mountain 
 on the southward, and at the beginning of a 
 great plain sixty miles long by ten wide. The 
 inhabitants are chiefly Bulgarians, as in the 
 adjacent villages. The Turks are few in 
 number, which causes the others to feel the 
 
• 
 
 %.■"}& H ,~V.-Jk: 
 
 
 nnw 
 
 270 
 
 greatest desire to throw off their yoke, if they 
 could find any to assist them. 
 
 I saw someTurks return from an excursion 
 to Hungary, — and a Genoese, named Nicolas 
 Ciba, told me he had also seen those who had 
 crossed the Danube return, and that there was 
 not one in ten that had both bow and sword : 
 for my part, of those I saw, there were many 
 more that had neither bow nor sword than 
 those who were armed with both. The best 
 equipped had a small wooden target. In 
 truth, we must confess that it is a great 
 shame for Christendom to suffer itself to be 
 subjugated by such a race, for they are much 
 below what is thought of them. 
 
 On quitting Sophia, I traversed fifty miles 
 of the plain I spoke of. The country is well 
 inhabited by Bulgarians of the greek religion. 
 I then passed through a mountainous country, 
 tolerably good for travelling on horseback, and 
 came to a little town in a plain on the Nissave, 
 
271 
 
 called Pirotte. It is uninclosed, but has a small 
 castle, defended on one side by the river, on the 
 other by a marsh : to the north is a mountain. 
 ït is inhabited by Turks only. 
 
 Beyond Pirotte, the country is again 
 mountainous, when, after a circuit, we came 
 again to the Nissave, which runs through a 
 beautiful valley between two tolerably high 
 hills. At the foot of one of them was the 
 town of Ysvouriere, now totally destroyed, 
 even to the walls. We followed the banks of 
 the river through the valley, and came to 
 another mountain, difficult to pass, although 
 cars and carts do go over it. We then arrived 
 at an agreeable valley, still watered by the 
 Nissave, which having crossed by a bridge, 
 we entered Nissa. 
 
 This town had a handsome castle that 
 belonged to the despot of Servia. The Turk 
 took it, five years ago, by storm, and entirely 
 destroyed it. The situation is in a delightful 
 country, abounding in rice. Ï continued to 
 

 mi 
 
 272 
 
 follow the river from Nissa, through a country 
 equally pleasant, and well filled with villages. 
 I at last crossed it at a ferry, and saw it no 
 more. The mountains now commenced, and 
 I had a long miry forest to pass, and, after ten 
 days journey from Adrianople, arrived at 
 Corsebech *, a small town situated a mile 
 distant from the Morava. 
 
 The Morava is a large river that runs 
 from Bosnia, and divides Bulgaria from la 
 Rascia or Servia, a province which indifferently 
 bears these two names, and which the Turk 
 conquered six years ago. Corsebech had a 
 small castle, now demolished : it has still a 
 double wall, but the upper parts, as far as the 
 battlements, have been thrown down. 
 
 I found there Cénasnin Bey, captain or 
 commandant of this vast frontier country, 
 that extends from Wallachia as far as Sclavonia, 
 He resides part of the year in this town ; and 
 
 * Q. Kruzcevaz, or Alagia Hisar. 
 
273 
 
 they told me he was originally a Greek, who did 
 not drink wine like other Turks ; that he was 
 prudent and brave, and knew how to make 
 himself feared and obeyed. The Turk has 
 intrusted him with the government of this 
 country, of which he possesses the greater part 
 as his own property. He suffers no one to 
 cross the river, unless they be known to him, 
 or unless they be bearers of letters from his 
 master, or, in his absence, from the governor 
 of Greece, 
 
 We saw there a beautiful woman, one of 
 the hungarian nobility, whose situation inspired 
 us with pity. An hungarian renegado, one of 
 the lowest rank, had carried her off in an 
 excursion, and treated her as his wife. On 
 seeing us, she melted into tears, for she had 
 not as yet renounced her religion. 
 
 On leaving Corsebech, we crossed the 
 Morava by a ferry, and entered the territory of 
 the despot of Servia, a fine and well -peopled 
 country. All on this side the river belongs to 
 
 N N 
 
v- v .'.,fr» 
 
 
 ■ 
 
 him, — the district on the other to the Turk ; 
 but the despot pays him an annual tribute of 
 fifty thousand ducats. He possesses also, on 
 this river, toward the common boundaries of 
 Bulgaria, Sclavonia, Albania and Bosnia, a 
 town called Nyeuberge, which has a mine 
 producing gold and silver at the same time. 
 Each year it pays him more than two hundred 
 thousand ducats, as well informed people 
 assured me : without this, he would be soon 
 driven out of his dominions. 
 
 I passed on my road near to the castle of 
 Escalache, that belongs to him. It has been a 
 strong place, on the point of a hill, at the foot 
 of which the Nissave forms a junction with 
 the Morava. Part of the walls, with a tower 
 in the form of a dungeon, are all that remain. 
 
 At the mouth of these two rivers, the 
 Turk usually keeps from eighty to a hundred 
 gallies, galliots and rafts, to convey over his 
 cavalry and army in time of war. I could not 
 see them, as no Christian is allowed to approach 
 
275 
 
 them ; but a man, worthy of belief, informed 
 me there was a body of three hundred men 
 always posted there to guard them, and that 
 they are relieved every two months. 
 
 The distance from Escalache to the 
 Danube is one hundred miles : nevertheless, 
 in all this distance, there does not subsist any 
 fort, or place of defence, but a village, and a 
 house erected by Cénasnin-Bey on the declivity 
 of a mountain, with a mosque. 
 
 I followed the course of the Morava, and 
 with the exception of a very miry pass, that 
 continues about a mile, caused by a mountain 
 pressing too close on the river, 1 had a good 
 road through a pleasant well-peopled country. 
 It was not the same the second day, for 1 had 
 mountains, wood, and much mud to travel 
 through. The country, notwithstanding, was 
 as fine as a mountainous country can be. It is 
 full of villages, and all your wants may be 
 there supplied. 
 
**> 
 
 HW BB HHSBhI 
 
 ^^m 
 
 n 
 
 Q16 
 
 From the time we had entered Macedonia, 
 Bulgaria and Servia, I found on our passage 
 that the Turk every where caused pn clamation 
 to he made, that whoever was hound to join 
 the army should hold himself in readiness to 
 march. They told us, that those who, in 
 obedience to this duty, fed a horse, were 
 exempted from the tax of the comarch ; that 
 such Christians as were desirous of being 
 excused from serving pay fifty aspers a-head ; 
 and that some are forced to join the army, but 
 only when it requires reinforcements. 
 
 I learnt also at the court of the despot, 
 that the Turk has divided the guard and 
 defence of these frontier provinces among 
 three captains; one, called Dysem Bey, has 
 the district from the confines of Wallachia to 
 the Black Sea; Cénasnin-Bey commands from 
 Wallachia to the borders of Bosnia ; and Isaac 
 Bey from these frontiers as far as Sclavonia, 
 that is to say, all beyond the Morava. 
 
 
£77 
 
 To continue the account of my journey, 
 I shall say, that I came to a town, or rather a 
 country-house, called Nicodem. It is here 
 the despot has fixed his residence because the 
 soil is good, and there are woods and rivers 
 abounding with every thing needful for the 
 pleasures of the chace and hawking, of which 
 he is very fond. 
 
 He was out hawking by the river side, 
 attended by fifty horse, three of his children, 
 and a Turk, who had been sent by the sultan 
 to summon him to send his contingent to the 
 armv, under the escort of one of his sons. 
 Independently of his tribute, this is one of the 
 conditions imposed upon him. Every time 
 the sultan sends him his orders, he is obliged 
 to furnish him with eight hundred or a thousand 
 horse, under the command of his second son. 
 
 He gave the sultan one of his daughters 
 in marriage : nevertheless, there passes not a 
 day that he does not fear being deprived of his 
 dominions. J have even heard say, that some 
 
MBBB ^B WB WBBBI RBH ^B EEB6 ^H BE I 
 
 i 
 
 £>78 
 
 wished to inspire the sultan with this idea, but 
 that he had answered, ' I draw more from 
 them now than if they were my own ; for in 
 this case I should be obliged to give them to 
 one of my slaves, and should not receive any 
 thing.' 
 
