Germany

E l’Affrica nelle marine, e nelle sue provincie di verso levante, e le rive del nostro Mare tirreno. E venendo di tempo in tempo verso il ponente, comprese la Sardigna, e la Corsica, e l’altre isole di questo mare; e dall’altra parte, ch’è detta Europa, per simigliante modo aggiunse alle parti vicine verso il ponente, volgendosi verso il mezzogiorno con più aspro assalimento che sotto le parti settentrionali. E negli anni di Cristo 1348 ebbe infetta tutta Italia, salvo che la città di Milano, e certi circustanti all’Alpi, che dividono l’Italia dall’Alamagna, ove gravò poco. E in questo medesimo anno cominciò a passare le montagne, e stendersi in Proenza, e in Savoia, e nel Dalfinato, e in Borgogna, e per la marina di Marsilia e d’Acquamorta, e per la Catalogna, e nell’isola di Maiolica, e in Ispagna e in Granata. E nel 1349 ebbe compreso fino nel ponente, le rive del Mare oceano, d’Europa e d’Affrica e d’Irlanda, e l’isola d’Inghilterra e di Scozia, e l’altre isole di ponente, e tutto infra terra con quasi eguale mortalità salvo in Brabante ove poco offese. E nel 1350 premette gli Alamanni, e gli Ungheri, Frigia, Danesmarche, Gotti, e Vandali, e gli altri popoli e nazioni settentrionali.

It took in the coasts of Africa and its eastern lands, and the shores of our Tyrrhenian Sea. Moving westward over time, it took in Sardinia, Corsica, and the other islands of this sea. On the other side, called Europe, it reached the nearby lands to the west in the same way, striking the south more fiercely than the north. In the year of Christ 1348 it had infected all Italy except the city of Milan and some places near the Alps, which divide Italy from Germany; there it weighed lightly. That same year it began to cross the mountains and spread into Provence, Savoy, the Dauphiné, and Burgundy, along the coast at Marseille and Aigues-Mortes, and into Catalonia, the island of Majorca, Spain, and Granada. By 1349 it had reached the shores of the Ocean in the far west, in Europe, Africa, and Ireland, the islands of England and Scotland, and the other western islands. Inland, too, the mortality was almost equal everywhere, except in Brabant, where it did little harm. In 1350 it bore down on the Germans, the Hungarians, Frisia, Denmark, the Goths and Vandals, and the other peoples and nations of the north.

Dicta autem mortalitas, ut dicitur, inter incredulos inchoavit, deinde ad Italiam venit; postea montes pertransiens ad Avinionem accessit, ubi etiam aliquos dominos cardinales invasit; totam familiam abstulit tunc ab eis. Deinde per Vasconiam et Hispaniam paulative de villa ad villam, de vico ad vicum, et ultimo de domo ad domum, imo de persona ad personam inopinate ad has partes gallicanas accedens, usque ad Alemanniam transivit, minus tamen ad ipsos quam ad nos.

This mortality began, people say, among the unbelievers, and then came to Italy. Next it crossed the mountains and reached Avignon, where it struck some of the lord cardinals and carried off their whole households. Then it moved little by little through Gascony and Spain, from town to town, from village to village, then from house to house, and even from person to person. It came unexpectedly to these parts of France and passed on into Germany, though it hit them less hard than us.

Dicebant quod haec pestilentia ex aeris infectione et aquarum oriebatur, quia tunc temporis non erat fames nec defectus victualium quorumcumque, sed abundantia magna. Unde ex hujus opinione aeris infecti et aquarum et mortis ita subitae, impositum fuit judaeis, quod ipsi puteos et aquas infecerant et aerem corruperant; propter quod mundus contra eos crudeliter insurrexit, in tantum quod, in Alemannia et alibi per diversas partes mundi ubi judaei habitabant, fuerunt trucidati et occisi a christianis, et cremati passim et indifferenter multa millia judaeorum. Et est mirandum de eorum et suarum uxorum fatua constantia; nam dum cremarentur, ne eorum parvuli ad baptismum convolarent, matres eorum primo in ignem projiciebant liberos, deinde post ipsos eaedem matres super ipsos in ignem se praecipitabant, ut cum maritis et eorum parvulis cremarentur.

