ALESTINE PILGRIMS
•V
SOC.fc.
THE
PILGRIMAGE OF ARCULFUS
IN THE
HOLY LAND.
flu lo I I cattfy)s ,n/-3J
THE
PILGRIMAGE OF ARCULFUS
IN THE
HOLY LAND
(About the Year A.D. 670).
BY THE
REV. JAMES ROSE MACPHERSON, B.D.
+ 1 +
+ 1 +
LONDON :
24, HANOVER SQUARE, W.
1895.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
PREFACE - - - - - - - xi
LIST OF MANUSCRIPTS - - - - - xix
ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY
ADAMNAN. BOOK I.
CHAPTER
INTRODUCTION - - - - - - i
I. THE SITUATION OF JERUSALEM, THE GATES OF THE CITY, THE YEARLY MARKET, THE SITE OF THE TEMPLE, THE ORATORY OF THE SARACENS, THE GREAT HOUSES 2 II. THE ROUND CHURCH BUILT ABOVE THE SEPULCHRE OF
THE LORD - - - - - - 5
III. THE FORM OF THE SEPULCHRE ITSELF AND ITS LITTLE
CABIN - - - - - - 6
IV. THE STONE THAT WAS ROLLED TO THE MOUTH OF THE
TOMB, WHICH THE ANGEL OF THE LORD, DESCENDING FROM HEAVEN AFTER HIS RESURRECTION, ROLLED BACK ; THE CHAPEL, AND THE SEPULCHRE - - 8
V. THE CHURCH OF ST. MARY, WHICH ADJOINS THE ROUND
CHURCH - - - - - - 9
VI. THE CHURCH THAT IS BUILT ON THE SITE OF CALVARY 9
VII. THE BASILICA WHICH CONSTANTINE BUILT CLOSE TO
THE ABOVE-NAMED CHURCH ON THE SPOT WHERE . THE CROSS OF THE LORD, WHICH HAD BEEN BURIED IN RUINS, WAS FOUND, WHEN AFTER MANY CENTURIES THE EARTH WAS DUG UP - - - - lO
VIII. THE SITE OF THE ALTAR OF ABRAHAM - - lO
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I'AGB
IX. THE RECESS SITUATED BETWEEN THE CHURCH OF CAL- VARY AND THE BASILICA OF CONSTANTINE, IN WHICH ARE KEPT THE CUP OF THE LORD AND THE SPONGE FROM WHICH, AS HE HUNG ON THE TREE, HE DRANK VINEGAR AND WINE - - - - II
X. THE SPEAR OF THE SOLDIER WITH WHICH HE PIERCED
THE SIDE OF THE LORD - - - - 12
XI. THE NAPKIN WITH WHICH THE HEAD OF THE LORD
WAS COVERED IN THE SEPULCHRE - - - 12
XII. ANOTHER SACRED LINEN CLOTH WHICH, AS IS SAID, ST. MARY THE VIRGIN, THE MOTHER OF THE LORD, WOVE - - - - - - l6
XIII. THE LOFTY COLUMN SITUATED ON THE SPOT WHERE A
DEAD YOUNG MAN CAME TO LIFE AGAIN, WHEN THE CROSS OF THE LORD WAS PLACED ON HIM ; AND THE MIDDLE OF THE WORLD - - - - l6
XIV. THE CHURCH OF ST. MARY BUILT IN THE VALLEY OF
JOSAPHAT, IN WHICH IS HER TOMB - - 17
XV. THE TOWER OF JOSAPHAT BUILT IN THE SAME VALLEY - 1 8 XVI. THE TOMBS OF SIMEON AND JOSEPH - - - l8
XVIL THE CAVE IN THE ROCK OF THE MOUNT OF OLIVET, ACROSS THE VALLEY OF JOSAPHAT, IN WHICH ARE FOUR TABLES AND TWO WELLS - - - l8
XVin. THE GATE OF DAVID, AND THE PLACE WHERE JUDAS
ISCARIOTH HANGED HIMSELF BY A ROPE - ' ^9
XIX. THE FORM OF THE GREAT BASILICA BUILT ON MOUNT
SIGN, AND THE SITUATION OF THAT MOUNTAIN - 20 XX. THE LITTLE FIELD CALLED IN HEBREW AKELDEMAC - 21 XXI. THE ROUGH AND ROCKY GROUND THAT EXTENDS FAR AND WIDE, FROM JERUSALEM TO THE CITY OF SAMUEL, AND TO CiESAREA OF PALESTINE TOWARDS THE WEST - - - - - - 21
XXn. THE MOUNT OF OLIVET, ITS HEIGHT AND THE
CHARACTER OF ITS SOIL - - - - 21
XXIIL THE PLACE OF THE ASCENSION OF THE LORD, AND
THE CHURCH BUILT ON IT - - - - 22
XXIV. THE SEPULCHRE OF LAZARUS AND THE CHURCH BUILT
ABOVE IT, AND THE ADJOINING MONASTERY - 26
XXV. ANOTHER CHURCH BUILT TO THE RIGHT OF BETHANY 26
CONTENTS.
BOOK II.
CHAPTER PAGE
I. THE SITUATION OF BETHLEHEM - - - 28
II. THE PLACE OF THE NATIVITY OF THE LORD, THE
CHURCH OF ST. MARY - - - - 28
in. THE ROCK SITUATED BEYOND THE WALL, UPON WHICH THE WATER, IN WHICH HE WAS FIRST WASHED AFTER HIS BIRTH, WAS POURED- - 29
IV. ANOTHER CHURCH, IN WHICH THE TOMB OF DAVID
IS SEEN - - - - - - 30
V. THE CHURCH WITHIN WHICH IS THE SEPULCHRE
OF ST. HIERONYMUS (jEROME) - - "30
VI. THE TOMBS OF THE THREE SHEPHERDS, AROUND
WHOM, WHEN THE LORD WAS BORN, THE HEAVENLY *
BRIGHTNESS SHONE; AND THEIR CHURCH - 30
VIL THE SEPULCHRE OF RACHEL- - - ' Z^
VIIL HEBRON - - - - - "31
IX. THE VALLEY OF MAMBRE, AND THE SEPULCHRE OF
THE FOUR PATRIARCHS - - - - 32
X. THE HILL AND THE OAK OF MAMBRE - - 33
XI. THE PINE-FOREST FROM WHICH FIREWOOD IS BROUGHT
TO JERUSALEM ON CAMELS - - "34
XH. JERICHO - - - - - - 35
XIII. GALGAL, AND THE TWELVE STONES WHICH THE
CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, AFTER CROSSING THE RIVER JORDAN, TOOK FROM ITS DRIED CHANNEL - 35
XIV. THE PLACE WHERE OUR LORD WAS BAPTIZED BY
JOHN - - - - - - 36
XV. THE COLOUR OF THE JORDAN AND THE DEAD SEA - 38
XVL THE DEAD SEA — CONTINUED- - - "39
XVII. THE FOUNTAINS OF THE JORDAN - - "39
XVIII. THE SEA OF GALILEE - - - 40
XIX. SICHEM AND THE WELL OF SAMARIA - "41
XX. A LITTLE FOUNTAIN IN THE WILDERNESS - - 43
XXI. THE LOCUSTS AND THE WILD HONEY - - 43
XXII. THE PLACE WHERE THE LORD BLESSED THE FIVE
LOAVES AND THE TWO FISHES - - "43
XXIII. THE SEA OF TIBERIAS AND CAPHARNAUM - - 44
CONTENTS.
CHAl'TKR PAGH
XXIV. NAZARETH AND ITS CHURCHES - - "45
XXV. MOUNT TABOR - - - - - 46
XXVI. DAMASCUS - - - - - "47
XXVII. TYRE- - - - - - - 47
XXVIII. ALEXANDRIA, AND THE RIVER NILE AND ITS CROCO- DILES - - - - - - 48
BOOK III.
L THE CITY OF CONSTANTINOPLE - • - '53
II. THE FOUNDATION OF THAT CITY - - "53 III. THE CHURCH IN WHICH THE CROSS OF THE LORD IS
PRESERVED - - - - - "55
IV. ST. GEORGE THE CONFESSOR - - - "57
V. THE PICTURE OF ST. MARY - - - - 62
VI. MOUNT VULCAN - - - - - "63
VIL EPILOGUE - - - - - - 64
THE VENERABLE BEDE CONCERNIiNG THE HOLY PLACES.
( The numbers in parentheses shoiv the corresponding chapters of Arctclfns.)
tHAPTER PAGE
I. (BOOK I., CHAP, l) THE SITUATION OF JERUSALEM - 67 n. (chap. VIL, VI., II., IIL, IV., v., VIIL, X.) THE CHURCH OF CONSTANTINE AND OF GOLGOTHA, THE CHURCH OF THE RESURRECTION AND THE SEPULCHRE OF THE LORD, THE STONE THAT WAS ROLLED TO THE MOUTH OF THE TOMB, THE CHURCH OF ST. MARY, THE CUP OF THE LORD AND THE SPONGE, THE ALTAR OF ABRA- HAM, THE soldier's SPEAR - - - - 68 HI (l., XIX., XXIII.) THE TEMPLE, THE ORATORY OF THE SARACENS, THE POOL OF BETHESDA, THE FOUNTAIN OF SILOA, THE CHURCH BUILT UPON MOUNT SIGN, THE PLACE OF THE STONING OF ST. STEPHEN, THE MIDDLE OF THE WORLD - - - -70
CONTENTS. IX
IV. (XI., XII.) THE NAPKIN OF THE HEAD OF THE LORD, AND
ANOTHER LARGER LINEN CLOTH WOVEN BY ST. MARY 72 V. (XXI., XV., XVI., XIV.) THE PLACES ROUND JERUSALEM, THE VALLEY OF JOSAPHAT, HIS SEPULCHRE AND THOSE OF OTHERS, THE CHURCH IN Vi'HICH ST. MARY V^^AS BURIED - - - - - "73
VL (XVIII., XX.) THE PLACE VV^HERE JUDAS WAS HANGED,
AND ACHELDEMAC - - - - - 74
VIL (XXIL, XXIIL, XXIV., XXV.) THE MOUNT OF OLIVET AND THE CHURCH BUILT THERE, WHERE THE LORD ASCENDED INTO THE HEAVENS — THE TOMB OF LAZARUS, AND A THIRD CHURCH - • "74
VIIL (BOOK II., CHAP. L, II., IIL, IV. v., VI., VII.) THE SITUATION OF BETHLEHEM, THE CHURCH UPON THE PLACE WHERE THE LORD WAS BORN, THE SEPULCHRES OF DAVID AND HIERONYMUS AND THE THREE SHEP- HERDS, AND ALSO THAT OF RACHEL - - 76 IX. (viIL, IX., X., XL) the SITUATION OF HEBRON, MAMBRE, AND THE TOMB OF THE PATRIARCHS AND OF ADAM, THE PINE WOOD - - - - - 77
X. (XIL, XIII.) JERICHO AND ITS HOLY PLACES, GALGAL AND THE FOUNTAIN OF HELISEUS, THE GREAT PLAIN - • - - - - 77
XI. (XV., XVIL, XVIII.) THE JORDAN AND THE SEA OF
GALILEE - - - - - - 79
XIL (xV., XVI.) THE DEAD SEA AND ITS NATURE, AND
THAT OF THK NEIGHBOURING DISTRICT - - 80
Xin. (XIV.) THE PLACE WHERE THE LORD WAS BAPTIZED - 82 XIV. (XXI., XX.) THE LOCUSTS AND THE WILD HONEY, AND
THE FOUNTAIN OF JOHN THE BAPTIST - - 82
XV. (XIX.) THE FOUNTAIN OF JACOB NEAR SICHEM - 83
XVI. (xXIL, XVIII., XXIIL, XXIV.) TIBERIAS AND CAPHARNAUM
AND NAZARETH AND THE HOLY PLACES THERE - 83
XVII. (XXV.) MOUNT TABOR AND THE THREE CHURCHES ON IT 84
XVIII. (XXVI.) THE SITUATION OF DAMASCUS - - 84
XIX. (XXVIII.) THE SITUATION OF ALEXANDRIA, THE CHURCH
IN WHICH MARK THE EVANGELIST RESTS, AND THE
MHi - , . - 84
CONTENTS.
XX. (BOOK III., CHAP. I.) CONSTANTINOPLE, AND THE BASILICA IN THAT CITY WHICH CONTAINS THE CROSS OF THE LORD - - - - - 85
XXI. EPILOGUE - - - - - 87
APPENDIX.
TRANSLATION OF PORTIONS OF ' ARCULf's NARRATIVE,' FROM
.' i
PROFESSOR WILLIS * HOLY SEPULCHRE - - - 88
ILLUSTRATIONS,
PLAN OF THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE FrouHspiece. PLAN OF THE BASILICA ON MOUNT SION, SHOWING THE
SITES ON THE SUMMIT OF THE MOUNTAIN - - 20
PLAN OF THE CHURCH OF THE ASCENSION - - 25
PLAN OF THE CHURCH BUILT ABOVE JACOB's WELL - 42
PREFACE.
Nothing appears to be known of Arculfus, the pilgrim of whose travels this work is a narrative, beyond the very- slight notices of him contained in the work itself and in a reference to it by the Venerable Bede in his 'Ecclesiastical History.' From these we learn that he was a native of France (Gaul), and that at the time when he undertook the journey referred to he had attained the rank of Bishop; but we have no information at all as to the see over which he presided. It is stated by Bede that his bishopric was in France, and, although this might be a mere supposition grounded on the references in the record itself, we need not hesitate to accept it as being correct. His pilgrimage to the East was undertaken about the year A.D. 670, accord- ing to the calculation of Dr. Tobler (Societe de I'Orient Latin), and it must have occupied some time. He spent nine months in the city of Jerusalem (possibly during that period he may have made shorter visits to the south or the north of Palestine), and he gives us an account of the chief places of interest to the west of the Jordan, including in the south, Bethlehem, Hebron, Jericho, Galgal, and the Dead Sea, — and in the north, Sichem, Mount Tabor, Nazareth, the Sea of Galilee, and the sources of the Jordan. After extending his travels as far as Tyre and Damascus,
y
PREFACE.
and returning to Jerusalem, he sailed from Joppa to Alexandria, taking forty days to accomplish the voyage. From Egypt he passed to Crete, spending some days there, and thence to Constantinople, where he stayed for some months — from Easter to Christmas. On his voyage home- wards he visited Sicily and proceeded to Rome. Here, however, his good fortune ceased, as the ship in which he had hoped to reach his home after leaving Rome was caught in a violent storm, which drove it so completely out of its course that it was cast on one of the western points of Scotland, and we find Arculf *at length, after many dangers,' at lona, the guest of Adamnan, the Abbot of the Monastery of Hy, who, according to Bede's narrative (book v., cap. 15), 'found him to be learned in the Scriptures, and acquainted with the Holy Places, so that he received him most willingly, and heard him more willingly ; so much so that he himself caused to be at once committed to writing whatever he testified to be worthy of mention of all that he had seen in the Holy Places.' Adamnan, in his own narrative, represents himself as sedulously asking Arculf to tell him his experiences, and writing them down at once, as they were dictated, on waxed tablets, from which he afterwards compiled this work, with such additional infor- mation as he thought it advisable to insert from the works of other writers with which he was acquainted, and with the omission of a good deal of matter which was already sufficiently well known from those other works. Arculf had, in part of his travels, been accompanied by a Burgun- dian monk, whom he calls Peter, who acted as his guide, and of whose haste he at times complains. Peter, according to one MS. (Codex Caduinensis), had been for a long time in exile for the Lord's sake : he was well acquainted with the Holy Places in Palestine, and he is represented as living in a 'solitary place,' which he was apparently desirous of
PREFACE.
returning to more hurriedly than accorded with the wishes of his companion.
It would be out of place to enter here on any general details as to the life and position of Adamnan, who is the actual writer of this work. A native of Ireland (probably of Donegal), where he was born in 624, belonging to a noble family, he is first known to us as entering the brotherhood of lona, probably during the abbacy of Seghine, fifth abbot, 623-652. Here, during several years, he so com- mended himself to his brethren by his character and his learning, that on the death of Failbhe, eighth abbot, in 679, he was elected his successor. He had at some time or other, whether in Ireland or in lona, been brought in contact with Aldfrid, the exiled prince of Northumbria, who is spoken of in the Irish legends as the * alumnus ' of Adamnan. Whatever this relationship may have actually been, it led Adamnan, on the restoration of Aldfrid in 685, to undertake an embassy to his court, with a view (appar- ently) to plead the cause of some Irish captives. It is in his account of this visit to Aldfrid that the Venerable Bede introduces his reference to this work : * This same man wrote a book about the Holy Places, which is most useful to many readers ; its real author, by instruction and by dictation, was Arculfus, a French Bishop (Galliarum Episcopus), who for the sake of the Holy Places had gone to Jerusalem, and having passed over all the Land of Promise, visited also Damascus, Constantinople, Alexandria, and many islands of the sea ; and as he was returning to his native land by sea, he was carried by the violence of a tempest to the western shores of Britain : and after many [dangers], he came to that servant of Christ, who has been mentioned, Adamnan, who found him to be learned in the Scriptures, and acquainted with the Holy Places, so that he received him most willingly, and heard him more willingly;
xiv PREFACE.
so much so that he himself caused to be at once committed to writing whatever he testified to be worthy of mention of all that he had seen in the Holy Places. And he made a work, as I have said, which is of much use, and specially so to those who are so far distant from those places in which the patriarchs and the apostles lived that they can learn as to them only what they can inform themselves about by reading. Now, Adamnan brought this book to King Aldfrid, and by his liberality it was read by men of humbler station. The writer also was himself presented by him with many gifts, and sent back to his country ' ('Eccles. Hist.,' book v., cap. 15). The presentation of the work to Aldfrid is postponed by Dr. Reeves to a second journey made by Adamnan in 688, when he stayed for some time in Northumbria.
The work, ' De Locis Sanctis,' thus written by Adamnan, is divided into three books ; the first two of which are of about the same length, the third much shorter. The First Book opens with a description of the city of Jerusalem, and proceeds to describe the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and the neighbouring buildings, the description being of the greatest importance, as showing the actual position (at least, as understood by the writer) at a period separated from that of Antoninus Martyr, the next preceding pilgrim whose narrative is in our possession, by the Persian invasion under Chosroes H., when the city was all but ruined, and by that of the Arabs under the Caliph Omar. It has not been found to be practicable to insert in this volume a satisfactory note on these details as recorded from Arculf's account, but this will follow later. The narrative is inter- rupted by a long, and to the modern mind most useless, chapter as to the napkin that covered the head of the Lord in the sepulchre, and it is followed in this book by an account of the sites in the Valley of Jehoshaphat, the
PREFACE, XV
Mount of Olives, and Bethany. The Second Book opens with Southern Palestine, represented by Bethlehem and Hebron, with the places of interest in their neighbourhood ; it then brings us again northward to Jericho, the Dead Sea, and the different Holy Places on and near the Jordan ; thence it passes somewhat erratically over Shechem, Mount Tabor, Nazareth, the Sea of Galilee, the sources of the Jordan, and closes with allusions to Damascus and Tyre, and a longer description of Alexandria, with its harbour. The Third Book describes Constantinople, relates some marvellous incidents in connection with St. George the Confessor, and, after a reference to Mount Vulcan, closes with an Epilogue.
The work appears to have attained very considerable acceptance over Europe. Disfigured as it is to our minds, no less by the insertion of much that is now regarded as simply rubbish, than by the omission of so much that we should have greatly welcomed, the numerous copies of it scattered over the Continent show the esteem in which it was held. The Venerable Bede prepared an abbreviation of it, which is also translated in this volume, and of which he inserted some portions in his history. In addition to the MSS. used by Dr. Tobler for his edition of the work, copies are found at the monastery of S. Germanus a Pratis (eighth century, probably the Corbey MS. used by Mabillon for his edition), at Berne (tenth century), at Rheinau (eleventh century), and at Salzburg (ninth or tenth cen- tury) (Reeves, pp. 8, 58). The first printed edition was published by Gretser, at Ingoldstadt, in 1619, from a MS. sent to him by Father Rosweyd ' ex intima Holandia * (Proleg., p. 22). The text was again published, at Venice, in 1734, from better manuscripts, by Mabillon (Actt. SS. Ord. Bened., saec. iii., part 2).
A certain special interest would attach to this work, as
PRE FA CI
the undoubted composition of a prior of the Scotic monastery of I ona, and some information might be gathered from it as to the exact belief of the Celtic Church on certain questions, were it not that Adamnan labours under the disadvantage for this purpose of having so strenuously endeavoured to introduce the Roman usages into that Church. The tract must have been written before the second visit to King Aldfrid, during which his discussions with Ceolfrid, Abbot of Jarrovv, as to Easter and the tonsure, resulted in his adoption of the Roman usage; but it seems scarcely possible to use it in this connection, although one who has studied the question closely might be able to make some interesting deductions as to the customs of the Celtic Church.
Dr. Reeves, the editor of Adamnan's other work, * The Life of St. Columba ' (published for the Irish Archaeological and Celtic Society, Dublin, 1857; republished, with a trans- lation, in the series of * The Historians of Scotland,' Edinburgh, Edmonston and Douglas, 1874; the references are to the former edition), says (p. Ixi.) that ' Of Adamnan's two Latin works, the tract * De Locis Sanctis ' is the better written and more flowing ; but it bears a striking re- semblance to the other in many particulars of style, and the use of peculiar words and phrases.' As to the latter, one has only, after studying the Latin text of the present work, to turn to the Glossary provided by Dr. Reeves, in order to realize how similar the vocabulary of the two works is. [I have to express my indebtedness to this Glossary for aid in one or two cases, such as the peculiar use of 'pyramis,' pp. 30, 31.] But if this work is really the better written and more flowing of the two, one may express one's condolence with Dr. Reeves in the difficulty of the task he undertook, for even in this tract there are several passages in which the author's meaning is scarcely
PREFACE. xvii
distinguishable, and where all one can do is to make what seems to be the best guess at the translation. This has been specially the case in the chapter dealing with Alex- andria; and a very distinguished friend, whose assistance was asked as to another passage, p. 37, characterizes the connection of the words as passing all human comprehen- sion. Among the marked peculiarities that one at once recognises with Dr. Reeves, are 'the liberal employment of diminutives, so characteristic of Irish composition, used without any grammatical force, and commutable, in the same chapters, with their primitives ;' * the use of frequent- atives and intensitives ;' the occasional use of Greek or Greco- Latin words; 'above all, the artificial, and often unnatural, interweaving of his words in long sentences, and the oft-recurring ablative absolute in awkward position' (Reeves, p. Ixi.).