 The troops he is now raising are said to 
 be intended against Albania. Ten thousand 
 have already marched thither, which was the 
 reason he had so few with him when I saw 
 him at Lessère ; but this first army had been 
 destroyed *. 
 
 The prince of Servia is a tall, handsome 
 man, from fifty -eight to sixty years old : he 
 has five children, three boys and two girls. 
 Of the boys, one is twenty years, another 
 sixteen, and the third fourteen ; and all 
 
 * It was in fact this same year, 1433, that the 
 renowned Scanuerbeg having, by a trick, regained possession 
 of Albania, of which his ancestors were the sovereigns, 
 commenced that sagacious war against Amurath, which 
 covered him widt glory, and tarnished the last years of the 
 sultan. 
 
279 
 
 three, like their father, have very agreeable 
 countenances. In respect to the girls, one is 
 married to the sultan, another to the count de 
 Seil ; but as I have not seen them, I cannot 
 describe them * 
 
 When we met him hawking, the ambassador 
 and myself took him by the hand, which I 
 kissed, for such is the custom. On the 
 morrow, we went to pay him our respects. 
 J le had a tolerably numerous court, composed 
 of very handsome men, who wore the beard 
 and hair long, as they are of the greek church. 
 There were in the town a bishop and a doctor 
 in theology, on their road to Constantinople, 
 sent as ambassadors to the emperor, by the holy 
 council of Basil -f. 
 
 * This prince was named George Brancovitz or 
 Wkovitz. Some account of him and his family is to be 
 found in du Cange. (Familiae Bisant. page 336.) 
 
 t This holy council concluded its sittings by citing to 
 its tribunal, and deposing the pope, whilst the pope commanded 
 it to dissolve itself, and convoked another at Ferrai a. At 
 Florence, he had undertaken to form an union of the greek and 
 
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 ^80 
 
 I had employed two days in going from 
 Corsebech to Nicodem, and from Nicodem to 
 Belgrade half a day. There is nothing but 
 forests, mountains and valleys to this town; 
 but the vallies are crowded with villages, in 
 which provision and good wines are met with. 
 
 Belgrade is in Servia, and did belong to 
 the despot; but, four years ago, he ceded it to 
 the king of Hungary, for fear lest he should 
 suffer it to be taken by the Turk, as he had 
 done Coulumbach. This was a heavy loss to 
 Christendom. The other would be still greater, 
 because the place is stronger, and can contain 
 from five to six thousand horse *. Its walls 
 
 latin churches, and with tin's design had sent the ainhassadors 
 to the emperor. He came actually to Italy, and signed at 
 f lorence that political and simulated union before mentioned. 
 
 * My readers may perhaps be surprised that our 
 author, when he speaks of the garrison of any strong place, 
 particularizes only cavalry ; and that, when he mentions the 
 contingent sent by the despot to the turkish army, he spécifies; 
 but horse. The reason is, that when he wrote, Europe 
 paid no attention but to cavalry ; and the infantry, badly 
 armed, formed and equipped, was not considered of any 
 consequence. 
 
281 
 
 arc washed on one side by a large river that 
 comes from Bosnia, called the Save ; and on 
 the other it has a castle, near to which runs 
 the Danube, and into this the Save flows. 
 The town is built on the point formed by 
 these two rivers. 
 
 Within its walls the ground rises; but on 
 the land side, it is so flat that any one may- 
 march into the ditch. There is, however, a 
 village on this side that extends from the Save 
 to the Danube, and surrounds the town to the 
 distanceof a bow-shot. Thisvilla^e is inhabited 
 by Servians, and on Easter-day I heard mass 
 there in the Sclavonic tongue. It is under 
 obedience to the church of Rome, and its 
 ceremonies are nothing diffèrent from ours. 
 
 The place is strong from its situation, and 
 by art, having ditches en glacis, a double wall, 
 well kept in repair, that follows exactly the rise 
 and fall of the ground. It has also five forts, 
 three on the elevated ground I spoke of, and 
 tw@ on the river, but these last are commanded 
 
 o o 
 

 282 
 
 by the preceding ones. It has likewise a small 
 harbour that may hold from fifteen to twenty 
 gallies, defended by towers constructed at each 
 extremity. It is shut up by a chain from one 
 tower to the other : at least, so it was told me, 
 for the two shores are so distant I could not 
 see it. 
 
 I saw on the Save six gallies and five 
 galliots, near to the weakest of the five forts. 
 In this are many Servians, but they are not 
 permitted to enter the other forts. The 
 whole five are well furnished with artillery. 
 I particularly noticed three cannons of brass : 
 two of them were formed of two pieces, and 
 one of such a size, I never before saw the like*. 
 Its mouth was forty- two inches in diameter, 
 but it seemed short for its thickness +. 
 
 * From our author thus noticing the brass cannon, it 
 should seem they were still rare in his time, and looked on as 
 wonders. Louis XI. had a dozen cast, and gave them the 
 names of the twelve peers of France. 
 
 f It was then the fashion to make pieces of artillery 
 ©f an enormous size. Mohammed II. at the siege of 
 
88: S 
 
 The commandant of the place was sir 
 Mathico, an arragonian knight, and he had 
 for his lieutenant his own brother, styled my 
 lord brother. 
 
 The Turk is in possession of the castle of 
 Coulumbach, on the Danube, two days journey 
 below Belgrade. He seized it from the despot, 
 and it is, as they say, a strong place, but easily 
 attacked with artillery; and all succour may be 
 cut off from it, which is a great disadvantage. 
 He there keeps a hundred light gallies, having 
 sixteen or eighteen oars on a side to pass over 
 to Hungary at his pleasure. The governor of 
 this place is Cénasnin-Bey, before spoken of. 
 
 Constantinople, employed cannon cast on the spot that threw, 
 as they say, balls of two hundred weight. 
 
 Monstrelet speaks of a gun that Louis XI. had cast at 
 Tours, and carried afterward to Paris, that flung balls of five 
 hundred pounds. 
 
 In 1717, prince Eugene, after his victory over the 
 Turks, found in Belgrade a cannon twenty-five feet long, that 
 shot balls of one hundred and ten pounds, whose charge was 
 fifty-two pounds of powder. It was also then customary to 
 make the balls of marble or stone, worked to fit the mouths 
 of different cannons. 
 
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 234 
 
 On the Danube, but in Hungary, and 
 opposite to Belgrade, the despot has g town 
 and castle that were given him by the emperor *, 
 with several others, that afford him an income 
 of fifty thousand ducats, on condition of his 
 becoming his liege man, but he obeys the 
 Turk more than the emperor. 
 
 Two days after my arrival at Belgrade, 
 I saw twenty-five men, armed after the manner 
 of the country, enter the town, whom count 
 IMathico the governor had sent for to remain 
 in garrison. They told me they were 
 Germans, although they had Servians and 
 Hungarians so near at hand ; but they said, 
 the Servians were subjects and tributaries to 
 the Turk: of course, they could not trust 
 them, — and as for the Hungarians, they were 
 so much afraid of him, that should he appear, 
 they would not dare to defend it, however great 
 its strength. They were obliged, therefore, to 
 
 * Sigismond king of Bohemia and Hungary. It i^ 
 jpretended that Sigismond gave them in exchange for Belgrade, 
 
285 
 
 Cfill in strangers ; and this measure became the 
 more necessary from its being the only place 
 in the possession of the emperor to enable him 
 to pass and repass the Danube, in case of need. 
 
 This conversation greatly astonished me, 
 and caused me to make some reflections on 
 the strange subjection in which the Turk 
 keeps Macedonia, Bulgaria, the emperor of 
 Constantinople, the Greeks, the despot of 
 Servia and his subjects. Such a dépendance 
 appeared to me a lamentable thing for 
 Christendom ; and, as I lived with the Turks, 
 and became acquainted with their manner of 
 living and fighting, and have frequented the 
 company of sensible persons who have observed 
 them narrowly in their great enterprizcs, I am 
 emboldened to write something concerning 
 them, according to the best of my abilities, 
 under correction, however, from those better 
 informed, and to show how it may be possible 
 to re-conquer the territories they have gained 
 

 ■■■■I 
 
 ■ 
 
 286' 
 
 possession of, and to beat them in the field of 
 battle. 
 
