chiefly to be feared c. And in the conclusion of the same letters is mentioned that his sonne Iohn Paleologus which dyed about two yeares before the King of the Romaean Kings was called to the celebration of the sacred Synode And that Ioseph the Patriarch of Constantinople came with him with a great number of Archbishops and Bishops and Prelates of all sorts among whom were the Proctors or Factors of the Patriarckes of Antioch Alexandria and Ierusalem who when they had ioyned themselues together in loue of holy faith and religion the vnity of the Church being ordained and established all the difficulties and troubles of ancient time which seemed erronious contrary to religion were by Gods diuine assistance vtterly taken away abolished which things being rightly established and set in order the Pope himselfe brought great ioy vnto them all This booke of Pope Eugenius wee haue sent vnto you which wee haue kept vncorrupted and wee would haue sent vnto you the whole order and power of the Popes blessing but that the volume of these things would seeme too great for it would exceed in bignes the whole booke of Paul to all the nations he writ vnto The Legates which brought these things vnto vs from the Pope were Theodorus Peter Didymus and George the seruants of Iesus Christ and you shall do well most holy Father to command your bookes to be looked ouer where I suppose some memory of these things which we write of may be found out Wherefore holy father if you will write any thing vnto vs beleeue it confidently that we will most diligently commit it to our bookes that the eternall memory of those things may remaine to our posterity and surely I account him blessed whose memory is preserued in writing in the sacred citty of Rome and in the seate of the Saints S. Peter and S. Paul for these bee Lords of the kingdome of heauen iudges of the whole world And because that this is my beliefe I therfore send these letters that I may obtaine grace of your holines and your most sacred Senate that from thence may come vnto me a holy benediction increase of all good things And I most earnestly beseech your holines to send vnto me some images pictures of the Saints especially of the virgin Mary that your name may be often in my memory that I may take continuall pleasure in your gifts Furthermore I heartily intreate you to send vnto me men learned in the Scriptures workmen likewise that can make images swords and all maner of weapons for the warre grauers also of gold and siluer and Carpenters Masons especially which can build houses of stone and make couering for them of lead and copper wherby the roofes of the houses may be defended And besides these such as can make glasse instruments of musicke and such as be skilfull in musicke those also that can play vpon Flutes Trumpets and pshalmes shall be most welcome deere vnto vs and these workmen I much desire should bee sent me from your Court but if there be not sufficicient store in your court your holines may command them of other Kings who will obey your command most readily When these shal come to me they shall bee honorably esteemed of according to their deserts from my liberality shall be amply rewarded and if any shall desire to returne home he shall depart with liberall gifts whither hee please for I will not detaine any one against his will though I should haue great fruit and benefite by his industry But I must now speake of other matters demand of you most holy father why you exhort not the Christian kings your children to lay aside thir armes and as becommeth brethren to accord and agree amongst themselues seeing they be thy sheepe and thou their sheepheard for your holines knoweth right well what the Gospell commandeth where it is said That euery kingdome diuided in it selfe shall be desolated and brought to ruine And if the Kings would agree in their hearts conclude an assured league and peace together they might easily vanquish all the Mahometans and by their fortunate entrance and sudden irruption vtterly burst and throw downe the sepulcher of that false Prophet Mahomet For this cause holy father indeuour your selfe that a firme peace and assured league of friendship may bee concluded and established amongst them admonish them to be assistant aiding vnto me seeing in the confines of my kingdomes I am on all sides inclosed and incompassed about with those most wicked men the Mahometane Moores for those Mahometane Moores yeeld mutual aid one to another the kings with kings petty kings with petty kings do sincerely and constantly assemble themselues against vs. There is a Moore very neere neighbour vnto me to whom the other bordering Moores minister weapons horses and munition for the warres These be the kings of India Persis Arabia and Egypt which things grieue and molest mee exceedingly euery day when I behold the enemies of the Christian religion ioyned together in brotherly loue and to enioy peace to see the Christian kings my brothers to be nothing at all moued by these iniuries nor to yeeld mee any helpe as assuredly behoueth Christians to doe seeing the impious brood of Mahomet do aid and assist one another neither am I he that for that purpose should require Souldiers prouision for warres of you seeing I haue Souldiers left of mine owne but onely I desire your praiers and orisons wishing also fauour grace with your holines with all Christian Kings my brethren for I must seeke to obtaine friendship of you that I may bee fully instructed and furnished of those things which I formerly desired to the terror of the Moores that my neigbours the enemies of the Christian faith may vnderstand that the kings do fauor aid me with a singular care affection which surely will redound to the praise of vs in common seeing we agree together in one verity of religion and faith and in this councell wee will conforme which shall be firme and absolute with that which shal fall out to be more profitable God therfore fulfill all your desires about the praises of Iesus Christ and of God our Father to whom all men giue praises for euer and euer And you most holy Lord and father imbrace me I beseech you with all the Saints of Iesus Christ which be at Rome into which embracings let all the boderers of my kingdomes and those which dwell in Ethiopia be receiued giue thanks to our Lord Iesus Christ with your spirit These letters your holinesse shall receiue at the hands of my brother Iohn King of Portugall the sonne of the most mighty King Emanuell by our Embassador Francis Aluarez Other letters from the same Dauid Emperour of Ethiopia written to the Pope of Rome in the yeare of our Lord God 1524. and interpreted by Paulus Iouius HAppy and
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
coueteousnes and intollerable impiety and from Godly brests to be expelled both by weapons writings and all our forces and without doubt it had beene quenched and buried by this time if this good man were restored to his former dignity for he desireth nothing more nor meditateth of any thing more earnestly than that this people may be reduced to the faith of Christ nor doth he lament for any thing more than that by his means as he euer desired in his hart these miserable beasts as yet by reason of their impious religion be not made the flocke of Christ by imbracing the Christian faith nether doth he complaine so much for the losse of his Archbishoppricke nor that he was thrust from his goods left him by his ancestors as for that hee wanteth strength aid and substance where-with to cure this plague of Lappia to bring them vnder the yoke of Christ and to vnite them to the Roman Church And this hee often-times confirmed by his letters sent me wherewith my selfe not fully contented made earnest mention of this businesse in the end of that first Embassage of precious Ioan which I dedicated to the same Iohn Magnus Gothus neither did I then satisfie my selfe in this businesse but by my letters dealt with Erasmus Rothrodamus that hee would commit the cause of this matter to writing Afterwards liuing in his company for I was with him at Friburg Brisgoia the space of 5 months I had speaches with him of that busines by which meanes he was induced and appoynted to frame a iust volume of this matter but being preuented by death the substance of the busines he had vndertakē was vtterly dissolued notwithstanding vpon his death he concealed not the wicked Ecclesiastical impiety which truely he did that he might accuse al Christians to whome God hath graunted power and learning and cry for reuengement against them in the last iudgment before Christ the iust Iudge of all men the Christian Princes Monarches may now see what account and reckoning of so many lost soules they can make at the last day before the Tribunall seate of Christ where is no place for pardon or grace and where no excuse nor faire speaches will be receiued And you most reuerent Bishop are only he that can cure this infirmity you only are hee that can shew vnto this people the waies of the Lord and direct them that they may walke rightly in the same you onely are able to redeeme them from the lowest hell by you little children may come vnto Christ and by the power of thy right hand bee deliuered from the bondage and deceits of the Diuell and inioy the plentifull redemption of Christ both in this world and in an other Behold what reward thou shalt obtaine if by your labour