Incipit visio cuiusdam militis Hiberniensis ad edificationem multorum conscripta De situ insule
The Blessed Isle
Ireland is praised as a fertile, pleasant island in the western ocean, free from serpents and poison.
Ireland. So the island is placed in the farthest western ocean. It stretches from south to north. It's remarkable for its pools and rivers. It's planted with groves. It's most fertile in fruits, rich in milk and honey, and abounds in every kind of fishing and hunting. It has no vineyards, but it's rich in wine. As for serpents—
A Land Set Apart
Ireland lacks poisonous creatures, is distinguished in religion, but cruel and renowned in arms.
Of frogs. Of toads. And bearing the poisons of all animals, so ignorant of it that its wood— or a strap, or horn, or dust — all poisons are known to be conquered by these. Among religious men and women it is sufficiently distinguished; but in arms it is cruel and renowned.
The Neighbors of Ireland
The surrounding lands around Ireland are named, along with its thirty-four cities and two metropolitan sees.
To the south, nearby, lies England. toward the east, indeed, the Scots. nor also the Britons. whom some call Gauls; toward the north, however, the Cati and Orkneys. Opposite, indeed, toward the south, the Spaniards.
Tugdalus, the Noble Knight
Tugdalus is introduced as a young, noble, handsome, courtly, and capable knight, whose story provides the material for the work.
So this island has thirty-four principal cities, and the bishops of two of them are subject to metropolitan sees. For Armagh is the metropolitan see of the northern Irish, but the most distinguished one of the southern region belongs to Cashel. From this island was born a certain nobleman named Tugdalus, whose cruelty— or rather, what divine piety accomplished in him. gave material for this little work of ours. The man I've mentioned was young in years, noble by birth, cheerful in expression, handsome in appearance, and raised with courtly refinement. Well put together in his dress. Magnanimous in spirit, no ordinary hand at the art of war, and capable. Affable. And good company.
The Knight's Blindness
Despite his gifts, Tugdalus trusted in his strength and neglected his soul, refusing spiritual counsel and giving to entertainers instead of the poor.
But I can't say this without pain. The more he trusted in his physical appearance and strength, the less he cared about the eternal salvation of his soul. For as he himself is often accustomed to confess with tears, it weighed on him if anyone wanted to say anything to him about the salvation of the soul, even briefly. He had neglected the church of God. Indeed, he refused even to look upon the poor of Christ, giving everything he had to jesters and entertainers for the sake of empty glory. to actors and to jugglers, handing out everything he had for the sake of empty glory.
Mercy Intervenes
Divine mercy intervenes, and Tugdalus falls dead for three days in Cork, during which he learns to love and endures much.
But when divine mercy saw fit to put an end to so many evils, it called him forth when it willed. For as most of the inhabitants of the city of Cork bear witness — those who were with him at the time — he lay dead for a span of three days and nights, and through that span he learned to love. Whatever he had once left undone in ease and comfort — his present life bears witness to it. Whatever he endured.
A Witness to Torment
He suffered incredible and unbearable torments, which the narrator promises to recount from his own mouth for the reader's devotion.
He suffered, after all, a great many incredible things. And unbearable kinds of torments. We learned the order of these torments, or their names, just as they came from the mouth of the very one who had seen them and was suffering them; and it will not be a burden for us to write them to you for the increase of your devotion.
The Fatal Meal
Tugdalus visits a debtor friend, stays three nights, becomes furious when payment is withheld, but agrees to eat before leaving.
Since this man had many friends, among his companions, he had one who owed him a debt of exchange, and was in debt to him for three horses. When the appointed time he'd been waiting for had passed, he went to meet his friend, who, having been welcomed kindly, stayed for three nights. he began to talk about other matters, and when the other man replied, He was furious that he didn't have the hand he'd aimed at, and in his anger he resolved to go back the way he'd come. The debtor, wanting to soften his friend's anger, begged him to deign to take food with him before he left. Since he couldn't refuse his prayers, he sat down, and the axe he'd been holding was set aside. He began to eat with his companion.
Struck Down
As he eats, divine mercy strikes his extended hand so it cannot return to his mouth, and he cries out that he is dying.