 I shall begin with what regards their 
 persons, and say, they are a tolerably handsome 
 race, with long beards, but of moderate size 
 and strength. I know well that it is a 
 common expression to say, as strong as a 
 Turk, — nevertheless I have seen an infinity of 
 Christians, when strength was necessary, excel 
 them ; and I myself, who am not of the strongest 
 make, have, when circumstances required 
 labour, found very many weaker than me. 
 
 They are diligent, willingly rise early, and 
 live on little, being satisfied with bread badly 
 baked, raw flesh dried in the sun, milk curdled 
 or not, honey, cheese, grapes, fruit, herbs, and 
 even a handtul of flour, with which they make 
 a potage sufficient to feed six or eight for a day. 
 Should they have a horse or camel sick without 
 hopes of recovery, they cut its throat and eat it. 
 I have witnessed this many and many a time. 
 
287 
 
 They are indifferent where they sleep, and lid 
 on the ground. 
 
 Their dress consists of two or three robes 
 of cotton, thrown one over the other, which 
 fall to their feet. Over these again they wear 
 another of felt, in the manner of a mantle, 
 called a Capinat. This, though light, resists 
 rain, and there are some very fine and 
 handsome. Their boots come up to the 
 knees, and they have large drawers, some of 
 crimson velvet, others of silk or fustian and 
 common stuffs. In war, or when travelling, 
 to avoid being embarrassed by their robes, 
 they tuck the ends into their drawers, by 
 which they can move with greater freedom. 
 
 Their horses are good, cost little in food, 
 gallop well and for a long time. They keep 
 them very poor, never feeding them but at 
 night, and then only giving them five or six 
 handfuls of barley and double the quantity of 
 chopped straw, — the whole put into a bag 
 which hangs from their ears. At break of 
 
-•'S 
 
 day, they bridle, clean and curry them, but 
 never allow them to drink before mid day,— 
 then in the afternoon every time that they find 
 water, and in the evening when they lodge or 
 encamp; for they always halt early, and near a 
 river if possible. This last time they leave them 
 bridled for an hour like mules, and then, at a 
 fixed moment, each gives his horse provender. 
 
 During the night-time, they cover them 
 with felt or other stuffs, and I have seen such 
 coverings very handsome : they have the like 
 also for their hounds, in which they are curious, 
 and have a good breed ; although with long 
 hanging ears and tufted tails, which, however, 
 they carry well. 
 
 All their horses are geldings : they keep 
 some others for stallions, but so few, that 1 
 have never seen a single one. They saddle 
 and bridle them * à la genette.' Their saddles 
 are commonly very rich, but hollow, having 
 pummels before and behind, with short stirrup, 
 leathers and wide stirrups. 
 
289 
 
 With regard to their accoutrements arid 
 dresses for war, I had t^vice an opportunity of 
 seeing them, on the occasions of greek 
 renegadoes, who, renouncing their own, had 
 embraced the mohammedan religion. The 
 Turks celebrate these events with much 
 festivity. They dress themselves in their best 
 arms, and traverse the town with as numerous 
 a procession as possible. On these occasions 
 I have seen them wear very handsome coats of 
 armour like to ours, except that the links of 
 the mail were smaller : the vambraces were the 
 same. In one word, they resemble those 
 pictures that represent figures of the time of 
 Julius Caesar. Their armour descends almost 
 half way down the thigh ; but a piece of 
 silken stuff is attached circularly to the bottom 
 of it, that falls down to the calf of the leg. 
 
 On their head they wear a round white 
 cap, half a foot high, terminated in a point. 
 It is ornamented with plates of iron on all 
 sides, to ward off from the face, neck and 
 
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MHB1 H 
 
 
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 <200 
 
 cheeks, blows of the sword, and are like the 
 helmets in France, called Salades*. Beside 
 this head-piece, they usually wear another 
 over it, namely a bonnet of iron wire. There 
 are some of these so rich and handsome that 
 they cost from forty to fifty ducats, whereas 
 the first are bought for one or two : although 
 not so strong as the others, they resist the cut 
 of a sword. 
 
 I have spoken of their saddles, in which 
 they sit, as in an arm chair, deep sunk in them, 
 their knees very high, and with short stirrups, 
 a position in which they cannot support the 
 smallest blow from a lance without being 
 unhorsed. 
 
 The arms of those who have any fortune 
 are a bow, a tarquais, a sword, a heavy mace 
 with a short handle, the thick end of which is 
 cut into many angles. This is a dangerous 
 
 * A sort of light casque then in use, which, not having 
 vizor nor throat piece, had need of projecting plates of iron t* 
 guard the face. 
 
291 
 
 weapon, when struck on the shoulders, or 
 on an unguarded arm. I am convinced that 
 a blow given with it on a head armed with 
 a salade would stun a man. 
 
 Several have small w r ooden bucklers, with 
 which they cover themselves well on horseback 
 when they draw the bow. I have been assured 
 of this by those who have long used them, as 
 well as from having seen it myself. 
 
 Their obedience to superiors is boundless. 
 None dare disobey, even when their lives are at 
 hazard ; and it is chiefly owing to this steady 
 submission that such great exploits have been 
 performed, and such vast conquests gained, as 
 render them masters of a more extensive and 
 considerable country than all France. 
 
 I have been assured, that whenever the 
 Christian powers have taken up arms against 
 them, they have always had timely information 
 of it. In this case, the sultan has their march 
 watched by men assigned to this purpose, and 
 he lays wait for them with his army two or 
 
H 
 
 ■■■■■ 
 
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 ■ 
 
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 ^^B R5 
 
 292 
 
 three days march from the spot where he 
 proposes to fight them. Should he think the 
 opportunity favourable, he falls suddenly on 
 them ; and for these occasions they have a 
 particular kind of march, beaten on a large 
 drum. When this signal is given, those who 
 are to lead march quietly off, followed by the 
 others with the same silence, without the file 
 ever being interrupted, from the horses and 
 men being trained to this purpose. Ten 
 thousand Turks, on such an occasion, will 
 make less noise than one hundred men in the 
 Christian armies. In their ordinary marches, 
 they only walk, but in these they always gallop ; 
 and as they are beside lightly armed, they will 
 thus advance further from evening: to dav-break 
 than in three other days, — and this is the reason 
 why they cannot wear such complete armour 
 as the French and Italians. They choose also 
 no horses but such as walk fast, and gallop 
 for a long time, while we select only those 
 that trot well and with ease. 
 
293 
 
 It is by these forced marches that they 
 have succeeded in surprising and completely 
 defeating the Christians in their different 
 wars. It is thus they conquered duke John, 
 whose soul may God pardon * ! and again 
 the emperor Sigismond so recently before 
 Coulumbach, where sir Advis, a polish knight, 
 perished. 
 
 Their manner of fighting varies according 
 to circumstances. When they find a favourable 
 opportunity for it, they divide themselves into 
 
 * John count of Nevers, sirnamed sans peur, and son 
 to Philippe le hardi, duke of Burgundy. Sigismond having 
 formed a league, to check the conquests of Bajazet, Charles VI. 
 sent him a body of troops, in which were two thousand 
 gentlemen, under the command of the count of Nevers. 
 The Christian army was defeated at Nicopolis in 13.96, and 
 the French slain or made prisoners. See further particulars in 
 the fourth volume of Froissait. 
 
 When jean succeeded his father, as duke of Burgundy, 
 he caused the duke of Orleans, brother to the king of trance, 
 to be cowardly assassinated. He was murdered in his turn 
 by Tannegui du Châtel, an ancient servant of the duke of 
 Orleans. These facts prove that la Brocquière was in the 
 right, when speaking of John to pray that God would pardon 
 him. 
 
294 
 
 different troops, and thus attack man? parts of 
 an army at once. This mode is particularly 
 used when they are among woods or mountains, 
 from the great facility they have of uniting 
 together again. 
 
