CAP. LXVIII.
Wherefore that the Emperour of Cathay is called the great Caane.
AND ye shall understande why he is called yegreat Caane, ye knowe ytall the worlde was destroied with Noes floud but Noe his wife & children. Noe had three sons, Sem, Cham & Japhet. Cham when he saw his father naked when he slept, scorned him & therefore he was cursed and Japhet covered him againe. These three brethrene hadde all the land. Cham toke the best parte eastward that is called Asia. Sem toke Afryke and Japhet toke Europe. Cham was the mightiest and richest of his bretherne and of him are come the Paynim folke & divers maner of men of the yles, some headlesse, and other men disfigured, and for this Cham the Emperour there called him Cham and Lord of all. But ye shall understande that the Emperour of Cathay is called Caane, and not Cham, & for this cause, it is not long ago that all Tartary was in subjection and thrall to other nations about, and they were made herdemen to kepe beastes, and among them was vii linages1or kindes, the firste was called Tartary that is the best, the second linage is called Tamghot,2the third Furace,3the fourth Valaire, the fifth Semoth,4the sixth Menchy,5the seventh Sobeth.6These are all holding of the great Caane ofCathay. Now it befell so that the first linage was an olde man & hee was not ryche and men called him Chanius. This man lay and slept on a nighte in his bedde, and there came to him a knighte, all white, sitting uppon a white hors, and sayde to him, Caane slepeste thou? God that is almighty sent me to thee, & it is his will that thou saye to the vii linages ytthou shalt be theyr Emperour, for ye shall conquere all the lande about you, and they shall be in your subjection as you have bene in theirs. And when morow came he rose up and sayde it to the vii linages, and they scorned him and sayde he was a fole, and the next night the same knighte came to the vii linages and bad them of gods behalfe to make Chanius their Emperour, and they shold be out of all subjection. And on the morow they chose Chanius to be Emperour, and dyd him all worship that they might do, & called him Caane as the white knighte called him, and they sayde they would doe as he badde them. Then he made many statutes and lawes, the which he called Ysakan.7The firste statute was, that they shoulde be obedient to God almyghtie, and beleve that he should deliver them out of thraldome, and that they shoulde call on him in all their workes. Another statute was, ytall men that might beare armes shoulde be nombred, and to eche x shoulde be a master, and to a hundred a master, and to a thousand a master. Then he commaunded to all the greatest and principallest of the vii linages, that they should forsake all that they had in heritage or lordship, and that they should hold them payed of that he wold give them of his grace, and they did so. And also he bad them yteche man should bringe his eldestsonne before him, and sleay his owne sonne with his owne handes, and smyte of their heads, and as sone they did his bidding. And when he saw they made no letting8of what he bad them, then bad he them folow his baner, and then he put in subjection all the landes about him.
1:People or tribes.2:Tangut, or Tanghút, is the name given to certain tribes of Thibetan extraction, who lived on the north-west frontier of China.3:Called variously Eurache, Semoche, Megly and Coboghe, whose relative positions can scarcely now be defined accurately.4:As Footnote 3.5:As Footnote 3.6:As Footnote 3.7:Others write it Ysya-Chan.8:Hindrance.
1:People or tribes.
2:Tangut, or Tanghút, is the name given to certain tribes of Thibetan extraction, who lived on the north-west frontier of China.
3:Called variously Eurache, Semoche, Megly and Coboghe, whose relative positions can scarcely now be defined accurately.
4:As Footnote 3.
5:As Footnote 3.
6:As Footnote 3.
7:Others write it Ysya-Chan.
8:Hindrance.