Reference has been made already to the abbreviation of Adamnan's narrative made by the Venerable Bede, and a translation of this work is also included in this volume. Nothing need be said as to its author, and it is useless to ask whether there can have been any connection at all between him and Adamnan. He professes to have done nothing more than * follow trustworthy histories, and espe- cially that of Arculf, a Bishop of Gaul ' (p. %f). He has not in any way felt bound to follow the order of the former work, but has at times shown considerable ingenuity in passing from page to page. He traverses practically the whole range of that narrative, but in about one-third of the space.
Bede, after referring to the work of Adamnan in the passage already quoted, devotes two chapters of his 'Ecclesiastical History' (book v., 16, 17) to extracts from this work of his own in which he has abbreviated the longer narrative. It seems to have been generally assumed
PREFACE.
that the extracts are from the larger work, and Bede has used words in introducing them that certainly favour the idea and might mislead writers ; but they are taken almost word for word from the shorter tract, and differ altogether both in form and in language from the former text. They consist of the following passages : cap. viii., § i, except the last sentence; cap. ii., § i ; cap. vii., § i ; cap. ix., except the last sentence. The misapprehension as to the exact source has been shared by Dr. Reeves in both editions of his *Life of St. Columba,' and also in his article on 'Adamnan' in Dr. Smith's 'Dictionary of Christian Biography' (vol. i., p. 42), as well as Mr. Deedes in his article on 'Arculf in that Dictionary (vol. i., p. 154) The tract has apparently been at times known as ' Libellus de Situ Jerusalem, sive de Locis Sanctis,' and is referred to only under the former part of this title by the Bishop of Oxford, in his notice of * Bede ' in the same work (vol i., P- 303), but there is no reason for regarding this otherwise than as a mistake.
The translation has been made as literal as possible in passages where the exact rendering was of any contro- versial or archaeological importance, as in the description of sites and buildings ; but in some other cases greater freedom has been used. There has been inserted as an Appendix, at the suggestion of Sir Charles W. Wilson, the rendering of some passages as given in Professor Willis' ' Holy Sepulchre.' Sir Charles Wilson has also contributed some notes of special value, besides making several im- portant suggestions as to the translation.
The text used is that of the Society de I'Orient Latin, (Itinera et Descriptiones Terrae Sanctae Lingua Latina, Saec. IV.-XI. Exarata, sumptibus Societatis Illustrandis Orientis Latini Monumentis, edidit T. Tobler, Geneva, 1877, i., pp. 139-240). The variations of the different MSS. have
PREFACE.
been noted when the sense was in any way affected, and the readings of the Codex Caduinensis have been specially noted. That MS. of the twelfth century gives a greatly abbreviated text, with a few interesting additions. These additions are always given, but the notice of the omissions would have involved the preparation of a separate trans- lation, which would have been without any gain. Tobler has in a similar way appended to the text of Bede the somewhat shorter text of the Codex Wirziburgensis, a MS. of the ninth century, but in this case there are no such additions to note.
The following are the MSS. used by Tobler:
ARCULFUS DE LOCIS SANCTIS. L. British Museum, Cotton. Tib. D.V., folio, viii.-ix. cent.
B. Public Library of Brussels, 292, small quarto, ix. cent Bern. Library of the City of Berne, 582, quarto, ix. cent.
P. National Library, Paris, Lat. 13048, ix. cent.
P. National Library of Paris, Lat. 12943, xi. cent.
G. Abbey of St. Gall, 320, small octavo, xii. cent.
C. Abbey of Caduinum, smallest folio, xii. cent. V. Vatican Library, 636, A, folio, xiii. cent.
R. Library of Queen Christina (Rome), 618, xv. cent.
BEDA VENERABILIS DE LOCIS SANCTIS.
Ma. Public Royal Libraryof Monaco, 6389, quarto, ix. cent. W. Library of the University of Wirtzburg, Mp. Th.
f. 74, folio, ix. cent. Med. Ambrosian Library of Milan, x. cent. Pa. National Library of Paris, Lat. 2321, x. cent. Mb. Public Royal Library of Monaco, 13002, larger folio,
xii. cent. Pb. National Library of Paris, Lat. 14797, xii. cent
XX PREFACE.
L. British Museum, Cotton. Faust. A., vii,, quarto,
xii.-xiii. cent. O. Lincoln's College, Oxford, 96, xiii. cent. Pc. National Library of Paris, Lat. 122] j, xv. cent.
References to Antoninus Martyr, the Bordeaux Pilgrim, the Abbot Daniel, etc., are to the translations already published by this Society.
References to Dr. Reeves' works are to the edition of the ' Life of St. Columba' published at the University Press, Dublin, for the Irish Archaeological and Celtic Society, 1857.
J. R. M
ARCULFS NARRATIVE ABOUT THE HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY ADAMNAN
INTRODUCTION.
In the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, I am about to write a book concerning the Holy Places.
Arculf, a holy bishop, a Gaul by nation, well acquainted with many far distant lands, a truthful and right worthy witness,! who dwelt in the city of Jerusalem for a space of nine months, and examined the Holy Places by daily visits, told me, Adamnan, all that is hereafter to be written, as I sedulously asked him to tell me his experiences, which at first I wrote down on tablets as he dictated in a faithful and unimpeachable narrative, and now briefly inscribe upon parchment [membranes].^
^ ' Judge,' B., F. 12943, C.
2 'This record is an important item in the history of writing, as showing the collateral and respective uses among the Irish of waxed tablets and membranes for literary purposes, towards the close of the seventh century' (Reeves, p. Iviii.). Compare, pp. 5, 8; also, *I noted down a brief but faithful abridgment of it in my tablets, which I will now endeavour to commit succinctly to my parchment ' (Orderic, quoted by Dean Church, 'St. Anselm,' 1888, p. 55). In the first sentence, the word used for 'write' means literally * scratch,' denoting the action of the stylus in wax.
1
ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
BOOK I.
I.— The Situation of Jerusalem, the Gates of THE City, the Yearly Market, the Site of the Temple, the Oratory of the Saracens, the Great Houses.
As to the situation of Jerusalem, we shall now write a few of the details that the sainted Arculf dictated to me, Adamnan ; but what is found in the books of others as to the position of that city, we shall pass over. In the great circuit of its walls, Arculf counted eighty-four towers and twice three gates, which are placed in the following ordei in the circuit of the city : The Gate of David, on the west side of Mount Sion, is reckoned first ; second, the Gate of the Place of the Fuller^ ; third, the Gate of St. Stephen ;
1 The reading of C. in this passage is: 'Second, the Gate of the Fuller's Road ; third, the Gate of St. Stephen, where he was stoned ; fourth, the Gate of Benjamin ; fifth, a small gate, where one hastens down by steps to the Valley of Josaphat ; sixth, the Gate Thecuitis.' As to the position of these gates, see ' The City of Jerusalem,' p. 4. I. The-Gate of David must have been close to the present Jaffa Gate. Somewhat to the north of it, a wall was built across the northern brow of Mount Sion to the eige of the cliff overhanging the causeway at Wilson's Arch (cf Bord. Pil., p. 59). There was no gate in this wall, or in the wall leading northwards from it. II. The ' Gate of the Place of the Fuller ' must have been to the west of the Damascus Gate ; ' its name " Porta Villse [Viae C] Fullonis " being so named from " the Highway ofthe Fuller's Field" (Isaiah vii. 3). Villa is used in the sense of "field" by the Bordeaux Pilgrim, "ubi positus est Joseph in villa quam dedit ei Jacob " (p. 18). It also means " farm," " country house," or " place," as in the "Villa Pampati," "Villi Job," etc., ofthe Bordeaux Pilgrim ; and the "Villa Publica" or "Place of Assembly" in the Campus Martins' [C. W. W.]. It is the 'Postern of St. Lazarus' of the Crusaders. III. The 'Gate of St. Stephen' is the present Damascus
HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY ADAM NAN, 3
fourth, the Gate of Benjamin ; fifth, a portlet, that is a little gate, by which is the descent by steps to the Valley of Josaphat ; sixth, the Gate Thecuitis.
This then is the order round the intervals between those gates and towers : from the above-mentioned gate of David it turns towards the northern part of the circuit, and thence towards the east. But although six gates are counted in the walls, yet of those the entries of three gates are more commonly frequented ; one to the west, another to the north, a third to the east ; while that part of the walls with its interposed towers, which extends from the above-mentioned Gate of David across the northern brow of Mount Sion^ (which overhangs the city from the south), as far as the face of that mountain which looks eastwards, where the rock is precipitous, is proved to have no gates.
But this too, it seems to me, should not be passed over, which the sainted Arculf, formerly spoken of, told us as to the honour of that city in Christ : On the fifteenth day of the month of September yearly, an almost countless multitude of various nations is in the habit of gathering from all sides to Jerusalem for the purposes of commerce by mutual sale and purchase. Whence it necessarily happens that crowds of various nations stay in that hospitable city for some days, while the very great number of their camels and
Gate, see Abbot Daniel, Appendix I. IV. The Gate of Benjamin is the Bab ez Zahrah, or Herod's Gate, east of the Damascus Gate (now closed). V. This Postern must have been near the Golden Gate (closed) ; it is alluded to by Antoninus, p. 14. VI. The Gate Thecuitis by which is probably meant the Gate of Tekoa (the ^Thecua' of St- Paula, p. 10, now Khurbet Tekua), is now the Bab el Magharibeh, or the Dung Gate, on the south wall towards the east. The names of the gates have varied very greatly, and have been to a considerable extent interchanged at different periods.
1 On the position of Sion, as accepted in the fourth and following centuries, see Bord. Pil., Appendix IV., pp. 56-62.
1 — 2
flRCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
horses and asses, not to speak of mules and oxen, for their varied^ baggage, strews the streets of the city here and r-A" there with the abominations of their excrements : the smell of which brings no ordinary nuisance to the citizens and even makes walking difficult. Wonderful to say, on the night after the above-mentioned day of departure with the various beasts of burden of the crowds, an immense abundance of rain falls from the clouds on that city, which washes all the abominable filths from the streets, and cleanses it from the uncleannesses. For the very situation of Jerusalem, beginning from the northern brow of Mount Sion, has been so disposed by its Founder, God, on a lofty^ declivity, sloping down to the lower ground of the northern and eastern walls that that over- abundance of rain cannot settle at all in the streets, like stagnant water, but rushes down, like rivers, from the higher to the lower ground : and further this inundation of the waters of heaven, flowing through the eastern gates, and bearing with it all the filthy abominations, enters the Valley of Josaphat and swells the torrent of Cedron : and after having thus baptized Jerusalem, this over- abundance of rain always ceases. Hence therefore we must in no negligent manner note in what honour this chosen and glorious city is held in the sight of the Eternal Sire,3 Who does not permit it to remain longer filthy, but because of the honour of His Only Begotten cleanses it so quickly, since it has within the circuit of its walls the honoured sites of His sacred Cross and Resurrection.
But in that renowned* place where once the Temple had been magnificently constructed, placed in the neighbour- hood of the wall from the east, the Saracens now frequent a four-sided house of prayer, which they have built rudely,
1 ' Of the different carriers,' G. ^ * Slight ' in MSS. except L.
3 ' Judge and Sire/ B., V., R^ * ' Beautiful,' in some MSS.
HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY ADAMNAN. 5
constructing it by raising boards and great beams on some remains of ruins : this house can, it is said, hold three thousand men at once.
Arculf, when we asked him about the dwellings of that city, answered : * I remember that I both saw and visited many buildings of that city, and that I very often observed a good many great houses^ of stone through the whole of the large city, surrounded by walls, formed with marvellous skill.' But all these we must now, I think, pass over, with the exception of the structure of those buildings which have been marvellously built in the Holy Places, those namely of the Cross and the Resurrection : as to these we asked Arculf very carefully, especially as to the Sepulchre of the Lord and the Church constructed over it, the form of which Arculf himself depicted for me on a tablet covered with wax. 2
II. — The Round Church built above the Sepul- chre OF the Lord.
And certainly this very great Church,^ the whole of which is of stone, was formed of marvellous roundness in every part, rising up from the foundations in three walls, which have one roof at a lofty elevation,* having a broad pathway between each wall and the next ; there are also three altars in three dexterously formed places of the middle wall.^ This round and very large church, with the above-mentioned altars, looking one to the south, another to the north, a third towards the west, is supported
1 * Domos grandest The phrase ' domus magna,' or ' major,' is used by Adamnan in his 'Life of St. Columba' in the sense of 'monastery.' (Reeves, p. 216 n.)
^ Compare p. i.
^ For Professor Willis' translation, see Appendix.
* 'Which . . . elevation ' in L. only.
^ ' In the middle of the wall,' G.
6 ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
by twelve stone columns of marvellous size. It has twice four gates, that is four entrances, through three firmly built walls which break upon the pathways in a straight line, of which four means of exit look to the north-east^ (which is also called the * cecias' wind), while the other four look to the south-east.
III. — The Form of the Sepulchre itself and its Little Cabin.
In the middle of the interior of this round house is a round cabin (tugurium)^ cut out in one and the same rock, in which thrice^ three men can pray standing ; and from the head of a man of ordinary stature as he stands, up to the arch of that small house, a foot and a half is measured upwards. The entrance of this little cabin looks to the east, and the whole outside is covered with choice marble, while its highest point is adorned with gold, and supports a golden cross of no small size. In the northern part of this cabin is the Sepulchre of the Lord, cut out in the same rock in the inside, but the pavement of the cabin is lower than the place of the Sepulchre; for from its pavement up to the
^ VuUurmis, variously explained as the north-east and as the south- east wind ; here (and in Bede, p. 69) the former. Cecias is the Greek jcmictag, 'the north-east wind. (The MSS. give the various readings «calcias,' 'calceas,' 'hetias,' 'caluar.')
2 The words ' tugurium,' ' tuguriolum,' used here interchangeably (see p. xvii.), are of frequent occurrence in Adamnan's Life of St. Columba, used specially of the abbot's domus, or hospitium^ or hospitiolwn^ at some distance from the huts of wattles or of wood in which the other members of the community lived ; it was built of wood with joists, and stood on an eminence ; here the founder sat and wrote, or read. The other huts are often spoken of as cellules, the word used in de- scribing the monastery on Mount Tabor, p. 46. The form teguriuni of some MSS. is the Irish orthography (Reeves, pp. 360, 455). It is difficult to find a suitable rendering for the word here. At Sir Charles Wilson's suggestion, Professor Willis' translation, cabiji., has been adopted. ^ ' Three,' Z?., Bern., G., C.
HOL Y PLACES, WRITTEN BY A DAMN AN,
edge of the side of the Sepulchre a measure^ of about three palms is reckoned. So Arculf, who used often to visit the Sepulchre of the Lord and measured it most accurately, told me.
Here we must refer to the difference of names between
the Tomb and the Sepulchre ; for that round cabin
which we have often mentioned, the Evangelists called by
another name, the Tomb : they speak of the stone rolled to
its mouth, and rolled back from its mouth, when the Lord
rose. That place in the cabin is properly called the
Sepulchre, which is in the northern side of the Tomb, in which
the body of the Lord, when buried, rested, rolled in the
linen cloths : the length of which Arculf measured with his
own hand and found to be seven feet. Now this Sepulchre
is not, as some think, double, having a projection left from
the solid rock, parting and separating the two legs and the
two thighs, but is wholly single, affording a bed capable of
holding a man lying on his back from his head even to his
soles. It is in the manner of a cave, having its opening at
the side, and opposite^ the south part of the sepulchral
chamber. The low roof is artificially wrought above it. In
the Sepulchre there are further twelve lamps according to
the number^ of the twelve Apostles, always burning day
and night, four of which are placed down below in the
lowest part of the sepulchral bed, while the other twice
four are placed higher above its edge on the right hand ;
they shine brightly, being nourished with oil.
But it seems that this also should be noted, that the Mausoleum or Sepulchre of the Saviour (that is, the often-
^ ' From knee ' or * thumb to ear,' B.^ V. C. reads, ' From the pave- ment to the Sepulchre of the Lord where He lay, is a height of four fingers.'
^ 'A cave having in the entrance an altar opposite,' L.
* ' Rule,' * names,' in some MSS.
S ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
mentioned cabin), may rightly be called a Grot or Cave, concerning which, that is to say, concerning our Lord Jesus Christ being buried in it, the prophet prophesied : ' He shall dwell in a most lofty cave of a most strong rock.' ^ And a little after, to gladden the Apostles, there is inserted about the Resurrection of the Lord : * Ye shall see the King with glory.' ^
The frontispiece shows, accordingly, the form of the above-named church with the round little cabin placed in its centre, in the northern side of which is the Sepulchre of the Lord, and also the forms of the other three churches about which we shall speak below.
We have drawn these figures of the four churches accord- ing to the model which, as has been said above, the sainted Arculf drew on a waxed tablet,^ not that a likeness of them can be given in a drawing, but in order that the Tomb of the Lord, be it in however poor a representation, may be shown placed in the middle of the round church, and that the church more properly belonging to this, or the one placed further off, may be made clear.
IV. — The Stone that was rolled to the Mouth OF THE Tomb, which the Angel of the Lord,
I>^.SCENDING FROM HeAVEN AFTER HlS RESUR- RECTION, ROLLED BACK; THE ChAPEL, AND THE
Sepulchre.
Bat among these things, it seems that one ought to tell briefly about the stone, mentioned above, which was rolled to the mouth of the Tomb of the Lord, after the burial of the crucified Lord slain* by many men : which, Arculf relates, was broken and divided into two parts, the smaller of which, rough hewn with tools, is seen placed as a square
Isaiah xxxiii. i6. ^ Ibid. v. 17.
See page i. * ' Betrayed ' in MSS. except Z.
HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY ADAMNAN. g
altar in the round church, described above, before the mouth of that often-mentioned cabin, that is, the Lord's Tomb ; while the larger part of that stone, equally hewn around, stands fixed in the eastern part of that church as another four-sided altar under linen cloths.
As to the colours of that rock, in which that often- mentioned chapel was hollowed out by the tools of hewers, which has, in its northern side, the Sepulchre of the Lord cut out of one and the same rock in which is also the Tomb, that is, the cabin, Arculf when questioned by me, said : That Cabin of the Lord's Tomb is in no way ornamented on the inside, and shows even to this day over all its surface the traces of the tools, which the hewers or excavators used in their work : the colour of that rock both of the Tomb and of the Sepulchre is not one, but two colours seem to have been intermingled, namely red and white, whence also that rock appears two-coloured. But as to these points let what has been said suffice.
v.— The Church of St. Mary which adjoins the Round Church.
As to the buildings of the holy places, some few details must be added. The four-sided Church of St. Mary, the mother of the Lord, is adjoined on the right side by that round church which has been so often mentioned above, and which is also called the Anastasis, that is the Resurrection, because it was built on the spot of the Lord's Resurrection.
VI. — The Church that is built on the Site of
Calvary.
Another very large church, looking eastwards, has been built on that place which, in Hebrew, is called Golgotha/
^ C. adds, 'but in Latin, Mount Calvary.'
lo ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
high up in which a great circular chandeher of brass with lamps is hung by ropes, below which has been set up a great cross of silver, fixed in the same spot where once stood fixed the wooden Cross, on which suffered the Saviour of the human race.
In the same church a cave has been cut out in the rock below the site of the Cross of the Lord, where sacrifice is offered on an altar for the souls of certain specially honoured persons whose bodies are meanwhile placed lying in a court^ before the gate of that Church of Golgotha, until the holy mysteries on their behalf are finished.
VII. — The Basilica which Constaxtine built close
TO THE ABOVE-NAMED CHURCH ON THE SpOT WHERE THE CROSS OF THE LORD, WHICH HAD BEEN BURIED IN RUINS, WAS FOUND, WHEN AFTER
MANY Centuries the Earth was dug up. This four-sided church, built on the site of Calvary, is adjoined on the east by the neighbouring stone Basilica, constructed with great reverence by King Constantine which is also called the Martyrium,^ built, as is said, on that spot where the Cross of the Lord, which had been hidden away under the earth, was found with the other two crosses of the robbers, after a period of two hundred and thirty-three years, by the permission of the Lord Himself.
VIIL — The Site of the Altar of Abraham.
Between these two churches lies that illustrious place where the patriarch Abraham built an altar,^ laid on it the
1 ' Platea,' see next page, note i.
2 ' Monastery' in some MSS. ' Arculf appears to have applied to the Basilica the name of "The Martyrium of the Resurrection," given by Eusebius to the whole group of Constantine's buildings,' C. W. IV.
^ On 'The Altar of Abraham,' see Abbot Daniel, Appendix II., pi 96.
HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY ADAMNAN. ii
pile of wood, and seized the drawn sword to offer in sacrifice his own son, Isaac : where is now a wooden table of considerable size on which the alms of the poor are offered by the people. This also the sainted Arculf added, as I enquired of him more diligently : Between the Anastasis, that is the round church we have often mentioned above, and the Basilica of Constantine, lies a small square extend- ing to the Church of Golgotha, where lamps burn always by day and night.i
IX.— The Recess situated between the Church of Calvary and the Basilica of Constantine, in WHICH are kept the Cup of the Lord and the Sponge from which, as He hung on the Tree, He drank Vinegar and Wine.
