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heaven_n	earth_n	high_a	place_n	6,761	5	4.5017	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A16282	The manners, lauues, and customes of all nations collected out of the best vvriters by Ioannes Boemus ... ; with many other things of the same argument, gathered out of the historie of Nicholas Damascen ; the like also out of the history of America, or Brasill, written by Iohn Lerius ; the faith, religion and manners of the Aethiopians, and the deploration of the people of Lappia, compiled by Damianus a ̀Goes ; with a short discourse of the Aethiopians, taken out of Ioseph Scaliger his seuenth booke de emendatione temporum ; written in Latin, and now newly translated into English, by Ed. Aston.; Omnium gentium mores, leges, et ritus. English. 1611	Boemus, Joannes, ca. 1485-1535.; Góis, Damião de, 1502-1574.; Nicolaus, of Damascus.; Léry, Jean de, 1534-1611. Histoire d'un voyage fait en la terre du Brésil.; Scaliger, Joseph Juste, 1540-1609. De emendatione temporum.; Aston, Edward, b. 1573 or 4.	1611 (1611)	STC 3198.5; ESTC S102777	343,933	572

the warres and Gouernors in time of peace They haue a mixt language borrowed of the Medes and Scythians and compounded of them both at the first their habites were answerable to their abilitie and after their owne country fashion but waxing richer they were as curiouslie clothed as the Medes their weapons were after the custome of theyr owne countrey and like vnto the Scythians Their armies consist not of free-men as in other nations but for the most part of slaues which sort of base people doe dayly increase for they bee all bondmen borne and no power of manumission permitted them yet bee they brought vp with as great care and industry as if they were free-men and taught both to ride and shoote and euery one as hee is in riches traineth vp and setteth forth with the King when hee goeth into the warres a great company of horse men according to his abilitie in so much as when Antonius made warres vpon the Parthians and the Parthians incountring him with fifty thousand horsemen there were not found in all that whole troupe aboue eight hundred free-men They cannot indure the single combate nor to remooue the assault from Citties besieged but their chiefest fight is with their horses running forward or turning backward and some-times also they faine them-selues to flye that thereby they may wound those which vnwarily pursue them The signe of battell is not giuen them with a trumpet but with a Timbrill or Drumme neither can they indure long fight for surely they were not to bee resisted if their courage and continuance were answerable to the assault and first brunt of the battell and often-times they will leaue the battaile in the very heate of the conflict and shortly after returne againe and begin a fresh so as when the enemy thinketh himselfe most secure he is oftentimes in greatest danger The munition for their horse-men are Brigandines or coates of maile imbrodered and with such bee their horses harnessed likewise In times past they had no other vse of siluer nor golde then in their weapons All of them haue many wiues being mooued therevnto with the pleasure of the variety of women nor is there a more greeuous punishment for any offence then for adultery and therefore they forbid their wiues not onely to banquet with other men but euen the very sight of them also There bee some of opinion whereof Strabo is one that if the Parthians cannot beget children of their wiues them-selues they will giue them in mariage to their friends thereby to raise them issue to succeed them They eate no other flesh but what they get by hunting and they be euer carryed on horse-back for they ride to their banquets they buy and sell conferre together and execute all publicke and priuate offices on hors-back And this difference in the dignities and degrees of the people is very singuler and worthy to bee noted that those which bee of a seruile and base condition goe euer on foote but the better sort of people and free-men ride continually The flesh of their dead bodyes insteed of buriall is commonly rent in peeces and deuoured eyther of byrds or dogges and they couer the bones when they be bare with earth They haue their gods in great reuerence and regarde they bee of a haughty and proud disposition sedicious deceitfull and malepart and very violent in all their actions but yet women bee somewhat more courteous then men they bee alwayes busied eyther in externall or ciuill broyles They bee naturally slowe of speach and farre more apt for action then vtterance They will neither bragge of their prosperity nor dispaire in aduersity they obey their Princes for feare not for shame they bee much giuen to lust and of a sparing dyet and there is no trust nor confidence to bee reposed in their words nor promises but so farre as is expedient and behouefull for themselues The manners and customes Of Persia and of the manners lawes and ordinances of the Persians CHAP. 7. PERSIA a country in the East is so called of Persis the sonne of Iupiter and Danaé of whom also Persepolis the Metrapolitan and chiefe Citty of that nation taketh his name and the people thereof be called Persians This country as Ptolomeus writeth in his fift booke is bounded on the North with Media on the West with Susiana on the East with the two Carmanias and on the South with the Persian sea Their chiefe townes were Aximia Persepolis and Diospolis The Persians beleeue in Heauen and in Iupiter they haue the Sunne also in great veneration whom they call Mitra and worship the Moone Venus the Fire Earth Water and windes as gods and goddesses They haue neither Temples Sanctuaries nor Idols but doe their sacrifices without doores in some high place with great reuerence and deuotion hauing the hoast for sacrifice brought to the Altar with a crowne or garland on his head they sacrifice to their gods nothing else but the heart of the oblation neither do the gods as they suppose require more at their