But divine mercy anticipated this desire; for I don't know by what swift occasion he was struck, the hand he had extended. could not fold it back to his mouth. Then he began to shout terribly, and entrusted his own axe — which he had laid down before — to his comrade's wife, saying: 'Guard,' he said, 'my axe; for I am dying.'
The Signs of Death
His soul departs and the unmistakable physical signs of death appear throughout his body.
And then the body, struck down by the word, immediately collapsed from the soul, as if the spirit had never been there at all. The signs of death are present. His hair turns white. His brow grows hard. His eyes wander. His nose grows sharp; his lips turn pale. His jaw drops, and all the limbs of his body grow stiff.
The City Mourns
The household cries out, the body is laid out, bells ring, clergy come, and the whole city is shaken by the sudden death of the good knight.
The household runs to him. Food is taken away; the armor-bearers cry out. The guest weeps; the body is laid out. The bells are rung. The clergy hurry in. The people marvel, and the whole city is shaken by the sudden death of the good knight.
Three Days of Death
From Wednesday until the same hour on the Sabbath he lay dead, with only faint warmth in his left chest, so they refused to bury him.
Why are we waiting? From around the tenth hour on Wednesday the man lay dead right up until that same hour on the Sabbath. No trace of life remained in him, except that a faint warmth could be felt in his left chest by those who had carefully tried to feel the body. Therefore they had refused to bury the body, because they sensed warmth in that small part of it.
Return to Life
Before clergy and people assembled for burial, he began to breathe again for about an hour, amazing all who were present.
After this, with the clergy present and the people who had gathered to bury him. he drew breath again and, with faint breathing, began to respire for about the space of an hour. Everyone is amazed, even the wise, saying: 'Isn't this a spirit going out and not coming back?'
A Prayer of Mercy
Reviving, he receives Communion and praises God, confessing that divine mercy is greater than his iniquity and has brought him back from the depths.
Then that man, looking around with a weak gaze, when they asked him whether he wished to receive Communion, he nodded for the Body of the Lord to be brought; and when he received it, and drank the wine, he began with thanksgiving to praise God, saying, 'O God, your mercy is greater than my iniquity, even though it is exceedingly great. How many tribulations you have shown me, grievous and hard; and having turned, you have brought me back to life. and from the depths of the earth you have brought me back again.'
A New Life
He gives all he has to the poor, vows to leave his former life, and later recounts in detail everything he saw and suffered.
And when he had said these things, he scattered and gave to the poor everything he had under the terms of the testament; but he himself ordered that he be signed with the sign of the saving cross. And he vowed that, going forward, he would leave his former life behind completely. Everything, however, that he had seen or had suffered he later recounted to us, telling it in detail.
Read the original Latin
HIBERNIA. IGITUR INSULA est in ultimo occidentali occeano posita. ab austro in boream porrecta. stagnis et fluminibus precipua. nemoribus insita. frugibus fertilissima; lacte et melle omnibusque piscationis et venationis generibus opulenta. Vinearum expers; sed vini dives. Serpentium.
ranarum. bufonum. et omnium animalium venena ferentium ita inscia; ut eius lignum. aut corrigia. aut cornu. aut pulvis omnia vincere noscantur venena. Religiosis viris et feminis satis preclara; armis autem crudelis et inclita.
Cominus ad meridiem habens Angliam. ad ortum vero Scottos. nec non et Brittos. quos quidam Gallenses vocant; ad boream autem Catos et Orcades. ex adverso vero ad austrum Hispanos.
Hec ergo insula civitates habet precipuas triginta quattuor; quarum presules duobus subsunt metropolitanis. Artmacha namque septentrionalium Hiberniensium est metropolis; australium autem precellentissima est Caselensis. de qua ortus est quidam vir nobilis nomine Tugdalus; cuius crudelitas. vel pocius in eo quod egit divina pietas. nostro huic opusculo materiam dedit.
Erat namque vir prefatus etate iuvenis. genere nobilis. vultu hilaris. aspectu decorus; curialiter nutritus. vestibus compositus. mente magnanimus; militari arte non mediocriter instructus; habilis. affabilis. atque iocundus.
Verum quod ego sine dolore non possum dicere. quanto confidebat in forma corporis et fortitudine; tanto minus curabat de anime sue eterna salute. Nam ut ipse modo sepius cum lacrimis solet confiteri; gravabat ipsum si quis ei de salute anime aliquid licet breviter vellet dicere. Ecclesiam dei neglexerat. pauperes autem Christi etiam videre nolebat; scurris. mimis. et ioculatoribus pro vana gloria distribuerat quicquid habebat.
