Ranulphi Higden – POLYCHRONICON VOLUME 1 – Modern English Translation

We are happy to offer this version of the Polychronicon in modern English. This remarkable collection of writings by the Benedictine monk Ranulph Higden provides an outstanding record of the beliefs held by people in medieval times. His reflections on ancient stories are particularly engaging, and the book contains a wealth of lore material. Although written by a Christian author, the work is notably revered among Freemasons, likely because Ranulph presents various legends and polytheistic reconstructions that resonate with Masonic traditions.

POLYCHRONICON

VOLUME 1

Translated in modern english

Summary of Contents

Book One – The Map of the World

Chapter I – The Prologue

The author begins by praising historians. Written records alone preserve the memory of great deeds from the past and uphold learning, law, and the arts in the present. Without writing, emperors, philosophers, and apostles would be almost forgotten. Of all forms of writing, history is the most noble, bringing the greatest honor to those who practice it.

The author’s purpose is to hand down the praises of his native land to future generations, drawing on the works of earlier historians. His friends, however, encourage him to expand his project into a complete history of the world arranged in chronological order. Although he doubts his own ability and learning, he resolves to follow previous historians humbly, gathering what they have left behind.

His book is meant to be a helpful summary for readers who may not have access to large libraries. Perfect accuracy cannot be expected in every part of history, yet not every marvelous story should be dismissed as false. The author therefore does not claim that every statement is true, but simply reports faithfully what he finds in his sources. He rephrases their ideas in his own words, naming his authorities before the passages drawn from them, and marking his own contributions by adding his name.
(pp. 2–20)

Chapter II – The Authors Cited in This Book

A list of the writers and their works used as sources.
(pp. 20–26)

Chapter III – The Division of the Work into Seven Books

The title Polychronicon (“Many Times”) reflects the nature of the work. Its seven-part division follows the pattern of the seven days of Creation.

Book I provides a map and description of the world and its main regions, ending with Britain.
Book II summarizes world history from the Creation of humanity to the destruction of the Jewish Temple.
Book III continues the story from the return from Babylonian exile to the coming of Christ.
Book IV carries it forward to the arrival of the Saxons in England.
Book V continues to the Danish invasions.
Book VI proceeds to the Norman Conquest.
Book VII concludes with the author’s own time, during the reign of King Edward III.
(pp. 26–28)

Chapter IV – Preliminary Observations for Readers

Topics covered include:

Descriptions of places
The states or “ages” of the world
The different divine dispensations
The succession of empires
The forms of religion
The divisions of time and human history
The various ways years are counted among different peoples

The author discusses methods of reckoning years used by the Hebrews, Greeks, Romans, and Christians, with special reference to the chronological systems of Dionysius Exiguus and Marianus Scotus. He notes the mistakes of Dionysius and explains the dating method he himself adopts.
(pp. 30–40)

Chapter V – The Dimensions of the World

This chapter describes the survey of the world ordered by Julius Caesar, giving its length and breadth, the diameter of the earth, and even the supposed distance from the surface of the earth to the underworld.
(pp. 40–46)

Chapter VI – The Divisions of the Earth

Defines the boundaries of Europe, Asia, and Africa.
(pp. 46–48)

Chapter VII – Description of the Regions of the Earth

Discusses the population, climate, and size of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Some geographers, the author notes, recognize only Europe and Asia, treating Africa as part of Europe.
(pp. 48–52)

Chapter VIII – The Mediterranean Sea

Describes the limits and extent of the Mediterranean, naming its bays, straits, and other notable parts, including the Black Sea (Euxine), the Propontis (Sea of Marmara), and the Hellespont (Dardanelles).
(pp. 52–58)

Chapter IX – The Ocean

The ocean encircles the entire earth. The tides are strongest near the shores; possible causes of this are discussed. The ocean has three great inlets: the Mediterranean, the Caspian, and the Red Sea. The Red Sea’s color is said to come from its coastal soil. The Caspian Gates are mentioned, along with legendary tales about them. Whirlpools are described in both the Mediterranean and Atlantic Oceans.
(pp. 58–64)

Chapter X – The Regions of the Earth, Beginning with Paradise

Three main points are discussed about Paradise: its existence, location, and nature.

The four rivers of Paradise are described. Contrary to some opinions, Paradise is not a region raised above the surface of the world—astronomical evidence disproves this. It is most likely located at the farthest eastern limits of the earth, covering a large territory, at least as great as India or Egypt.

Its name means “garden of delights,” for there beauty, health, and safety are everlasting. The waters of Noah’s Flood did not reach Paradise, which is protected by a fiery wall and by cherubim who guard it from both humans and evil spirits.
(pp. 66–78)

Book the First (continued)

Chapter XI – Asia and Its Provinces

The name and origin of the term Asia are discussed. The chapter begins with India, describing its natural resources, climate, and diverse peoples. It notes their customs, especially the institution of castes, and mentions reports of strange and marvelous races such as Pygmies, naked philosophers (Gymnosophists), and dog-headed men (Cynocephali). It also refers to the legendary Trees of the Sun and Moon, which were said to have warned Alexander the Great not to enter Babylon.
(pp. 78–84)

Chapter XII – Parthia

The extent and meaning of the name Parthia are explained. The Parthians were originally exiles from Scythia, and little is known about them before the Macedonian period. The chapter describes their customs, the Arsacid dynasty, and their distinctive style of warfare—particularly their famous mounted archery.
(pp. 84–90)

Chapter XIII – Assyria and Neighboring Regions

This section gives the etymology and boundaries of Assyria, Media, and Persia. It includes a description of Babylonia and the city of Babylon, followed by notes on Chaldea and the Tower of Babel.

Then follows Arabia, with its natural resources and the description of Mount Sinai. Mount Lebanon is described for its rich natural products. Finally, Syria is discussed—its name, limits, and the notable city of Damascus.
(pp. 92–102)

Chapter XIV – The Region of Judea

The name and meaning of Judea are discussed, along with its extent, boundaries, and resources. Jerusalem, originally called Salem, is said to have been renamed Jerosolyma by Solomon and Solyma by poets. Under Emperor Hadrian, it was called Aelia. St. Jerome, however, believed that Salem referred instead to Scythopolis (Beth-shan).

The chapter describes the city’s position, noting that it has no natural springs. It covers Mount Zion, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and the miracle of the Holy Fire. It recounts Solomon’s fortification and adornment of the city, and describes nearby sacred places: the Mount of Olives, the brook Cedron, Gethsemane, Mount Calvary, and the Dead Sea with its strange qualities. The Pentapolis and the apples of Sodom are also mentioned.
(pp. 102–118)

Chapter XV – The Region of Canaan

The origin of the name Canaan is given. The region of Palestine and its boundaries are described, along with Idumea and its famous spring, Jobyn.

Samaria, once part of Palestine, lies between Judea and Galilee; the word Samarite means “keepers.” Sichem, now called Neapolis, is noted for its historical importance. Galilee lies between Judea and Palestine, divided into upper and lower regions, with its lake (the Sea of Galilee) and towns such as Ptolemais (Acre).

The city of Cedar, inhabited by the descendants of Ishmael—also known as Hagarens or Saracens—is described, with remarks on their way of life. Finally, Phoenicia is defined by its boundaries, and the Phoenicians are credited as the inventors of the alphabet.
(pp. 120–128)

Chapter XVI – Egypt

The origin of the name Egypt and its geographical limits are given, along with notes on its natural products. The Nile River is discussed at length—especially the causes of its annual flooding, about which various ancient opinions are recorded.
(pp. 130–134)

Chapter XVII – Scythia and Neighboring Regions

Scythia lies partly in Europe and partly in Asia. Its boundaries and the customs of its people are described. The Scythians are said to have conquered Egypt, Persia, and even Alexander’s armies, and to have founded the Parthian and Bactrian empires—their women establishing that of the Amazons.

The chapter recounts their three invasions of Asia and a major slave revolt that was eventually suppressed. It also defines the boundaries of Bactria, describing Mount Caucasus, and outlines the territories of Hyrcania, Hiberia, and Albania, with notes on their inhabitants and animals (notably the fierce dogs of Albania). It then describes Gothia and the spread of its people into Europe, Asia, and Africa, concluding with the origin and extent of Armenia and the location of Mount Ararat.
(pp. 134–146)

Chapter XVIII – Cappadocia and Asia Minor

The limits of Cappadocia are given, followed by a definition of Asia Minor and its main provinces: Bithynia, Galatia, Phrygia Minor (or Dardania), Lydia, Pamphylia (or Isauria), and Cilicia, which includes Lycia and Lycaonia.

The section also covers Amazonia, said to lie partly in Europe and partly in Asia, describing the customs and government of the Amazons and their queen Thalestris, who, according to legend, corresponded with Alexander the Great.
(pp. 146–154)

Chapter XIX – Africa and Its Inhabitants

The meaning and definition of Africa are discussed, followed by a list of its provinces. Ethiopia is described, with its strange peoples—the Garamantes, Troglodytes, and others—and its exotic animals and remarkable springs. The boundaries and name of Libya are also explained, along with those of Tripolitana and Gaetulia.
(pp. 154–162)

Chapter XX – Africa (continued)

This chapter continues the account of Africa, describing Numidia and the foundation of Carthage. It addresses the chronological problems in Virgil’s story of Aeneas and Dido, and gives the dimensions of Carthage. The name and divisions of Mauretania—Caesariensis and Tingitana—are described, ending with a description of Mount Atlas.
(pp. 162–168)

Chapter XXI – Europe and Its Provinces

The name and boundaries of Europe are explained, with special reference to the River Tanais (Don). Brief notes are given on Lower Scythia, Alania, Moesia, Sclavia, and Pannonia.
(pp. 168–174)

Chapter XXII – Greece and Its Provinces

This chapter discusses the ancient and modern names of the Greek peoples, noting the decline of the later Greeks. It lists the provinces of Greece and describes Thrace (or Epirus) and its chief city, Constantinople, including the churches built there by Constantine and Justinian and the relics of the saints kept in the city.

It also mentions the Lacedaemonians (Spartans), who founded Tarentum, and then describes Macedonia, including Mount Olympus and Mount Athos, followed by the boundaries of Dalmatia.
(pp. 174 and following)

Chapter XXII (continued) – Greece and Its Provinces

A description of Achaia, including notes on Corinth. Then follows Arcadia, with mention of its products. Thessaly is described—its people and its remarkable natural features. The myths of the Lapiths and Centaurs are explained. Descriptions are given of Mount Parnassus, the Vale of Tempe, and the story of Deucalion’s Flood.

The name Helladia is explained; it includes Attica, Boeotia, and Peloponnesus. Cecrops is said to have founded Acte, later known as Athens. The famous contest between Minerva (Athena) and Neptune (Poseidon) for the city is recounted. The Hellespont is mentioned.

The chapter continues with the early civilization of Athens, its ancient kings, and the etymology of Boeotia, along with its natural marvels and a notice of Thebes.
(pp. 174–196)

Chapter XXIII – Italy and Its Provinces

Italy was once known by several names: Magna Graecia, Hesperia, Saturnia, and Ausonia. The reason it was later called Italy is explained, along with its boundaries, rivers, and natural wonders. The provinces of Italy are listed, with notes on Apulia and its capital Brundisium (Brindisi), and on Campania Major and Minor, including Capua, Naples, and Virgil’s Baths.

The early inhabitants of Italy before the Lombards are named, and the origin and rise of the Lombard nation are described.
(pp. 198–206)

Chapter XXIV – The City of Rome

This chapter cites modern (for the author) writers on Rome, and recounts legendary tales about the building of various parts of the city—attributed to Noah, Janus, Saturn, Italus, Hercules, and Evander—until Romulus united them all within one city wall. The date of Rome’s foundation is given.

A list follows of the city gates and the circumference of the walls. The author describes the principal palaces—including the central palace, the Palace of Peace built by Romulus, the Palace of Diocletian, and the Palace of Sixty Emperors. He also mentions the Pantheon, the arches of Augustus and Scipio, and the holovitreum (a glass temple) said to have been destroyed by St. Sebastian.

Other monuments described include the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, the origin of the term flamen, and the wonders of the Golden House with its magical legends. The statue of Bellerophon, said to hang suspended in midair, is noted, along with the city’s theatres, aqueducts, and baths.

Accounts follow of the giant Pallas and his epitaph; the statues of Jupiter and Venus; the pyramids of Romulus and Julius Caesar; and the marble horses. The legend of Praxiteles and Phidias is mentioned.

The famous colossal statue (said variously to represent Theodoric, Constantine, Marcus, or Quintus Curtius) is described, as is the Colossus from Rhodes, credited with magical powers and destroyed by Pope Gregory. The statue of the City of Rome and its miraculous fall are recorded, followed by the Palace of Vespasian and a poetic inscription nearby.
(pp. 206–238)

Chapter XXV – On Certain Institutions of the Romans

The ceremonies of a Roman triumph are described, including the privileges allowed to victors. The rites of imperial coronation, and the Roman method of declaring war, are also explained.

The different kinds of togas worn by citizens are described, along with the distinction between dies fasti and nefasti (days on which legal business could or could not be done).

Other topics include the festival of Quinquatria, the early division of the Roman people by Romulus into two, and later four, classes; the ides, kalends, and other calendar terms; the veteran soldiers (milites emeriti); the Nonarii (so called for their number); and the Proletarii.

The origin of divorce among the Romans is noted, followed by reflections on the character of the emperors and people.
(pp. 238–252)

Chapter XXVI – Germany and Its Parts

Following Isidore, the author defines the limits of Germany, dividing it into Upper and Lower regions, and listing its provinces. He observes that the northern peoples are stronger and more numerous than those of the south—hence the great waves of barbarian invaders such as the Huns, Goths, Vandals, and Saxons that descended upon Europe.

He describes the limits and products of Bohemia (including the bison), and the boundaries of Thuringia, Franconia, Bavaria, Westphalia, Swabia, and Saxony, with notes on the Saxons’ character, ancient government, and resources.

The chapter also describes Frisia—its geography, people, and customs—and Seland (Zealand), with its land and inhabitants. Mentions are made of the Scribonii, a northern tribe, and the legend of the Seven Sleepers.
(pp. 254–266)

Chapter XXVII – Gaul, or France

The name Gallia (Gaul) is explained. The Galli, priests of the goddess Cybele, did not give their name to the country, but were named after the River Gallus. The character of the Gauls is described, along with the boundaries and divisions of Gaul in the time of Julius Caesar.

Its rivers and minerals are noted—especially the plaster of Paris—and Paris itself is praised.

The Franks, like many European nations, are said to have descended from Trojans. Their ancestor Antenor founded Sicambri in Pannonia; later leaders Trogotus and Franco gave the nation its name. Another legend credits Charlemagne, who freed slaves throughout Gaul in honor of St. Denis, making them “Franks” (freemen of the saint). Others say that Emperor Valentinian first called the Sicambri Feranci because of their fierce nature.

The succession of French kings is listed: the Merovingians (with notes on individual kings), followed by Charles Martel, Pepin, and Charlemagne. The Carolingian dynasty is then described, leading to Hugh Capet, Duke of Burgundy, whose line still reigns in France. The successors of Charlemagne in Italy and Germany are traced down to Emperor Conrad. The chapter ends with an enumeration of the tribes and provinces that successively occupied Gaul.
(pp. 266–286)

Chapter XXVIII – The Provinces of France

Descriptions of the main French regions:

Brabant, famous for its fine wool.
England’s waters, said to be poor for dyeing, though Lincoln and London make excellent scarlet.
Flanders, its boundaries, people, and natural wealth.
Picardy, divided into Upper and Lower parts.
Normandy, settled by Danish and Norwegian sailors, with Rouen as its capital.
Brittany, twice colonized by Britons—first under Belinus, later in Vortigern’s reign—its limits described and a marvelous fountain mentioned.
Poitou and Poitiers, their settlement and inhabitants.
Aquitaine (Guienne), with defined boundaries.
Anjou, its situation.
Gascony, once part of Guienne, originally settled by Pompey’s Vascones, now called Basques.
Burgundy, so named for its founders; the people are noted for suffering from goitre.
(pp. 288–298)

Chapter XXIX – Spain

The boundaries of Spain are defined. The land, once called Hesperia and Hiberia, is divided into Hispania Citerior and Ulterior. Its provinces are listed, with mention of Carthago Spartaria.

The history of Spain’s occupation by Carthaginians, Goths, and Saracens is summarized, the last being now confined to the eastern parts of the peninsula.
(pp. 298–302)

Chapter XXX – The Islands of the Mediterranean

Descriptions of the islands within the Mediterranean:

Gades (Cadiz) and the Pillars of Hercules.
Majorca and Minorca.
Sardinia, with its wonders.
Corsica, named after a woman called Corsa; its fertility and extent.
Aradus, near Tyre, famed for its sailors.
The Cyclades, including Rhodes and Delos (formerly Ortygia).
Samos, its history and famous pottery.
Cyprus, and Crete, with their resources, arts, and sciences; mention of the Labyrinth.
Sicily, once called Trinacria and Sicania, formerly joined to Italy at Rhegium; the legends of Scylla and Charybdis.
Sicily is noted for inventing the plough and comedy, and for its volcanic nature. The chapter describes Mount Etna, which St. Gregory thought to be the place of torment for souls, and recounts the island’s marvelous wells, singing crickets, Palermo, Sal Agrigentinus, and the Aeolian Islands.
Other islands in the Euxine (Black Sea)—notably Colchis and Patmos—are briefly noted.
(pp. 302–318)

Chapter XXXI – The Islands of the Atlantic

Descriptions of the Atlantic islands:

The Canaries or Fortunate Islands, believed by the ancients to be Paradise because of their great fertility.
Denmark (Dacia), settled by the Goths, whose invasions brought drunken habits to Britain.
Wyntland, whose people are said to sell wind to sailors.
Iceland, its position, products, and hardy inhabitants.
Thule (also called Tile), or the Island of the Sun, described as six days’ sail from Britain, with its unique climate. Tilis is noted as a different island.
Norway, with its cold climate, forests, and people—hunters and seafarers known for piracy.
(pp. 320–328)

Chapter XXXII – Ireland

Ireland is described at length, drawing chiefly from Giraldus Cambrensis. Topics include its geography, resources, people, saints, and miracles.

Ireland, the farthest western island, was named Hibernia after Hiberus, the brother of Hermon (Hermonius), a Spaniard—or from the river Hiberus. It was also once called Scotia.

The island’s position and rough surrounding seas are described. Its length is said to be eight days’ journey (forty miles per day) from the Brendan Hills to St. Columba, and four days across from Dublin to Connaught.

The land is mountainous and marshy, yet extremely fertile, with a healthy climate. Beef is wholesome, but pork unhealthy. No natural poisons are found there. Its animals, birds, and fish are described, including the barnacle goose, said to grow from driftwood and therefore eaten on fast days as not being true flesh—an opinion the author rejects.

He corrects Bede and others on Ireland’s natural history, and lists its gems and pearls. Deficiencies of the island include small grains of wheat and smaller animals overall (except humans). Freshwater fish are scarce, and certain hawks, game, and other animals are absent.

Venomous creatures are said to have been banished by St. Patrick, though more likely they never existed there. Poison brought to Ireland loses its strength as it nears the coast, and Irish soil kills venomous animals. The chapter closes with curious tales about Irish cocks crowing.
(pp. 328–338)

Chapter XXXIII – Ireland (continued): The Original Inhabitants

This section recounts the legendary early history of Ireland.

The island’s first settlers before the Flood were said to be Casera and her followers. About 300 years after the Flood came Bartholanus, a descendant of Japhet; his family grew to nine thousand, but all perished from the stench of the slain giants except Ruanus, who supposedly lived fifteen hundred years until the time of St. Patrick, to whom he told the nation’s early history.

A later Scythian colony under Nimeth arrived, but was destroyed by war and plague.

After 216 years without people living in Ireland, a Greek colony arrived, led by five generals descended from Nimeth. They divided the island into five regions and placed a pillar in the center of the land. Eventually, one leader named Slanius became the sole ruler of Ireland.

Later, a group from Spain arrived led by Hiberus and Hermon, the sons of King Milesius. Hermon killed his brother and took full control as king. From his reign until the time Saint Patrick arrived, 131 kings ruled Ireland. The tradition claims that 1,800 years passed between the arrival of these Spaniards and the death of Saint Patrick.

The Irish were also known as the Gaels or Scots. Their ancestor Gaytelus, the grandson of Phenius, was said to have married Scota, the daughter of Pharaoh. After the biblical “Confusion of Languages,” they came to Ireland and created the Irish (Gaelic) language. Later, a British prince named Gurgentius brought Basque settlers from Spain, who had been living homeless in the Orkney Islands. He placed a leader over them in Ireland, which was used to argue that Ireland belonged to Britain by right.

From the time of Saint Patrick until King Fedlimidius, 33 kings ruled over a span of about 400 years. Then a Norwegian leader named Turgesius invaded and conquered Ireland. His men built many fortifications and castles. Turgesius was supposedly sent from Britain by a conqueror named Gurmund, who was believed to have conquered Britain and Ireland.

Turgesius fell in love with the daughter of the King of Meath. The king tricked and murdered him, ending his 30-year rule. Soon after, more Norse settlers came as traders. They founded Dublin, Waterford, and Limerick. Conflicts eventually broke out between them and the Irish. They introduced a weapon called the sparth (a type of battle axe).

From Turgesius to the last native High King, Roderick of Connaught, 17 kings ruled. King Henry II of England conquered Roderick. From Hermon to Roderick there were 81 kings overall, none crowned in the Christian way, but instead raised to power through force.

Chapter 34.

Ireland: The Character of the People

Ancient writers like Solinus described the Irish as wild, lawless, and idle. Gerald of Wales suggested their habits had not changed much in his own time. He described their clothing, weapons, and music, but also criticized what he saw as immoral behavior. They resisted paying tithes to the Church and were accused of cowardice and treachery. There were also folk stories claiming that old women could turn themselves into hares, and that sorcerers could transform dead material into living pigs, though the spell only lasted three days or until the animals crossed water. People often believed that the edges of the world held the greatest marvels, and Ireland was used as an example of this idea.

Chapter 35.

Ireland: Wonders of the Land

Stories were told of supernatural islands, including one where no one could die. There was an island in a lake in Ulster said to contain Saint Patrick’s Purgatory, a place of penance with special rituals. Some lakes were believed to turn objects into stone or reveal submerged towers. In Ossory, legends claimed that every seven years a man and woman were transformed into wolves. Saint Colman was associated with special birds that protected his church.

Chapter 36.

Ireland: The Saints

Irish saints were described as more harsh or vengeful than those elsewhere. Clergy were seen as pure in conduct but heavy drinkers, and bishops often came from monastic backgrounds, making them more focused on contemplation than administration. Ireland was said to have many confessors but no martyrs. One bishop offered a mocking explanation for this. Sacred objects like bells and staffs were greatly revered, including the “Staff of Jesus” at Dublin that Patrick was believed to have used to drive out snakes. Writers tried to explain how different animals came to live on different islands.

Chapter 37.

Scotland (Albania)

Scotland’s boundaries were described, along with its name changing over time: first Albania, then Pictavia because of the Picts, and then Hibernia due to close ties with the Irish. Bede was cited to support the name Hibernia. The Scottish people were depicted as having rough habits, with a harsh climate. Their kings were not crowned in a formal ceremony. Saint Andrew was their patron saint, and stories were told about his appearance to a Pictish king named Ungus.

Chapter 38.

Wales (Cambria)

Wales was named for Camber, son of Brutus. Later it was said to be named after Gwalae, a princess who married there. The land was praised as rich in resources, producing livestock, crops, metals, and other goods. It was called “the pantry of the earth.” The land was divided into regions like Demetia and Venedocia, with courts in Carmarthen, Anglesey, and Pengwern.

The Welsh people were described as impulsive, heavy-drinking, lazy, and superstitious, though improving due to contact with the English. Strange marvels were reported such as a lake with underwater buildings, earthquakes caused by demons, miraculous springs, floating islands, sacred relics, and the legendary figures of Merlin. Snowdonia was said to contain unusual fish, and islands with superstitious tales about quarrelsome monks and magical stones. Sacred wells and shrines were noted as well.

POLYCHRONICON VOL 1

Modern English Translation:

After the solemn and wise writers of art and of learning—who all their lives took delight and pleasure in studying and working for knowledge and understanding of natural things, and in practicing moderation and readiness of virtues—these men are worthy to be highly and solemnly praised. It is as though they mixed together usefulness and sweetness, for they wrote and left us writings of marvels and wonders, and the great deeds and achievements of our forefathers—men of strong wit, wisdom, and worth—and of many different kinds of people who lived in ancient times.

For in the making and the books of histories that have been sent and bequeathed to us through the great diligence of the writers of chronicles, the true rule of virtues shines clearly—giving examples for living, cleansing toward goodness, and the meeting and joining together of the three ways of the three divine virtues, as well as the four ways of the four chief moral virtues of royal conduct.

Of these things our small understanding could not have taken knowledge, nor followed their ways, if not for the diligence of those writers who have held and restrained in memory the deeds of old. For our short life, dull wit, slow understanding, and idle occupations prevent us from knowing many things; forgetfulness, ever keeping the craft of a stepmother, is the enemy of memory.

Also, now in our time, art, science, and law have all decayed; examples of noble deeds would not be known, nobility and fair speech would all be lost, if not that the mercy of God had ordained for us the gift of letters—as a remedy for the imperfection of mankind.

For I ask—who now would know of the emperors, or the wonders of the philosophers, or follow the apostles—if their noble deeds and wondrous works had not been written in histories and so preserved?

Who would remember Lucilius, if Seneca had not written of his deeds in his letters? The writings of poets are more worthy of praise to emperors than all the wealth of this world, or the riches they possessed while they were alive. For history is the witness of time, the memory of life, the messenger of antiquity. History preserves great deeds that have passed; history brings forth those who profess it. Deeds that would be lost, history governs; deeds that would flee from memory, history calls back again; deeds that would die, history keeps forever.

Therefore, among other noble laborers in the three paths of virtue, and the fair flourishers and exalted masters of words and of verse, who through their labor have won great praise, we can never fully give due honor to those who, in their histories, measure and describe the whole wide world. Yet, without any doubt, they shall receive their reward from Him who repays and rewards all who do well.
Inspired and encouraged by the worthiness and example of such noble writers—not boasting of my own deeds, nor scorning or blaming the works of others—I have planned and arranged, as best I may, to make and to write a treatise gathered from various books, concerning the condition of the island of Britain, for the knowledge of those who shall come after us.

Then certain friends who knew my intent, and who took pleasure in knowing the deeds of great men, earnestly prayed me that I should also write the famous histories and reckon the years from the beginning of the world down to our own time.
Then I considered that this matter, like the labyrinth of Daedalus’s house, has many corners and turns—marvelous ways, windings, and twistings that will not easily be unraveled. I was ashamed and afraid to take upon myself so great and so weighty a task. For idleness and sloth hinder great works that men would otherwise perform; and my wit is too little to unwind the entanglements of so wondrous a work. The subject is vast; many writers have labored within it, and it is full and great in its abundance.

Now men are all too serious and take little heed; lightly they would flatter or mock this simple food, and, like enemies, sharpen their tongues and knit their brows. Of such men speaks Gregory Nazianzen, who says that those who gladly blame the faults of others, yet do not sincerely follow goodness themselves, are unwise. All this I had in mind, and also I…

…I knew my own poverty, and I was ashamed and afraid to speak after such noble orators, who sounded like trumpets, while my barren speech is but hoarse and stammering—like one who roots up mulberry bushes to serve dainty men who live in pleasure, yet would offer them only sour grapes.

