[(8.)] “Infidels do not allow either Christians or Jews to enter it.”—This must be the place where Omar about the year 640 constructed the great mosque, afterwards converted into a Christian church that was named Τὰ Ἅγια τῶν Ἁγίων. The Crusaders called it Templum Domini, by which designation it was known to Schiltberger, although it was in the hands of the Mahomedans.—Bruun.
[(9.)] “called the throne of Salomon.”—This has reference to the site of the mosque of Aksa, previously the Church of the Presentation of the Virgin, built by Justinian in 530. The Russian pilgrim, Daniel, saw it in the wrecked state to which it had been reduced at the conquest of Jerusalem by the Franks, who there met with the most determined resistance on the part of the Mussulmans.—Bruun.
[(10.)] “there our Lord healed the bed-ridden man.”—It was generally supposed that the pool and the palace of the templars occupied the site of the temple of Solomon, close to the mosque of Aksa (Raumer, Palæstina, etc., 297). Daniel knew of the residence of Solomon only, because the palace was not constructed until the Order of Hospitallers was established in 1119, that is to say, four or five years after his stay in the Holy Land. The church, and the dwellings of the templars, were destroyed in 1187 by Saladin, so that there was nothing for Schiltberger to see but their remains.—Bruun.
[(11.)] “the house of Herod.”—At no great distance from the pool, stood a house said to have been that of Pilate; the modern edifice on the south side of the Sakhara or mosque constructed by Omar in 637, is the residence of the pasha. It is supposed that the palace of Herod was farther away to the east, and to the right of the Via Dolorosa.—Bruun.
[(12.)] “A church, called that of Saint Annen,” is noticed by De Lannoy, who adds that this was the birth-place of St. Anne, the mother of the Virgin Mary; but he makes no allusion to the head of St. Stephen, or the arm of St. John Chrysostom, relics which, through some mistake of the author, or of a scribe, have usurped the place of those of St. Joachim the spouse of St. Anne. Daniel asserts that a church consecrated to the latter existed in his day; it stood over their dwelling and place of burial.—Bruun.
[(13.)] “Mount Syon ... stands higher than the city.”—The wall constructed by Souleiman, the Magnificent, 1536–1539, traverses the ridge of the hills. Within it, near an Armenian chapel, is pointed out the house of Annas, and at a short distance is the principal church of the Armenians, dedicated to St. James the Elder who was there beheaded. Within the wall stood the house of Caiphas the high priest, now the Church of the Holy Saviour also belonging to the Armenians, and in which is preserved the slab that closed the Saviour’s tomb. This is probably the same church as described by Schiltberger; called that of the Holy Saviour by De Lannoy (Voy. et Ambass., 54), who says that it was in the occupation of Catholics, or perhaps of Armenians who recognised the supremacy of the Pope, but not of the Gregorians. This church could not have existed in the time of Daniel, because he simply mentions the house of Caiphas.
Close at hand was the cœnaculum, in which the Last Supper took place—where the Holy Ghost fell on the apostles—where the Holy Virgin expired, and where Jesus Christ washed the apostles’ feet. The Church of Zion or of the Virgin Mary, that stood here and is described by Daniel and others, was afterwards occupied by the Franciscan friars, and eventually became a mosque. William of Tyre (Raumer, Palæstina, etc., 312), Schiltberger and his contemporaries, Zosimus (Pout. Rouss. loud., ii, 50) and De Lannoy, all agree that here was the tomb of St. Stephen; De Lannoy, however, adds that it was the second place of his interment.—Bruun.
[(14.)] “A beautiful castle which was built by the king-sultan.”—This citadel on the western side of the mount was constructed during the Crusades by the Pisans, the tower of David which formed a part of it being of more ancient date. Daniel and others considered it a formidable fortification.—Bruun.
[(15.)] “King Soldan.”—The tomb of Solomon, described by several pilgrims, adjoined that of David. De Lannoy calls it the burial place of twelve other kings.—Bruun.
[(16.)] “A brook in the valley of Josophat.”—On the banks of this stream, the Kedron, and at no great distance from the garden of Gethsemane, is a large rectangular edifice that was constructed by the Empress Helena. Tobler (Die Siloahquelle, 149), who has taken the trouble to record the number of steps counted by thirty-eight travellers, his predecessors, without however including Schiltberger, places the tomb of the Virgin at the foot of forty-seven steps. Near the above edifice are four sepulchral monuments that have been differently described, as their origin is unknown. Their style is partly Greek and partly Egyptian, and they somewhat resemble the monuments at Petra. They are fully described by Robinson, Biblical Researches, etc., and Kraft, Die Topographie Jerusalems, Berlin, 1846.—Bruun.