Note (5) — 57.—Of Constantinoppel.

(5.) “he has no longer that power, so the apple has disappeared.”—Stephen of Novgorod (Pout. Rouss. loud., ii, 14), a pilgrim passing through Constantinople about the year 1350, certifies that the emperor held in his hand a kind of golden apple surmounted by a cross. Clavijo says the “pella redonda dorada” was in its place, and so, we may conclude, was the cross; because in 1420, Zosimus (Pout. Rouss. loud., ii, 38) saw the cross on the apple that was in the emperor’s hand; it is probable, therefore, that these insignias were removed between the years 1420–1427, at which latter date Schiltberger spent some months at Constantinople after his escape from bondage.