Books: Mediaeval Lore from Bartholomew Anglicus
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Robert Steele >> Mediaeval Lore from Bartholomew Anglicus
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IV
MEDIAEVAL GEOGRAPHY
The fourteenth and fifteenth books of the "De Proprietatibus" are
treatises on the geography of the time. Very few words of the editor's
are needed to introduce them to modern readers. They may be divided
into two classes: one, interesting because of the legends they
preserve for us, the other, as reflecting the social life of the time.
The first class is represented here by the accounts of the Amazons, of
India, of Ireland, and of Finland. Here we have the outlines of the
stories--
"Of antres vast, and deserts idle,
Rough quarries, rocks, and hills whose heads touch heaven,
And of the Cannibals that each other eat,
The Anthropophagi, and men whose heads
Do grow beneath their shoulders"--
told by Othello to Desdemona.
In the other we class such accounts as those of France and of Paris,
of the Frisians, Flanders, Scotland, and Iceland. Such countries as
these were well known in the thirteenth century, and the feelings of
our author about them can be gathered easily enough. The tone of the
chapters about England and Scotland would be enough alone to prove
that Bartholomew was an Englishman, it there were no other reason to
think it.
THERE is a lake that hight lake Asphaltus, and is also called the Dead
Sea for its greatness and deepness: for it breedeth, ne receiveth, no
thing that hath life. Therefore it hath nother fish ne fowls, but
whensoever thou wouldst have drowned therein anything that hath life
with any craft or gin, then anon it plungeth and cometh again up;
though it be strongly thrust downward, it is anon smitten upward. And
it moveth not with the wind, for glue withstandeth wind and storms, by
which glue all [the] water is stint. And therein may no ship row nor
sail, for all thing that hath no life sinketh down to the ground; nor
he sustaineth no kind, but it be glued. And a lantern without its
light sinketh therein, as it telleth, and a lantern with light
floateth above.
As the Master of Histories saith, this lake casteth up black clots of
glue. In the brim thereof trees grow, the apples whereof are green
till they are ripe: and if ye cut them when they are ripe, ye shall
find ashes within them. And so it is said in the gloss; and there grow
most fair apples, that make men that see them have liking to eat of
them, and if one take them, they fade and fall in ashes and smoke, as
though they were burning.
Olympus is a mount of Macedon, and is full high, so that it is said,
that the clouds are thereunder, as Virgil saith. This mount departeth
Macedonia and Thracia, and is so high, that it passeth all storms and
other passions of the air. And therefore philosophers went up to see
the course and places of stars, and they might not live there, but if
they had sponges with water to make the air more thick by throwing and
sprinkling of water: as the Master of Histories saith.
Amazonia, women's land, is a country part in Asia and part in Europe,
and is nigh to Albania, and hath that name of Amazonia, of women that
were the wives of the men that were called Goths, the which men went
out of the nether Scythia, and were cruelly slain, and then their
wives took their husbands' armour and weapons, and resed on the
enemies with manly hearts, and took wreck of the death of their
husbands. For with dint of sword they slew all the young males, and
old men, and children, and saved the females, and departed prey, and
purposed to live ever after without company of males. And by ensample
of their husbands that had alway two kings over them, these women
ordained them two queens, that one hight Marsepia, and that other
Lampeta, that one should travail with a host, and fight against
enemies, and that other should in the mean time, govern and rule the
communities. And they were made so fierce warriors in short time, that
they had a great part of Asia under their lordship nigh a hundred
years: among them they suffered no male to live nor abide, in no
manner of wise. But of nations that were nigh to them, they chose
husbands because of children, and went to them in times that were
ordained, and when the time was done, then they would compel their
lovers to go from them, and get other places to abide in, and would
slay their sons, or send them to their fathers in certain times. And
they saved their daughters, and taught them to shoot and to hunt. And
for the shooting of arrows should not be let with great breasts, in
the 7th year (as it is said), they burnt off their breasts, and
therefore they were called Amazons. And as it is said, Hercules
adaunted first the fierceness of them, and then Achilles. But that was
more by friendship than by strength, as it is contained in deeds and
doings of the Greeks, and the Amazons were destroyed and brought to
death by great Alexander. But the story of Alexander saith not so. But
it is said that Alexander demanded tribute of the Queen of the
Amazons, and she wrote to him again by messengers in this manner.