 At other times they form ambuscades, 
 and send out scouts well mounted to observe 
 the enemy : if their report be, that he is not 
 on his guard, they instantly form their plan, 
 and take advantage of the circumstance. 
 Should they find the army well drawn up, 
 they curvet round it within bow-shot, and 
 while thus prancing shoot at the men and 
 horses, and continue this manoeuvre so long 
 that they at last throw it into disorder. If 
 the army attempt to pursue them, they fly, 
 and disperse each separately, even should only 
 a fourth part of their own number be ordered 
 against them ; but it is in their flight that they 
 are formidable, and it has been almost always 
 then that they have defeated the Christians. 
 In flying, they have the adroitness to shoot 
 
295 
 
 their arrows so very true that they scarcely 
 ever fail to hit man or horse. 
 
 Each cavalier has also on the pummel of 
 his saddle a tabolcan. When the chief, or any 
 of his officers, perceives the enemy who pursues 
 to be in disorder, he gives three strokes on this 
 instrument : the others, on hearing it, do the 
 same, and they are instantly formed round 
 their chief, like so many hogs round the old 
 one, — and then, according to circumstances, 
 they either receive the charge of the assailants, 
 or fall on them by troops, and attack them in 
 different places at the same time. 
 
 In pitched battles, they employ another 
 stratagem,which consists in throwing fire- works 
 among the cavalry to frighten the horses: they 
 often post in their front a great body of 
 dromedaries and camels, which are bold and 
 vicious : these thev drive before them on the 
 enemy's line of horse, and throw it into 
 confusion. 
 
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 296* 
 
 Such are the modes of righting the Turks 
 have hitherto adopted against the Christians. 
 I would not most assuredly wrong or depreciate 
 them ; for I must own that I have always 
 found them, in my different connections, frank 
 and loyal, and when it was necessary to shew 
 courage, they have never failed to do so : but 
 I am not the less convinced, that it would be 
 no difficult matter, for troops well mounted 
 and well commanded, to defeat them ; and, 
 in regard to myself, I declare, that with one 
 half of their numbers I should never hesitate 
 to attack them. 
 
 Their armies, I know, commonly consist 
 of two hundred thousand men; but the greater 
 part are on foot, and destitute, as I before said, 
 of tarquais, helmets, mallets or sword, — few 
 indeed being completely armed. 
 
 They have besides among them a great 
 number of Christians, who serve through force, 
 Greeks, Bulgarians, Macedonians, Albanians, 
 
291 
 
 Sclavonians, Wallachians, Servians, aild other 
 subjects of the despots of that country. 
 
 All these people detest the Turk, because 
 he holds them in a severe captivity ; and should 
 thcv see the Christians march in force against 
 him, and above all the French, I have not the 
 smallest doubt but they would turn against him 
 and do him great mischief. 
 
 The Turks are not, therefore, so terribly 
 formidable as I have heard say. 1 own, 
 however, that it will be necessary, if any 
 attempt be made against them, to have a 
 general well obeyed by his troops, and who 
 would particularly listen to the advice of those 
 acquainted with their mode of warfare. This 
 was the fault, as I am informed, of the emperor 
 Sigismond, when he was defeated by them at 
 Coulumbach. Had he attended to the advice 
 given him, he would not have been forced to 
 raise the siege, since he had from twenty-five 
 to thirty thousand Hungarians. Did not two 
 hundred genoese and lombardy cross-bows 
 
 Q Q 
 
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 £9$ 
 
 alone check the enemy, overawe them, and 
 cover his retreat, while he embarked on board 
 the gallies that he had on the Danube, — while 
 six thousand Wallachians, under the polish 
 knight before mentioned, having separated 
 and posted themselves on a small eminence, 
 were all cut to pieces. 
 
 I speak nothing here but what I have seen 
 myself, or heard from undoubted authority : 
 therefore, in case any Christian prince or 
 general may wish to attempt the conquest of 
 Turkey in Europe, or even to penetrate 
 further, I think I am able to give much 
 information on this subject. I shall, however, 
 speak according to my abilities ; and should 
 any thing escape me that may be displeasing 
 to some of my readers, I beg they will excuse 
 it, and pass it by, as if I had said nothing. 
 
 The monarch who should form such a 
 project ought at first to propose to himself for 
 his object, not glory and renown, but God, 
 religion, and the salvation of so many souls 
 
299 
 
 that are in the road to perdition. He must 
 be well assured beforehand that the regular 
 payment of his troops is provided for, — and 
 that he carries with him none but such as have 
 a fair reputation, with a good will for the 
 purpose, — and, above all, that they be not 
 pillagers. With regard to the payment of 
 them, I think it should depend on the holy 
 father to see that it be regularly made ; but 
 until the moment when the army enters the 
 turkish territory, there should be made a strict 
 law, that no one take any thing without paying 
 for it. No person likes to see his property 
 stolen; and I have heard, that those who have 
 been guilty of such things have not found 
 themselves the better for it. I, however, refer 
 these things to the prince and the lords of his 
 council: 1 shall confine myself to speak of 
 the sort of troops I think proper for such an 
 attempt, and whom, if 1 had the choice, 
 I should like to accompany. 
 
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 ■ 
 
 300 
 
 I would, in the first place, select from 
 France men at arms, archers and cross-bows, 
 in as great numbers as possible, and of 
 the sort mentioned above. Secondly, from 
 England, a thousand men at arms and ten 
 thousand archers. Thirdly, from Germany, 
 the greatest number possible of gentlemen, 
 with their cross-bowmen on horse and foot. 
 Collect together from fifteen to twenty thousand 
 archers and cross-bows of these three nations, 
 adding thereto from two to three hundred light 
 troops; and I will ask from God the grace to 
 march with them, and engage they shall 
 advance without difficulty from Belgrade to 
 Constantinople. 
 
 They will require but light armour, as 
 I have before observed that the turkish bow 
 has no great strength. When near, their 
 archers shoot true and quick; but they do not 
 shoot nearly so for as we do. Their bows are 
 thick and short, and their arrows thin and of 
 
301 
 
 no length : their iron heads are stuck into the 
 wood, which cannot bear a great blow nor 
 make a deep wound, even on an unarmed 
 place. From this it will be seen, slight armour 
 only is wanted for the troops, — that is to say, 
 light grèves for the legs and thighs, thin plate 
 armour for the body, with helmets having wide 
 vizor-pieces. A turkish arrow would perhaps 
 pierce a light coat of mail, but would be turned 
 aside by plate-armour, however thin. 
 
 I shall add, that in case of necessity our 
 archers can make use of the arrows of the 
 Turks, but that they cannot do the same with 
 ours, because the notch is not sufficiently wide, 
 and the strings of their bows, being made of 
 sinews, are too thick. 
 
 According to my opinion, our cavalry 
 should be armed with light sharp-beaded 
 lances, and with strong well-tempered swords. 
 It may be also advantageous to have small 
 battle-axes on the wrist. The infantry should 
 have double-headed battle-axes, and a long and 
 
■ 
 
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 302 
 
 sharp spear, both having their hands defended 
 with gauntlets. With regard to this last article, 
 1 own 1 have seen some in Germany made of 
 boiled leather, that I consider as effectual as 
 those of iron. 
 
 When the army shall come to an open 
 plain, where a combat may be fought with 
 advantage, it should be done, but then the 
 whole should be formed into one body : the 
 van and rear guards should be employed on 
 the wings. The pikemen to be intermixed in 
 the line, unless it should be preferred to post 
 them otherwise to skirmish ; but the general 
 will be careful not thus to post the men at 
 arms. In front of the line, and on the wings, 
 the light troops will be scattered ; and every 
 one must be strictly forbidden, under pain of 
 death, to pursue the runaways. 
 
 It is the policy of the Turks to have 
 their armies twice as numerous as those of 
 the Christians. This superiority of numbers 
 augments their courage, and allows them to 
 
303 
 
 form different corps, and to make their attack 
 on various parts at the same time. Should 
 they once force an opening, they rush through 
 in incredible crowds, and it is then a miracle 
 if all be not lost. 
 