For if, after the labors of Hercules and after the strife, jousts, and tournaments of Olympus, a pygmy were to prepare himself for battle and arm himself to fight—who could help but laugh? Likewise, who would not mock if I were to pipe upon an oat reed and miss so noble a theme, grunting and whistling after those eloquent masters who sounded forth most gloriously, and who, with fair eloquence and reasoned speech, labored and strove all their lifetime?

Yet I have well in mind what Boaz said to Ruth, who was modest and gathered the ears of grain after his reapers: “No man,” he said, “shall reprove her.” And to his reapers he said, “If she will reap with you, do not forbid her, and let no man hinder her.”

So also the poet Mantuanus (that is, Virgil Maro), as Isidore says in his Etymologies, Book Ten, and Horace, as Hugutio of Pisa notes in his Derivations, chapter Peruiso: “When enemies despised Horace and accused him that he…”

“…had taken some of Homer’s verses and mixed them among his own, and called him a gatherer of old writings, he answered and said: ‘It would be a great strength indeed to wrest a club out of Hercules’ hand.’

Therefore, I pray that no man blame me, though I fare as the sand and the ashes — for though they be dim and foul in themselves, yet they cleanse and make other things shine bright; and many other things that they do not have in themselves, they yet give to others. So says the satiric prophet: ‘I am as the whetstone that makes iron sharp and keen.’

Likewise Gregory, in his Pastoral Rule, says, ‘I have painted a fair man, though I myself am but a poor painter.’ Therefore I trust in that charity of which Gregory speaks in his Homily — that with virtue and strength, ignorance may be forgiven — and I venture into the harvest, which is full of toil and wakefulness, though it be cast out and despised by envious and proud men. Yet I hope it shall be profitable to good and humble students.

I shall enter into the fields of our forefathers and follow…”

…I shall follow the reapers, if in any way I may glean and gather for myself some of the ears of corn that the reapers have cut and let fall from their hands. Or, rather, if I might gather something of the crumbs that fall from the tables of lords who were once filled, and left their leavings for their children.

And also, if I might collect any scraps of the remnants from the twelve baskets, and add somewhat to and increase the writings of the authors—as a dwarf sitting upon the neck of a giant—through whom young learners may be brought to knowledge, and greater men to practice and careful study, so that they may be informed and taught by this short treatise.

For those who have not seen the great and lengthy volumes that are written of histories, there shall not be here subtlety of meaning nor fine ornament of words, but rather the sweetness of devotion in the matter itself shall reign in this book.

And in this book and treatise are gathered nearly all the problems and questions of the wisest men that have been planted, and also many things not written in other books, which I have gathered from common sources as though from a story, and written in this treatise, that men after our time should know them.

For partly through the malice of enemies, and partly through the sloth of writers, knowledge…

…the record of great deeds is now so nearly lost and forgotten that scarcely even the bare names of places remain in our memory.

Yet the fables and tales of unbelieving and lawless men, and the wonders and marvels of many diverse countries and lands, are set down in this book, for such things serve a purpose and are good for Christian people to know. For Virgil sought the gold of wit and wisdom in the mire of Ennius the poet; and the children of Israel, when they went forth into the Land of Promise, spoiled the Egyptians.

Thus, what in other books is written widely and scattered in parts, is here gathered together in order and in rule — so that, being turned to seriousness and made helpful to Christians, each among the others, strange stories are here abridged, shortened, and lengthened where needful, so that the whole story stands true, its truth not altered.

Nevertheless, some things are held more certain than others. For Augustine, in The City of God, says: “We ought to believe and honor the miracles of God, and not despise them in contempt.” Wonders are not all to be disbelieved; for Jerome says, “Many wonders you shall find that you would not believe, and yet they are most true: for nature may not act against God, the Lord of all.”

“Nature.” And yet, though many things seem most true, nevertheless one may reasonably doubt them. Isidore, in his Etymologies, Book Fifteen, says: “If reason is uncertain concerning the building of the city of Rome, what wonder is it that men should be uncertain of the building of other cities and towns?”

Therefore, we should not blame the makers and writers of histories who speak and write in differing ways; for the long passing of time and the age of the deeds make them unknown, and cause writers to err.

For which reason Jerome says: “It is seemly to believe their sayings which do not speak against our faith or against known truth.”

Wherefore, in the writing of this history, I do not take upon myself to affirm as true all that I write; but such things as I have seen and read in diverse books, I gather and write without envy, and make common to other men.

For the Apostle does not say, “All that is written for our learning is true,” but he says, “All that is written is written for our learning.”

And though I take it from the writings of other men, yet I call this history mine — and because…

I sometimes write my own words and sentences, and sometimes those of older men — the authors whom, at the beginning of this book, I take as a shield and defense for myself, to save and protect me against enemies who would strongly despise and blame me. First, for myself and for my own name, I write this letter.

Chapter Two

Here I write and rehearse the names of the authors from whom this chronicle is chiefly gathered and drawn:

Josephus, the distinguished historian of the Jews, who, from the beginning of the world up to the fourteenth year of Domitian, wrote twenty books of Antiquities, and also seven books on the overthrow of the city of Jerusalem and the captivity of his people.
Hegesippus, on the destruction of the city, translated by Ambrose.
Pliny, in thirty-seven books, on Natural History.
Trogus Pompeius, in forty-four books, on almost all the histories of the world, which was abbreviated by his disciple Justin.
Eusebius, in the Ecclesiastical History, of which there are eleven books.
The Tripartite Ecclesiastical History, of which…

The three chief authors are Eusebius, Jerome, and Bishop Theodorus.

Augustine, in The City of God, especially Books XVII and XVIII.
Orosius, a Spaniard from Tarragona, priest, in The Book of the World’s Origins.
Isidore of Seville, in his Etymologies.
Solinus, on the Wonders of the World.
Henry of Huntingdon, archdeacon.
Eutropius, in Roman History.
Walter, archdeacon of Oxford.
Paul the Deacon, in History of the Lombards.
Alfred of Beverley, treasurer.
Cassiodorus, on the Deeds of Emperors and Popes.
Geoffrey of Monmouth, in History of the Britons.
Methodius, martyr and bishop, to whom an angel revealed, while imprisoned, the state of the world from beginning to end.
William of Ryvale.
Giraldus Cambrensis, who described the Topography of Ireland, the Itinerary of Wales, and the life of King Henry II, divided into three parts.
Suetonius, on Memorable Deeds.
Macrobius, in the Saturnalia.
John of Salisbury, in his Polycraticus, which he titled Of the Trifles of Courtiers and Philosophers.
Priscian the Grammarian, in Cosmography.
Peter Comestor, in Historia Scholastica.
Hugutio of Pisa, bishop, in his Magnis Derivationibus.
Gregory, on the Wonders of Rome.
Vincent of Beauvais, in Speculum Historiale.
Bede, in De Gestis Anglorum (Ecclesiastical History of the English People).
Ivo of Chartres, bishop.
Bede, in De Naturis Rerum (On the Nature of Things).
History of the Franks.
Bede, in De Temporibus (On Time).
Titus Livius (Livy), in The Deeds of the Romans.

Gildas, on the deeds of the Britons.

Martin, the penitentiary of the Pope, in his chronicles of emperors and bishops.

Marianus Scotus.

William of Malmesbury, monk, on the deeds of the kings of England and the bishops.

Florentius, monk of Worcester, whose reckoning of years I followed most faithfully along with Marianus Scotus.

Henry, archdeacon of Huntingdon.

Walter, archdeacon of Oxford.

Alfred, treasurer of Beverley.

Geoffrey of Monmouth, in his History of the Britons.

William of Ryvale.

Giraldus of Wales, who described the Topography of Ireland, the Itinerary of Wales, and the life of King Henry II, under a threefold division.

John of Salisbury, in his Policraticus, which he entitled Of the Trifles of Courtiers.

Hugo of Pisa, bishop, in his Derivations.

Vincent of Beauvais, in his Mirror of History.

Ivo of Chartres, bishop, on the history of the French people.

Titus Livius (Livy), on the deeds of the Romans.

Second Preface to the History

And because this chronicle contains the bearing and deeds of many ages, therefore I call it Polychronicon, which is the chronicle of many times. In this work, following the example of the first Worcester (Florentius), who completed all his works in six days and rested on the seventh (for his deeds are our instruction), I divide and distribute this work into seven books.

The first book describes places, countries, lands, and all the world at large. The work of six books, corresponding to the number of six ages, contains the bearing and deeds from the beginning of the world up to our own time.

Notably, in the first book of this work — as one describes the general, common, and special — a mappa mundi is depicted and drawn, which is the globe showing the shape of the entire world. Then, its chief parts are divided; and because this story is particularly concerned with Britain, each province and land is described so that Britain may come last of all, as the most special, and therein is contained…

Chapter XV: Necessary Knowledge of the Island of Britain

As if this were an introduction to greater knowledge in the other two books that follow, so that those who cannot attain full knowledge of the entire story may, through this guidance, gain a liking to leave wickedness and sin.

The second book undertakes to tell the bearing and deeds with a description of the lesser world; and because the ages of the world are not all equal in bearing and deeds, and every book is equal and contains similar matter, therefore the second book contains the bearing and deeds of the four ages, from the creation of our first father to the burning of the Temple of the Jews.

The third book treats from the migration of the peoples to the coming of Christ.
The fourth book, from Christ to the coming of the Saxons.
The fifth book, from the Saxons to the Danes.
The sixth book, from the Danes to the Normans.
The seventh book, from the Normans to our own time — that is, the reign of King Edward III after the Conquest.

And so, following the prophecy of Isaiah, this great story is divided into seven streams, so that, being guided and instructed, God’s people may pass safely through them.

Third Preface to the History

To those who desire full knowledge of histories, it is necessary to know certain things: descriptions of places and the state of things, distinctions of times, the succession of kingdoms, differences in ways of living, the passage of ages, manners of action, and in all this a true accounting of years.

The first of these is found in the first book, and the rest in the other books, which I have written openly.

Concerning the second, take heed of two states: one from the beginning of the world to Christ, called the state of misgoverning; the second state, from Christ to the end of the world, is called the state of grace and mercy.

For the third, take heed of three periods: the first before the Law, which I write of; the second under the Law, which I write of; and the third under Grace and Mercy.

For the fourth, take note that at some times there were four principal kingdoms: the Assyrians, the Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans. Nevertheless, concerning the course of the world and the progress of Holy Writ, the first kingdom was…

From our forefathers, from Adam to Moses; the second period is under the Judges, from Moses to Saul; the third under the kings, from Saul to Zerubbabel; the fourth under the bishops, from Zerubbabel to Christ.

For the fifth, take heed of five kinds of living:

The first was in the first age, under the law of nature, common to all men.
The second, in the second age, was the life of the unbelieving, when idolatry began in the time of Ninus, king of Nineveh.
The third, in the third age under the Law, when circumcision and the Law separated the children of Israel from lawless and unbelieving men.
The fourth, the life of Christians, began under Christ, when faith and the grace of the sacraments sanctified their lives.
The fifth, the life of the Saracens, began under Muhammad, as described in the fifth book, and openly shown after the time of Heraclius, the emperor.

For the sixth, take heed of six ages:

The first from Adam to Noah.
The second from Noah to Abraham.
The third from Abraham to David.
The fourth from David to the Babylonian Captivity, when Israel was brought into the dominion of Babylon.
The fifth from the Captivity to Christ.
The sixth from Christ to the end of the world.

And here take note: the ages of the world are not measured simply by the number of years, but by the marvels that occurred in their beginnings:

The first age began from the creation of the world.
The second from Noah’s Flood.
The third from the institution of circumcision.
The fourth from the beginning of kings.
The fifth from the Babylonian Captivity.
The sixth from the Incarnation of Christ.

For the seventh, take heed of seven persons whose deeds I recount in histories: who were king in their realm, knight in battle, judge in law, bishop in the clergy, lawful man among the people, husband in the household, and religious man in the church.

From these spring seven kinds of famous deeds: building of cities, victory over enemies, making of laws, correction of trespasses, aid to the common profit, governance of people and households, and the obtaining of blessed reward — in which is shown both the shining reward of good men and the punishment of evil men.

For the eighth, take heed of eight diverse kinds of…

Regarding the accounting of years: the Jews use one method, the Greeks another, the Romans a third, and Christians yet another.

For the Jews, in treaties and covenants, they have a usual year, beginning in January. In devotion and sacrifice, they have a lawful year, beginning in March. They also have a year of appearance, which they use for calculation and in chronicles, beginning in May, when they passed out of Egypt.

The Greeks in their own way count their years: first, for joy of victory, they counted from the taking of Troy; afterward, they counted by Olympiads, which were the times of their games and tournaments; but after kings began to reign, they counted their years by their reigns, in this manner: “in the year of the reign of the Greeks, the fifth or third, of such and such a king,” as is shown in the Book of the Maccabees.

When the Romans came into their flourish, they counted their years by the reign of emperors in this manner, “from the founding of the city (ab urbe condita).”

But Christians count their years from the Incarnation of Christ.

And when I come to that point in my narrative, I must take heed…

According to the calculations of Dionysius, which England and France follow, there is a difference of 22 years from the reckoning of Jerome, who follows the Gospel. William of Malmesbury, in Book Four of De Pontificibus, says that Marianus Scotus, a monk imprisoned in Mainz, a town of Germany, around the year of grace 1160, carefully examined books and found that Dionysius Exiguus’ reckoning did not agree with the Gospel.

For this Scot, Marianus, counted all years from the beginning of the world, and added to them 22 years, because Dionysius’ account was lacking, and wrote a great and extensive chronicle; from this book Robert, Bishop of Hereford, excerpted material. Therefore, the common chronicles that follow Dionysius fail in many places.

For Jerome, in transferring the chronicle of Eusebius, says that ten years are lacking between the Passion of Christ and the time of Vespasian. Also, twelve years are lacking around the time of Emperor Decius, as is shown in the sixth age. This error occurs…

For days and months were uncounted when kings reigned over complete years. Also, days and months that fell between two kings were often invented. Therefore, in this book I shall mark, as I can, how and in what years such defects are corrected; so that I shall place in the margins, by the headings of the stories, some with double and some with triple rows of years.

From Abraham to the building of the city, I set together the years of the age of the world and of its leaders; from the building of the city to Christ, I set together the years of the city and of its leaders; and from Christ onward, I write together the years of grace and of the prince who reigns.

On the Dimensions of the World (De Orbis Dimensione)

Priscian in Cosmography

Chapter Five

Julius Caesar, by counsel of the senators and elders of Rome, examined and studied histories and books of his years of deeds and actions, and appointed wise men…

And ready to measure and describe the whole world around.

From the time of Julius Caesar to the time of Saturn, for two and thirty years, messengers and wise men, well trained in the practice of geometry, skillful and profitable to measure and estimate height and depth, length and breadth, were diligently sent into every land, to judges and chieftains, to leaders of territories. Their task was to measure and describe land and water, woods and fields, valleys and plains, downs and hills, the seashore, and every place where a man might need to travel by land or by ship; and to record and certify to the senators where and what wonders were found.

This is witnessed by Jerome, in transferring the history of Eusebius, Book Two, Chapter Two. He says that Pilate, judge of Judea, certified to Tiberius Caesar the marvels and wonders that Christ performed in Judea, and Tiberius certified them to the senators, but the senators did not believe, for they had not heard before of such wondrous works. Priscian confirms this.

Thus, by the warning and certification of chieftains of lands, it was discovered and known that all around the world there are well-known seas, islands — one hundred and twelve famous ones…

Hills: forty; provinces: one hundred and eighteen; noble cities: one hundred and thirty; great rivers: fifty-seven; diverse nations: sixty-five.

The circumference of the world around is one hundred and fifteen thousand bow-shots. The length of the land that men inhabit from east to west — that is, from India to the Pillars of Hercules — is eighty-five thousand, one hundred, and eighteen miles by sea. But the journey from one end to the other is much less by water than by land.

The breadth of the land from south to north — that is, from the slope of the Ocean in Ethiopia, the land of the Blumen, to the mouth of the river Thames — is nearly half as much less than the length, and contains forty-five thousand, two hundred, and sixty miles.

It was also found that the deepest place of the sea in the middle of the earth contains fifteen fathoms in depth.

Ptolemy says that the circumference of a circle contains as much as its breadth and a seventh of the breadth, so that the proportion of the circumference to the breadth is as twenty-two to seven.

It is accounted that the circumference of the earth around contains twenty thousand and forty miles. If we divide this sum by three, and the seventh part of the third, the width of the inhabited world is almost six thousand five hundred…

…miles, for nine miles are lacking at the least of that sum.

There shall be six thousand four hundred eighty-one miles. Then half the width of the inhabited world inward and southward is one thousand two hundred and forty-five miles, and somewhat more, as it were half a mile. So, if Hell is in the middle of the earth downward, one might know how many miles it is to Hell.

On the Division of the World (De Orbis Divisione)

Augustine, De Civitate Dei, Book Sixteen, Chapter Eight

For the division of the world, note that the great Ocean encloses all the earth around, and the earth is divided into three great parts: Asia is one, Europe the second, and Africa the third.

But these three parts are not all equal in size; for Asia, one of them, contains half of the earth, and stretches from the south by the east almost to the north, and is enclosed about by the Ocean; but it ends westward at the Great Sea.

Bede, De Naturis Rerum
Its boundaries are the mouths of the rivers…

The Nile in the south, and the river Thames in the north.

[The other part, Europe, stretches downward from the river Thames by the north] to the Ocean, to the coasts of Spain, and joins the Great Sea by east and south, and ends in the island of Gades (Cadiz). — Isidore, Book 14, Chapter 4

Africa, the third part, stretches from the west to the south, straight to the coast of Egypt, and these two parts, Africa and Europe, are separated by the arms of the sea. — Pliny, Book 3, Chapter 1

The mouths of these arms contain fifteen thousand paces in length, and five thousand paces in breadth; and from these mouths, the sea of the middle of the earth begins, and through its various arms spreads inward into the lands.

On the Description of the Parts of the World (De Partium Orbis Descriptione)

Pliny, Book 6; Priscian, Cosmographia
Asia is greatest in size; Europe is smaller, and also smaller in the number of its people; but Africa is least of all three…

The continents differ both in location and in population.

Some men who know lands and peoples counted only two parts of the earth, Asia and Europe; and they considered that Africa belonged to Europe, for Africa is narrow in breadth, inhabited by evildoers, corrupt air, wild beasts, and poisonous creatures. Therefore, those who count Africa as the third part do not measure it by space or by length and breadth, but by its various conditions, better or worse, and separate Africa from Europe and Asia as a diseased limb is set apart from limbs that are whole, sound, and in good condition.

Also, Africa in its nature has less space, and because of the severity of the sky, it has more wilderness. And though Africa is small, it has more wilderness and desolate land because of the great heat and burning of the sun, more than Europe, which, though cold and often severe, is tolerable. For all that lives and grows can better endure cold than heat, except in moderation. — Pliny, Book 6

Therefore Europe nourishes and produces men larger and taller in body, stronger in skill, harder and bolder in heart, and fairer…

…of form, than those of Africa. For the sun’s rays constantly fall upon the men of Africa, and draw out their humors, making them short of stature, black of skin, curly of hair, and by drawing out their spirits, cowardly in heart.

The opposite is true of northern men, in whom the cold, without escape through small pores, retains heat within; and so it makes them fatter, taller, whiter, and stronger internally, and thus harder and bolder in heart.

On the Great Sea in the Middle of the Earth, or the Mediterranean (De Mari Magno Medio sive Mediterraneo)

Pliny, Book 3, Chapter 1

Then the Great Sea of the Middle of the Earth begins in the west at the Pillars of Hercules; there the Atlantic Ocean breaks out and forms the Sea of Gades (Cadiz). The length of this sea is fifteen thousand paces, and the breadth five thousand paces. On the right side lies Africa, and on the left side Europe; and from it spring the inner seas. Its ends are the river Thames on the north side, and the Nile in…

…the southern side. — Isidore, Book 14

The Great Sea, flowing out of the Ocean, turns into the south, and then into the north. The Balearic Islands, the first great harbor and passage of that sea, lie off Spain. Then the upper mouth, Gallicus, passes by the province of Narbon; then Ligusticus by Genoa, a city; then Tyrrhenian to Italy arches; then the harbor of Sicily passes to Crete; then the passage of Crete stretches into Pamphylia and Egypt.

There are the straits of the great harbor and the Hellespont, which break out widely in great waves and currents, and turn northward. But beside Greece, at the Bosphorus, it grows narrow and straight, as the space of seven furlongs; and there Xerxes, the king, built bridges of ships to cross into Greece and wage war therein. — Pliny, Book 6, Chapter 1

This sea is so narrow between Europe and Asia that one can hear dogs barking on either side, and birds singing, though weather and wind may prevent it. — Giraldus Cambrensis, Distinctio Prima, Chapter 10

That narrow sea is called Saint George’s Arm, and stretches onward past Constantinople…

…and between Europe and Asia; and in that sea is the island of Abydos. — Isidore, Book 9

Then the sea runs northward and becomes the Propontis. Then it narrows to the width of six hundred paces, and this is the strait of Trach.

Then the great sea Ponticus (the Black Sea), which passes north by Thrace and Moesia, stretches to the waters and marshes of the Maeotides, and there the river Thames flows into it. Then it stretches eastward, passing by Lesser Asia, straight to the ends of Iberia and Armenia. That sea is called the Euxine. — Isidore, Book 9

That sea is sweeter, shorter, and more misty, because fresh rivers all around turn into it and fall therein. In that great mouth and bay are the islands of Calchos, Patmos, and others. — Pliny, Book 6

And the Black Sea does not flow back or turn again as other seas do, but always flows into the Propontis and the Hellespont, because of the force and strength of the rivers and backwaters that run into it, driving the waters of the Euxine always in one direction. And because of the strength and tide of the Hellespont, which is far from the Ocean…

…cannot withstand the course and strength of the strong currents that run along that course. — Isidore, Book 9

Just as the Earth has various names in different places, so the Great Sea, because it passes by diverse kingdoms, islands, peoples, cities, and towns, and because events occur within it, is called by many different names.

On the Ocean (De Oceano)

— Isidore, Book 13, Chapter 9

The Ocean surrounds all the Earth like a garland, and at times it comes and goes with ebb and flow, swallowing the seas and casting them up; and winds blow constantly. — Pliny, Book 2, Chapter 99

The highest flood of the Ocean rises along the coasts of Britain eighty cubits high. That rising and depth is better known by those at the coasts than by those at sea; for the beating of veins is better known at the outer parts of bodies than inward and in the middle within. Every flood rises higher in the ocean…

…than in the Great Sea; that is, because as a whole it is deeper and stronger than any single part by itself, and because the whole ocean is vast and huge, it feels the work of the moon more strongly than any smaller or lesser part. Therefore, lakes, rivers, ponds, and other fresh waters neither ebb nor flow as the ocean does. — Pliny, Book 2, Chapter 6

The ocean spreads and divides into various mouths and coasts toward the land, and in many places comes so close to the inner seas that the mouth called the Arabian Sea, and the coast of the Red Sea (which lies fifty thousand paces from the Sea of Egypt), and the sea called the Caspian, which is only one hundred and fifteen miles from the Great Sea called the Euxine, are nearly joined. — Bede, De Naturis

Among all the mouths and seas that lead toward the land and out of the ocean, these are held to be the most famous.

The first mouth and sea has two names: it is called both the Gaditan and the Atlantic. The second is called the Caspian, and it enters toward the northeast, separating the lands of India and Scythia, and stretches toward the great mouth and sea called…

…the Euxine. The third mouth and sea is the Red Sea, which comes from the northeast and separates on the south side the lands of India from Ethiopia and Egypt from those two lands. Then the Red Sea stretches forward and divides into two mouths and seas. One is called the Persian Sea, which stretches northward; the other is called the Arabian Sea, which stretches westward toward the Great Sea.

The Red Sea is not naturally red, but it washed and dyed some red cliffs and stones, and thus it appears red like a rose. Therefore, from the cliffs and shores of the Red Sea are gathered vermilion and red precious stones. — Solinus

By the sea called the Caspian, there are hills called the Hills of Caspi, seven thousand paces in length, and in width barely the space of a cart track. On the sides of the Caspian hills, salt veins boil up and release humors, which, dried and fused together by the heat of the sun, join and stick together as in glass. Some cannot climb the hills because the path is so slippery.

Also, every draught (or stretch) is fully drawn out over a distance of twenty thousand paces; the land is dry without relief, and adders and serpents abound…

…near it, but in winter no one can approach, it is perilous. Martianus says that the gates of the Caspian were fastened with iron bars, and in springtime they were strongly barred to keep out serpents and adders. The Masters of the stories say that, at the prayers of King Alexander, the Caspian hills were closed and joined together. — Paulus, in Historia Longobardorum, Book 1

There are many whirlpools and swirling waters along the sea’s edges; two are in the Mediterranean Sea, between Italy and the land of Sicily. These two whirlpools are called Scylla and Charybdis, of which Virgil says: Scylla is dangerous on the right-hand side, and Charybdis on the left-hand side.

Other whirlpools and perils of the waters are in the ocean: one is on the western cliff of Little Britain, called the “navel of the sea”; another is between Brittany and Galicia. It is said that these whirlpools, twice in the night and day, suck in streams and rivers, and then cast them out again. They also draw in ships and hurl them back out as swiftly as an arrow to a man’s sight.

On the Provinces of the World; First, on Paradise – Chapter 10

To understand earthly Paradise, its key points must be known. Therefore, the following questions are asked:

Does such a place exist on earth?
In what direction or where is Paradise located on earth?
What country or region contains Paradise on earth?

Regarding the first question, there are four kinds of witnesses that Paradise exists on earth:

Stories that liken Sodom, when it was overturned, to Paradise.
Witnesses who traveled and wrote that they had seen the place.
The four rivers that flow from Paradise; the sources of these rivers have never been found in the sea, in freshwater, or on land, but are spoken of by kings of Egypt and by many others who traveled diligently and searched for them.

Therefore, Isidore in his 13th book of the Etymologies says that Jerome paid attention to the need for understanding the rivers of Paradise, as the authors wrote.

Also, Basil, in his Hexaemeron, Isidore in the 14th book of the Etymologies, and Josephus in his first book, say that the waters falling from the highest hill of Paradise form a great pond, and out of that pond (as from a well) the four rivers spring.

According to Petrus, chapter 14:

The first river is Phison, whose name signifies abundance and plenty. It flows into India, carrying golden gravel. It also has another name: it is called Ganges after a king of India named Gangarius. “Ganges” also signifies fellowship or company, because it receives ten great rivers that flow into it.
The second river is called Gyon, also identified with the Nile, and it flows through Ethiopia and Egypt.
The third river is Tigris, which Josephus calls Diglath, meaning “swift,” like the tiger, for it flows very swiftly. It passes toward the land of Assyria.
The fourth river is Euphrates, meaning “fruitful” or “fruit-bearing,” and it flows toward the land of Chaldea.

Isidore, citing the most reliable authority Salustius, says that this river originates as a spring from Ceraunus, the hills of Armenia, and emerges at the foot of the hill called Caucasus.

Pay attention to the two rivers, Tigris and Euphrates. These two rivers are sometimes separated, sometimes join together, and often vanish into the earth, only to spring up again, flowing long afterward through Mesopotamia, and downward toward the Red Sea.