"Of thy wit I wonder, that thou purposest to fight with women, for if
fortune be on our side, and if it hap that thou be overcome, then art
thou shamed for evermore, when thou art overcome of women, and if our
gods be wroth with us, and thou overcomest us, it shall turn thee to
little worship, that thou have the mastery of women."
The noble king wondered on her answer, and said, that it is not seemly
to overcome women with sword and with woodness, but rather with
fairness and with love: and therefore he granted them freedom and made
them subject to his empire, not with violence but with friendship and
with love.
England is the most island of Ocean, and is beclipped all about by the
sea, and departed from the roundness of the world, and hight sometimes
Albion: and had that name of white rocks, which were seen on the sea
cliffs. And by continuance of time, lords and noble men of Troy, after
that Troy was destroyed, went from thence, and were accompanied with a
great navy, and fortuned to the cliffs of the foresaid island, and
that by revelation of their feigned goddess Pallas, as it is said, and
the Trojans fought with giants long time that dwelled therein, and
overcame the giants, both with craft and with strength, and conquered
the island, and called the land Britain, by the name of Brute that was
prince of that host: and so the island hight Britain, as it were an
island conquered of Brute that time, with arms and with might. Of this
Brute's offspring came most mighty kings. And who that hath liking to
know their deeds, let him read the story of Brute.
And long time after, the Saxons won the island with many and divers
hard battles and strong, and their offspring had possession after them
of the island, and the Britons were slain or exiled, and the Saxons
departed the island among them, and gave every province a name, by the
property of its own name and nation, and therefore they cleped the
island Anglia, by the name of Engelia the queen, the worthiest duke of
Saxony's daughter, that had the island in possession after many
battles. Isidore saith, that this land hight Anglia, and hath that
name of Angulus, a corner, as it were land set in the end, or a corner
of the world. But saint Gregory, seeing English children to sell at
Rome, when they were not christened, and hearing that they were called
English: according with the name of the country, he answered and said:
Truly they be English, for they shine in face right as angels: it is
need to send them message, with word of salvation. For as Beda saith,
the noble kind of the land shone in their faces. Isidore saith,
Britain, that now hight Anglia, is an island set afore France and
Spain, and containeth about 48 times 75 miles. Also therein be many
rivers and great and hot wells. There is great plenty of metals, there
be enough of the stones Agates, and of pearls, the ground is special
good, most apt to bear corn and other good fruit. There be, namely,
many sheep with good wool, there be many harts and other wild beasts;
there be few wolves or none, therefore there be many sheep, and may be
securely left without ward, in pasture and in fields, as Beda saith.
England is a strong land and a sturdy, and the plenteousest corner of
the world, so rich a land that unneth it needeth help of any land, and
every other land needeth help of England. England is full of mirth and
of game, and men oft times able to mirth and game, free men of heart
and with tongue, but the hand is more better and more free than the
tongue.
Cedar is the name of the country in which dwelled the Ishmaelites,
that were the children of Kedar, that was Ishmael's eldest son. And
more truly they be there clept Agareni than Saraceni, though they
mistake the name of Sarah in vain, and be proud thereof, as though
they were gendered of Sarah. These men build no houses, but go about
in large wildernesses, as wild men, and dwell in tents, and live by
prey and by venison. Yet hereafter, as Methodius saith, they shall
once be gathered together, and go out of the desert, and win and hold
the roundness of the earth, eight weeks of years, and their way shall
be called the way of anguish and of woe. For they shall overcome
cities and kingdoms. And they shall slay priests in holy places, and
lie there with women, and drink of holy vessels, and tie beasts to
sepultures of holy saints, for the wickedness of the Christian men
that shall be in that time. These and many other things he doth
rehearse that Ishmaelites, men of Kedar, shall do in the world wide.
