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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 81: CAP. LXXIII.
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. LXXIII.

Of the ordynaunce of the lordes of the Emperour when he rideth from one countrey to another to warre.

AND when this great Caane shall ryde from one countrey to another they ordeyne foure hostes of people, of which the fyrst goeth before a daies journey; for that hoste lyeth at even where the Emperour shall lye on the morow, and there is plenty of vitailes. And another host commeth at the right side of hym and an other at the left side, and in eche hoste is muche folke. And then commeth the fourth hoste behind hym a bowe draught, and there is more men in that than in any of the other. And ye shall understande that the Emperour rideth on no horse, but when hee will go to any seacrete place with a privy meyny1 where he will not be knowne, but he rideth in a chariot with four wheles & there uppon is a chamber made of a tree that men call Lignum aloes that commeth out of Paradise terrestre, & that chamber is covered with plates of fyne gold, and precious stones and perles, and foure Olyfants & foure Oxen all white go therein, and five or sixe great lordes ride about him, so that none other men shal come nigh him, except the Emperour call any, and in the same manner with a chariot & such hostes rideth the Empres by another side, and the Emperours eldest sonne in that same aray, and they haue so much people that it is a great marvaile for to see.

1:  Private retinue.