Some books claim that the Nile comes out of Paradise, but some men assert that the Nile springs from the western side of the land of Ethiopia, not far from the hill called Atlas, and flows around Ethiopia downward through Egypt. (See more about the course of the Nile in the chapter Egyptus.)

The fourth proof that such a place exists on earth called Paradise is its ancient fame, long preserved. One must trust ancient fame that has not been proven false; the fame of Paradise has endured without fading for six thousand years or more, from the beginning of the world to our days. In contrast, false fame does not last long: it soon falls out of memory and is destroyed by known truth.

The second question—in which part of the world and in what place Paradise should be—is answered only partially, because some men are short-sighted and slow to understand.

Some men assert that Paradise is high above the earth, even as high as the moon—but this is not to be believed, for both nature and reason reject it.

If Paradise were so far above the earth where men dwell, neither water nor air could bear such a weight. Moreover, the fair land occupies all the middle space between the air and the moon, so Paradise could not exist there—nothing could live there permanently.

Also, if Paradise were so high, it would sometimes interfere with the course of the moon and cause eclipses; but we have never observed such eclipses.

Further, if Paradise were so high and separated from every other land, how could the four rivers that spring from Paradise pass through the air and the wide seas to reach the lands where men dwell?

Some say Paradise extends from that height down to the earth where men dwell, but the earth is long and not completely round, as wise men describe it. This, too, cannot stand, for it is known by experience that it is otherwise.

And indeed, in every part of the world, as Trevisa writes, it is a round shield. Therefore the earth, with all its parts, must be round. And so wise men conclude that Paradise is at the farthest end of the East, and that it is a great land, no smaller than India or Egypt; a place large and suitable for all mankind to dwell in, if mankind had not sinned.

Regarding the nature of Paradise—what kind of place it should be—Isidore says, in the fourteenth book, third chapter, that the name “Paradise,” when translated from Greek into Latin, means an orchard. But in Hebrew it is called Eden, which means “delight”; and by combining these two meanings, it makes an “orchard of delight.”

It is no wonder, for in that place everything is according to life. Isidore, book fourteen. There is harmony, because the air is temperate—neither too hot nor too cold—so that nothing that lives can die there. This is witnessed by Enoch and Elijah, who were taken up alive. —John Damascene.

That place has fair weather and mildness, for it is the sky, as Trevisa writes, and it is the place of all beauty: no kind of tree there loses its leaves; no flowers there wither. There is mildness and sweetness in the fruits and trees that grow there. In Genesis, second chapter, it is written: “Every tree in Paradise is sweet to eat and beautiful to look at.” There is security and safety there, for the place is high. Robert of Petra, in the thirteenth chapter, says that the waters of the great Flood did not come into Paradise.

Some men say that Paradise is as high as the moon, which is not literally true in words or in deed; but this expression is preserved as a figure of speech, called hyperbolical, meaning that those who speak thus intend to say that Paradise surpasses all other lands in height. —Trevisa.

Just as we praise a worldly man like Jordan or John and say he was the best man that ever lived, yet he was never as good as Christ. So too, in words, subtle men may divine a meaning that is true and good. But alas, as Isidore says, in the ninth book, first chapter: our way to Paradise is fast blocked because of the sin of our first father; it is enclosed all around with a wall of fire, so that the burning within reaches toward heaven, as some men say.

It should be understood that Paradise is enclosed by that wall to keep out mankind, as Trevisa writes. Angels stand on that wall to guard Paradise, so that no evil spirits can enter.

On Asia and its provinces — Isidore, in the fourteenth book, eleventh chapter, says that Asia takes its name from a woman who once lived there, named Asia. In Asia there are many provinces and lands, which I shall describe and enumerate in order, beginning with India.

India lies on the east side, where the sun rises; to the south is the Ocean Sea; to the west is the River of India; and to the north is the hill called Caucasus. Thus, India ends there.

In India there are men of various colors and complexions. India has a species of bird called the phitacus, elephants, pepper, and a tree called hebanus. There are also precious stones—beryls, chrysoprase, carbuncles, diamonds—and gold nuggets, which are very difficult to reach because of dragons and griffins, and because of many strange and fearful kinds of men. Among all the lands of the world, India is the best.

India is the greatest and richest, the strongest and most populous, most full of wonders and marvels, as Trevisa writes. In India, the branch of a fig tree is so huge and so widely spread that many groups of men may sit beneath it and have plenty of food.

This is due to the goodness of the land, the temperate weather, and the abundance of water. Pliny, in book six, chapter nineteen, writes of this.

In India there are many kings and peoples: some cultivate the land, some trade and deal in merchandise, some practice knighthood and chivalry, and some are great scholars. In India there are trees with crowns as high as a mastsheet, with narrow trunks. Also, from a piece of wood between two knots of a reed in India, one can make a boat that crosses deep waters and carries many men at once.

In India there are men five cubits tall, who do not toil or sweat over labor. There are also satyrs and other strange and wondrously shaped creatures. There are men only one cubit tall, called Pygmies; these Pygmies have children in their fourth year and grow old in their fifteenth year. They gather a great host and ride upon goats and rams to fight cranes, destroying their nests and eggs, so that the cranes, their enemies, do not multiply and grow too numerous.

Philosophers carefully observed the sun all day long, as Trevisa writes.

Also, some people have heads like dogs, and the sounds they make are more like a dog’s barking than a human voice; they are clothed in the skins of wild beasts and armed with their own teeth and nails, living by hunting and falconry. Others have no mouths and live by scent and smell, and are clothed in moss and hairy tufts that grow from trees. Some grow horns in youth and turn black in old age.

In some parts of India, there are men whose soles are reversed and who have extra fingers on one hand. (Tull. de Tusc. 90.)

In one region of India, every man has many wives; but when the husband dies, the wives must gather together and see which of them was most loved by the husband. That wife is buried with him, placed in the earth alive, and in that land this is considered the fairest fate and the highest honor any woman can have. (Petrus, 196.)

In India there are trees called the trees of the sun and the moon; priests who eat the fruit of these trees live five hundred years. The trees were called the trees of the sun because each of them trembled…

…and shook as soon as the sunbeam touched its crown, as Trevisa writes, answering the men who stood around. The same occurred with the trees of the moon. By these trees, the great King Alexander was warned that he would never enter Babylon.

(Isidore, book fifteen.)

About Ophir — Ophir is an island of India; there is a great abundance of gold there, and the passage to it from the great sea is by the Red Sea.

On Parthia — Isidore, book fourteen, twelfth chapter, shows that the kingdom of Parthia, because of the courage and strength of its men, spread its name into the lands of Assyria and Media, and was once said to contain all the lands of four countries: Assyria, Media, Persis, and Carmania. Parthia stretches in length from the sea called the Caspian to the Red Sea, and in width from the River of India to the river called the Tigris. This marks the beginning of the land called Mesopotamia. (Trogus, book ten, chapter …)

Parthia and the Parthians — In the language of the land of Scythia, the men of Parthia were called outlaws. In the beginning, the Parthians were indeed outlaws. When the kingdom passed from the men of Media to the men of Persis, the Parthians were as if prey to the victors and were largely unknown among the peoples of the eastern lands—until the time when the Macedonians became kings and lords of those lands. Afterwards, the Parthians served the Macedonians, once the Macedonians were victorious in the eastern lands. In the end, they became partners with the Romans and shared lordship with them.

The Parthians adopted the customs of the men of Scythia, who sometimes expelled outsiders. Therefore, their arms and weapons were cunningly devised, and they were skillful spies. The men were considered violent, and the women mild, yet they were always hostile to their own neighbors or to strong men. They were commonly quiet and spoke little, ready to act rather than to speak. For this reason, they valued private good fortune and gifts as much as both happiness and mischief.

They obeyed their lords out of fear rather than shame. They were also prone to sexual immorality, even with their own wives; every…

The men of Parthia had many wives; adultery among them was severely punished, as Trevisa writes, as gravely as a spouse breaking the law. Therefore, they forbade their wives from attending feasts or the company of other men; they lived frugally, ate little, and consumed no meat except venison. (Giraldus, dist. 17.)

These men, after the reign of King Seleucus, lived under King Arsaces, and for this reason they were called Arsacids. King Arsaces first taught them laws; he gathered knights and built castles, cities, and strongly walled towns. At last, King Arsaces joined the kingdom of Hyrcania to his empire, and so the men of Hyrcania belonged to his rule.

Later, among other kings came Mithridates, who, after the slaughter of Crassus, consul of Rome, reigned and held the kingdom for forty years. During his time he conducted many campaigns and won many fine victories, as is described in this place. (Trogus, book forty-one.)

The Parthians, the men of Parthia, lie in the middle between the Scythians (men of Scythia) and the Medes (men of Media). The land of Parthia had many bound men among them, for they were never made free. Their free men always rode on horseback…

The bound men went on foot, while the free men fought on horseback, as Trevisa writes. They attended private offices and common feasts, but they diligently taught their children to ride and to shoot. Each man, according to his wealth and power, provided as many horsemen in battle as he could.

They did not fight in the ordinary way of common men, nor did they know how to besiege castles or strongly walled towns. They fought on horseback, charging at full speed and turning quickly; often, in the fiercest and strongest combat, they pretended to flee, then suddenly turned and rose again, able by their skill to surprise, defeat, and kill their enemies. In battle, they used drums but no trumpets, and they could not fight for a long time.

No men could overcome or resist them, and they were as strong and stalwart in endurance as they were fierce in attack. Their method of burial was remarkable: animals helped tear apart the flesh, and the Parthians buried only the bones.

On Assyria — Isidore, book fourteen, chapter thirteen, writes:

Take note that Assyria takes its name from Asur, son of Shem, for he was the first to settle there after Noah’s Flood. The land of Assyria lies east of India, south of Media, west of the Tigris River, and north of the hill called Caucasus. There are the Gates of the Caspian; the hills there are long and narrow. (Trogus, book forty-two.)

Aegeus was king of Athens; Medus, his son, followed the deeds of Jason, his stepfather, and built the chief city of Media, which he also called Media, in honor of his mother named Media. The land of Media lies north of Parthia, east of India, west of Chaldea, and south of Persis.

On Persis — Persis is named after Perseus, who conquered the land and made it a worthy realm that had previously been unjustly ruled. Persis lies east of India, west of the Red Sea, north of Media, and south of Carmania.

In Persis, witchcraft first began in the time of Nimrod, as Trevisa writes. This was in the age of the giants, after the spread of many languages and tongues. They came into Persis and taught the people of that land to worship fire and the sun, which in their language is called El.

The chief city of that land was called Elam, after Elam, son of Shem; later the city was called Elamaide, and today it is called Persepolis. Holy Scripture speaks of that city in the book of the Maccabees, and the city also gave its name to people who were sometimes called Elamites in the Acts of the Apostles.

Mesopotamia lies between the Tigris on the east and the Euphrates on the west, beginning in the north between the two hills, Taurus and Caucasus, and extending south to include Babylon (Isidore, book fifteen).

Babylonia was later called a part of Chaldea; it was once so powerful that it included Assyria, Chaldea, and Mesopotamia. The chief city of Babylonia was Babylon, the city built by the giant Nimrod; later, Queen Semiramis greatly enlarged the city (Petrus, chapter 37). The city is called Babylon, and the land Babylonia; it was often taken in war…

That tower is called and named Babel (Orosius, book two, Trevisa).

Babylon was built as a fortress, with four square walls all around. Each wall was fifty cubits thick and four times as high, with a length of sixteen miles from one corner to another. The walls altogether measured 484 furlongs—that is, forty-four miles. The walls were made of burnt bricks held together with glue instead of mortar, so that neither water nor fire could move or damage them. In the city there were one hundred gates and a deep ditch all around, visible from afar. The river Euphrates ran through the middle of the city.

Nevertheless, Cyrus, king of Persia, later took the city and destroyed it, as is further recorded. Jerome writes that from the remains of this city, two great cities were later built in Persia, and the site of Babylon is now wilderness, full of wild beasts.

Chaldea, according to Cassidea, takes its name from Casseth, son of Nachor. Nachor was the brother of Abraham. Chaldea is a great kingdom along the Euphrates; in Sennaar, part of that kingdom, the Tower of Babel was built (Josephus, book one).

The Tower of Babel was built two hundred, twenty-two cubits high, somewhat lower in length to those who beheld it nearby, because its breadth was so great. Some say the tower was a mile high, but Ivo Carnotensis writes in his chronicle that the tower was five miles and almost two hundred cubits high, and four miles broad.

Arabia is situated south of Chaldea, with Persia on its east and the Red Sea on its west. Arabia contains stores of myrrh and cinnamon, and a bird called the phoenix. The northeastern portion of Arabia is called Saba, named after Sabacus, its founder. Saba is bordered on three sides by the Red Sea (Josephus, book two).

In this Arabia, in the land of Midian, is Mount Sinai. Part of Mount Oreb belongs to the mountain of Sinai; it is high and has great abundance of grass and pastures, but it is difficult to reach because of its steep rocks and cliffs. Moses was the first man to lead animals up there.

It is also called the Mount of the Covenant and of Awe, because God Himself made His presence known there, commanding attention and reverence. God gave the law to the people of Israel on that hill…

No one dared to approach the foot of the mountain unless they were purified, and the whole place was made clean (Trevisa).

The phoenix is a wondrous bird, for of its kind there is only one alive at a time. In the land of Arabia, toward Circius, is the hill called Mount Lebanon. That hill separates the lands of Arabia, Judea, and the land of the Phoenix. The hill is so high that snow lies on some sides year-round. It also serves as a landmark for sailors in the great sea, guiding them to various harbors and ports.

It is a hill of great abundance: cypress and cedar trees grow there, along with herbs that yield fragrant gum. Through these trees, gum, and sweet-smelling herbs, people are healed and poisons are neutralized.

Syria is named after Cirus, Abraham’s nephew, and lies between the Euphrates on the east and the great sea on the west. To the north it borders Armenia and Cappadocia, and to the south it reaches the sea called Arabicus. It contains many provinces, including Commagene, Palestina, Phoenicia, Canaan, Idumea, and Judaea. Damascus was once the chief city of that province.

Eliezer, Abraham’s servant…

“Built and made the city of Damascus. Rasin, king of Damascus.
May God help remove the ten tribes of Israel against the kings of Judah. Damascus means ‘shedding of blood,’ because Cain killed Abel and hid him in the sand.

—From the region of Judah. Chapter Fourteen.

Judah is a kingdom in Syria, a part of Palestine, and is named after Judah, son of Jacob. It was formerly called Canaan, after Ham, the son of Noah, because of the manner of the people whom the Jews drove out of that land.

Peter: Judah can be understood in many ways. Sometimes it refers to all the promised land, and then it is named for the Jews rather than specifically for Judah; and so it is used in this sense: “The great Pompey made Judah tributary.” Other times, it refers specifically to the kingdom of Judah; and so Josephus writes that “when they heard that Archelaus reigned in…”**

“Judah feared to go farther;” and sometimes it is taken only for the portion of the lineage of Judah, as Holy Scripture also says: “Fear not, Judah and Jerusalem.”

—Giraldus, Third Distinction

In this Judah, the promised land, the length of it is from Dan to Bersabe. Jerome writes, in his letter to Dardanus, that it is scarcely 160 miles in length, and the breadth is from Joppa to Bethlehem, scarcely 64 miles across.

However, according to the Book of Numbers, Judah is described roughly as follows: on the western side it reaches the Dead Sea; it stretches toward Sinai and the Red Sea, but not to the Nile, which lies westward into the Great Sea. On the northern side are the hills called Mount Taurus, and to the east are the hills of Mount Lebanon, including the sources of the Sea of Tiberias and of the Jordan River, which springs from the foot of Mount Lebanon. Both the Sea of Tiberias and the Jordan are mentioned. The Jordan then flows into the Dead Sea, separating Judah from Arabia.

The land of Judah was promised to our forefathers…

“By these deeds, and following the promises.” And so it is, according to Trevisa.

It must be understood that there are two aspects of the promised land: the earthly and the spiritual. In one is the heavenly Jerusalem, and in the other, the earthly Jerusalem—which symbolizes the heavenly one. This land, Judah, is rich and fertile, and has abundance of wine and spices, of cedars, cypresses, balm, olives, pomegranates, palms, figs, milk, and honey. In the middle, as if at the navel of the land, lies the city of Jerusalem.

—Isidore, Book Five, Chapter One

The Jews say that Shem, son of Noah, called Melchizedek, also made and built the city of Jerusalem after the Flood and called it Salem. Later, a people called the Jebusites lived there and called the city Jebus. From these two names, Jebus and Salem, the name Jerusalem was formed. Later, Solomon called the city “Ierosolyma,” and poets who speak briefly refer to the city as “Solyma.”

In short, after Aelius Adrian, the emperor, called the city Aelia, he walled it and expanded it, so that our Lord’s sepulchre, which was once outside the city, is now within it.

It seems, according to Jerome in his letter to the presbyter Evangelium, that Salem—or Salim, which Melchizedek built and inhabited—was a different city from Jerusalem. He says that Salem is a town near Scythopolis, which is still called Salem; and there are the palaces of Melchizedek, which is why Holy Scripture mentions it in Genesis, saying that Jacob went to Salem, the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan.

—William of Kings, Book One

There is no natural spring within Jerusalem; the waters are collected and kept in cisterns. The city is situated on the north side of Mount Zion, and it is arranged so that water falling from above or flowing from the surrounding heights does not become impure, but remains clean and flows into the city. It runs into cisterns, which serve as lakes and reservoirs.

From there, the water flows into the brook called the Cedron (or Kidron), and Trevisa notes that it causes the brook to swell and run stronger.

At the top of Mount Zion was a royal tower for protection and defense. On the side of Mount Zion was the temple, roughly in the middle between the tower and the city. The city itself was lower than the tower, which is why Holy Scripture often calls Jerusalem “the daughter of Zion.” Just as a daughter is cared for and protected by her mother and is subject to her, so the city lay below and was subject to the temple and the tower.

Also, the great Emperor Constantine once built the Church of the Holy Sepulchre there. Unbelievers never harmed that church, and, as people believe, every year on Easter Eve, fire comes down from heaven and lights the lamps in the church. However, when this miracle first began is uncertain and unknown.

King Solomon once walled his city with strong walls all around—not only for defense, but also to distinguish the different kinds of people who lived there: the priests and clerks who served in the temple, as well as the king…

And his main household lived within the first wall by Mount Zion. Within the second wall lived the prophets and those who ministered spiritually, as Holy Scripture says that the prophetess Huldah lived in Jerusalem in the second division. Within the third wall lived the common people and craftsmen.

Near Jerusalem, on the north side of the temple, is the Mount of Olives, abundant with olive trees. Saint Augustine, in On John, calls it the hill of anointing and chrism, the hill of delight and richness, the hill of medicine and nourishment. The fruit of the olive is full of oil, pleasing and nourishing; and this hill was especially a hill of delight, because it was bathed in sunlight all day and in the light of the temple at night.

On that hill, Solomon, when he was grown and fully wise in matters of love, built temples in these places for idol worship, as Holy Scripture recounts in 2 Kings, Chapter 10. From that mount Christ ascends into heaven, and on that mount he shall…

At the end of the world, at the foot of the mount, flows the brook called the Cedron, which empties into the Valley of Jehoshaphat. Between the banks of the Cedron and the mount was the orchard that Christ often entered to pray; in this orchard he was seized, which is called Gethsemane. On that mount was the little village of the priests called Bethphage.

On the side of the hill was the home of Lazarus, Martha, and Mary Magdalene; that town is called Bethany. —Hugh

On the north side of Mount Zion is Mount Calvary, where Christ died on the cross; it is called Golgotha in the language of Syria. Golgotha means “place of the skull.” When thieves and criminals were beheaded there, the heads were left lying about, so that in the end the place became bare of skulls.

Other wonders of the temple can be seen in the Book of Kings. —Isidore, Book Fifteen, Chapter One

Also, in the region of Judah is the Sea of the Wilderness…

The Dead Sea lies two hundred furlongs from Jerusalem—about twenty-five miles—and separates Judea, Palestine, and Arabia. —Trevisa

Isidore, Ethics, Book Thirteen, writes that the lake stretches from the ends of Judea, not far from Jericho, to the borders of Arabia, some seven hundred and eighty-four furlongs, which makes about eighty-four miles. Its width is seventy furlongs and ten, and it reaches near the territories of Sodom. The lake is called the Lacus Salinarum because salt is produced there. There is also much bitumen in that region, which is why it does not move with the wind: waters with bitumen remain still. No ship or other vessel can float there unless it is coated with bitumen. —Peter, Chapter Fifty

Nothing grows from the bitumen of that place except what is called “menstrual blood.” —Isidore, Book Thirteen

It is also called the Dead Sea, because nothing living comes from it; it produces neither birds nor fish. Whatever touches it that is alive immediately…

Everything dead floats again; and all dead things swell up to the surface. —Trevisa

Therefore, a lamp with oil can float and swim above it. But if the oil is exhausted, it sinks and is consumed. —Josephus, Book One

This was tested and observed in the time of the great prince Vespasian, when two men, whose hands were bound behind their backs, were thrown into the lake—but immediately they floated back up. —Isidore, Book Nine, Chapter Three

The kingdom was also called the Pentapolis, for the five wicked cities there were drowned and burned to ashes. It was once richer and more fertile than Jerusalem, for sapphire and other precious stones and gold were found in the soil of that land, as Job testifies, Chapter 24. But now it appears as a shadow and a likeness of fire in vessels and trees.

The apples that grow there seem so fair and ripe that anyone who touches them would wish to eat them; but the apples that fall to ashes immediately as they are handled, and smoke as if they were on fire.

Note: There is also another Pentapolis in Africa.

On the Land of Canaan. Chapter Fifteen —Trevisa

Canaan is a region of Syria, called Canaan because the Canaanites were the first people to inhabit it after Noah’s Flood. It contained seven nations, divided, as it were, as the inheritance of Ham, Noah’s son.

Ham was Noah’s son and had his father’s body, for he mocked his father after seeing him naked and uncovered while he lay asleep.

Palestine is a province of Syria; it was once called Philistia. Its chief city, Zeros, was called Philistim, and is now called Ashkelon. From this city, the province became known as Palestine, or Philistia. The people of that region were called Philistines or Palestinians. In Hebrew speech, there is no “p,” so instead of “p” they use “ph,” which is why Philistines and Palestinians are essentially the same term. They were also called “Allophyli,” meaning foreigners and strangers, because they were always alien to the people of Israel.

This province borders Egypt to the south, Tyre to the west, and Judea to the north…

To the east lies Idumea. Idumea is named after Edom, for Edom and Esau are the same, the brother of Jacob. Idumea is a strong, hilly, and hot land, stretching to the Red Sea. —Isidore, Book Nine

In Idumea is Job’s well. The water of that well changes its color four times a year, according to the months: in the first month it is pale as ashes; in the second month, red as blood; in the third month, green as grass; and in the fourth month, clear as water.

Palestine included the land of Samaria. Its chief city was once called Samaria, but now it is called Sebaste. Samaria is named after the hill called Somer and lies between Judea and Galilee. The people who lived in Samaria were driven out, and the Assyrians were brought in. The Assyrians kept the law of Moses, but otherwise differed from the Jews and were called Samaritans, meaning “keepers,” because when the land was taken, they were appointed as guardians of it.

Sychem, also called Sichem, is a small region in Samaria, named after Sichem, son of Emor…

The first people settled there permanently. There is also a city called Sychem, now called Neapolis. Jacob once purchased that city with money and great effort, and gave it to his son Joseph as his inheritance, as Jerome writes in Genesis, Chapter 18. This city was also a place of refuge and aid, as recorded in Joshua, Chapter 20, for that land belonged to the tribe and lineage of Ephraim. Joseph’s bones were buried there after they were brought out of Egypt, according to Holy Scripture, Joshua, final chapter.

In that place, Joseph’s brothers tended flocks and cared for livestock. Later, Abimelech, son of Jerobabel, destroyed the city, killed the inhabitants, and sowed salt on the land so that it would bear no fruit or grain, as recorded in Joshua, Chapter 9.

There is also Jacob’s Well, where Christ rested when weary from travel.

Galilee is a land between Judea and Palestine. It is divided into Upper Galilee and Lower Galilee, which join together, and it also connects to Syria and Phoenicia. The land in each part of Galilee is fertile…

The land has abundant grain and fruit, large and profitable lakes, and some lakes are so vast and full of fish that they are called seas. The Lake of Tiberias is called the Sea of Tiberias, and the lake called Genosar takes its name from that region.

On the west side of Lower Galilee, near the great sea by the city of Ptolemaida—also called Acon—is a well in which all metal cast into it turns into glass.

Cedar is a land on the far side of Palestine, named after Cedar, who lived there permanently. Cedar was the eldest son of Ishmael. The descendants of Cedar and Ishmael were afterward called Ishmaelites, and more properly Agareni, because they came from Hagar, Ishmael’s mother, who served Sarah. But later, out of pride, they wrongfully took Sarah’s name and were called Saracens. —Methodius

These people have no houses; they live in the wilderness in tents and in open fields, and they survive by prayer and hunting. Sometimes they gather together and leave the wilderness to occupy the surrounding lands for eight weeks of the year, which is eight times seven years…

They will sometimes attack cities and towns, killing priests, violating clerks and holy places, and tying their animals to the tombs of saints; this will happen because of the wicked lives of some Christian men. This seems to have been fulfilled in the final years of Emperor Heraclius, when the false prophet Muhammad occupied Persia, made Egypt and Africa subject, and wrote and spread the false law and sect of the Saracens, as is clearly recorded after the time of Heraclius.

Phoenicia is a land containing two regions, Tyre and Sidon. On the east it borders Arabia, on the south the Red Sea, on the north the hills of Mount Lebanon, and on the west the great sea. —Isidore, Book Two, Chapter Five

Phoenix, son of Agenor, gave red letters to the Phoenicians, who are thus called the people of Phoenicia. Therefore, that color was called Phoenician; later the letters changed, and it was called Punic, meaning red. —Hugh, Chapter Phoenix

The Phoenicians were the first inventors of letters, and even today we write capital letters in red ink, as a token and reminder that the Phoenicians were the first discoverers of writing.

On the Provinces of Egypt. Chapter Sixteen —Trevisa

Egypt takes its name from Egypt, the brother of Danaus, and was sometimes called Aerea. It lies on the east by the Red Sea, to the south along the rivers Nile and Blomen, to the north by the great sea and the further part of Syria, and to the west by Libya.

Egypt is mostly barren, receiving water and moisture only from the river Nile, yet it is rich in grain, fruit, and trade goods. —Peter, Chapter 94

Compared with other lands, Egypt has an abundance of grain; it is barren of pasture, and when it has plenty of pasture, it is barren of grain. When the Nile rises and overflows, it floods the land and remains long enough to interfere with sowing, drowning the seed. Thus, grain is sometimes destroyed, but pasture and grass then grow in due season.

There are crocodiles and hippopotamuses, also called water horses. On the east side of Egypt is a great wilderness, inhabited by various kinds of wondrous animals.

In the west lies Canope, which marks the end of Egypt and the beginning of Libya. There is the mouth of the Nile, where it empties into the great sea.

It is read in books that the Nile, also called Gyon, flows from Paradise. Yet it is said that the Nile springs up in the western end of Ethiopia, not far from the hills called Mount Atlas. From there, the Nile flows around Ethiopia and down into Egypt, overflowing the plains of the land. Because of the silt it carries, it makes the land fertile and good for producing grain and fruit.

As Jerome, commenting on the prophet Amos, writes: by God’s own ordinance, the Nile overflows and waters all the land of Egypt, because heaps of gravel block its course, preventing it from immediately reaching the great sea. When it has overflowed and watered the land, the gravel is shifted and the water can finally run into the channels, eventually reaching the great sea.