Between that Basilica of Golgotha and the Martyrium^ there is a recess (exedra)^in which is the Cup of the Lord, which He blessed and gave with His own hand to the Apostles in the supper on the day before He suffered, as He and they sat at meat with one another ; the cup is of silver, holding the measure of a French quart,* and has two little handles placed on it, one on each side. In this cup also is the sponge which those who were crucifying the Lord filled with vinegar and, putting it on hyssop, offered
^ C. reads, 'Between these churches is a small square covered with marble, extending as far as the Basilica of Constantine and the Church of Golgotha, which is extremely beautiful.' The word here rendered 'small square' is piateola^ 'a green' or ' a court' within the enclosure of a Scotic monastery, surrounding or beside which were the lodgings of the community (Reeves, p. 360).
2 'Testimony,' B., P. 12943, K, R.
^ 'Exedra' is a small chamber, or chapel, attached to the side of a church; the 'cubiculum' or 'separatum conclave' of the Scotic monastery. The Greek word (t^sSpa) is of frequent occurrence in Josephus in reference to the Temple (Reeves, pp. 224, 444).
^ Sextarius, the sixth part of a congius, or gallon.
12 ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
to His mouth. From the same cup, as is said, the Lord drank after His Resurrection, as He sat at meat with the apostles. The sainted Arculf saw it and touched it with his own hand, and kissed it through the opening of the perforated cover of the case within which it is concealed : indeed, the whole people of the city resort greatly to this cup with immense veneration.
X.— The Spear of the Soldier with wpiicii he PIERCED the Side of the Lord.
Arculf also saw that spear of the soldier with which he smote through the side of the Lord as He hung on the Cross. The spear is fixed in a wooden cross in the portico of the Basilica of Constantine, its shaft being broken into two parts : and this also the whole city of Jerusalem resorts to, kisses, and venerates.
XL— The Napkin with which the Head of the Lord was covered in the Sepulchre.^
As to the sacred napkin which was placed upon the head^ of the Lord in the Sepulchre, we learn from the narrative of the sainted Arculf, who inspected it with his own eyes.
The whole people of Jerusalem bear witness to the truth of the narrative we now write. For on the testimony of several faithful citizens of Jerusalem, the sainted Arculf learned this statement which they very often repeated to him as he listened attentively : A certain trustworthy believing Jew, immediately after the Resurrection of the Lord, stole from His Sepulchre the sacred linen cloth and hid it in his house for many days; but, by the favour of the Lord Himself, it was found after the lapse of many years, and was brought
^ C. places this chapter at the end of the first Book. ^ C. adds, 'and the body.'
HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY ADAMNAN. 13
to the notice of the whole people about three years^ before [this statement was made to Arculf J.'-^ That happy, faithful thief, when at the point of death, sent for his two sons, and, showing them the Lord's napkin, which he had at first abstracted furtively, offered it to them, saying : ' My boys, the choice is now given to you. Therefore let each of you say which he rather wishes to choose, so that I may know without doubt to which of you, according to his own choice, I shall bequeathe all the substance I have, and to which only this sacred napkin of the Lord.' On hearing this, the one who wished to obtain all his sire's wealth, received it from his father, according to a promise made to him under the will. Marvellous to say, from that day all his riches and all his patrimony, on account of which he sold the Lord's napkin, began to decrease, and all that he had was lost by various misfortunes and came to nothing. While the other blessed son of the above-named blessed thief, who chose the Lord's napkin in preference to all his patrimony, from the day when he received it from the hand of his dying sire, became, by the gift of God, more and more rich in earthly substance, and was by no means deprived of heavenly treasure. And thus this napkin of the Lord was faithfully handed down as an heirloom by the successive heirs of this thrice blessed man to their believing sons in regular succession, even to the fifth generation. But many years having now passed, believing heirs of that kindred failed, after the fifth generation, and the sacred linen cloth came into the hands of unbelieving
^ ' Three hundred' is suggested by various editors.
2 C reads, instead of next three sentences, * And when he was at the point of death, he said to his two sons : My sons, who of you would wish faithfully to receive the napkin of the Lord.? On hearing this, the one who had received his sire's wealth according to his will, received the napkin that has been spoken of, and sold it to his own brother.'
14 ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
Jews, who, while unworthy of such an office, yet embraced it honourably and, by the gift of the Divine bounty, were greatly enriched with very diverse riches. But an accurate narrative about the Lord's napkin having spread among the people, the believing Jews began to contend bravely with the unbelieving Jews about the sacred linen cloth, desiring with all their might to obtain possession of it, and the strife that arose divided the common people of Jerusalem into two parties, the faithful believers and the faithless unbelievers.
Upon this, Mavias,! the King of the Saracens, was appealed to by both parties to adjudicate between them, and he said to the unbelieving Jews who were persistently re- taining the Lord's napkin •? * Give the sacred linen cloth which you have into my hand.' In obedience to the king's command, they bring it from its casket and place it in his bosom. Receiving it with great reverence, the king ordered a great fire to be made in the square before all the people, and while it was burning fiercely, he rose, and going up to the fire, addressed both contending parties in a loud voice : ' Now let Christ, the Saviour of the world, who suffered for the human race, upon whose head this napkin, which I now hold in my bosom, and as to which you are now contending, was placed in the Sepulchre, judge between you by the flame of fire, so that you may know to which of these two contending hosts this great gift may most worthily be entrusted.' Saying this, he threw the sacred napkin of the Lord into the flames, but the fire could in no way touch it, for, rising whole and untouched from the fire, it began to fly on high, like a bird with out-
1 Z., ' Mavius ;' others ^ ' Majuvias,' 'Navias ;' C, 'Nauvias.' Muavia, the founder of the Omeyyad dynasty, Caliph of Syria, A.D. 658 ; sole Caliph, 66i ; died, 680.
2 ' In the sight of the Christian Jews who were present,' K, /?., P. J 2943.
HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY ADAMNAN. 15
spread wings, and looking down from a great height on the two contending parties, placed opposite one another as if they were two armies in battle array, it flew round in mid air for some moments ; then slowly descending, under the guidance of God, it inclined towards the party of the Christians, who meanwhile prayed earnestly to Christ, the Judge, and finally it settled in their bosom. Raising their hands to heaven, and bending the knee with great gladness, they give thanks to God and receive the Lord's napkin with great honour, a gift to be venerated as sent to them from heaven ; they render praises in their hymns -to Christ, who gave it, and they cover it up in another linen cloth and put it away in a casket of the church.
Our brother Arculf saw it one day taken out of the casket, and amid the multitude of the people that kissed it, he himself kissed it in an assembly of the church; it measures about eight feet^ in length.^ As to it let what has been said suffice.
1 ' Cubits ' in some MSS.
2 On the margin of C. there is added in the handwriting of the fifteenth century : ' But afterwards it came into the possession of the Bishop of Anicia, who had made a voyage in the districts beyond the sea ; and he, dying there, gave it to one who was his priest. This priest also died as he was crossing the sea, leaving the precious gift to a cleric who served him. He, when he was in the country of Petragora, where he was born, placed the napkin of the Lord in a church which was recommended to him, near Caduinum. And not long after he had left the church one day, a fire broke out in a [the nearest] farm and also in that church, and burned whatever it found ; but it did not touch the casket in which the napkin was preserved, and which was near the altar. On hearing this, some of the brothers, who were lately staying at Caduinum, hastened thither, and when they had found the casket, they broke it by force, and, taking the " barletum," where the napkin of the Lord was, they brought it with them very quickly and deposited it in their own monastery about the year of the Lord 15 12. But the cleric, not finding the treasure, went on to Caduinum, and when he cculd not recover it, he put on the monk's habit, and as long as he lived, he guarded there what he had formerly possessed.'
i6 ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
XII. — Another Sacred Linen Cloth which, as is SAID, St. Mary the Virgin, the Mother of the Lord, wove.
Arculf saw also in that city of Jerusalem another linen cloth of larger size, which, as is said, St. Mary wove, and which, on that account, is held in great reverence in the Church and by all the people. In this linen cloth the forms of the twelve Apostles are woven, and the likeness of the Lord Himself is figured ; one side of the linen cloth is of red colour, while the opposite side is green. -^
XIII. — The Lofty Column situated on the Spot WHERE A Dead Young Man came to Life again, WHEN THE Cross of the Lord was placed on
HIM ; AND THE MIDDLE OF THE WORLD.
We must speak briefly about a very lofty column, stand- ing in the middle of the city, which meets one coming from the sacred places northwards. This column is set up on that spot where a dead young man came to life again when the Cross of the Lord was placed on him, and mar- vellously in the summer solstice at mid-day, when the sun comes to the centre of the heaven, it casts no shadow ; for when the solstice is passed, which is the 24th^ of June, after three days, as the day gradually lessens, it first casts a short shadow, then a longer one as the days pass. Thus this column, which the brightness of the sun in the summer solstice at mid-day, as it stands in the centre of the heaven,^ shining straight down from above, shines upon all round from every quarter, proves that the city of Jerusalem is situated in the middle of the earth. Whence also the Psalmist, prophesying on account of the sacred sites of the
^ ' Of the colour of green herbs,' B.^ P. 12943.
' ' 23rd,' L. 3 . poie^^ 2^^^ p^ J2943, v., R.
HOL V PLACES, WRITTEN B V ADAMNAN. 17
Passion and the Resurrection which are contained within that iElia, sings : * But God, our King, before the ages has wrought salvation in the midst of the earth,'^ that is, in Jerusalem, which, being in the middle, is also called the navel of the earth.2
XIV.— The Church of St. Mary built IiN" the Valley of Josaphat, in which is her Tomb.
That sedulous visitor of the Holy Places, the sainted Arculf, visited the Church of St. Mary,^ in the Valley of Josaphat, which is built in two stories, the lower of these being a round structure, under a marvellous stone roof, with an altar in its eastern part, while on the right side of it is the empty stone sepulchre of St. Mary, in which for a time she rested after her burial."* But how or when or by whom her sacred body was raised from that sepulchre, or where it awaits the Resurrection, it is said that no one knows certainly.^ Those who enter this lower round Church of St. Mary see inserted, on the right of the wall, that stone above which, on the night when He was betrayed by Judas into the hands of sinful men, the Lord prayed in the field of Gethsemane, on bended knees, before the hour of His betrayal : and in this rock are seen the marks of His two knees, as if they had been very deeply impressed in the softest wax. Thus we were informed by our brother, the sainted Arculf, the visitor of the holy places, who with his own eyes saw what we describe. In the upper Church of St. Mary, which is also round, there are shown to be four altars.
^ Psalm Ixxiv. 12.
2 Compare Abbot Daniel, pp. 13, 96 ; Quarterly Statement, October, 1888, pp. 260 flf. ^ Compare Ant. Mar., p. 14 ; Abbot Daniel, p. 23 ; Mukaddasi, p. 49. " B. adds, ' and belongs to the saints.' ^ ' As Jerome relates,' C, P. 12943.
2
l8 ARCULFS NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
XV. — The Tower of Josaphat built in the same
Valley. In the same valley that has been nnentioned above, not far from the Church of St. Mary, is shown the Tower of Josaphat, in which his sepulchre is seen.
XVI. — The Tombs of Simeon and Joseph. Thisi little tower is joined on the right hand by a stone house, cut out of the rock and separated from the Mount of Olivet, within which are shown two sepulchres cut out with iron tools, destitute of ornament. One of tliese is that of Simeon, the just man, who, having embraced the little Infant, the Lord Jesus, in the Temple in both his hands, prophesied about Him. The other is that of Joseph, the spouse of St. Mary, and the upbringer of the Lord Jesus.
XVII. — The Cave in the Rock of the Mount of Olivet, across the Valley of Josaphat, in WHICH are Four Tables and two Wells.^
In the side of the Mount of Olivet is a cave, not far from the Church of St. Mary, placed on the higher ground across the Valley of Josaphat, having in it two very deep wells, one of which descends to a great depth under the mountain.^ while the other is in the pavement of the cave, its immense cavity being, as is said, directed in a straight course, descending into the depth ; these two wells are always closed. In the same cave are four stone tables, of
1 C. omits XV. and reads, * Thence, not far from the Church of St. Mary, in which her sepulchre is seen, in that same Valley of Josaphat, is a little tower of stone, which is joined on its right side [?], cut out of the rock,' etc.
2 ' The cave of the two w^Us,' L., P. 13048.
^ G.; other MSS. read, 'is extended to a great distance at a pro- found depth.' C. has this reading, but adds, ' under the mountain.'
HOL V PLACES, WRITTEN B V AD AMMAN. 19
which the one nearest the entrance of the cave on the inside is that of our Lord Jesus Christ, His seat beyond doubt adjoining His Httle table ; here He was in the habit sometimes of sitting at meat with His twelve Apostles, who at the same time sat at the other tables in the same place. The closed mouth of the well, referred to above as being in the pavement of the cave, is shown to belong especially to the tables of the Apostles. The little door- way of this cave is closed by a wooden gate, as the sainted Arculf, who so often visited that cave of the Lord, relates.
XVHL — The Gate of David and the Place where Judas Iscarioth hanged himself by a Rope.
The Gate of David adjoins a slight rising of Mount Sion on the west. Those going out of the city through it, leav- ing the Gate and Mount Sion next their left hand, come to a stone bridge,^ directed for some distance in a straight line across the valley to the south, raised on arches,^ close to the middle of which, on the west side, is the spot where Judas of Iscarioth, driven by despair, hanged himself by a rope.' There is still shown here to this day a fig-tree of large size, from the top of which, as is said, Judas hung in a halter, as Juvencus,* a versifying presbyter, has sung :
' From fig-tree top he snatched a shapeless death.'
^ ' Fountain ' in some MSB.
2 C. adds, ' It is through this gate that one leaves Jerusalem for the city of Samuel, which is called Ramatha, and for Cesarea of Palestine, as well as for Gaza.'
3 Compare Bord. PH., p. 24, Ant., Mar., p. 15. The spot alluded to must be in Wady Rababeh.
"^ C. Vettius Aquilinus Juvencus, a Spaniard by birth, the author of a Historica Evangelica, * an hexameter poem on our Lord's life, based upon the Gospels,' 'the first Christian epic' (See Smith's Diet, of Christian Biog., vol. iii., pp. 598 f.)
2 — 2
20
ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
XIX. — The Form of the Great Basilica built on Mount Sion, and the Situation of that Mountain. Mention was made of Mount Sion a little above, and
here a short and succinct notice must be inserted of a
great Basilica constructed there, a drawing of which is
given here :
Tht-LctrdJs SvLjrpcr
SpiriJbdjRSi CTV Ow JpostLes
Cohunzv ijOMkuJo
Ove^Lardb wols haunjob
li^ &
Here^S^Nkry dit^
'"Rotkupcw wJdcJbStepltav
WCUSStUTVUt
PLAN OF THE BASILICA ON MOUNT SION, SHOWING THE SITES ON THE SUMMIT OF THE MOUNTAIN.
Here is shown the rock upon which Stephen, being stoned without the city, fell asleep. Beyond the great church described above, which embraces within its walls such holy places, there stands another memorable rock, on the west side of that on which, as is said, Stephen was stoned.^ This Apostolical Church, as is said above, was built of stone on a level surface in the higher ground of Mount Sion.^
1 L.J- other MSS. read, 'the Lord was scourged.'
2 C. reads for XIX., 'After this the sainted Arculf writes of that place where the Lord supped with His disciples, and where the Holy- Spirit descended upon the Apostles on the holy day of Pentecost, where he says that a great church has been constructed on the top of Mount Sion, which is called the Apostles' Church. There is seen there the column where the Lord was scourged, and there is also shown there the rock on which St. Stephen was stoned ; to the west there is another church, where the Lord was tried in the Pretorium of Pilate. Now we shall speak of the Mount of Olivet,' chap. 22. As to the tradi- tions connected with the scenes of St. Stephen's martyrdom, burial, etc., see Abbot Daniel, Appendix L, pp. 83-90. As to the Church, see ih'd, pp. 36, 27-
HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY ADAM NAN. 21
XX. — The Little Field called in Hebrew Akel-
DEMAC.
This small field,^ which is situated towards the southern quarter of Mount Sion, was often visited by our Arculf ; it has a stone boundary-wall, and in it a considerable number of pilgrims 2 are very carefully interred, while others are left unburied very carelessly, merely covered with rags or skins, and so, lying on the ground, putrefy.
XXI. — The Rough and Rocky Ground that extends far and wide, from jerusalem to the city of Samuel, and to Cesarea of Palestine towards THE West.
From ^lia northwards to the City of Samuel, which is called Armathem,^ the ground is rocky and rough, in which, however, there are intervening spaces, thorny valleys also lying up to the Tanitic region. Another description of country is seen from the above-named ^lia and Mount Sion westwards extending to Cesarea of Palestine ; for though there maybe at intervals some narrow, small, rough places, yet for the most part wider downs are met with, enlivened by olive groves scattered over them.
XXII.— The Mount of Olivet, its Height, and the Character of its Soil.
Other kinds of trees than the vine and the olive can, as Arculf relates, rarely be found on the Mount of Olivet, while very fine crops of corn and barley are raised on it.
^ Compare, Ant. Mar., p. 22 ; Abbot Daniel, p. -^^Z ; City of Jerusalem, p. 20.
2 ' Pereo^rinus ' in Adamnan signifies * pilgrim' (Reeves, Glossary). Cf. Todd's ' St. Patrick,' p. 261.
^'Armachim,' 'Ramathas,' in some MSS. The present Nebl Samwil, on the right of the old. northerly road from Jaffa to Jerusalem,
22 ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
For the character of that soil is shown not to be adapted for trees, but for grass and flowers. Its height, moreover, seems to be equal to that of Mount Sion,^ although Mount Sion seems small and narrow when compared to the Mount of Olivet as regards its geometrical dimensions — namely, breadth and length. In the middle, between these two mountains, lies the Valley of Josaphat, of which we spoke above, stretching from north to south.
XXI 1 1.— The Place of the Ascension of the Lord AND THE Church built on it.
On the whole Mount of Olivet there seems to be no spot higher than that from which the Lord is said to have ascended into the heavens, where there stands a great round church, having in its circuit three vaulted porticoes covered over above. The interior of the church, without roof or vault, lies open to heaven under the open air, having in its eastern side an altar protected under a narrow covering. So that in this way the interior has no vault,^ in order that from the place where the Divine footprints are last seen,^ when the Lord was carried up into heaven in a cloud, the way may be always open and free to the eyes of those who pray towards heaven.^
For when this basilica, of which I have now made slight mention, was building, that place of the footprints of the Lord, as we find written elsewhere, could not be
^ The summit of Mount Olivet is 2,693 ^"^et above the sea-level ; that of Mount Sion 2,550 feet.
2 G.^ other MSS. read, 'placed over it.' Compare Abbot Daniel, p. 25.
3 Z., other MSS. read, 'last stood.'
^ C, having given this paragraph in an abbreviated form, adds only, ' In the pavement whence He ascended, His sacred footprints are seen to have been impressed.' The footprint of Christ is still shown on Mount Olivet, 'City of Jerusalem,' p. 40.
I
HOL Y PLA CES, WRITTEN BY ADA MNA X. 23
enclosed under the covering^ with the rest of the buildings. Whatever was applied, the unaccustomed earth, refusing to receive anything human, cast back into the face of those who brought it. And, moreover, the mark of the dust that was trodden by the Lord is so lasting that the impression of the footsteps may be perceived ; and although the faith of such as gather daily at the spot snatches away some of what was trodden by the Lord, yet the area perceives no loss, and the ground still retains that same appearance of being marked by the impress of footsteps.
Further, as the sainted Arculf, who carefully visited this spot, relates, a brass hollow cylinder of large circumference, flattened on the top, has been placed here, its height being shown by measurement to reach one's neck.^ In the centre of it is an opening of some size, through which the uncovered marks of the feet of the Lord are plainly and clearly seen from above, impressed in the dust. In that cylinder there is, in the western side, as it were, a door ; so that any entering by it can easily approach the place of the sacred dust, and through the open hole in the wheel may take up in their outstretched hands some particles of the sacred dust.
Thus the narrative of our Arculf as to the footprints of the Lord quite accords with the writings of others — to the effect that they could not be covered in any way, whether by the roof of the house or by any special lower and closer covering ; so that they can always be seen by all that enter, and the marks of the feet of the Lord can be clearly seen depicted in the dust of that place. For these footprints of the Lord are lighted by the brightness of an immense lamp hanging on pulleys above that cylinder in the church, and burning day and night.
Further in the western side of the round church we have * ' Pavement ' in MSS. ^ . j^^^^^j , -^^ ^^^^^ MSS.
24 ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
mentioned above, twice four windows have been formed high up with glazed shutters, and in these windows there burn as many lamps placed opposite them, within and close to them. These lamps hang in chains, and are so placed that each lamp may hang neither higher nor lower, but may be seen, as it were, fixed to its own window, opposite and close to which it is specially seen. The brightness of these lamps is so great^ that, as their light is copiously poured through the glass from the summit of the Mountain of Olivet, not only is the part of the mountain nearest the round^ basilica to the^west illuminated, but also the lofty path which rises by steps up to the city of Jerusalem from the Valley of Josaphat, is clearly illuminated in a wonderful manner, even on dark nights ; while the greater part of the city that lies nearest at hand on the opposite side is simi- larly illuminated by the same brightness. The effect of this brilliant and admirable coruscation of the eight great lamps shining by night from the holy mountain and from the site of the Lord's ascension, as Arculf related, is to pour into the hearts of the believing onlookers a greater eagerness^ of the Divine love, and to strike the mind with a certain fear along with vast inward compunction.
This also Arculf related to me about the same round church : That on the anniversary of the Lord's Ascension, at mid-day, after the solemnities of the Mass have been celebrated in that basilica, a most violent tempest of wind comes on regularly every year, so that no one can stand or sit in that church or in the neighbouring places, but all lie prostrate in prayer with their faces in the ground until that terrible tempest has passed.
The result of this terrific blast is that that part of the house cannot be vaulted over ; so that above the spot where the
•* Compare St. Paula, p. lo. " ' Stone' in some MSS.