Sed cum tot malis divine misericordie finem dare placuit; eum quando voluit provocavit. Nam ut plurimi Corgagensis civitatis incole testantur. qui ei tunc aderant per trium dierum et noctium spacium iacuit mortuus; per quod spacium amare didicit. quicquid antea suaviter deliquid; nam vita eius presens testatur. quecumque paciebatur.
Passus est enim plurima incredibilia. et intolerabilia tormentorum genera. quorum ordinem sive nomina sicut ab ipsius qui viderat et patiebatur ore didicimus; nos ad augmentationem vestre devotionis vobis scribere non gravabit.
Hic igitur cum multos haberet amicos. sodales; inter eos unum habuerat. qui ei commutationis debito. trium equorum debitor erat. Hic cum statutum prestolaretur terminum; suum transacto tempore convenit amicum. Qui cum bene receptus perendinaret tribus noctibus. cepit tractare de ceteris rebus. Cui cum ille responderet.
se ad manum non habere quod pecierat; multum iratus iter expetere disposuerat quo veniebat. Debitor vero mitigare cupiens amicum suum; rogabat eum quatenus secum priusquam recederet dignaretur sumere cibum. Cuius cum precibus negare nequiret resedit; et securi deposita quam manu tenebat. cibos cum socio sumere cepit.
Sed prevenit divina pietas hunc appetitum; nescio namque cita qua occasione percussus manum quam extenderat. replicare ad os suum non poterat. Tunc terribiliter clamare cepit; suamque securim quam antea deposuerat uxori socii sic commendavit. 'Custodi' inquiens 'meam securim; nam ego morior.'
Et tunc verbotenus corpus ex anime continuo corruit; ac si nullatenus spiritus antea ibi fuisset. Assunt signa mortis. crines candent. frons obduratur. errant oculi. nasus acuitur; pallescunt labia. mentum cadit; et universa corporis membra rigescunt.
Currit familia. tollitur cibus; clamant armigeri. plorat hospes; corpus extenditur. pulsantur signa. accurrit clerus. miratur populus; et tota civitas cita boni militis morte turbatur.
Quid moramur? Ab hora quasi decima in quarta feria. usque ad eandem ipsam horam in sabbato mortuus iacebat. nullo remanente in eo vite signo; excepto quod calor modicus in sinistro pectore ab his qui diligenter corpus palpare studuerant sentiebatur. Eapropter ipsum corpus subterrare noluerant; eo quod calorem in ipsa eius partiuncula sentiebant.
Post hec autem presente clero. et populo qui ad sepeliendum illum convenerant. resumpsit spiritum; et debili flatu quasi per unius hore spacium respirare cepit. Mirantur cuncti etiam sapientes dicentes. 'Nonne hic spiritus vadens et non rediens?'
Tunc ille debili intuitu circumspiciens. interrogantibus se si vellet communicare. innuit afferri corpus domini; et cum illud sumeret. et vinum biberet. cepit cum gratiarum actione deum laudare dicens. 'O deus maior est misericordia tua. quam iniquitas mea licet sit magna nimis. Quantas ostendisti mihi tribulationes multas et malas; et conversus vivificasti me.
et de abyssis terre iterum reduxisti me.'
Et cum hec dixisset; omnia sub testamento que habuit dispersit et dedit pauperibus; ipse vero signo se salutifere crucis signari precepit. et pristinam vitam in antea se relicturum omnimodis vovit.
Cuncta autem que viderat. aut passus fuerat. nobis postmodum dicens narravit.
Visions of Tondal (Les Visions du chevalier Tondal) companion
Tondal came back and changed how he lived daily. That's the whole point.
Chosen Portion builds the daily practice Tondal's vision demanded: a morning reading that keeps eternity in view.
The Visio was written 'for the edification of many' as a spur to daily amendment of life, and Chosen Portion supplies that daily spur with a morning reading and evening examen.
- A daily portion from historic texts on living well and dying well
- The complete 27-chapter Visions of Tondal in modern readable English
- A built-in daily examen prompt — 2 minutes at day's end