Ethiopia, blue men's land, had first that name of colour of men. For
the sun is nigh, and roasteth and toasteth them. And so the colour of
men showeth the strength of the star, for there is continual heat. For
all that is under the south pole about the west is full of mountains,
and about the middle full of gravel, and in the east side most desert
and wilderness: and stretcheth from the west of Atlas toward the east
unto the ends of Egypt, and is closed in the south with ocean, and in
the north with the river Nile. In this land be many nations with
divers faces wonderly and horribly shapen: Also therein be many wild
beasts and serpents, and also Rhinoceros, and the beast that hight
Cameleon, a beast with many colours. Also there be cockatrices and
great dragons, and precious stones be taken out of their brains,
Jacinth, and Chrysophrase, Topaz, and many other precious stones be
found in those parts, and cinnamon is there gathered. There be two
Ethiopias, one is in the east, and the other is in Mauritania in the
west, and that is more near Spain. And then is Numidia, and the
province of Carthage. Then is Getula, and at last against the course
of the sun in the south is the land that hight Ethiopia adusta, burnt;
and fables tell, that there beyond be the Antipodes, men that have
their feet against our feet. The men of Ethiopia have their name of a
black river, and that river is of the same kind as Nilus, for they
breed reeds and bullrushes, and rise and wax in one time. In the
wilderness there be many men wonderly shapen. Some oft curse the sun
bitterly in his rising and downgoing, and they behold the sun and
curse him always: for his heat grieveth them full sore. And other as
Trogodites dig them dens and caves, and dwell in them instead of
houses; and they eat serpents, and all that may be got; their noise is
more fearful in sounding than the voice of other. Others there be
which like beasts live without wedding, and dwell with women without
law, and such be called Garamantes. Others go naked, and be not
occupied with travail, and they be called Graphasantes. There be other
that be called Bennii, and it is said, they have no heads, but they
have eyes fixed in their breasts. And there be Satyrs, and they have
only shape of men, and have no manners of mankind. Also in Ethiopia be
many other wonders, there be Ethiops, saith Plinius, among whom all
four-footed beasts be brought forth without ears, and also elephants.
Also there be some that have a hound for their king, and divine by his
moving, and do as they will. And other have three or four eyes in
their foreheads, as it is said, not that it is so in kind, but that it
is feigned, for they use principally looking and sight of arrows. Also
some of them hunt lions and panthers, and live by their flesh, and
their king hath only one eye in his forehead. Other men of Ethiopia
live only by honeysuckles dried in smoke, and in the sun, and these
live not past forty years.
In the over Egypt be many divers deserts, in whom are many monstrous
and wonderful beasts. There be Pards, Tigers, Satyrs, Cockatrices, and
horrible adders and serpents. For in the ends of Egypt and of Ethiopia
fast by the well where men suppose is the head of Nilus that runneth
by Egypt, be bred wild beasts, that hight Cacothephas, the which beast
is little of body, and uncrafty of members and slow, and hath a full
heavy head. And therefore they bear it always downward toward the
earth, and that by ordinance of kind for the salvation of mankind, for
it is so wicked and so venomous, that no man may behold it right in
the face, but he die anon without remedy.
Fraunce hight Francia and Gallia also, and had first that name Francia
of men of Germany, who were called Franci: and hath the Rhine and
Germayn in the east side, and in the north-east side the mountains
Alpes Pennini: and in the south the province of Narbonne, in the
north-west the British ocean, and in the north the island of
Britain.... This land of France is a rank country, and plentiful of
trees, of vines, of corn, and of fruits, and is noble by the affluence
of rivers and fountains; through the borders of which land run two
most noble rivers, that is to wit, Rhone and Rhine. Therein be noble
quarries and stones both to build and to rear buildings and houses
upon, and therein be special manner stones, and namely in the ground
about Paris, that is most passing, namely in a manner stone that is
hight Gypsum, that men of that country call Plaster in their language,
for the ground is glassy and bright, and by mineral virtue turneth
into stone; this manner stone burnt and tempered with water, turneth
into cement, and so thereof is made edifices and vaults, walls and
diverse pavements. And such cement laid in works waxeth hard anon
again as it were stone; and in France be many noble and famous cities,
but among all Paris beareth the prize; for as sometime the city of
Athens, mother of liberal arts and of letters, nurse of philosophers,
and well of all sciences, made it solemn in science and in conditions
among Greeks, so doth Paris in this time, not only France, but also
all the other deal of Europe. For as mother of wisdom she receiveth
all that cometh out of every country of the world, and helpeth them in
all that they need, and ruleth all peaceably, and as a servant of
soothness, she sheweth herself detty to wise men and unwise. This city
is full good and mighty of riches, it rejoiceth in peace: there is
good air of rivers according to philosophers, there be fair fields,
meads, and mountains to refresh and comfort the eyen of them that be
weary in study, there be convenable streets and houses, namely for
studiers. And nevertheless the city is sufficient to receive and to
feed all others that come thereto, and passeth all other cities in
these things, and in such other like.