that great haruest may be carried into Christs barne and no doubt you will carry it in if once you begin There be at this day with Gostavus King of Suetia and Gothia some great peeres states that be fallen from the Romaine Church there be some in those Kingdomes also that do altogether dissent and disagree from the right Diameter and true course of religion vnto these by your dignity pastoral function may you direct your letters requiring them by the woundes of our Sauiour Christ whome all men though neuer so farre differring from the Roman Church doe acknowledge to bee Gods sonne and our Sauiour that they will permit and suffer this East and West Lappia with those large prouinces of Finmarchia Scrifinia and Biarmia the greatest part where of knoweth not Christ to come and imbrace the sweet yoke of Christ and that they wil extort no more from them then other Christian Princes are accustomed to take from their subiects either by course of law or by voluntary extorsions And it were good not onely to send letters but learned men also and men of approoued sanctity and holynesse of life that these Prouinces may be annexed to the Romaine Church by the faith of Christ whom together with the people of Aethiopia being reduced to the right law of Christ although the people be offended yet the Lord shall raigne sitting vpon the Cherubins and although the earth be mooued it shall reioyce and all Ilands shall bee ioyfull Farewell right reuerend and high Bishop in Christ Iesus Amen From Louaine in the Calends of September in the yeere of our Lord God 1540. Of the situation of Lappia and of the inhabitants of that country by the same DAMIANVS A GOES THE country of Lappia through which runneth the Botnian sea is deuided into East and West Lappia the vtmost part of which sea is Tornia vpon the East part it ioyneth vnto the white lake towards the North it compasseth diuers Prouinces and so extendeth it selfe to a place vnknowne and inclining Westwards towards Island it ioyneth vnto part of Noruegia vpon the South it is compassed about with the other part of Noruegia with Suetia Finland and both the Botnias East Lappia hath in it a church dedicated to Saint Andrew in the eighty fourth degree of the eleuation of the pole which is adorned and beautified with a magnificent and sumptuous Sepulcher and with men skilfull and learned in the holy Scriptures ' This Church is vnder the Archbishop of Vpsall within whose Diocesse it is and yet notwithstanding the neighbors round about that church whether it be by the carelesnesse negligence or through the couetousnesse of the Prelates and great men do not acknowledge Christ as is reported Lappia in the Latine toung is interpreted a foolish and sottish or hartlesse nation which name as I thinke is imposed vpon them for that the soile by the continuall and binding cold being as it were dull is lesse apt eyther to receiue or bring forth fruites the naturall borne people of Lappia be very strong set and of a middle stature they be mauelous nimble and dexterious in vsing their bowes and darts which practise of throwing the dart they exercise euen from their infancy in such sort that if a boy shoote at a marke and misse it he hath no meate giuen him vntill he haue hit the marke insteed of other garments they weare skins finely sowed together where-with they defend them-selues from the cold which they be so accustomed to indure that if need bee they will ouer-come it without any defence at all of those skinnes their dwellings are in tents for of houses they haue no vse because they often remooue out of one place into another other course of life haue they none then hunting fishing and fowling wherein they bee maruellous expert and skilfull for in that Prouince is great aboundance of those things They vse no tillage and they haue ships made without any Iron nailes or pins which being charged and burdened with fishes dried in the ayre and with pelts or skinnes they transport them to their neighbours and bordering people and get for them in exchange victuals and money in dooing whereof they vse
my selfe and others together with the approbation of my indeauours and commendation of the workes by some worthy and worthily respected friends whose Iudgements doe farre exceed mine owne incouraged mee to vndergoe the businesse and to proceed in that I had already begunne with more alacrity which after much labour I haue now at length finished and suited in this ragged liuery and made him to speake in a phrase though not eloquent yet I hope plaine and intelligible And albeit a tale may be much improued by a formal manner of telling yet gold is more esteemed of for his goodnesse then for his collour and the worthinesse of the worke ought to bee of more regarde then the elegancy of the phrase the one beeing the substance the other but the shadow As for the nice curiosity of such word-weighing Crittickes as will sooner find two faults in another then amend one in themselues I little esteeme either of them or their censures But if for want of other matter to quarrell at any Momus should accuse my pen for mercenarie I protest I may truly answer them with the very words of mine Author that what I haue done was not Spe lucri ulsius neo popularis aurae ambitione verumenimuero tam libero plane otioso studio quam rei ipsius mira dulcedine at que vtilitate If I haue omitted or misconstrued any abolete words or sentences for their harshnesse and ill coherence or erred in setting downe the true quantitie of weights and measures for auoyding whereof I haue most commonly vsed the Latine words themselues or in describing the disguised apparell of sundry people as namely those rude sauages called Tovovpinambaltii beeing so different from all other nations as keeping the sence I could hardly adapt them to our owne English phrase or if I haue shewed my selfe too affectionate in the commendation of our owne country in my inlargement added to the chapter of England where I supposed mine Author was too sparing or to bee short if in the confession of the Aethiopians faith or the Epistles written from Prester Iohn to the Pope and kings of Portugall or in any other place or by any other meanes I haue ought mistaken or squared from the true meaning of the writers Bee pleased courteous and friendly Reader in humanity patiently to passe them ouer and impute such errors and escapes rather to the want of knowledge of the truth than want of will to expresse the truth And so concluding with this one onely aduertisement that if in the whole course of these bookes thou meete with any thing that in thy opinion doth ouermuch exalt the ceremonies of the Church of Rome thou wilt consider that the Author was an absolute Papist as well thou mayst perceiue and therefore of likelihood would by all meanes he could aduance and make the best of his owne Religion nor did I thinke it the part of a Translator by marginall notes to suppresse his opinions but in this place rather to forewarne thee which as the Prouerbe sayth doth fore-arme thee how to giue credit in those cases I commit these my labours to thy fauour able consideration and thy selfe to Gods holy protection Resting thine in what he is able ED. ASTON THE AVTHORS PREface to the Reader THE most famous and memorable lawes customes and manners of all nations and the situation of each seueral Countrie which Herodotus the father of Histories Diodorus Siculus Berosus Strabo Solinus Trogus Pompeius Ptolomy Pliny Cornelius Tacitus Dionysiuss Afer Pomponius Mela Caesar Iosephus and of later Writers Vincentius Aeneas Syluius who was afterward Pope Pius the second Antonius Sabellicus Iohannes Nauclerus Ambrosius Calepinus Nicholas Perottus in his books intituled Cornucopiae and many other famous Historiographers haue confusedly and as it were by parts commended vnto vs in their Commentaries I haue good diligent Reader as my leysure would serue collected abridged digested and compacted together in this short and compendious Breuiary wherein you may easily finde what euer you haue occasion to looke for which I haue effected not in expectance of gaine nor affecting popular prayse but freely and without other recompence then the pleasure and profite the thing it selfe bringeth with it And herein I haue expressed as well the customes of auncient time as those which be in vse at this day as well the good as the bad in differently that both lying open before thine eyes by their examples thou mayst follow and imitate in the course of thy life those which be honest holy and commendable and auoyd those which be dishonest and shameful And hereby thou shalt perceiue good Reader in what perfection and happinesse we now liue at this day and how fimply rudely and vnciuilly our forefathers liued from the Creation of the world to the generall Floud and for many ages after When as they vsing no money no merchandize but equalling one benefit with another had nothing proper to themselues but sea and land as common to all as the aire and firmament No man then gaped after honor and riches but euery one contented with a little liued a rurall secure and idle life free from toyle or trauell accompanied with one or more wiues and their sweet children hauing no other house than the heauens the shadow of a tree or some homely cabbin their meate was then the fruite of trees and milke of beasts their drinke water and their clothing first the vtmost