board a ship, I passed to an island they called 

 Gotlandia, which is in the German Gnlf, and 

 on this island there is a great city called Bisuy 

 (Wisby), in which there are 90 parishes, and 

 the island is well peopled. There is a smaller 

 island called Oxilia. The king of these islands 

 has a flag of gold and purple bars" (1039). 



It was in the century preceding the Fran- 

 ciscan's visit that the wealth of the city of 

 Wisby, or Bisuy, as he called it, became pro- 

 verbial, and an old ballad relates that "the Got- 

 landers weigh gold with 20-pound weights and 

 play with the choicest gems. The pigs eat out 

 of silver troughs and the women spin with 

 gold distaffs. A few years after the friar's 

 visit Wisby was attacked by the King of Den- 

 mark, who after a bloody battle, in which 1,800 

 peasants fell trying to defend the gates of the 

 eity, took possession of the whole island. 



"I ascended the lofty mountains of Noruega 

 (Norway), which is a very strong kingdom 

 containing three great cities. They call the 

 largest Regis (Bergen), where they crown the 

 kings. And be it known that this Noruega 

 toward the north is uninhabited, and that the 

 year makes one day for six months and an- 

 other six months' night, and there are men 

 who have their heads fixed on their breasts 

 with no neck whatever, but I did not see them. 

 The king of this Noruega has for his device 

 a flag — gold with a black lion (1040). 



"I departed from Noruega in a ship of the 

 English, and we shaped a course west and 

 came to an island, very large, called Salanda, 

 which is at the entrance of the Gulf of Frisia, 

 already mentioned. The island of Salanda 

 (Zeeland) is very populous and has four great 

 cities, called Salandi (Copenhagen), Risent 

 (Ringsted), Escondin (Stor Hedding), Alenda 

 (Lealand). The king of this island has for 

 his device a flag — gold with a black lion, as in 

 Noruega (1040). 



"I left the island of Salanda (Zeeland) and 

 we made a long voyage, arriving at another 

 island called Title (Telemarken, in the south 

 of Norway), and from thence we came to the 

 island of Escocia (Scotland) and found in it 

 three great cities — one called Donfres (Dum- 

 fries), another Eneruic (Edinburgh), another 

 Veruic (Berwick). The king of this Escocia 

 has for his device a red flag with three long 

 lions of gold" (1041). 



The explanation for the Franciscan's con- 

 fusion of the arms of England with those of 

 Scotland is quite simple. His visit took place 

 during the reign of David Bruce, who married 

 an English princess, and he probably saw her 

 arms on a flag in Scotland and assumed it to 

 be the device of the reigning monarch. 



ENGLAND CONTAINED "ELEVEN GREAT CITIES" 



"I departed from the land of Escocia and 

 came to the Kingdom of Inglaterra (England). 

 Know that it is a very well populated country 

 and that it contains eleven great cities. The 

 largest, where they crown their king, is called 

 Londres (London). The king of those lands 

 has for his arms, on a flag quarterly, in two 

 quarters, fleurs de lys, gold on a field azure, be- 

 cause the king is of the house of France, and 

 in the other two quarters, in each one, on a field 

 gules (red), three ounces gold" (1042). 



The "ounces" which the friar depicts in his 

 device for the English king, it will be ob- 

 served, are almost identical with the "long 

 lions" which he erroneously credited to Scot- 

 land (1041). 



"I left Inglaterra in a boat and reached the 

 island of Irlanda (Ireland), which is a short 

 crossing of a mile (!). They say that for- 

 merly it was called Ibernia. In this island 

 there is a great lake, and they say that the 

 lake brings good fortune, because many en- 

 chantments were made on its bank in ancient 

 times. The king of this island has the same 

 arms as the King of Inglaterra (1042). 



"Being in Irlanda, I sailed in a ship bound 

 for Spain, and went with those on that ship on 

 the high sea for so long that we arrived at the 

 island of Eterns (Faroe Islands), and another 

 called Artania (Orkneys), and another called 

 Citilant (Shetland Islands), and another called 

 Ibernia (Iceland). All these islands are in a 

 part where the sun (never?) sets in the month 

 of June and they are all peopled. In Ibernia 

 there are trees and the fruit that they bear are 

 very fat birds. These birds are very good eat- 

 ing, whether boiled or roasted. The men in 

 this island are very long lived, some living 200 

 years. They are born and brought up in a way 

 which makes them unable to die in the islands, 

 so that when they become very weak they are 

 taken away and die presently. 



"In this island there are no snakes nor 

 vipers, nor toads, nor flies, nor spiders, nor 

 any other venomous things, and the women 

 are very beautiful, though very simple. It is 

 a land where there is not as much bread as 

 you may want, but a great abundance of meat 

 and milk. The king of this island has for his 

 device the same flag as the King of Noruega 

 (1040). 



"After this I departed from the island of 

 Ibernia in a ship, and voyaged so far over the 

 western sea that we sighted Cape Finisterre 

 and arrived at Pontevedra, in the province of 

 Galicia (Spain). Thence I went to a town in 

 the Kingdom of Castile, as I mentioned be- 

 fore, which they call Tarifa. It was founded 

 by a very powerful Arab named Tarif. Near 

 this town Albuacen, king of all the land of 

 the west, was defeated and conquered by the 

 very noble king, Don Alfonso of Castile, who 

 pillaged all his tents and took his treasures, 

 his women, and his horses." (This was the 

 battle of Salado, in which the King of Castile, 

 Alfonso XI, defeated Abu-1-hasan Ali, King 

 of Morocco, on October 28, 1340.) 



"I departed from Tarifa and went to the 

 city of Aljezira (Algeciras), where is the rock 

 of Gibraltar, being places in the dominions of 

 the King of Castile. 



"I went to Malaga, a very luxurious city of 

 the Kingdom of Granada. In this kingdom 

 there are three cities. The grandest, where 

 they crown the kings, is Granada. This king- 

 dom is bounded by the Mediterranean and the 

 Kingdom of Castile. The device of this king 

 is a red flag with Arabic letters of gold, such 

 as Mahomad, their prophet, bore" (1043). 



The friar made an altogether excusable er- 

 ror in copying the Arabic inscription, which 

 should read, "No conqueror but God." 



"I departed from the Kingdom of Granada 



390 