Nevertheless, Isidore writes in Book Thirteen that the Nile is driven back and its course hindered by northern winds; thus the water swells, flows, and grows great. —Bede, De…

Nature says that in May the northern wind blows and blocks the course of the Nile with heaps of gravel; thus the water rises and overflows the land. But when the wind ceases, the gravel shifts, and the water falls into the channel, eventually flowing downward into the great sea.

On Scythia. Chapter Seventeen

Here we note two lands, both called Scythia: the Upper is in Asia, the Lower in Europe. Upper Scythia is a vast northern land, largely wilderness due to the extreme cold. It stretches eastward sometimes to India, north to the ocean, south to the Caucasus Mountains, and west to Germania. Today it is smaller, ending on the western side at Hyrcania.

In this land are the Hyperborean hills, large griffins, gold and emeralds, and other precious stones. —Trogus, Book Two

These people do not distinguish between…

They set their fields by boundaries, not by walls or fences, as Trevisa notes. They have no houses to live in; their wives and children travel in carts, and they are clothed in the skins of wild animals. They do not use woolen garments. They live on milk and honey and take nothing of gold or silver. They fear no loss, counting no crime greater than robbery. Their warriors and rulers desire only honor; they were never subject to any man.

They defeated Vesore, the king of Egypt, in battle. They pursued and terrified Darius, king of Persia, making him flee. They killed Cyrus, the king. They also destroyed Zephirona and his wealth; Zephirona had been led by the great Alexander. They conquered Asia, and Asia remained tributary to them for 1,500 years.

The men of this people live separately from the women. They established kingdoms in various lands: the men ruled in Parthia and Bactria, the women ruled in the kingdoms of the Amazons, strong and powerful. Among them it is uncertain whether men or women are more worthy and noble by nature.

In their first journey into Asia, after they had driven, pursued, and attacked Vesore, king of Egypt…

They returned home and stayed fifteen years to establish peace in Asia. But the wives made great complaints and sorrowed that their husbands were away so long. So the men, feeling compassion, returned home to dwell with their wives.

On the second journey, the men were treacherously slain, and the wives took great vengeance on the enemies. On the third journey, the men were absent together for four years, and the wives married their own servants and bondmen who had been left at home to tend the livestock.

But when their lords and husbands returned victorious, the wives and their new husbands gathered together and arranged a great battle to fight against the returning old lords and husbands. When they met, the battle was unstable and indecisive, first favoring one side, then the other. Then the lords tricked them, forcing them to fight against their own bondmen rather than the enemies from foreign lands, causing the women to discard their armor and weapons and take whips in their hands. The commoners were driven off and put to flight.

Afterward, all that could be taken from those false commoners and the false wives who had…

Those who broke their marriage vows suffered a shameful death; some were slain with iron, and some were hanged high. After that, peace returned to Scythia during the reign of Darius, king of Persia. Later, Darius was overcome by the Scythian men, and on his way home he defeated the Macedonians of that land and fought against the Athenians of Athens.

Bactria is a land that Ham, Noah’s son, first inhabited. It stretches from the Caspian Sea to the river of India, with the Caucasus Mountains on the west and Parthia to the south. The Caucasus Mountains are the longest of all eastern hills and the most famous, stretching from the ends of India to the hill called Mount Taurus, so that Mount Taurus and the Caucasus are often considered a single range. Some say the western side of the Caucasus, toward Armenia, is called Mount Taurus.

The Caucasus Mountains are bordered on the north by the Caspian Sea and Hyrcania, and on the south by Parthia, Assyria, and Babylon. Because the range stretches across so many countries and lands, it contains many and…

The Caucasus Mountains are known by many names. They are the highest in the eastern regions, and because of the snow that always lies upon them, they are called Mons Caucasus, meaning “White Hill.” Albertus writes that the mountains are so high that people living nearby can see the sun’s rays on the western side of the mountain hours before dawn, while the eastern side is still in darkness, long before sunrise.

Hyrcania lies on the eastern side of the Caspian Sea, south of Armenia, north of Albania, and west of Iberia. It stretches along the Caucasus Mountains and takes its name from the forest called Hyrcania. In that land there are many wild animals and birds, including tigers and panthers. The land is broad and extensive, inhabited by forty-four different kinds of people. Some cultivate the land, some live by hunting, and some eat human flesh. There are birds called hircane, whose feathers shine at night.

Iberia lies beneath Mount Taurus, westward near Pontus, and joins with Armenia. Albania lies on the eastern side of the Caspian Sea and stretches downward to the mouths of the Northern Ocean and the waters called Meotis. The people of that land are…

They bore white hair and had yellow eyes, and they saw better at night than by day. The dogs of that land were so large, fierce, and strong that they could knock down bulls and even slay lions. One of these dogs was sent to King Alexander and fought within the lists against a lion, an elephant, and a wild boar—and mastered them all.

Gotha is the northern part of Scythia toward Circum. To that land lies the island Gothlandia, which is rich in all kinds of merchandise. To its north is Dacia, and to its south the ocean. The island was called Gothea after Gos, son of Japheth. The people of that land were commonly called Goths or Gogi. They were strong, tall, fierce, and stern. From them came the Dacians in Europe, the Getuli in Africa, and the Amazons in Asia.

Armenia, also called Ararat, is named after Armenius, a knight of Jason. Armenius, after he had lost Jason, king of Thessaly, gathered knights who roamed about, took Armenia, and settled there permanently.

The land stretches from Mount Taurus and the Caucasus (according to Trevisa). From the Caspian Sea to Cappadocia, it extends about eleven hundred miles in length and seven hundred miles in width. There is Mount Ararat, where Noah’s Ark rested three days after the Flood. There are two regions called Armenia, one larger and one smaller, lying to the north and south, and similarly there are two regions called Pannonia.

Cappadocia. Chapter Eighteen

Cappadocia is a land where horses are raised, lying on the eastern side of Armenia, on the western side of Lesser Asia, to the north by Amazons, and to the south by Mount Taurus. Near it lie Cilicia and Isauria, reaching to the Cilician Sea, which stretches toward the island of Cyprus. Lesser Asia borders Cappadocia on the east, and it is enclosed on the other sides by the great sea. To the north lies the mouth of the Euxine Sea (Black Sea), to the west the mouth of the Propontis (Sea of Marmara), and to the south the Sea of Egypt (Mediterranean).

Asia contains many provinces and lands. According to Trevisa:

On the northern side is Bithynia, at the beginning along the sea opposite Thrace, and it also includes an inland region called Phrygia. The chief city of Bithynia is Nicomedia.

Next is Galatia, named after people called the Gauls, who came at the request of the King of Bithynia to help him in his wars and settled in that land. That land was once called Gallogrecia, and its people Gallogreci, as they were a mix of Gauls and Greeks; today they are called Galatians, and Paul wrote his letter to them (the Epistle to the Galatians).

Next is Lesser Phrygia, which takes its name from Phrygia. Europa was its daughter, and Agenor was also his daughter. That Phrygia also included Dardania, founded by Dardanus, the son of Jupiter. In that land is the city of Troy, also called Ilium. Troy was named after Tros, son of Erichthonius, who was the son of Dardanus, who in turn was the son of Jupiter.

That land borders Lydia on the east, and on the west the Hellespont (the Dardanelles) opens into the sea.

The fourth province is Lydia, located to the east of Lesser Phrygia. Lydia was once ruled by…

There were kings named Lydus and Tyrrhenus, according to Trevisa. By lot, it happened that Tyrrhenus went out with many men and settled in the far part of Gaul, calling his land Tyrrhenia. It seems that the Tyrrhenian Sea is named after this King Tyrrhenus, just as the land of Lydia was named after his brother, Lydus.

The chief city of Lydia is Smyrna, to which John the Evangelist writes in the Apocalypse. The main river of Lydia is the Pactolus, which brings forth golden sands, as the poets tell.

The fifteenth province of Lesser Asia is called Pamphylia, which also includes Isauria. Its chief city is Seleucia, which was built and fortified by Seleucus Antiochus. Then there is Cilicia, which includes Lycia and the land called Lycaonia. Notable cities there are Lystra and Derbe, as is written in the Acts of the Apostles. From these cities, ships sailed from Syria to Italy, with the chief city being Tarsus, down toward the sea.

Amazonia is a land partly in Asia and partly in Europe, near Albania. The first Amazons were wives of the Goths, who took vengeance on men who had treacherously slain their husbands. They took spoils, killed men, and saved women.

They lived long without husbands, and afterward had two queens. One queen led the army and conducted the wars, while the other stayed at home, ruling the land and governing the people. These women held sway over much of Asia for about a hundred years. Eventually, the women wanted children and took husbands from the neighboring regions. Sometimes they allowed their husbands to lie with them, and at other times they abstained.

They killed all male children or, at certain times, sent them to their fathers, but they kept all the female children. They taught the girls archery, military skills, and acts of chivalry. Because large breasts might hinder their shooting, they burned off one breast of every girl at seven years old. Therefore, they were called “Urimammae,” meaning “burned breasts,” and they were called Amazons, meaning “without a breast.”

Hercules was the first to punish the wickedness of these women, then Achilles, and finally, the great Alexander. Isidore of Seville writes that the great Alexander destroyed the Amazons; nevertheless, the story of Alexander says that when King Alexander demanded tribute from them, Thalestris, the queen of the Amazons…

The Amazons wrote to King Alexander in this manner:

“We are amazed that you desire to fight against women. If fortune favors us and you are defeated, it will be a great shame and dishonor for you to be overcome by women. And if our gods are angry with us and you defeat us, you gain little glory in winning mastery over women.”

King Alexander was pleased with this and granted them freedom, saying:

“Women should be overcome through kindness and love, not through harshness and fear.”

According to Trogus, in his second book, Queen Thalestris, after she had been King Alexander’s companion for forty days, returned to her own land, and soon afterward reunited with her people.

On Africa and its provinces. Isidore, in Book Fourteen, Chapter Nineteen:

All authors of histories testify that Africa is named after Afer, the son of Madian, son of Abraham. He was born…

Africa. Africa stretches from the borders of Egypt to the south, along neighboring Ethiopia, and extends to the Atlas Mountains. It is surrounded by the great sea on the east and north sides, and on the west by the Western Ocean.

Josephus (Book 1, Chapter 8) and Isidore (Book 9) write that Afer led his army into Libya and defeated his enemies with the help of the great Hercules. The land and its people were named after him, Afer. Hercules married Ethea, Afer’s daughter, and they had a son named Dederym; from Dederym came Pharon.

Africa contains many provinces and lands. First, it includes the western part of Ethiopia, then Libya, Tripolis, Getulia, Numidia, and two regions called Mauritania.

Ethiopia is divided into three parts: the first is hilly and mountainous, stretching from the Atlas Mountains down toward Egypt; the middle part is full of gravel; and the third, the eastern part, is mostly wilderness. This region lies between the Southern Ocean and the Nile River, and on the east it reaches the Red Sea. It is called Ethiopia because of the color and appearance of its people, who are dark-skinned.

The people of Ethiopia endure the great burning heat of the sun, which is very strong because it is so close. In Ethiopia there are many diverse peoples, strange and wondrous in shape. Some are called Garamantes, and some Troglodytes, and some are swifter than panthers. Some are scorched by the sun because of its great heat. Some eat snakes and adders; some hunt lions and panthers. Some dig caves and dens and live underground, making their noise with growls and screeches more than with human voices.

Some go naked and do no work; some are headless, with mouths and eyes on their chests. Among them are four-footed beasts without ears, and also elephants. Some have a hound as their king and follow his movements and commands. Some live only on honeycombs dried in the smoke or by the sun. There are also chameleons, basilisks, unicorns, camels, leopards, and dragons, which have many precious stones in their brains and heads.

The chameleon is a spotted animal, colored like a leopard; the pardus and panther are similar, though some of their kind differ. The panther is friendly to all animals except the dragon, which it hates as if it were death. The basilisk is king of serpents; with its gaze and smile it can kill beasts and birds.

According to Isidore (Book 13), among the Troglodytes in Africa there is a well that makes it possible for them…

They drank from it to have strong, clear, and shrill voices.

Among the Garamantes there is also a well so cold that no one can drink from it, and at night it is so hot that no one can touch it.

Libya Cyrenaica lies east of Egypt, south of Ethiopia, west of the dangerous part of the sea called the Greater Syrtes, and near the Troglodytes, and to the north is the great sea. Isidore, in Book 5, says that Libya is named after the wind called Libs, which blows out of Africa, or, according to some, Libya is named after Libya, daughter of Epaphus, son of Jupiter. This woman, Libya, ruled over the land of Libya, and the people were called Phutites, after Phut, son of Cham.

Tripolitania, a region on the east side near the pillars of the Phileni, according to authors, was settled between the Troglodytes and the Greater Syrtes. The Greater Syrtes are dangerous shoals near the sea, called the Arenosum Sea. Tripolitania borders the Getuli and Garamantes to the south, stretching to the Egyptian Ocean, and to the west it reaches Byzantium, near the lake called Lacus Salinarum. To the north is the Mediterranean Sea and the dangerous area called the Lesser Syrtes.

Getulia is the middle land of…

Africa takes its name from the Getuli, a people descended from the Goths. According to a homily by Saint Gregory, these people do not have fishermen.

Numidia. Chapter Twenty

Numidia lies east of the Lesser Syrtes, a dangerous region, south of Ethiopia, west of Mauritania, and to the north by the Sicilian Sea. In this land are the cities of Rusicada and Carthage, a great city, which was built and fortified as authors describe.

Isidore (Book 15, Chapter 13) writes that the Phoenicians, people from Phoenicia, came from the Red Sea and built cities: first in Syria, they built Sidon and Tyre; in Africa, Utica; in Boeotia, Thebes; and at the mouth of the Western Ocean, Gades. In ancient times, the Phoenicians were great merchants, traveling to many lands with the goods they carried, and therefore they sought lands and places in which to build cities and towns.

According to Trogus (Book …) …

Chapter Eighteen.

Dido, also called Elissa, left Phoenicia with a great company of young people she had chosen and first sailed to Cyprus. There, Dido took with her eighty maidens to bear children. She then came to Africa, and for the comfort and rest of her men, who were weary from sailing, she claimed as much land as she could enclose with an oxhide. She cut the hide into a very long and thin strip and enclosed a large area, which she called Byrsa, meaning “a hide.”

According to Isidore (Book 15), she built a new town there called Carthada. Later, the name was changed, and the place was called Carthage. Carthage was therefore built about 312 years before the founding of Rome. Papias confirms the same, and historical accounts say that Rome was founded 4,000 years after Achaz, King of Judah.

If we calculate carefully, adding together 4,000 years of Achaz, 16 years of Jotham, and 52 years of Uzziah, who reigned before Achaz, it follows that Carthage was founded around the first year of King Uzziah. Nevertheless, Isidore (Book 5, Etymologies) and other masters state…

According to the Historia Scholastica, it seems that Carthage was founded around the 44th year of King David. Marianus states that Carthage was founded around the 44th year of Amaziah, King of Judah.

However, this cannot agree with what Virgil and Dares Phrygius say in their account of the Trojan War, where Aeneas saw the woman Dido, because Aeneas died more than 300 years before Carthage was founded by Dido. Therefore, there was another Dido, older than she, or Carthage was founded earlier.

Saint Augustine, in the first book of Confessions, says that wise men deny that Aeneas ever saw Carthage with Dido. Orosius, in Book Four, writes that Carthage is about 22,000 paces in circumference, with every wall forty cubits high and about three feet thick. The city is nearly surrounded by the sea, except for a small section of coastline, three miles long, that opens to the land.

Mauritania is the name of two lands: the first is Caesariensis, which lies east of Numidia, south of the gravel of the ocean shore, west of the river Malua, and north by the coasts of the great sea. Tingitana is the last province of Africa. It lies east of the river Malua, north by the Gaditanian Sea, west by the Atlas Mountains, and bordered by the sea.

Mauritania takes its name from “Maurus,” meaning black, as if it were the land of black men. In this part of Africa are the Atlas Mountains, on the western side and at the edge, not far from the ocean. Atlas is so high above the hills that unlearned people believed it reached the moon. Often at night, one could see fire there, and hear fauns and satyrs, spirits of the air, appearing in strange forms. Timber, pipes, and trumpets were also often heard there.

According to Augustine (The City of God, Book 18), Atlas was an astronomer, brother of Prometheus; for this reason, some people imagined that Atlas bore the heavens. From this man comes the name of the mountains, Atlas, and because of their height, common people believed they held up the sky.

Note that the terms Puni, Peni, Punici, and Punices also refer to the Phoenicians, the Afri, or the Carthaginians, as if they were people of Phoenicia, Africa, or Carthage. This is because Dido, who founded Carthage, was Phoenician by origin.

On Europe and its parts. Chapter 21.

Isidore (Book 4) writes that Europe is named after Europa, daughter of Agenor, King of Libya; and Jupiter…

King of Crete, Jupiter, carried off Europa, daughter of Agenor.

Europa is the third part of the known world. It begins at the river Tanais and the Maeotis (Sea of Azov) and stretches downward along the northern ocean to the ends of Spain at the island of Gades. It is bounded on the east and south by the great sea.

Europe contains many provinces and islands, which will now be described. First, note that on the northern side of the world, the waters of the Maeotis and the river Tanais separate Asia from Europe. The river Tanais is named after Thanus, the first king of Scythia. It begins in the Riphean Mountains and flows down to the Mediterranean (the “Sea of Middle Europe”).

According to Isidore (Book 14), Lower Scythia is very cold. It begins at the river Tanais and stretches between the river Danube and the northern ocean, adjoining Germania. Alania is a part of Lower Scythia, extending somewhat from the waters of the Maeotis toward Dacia.

Moesia is enclosed in the northeast by the mouth of the Danube and joins in the southeast with Thrace…

Moesia lies south to Macedonia, west to Histria, and southwest to Dalmatia. Moesia is a fertile land of grain and wheat; therefore the ancient goddess Ceres called it a “barn.”

Sclavonia is a part of Moesia. There are also two lands called Sclavonia. The larger, properly called Sclavonia, contains parts of Dalmatia and Sarmatia, and is inhabited by wild men and is near the sea. The smaller Sclavonia stretches from Wandalia and Bohemia to Saxony, and its people are milder.

Pannonia takes its name from the Pennine Alps, the hills called the Alpes, which separate Pannonia from Italy. There is another Pannonia, beyond the waters of the Maeotis in Scythia.

From this Pannonia, the Huns went hunting, traveling along seas and rivers and following the tracks of deer, as Herodotus recounts. At last they reached Lower Pannonia, then returned home, bringing back great strength, and settled in Lower Pannonia, driving out the native peoples, and called the land Hungary. A part of it is called Bulgaria. It lies in the east of Moesia, southeast of Histria, west of the Alps (the same hills mentioned earlier), and west of Gallia Belgica…

Bulgaria lies near France, and to the north by the river Danube and Germania. This land contains veins of gold and hills where marble and good salt are mined.

On Greece and its provinces. Chapter 22.

Authors say that Greece, with its provinces, is the mistress of kingdoms, the nurturer of knighthood and chivalry, the mother of philosophy, and the founder and master of arts and sciences. It takes its name from a king called Grecus, who once ruled there.

Nevertheless, the land is commonly called Illyricum. Its people were called Greci, Graii, Achaeans, Achivi, Argivi, Attici, Iones, Ionians, and Hellenes. When the great Constantine made Constantinople the chief seat of the emperor of Rome, the Greeks were then called Romani, as if men of the new Rome, according to Rabanus. From that time to the present, the Greeks call themselves Romans, though they were once stalwart, brave, and excellent soldiers, yet subject to laws.

According to Isidore…

According to Isidore (Book 1, Chapter 17), in this land there was once study and schools of Pallas and Minerva, teaching the greatest arts and sciences, knighthood, and chivalry. Clergy and knights worked together, so that in common benefit all prospered. The ancient Greeks also made great advances and achieved many things through learning and deeds of arms. But virtue sometimes died out and was drawn away by those who came afterward, passing from the Greeks to the Latins. As a result, many noble wells are now mere lakes, or entirely dry channels without water.

Today, people see the cunning of Sinon, the trickery of Ulysses, the cruelty of Atreus, and battles fought with guile and deceit rather than armor and weapons.

The land of Greece lies along the great sea and contains many provinces: Thrace, Laconia, Macedonia, Achaia, Arcadia, Thessaly, Hellas, and Boeotia. Thrace also includes Epirus, where Epirotes once lived, and it borders the Aegean Sea on the south and Macedonia to the west. In Macedonia once lived various peoples called Massagetae, Sarmatians, and Goths.

In this land there is a well that quenches burning brands, and tends…

The chief city of this land is Constantinople.

It lies on the eastern side, clearly visible between the two seas, the Pontus and the Propontis, and can be seen openly from both water and land. It was once the chief city of the East, just as Rome was of the West, and was formerly called Byzantium.

About this city, William, in Book 4 of Kings, says: “The great Constantine built and made this city equal to Rome, deeming that the Emperor should be chief here. The Apostles were honored and especially crowned. He brought there many relics of holy saints, which could help against enemies. Images of false gods and the Delphic tripods, which were images of Apollo, he brought to scorn and mockery for those who looked upon them.”

Thus, the Emperor saw fit to build the chief city of the empire in a good corn-growing region, where the climate was temperate and the land of Mysia provided an abundance of grain and fruit.

The city is visible and recognizable to all sailors coming from any land of Asia or Europe. It is almost completely surrounded by the sea and enclosed within walls near the shoreline. The city is fortified with a wall twenty thousand paces long, made of stone and gravel, and reinforced with…

Into the sea beside the city, the land was surveyed and extended. Also, the river Danube, also called Hister, was channeled and directed into various parts of the city through underground conduits. When the water needed to flow into the city, men removed a barrier that held it back, letting it run, and stopped it whenever they wished. In this way, the Danube provided water to a hundred streets.

In his city, Constantine built and founded two famous churches. Later, Emperor Justinian built a third church in honor of Divine Wisdom, called Hagia Sophia in Greek, meaning “The Wisdom of God” in English. People say that this work surpasses all buildings in the world and is more magnificent than words can describe.

Saint Helena brought the holy cross on which our Lord Christ died. There are also the relics of the apostles Andrew and James (called the Lord’s brother), as well as those of Matthias and other prophets such as Elisha, Samuel, and Daniel; also Luke the Evangelist, many martyrs, and confessors, including John with the gilded mouth, Basil, and Gregory Nazianzen. Among the virgins are Agatha and Lucia.

Laconia, also called Sparta, is a province of Greece near Thrace. The people of this province are called Lacedaemonians, descendants of Lacedaemon, son of Semele…

They are also called Spartans. According to Trogus (Book 3), these men once besieged the city of Messene for ten years. They grew weary and distressed by the complaints and grumbling of their wives, and feared that long absences from home during war and battle would leave them childless. Therefore, they arranged that the maidens of their land should take the young men who had stayed at home, so that each maiden would take several young men, one after another. They hoped this would produce stronger children, if each woman tried with many men.

Because of the shameful actions of the mothers, the children conceived in this way were called Spartans. When they were still very young, they feared greatly for their safety, because none of them knew who their own father was. Therefore, they chose a leader and chieftain, Phalanthus, son of Aracus, and without asking their mothers’ permission, they set out on a journey, wandering here and there through various fortunes. At last, they arrived in Italy, drove out the men who lived there, and established their main settlement at Tarentum.

Macedonia takes its name from Macedo, the nephew of Deucalion, and was once called Emathia after King Emathius. It borders the Aegean Sea on the east, Achaia to the south, Dalmatia to the west, and Moesia to the north. In this province…

This is Mount Olympus, which divides two lands: Thrace and Macedonia. According to Petrus (Chapter 37), the summit of this mountain rises above the clouds. At the very top, there are neither clouds, wind, nor rain. On the hills are inscriptions written in dust, which remain without fading even at the end of the year. Birds cannot live there, because the air is too clear. Philosophers cannot dwell there to study the course of the stars, unless they use sponges soaked with water and held to their nostrils to moisten the air they breathe, which they draw in to cool themselves with their heart.

Also in this region is Mount Athos, which reaches the clouds. From the shadow of this hill, the island of Lemnos can be seen, which lies 116 miles from the mountain.

Dalmatia lies east of Macedonia, west of Histria, north of Moesia, and south along the Adriatic Sea.

Achaia takes its name from King Acheus. It is almost entirely enclosed by the sea: to the east lies the Tyrrhenian Sea, to the north the Cretan Sea, and to the south…

The Ionian Sea borders Achaia, and only in the north does it join Macedonia and Attica. The chief city of this land was Corinth; there King Alexander gathered his army to conquer the world. Saint Paul wrote his epistle to the Corinthians.

Arcadia, also called Sicyonia, takes its name from Arcas, son of Jupiter. It is a corner of Achaia and lies between the two seas, the Ionian and the Aegean, shaped like a flat leaf. In it is the Asbestos, which never quenches once it is kindled. White weasels are found there—normally black elsewhere, but here they are white.

Thessaly borders Macedonia to the south. It was once the land of Achilles, and there began the Lapiths, who first tamed horses using bridles and mounted them. Common people thought that the entire body—man and horse—was one, because they were so joined in riding.

For this reason, a hundred horsemen of Thessaly were called Centaurs. The name comes from two words: centum, meaning “one hundred,” and aura, meaning “wind.” Thus the name Centauri was given, as if it were “a hundred winds” or “a hundred beings on horses.”

Wind Waggers: because they rode so well, the wind seemed to follow them swiftly.

According to Trogus (Book 24), in this province is Mount Parnassus, which poets say is noble and famous. On its summit hang two capped stones. At the top is the temple of Delphic Apollo, and in the winding plains below is a pit from which philosophers were inspired. Various answers were given from this pit. Therefore, if the noise of men or trumpets echoed in the valley, the stones would answer one another, producing many reverberations. Echo is the rebounding of sound.

According to Isidore (Book 13), in this province there are two rivers. Sheep that drink from one river become black, and those that drink from the other become white; if they drink from both, they are speckled. This province also contains pleasant places for walking, which philosophers and poets called tempe florida, meaning “flower-filled places.” Theodolus and Ovid write about this region.

Also in this province occurred a great flood in the time of Deucalion, prince of this land. He saved the people who fled to him in ships and boats. Therefore, poets imagined that he and his wife Pyrrha cast stones…

Hellenia takes its name from Hellen, son of Deucalion, and his wife Pyrrha. From him, the Greeks were called Hellenes. This land also includes Attica, named after Atthis, daughter of Cranaus. It lies between Macedonia and Achaia, and joins Arcadia to the north. This is truly the land of Greece, and it is divided into two parts: Boeotia on one side, and Peloponnesus on the other.

The chief city of this land was Athens. There was once great study of literature and clergy there, and people from all nations and lands came to learn. The city of Athens was built in this way: according to Augustine (De Civitate Dei, Book 18), at the time Egypt was struck by God’s wrath under Moses, some of Egypt was destined to be lost, and waters flowed out from Egypt into other lands. Cecrops fled from Egypt into Greece, and there he built the city of Athens, which was later called Athens.

According to Varro, an olive tree suddenly appeared in the city, and water broke out unexpectedly in another place. Then Cecrops asked…

The citizens of Athens consulted the oracle of Delphic Apollo, located on Mount Parnassus, asking what symbols should represent certain meanings. The oracle answered that the olive tree symbolized the goddess Minerva (Athena), and water symbolized Neptune. He said that it was up to the power and choice of the citizens which of the two gods the city would honor.