hands and yet the custome of some in that countrie is to put the Intralls of the sacrifice into the fire also when they sacrifice they make a fyre of drye wood the barke or rinde being first pulled of and then casting vpon the wood some sweet tallow or suet and infusing a little oyle thereon set it on fire not blowing with their mouths but with bellowes for if any presume to blow the fire with his mouth or throw therin any dead carcasse or any other filthy thing hee dyeth for it The Persians neither wash themselues in water nor pisse nor spitte into it nor throw any dead carcasse into it nor prophane it any other kinde of way but worship it most religiously and that in this manner When they come to a lake riuer or brooke they make a little ditch or pond seuered from the other water and there they kill the sacrifice hauing speciall regarde that none of the other water bee touched with the bloud least all should be polluted this done and the flesh layde vpon a mirtell or lawrell tree the Priests or Magi make a fire with little twiggs and therewith burne the sacrifice till it be consumed and then sprinkling and infusing it with oyle mingled with milke and hony they pray for a long space together not to the fire nor water but to the earth holding in their hands all the while a bundle of Mirtle rods They create their Kings out of one family and hee which is not obedient vnto the King hath his head and armes cut off and is cast out without buriall Polycritus reporteth that al the Persian Kings haue their houses builded vpon hills and that there they hide all the treasure and tribute which they exact of their subiects for a monument of a well gouerned state And that of the people that dwell vpon the sea coast they exact siluer and from the inhabitants of the middle part of the

couered with thin skinnes or filmes as wee may perceiue by experience in the fennes standing waters of Aegipt when as the heate of the ayre vpon a sodaine warmeth the cold earth so that heate abounding in moysture caused generation and a certaine winding ayre incompassing the moysture preserued that from danger by night which by day was made solide by the heate of the sunne so as in the end those putrifactions being brought to perfection as it were their time of birth drawing neere the skins wherewith they were couered beeing burned and broken they brought foorth the formes of all creatures of which those that did most participate of heate tooke theyr place in the vppermost region and became flying fowles those which were most neere vnto the nature of the earth became serpents and other earthly creatures and those of the watery condition were allotted the Element of the same nature and were called Fishes But when the earth with heate and wind waxing euery day dryer then other surceased from bringing forth the greatest sorts of creatures those which shee had already produced brought forth others of the same kinde by mutuall commixtion one with another And in this manner did those Philosophers affirme that men had their beginnings likewise and that they seeking the fields for such foode as herbes and fruites of trees did naturally yeeld them liued a wilde vnciuill and brutish kinde of life And being much annoyde with beasts the better to resist them partly mooued with feare and partly for their common profit gathered them-selues into companies and ioyning their forces together sought out fit places for themselues to dwell in That the sound of mens mouthes being first confused and disordered by little and little became a distinct and intelligible voice and gaue vnto euery thing his proper name And that men being placed and dispersed into diuerse parts of the world vsed not all one but diuerse languages and for euery language diuerse caracters of letters That the first company of men gaue beginning to euery country wherein they liued And that those men which were first so procreated being vtterly voyde of succour and ayde of any thing and not knowing how to gather the fruites of the earth and to lay them vp and keepe them to serue their necessitie lead so hard a life at the first as many of them perished in winter by cold or famine who afterwards growing wiser by experience found them out holes and caues in the ground both to auoyde the extremity of colde and to preserue fruites to defend them from famine And hauing found out the vse of fire and other things profitable and all other commodities of mans life beeing made manifest vnto them and finally making necessity the mistresse of their labours they commended to their memories the knowledge of all things to whom were giuen as helpers hands speach and excellencie of minde Now those which attributing nothing to Gods prouidence were of opinion that man had this manner of beginning did hold also that the Aethiopians were the first of all mortall men vsing this coniecture for their reason that the country of Aethiopia by reason of the vicinity and neerenesse of the heauens did before all other lands begin to waxe warme the earth from the beginning lying long soaked in water whereof it happened that of that first temperature of heate and moysture man himselfe being first begotten would with a better wil hold that place wherein hee was borne than to goe seeke strange countries all other places beeing vtterly vnknowne vnto him Wherefore beginning there yet first speaking a word or two in generall of Affricke one of the the three parts into which the world and this my present worke is diuided wee will first speake of the situation of Aethiopia and of the customes and orders vsed in that country and afterwards wee will treate of all other lands in order as they lye with what diligence we may Of the scituation and perfection of the world CAP. 3. OVr Ancestors as Orosius reporteth were of opinion that the circle of the whole earth inclosed within the borders of the Ocean is in the forme of a Triangle and that there be three parts thereof Affricke Asia and Europe Affricke is deuided from Asia by the riuer Nilus which