* K, R.^ E.dd, 'or clearness.'
HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY ADAMNAN.
25
footsteps of the Lord are impressed and are clearly shown, within the opening in the centre of the above-named cylinder, the way always appears open to heaven. For the blast of the above-mentioned wind destroyed, in accordance with the Divine will, whatever materials had been gathered for preparing a vault above it, if any human art made the attempt.
This account of this dreadful storm was given to us by the sainted Arculf, who was himself present in that Church of Mount Olivet at the very hour of the day of the Lord's Ascension when that fierce storm arose.
A drawing of this round church is shown below, however unworthily it may have been drawn ; while the form of the brass cylinder is also shown placed in the middle of the church.
PLAN OF THE CHURCH OF THE ASCENSION.
This also we learned from the narrative of the sainted Arculf: That in that round church, besides the usual light of the eight lamps mentioned above as shining within the church by night, there are usually added on the night of the Lord's Ascension almost innumerable other lamps, which by their terrible and admirable brightness, poured
26 ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
abundantly through the glass of the windows, not only illuminate the Mount of Olivet, but make it seem to be wholly on fire ; while the whole city and the places in the neighbourhood are also lit up.
XXIV. — The Sepulchre of Lazarus and the Church
BUn.T ABOVE IT, AND THE ADJOINING MONASTERY.
Arculf, the visitor of the above-mentioned holy places, visited a little plain at Bethany, surrounded by a great wood of olives, where there are a great monastery and a great basilica built over the cave from which the Lord recalled Lazarus to life after he had been dead four days.
XXV.— -Another Church built to the Right of Bethany.
As to another more celebrated church built towards the southern side of Bethany, on that spot of the Mount of Olivet where the Lord is said to have addressed the dis- ciples, I think that we must write briefly.
Hence we must carefully inquire what address and at what time or to what special individuals of His disciples the Lord spoke.^ These three questions, if we will open the writings of the three EvangeHsts, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, will be clearly answered, for the Evangelists speak of the character of the address in complete narmony with one another. As to the place of that meeting, no one can have any doubt, or as to the address and the place, who will read Matthew speaking about the Lord: *And as He sat upon the Mount of Olivet, the disciples came to Him pri- vately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be ? and what
1 C. reads, 'And although three Evangelists describe His address, which He then gave to the disciples, yet Matthew writes about it more specially : "And as He sat," etc'
HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY ADAM NAN, 27
shall be the sign of Thy coming and of the consummation of the age ?' (St. Matt. xxiv. 3). As to the persons who asked Him, Matthew has kept silence ; but Mark has not, and he tells us : * Peter and James and John and Andrew asked Him privately' (St. Mark xiii. 3) — in reply to whose question He delivered the address referred to by the three Evan- gelists we have mentioned above, of which the character is shown in His words : 'Take heed lest any man deceive you. For many shall come in My name, saying, I am Christ ' (St. Mark xiii. 5, 6) and the rest that follows as to the last times and the consummation of the age, which Matthew records at great length, down to the place where the same Evangelist clearly shows the time of this lengthened address, as he mentions the words of the Lord : ' And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, He said to His disciples, Ye know that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man shall be betrayed to be crucified,' etc. (St. Matt. xxvi. I, 2). It is thus shown distinctly that it was on the fourth day of the week, when two days remained to the first day of the Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover, that the Lord delivered the length- ened address mentioned above, in answer to the question of the four above-named disciples. On the place where the address was given a church was founded in its memory, which is held in great honour.
Let it suffice to have thus far described the holy places of the city of Jerusalem, and Mount Sion, and the Mount of Olivet, and the Valley of Josaphat, which lies between these mountains, in accordance with the accurate narrative of the sainted Arculf, the visitor of those places.
28 ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
BOOK II.
I.— The Situation ofi Bethlehem. In the beginning of this Second Book we shall briefly write a few notes about the situation of the city of Beth- lehem,'^ which our Saviour thought worthy to be the place where He should be born of the Holy Virgin. This city, according to the narrative of Arculf who visited it, is not so remarkable for situation as for its glorious fame, which has been published throughout the churches of all nations; it is situated on the narrow ridge of a mountain, sur- rounded on all sides by valleys, the ridge of ground stretching from east to west for about a mile ; round the level plain on the top of it is a low wall without towers,^ built right round the brow of that little mountain, which overhangs the little valleys lying around on both sides, while the dwellings of the citizens are scattered over the intervening ground within the wall, along the longer dia- meter.
n.— The Place of the Nativity of the Lord, the Church of St. Mary. In the extreme eastern angle of this city is a sort of natural half cave,^ the extremity of the interior of which is the Manger of the Lord, in which His mother laid the new- born babe ; while another, contiguous to the manger we have just mentioned,^ is shown to such as enter, as being the
^ ' Of the district of Jerusalem ; that is, Bethlehem,' K, R. ^ C. reads, 'about Bethlehem, which is the district of Jerusalem.' 3 Compare Abbot Daniel, p. 40. * C. omits 'half.'
^ C. inserts, ' where a Httle house has been constructed of stone.'
HOL Y PLA CES, WRITTEN B Y ADAM NAN, 29
traditional site of His real nativity. The whole of this cave of the Manger of the Lord at Bethlehem has been adorned on the inside with precious marblcj in honour of the Saviour, while in the half cave, above the stone chamber, there has been built the Church of St. Mary, above the place where the Lord is said to have been actually born, which is a grand structure.
IIL— The Rock situated beyond the Wall, upon WHICH the Water, in which He was first
WASHED AFTER HiS BiRTII, WAS POURED.
Here I think I must briefly mention the rock lying beyond the wall, upon which the water of the first bathing of the Lord's body after His birth, was poured from the top of the wall out of the vessel into which it had been put. This water of the sacred bath, poured from the wall, found a receptacle in a rock lying below, which had been hollowed out by nature like a trench : and this water has been constantly replenished from that day to our own time during the course of many ages, so that the cavity is shown full of the purest water without any loss or diminution, our Saviour miraculously bringing this about from the day of His nativity, of which the prophet sings : * Who brought water out of the rock ;^i and the Apostle Paul, * Now that Rock was Christ,''^ who, contrary to nature, brought water or a stream out of the hardest rock in the desert to console His thirsting people.^ Such is the power of God and the wisdom of God, who brought out water also from that rock of Bethlehem and keeps its cavity always full of water : this our Arculf inspected with his own eyes, and he washed his face in it.
^ Isaiah xlviii. 21. * i Cor. x. 4.
30 ARCULF'S NARRATIVE.' ABOUT THE
IV. — Another Church in which the Tomb of David is seen.
Arculf, when I asked him about the Sepulchre of King David/ gave us this answer : I myself inquired very care- fully about the Sepulchre of King David, in which he was buried in the earth, and visited it. It lies in the middle^ of the pavement of the church, without any overlying orna- ment, surrounded only by a low fence^ of stone, and having a lamp shining brightly placed over it.
This church is built outside the wall of the city in an adjoining valley, which joins the Hill of Bethlehem on the north.
V. — The Church within which is the Sepulchre OF St. Hieronymus [Jerome].
As we inquired with like solicitude as to the Sepulchre of St. Hieronymus,* Arculf told us : I saw the Sepulchre of Hieronymus, as to which you inquire, which is in a church built in a valley beyond that little city,^ which is con- terminous with the ridge of the Hill of Bethlehem, men- tioned above, and lies to the south of it. This Sepulchre of St. Hieronymus is of similar workmanship to the Tomb of David, and is unornamented.
VI. — The Tombs of the Three Shepherds, around whom, when the lord was born, the heavenly Brightness shone; and their Church.
Arculf gave us a short account of the tombs of those shepherds, around whom, on the night of the Lord's
^ Compare Ant. Mar., p. 23 ; Bord. Pil., p. 27. ^ C. reads, ' south.'
3 ' Pyramis' here, and p. 31, has apparently the meaning of a * square fence.' See Reeves, p. 452. "* Compare Ant. Mar., p. 23. ^ C. omits 'little.'
HOL V PLACES, WRITTEN B V ADAMNA .V. 31
Nativity, the heavenly brightness shone : I visited, he said, the three tombs of those three shepherds who are buried in a church near the Tower of Gader,^ which is about a mile to the east of Bethlehem, whom, when the Lord was born, the brightness of the angelic light^ surrounded at that place, that is near the Tower of the Flock ; where that church has been built, containing the sepulchres of those shepherds.
VII.— Tpie Sepulchre of Rachel.
The Book of Genesis relates that Rachel was buried in Ephrata, that is, in the district of Bethlehem, and the ' Book of Places ' relates that Rachel was buried in that district close to the road. In answer to my questions about this road, Arculf said : There is a royal road which leads from -^lia southwards to Hebron, close to which, six^ miles from Jerusalem, is Bethlehem on the east, while the Sepulchre of Rachel is at the end of this road on the west, that is, on one's right hand as one goes to Hebron ; it is a building of common workmanship and without orna- mentation, surrounded by a stone fence.* There is shown even at the present day the inscription with her name, which Jacob, her husband, erected above it.^
VIIL— Hebron. Hebron, which is also Mambre, was once the metropolis of the Philistines and inhabited by giants ; David reigned in it for seven years, and, as the sainted Arculf relates, it is not now surrounded by walls. Some traces of the city, which was long ago destroyed, appear in remnants of ruins ; but it has some poorly built villages, fields, and farm- houses, some lying within, others without, those remains
^ C. reads, 'Ader.' So St. Paula, p. 8. It is now known as Beit Sahiir. Compare Abbot Daniel, p. 42. ^ 'Voice,' B., C. 3 C. reads, ' five.' * See p. 30, note 3.
° A monument at this spot is constantly spoken of from A.D. 22)>
32 ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
of the destroyed walls, scattered over the surface of the plain, while a multitude of people live in those villages and farms.
IX. — The Valley of Mambre, and the Sepulchre OF THE Four Patriarchs.
To the east of Hebron is a field with a double cave, looking towards Mambre, which Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite, for a possession of a double sepulchre.^
In the valley of this field the sainted Arculf visited the site of the Sepulchre of Arba, that is, of the four patriarchs, Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and Adam, the first man, whose feet are not, as is customary in other parts of the world, turned towards the east in burial, but are turned to the south, and their heads to the north. The site of these sepulchres is surrounded by a low rectangular^ wall. Adam, the first created, to whom, when he sinned, immediately after the sin was committed, God the Creator said : 'Dust thou art, and to the dust thou shalt return,'^ is separated somewhat from the other three, next the northern side of the rectan- gular stone rampart, buried not in a stone sepulchre cut out in the rock above ground, as other honoured men of his seed lie, but buried in the ground, covered with earth, and himself, dust, turned into dust, rests waiting the resurrec- tion with all his seed. And thus ia that sepulchre is ful- filled the divine sentence uttered to him as to himself.*
1 B., v., R.J add, ' which are not seen above the ground, but there are thought to be twin sepulchres under the ground.' A description of the Haram enclosure at Hebron is given by Capt. Conder in P. F. M., IIL, pp. 333-346, and by the late Dean Stanley, 'Jewish Church,' Vol. L, Appendix IL, pp. 416-437 (London, 1877). Compare Ant. Mar., p. 24 ; Abbot Daniel, p. 45 ; 'Journey through Syria and Palestine,' pp. 53 ff.
2 'Quadrate' appears here to be used for 'quadrangulo,' the real shape of the enclosure not being square. ^ Gen. iii. 19.
^ ' Because he was buried in ihe earth,' B., F., R.
HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY ADAMNAN. 33
And after the example of the Sepulchre of the first parent, the other three Patriarchs also rest in sleep covered with common dust, their four Sepulchres having placed above them small monuments, cut out and hewn from single stones, in the form of a basilica, and formed according to the measure of the length and the breadth of each Sepulchre. The three adjoining Sepulchres of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob are protected by three hard white stones, placed over them, formed according to the shape of which we have now written, as has been said above ; while Adam's Sepulchre is also protected by a stone placed over it, but of darker colour and poorer workmanship. Arculf saw also the poorer and smaller monuments of the three women, namely Sara, and Rebecca, and Lia, buried in the earth. The sepulchral field of those patriarchs is found to be one furlong from the wall of that most ancient Hebron, towards the east. This Hebron, it is said, was founded before all the cities, not only of Palestine, but also preceded in its foundation all the cities of Egypt, although it has now been so miserably destroyed.
Thus far let it suffice to have written as to the Sepulchres of the Patriarchs.
X. — The Hill and the Oak of Mambre.
A mile to the north of the Tombs that have been described above, is the very grassy and flowery hill of Mambre, looking towards Hebron, which lies to the south of it. This little mountain, which is called Mambre, has a level summit, at the north side of which a great stone church has been built, in the right side of which between the two walls of this great Basilica, the Oak of Mambre,
^ The Oak or Terebinth of Abraham has been shown in two different sites. Arculf and many others (Jerome, Itin. Hierosol., Sozomen, Eucherius, Benjamin of Tudela, the Abbot Daniel, p. 43, etc.) seem
3
34 ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
wonderful to relate, stands rooted in the earth ; it is also called the oak of Abraham, because under it he once hospitably received the Angels. St. Hieronymus elsewhere relates, that this tree had existed from the beginning of the world to the reign of the Emperor Constantine ; but he did not say that it had utterly perished, perhaps because at that time, although the whole of that vast tree was not to be seen as it had been formerly, yet a spurious trunk still remained rooted in the ground, protected under the roof .of the church, of the height of two men ; from this wasted spurious trunk, which has been cut on all sides by axes, small chips are carried to the different provinces of the world, on account of the veneration and memory of that oak, under which, as has been mentioned above, that famous and notable visit of the Angels was granted to the patriarch Abraham. Around the church, which is built there in honour of that place, a few dwellings of monks are shown. But as to these, let it suffice to have said this ; let us go on to other points.
XI. — The Pine-forest from which Firewood is
BROUGHT TO JERUSALEM ON CAMELS.
As we leave Hebron, we come, at a distance of three miles, to the north of the city, and in a wide plain not far from the side of the road on the left hand, to a hill of no great size covered with pines. From this pine forest, wood is carried to Jerusalem on camels for burning in fires — on camels, I say, for, as Arculf relates, carts or waggons can rarely be found throughout all Judaea.
to point to the ruin of er Rameh, near which is Beit el Khulil, or Abraham's House, with a fine spring-well. This is still held by the Jews to be the Oak of Mamre. The Christians point to another site, Ballutet Sebta, where is a fine specimen of Sindian (Quercus Pseudo- coccifera).
HOLY PLACES, WRLTTEN BY ADAM NAN. 35
XII. — Jertcho. Our sainted Arculf saw the site of the city of Jericho, which Joshua destroyed, after crossing the Jordan, slaying its king, in the place of which HieU of Bethel, of the tribe of Ephraim, built another city, which our Saviour thought fit to honour with His presence. At the time when the Romans attacked and besieged Jerusalem, this city was taken and destroyed on account of the perfidy of its in- habitants. In its place a third was built, which also after a long interval of time was itself destroyed ; of its ruins, as Arculf relates, some traces are shown. Marvellous to say, even after these three successive cities have been destroyed on the same site, there still remains only the house of Raab the harlot,^ who hid the two spies, whom Joshua Ben-Nun sent across, concealing them in flax straw in the garret. The stone walls of her house remain, but without a roof The whole site of the city is left without human habitation, not even having a house of rest, and produces corn and vines.3 Between the site of this destroyed city and the river Jordan are great palm groves, throughout which are scattered spots where there are nearly countless houses inhabited by sorry fellows of the race of Channan.'*
XIII. — Galgal, and the Twelve Stones which the
Children of Israel, after crossing the River
Jordan, took from its Dried Channel.
Arculf, of whom I have spoken, saw a large Church in
Galgal, built on the spot where the children of Israel, after
crossing the Jordan, encamped for the first time in the land
1 MSS. *0za.'
2 Compare Bord. PH., p. 25 ; Ant. Mar., p. 12. ' Compare Abbot Daniel, p. 31.
^Compare Mukad., p. 56, 'The people are brown-skinned and swarthy.'
3-2
36 ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
of Chanaan. In this church too the sainted Arculf noted the twelve stones as to which, after the crossing of the Jordan, the Lord spoke to Josue -} Choose twelve men, one for each tribe, and command them to take from the middle of the channel of the Jordan, where the feet of the priests have stood, twelve very hard stones, which ye shall place on the site of your camp, where ye shall pitch your tents this night. These, I say, Arculf saw, six of them lying on the pavement on the right side of the church, and an equal number on the north side, all of them unpolished and common ; each of them is so large that, as Arculf himself relates, two strong young men of this time can scarcely raise it from the earth ; while one had by some un- known accident been broken in two parts, and has been artificially joined again by an iron clamp. Galgal,^ where the above-mentioned church is built, lies to the east of the most ancient Jericho on this side of the Jordan, in the lot of the tribe of Juda, at the fifth milestone from Jericho ; the Tabernacle was fixed here for a longtime; and in this place, as is said, the above-named church was built, in which are the above-mentioned twelve stones; it is held in marvellous reverence and honour by the people of that district.
XIV.-^The Place where our Lord was baptized
BY JOHN.^ That sacred and honoured place, where the Lord was baptized by John, is always covered by the waters of the ^ Joshua iv. 1-3.
2 C. reads, ' He saw also in Galgal another church on the east side of the ancient Jericho, and at the fifth milestone from Jericho, where the Tabernacle was fixed for a long time.' The name of Galgal is still found in Birket Jilujlieh. The distance from Jericho is most variously stated by different pilgrims : ' one mile,' Theodorus, ch. xvi. ; 'not far,' Ant. Mar., p. 12; 'a verst' (two-thirds English mile) 'to- wards the summer sun-rising,' i.e.^ N.E., Abbot Daniel, p. 32.
3 As to the Holy Places on and near the Jordan, see Ant. Mar., Appendix I., pp. 38-41.
HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY ADAMNAN, ^y
river Jordan, and as Arculf, who went to the place, relates, he passed backwards and forwards to it^ through the river ; in that sacred place a wooden cross of great size is fixed, close to which the water comes up to the neck of the tallest man, or, at a time of great drought, when the waters are diminished, up to his breast ; but when the river is in flood, the whole of the cross is covered over by the additional waters. The site of that cross, accordingly, marking the place where, as has been said above, the Lord was baptized, is on this side^ of the bed of the river, and a strong man can with a sling throw a stone from it as far as the other bank on the Arabian side. From the site of the above-mentioned cross, a stone bridge is carried on arches to the bank, across which men go to the cross and descend by a slope to the bank, ascending as they return.^ At the edge of the river is a small square church, built, as is said, on the spot where the garments of the Lord were taken care of at the time when He was baptized. This is raised, so as to be uninhabitable, on four stone vaults, standing above the waters which flow below. It is protected above by
^ * Hue et illuc per eundem intra vit fluvium.*
3 C. reads, * on the other side.'
3 The text appears to be corrupt. The descent was from the bank to the cross, not from the cross to the bank. The allusion may, however, be to the descent from the upper to the lower bank. Compare Bede, p. 82. The translation of C. for the whole passage is : 'He told us also that that sacred, holy, and honourable place, in which the Lord was baptized by John, is always covered by the waters of the river Jordan ; and in that place a wooden cross has been fixed. The site of that cross, where the Lord was baptized, is on the other side of the bed of the river, while at the edge of the river there is a small church, where, as is said, the garments of the Lord were taken care of. This basilica stands above the waters, so as to be uninhabitable, since the waters flow under it on both sides, and is supported on four stone vaults and arches. On the higher ground, there is another church in honour of St. John Baptist.'
38 ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
slacked lime/ and below, as has been said, is supported by vaults and arches. This church is in the lower ground of the valley through which the river Jordan flows ; while on the higher ground, overhanging it, a great monastery of monks is built on the brow of the opposite hill. There is also enclosed within the same wall as the monastery, a church in honour of St. John Baptist, built of squared stones.
XV. — The Colour of the Jordan, and the Dead Sea.
The colour of the river Jordan appears from Arculf's narrative to be white on the surface, like milk, and as it enters the Salt Sea its colour can easily be distinguished from that of the Dead Sea for a long distance along its course.^
In great tempests the Dead Sea casts up salt on the ground by the dashing of its waves, and this can usually be had in abundance along its circuit, affording a very large supply, not only to those in the vicinity but also to far- distant nations ; it is sufficiently dried by the heat of the sun. Salt is otherwise obtained in a mountain of Sicily ; for the stones of that mountain, when turned out of the earth, prove to be naturally most salt to the taste, this being properly called Earth Salt. Sea salt, however, is usually given a different name from earth salt. From this the Lord is believed to have derived His simile when He says to the Apostles in the Gospel : * Ye are the salt of the earth,' etc. As to this earth salt found in the mountain of Sicily, JU we were told by the sainted Arculf, who spent some days
1 ' Coctili creta.' ' 1 do not remember having seen the expression elsewhere.' — C. W. W.
Travellers speak of the water of the Jordan where it debouches into the Salt Sea as so turgid that its stream can be plainly traced for some distance in the clear blue water of the sea, 'Mount Seir,' p. 163 ; Tristram's ' Land of Israel,' p. 249.
HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY ADAMNAN. 39
in Sicily, and who proved by sight and taste and touch that it was really the very saltest of salt.
XVI. — The Dead Sea — continued.
He informed us also as to the salt of the Dead Sea, which he said he had similarly made proof of by the same three senses named above ; he visited also the sea-shore of that lake we have mentioned above, the length of which, extending to Zoar of Arabia,^ is 580 furlongs; the breadth in the neighbourhood of Sodom is 150 furlongs.
XVI I. — The Fountains of the Jordan.
