The Bondage and Travels of Johann Schiltberger, a Native of Bavaria, in Europe, Asia, and Africa, 1396-1427

52.—How a Christian becomes an Infidel.

It is also to be noted how a Christian, from the beginning, becomes an Infidel. When a Christian wants to become an Infidel, he must before all men raise a finger, and say the words: “La il lach illallach;” Machmet is his true messenger.(1) And when he says this, they take him to the high priest; then he must repeat the above written words before the priest, and must deny the Christian faith, and when he has done that, they put on him a new dress, and the priest binds a new kerchief on his head; and this they do that it may be seen he is an Infidel, because Christians wear blue kerchiefs, and the Jews, yellow kerchiefs, on the head. Then the priest asks all the people to put on their armour, and who has to ride, rides; also all the priests who are in the neighbourhood. And when the people come, they put him on a horse, and then the common people must ride before him, and the priests go behind him, with trumpets, cymbals and fifes, and two priests ride near him; and so they lead him about in the town; and the Infidels cry with a loud voice and praise Machmet, and the two priests say to him these words: “Thary wirdur, Messe chulidur, Maria cara baschidur, Machmet kassuldur”: which is as much as to say; There is one God, and the Messiah his servant, Mary his maid, and Machmet his chief messenger.(2) After they have led him everywhere in the city, from one street to another, then they lead him into the temple and circumcise him. If he is poor, they make a large collection and give it to him, and the great lords shew particular honour to him, and make him rich; this they do, that Christians may be more willing to be converted to their faith. If it is a woman who wants to change her religion,1 she is also taken to the high priest, and must say the above words. The priest then takes the woman’s girdle, cuts it in two, and makes of it a cross; on this, the woman must stamp three times,2 deny the Christian faith, and must say the other words above written. The Infidels have a good custom among their merchants, when one wants to buy from another, whatever be the merchandise. The buyer says to the seller, that he should make a just profit on what he buys, so that he also might live; so that he takes no more profit than one pfenning in forty pfennings, which is equal to one gulden in forty guldens, and no more; this they call a right purchase and profit, and this Machmet has also commanded them, so that the poor, like the rich, might live. The priests also always say in their sermons, that they should help each other and be subject to their superiors, and the rich are to be humble before the poor, and when they do this, God Almighty gives them strength and might against their enemies; and whatever their priest says to them about spiritual things, they are obedient and submissive to it. This is the faith of Machmet which he has given to the Infidels as his law, such as it is, as I then heard it from them.

53.—What the Infidels believe of Christ.

It is also to be noted, that the Infidels believe that Jesus was born of a virgin, and that after the birth, she remained a virgin. They also believe that when Jesus was born, he spoke to his mother and comforted her, and they believe that Jesus is the highest prophet of God amongst all prophets, and that he has never committed sin; and they do not believe that Jesus was crucified, but that it was another who was like him; therefore Christians have a wicked faith, because they say that Jesus was crucified, who was the highest friend of God, and has never committed any sin, therefore God would not have been a just judge if Jesus was crucified and innocent. And when one converses with them of the Father, and Son, and Holy Ghost, they say that they are three persons, and not one God, because their book Alkaron says nothing of the Trinity. When anybody says that Jesus is the word of God, they say, this we do know, that the word of God has spoken, otherwise he would not be God; and when one says that wisdom is the Son of God who was born of the Virgin Mary, from a word which the angels announced to her, and on account of which word we must all rise and come to judgment; they say it is true that no one can go against the word of God. They also say that the strength of the word of God cannot be conceived by any one, and therefore their book Alkoran says, and gives them a sign, by the word which the angel spoke to Mary, that Jesus was born of the word of God. They say that Abraham was the friend of God, Moyses the prophet of God, Jesus the word of God, so was Machmet the true messenger of God. They also say, that Jesus, of the four, was the most worthy, and was the highest with God, and it will be he also who will judge the last judgment of God over all men.

54.—What the Infidels say of the Christians.

