Bernard the Frank Monk (Bernardus Monachus Francus)
(Itinerary to the Holy Places)
From Rome to Bari
1. In the name of the Lord, for the purpose of visiting the holy places, I joined myself to two brothers in a bond of charity: of whom one was from the monastery of the blessed Innocent of Benevento, and the other was a Spaniard. France, however, is the place of my birth. Therefore going to Rome, we obtained an audience with the lord Pope Nicholas, together with his blessing, and also through his assistance the desired permission to undertake the journey.
2. Proceeding from there we came to Monte Gargano, on which there is a church of Saint Michael under a single rock, upon which there are acorn-bearing oaks, which he himself is said to have dedicated. Its entrance is from the north, and it can receive fifty men within itself. On the inside, therefore, toward the east, it has an image of the angel himself; toward the south there is an altar, upon which the sacrifice is performed, and besides this no other offering is placed there. Before the altar itself there is a certain vessel suspended, into which donations are cast, and it also has other altars beside it. The abbot of this place was called Benignatus, who presided over many brothers.
3. Departing from Monte Gargano, we came through one hundred and fifty miles to the city of Bari of the Saracens, which had formerly been subject to the dominion of the Beneventans. This city, situated above the sea, is fortified on the south by two very broad walls; from the north it juts out exposed to the sea. There, approaching the prince of that city, named the Sultan, we obtained with two letters all the arrangements for sailing. The text of these letters set forth to the prince of Alexandria, and also of Babylon, a description of our appearance and journey. These princes are under the authority of the Emir of the Faithful, who rules over all the Saracens, dwelling in Baghdad and Axiam, which are beyond Jerusalem.
From Bari to Alexandria
4. Setting out from Bari, we traveled south ninety miles to the port of the city of Taranto, where we found six ships, in which were nine thousand captives from among the Beneventan Christians. In the two ships which first departed heading for Africa, there were three thousand captives; two others likewise departing first for Tripoli carried three thousand.
5. Finally entering the remaining two, in which there was likewise the aforesaid number of captives, we were carried to the port of Alexandria, sailing for thirty days. But wishing to proceed to shore, we were prevented by the chief of the sailors, who was over sixty. But in order that we might be given the opportunity to disembark, we gave him six gold coins.
6. Proceeding from there we went to the prince of Alexandria, to whom we showed the letter which the Sultan had given us, which availed us nothing, although he said he was not unaware of all his letters. Under his pressure each one of us gave him thirteen denarii for himself; and he made us letters for the prince of Babylon. Moreover the custom of those people is such that what can be weighed is not accepted otherwise than by weight. Whence it happens that six solidi and six denarii among us make among them one thousand solidi and one thousand denarii. This Alexandria lies beside the sea, in which Saint Mark, preaching the Gospel, held the pontifical office. Outside its eastern gate is the monastery of the aforesaid saint, in which there are monks at the church in which he himself formerly rested. But the Venetians coming by ship stole the body secretly from its guardian, and carried it off to their own island. Outside the western gate is a monastery which is called of the Forty Saints, in which monks likewise dwell. To the north is the port of that city; to the south it has the entrance of the Gihon or Nile, which waters Egypt, and runs through the middle of the city, entering the sea at the aforesaid port.
From Alexandria to Palestine
7. Entering into it we sailed south for six days, and came to the city of Babylon, where King Pharaoh reigned, under whom Joseph built sixteen granaries which still remain. When we came out into Babylon, the guards of that city led us to the prince, who was called Adelhacham, a Saracen, who inquired of us the whole business of our journey, and about the princes from whom we had writings. For which reason we showed him the letters from the prince of Alexandria, which availed us nothing; but we were sent by him to prison, until after six days, at the outset taking counsel with God's help, each one gave thirteen denarii for himself, just as above. He also made us letters, which whoever saw them, in whatever city or in whatever place, dared to demand nothing further from us. For he was second in authority to the aforesaid Emir of the Faithful. After we entered the cities named below, we were not permitted to leave until we received a document or seal impression, which we obtained for one or two denarii. There is in this city a patriarch, the lord Michael, who by the grace of God oversees the order of all bishops, monks, and Christians throughout all of Egypt. These Christians have such a law among the pagans, that according to the ability of their person, each year they pay tribute to the aforesaid prince, so that they may live securely and freely. This tribute demands either three, or two, or one gold coin, or from a poorer person thirteen denarii. But if someone is such that he cannot pay these thirteen denarii, whether he be a native or a foreign Christian, he is sent to prison, until either by God's mercy he is freed through His angel, or he is ransomed by other good Christians.