Our Arculf proceeded also to that place in the province of Phenicia, where the Jordan seems to emerge from two neighbouring fountains at the roots of Lebanon, one of which is called Jor and the other Dan, which, mingling together, give rise to the compound name Jordan. 2 But it is to be noted that the source of the Jordan is not in
^ Zoar (' Zoari ' is the form used here) of Arabia (spelt as Sughar by Mukaddasi, also Zughar and Sukar) is the Segor of the Crusaders, the present Tell esh Shaghur. In Mukaddasi's time (985 A.D.) it was 'for commercial prosperity like a miniature Busrah' (p. 3), and' it was the capital of the district. The question of the identification of this site with the Zoar of Lot is discussed by Mr. Guy Le Strange in 'Across the Jordan,' pp. 317-320, from a careful examination of the Arab geo- graphers. See also a paper by Mons. Clermont Ganneau, translated in the P. E. F. Quarterly Statement, January, 1886. Mukaddasi calls the Dead Sea 'the Lake of Sughar.' See St. Paula, p. 10 ; Ant. Mar., pp. 10, 27 ; Abbot Daniel, p. 47 ; Mukad., pp. 62, 84. The length of the Dead Sea is 49 miles, the greatest breadth 9^ miles.
- The two sources of the Jordan, at Banias (Caesarea Philippi) and Tell el Kady (Dan). The idea that these streams were called 'Jor' and ' Dan,' and the derivation from this fact of the name given to the river formed by their united stream, date from the time of Josephus at least. Compare Ant. Mar., p. 6 ; Ernoul, p. 50. The Abbot Daniel strangely represents (p. 60) the two streams as flowing, three bow- shots apart, from the Sea of Galilee, and re-uniting after about half a verst (a third of a mile).
40 ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
Paneum, but in the district of Trachonitis, at a distance of 120 furlongs"^ from Caesarea Philippi, which is now Paneas, a name taken from the mountain Paneum, which is in Trachonitis.^ Phiala, which is always full of water, whence the Jordan flows through underground channels, bubbles up also in Paneum, in two divisions, which, as has been said above, are usually called Jor and Dan. On leaving this, after some interval, they flow together so as to form one river, which thence directs its course for 120 fur- longs, without receiving any addition,^ as far as the city of Julias.^ Afterwards it flows through the middle of the lake, called Genezar, whence, after wandering through a con- siderable desert tract, it is received in the Asphaltic Lake, and is lost in it. Thus having passed victoriously through two lakes, its course is stayed by a third.
XVIIL— The Sea of Galilee.
The sainted Arculf, who has been so often mentioned, went round the greater part of the Sea of Galilee, which is also called the Lake of Cinnereth and the Sea of Tiberias,
^ ' 199,' L.
" The belief that the real source of the Jordan was in a Lake Phiala, on the road to Trachonitis, 120 stadia from Baniis, from which the water flowed underground to the Cave of Pan in the latter place, is as old as the time of Josephus, and has been completely given up only in recent years. Phiala is identified with the Birket er Ram, S.E. of Banias.
^ The Jordan is joined by the Nahr Hasbany, half a mile below the junction of the streams from Baniis and Tell el Kidy. The length of the river from that point to the Lake of Galilee is rather more than 20 miles.
4 C. reads, 'Tiberias,' and continues, 'Thence it flows to the place which is called Genezar. The Lake of Galilee is formed from the Jordan ; it is called at one time the Sea of Cenereth, at another the Sea of Tiberias ; great woods adjoin it.' The identification of (Beth- saida-) Julias with the ruin et Tell, a little more than a mile north of the point of the debouchure of the Jordan into the lake, cannot be discussed here. Cf. ' The Jaulan,' p. 246.
HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY ADA MNAN. 41
and which is closely surrounded by great woods. The lake itself, the size of which almost entitles it to the name of a sea, extends in length to 140 furlongs, and in breadth stretches over 40 ;i its waters are sweet and good for drinking, since they receive nothing that is thick with marsh mud or turbid, because it is surrounded on all sides by a sandy shore, wherefore its water is purer and better^ for use. Of fish, moreover, no finer kinds, either in taste or in appearance, can be found in any other lake.^
We have taken these short particulars as to the source of the Jordan and the Lake of Cinnereth partly from the third book of the Jewish Captivity, partly from the expe- rience of Arculf. He relates with perfect certainty that he went in eight* days from that place where the Jordan emerges from the gorge of the Sea of Galilee to that where it enters the Dead Sea. This most salt sea the sainted Arculf very often gazed at from the summit of the Mount of Olivet, as he himself narrates.
XIX.— SiCHEM AND THE WeLL OF SaMARIA.
Arculf, the sainted priest, passed through the district of Samaria, and came to the city of that province which is called, in Hebrew, Sichem, but is named Sicima by Greek and Latin custom ; it is also often called Sichar, however improperly. Near that city he saw a church built beyond the wall, which is four-armed, stretching towards the four cardinal points, like a cross, a plan of which is drawn below.^ In the middle of it is the Fountain of Jacob, which is also
The extreme length of the lake is ii\ miles, its greatest width (from Mejdel to Khersa) 6f miles. ' The water of the lake is clear, bright, and sweet to the taste, except in the neighbourhood of the salt-springs, and where it is defiled by the drainage of Tiberias.' — 'Recovery of Jerusalem,' pp. 339 f.
' ' Softer,' Z. » MSS. read ' place.' * ' Seven,' L.
^ See Ant. Mar., p. 6, note i ; St. Paula, p. 13 ; Bord. Pil , p. 18, note 7.
42
ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
often called a well, looking towards its four divisions, upon which the Saviour, wearied out with the toil of His journey, sat one day at the sixth hour, when the woman of Samaria^ came to that well at mid-day to draw water. As to this well, the woman, among other things, said in answer to the Lord : ' Lord, neither hast Thou anything to draw with, and
u
CE
Jcw-oh's
R
Well
CH
PLAN OF THE CHURCH BUILT ABOVE JACOB'S WELL.
the well is deep.'^ Arculf, who drank water from the well, relates as to its depth : The well that I saw has a depth of twice twenty orgyiae, that is, forty cubits. An orgyia, or cubit, is the length from extremity to extremity of the outstretched arms.^
Sichem, or Sichema, was once a priestly city and a city
^ C. reads, ' thirsting for the faith of the woman of Samaria.'
2 St. John iv. u.
3 Orgyia (opyuta), a Greek measure of length, derived from the human body, was the distance from extremity to extremity of the out- stretched arms, whence the name, from dpsyoj. It was equal to 6 feet, or to 4 cubits, and was jJoth of the stadium. — Smith's ' Dictionary of Antiquities,' s. v. No idea can at present be formed as to the real depth of the well.
HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY ADAMNAN, 43
of refuge ; it was included in the tribe of Manasseh and in Mount Ephraim, where Joseph's bones were buried.
XX. — A Little Fountain in the Wilderness.
Arculf, whom we have often mentioned, saw in a desert a small clear fountain, from which St. John Baptist is said to have drunk ; it is protected by a stone covering besmeared with lime.
XXI.—The Locusts and the Wild Honey.
As to the same John, the Evangelists write : ' Now his food was locusts and wild honey.'^ Our Arculf saw, in that desert where John dwelt, a very small kind of locusts, the bodies of which are small and short like the finger of a hand, and which are easily captured in the grass, as their flight is short like the leaps of light frogs ; cooked in oil, they afford food for the poor.^ As to the * wild honey,' Arculf gave us this as his experience : In that desert I saw some trees, with broad round leaves which are of the colour of milk and have the taste of honey f they are naturally very fragile, and those who wish to eat them first rub them in their hands and then eat them. This wild honey is thus found in the woods.
XXIL— -The Place where the Lord blessed the Five Loaves and the Two Fishes.
Our Arculf, whom we have often mentioned, came to this place, where a grassy and level plain has never been ploughed from the day when on it the Saviour satisfied five
1 St. Matt. iii. 4.
2 Locusts are eaten by the Arabs, but only by the very poorest. This interpretation is accepted by many commentators, among
them by Meyer, I.e. The term used is specially explained in this sense by Diod. Sic. XIX. 94, and Suidas, j. v, clk^iq.
44 ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
thousand men with five loaves and two fishes ; no buildings are to be seen on it ; Arculf saw only a few^ columns of stone lying at the margin of the fountain from which they are said to have drunk on that day when the Lord refreshed them, in their hunger, with such a refection. This place is on this side of ^ the Sea of Galilee, looking to the city of Tiberias which is to the south of it.^
XXIII. — The Sea of Tiberias and Capharnaum.
Those who, coming down from Jerusalem, wish to reach Capharnaum, proceed, as Arculf relates, through Tiberias in a straight course, and thence along the Lake of Cinnereth, which is also the sea of Tiberias and the sea of Galilee ; they pass the site of the above-mentioned Blessing, at a point where two ways meet, and proceeding along the margin of the above-mentioned lake, at no great distance they come to Capharnaum, on the sea coast, upon the borders of Zabulon and Nepthalim. Arculf, who observed it from a neighbouring mountain, relates that it has no wall and is confined in a narrow space between the mountain and the lake, extending along the sea coast for a long distance ; having the mountain on the north and the lake on the south, it stretches from west to east.*
1 C. reads, ' four.' 2 c Opposite,' Z., B., V., R.
^ Compare Ant. Mar., p. 8, note i ; St. Paula, p. 14 ; Abb. Dan., p. 63. The site referred to by Arculf appears to be that around the 'Ain el Fuliyeh, half-way between Tiberias and el Mejdel (referred to as 'Ain Barideh in 'Recovery of Jerusalem,' p. 359). Tradition at present points to the brow of the hill between Kurn Hattin and Tiberias as the spot of the Feeding of the Five Thousand. The spot often referred to as the Mensa Christi appears to be el 'Oreimeh, a small artificial square plateau above 'Ain et Tin, close to Kh. Minieh (P. F. M., vol. i., p. 369). All these places are on the west side of the lake. Compare ' City of Jerusalem,' p. 46.
* The evidence of Arculf as to the site of Capernaum is sufficiently vague to allow of its being quoted by the supporters of both the sites that are now in dispute — Kh. Minieh and Tell Hfim.
HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY ADAM NAN. 45
XXIV.— Nazareth and its Churches.
The city of Nazareth, as Arculf who stayed in it relates, is situated on a mountain. It is, like Capharnaum, un- walled, yet it has large houses buult of stone, and also two very large churches. One of these, in the middle of the city, is built upon two vaults, on the spot where there once stood the house in which our Lord the Saviour was brought up.i Among the mounds below this church,^ which, as has been said, is supported upon two mounds and intervening arches, there is a very clear spring, frequented by all the citizens, who draw water from it, and from the same spring w^ater is raised in vessels to the church above by means of wheels. The other church is reputed to be built on the site of the house in which the Archangel Gabriel came and addressed the Blessed Mary, whom he found there alone at that hour.3 This information as to Nazareth we have obtained from the sainted Arculf, who stayed there two nights and as many days, but was prevented from staying longer in it, as he was compelled to hasten onwards by a soldier of Christ, well acquainted with sites, a Burgundian living a solitary life, Peter by name, who thence returned circuitously to that solitary* place where he had formerly stayed.
1 The house of the Virgin appears to be the irregularly-shaped grotto known as The Virgin's Kitchen. P. F. M., vol. i., p. 276.
2 C. reads, ' Between the mounds of the two churches.*
3 The present buildings in en Nasirah are, of course, of a far later period than this. But the Greek Church of St. Gabriel has a spring of water rising just north of the high altar, with an opening in the floor to the conduit, which carries the water south to the Virgin's Well, or the Fountain of the Annunciation, the only well in Nazareth.
* ' Holy,' B., V.
46 ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
XXV.— Mount Tabor.
Mount Tabor is in Galilee, three miles from the Lake of Cinnereth, marvellously round on every side, looking from its northern side over the lake we have just named. It is very grassy and flowery, having an ample plain on its pleasant summit, and is surrounded by a very large wood. In the middle of this level surface is a great monastery of monks, with a large number of their cells. For its summit is not drawn up to a narrow peak, but is spread over a level surface of twenty-four^ furlongs in length, while its height is thirty furlongs.^
On this higher plain are also three very celebrated churches^ of no small construction, according to the number of those tabernacles of which Peter spoke to the Lord on that holy mountain, while he rejoiced in the heavenly vision, but yet was terrified by it, saying : ' It is good that we should be here ; if Thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles, one for Thee and one for Moses and one for Elias.'* The buildings of the monasteries and the three churches mentioned above, with the cells of the monks, are
1 ' Twenty-three,' C, B., Bern.
^ Jebel et Tor is a conical mountain with a flat summit, which is a little less than a quarter of a mile long and one-eighth of a mile wide, 1843 feet above the sea-level, 1500 feet above the Plain of Esdraelon at the foot. The southern face is almost bare, but the northern is clothed to the top with a forest of oak and terebinth, mingled with syringa. — ' The Land and the Book.'
3 There are still to be traced on the summit the foundations of three churches which the markings of the stones show to have been built in Crusading times. See P. F. M., vol. i.,. pp. 388-391. The idea that Mount Tabor was the scene of the Transfiguration still strangely survives in spite of all proof to the contrary. It dates from a much earlier date than the Crusades, as shown by this passage, and by the still earlier references in Ant. Mar., p. 5 ; St. Paula, p. 14. The Bordeaux Pilgrim, p. 25, places the Transfiguration on the Mount of Olives. •* St. Matt. xvii. 4.
HOL V PLA CES, WRITTEN BY A DA MNAN. 47
all surrounded by a stone wall.^ There the sainted Arculf spent one night on the top of that holy mountain, for Peter, the Burgundian Christian, who was his guide in those places, would not allow him to stay in one hospice longer, but hurried him on.^
It should here be noted that the name of that famous mountain ought to be written in Greek with 0 and long &, ^a/3w/j, and in Latin with the aspirate Thabor, the letter 0 being long. The proper orthography of the word is found in Greek books.^
XXVI.— Damascus.
Damascus, according to the account of Arculf, who stayed some days in it, is a great royal city, situated in a wide plain, surrounded by an ample circuit of walls, and further fortified by frequent towers. Without the walls there are a large number of olive groves round about, while four great rivers flow through it, bringing great joy to the city. The king of the Saracens has seized the government, and reigns in that city, and a large church has been built there in honour of St. John Baptist. There has also been built, in that same city, a church of unbelieving Saracens which they frequent.
XXVIL— Tyre.
Our Arculf, who visited so many districts, also entered Tyre, the metropolis of the province of Phenicia, which in Hebrew and Syriac is called Tsor, and which is said in Greek and Latin and barbarous histories to have had no
1 This wall may be that built by Josephus round the top of the mountain.
2 C. adds, ' For this Peter, leaving his parents and his country, was now an exile for a long time for the Lord's sake.'
^ The Greek form is e«/3wp, but it is also represented by 'ira^ipiov (Josephus), and 'Ara^vpwv (Polybius).
48 ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
approach from the land. But some say that afterwards mounds were thrown up by Nabuchodonosor, Kin^ of the Chaldeans, and that a place was prepared for darts and battering-rams in the assault, so that the island became part of the level plain.i This city was beautiful and very noble, and it is not unworthily rendered in Latin ' narrow,' for the island and the city have the same characteristic narrowness. It is situated in the land of Chanaan, where the Chananite or Tyrophenician woman lived, who is men- tioned in the Gospel.
It is to be noted that the account of the site of Tyre and the site of Mount Thabor,^ given by the sainted Arculf, is in complete accordance with what we have excerpted above from the commentaries of St. Hieronymus. Also what we have above stated as to the site and form of Mount Thabor, according to the narrative of the sainted Arculf, in no way differs from what St. Hieronymus narrates as to the situation and the marvellous roundness of that mountain. From Mount Thabor to Damascus is a seven^ days' journey.
XXVIIL— Alexandria, and the River Nile and its Crocodiles.
That great city, which was once the metropolis of Egypt, was formerly called in Hebrew No.^ It is a very populous city, deriving its name of Alexandria, a name known and famous among all nations, from its founder Alexander, the king of Macedonia, from whom it received both the magni-
1 It was by Alexander the Great (who took Tyre after a seven months' siege, B.C. 332) that the island was united to the mainland by an artificial mole. The siege by Nebuchadnezzar, which lasted for nineteen years, was probably ended by capitulation on honourable terms. ^ ' And . . . Thabor,' only in L.
3 Some MSS., 'two,' * four,' ' eight.' ^ C. ends here.
5 The ' No ' of the Old Testament is undoubtedly Thebes, not Alex- andria (as Jerome supposed).
HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY ADAM NA^^, 49
tude of a city and its name. As to its situation, Arculf gave us an account, which differs in no way from what we have learned in the course of our previous reading.
Going down from Jerusalem and beginning his voyage at Joppa, he had a journey of forty days to Alexandria, of which Nahum the prophet speaks briefly, when he says : ' Water round about it, whose riches are the sea, waters are its walls.' 1 For on the south it is surrounded by the mouths of the river Nile, while on the north,^ as the outline of its position clearly shows, it is situated upon^ the Nile and the sea, so that on this side and on that it is surrounded by water. The city lies like an enclosure between Egypt and the Great Sea, without a [natural] haven, difficult to approach from without. Its port is more difficult than others, in form like the human body, more capacious at the head and the roads, but narrower in the straits, in which it receives the movements of the sea and ships, by which some aids to breathing are given to the port. When one has escaped the narrows and mouths of the port, a stretch of sea is spread out before one, far and wide, like the form of the rest of the body. On the right side of the port there is a small island, on which is a very high tower, which the Greeks and the Latins have in common called, from its use, Pharus/ because it is seen by
1 Nahum iii. 8, of No. (See former note.)
2 MSS. read, 'it is surrounded by the Mareotic Lake ; thus, as the outline,' etc. ^ Perhaps 'between.'
"* The long, narrow island of Pharus, stretching to the north of Alexandria, and connected with it by the Mole (called from its length 'Heptastadium'), had at its eastern end the lighthouse from which it took its name, which was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It was begun by Ptolemy Soter, and completed by his suc- cessor. It consisted of several stories, and is said to have been 400 feet in height ; it was a square structure of white marble ; on its top fires were burned for the direction of mariners, as the entrance to the magnificent harbour, between Pharus and the headland of Lochias, was dangerous and rocky. See Smith's Dictionaries of the Bible and of Geography, and Kitto's Cyclopasdia, s. v. 'Alexandria.'
4
so ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
voyagers at a great distance, in order that, before they approach the port, they may, specially during the night, recognise the proximity of land by the light of the flames, that they may not be deceived by the darkness and fall upon rocks or fail to recognise the boundaries of the entrance. Men are accordingly employed there by whom torches and other masses of wood which have been collected are set on fire to serve as a guide to the land, showing the narrow entrance of the straits, the bosom of the waves, and the windings of the entrance, lest the slender keel should graze the rocks and in the very entrance strike upon the rocks that are hidden by the waves. Accordingly a ship ought to be somewhat deflected from the straight course, to prevent its running into danger from striking on hidden stones. For the approach in the port is narrower on the right side, but the port is wider on the left. Round the island also, beams of immense size have been regularly laid down, to prevent the foundations of the island from yielding to the constant collision of the rising sea, and being loosened by the injury. So that the middle channel, among rugged rocks and broken masses of earth, is beyond doubt always unquiet, and it is dangerous for ships to enter through the roughness of the passage.
The port extends in size over thirty furlongs, and it is quite safe even in the greatest storms, as the above- mentioned straits and the obstacle of the island repel the waves of the sea, the bosom of the port being so defended by them as to be removed from the reach of tempests and at peace from breakers by which the entrance is made rough. Nor are the safety and the size of the port undeservedly so great, since there must be borne into it whatever is need- ful for the use of the whole city.^ For the needs of the innumerable population of those districts give rise to much
1 ' World,' F.
HOLY PLACES, WRLTTEN BY ADAMNAN, 51
commerce for the use of the whole city, and the district is very fruitful, and, besides abounding in all other gifts and trades of the earth, it supplies corn for the whole world, and other necessary merchandise. The region is beyond doubt wanting in rain, but the irrigation of the Nile supplies spontaneous showers, so that the fields are tempered at once by the rain of heaven and by the fruitful ness of the earth ; and the situation is thus convenient both for sailors and for husbandmen. These sail, those sow ; these are borne round on their voyages, those till the land, sowing without need of ploughing, travelling without waggons. You see a country intersected by watercourses, and houses through- out the land raised as it were upon walls, on the banks of the navigable rivers, standing on the edge of each bank of the river Nile. The river is navigable, they say, up to the city of Elephanti ; a ship is prevented from proceeding further by the cataracts, that is, flowing hills of water, not from want of depth, but from the fall of the whole river and the downward rush of the waters.
The narrative of the sainted Arculf about the situation of Alexandria and the Nile is proved not to dift'er from what we have learned from our reading in the books of others. We have, indeed, abbreviated some excerpts from these writings and inserted them in this description, as to the havenlessness of this city or the difficulty of its haven, as to the island and the tower built on it, as to the terminal position of Alexandria between the sea and the mouths of the river Nile, etc. Hence it happens beyond doubt that the site of the city, which is as it were choked between these two limits, extends from west to east very far along a narrow stretch of ground, as the narrative of Arculf shows ;^ he relates that he began to enter the city at the third hour
1 Alexandria is stated by Pliny to be four miles in length, nearly a mile in breadth, and fifteen miles in circumference.
4—2
52 ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
of the day in the month of October, and on account of the length of the city could hardly reach the other end of its length before evening. It is surrounded by a long circuit of walls, fortified by frequent towers, constructed along the margin of the river and the curving shore of the sea.
Further, as one coming from Egypt enters the city of Alexandria, one meets on the north^ side a large church, in which Mark the Evangelist is buried ; his sepulchre is shown before the altar in the eastern end of this four-sided church, and a monument of him has been built above it of marble.
So much, then, about Alexandria, which, as we have said above, was called No before it was so much enlarged by Alexander the Great, and which, as we further said above, adjoins what is called the Canopean mouth of the river Nile, separating Asia from Egypt and also Lybia. On account of the inundation of Egypt by the river Nile, they construct raised mounds along its banks, which, if they should be broken by the negligence of the watchmen or by too great an irruption of water, by no means irrigate the flooded fields, but spoil them and lay them waste. On this account a considerable number of the inhabitants of the plains of Egypt, according to the narrative of the sainted Arculf, who often sailed over that river in Egypt, live above the water in houses supported on transverse beams.