rinde or broade leaues of trees and afterwards the skinnes of beasts vnhandsomly stitched together They were not then enclosed in and immured in walles nor defended with ditches but wandring abroad at their willes with their cattell not then compassed in inclosures reposed their bodies where euer night tooke them sleeping ioyfully and securely without feare of theeues or robbers wherof that age was ignorant All which things afterwards crept in and insued of mens variable willes emulation and dissonant desires when fruites gotten without labour beeing insufficient to sustaine such multitudes and other things growing defectiue and for the repelling and repressing the often incursions and fierce assaults of beasts and forraine people they were constrained to gather themselues into multitudes to ioyne their forces together and to apportion themselues certaine limits and territories wherein to liue where ioyning and vniting their houses for neighbourhood they beganne to liue a more ciuill and popular kind of life to fence and fortifie themselues with wals and trenches and to ordaine lawes and elect magistrates for the maintenance of peace and tranquilitie amongst them And then they began to prouide for their maintenance not onely by husbanding their grounds or following their flockes but by sundry other exercises and new inuented arts to passe by sea with their nauies into forren nations first for transporting of companies to inhabit new-found countries and then for trafficke and trading one with another to traine vp horses for the cart of copper to make coyne to cloth themselues more curiously to feed
shall equally inherit their fathers goods only this is obserued that one sonne shall haue as much as two daughters no one may keepe two or more wiues in one house nor yet in one cittie for auoyding of scolding contention and vnquietnesse that would bee amongst them but in euery city they may keepe one and the husbands háue liberty to be diuorced from their wiues three sundrie times and so oft to take them againe and the woman diuorced may stay with her husband that receiueth her againe if she please The Turkish women be very decent in their apparell vpon their heades they weare myters set vpon the top of their veiles wherwith their heads beeing bound in a comely fashion one side or edge of the veile hangeth downe vpon the right or left side of their heades wherewith if they go from home or come into their husbands presence at home they may foorth-with couer or maske their whole faces but their eyes for the wife of a Turke dare neuer come where a company of men be gathered together neither is it lawfull for them to go to markets to buy and sell Likewise in their great Temple the women haue a place farre remote from men and shut vp so close as no one can come to them nor hardly see them Which closet is not allowed for all women but onely for the wiues of noble men or heade Officers and that onely vpon Friday at their noone-tide prayer which they obserue with great solemnitie as is said and at no times else There is seldome any speech or conference betwixt men and women in any publike place it beeing so out of custome as if you should stay with them a whole yeare you shold hardly see it once but for a man to sit or ride with a woman is accounted monstrous married couples do neuer dally or chide in the presence of others for the husbands do neuer remitte the least iot of their authoritie ouer their wiues neither will the wiues omit their obedience towards their husbands The great Lords that cannot alwaies tarry with their wiues themselues depute and set Eunuchs to be keepers ouer them which obserue and watch them so warily as it is vnpossible for them to talke with any man but their husbands or to play false play with their husbands To conclude the Sarrafins yeeld so much credit to Mahomet and his lawes as they promise assured happines and saluation to the keepers thereof to wit a paradise abounding with all pleasures a garden situated in a pure and temperate Climate watered on all parts with most sweete and delectable waters where they shall enioy all things at pleasure dainties of all sorts to feede them silkes and purple to cloath them beautifull damfels euer readie at a call to attend them with siluer and golden vessels and that Angels shall bee their cuppe-bearers and minister vnto them milke in golden cuppes and red wines in siluer And on the other side they threaten hell and eternall damnation to the transgressors of his lawes And this also they firmely beleeue that though a man haue beene neuer so great a sinner yet if at his death he onely beleeue in God and in Mahomet he shall be saued The manners and customes Of the Christians and of their originall and Customes CAP. 12. CHRIST Iesus the true and euerlasting Sonne of God the Father omnipotent the second Person in the holy indiuidual coequall and eternall Trinitie by his incomprehensible decree and mysterie hidden from the world to the end that hee might raise and reduce vs miserable and vnfortunate wretches lost and forlorne by the disobedience of our fore-fathers Adam and Eue and therefore for many ages exiled and excluded out of the heauenly countrie and in heauen to repaire the auncient ruine of Lucifer and the Angels for pride expelled thence for supply of which vacancie we were chiefly created was one thousand sixe hundred and ten yeares since by the co-operation and working of the holy Ghost conceiued man and borne in Iudaea of the blessed Virgin Mary being of the house and lineage of Dauid from the thirtith yeare of whose age vnto the 34. at which time through the enuie and hatred of the Iewes he was crucified he trauersed ouer all the land of Iudaea exhorting the Iewes from the ancient law of Moses and the Gentils from the prophane worship of Idols vnto his new doctrine and religion those followers which he could get he called his disciples out of which electing twelue and appearing vnto them aliue after his death as hee had fore-told them he would he gaue them commission that as his Legats and Apostles they shold go into all places of the world and preach to all people such things as they had seene and learned of him Simon Peter who long before was by Christ ordained chiefe head ruler of his Church after him when after the receiuing of the holy Ghost the Apostles went some to one people some to another to preach as they were allotted and sent came first to Antioch where consulting and erecting a Church or chief seat or Chaire for the practise of Religion he with many other of the Apostles which often repaired vnto him celebrated a Councel in which amongst other things it was decreed that the professors and imbracers of Christs doctrine and true religion should after him be called Christians This chiefe Chaire of the Church beeing afterwards translated from Antioch to Rome he and his successours were very carefull and vigilant to reduce the Christian religion being as yet indigested vnpolished and little practised and the professors thereof into better order vniformity Out of the law of Moses which Christ came not to abolish but to fulfill out of the ciuill and politick gouernment of Romans Greeks and Aegyptians and out of both sacred and prophane rites lawes ceremonies of other nations but most especially by the wholesome doctrine and direction of Christ Iesus and the inspiration of the holy Spirit when they had vndertaken this busines and saw that not only among the Hebrewes but in al other nations else the people be diuided into religious and laitie and that all of them by an excellent subordination are in dignity and degrees different one from another as that the Emperor of Rome was Monarch of the whole world and that next vnto him were Consuls Patricians Senators by whose direction and aduice the state and common-wealth was well gouerned Again that in euery other country of the world were Kings Dukes Earles Presidents Lieutenants Deputies Tribunes of souldiers Tribunes of the common-people Praetors Captains Centurions Decurions Quaternions Sheriffes Treasurers Ouer-seers Portars Secretaries and Sergeants and many priuate people of both sexe That in the temple of the fained gods the king was chiefe sacrificer and that there were Arch-Flammins Proto-Flammins Flammins and Priests That also amongst the Hebrewes the High Priest was chiefe sacrificer vnder whome were inferiour Priests Leuites Nazareans Extinguishers of lights Exorcists