Therefore, the city gathered both men and women together, as was the custom of the time, so that both men and women could take part in the common council. In that council, the men voted in favor of Neptune, and the women in favor of Minerva. Since there were more women than men, Minerva gained the upper hand, and the city was named after her—Athena, as she was called in the Greek language.

Neptune was angry and caused the seas to rise, overflowing and damaging the lands of the people of Athens, as devils might mischievously do. To appease Neptune and calm his wrath, the women were punished with a double penalty: first, no woman would henceforth…

No woman would henceforth take part in the common council, and by another penalty, no child would afterward bear the mother’s name.

To this province, Helladia, lies the Hellespont, the great mouth of the sea, named after Helle, sister of Phrixus, who fled from the cruelty and pursuit of her stepmother and drowned in that strait. Because of her, the sea and the surrounding land were called Hellespontus. According to Varro, near this place were men who could cure snakebites by touch or with a salve.

According to Trogus (Book 2), the Athenians were the first to use the crafts of wool, wine, and oil, and they learned to plow, sow, and eat acorns. They were the first to flourish in learning, clergy, and law.

The first king of this land was Cecrops, followed by Cranaus (also called Granus). Then his son Atthis gave his name to the land, which was called Athens after him. After Atthis reigned Amphictyonides. In his time, there was a great flood in Thessaly. The kingdom afterward passed to Erichthonius, then to Egeus, and after him his son Theseus. Theseus’s son, Demophon, helped the Greeks…

Beotia, the “land of oxen,” takes its name from bos, which means ox. When Cadmus, son of Agenor, was sent by his father to search for his sister Europa, whom Jupiter had abducted, he could not find her. Fearing his father’s wrath, he neither plowed nor sowed, but fled like an outlaw. It happened that he followed the trail of an ox and came upon the place where the ox rested. He called it Beotia and built the city of Thebes there. In that city, civil wars later broke out.

Apollo and Hercules were born in this region, in the area called Thebanus. In the land is a marvelous lake and a forest: whoever drinks from the lake will be consumed by a madness of lust. There are also two wells in the land: whoever drinks from one becomes forgetful, and whoever drinks from the other retains a good memory.

According to Petrus, note that the people of Thebes in Egypt were called Thebans; the people of Thebes in Greece were also called Thebans; and the people of Thebes in Judea were called Thebites.

Chapter 23
(Isidore, Book 14)

We read in histories that the Greeks once lived in Italy, a land called Greater Greece. That land was at one time called Hesperia, named after Hespera, the star that guided the Greeks when they sailed there; Hespera was their leading star and is associated with Venus.

Later, the land was called Saturnia, after Saturn, who lived there. Saturn hid in that land out of fear of his own son, Jupiter, and the land was called Latium, meaning “the hiding place of Saturn.” Afterward, it was called Ausonia, after Ausonius, son of Ulysses. Finally, the land became known as Italia, after Italus, king of the Siculi in Sicily. Italy is the noblest province of all Europe.

It is bounded on the north by the mouth of the Adriatic Sea, on the east by the great sea, on the south by Sicily and the Tyrrhenian Sea, and on the west by the slopes of the Alps. From those hills spring the noblest rivers of all Europe, called the Rhine, the Danube, and the Rhone. (Isidore, Book 13)

In Italy is the well of Cithero, which is said to cure severe eye ailments. There is also the lake Clitorius; whoever drinks from that lake will not be harmed by wine. (Pliny, Book 2, Chapter 10)

Near the hills called the Appennine Alps is the well Novacius, which flows in the hot summer and dries up in the cold and wet winter. The name Appennini comes from a combination of the two older names, Alpes and Penitus. Hannibal, a great general, crossed the Alps to reach Rome; from the two names, Alpes and Penitus, the single name Appennini was eventually formed, as recorded in many writings. (Paulus, Book 2)

In Italy are many provinces and lands, including Calabria, Apulia, Campania, Beneventana, Tuscia, Emilia, Liguria, and Lombardia.

Apulia is a region of Italy lying eastward along the sea and is separated from the island of Sicily by a stretch of water. The Greeks were the first to settle there. Its chief city is Brundusium, named from the Greek word brunta, meaning “a stag’s head,” because the city is shaped like one. From Brundusium, one can sail to the Holy Land. In this region, Apulia has hot and healthful wells.

Campania is a land in the middle, between the domains of Rome and Apulia. Its chief city is Capua, named from Capacitas, meaning “capacity to receive and take.” The city could receive and sustain plenty, and it was accounted the third most important city…

After the most famous cities, Rome and Carthage, this land also has noble and famous cities such as Neapolis and Puteoli. There were once baths dedicated to Virgil that were held in great veneration.

But there is another lesser Campania in Gallia Senonensis, which is France. The chief city of that Campania was called Trecas, or Trecensis, and it is the same as Troy in Champagne.

In Italy, at different times, there were various rulers, each after the Greeks: Janus, Saturn, Italus, Aeneas, and his descendants. Later came the Senones, a Gallic tribe, who are the French people, under Duke Brennus.

Afterward, around the year of grace 582, during the time of the prince Justinus, Narses and the Cartularius invited the Lombards to come into Italy. From that time until today, the Lombards settled on this side of Italy from the Alps almost down to Rome, which became known as Lombardia.

How the Lombards came to settle there is recounted by Paulus the Roman Deacon in the first book of the History of the Lombards.

It is written in this way: The Winuli, also called the Lombards, so named for their long beards, came with two dukes, Ibor and Aion, and their mother Gambara, who was very wise and capable, from Scandinavia, an island of Germania in the north. This Scandinavia is called an island not because it is surrounded by the sea, but because its plains are always washed by waves from the rivers and marshes.

From there, the Winuli went forth and waged war in Scorungal, overcoming the Vandals. Afterward, the Vandals were defeated, and Ibor and Aion appointed a king, Agelmundus, the son of Aion, who reigned over them for many years.

In his time, a mare gave birth to seven foals at once, which is described clearly in other accounts. One of these foals, named Lauissius, became the second king of the Lombards and ruled after Agelmundus. Agelmundus died suddenly during his term when the Bulgars attacked at night and killed him on the spot.

After him, Lethen reigned as the third king of the Lombards for forty years. He was followed by Hildehoc, then by the fifteenth king, Godehoc, who reigned during the time of Odoacer, called Italicus, and led his men to the land of the Rugii.

After him came Claffo as the sixth king, followed by the seventh, Cato. Later, Wacho killed Cato and outlawed his son forever; Wacho was Cato’s nephew.

When Wacho died, his son Waltaricus became the eighth king of the Lombards and reigned for seven years. After him came the ninth king, Audoenus, who was the first to lead the Lombards into Pannonia. His son Albuinus then became the tenth king of the Lombards.

During the time of Emperor Justinus, the patrician Narses invited King Albuinus to come with his men and take possession of Italy, around the year of our Lord 582, which was forty-two years after the Lombards had settled in Pannonia. Accounts of Albuinus’s conquests and his remarkable deeds can be found recorded for that time, around the year of our Lord 590.

About the city of Rome:
Authors relate that the city of Rome was built in Tuscia, a part of Italy. Many writers describe the founding and governance of the city in various ways. In particular, Brother Martinus wrote about its condition, and Master Gregory wrote about the wonders of the city.

Many events are briefly recorded that are worth keeping in mind. Martinus writes that many kings reigned over the site of Rome. Eustodius says that after the Tower of Babel was built and people began to speak different languages, Noah, with certain men, took a ship and sailed into Italy. There, he built a city named after himself and ended his life.

Then Janus, son of Japheth and grandson of Noah, built the Janiculum across the Tiber River. Today there is a church of Saint John on that site, called Saint John’s Church at the Janiculum. Around that time, Nimrod, also called Saturn, sought to claim the kingdom of Janus for himself and built a city—whose site is now the Capitol.

Also at that time, King Italus, with the Sicilians from Sicily, came to Janus and Saturn and built a city near the Albula River, which later and now is called the Tiber, the river of Rome. Hercules, son of Italus, built a city called Galeria near the Capitol.

Afterward, King Tiberinus came from the east, and King Evander came from Arcadia and built cities. Virgil notes that Father Evander was the maker of towers in Rome.

Later, Romulus came and enclosed the area within a single…

He enclosed all those cities together and made one great city of Rome, gathering noble and gentle people from all over Italy, along with their wives, to dwell there permanently. Titus, in his second book, writes that while the city was poor, no place was holier or offered better examples; but later wealth gathered and, together with it, greed and lust.

Two brothers, twins named Romulus and Remus, built Rome on the Palatine Hill. The city was founded on the 11th Kalends of May, in the seventh Olympiad (the seventh time the Greeks held their games at the foot of Mount Olympus). This was the first year of King Ahaz of Judah and 454 years after the fall of Troy. More accurately, according to Solinus, it was 454 years after the taking of Troy.

The city of Rome was later wondrously built up with walls, towers, gates, temples, palaces, and various other marvelous structures. Its walls had 101 towers and enclosed an area of about twenty-two miles, not including the part beyond the Tiber called the Leonine city. Some say that including that, it measured around twenty-four miles in circumference.

Rome had in all sixteen principal gates; ten on this side of the Tiber, which were called Port Capuena, Port Apia, Port Latina, Port Asinaria, Port Matronii, Port Levicana, Port Numentana, Port Salaria, Port Princiana, and Port Colina. Beyond the Tiber were the other gates, and also the gates within the Leonine city.

Gregory writes that among the wonders of the city, it is a great marvel to see so many defensible towers and so many palaces, built either by skill or by human effort. Now the following verses, composed by Hildebert, Bishop of Le Mans, and recorded by William of Malmesbury in his Book of Kings, describe Rome:

“Rome, nothing there is equal to thee,
Even when all around is falling;
On all your walls you show,
How great you were, when your bows were strong.”

There were many royal and noble palaces built in Rome, in honor of the emperors and other distinguished men. Among these, the greatest and most splendid palace was in the middle of the city, as a symbol of supreme authority.

All over the world, there were also palaces of peace, lasting forever.

Romulus made his own image of gold and said: “It shall never fall, nor shall a maiden bear a child.” That image fell, however, when Christ was born.

The palaces of Diocletian had pillars so massive that even if a hundred men labored a whole year, they could not shape one of those pillars. There was also a palace for sixty emperors, and part of it still stood so that all of Rome could never destroy it.

The Pantheon, which was a temple to all pagan gods, is now a church dedicated to all the saints, and for Our Lady (the Virgin Mary) it is the chief saint of all mankind after Christ. This church is called Sancta Maria Rotunda, that is, the Round Church of Our Lady, and its width is about 260 feet.

Next to that temple is an arch of marble, the Arch of Augustus Caesar, which commemorates his victories and great deeds. On that arch, all of Augustus Caesar’s deeds are depicted. There is also the Arch of the Scipios, commemorating his victory over Hannibal.

At Saint Stephen in Piscina was the Temple of the Olivetree (Olouitreum), made entirely of crystal and gold, with astronomy engraved and painted, showing the stars and signs of heaven.

That temple was destroyed. Also, the Capitol was built with high walls covered in glass and gold, as if it were a mirror reflecting the whole world around it. There the consuls and senators governed and ruled all the world, as much as was within their power.

There was the Temple of Jupiter, and in the temple stood a golden image of Jupiter, seated on a throne.

Take notice that only certain temples in Rome had flamines—priests who served the false gods and idols. They were called flamines from the word filo, meaning thread, because they bound a sacred thread around their head. On holy days, they wore special caps and carried out sacred duties.

In Jupiter’s temple served the flamen dialis, the high priest of Jupiter, who was also called Diespiter, meaning “Father of the Day.” In Mars’s temple was the flamen Martialis, the priest of Mars. In Romulus’s temple was the flamen Quirinalis, priest of Quirinus, for Romulus was also called Quirinus.

In Rome there was a house made almost entirely of gold and decorated with precious stones. People said this house was so magnificent it rivaled the third part of the entire world. In that house, each land and province had an image set up to represent it.

By a certain craft, each of those images bore the name of its own lord inscribed on its chest, and a little silver bell hung around its neck. So that if any land rose up against Rome, immediately the image of that land would turn its back toward the image of Rome, and the bell around its neck would ring. The priests who kept the house would then warn the princes of that action.

There was also a brass horseman atop the house, mounted high, holding a spear. He would turn the point of his spear toward the land that intended to rise against Rome, so that the Romans could easily fall upon their enemies unawares.

In the house there was also a fire that no one could extinguish. People asked the craftsman who made it how long it would last, and he replied that it would last forever, until a maiden should bear a child. On the very night that Christ was born, that house fell down, and the fire was extinguished at the same night and time.

Also, Bacchus and Apollo…

A man enclosed a construction of brimstone and black salt in a brass vessel, and set it on a fire with a candle that he had made in his own fashion, creating a bath with basting places that were all continually hot. There was also a house with an image of iron, called the image of Bellefront, weighing fifteen thousand pounds with its horse, suspended in the air without any post or pillar beneath it, nor held by chains above. But the adamant stones in its feet and arches around it drew the iron evenly to each side, so that the iron image could neither move downward nor upward nor sideways, but hung always balanced in the middle.

This was a place in Rome called the theatrum, a place to stand or sit to see everything clearly. Inside, there were wonderfully carved cabins and dens, with various exits, benches, and seats all around, made from a single block of marble. In that place, no one could speak privately, neither to themselves nor to another, for everything spoken there could be heard all around.

Nearby, Augustus Caesar’s palace had a wall made of burnt tiles, stretching downward from the high hills by the gate Port Asinaria. That wall was constructed on great and high arches and stretched a day’s journey from Rome as a large conduit. On that wall, the waters and streams from the mountain wells ran into Rome, then were distributed into various conduits and brass pipes, and sometimes flowed into every palace of Rome. For the waters of the Tiber were wholesome and good for…

For horses, the water was good, but for men it could be harmful and unwholesome. Therefore, the ancient Romans contrived to bring fresh water from four parts of the city by cleverly constructed means, so that anyone might take as much as they wished while Rome was flourishing in its prime. By that wall, the bath called Byaneus was made, which was remarkable and worthy of mention.

In Albisterium, also called the Mutatorium Cesaris, white stools for the emperors were constructed. There was also a candlestick made of a stone called Albeston; once it was lit and placed, no one could extinguish it by any craft or device.

In this manner, it might have belonged to the giant Pallas around the year of our Lord 1040. At that time, his entire body was found buried in Rome, whole and unbroken. The chain of his wound was four and a half feet long; the length of his body exceeded the height of the walls. At his head, a lantern was found, burning continually, which no one could extinguish with a blast of wind, water, or any other method.

A hole was made beneath the list by the side, but the air must enter. It is said that Turnus killed the giant Pallas, when Aeneas fought for Lavinia, who was Aeneas’s wife. The epitaph of this giant—that is, the inscription in memory of him—was as follows:

“Pallas, son of Evander, lies here: Turnus the knight slew him with his spear in his own way.”

Concerning statues and images:

At Rome, there was a bronze ball in the shape of Jupiter, oversized and made to appear alive to those who looked upon it; the ball seemed to flare and move. There was also an image of Venus, completely naked, crafted in the same manner as Venus once appeared to Paris, and so skillfully made that the movement and lips, which were as white as snow, seemed to carry fresh blood.

Also at Rome, there was a remarkable capped pillar, known as Romulus’ pillar, which was buried near Saint Peter’s Church. Pilgrims and travelers, who fasted devoutly, called it Saint Peter’s corn heap, saying that when Emperor Nero had plundered it, it turned into a stone hill as large as it had been when it was corn.

Among the pillars…

Julius Caesar’s pillar is the most remarkable, standing about two hundred and fifty feet high. On its top sits a round brass object containing Julius Caesar’s ashes and bones.

On this pillar, in an arch, a verse is inscribed, meant to teach and instruct, especially concerning the outermost stone:

If the pillar is made of one stone, describe what skill brought it up there.
If it is made of many stones, tell where they join together.

This arch and pillar are founded and set upon four lions. Pilgrims, full of superstitions, call this arch and pillar Saint Peter’s Needle, saying that anyone who crawls beneath the stone is cleansed of deadly sin.

There were also in Rome two great marble horses: during the time of Emperor Tiberius, two young philosophers, Praxiteles and Fibia, came to Rome and appeared completely naked. When the emperor asked why they were so, they answered:

“For us, everything is exposed; all things are naked and open to our understanding. Yes, sire emperor, and all that you speak in council and privately, we know best.”

This, Trevisa explains, illustrates the first point of their teaching and answer…

He who forsakes all things even forsakes all his clothes. Trevisa explains:

It follows that those who are well clothed, moving about, begging, and gathering money, corn, and cattle from others, do not forsake everything. The emperor tested this and found it true: all those who claimed to forsake all possessions did not truly do so.

At their request, he caused two great marble horses to be made.

Another notable sign and token, placed in front of the Pope’s palaces, was: a brass horse with a man sitting on it, raising his right hand as though speaking to the people, holding the bridle in his left hand, with a cuckoo bird between the horse’s ears and a sickly dwarf beneath the horse’s feet.

Pilgrims called this man Theodoric, while the common people called him Constantine. Clerks of the court also referred to him as Marcus or Quintus Curtius. This statue once stood before Jupiter’s altar on the Capitol, supported on four brass pillars.

Later, Saint Gregory moved the horse and man down and placed the pillars in Saint John Lateran’s Church, but the Romans took the horse and man and set them in front of the Pope’s palaces.

Those who called him Marcus describe his skill and significance…

The Reason.

The man (or “dwarf”) was of the kin of Mesenis; his craft was nigromancy (black magic). When he had conquered the nearby kings and made them subject to him, he came to Rome to war against the Romans, and with his craft, he challenged the power of Rome and intended to strike them. He besieged the city for a long time, surrounding it.

Each day, the dwarf would go out into the field at sunrise to practice his craft. When the Romans observed the dwarf’s actions, they spoke to Marcus, a noble knight, promising him lordship of the city and eternal memory if he would help save it.

Marcus dug a small hole through the wall at the place where the dwarf usually worked and practiced his craft. Marcus hid there, waiting for the right moment to capture the dwarf. When it was time, the cuckoo sang, signaling the day. Marcus then struck the dwarf—not with a weapon, which he could not manage—but with his hand, carrying him into the city. The dwarf was afraid, lest he try to defend himself.

The dwarf, while performing his craft, had to speak, and he was thrown under the feet of a horse, which trampled him. Because of this deed, an image (statue) was later made in memory of him. People who call this figure Quintus Curtius explain the skill and reason behind it:

Once, in the middle of Rome, there was a great furnace in the earth that emitted smoke and brimstone, killing many men. Quintus Curtius took counsel from Phoebus (Apollo), armed himself, and ventured into the furnace. A cuckoo flew out, and the furnace was then closed and stopped.

Another famous statue (or “sign”) was the Colossus, also called the image of the Sun, located in Rome. It was a marvel how it could be lifted or set upright because the statue was so large—its length was sixty-six feet. This statue once stood on the island of Rhodes, fifteen feet taller than the highest place in Rome. It held a round spear in its right hand, shaped like the world, and a sword in its left hand, symbolizing the power to control battle.

The text reflects on the nature of conquest versus preservation: it is easier to win and conquer than it is to keep and safeguard what has been won.

The Colossus statue mentioned earlier was made of bronze, but it was so richly gilded that it shone even in darkness, casting great beams of light. It moved in such a way with the sun that its face was always turned toward the sunlight.

All the Romans who came near worshiped the statue as a symbol of submission and authority. Later, Saint Gregory destroyed the statue with fire, since he could not destroy it by force. From the statue, only the head and right hand holding the spear remained—the spear symbolizing the roundness and likeness of the world. These surviving parts now stand before the Pope’s palace on two marble pillars, and through clever craftsmanship, the bronze was so fashioned that the hair appeared natural and the mouth seemed as if speaking.

To further display the nobility of the city, the Romans also made a woman’s statue in bronze, holding a spear shaped like the world. When the statue was completed, it seemed that the legs were too weak to support such a massive figure, for it was enormous and imposing.

But the craftsmen who made the statue answered and said,
“The legs shall endure forever and hold up the image perfectly,
and they shall never fail—until a maiden bears a child.”
But the legs did fail, and the statue fell down when Christ was born.

Near the palace of Emperor Vespasian is a stone called Parian marble, so named because such stone is quarried on the island called Paros.
In that stone is carved a white sow with thirty piglets, and it brings forth water for those who wish to wash.

There is also a tablet of bronze that forbids sin; within it are inscribed the chief points of the law,
and the writing is arranged like verses in metre.
The meaning of that writing is understood as follows:

Every night, where a cock
Wakes someone before dawn,
All his song, though in a flock,
May please no man by the law.

When summer is hot,
The nightingale sings with merry note;
When the day goes away,
The bird is silent and leaves his lay.

In town, as is proper,
The blackbird twitters with merry laughter;
But at night, for fear,
Truly no song does he cheer.

When flowers spring from the root,
The nightingale in his tune
Warbles softly,
With sweet song in the dawning.

The Sparrow makes its show,
With its mouth then chatters the starling.
In the morning they sing by nature’s kind,
But at evening they have no mind.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Of Certain Roman Customs and Observances
(from Isidore, Etymologies, Book 18, chapter on Triumphs, and from Hugutio, chapter “Tris”)

When a duke, king, consul, or emperor had accomplished a great expedition and victory and returned to Rome, he was to be received with a special kind of honor.

All the people would come out to meet him with the most solemn joy, mirth, and celebration they could make.
All the captives and prisoners would follow his chariot, their hands bound behind their backs.

The victorious man himself would wear Jupiter’s robe and ride in a chariot drawn by five white horses, going straight up to the Capitol.

Of this Ovid speaks:

“With four horses all snow-white,
Thou shalt, lord Emperor, ride in might.”

Yet amid all this great honor, so that he should not forget himself nor grow too proud, he was given this one humbling reminder:
A peasant (or slave) stood beside him in the chariot…

…and a servant stood beside him in the chariot, and struck him on the neck continually — for two reasons:
first, so that he should not become proud because of such great honor;
and second, so that every man might have hope of winning the same glory if he made himself worthy by his own deeds.

While the servant struck the victor, he would often say to him in this manner:

“Nothisselitos,” — that is, “Know thyself.”
As if to say, “Be not too proud of this honor.”

And also on that day, every man had leave to say to the victor whatever he would, and should suffer no punishment for it.
And thus many mocking words were spoken to Julius Caesar, yet he took no vengeance for them.
One man said to Julius Caesar at such a time,

“Salue, calue!” — that is, “Hail, bald man!”
And another said,
“Hail, king and queen!”

(Reader’s note: The last is likely a jibe at Caesar’s rumored effeminacy.)

[R.] (see within The Life of Julius Caesar)

In the Life of Saint John the Almsgiver, it is written that
when the emperors of Rome were crowned, there came to them craftsmen who made tombs,
and asked of them,

“Of what kind of stone or metal shall we make your tomb?”

— as if to say, “You too shall die; therefore rule your people gently.”

From Hugutio, chapter Clarus:
When the Romans would make war in any land, one of them would go to the borders of that land and declare…

When the Romans wished to make war in any land, one of them would go to the borders of that land and publicly declare and show the matter and cause of the war — and that declaration was called a clarigatio.
Then a spear set upright at the end of the land served as a sign that the Romans intended war.

(From Isidore, Book 19, Chapter 22.)

While consuls ruled Rome, the Roman knights were to wear red garments on the day before they were to fight.
This was done so that they should not be frightened or dismayed when they saw red blood running upon their clothes.
Such knights were called Rosati, meaning “clad in roses.”

(R. — Note that Papias says Virgil calls the Romans togati, that is, “men clothed in gowns.”)

They used three kinds of gowns, named Pretextata, Palmata, and Candidata.

The first kind, Pretextata, was worn by gentlemen’s children until they were fourteen years old.
The second kind, Palmata, was used by victors in honor of their noble deeds.
The third kind, Candidata, was worn by lords and masters of the law.

(*From Hugutio, chapter Fastus.)

The days on which the Romans prospered were called fasti, meaning lawful days — for it was lawful for them on those days to engage in various actions and business.
But the days on which the Romans fared ill were called nefasti, meaning unlawful, because they refrained from work on those days — not out of love or devotion, but…

For fear of evil events. Hugutio, Chapter Five. On the Feast of Trevisa.
Those days are called Quinquatria, that is, “the five black days,” for the sorrow and bitterness that the Romans suffered when the French and Hannibal besieged them on every side. For at that time, no Roman dared to go outside the city.

Hugutio, Chapter “Classis.”
When Romulus had established laws for the common good, he divided the people into two groups — the great and the ordinary — and called each group a classis, because of the particular sounds and signals by which they were distinguished, which were called classica. And so the noble and high-born men were called the first classis. In their honor he ordained a month and called it Maius (May), that is, “the month of the great men.”

The ordinary men were called the second classis, and in their honor he established another month and called it Junius (June), that is, “the month of the young men.”

Afterward, the Romans were divided into four parts: in the first were the consuls and scholars; in the second class were the tribunes and men of lesser rank; in the third were the free men; and in the fourth…

They were bondmen (serfs). A tribunus is one who collects tribute (taxes), and he also pays knights; a leader of a thousand knights is called a tribunus.

Hugutio, in the chapter Calon, says that the Romans used to hold a fair every month. The fair began on the first day of the Nones and lasted until the first day of the Ides.

Ides means “division” or “parting,” because at that time the fair was divided and ended. Also, because the beginning of the month was often unknown to merchants and traders, the first day of the month was called the Kalends, from the Latin calo or calas, meaning “to call” or “to proclaim.”

A crier would stand upon a tower, and for as many days as there were between that day and the beginning of the fair, he would cry out “Calo!” Therefore, in the calendar, some months have only four Nones and some have six.

This was done so that thieves (who hid in the woods to spy on merchants) would not know when the fair was going to begin.

Hugutio, in the chapter Mereor, also says that sometimes knights, after they were sixty years old, were not required to perform deeds of arms, but instead were given lands, towns, or other rewards.

They (the knights) lived on allowances from the common treasury. Such a knight was called Emeritus (or Emeryte) in knighthood — meaning, as it were, a knight retired from the active deeds of chivalry.

Therefore, the district of Achanarii, which lies beyond the Tiber, was called Emeritoria, because knights there spent what they had earned rather than what they had gathered or won.

Hugutio, in the chapter Sita, says that in Rome it was the custom that citizens should do nothing before noon except discuss matters of common profit. For this reason, the common women of Rome were called Nonariae, because they were not to go out of their public place before noon, lest they distract young men from public business.

Hugutio, in the chapter Nepa, also says that at one time in Rome fathers and mothers were not allowed to raise or teach their own children. It was supposed that they would be too tender-hearted toward them and would not punish or discipline them strictly enough. Therefore, neither were teachers who were complete strangers or not of the same family permitted to teach the children of Rome, lest they should—

…care too little for the children and beat them too harshly. Therefore, teachers were to be chosen to instruct the children of Rome who were neither too closely related nor too distant in kinship.

Hugutio, in the chapter Proles, says that there were once men in Rome whose sole duty was to raise children. They always lived within the city and were not required to perform deeds of arms. Such men were called proletarii — that is, “begetters of children.”

Nevertheless, in the time of Hannibal they were compelled to go forth (to war), because of the shortage of knights.

Valerius, in the second book, writes that for one hundred and sixty years after the city (of Rome) was founded, no divorce was ever made between a man and his wife. Yet Carvilius, a bastard, was the first to put away his wife — only because the woman was barren. Though he seemed to act from reason, still he was not entirely blameless, for he placed his desire for children before the faith of wedlock.