8. By the river Gihon, the city of Sitimulh: from Sitimulh we proceeded to Mohalla, from Mohalla we crossed over to Damietta, which has to the north on the sea the city of Tanis, in which there are many Christians, who are indeed fervent in abundant hospitality. This city has no land, except where the churches are, and where the field of Tanis is shown, in which lie, like three walls, the bodies of those who were destroyed in the time of Moses.
9. In the city of Farama there is a church in honor of Saint Mary, in the place to which, at the angel's warning, Joseph fled with the child and his mother. In that city there is a multitude of camels, which travelers hire there from the inhabitants at a price, to carry their burdens across the desert, which requires a journey of six days. The entrance to this desert begins from the aforesaid city. And it is rightly called a desert, since it produces neither grass nor the fruit of any seed, except palm trees; but it wastes away like Campania in the time of snow. In the middle of the journey it has two hostels, one which is called Albara, and the other Albacara, in which commerce is carried on by Christians and pagans alike, of the kind that is necessary for travelers. In their surroundings, the land produces nothing beyond what has been mentioned. At Albacara there is a second land, extending to the city of Gaza, which was Samson's city, at that time the most opulent of all in resources.
Jerusalem
10. Then they came to Alarixa; from Alarixa to Ramla, near which is the monastery of the blessed George the Martyr, where he himself rests. From Ramla to the town of Emmaus; from Emmaus to the holy city of Jerusalem. There is a hospice there, in which all are received who come to that place for the sake of devotion, speaking the Roman tongue; adjacent to which is a church in honor of Saint Mary, having a most noble library through the zeal of the aforesaid emperor,* with twelve dwellings, fields, vineyards, and a garden in the Valley of Jehoshaphat. Before the hospice itself is a market, for which everyone doing business there pays two gold coins per year to the one who oversees it. Within this city, apart from other churches, four churches stand out, joined to one another by shared walls: one to the east, which has Mount Calvary and the place where the Cross of the Lord was found, and is called the Basilica of Constantine; another to the south; a third to the west, in the middle of which is the Sepulchre of the Lord, having nine columns around it, between which stand walls of the finest stones. Of these nine columns, four are before the face of the monument itself, which with their walls enclose the stone placed before the sepulchre, which the angel rolled away, and upon which he sat after the Lord's resurrection was accomplished. About this sepulchre it is not necessary to write more, since Bede is said to speak sufficiently about it in the History of the English, which we too can relate. This, however, must be said: that on Holy Saturday, which is the vigil of Easter, the office begins in the morning in the church; and after the office is completed, the Kyrie eleison is sung until, with an angel coming, a light is kindled in the lamps which hang over the aforesaid sepulchre; from which the patriarch gives to the bishops and the rest of the people, that each may illuminate his own place. This patriarch was called Theodosius, who on account of the merit of his devotion was taken by the Christians from his monastery, which is four miles from Jerusalem; and there he was established as patriarch over all the Christians who are in the Promised Land. Between the aforesaid four churches, therefore, is a paradise (commonly called le parvis) without a roof, whose walls gleam with gold; the pavement is laid with most precious stone, having in its middle a boundary of four chains, which come from the aforesaid four churches, at which point the middle of the world is said to be.
* That is, of Charlemagne.
11. There is moreover in the city itself another church to the south on Mount Zion, which is called Saint Simeon's, where the Lord washed the feet of his disciples, in which hangs the crown of thorns of the Lord. In this place Saint Mary is said to have died. Near it, toward the east, is a church in honor of Saint Stephen, in the place where he is said to have been stoned. Directly to the east is a church in honor of the blessed Peter, in the place where he denied the Lord. To the north is the Temple of Solomon, which has a Saracen synagogue. To the south are the iron gates, through which the angel of the Lord led Peter out of prison, which afterward were not opened.
