Chapter VIII.
OF THE TEMPLE OF OUR LORD; THE CRUELTY OF KING HEROD; MOUNT SION; OF PROBATICA PISCINA, AND NATATORIUM SILOÆ.
One hundred and sixty paces from the church of the Sepulchre, towards the east, is the temple of our Lord. It is a very fair house, circular and lofty, and covered with lead, and well paved with white marble; but the Saracens will not suffer any Christians or Jews to come therein, for they say that no such foul sinful men should come into so holy a place: but I went in there, and in other places where I would, because I had letters of the sultan, with his great seal, and other men have commonly but his signet. In these letters he commanded, of his special grace, to all his subjects, to let me see all the places, and to inform me fully of all the mysteries of every place, and to conduct me from city to city if necessary, and to receive me and my company courteously, and obey all my reasonable requests if they were not contrary to the royal power and dignity of the sultan or of his law. And to others, who have served him and ask him grace, he gives only his signet, which they cause to be borne before them, hanging on a spear, and the people of the country do great worship and reverence to his signet or his seal, and kneel thereto as lowly as we do to the procession of the Host. But they show much greater reverence to his letters, for the admiral, and all other lords to whom they are shown, kneel down before they receive them, and then they take them, and put them on their heads, and after they kiss them, and then they read them, kneeling with great reverence; and then they offer themselves to do all the bearer asks. And in this temple of our Lord were formerly canons regular, who had an abbot to whom they were obedient. And in this temple was Charlemagne, when the angel brought him the prepuce of the circumcision of our Lord Jesus Christ, which king Charles caused to be brought to Paris, to his chapel; and after that he sent it to Poictiers, and after that to Chartres.
You must know that this is not the temple that Solomon made, which lasted only one thousand one hundred and two years. For Titus, the son of Vespasian, emperor of Rome, had laid siege about Jerusalem to overcome the Jews, because they put our Lord to death without the emperor's leave. And when he had won the city, he burnt the temple and beat it down and all the city, and took the Jews, and put to death one million one hundred thousand of them; and the others he put in prison, and sold them to slavery thirty for a penny, because they said they bought Jesus for thirty pennies; and he sold them cheaper, giving thirty for one penny. After that, Julian the Apostate, when emperor, gave the Jews permission to make the temple of Jerusalem, for he hated the Christians although he had been christened; but he forsook his law, and became a renegade. And when the Jews had made the temple, an earthquake came and cast it down (as God would), and destroyed all that they had made. And after that, Hadrian, who was emperor of Rome, and of the lineage of Troy, rebuilt Jerusalem and the temple, in the same manner as Solomon made it. And he would not suffer Jews to dwell there, but only Christians. For although he was not christened, yet he loved Christians more than any other nation, except his own. This emperor caused the church of St. Sepulchre to be inclosed within the city walls; before, it was without the city. And he would have changed the name of Jerusalem, and called it Ælia, but that name lasted not long. The Saracens continue to show much reverence to that temple, and say that the place is very holy. And when they go in they go barefooted, and kneel many times. And when my fellows and I saw that, when we came in we took off our shoes, and entered barefooted, and thought we would do as much worship and reverence there as any of the misbelieving men, with as great compunction of heart. This temple is sixty-four cubits wide, and as many in length, and a hundred and twenty cubits high; and within it has pillars of marble all round; and in the middle of the temple are many high stages, fourteen steps high, with good pillars all about, and this place the Jews call the holy of holies. No man, except the prelate of the Saracens, who makes their sacrifice, is allowed to come in there. And the people stand all about, in divers stages, according to their dignity or rank, so that they may all see the sacrifice. And in that temple are four entrances, with gates of cypress, well made and curiously wrought. Within the east gate