Isidore, in the sixth book, says that although the Greeks were the first to write on wax tablets with iron styluses, the Romans ordained that no one should write with an iron point, but only with one made of bone.

Pol. (probably Polybius), in the second book, says: whoever will read the books of histories among all men that…

Whoever looks through the books of histories, from the time that Rome was first founded, will find that the Romans were the most covetous and proud of all men. He will also find that the mastery they held over the world was gained through punishing other peoples, through deceit, and through guile — so much so that scarcely any of their princes lived out his life naturally to the end.

Therefore, every Roman either overcomes others or is himself overcome by flattery and fair words; and if words fail, gifts will win the day; if gifts fail, then honor will make a man their prisoner.

Polybius, Book Seven, Chapter Eleven, says: While the cities of Italy love peace, honor righteousness, and avoid deceitful practices, they enjoy pleasure and prosperity in their own land. But when they give themselves over to falsehood and strife, then at once the pride of the Romans, or the madness of the Germans, or some other punishment from Almighty God, falls upon them — so that they may amend their lives by the penance of contrition. For the sins of the people either drive away all sovereignty or make their prince more humble.

Of Germany and Its Provinces — Chapter Twenty-Six

Isidore, Etymologies, Book Fourteen:
Isidore says that true Germany lies east of the mouth of the River Danube, south of the River Rhine, and is bounded on the north and west by the Ocean Sea.

There are two regions, each called Germany. The higher Germany stretches along the sides of the Alps to the mouth and coast of the great sea called the Adriatic, where the sea forms gulfs like lakes in the regions near Aquileia.

The other Germany is lower, lying toward the west around the Rhine, and is commonly called Almain or Teutonia.

In each Germany there are many provinces and lands — such as Bohemia, Westphalia, Bavaria, Thuringia, Swabia, Saxony, Franconia, Lorraine, Friesland, and Zealand.

Paulus, Book One: The northern country is far from the heat of the sun, wholesome for people to dwell in, and well suited for bearing and raising children. Therefore, it is that there is greater increase and multiplication of people and children in the northern regions than in the southern ones, which lie near to the—

…the sun, which makes it unwholesome and unhealthy for people to dwell in. And thus, every land and country has its own proper name; nevertheless, all the region and land from the River Tanais westward is called Germany, because it produces and brings forth more men and children than it can well sustain.

Therefore, it often happens that many people from that part of the world go out into other lands — either by lot, or against their will, or willingly — to conquer and gain other countries. Thus did the Goths, Vandals, Saxons, Wends, and Lombards.

Bohemia is the first province of that eastern Germany. On the east it borders on Moesia and Alania; on the south, on the River Danube and Pannonia; on the west, on Bavaria and Thuringia; and on the north and northwest, on Saxony. It is almost entirely enclosed by hills and woods and has great plenty of pasture and of grass that smells very sweet, and many kinds of wild beasts. Among these is one beast called boz in the language of Bohemia, but it does not defend itself with its horns. Instead, it has a large fold of skin, like a bag, under its chin, in which it gathers water and—

…it keeps it (the water) while running, when it is overheated, and throws it upon hunters and hounds that pursue it — and it scalds the hair off them and burns them sorely.

Thuringia lies to the east of Bohemia, to the west of Franconia, to the north of Westphalia, and to the south of the River Danube.

Franconia is, as it were, the middle province of Germany. On the east it borders Thuringia, on the west Swabia, on the north part of Westphalia, and on the south Bavaria and the River Danube.

Bavaria lies east of the River Danube and the region called Rhaetia.

Westphalia lies east of Saxony, west of Frisia, north by the Ocean, and south of parts of France and Swabia.

Swabia lies east of Bavaria, west of the river called the Rhine, north of part of Franconia, and south of Rhaetia and the Alps.

Saxony lies east of Alania, west of Westphalia, north by the Ocean, and south of Thuringia.

Isidore, Book Fourteen: The men of Saxony dwell toward the northern ends of the Ocean, and they are both more lively and stronger than other men…

…seafarers and warriors, who pursue their enemies fiercely both by water and by land. They are called Saxons, from saxum — meaning “a stone” — because they are as hard as stones and difficult to deal with.

In the hills of Saxony, almost every kind of metal is mined, except tin. In Germany there are salt springs, from which salt is made as white as any snow. Near the hill where copper is mined there is another great hill of stones, and those stones smell sweet, like violets. Also, near the monastery of Saint Michael, marble is found — the fairest that can be.

Bede, Book Five, Chapter Twenty-Five: The old Saxons have no king, but many knights of their own who rule them. Yet in time of battle they cast lots to decide which of their knights shall be their leader and chieftain, and they follow the one who is chosen by lot as their chief lord and master during the battle. But when the battle is over, he becomes as he was before, and he and the other knights are all equal in power and might.

Pliny, Book Five: Frisia is a land upon the edge of the western ocean, and it begins—

…on the south side from the Rhine, and it ends at the sea of Denmark.

The people of Frisia are shorn around their heads — and the more noble and gentle a man is, the higher his hair is shorn. The men are fair of body, fierce, and bold of heart. They use spears instead of arrows, and they love freedom above all things. Therefore, they suffer no man to be their lord who would make himself a knight over them.

Nevertheless, they are governed and ruled by judges and magistrates, and every year they choose their own judges from among themselves. They love chastity and carefully guard their children, and they do not allow them to marry before they are twenty-four years old. For this reason they have strong and hardy children.

They have no woods, and so they make their fires of turf.

Zeeland (Selandia) is a small land upon the sea, which runs through the land and forms seventeen islands, and around each of them a ship may sail. It has on the east Holland, on the north Frisia, on the west the Ocean, and on the south Flanders. It is enclosed all about like an island, armed with the waters of the sea.

…of the sea and its floods. There is good farmland there, though few trees grow, because the roots cannot take deep hold or draw richness from the earth due to its saltiness. The men are large of body and gentle of heart.

Paulus, Book One: In the northwest part of Germany there is a people called Scribonius, who have snow all through the summer, and who eat raw flesh and are clothed in goats’ skins. In their country, when the night is short, one may see the beams of the sun all night long; and again in the winter, when the day is short, they may see the light of the sun, though not the sun itself.

Also, Paulus, Book One, Chapter Four: Near the land of that people Scribonius, beneath the cliff of the ocean, there is a cave under a great rock. Within it sleep seven men who have long been asleep, and they remain whole and sound in body and clothing, entirely without blemish. Thus the unlearned and strangers hold them in great reverence. They are thought to be Romans, as it seems by their clothing.

There was once a man who, out of greed, tried to strip one of them and take his garments — but at once his—

…arms withered and became completely dry. It may be that God keeps them whole and sound so that unbelieving men, in times to come, may through them be converted and turned to the true faith.

Of Gaul, or France — Chapter Twenty-Seven

B. It is written in the histories that Gaul, which is France, has that name Gallia from the whiteness of its people. Gala is Greek, lac is Latin, and milk is English. Therefore Sibyl calls them Galli, that is, “the white ones,” and says, “their milky necks are washed with gold.”

Hugutio, in the chapter Gala, says: Because of the diversity of the heavens, there arises diversity in the color of faces, in the size and stature of bodies, and in the manners and wit of peoples. Therefore, in Rome are grave men, in Greece quick-witted men, in Africa deceitful men, and in Gaul wise and intelligent men.

R. Here note, as Augustine touches upon in The City of God, Book Two, Chapter Five, that Galli in another sense means the priests, who were—

…in the temple of that goddess called Cybele, and they had the name not from the land of Gaul (Gallia), but from the river Gallus that is in Phrygia. All who drank from that river would become mad and were all made eunuchs, in memory of the child Attis, whom the same goddess Cybele loved with all her might.

The child became mad and castrated himself for the deceit and falsehood he had done to the goddess Cybele — so says Ovid in the Fasti.

But concerning the Galli who are the Franks and Frenchmen, Eutropius, Book Two, says: The Gauls are very hasty (impetuous), and their bodies surpass the common stature of other men. Yet it is found by experience that although the Gauls are quick and eager in the first onset, they afterward prove in fighting weaker than women. For as they are like the Alps in the greatness of their bodies, so they are like the snow that lies upon the Alps — which bursts forth in sweetness but melts away in the heat of battle, just as snow melts in the heat of the sun.

Giraldus, Distinction I, Chapter Seventeen: Then Gaul, with all its parts together, has on the north side Germany, on the east the Rhine, on the south the Alps, on the west the Ocean Sea, which is called both the British and the Gallic Sea — that is, the English and the French — for it divides both England and France; and on the south the Mediterranean Sea, which washes about the—

…the province of Narbonne.

In the time of Julius Caesar, Gaul was divided into three parts. But because of various events that later befell that land, the country stretching from the Rhine to the Seine — from the one river to the other — is now called Gallia Belgica, that is, true France.

The region stretching from the Seine to the River Loire is called Gallia Lugdunensis. The upper part of it is called Burgundy, and the lower part Neustria. The country stretching from the River Loire to the water called the Garonne is called Gallia Aquitanica — that is, Guienne — and it extends from the River Rhône in the east straight to the western Ocean. The upper part of it is called Celica, meaning “heavenly” or “high,” for the lofty mountains found there.

From the River Garonne to the Mediterranean Sea and the mountains called the Pyrenees — the great hills of Spain — is called Gallia Narbonensis; and now some of that land is called Gothia, and some Vasconia, that is, Gascony.

And thus all Gaul as a whole is enclosed about with three noble waters: with the Rhine on the north side, with the Rhône on the east, and with the British Ocean on the west side.

In Gaul there are many good quarries and noble places to dig stone. Near Paris there is great plenty of a kind of stone called gypsum, also known as white plaster; when that stone is mixed with water—

…and turned to plaster. From it men make images, walls, chambers, pavements, and many kinds of work that last a long time.

There stands the fair flower, the city of Paris — nurse of beauty, cupbearer of learning, shining in Europe as Athens once shone in Greece.

Giraldus, Distinction I: As for the Frenchmen, who are also called Franks, and many other men — the strongest of Europe — they came from the Trojans. For after Troy was taken, Antenor fled away with his men by the waters called the Meotian Marshes and by the River Tanais, and dwelt in Pannonia, where he built a city and named it Sicambria. From that city he and all his people were afterward called Sicambri.

After the death of Antenor they appointed two leaders, Trogotus and Franco, and from that Franco they were afterward called Franci (Franks).

Turpin, De Gestis Karoli, says that when King Charles (Charlemagne) had subdued Spain and returned again to Paris, he made all the bondmen of Gaul free, in honor of Saint James and Saint Denis — but they were to offer every year four pence toward the building work of Saint Denis’s church. And thus they were called Franci (that is, free men).

Blessed Denis’s — that is, Saint Denis’s — free men. And so it came about that Gaul was called Francia, because of that freedom.

Other men say that the Emperor Valentinian called them Francos, as if Ferancos — which means “stern” or “fierce” in the Attic (that is, Greek) language.

For the Sicambri — who are the Frenchmen — had long been tributaries to Rome, even before the time of Valentinian. But when the Alans, the men of Alania, became enemies to Rome, the Sicambri had their tribute forgiven for ten years, on condition that they should make war against the Alans. And when the ten years were ended and the Alans were overcome, the Romans demanded their tribute again. The Sicambri refused and would pay nothing.

Therefore Valentinian the Emperor made war upon them with a great host and gained the victory. Then, for that misfortune, the Sicambri were wrathful and made war in the lands of Rome — and also upon the lands subject to Rome.

Therefore the Sicambri were afterward called Franci, as if Feranci — that is, fierce and stern men; and from their duke Franco they were also called Franci, meaning “Franco’s men.”

Also, because of the freedom that King Charles (Charlemagne) gave them, they are called Franci — that is to say, “free men.” But however they first came to that name, Franci they remain.

It is all one people — the Sicambri, the Gauls, and the Franks, that is, the Frenchmen.

The Franks made for themselves a king named Faramund, the son of Marcomir, and brought all the land into subjection from Sicambria to the Rhine.

William De Regibus, Book I: When Faramund was dead, they made his son king, who had three names — Clodion, Clodius, and Crinitus; and from him the kings of France were afterward called Criniti.

After Clodius they made his son king, who also had three names, and was called Meroveus; and after him the kings of France were called Merovingians, until the time of Pipin (Pepin).

In the same manner, the sons of kings of England had their names formed from their fathers’ names — as Edgar’s son was called Edgaryngus, and Edmund’s son Edmundyngus. Commonly, he who comes of royal blood is called Adelingus (“atheling”).

Giraldus, Distinction One: After Meroveus reigned his son Childeric; after him followed Remigius. This Childeric, at the request of the Romans, drove out of Guienne the people called the Goths, who were Arians.

When he was dead, his son Childebert held the kingdom with his three brothers — Theodoric, Clodomir, and Clothair.

This was in the time of Pope Gregory the Great.

After this Childebert reigned, and after him his brother Clothair, who married Saint Radegund. After him reigned his son Childeric, together with his three brothers — Caribert, Gundian, and Sigebert.

After Childeric reigned his son Clothair, who begot Dagobert and his sister Bathildis. Under this Dagobert, Pipin (Pepin) was the greatest man in the king’s household, and this was in the time of the emperor Heraclius.

After Dagobert reigned his son Clovis. In his time the body of Saint Benedict was translated — that is, brought out of the province of Beneventum into France.

After Clovis reigned his son Clothair; and after him his brother Theodoric. In his time Ebroin, who was the greatest man in the king’s household, persecuted Saint Leodegar, did him much sorrow and torment, and at last martyred him.

After Theodoric reigned Clovis, and after him his younger brother Childebert; and after him his younger son Dagobert. And after him the royal line failed.

For after him reigned his brother Daniel, who was a cleric; but the Franks changed Daniel’s name and—

After him reigned one of his kin named Theodoric, and after him his brother Hilderic. Hilderic was deposed for his great foolishness and was made a cleric, and he lived as a monk in an abbey. Then the royal line of Feramund’s blood failed in the male line — but it still continued and endured in a woman, Bathildis, the sister of Dagobert.

This Bathildis was married to Ansebert, and by him she had a son named Arnold. Then this Arnold’s son was named Arnulf. That Arnulf married the daughter of Duke Pepin — the same Pepin who was the greatest man in King Dagobert’s household. King Dagobert, as said, was Bathildis’s brother.

This Arnulf was afterwards made bishop — Bishop of Metz. Then his son Ansegisel begot Pepin, who was also called by two other names, Vetulus and Bremos.

According to William of the Kings (Book I), this Pepin begot Charles, who was called Tutidis — that is, “the Hammer” (Martel in Latin). He was so called because he “beat” and “struck down” all the tyrants and Saracens who made war in France, troubling the land and the people.

This Charles followed the—

He (Charles Martel) followed the counsel of his forefathers and kept the kings of France in his service and under his protection. He himself was called an earl, and he held himself content with that title.

According to Giraldus, this Charles begot Pepin the Second and Charles the Great, who afterwards became a monk. This second Pepin was of the royal line, for he descended from Bathildis, of whom we spoke earlier. Therefore, he was made King of France by the consent of all the knights and by the authority of Pope Stephen, who succeeded Pope Zachary.

This Pepin begot Charles the Great (Charlemagne), who was made king after his father’s death, in the year of our Lord 769. Because of his noble deeds, the Romans chose him to be the Advocate of Saint Peter, and afterwards Patrician, and then Emperor and Augustus. From that time forward, the Empire of Constantinople was turned away from the Romans to the French, because the emperors of Constantinople would not aid the Church of Rome against the Lombards, who made war upon the Romans.

This Charles (Charlemagne) begot Louis, who was afterwards emperor. This Louis begot Charles the Bald, who also became emperor. Charles the Bald begot Louis, and Louis begot Charles the Simple.

Charles the Simple begot Louis; Louis begot Lothair; Lothair begot Louis, the last king of his line.

When this Louis was dead, the Franks took Hugh, Duke of Burgundy, and made him their king. This Hugh begot Robert; Robert begot Henry; Henry begot Philip; Philip begot Louis.

This Louis reigned in the time of Henry the Cleric, the son of the Conqueror. The great Charles’s descendants reigned in France up until the time of Hugh, who was called Capet by surname. From him came all the subsequent kings of France, as is openly declared in his chronicles. The kings of his descendants reigned in Italy and in Germany until the year of our Lord 912, when Conrad, king of the Germans, took the imperial title for himself.

R. Long afterwards, as common fame tells, a woman who was queen of France by inheritance married a butcher because of his beauty. Therefore, in reproach of that deed, the French ordained among themselves that no woman should thereafter be heir to the throne of France.

Giraldus.

The victors of all the world were many, but the stalwart men and warriors who lived in France overcame them in many battles. Yet in the end, in the time of Gaius Julius Caesar, Gaul — that is, France — was made subject and so occupied by the Romans for about four hundred years, until the final time of Emperor Valentinian, when various peoples from foreign lands made war in Gaul.

First came the Vandals and Huns, then the Suevi and Burgundians, who were from Suevia, a land of Germany, that is, Allemagne. Then came the Goths and Sicambri, and afterward the Norwegians and Danes, who established chief cities in Gaul.

In Gaul — that is, France — there were many provinces and regions, including Brabant, Flanders, Picardy, Normandy, Lower Brittany, Poitou, Guienne, Anjou, Gascony, Burgundy, Sologne, Provence (the lesser part, that is, Champagne), and Auvergne.

Flanders, which is a province of Gallia Belgica, lies on the brink of the Ocean Sea. To the north is Frisia, to the east Germany, to the south Picardy, to the west the ocean, and to the north a part of England.

Though Flanders is a small land, it is very abundant in many profitable things: rich pastures, livestock, merchandise, rivers, seaports, and good towns. The people of Flanders are fair, strong, and wealthy; they bear many children, are peaceful toward their neighbors, loyal to strangers, skilled craftsmen, and great makers of cloth, which they send widely throughout Europe.

The land is flat and scarce of wood; therefore, instead of wood, they burn turf, which smells worse than wood and leaves fouler ashes.

Brabant is southeast of Flanders and is abundant in merchandise and in cloth-making. From the wool they get from England, they make cloth of diverse colors and send it to other provinces and lands, as Flanders also does. Although England has the best wool, it does not have as great a supply of good water for producing various colors and hues as Flanders and Brabant have. Nevertheless, in London there is one well that helps greatly in making good scarlet, and so there is in Lincoln, in a certain place by the brook.

Picardy is a province of Gaul, and it takes its name from the town called Ponticus, now known as Pithiviers, according to Herodotus. Picardy has many noble castles and towns, including Amiens, Belgis, Beluacus, Atrebat, and Tournai. It lies between Flanders to the north and Normandy to the south, with the sea on its western side and the south side of England to the south.

There are two Picardies: the upper one is near France proper, and the lower one joins the ends of Flanders and Brabant. The men are bold and vigorous in deeds, and their speech is fuller and stronger than that of other men of France.

Normandy, also called Neustria, takes its name from the Norwegians, who sailed from Norway and Denmark and settled on the cliffs of the ocean in Gaul, calling it Normandy. Its chief city is Rouen, at the mouth of the River Seine, which there flows into the Ocean Sea.

Normandy lies south of Lower Brittany, west of the French Ocean, and northwest of the southern side of England.

Lower Brittany takes its name from the Britons —

That land was twice occupied. First by Brennus, who was the brother of King Bellynus, and afterward by sons of the Britons, who were pursued and harassed by the Saxons in the time of Fortigern, king of the Britons, as is written and contained in the History of the Britons.

This province lies east of Angeoye (Anjou), north of Normandy, south of Guyenne, and west by the ocean, Aquitanicus, that is, the sea by the side of Guienne.

Giraldus, in Topographia: In this Brittany there is a well; if the water of that well is taken in a horn and poured upon a stone next to the well, it will immediately rain, no matter how fair the weather is.

Also, in the land of the French there is a well near Pascence Castle; the water of that well is very good for men and not for women. No one can heat the water of that well, neither with fire nor with any craft that man can devise.

Pictavia, that is, Poitou, is a province of Gallia Narbonensis. Englishmen, Scots, and Picts sailed there and settled, calling the country Pictavia, and the chief city Pictavis, that is, Poitiers, according to Herodotus.

This province stretches a long way along the ocean. To the east is Touraine, through which flows the river Loire; to the south is Spain; to the north are Lower Brittany and the sea of Guienne; to the west is the ocean.

The people of that land follow the ways of the French, partly because they are mingled with them, and also because of the country in which they live. Therefore, they are now strong of body, fair of face, bold of heart, and full of wit. As Isidore (Etymologies, Book IX) says, the diversity of countries under heaven brings diversity of faces in men, in strength, in color, and in wit.

Aquitaine

Aquitaine, that is, Guienne, takes its name from aquis, meaning waters, because the waters of the river Loire flow through a large part of that land. Many particular provinces are included under the name of Aquitaine.

Pliny says that to the north and east it touches Gallia Lugdunensis, and to the south and east it stretches to the province of Narbonne. Andegauia, that is, Anjou, is a province of Gaul and lies roughly in the middle between Guienne…

Vasconia, that is, Gascony, was formerly considered part of Guienne. It lies to the east by the Pyrenean hills, to the west by the Western Ocean, to the southeast by the plains of the province of Toulouse, and on the other side it borders Poitou.

That land has many woods, hills, and vineyards. The Garonne River separates it from the province of Toulouse and flows into the Ocean Sea near Bordeaux, which is the chief city of that land. The people of this region are called Vascones, or Wacones.

The great Pompey drove them down from the Pyrenees and gathered them all into one town when Spain was conquered, according to Herodotus, the historian. The men of that land are now called Vasclensis. They are swift and hardy, use slings and crossbows, and gladly rob and plunder, so they are strong and warlike. They wear thin, rough clothing.

Burgundy is part of Gallia Senonensis and stretches up to the Pyrenean Alps. Its name comes from the fortified towns that the Ostrogoths built there when they marched to destroy Italy.

It is very cold toward the Pyrenean Alps. The men who live on that side of Burgundy have chins that are swollen and double, as if they had two chins, because of the extreme cold of the melting snow and icy waters that flow among them all day.

Spain

Trogus (last book) and Isidore (Book XV) say: Trogus writes that Trigonias is all of Spain, and the Pyrenean hills join Spain on the northern side to Gallia Narbonensis, enclosing Spain on the other sides almost entirely with the Ocean Sea and the Tyrrhenian Sea. Thus, Spain is almost like an island, being nearly surrounded by water.

But there are two Spains:

The first begins from the plains and valleys of the Pyrenees, stretches through Cantabria, and ends at Carthago Spartaria.

The second, or “Zonder Spain,” occupies the western part, stretching to the Gulf of Cádiz, where Hercules’ Pillars stand by the sides.

The mountains of Atlas rise in Spain. This Spain is a flat land and has many fortresses, abundant horses, metals, and honey. It was sometimes called Hesperia, from Hespera, the evening star, which guided the Greeks and was their leading star. Later it was called Hiberia, from the river Hiberus, and eventually it became Hispania, from the river Hispalus.

In Hispania there are six provinces: Tarraconensis, Lusitania, Gallicia, Betica, Tingitana, Asturia, and Aragonia.

Isidore (Book XV, chapter II) writes that the Carthage of Spain is called Spartaria, to distinguish it from the great Carthage of Africa, which Scipio, consul of Rome, destroyed. The Africans built this Carthage Spartaria in the time of Duke Hannibal, but soon afterward the Romans took it. Later the Goths destroyed it completely, for they were lords of Spain for a long time, especially in the reign of Emperor Honorius.

Afterward, the Saracens came from Africa and expelled the Goths from Spain in the time of Emperor Heraclius. But the Saracens were later…

After being overcome by Charles the Great, the western lands of Spain, Gallicia, and Lusitania were lost; only the eastern lands and regions of Spain remained under his control.

On the Islands of the Great Sea

Gades was likely the first to be settled among the islands of the Great Sea. It stands at the western end of Spain, in the mouth of the Western Ocean. There, the great ocean breaks into the inner lands and separates Africa and Europe.

The Tyrians sailed out of the Red Sea, occupied that land, and called it Gades in their language. Gades means “enclosed,” because it is almost completely surrounded by the sea. It lies about 110 miles from the mainland.

There, Hercules set his pillars, which were remarkable, as if at the utmost ends of all the earth. These same pillars were also called by the name of the island, Gades.

Hugutio, chapter on Gades, confirms this. And from this…

Those pillars, set in place by brave and valiant men, are called Gades; beyond them, one cannot pass further. From these pillars and the island of Gades extend the Balearic Islands, which include Majorca and Minorca. Then comes the island of Sardinia, lying south toward Africa and north of Sicily. This island has neither roads nor poisons, but it has a herb called apium, which makes people laugh uncontrollably.

This land also has hot springs and healing waters that can blind people if they look directly into them; for safety, people swear and touch their eyes with the waters of these springs.

The island of Corsica is surrounded by many smaller islands jutting into the sea. There is excellent pasture and fertile land for animals, and a stone there called aconites. Corsica lies with the Tyrrhenian Sea to the east, Sardinia a short distance to the south, the Balearic Islands to the west, and the Ligurian Sea and Liguria, a province of Italy, to the north. It measures roughly 120 miles in length and 26 miles in width. The island is named Corsica after a woman named Corsa.

Corsa had a noble horse that often left the company of other animals, swam to the island, and returned in much better condition than when it went out. Corsa herself saw this, waited for the right moment, took a boat, and followed the horse to the island. She found it was a good land for growing grain and grass, and she brought along the first men who were called Ligures.

Aradia, also called Aradium, is an island that is entirely one city, not far from the city of Tyre, and it has many sailors who are very strong in fighting.

The Cyclades are many islands, about fifty in number, and they were called Cyclades from the Greek word ciclon, meaning “circle,” because they are arranged in a circle around the island called Delos. Some say they were named for the high rocks that surround them.

The first of these islands is Rhodes, toward the east, and the islands extend toward the north along the coast of Lesser Asia, stretching about fifty miles from south to north, and about 200 miles from east to west. The central island of the group is Delos, which means “revealed,” because it was shown to other lands after the time of Noah.

Delos had Ortygia, for ortigie (quails and curlews) were abundant there.

Also, Latona gave birth to Apollo Delphicus there.

Samos, also called Samia, is another island. Pythagoras the philosopher, as well as Juno and the Sibylla, were born there.

In Cyprus, the land has white and red clay, from which the finest earthen vessels are made. Cities of Cyprus include Paphos and Cithium. The island is bordered to the south by the Phoenician Sea, to the west by the Pamphylian Sea, and to the northwest by Sicily. It is about 80 miles long and 65 miles wide. Bronze and bronze-working were first invented there. The wine of Cyprus is considered the strongest of all wines.

Crete, named after one called Cretus, is another island. It was also called Centapolis, because it once contained a hundred cities. In ancient times, it was inhabited by the gods Jupiter and Saturn.

This land, which in ancient times belonged to Greece, lies to the south by the Libyan Sea and to the north by the Sea of Greece. It stretches from east to west and was one of the first lands to be perfected and renowned in the arts of metalworking, weapons, and archery. Laws were written there, and they taught horsemanship and mounted combat. Music and the art of singing, based on the Ideis dactylic system, were also first developed there.

The people of Crete improved these arts and spread them to neighboring lands. The island has many sheep and goats but few deer or other wild animals; there are no foxes, wolves, or other venomous creatures. The land is so toxic to venomous animals that if any are brought from other regions, they die immediately. However, while there are no large venomous beasts, there are some venomous serpents called spalangia.

