And After, Go Men To Belgrade, And Enter Into The Land Of Bougiers;
And There Pass Men A Bridge Of Stone That Is Upon The River Of
Marrok.
And men pass through the land of Pyncemartz and come to
Greece to the city of Nye, and to the city of Fynepape, and after
to the city of Dandrenoble, and after to Constantinople, that was
wont to be clept Bezanzon.
And there dwelleth commonly the Emperor
of Greece. And there is the most fair church and the most noble of
all the world; and it is of Saint Sophie. And before that church
is the image of Justinian the emperor, covered with gold, and he
sitteth upon an horse y-crowned. And he was wont to hold a round
apple of gold in his hand: but it is fallen out thereof. And men
say there, that it is a token that the emperor hath lost a great
part of his lands and of his lordships; for he was wont to be
Emperor of Roumania and of Greece, of all Asia the less, and of the
land of Syria, of the land of Judea in the which is Jerusalem, and
of the land of Egypt, of Persia, and of Arabia. But he hath lost
all but Greece; and that land he holds all only. And men would
many times put the apple into the image's hand again, but it will
not hold it. This apple betokeneth the lordship that he had over
all the world, that is round. And the tother hand he lifteth up
against the East, in token to menace the misdoers. This image
stands upon a pillar of marble at Constantinople.
CHAPTER II
OF THE CROSS AND THE CROWN OF OUR LORD JESU CHRIST
AT Constantinople is the cross of our Lord Jesu Christ, and his
coat without seams, that is clept TUNICA INCONSUTILIS, and the
sponge, and the reed, of the which the Jews gave our Lord eysell
and gall, in the cross. And there is one of the nails, that Christ
was nailed with on the cross.
And some men trow that half the cross, that Christ was done on, be
in Cyprus, in an abbey of monks, that men call the Hill of the Holy
Cross; but it is not so. For that cross that is in Cyprus, is the
cross, in the which Dismas the good thief was hanged on. But all
men know not that; and that is evil y-done. For for profit of the
offering, they say that it is the cross of our Lord Jesu Christ.
And ye shall understand that the cross of our Lord was made of four
manner of trees, as it is contained in this verse, - IN CRUCE FIT
PALMA, CEDRUS, CYPRESSUS, OLIVA. For that piece that went upright
from the earth to the head was of cypress; and the piece that went
overthwart, to the which his hands were nailed, was of palm; and
the stock, that stood within the earth, in the which was made the
mortise, was of cedar; and the table above his head, that was a
foot and an half long, on the which the title was written in
Hebrew, Greek and Latin, that was of olive.
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