Porters Clerkes and Singers That amongst the Greekes were Captaines of thousands Captaines of hundreds Captaines of fifty Gouernours ouer ten and rulers ouer fiue and that besides these as wel amongst the Greeks as Latines there were diuers sorts of conuents and religious houses both for men and women as the Sadduces Esseyes and Pharisies amongst the Iewes the Salij Diales and Vestales amongst the Romanes All the holy Apostles as Peter and those which succeeded him in the chaire of Rome agreed established that the vniuersal Apostolike most holy and high Bishop of Rome should euer after be called the Pope that is to say the father of his countrie and that he should proceede and gouerne the Catholike Romane Church as the Emperour of Rome was Monarch ouer the whole world and that as the Consuls were next in office and authoritie to the Emperour and were euer two in number so should there bee foure Patriarkes in the Church of God that in degree and dignitie should be next vnto the Pope whereof one was seated at Constantinople another at Antioch the third at Alexandria and the fourth at Ierusalem That the Senators of Rome should be expressed by Cardinals that such Kings or Princes as gouerned three Dukedomes should be equalled with Primates that should gouerne theree Archbishops and that the Archb. or Metrapolitans shold be compared to Dukes that as the Dukes had Earles vnder them so should Bishops be vnder the Archbishops That Bishops likewise should be resembled vnto Eatles their Assistants and Suffragans vnto Praesidents and Provosts vnto Lieutenants Arch-priests should supply the place of Tribunes of the soldiers for Tribunes of the people were ordained Chancelors and Arch deacons were put in the place of Praetors for Centurions were placed Deanes parish Priests for Decurions and other Prelates and Ministers for Aduocates and Atturneys Deacons represented the Aediles sub-deacons the Quaternions Exorcists the Duumuiri hostiarii or dore-keepers the treasurers readers singers and Poets the Porters of the Court and Acolites and Priests Ministers the Secretaries Taper-bearers decreeing that all these sundry Orders of Church-officers should be called by one generall name Clerkes of the Greeke word Cleros a lotte or chance whereby at first they were elected out of the people for Gods part or portion of inheritance This done they ordained that seuen sorts of these Clerkes should be of more speciall name and note then the rest as hauing euery one his peculiar function habit and dignitie in the church and that they should be alreadie to attend vpon the altar when the Bishop of Rome doth sacrifice to wit the Pope himself Bish Priests Deacons Subd Priests and singing men The office of Bishops is to giue orders to veile virgins to consecrate Bishops to confirme children by imposition of hands to dedicate Temples to degrade Priests frō their functions and to put them in againe vpon their reformation to celebrate Councels to make Chrismes vnctiōs to hallow vestiments and Church vessels and to do any other things which meaner Priests may do as well as they as to cathechise and baptize to make and consecrate the Sacrament of the Altar and to communicate it to others to pronounce absolution to the penitent to restraine the stubborn and to preach and declare the Gospel of Christ The crownes of their heades must bee shauen round like the Nazareans and they ought neither to weare lockes nor long beards they are bound to perpetuall chastitie and they haue the command and preheminence ouer other priests their liuings and maintenance ought to be onely of first firuites tythes oblations nor may they meddle or busie themselues in worldly matters their apparell and conuersation should be decent comely honest and they are tyed onely to serue God and the Church and to occupy and employ themselues seriously in reading the holy Scriptures that thereby they may perfectly know al things which belong to Christian Religion wherin they are bound to instruct others There be diuers conuenticles and houses of religious persons both men women as Benedictines Friars preachers Franciscans Augustines Bernardines Antonians Ioannites Carthusians Praemonstratentians Carmelites Cistertians many others euery one of which Orders haue distinct habits and customes different one from another by the rules which they haue priuatly set downe and prescribed for themselues to liue vnder And all of these professe perpetuall chastity obedience and wilfull pouertie liue for the most part a solitary life for which cause they were called Monkes as men liuing a monasticall kind of life Some of these Orders haue for their heads and gouernors of their houses and societies Abbots some Prouosts and some Priors but the Bishops be onely subiect to the Bishop of Rome most of these Orders we are hoodes or cowles though not all of one colour and abstaine wholy from flesh Bishops when they offer vp the sacrifice of the Masse were cōmanded by that sacred Synod to bee attired in holy vestures which for their perfection are borrowed out of the law of Moses of these garments be 15. to wit the Sandals the Amice the long Albe that reacheth down to their anckles the Girdle the Stole the Maniple the purple Coate with wide sleeues the Gloues the Ring the Linnen garment called Castula the Napkin or Sudary the Pall or Cope the Myter the Crozier staffe a chaire standing nere the altar for him to sit in of these 15. church-ornaments six were made common as well to other inferiour Priests as to Bishops that is to say the Amice the long Albe the Girdle the Stole the Manuple the Castula besides these 15. sundry sorts of garments the Pope by the donation of the Emperor Constantine the Great weareth in the celebration of the Masse all the Robes vsed by the Emperors of Rome as the scarlet coate the short purple cloake the scepter and the triple Diadem and with these he is arrayed in the Vestry when he saith Masse vppon any sollemne festiuall dayes and from thence goeth to the Altar attended with a priest on his right side and a Deacon on his left before him goeth a sub-Deacon with a book in his hand shut two taper-bearers one with a censor burning incense when he approcheth nere to the Altar hee puts off his myter and kneeling down with his attendants vpon the lowest step pronounceth the Confitcor or publike confession of sinners and then ascending vp to the altar he openeth the booke and kisseth it and so proceedeth to the celebration of all the ceremonies belonging to that sacrifice the sub-deacon reading the Epistle and the deacon the Gospell Bishopps and all other eminent Priests bee likewise bound to prayse God euery day seuen times and to vse one certaine order and forme of prayer and not onely to do so themselues but to giue commandement to all inferior Priests whatsoeuer vnder their charge and iurisdiction to do the like as to say Euensong in the afternoone Compline in the
vppon the toppes whereof the roofe must rest and bee supported and the Altars must leane to the lower parts The Altars are alwayes to bee decently couered with two linnen clothes hauing a crosse set vpon them or a shrine containing the Relicks of Saints two Candlesticks on each end and a booke The walls both within and without must bee fretted and carued with variety of sacred Images In euery parish Church there must be a hollow Font stone in which the hollowed water to baptize withall is preserued and kept Vpon the right side of the Altar must stand a Pix or Custodia which is either set vp against the wall or carued out of it in which the blessed sacrament of Christs body holy oyle to annoint the sick Chrisme for those which are baptised is to be kept fast shut vppe Furthermore in the midest of the Church must be placed a pulpit out of which the Curat on festiuall dayes teacheth the people all things necessary to saluation The Cleargie onely are permitted to sit in the Quire and the laitie in the body of the Church yet so deuided as that the men take place on the right side and the women on the left both of them behauing them-selues modestly and deuoutly and diligently auoyding whatsoeuer is opposite to good manners and Christian religion In the Primitiue Church the manner was both for men and women to suffer their haire to grow long without cutting and to shew their naked brests nor was there much difference in their attire Saint Peter the Apostle did first command that men should cut their hayre and women should couer their heads and both should bee apparelled in distinct habites That there should bee layde out to euery Church a peece of ground in which the bodyes of Christian people deceased should be buried which peece of ground is called the Church-yard and is hallowed by the Bishop and hath all the priuiledges belonging to the Church it selfe The funeralls of the departed are not solemnized in all places alike for some weare mourning apparell seauen dayes together some nine others thirty some forty some fifty some an hundred and some for the space of a whole yeare The Toletan Councell hath decreed that the dead body shall be first washed and wraped in a shrowd or sear-cloth and so carried to the graue with singing by men of the same condition as Priests by Priests and lay folkes by lay folke and that a Priest should goe before the coarse incensing it with Franckincence and sprinckling holy water on it and that it should bee laide in the graue with the face vpwards the feete to the East and the head to the west the Priest vsing certaine imprecations all the while the Sexton is couering the dead body with earth And to shew that a Christian is their buried their must be erected at the gate a crosse of wood with a wreath of Iuy cypresse or bayes about it And these bee the institutions of the Christian religion The end of the second booke THE THIRD BOOKE Of the most famous countries of Europe the third booke CAP. 1. NEXT vnto Asia order induceth mee to speake of Europe the third part of the world which is so called of Europa the daughter of Agenor King of Phaenicia who was rauished by Iupiter brought into Creet It is bounded on the West with the Atlanticke sea with the Brittish Ocean on the North on the East with the riuer Tanais the poole of Maeotis and the sea called Pontus which is the Sea betweene Moeotis and Tenedos and with the Mediterranean Sea on the South The