running from the South into Aethiopia and passing by Aegipt maketh it exceeding fruitfull by his ouer-flowing and dischargeth himselfe into the sea in no lesse then seauen sundry places The Mediterranean sea deuideth Europe from Affrick which according to Pomponius Mela making breach into the earth from the West Ocean about Gades Iland and Hercules pillers is not there in bredth aboue ten miles ouer Asia is seperated from Europe by the riuer Tanais which flowing from the North almost into the middle of the poole of Maeotis meeteth there with the sea called Pontus which parteth the rest of Asia from Europe Affricke is bounded vpon the East with the riuer Nilus and vpon all other parts with the sea it is shorter then Europe and broder when it ioyneth to the sea and fuller of hills and holding on a crooked course towards the West by little and little growing sharper and narrower is then the narrowest when it is neerest to an end As much of Affricke as is inhabited is wonderfull fertile but the greatest part thereof lyeth desert being eyther couered with drye barren sands forsaken for the vicinitie of the Sunne or annoyde with sundry sorts of hurtfull creatures Vpon the North it is compassed with the Lybian Sea with the Aethiopian on the south and with the sea Atlantick on the west The whole country of Affrick was inhabited from the beginning but of foure sundrie sorts of people whereof two as Herodotus writeth were borne bred in that countrey and the other two were strangers the homebred and naturall countrimen are the Carthagenians and the Aethiopians the one inhabiting in the north of Africk the other in the south The strangers be Pheniceans and Grecians The ancient Aethiophians and Egiptians if all be true which they report of themselues were at first rude and barbarous and feeding commonly like bruite beasts with hearbes and wilde flesh vsing neither manners lawes nor gouernement but wandring and straying abroad without consideration or regard and vtterly destitute of any certaine habitation reposing themselues wheresoeuer they were benighted But afterwards beeing made more ciuill and humane by Hercules who is said to haue brought Colonies into that Country and making themselues houses of those shippes wherewith they had before sayled into Libia they beganne to dwell and inhabite together But of this we will speake more at large hereafter The soyle of Affricke is vnequally inhabited for the South part thereof by reason of the exceeding heat lyeth for the most part desert and that part which lyeth next vnto Europ is very populous the fruitfulnes of their ground is admirable

yet of that validity estimation as the people of euery village yeeld there obedience to their parish Priest the parish Priest to the Deane the Deane to the Bishop the Bishop to the Archbishop the Archbishop to the Primate or Patriarch the primate or Patriarch to the Legate the Legate to the Pope the Pope to general councels and general councels only vnto God 4 The fourth Sacrament is the most holsome Sacramēt of the body bloud of our Lord Sauiour Iesus Christ euery priest that is duly called ordained according to the rules of the Church and intendeth to consecrate may by obseruing the vsual forme of words vsed in the consecration make the true body of Christ of a peece of wheaten bread and of wine his right and perfect bloud And this Sacrament the same Lord Iesus Christ in the night before he suffered his bitter passion did celebrate with his disciples consecrating it and ordaining that it should euer after be celebrated and eaten in remembrance of him It behoueth euery one that receiueth this Sacrament to bee strong in faith that he may beleeue and credit these thirteene things following First that he beleeue the transmutation or transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the body and bloud of Christ Secondly that though this be done euery day yet is not the body of Christ thereby augmented Thirdly that the body of Christ is not diminished though it be eatē euery day Fourthly that though this Sacrament be deuided into many parts that yet the whole and intire body of Christ remaineth in euery little particle Fiftly that though it be eaten of wicked malicious men yet is not the Sacrament thereby defiled Sixtly that to those which receiue it worthily as they ought it bringeth saluation eternal damnation to those which receiue it vnworthily Seuenthly that when it is eaten it conuerteth not into the nature property of him that eateth it as other meate doth but rather conuerteth the eater into the nature of the Sacrament rightly that being eaten it is taken vp into heauen without hurt Ninthly that in euery little forme of bread and wine is comprehended the great and incomprehensible God and Man Christ Iesus Tenthly that one and the same body of Christ is receiued and taken at one moment in diuers places of diuers men and vnder a diuers forme Eleuenthly that the substance of the bread being turned into the true body of Christ and the substance of the wine into his bloud the natural accidents of bread and wine doe yet remaine and that they are not receiued in forme of flesh and bloud Twelfthly that vnto those that eate it worthily it bringeth twelue great commodities which are expressed in these verses following Inflammat memorat substentat roborat auget Hostin spem purgat reficit vitam dat vnit Confirmat fidem minuit fomitemque remittit The effect whereof is that the hoast inflameth remembreth sustaineth strengthneth and augmenteth our hope It purgeth refresheth quickneth and vniteth It confirmeth our faith and mitigateth and vtterly quencheth in vs all concupiscence Lastly that it is wonderfull good and profitable for all those for whom the priest specially offereth it as a sacrifice be they liuing or dead and that therefore it is called the communion or Sacrament of the Eucharist In the beginning of Christian religion yet in some places there was consecrated at one time such a loafe of bread as being afterwards cut into small mamocks by the