I left there on All Saints Day, taking the London road and passing by St Thomas of Canterbury; and in London I had news that the king of England was in a great enclosed park — like the Bois de Vincennes near Paris — called Woodstock8, 8 miles from Oxonia9 where there is a great Studium Generale (i.e. university), which the English call Oxenford10; said park is very fine and the king has a very fine dwelling there and the mansion is very fine with many stories and buildings. And on account of the letters of the King of France which I brought I was very well received and they did me much honor and had me guided and safe throughout his kingdom, all of which I crossed without stopping anywhere — it is true that I did stay ten days with the king.
I left the court and went by daily stages until I entered a region called Chestershire11, which is in the Welsh March, as far as the city of Chester, where I embarked and following the coast of Wales I came to a place called Holyhead; and from there I departed and crossed the deep with a fine wind in the direction of Ireland. Despalaguí (DE ESPALEGE) in the isle of Man12 which belonged to the king of a hundred knights in the time of King Arthur and is today well populated and belongs to the king of England; and from there I crossed, still with good weather, and arrived in Ireland and after a few days I disembarked in the city.13
And there I found the Earl of March14, cousin to King Richard of England, who received me most nobly thanks to the letters of recommendation of the king and queen of England. I told him of the intention of the journey which I proposed to undertake. And the lord advised me strongly against it, saying that for two reasons I should not undertake this journey: one was that I would have to go through strange places inhabited by wild people who had no governance which anyone should trust; the other reason was that entering the purgatory was a very dangerous matter and many good knights had lost themselves there and not returned; so by no means should I wish to enter therein nor lead myself astray there. The earl did his best to oppose my going and, when he saw that I was so inclined, he gave me two of his horses and some jewels and gave me two squires, one called John of Ivry who guided me through the land which the king of England holds in Ireland and all the time we were riding did not allow us to spend anything but covered all our expenses to my sorrow; and another called John Talbot who knew the Irish language. He was my interpreter.
And these two had orders to take me to the archbishop of Armagh15 and this they did. The latter is the highest person of the Irish in the island and he is their pope. We found him in the town of Drogheda16, which town is as large as Puigcerdà or Tarragona. And the aforesaid squires presented me to the archbishop to whom I gave the letters of the king and queen of England and of the Earl of March. And the said archbishop received me most graciously and did me great honor. When he knew my wishes, he strongly opposed my journey and strongly advised me not to go on it, saying that over and above the danger of entering the purgatory, neither he nor anyone could make it safe through the lands of king Ó Néill or other lords through whose lands I would have to pass before reaching the purgatory; if he did not wish to get lost in the land, no way should I try it. And afterwards he set me in the vestry of the great church where he strongly advised and begged me to by no means enter the purgatory, telling me much of the dangers and scandals which have happened to various people who were lost inside the purgatory; he told me even more of all the dangers which might ensue or are therein, to which I replied as God had ordained for me and confirmed that never would I leave or abandon making my journey; and when he saw that he could not shift me from my purpose, he gave me all the directions he could and gave me permission to go and heard my confession and I took Our Lord most secretly from his hand and he told me that in the week he would be in a town called Dundalk17. And so he did.
And I at once departed from him and went to the aforesaid town and from there sent to king Ó Néill who was in the city of Armagh.18 He indeed sent me a safe conduct and one of his knights and a messenger to lead me to where they were. And the aforesaid archbishop came on the day fixed and brought with him a hundred men at arms armed in their manner to accompany me and left me an interpreter who was first cousin to John Talbot; and with the hundred men at arms I entered Irish territory where king Ó Néill reigned. And when I had ridden some five miles ahead, the said riders dared not go further because they are all great enemies; but they stayed on a hill and I took leave of them and went ahead.
And after I had gone about half a league, I found king Ó Néill's marshal with a good hundred men on horseback, likewise armed in their fashion, with whom I spoke. And leaving him I went to the king who received me well in their fashion and sent me a gift of food, that is to say beef because they neither eat bread nor drink wine, because they have none; but they drink water and the great lords drink milk for their nobility and some drink meat broth. Since their customs and manners are very strange to us, I shall recount for you as briefly as I can something of their conditions and manners, of what I saw of them with the king, with whom on my return journey I spent the feast of Christmas, despite the fact that passing when I was first with him I had not seen enough of them.