Though this province be little in space, yet it is wealthful of many
special things and good. For this land is plenteous and full of
pasture, of cattle, and of beasts, royal and rich of the best towns,
havens of the sea, and of famous rivers, and well nigh all about is
moisted with Scaldelia. The men thereof be seemly and fair of body and
strong, and they get many children. And they be rich of all manner
merchandises and chaffer, and generally fair and seemly of face, mild
of will, and fair of speech, sad of bearing, honest of clothing,
peaceable to their own neighbours, true and trusty to strangers,
passing witty in wool craft, by their crafty working a great part of
the world is succoured and holpen in woollen clothes. For of the
principal wool which they have out of England, with their subtle craft
be made many noble cloths, and be sent by sea and also by land into
many diverse countries.
The men of Germany call men of this land Frisons, and between them and
the Germans is great difference in clothing and in manner. For
wellnigh all men be shorn round; and the more noble they be, the more
worship they account to be shorn the more high. And the men be high of
body, strong of virtue, stern and fierce of heart, and swift and
quiver of body. And they use iron spears instead of arrows.... The men
be free, and not subject to lordship of other nations, and put them in
peril of death by cause of freedom. And they had liefer die than be
under the yoke of thraldom. Therefore they forsake dignity of
knighthood, and suffer none to rise and to be greater among them under
the title of knighthood; but they be subject to Judges that they chose
of themselves from year to year, which rule the community among them.
They love well chastity, and punish all the unchaste right grievously:
And they keep their children chaste unto the time that they be of full
age, and so when they be wedded, they get manly children and strong.
And, as it is said, some of the Indians till the earth, and some use
chivalry, and some use merchandise and lead out chaffer; some rule and
govern the community at best; and some be about the kings, and some be
Justices and doomsmen, some give them principally to religions and to
learning of wit and of wisdom. And as among all countries and lands
India is the greatest and most rich: so among all lands India is most
wonderful. For as Pliny saith, India aboundeth in wonders. In India be
many huge beasts bred, and more greater hounds than in other lands.
Also there be so high trees that men may not shoot to the top with an
arrow, as it is said. And that maketh the plenty and fatness of the
earth and temperateness of weather, of air, and of water. Fig trees
spread there so broad, that many great companies of knights may sit at
meat under the shadow of one tree. Also there be so great reeds and so
long that every piece between two knots beareth sometime three men
over the water. Also there be men of great stature, passing five
cubits in height, and they never spit, nor have never headache nor
toothache, nor sore eyes, nor they be not grieved with passing heat of
the sun, but rather made more hard and sad therewith. Also their
philosophers that they call Gymnosophists stand in most hot gravel
from the morning till evening, and behold the sun without blemishing
of their eyes. Also there, in some mountains be men with soles of the
feet turned backwards, and the foot also with viii toes on one foot.
Also there be some with hounds' heads, and be clothed in skins of wild
beasts, and they bark as hounds, and speak none other wise: and they
live by hunting and fowling: and they be armed with their nails and
teeth, and be full many, about six score thousand as he saith. Also
among some nations of India be women that bear never child but once,
and the children wax whitehaired anon as they be born. There be satyrs
and other men wondrously shapen. Also in the end of East India, about
the rising of Ganges, be men without mouths, and they be clothed in
moss and in rough hairy things, which they gather off trees, and live
commonly by odour and smell at the nostrils. And they nother eat
nother drink, but only smell odour of flowers and of wood apples, and
live so, and they die anon in evil odour and smell. And other there be
that live full long, and age never, but die as it were in middle age.
Also some be hoar in youth, and black in age. Pliny rehearseth these
wonders, and many other mo.