priest and laid vpon a sawcer or plate might well serue all the communicants that were present at the sacrifice and at that time did Christians communicate thereof dayly And afterwards they were limitted to receiue it only vpon sundaies but when the Church perceiued that this sacrament was not taken euery sunday so worthily and with such due obseruation as was sitting it was ordained that euery Christian man of perfect reason vnderstanding should with all diligence he could and with his best preparation both of body and soule receiue the same thrice a yeere or at the least euery yeere once at Easter as also when hee found himselfe in any danger of death as a ready preparatiue against al perils by which name it is often called 5 Matrimony which is a lawfull coniunction of man and wife instituted and ordained by the law of God the law of nature the law of nations is the fift Sacrament and the holy fathers in Christian piety haue commanded that but one marriage shall be solemnized at one time and that it shal not be done in secret but publikely either in the Church or Church-porch but most commonly in the Church-porch where the priest meeting the parties that are to be married first asketh of the man and then of the woman whether they be willing to be contracted who answering that they are content and agreed which is a thing most necessary in that Sacrament he taketh them by the right hands ioyning them togither in the name of the blessed and indeuided trinity in vnity the Father Sonne and holy Ghost hee admonisheth and exhorteth them that being euer mindefull of this vnion and holy communion they neuer after forsake one an other but to liue in mutual loue honor and obedience one to an other that they should not desire one an others company for lust but for procreation of children and that they should bring vp their children honestly carefully and in the feare of God this done he marrieth them with the ring and sprinkleth holy water on them and then putting on his stole which is thither brought him he leadeth them into the church and causing them to kneele humbly before the Altar there blesseth them if they were not blessed before the woman when she is married hath her haire tied vp with a red fillet or headband and a white veile ouer it without which veile or head couer it is neuer lawful for her after that time to goe abroad or to be in the company of men There be twelue impediments that hinder marriage before it be solemnized and dissolue it after it is contracted that is to say the error or mistaking of either party the breach of some condition kindred a manifest offence disparity of religion violence or forcible rauishment from their parents holy orders breach of reputation publike defamation affinity and dissability to performe the act of matrimony 6 The sixt Sacrament of the church is penance which is giuen by Christ as a second repaire of our shipwrake and euery Christian man is bound vndoubtedly to belceue that this Sacrament consisteth of these foure things to wit repentance for sins past cannonical confession absolution and satisfaction for he that will be partaker of this Sacrament must first of al repent be sorrowful in his very soule that through his grieuous and heinous sins hee hath lost that purity and innocency which he once had either by the Sacrament of Baptisme or by this Sacramēt formerly

vnto them who rescuing them and recouering the land againe from the enemy tooke seisure thereof for himself the chiefe excercise of the Valachians is husbandry and keeping of cattaile which argueth and declareth the originall of that people They pay tribute to the Kings of Thrace and but once to euery King and then by the Kings declaration each family giueth him an oxe in the name of a tribute and the number of families in Valachia is said to be aboue sixtie thousand Those which be commanded to goe to the warres and refuse to goe are punished with death Valachia vpon the West bordereth vpon Transiluania and runneth East-ward into the Euxine sea vpon the North-east and North it ioyneth to Russia and vpon the South it is washed with the riuer of Ister about which whatsoeuer those wandring people be that therein inhabite the ayre is very intemperate and cold and their winter in a maner continuall the soile in Valachia was heretofore very barren yeelding them but slender sustainance and their chiefe defence against raine and ill wether was either reedes or leaues they would goe ouer great pooles and waters vpon the Ise and their victuals was such wild beasts as they could catch mansion houses or set places of abode they had none but rested where euer they were weary Their diet was very vile and base by reason of the horrible intemperatnesse of the aire and they went alwaies bare-headed Of Russia or Ruthenia and of the latter manners and customes of the Russians CAP. 6. RVSSIA which is also called by two other names Ruthenia and Podolia is deuided into three parts viz Russia Alba Russia superior and Russia inferior That part which extendeth in lengthwise towards Sarmatia or Poland is bounded North with the riuer Peucis towards the East lieth the riuer Moscus and West-ward are Liuonia and Prussia the furthest partes of Germany The bounds and limits of the Ruthenians or Roxallanians for by that name they bee also called at this day is the space of eight daies iourney ouer from the riuer Tanais to the North Ocean and from the Germaine Ocean which they call the Balthean sea to the Caspian sea is the space of aboue ninty daies iourney The country is so fertill and fruitfull as though the soile bee but rudely and vnhusbandlike tilled and corne throwne vpon it will yeeld increase three yeeres together and that without plowing the two latter yeeres for the corne which shedeth at reaping will be seed sufficient to yeeld an other haruest and the second a third likewise and the graine which it produceth groweth vp a ful perch in height There is such great store of Bees in Russia that for want of hiues and hollow trees they build in