Arculf relates that crocodiles live in the river Nile, quad- rupeds of no great size, very voracious, and so strong that one of them, if it can find a horse or an ass or an ox eating grass on the river bank, suddenly rushes out and attacks it, or even seizing one foot -of the animal with its jaws, drags it under the water, and completely devours the entire a.nimal.
^ Some MSS add, 'near at hand.'
HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY ADAMNAN. 53
BOOK III.
I.— The City of Constantinople.
Arculf, who has been mentioned so often, on his return from Alexandria, stayed for some days in the island of Crete, and sailed thence to Constantinople, where he spent some months. This city is, beyond doubt, the metropolis of the Roman Empire. It is surrounded by the waves of the sea except on the north ; the sea breaking out from the Great Sea for forty miles,^ while from the wall of Constan- tinople it still further stretches sixty miles^ up to the mouths of the river Danube. This imperial city is surrounded by no small circuit of walls, twelve miles in length f it is a promontory by the sea-side, having, like Alexandria or Carthage, walls built along the sea coast, additionally strengthened by frequent towers, after the fashion of Tyre ; within the city walls it has numerous houses, very many of which are of marvellous size; these are of stone, and are built after the fashion of the dwelling-houses of Rome.
II. — The Foundation of that City. .
As to its foundation the citizens relate this tradition, which they have received from their ancestors : The Emperor Constantine, having gathered together an infinite
1 Others, ' sixty.' 2 Others, ' forty.'
3 The walls built by the younger Theodosius to surround the capital
and its suburbs made the circumference of the city between ten and
eleven English miles.
54' ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
multitude of men, and collected from all sides infinite supplies, so that all other cities were almost stripped bare, began to build a city to bear his name on the Asian side — that is, in Cilicia, across the sea which, in these districts, separates Asia from Europe. But one night, while the in- numerable forces of workmen were sleeping in their tents over the vast length of the camp, all the different kinds of tools used by the artificers of the different works were suddenly removed, no one knew how. With dawn, many of the workmen, troubled and downcast, brought before the Emperor Constantine himself a complaint as to the sudden occult removal of the tools; and the King consequently inquired of them : * Did you hear of other things being ab- stracted from the camp ?' ' Nothing,' they say, * but all the work-tools.' Then next the King commands them : * Go quickly to the sea coasts of the neighbouring districts on both sides [of the straits] and search them carefully, and if you chance to find your tools in any place in the country, watch over them there meanwhile, and do not bring them back here, but let some of you return to me, so that I may have accurate information as to the finding of the tools.'
On hearing this, the workmen follow out the King's directions, and going away did as he ordered, searching the boundaries of the territories next the sea on both sides. And behold, on the European side, across the sea, they found the tools gathered together in a heap in one place between two seas. On making the discovery, some of them are sent back to the King, and on their arrival they announce the finding of the tools in such a place. On learning this, the King immediately orders trumpeters to pass through the camp, blowing their trumpets and ordering the force to move its camp, saying : * Let us remove from this place to build a city on the spot divinely pointed out to us ;' and at the same time he had ships made ready,
HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY ADAMNAN. 55
and crossed over with his whole force to the spot where the tools were found, as he knew that the place thus shown to him by their removal was that designed by God for the purpose.! There he at once founded a city, which is called Constantinople, the name being compounded of his own name and the Greek word for city, so that the founder's name is retained in the former part of the compound.
Let this description of the situation and the foundation of that royal city suffice.
III. — The Church in which the Cross of the Lord IS preserved.
But we must not be silent as to that most celebrated round church in that city, built of stone and of marvellous size. According to the narrative of the sainted Arculf, who visited it for no short time, it rises from the bottom of its foundations in three walls, being built in triple form to a great height, and it is finished in a very round simple crown- ing vault of great beauty. This is supported on great arches, with a wide space between each of the above-men- tioned walls, suited and convenient either for dwelling or for praying to God in. In the northern part of the interior of the house is shown a very large and very beautiful ambry, in which is kept a wooden chest, which is similarly covered over with wooden work : in which is shut up that wooden Cross of Salvation on which our Saviour hung for the salvation of the human race. This notable chest, as the sainted Arculf relates, is raised with its treasure of such preciousness upon a golden^ altar, on three consecutive days after the lapse of a year. This altar also is in the same
^ Constantine seems to have claimed Divine guidance in the selection of the site of his new capital, and in fixing its boundaries ; but the legends attached to these facts are of comparatively late origin,
^ ' Under a brazen,' Bern.
56 ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
round church, being two cubits long and one broad. On three successive days only throughout the year is the Lord's Cross raised and placed on the altar, that is, on [the day of] the Supper of the Lord,^ when the Emperor and the armies enter the church and, approaching the altar, after that sacred chest has been opened, kiss the Cross of Salvation.
First of all the Emperor of the world kisses it with bent face, then one going up after another in the order of rank or age, all kiss the Cross with honour. Then on the next day, that is, on the sixth day of the week before Easter, the Queen, the matrons, and all the women of the people, approach it in the above-mentioned order and kiss it with all reverence. On the third day, that is, on [the day of] the Paschal Sabbath,^ the bishop and all the clergy after him approach in order, with fear and trembling and all honour, kissing the Cross of Victory, which is placed in its chest. When these sacred and joyful kissings of the Sacred Cross are finished, that venerable chest is closed, and with its honoured treasure is borne back to its ambry.
But this also should be carefully noted that there are not two but three short pieces of wood in the Cross, that is, the cross-beam and the long one which is cut and divided into two equal parts ; while from these threefold venerated beams when the chest is opened, there arises an odour of a wonderful fragrance, as if all sorts of flowers had been collected in it, wonderfully full of sweetness, satiating and gladdening all in the open space before the inner walls of that church, who stand still as they enter at that moment \ for from the knots of those threefold beams a sweet-smell- ing liquid distills, like pressed-out oil, which causes all
^ ' In Cocna Domini,' i.e.^ Maundy Thursday.
2 I.e.^ on the Saturday before Easter. The practice of calling the Lord's Day the Sabbath was unknown for nearly a thousand years after this date.
HOL V FLA CES, WRITTEN B V ADAM NAN. 57
men of whatever race, who have assembled and enter the church, to perceive the above-mentioned fragrance of so great sweetness. This liquid is such that if even a little drop of it be laid on the sick, they easily recover their health, whatever be the trouble or disease they have been afflicted with.
But as to these let this suffice.
IV. — St. George the Confessor.
Arculf, the sainted man, who gave us all these details as to the Cross of the Lord, which he saw with his own eyes and kissed, gave us also an account of a Confessor named George,^ which he learned in the city of Constanti- nople from some well-informed citizens, who were accus- tomed to narrate it in this form :
In a house in the city of Diospolis there stands the marble column of George the Confessor, to which, during
^ This chapter has a special historical interest, as the earliest account of St. George known to have been circulated in Britain ; and it is worthy of notice that it was in the northern part of England, where this narrative is known to have obtained special favour, that we first find St. George holding any special position (a place being assigned to him in the Anglo-Saxon ritual of Durham, which is probably of the early part of the ninth century, and a 'Passion of St. George' having been written by ^Ifric, Archbishop of York, a.d. 1020-1051). While there has been much controversy as to whether there ever was an historical person corresponding to the legendary saint, and, if there was, as to which of the countless Georges he was, it may probably be now accepted that there really was a George, prior in time to the Arian intruding Bishop of Alexandria, known as George of Cappadocia (whom Gibbon identified with the George in question), and that he was connected in some way with Diospolis or Lydda. For a list of the authorities to be consulted, as well as for a statement of the facts, see an article by the Rev. G. T. Stokes, on ' Georgius-Martyr ' in Smith's Diet, of Christian Biog., vol. ii., pp. 645-648, and specially the wise remarks of Professor Bright in closing a previous article on * Georgius of Cappadocia,' p. 640.
58 ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
a time of persecution, he was bound while he was scourged, and on which his likeness is impressed ; he was, however, loosed from his chains and lived for many years after the scourging. It happened one day that a hard-hearted and un- believing fellow, mounted on horseback, having entered that house and seen the marble column, asked those who were there, ' Whose is this likeness engraved on the marble column ?' They reply, 'This is the likeness of George the Confessor, who was bound to this column and scourged.' On hearing this, that most rough fellow, greatly enraged at the insensible object, and instigated by the devil, struck with his lance at the likeness of the sainted Confessor. The lance of that assailant penetrating the mass in a marvellous manner, as if it were a ball of snow, perforated the exterior of that stone column, and its iron point sticking fast was retained in the interior and could not be drawn out by any means. Its shaft, however, striking the marble likeness of the sainted Confessor, was broken on the outside. The horse also of that wretched fellow, on which he was mounted, fell dead under him at that moment on the pavement of the house. The wretched man himself too, falling to the ground at the same time, put out his hands to the marble column, and his fingers, entering it as if it were flour or clay, stuck fast impressed in that column. On seeing this, the miserable man, who could not draw back the ten fingers of his two hands, as they stuck fast together in the marble likeness of the sainted Confessor, invokes in peni- tence the name of the Eternal God and of His Confessor, and prays with tears to be released from that bond. The merciful God, who does not wish the death of a sinner but that he may be converted and live, accepted his tearful penitence, and not only released him from that present visible bond of marble, but also mercifully set him free from the invisible bonds of sin, saved by faith.
HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY ADAMNAN, 59
Hence it is clearly shown in what honour George has been held with God, whom he confessed amid tortures, since his bust, which, in the course of nature, is im- penetrable, was made penetrable by penitence,^ which also made the equally impenetrating lance of his adversary penetrating, and made the weak fingers of that fellow, which in the same course of nature were impenetrating, powerfully penetrating, which at first were so fastened in the marble that even that hard man could not draw them back, but which, when in the same moment he was so terrified and thus softened into penitence, he drew back by the pity of God. Marvellous to say, the marks of his twice five fingers appear down to the present day inserted up to the roots in the marble column ; and the sainted Arculf inserted in their place his own tea fingers, which similarly entered up to the roots. Further, the blood of that fellow's horse, the haunch of which, as it fell dead on the pavement, was broken in two, cannot be washed out or removed by any means, but that horse's blood remains in- delible on the pavement of the house down to our times.
The sainted Arculf told us another narrative, as to which there is no doubt, about the same George the Confessor, which he had learned from some eye-witnesses of sufficient trustworthiness, in the above-mentioned city of Constanti- nople, who were in the habit of telling incidents connected with that sainted Confessor : A layman, entering the city of Diospolis on horseback at a time when many thousands were gathering there from all sides for an expedition, came to that house, in which is the above-mentioned marble column with the impression of the sainted Confessor George imprinted on its front, and entering it, began to say to the likeness as if he were speaking in the presence of George himself: 'To thee, George the Confessor, I ^ Others read ' power.'
6o ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
commend myself and my horse, in order that we may both be preserved by the virtue of thy prayers from all dangers of war and disease and water, and may return in safety to this city after the close of the expedition ; and if a merciful God will grant thee our prosperous return, in accordance with the offering of our poverty, I will offer in return to thee this my horse which I greatly love, and will make it over to thee in the sight of thy likeness.' Speedily finishing these few words, the fellow left the house and, with his comrades, joined the multitude of the army and entered on the expedition. After many varied dangers of war and among many thousands of wretched fellows who were scattered and perished, he returns in safety to Diospolis, by the favour of God to George the Christ-worshipper, mounted on the same beloved horse, having purchased deliverance from all grievous misfortunes by that committal, and he joyfully enters that house in which was preserved the likeness of that sainted Confessor, bringing with him gold to the value of his horse, and addresses the sainted George as if he were present : * Sainted Confessor, I give thanks to Eternal God who has brought me back in safety^ through thy exalted constancy and prayer. Wherefore I bring to thee twenty solidi 2 of gold, the price of my horse which I at the first committed to thee and which thou hast preserved down to the present day.' Saying this, he lays down the above- described weight of gold at the feet of the sainted likeness of the Confessor, loving his horse more than the gold, and then leaving the house, after kneeling down, mounting his beast he urges it to go forward, but it could not be moved at all.
^ V. reads, * through so many and so great dangers by the power of thy prayer.'
^ The solidus or aureus^ from the time of Constantine the Great, weighed -^o, lb. (Smith's Diet, of Antiq., s. v. Aurum).
HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY ADAMNAN. 6i
Seeing this, the fellow dismounts and re-enters the house and brings another ten solid i, saying : * Sainted Confessor, a gentle guardian hast thou been for me to my horse, among the dangers in the expedition, but I see thou art hard and greedy in the sale of the horse.' Saying this, he lays the ten solidi above the twenty, saying to the sainted Confessor : ' These also I give thee in addition, so that thou mayest be appeased and release my horse for the journey.' With these words he returns, and again mount- ing his horse, urges it forward, but it remained standing as if fixed in the spot, nor could it move even one foot. What more? After mounting and dismounting four several times, entering the house with ten solidi and returning to his im- movable horse, he kept running hither and thither ; but by all his urging he could not move his horse, until a mass of sixty solidi was gathered there. Then at length he repeats the above-mentioned speech about the gentle humanity of the sainted Confessor and the safe guardianship in the expedition, and he also mentions in similar terms the hard- ness and even the greediness in the sale, as is said, and after four several times returning to the house he at last addressed the sainted George in this manner: 'Sainted Confessor, now I see clearly what thy will is. All this weight of gold, the whole sixty solidi, which thou desirest, I offer to thee as a gift, and also my horse itself which I promised to make over to thee before, on account of the ex- pedition ; now I make it over to thee, although bound with invisible bonds, which will however, as I believe, be soon released through the honour thou hast with God.' Having finished this speech, he goes out from the house and finds the horse released on that very moment, and he brings it with him into the house and makes it over to the sainted Confessor in the sight of that likeness, and departs joyfully praising Christ,
62 ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
Hence it is plainly gathered that whatever is consecrated to the Lord, whether it be man or animal, according to what is written in the book of Leviticus, cannot be re- deemed or changed in any way : for if * any one shall change it, both that which was changed, and that for which it was changed, shall be consecrated to the Lord,'^ and it shall not be redeemed.
v.— The Picture of St. Mary.
Arculf, who has been so often mentioned, gave us an ac- curate account, obtained from some well-informed witnesses in the city of Constantinople, as to the bust of the holy mother of the Lord : In that metropolitan city there used to hang on the wall of a house a picture of Blessed Mary, depicted on a small wooden tablet, as to which a certain stolid and hard-hearted man, on inquiring whose the picture was, learned from one who answered him, that it was the likeness of Saint Mary, ever virgin. That unbelieving Jew, hearing this, at the instigation of the devil, took that picture in great wrath from the wall, and rushed to a neighbouring privy ; and there, to dishonour Christ, born of Mary, he cast the picture of His mother through a hole upon the filth that lay belcrv^^, and having dishonoured it by every means in his power, he departed.^ Now what he did afterwards, or how he lived, or of what sort the end of his life was, is not known. But, after the wretch's departure, another fortunate man of the common people, a Christian, who was very zealous in religious matters, coming in and knowing what had happened, searched for the image of Saint Mary, and rescued it from the human filth amidst which he found it, and washed it clean with the purest water, and taking it
^ Lev. xxvii. lo, 33.
^ The original cannot be literally translated in this sentence.
HOL Y PLA CES, WRIT TEN BY A DAMN A N. 63
home with him, treated it with great honour. Marvellous to say, there always distils from the wood of that picture of Blessed Mary a true boiling oil, which, as Arculf used to say, he saw with his own eyes. This marvellous oil proves the honour of Mary the mother of Jesus, of whom the Father says, * In My holy oil, have I anointed Him.' ^ The same Psalmist says to the Son of God Himself, 'The Lord Thy God hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows.'^
This narrative, which we have written about the situation and the foundation of Constantinople, and also about that round church in which the wood of salvation is preserved, etc., we learned carefully from the mouth of the saintep priest, Arculf; who remained in that city, by far the greatest of the Roman Empire, from the Paschal feast to that of the Lord's birth. Afterwards he sailed thence to Rome.
VL— Mount Vulcan.
There is an island in the Great Sea towards the east, twelve^ miles from Sicily, in which is Mount Vulcan,* which sounds so loudly, like thunder, all day and night, that the ground of Sicily, though so far away, is thought to be shaken by the terrific tremor, but it seems to sound more loudly on the sixth day of the week, and the Sabbath ; it appears always to burn by night, and to smoke by day. This Arculf told me about that mountain as I was writing ; he saw it with his own eyes, burning by night, but smoking by day; its thunder-like sound he heard with his own ears, while he was staying in Sicily for some days.
1 Psalm Ixxxix. 20. ^ Psalm xlv. 7. ^ ' Fourteen,' G.
* The island of Volcano^ the ancient Hiera^ also known as Vidcani Insula^ from its volcanic phenomena, is the southernmost of the Lipari Islands — the old ^oliae, or Vulcanise, Insulae, to the north of Sicily. It is twelve geographical miles from Sicily. See Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, s. v. ^oliae Insulae.
64 ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE HOLY PLACES.
VII.— Epilogue.
Therefore I beseech those who shall read these short books, to pray for the divine clemency, on behalf of the sainted priest Arculf, who most willingly dictated to us these facts of his experience of the holy places which he visited, which I have, in however unworthy words, de- scribed, although placed in the midst of laborious and nearly insupportable ecclesiastical cares, which come upon me the whole day from all sides. Therefore I charge the reader of these experiences that he neglect not to pray to Christ, the Judge of the ages, for me, a miserable sinner, the writer of them.
A LITTLE BOOK CONCERNING THE HOLY PLACES,
WHICH BEDE COMPOSED BY ABBREVIATING THE
WORKS OF FORMER WRITERS.
I HAVE BRIEFLY DESCRIBED BOTH THE BOUNDS AND THE SITES OF THE PLACES, WHICH THE SACRED PAGE MAKES MORE MEMORABLE, I, BEDE, FOLLOWING THE GUIDANCE OF LATER AS WELL AS OF OLDER WRITERS, EXAMINING WHAT THE CHART OF THE MASTERS
TELLS.
GRANT, JESUS, THAT WE MAY EVER TEND TO THAT FATHERLAND WHICH THY PERFECT VISION BLESSES FOR EVERMORE.
THE VENERABLE BEDE CONCERNING THE HOLY PLACES.
Note. — The references in the margm are to the corf-esponding passages in Arciilfs Narrative.
I.— The Situation of Jerusalem. The situation of the city of Jerusalem, which is Arcuif, p. 2. almost circular in form, rises with a circuit of walls of no small extent, within which it has also embraced Mount Sion, which was once reckoned only in its vicinity, over- hanging the city in the south like a citadel, the larger part of the city lying under the mountain, upon the level summit of a lower hill. After the Passion of the Lord, it was destroyed by the Emperor Titus, but it was restored and greatly enlarged by ^lius Hadrian, after whom it is also now called ^lia. Whence it happens that, while the Lord suffered and was buried beyond the gates of the city, the sites of His Passion and Resurrection are now seen within the walls. In the great circuit of the walls there are shown eighty-four towers, and six gates : first, the Gate of David, to the west of Mount Sion ; second, the Gate of the Valley of the Fuller ; third, the Gate of St. Stephen ; fourth, the Gate of Benjamin ; fifth, a portlet — that is, a p. 3- little gate — by which is the descent by steps to the Valley of Josaphat ; sixth, the Gate Thecuitis.^ There are, how- ever, three of these gates that are more frequently used :
^ Or ' of the Tekoiles,' see Arcuif, p. 2, note i, vi.
5—2
68 THE VENERABLE BEDE
one on the west, another on the north, a third on the east, while on the south the northern brow of Mount Sion over- hangs the city, and the part of the walls with its interposed towers is proved to have no gates, that is, from the above- named Gate of David as far as that face of Mount Sion which looks eastward, where the rock is precipitous. The situa- p. 4- tion of the city itself, beginning from the northern brow of Mount Sion, is so disposed on a slight declivity sloping to the lower ground of the northern and eastern walls, that rain falling there does not settle, but rushes down like rivers through the eastern gates, carrying with it all the filth of the streets, till it joins the torrent of Cedron in the Valley of Josaphat.
II. — The Church of Constantine and of Golgotha, THE Church of the Resurrection and the Sepulchre of the Lord, the Stone that was
ROLLED TO THE MOUTH OF THE TOMB, THE ChURCH
OF St. Mary, the Cup of the Lord and the Sponge, THE Altar of Abraham, the Soldier's Spear.
p. lo. Such, then, as have entered the city from the north to survey the holy places, must first, in accordance with the arrangements of the streets, turn to the Church of Constantine, which is called the Martyrium. This was built in a magnificent and royal manner by the Emperor Constantine, because on that spot the Cross of our Lord was found by Helena, his mother. To the west of this is seen the Church of Golgotha, in which also the rock appears which once bore the very Cross to which the body of the Lord was nailed, now bearing a silver cross of great size, above which hangs a great circular chandelier of brass with lamps. Below the site of the Cross of the Lord is a crypt cut out m the rock, in which sacrifice is wont to
CONCERNING THE HOLY PLACES. 69
be offered upon an altar for honoured dead persons, whose bodies meanwhile are placed in the court. To the west of this church again, is the round church of pp s,6. the 'Ava<jTaaL<^, that is, of the Resurrection of the Lord, surrounded with three walls, supported on twelve columns, having a broad pathway left between each wall and the next, containing three altars in three spaces in the middle wall, that is, to the south, the north, and the west. It has twice four gates, that is entrances, running in a straight line through the three walls, four of them looking to the north-east,^ and four to the south-east. In the middle of this is the Tomb of the Lord, cut out in the rock, of round form, of such height that a man standing within it can touch the top with his hand, with an entrance on the east at which that great stone was placed ; the interior still shows the marks of the iron tools. On the outside it is completely covered with marble up to the highest point of the roof, while the very highest point, which is adorned with gold, bears a golden cross of large size. In the northern part of p- 6. this Tomb is the Sepulchre of the Lord, cut out in the same rock, seven feet in length, raised three palms above the pavement, having an entrance on the southern side : twelve lamps burn here day and night, four below^ the Sepulchre, eight above on the right side. The stone which was pp. 8, 9. placed at the mouth of the Tomb has been broken in two, the smaller part standing as a square altar before the mouth of the Tomb, while the larger part stands in the eastern side of the church under the linen cloths, also forming a four- sided altar. The colour of the Tomb and of the Sepulchre is white mixed with red.
