Primus exercitus præcedit personam Regis per vnam de suis dietis, vt semper in hospitium de quo recessit exercitus Rex intret nocte sequenti, et est hic primus comitatus descriptus, et statutus de numero quinquaginta cuman virorum, hoc est, quingentorum millium, sempérque præuisum, et prouisum est, vt inueniant necessaria in locis, vbi habent quiescere, vel tardare siue in hospitiis, siue in tentoriis.
Secundus et tertius comitatus sunt eiusdem numeri virorum cum primo, quorum vnus ad dextram tendit Imperatoris, alius ad sinistrum in distantia ab ipso ad trium vel duarum leucarum.
Quartus autem qui maior est omnibus, subsequitur Imperatorem quasi ad spatium iactus balistæ. Et ad hoc sciendum est, quòd personæ horum comitatuum sunt sigillatim, et summatim omnes descriptæ, vt dum vna moritur vel recedit, protinùs alia inscribatur, et numerus non minuatur. Ipse verò Imperator tendit residens in cella seu camera ædificata super currum grandem forma, fortem robore, nobilem in structura, est cella de ligno Aloes optimi odoris, et parietes cellæ operti in quibusdam locis laminis aureis, quæ et ipsæ distinguuntur gemmis variis, et margaritis.
Est autem currus quatuor rotarum duntaxat, quem trahunt quatuor Elephantes ad hoc curiosè instructi, cum quatuor hippis albis equæ doctis et ipsi cooperti ditissimis tegumentis, ac præter aurigas nobiliter indutos, qui currum cautissimè ducunt, adsunt et quatuor de maioribus palatii Dominis, indè ad vehiculum habentes iugem curam, de minatione eius, et ne vltimo exercitu appropriet infra iactum (vt dixi) sagittæ. Ipse autem interdum pro sodalitate iubet secum ascendere quam vult personam, sed minimè vltrà duos. In cellæ quoque culmine, quod aperiri valet et claudi, astant in pertica quatuor grifandi, vel ostiones. Odericus: duodecim Girfalcones, vt si fortè Imperator in ære aquilam, vulturum, ardeam, vel collectorem cerneret, citò dimitteret istorum duas aut plures ad aucupandum.
Nota, per Dromedarios, et cursores, et veloces, qui de hospitio ad hospitium permutantur, scit de remotis noua. Cursor enim appropinquans cornu sonat, et tunc alius præparat, et vlteriùs currit. Odericus. Sciendumque tam primogenitum Regis, quàm singulas de tribus vxoribus ducere similem apparatum in itinerando post ipsum; scilicet cum quatuor comitatibus, antè, et retrò, et à lateribus, sed in valdè minori numero personarum pro placito, et in singulis curribus sequentibus se inuicem per vnam dietam.
Præmissa omnia sic fiunt, dum Imperatori tendendum est remotè, aliàs autem minuuntur, et distinguuntur comitatus, iuxta quod decet, vt nonnunquam omnes Imperatores etiam cum filio simul tendant, cum vna comitatuum distinctione. Transeunte autem sic Imperatore per ciuitates et villas quilibet ante fores proprias præparato igne iactat poluerem aromata redolentem, stans genibus flexis ad reuerentiam illi. Et sciatis vbi propè transitum illius habentur Christianæ Abbatiæ, quas olim constituit Dux Ogerus, exeunt obuiam illi in processione cum vexillis, et sancta cruce, et aqua benedicta, et thuribulo, hymnum, Veni Creator spiritus decantantes.
Nota: Ego semel cum Episcopo nostro, et alijs fratribus, uimus obuiam per duas dietas, et portaui thuribulum. Odericus. Quos ipse à remotis videns, consueuit ad se appellare, et ad crucem suum galeatum deponere, ac reuerentèr nudo capite inclinare: et prælatus dicens super cum aliquam orationem signat cruce, et aqua benedicta aspergit. Et quoniam necesse est, vt quisque extraneus ante Regem apparens, offerat ei aliquid, prælatus in disco præsentat ei fructus, et poma, vel pyra, et hoc in numero nouenario, (ratio ponitur primo capitullo proximo, quod iste numerus est plus cæteris acceptus,) de quibus Imperator vnum sibi sumens, reliqua tradit Dominis præsentibus: quo facto habent relligiosi recedere citò, ne opprimantur multitudine populi subsequentis.
Præfatum Domini galeatum, est ita intextum auro, diamantibus, gemmunculis, et orientalibus margaritis, granellis, et dubletis, et prædiues in materia et artificio, vt ei non sit æquandus magni in partibus istis Regis thesaurus. Item sicut hæc fiunt transeunti Imperatori, fiunt et Imperatricibus, et filio seniori.
The English Version.
And zee schulle undirstonde, that my felawes and I, with oure zomen, we serveden this emperour, and weren his soudyoures, 15 monethes, azenst the Kyng of Mancy, that held werre azenst him. And the cause was, for we hadden gret lust to see his noblelesse and the estat of his court and alle his governance, to write zif it were suche, as wee herde seye, that it was. And treuly, we fond it more noble and more excellent and ricchere and more marveyllous, than ever we herde speke offe; in so moche, that we wolde never han leved it, had wee not seen it. For I trowe, that no man wolde beleve the noblesse, the ricchesse, ne the multytude of folk that ben in his court, but he had seen it. For it is not there, as it is here. For the lordes here han folk of certeyn nombre, als thei may suffise: but the grete Chane hathe every day folke at his costages and expenses, as with outen nombre. But the ordynance, ne the expenses in mete and drynk, ne the honestee ne the clennesse, is not so arrayed there, as it is here: for alle the comouns there eten withouten clothe upon here knees; and thei eten alle maner of flessche, and litylle of bred. And aftre mete, thei wypen here hondes upon here skyrtes: and thei eten not but ones a day. But the estat of lordes is fulle gret and riche and noble. And alle be it, that sum men wil not trow me; but holden it for fable, to telle hem the noblesse of his persone and of his estate and of his court and of the gret multytude of folk, that he holt, natheles I schalle seye zou, a partye of him and of his folk, aftre that I have seen, the manere and the ordynance, fulle many a tyme. And whoso that wole, may leve me, zif he wille; and who so wille not, may chuse. For I wot wel, zif ony man hathe ben in tho contrees bezonde, thoughe he have not ben in the place, where the grete Chane duellethe, he schalle here speke of him so meche merveylouse thing, that he schalle not trowe it lightly: and treuly, no more did I my self, til I saughe it. And tho that han ben in tho contrees and in the gret Canes houshold, knowen wel, that I seye sothe. And therfore I wille not spare, for hem that knowe not, ne beleve not, but that that thei seen, for to telle zou a partie of him and of his estate, that he holt, whan he gothe from contree to contree, and whan he makethe solempne festes.