soyle of Europe is of diuerse sorts and qualities very aptly befitting the vertue and disposition of the people of each seuerall Prouince euery one transferring the commodities of their owne countries vnto other nations for Europe is all habitable some little part onely excepted which by reason of the extremity of colde can hardly bee indured which is that part that is neerest vnto the riuer Tanais and the poole of Meotis as also those that dwell vpon the banckes of Borysthenes which liue altogether in Chariots That habitablest part of the Region which is also extreame cold and mountanous is very hardly inhabited and difficult to dwell in and yet all the difficulties and extremity thereof is well mitigated and appeased by honest and good gouernors euen as wee see those Greekes which dwell vppon mountaines and rockes liue indifferently well by reason of their great care and prouidence of Ciuilitie Artes and vnderstanding how to liue The Romaines also receiuing vnto them many people out of those cragged and cold countries or vnfrequented for other causes which naturally were barbarous inhumaine and insociable haue so reclaimed them by mingling them with other people as they haue learned those rude and sauadge people to liue together soberly and ciuilly The Inhabitants of so much of Europe as is plaine and hath a naturall temperature are apt to liue orderly for those which dwell in temperate and fortunate Regions be quiet and peaceable but the rough and difficult places are inhabited by quarrellous and cumbersome people and yet all of them participate their commodities one with an another some helping and furnishing others with weapons some with fruites and some with arts and instructions of manners the inconueniences and hinderances which happen to those that vse not this reciprocal ayd is most apparant for that the other by meanes of this mutuall intercourse of commodities are of sufficient power puissance to carry weapōs wage war and defend themselues so as they bee neuer vanquished vnlesse by a greater number And this commodity also is incident and naturall to all Europe as that it is plaine and euen and distinguished with hils wherby it is in al parts limitted wel ordered ciuill and valiant and that which is more well disposed to liue in peace and tranquillity so as what first by the Grecian forces next by the Macedonians and lastly by the Romaines no maruaile though it hath atchiued great conquests and notable victories by which it plainely appeareth that Europe is sufficient of it selfe both for war and for peace as hauing a competent and sufficient number of able fighting men and husbandmen and Cittizens enough besides Evrope moreouer aboundeth with the best fruites and those which be most profitable for mans life and all manner of mettells whereof is any vse besides odors for sacrifices and stones of great worth by which commodities both poore and rich haue sufficient meanes to liue It yeeldeth also great store of tame Cattell but very few rauenous or wild beastes And this is the nature of Evrope in generall the first Particular part whereof East-ward is Greece Of Greece and of Solons lawes which hee made for the Athenians and which were after established by the Princes of Greece CAP. 2. GReece a country of Europe was so called of one Graecus who had the gouernment of that country It begineth at the straights
bee often-times dipped it will bee turned into Copper The men weare garments that bee made hollow about the shoulders and linnen coates or shirts vnder them the collers whereof appeare about their necks higher then their vppermost garments and bee wrought with silke and gold They bee indifferent what manner of stockings they weare for that they euer haue buskins ouer them They be very curious in annointing and trimming of their haire and they euer go in linnen hatts which they sildome put of or once remooue from their heads vnlesse when they sit still and bee idle but womens peticotes bee made more straiter to their bodyes then mens coates bee and reach higher towards their chinnes to couer their neckes and breasts ouer which they weare gownes and their faces bee masked with linnen Veales richly wrought and imbrodered so as you can see no part of them but their noses and eyes Their heads be couered with linnen kerchers or coyfes set with pearls and precious stones and they as well as men weare buskins that come vp to the calues of their legges Their time of mourning in Hungary is for some a yeare and for some two and they shaue of their beards all but the vpper lippe They iudge of matters concerning the true religion according to their law but in disciding of other matters their course is if the matter in question be difficult or doubtfull and cannot other wise be determined that the plaintife or defendant shall fight it out by combat in the presence of the King or his deputy who is to iudge of the victory for of his tryall by batell death doth not alwaies follow for it is conquest sufficient for one if his enimy ether faint or fight vnwillingly or fly out of the lists appointed for the combat The horsemens fight in Hungary is first with lances and then with swords and foote soldiars fight naked on all parts but their priuities They haue a proper speach but not much differing from the Boemian language and though they haue a forme of letters of their owne yet vse they altogether the Roman character They be a cruell kind of people very hardy valiant in war much more fit to fight on foote than on horsebacke They be vnder the gouernment of a King or rather a Duke that hath Kingly authority They vse barbed horses in the wars but weare light armor themselues and they fight one after another and not all together And surely there is no one Christian country in the world that hath held warres so long against the Turke as the Hungarians haue don the other Hungary in Scithia which is the mother of this Hungary is almost like vnto this in language and manners sauing that the people bee more barbarous and liue still in Idolatry Of Boemia and of the manners of the Boemians CAP. 11. BOHEMIA is a country on the North side of Germanie and included in the limits of Germany it hath vpon the East Hungaria Bauaria on the South Noricum on the west and Poland on the North It is in a manner as broad as it is long too and about three dayes iourney either way beeing on all sides compassed and inuironed with the Hircanian wood as with a naturall wall Through the middle thereof runneth the riuer Albis and an other riuer called Multauia vpon the banckes whereof standeth that goodly Citty Praga the chiefe and Metropolitan City of the whole nation The country affoordeth great store of Wheate and Barley and aboundeth with all kinde of victualls both flesh and fish Oyle there is none neither there nor in any other part of Germany nor doth it yeeld much Wine but great store of Beere and that of the best of any other country which for the goodnesse is carryed thence as farre as Vienna in Austria The Boemians notwithstanding they bee hemmed and compassed round about with Germaines yet doe they not speake the Germaine language it beeing expelled thence by the comming of the Dalmatae for their Chronicles report as Volateranus affirmeth that two brethren borne in Croatia departing thence and seating themselues one in Boemia the other in Poland altered the countries both in their names and languages and yet there bee many in Boemia at this day that obserue and retaine both the language and ancient customes of the Germaines for in their Sermons the Germaine tongue is spoken and the Boemian in their funerals And Friars Mendicant of all others onely had power heretofore when there was any Friars there to preach instruct the people in what language they listed The people be very licencious as hauing no strict lawes nor statutes to restraine them but euery one doth what best pleaseth himselfe without controulement for they haue reiected the authority and rites of the Romaine Church and receiued the Waldensian doctrine which they defend tooth and naile This doctrine not many yeares since was first preached by one Hus and by him generally receiued whereby the traditions of the Romaine Church are at this day there vtterly neclected and derided for this is now their practise of religion First they esteeme of the Bishop of Rome no otherwise then of other Bishops denying him to be of any more reuerence and authoritie than other Bishoppes are holding also that there is no difference among Priests and that it is not the dignity of Priesthood that maketh one better but his deserts and well liuing That soules as soone as they bee departed out of the bodyes goe instantly eyther to perpetuall paines or eternall pleasures And that there is no Purgatory at all to purge and purifie them of their sinnes after this life To pray for the dead they account foolish and absurde and a thing inuented onely for the profit of Priests The Images of our Sauiour Christ and of his Saints they vtterly abandon and contemne and deride and scoffe at the Benedictions and hollowings of Water Palmes or any other things whatsoeuer They hold that the religion and practise of Fryers mendicant was inuented by the Diuell and that the Priests ought to bee poore and not to possesse mony nor substance but to liue onely of the almes of the people that euery one hath free power and liberty to preach and expound the word of God That no mortall sinne is in any sort to bee tollerated although by the committing of that sinne a greater inconuenience may bee avoyded and that hee that is conuinced of deadly sinne is not worthy to possesse and inioy any secular office nor Church dignity nor is fit to be obeied confirmation and extreame vnction they exclude from the number of the Sacraments and esteeme of auricular consession as friuolous and vayne and that it is sufficient to acknowledge their sinnes vnto GOD secretly in their chambers That Baptisme is to be ministred with water onely without any commixtion of holy oyle That Church-yards are vayne and superfluous inuented onely for coueteousnesse and that no one place is fitter for buryall than