People said that this pestilence came from infection of the air and the waters, because at that time there was no famine and no shortage of food of any kind, but great plenty. Because of this belief that the air and waters were infected, and because death came so suddenly, the Jews were accused of having infected the wells and waters and corrupted the air. For this the world rose against them cruelly. In Germany and elsewhere, in many parts of the world where Jews lived, Christians slaughtered and killed them. They burned many thousands of Jews everywhere, without distinction. The foolish steadfastness of the men and their wives is astonishing. While they were being burned, the mothers first threw their children into the fire, so that the little ones would not run to baptism. Then the same mothers threw themselves into the fire after them, to be burned with their husbands and children.

Peson of Almayne. Take white pesoun, waisshe hem seeþ hem a grete while. take hem and cole hem thurgh a cloth, waisshe hem in colde water til the hulles go off, cast hem in a pot and couere þat no breth go out. and boile hem right wel. and cast þerinne gode mylke of almandes and a pertye of flour of Rys wiþ powdour gynger safroun. and salt.

German peas. Wash white peas and boil them a long time. Take them out and strain them through a cloth, then wash them in cold water until the hulls come off. Put them in a pot, cover it so that no steam escapes, and boil them very well. Add good almond milk and some rice flour, with ground ginger, saffron and salt.

Wie nun der tantze ein ende hatte, ward ich dem Ipperu Wasu überliffert. Daselbst hatten sie mich in guter bewarung. Da sagte er mir, ich hette noch etlich zeit zu leben. Und sie brachten ire abgötter alle so in der hütten waren, und setzten sie umb mich her und sagten, Die hettens geweissaget, das man einen Portugaleser hette sollen fangen. Da sagte ich, die dinger haben keine macht, und können auch nicht reden, und ligen, das ich ein Portugaleser bin, sonder ich bin der Frantzosen freund verwanten einer, und das landt da ich daheime bin, heysset Allemanien.

When the dance was over, I was handed over to Ipperu Wasu, and there they kept me under close guard. He told me I still had some time to live. They brought all the idols that were in the hut, set them around me, and said these had foretold that they would capture a Portuguese. I said, "These things have no power and cannot speak. They are lying when they say I am Portuguese. I am a friend and kinsman of the French, and the land where I am at home is called Allemanien."

Quinquaginta millibus miliarium Germanicorum in ætheris profundo sita est LEVANIA insula: iter ad eam hinc, vel ex eâ in has terras rarissimè patet: et cùm patet nostræ quidem genti facilè est; hominibus verò transportandis planè difficilimum, et cum summo vitæ periculo conjunctum: Nulli à nobis sedentarij adsciscuntur in hunc comitatum, nulli corpulenti, nulli delicati; sed legimus eos, qui ætatem veredorum assiduo usu consumunt, aut qui navibus frequenter Indias adeunt, pane biscocto, allio, piscibus duratis, et cibis abhorrentibus victitare sueti. Inprimis nobis aptæ sunt vetulæ exsuccæ, quibus indè à pueritia trita est ratio, hircos nocturnos, aut furcas, aut trita pallia inequitandi, trajiciendique per immania terrarum spacia. Nulli è Germania viri apti sunt: Hispanorum sicca corpora non respuimus.

Fifty thousand German miles up in the depths of the ether lies the island of Levania. The road to it from here, or from there to these lands, is very rarely open. When it is open, the trip is easy for our kind. But for carrying humans it is extremely hard, and it puts their lives in the greatest danger. We take no one into our company who sits still all day, and no one fat or soft. We choose people who spend their lives riding post-horses, or who often sail to the Indies, living on ship’s biscuit, garlic, dried fish, and other unpleasant food. Dried-up old women suit us best. Since childhood they have practiced riding by night on goats, pitchforks, or worn-out cloaks, and crossing huge stretches of land. No men from Germany are fit for it, but we do not turn down the dry bodies of Spaniards.