 To prevent this misfortune, the light 
 troops should be numerously posted on the 
 angles of the line of battle, and, by this means,- 
 keep it compact, so as not to suffer it to be 
 broken. This manoeuvre seems to me the 
 more easily to be executed, from these light 
 troops not being sufficiently armed to form a 
 column, capable, by its weight, of any great 
 impulsion. The turkish lances are worth 
 nothing : their archers are the best troops they 
 have, and these do not shoot so strong nor so 
 far as ours do. 
 
 They have a more numerous cavalry ; 
 and their horses, though inferior in strength 
 to ours, and incapable of bearing such heavy 
 weights, gallop better, and skirmish for a 
 longer time without losing their wind. This 
 
■■■■ ■■■H ■■■■ WW! 
 
 IMWI 
 
 501 
 
 is an additional reason for the army always 
 keeping in a close and good order. 
 
 When this method is constantly followed, 
 they will be forced to combat disadvantageous!}', 
 and, consequently, to risk e^ery thing, or retreat 
 before the army. Should this last be the case, 
 the cavalry must be sent in pursuit, but it must 
 always march in good order, and be ever ready 
 to fight, and receive them well, should they 
 turn about. With such conduct, it is noway 
 doubtful but they must alway be defeated ; 
 and if a contrary one be followed, they will 
 beat us, as has ever happened. 
 
 I may, perhaps, be told, that it would be 
 disgraceful thus to remain on the defensive 
 when in presence of the enemy ; and that, 
 living as they do on little, they would starve 
 us, unless we quitted our intrenchment to fight 
 with them. 
 
 I shall answer, that it is not customary for 
 them to remain long in one place; that to-day 
 they are at this place, to morrow a day and a 
 
305 
 
 half's march off: they re-appear again as 
 suddenly as they disappeared ; and that if an 
 army be not continually on its guard, it will 
 run great risks. The important point is, to 
 be ever on the watch from the moment they 
 appear in sight, and ready to mount for the 
 combat. 
 
 Should there be any difficult passage on 
 the line of march, as many men at arms and 
 archers must be sent thither as the situation 
 will allow for a combat, and they must be 
 continually in order of battle until the whole 
 be passed. No foragers must ever be sent out, 
 for they would be as so many lost men ; and 
 besides they would find nothing abroad, for 
 in war-time the Turks transport every thing 
 into towns. 
 
 With all these precautions, the conquest 
 of Turkey in Europe would not be a difficult 
 enterprise, — provided, I repeat it, that the army 
 be kept in one body, never divided, and no 
 
 R R 
 
506 
 
 detachments ever sent after the enemy. Should 
 I be asked, how I would secure provision r 
 I answer, that Turkey and Servia have 
 navigable rivers, and Bulgaria, Macedonia 
 and the greek provinces are fertile. 
 
 The army advancing always thus in a 
 mass, the Turks would be forced to retreat ; 
 and they must of necessity choose one of two 
 extremities, as I have before said, — either to 
 re-cross into Asia, and abandon their properties, 
 their wives and their children, since the country 
 is, as may be seen from my description of it, 
 defenceless, — or risk a battle, as they have 
 always done, when they have passed the 
 Danube. 
 
 I conclude, therefore, that with good 
 troops composed from the three nations 
 I have named, French, English and Germans, 
 success would be certain ; and that, if they 
 were sufficiently numerous, well united and 
 commanded, they might march to Jerusalem. 
 But I shall now return to my travels. 
 
307 
 
 I crossed the Danube at Belgrade. It was 
 at this moment exceedingly swollen, and may 
 have been twelve miles broad. Never in the 
 memory of man had such a flood been seen. 
 Being unable to travel to Buda by the direct 
 road, I went to a village called Pensey. On 
 leaving Pensey, I came to the most level plain 
 I ever saw, and, after being ferried over a river, 
 arrived at the town of Beurquerel, which, 
 belongs to the despot of Servia, and where 
 I crossed two other rivers by a bridge. From 
 Beurquerel, I came to Verchet, belonging also 
 to the despot : — there I crossed the Theis, a 
 wide and deep river, — and at length I arrived 
 at Zegedin, situated upon it. 
 
 In the whole length of this road, with the 
 exception of two small woods inclosed by a 
 rivulet, I did not see a single tree. The natives 
 use, for firing, straw or reeds, collected from 
 the banks of rivers, or from their numerous 
 marshes. They eat, instead of bread, soft 
 cakes, — but they have not much food. 
 

 
 HHBS^BHHB! 
 
 308 
 
 Zegedin is a large country town, of a 
 single street that seems about a league in 
 length. It is in a fertile country, abounding 
 with all sorts of provision. Many cranes and 
 bustards are taken here, and I saw the market 
 place full of ihem, but they dress and eat them 
 in a filthy manner. The Theis abounds in 
 fish, and I have no where seen a river that 
 produces such large ones. 
 
 Many wild horses are brought thither for 
 sale, and their manner of conquering and 
 taming them is curious. I have been told 
 that, should any one want three or four 
 thousand, they could be procured within the 
 town ; and they are so cheap that a very good 
 road horse may be bought for ten hungarian 
 florins. The emperor, as I heard, had given 
 Zegedin to a bishop. I saw this bishop, and 
 he seemed a man of a broad conscience. The 
 cordelier friars have a handsome church in this 
 town, w here 1 heard service, but it was performed 
 a little after the hungarian mode, 
 
309 
 
 From Zegedin I came to Pest, a tolerably 
 good country town on the Danube, opposite to 
 Buda. The country, from one town to the 
 other, was good and level, and full of immense 
 herds of horses, that live wild on these plains 
 like savage animals, and hence the numbers 
 seen at the markets of Zegedin. 
 
 I crossed the Danube at Pest, and entered 
 Buda, seven days after my departure from 
 Belgrade. Buda is the capital of Hungary, 
 situated on an eminence, and larger than it is 
 broad. To the east is the Danube, to the west 
 a valley, to the south a palace, which commands 
 the gate of the town : it was begun by the 
 present emperor, and, when he shall have 
 finished it, will be extensive and strong. On 
 this side, but without the walls, are very 
 handsome hot baths. There are also others 
 along the banks of the Danube to the eastward, 
 but these are not so good as the preceding ones. 
 — The town is governed by Germans, as well 
 in respect to police as commerce, and what 
 
BB 
 
 BEE ■ 
 
 310 
 
 regards the different professions. Many Jews 
 live there who speak French well, several of 
 them being descendants of those driven formerly 
 from France. I found also there a merchant 
 from Arras, called Clays Davion : he was one 
 of those whom the emperor Sigismond had 
 brought from France to establish manufactories 
 in his country. Clays was a tapestry weaver *. 
 
 The environs of Buda are agreeable, and 
 its territory fertile in all sorts of provision, 
 especially in white wines, but they are somewhat 
 fiery, which is attributed to the adjacent hot 
 springs, and to the sulphur they emit. One 
 league from the town is the body of St Paul, 
 the hermit, which is in a perfect state of 
 preservation. 
 
 I returned to Pest, where I also found six 
 or eight french families, whom the emperor 
 
 * Sigismond, in his travels to France, had visited the 
 m anufac tories, and particularly those of Flanders, at that 
 time famous for its tap. stries. He wished to establish similar 
 ones in his capital of Hungary, and for this effect had engaged 
 different workmen to follow him. 
 
311 
 
 ha"d sent thither to construct on the Danube, 
 and opposite to his palace, a large tower. His 
 intentions were, to shut up the river with a 
 chain extending from it ; and I should suppose 
 he wanted to imitate what had been done from 
 the town of Burgundy that fronts the fort of 
 L'Ecluse ; but 1 do not believe it is practicable 
 here, for the river is too broad. I had the 
 curiosity to visit the tower, which is about the 
 length of three lances high, and round about 
 were quantities of hewn stone; but it had 
 remained some time in this state, because the 
 masons who had begun the work were dead, 
 and those that had survived them were said not 
 to have knowledge enough to continue it. 
 
 Pest is inhabited by many horse-dealers ; 
 and whoever may want two thousand good 
 horses, they can furnish the quantity. They 
 sell them by stables full, containing ten horses, 
 and their price for each stable is two hundred 
 florins. I looked into several, where two or 
 three horses alone were worth that price. 
 