The four-sided Church of the Mother of God also p. 9.
adjoins this church on its right side. In the court p- ", ".
which joins the Martyrium and Golgotha is a recess (exedra),
1 See page 6, note i. * Others, * within.'
70 THE VENERABLE BEDE
in which the Cup of the Lord is kept in a shrine, and may be touched and kissed through an opening in the cover. It is a silver cup, with a handle on each side, holding a French quart } in it is the Sponge, which afforded drink to the
p. II. Lord. Also on the spot where Abraham built an Altar to sacrifice his son, is a wooden table of some size, on which the alms of the poor are laid by the people. The
p. 12. soldier's spear is inserted in a wooden cross in the portico of the Martyrium, its shaft having been broken in two ; it is held in reverence by the whole city.
I have caused each of these I have spoken of to be depicted in a drawing, so that you may more clearly realize the description.2
IIL— The Temple, the Oratory of the Saracens,
THE Pool of Bethesda, the Fountain of Siloa,
THE Church built upon Mount Sion, the Place
OF the Stoning of St. Stephen, the Middle of
THE World.
All these sacred places we have mentioned lie beyond
Mount Sion, whence a swelling of the ground, lessening
pp. 4. 5- towards the north, stretches. In the lower part of
the city, where the temple was close to the wall on the east,
and wa-s connected with the city itself by a bridge for the
crossing of any, is now a square building, apparently capable
of holding three thousand men, which the Saracens frequent
for prayer ; it is rudely built, raised on boards and great
beams above the remains of ruins. A few cisterns for water
are to be seen there. In the neighbourhood of the temple is
the Pool of Bethsaida,^ like a twin lake, the one being often
^ See page ii, note 4. ^ This drawing is given in Pa.
^ The questions connected with the Pool of Bethesda are discussed at length by Sir Charles Wilson, in Appendix III. of the translation of the Bordeaux Pilgrim, pp. 45 fif., where, however, this reference is omitted. See also 'City of Jerusalem,' Note, pp. 65 fif.
CONCE INNING THE HOLY PLACES. 71
filled with winter showers, while the other is discoloured with red water. From that face of Mount Sion which looks eastwards, where the rock is precipitous, there rushes out within the walls and in the roots of the hill, the Fountain of Siloa, which flows southwards with an alternating access of waters, that is, not in a perpetual flow, but boiling up at certain hours and days, and coming through the hollows of the earth and the caves of hardest rock with a great noise.
In the higher part of Mount Sion, many cells of p. 20. monks surround a large church, built, as they affirm, by the Apostles on the spot where they received the Holy Spirit, and where St. Mary died ; this is also the venerable site of the Supper of the Lord. There is also, standing in the middle of the church, a marble column, to which the Lord was bound when He was scourged. The form of this church is said to be as is drawn below.^
There is shown a rock, above which the sainted p. 20. proto-martyr Stephen was stoned without the city ; while in the middle of Jerusalem, on the spot where a dead p. 16, 17. man came to life again when the Cross of the Lord was placed on him, stands a lofty column, which throws no shadow at the summer solstice, whence it is thought that this is the middle of the earth, as is said in history ; * But God, our King, before the ages has wrought salvation in the midst of the earth.' Influenced by this opinion, Vic- torinus also, one of the chief men of the Church of Pettau,^ writing about Golgotha, begins thus :
* There is a spot we hold the midst of all the world ; In their own tongue the Jews call it Golgotha.'
^ yT/., Pc.^ give a drawing of the church.
2 This is the only authority for attributing these, or any other, extant verses to St. Victorinus, Bishop of Pattau, in Upper Pannonia, martyred under Diocletian (?;. See Smith's * D ct. of Christian Biog.,' iv., p. 1 1 28.
72 THE VENERABLE BEDE
IV. — The Napkin of the Head of the Lord, and
ANOTHER LARGER LiNEN CLOTH WOVEN BY ST. MaRY.
pp. 12-15. After the Resurrection of the Lord, the napkin that had been about His head was stolen by a Jew, who soon after became a true Christian and retained it by him till his death, and who meanwhile became rich. When dying, pp. II, 12, 13. he asks his sons, which of them wished to receive the napkin of the Lord, which to possess the rest of his father's wealth. The elder chose the earthly treasure, the younger the napkin. And straightway the former decreases until the elder son comes to poverty ; while with faith his brother's wealth increases, and his faithful descendants therefore retained it even to the fifth generation. After- wards it came into the possession of impious persons, whose
"^ wealth it so greatly increased that it occasioned great quarrels for a long time; the Christian Jews claiming to be the heirs of Christ, while unbelieving Jews claimed to be the heirs of their fathers ; until, after long contention, Mauvias,^ the King of the Saracens in our own time, was called on to act as judge. Lighting a great fire, he prays
4- to Christ to judge who was worthy to possess this napkin which He had deigned to wear about His head for their salvation. He then cast it into the fire, when it was snatched suddenly and flew upwards, and remained for a very long time at a great height, flying in the air as if at play, and at last, while all were gazing on it from both sides, it descended lightly and deposited itself in the bosom of one of the Christians, being saluted and kissed immedi- ately by the whole people with the greatest reverence. It p. 16. is eight feet in length. Another linen cloth of
1 In other MSS., * Majuuias,' * Mauuras,' ' Moawieh.' See p. 14, note I.
CONCERNING THE HOLY PLACES. 75
much larger size, is venerated in the church, which is said to have been woven by St. Mary, having the likenesses of the twelve Apostles and of the Lord Himself, one side being red and the other green.
v.— The Places round Jerusalem, the Valley of JosAPHAT, HIS Sepulchre and those of others, THE Church in which St. Mary was buried.
Round Jerusalem the ground is rough and p. 22. mountainous. Hence to the north, as far as Arimathia, the ground is rocky and rough, though not quite continuously, while thorny valleys lie towards the Tanitic region ; while towards Cesarea of Palestine from ^lia, although some narrow, small, rough spots are found, yet, for the most part, the ground is a level plain, with olive groves scattered over it. These places are seventy-five miles distant from each other, while the length of the Land of Promise from Dan to Bersabee extends over 160 miles, from Joppa to Bethlehem being forty-six miles.
Next the wall of the Temple or of Jerusalem on p. 22. the east is Gehennon, or the Valley of Josaphat, stretching from north to south, through which the torrent of Cedron runs, at least when it receives water from the rains. This valley is a small plain, watered, and wooded, and full of delights, and once had in it a grove^ sacred to Baal. In this p. 18. is the Tower of King Josaphat, containing his sepulchre; on its right hand is a separate building hewn out of the rock of Mount Olivet, containing two rock-hewn sepulchres, being those of the aged Simeon and of Joseph, the spouse of St. Mary. In this same valley is the round Church of p. 17. St. Mary, divided in two by a stone vaulting, having four altars in the upper part, and in the lower portion one altar to * Others, 'and spot.'
74 THE VENERABLE BEDE
the east, and on its right hand an empty tomb, in which St. Mary is said to have rested for some time ; but by whom, and when, the body was taken away is unknown. Those who enter this see on the right, inserted in the wall, the rock on which the Lord prayed on the night in which He was betrayed, the marks of His knees being impressed as if in soft wax.
VI. — The place where Judas was hanged, and
ACHELDEMAC.
p. ig. Those going out by the Gate of David find a bridge^ stretching southwards across the valley, at the middle of which, on the west side, Judas is said to have hanged himself For here stands a fig tree of great size and of very great age, alluding to which Juvencus says :
' From fig-tree top he snatched a shapeless death.*
p. 21. Further on is Acheldemac, on the south of Mount Sion, where strangers^ and other persons of no note are still buried, while others putrefy there unburied.
vn.— The Mount of Olivet, and the Church
BUILT THERE, WHERE THE LORD ASCENDED INTO
THE Heavens — the Tomb of Lazarus, and a THIRD Church.
pp. 21, 22. The Mount of Olives, which is a mile distant from Jerusalem, is equal to Mount Sion in height, but excels it in length and breadth. With the exception of vines and olives, the ground is almost destitute of trees, but it is fertile in corn and barley, and the quality of the soil is suit- able for grass and flowers, not for trees. On its summit, where the Lord ascended to heaven, is a round church of large size, having in its circuit three vaulted porticoes 1 Others, 'fountain,' ^ Or 'pilgrims' ; see p. 2i, note 2.
CONCERNING THE HOLY PLACES, 75
covered over above. For the interior of the house pp. 22-24. could not be vaulted over or covered, on account of the passage (Ascension) of the Lord's body from that spot ; it has an altar towards the east, protected by a narrow roof; in the centre of it are seen the last footprints of the Lord, under the open heaven, where He ascended. And although the earth is daily carried away by the believing, they none the less remain and still retain the same appearance of their own, as if marked by impressed footsteps. Around these lies a hollow brass cylinder as high as one's neck,^ with an entrance from the west, while a great lamp is hung above it by pulleys, burning the whole night and day. In the western side of that church are eight windows and the same number of lamps hung by ropes opposite to them ; their light is shed through the glass as far as Jerusalem, and is said to smite the hearts of the beholders with a certain eagerness and compunction. On the day of the Ascension of the Lord each year, after Mass is performed, a storm of strong wind comes down regularly and lays prostrate on the ground all that are in the church. On that night so many lamps are lighted there, that the mountain and the places at its foot appear not only to be illuminated but even to be on fire.
We have thought it right to give a drawing of this church below.^
The Tomb of Lazarus is pointed out by a church pp. 26, 27. built there, and by a large monastery, in a certain plain of Bethany, surrounded by a great wood of olives. Now Bethany is fifteen furlongs distant from Jerusalem. There is also a third church on the same mountain, towards the southern side of Bethany, where the Lord spoke to His disciples before the Passion about the Day of Judgment.
^ Others, * head and neck,' or only * head.' - The drawing is wanting in almost all MSS.
76 THE VENERABLE BEDE
VIII. — The Situation of Bethlehem, the Church UPON THE Place where the Lord was born, the Sepulchres of David and Hieronymus and the Three Shepherds, and also that of Rachel.
pp. 28, 29. Bethlehem, which lies six milesi southwards from Jerusalem, is situated on a narrow ridge, which is surrounded on all sides by valleys, and is a mile long from west to east, a low wall without towers being built right round the level summit. In the eastern corner of this is a sort of natural half cave, the exterior of which is said to have been the place of the Nativity of the Lord, while the interior is called the Manger of the Lord. This cave, the interior of which is wholly covered over with precious marble, has, above the exact spot where the Lord is said to have been 'born, the
p. 29. large Church of St. Mary. A rock, hollowed out close to the wall, still preserves the water in which the Body of the Lord was first washed, which it caught as it was thrown from the wall ; and this water, if it should be exhausted either by accident or intentionally, is always restored to its full extent even while you look at it.
p. 30. To the north of Bethlehem, in the neighbouring valley, the Sepulchre of David is covered over in the middle of a church by a low stone, with a lamp placed above it ; while to the south, in a neighbouring valley, there is in a church the Sepulchre of St. Hieronymus. In this I have followed the account given by Arculf, a Bishop of the Gauls. But Esdras writes clearly, that David was buried in Jerusalem.
p. 31. Farther to the east in the Tower of Ader, that
IS, of the flock, a mile from the city, is a church containing
the tombs of the shepherds who were informed of the
Nativity of the Lord. A royal road leads from ^lia to
^ The real dibtance is five English miles.
CONCERNING THE HOLY PLACES. 77
Chebron, leaving Bethlehem to the east, and to the west the Sepulchre of Rachel, still signed with the inscription of her name.
IX. — The Situation of Hebron, Mambre, and the Tomb of the Patriarchs and of Adam, the Pine Wood.
Hebron is situated along a plain, twenty-two pp. 32. 33. miles from -^lia. A furlong to the east, it has a double cave in a valley, where the Sepulchres of the Patriarchs are surrounded by a rectangular wall, their heads turned to the north, each of them covered with one stone hewn like a Basilica, the stone being white in the case of the Patriarchs, darker and of commoner workmanship in Adam's, who lies not far from them towards the north end of that wall. Poorer and smaller monuments of their three wives are also seen. The hill of Mambre, a mile to the north of p. 33. these tombs, is very grassy and flowery, having a level plain at the summit, in the northern part of which is the oak of Abraham, surrounded by a church, its trunk being the height of two men. Those coming from Hebron north- p.34- wards, have on their left hand a mountain of small extent covered with pines, three miles from Hebron, whence pine wood is carried to Jerusalem on camels ; for in all Judea carts or waggons are rare.
X.— Jericho and its Holy Places, Galgal and the Fountain of Heliseus, the Great Plain.
Jericho is nineteen^ miles to the east of ^lia, and p. 35. as it has been levelled to the ground three times, only the house of Raab remains, as a sign of her faith ; for its walls are still standing, though without a roof. The site of the city produces corn and vines. Between it and the Jordan, 1 O., Pc.^ have ' 14,000 feet ;' Pa^ * 18 miles.*
78 THE VENERABLE BEDE
which is five or six miles from it, there are great palnr groves, with open spaces left, which are inhabited by p. 36. Chananeans. The twelve stones which Josua ordered to be taken from the Jordan lie in a church at Galgal built just within the walls ; they are so large that one of them can now scarcely be lifted by two men ; while one of them has been broken by some unknown accident, but has been joined together again by an iron band. Close to Jericho is a copious fountain of drinking-water, good for irrigating purposes, which was once sterile and unhealthy for drinking, but was healed by Heliseus the prophet, when he cast salt into it. It is surrounded by a plain seventy furlongs in length, and twenty in breadth, in which are marvellously fair gardens, with many varieties of palms^ and most excellent breeds of bees. There the opobalsamum is produced, which we name thus with an affix because the husbandmen, with sharp stones, cut slender channels through the bark, in which the balsam is generated, so that the sap, after distilling slowly through those caverns, collects in beauti- fully bedewed tears ; and a cavern is called in Greek oV?), Ope. Here, they say, the Cyprus and the myrobalanus'^
1' Apples,' P^.
2 It is impossible to identify exactly the trees referred to. (i) The name Opobalsamum^ given to the sap extracted from the Balsam tree, is not derived from ottj), a hole^ but from o-koq^ pace, the milky juice flowing from a plant, either naturally or by incision. The Hebrew word for the balsam, tsori, is derived from the root, meaning '"fissure^ referring to the practice of drawing it from the tree in this way. But it is much disputed what is the real Balsam tree, and whether the tree from which the Balm of Gilead was obtained w^as also the Balsani tree of Jericho. (2) The Cyprus tree (the camphire of Cant. i. 14, iv. 13) probably derives its name from the Hebrew Kaphar, to cover ox paint. It is the Arabic Hernia, a red stain much used for the nails being made from its dry leaves. It is the Lawsonia Inerinis. (3) The Myrobalanus is variously identified. Either it or the Balsam tree may be the Zackum tree, variously named Elceagims angustifolia and Balanites /Egyptiaca, the oil obtained from which is highly esteemed
CONCERNING THE HOLY PLACES. 79
grow. The water, as in some other fountains, but here more especially, is cold in summer, tepid in winter; the air is milder, so that in the depth of winter linen clothing is worn. The city itself is built in a plain, and is overhung by an extensive mountain, bare of anything fruitful : for the soil of the country is barren, and therefore it is without inhabitants. A wide extent of country stretches from the district of the city of Scythopolis to that of Sodom and the Asphaltic region. Opposite this, a mountain extends above the Jordan, from the city of Julias to Zoar,i which is conterminous with Arabia Petraea, where there is a mountain called Ferreus. Between these two mountains stretches a plain, which the ancients called * the Great,' or in Hebrew, ' Aulon,' 230 furlongs in length, 120 in breadth, extending from the village of Gennabara to the Asphaltic Lake. The Jordan intersects it, with banks verdant from the watering of the river, the trees upon its banks being much more fruitful than elsewhere, where they are more barren ; for all the land beyond the bank of the river is dry.
XI. — The Jordan and the Sea of Galilee.
The Jordan is commonly supposed to rise in the pp. 39. 40. province of Phenicia, at the roots of Mount Lebanon, where Paneum, that is, Cesarea Philippi, is situated. For this reason we learn that Paneum, that is, ' the grotto/ through which the Jordan flows, was constructed and adorned with admirable beauty by King Agrippa. There is, however, in the district of Trachonitis a fountain resembling a disc,^ whence it has received the name of Phiala ; it is fifteen miles from Caesarea,
by the Arabs as a cure for wounds. It grows near Jericho. This may not improbably be the Myrobalainis^ while the Balsam tree may be the Cistus Cretiais. — Abbot Daniel, p. 8, note 4.
^ See p. 39, note i.
- ' Rota.' ' The reference is apparently to the sun's disc, often called rota.'-- C. W. W.
8o THE VENERABLE BEDE
and is so constantly full of water, that it never overflows and never diminishes. Into this Philip, the tetrarch of the region , cast straws, which the river cast up in Paneum. Whence it follows that the source of the Jordan is in Phiala, but that it flows through subterranean channels to Paneum, where it begins to be visible as a river ; soon entering the lake, it intersects its marshes ; thence it directs its course for fifteen^ miles without receiving any addition, to the city called Julias ; afterwards it flows through the middle of the Lake of Genezar, whence, after passing many places, it enters the Asphaltic, that is the Dead Sea, and there loses its famous p. 38. waters. It is of a white colour, like milk, and on this account is recognised for a long distance in the Dead pp. 40. 41. Sea. Now Genezar, that is, the Sea of Galilee, is surrounded by great woods ; it is 140 furlongs in length, 40 in breadth ; the water is sweet and good for drinking, since it receives nothing thick with marsh mud or turbid, because it is surrounded on all sides by a sandy shore. It is surrounded also by agreeable towns, — on the east by Julias and Hippo, on the west by Tiberias, which is healthy from its hot waters ; the kinds of fish are better as regards taste and appearance than in any other lake.
XII. — The Dead Sea, and its Nature, and that of THE Neighbouring District.
p. 39. The Dead Sea extends 5802 furlongs in length to
Zoar of Arabia, 150 in breadth to the neighbourhood of
Sodom ; for it is most certain that after the burning of Sodom
and Gomorrha and the neighbouring cities, it flowed in from
what were once wells of salt. It is seen also by those look-
p. 41. ing towards it from afar, from the watch-tower of
p. 38. Mount Olivet ; because the colliding movement of
the waves casts out the most salt salt, which is dried by the
1 ' Twelve,' Pc, ^ * Five hundred and eight,' Pb.
CONCERNING THE HOL Y PL A CES. 8 (
sun, and used by many nations. There is further said to be salt, in a mountain of Sicily, where stones turned out of the ground supply a true salt, most useful for all purposes, which is known as Earth Salt. The Sea is called ' Dead ' because it does not contain any kind of living creatures, whether fish or such birds as are met with beside water, while bulls and camels float on it.^ Finally, if the Jordan has been swollen by rain and has carried down fishes in its flood, they die immediately and float above the oily waters. They say that a lighted lamp floats above it unchanged,^ and does not sink so as to put out the light, while if a vessel has been submerged by any device it can scarcely be caused to remain in the depths, and all living creatures even if submerged and vehemently beaten down, at once rise to the surface : while finally, they say that Vespasian ordered men who could not swim, to have their hands bound and then to be thrown into the deep, and they floated above it. The water is barren^ and bitter, and darker than other waters, and produces a sort of parched feeling. It is certain that lumps of bitumen float in a black liquid on the water, which they collect in boats. The bitumen is said to adhere to them so that it cannot be cut off even by iron tools, yielding only to menstruous blood or urine. It is useful for caulking joints in ships and for healing the human body. The district still retains the appearance of the punishment (of the Cities of the Plain) ; for very beautiful apples grow there, which excite among spectators a desire to eat them, but when plucked, they burst and are reduced to ashes, and give rise to smoke as if they were still burn- ing. Also in summer an immoderate amount of vapour
^ Pd. reads, ' while bitumen floats on it resembling gold and a camel in appearance.'
- The same MS. reads, ' unchanged, so that the light can neither be sprinkled nor be submerged, because if a vessel,' etc.
^ Probably ' unprofitable,' useless for drinking.
6
82 THE VENERABLE BEDE
steams up over the plains, while the unhealthy drought and the dryness of the soil unite to corrupt the air and destroy the inhabitants with deplorable diseases.
XIII. — The Place where the Lord was Baptized.
pp. 36-38. At the place where the Lord was baptized, a wooden cross stands, as high as one's neck, which is often hidden by the rising of the water ; the further or eastern bank is as far distant from it as one can sling a stone, while the nearer bank has on the top of a hill the great monastery of the Blessed John Baptist, the church of which is celebrated, from which people are wont to pass down to that cross by a bridge raised on arches, and pray. At the edge of the river is a square church built on four stone vaults, covered over above with slacked lime,i where the garments worn by the Lord when He was baptized, are said to be preserved. This, men do not usually enter, but the^ waves surround and penetrate it. From the point where the Jordan issues from the ravine of the Sea of Galilee to that where it enters the Dead Sea, is eight^ days' journey.
XIV, — The Locusts and the Wild Honey, and the Fountain of John the Baptist.
p. 43. There seems to have been a very small kind of locust, which John the Baptist fed upon, and which is still found, with a thin short body like the finger of a hand, which is easily taken in the grass, and is used for food by the poor, when cooked in oil. In the same desert there are trees with broad round leaves of the colour of milk and the taste of honey, which being naturally fragile, are rubbed in the hands and eaten. This is what is called *wild
1 See p. 38, note i.
2 ' But on all sides they surround,' Pc; ' enter or descend thence/ O,
3 ' Fifteen,' Pb.
