Of the byrth of Machomet.
AND ye shall understande yt Machomet was borne in Araby, and that he was first a pore drudge & kept horse & went after marchaundise. And so he came once into Egipt with marchaundise & Egipt was the same time Christen, & there was a chappell besyde Araby, & there was an hermite & when he came to the chappell yt was but a lyttle house and a lowe, as sone as he entered, it began to be as great as it were of a palas gate and that was the first miracle that the Sarasyns saye that he did in his youth. After began Machomet to be wise and rich and became a great Astronomer, and sithen was he keper of the lande of the prince Corodan and governed it full well, in such maner that when the prince was dead he maryed the lady yt men call Quadryge.1 And Mahomet fell often in the falling evill,2 wherefore the lady was wroth that she had taken him unto hir husband, & he made hir to understande that every tyme that he fell so, he said that Gabriel the aungell spake to him, and for the great brightnesse of the aungell he fell downe. This Machomet raigned in Araby the yeare of our Lord, vi hundred and xx3 and he was of the kinde of Ismael that was Abrahams son that he begat of Agar, and other are called Sarasins of Sara, but some are called Moabites and some Amenites after the two sons of Loth. And also Machomet loved well a good man an hermite that dwelled in the wildernesse a myle from Mounte Sinay in the way as men go from Araby to Caldee, and a dayes journey fro the sea where marchaunts of Venice come, and Machomet went so often to this hermyte that all his men were wroth, for he harde4 gladly the hermit preach, and his men did walke all the night & thought they would this hermyte were dead. So it befell on a night that Machomet was full dronken of good wine, and he fell in a slepe, and his men toke Machomets sworde out of his sheath whyles he lay and slept, and therewith they slew the Hermit, and afterwarde they put up the sword againe all bloudy, and upon the morow when that he founde the Hermite thus dead, he was in his mynde verye angry, and right wroth, and woulde haue done his men unto the death, but they all with one accorde, and with one will sayde that he himselfe hadde slaine hym when he was dronken, and they shewed his own swerd all bluddy & then he beleved that they sayde soth, & then cursed the wine & all those that drank it. And therefore Sarasins that are devout drinke no wine openly, else they should be reprouved but they drynke good beverage & sweete & nourishing that is made of Calamelles, and thereof is suger made.
And it befel5 sometime, yt christen men became Sarasins, either through povertie, simplenesse, or wickednesse & therefore theyr Archbishop when he received them, sayd thus,6 Laeles ella Machomet roses ella. That is to say, there is no God but one, and Machomet is his messengere. And sithern7 I have told you a part of theyr law, and of theyr customes, now I shall tell you of theyr letters that they haue with theyr names. First they have for A- almoy, B- bethath, c- cathi, d- delphoy, e- ephoti, f- forthy, g- garophin, h- hechum, i- iocchi, k- kattu, l- lothum, m- malach, n- nahalgt, o- orthy, p- choziri, q- zothii, r- rucholat, s- routhi, t- solathy, v- chorimus, x- yrithom, y- mazot, z- alepin & ioheten- com—these are the names. These foure letters have they yet more for diversitie of their language, for as much as they speake so in their throtes, as we have in our language and speake in England. Two letters may they then have in theyr A. B. C that is to say, y &, the which are called thorne- and zowx.