The Infidels also say that whatever territory they possess of the Christians, they do not owe it to their power, nor to their wisdom, nor to their holiness, but they have it because of the injustice, perversity, and arrogance which Christians have against them; therefore Almighty God has decreed, that they should take the land from Christians, because they do not conduct their affairs, whether spiritual or temporal, with justice, because they look to wealth and favour, and the rich treat the poor with haughtiness, and do not help them either with gifts or with justice, and do not hold to the doctrine which the Messiah has given them. They also say, that they find it and read it in their prophecies, that the Christians will yet expel them out of the country, and will again possess the country; but so long as Christians are such, and are perverse, and their spiritual and temporal lords live such a disordered life, we are not afraid that they will expel us out of our country; because we fear God, and do always what is right and just, and worthy, according to our faith, for the love of God and in honour of our prophet Machmet, who is the highest messenger of God, who has given us the right doctrine by his teaching; to him we are obedient, and always willingly follow his commandments which are in the book called the Alkoran, which has been touched upon often before.

55.—How Christians are said not to hold to their religion.

The Infidels also say that Christians do not hold to the commandment, nor to the doctrine of the Messiah, which the Messiah has commanded them, and they also do not observe the law of the book Inzil, which is called Ewangely, nor the rules which stand in that book. They hold to particular laws, spiritual and temporal, which are against the laws of the book Inzil, and the commandments and laws contained therein are all holy and just; but the law and belief which they have set up and invented, are all false and unjust, because the laws which they have made are for profit and favour, which is all against God and his dear prophets; and whatever misfortunes and troubles they have, are all decreed to them by God for their unrighteousness.

56.—How long ago it is since Machmet lived.

Item, it is to be noted, that the time Machmet was born counts from Christ’s birth, six hundred and nine years, and the Infidels say, that on the day he was born, one thousand and one churches fell of themselves, and that happened as a sign of the injury he would do to Christianity in his time. It is also here to be noted, how many tongues there are in the Greek faith. The first is the Greek tongue, in which their books are written; the Turks call them Vrrum. The other is the Rivssen tongue, which the Infidels call Orrust. The third, Pulgery, which the Infidels call Wulgar. The fourth, the Winden tongue, which they call Arnaw.(1) The fifth, the Walachy tongue, which the Infidels call Vfflach. The sixth, the Yassen tongue, which the Infidels call Afs.(2) The seventh, the Kuthia tongue, which the Infidels call Thatt.1 The eighth, the Sygun, which the Infidels call Ischerkas. The ninth, Abukasen, and the Infidels call them Appkas. The tenth tongue, Gorchillas, and the Infidels call them Kurtzi. The eleventh, the Megrellen tongue, also so called by the Infidels. Item, between the Zurian and Greek faith, there is but one difference, therefore they say the Schurian tongue is also of their faith; but the Schurians are of Jacob, and have the faith of Saint Jacob, and have it that each must make the wafer with his own hands, into which God’s body will be changed. And when he has made the paste, he takes a hair from his beard and puts it in the wafer, and changes it into God’s body. And there is a great difference between what the Greek and what the Schurian priest reads, or sings, in the church, because it is the Schurian and not the Greek tongue.(3)

57.—Of Constantinoppel.

Constantinoppel is a fine large city and well built, and is quite ten Italian miles in extent at its walls, about which it has fifteen hundred towers. The city is triangular, having the sea on two sides. The Greeks call Constantinoppel, Istimboli, but the Turks call it Stampol; and opposite to the city, is a city called Pera, which the Greeks call Kalathan, and the Infidels call it the same.(1) Between the two cities is an arm of the sea, quite three Italian miles in length, and half or more in breadth; and the arm is crossed from each side, because the distance by land is far. The said city belongs to Genaw. The great Alexander cut through high rocks and mountains fifteen Italian miles in length, and caused two seas to flow into each other;(2) and that which flows is called and is the Great Sea, and it is also called the Black Sea, and the Tunow and many other great rivers flow into it. In the said sea one goes to Caffa, to Alathena, to Trabessanda, and to Samson, and to many other cities and countries that lay around. The arm of the sea [at] Constantinoppel is called Hellespant by the Greeks, and the Infidels call it Poges. The Turks also have a shore across the sea, opposite to Constantinople, which they call Skuter; there, the Turks cross the sea. Also not far from Constantinoppel by the sea, was Troya, on a fine plain, and one can still see where the city stood.(3) The emperor of Constantinoppel has two palaces in the city; one is very beautiful, and is much decorated inside with gold, lapis-lazuli, and marbles. In front of the palace is a fine square for tilting, and for all [kinds of] pastime that might be desired in front of the palace.(4) In front of the palace is the statue of the emperor Justian on a horse; it is placed upon a high piece of marble, which is a pillar. I asked a burgher of the city of what this statue was made; he told me it was of bronze, and that both the horse and the man was entirely of one casting. Some people of the country say that it is of leather, and yet it must have stood there quite a thousand years; had it been leather, it would not have stood so long, it would have rotted. At one time the statue had a golden apple in the hand, and that meant that he had been a mighty emperor over Christians and Infidels; but now he has no longer that power, so the apple has disappeared.(5)