CONCERNING THE HOLY PLACES. 83
honey/ In the same place the fountain of St. John Baptist is shown, the water being clear ; it is protected by a stone covering besmeared with lime.
XV.— The Fountain of Jacob near Sicfiem.
Near the city of Sichem, which is now called pp. 41, 42- Neapolis, is a four-armed church, that is, one built in the form of a cross, in the middle^ of which is the Fountain of Jacob, forty cubits in height, which the Lord honoured by asking water from it from the woman of Samaria.
XVI. — Tiberias and Capharnaum and Nazareth AND the Holy Places there.
The place where the Lord blessed the bread and p. 43- the fish is on this side of the Sea of Galilee, to the north of the city of Tiberias : a grassy level plain which has never since been ploughed, and which has no buildings on it, showing only a fountain from which they drank. Those who come from ^lia to Capharnaum pass through p. 44. Tiberias, and thence along the Sea of Galilee and the place where the bread was blessed : not far from which is Caphar- naum, on the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim, having no wall, situated in a narrow space between the mountain and the lake above the sea shore, extending for a long distance eastv/ards, having the mountain on the north, and the lake on the south. Nazareth has no walls, but great p. 45- buildings and two large churches. One in the middle of the city is founded on two vaults, where once there was the house in which the Lord was nourished in His infancy. This church, as has been said, is raised on two mounds, with arches interposed, having down below among these mounds
^ Tobler omits as unintelligible ' stretching from the side to the end of the fingers.' See p. 42.
6—2
84 THE VENERABLE BEDE
a very clear fountain, from which all the citizens draw their water in vessels by means of pulleys. There is another church, where the house was in which the angel came to Mary.
XVII. — Mount Tabor and the Three Churches
ON IT.
p. 46. Mount Tabor, in the middle of the plain of Galilee, rises up to the north at a^ distance of three miles from the Sea of Genezareth ; it is completely round, very grassy and flowery, 30 furlongs in height. Its summit forms a very pleasant level surface of 232 furlongs, where is a large monastery surrounded by a large wood, having three churches, according to what Peter said, * Let us make here three tabernacles.' The place is surrounded by a wall, and has great buildings.
XVIII. — The Situation of Damascus.
p. 47- Damascus is situated in a wide plain, with an ample circuit of walls, and is fortified by frequent towers ; four great rivers flow through it. While the Christians frequent the Church of St. John Baptist, the king of the Saracens with his people has built and consecrated another. There are a very large number of olive groves round the city outside the walls. From Tabor to Damascus is seven days' journey.
XIX. — The Situation of Alexandria, the Church IN which Mark the Evangelist rests, and the Nile.
pp. 48-51. Alexandria is a long city from west to east,
surrounded on the south by the mouths of the Nile, on the
^ Several MSS. here mention the tribe of Manasseh. 2 <- 2^^ pb^
CONCERNING THE HOLY PLACES. 85
north by the Egyptian Sea/ having a harbour more difficult than others, in form Hke the human body — more capacious at the head and the roads, but narrower in the straits, where it receives the sea and ships in movement, by which some aids to breathing are given to the port. When one has escaped the narrows and the mouths of the harbour, a stretch of sea spreads out far and wide like the rest of the human form. On the right side of the port is a small island, on which stands Pharus, that is, a very large tower, which burns during the night with the flames of torches, lest sailors should be deceived in the darkness and fall upon rocks, or fail to recognise the boundary of the entrance, because it is always unquiet, with waves always breaking. But the harbour is always calm ; it is thirty furlongs in extent.
Those entering the city from the Egyptian side pp. 51, 52. are met on the right hand by a Church, in which rests the blessed Evangelist Mark. His body is buried in the eastern end of that church before the altar, a square marble monument being placed above the spot.
Around the Nile the Egyptians are in the habit p- 52. of making frequent ramparts on account of the irruption of the waters, which, should they be broken by the careless- ness of the guardians, instead of irrigating, ruin the under- lying ground. And because the Egyptians inhabit the plains, they build their houses upon the banks of the waters, supporting them on transverse beams.
XX.— Constantinople, and the Basilica in that City which contains the Cross of the Lord.
Constantinople is surrounded on all sides except p- 53-
the north by the Great Sea, extending sixty miles from it
to the wall of the city, and forty miles from the wall of the
city to the mouths of the Danube ; it is surrounded by
Most MSS., ' By the Mareotic Lake.'
86 THE VENERABLE BEDE
a circuit of walls twelve miles in length, with angles corre- p. 54- spending to the sea-board. At first Constantine had fixed to build it^ by the sea which separates Asia from Europe ; but one night all the tools were taken away, and they were found by those sent to look for them, on the European side, where the city now is ; for it was thus understood to be God's will that it should be built there.
pp. 55-57- In this city is a church of marvellous workman- ship, called St. Sophia, constructed from the foundation on a round plan and vaulted, surrounded by three walls, and supported by great columns and raised on arches, the in- terior of which has in its northern end a large and exceed- ingly beautiful ambry, in which is a wooden chest covered with a wooden covering, which contains three parts of the Cross of the Lord, viz., the long beam cut into two parts and the cross beam of that Holy Cross. This is brought out to be adored by the people on only three days of the year, that is, on [the day of] the Supper of the Lord, on the Day of Preparation and on [the day of] the Holy Sabbath,^ when the first chest is laid opened on the golden altar (it is two cubits in height and one in breadth) with the Holy Cross. The Emperor first approaches and adores and kisses the Holy Cross, then all ranks of the laity in order ; on the next day the Empress and all the matrons and virgins do the same ; while on the third day the Bishops and all ranks of the clergy do the same ; and so the chest is again closed and carried back to the above-named ambry. But as long as it remains open upon the altar, a marvellous odour pervades the whole church ; for from the knots of the holy wood there flows a sweet-smelling liquid like oil, of which if any sick person touch a particle, it heals all his sickness.
1 'In Cilicia' in some MSS.
2 That is to say, on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Saturday before Easter.
CONCERNING THE HOLY PLACES. 87
XXI. — Epilogue.
In this account of the holy places, I have, as far as I could, followed trustworthy histories, and especially that of Arculf, a Bishop of Gaul, which the presbyter Adamnan, one most learned in the Scriptures, has written in three books in the Latin language. The prelate I have men- tioned, leaving his own country, from his desire after the holy places, went to the land of promise, and there stayed some months in Jerusalem, using an aged monk, Peter by name, equally as guide and as interpreter, and visited in his course all the places he had so vividly longed to see, not to speak of Alexandria, Damascus, Constantinople, and Sicily. But when he wished to revisit his native country, the ship in which he sailed was, after many wanderings, brought by a contrary wind to our island of Britain, and at length after many dangers he came to the venerable man of whom we have spoken, Adamnan, to whom he gave an account of his journey and of what he saw, and whom he thus taught to become the writer of a most excellent history. From this we have culled some parts and com- pared them with the books of the ancients, and we transmit them to thee to read, entreating through all that thou be careful to temper the labour of the present age, not by the ease of a lascivious body, but by zeal in reading and in prayer.
APPENDIX.
TRANSLATION OF PORTIONS OF 'ARCULF'S NARRATIVE,' FROM PROFESSOR WILLIS' ' HOLY SEPULCHRE.'
[IVz'/h'ajns' *" Holy City^ vol. ii.: London^ 1849.]
Of THE Church of the Sepulchre of the Lord.
(Pages 5, 6 ; cap. i., last sentence, and cap. ii.) • Concerning these things we dih'gently interrogated the holy Arculfus, and especially about the Sepulchre of the Lord, and the church constructed above it, of which he delineated the form for me upon a waxen tablet. This great church, all of stone, of wondrous rotundity on all sides, arising from its foundation in three walls, has a broad passage between each wall and the next. In three ingeniously constructed places of the middle wall three altars are disposed, one looking to the south, another to the north, and the third towards the west ; and this round and lofty church is sustained by twelve columns of wondrous magnitude, and it has eight doors or entrances formed by three walls erected in the intermediate spaces between the passages. Of these, four are turned to the south-east, and the other four to the north-east.' — * Holy City/ ii. 259.
(Pages 6-9, capp. iii., iv.) *Tn the centre of this circular church is situated a round cabin {tegurium)^ cut out of a single piece of rock, within
APPENDIX. 89
which there is space for nine men to stand and pray. The vaulted roof is about a foot and ahalf above the head of a man of no short stature. The entrance of this h'ttle chamber is to the east. The whole of its exterior surface is covered with choice marble, and the highest part of its outer roof, ornamented with gold, sustains a golden cross of no small magnitude. The Sepulchre of the Lord is in the north part of the chamber, and is cut out of the same rock as it, but the pavement of the chamber is lower than the place of sepulture ; for there is an altitude of about three palms from the pavement to the lateral edge of the sepulchre. ... By the SepidcJire^ properly so called, is meant that place in the north part of the monumental chamber, in which the body, wrapped in linen clothes, was deposited, the length of which Arculfus measured with his own hand as seven feet. Which sepulchre is not^ as some erroneously imagine, hollowed out into a double form {i.e.^ in the shape of the body), having a projection left from the solid rock, between and separating the legs and thighs, but is simple and plain from the head to the feet, and is a couch affording room for one man lying on his back. It is in the manner of a cave, having its opening at the side, and opposite the south part of the monumental chamber. The low roof is artificially wrought above it. In this sepulchre twelve lamps, according to the number of the twelve holy Apostles, burn day and night continually, of which four are placed below in the inner part of that sepulchral couch, and the other eight above, over the margin on the right side. . . . This chamber of the Lord's monument, not being covered within by any ornaments, exhibits to this day the marks of the workmen's tools by which it was excavated. The colour of the rock of the monument and sepulchre is not uniform, but a mixture of red and white.' —'Holy City,' ii. 174, 175.
90 APPENDIX,
Of the Church of St. Mary.
(Page 9, cap. v.)
' The quadrangular church of Holy Mary, the Mother of the Lord, is joined on the right side to that round church described above, and which is called Anastasis, or Resur- rection, because it is constructed on the place of the Lord's resurrection.'
Of the Church of Calvary.
(Pages 9, lo, cap. vi.)
'Another church, of great magnitude, is constructed towards the east in that place which is called Golgotha. In its upper parts there hangs by ropes a certain brazen rota with lamps, beneath which a great silver cross is infixed in the very same place where formerly the wooden cross, on which the Saviour of mankind suffered, was fixed and stood.
* In the same church there is a cave cut out of the rock beneath the place of the Lord's cross, where the sacrifice is offered upon an altar for the souls of certain honoured persons, whose bodies, meanwhile, lying in the street, are placed before the door of the said Golgothan Church, until the holy mysteries for the defunct are finished,
Of the Basilica of Constantine.
(Pages lo, II, capp. vii., viii.)
*To this church, constructed upon a quadrangular plan in the place of Calvary, there adjoins on the eastern side that neighbouring stone basilica, erected with great magnificence by the royal Constantine, called also the Martyrium, which was located, as they say, in the place where the cross of our Lord, with the other two crosses of the thieves, con-
APPENDIX,
91
cealed under the earth, was found by the gift of the Lord, after two hundred and thirty-three years. Between these two churches occurs that famous place where Abraham the Patriarch erected an altar for the sacrifice of Isaac . . where now there stands a small wooden table upon which people offer alms for the poor. . . . Between the * Anas- tasis,' that is, the above-described church, and the Basilica of Constantine is a small court, extending as far as the Golgothan Church, in which court lamps are kept con- stantly burning day and night.'
Of the other Exedra in the Church of Calvary.
(Pages II, 12, cap. ix.) 'Between the Golgothan Church and the Martyrium is a certain " Exedra," or apse, in which is the cup. This Arculfus goes on to describe as the cup of the Last Supper,' and also to state that he saw the * sponge ' and the * lance.' — * Holy City,' ii., 259-261,
THE END.
BILLING AND SONS, PRINTERS, GUILDFORU.
The Right Rev. W. R. Brownlow, Bishop of Clifton, writes with reference to 'The Hodoeporicon of St. Willibald,' which he kindly translated and edited for the Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society, that, when visiting Lucca last November, he saw the tomb of St. Richard, the father of St. Willibald. On the front of his altar there is an inscription enclosed in a circle as follows :
DIVI
RICARDI
REGIS . OSSA
ET.CINERES
* I could not discover any fragment of the Inscription copied by Evelyn in 1645. There was an old worm-eaten copy of it, printed on paper, and mounted on a board. The old Church of St. Fre- dianOjt Irish Finnian, is extremely interesting, and dates from the sixt century ; as also is the Cathedral.
' I thought you might be interested to know that St. Richard, whom Mr. Kerslake makes out was King of Crediton, is still known at Lucca.'
Palestine pilgrims' %txi (Sodetg.
THE HODCEPORICON
OF
SAINT WILLIBALD.
(Circa 754 a.d.)
REV. CANON BROWNLOW, M.A.,
TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE.
LONDON :
24, HANOVER SQUARE, W.
1895.
CONTENTS.
PAGB
INTRODUCTION . . . , , . vii
PROLOGUE . . . . . .1
I. HOW IT IS PROPOSED TO WRITE THE LIFE . . 3
II. WHILE AN INFANT HE IS ATTACKED WITH A
GRIEVOUS ILLNESS . . . . .3
in. HIS PARENTS PROMISE FOR THEIR CHILD THAT HE
SHOULD LEAD A MONASTIC LIFE . . .4
IV. ON THE CHILDHOOD OF WILLIBALD ; HE IS TAKEN
TO THE MONASTERY OF WALDHEIM . . .4
V. HE PERSEVERES IN SACRED LEARNING, AND IN THE
LIFE OF A MONK . . . . .5
VL PILGRIMAGE COMES INTO HIS MIND . . .5
VII. HIS FATHER CONSENTS, AND, TOGETHER WITH HIS SON WUNEBALD, ENTERS INTO THE DESIGN OF GOING ABROAD . . . . .6
VIII. ON WILLIBALD'S CROSSING OVER, HIS JOURNEY TO ROME : HAMEL-MOUTH, THE SEINE, ROUEN, THE GORTHONIC LAND, LUCCA, THE BASILICA OF ST. PETER ....... 6
IX. ROME : THEY SUFFER FROM FEVER . . .8
X. TERRACINA, GAIETA, NAPLES, RHEGIUM, CATANA,
MOUNT ETNA, SYRACUSE . . . .9
XI. THE ADRIATIC SEA, MONEMBASIA, CHIOS, SAMOS, EPHESUS, PHYGALA, HIERAPOLIS, PATARA, MILETUS, CHELIDONIUM, CYPRUS, PAPHOS, CONSTANTIA . JO
XII. ANTARARDUS, ARCA, EMESA : CAPTIVITY . .12
XIII. DAMASCUS, GHANA, MOUNT TABOR . . . 15
XIV. TIBERIAS, MAGDALUM, CAPHARNAUM, BETHSAIDA,
CHOROZAIN . . • • . .16
CONTENTS.
PAGE
XV. JOR AND DAN, THE JORDAN, THE POOLS OF MEROM,
CESAREA PHILIPPI . . . . . l6
XVI. MONASTERY AND CHURCH OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST BY THE JORDAN, BAPTISM IN THIS RIVER, THE FEAST OF THE EPIPHANY . , . . I7
XVII. GALGALA, JERICHO, MONASTERY OF ST. EUTHYMIUS . 1 8 XVIII. JERUSALEM, THE CHURCH AND CROSSES IN THE PLACE OF CALVARY, THE GARDEN WITH THE SEPULCHRE OF OUR SAVIOUR, AND THE WONDER- FUL HOUSE . . . . . .19
XIX. WILLIBALD SICK, THE CHURCH OF HOLY SION, SOLO- MON'S PORCH, THE POOL OF PROBATICA . . 20 XX. THE COLUMN IN MEMORY OF THE PLACE WHERE THE JEWS WISHED TO CARRY OFF THE BODY OF HOLY MARY ; HER TRANSLATION IN HOLY SION . 21 XXI. THE VALLEY OF JOSAPHAT, THE CHURCH AND TOMB OF HOLY MARY, THE CHURCH WHERE OUR LORD PRAYED, THE CHURCH OF THE ASCENSION ON MOUNT OLIVET. . . . . .21
XXII. THE PLACE OF THE SHEPHERDS, BETHLEHEM, THE
CAVE AND CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD 22
XXIII. THECUA, THE LAURA AND MONASTERY OF ST. SABA . 23
XXIV. THE LITTLE CHURCH WHERE PHILIP BAPTIZED THE
EUNUCH, GAZA, ST. MATTHIAS, ST. ZACHARIAS, HEBRON . . . . . . .23
XXV. JERUSALEM, DIOSPOLIS (AT ST. GEORGE), CHURCH OF ST. PETER IN JOPPE, THE GREAT SEA, TYRE, SIDON, TRIPOLI, MOUNT LIBANUS, DAMASCUS, CESAREA PHILIPPI . . . . . . 24
XXVI. JERUSALEM, EMESA, SALAMAIS (WHERE HE ^WAS SICK
A LONG TIME), AGAIN EMESA, DAMASCUS . . 2$
XXVII. JERUSALEM, SEBASTIA, CHURCH OVER THE WELL WHERE OUR LORD ASKED WATER FROM THE WOMAN OF SAMARIA, MOUNT GARIZIM, A LARGE TOWN . . . . . . .26
XXVIII. THE PLAIN OF ESDRAELON, PTOLEMAIS, THE WHITE PROMONTORY WITH THE TOWER OF LIBANUS, TYRE, DECEPTION WITH PETROLEUM , , .26
CONTENTS.
PACE
XXIX. CONSTANTINOPLE, NICiEA . . . ,28
XXX. SYRACUSE, CATANA, RHEGIUM, INFERNUS THEODERICI
IN INSULA VULCANI . . . . .29
XXXL THE ISLAND OF LIPARA WITH THE CHURCH OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW THE APOSTLE; THEN THE MOUNTAINS OF DIDYMUS, NAPLES, CAPUA, TEANO, CASSINO . 30 XXXII. MONASTERY OF ST. BENEDICT, THE RIVER RAPIDUS,
COMMUNITY LIFE . . . . .31
XXXin. ROME : the pilgrimage ]S BRIEFLY NARRATED
BEFORE THE POPE . . . . .32
XXXIV. THE POPE EXHORTS HIM TO SET OUT TO [JOIN]
ST. BONIFACE . . . . . .32
XXXV. JOURNEY TO LUCCA, TICINO, BRESCIA, CARTA ; TO ODILO, TO SUITGAR, TO LINTHARD, TO ST. BONIFACE, EIHSTADT, WHERE IS ST. MARY'S CHURCH . . 33
XXXVI FRISINGA, EIHSTADT, WILLIBALD MADE PRIEST . 33
XXXVII. THURINGIA. AT SALZBURG HE IS ENDUED WITH THE FULNESS OF THE PRIESTLY DIGNITY. SOME MATTERS BELONGING TO THE PROLOGUE ARE INSERTED . . . . . .34
XXXVIII. A MONASTERY IS BUILT AT EIHSTADT : COMMUNITY LIFE AFTER THE RULE OF ST. BENEDICT IS ESTAB- LISHED . . . . . . .35
XXXIX. CROWDS FLOW FROM ALL SIDES TO THE APOSTLE OF
THE BAVARIANS . . . . .35
XL. A WHOLE PEOPLE WITH CHIEFTAINS WITHOUT NUM- BER ARE GAINED; PRAISE TO GOD AND TO WILLIBALD . . . . . .35
THE ITINERARY OF ST. WILLIBALD, BY AN ANONYMOUS
WRITER OF THE EIGHTH CENTURY . . , ^7
ITINERARY OF ST. WILLIBALD, ANONYMOUS • . 38
INDEX , . . . , . . ^7
ILLUSTRATIONS.
MAP TO ILLUSTRATE THE ITINERARY OF ST. WILLIBALD E7ld,
MAP OF PALESTINE SHOWING ROUTE OF ST. WILLIBALD End.
INTRODUCTION.
The first English pilgrim to the Holy Land was St. Willi- bald, afterwards Bishop of Eichstadt, and, through his mother, nephew to Wynfrith, who is better known as St. Boniface, the Apostle of Germany. Willibald's mother was Winna, a connection of Ina, King of Wessex, and his father was Richard, who bore the title of king, though the locality of his kingdom has long been a puzzle to anti- quarians. John Evelyn visited Lucca in 1645, and says of the church of St. Frediano that it
*is more remarkable to us for the corpse of St. Richard, an English king, who died here in his pilgrimage towards Rome. This epitaph is on his tomb :
Hie rex Richardus requiescit, sceptifer, almus : Rex fuit Anglorum, regnum tenet iste Polorum. Regnum demisit pro Christo cuncta reliquit. Ergo Richardum nobis dedit Anglia sanctum. Hie genitor Sanctse Walburgs Virginis almas Est Vrillebaldi Sancti simul et Vinebaldi, Suffragium quorum nobis det regna Polorum.'*
Two accounts of Willibald's pilgrimage have come down to us. One is the Itinerarium S. Willibaldi, written by one of the deacons or companions of the Bishop, but whose name has not been preserved. It is apparently written from memory, and not finished until after Willibald's death,
» Diary^ May 21, 1645. The W seems to have puzzled the sculptor.
viii INTRODUCTION.
The other and more valuable account is called the Hodm- poricon (oSoLTropiKov ^l^XLov — guide-book), written by one of the nuns of the Abbey of Heidenheim, a monastery founded by St. Boniface, and presided over by St. Wal- burga. Although the Hodceporico7i was not completed until after Willibald's death, the authoress/ an English lady and a relation of the Bishop, had listened to Willibald relating his travels, and from his own dictation and with his approval, in the presence of two deacons, who were fellow- listeners, had taken down these narratives on paper. The style is unpolished ; she indulges in occasional digressions, and is given to heaping up a number of adjectives to emphasize her meaning. But one can read between the lines the eager curiosity of the young nun, anxious to know all she could of the places which were so dear to her heart, and which the pilgrim had actually visited. The repetitions and ampliations of the descriptions are evidently