Around Jerusalem: Gethsemane, the Mount of Olives, and Bethany
12. From Jerusalem in the Valley of Jehoshaphat, one mile distant, and it has the village of Gethsemane with the place of the birth of Saint Mary, in which there is a very great church in her honor. In the village itself there is also a round church of Saint Mary, where her sepulchre is, which above itself has no roof over it, yet it suffers no rain. In that same place there is also a church where the Lord was betrayed. There are four round tables of His Supper there. In the Valley of Jehoshaphat there is also a church in honor of Saint Leo, in which the Lord is said to be coming for judgment.
13. From there they came to the Mount of Olives, on whose slope is shown the place of the Lord's prayer to the Father. On the side of the aforesaid mountain is shown the place where the Pharisees brought to the Lord the woman caught in adultery. There is a church there in honor of Saint John, in which is preserved, on a marble stone, the writing which the Lord wrote on the ground.
14. On the summit of the oft-mentioned mountain, one mile from the Valley of Jehoshaphat, is the place of the Lord's ascension to the Father. There is a round church there without a roof, in the middle of which, that is in the place of the Lord's ascension, there is an altar open to the sky, at which the solemnities of the Mass are celebrated.
15. From there they proceeded to Bethany, which is to the south, one mile distant from the Mount of Olives, on the descent of that mountain, where there is a monastery whose church shows the tomb of Lazarus. Next to it there is a pool to the north, in which by the Lord's command Lazarus himself washed after being raised from the dead, who is said afterward to have been a bishop in Ephesus for forty years. Also on the descent from the Mount of Olives on the western side, a marble is shown from which the Lord descended upon the colt of a donkey. Between these places, in the Valley of Jehoshaphat, to the south, is the Pool of Siloam.
Bethlehem and the Jordan
16. From there they crossed over to Bethlehem, where the Lord was born, six miles distant. They were shown the field in which Habakkuk was working when the angel of the Lord commanded him to carry a meal to Daniel in Babylon, which is to the south, where Nebuchadnezzar reigned, which serpents and beasts now inhabit. Bethlehem therefore has a very great church in honor of Saint Mary, in the middle of which is a crypt under a single stone, whose entrance is from the south; the exit is to the east, in which the manger of the Lord is shown to the west of the crypt itself. The place where the Lord cried as an infant is to the east. There is an altar there where masses are celebrated. Next to this church, to the south, is the church of the blessed martyr Innocents. One mile from Bethlehem is a monastery of the holy shepherds, to whom the angel of the Lord appeared at the Lord's nativity. Finally, twenty miles from Jerusalem, the Jordan is to the east, above which is a monastery of Saint John the Baptist. In these places also many monasteries are established. Among these, to the western side of the city of Jerusalem, one mile distant, is the church of Saint Mamilla, in which are many bodies of martyrs, who having been killed by the Saracens were carefully buried there by her.
The Return Journey
17. From Jerusalem they entered upon the sea, and came to Monte Aureo, where there is a crypt having seven altars. It also has a great forest above it; into which crypt no one can enter because of the darkness of shadows, except with lighted torches. There the abbot was the lord Valentinus.
18. From Monte Aureo they came to Rome, within which city on the eastern side, in the place which is called the Lateran, is a church in honor of Saint John the Baptist, well appointed, where is the proper seat of the apostolic pontiffs. On the western side is the church of the blessed Peter, prince of the apostles, where he himself rests, to which no church in the whole world is equal in size, and which also contains various ornaments. In the aforesaid city innumerable bodies of saints also rest. From there they came to Saint Michael at the Two Tombs, which place is situated on a mountain that extends into the sea for two leagues. On the summit of this mountain is a church in honor of Saint Michael, and around that mountain the sea floods twice daily, that is in the morning and in the evening, and people cannot approach the mountain until the sea has receded. On the feast of Saint Michael, however, the sea does not come together in flooding around that mountain, but stands like walls on the right and on the left. And on that solemn day all who come for prayer can approach the mountain at all hours, which on other days they cannot.