 
HI 
 
 They come for the most part from the 
 mountains of Transylvania, which bound 
 Hungary to the eastward. I purchased one, 
 that galloped well, as indeed they almost all 
 do. The country is excellent for breeding 
 them, from the quantity of grass it produces ; 
 but they have the fault of being a little 
 headstrong, and particularly difficult to shoe, 
 so that I have sometimes seen them obliged to 
 be cast on the ground to be shod. 
 
 The mountains just spoken of contain 
 mines of gold and salt, each of which pay 
 annually to the king one hundred hungarian 
 florins. He had given up that of gold to the 
 lord of Prussia and to count Mathico, on 
 condition that the first would guard the 
 frontier against the Turk, and the second 
 Belgrade. The queen had reserved to her 
 own use the revenue from salt. 
 
 The salt is beautiful : it is cut out of a 
 rock like free stone, into pieces of about a foot 
 long, squared, but a little convex on the upper 
 
313 
 
 side. Whoever should see them in a cart would 
 take them for stone. It is afterward pounded in 
 a mortar, and turns out tolerably white, but finer 
 and better than any I have elsewhere tasted. 
 
 In my road through Hungary, I have 
 frequently met waggons with six, seven or 
 eight persons in them, and drawn by only a 
 single horse ; for it is customary with them, 
 when they make long journies, to use only 
 one. They universally have the hind wheels 
 higher than the fore wheels. There are some 
 covered in their country manner, which are 
 very handsome, and so light that, including 
 wheels, it seemed that a man could carry one 
 of them suspended to his neck. As the country 
 is perfectly smooth and level, there is noth.ng 
 to prevent the horse from being always on the 
 trot. It is from this great evenness of the ground 
 that when they plough they draw furrows of 
 an extraordinary length* 
 
 Until I came to Pest, I had no servant ; 
 but there I treated mvself with one, and took 
 
 I 
 
 s s 
 
314 
 
 one of those french masons into my service 
 whom 1 found at Pest : he was from Brai sur 
 Somme. 
 
 On my return to Buda, I accompanied the 
 milanese ambassador to pay our compliments 
 to the grand count of Hungary, a title which 
 answers to that of lieutenant of the emperor. 
 The grand count received me with much 
 distinction, because from my dress he took 
 me for a Turk ; but when he learnt I was 
 a Christian, he was somewhat colder. I was 
 told that he was a man whose conversation 
 was little to be depended on, and that no great 
 trust must be placed in his promises. This is 
 somewhat generally the reproach made to the 
 Hungarians ; and for my part, I own, that 
 after the idea given me of them by my 
 acquaintance, I should have less confidence 
 in an Hungarian than in a Turk. 
 
 The grand count is an old man. It was 
 he, as I heard, who formerly arrested Sigismond 
 king of Bohemia and Hungary, and afterward 
 emperor, and threw him into prison, whence 
 

 515 
 
 he afterwards released him by an amicable 
 agreement. 
 
 His son was just married to a beautiful 
 Hungarian lady. I saw him at a tournament 
 after their manner, when the combatants were 
 mounted on small horses and low saddles : 
 they were gallantly dressed, and had strong 
 and short lances. It was a pleasing spectacle. 
 Whenever the two champions hit, both perhaps, 
 but certainly one of them must be unhorsed, — 
 and it is then seen who has the firmest seat*. 
 
 When they tilt for golden wands, all the 
 horses are of the same size, all the saddles of 
 the same form, — and they are drawn for by 
 lot, and the justers are taken by pairs : should 
 one of two adversaries fall, the victor is obliged 
 to retire, and is not permitted to tilt again. 
 
 * The knights in France were mounted for tournaments 
 or battle on large strong horses called ' Palefrois.' Their 
 saddles were high piqued before and behind, which afforded 
 them greater means of resisting the shock of the lance than 
 the small horses and low saddles of the Hungarians ; and this 
 is the reason our author says, that in the tilts of the Hungarians 
 it may be easily seen which knight has the best seat on his 
 horse. 
 
316' 
 
 I had never quitted the company of the 
 milanese ambassador until we came to Buda ; 
 but he had told me on the road, that we must 
 there separate, that he might continue his route 
 to Milan. Soon after my return to Buda, 
 I called, in consequence, on Clays Davion, 
 who gave me a letter of recommendation to 
 a merchant of his acquaintance at Vienna. 
 
 As I had fully opened myself to him, nut 
 thinking it right to make a secret of my rank, 
 my name, or the country I had come from, or 
 the honour I had of belonging to my lord duke 
 of Burgundy, he had inserted all this in his 
 letter, and I profited from it. 
 
 From Buda, I came to Thiat, a country 
 town where the king is said to be fond of 
 residing, — then to Janiz, in German * Jane *,' 
 a town on the Danube. I afterward passed by 
 another town built on an island in that river, 
 which had been given by the emperor to one 
 of the dependants of the duke of Burgundy, 
 whom I believe to be sir Renier Pot. I also 
 
 * Jane. Q. Gen, 
 
317 
 
 pr.ssed through Brut *, situated on a river 
 that divides the kingdom of Hungary from the 
 duchy of Austria. The river runs through a 
 marsh, where a long and narrow causeway has 
 been constructed. This is an important place, 
 and I am convinced that a small body of men 
 could effectually defend it on the austrian side. 
 
 Two leagues further the ambassador took 
 leave of me, and followed another road to 
 return to the duke of Milan, his lord. I took 
 that leading to Vienna, where I arrived after 
 five days journey. 
 
 On my entering the town, no one would 
 lodge me, supposing I was a Turk. At last, 
 by accident some one pointed out to me an inn 
 where I was received. Fortunately my servant 
 whom I had hired at Pest knew the hungarian 
 and high german languages : he desired that the 
 merchant to whom I had a letter might be sent 
 for. On seeking him, he came, and not only 
 offered me every service in his power, but went to 
 * Q. Brack. 
 
318 
 
 Inform my lord duke Albert *,cousin-german to 
 my lord, of my arrival, who instantly dispatched 
 to me a poursuivant at arms, and shortly alter 
 sir Albrech de Potadorf. 
 
 Not two hours after my arrival, \ saw sir 
 Albrech dismount at the gate of my inn, and, 
 hearing him ask for me, I thought myself 
 undone. A little before my departure for the 
 holy land 1, with some others, had arrested 
 him between Flanders and Brabant, because 
 we thought him a subject of Frederick of 
 Austria f-, who had challenged my lord; and 
 I now doubted not but that he was come in 
 his turn to arrest me, and perhaps do worse. 
 
 He told me that his lord, duke Albert, 
 having learnt that I was attached to the duke 
 of Burgundy, had sent him to me to offer, on his 
 part, every service that was in his power ; that 
 
 
 * Albert II. duke of Austria, emperor after the death 
 of Sigisrnond. 
 
 f ircderick duke of Austria succeeded Albert II. as 
 emperor. 
 
319 
 
 he defired me to ask whatever I might want 
 as boldly from him as from my own lord, for 
 that he wished to treat his servants in the same 
 manner as he would his own. Sir Albrech 
 then spoke for himself: he presented me with 
 money, and offered me horses or any thing 
 else ; in short, he rendered me good for evil, 
 although, after all, I had not done any thing 
 to him but what honour permitted, and even 
 ordered me to do. 
 
 Two days after, duke Albert sent to say 
 he wished to speak with me ; and sir Albrech 
 again came to conduct me to him. I presented 
 myself to him the moment he came from mass, 
 attended by eight or ten old knights of a 
 respectable appearance. Scarcely had I made 
 my reverence, when he took me by the hand, 
 and would not suffer me to speak to him 
 on my knees. He asked many questions, 
 particularly about my lord, which induced me 
 to think he had a great affection for him. 
 
 He was of a tolerably good size, brown 
 complexion, good humoured, affable, valiant 
 
320 
 
 and generous, and was said to possess every 
 good quality. Among the persons who 
 accompanied him were some lords from 
 Bohemia, whom the Hussites had expelled 
 from that country because they would not be 
 of their religion. 
 
 At the same time, a great lord of that 
 country, called Paanepot, was presented to 
 him, who had come with several others, on the 
 part of the Hussites, to treat with him, and 
 establish peace. 
 