The island is about 87 miles long and 100 miles wide. On this island is one of the four Labyrinths, which will be described further below.

To explain the nature of the labyrinth and the meaning behind it, I will now tell what the labyrinth is.

The Labyrinth is a wondrously built house, with walls and passages, full of twists and turns, winding ways so diverse and convoluted that anyone who enters and wishes to exit—no matter how quickly they try, in whichever direction they go, east or west, north or south—cannot find their way out by choosing the “fairest” path. One may toil endlessly, yet without a special skill or craft, escape is impossible.

The island of Sicily was once called Trinacria, meaning “triangular,” because of its high mountains, which are Pelorum, Pachynum, and Lilybeum. Later it was called Sicilia, after Siculus, the brother of Italus, and sometimes it was called Sicania, after King Sicanus. The northern side borders Apulia, part of Italy, and was at one time connected to Italy by a narrow strip of land, but later was separated by great waters and marshy lands, as Salustius writes. The sea that now lies between Sicily and Italy is broad and was called Rhegium, meaning “broken off.”

In part, they see great dangers and wonders, as Trevisa [notes].
I know them widely; one is Scylla, the other is Charybdis.

The people of that land call Scylla a large rock that rises above the water. It is shaped like a man, wrapped around with hands, and they pretend and say that it seems the waves strike it when they hit it. Charybdis is a dangerous whirlpool in the sea that throws up water and waves and swallows them three times a day. —Isidore, Book 14

On this island, they first prepared the land with plows to sow corn and other seeds, and there was also a popular song of heroes first composed. —Bede, De Naturis

The land of Sicily is hollow and full of caves, and contains much brimstone and lava, so that the air and land are sufficiently dangerous. Fire is enclosed in the caves and fissures, struggling within the earth with the air and other things that are contrary to the fire, and it often produces smoke and flames in many places. Sometimes the force of the wind inside breaks up heaps of gravel and stones; this is why the burning of Mount Etna continues for so long. —Isidore, Book 14

Mount Etna has many caves and hollow dens filled with vegetation toward its south side.

Brimstone, which produces much wind and kindles fire and smoke. —Trevisa

In that place, various shapes and figures are seen, and I heard sorrowful voices and groaning. Therefore, some men think that these are souls suffering in pain, as it seems Saint Gregory mentions in his dialogue. —Giraldus, Topographia

There is also a well in Sicily called Zifaman. When it is enclosed with reeds, the water immediately rises as high as a man’s head; and because of its color and hue, the water moves strangely. There are also cicada birds that sing at their best. They have an opening under the throat, and they sing better when the head is removed from the body than when it is alive. Therefore, the herders of that land cut them so they will have a sweeter song.

Also, in that land is a city called Palarna, and every year, a certain rent is sent to the king of that land, similar to the king of England receiving a certain rent from England. —Isidore, Book 13

In Sicily, there are two wells, one of which enables a barren woman to bear children.

…and the other enables a woman who is barren to bear children. —Trevisa

In Sicily is a salt called Agrigentinus, wonderful and different from other salt, for it melts in fire and leaps and sparkles in water.

Near Sicily is an island called Eola, named after Eolus. Poets invented and called him the god of winds, because while he ruled nine islands—each of them called Eola—he would predict when it would rain by the rising of moisture, mist, and smoke. Therefore, people who understood little thought that he controlled the winds and mist.

Those same nine islands are called “Volcano,” meaning fire, because they burn everywhere. There are other islands in the Euxine Sea. The Euxine Sea is a large part of the great sea of the Middle Earth; among its islands, the island Colchis is famous. There Jason fetched the Golden Fleece, as is told regarding the Trojan War.

Patmos is an island in the same sea, where Saint John the Evangelist lived when he was exiled from other lands.

On the Islands of the Ocean
Chapter 31 — Trevisa

Isidore, Book 5: The Fortunate Islands (which are the gracious islands, with a good climate and gentle winds, set in the western ocean, and which some men consider paradise because of the goodness of the land and the temperate weather) are blessed with favorable conditions. The hills there are fertile, and corn and herbs grow as abundantly as grass.

Because of the abundance of corn and fruit, they are called the Fortunate Islands—that is, gracious. There are trees there reaching seventy feet in height. One of these islands is Capraria, the island of goats, because many goats and rams are found there. Another is Canaria, the island of dogs, because it is full of strong dogs.

Dacia, which is Denmark, is an island joined to the northern side of Germania. The people of Denmark were once very stern and skilled warriors; therefore, they sometimes occupied large territories in Britain and France. They were called Daci, or Dagi, because they came from the Goths. Many people live in Dacia, and they are fair in appearance.

They are of good stature, with handsome faces and hair. —Trevisa

They are stern against their enemies, but to good men they are loyal, gentle, and mild. However, it should not be forgotten that they once brought great drinking into England.

Wyntland, that island west of Denmark, is a barren land inhabited by misguided men. They worship idols, and sell wind to sailors, who use it to reach their harbors. The wind is said to be “tied under knots of bread”; as the knots are untied, the wind blows at its own will.

Another island, called Islond, lies east of Norway in the frozen northern sea—literally, the “frozen sea.” The men of that island are short of speech, truthful in their words, and dressed in the skins of wild beasts. They are fishers, and each island has one man serving as both king and priest.

There are large falcons and gentle hawks, and white bears that break the ice to catch fish. There are no sheep in that land.

Because of the great cold, only oats grow there, no other corn. —Trevisa

That island is reached from Ireland and Brittany in a few days’ sailing. —Solinus, De Mirabilibus

Tile is the outermost island of the ocean, between the north and the western coast near Brittany, and very few men know the island. —Pliny, Book 2

Tile is named after the sun, because from springtime, when day and night are equal, until harvest, when day and night are again equal, it is constantly bathed in sunlight. From that time until springtime again, when day and night are equal, it receives no sunlight at all; it is all dark night with no day. Therefore, the land is hardly suitable for humans to live in—too hot in summer, too cold and dark in winter—and no corn can grow there. The sea around it is also frozen hard.

Between that island and Brittany are the islands called Scandia, Lingos, and Vergion. Noble Tile is six days’ sailing from Brittany. —Ranulphus, Giraldus, Topographia

Saint Augustine, in Book 21 of The City of God, speaks of Tile and says it is an island of India, and claims that the trees of Tile never lose their leaves.

Be careful not to be deceived by similar names:

The island of India is called Tilis in the nominative case, and the island of the ocean is called Tyle in the nominative case. They are similar in other ways, as you can see if you can decline those two names and speak Latin. —Isidore, Etymologiae, Book 15

Norway stretches somewhat east toward Denmark and Gothia, and borders Scotland on the south side and Iceland on the north side. The island is broad, surrounded by the sea, very rugged and cold, with many hills, woods, and wild animals: white bears, boars, and lynxes. Corn is scarce there.

The people of that land live more by fishing and hunting than by growing bread and grain. On the northern side of the land, during many nights in summer, around the solstice, the sun does not go down but shines all night; and similarly in winter, around the solstice, the sun does not rise to give them light. Therefore, all that time they must work by candlelight.

In that land there is a well that turns a tree into stone, and it lasts from the beginning of one year to the end of the year.

The people of that land are…

On Shipmen and Beasts of the Sea —Trevisa

To understand what the “stynte” of the sun means, note that the sun “stynte” (stays at the same height) twice a year: once in summer, when it does not rise higher, and once in winter, when it does not go lower. In each case, this is called the “stynte” of the sun.

On Ireland
Chapter 32

Hibernia, that is, Ireland, was in ancient times incorporated into the lordship of Brittany, according to Giraldus in his Topographia. He describes it fully, yet it is worthy and commendable to praise the land with extensive admiration.

To give a clear and full understanding of that land, the following topics are presented: first, the location and site of the land, how large it is and what kind of land it is; where it is abundant and where it is lacking; the people who live there; the manners of the people; the wonders of the land; the holiness of its saints and shrines.

On the Local Situation of Ireland:
Ireland is the westernmost of all the western islands and is called Hibernia after one Hiberus of Spain, who was the brother of Hermonius. These were the two brothers…

…obtained and settled by conquest. It is called Hibernia, —Trevisa, after the river Hiberus, which is at the western end of Spain.

That land was also called Scotland, because the Scots once lived there, or because they came into what is now called Scotland, which once belonged to Brittany. Therefore, it is written in the martyrology: “On such a day in Scotland, Saint Brigid was born”—and that was in Ireland.

This land lies on the southeast side of Spain, a few days’ sailing along the coast, and on the east side faces the sea toward Brittany, also a few days’ sailing; on the west side it meets the endless ocean, and on the north side is Iceland, a few days’ sailing away. —Solinus

The sea between Brittany and Ireland is stormy all year, full of large waves and rough, so that one can rarely sail safely between them. The sea is sixty miles wide.

On its Size and Shape:
Ireland is the largest island after Brittany, stretching northward from Brendan’s Hills to the island of Columbina, covering eight days’ journeys, each journey about forty miles. From Dublin to Patrick’s Hills and to the sea on that side is four days’ journey. Ireland narrows in the middle at its ends; otherwise, it is shaped like Brittany.

As Ireland is shorter northward than Brittany, so it is longer southward. —Trevisa

The land is not flat, but full of mountains and hills, woods, marshes, and moors. The land is soft, rainy, and windy, low by the seaside, and hilly and sandy inland. —Solinus

There is great abundance of good pasture and hay; therefore, the animals must often be driven out of their grazing areas, lest they overfeed and harm themselves, and so that they do not eat at will. —Giraldus

The people of that land are always healthy, while strangers often suffer dangerous fluxes because of the moisture in their food. Cow’s flesh is wholesome there, while pork is unwholesome. The people of that land have no fever, except for ague, and that is rare.

Therefore, the healthfulness and cleanliness of that land, without poisons, gives value and wealth to its trees, herbs, spices, fine cloths, and precious stones from the eastern lands. It seems that the benefit…

The benefit of that land is because it is not excessively hot, nor does it suffer from extreme health conditions. —Trevisa

In this land there are more kinds of cattle than oxen, more pasture than corn, more grass than seed. There is great abundance of salmon, lampreys, eels, and other sea fish; of eagles, cranes, peacocks, curlews, sparrowhawks, goshawks, and gentle falcons; of wolves, and very clever mice. There are vipers, blood-suckers, and gnats that do no harm.

The animals are small in body but hardy and strong. There are barnacle geese, birds similar to wild geese, which nature brings forth in a remarkable way from trees, as if one kind acted against another.

Religious people ate barnacle geese on fasting days, because they were not considered flesh, nor obtained fleshly from father and mother—but this was done ignorantly, for reason is opposed to that practice. For if a man had eaten Adam’s pig, he would have eaten flesh—but Adam himself did not come from flesh.

…nor was flesh obtained naturally between father and mother. —Trevisa

But that flesh comes wonderfully from the earth, so that this flesh comes miraculously from the tree. In this land there is plenty of honey, milk, and wine, though no vineyards.
(Solinus and Isidore write that Ireland has no bees; nevertheless, it would be more accurate to say that Ireland has bees but no vineyards.)

Also, Bede says that there is great hunting of roebucks there, but it is known that roebucks are not actually found there. This is no wonder, for Bede never saw that island with his own eyes; someone else told him such tales.

Also, the stone Saxagonus grows there, and it is also called Iris, like the rainbow; if the stone is held against the sun, it will form a rainbow. A stone called gagates and white pearls are also found there.

In these matters there is deficiency. The wheat grains there are very small, barely cleansed by hand; and all the animals are smaller than in other lands. The land lacks nearly all kinds of freshwater fish…

…not naturally bred in the sea. There, the land lacks wild falcons, —Trevisa —gyrfalcons, partridges, pheasants, nightingales, and magpies.

It also lacks red deer, roe deer, elk, wolves, and other venomous animals; therefore, some say that Saint Patrick cleansed the land of worms and venomous creatures. Others say, more plausibly and knowledgeably, that this land was from the beginning entirely without such worms. Venomous beasts and worms die quickly and are brought here from other lands; likewise, venom and poison brought from elsewhere lose their power as they pass across the middle of the sea.

Also, if the soil of that land is sown in other lands, it drives worms away so far that a turf of that land, placed around, protects plants and herbs from being eaten by worms.

In that land, roosters crow very little before daybreak, so that the first roosters crowing there and the third roosters elsewhere are almost simultaneous in marking dawn.

On the Earlier Inhabitants
Chapter 33

Giraldus says that Casera, Noah’s niece, feared the flood and brought with her three men and fifty women to that island, and they lived there first, from the last year before Noah’s flood.

But afterward, Bartholomus, son of Seres, who came from Japheth, Noah’s son, arrived here with his three sons—whether by chance or by skill—one hundred years after Noah’s flood. They settled there and increased in number to nine thousand men.

Later, because of the stench from the carcasses of giants they had killed, they all died except one, Ruanus, who lived for one thousand five hundred years, down to the time of Saint Patrick, and was informed by holy men of the forementioned people and of all their deeds and actions.

In the third generation, Nemep came from Scythia with his four sons, settled there, and increased in number to two hundred sixteen. At last, all his descendants were completely destroyed through various misfortunes, wars, and plagues, and the land lay empty for two hundred years afterward.

Later, five dukes—Gandius, Genandyus, Sagandius, Rutheragus, and Salinus—descended from the aforementioned Nemep and came from Greece. They occupied the land and divided it into five parts. Each part contained two “candreds” (a candred is a district containing a hundred towns). They set a stone in the middle of the land, as if at its navel and the beginning of the five kingdoms. At last, Salinus was made king of the whole land.

The fifth time, when this nation had been together for roughly 300 years, they became weak. Four noble men, sons of King Millesius, came from Spain with many others in a fleet of 120 ships. The most honorable of these four brothers, Heberus and Hermon, divided the land between them; but later their agreement was broken, and Heberus was slain.

Then Hermon became king of the whole land, and from his time until the time of the first Patrick, there were sixty-one kings of that nation. And so, from the coming of the Hiberniensis until the death of…

By the time of the first Patrick, one thousand one hundred years had passed. They bore the name Hiberniensis and Hibernici, after the aforementioned Hiberus—though, as some believe, from Hiberus, a river in Spain. They were also called Gaels and Scots, after one Gaithleus, who was the nephew of Phenius.

After people spoke many languages at Nemprot’s tower, this Gaithleus learned to speak many languages and tongues, and he married Scota, the Pharaoh’s daughter. From these dukes came the Hibernienses. It is said that this Gaithleus created the Irish language, calling it Gathelaf, as if a language gathered from all languages and tongues.

At last, Belinus, king of Brittany, had a son named Gurguntius. When Gurguntius came from Denmark to the Orkney Islands, he found people called Basclenses, who had come there from Spain. These people asked and petitioned for a place to live, and the king sent them to Ireland, which was empty and waste, and assigned dukes and leaders from his own people to go with them.

Thus it seems that Ireland was long considered legally to belong to Brittany by the old laws.

By the time of the first Saint Patrick, four hundred years after, many kings, each one following the other, reigned in Ireland. During the reign of King Fedlimidius, Turgesius, a duke and leader from Norway, came there with Norwegians, occupied the land, and built in many places deep ditches and castles—some single, some double, and some triple—and many strong fortified walls; many of these still stand intact.

The Irish, however, were unfamiliar with castles; they used woods for fortifications and marshes and moors for castle ditches. At last, Turgesius died through trickery and treachery.

The English say that Gurmundus conquered Ireland and built those ditches, and make no mention of Turgesius; yet the Irish speak of Turgesius and do not know of Gurmundus. Therefore, it seems likely that Gurmundus had first conquered Brittany and lived there, and sent Turgesius with a great force of Bretons into Ireland.

Turgesius was thus the leader of that voyage and that expedition, and he became well known in Ireland and widely recognized among the Irish. Therefore, the Irish speak much of him as a noble man who was well seen and well known in the land.

At last, when Gurmundus was slain in France, Turgesius fell in love with the king’s daughter of Meath in Ireland. Her father promised Turgesius that he would send her to him at Lough Lacherin with fifteen maidens. Turgesius promised to meet her with fifteen of the noblest men he had.

He kept his promise, without deceit, but came fifteen young bearded men dressed as women, with short swords hidden under their clothes. They fell upon Turgesius and killed him right there. Thus Turgesius was treacherously slain after he had reigned many years in that land.

Not long afterward, the brothers Amelanus, Siracus, and Iuoris came to Ireland with their men from Norway, seemingly for the sake of peace and trade, and settled by the seaside with the consent of the Irish, who were always idle like Paul’s knights.

These Norwegians built the cities of Dublin, Waterford, and Limerick, and afterward grew rapidly in power, eventually rebelling against the people of the land and bringing the first weapons into Ireland.

So from the time of Turgesius until the time of Roperyk, king of Connacht, who was the last king of the whole land, there were seventeen kings in Ireland. From the first Hermon until the last Rotherik, there were in total eighty-one kings, who were neither crowned nor anointed according to law or hereditary right, but by cunning, mastery, and the strength of arms.

King Henry II of England made this Rotherik subject to him during the forty-first year of King Henry’s reign and of his kingdom in the year of our Lord 1172.

On the Customs of the Inhabitants
Chapter 34

Solinus says that the people of this land were strange in nation, in their houses, and in great feasts, and recounts…

They were all alike, single in dress, scant of food, cruel of heart, harsh in speech, and first drank the blood of slain men before washing their faces. They satisfied themselves with flesh and fruit instead of proper meals, and with milk instead of drink. They engaged in much play, trickery, and hunting, and worked very little.

In childhood they were harshly nurtured and fed, becoming ill-mannered and roughly clothed, wearing tunics and hose all made of wool, and tight hoods that extended a cubit beyond the shoulders at the back, with black coverings instead of mantles or cloaks. They used neither saddles, boots, nor spurs when riding, but drove their horses with a chamber-pole at the hind end instead of reins or bits, and used bridles that did not stop the horse from eating while riding.

They fought unarmed, with naked bodies, yet with two darts, spears, and broad weapons. They fought with one hand; and when other weapons failed, they had good stone missiles ready. These people abandoned tilling the land and kept pasture for beasts. They wore long beards and long locks…

Hanging down behind their necks, they used no craft —Trevisa—of flax or wool, of metal, nor of trade; instead, they devoted themselves entirely to idleness and sleep, measuring rest for pleasure and freedom for wealth.

And in Scotland, the daughters of Ireland used the harp, timbre, and tabor [and in Wales, the harp, pipe, and tabor]; nevertheless, the Irish were skilled in two kinds of musical instruments: the harp and the timbre, which is strung with wire and brass strings. With these instruments, they played hastily and swiftly, producing fine harmony and melody with well-chosen tunes, ornaments, and notes. They began from the bemol, playing secretly under the deep sound of the large strings, then returned to the same, so that the greatest part of the skill was hidden—almost as if the craft itself were ashamed to be revealed.

These people were of bad manners and living; they paid no tithes, married no wives lawfully, spared not their allies, but a brother would take his brother’s wife. They were…

Besides betraying their neighbors and others, they bore spears in their hands instead of staves and struck against those who trod too close to them. The people were changeable and unsteady, treacherous and deceitful. Whoever dealt with them needed to be more wary of their cunning than of their skill, more cautious in peace than against burning brands, more wary of malice than of knighthood.

They had such manners that they were neither strong in war nor loyal in peace. They became gossips to those they wished falsely to betray in both gossip and holy kinship. Everyone drank another’s blood when it was shed. They showed some love to their nurses and playmates while they sucked the same milk in childhood. Yet they pursued their brothers, cousins, and other kin, despised their relatives while they lived, and avenged themselves when they were slain.

Among them, long usage and evil custom lasted so long that it became habitual, and treachery among themselves turned into nature itself, so that just as they were traitors by birth, so strangers and foreigners dwelling among them long learned the ways of their company, and survived little unless they…

They became marked by wickedness and turned into traitors —Trevisa—also. Among them, many men urinated sitting and women standing. There were many people in this land wonderously ugly and badly shaped in limbs and body. For in their limbs, the benefits of nature were lacking, so that nowhere was anyone better formed than those who were well-shaped there, and nowhere worse than those who were ill-shaped. By skillful reason, nature, harmed and defiled by wicked living, brings forth such foul and ugly forms among them that, through unlawful marriage and foul manners and wicked life, they defile nature so wickedly.

In this land and in Wales, old wives and women were accustomed, and still are (as it is said), often to take the form of hares to milk their neighbors’ kine, stealing their milk. Often greyhounds ran after them, pursuing them, thinking they were hares. Some, by the craft of necromancy, made fat pigs that were red in color and none other, and sold them in markets and fairs; but as soon as these…

The pigs cross any water and return to their own nature, where there is straw, hay, grass, or turf. But these pigs cannot be kept by any skill so as to remain as pigs for many days.

Among these wonders and others, note that in the farthest ends of the world new marvels and wonders often occur, as if nature plays secretly and at a distance, rather than openly and in the middle. Therefore, on this island there are many grisly marvels and wonders.

On the Marvels of Places
Chapter 35

Giraldus, chapter nine. Many say that on the north side of Ireland there is the “Island of Life”; on that island no man can die. But when people fall sick with severe illness, they are carried to the next island and die there. That is another island in Ireland; on that island, no woman can bear a child, yet she can conceive. Also…

It is an island where no dead body may rot. In Vitonia—Trevisa—there is an island wonderfully separated in a lake; in one part there is often great disturbance and discomfort, while in the other part there is great delight and the comfort of angels.

It is also Patrick’s purgatory, which was shown at his prayer to confirm his preaching and teaching, when he preached to unbelieving men about the sorrow and pain that evil men shall suffer for their wicked words, and the joy and bliss that good men shall receive for their holy deeds. He says that whoever endures the pains of that purgatory, if it is enjoined as penance, shall never suffer the pains of hell, provided he dies finally without repentance of sin, as an example is set more fully at the end of this chapter.

Trevisa comments that if this is taken literally, it is but a jest. For no one who commits deadly sin shall be saved unless he is truly repentant; and everyone who is truly repentant at the end of his life for all his misdeeds shall certainly be saved and receive the bliss of heaven, even if they never speak of Patrick’s purgatory.

It is an island in Connacht, Salo…

It is in the sea of Connacht, hallowed by Saint Brendan—Trevisa—and has no mice. No dead bodies are buried there; they are kept apart from the earth and do not rot.

In Mamonia there is a well; whoever washes with the water of that well, for whatever else he may do, shall become gray-haired. There is another well in Ultonia; whoever washes there shall never grow gray-haired afterward. There is yet another well in Mamonia; if anyone touches that well, great rain will immediately fall over the entire province, and the rain shall never cease until a priest, who is a pure maiden, sings a Mass in a nearby chapel. The blessing of the water, combined with the milk of a cow of the same lineage, reconciles the well in a wondrous manner.

At Glyndalkan, near the oratory of Saint Keynewyn, apples grow as if on apple trees and are more wholesome than savory. The holy saint brought these apples through prayer to heal his child.

There is a lake in Ultonia, full of fish, about a mile long and fifteen in breadth. The River Bann flows from that lake into the North Ocean. It is said that the lake began in this way: there were people in that region of evil living, cohabiting like beasts, and there was a well in that land held in great reverence in old times, always covered. If it was uncovered, the well would overflow and drown the entire country.

One day, a woman went to the well to fetch water and hurried to her child who was crying in its cradle, leaving the well uncovered. The well gushed forth so violently that it drowned the woman and her child, and turned the whole country into a great lake and a fish pond.

As proof that this is true, it is said that when the weather is clear, fishermen of that water can see, beneath the water, round towers shaped like the churches of the land.

In the north side of Ireland…

In the land opposite the Ossirians, every seven years, at the prayer of one who was a holy abbot, two who were married—a man and a woman—must necessarily be outlawed from that country and from their own form. For those seven years they shall live as wolves in form; and if they live so long, they shall return again to their own land and to their own form at the end of the seven years. Then two others in their place shall in the same manner be outlawed and take the wolf form for another seven years.

There is a lake in this land: if a pole is planted there, the part of the pole in the earth shall turn to iron; all that is in the water shall turn to stone; and all that is above the water shall remain as tree in its own kind. Also, there is a lake that turns hazel into ash and ash into hazel if it is done continuously.

Also in Ireland there are salmon leaps; there the salmon leap against a rock a long spear’s length. In Lagenia there is a pond; there is Saint Colman…

His birds, called cercelles, come willingly to a man’s hand; but if anyone harms them, they fly away and do not return, and the water of the pond becomes bitter and foul-smelling. Whoever does such wrong shall not escape without vengeance and mischief, unless full amends are made.

Regarding Patrick’s purgatory, note that the second Saint Patrick, who was an abbot and later a bishop, while he preached in Ireland, diligently worked to turn those wicked men who lived like beasts away from their evil life, through fear of the pains of hell and to confirm them in good life by the hope of the great bliss of heaven. He said that some would not turn, but some must know, even while alive, something of the great pains and the bliss he spoke of. Then Saint Patrick prayed to God concerning all that mystery; and Our Lord Jesus Christ appeared to Patrick, giving him a staff, along with the text of…

According to the gospel in that country, in the archbishoprics—Trevisa—Our Lord led Patrick into a wild place and showed him a round pit that was dark inside, and said: “If a man is truly repentant and steadfast in belief, and enters this pit and stays there day and night, he shall see the sorrows and the pains of evil men and the joy and bliss of good men.” Then Christ vanished from Patrick’s sight.

Patrick then built a church there, established regular canons, and enclosed the pit with a wall. It is now within the church, with an opening in the east end, securely locked with a strong gate, so that no one might enter without the leave of the bishop and the prior of the place.

Many men entered and came out again in Patrick’s time, telling of the pains and joys they had seen and the marvels they had witnessed, which are written here. Because of this, many men were turned and converted to true belief. Also, many went in and never came out again.

In the time of King Stephen, king of…

In England, a knight named Owen went into Patrick’s purgatory, and returned, living for the rest of his life in the abbey of Ludensis, which belongs to the Cistercian order. He told many men of the wonders he had seen in Patrick’s purgatory. The church there is called Reglis.

No one is commanded to enter that purgatory, but it is strongly advised that they do not go; yet if a man insists on entering, he must first be sent to the bishop of the place, who shall counsel him to desist. If the man is steadfast and still insists on taking that path, the bishop shall send him with letters to the prior of the place, who shall again counsel him to desist.

If he still chooses to go, he shall be brought into the church, where he must spend fifteen days in prayer and fasting. After these fifteen days, he shall be anointed and led to the door of the purgatory with a procession and litany, and there he shall…

He shall be counseled to abandon that path. But if he is steadfast and firm, the door shall be opened, he shall be blessed, and he shall bless himself also, and go in God’s name, continuing on his way. The door shall then be securely locked until the next day. When the day comes, the prior arrives at the door early and on time, and opens it. If the man has come, he is led into the church with a procession, and there he shall spend fifteen days in prayer and fasting.

On the Preachers of the Saints
Chapter 36

Here Giraldus notes that just as the men of this nation are more wrathful than other men and quicker to take revenge while they are alive, so too the saints and holy men of this land are more wrathful than the saints of other lands.

The clerks of this land are chaste, say many prayers, practice great daily abstinence, and drink nothing all night, so that…

It is recounted as a miracle that lechery now reigns there as wine does. And just as the wicked among them are among the worst of all evildoers, so the good men among them—though they are few—are excellent at their best. The prelates of that country are slow to correct offenses and are absorbed in contemplation, giving little attention to preaching God’s word. Therefore, all the saints of that land are confessors, and there is no martyr among them; and this is no wonder, for nearly all the prelates of that country are chosen from abbeys into the clergy and act as monks should. What clerks and prelates ought to do is unknown to them.