is the place where our Lord said "Here is Jerusalem." And on the north side of the temple, within the gate, there is a well, but it does not run; of this Holy Writ speaks, and says, "I saw water come out of the temple." And on the other side of the temple there is a rock which men call Moriah, but after it was called Bethel, where the ark of God, with relics of Jews, was wont to be put. That ark or hutch, with the relics, Titus carried with him to Rome, when he had overthrown the Jews; it contained the ten commandments, Aaron's rod, and that of Moses, with which he made the Red Sea divide as it had been a wall, on the right side and on the left, while the people of Israel passed the sea dry-foot. And with that rod he smote the rock, and the water came out of it; and with that rod he did many other wonders. And therein was a vessel of gold, full of manna, and clothings, and ornaments, and the tabernacle of Aaron, and a square tabernacle of gold, with twelve precious stones, and a box of green jasper, with four figures, and eight names of our Lord, and seven candlesticks of gold, and twelve pots of gold, and four censers of gold, and an altar of gold, and four lions of gold, which bare cherubim of gold twelve spans long, and the circle of swans of heaven, with a tabernacle of gold, and a table of silver, and two trumpets of silver, and seven barley loaves, and all the other relics that were before the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. And Jacob was sleeping upon that rock when he saw the angels go up and down by a ladder, and he said, "Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not."[331] And there an angel held Jacob still, and changed his name, and called him Israel. And in that same place David saw the angel that smote the people with a sword, and put it up bloody in the sheath. And St. Simeon was on that same rock when he received our Lord into the temple. And in this rock he placed himself when the Jews would have stoned him; and a star came down and gave him light. On that rock our Lord preached frequently to the people; and out of that same temple our Lord drove the buyers and sellers. Upon that rock also our Lord set him when the Jews would have stoned him; and the rock clave in two, and in that cleft was our Lord hid; and there came down a star and gave him light; and upon that rock our Lady sat and learned her Psalter; and there our Lord forgave the woman her sins that was found in adultery; and there our Lord was circumcised; and there the angel gave tidings to Zacharias of the birth of St. John the Baptist his son; and there first Melchisedek offered bread and wine to our Lord, in token of the sacrament that was to come; and there David fell down praying to our Lord, and to the angel that smote the people, that he would have mercy on him and on the people; and our Lord heard his prayer, and therefore would he make the temple in that place; but our Lord forbade him, by an angel, because he had done treason, when he caused Uriah, the worthy knight, to be slain, to have Bathsheba, his wife; and therefore all the materials he had collected for the building of the temple he gave to Solomon, his son, and he built it. Without the gate of that temple is an altar, where the Jews were wont to offer doves and turtles. And between the temple and that altar was Zacharias slain. Upon the pinnacle of that temple was our Lord brought to be tempted by the fiend. And on the top of that pinnacle the Jews placed St. James, who was first bishop of Jerusalem, and cast him down to the earth. At the entry of the temple, towards the west, is the gate that is called the Beautiful Gate[332]. And near the temple, on the right, is a church covered with lead, called Solomon's school. And near the temple, on the south, is the temple of Solomon, which is very fair and well polished. And in that temple dwelt the knights of the temple, that were called Templars; and that was the foundation of their order; so that knights dwelt there, and canons regular, in the temple of our Lord. One hundred and twenty paces from that temple to the east, in the corner of the city, is the bath of our Lord; and in that bath water was wont to come from Paradise, and still it droppeth. And there beside is our Lady's bed. And fast by is the temple of St. Simeon; and without the cloister of the temple, toward the north, is a very fair church of St. Anne, our Lady's mother; and there our Lady was conceived. And before that church is a great tree, which began to grow the same night. And under that church, in going down by twenty-two steps, lies Joachim, our Lady's father, in a fair tomb of stone; and there beside lay sometime St. Anne his wife; but St. Helena caused her to be translated to Constantinople. And in that church is a well, in manner of a cistern, which is called Probatica Piscina, which hath five entrances. Angels used to come from heaven into that well and bathe them in it, and the man who first bathed after the moving of the water was made whole of whatever sickness he had; and there our Lord healed a man of the palsy, with which he had lain thirty-eight years; and our Lord said to him, "Take up thy bed and go."