58.—Of the Greeks.

Not far from Constantinoppel there is an island called Lemprie; in it is a mountain that is so high, it reaches to the clouds.(1) At Constantinoppel is the most beautiful church, so that nothing like it can be found in India; it is called Sancta Sophya, and is covered all over with lead, and one can see one’s self on the walls inside the church as if in a mirror, because the marble and lapis-lazuli on the wall is clear and clean. In this same church is their patriarch with his priests, and the Greeks and all those who are under the patriarch go in pilgrimage, as we, for our sins, go to Rome. When Constantine had finished the churches, he placed as an improvement in the church, high up in the middle of the dome, five golden discs, and each disc is as wide, large, and thick as a mill-stone;(2) but the emperor took down two during the great war which the Turkish king Wyasit had with him, when he besieged Constantinoppel for seven years. I myself was at that same time with the king in Turkey,(3) and I have also seen the three discs [left] in the church. The church of Sancta Sophia has three hundred gates, which are all of brass. I was III months at Constantinoppel in the house of the patriarch, but I and my comrades were not allowed to walk about the city, because they were afraid that the Infidels would recognise us, and would take us before the emperor. I would gladly have seen it (the city), but it could not be, because the emperor had forbidden it, but even then we sometimes went out with the patriarch’s servants.

59.—Of the Greek religion.

It is to be noted, that the Greeks do not believe in the Holy Trinity; they do not believe in the Chair at Rome, nor in the Pope. They say that their patriarchs have as much power as the Pope at Rome. The sacrament they make of leavened bread, and take it with wine and warm water; and when the priest changes the body of God, they all fall down on their faces and say: “No man is worthy to look at God.” And when the priest has finished the Mass, he takes the bread that remains, of which he had prepared the sacrament, and cuts it into small pieces on a dish, and then men and women sit down. Then the priest or his assistant takes the bread round, and so every one takes a piece and eats it, and this bread they call prossura. This bread is not baked by any man or woman, only by a virgin or a nun. They also give the sacrament to young children, but they do not give the sacred oil to any body; and they also say that nobody is wise, and that no one goes into heaven or hell before the day of judgment; then each man will go into heaven or into hell as he has deserved. They have no Mass, unless it is asked for. They say that only one Mass is to be celebrated at the same altar in the day, and they do not let Mass be said at their altars in Latin, and Mass must not be said in any language but in the Greek language, because the Greek language is of their faith. They say also that their faith is the true Christian faith, and the others are not true. They also have the Mass on feast days only, and not on week days, because all their priests are craftsmen and must work, and all have wives and children, and their priests take one wife only; and when she dies he cannot take any more, either in marriage or otherwise. If he has anything to do with a woman, and the bishop becomes aware of it, he takes away from him his priestly charge, so that he cannot say the Mass any more. And when a bishop consecrates a priest, he girds him with a girdle, and when the priest does anything against his priestly order, the bishop takes away the girdle, so that he cannot say Mass any more, and is fallen from his office. The best and the richest marry the priests, and when they are in a house, the priests’ wives sit at the upper [end] of the table, and when women walk together, the priests’ wives go first. Their churches are not independent. When a man builds a church and dies, his heirs inherit the church like other property, and sell it as any other house. They say, it is not a sin to have to do with unmarried women, because it is not a deadly sin, as it is natural. They also say, that when one takes a monthly profit of two pfennings for one hundred pfennings, it is goodly gain, and not usury. On Wednesdays, they do not eat meat; and so, on Friday, they eat fish and oil only, and say that Saturday is not a fast-day, and one may well eat meat on that day. In the churches, the women stand separately, and neither men nor women dare to go near the altar. And when they make [the sign of] a cross, they do it with the left hand. And when one is about to die, they baptise him again, and there are many who are baptised every year. They have no font in their churches; and when their bishop stands in the choir, he stands in the middle of the church and in the choir, and the priests stand around him. Their bishop eats no meat throughout the year, and during the fasts he eats no fish nor anything that has blood, and all their clergy do the same. When they baptise a child, they have X or more godfathers; men and women bring to the child a christening shirt or a candle. They also say, that our priests sin if they have a Mass every day, because they cannot always be worthy. They also say, that our priests commit mortal sin when they shave their beard, because it is not godly, because it happens from unchastity, and to please the women. And when one dies, and prayers for the dead are sung for him, boiled wheat to eat is given to the priests and to the people, after an old usage, and this same wheat they call coleba. They wash their dead before they bury them. Their priests sell and buy like other merchants. They fast during Lent for fifty days; and the priests and the laity also fast forty days in Advent, and for the twelve holy apostles they fast thirty days; they also fast fifteen days for our Lady’s Assumption; they have only three days in the year for our Lady, because they do not keep Candlemas. Item, the Greeks do not keep the resurrection of Jhesus xpi at the same time with us; they keep it on the next Friday after Easter. Then they sing Xristos anesti, which is as much as to say, Xristus is risen.(1)