Thus, when it was brought before the bishop of Cashel why there were so many saints in Ireland but never a martyr among them—since the men are so wicked and quick to anger, and the prelates so careless and slow in correcting offenses—the bishop answered obstinately and said:

“Our men are wicked and angry enough toward themselves, but in God’s service…”

“They never lay hands on them, but they give them great reverence and worship. However, English men come into this land who know how to make martyrs and were accustomed to using that craft.” The bishop said this because King Henry II had only recently come to Ireland after the martyrdom of Saint Thomas of Canterbury.

In this land, in Wales, and in Scotland, there are bells and staves with crooked heads, and other such items kept as relics, held in great reverence and worship. The people of this land feared swearing on any of those bells or pieces of gold more than on the Gospel itself. The chief of all such relics is held to be the staff of Jesus (which is at Dublin); with this staff, they say, the first Patrick drove the worms out of Ireland.

If one asks how it is that various kinds of beasts, naturally produced between male and female, come to be in islands after Noah’s flood, I believe that such beasts swam to the islands nearby first…

And so, into other lands, other men sailing to those lands brought with them such beasts for the love of hunting. Other angels, at the command of God Almighty, brought such beasts to the islands nearby. Or the plants brought them first, fulfilling God’s command, which requires the earth to produce grass and living beasts.

Of Scotland

It is commonly known that the region now called Scotland is an extension of northernmost Greater Britain and is separated on its southern side from Britain by arms of the sea, while on the other sides it is entirely surrounded by the sea. This land was sometimes called Albania, named either after Albanactus, son of King Brutus (for Albanactus first ruled there), or after the province of Albania, a region of Scythia near Amazonia. Therefore, the Scots were sometimes called Scites, as if from Scythians, because…

The Scots came out of Scythia. Later, that land was called Pictavia, because the Picts reigned there continuously for a thousand years, two hundred and ten; or, as some say, for a thousand years, one hundred and sixty. Eventually it came to be called Hibernia, as Ireland was called. (Giraldus, Topographia)

One reason for this is affinity and alliance with the Irish, because they took wives from Ireland, which can still be seen openly in their faith, clothing, language, speech, weapons, and manners. Another reason is that Irish men at times lived there. (Beda, Book One)

From Ireland, which is the proper country of the Scots, came Irish men with their duke, named Reuda, and through both love and strength made themselves chief cities and settlements beside the Picts in the north. (Giraldus)

Now the land is briefly called Scotland, after the Scots who came out of Ireland and reigned there for 115 years up to the time of Reed William, who was Malcolm’s brother.

Many evidences show that this Scotland is often called Hibernia, just as Ireland is called Hibernia. Therefore, Beda, in Book Two, chapter ten, says that Laurence…

The Archbishop of Donbarre was Archbishop of the Scots, who lived on an island called Hibernia, which is next to Brittany. Also, Beda, in Book Three, chapter twenty-seven, says: a pestilence from the sea swept over Hibernia. In the same book, chapter two, he mentions the Scots who lived on the southern side of Hibernia. In Book Four, chapter three, he says that Chadde was a youth who learned the monastic rule in Hibernia. In chapter twenty-two of the same book, Egifrid, king of Northumberland, destroyed Hibernia. And in Book Five, chapter fifteen, he refers to the majority of Scots living in Hibernia. In that same chapter, he properly calls Hibernia an island, about a hundred miles from every part of Britain, separated by the sea, and he calls Hibernia the country that is now called Scotland.

He says that Adamnan, abbot of this island, sailed to Hibernia to teach the Irish men the lawful Easter, and at last returned to Scotland. (Isidorus, Etymologiae, Book 14)

The people of this Scotland called themselves Scots in their own language, and also Picts; for sometimes their bodies were painted in this manner. They would use sharp-edged tools to etch and carve their own bodies, making various figures and shapes, and paint them with ink or other colors. And because they were painted in this way, they were called Picti, which means “painted.” (Herodotus)

The Scots were courageous, strange, and wild enough, but by mingling of…

The Englishmen, however, were much improved; they were cruel toward their enemies and hated slavery above all things. They observed a strict practice regarding death: if a man died in his bed, it was a disgrace, but if he died in the field, it was a great honor. They ate little, could fast for long periods, and often ate sparingly while the sun was up, consuming flesh, fish, milk, and fruit more than bread.

Although fair in appearance, they were often defiled and made unseemly by their own clothing. They highly valued the customs of their own forefathers and despised the practices of others. Their land was fertile enough in pastures, gardens, and fields. (Giraldus, Distinction Prima, chapter 18)

The princes of the Scots, like the kings of Spain, were not accustomed to be crowned or anointed. In this Scotland there is solemn reverence and great devotion to Saint Andrew the Apostle. Saint Andrew had the northern regions of the world, the Scythians and Picts, assigned to his care for preaching and converting the people to Christ’s belief. He was ultimately martyred in Achaia, in Greece, in a city called Patras, and his bones were preserved for two hundred years, twenty-two.

Saint Andrew’s relics were translated to Constantinople and were kept there for 110 years, until the time of Emperor Theodosius.

Then Ungust, king of the Picts in Scotland, destroyed a large part of Brittany and was confronted by a great host of Bretons in a field called Merk. There, he heard Saint Andrew speak to him in this way:

“Ungus, here I am, Christ’s Apostle; I promise you help and support. When you have overcome your enemies by my assistance, you shall give a third part of your inheritance in alms to Almighty God and in honor of Saint Andrew.”

The sign of the cross went before his host, and on the third day he achieved victory. He returned home victorious and distributed his inheritance as he had promised. Since he was uncertain which city he should dedicate for Saint Andrew, he fasted for three days, he and all his men.

Many prayed to Andrew that he would show them what place he would choose. And, behold, one of the wardens who kept the body of Saint Andrew in Constantinople was warned in a dream that he should leave that land and go to a place where an angel would lead him. Following that guidance, he came into Scotland with seven companions, to the top of a hill called Regmund. At that same hour, a heavenly light shone around and embraced the King of the Picts, who was coming with his army to a place called Carcenan.

There, many sick men were healed at once; and there the king met Regulus, the monk from Constantinople, who had brought with him the relics of Saint Andrew. [A church was founded there in honor of Saint Andrew,] which is the chief of all churches in the land of the Picts—that is, Scotland. To this church came pilgrims from all lands; there Regulus was the first abbot and gathered monks together.

The land that the king had granted him, he divided among various abbeys.

Of Wales
Chapter Thirty-Eight

Now, as the book turns its attention from England to Wales,
So I too take up my tale
And go forth into Wales,
To that noble race
Descended from Priam’s blood,
To gain knowledge
Of their kinship with great Jupiter,
And to keep in mind Dardanus and his descendants.

In these four parts I intend
To tell of the state of that land.
First, I shall tell the cause of its name,
And then I will praise the land.
After that, I shall write with my pen
Of the customs of its people.
Then I shall strive
To tell of the marvels of the land.

Wales is now called Wallia,
And was once named Cambria,
After Camber, the son of Brutus,
Who was king and dwelt there.
Then it was called Wallia, meaning
After Gwalaes, the queen,
Who was the daughter of King Ebrank,
And was married there most kindly.

And from that lord named Gwaloun,
If you take away some letters of the sound,
And add L, I, and A,
You will find the name Wallia.

And though this land
Is much smaller than England,
The soil is just as good—
Both in its daughter and in its mother (that is, the land and its produce).

Though the land be little,
It is full of grain and fruit,
And indeed has great plenty
Both of flesh and of fish—
Of beasts, both tame and wild,
Of horses, sheep, and gentle oxen.
A good land for every seed,
For corn, herbs, and spreading grass.

There are woods and meadows,
Where herbs and flowers spread;
There are rivers and wells,
Valleys and also hills.
The valleys bring forth food,
And the hills raise up good metal.
Coal grows under the ground,
And grass above at hand.
There is plenty of lime,
And also slate for houses.
Honey, milk, and white bread
Are there in plenty and as delicacies.
Of braggot, mead, and ale
There is great abundance in that valley.
And all that is needed for living,
That land brings forth in full measure.

But as for great riches, to sum it up shortly—
It lies in a small corner of the world.
And as God first made that land
To be the cellar of all healing.

Wales is divided by
A river that is called the Twy.

North Wales and South Wales are divided by the river Twy, which separates the land in a very notable place. The southern part is called Demetia, and the other Venedotia. The first uses bows and arrows, and the other deals altogether with spears.

Wales, as it once was, was divided into three regions:
one at Carmarthen,
another in Mon (that is, Anglesey),
and the third in Powys,
in Pengwern, which is now called Shrewsbury.

There were once seven bishops,
but now there are only four,
all now under the Saxons’ rule;
though once they were under princes of their own land.

The way of life in that land
is quite different from that of England—
in food, drink, clothing,
and in many other customs.

They are clothed very finely,
in a shirt and a mantle;
and they wear short, tight breeches,
both in wind and in rain.

In these clothes they are bold,
even though the weather is very cold.
Without sheets or extra coverings,
they always go about in this same attire.
They go, fight, play, hop, and leap,
stand, sit, lie down, and sleep—
wearing only a short tunic, tabard, cloak, or hood,
without surcoat, gown, coat, or kirtle,
without laces or chaplets to fasten their garments,
without hoods, hats, or caps.

Thus dressed go the young men,
all with bare legs.
They keep no other way of living,
for they share their meals with their king.
With arrows and short spears
they fight beside him who rules over them.
They fight better, if need arises,
when they go on foot than when they ride.

In place of castles and towers,
they take refuge in marshes and woods for protection.
When they see that battle must be joined,
they are quick and eager to fight.

Gildas says they are fickle in peace
and in nothing steadfast.
And if one asks why it is so,
it is no great wonder to see.

Those men who were driven out of the land
would try to drive out others in turn.
But all in vain at this time,
for many woods lie now destroyed upon the ground;
and upon the sea coast
strong castles are built in great number.

The men can endure hardship for a long time,
and they are content with simple food.
They know how to eat and be merry
without much fuss or ceremony.

They eat bread, both cold and hot,
made of barley and of oats—
broad cakes, round and flat—
such food well befits their kind.
Seldom do they eat wheat bread,
and seldom do they eat eggs.

They make gruel for pottage,
and a leek is their chief companion to it;
and also butter, milk, and cheese,
shaped long and corner-wise.
Such dishes they eat quickly,
and that makes them drink well afterward.

Mead and ale, which have strength,
they spend their days and nights with.
And always, the redder the wine,
the more fine they think it is.

When they drink at the alehouse,
they tell many a foolish tale.
For when drink is in their hands,
they are full of chatter and loud talking.

At their meals, and afterward as well,
their delight is in salt and leeks.
The husband, in his own fashion,
counts it a great honor
to give a cauldron full of gruel
to whoever sits at his table.
He divides his food during the meal,
and gives each man his share,
but all that is left over afterward
he keeps for his own use.

For this reason they often suffer
trouble and misfortune.
They always eat their salmon hot,
though physicians say that is not good.

Their houses are low in every way,
made of small rods and branches;
not close together as in cities,
but far apart, and not high.

When all the food at home is eaten,
then they go wandering to their neighbors,
and eat whatever they can find and see,
and then turn home again.

The life they lead is idle,
filled with feasting, sleeping, and such deeds.
The Welsh make it their custom, by their might,
to wash their guests’ feet at night;
if they wash their guests’ feet, every one of them,
then the guests know they are truly welcome.

They live so easily and simply together
that they seldom carry a purse about with them.
At home and abroad alike,
they hang both their money and their food at their girdle.

It is a wonder that they are so modest,
and dislike any crack or tear at the lower end (of their garments);
and without any chest or coffer,
they make their wardrobe by hanging clothes at the door.

They take great delight in their feasts—
with harp, tabor, and pipe for music.
They bear forth the dead with great sorrow,
and loudly blow horns of jet (black horns) in mourning.

They greatly praise their Trojan blood,
for from that they say all their race is sprung.
They claim close kinship with the Trojans,
though a hundred generations may have passed.
Above other men they would set themselves in rank,
and they honor their priests with all their power.

As the angels of heaven are rightly worshiped,
so they honor and revere the servants of Almighty God.

Often has this race been deceived,
and often have they foolishly longed for battle—
because of Merlin’s prophecies
and often because of sorcery.

Yet, being of the same nature as the Britons,
through their fellowship with the Saxons
they have been turned to better ways—
this is known as clearly as the light.

They till gardens, fields, and downs,
and draw themselves toward good towns.
They ride armed, as God wills,
and go about well-hosed and well-shod.
They sit properly at their meals,
and sleep in good and fair beds.

So now they seem, in mind and manner,
more like Englishmen than of Welsh kind.

And if one asks why they live so now,
more than they used to before—
it is because they live in greater peace,
on account of their wealth.
For fear that their possessions should be lost,
and because they are often inclined to vengeance,
the dread of losing their goods
now keeps them quiet in temper.

All together it is brought to one:
have nothing, and fear nothing.
The poet says a proverb of truth —
the footman learns to sing before the thief,
and is far bolder on his way
than the rich and splendid horseman.

There is a pool at Brecknock,
wherein are many flocks of fish.
It often changes its color on the surface,
and above it grows a garden’s crop.
Many a time, whatever the cause,
you may see the shape of a house there.
When the pool is frozen,
it is a wonder to hear the sound beneath.

If the prince of the land commands it,
the birds there sing with a merry note,
as joyfully as they can,
and they sing for no other man.

Beside Caerleon,
two miles from the town,
is a rock bright with gleaming light,
shining full against the sun’s beam.
That rock is called Gold Cliff,
for it glitters bright as gold.
Such a flower in stone is rare indeed—
without fruit, unless it be sought.

If a man could by skill undo and come to know
the veins of the earth,
many natural riches
are now hidden from human knowledge,
and remain unknown still—
for lack of human understanding.

Great treasure lies hidden in the ground,
and after this time it shall be found
through great study and diligence
by those who come after us.
What the old men once had through great need,
we now possess through busy deed.

In books you may read
that nature fails not in time of need.
When no man yet had skill in mind,
then in place of skill, God and Nature helped.
When no teacher was in the land,
men had knowledge by God’s sending;
and they who first had craft then
taught that craft to other men.
Some skills, that are not yet known,
some men shall have by God’s grace.

There is an island, full of noise and strife,
in West Wales near Cardiff,
close by the Severn’s shore.
That island is called Barry.
On the nearer side, in a cave,
you shall hear a wondrous din—
and many diverse sounds as well,
if you put your ear to it.

You shall hear the noise of leaves and of wind,
and the sound of metal too—
the scraping of iron on whetstones you may hear,
and the heating of ovens with fire.
All this may well come
from the waves of the sea,
which break in there
with such noise and commotion.

At Pembroke there is a place
where devils often do evil deeds,
showing foul things within,
and yet also rebuking sin.
Neither skill nor prayer
can drive that sorrow away;
when it afflicts men so,
it brings them deep distress.

At Crucinar in West Wales
there is a wondrous burial place:
every man who comes to see it
finds it appears to be exactly his own height.
And whoever bears weapons there by night
shall have them broken before daybreak.

At Nemein (now Nefyn) in North Wales
is a little island
that is called Bardsey;
monks dwell there always.

Men live so long in that forest
that the eldest die first.
It is said that Merlin is buried there—
he who was also called Silvester.

There were two Merlins,
and both of them prophesied.
One was named Ambrose Merlin,
and was said to be begotten of a goblin.

In Demetia, at Carmarthen,
under King Vortigern,
he told forth his prophecies—
even in Snowdonia,
at the head of the river Conwy,
on the side of Mount Eryri (Snowdon).
Dinuis Emrys, the Welsh name,
means “Ambrose’s Hill” in English.

King Vortigern sat by the water’s edge
and was full of wonder;
then Ambrose Merlin prophesied there before him
what was to come.

Who would believe
that a fiend might now beget a child?
Some men say
that such a spirit could do no deed so wild.
That demon who goes by night
to deceive women often,
is rightly called an Incubus;
and when he beguiles men,
he is called Succubus.
God grant us none such vile things!
Whoever comes within their power
shall have little cause to smile.

With wondrous deeds,
both men and women said
that fiends would guard such powers
and by their craft bring many together.
So wicked spirits,
they said, might make women bear children;
yet never, in all remembrance,
was there ever a child born of a fiend’s kind.
For without a human father,
no such child could ever live or die.

Learning teaches us
that deep sleep does not make fiends into men;
and since death slew Merlin,
Merlin therefore was no goblin.

Another Merlin was from Albany—
that land now called Scotland.
He had two names:
Silvester and Caledonius also,
from the wood of Caledonia,
for there he spoke his prophecies.
He was called Silvester as well,
for once, while he was in battle,
he saw above him a dreadful sight,
and straightway fell out of his mind.
He stayed no longer there,
but ran into the forest.

Silvester means “of the woods”—
either wild in mood,
or dwelling in the wild itself.

Silvester Merlin
spoke prophecy both true and fine,
and foretold many sure things
in the days of King Arthur.

Openly, and not so secretly
as Merlin Ambrose,
there are hills in Snowdonia
that are wonderfully high—
so high and great in extent
that a man might go a whole day climbing them.
They are called Eryri in Welsh,
and Snowy Hills in English.

In these hills there is pasture enough
for all of Wales.
On the summit of one hill
there are two great fish-ponds.
In one of them is an island
that moves with the wind,
as though it swam upon the water,
and it drifts near to the brim—
so that the shepherds marvel greatly,
and think the world itself moves beneath them.

In the other pond there are perch and trout,
but every fish there has only one eye.
The same sort of thing, it is said,
happens in Albany (Scotland) at a place called Milewell.

In Ruthland, beside the river Tygentil,
there is a little spring—

That well does not always flow,
like the sea that rises twice a day;
but sometimes it is dry,
and sometimes it is full up to the edges.

In North Wales,
in the island called Mon (Anglesey),
there is a stone shaped very nearly
like a man’s thigh.
However far that stone is carried away,
by the next night it goes home again—
as people have found by testing it.

The Earl of Shrewsbury,
in the time of King Henry the First,
wanted to find out the truth of this.
So he had that stone bound fast
with great iron chains,
and tested it in the fire,
then tied it all together
and threw it into deep water.

Yet in the morning
that stone was seen early back in Anglesey.
A certain earl thought himself clever,
and bound the stone to his thigh—
but before daybreak his thigh had rotted,
and the stone was gone away again.

If anyone commits lechery
near that stone,
a sweat comes forth from the stone—
but no child is ever born there.

There is also a most wondrous rock,
called the Rock of Hearing.
If a man cries aloud there,
and blows a horn,
no sound that he makes
can be heard on this side—
only silence abides.

There is another island
close by Anglesey, near at hand,
where many hermits live.
If any of them begin to quarrel,
then every misfortune that can be found
comes and eats up all their food.
That trouble will never cease
until their strife ends as well.

Just as men in this land
are quick to anger—like those in Ireland—
so too the saints of this country
are ever wrathful in kind.

And likewise in this land,
in Ireland, and in Scotland…

There are bells and staffs
that men hold in reverence,
and they are worshiped so greatly
by both clerks and common men,
that people fear to swear an oath
by any of those staffs or bells—
as if they were the very Gospel itself.

At Basingwerk there is a well,
called Sacer, as people say.
It flows so strongly, as one may see,
that whatever is thrown into it
rises back up again.
From it springs a great stream—
enough to water all that land.

The sick who come to that place
find both healing and grace.
In the bubbling of the water,
red-spotted stones are often found,
as a token of the red blood
that the maiden Winifred
shed at that well
when her throat was cut.

He who did that cruel deed
brought sorrow upon his seed;
for all his children, at every hour,
bark like the whelps of hounds.

For through the prayers of that maiden, grace
still dwells at that well’s place,
or in the street of Shrewsbury,
where that holy maiden sweetly rests.

Description of Paradise

Paradise is a place situated in the eastern regions. The word Paradise comes from the Greek and means “garden” in Latin. In Hebrew it is called Eden, which is interpreted as “delight,” as Isidore says in Book XV, Chapter 2. It is therefore called the garden of delights, because it is planted with every kind of tree and fruit-bearing plant, and contains within it the Tree of Life. There is no cold there, nor heat, but a perpetual mildness of air. From the middle of the place, a spring flows out that waters the entire grove and divides into four rivers.

The entrance to Paradise was closed to humankind after the sin of the first man, for the place is surrounded by a fiery wall—a flaming sword—whose blaze seems almost to join with the heavens. Over this fiery wall, God has appointed angels as guardians, to drive away evil spirits and to prevent any sinful human being or spirit from entering Paradise.

So far speaks Isidore, Book XV, Chapter 3, in his discussion of regions.

According to the Master in the Histories, Chapter 2 on Genesis: “God planted,” he says—that is, from the beginning of creation He prepared and adorned a place of delights with herbs and trees, and this was at the world’s beginning, namely in the East. That place is most beautiful and is separated from the inhabited world by a great distance of land and sea; it is elevated, even reaching to the sphere of the moon. Because of this great height, the waters of the Flood did not reach it.

John of Damascus writes that since God was about to create man in His image and likeness—like a king and ruler of all the earth and everything in it—He first prepared a divine region in which man might live a blessed life. This region is called Paradise: planted by the hand of God in Eden, that is, in “delight” or “pleasure.” It lies in the East, higher than all the earth, surrounded by perfectly pure and gentle air, clothed with ever-blooming plants, filled with fragrance and light, overflowing with beauty, joy, and glory—surpassing the understanding of any created sense. It is a divine region, fitting for him who was made in God’s image, where no irrational creature dwells, but only man, the handiwork of God.

Strabo and Bede also say that Paradise is a place in the East, remote and hidden from human lands by the ocean and high mountains, reaching in height even to the circle of the moon. It was the most fitting dwelling for innocent man because of its perfect balance of temperature—no cold, no heat, but continual mildness—as Isidore says.

It also abounds in every kind of good thing. As Augustine says (City of God, Book XIV, Chapter 10): “What could they fear or suffer in such abundance of good things, where there was nothing lacking that the good will desired, nor anything present that could harm flesh or spirit or cause distress?”

Its beauty was supreme—for, as John of Damascus attests, there the trees never lose their leaves, the flowers never fade, and the branches never wither. Its joy, too, is perfect, as seen in the sweetness of its fruits—for, as Genesis says, “There was every tree pleasant to the sight and good for food.” Its brightness is full, since the clarity of the light matches the purity of the air, as Bede remarks. Its fertility is abundant, shown by the many springs that water it, for, as Genesis says, “A river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it was divided into four heads.”

The security of the place is attested by its height; for it touches, says Bede and Isidore, the circle of the moon—that is, it reaches into the calm air above the turbulent atmosphere, where the vapors and winds cease. As Alexander explains, this should not be understood literally, but metaphorically: it reaches the “circle of the moon” to express the extraordinary height and incomparability of Paradise in relation to the lower earth.

It is also incorruptible, as shown by the fact that those who dwell there live without decay—Elijah and Enoch, who remain alive there even to this day, as the Master in the Histories says. Nothing that lives there can die. Nor should this seem strange, for even in Ireland there is said to be an island where the bodies of the dead do not rot, and another where men cannot die within its bounds, but must be carried out to die elsewhere.

As for Paradise itself, the pagans also held opinions about it. Pliny speaks of the Fortunate Islands, and Isidore mentions them as well in Book XV: islands where nearly every good thing grows of itself, where the soil naturally produces all fruits, where the hills are ever green with trees bearing both leaves and sweet fruit, and where the earth flourishes without human labor.

Both crops and vegetables grow there of themselves; and because of this extraordinary fertility of the soil, the pagans and the poets of the world once imagined that these same islands — the so-called Fortunate Isles — were Paradise. Yet this belief is erroneous, for the Fortunate Isles, as Isidore says in Book XV, are situated in the western ocean, opposite the left side of Mauretania. Paradise, however, is in the East, upon a very high mountain. From the summit of that mountain fall great streams of water which form a vast lake; and the sound of the falling waters is so loud and terrible that all those who dwell near the lake are born deaf, for the continual roar corrupts the sense of hearing in infants, as Basil says in his Hexaemeron, and likewise Ambrose.

From that lake, as from a single source, flow forth the four famous rivers: the Phison, which is called the Ganges; the Gyon, which is also named the Nile; and likewise the Tigris and the Euphrates — the very rivers mentioned in the Book of Genesis.

Shorter Version (from the Polychronicon)

Isidore, Book XIV, Chapter 3, says:
“Paradise is a place in the East, separated from our inhabited world by a long stretch of sea. Its name, translated from the Greek, means garden, and in Hebrew it is called Eden, which means delight; joined together, the words mean the garden of delights. It is a place planted with every kind of tree, where stands also the Tree of Life. The entrance to this place was closed to mankind after the sin of the first man, for it is enclosed on all sides by a fiery sword — that is, by a wall of flame — whose blaze seems almost to reach the heavens. Above this fiery barrier are set the cherubim, that is, good angels, to keep out evil spirits; the fiery sword also bars men themselves.

This place possesses perfect healthfulness, for it enjoys perpetual mildness — it has neither cold nor heat — and nothing that lives there can die. To this truth bears witness the fact that Enoch and Elijah still live there incorruptible, as John of Damascus says.

It is also a place of delight, being, as it were, a treasury of all beauty. There the trees never lose their leaves, and the flowers never fade. It has joy, shown by the sweetness of its fruits, for, as Giraldus says, every tree there is ‘pleasant to the sight and good for food.’ It has safety, demonstrated by its great height; for, as Bede writes, it reaches into the calm air up to the circle of the moon. And therefore, as Peter says, the waters of the Flood never came there. Alexander explains that this must be understood not literally, but as a figure of speech — a hyperbole — meaning that its height is beyond all comparison with our lower world.

Basil, in the Hexaemeron, says that from the mountain of Paradise, so exceedingly high, the falling waters make a great lake; and from it, as from a single source, flow forth four rivers. Isidore, Book IV, says that from the middle of Paradise a spring bursts forth and waters the whole grove, dividing into four streams. Josephus, Book I, tells that the Phison flows into India, the Euphrates and Tigris run toward the Red Sea, and the Gyon, flowing through Egypt, forms the Nile. Isidore, Book XIII, adds that the historian Sallust affirms the source of these rivers is in the Ceraunian Mountains of Armenia, at the foot of Mount Caucasus, where one spring becomes the head of both the Tigris and the Euphrates; after winding a long way around Mesopotamia, they descend into the Red Sea.

Hence Jerome observed that concerning the rivers of Paradise we must think otherwise than in a merely literal sense. Peter, Chapter XIV, further says:
The first river, Phison, flows around India, carrying sands of gold; it is called Ganges after King Gangor of India, and means “multitude,” because it receives ten tributary streams.
The second is Gyon, which is the Nile; it flows around Ethiopia and Egypt.
The third is the Tigris, and the fourth the Euphrates.

As Alexander Neckam sings:

“Adorned with delights,
The summit of Paradise
Touches, as it were,
The globe of the moon.”

According to Josephus, the river Tigris is called Diglath, which means “sharp” or “swift,” because it flows rapidly and runs toward the land of the Assyrians.
The fourth river is the Euphrates, which means “fruitful,” and it flows toward the land of the Chaldeans.

These four rivers spring from the same source and then divide; yet at certain points some of them come together again and then separate once more. Often, too, they are swallowed up by the earth and rise again in several different places.

For this reason, various accounts are found concerning their origins:
— the Ganges is said to rise in the regions of Mount Caucasus;
— the Nile, not far from Mount Atlas;
— and the Tigris and Euphrates in Armenia.

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