[333] And near it was Pilate's house. And fast by is king Herod's house, who caused the Innocents to be slain. This Herod was excessively wicked and cruel; for first he caused his wife to be killed, whom he loved well; and for the great love he had to her, when he saw her dead, he fell in a rage, and was out of his mind a great while; and after he recovered, he caused his two sons, whom he had by that wife, to be slain; and after that he killed another of his wives, and a son that he had by her; and after that he put to death his own mother, and he would have slain his brother also, but he died suddenly. And after he fell into sickness, and when he felt that he should die, he sent for his sister, and for all the lords of his land, and sent them to prison; and then he said to his sister, he knew well that people would make no sorrow for his death, and therefore he made his sister swear, that she should cause all the heads of the lords to be struck off when he was dead, that all the land might make sorrow for his death. But his sister fulfilled not his will; for as soon as he was dead she delivered all the lords out of prison, and told them all the purpose of her brother's ordinance; and so this cursed king was never made sorrow for. And you must know that at that time there were three Herods, of great fame for their cruelty. This Herod of which I have spoken was Herod the Ascalonite; and he that caused St. John the Baptist to be beheaded was Herod Antipas; and he that caused St. James to be beheaded was Herod Agrippa; and he put St. Peter in prison.
Furthermore, in the city is the church of St. Saviour, where is preserved the left arm of John Chrysostom, and the greater part of the head of St. Stephen. On the other side of the street, to the south, as men go to Mount Sion, is a church of St. James, where he was beheaded. And one hundred and twenty paces from that church is Mount Sion, where there is a fair church of our Lady, where she dwelt and died. And there was formerly an abbot of canons regular. From thence she was carried by the apostles to the valley of Jehoshaphat, and there is the stone which the angel brought to our Lady from Mount Sinai, which is of the same colour as the rock of St. Catherine. And near there is the gate through which our Lady passed, when she was with child, on her way to Bethlehem. Also, at the entrance of Mount Sion is a chapel in which is the great stone with which the sepulchre was covered, when Joseph of Arimathea had put our Lord therein; which stone the three Marys saw turned upward when they came to his sepulchre the day of his resurrection; and there they found an angel, who told them of our Lord's resurrection from death to life. There also, in a wall beside the gate, is a stone of the pillar at which our Lord was scourged; and there was the house of Annas, who was bishop of the Jews at that time; and there our Lord was examined in the night, and scourged, and smitten, and violently treated. In that same place St. Peter forsook our Lord thrice before the cock crew. There is a part of the table on which he made his Supper, when he made his Maundy with his disciples, and gave them his flesh and his blood, in form of bread and wine. And under that chapel, by a descent of thirty-two steps, is the place where our Lord washed his disciples' feet, and the vessel which contained the water is still preserved; and there, beside that same vessel, was St. Stephen buried. And there is the altar where our Lord heard the angels sing mass. And there our Lord appeared first to his disciples after his resurrection, the doors being shut, and said to them, "Peace to you!" And on that mount Christ appeared to St. Thomas the Apostle, and bade him feel his wounds; and there he first believed, and said, "My Lord and my God." In the same church, beside the altar, were all the apostles on Whitsunday, when the Holy Ghost descended on them in likeness of fire.