rockes and holes of the earth there is great store of the bast Meth and waxe which is carried thence into diuers other countries in great aboundance The Russians store not their ponds and pooles with fish because as they say fishes doe their naturally breede and multiply by the influence of the heauens In a certaine lake there called Katzibe when the wether is drie is salt gotten for which there is much warre betwixt the Russians and the Tartarians and it is very strang which is reported that in the Country of the Chelmenses if the armes and braunches of pine trees be cut off from the trees and lie vpon the ground for the space of two or three yeeres they will bee hardned and turned into stones there is also good plenty of chalke And towardes the riuer Tanais and Maeotis poole groweth great store of sweete cane or reed called Callamus Aromaticus or Callamus Reuponticus and many other herbes and rootes which bee not found in other places There chiefe Citty and Kings seat is called Moscouia it is seitutated vpon the riuer Moscus and is foureteene miles in circuit coine or stamped siluer they haue none in that City and in the middle of the market place standeth a foure-square stone vpon the toppe whereof hee that can clime vp and ascend and in performance thereof bee not violently thrust downe by others obtaineth the principality and gouernment of all the City wherevpon oftentimes arise great contentions and debate amongst the people each one indeauouring to supplant his corriuall that himselfe may ascend The Country is so populous and strong that not long since in a certaine warlike assembly in the Kings campe were numbred and reckoned a hundred and twenty thousand horsemen euery one whereof were able to leade an armie In their warres they vse bowes which weapon by longe vsage is most familiar and proper to that nation and launces of twelue foote long their horsemen which serue in compleat armour weare iron brest-plates vpon their brigandines or cotes of maile with the belly or middle standing out In steed of helmets they haue hattes made sharpe vpon the crowne and this kinde of horsemen bee more seruiceable and in greater request in the warres then footemen Some foote-men fight with a certaine weapon called Scorpio because it is like a scorpion wherewith they shoote small arrowes or quarrels it is the same which the Italians call Balista and with vs a Crosse-bow Stocke-bow or Tiller some others doe vse for to shoote leaden bullets out of brazen peeces after the manner of the Almaines The Russians cannot indure for to haue their Gouernors called Kings but Dukes as beeing a name more popular and hee that is Duke hath the dominion and gouernment ouer the whole nation betwixt whom and the Nobles there is no difference in their apparell sauing that the Duke weareth a cappe some-what higher then the rest Their garments bee of all collours sauing blacke and both men and women are apparelled in fine linnen cassockes or shirtes hanging downe to their knees This garment they trimme and garnish rounde about the necke with gold and redde silke it is wide and loose and but little differente from those which the Grecians weare the like also is worne by the Turkes and all the Northerne people but that the Ruthens garments haue wider sheeues and bee hemmed or garded with gold about the breasts and shoulders edged or welted round about the skirtes with Otters skinne None but onely the wife lamenteth and bewaileth the death of her husband and then is her head couered with a white linnen cloath hanging downe to her elbowes the richer sort of people haue a banket made them vpon the forteeth daie after the funeralls in remembrance of him that is dead but the poorer sorte bee feasted fiue times within the fortie daies the daies of their deathes be likewise obserued wherein they celebrate yeerly feastes And those which suruiue keepe a register of all their friends which bee dead to the end they may know vpon what daies the obites and Annuall feasts are to bee celebrated for euery one that is departed the dead bodies bee buried and interred with weeping and lamentation The women vsually hange at their eares

of all men you haue already begun to cure the calamities where with the Church is dayly oppressed and with your care and industrie so to effect it that all the whole world may obey and beleeue in one onely Christ and imbracing the true beleefe may be obedient vnto you as vnto Peters successor and to your admonitions in all things which pertaine to the saluation of their soules which when you haue brought to passe wee will say that by your meanes the Prophesie of one sheapheard and one flock is fulfilled the true commendations whereof when you haue obtained which of the Popes may bee deemed so famous as your self either in honor happinesse or merit or to whom with so much right may wee yeeld the triple Crownc as to your selfe For the obtaining whereof although the times be otherwise very vnfortunate yet haue you many occasions ministred vnto you I call the times vnfortunate by reason of those calamities which in Europe are by your selfe to be cured for of none be we more strongly resisted then of the enimie that liueth at our elbow but let vs now omitte to speake of those troublesome cares which wee bee well assured are euer in your minde and come to other matters more calme and temperate which carry great hope that as it were an other new world imbracing the faith of Christ may acknowledge your holinesse Maiestie and Empire Wherefore if you shall so handle these businesses that the Church both in Aethiopia and Europe hauing you her gouernour and protector may escape and auoide all perill and shipwrack and arriue into the hauen of saluation wee shall then sing in your praise that Propheticall Canticle contained in the Booke of Wisdome viz. I will passe through all lower parts of the earth I will behold all those that sleepe and illuminate all those that trust in the Lord behold I haue not laboured for my selfe onely but for all those that