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The Voiage and Travayle of Sir John Maundeville Knight / Which treateth of the way towards Hierusalem and of marvayles of Inde with other ilands and countreys cover

The Voiage and Travayle of Sir John Maundeville Knight / Which treateth of the way towards Hierusalem and of marvayles of Inde with other ilands and countreys

Chapter 105: CAP. XCVII.
By Sir John Mandeville
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About This Book

The narrator offers a medieval travelogue that traces routes toward Jerusalem and across regions of Asia, Africa, and India, blending eyewitness-style observations, borrowed reports, and fantastic tales. It catalogs cities, landscapes, animals, plants, trade goods, and unfamiliar customs, alternating itinerary notes with moral and religious commentary. Frequent digressions present marvels and monstrous races alongside practical details about pilgrim routes, local rites, and fortifications, producing a text that shifts between guidebook information and imaginative storytelling. The structure mixes descriptive chapters with episodic anecdotes, inviting readers to weigh veracity while encountering the era's geographical knowledge, commerce, and popular curiosities.

CAP. XCVII.

How the Emperour Prester John when he goeth to batayle, he hath three crosses borne before him of fine gold.

THIS Emperour Prester John, when he goeth to batayle, he hath no baner borne before him, but he hath borne before him three crosses of fine gold, & those are large & great, and well set with precious stones, & for to kepe eche crosse, is ordeyned a thousand1 men of armes, in maner as men kepe a standerde in other countreys, and he hath men without number when he goeth in any batayle against any other lord. And when he hath no battayle but rydeth with privy company, then doth he beare before him a crosse of tree2 not painted, and without gold or precious stones, and all playne in token that our lord Jesu Christ suffered death on a cross of tree. And also he hath borne before him a platter of gold ful of earth, in token yt lordship and noblenesse shal tourne to nought, & his flesh shall turne to earth. And also he has borne before him another vessell full of Jewels, and golde and precious stones, in token of his noblenes and of his might.

1:  Others say 10,000.

2:  A wooden cross.