60.—How the city of Constantinoppel was built.

It is also to be noted, that the emperor of Constantinoppel himself creates the patriarchs, and also gives all God’s gifts to the church, and is lord of spiritual and temporal matters as far as his territory reaches. I have heard much and often from their learned men, that Saint Constantine came from Rome with many kocken and galleys to Greece, to the place where Constantinoppel lies, and then there appeared to him an angel from God, who said to him: “Here must thy dwelling be; now sit on the horse, and do not look back, and ride to the place from which thou hast begun to ride.” He mounted, and rode quite half a day; and when at night he arrived at the same place where he had mounted, he looked back, and saw a wall of the height of a man spring up from the ground; and from the place where he had looked back, to the place from which he had begun to ride, which is quite twenty paces or more, there was no wall; it has been much tried to build a wall, but it will not stand; but it goes towards the sea, so that they can defend themselves better than if it had been towards the land. I have seen it, because in the same place there is a breakwater,1(1) therefore the Greeks say that the said wall was built by angels; and that the crown with which their emperor is crowned, and which was brought to Saint Constantine by an angel from heaven, is a heavenly crown; and therefore there is no worthier nor more highly born emperor than the emperor of Constantinoppel. And when a priest dies, they put on him everything that belongs to a priest at the altar, and they put him on a seat in the grave, and cover him with earth. The chant, Ayos otheos, which they sing once a year only, they sing upon all other holy occasions; and during Lent they sing the Alleluia every day, when they are in church. They sing Kirieleyson only, in their Mass, and not Xreleyson. They say, there is but one Godhead and no difference, that it is God the Father and God the Son, and therefore it would not be right to sing Christ. They also bow very humbly before their priests. When a layman meets a priest, he takes off his hat, and bows humbly, and says: “Esloy mena tespotha”; which is as much as to say: Bless me, Lord. Then the priest lays his hand on the layman’s head and says: “Otheos efflon essenam”; and that means, God bless thee; and this they do always, men and women, when they meet a priest. When a priest takes a wife, he takes her before he becomes a priest; the reason is, because if he does not beget a child, he cannot be a priest, but so soon as he has got a child, he is consecrated to be a priest. Laymen pray only with the Pater Noster, and do not know the Belief nor the Ave Maria. Many priests wear white garments at Mass.(2)

61.—How the Jassen have their marriages.