Mount Sion is within the city, and is a little higher than the other side of the city; and the city is strongest on that side. For at the foot of Mount Sion is a fair and strong castle made by the sultan. In Mount Sion were buried king David and king Solomon, and many other Jewish kings of Jerusalem. And there is the place where the Jews would have cast up the body of our Lady, when the apostles carried the body to be buried in the valley of Jehoshaphat. And there is the place where St. Peter wept bitterly after he had forsaken our Lord. And a stone's cast from that chapel is another chapel, where our Lord was judged; for at that time the house of Caiaphas stood there. One hundred and forty paces from that chapel, to the east, is a deep cave under the rock, which is called the Galilee of our Lord, where St. Peter hid himself when he had forsaken our Lord. Between Mount Sion and the Temple of Solomon is the place where our Lord raised the maiden in her father's house. Under Mount Sion, towards the valley of Jehoshaphat, is a well called Natatorium Siloæ (the pool of Siloah), where our Lord was washed after his baptism; and there our Lord made the blind man to see. There was buried Isaiah the prophet. Also straight from Natatorium Siloæ is an image of stone, and of ancient work, which Absalom caused to be made, on account of which they call it the hand of Absalom. And fast by is still the elder tree on which Judas hanged himself for despair, when he sold and betrayed our Lord. Near it was the synagogue, where the bishops of the Jews and the Pharisees came together and held their council, and where Judas cast the thirty pence before them, and said that he had sinned in betraying our Lord. And near it was the house of the apostles Philip and James the son of Alpheus. On the other side of Mount Sion, toward the south, a stone's cast beyond the vale, is Aceldama, that is, the field of blood, which was bought for the thirty pence for which our Lord was sold; in which field are many tombs of Christians; for there are many pilgrims' graves. And there are many oratories, chapels, and hermitages, where hermits used to dwell. A hundred paces toward the east is the charnel-house of the hospital of St. John, where they used to put the bones of dead men.
To the west of Jerusalem is a fair church, where the tree of the cross grew. And two miles from thence is a handsome church, where our Lady met with Elizabeth, when they were both with child; and St. John stirred in his mother's womb, and made reverence to his Creator, whom he saw not. Under the altar of that church is the place where St. John was born. A mile from that church is the castle of Emmaus, where our Lord showed himself to two of his disciples after his resurrection. Also on the other side, two hundred paces from Jerusalem, is a church, where was formerly the cave of the lion; and under that church, at thirty steps deep, were interred twelve thousand martyrs, in the time of king Cosrhoes, that the lion met in a night, by the will of God. Two miles from Jerusalem is Mount Joy, a very fair and delicious place. There Samuel the prophet lies, in a fair tomb; and it is called Mount Joy, because it gives joy to pilgrims' hearts, for from that place men first see Jerusalem. Between Jerusalem and Mount Olivet is the valley of Jehoshaphat, under the walls of the city, as I have said before: and in the middle of the valley is a little river, which is called the brook Cedron; and across it lies a tree (of which the cross was made), on which men passed over; and fast by it is a little pit in the earth, where the foot of the pillar still remains at which our Lord was first scourged; for he was scourged and shamefully treated in many places. Also in the middle of the valley of Jehoshaphat is the church of our Lady, which is forty-three steps below the sepulchre of our Lady, who was seventy-two years of age when she died. Beside the sepulchre of our Lady is an altar, where our Lord forgave St. Peter all his sins. From thence, toward the west, under an altar, is a well which comes out of the river of Paradise. You must know that that church is very low in the earth, and a part is quite within the earth. But I imagine that it was not founded so; but since Jerusalem has often been destroyed, and the walls beaten down and tumbled into the valley, and that they have been so filled again, and the ground raised, for that reason the church is so low within the earth. Nevertheless, men say there commonly, that the earth hath so been cloven since the time that our Lady was buried there; and men also say there, that it grows and increases every day, without doubt. In that church were formerly black monks, who had their abbot. Beside that church is a chapel, beside the rock called Gethsemane, where our Lord was kissed by Judas, and where he was taken by the Jews; and there our Lord left his disciples when he went to pray before his passion, when he prayed and said, "O, my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me."