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Pilgrimage of Ingulphus Abbot of Croyland, to Jerusalem, in 1064[1].

[1] Hakluyt, II. 41. Ingulph. Ab. Croyl. apud finem.

I, Ingulphus, an humble minister of St. Guthlae, in his monastery of Croyland, born of English parents, in the most beautiful city of London, was, in, my early youth, placed for my education first at Westminster, and afterwards prosecuted my studies at Oxford. Having excelled many of my fellow students in learning Aristotle, I entered upon the study of the first and second rhetoric of Tully. As I grew up towards manhood, I disdained the low estate of my parents, and quitting the dwelling of my father, I much affected to visit the courts of kings, delighting in fine garments and costly attire, And behold William, now our renewed sovereign, then only Earl of Normandy, came, with a splendid retinue to London, to confer with King Edward his kinsman. Intruding myself into his company, I proffered my services for the performance of any speedy or important affairs; and accordingly having executed many commissions with good success, I became known to and much beloved by the illustrious earl, and sailed with him to Normandy. Being there appointed his secretary, I governed his court at my pleasure, though envied by several, abasing whom I thought fit, and preferring others at my will. But, prompted by youthful pride, I began even to be wearied of this place, in which I was advanced so far beyond my birth; and, with an inconstant and over-ambitious mind, I vehemently aspired, on all occasions, to climb to higher elevation.

About this time there spread a report through Normandy, that several archbishops of the empire, and some even of the secular princes, were desirous, for the salvation of their souls, to go in pilgrimage to Jerusalem, there to pay their devotions at the Holy Sepulchre. Upon this, several of us, who were of the household of our lord, the earl, both gentlemen and clerks, of whom I was the principal person, having received permission from the earl, addressed ourselves for the voyage; and, being together thirty horsemen or more, in company, we went into Germany, and joined ourselves to the Archbishop of Mentz. The whole being assembled, the company of this archbishop amounted to seven thousand persons, all properly provided for the expedition; and we travelled prosperously through many provinces, arriving at length at the city of Constantinople. We there did reverence to the Emperor Alexius, visited the church, of Sancta Sophia, and devoutly kissed many sacred relics.

Departing from Constantinople, we travelled through Lycia, where we fell into the hands of Arabian thieves; and after we had been robbed of infinite sums of money, and had lost many of our people, we escaped with extreme peril of our lives, and at length entered joyfully into the most anxiously wished-for city of Jerusalem. We were there received by the most reverend, aged, and holy patriarch Sophronius, with a great melody of cymbals by torch-light, and were conveyed in solemn procession, by a great company of Syrians and Latins, to the church of the Most Holy Sepulchre of our blessed Saviour. Here, how many prayers we uttered, what abundance of tears we shed, what deep sighs we breathed forth, is only known to our Lord Jesus Christ. From the most glorious sepulchre of Christ, we were conducted to visit the other sacred monuments of the holy city; and saw, with weeping eyes, a great number of holy churches and oratories, which Achius the Soldan of Egypt had lately destroyed. And, having deeply bewailed all the ruins of that most holy city, both within and without its walls, and having bestowed money for the re-edifying of some of these, we expressed the most ardent desire to go forth into the country, that we might wash ourselves in the sacred river Jordan, and that we might visit and kiss all the holy footsteps of the blessed Redeemer. But the Arabian robbers, who lurked in every part of the country, would not suffer us to travel far from the city, on account of their numbers and savage manners.

About the spring of the year, there arrived a fleet of ships from, Genoa, at the port of Joppa; and when the Christian merchants had exchanged all their commodities in the towns upon the coast, and had likewise visited the holy places, we all embarked. After being tossed about upon the seas by many storms and tempests, we landed at Brundusium; whence, with a prosperous journey, we travelled through Apulia to Rome, where we visited the habitations of the holy apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, and performed our devotions at various monuments of the holy, martyrs in different parts of the city. From thence, the archbishops and other princes of the empire Journeyed towards the right hand for Germany, while we declined to the left hand into France, taking our leaves of each other with indescribable courtesey and kindly greeting. And at length, of thirty horsemen of us who went from Normandy fat and lusty, scarce twenty poor pilgrims returned, all on foot, and reduced almost to skeletons with fatigue and hardships.