Inter illas gentes, Gargetter et Jassen, nuptiæ explentur hac conditione, videlicet mater puellam suam intactam esse asserit, sed ni reapse sit virgo, conjugium non conficitur. Quando igitur de nuptiis agitur, cantibus comitantur puellam ante thalamum, et ibi se ponere jubent; succedit inde sponsus cum adolescentulis, et gladio stricto percutit thalamum, et prope illum se se ponit una cum adolescentulis, et comedunt et bibunt, et se oblectant inter choreas et cantus. Et quum ita solatia cesserint, sponsum denudant usque ad subuculam suam, et egredientes relinquunt cum sponsa. Postea venit sponsi frater, et nonnullus ex amicis intimis, et ante ostium excubat stricto ense; et quum sponsus sponsam virginem non invenit, hoc matri ejus palam facit. Deinde mater sponsi cum amicis suis ante thalamum adstat, observant panniculos, et si nullum virginitatis signum inveniunt, omnes incipiunt se contristare; quum vero pater et mater sponsi cum amicis suis mane adveniunt, ut festa conjugalia concelebrent, mater sponsi manu regit poculum in una parte perforatum, et implet vino claudens foramen digito, et inde matrem sponsæ invitat ut libat amovens digitum e foramine, et sic vinum extra fluit; tum mater sponsi dicit matri sponsæ: Ita evenit de filia tua. Hoc summo dedecori est parentibus sponsæ, quam tradunt eis ut secum ducant, dicentes, se velle nubere filis intactam puellam, sed non ita evenisse de eorum filia. Then come their priests and the chief [persons] that are there, and invite the bridegroom’s father and mother, and then they go to their son the bridegroom, and ask him whether or no he will have her? If he says, “Yes”, she is given to him by the priests, and the other persons who have interceded for her. But if he says, “No”, then they are in all things separated; and whatever he has brought to her, she gives the whole back to him; and whatever clothes he has given her, she must give back to him; after which, he can take another wife, and she another husband.(1) There are many people in Ermenia, who have this custom. The Infidels call the Gorgiten, Kurtzi; and the Jassen they call Affs.

62.—Of Armenia.

I have also been a great deal in Armenia. After Tämerlin died, I came to his son, who has two kingdoms in Armenia. He was named Scharoch; he liked to be in Armenia, because there is a very beautiful plain. He remained there in the winter with his people, because there was good pasturage. A great river runs through the plain; it is called the Chur, and it is also called the Tygris; and near this river, in this same country, is the best silk. The Infidels call the plain, in the Infidel tongue, Karawag.(1) The Infidels possess it all, and yet it stands in Ermenia. There are also Armenians in the villages, but they must pay tribute to the Infidels. I always lived with the Armenians, because they are very friendly to the Germans, and because I was a German they treated me very kindly; and they also taught me their Pater Noster and their language, and they call the Germans, Nymitsch.(2) In Armenia are three kingdoms; one is called Tiffliss, the other is called Syos, the third is called Ersingen; the Armenians call it Isingkan, and that is Lesser Armenia. They also possessed Babylon for a long time; but they now have it no longer. The son of Tämerlin had Tyfflis and Ersing at the time that I was there. Sifs belonged to the king-sultan, and was won, counting from Christ’s birth, twelve hundred and seventy-seven years; then did the sultan of Alkenier conquer it.(3)

63.—Of the religion of the Armenians.

The Armenians believe in the Holy Trinity. I have also often heard their priests preach in their churches, when I had gone to Mass, and been in their churches, that Saint Bartlome and Saint Thaten of the twelve holy apostles, converted them to the Christian faith, but that they have often been perverted again. There was a holy man named Gregory, and the king of Armenia was his cousin, and he lived in the time when Saint Silvester was Pope at Rome.(1) The king of Armenia died, and he was a good Christian, and his son was king, and he was named Derthatt; he was very strong, because he had the strength of forty oxen; what they could drag and lift, that he could lift alone. It was this same king who built the large church at Bethleen, as has been already stated.1 (2) And when he became king after his father, he turned Infidel, and persecuted the Christians, and took hold of his cousin Gregory, and told him he must worship his idol. This the blessed man would not do, so he put him into a pit where there were adders and serpents and many other hurtful reptiles, that they might eat him. But they did nothing to him. He lay there twelve years. About the same time, several saintly maidens came to Ermenia from Italy, and preached the Christian religion instead of the Ermenen religion. The king heard this, and ordered that they should be brought to him. There was one amongst them who was named Susanna, who was very beautiful; she was taken to his room, when he wished to urge her to unchastity, but strong as he was, he could do nothing with the young woman, nor win her with all his power, for God was with her. This was told to him in the prison, and he said: “Oh, the wicked pig!” At the same time, the king fell from his throne, became a pig, and ran away to the woods. Then there was great disorder in the land, but the vassals of the country consulted, and took Gregory out of the pit, and asked him if he could help the king. He answered them and said, that he would not help him, unless they and he became Christians. The vassals promised him this, also for the king. Then said Gregory: “Ride into the wood, look for him, and bring him.” They rode into the wood, and brought him to Gregory; and as soon as he saw Gregory, he ran to him, and kissed his feet. Gregory knelt on his knees, and prayed to Almighty God that he would have mercy on the man, and make him whole. The king again became a man, and was, with all his people, again a Christian,(3) and went against Babiloni and the Infidels, and conquered Babilonia and the whole country, three kingdoms, and converted them to Christianity, and appointed Gregory over the clergy and all ecclesiastical orders. In this way, their religion was established by the King Derthat and the man Gregory.(4) They also took much territory that belonged to the Infidels, and forced them to Christianity by means of the sword; but now they have lost all their kingdoms, although they are a fighting people. It is not long since they lost a kingdom, and a good capital called Siss; it was taken by the king-sultan. It is also their patriarch’s seat, but he must pay great tribute to the sultan. The king of Zypern has many nobles of Armenia at his court, because it is near. Then was Gregory told of the great miracle which Pope Silvester had performed on Constantine, during the time that he was emperor at Rome, because he had made him clean of an eruption, and that he had saved from death the children that had been brought together to be killed, because the doctors informed the emperor that he should wash in the blood of children, so that he might get well of his eruptions.