seeke the truth Now at length is the time wherein wee trust that this Prophesie will bee fulfilled by you behold here the Aethiopians a large and spacious nation and most desirous of Christ whose Emperor a man of great sanctitie desiring the amity and friendship of the Christian Princes of Europe hath sent his Embassadors vnto you and to the mighty and inuincible Kings of Portugall by whom as by his letters doth appeare hee doth not onely couet Christian friendship and charity betwixt him-selfe and the Princes of Europe but also perceiuing the bitter discords and dissentions that continually raigne amongst them doth most deuoutly and feruently admonish and exhort them to Christian peace and concorde a matter whereof all of vs may bee ashamed for now the Queene of Saba riseth vp and calleth vs into iudgment reprehending our faults Christs Prophesies bee now fulfilled And those which hee elected are by little and little fallen out of his fellowship and his commandements and promises are come vnto those which were teputed Ethnicks and strangers vnto Christ for the Emperour of Aethiopia with all the kingdomes vnder his dominion as by this our declaration shall appeare couet nor desire nothing more then to liue vnder your discipline neither is hee ignorant by the doctrine of the Apostles which hee hath deuided into eight bookes that the gouernment and principallity of all the Bishops of the world belongeth and is due to the Bishop of Rome whom plainly and godlyly hee is willing to obey desiring of him to be well and holily instructed in the institutions and ordinances of the Church of Christ for which purpose he coueteth with great desire to haue learned mē sent vnto him and not contented there-with to the end that the memory of his desires may remaine to all posterity hee intreateth that the truth of this matter may bee recorded and registred in the Popes Annals that so his Epistles and most godly requests may bee inlightned by the Ecclesiasticall history and that those which shall bee borne hereafter may know at what time and vnder what Pope these things were done And I nothing doubt but that your holinesse hath already sent or forthwith will send vnto him learned men and skilfull in the Scriptures and well instructed in other artes by whose learning and industry and also by the preaching and labour of many others already sent thither by the renowned Kings of Portugall Emanuell and Iohn his sonne you will so handle the businesse that all the Christians liuing in Aethiopia and India may by little and little yeeld obedience to the lawes of the Romaine Bishops whom they feare not already to confesse to bee the Vicars of Christ and so they being once by your indeuour ioyned vnto vs by the true religion and gathered together into one fold vnder one shepheard Christ we may perceiue that the mercy of our Lord is confirmed ouer vs that his kingdome indureth for all ages and that his power extendeth vnto all generations and then all flesh shall praise his holy name for euer and euer But least my exhortation may seeme more tedious then is needfull especially vnto him of whose life and doctrine we are and ought all of vs to be imitators I will proceed to my declaration which I will set out more at large that thereby I may more plainly shew vpon what grounds and principles this sacred league and amitie betwixt Prestor Ioan and the Kings of Portugall was established hoping that in declaring those things which bee true and lawfull I may inflame the mindes of the Readers and accite them to those designements whereby the faith of Christ may bee more aboundantly planted preached and reuerenced in all corners of the earth In the yeare from the birth of our Sauiour and redeemer Iesus Christ one thousand foure hundred thirty and three Iohn the first King of Portugal surnamed of famous memory he which freed Portugall from the often incursions and assaults of the Castilians wherewith it was almost made vast desolate departing out of this mortall life of all his other sonnes which hee left behind him his sonne Henry excelled in learning and especially in the study of Mathematickes who for the great desire hee had to know the motion of the heauens liued a single life and for that hee might more deepely and accurately meditate and consider the course of the starres he liued in a holy promontory called Saint Vincents head which place he chose out for that the heauens bee there for the most part calme and temperate least the clowds interposing themselues betwixt the heauens and his instruments his consideration and iudgment of the course of the heauens might be thereby hindred This Henry to the end he might receiue some fruite of his studies determined to seeke out with his owne ships and at his owne charge that which by often watchings he had found out to be so to wit that the Atlantick Ocean floweth into the Indian and the Indian againe into the Atlanticke and therevpon sending ships thither diuerse times they

man of that embassage and with him was Francis Aluarez whom for his honesty of life singular religion and iustice I haue held most deere and especially for that being demanded of his faith he answered thereunto very fitly and truely And therefore you ought to exalt him and to call him maister and to imploy him in conuerting the people of Macua and of Dalaca of Zeila and of all the Islands of the red sea because they bee in the bounds of my kingdomes And I haue granted vnto him a Crosse and a staffe in token of his authority and doe you commaunde that these things may be giuen vnto him and that hee may bee made Bishiop of those Countries and Islands because hee well deserueth it and is very fitting to administer that office and God shall doe good unto thee that thou maiest bee alwaies strong against thy enemies and constraine them to prostrate themselues at thy feet I pray God prolong thy life and make thee partake of the kingdome of heauen in the best place euen as I wish for my selfe for with my eares haue I heard much good of you and I see