they had a very prouident care and extraordinary regard for doing any thing that should be a touch or debasement to their stockes or against their honours holding it a staine and pollution to their bloud to marry with women of other nations or with any inferior to themselues and indeuouring their vttermost to make themselues a people proper and naturall without mixture of other nations and onely like vnto themselues whereof insued that though the number of them were great yet in their externall habites in the stature and proportion of their bodies and collour of their haire they were almost all alike The Saxons were deuided into foure sorts or differences of people which were noble men freemen libertines that is such as had beene slaues and obtained their freedome and manumission and bound-men or slaues and to the end that each of these orders might remaine in his owne Estate it was established by a law that no man of one estate should marry or take to wife a woman of an other but that the Nobility should match with nobility the free-men with free-men the manumitted with those which were manumitted and the slaues with slaues the penalty for the transgressing of which law was present death They had many good and holesome lawes for the punishment of malefactors They were vpright in condition sincere in life and of vncorrupted and irreprehensible manners doing nothing but what was profitable honest and agreeable to the lawes of nature all which had beene sufficient for their saluations if withall they had knowne and beleeued in the true and euerliuing God But they were great Idolaters worshipping trees and fountaines of water but more especially a huge stock of wood set vp an end which they accounted for a god calling it in their language Irminsaul that is to say a vniuersall and generall piller or colume whereby all other things are sustained held vp Mercury also they obserued and honoured as a god offring vnto him vpon certain daies humaine sacrifices nor did they hold it fit or lowable by reason of the great dignity and diuinity of their gods to include them in Temples and Churches nor to figure them in the proportion of men but they consecrated vnto them woods groues calling them after their names and they neuer perused those secret and misticall places but with great deuotion and reuerence Witchcraft and socery was much in practice amongst them Their manner of taking aduise whether a thing were to bee done or not done was thus first they would cut from a fruite tree diuers little sprigs or young sprouts marking and distinguishing them each from other with certaine notes or differences and so cast them sodainely and at aduentures vpon a white garment And then if the consultation were general for them al the priest if priuate the goodman of the house-hold lifting vp his eyes towards heauen and praying to their gods taketh vp those branches one by one and layeth them downe againe three sundrie times and euer as hee taketh them vp he expoundeth and interpreteth what is to be done according to the note or imprese written vpon them and then if the priest or good men of the house forbid it to bee done they aduise no more of the matter that day but if they allow it the people were so stronge of beleefe as they would put the proiect in practise what euer they euent proued they gathered and coniectured of many things by the chirping and flying of birds and oftentimes made experiment of forewarnings and admonitions of horses which to presage of things to come were nourished and kept in those woods and groues dedicated to their gods These horses were white and neuer did any manner of worke and beeing coupled together and set before the holy Chariot they were attended and followed either by the priest the King or chiefe ruler of the city who diligently marcked and obserued their neying whynying and stoming and this manner of prediction or foreshewing of things to come was of all others in greatest credit and estimation both by the Princes priests and people for they held them to bee the ministers of the gods and partakers of their diuine councels They vsed also an other sort of sooth-saying or witchcraft whereby to know aforehand what successe they should haue in the warres which was in this manner when they tooke a captiue of any nation against whom the waged battaile they compelled him to fight with one of their owne people and as the victory went betwixt them two so would they iudge of the insuing warres The Emperour Charles the Great was the first that by continuall warres compelled this impious people to admit the Christian religion which both they and all other Germaines doe now most religiously adore In Saxonie be many sumptuous and Princely palaces and magnificent and stately Temples Churches and Monasteries as one in Alberstandium consecrated to our blessed Ladie whereinto neuer entreth any prophane or vnhallowed person but onely such as bee professed in Religion and to the seruice of God except vpon Ashwednesday and then is there one of the people brought into the Church who must euer bee such a one as in the eye of the world is of most wicked and abhominable life and conuersation this man beeing brought into the Church all in blacke and his head couered is placed where hee may heare masse which beeing duely solemnised hee is cast out of the Temple and inforced to wander vp and downe the citie bare-footed all the time of Lent visiting all the Churches one after an other during which time he is maintained by the priests and by them brought againe into the Church vpon Easter-day where hauing first an almes giuen him which he offerreth with great deuotion to the Church after the consecration of the oyle he is expiated and hallowed by the whole Clergie and so dismissed This man they commonly called Adam comparing him for his innocency vnto Adam our first father and founder who was voide of all sinne and by him they suppose their city to be purged and purified The soile of Saxony is very fruitfull of all things but wine and hath diuers mines of siluer and basse toward Gosleria and in many places besides be brine-pits and fountaines of salt water whereof they make a fine white and most delicate sault which yeeldeth them a large commodity yeerely They haue great store of barley and wheate whereof they make very fine white bread and a kinde of ale or beere to supply the want of wine which they drinke so immoderatly and out of measure as when they bee at their feasts and bankettings and that their ordinary cups and drinking glasses will not hold sufficient for them to carouse at one draught those which doe giue attendance at the table will set before them a great paile full of that drinke with a dish in it wishing euery one to bee their owne skinkers and so to drinke what they please and
the sea for the exceeding desire shee hath to auaile man-kinde whereby she becommeth as I may say the lappe and bosome that openeth and offereth trafficke and trading into all countries so as shee is iustly termed of some the nurse of all other nations and elected by Gods diuine prouidence as parent and Princesse of all other Prouinces and such a one as should gather together vnder one head and gouernment all dispersed dominions and should asswage and mitigate the rage and rudenesse of many barbarous people and by the diuine helpe of learning and the Latine toung should vnite and bring to sociable conference all nations though neuer so different in life and language for to passe ouer many people and kingdomes which the Romaines haue wone and conquered with their armies and cloquence the Citty of Rome alone is as amply stored with examples of all vertues as the Grecians with all their eloquence are with precepts yea they themselues deuining as it were that their land should become the head and gouernor of all others when they surnamed one part therof great Greece In a word it was not without the diuine prouidence ordained that where that most wise and omnipotent God had reiected all other nations it pleased him to make that the chiefe Empire fortresse and defence of all people that should afterwards bee the seate throne and chaire of the head of Gods Church and the Christian religion The Italians differ much amongst themselues both in countenance and stature for in Cisalpine France and about the gulfe of Venice the people be of a pale complexion neat in their apparell and curious in their speach but the inhabitants of Hetruria Latium Campania Lucania and the Brutij be of a more browne and swartie complexion and their haire black in stature they be lower and withall very leane and in apparell and speech more plaine and simple