It is true that the king becomes king by succession and there are various kings in that island which is as large as the island of England, but this Ó Néill is the greatest king and all the others come of his lineage. And he has a good 140 horsemen riding with no saddle but with a cushion and wearing a slashed cloak, which each man wears according to his rank, and they equip themselves with a coat of mail and have their breasts girded, with chain mail throat pieces and round iron helmets like Moors or Saracens; and there were some like foot soldiers with swords and knives and very long thin spears — like other old-fashioned spears they are two fathoms long; the swords are like those of the Saracens which we call Genoese swords; the pommel and the guard are different, almost like a hand stretched out; the knives are long and as narrow as the little finger and they are very sharp. This is their manner of arming themselves and some of them use bows which are as small as half the size of the English bow, yet they strike as hard as the English. And they are bold and have been at war with the English for a long time and the king of England cannot have his way. He has had to fight various battles with them. And their way of making war is like that of the Saracens and they shout in the same way. And the great lords wear a coat with no lining down to their knees, cut very low at the neckline like women, and they wear great hoods which go down to their waist, the point being as narrow as one's finger and they wear neither leggings nor shoes nor britches but wear their spurs on their bare heels.
The king was in that state on Christmas day and all his clergy and knights and bishops and abbots and other great lords. The common people go as they may, badly dressed — but most of them wear a cape of frieze; and both men and women shamelessly show all their privates. Poor people go naked but they all wear those capes, good or bad, including ladies. The queen and her daughter and her sister were clothed and bound in green but they were unshod; the queen's handmaids — there was a good score of them — were dressed as I told you above and showed their privy parts with as little shame as here they show their faces.
And with the king there were about three thousand horses and also many poor folk to whom I saw the king give great alms of beef.
And moreover they are the most handsome men and fairest women that I have seen in the whole world. And moreover they never sowed any corn nor do they have any wine but all their food is meat and the great lords drink milk for their nobility and the others meat broth and water; but they have enough butter for all their livestock is oxen and cows and fine horses.
On Christmas day, according to what my interpreter said and certain others who could speak Latin, when the king holds his great court, his table was merely a great quantity of rushes spread out on the ground and they placed near him the finest grass they could find to wipe his mouth with and they brought the food on two poles just as they transport grape buckets at the wine harvest: you can imagine that the squires were badly dressed. Animals ate only grass instead of oats and holly leaf which they roast a bit because of the prickles on it. And let that suffice for the customs because I wish to say no more of them.
The king received me well and sent me an ox. In all his court there was neither bread to eat nor wine to drink, but as a great present he sent me two small flat loaves as thin as ‘neules’ (very thin Catalan waffles now eaten at Christmas) which bent like uncooked dough; they were made of oats and looked like earth, as black as charcoal but really tasty. And then the king gave me a safe conduct to pass through all his land and his people, on foot or on horseback, and spoke long and loud and most diligently he inquired of me about the Christian kings, particularly the kings of France, Aragon and Castile, and about their customs and manner of life; and according to what appeared from his words, they consider their own customs the best and most perfect in the world.
For the most part their dwellings are commonly near the cattle; and with the cattle they make their dwellings; and one day, when the pastures are consumed, they decamp like the bedouins19 of Barbary and the land of the sultan and move their town and all go off together.