Yrlonde hight Hibernia, and is an island of the Ocean in Europe, and
is nigh to the land of Britain, and is more narrow and straight than
Britain, but it is more plenteous place.... In this land is much
plenty of corn fields, of wells and of rivers, of fair meads and
woods, of metal and of precious stones. For there is gendered a six
cornered stone, that is to wit, Iris, that maketh a rainbow in the
air, if it be set in the sun. And there is jet found, and white
pearls. And concerning the wholesome air, Ireland is a good temperate
country. There is little or none passing heat or cold; there be
wonderful lakes, ponds, and wells. For there is a lake, in which if a
staff or a pole of tree be pight, and tarrieth long time therein, the
part that is in the earth turneth into iron, and the part that is in
the water turneth into stone, and the part that is above the water,
abideth still in its kind of tree. There is another lake in which in
that thou throwest rods of hazel, it turneth those rods into ash: and
ayenward if ye cast ashen rods therein, they turn into hazel. Therein
be places in which dead carrions never rot: but abide there always
uncorrupt. Also in Ireland is a little island, in which men die not,
but when they be overcome with age, they be borne out of that island
to die without. In Ireland is no serpent, no frogs, nor venomous
addercop; but all the land is so contrary to venemous beasts that if
the earth of that land be brought into another land, and spronge on
the ground, it slayeth serpents and toads. Also venomous beasts flee
Irish wool, skins, and fells. And if serpents or toads be brought into
Ireland by shipping, they die anon.
Solinus speaketh of Ireland, and saith the inhabitants thereof be
fierce, and lead an unhuman life. The people there use to harbour no
guests, they be warriors, and drink men's blood that they slay, and
wash first their faces therewith: right and unright they take for
one.... Men of Ireland be singularly clothed and unseemly arrayed and
scarcely fed, they be cruel of heart, fierce of cheer, angry of
speech, and sharp. Nathless they be free hearted, and fair of speech
and goodly to their own nation, and namely those men that dwell in
woods, marshes, and mountains. These men be pleased with flesh,
apples, and fruit for meat, and with milk for drink: and give them
more to plays and to hunting, than to work and travail.
The land Scotia hath the name of Scots that dwell therein, and the
same nation that was sometime first in Ireland, and all according
thereto in tongue, in manners, and in kind. The men are light of
heart, fierce, and courageous on their enemies. They love nigh as well
death as thraldom, and they account it for sloth to die in bed, and a
great worship and virtue to die in a field fighting against enemies.
The men be of scarce living, and many suffer hunger long time, and eat
selde tofore the sun going down, and use flesh, milk, meats, fish, and
fruits more than Britons: and use to eat the less bread, and though
the men be seemly enough of figure and of shape, and fair of face
generally by kind, yet their own Scottish clothing disfigures them
full much. And Scots be said in their own tongue of bodies painted, as
it were cut and slit. For in old time they were marked with divers
figures and shapes on their flesh and skin, made with iron pricks. And
by cause of medlying with Englishmen, many of them have changed the
old manners of Scots into better manners for the more part, but the
wild Scots and Irish account great worship to follow their forefathers
in clothing, in tongue, and in living, and in other manner doing. And
despise somedeal the usages of other men in comparison to their own
usage. And so each laboureth to be above, they detract and blame all
other, and envy all other: they deride all other, and blame all other
men's manners; they be not ashamed to lie, and they repute no man, of
what nation, blood, or puissance so-ever he be, to be hardy and
valiant, but themselves. They delight in their own; they love not
peace. In that land is plenteous ground, merry woods, moist rivers and
wells, many flocks of beasts. There be earth-tillers for quantity of
the place enow.
Thanet is a little island of ocean, and is departed from Britain with
a little arm of the sea, and hath wheat fields and noble grounds, and
hath its name of death of serpents. For the earth of that land carried
into any country of the world, slayeth serpents forthwith, as Isidore
saith.
Finland is a country beside the mountains of Norway toward the east,
and stretcheth upon the cliff of ocean: and is not full plenteous, but
in wood, herbs, and grass. The men of that country be strange and
somewhat wild and fierce: and they occupy themselves with witchcraft.
And so to men that sail by their coasts, and also to men that abide
with them for default of wind, they proffer wind to sailing, and so
they sell wind. They use to make a clue of thread, and they make
divers knots to be knit therein. And then they command to draw out of
the clue unto three knots, or mo or less, as they will have the wind
more soft or strong. And for their misbelief fiends move the air, and
arise strong tempests or soft, as he draweth of the clue more or less
knots. And sometimes they move the wind so strongly, that the wretches
that believe in such doings, are drowned by rightful doom of God.
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