The Piceni and those which dwell on the skirts of the Adriatticke sea vntill you come to great Greece haue much resemblance to the former but in Apulia Calabria and in the vppermost parts of Italy towards Greece their speach and behauiour doth little differ from the Greekes Throughout all Italy and in a manner throughout all Europe it is not lawfull for any man to haue more wiues than one and all diuorses betwixt man and wife had their originall from the Citty of Rome for there it was that Spurius Carbillus complaining of his wiues barrennesse was the first that euer was diuorsed from his wife The Cittizens heretofore consisted of three sorts of people that is to say slaues libertines which were such as were once slaues and were manumitted and made free freemen The freemen were likewise deuided into three orders or ranks to wit the Plebeians the Equestri and the Patritij the solemnizing of their sacrifices and sacred rites was committed to Priests and Flamins besides whom they had diuerse colleges and societies of religious persons wherof some did sacrifice to one God and some to an other The Dictator was most honored of all other officers and bore the greatest sway amongst them from whom no appeale was sufferable for he bearing a Kinglike gouernment they had no higher officer to whom they might appeale the dignity of the Dictator continued but halfe a yeare for the most part they came to that high office by degrees as being first Questors or Treasurers then Aediles or ouer-seeers after that Praetors or chiefe Iustices then were they made Consuls then Censors then they attained to the highest office of all which was Dictatorship But yet it did not alwaies necessarily follow that the Dictator had born all those offices before recited for he was oftentimes elected out of some inferior office for his valor worthinesse yet he had chiefest power and authority ouer all those ciuill gouernors as likwise ouer all officers that bore rule in the warres for in military affaires they had their degrees of gouernors aswell as in domesticall businesses for there the cōmon soldiors yeelded obedience to the Centurions the Centurions to the Tribunes the Tribunes to the Lieutenant the Lieutenants or deputies to the Consuls or vnto their Vice-presidents by them assigned to rule in their steeds and all these together with the Captaines and conductors of horsmen were subiect to the authority of the Dictator In warres that were lawfully begun souldiors might continue for the space of ten yeares if in all that time they neuer skirmished with the enimy nor were sommoned away to wage wars in other countries Besides this lawfull making of wars whereof I now speake there was an other sort of warfare called Causaria which was when the army for some reasonable cause was dismissed and the campe remooued This latter maner of warfare as it was not so honorable as the first yet did it carry with it no touch of ignominy nor disgrace because they were called thence for some speciall cause Seruius Tullius ordained that none should be soldiors but such as were betwixt the age of seuenteene yeares and eight and forty those which were men of peace went alwaies in gownes and the souldiors in short cassocks and coate armors When they intended to make battell against any country they would first send an herald or officer at armes to denounce warrs and being once entred into it they might not leaue it but for some lawfull cause All the citties of Italy were either confederats with Rome or such as were newly inhabited by those that came out of Rome and were called Colonia or Municipia which were such Citties as had liberties and priuiledges proper and peculiar to themselues of which sort some were made by plurality of voyces and some otherwise and those Cittie 's called Municipia were euer gouerned by their owne decrees but the Cittie 's called Coloniae were accounted as members of Rome and liued vnder the Romaine law In the citties or corporations called Municipia where there were Burgesses and Free denizens together their chiefest officers were called Decurions which were the same that Senators were at Rome The order of the Patritij were distinguished from the Equestri by their purple robes and the Equestri were knowne from the Plebeians by their gilden garments if he which had the chiefest authority and bore the prerogatiue royall amongst them had misdemeaned himselfe his cause was discerned by the whole body of the citty and the hearing and determining of all other capitall offences was committed to certaine Iudges elected by lots to that dignity out of that band of souldiers which were assistants to the Magistrates in matters of life and death for that yeare The deciding of all ciuill contentions belonged to the Praetor of the Centumuiri and so in like sort other crimes were committed to the consideration of other Magistrates And such generally were the manners and customes of all the people and citties of Italy which institutions and forme of gouernment they receiued
the sytuation of our countries should bee publikely knowen which matters I neuer writ vnto any one till this time nor yet declared in words not that I was sparing of my labour but because no Christian after my comming into portugall desired to know such things of me whereof I could not nor cannot but greatly maruell And seeing by many arguments I perceiue that you much desire the knowledge of our affaires I beeseech you by the wounds of our Sauiour Christ and by his crosse to put this my confession of our faith and religion into the latine tongue that by your meanes all the Godly Christians of Europe may vnderstand our customes the integrity of our maners Moreouer if in your trauells you hap to goe to Rome then let mee intreat you to salute in my name the Pope the most reuerent Cardinalls Patriarches Archbishops and Bishops and all other the true worshippers of Christ by Christ Iesus in a kisse of peace and that you will desire of the Pope that hee will send vnto me Francis Aluarez furnished such letters whereby he may answere my Lord the Emperor of Aethiopia that after my long stay I may returne into mine owne country and visit my owne mansion house for I haue bin long here detained that before my death which by reason of my great age is at the dore I may effect that which I am commāded And that hauing furnished this Embassage I might dedicat the residue of my life vnto God only spēd my time in deuotion moreouer I intreate you if you finde any thing in my writings not well penned that you will frame it to the latine phrase but in such manner as in no point you alter the sēce lastly I desire you that in your translatiō you wil search the old new testament that you may know from what place I haue alleaged my authorities that you may be more certain in your translation but if I haue not handled euery thing so happily as may satisfie those which bee curious I am to be pardoned by reasō of my want of Chaldean bookes whereof I haue none for those I had I lost by misfortune in my iourny wherefore being destitute of the vse of all bookes I could speake of nothing but what was fresh in my memory yet haue I deliuered all things most faithfuly Farwel my deare beloued sonne in Christ Vlispone the twenty foure day of Aprill in the yeare of our Lord God 1534. When I had finished this busines I remembred my selfe of that place whereas I say that Christ descended into hel for the soule of Adam and for the soule of Christ which the same Christ receiued of his mother S. Mary the virgin Of which thing wee haue an assured testimony in those bookes which wee call the bookes of gouernance which Christ Iesus deliuered vnto his Apostles in which bookes be expressed these words which be called the misteries of doctrines by whose authority and testimony we all of vs continue in this opinion without doubting but after I came into Portugall I found diuines teaching a contrary doctrine against all our opinions which is so certaine as wee doe not onely beleeue this but also affirme that the soules of all men had their beginning from Adam and that as our flesh is of the seed of Adames flesh so like-wise our soule being as a candle kindled by the soule of Adam had her originall and nature from Adam whereby it appeareth that we bee all the seede of Adam both of the flesh and of the soule All the relation aboue sayd was written and subscribed with the Embassadors owne proper hand with the Chaldean caracters The deploration of the people of Lappia by the same Damianus a Goes I Thinke it not vnfitting most worthy Bishop to make some mention in the end of this treatise because this also appertaineth to faith and to the vnion of the Church of Iohn Magnus Gothus Archbishoppe of Vpsalia in the Kingdome of Suetia that by him we may be moued to take compassion of the people of Lappia for this Iohn Magnus Gothus was borne of very good parents and rich maruelous well seene in the Scriptures and of an honest conuersation and so addicted to the Roman Church that for the zeale therevnto he lost the great Archbishoppricke of Vpsalia with all the reuenewes thereunto belonging amounting to forty thousand crownes a yeare and al his patrimony besides and hauing lost both dignity and goods and tossed in the variable streames of fortune he lay close in Prussia liuing poorely a long time at the Citty Daniz in Germany where while I was dispatching my Kings