64.—Of a Saint Gregory.

Gregory thought over it, and said to the king: “The power that thou has conferred upon me, has no influence, unless I have it from the holy father Silvester”; and he told the king of the great miracle performed by the holy father on the emperor Constantine. The king said that he would willingly see him, and would go with him, and prepared and made arrangements for [the government of] his kingdom. He took with him forty thousand men, good horsemen and foot-soldiers; he also took with him many valuables and many precious stones, with which to do honour to the holy father, Saint Silvester.(1) Gregory took with him the most learned men that he had under him, and went from Babiloni through Persia, through Greater Armenia, and through many other countries, and went through the Iron Gates which lie between two seas, and reach into Great Tartary towards Ruwschea; through Walchi, Pulgeri, through Ungeren, Frigaul, through Lamparten, through Duschkan, and so they came dry-footed to Rome, as they had not passed over the sea. And when they were near Rome, Silvester sent to them all the blind, lame, and sick, that Gregory might heal them, as he wished to test his sanctity. When the king, Derthat, saw the people, he was angry, and thought the Pope was making fun of him. Gregory, without being angry, said: “I know well what he means”; and ordered that water should be brought to him; and he knelt on his knees, and prayed to Almighty God that those who will be sprinkled with the water, will become sound. He then took a sponge on a stick, and sprinkled the people with it; and he who was touched by it, was healed. The blind received sight. The Pope, Silvester, heard of this, and went with all his clergy, and with the whole city of Rome, to meet him, and shewed him deference and honour. They were a whole year going by land, from Babilony to Rome. Gregory asked the Pope Silvester to give him power to free his clergy and his people from the jurisdiction of Rome, because he was so far that he could not always go to the Chair; then he gave him the power of a patriarch, and whoever wished to have this power, could not obtain it elsewhere than at Rome, and would have to send an embassy to Rome every three years. This he vowed to him, and arranged that all those who were of his faith, ecclesiastical or lay, should be subject to the Chair at Rome, and whoever would not be so, should be under the ban of the Pope, be he bishop, lord, or menial, rich or poor, in his land, and this oath the king and all his knights also took. This lasted three hundred years after the time of Gregory, that they were subject to the Chair, after which they no longer went to the Chair, and themselves chose a patriarch. Their patriarch they call Kathagnes, and a king they call Takchauer.(2)

65.—Of a dragon and a unicorn.