with mine eies that which I thought I should neuer haue seene and God will make all things to goe well with you and your seate shall bee vpon the tree of life which is the seate of the Saints Amen As a young child I haue done what euer you commanded mee and will doe if your Embassadors come hither that we may aid one another by our mutuall forces I shall giue and cause to bee giuen vnto all your Embassadors which shal come hither what euer you will signifie to be done and as you did at Macna at Dalaca and at the ports in the streights of the redde sea that wee may bee prosperously ioyned together both in Councell and action as I doe chiefly desire for when your Forces shall come to those Coastes I will speedily bee with them with my Armie also and because there bee no Christians in the Marches of my Countrie nor any Churches for Christians I will giue vnto your people those lands to dwell in which be neerest vnto the dominion of the Moores for it behoueth that you bring your beginnings to a good end In the meane space send to me learned men and caruers of Images of gold and siluer workers of copper likewise and of Iron of tinne and of lead and Artificers to imprint bookes for the Church in our language and some that can make gold foyle or thin plates or raies of gold and with the same can guild other mettals these shall bee courteously entertained in my house and if they shall desire to depart I will giue vnto them large ample rewards for their labours And I sweare by God Iesus Christ the sonne of God that I will freely suffer them to depart when they please This I most boldly and confidently desire because your vertue is apparant vnto me and your goodnesse well knowne And for that I know you loue me well whereof I am most assured because for my sake you receiued Mathew very honourably and liberally and so sent him backe againe and therfore I couet to desire those things neither be thou ashamed of it for I will truly accomplish and performe all things That which the Father desireth of the Sonne cannot bee denyed and you are my Father and I your Sonne and wee bee coupled and ioyned together and as one bricke is ioyned to another in a wall so we being so to agree together in one heart and in the loue of Iesus Christ who is the head of the world and those which be with him be likened to brickes ioyned together in a wall Letters from the said DAVID Emperour of Aethiopia vnto Iohn the third of that name King of Portugall written in the yeare of our redemption 1524. and interpreted by Paulus Iouius IN the name of God the Father almighty maker of heauen and earth and of all things that be made either visible or inuisible in the name of God the sonne Christ who is the sonne and Councell and prophet of the Father in the name of God the holy Ghost the Aduocate of the liuing God equall to the Father and the Sonne who spake by the mouth of the Prophets breathing vpon the Apostles that they might giue thanks and praise vnto the holy Trinity which is euer perfect in heauen and in earth in the sea and in the deepe Amen I surnamed Virgins Frankincense which name was giuen me at my baptisme and now taking vpon me the gouernment of my kingdome I haue also assumed the name of Dauid the deerely beloued of God the pillar of the faith the issue or stocke of Iuda the sonne of Dauid the sonne of Salomon Kings of Israell the sonne of the columne or piller of Sion the sonne of the seed of Iacob the sonne of the hand of Mary and the son of Nav by the flesh send these letters and message vnto Iohn the most high mighty and potent King of Portugall and of the Algarbians the sonne of King Emanuell Peace bee vnto you and the grace of our Lord Iesus Christ remaine alwaies with you Amen At that time that the power of the King your father was reported vnto me who made war against the Moores the sons of the abhominable accursed Mahomet I gaue great thankes vnto God for your increase greatnes and for the crown of your conuersation in the house of Christianitie In like manner I tooke pleasure by the comming of your Embassadors which reported vnto me that kings speeches whereby a singular loue knowledge friendship was established betwixt vs vtterly to extirpe driue away those wicked accursed Moores and vnbeleeuing Gentiles which dwell betweene your kingdomes mine But while I was thus ioyfull I heard that your father and mine was departed out of this life before I could dispatch my Embassadors from hence vnto him and therefore my ioy was suddenly turned into sadnes so that in the great sorrow of my heart all the States and Noble men of my Court and Ecclesiasticall Prelates and all which liue in Monasteries and all our subiects wholly made great lamentaion with me so as the pleasure we conceiued of the first message was equalled and extinguished with the sorrow of the last Sir from my first entrance into my kingdomes vnto this present time no message nor messenger hath come vnto me either from the King or kingdome of Portugall but in the life time of the King your Father who sent his Captaines and Gouernours vnto mee with Clearkes and Deacons which brought with them all solemne prouision and apparell for the Masse for which I reioyced greatly and receiued them honourably and shortly after dismissed them that they might returne with honour and peace And after they came to a Hauen of the sea which is within my limits in the redde sea they found not the great Gouernour of the Nauie there whom your father had sent