 These last proposed to march to the 
 assistance of the king of Poland, against the 
 lords of Prussia, and made, as I heard, great 
 offers to duke Albert, if he would second 
 them ; but he replied, according to my 
 information, that, until they submitted 
 themselves to the religion of Jesus Christ, 
 he would never make truce nor peace with 
 them as long as he should live. 
 
 In fact, at this very time he had twice 
 beaten them in battle; had conquered from 
 them all Moravia ; and, by his conduct and 
 
3S21 
 
 valour,had aggrandized himself attheirexpense. 
 
 ■ On quirting his presence, I was conducted 
 
 to that of the duchess, a tall handsome woman, 
 daughter to the emperor, and heiress, after him, 
 to the kingdoms of Hungary and Bohemia, and 
 their dependancies. She had just been brought 
 to bed of a daughter, which had occasioned 
 festivals and tournaments, that were the more 
 numerously attended, because, hitherto, she 
 had not had any children. 
 
 On the morrow, the duke sent sir Albrech 
 to invite me to dinner, and made me sit at his 
 table with an hungarian lord and another, an 
 Austrian. All his attendants are on board 
 wages, and no one dines with him unless 
 invited by the master of his household. 
 
 The table was square ; and the custom is 
 for one dish to be brought at a time, and for him 
 who is nearest to eat of it, which supplies the 
 place of a taster ** Fish and flesh were served, 
 
 * Formerly there was, at the tables of sovereigns, an 
 officer to taste every dish before it was put on the table This 
 precaution had originally been taken against poison. 
 
 T T 
 
S22 
 
 and above all a quantity of meat strongly 
 seasoned, but always dish by dish. 
 
 After the dinner, I was carried to see the 
 dancing in the apartments of the duchess. 
 She gave me a bonnet of gold thread and silk, 
 a ring, and a diamond to wear on my head, 
 according to the fashion of the country. 
 
 There were present many nobles of each 
 sex, — and I saw there some very handsome 
 women, with the finest heads of hair that can 
 be conceived. 
 
 When I had remained in these apartments 
 some time, a gentleman named Payser, who, 
 though but a squire, was a chamberlain and 
 keeper of the jewels of the duke of Austria, 
 came, by his orders, to shew them to me. I saw 
 the crown of Bohemia, which has some very fine 
 diamonds, and the largest ruby I ever saw. It 
 seemed bigger than a full-sized date ; but it is 
 not clear, and there are some cavities toward 
 the bottom that shew a few black spots. 
 The keeper then carried me to see the 
 
323 
 
 wague-bonnes *, which the duke of Austria 
 had constructed to combat the Bohemians. 
 I perceived none that could hold more than 
 twenty men; but he assured me there was one 
 that would contain three hundred, and did not 
 require more than eighteen horses to draw it. 
 
 I met at this court the lord de Valse, a 
 gallant knight, and the greatest baron in 
 Austria after the duke. I saw there also 
 sir Jacques Trousset, a handsome swabian 
 knight ; but there was another, named le 
 Chant, hereditary cup-bearer to the emperor, 
 who having lost his brother and many friends 
 at the battle of Bar, and hearing that I belonged 
 to my lord of Burgundy, caused me to be* 
 watched to know the day of my departure, 
 that he might seize me as I was travelling 
 through Bavaria. Luckily for me, the duke 
 of Austria was informed of his intentions, 
 and sent him away, making me stay longer 
 at Vienna than I intended, to wait for the 
 
 * Wagucbonne— is a sort of waggon, or moveable 
 tower, used in war. 
 
124 
 
 departure of the lord de Valse and sir Jacques 
 Trousset, that I might accompany them, 
 
 During my stay, I witnessed three of the 
 tournaments I mentioned, with small horses 
 and low saddles. One took place at court, — 
 the others in the streets ; but at the last, 
 several were unhorsed so heavily that they 
 were dangerously wounded, 
 
 The duke of Austria made me in private 
 
 offers of money. I received similar offers from 
 
 sir Albert and sir Robert Daurestoff, a great 
 
 lord in Austria, who, the preceding year, had 
 
 travelled in disguise through Flanders, and had 
 
 there seen my lord duke, and spoke very 
 
 handsomely of him. In short, T received very 
 
 pressing ones from a poursuivant of lower 
 
 Brittany, named Toutseul, who, after having 
 
 served under the admiral of Spain, was now in 
 
 the service of the duke of Austria. This 
 
 Breton called on me every day to go to mass, 
 
 and attended me wherever I wished to go. 
 
 Persuaded that I must have expended on my 
 
 journey all the money I had, a little before my 
 
3<25 
 
 departure, he presented me with the value of 
 fifty marcs in enamels, and insisted that I 
 should sell them for my profit ; but, as I 
 equally refused to accept them or to borrow, 
 he protested that no one should ever know 
 any thing of it. 
 
 Vienna is a tolerably large town, well 
 inclosed with deep dirches and high walls, 
 inhabited by rich merchants and all sorts of 
 tradesmen. The Danube washes its wall on 
 the north side. The surrounding country is 
 pleasant and good ; and it is a place of 
 amusement and pleasure. The natives are 
 better dressed than those of Hungary, although 
 they all wear coarse doublets, very thick and 
 wide. In war they cover the doublet with an 
 haubergeon, a glaçon *, a large hat of iron, 
 and other armour usual in that country. 
 They have many crennequiniers, for such is 
 
 * Glaçon or Glachon, — a kind of defensive armour. 
 The French called ' Glaçon' a sort of fine cloth that was 
 doubtless glazed. I suspect that glaçon in German was a kind 
 of coat-armour made of many folds of quilted cloth, such as 
 ®ur gambisons. Perhaps it may be only a cuirasse, 
 
HH 
 
 325 
 
 the name given in Austria and Bohemia to 
 those called archers in hungary. Their bows 
 are like those of the Turks, but not so good 
 nor so strong ; and they do not use them so 
 well as they do. The Hungarians pull the 
 string with three fingers, and the Turks with 
 the thumb and ring. 
 
 When I went to take leave of the duke 
 and duchess of Austria, he recommended me 
 himself to my two travelling companions, sir 
 Jacques Trousset and the lord de Valse, who 
 was setting off for his command on the frontiers 
 of Bohemia. He repeated his question, as to 
 my wanting money ; but I answered, as I had 
 before done to all who had offered me some, 
 that my lord of Burgundy had so amply supplied 
 me on my departure, that I had a sufficiency for 
 my return to him, but that I requested he would 
 grant me a safe conduct, which he did. 
 
 The Danube, for three days journey on 
 leaving Vienna, runs eastward : from above 
 Buda to the point of Belgrade, it takes a 
 southerly direction, and then, between Hungary 
 

 327 
 
 and Bulgaria, it resumes its easterly course, and 
 falls, as they say, into the Black Sea at Mont 
 Castre. 
 
 I left Vienna in company with the before 
 mentioned lord of Valse and sir James Trousset. 
 The first was going to his lady at Lintz, and 
 the second to his country-seat. 
 
 After two days travelling, we came to 
 Saint Polten, where the best knives of the 
 country are made. Thence to IVlolke on the 
 Danube, where is the best manufacture of 
 cross-bows, — having beside a very handsome 
 carthusian monastery. Thence to Valse, 
 which belongs to the aforesaid lord. The 
 castle is constructed on an elevated rock, that 
 commands the Danube. He himself shewed 
 me the ornaments of the altar of the chapel : 
 1 never before saw any so rich in embroidery 
 and in pearls. I there also noticed boats 
 drawn up the Danube by horses. 
 
 The morrow of our arrival, a bavarian 
 gentleman came to pay his respects to the lord 
 
328 
 
 of Valse. Sir Jacques Trousset, informed of 
 his arrival, declared he would hang him on a 
 thorn in a garden. The lord de Valse hastened 
 to him, and entreated he would not put such 
 an affront on him in his own house. ? Well,' 
 replied sir Jacques, ' should he come elsewhere 
 within my reach, he shall not escape hanging.' 
 The lord de Valse went to the gentleman, and 
 made him a sign to go away, which he complied 
 with. The cause of this anger of sir Jacques 
 was, that he himself and the greater part of his 
 attendants were of the secret company, and 
 that the gentleman, having been also a member, 
 had misbehaved *. 
 