There was also at that same time on a mountain near Rome, a dragon and a unicorn, that did much harm to the people in the streets, so that none could pass. Then the holy father, Saint Silvester, asked the king of Armenia, as he was a powerful man, whether he would not try, with God’s will, to kill the dragon and also the unicorn; the king went alone, and saw where they were, and when he got there, he saw them biting each other, and he looked at them until the dragon escaped, and the unicorn chased him to a hole in the rock; the dragon turned himself in the hole, and defended himself against the unicorn. The unicorn struck at the dragon with his tongue, and tried to draw him outside. The dragon seized the unicorn, and they struggled together, until the unicorn pulled the dragon out as far as his neck, and the one would not let the other go. At that moment, the king ran up and cut the dragon’s neck, and with the tugging that the unicorn gave it, the head rolled down the rock; the king then sprang up and killed the unicorn also. He then returned to Rome, and ordered that the heads should be brought; now the waggon had enough to do to carry the head of the dragon; and so the King Derthat delivered the Romans of the reptiles, for which the city, and especially the holy father, shewed him great honour. Then Gregory went to the Pope, and asked him for the articles which belonged to the faith, which he gave him, and then they returned to their own country, and Gregory taught the Christian faith as he received it from the Pope, which they do not hold any more, as is above stated.(1) Now, they themselves elect their patriarch, and when they wish to make one, twelve bishops and four archbishops must be present, and he is elected. Many of the articles that Gregory brought from Rome, have been changed, and they are now separated from the church of Rome. Their priests make the sacrament with unleavened bread, and nobody else prepares the bread, but the priest who is to celebrate the Mass, and he prepares one only. Whilst he is making it, other priests must read the psalter right through, and if there are no priests, then he must say it himself, right through.(2) They say that it is a great sin that a man or woman should make the bread for the Holy Sacrament; they also say that it is not right to sell this bread like other bread. They communicate the Holy Sacrament with wine, and not with water. When they want to have the Mass, they all stand together, and none communicate until he who is at the high altar has communicated, so that they all communicate together. They also read the gospel [looking] towards the rising of the sun, and whichever priest celebrates the Mass, does not dare to sleep that day after midnight; and for three nights previously, and one night after, he must separate himself from his wife. They do not allow any deacon or any of a lower grade to be at the altar, only the priest; and no man or woman can attend the Mass unless they have confessed; and no woman can go into the church whilst she is unwell. Whoever has hatred or enmity towards another, must stand before the church, and is not allowed to go in until he has become reconciled. Woman and man sing the Pater Noster and the Belief, with the priest, when he celebrates the Mass. They give the Sacrament also to young children. The priests do not shave their hair nor their beard. Instead of consecrated oil, they have balm, and the patriarch gives the sultan a large price for the balm, which he sends to his bishopric. When one wants to be a priest, he must be forty days and nights in the church; and when the XL days are passed, he sings his first Mass, and he is led out with singing, dressed for the Mass. Then come his wife and child, and they kneel before him, and he gives them his blessing; then come the priest’s friends and those of his wife, and they bring their offerings; also those who are invited; and there is great rejoicing in his honour, more even than when he was married, but he cannot be with his wife until he has said the Mass for forty days in succession. When they baptise a child, a man receives it, not a woman, because they say that our Lord had only a man to baptise him, and not a woman. It is also a great sin to take a woman to a baptism. They hold baptism in great honour, and whoever comes into the presence of his godfather, must kneel on the ground before him. They hold, that in sponsorship, marriage is forbidden to the fourth generation. They place much confidence in our religion;(3) they also willingly go to Mass in our churches, which the Greeks do not. They say, that between their religion and ours, there is only a hair’s breadth, but that there is a great division between the Greek and their religion. During the week, they fast on Wednesday and on Friday. They do not fast in Advent, and may eat oil, but on those days they eat as often as they like after mid-day. They fast one week for Saint Gregory. They have a saint named Aurencius,(4) who was a doctor, for whom they also fast one week. They fast also on the day of the Holy Cross, which is in September; they fast also one week for Saint James the Great;(5) and they fast XV days in August, for our dear Lady. They fast one week for the three holy kings. They have a saint who was a knight; his name is Zerlichis;(6) they call upon him loudly when they are at war or in other necessity; they fast one week for him. There are many knights and nobles who fast for him for three days in January, so that they do not eat or drink, because he is a great helper in need. Their saints’ days they keep on Saturday. On Easter eve, they celebrate the Mass after vespers, because that is about the time when the light shines on the holy sepulchre at Jherusalem. They also celebrate Easter, Trinity, and Ascension day with us; the other holy days they keep separately. Christmas and the Epiphany they keep at one and the same time, and on that evening, after vespers, they have the Mass. They say, that God was born on that day, and was baptised thirty years after, on that same day, and therefore they keep Christ’s birth and his baptism on the same day, and that is the sixth of January. They fast one week for the twelve holy apostles, and keep their feast-day one day only, and that is Saturday. They pray with the Ave Maria once a year only, and this they do upon our Lady’s day in Lent, which they do not hold as we do.