holy father which art ordained of God to be the consecrator and sanctifier of all nations and the possessor of Saint Peters seate to you bee giuen the keyes of the kingdome of heauen and whatsoeuer you either binde or loose vpon earth shall be bound or loosed in heauen as Christ himselfe hath said and as S. Mathew hath written in his Gospell I the King whose name the Lyons doe worship by the grace of God called Athani Tingil that is to say virgins incense which name I receiued in baptisme but now when I first tooke vpon mee the gouernment of the kingdome I assumed vnto me the name of Dauid the beloued of God the piller of faith the kinsman of the stock of Iuda the son of Dauid the son of Salomon the son of the piller of faith the son of the seed of Iacob the son of the hand of Mary the son of Nav by the flesh Emperour of great high Ethiopia and of great kingdomes dominions lands King of Xoa of Caffate of Fatigar of Angote of Baru of Baaligaze of Adea of Vangue of Goiame where is the head of the riuer Nilus of Damaraa Vaguemedri Ambeaa Vague Tigri Mahon of Sabain where Saba was Queene of Bernagaes and Lord vnto Nobia in the end of Egypt All these Prouinces be within my power and many other which now I haue not reckoned nor haue I expressed these kingdomes prouinces in their proper names for pride or vaine-glory but for this cause onely that God may be praised more and more who of his singular benignity hath giuen vnto the kings my predecessors the gouernement of such great and ample kingdomes of the Christian religion and yet surely hee hath made me worthy of a more excellent fauour and grace then other Kings that I might continually deuote my selfe to religion because he hath made me Adell that is the Lord and enemie of the Moores and Gentiles which worship idols I send vnto you to kisse your holines feete after the manner of other Christian Kings my brethren to whom I am nothing inferior neither in religion nor power for I within mine owne kingdomes am the piller of faith neither am I aided with any forreine helpe for I repose my whole trust and confidence in God alone who gouerneth and sustaineth me vp from the time wherein the Angell of God spake vnto Phillip that hee should instruct in the true faith the Eunuch of the mighty Queene Candace the Queene of Ethiopia as shee was going from Ierusalem to Gaza And Phillip did then baptize the Eunuch as the Angell commaunded and the Eunuch baptized the Queene with a great part of her houshold and of her people which hath euer sithence continued Christians remaining for all times after that firme and stable in the faith of Christ And my predecessors hauing no other aid but onely Gods asistance haue planted the faith in very large kingdomes which I my selfe doe likewise daily contend to effect For I remaine in the great bounds of my kingdomes like a Lyon incompassed about with a mightie wood and hedged and inclosed against the Moores that lye in waite for me and other nations which bee enemies to the Christian faith and refuse to heare the word of God or my exhortations But I my selfe being girded with my sword doe persecute and expell them out by little little indeed by Gods diuine helpe which I neuer found wanting which happeneth otherwise to Christian kings for if the limits of their kingdoms be large it may easily be obtained for that one may assist minister helpe vnto another and receiue further helpe by your holines benediction of which I am partaker seeing in my bookes be contained certain letters which long since Pope Eugenius sent with his benediction vnto the king of the seed of Iacob which blessing giuen by his own hands being accepted and taken I do enioy and thereof greatly reioyce And I haue the holy temple which is at Ierusalem in great veneration vnto which I oftentimes send oblations due by our pilgrimes and many more and fatter I would haue sent but that the passages bee hindred by Moores and Infidels for besides the taking away from our messengers our gifts and treasures they will not suffer them to passe freely but if they would suffer vs to trauell I would come into the familiarity fellowship of the Romane Church as other Christian Kings do to whom I am nothing inferior in the christian religion for euen as they belieue I confesse one true faith and one Church and I most sincerely beleeue in the holy Trinity in one God and the virginity of our Lady the virgin Mary and I hold and obserue all the articles of the faith as they were written by the Apostles Now our good God hath by the hand of the most mighty and Christian King Emanuell made the passage open and plaine that we may meete by our Embassadors and that we being Christians ioyned in one faith might serue God with other Christians But while his Embassadors were in my Court it was reported vnto me that K. Emanuel was dead that his son my brother Iohn had the rule of his fathers kingdome wherupon as I was sorrowful for my fathers death euen so I reioyced greatly at the happy entrance of my brother into his kingdome so as I hope that we ioining our power and forces together may make open the passages both by sea and land by the regions of the wicked Moores and greatly terrifying them vtterly expell them from their seates and kingdomes that the way being made fit peaceable christians may freelie come and go to the temple of Ierusalem And then shall I bee pertaker of his diuine loue in the Church of the Apostles S. Peter and S. Paul And I couet greatly to obtaine the sacred benediction of the Vicar of Christ for without doubt your holinesse is Gods Vicar and when I heare many things of your holines by trauellers pilgrimes that go and come miraculously from our countries to Ierusalem from thence to Rome they breed in me an incredible ioy pleasure but I should bee more glad if my Embassadors could make a shorter cut in their iourneies to bring newes vnto me as my hope is they will once do before I dye by the grace of almighty God who euer keepe you in health and holines Amen And I kisse your holines feet and humbly beseech you to send me your blessing These letters also your holines shall receiue at the hands of my brother Iohn King of Portugall by our said Embassador Francis Aluarez These Epistles translated by Paulus Iouius I haue ioined to this worke for the better knowledge of this historie wherein we haue changed nor altered nothing although in many places they require alteration some few excepted which being badly translated into Spanish out of the Arabian and Abesenicke language did cleane alter the whole order of the Epistles The same Iouius also in his