[334] And when he came again to his disciples, he found them sleeping. And in the rock within the chapel we still see the mark of the fingers of our Lord's hand, when he put them on the rock when the Jews would have taken him. And a stone's cast from thence, to the south, is another chapel, where our Lord sweat drops of blood. And close to it is the tomb of king Jehoshaphat, from whom the valley takes its name. This Jehoshaphat was king of that country, and was converted by a hermit, who was a worthy man, and did much good. A bow-shot from thence, to the south, is the church where St. James and Zachariah the prophet were buried. Above the vale is Mount Olivet, so called for the abundance of olives that grow there. That mount is higher than the city of Jerusalem; and therefore from that mount we may see many of the streets of the city. Between that mount and the city is only the valley of Jehoshaphat, which is not wide. From that mount our Lord Jesus Christ ascended to heaven on Ascension Day, and yet there appears the imprint of his left foot in the stone. And there is a church where was formerly an abbot and canons regular. About twenty-eight paces thence is a chapel, in which is the stone on the which our Lord sat when he preached the eight blessings. And there he taught his disciples the pater noster, and wrote with his finger on a stone. And near it is a church of St. Mary, the Egyptian, where she lies in a tomb. Three bow-shots thence, to the east, is Bethphage, whither our Lord sent St. Peter and St. James on Palm Sunday to seek the ass on which he rode into Jerusalem. In descending from Mount Olivet, to the east, is a castle called Bethany, where dwelt Simon the leper; and there he entertained our Lord; and afterwards he was baptized by the apostles, and was called Julian, and was made bishop; and this is the same Julian to whom men pray for good entertainment, because our Lord was entertained by him in his house. In that house our Lord forgave Mary Magdalene her sins, and there she washed his feet with her tears, and wiped them with her hair. And there St. Martha waited upon our Lord. There our Lord raised Lazarus, who was dead four days and stank. There also dwelt Mary Cleophas. That castle is a mile from Jerusalem. Also in coming down from Mount Olivet is the place where our Lord wept upon Jerusalem. And there beside is the place where our Lady appeared to St. Thomas the apostle after her assumption, and gave him her girdle. And very near it is the stone on which our Lord often sat when he preached; and upon that same shall he sit at the day of doom, right as he said himself.
After Mount Olivet is the Mount of Galilee, where the apostles assembled when Mary Magdalene came and told them of Christ's ascension. And there, between Mount Olivet and the Mount of Galilee, is a church, where the angel foretold our lady of her death. We next go from Bethany to Jericho, which was once a little city, but it is now destroyed, and is but a little village. Joshua took that city by miracle of God, and destroyed it and cursed it, and all them that should build it again. Of that city was Zaccheus, the dwarf, who climbed up into the sycamore tree to see our Lord, because he was so little he might not see him for the people. And of that city was Rahab, the harlot, who alone escaped with her kinspeople; and she often refreshed and fed the messengers of Israel, and kept them from many great perils of death; and therefore she had good reward; as holy writ saith, "He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet, shall receive a prophet's reward;"[335] and so had she; for she prophesied to the messengers, saying, "I know that the Lord hath given you the land;"[336] and so he did. From Bethany you go to the river Jordan, by a mountain, and through a desert; and it is nearly a day's journey from Bethany, toward the east, to a great hill, where our Lord fasted forty days. The devil carried our Lord upon that hill, and tempted him, and said, "Command that these stones be made bread."[337] In that place, upon the hill, there was formerly a fair church, but it is entirely destroyed, so that there is now but a hermitage, occupied by a kind of Christians called Georgians, because St. George converted them[338]. Upon that hill dwelt Abraham a long while; and therefore they call it Abraham's garden. Between the hill and this garden runs a little brook of water, which was formerly bitter, but, when blessed by the prophet Elisha, it became sweet and good to drink. At the foot of this hill toward the plain is a great well, which flows into the river Jordan. From that hill to Jericho is but a mile, in going toward the river Jordan, which is two miles beyond it; and half a mile nearer is a fair church of St. John the Baptist, where he baptized our Lord; and there beside is the house of Jeremiah the prophet.