 From Valse we came to Ens, situated on 
 the river Ems ; — thence to Evresperch, on the 
 same river, and within the domain of the bishop 
 of Passau, — and then to Lintz, a very good 
 town, with a castle on the Danube, and not 
 
 * This relates, probably, to the famous secret tribunal ; 
 and tire Bavarian, whom Trousset wanted to hang, may have 
 been a false brother, who had revealed the secrets of it. 
 
329 
 
 far from the frontiers of Bohemia. It belongs 
 to the duke of Austria, and the lord of Valse 
 is governor of it. 
 
 I saw there madame de Valse, a very 
 handsome lady from Bohemia, who gave me 
 a flattering reception. She presented me with 
 an excellent trotter for the road, a diamond to 
 put in my hair, after the austrian fashion, and 
 a bonnet of pearls ornamented with a ring and 
 a ruby •» 
 
 The lord of Valse remaining atLintz with 
 his lady, I continued my journey in company 
 with sir Jacques Trousset, to Erfurt, which 
 belongs to the count de Chambourg. Here 
 Austria ends, and it had taken us six days to 
 come from Vienna hither. From Erfurt we 
 came to Riet, a bavarian town belonging to 
 duke Henrv, — then to Prenne on the river 
 Sceine — to Bourchaze, a town with a castle on 
 the same river, where we met the duke. — 
 
 * These bonnets must not be mistaken for such as 
 eurs. They were only wreaths, or circular crowns. 
 
 U \3 
 
330 
 
 Thence to Mouldrof, where we crossed the 
 Taing. In short, having traversed the country 
 of duke Louis of Bavaria, without entering any 
 of its towns, we arrived at Munich, the prettiest 
 little town I ever saw, and which belongs to 
 duke William of Bavaria. 
 
 I quitted Bavaria at Lansperch to enter 
 Svvabia, and passed through Mindelheim, that 
 belongs, to the duke, through Memingen, an 
 imperial town, and thence to Walpourch, one 
 of sir James's castles. He did not arrive until 
 three days after me, because he had some friends 
 to visit in the neighbourhood ; but he had given 
 orders to his people to treat me as they would 
 do himself. 
 
 On his return, we set out for Ravensburg, 
 an imperial town, — and thence to Martof, and 
 Mersbourg, a town of the bishop of Constance 
 seated on the lake of this name. The lake in 
 this part may be about three italian miles broad. 
 I crossed it and came to Constance, where 
 I passed the Rhine, which there first assumes 
 this name on issuing from the lake. 
 
331 
 
 It was at this town that sir Jacques 
 Trousset left me. This knight, one of 
 the most amiable and valiant in Germany, 
 had done me the honour and pleasure of * 
 accompanying me so far from respect to the 
 duke of Austria, and would have escorted 
 me further had he not been engaged at a 
 tournament ; but he gave me, in his stead, a 
 poursuivant, whom he charged to escort me 
 as far as I should wish. 
 
 This tournament had been undertaken by 
 the lord de Valse. They loved each other like 
 brothers, and were to tilt with war lances, 
 bucklers and helmets of iron, according to the 
 custom of the country, thirteen against thirteen, 
 all friends and relations. Sir James was well 
 furnished with every sort of arms, which he had 
 shewn me himself in his castle of Walporch. 
 I took my leave of him, and quitted him with 
 much regret. 
 
 From Constance I went to Stein, where 
 I crossed the Rhine, — thence to Shaffhousen, a 
 
SEE 
 
 332 
 
 » 
 
 town belonging to the emperor — toWaldshutts, 
 to LaufTembourg, to Rhinfeld, all the property 
 of duke Frederick of Austria — and to Basil, 
 another imperial town, whither, on account 
 of the council then assembled there, the 
 emperor had sent duke William of Bavaria, 
 as his lieutenant. 
 
 The duke and duchess were desirous to see 
 
 me. I assisted at a session of the council, where 
 
 he represented the emperor, — and among the 
 
 numbers were the lord cardinal of St Angelo, 
 
 legate from the holy father pope Eugenius, seven 
 
 other cardinals, many patriarchs, archbishops 
 
 and bishops. 1 met there several on the part 
 
 of my lord of Burgundy, among whom were 
 
 sir Guillebert de Lannoy, lord of Villerval, 
 
 his ambassador, master Jean Germain and the 
 
 bishop of Chalons. I had a conversation with 
 
 the legate, who inquired much about the 
 
 countries I had seen, especially Turkey. He 
 
 seemed to have the conquest of this last much 
 
 ?t heart, and recommended it to me to repeat to 
 
333 
 
 my lord of Burgundy certain particulars that 
 I had told to him relative to such conquest. 
 
 At Basil I p irted with my poursuivant, 
 who returned to Austria; and having travelled 
 through the country of Ferette, belonging to 
 duke Frederick of Austria, and passed by 
 Montbeliart, which is the property of the 
 countess of that name, I entered Franche 
 Comté, which belongs to my lord duke, and 
 arrived at Besançon. I supposed that he was 
 in Flanders, and consequently travelled on the 
 frontiers of Bar and Lorraine to Veson ; 
 but at Villeneuve I learnt that he was on the 
 frontier of Burgundy, and had caused Mussi 
 l'Evêque to be besieged. I went then by 
 Auxonne to Djon, where I found the lord 
 chancellor of Burgundy, in whose company 
 I went to pay my respects to the duke. His 
 people were at the siege, and he himself at the 
 abbey of Poitiers. 
 
 I appeared in his presence dressed in the 
 same manner as when I left Damascus, and 
 
REESE 
 
 33i 
 
 had the horse led before him which I had 
 purchased in that town, and which had 
 brought me to France. My lord received me 
 with much kindness. I presented to him my 
 horse, my dress, with the Koran, and Life of 
 Mohammed, written in Latin, which the 
 chaplain to the Venetian consul at Damascus 
 had given ine. lie had these books delivered 
 to master John Germain to examine : but 
 I have never heard one word concerning 
 them since that time. This master John 
 was a doctor of divinity : he was bishop of 
 Chalons-sur-Soane, and knight of the golden 
 fleece *. 
 
 * Jean Germain, born at Cluni, and consequently a 
 subject to the duke of Burgundy, had, when a child, pleased 
 the duchess, who sent him to study at the university of Paris, 
 where he distinguished himself. The duke, whose favour he 
 afterward gained, made him, in 1431, chancellor of his order 
 of the golden fleece, and not knight, as la Brocquière says. 
 The year following he was nominated bishop of Nevers ; sent 
 in 1 132 ambassador, first to Rome, and then to the council at 
 Basil, as one of his representatives. In 1 436 he was translated 
 from the see of Nevers to that of Châlons-sur-Soane. 
 
S35 
 
 If I have said little respecting the country 
 between this place and Vienna, it has been 
 because it is well known. With regard to the 
 others I have travelled through, I inform my 
 readers, that the journey was not undertaken 
 through ostentation or vanity, but for the 
 guidance and information of such persons as 
 may have similar desires as I have had to see 
 and be acquainted with these countries, and in 
 obedience to my highly redoubted lord the 
 duke of Burgundy, who commanded me to 
 write these travels. I always carried with me 
 a small book, in which I wrote down my 
 adventures whenever time permitted ; and it is 
 
 What la Brocquière says of this hishop seems peevish ; 
 but if nw readers will consider, that not hearing any thing of 
 rhe two interesting manuscripts he had brought from Asia, 
 there was cause for his being out of humour. Germain, 
 however, was employed on them, hut he was labouring to 
 refute them. At his death, in 1461, he left two works in 
 manuscript, copies of which are to be found in some libraries; 
 one entitled, * De Conceptione beats Mariae Virginis, 
 adversus Mahometanos et Infidèles, Libxi duo:' the other, 
 * \dversus Alcoianum, Libri quinque.' 
 
335 
 
 from these memorandums that T have composed 
 the history of my journey. If it he not so well 
 composed as others could have done it, I must 
 beg my readers to excuse me. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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