(7) When two married persons quarrel with each other, and the one will not have the other, they are separated at bed and board; but, if neither wishes to have the other, they are separated so that each can take another spouse. If they have any children, they are given to the father. Their churches are all free, as no one can inherit or sell them. When a priest wants to build a church with his own money, he must give it to the parish, so that after his death no one may dispose of it, or he is not allowed to build it; and the same if a lord or layman builds one, so that nobody shall interfere, because it has been the custom amongst them. When a priest or layman founded a church, his heirs inherited it as they did his other property, and let it out on usury, or sold it like other property. This they have changed, and will not allow it any more, and say that every house of God should be free. Their priests go to matins every night,1 which the Greek priests do not. They allow the prayers for the dead to be said for their rich people during their lifetime, and say that it is better to light a candle with one’s own hand, than to let another person light it, by which they mean that he who does not care for his soul in his lifetime, will scarcely be cared for by his friends afterwards, because the friends get the money and do not care for the soul. They say, that when a man himself does good to his own soul, it is agreeable to God. When a poor man dies without confessing or without [having received] the body of God, a place in the churchyard is obtained for him by his advocate, and they lay him in the churchyard, and place a large stone on the grave, and write on it the name of God and the name of the dead man who lies there, and this they do for a sign that he is dead. And when a bishop or priest dies, they dress him as he stands before the altar, and the priests make his grave, then carry him out of the church, and put him on a seat in the grave. The first day they bury him up to his girdle, and go every day to the grave, and sing and read the psalter over him, and each priest throws a spadeful of earth over him, and this they do every day until the eighth day, and then they bury him altogether.(8) When a young man or a virgin dies, [they put on] silk and velvet clothes, and gold rings on the ears and fingers, and so they bury young people who have not been married. And when one marries a young woman who should be a virgin, and [he] finds that she is not a virgin, he sends her back to her father, and will not take her unless more fortune is given to her, than was arranged at the contract. They have only one cross in their churches, and not more, and say, it is a sin to crucify our Lord more than once in a church. They have no paintings on their altars, and their patriarchs and bishops grant no indulgence in their churches, and say, that pardon and remission belong to the living God, and if a man goes into the church with repentance and devotion, God, in his compassion, will grant him pardon and remission of his sins. When the priest finishes the Mass, he does not give the blessing; he descends from the altar, and men and women go up to him, and he touches one after the other on the head, and says: “Asswatz thogu thu miechk”; which means: God forgive thee thy sins.(9) They read low Mass aloud, that everybody may hear, and they pray for those who are entrusted to them, and for everything for which they ought to pray; for the ecclesiastical and lay authorities over all Christendom, and they pray for the Roman emperor, and all kings, dukes, barons, counts, and knights, who are subject to him;(10) and while he thus prays, all the people kneel, and raise their hands to God, and say: “Ogornicka”; which means: Lord have mercy upon us. And whilst the priest prays, these words are continually repeated by the women and men. They behave with much devotion in their churches; they do not look here and there, and do not speak, especially while they are at Mass. They decorate their churches beautifully, and have fine vestments of velvet and of silk of all sorts of colours. None of their laity dare to read the gospel as our own learned laity do, who, when they come across a book, read what they find in it; no one dares to do so, for, should he read the gospel, he would be under the ban of the patriarch, because they say that no one is to read the gospel but a priest. They incense their houses every Saturday, and on the eve of every feast-day, and no one has any other incense than the white incense which grows in Arabia and in India. Priests and laymen eat like the Infidels, sitting on the ground. They have not many preachers amongst their priests, because everyone is not allowed to preach. Their preacher must be well read in the Holy Scriptures, and must have power from the patriarch to preach, and when he has the power, he may punish a bishop. Such a preacher they call Varthabiet, which is the same as being a legate; and there are more than one, and they move from one city to the other and preach. When a priest or bishop does wrong, they punish him for it, and say, that if a priest teaches the Word of God, but does not understand and attend to it, he commits a sin.(11)