And after his wives, on the same side, sit the ladies of his lineage yet lower, after that they be of estate. And all those that be married have a counterfeit made like a man's foot upon their heads, a cubit long, all wrought with great pearls, fine and orient, and above made with peacocks' feathers and of other shining feathers; and that stands upon their heads like a crest, in token that they be under man's foot and under subjection of man. And they that be unmarried have none such.[14]
FOOTNOTES:
[5] From the "Travels," the earliest extant book written in English. In this specimen the spelling has been in part modernized. First printed by Wynkyn de Worde in 1429. "Mandeville" has been called the "Father of English Prose."
[6] An old name for Hungary.
[7] Now known as Livonia, one of the Baltic provinces of Russia.
[8] Now Oedenburg, a city of Hungary.
[9] The Morava, one of the chief rivers of Servia.
[10] Philippolis.
[11] Adrianople.
[12] An old form of the word Byzantium, a town founded by Megariaus in the seventh century b.c. When Constantine founded the city to which he gave his own name, Byzantium, lying east of it, was included within the city limits.