affaires in those parts of Germany I grew into great familiarity and indissoluble friendship with him and with Olaus Magnus Gothus his brother which two I afterwards found vnlooked for at Vecenza in poorer estate then befor they wer vnto which place they went purposly by reason of a councel divulged wherby they conceiued much hope for themselues and redresse of their calamities And when the councell was discontinued adorned those good mē being vtterly depriued of al their goods wherwith while they inioyed them they often in those Northerne parts contended much in defence of the Roman Church and yet would haue contended if matters had prospered remoued to Venice there to get their liuing either vpon others liberality or by their owne industry and labour which was cheefly in teaching and instructing others for other succor could they get none but that they reposed their whole cōfidence in Gods assistance whither when they were come they were very curteously intertained only of Hieronymus Quirinus the Patriarke of Venice in his Patriarchship and ther they remaine to this day expecting the divulging of that councel vnder the Archbishoppricke of Vpsalia is contained a great part of that large and vast prouince of Lappia the people wherof be ignorant of the laws of our Sauiour Christ which as I vnderstand by many good and credible men proceeded from the abhominable extortion and couetuousnesse of the prelates and nobles for if they were Christians they should bee free from those taxations and tributes wherwith they as Ethnickes be punished on the other side the nobility and Bishops wax rich and welthy and therefore they forbid them to be Christians least bearing the sweet and delectable yoke of Christ they might withdraw from there tirany and extortion some part of their gaines and diminish some parte of their taxations wherby that miserable nation is most beastly and insatiably vexed and oppressed by those Monarches bearing the burthen most impatiently for if they were Christians they should pay no more tribute vnto them than other Christians pay vnto their princes And therefore nothing regarding the saluation of so many soules they preferre their horrible sacrilegious gaine before the true Faith and Christian religion so as they may rightly bee said to carry the keies and neither enter them-selues nor suffer others to enter Q insatiable
chap. 19 Of Tuscia and of the ancient maners of the Tuscans ch 20 Of Galalia in Europe and of the old customes of that country chap. 21 Of Gallia and of the ancient customes and later â—â—nners of the Frenchmen chap. 22 Of Spaine and of the manners of the Spaniards chap. 28 Of Lusitania and of the manners of the Portugals chap. 24 Of England Scotland and Ireland and of many other Ilands and of the maners customes of the Inhabitants chap. 25 Of the I le of Taprohane and the customes of that people cha 26 FINIS Lib. 3. NIcholas Damascen of the manners and customes of sundry nations fol 472 Certaine things of America or Brasill gathered out of the writings of Iohannes Lerius fol. 483 The faith religion and manners of the Aethiopians and the deploration of the people of Lappia compiled by Damianus a Goes a Knight of Portugall wherein is contained A letter of Damianus a Goes a Knight of Portugall to Pope Paul the third fol. 503 A letter of Helena the grandmother of Prestor Iohn Emperor of Aethiopia to Emanuell King of Portugall written in the yeare 1509. fol. 512 The letters of the most renowned Dauid Emperor of Aethiopia to Emanuell King of Portugall written in the yeare 1521. Paulus Iouius beeing Interpretor fol. 517 The letters of the same Dauid Emperor of Aethiopia to Iohn the third of that name King of Portugall in the yeare 1524. fol. 526 The letters of the same Emperor to the Pope of Rome in the same yeare 1524. the same Paulus Iouius beeing Interpretor fol. 533 Other letters from the said Emperor to the Pope the same yeare fol. 540 The faith and religion that the Aethiopians hold and obserue fol. 546 The deplâ—ration of Lappia f. 581 The siâ—uation of Lapp a. fol. 585 A short discourse of the Aethiopians taken out of Scaligers seuenth booke De emendatione temporum fol. 588 FINIS The cause why he writ this booke The cause why people inhabited neere together The earth recouered from hir first rudenes and barren nesse and made fertile The earth compared to Paradise The true God forgotten Plurality of gods which god was worshipped in each seueral country Jesus Christ reduced the world from error The large Countries of the Mahometans The diuersitie of worshipinge is the seminarie of distention The Greeke Philosophers first glory The law-giuers first authority The Caldeanes the wisest men in the world VVhy the world is so called The originall and appellation of Adam Paradice The fertilnesse of the earth why iâ— was restrained Cain the first begotten of Adam The generall deluge and how long it continued Noah sent his children and kindred to inhabite other countries The cause of the variety of toungs and manners The exile of Cham. Men liued like beasts The Sunne and Moone worshipped The Moone called Isis the Sunne Osyris the Ayre Iupiter the Fyre Vulcan the Sky Pallas and the Earth Ceres Arabia the mother of many Colonies The issue of Sem and Japhet VVhy the worship of the true God remained with so few The two-fold opinion of the Philosophers concerning the world Light things tend vpwards and heauie things downewards The naturall creation of liuing creatures The barbarous manner of liuing of the first people The diuersitie of toungs how it came Men made wiser by danger Necessitie the the mistresse of labours The first men were the Aethiopians The earth deuided into three parts Affrick deuided from Asia Europ deuided from Affricke Asia deuided from Europe The scituation and qualitie of Affricke The incommodities of Affrick Affrick inhabited by home-bred people and strangers The people of Affrick made more ciuill by Hercules The qualitie of the soyle of Affrick The fruitfulnesse of the ground The wonders of Affrick VVhat kind of beasts are bred in Affrick Two Aethiopias One Aethiopia is now called India The qualitie of Aethiopia The Aethiopians were the first people The gods first worshipped in in Aethiopia VVhat letters the Aethiopians vsed The election of their Kings The obedience of the Ethiopians The apparell of the Ethiopians Their exercise Meroê was once the Kings seate Gold accounted baser then brasse The Aethiopian armor The religion of the Ethiopians The authority of the Priests Their gods The new customes of the Aethiopians or Indians Prestor Iohn King of that Aethiopia which is in Asia Their Priests marry once and no more Saint Thomas held in great reuerence The power of the Ethiopian Kings VVhat weapons be vsed in their wars The punishment for adultery Husbands assigne dowers for their wiues Mahomet worshipped in Libia The denomination and description of Aegipt The Aegiptians had their beginning from the Aethiopians The Aegiptian women do the offices of men and men the offices of women Their manner of funerals Circumcision vsed by the Egiptians The cleannesse of the Priests Beanes an vncleane graine with the Egiptians The Aegiptians wine The Aegiptians salutations VVollen garments contemned Many ceremonies vsed in Christian religion borrowed from the Egiptians VVhat seruants attended vpon their Kings The Priests prasied the good Kings dispraised the bad The Egyptians simple diet The Kings safety much regarded How the Egyptians be wayle their dead Kings that were good How their Kings be buried The auncient gouernment of the Egiptians Their common-wealth consisteth of three sorts of people husbandmen shepheards and labourers How their iudgments were giuen The chiefe Iudge weareth the signe of Truth about his neck The lawes of the Egiptians against periurd persons Against salse accusers A law against parents that murdered their children A law against Pariacides Offenders in the warres punished with shame A law against adultery and fornication Bocchoris their law maker Mens bodiesnot liable to their debts The law against theeues Their marriaages The small cost bestowed in bringing vpchildren Musick disalowd of the Egiptians How the Egiptians cure the diseased The Aegiptians worship diuers sorts of creatures The strange kind of burials amongst the Egiptians The bodies of dead parents giuen to their creditors The Adrimachidae The Nasamons The Masagetae The Nasomans and their marriages How the prophesy The Garamantes The Macae The Gnidanes The Machlyes and Auses The Atlantes The Pastoritij The Maxes The zabices The zigantes All these people of Libia be Sauadge people The Trogloditae The Rhisophagi The Ilophagi and Sparmatophagi The Cyneci The Acridophagi The Cinnamini The Ichthiophagi Men free from all passions of the minde Patient people The Amazons most warlike women Asia why so called Arabia deuided into three parts The Arabians lye with their owne mothers and daughters No horses in Arabia The Garraei The Nabathaei Panchaia aboundeth with Frankinsence Iupiter was banished into Panchaia The great Temple in Panchaia Hony wine made of dates The Assyrians botes Their apparell Virgins that be mariageable be sold to their husbands A law excluding Phisitions and how they cured the sick The officers amongst the Assyrians The limmits of Palestine Iudaea or Palestine called also Canaan Canaan promised to