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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 86: CAP. LXXVIII.
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. LXXVIII.

When the Emperour is dead how they chose and make an other.

AND then when the Emperour is dead the seaven linages gather them togither, and they touch his son or the next of his blood, & they say thus, We wyll, and we ordeyne, and we pray thee that thou wilt be our lord & Emperour, and he enquireth of them and sayth, if ye will that I raigne upon you, then must ye doe all that I bidde you to doe. And if he bid that any shal be slaine, he shal be slaine, & they aunswere all with one voyce, yt ye bid shall be done. Then saith ye Emperour, fro henceforth, my word shal cut as my sword, and then they set him in a chaire, & crowne him, & then all the good townes thereabout send to him presents, so much that he shall haue more than a C Camelles1 laden with gold and silver, beside other Jewels yt he shall haue of lords, of precious stones & gold without number & horse, & riche clothes of Camacas2 and Tarins,3 & such other.

1:  Other editions say 60 chariots.

2:  See footnote, ante, p. 1681.

3:  Tartarins, a kind of silken fabric.