Leicester Rutland Lincoln Huntingdon Northampton Warwick Oxen Buckingham Bedford and the rest of Hartfordshire which bounded in a manner by all the rest of the Saxon Kingdoms had the name of Mercia from the word Mearc which signifieth a bound or limit The Christian Faith suppressed here as in other Kingdoms of the Saxons was restored again in the reignes of Penda Peada and Wolfhere by the Preaching of S. Chad the first Bishop of Lichfield Places of mostobservation in it 1 Hereford seated on the banks of the River Wâ—e in the middle of most flourishing meadows and no less plentifull Corn-fields raised out of the ruines of Ariconium here placed by Antonine the tract of which name it doth still retain A Bishops See in the time of the Britans restored to that dignity by the Saxons Anno 680. the honourary title of the Bohuns once Earls hereof and afterwards of Henry of Bullingbrook Duke of Hereford 2 Worcester pleasantly seated on the Severn over which it hath a very fair Bridge with a Tower upon it A Bishops See Anno 679. beautified with a fair Cathedrall and every way considerable for situation number of Churches neat buildings the industrie of the Inhabitants and giving the title of an Earl to the noble familie of the Somersets extracted by the Beauforts from John of Gaunt 3 Lichfield the first Bishops See amongst the Mercians founded there Anno 6 6. by Oswy King of the Northumbers but fixed and setled by S. Chad in the reign of Walshere King of the Mercians endowed in the very infancy with such fair possessions that in the yeer 793 Aâ—uâ—â—us the Bishop hereof was made Archbishop of the Mercians But it proved onely a personall honour and died with him 4 Coventry so called from an old Covent or Religious house which gave name unto it Situate in Warwick-shire and now the principall of that County though esteemed a County of it self Beautified with a goodly wall two fair Parish Churches large streets and very handsom houses A City of great trade and riches though destitute of all advantages which a navigable River might afford it heretofore of great fame for a stately monastery to which the See Episcopall was for a while removed from Lichfield now a ruine onely 5 Leicestâ—r once a Bishops See the Diocese taken out of Lichfield Anno 733 removed to Dorcâ—â—ster neer Oxon and thence to Lincoln Beautified in those dayes with a fair Collegiate Church a magnificent Abbie and a strong Castle all decayed and ruined by the iniquity and injury of these later times the Town remaining in as good plight both for trade and buildings as most Towns do which want a Navigable River Of most fame for the Earls thereof Algar and Edwin noble Saxons Simonâ—de Montfort the Catiline and great Incendiary of this Kingdom the Princes of the house of Lancaster who bore this title with some others since 6 Darby upon the River Derwent a well-traded Town and of good resort adorned with the five 〈◊〉 a goodly stone-bridge and a large Market-place the honourarie title of the noble 〈…〉 created Earls hereof by King Henry the 7th 7 〈◊〉 seated on the 〈◊〉 but very high upon an hill which over-looks it For buildings fair streets and a spaciou Market-place not giving way to many Cities but of most fame for a Royall and magnificent Castle which for strength stateliness and prospect may justly challenge the precedâ—â—cie of most in England 8 Lincoln a Town in those dayes of great strength and note one of the best peopled Cities in all the Hepâ—archie and of great merchandise and traffick both by Sea and Landâ— insomuch that 〈◊〉 then Bishop of Dâ—rchester thought fit to translate hither the Episcopall See Now much decayed and thence the Proverb that Lincoln was London is c. The chief fame which it now hath is for the Minster one of the stateliest Piles in England and perhaps in Christ 〈…〉 high seated on an hill and from thence discerned over all the Countrie 9 Huntingdon or the Hunters Town from the great sport the Hunters sound in the neighbouring Forrest commodiously seated on the Northern bank of the River Ouse rising unto the North with a soft ascent consisting of four parish Churches and shews the ruines of a Castle built by Edward the Elder Anno 917. 10 Peterburgh seated in a Nook or Angle of Northamptonshire where formerly had been a gulâ—or whirlâ—pool of exceeding depth but made firm ground by Wolfere King of the Mercians when be laid the foundations of the Monastery Anno 633. dedicated to S. Peter whence it had this name before then called Medanshedâ— A â—own but for the Church of no great esteem as standing out of the way for trade and in no plausible place for health or pleasure yet shewing two handsom streets a large Market-place and a fair Parish Church besides the Abbie made an Episcopall See by King Henry the 8th 11 Northampton built on the Northern bank of the River Antona now Nâ—n whence it had the name A Town which for the beauty and circuit of it need not give way to many Cities fortified heretofore with a very strong Castle and seated in so good an Air that once the Students of Cambridge had a purpose to remove their Vniversity hither The noble Family of the Comptans are now Earls hereof 12 Bedford so called from Beds and Lodgings on the Ford built on both sides thereof for the use of Travellers growing in time to so great bigness as to contain in it five Parish Churches famous in former times for the great battell sought in the adjoyning fields Anno 572 in which Cuthwolf the Saxon vanquished the Britans and became Master of the Countrey But more famous for giving the title of Duke to John of Lancaster Regent of France for King Henry the sixt and Jaspher of Hatfield Vncle to King Henry the 7th 13 S. Albans so called from a famous Monastery here founded by Offa the great King of the Mercians in honour of S. Alban the Proto-Martyr of Britain a Citizen of Verulamium neer adjoyning to it out of the ruines whereof decayed by Age and destroyed by War arose the present greatness of S. Albans the faâ—rest and best-traded Town in the County of Hartford 14 Buckingham the chief Town of the County so called situate on the River Ouse fortified by King Edward the Elder against the Danes Anno 915. otherwise not much observable but for those many noble personages which have had the title of Dukes hereof The Kings of Mercia A. Ch. 582. 1 Criedda the first King 593. 2 Webba 614. 3 Cheorl 626. 4 Penda 656. 5 Peada the first Christian King 659. 6 Wulfhere 675. 7 Etheldred 704. 8 Kenred 709. 9 Chelred 716. 10 Ethelbald overcome by Cutbert K. of the West-Saxons at a fight neer Buâ—ford in the Countie of Oxon the place still called Battelage hill 758. 11 Offa the great 796. 12 Egfride 797. 13 Kenwolf 819. 14 Kenelm 820. 15 Cheolwolf 821. 16 Bernulf
Brabant meeteth with the sea a little above Antwerpe and 5. Lis or Ley which runneth quite through Flanders Besides which Rivers and others of inferiour note which we shall meet withall in their proper places here are great store of lakes pools and marishes which do both fortifie the Countrey and provide it of fish besides many navigable channels made by the hand of man from one River to another for the convenience of passage and the more easie transport of their commodities The shore of this countrey hath been much worn out by the Sea especially that of the Islands of Zâ—land and such as lye scattered about Holland where they are defended with banks and ramparts painfully made and chargeably maintained These banks are about ten ells in height and twenty five in breadth at the bottom They are made of the hardest clay that may be gotten in the inside stuffed with wood and stone on the outside covered with mats strong and thick made The former inhabitants were divers as shall be shewed particularly in their proper dwellings They are at this present divided into seventeen Provinces besides the two great Bishopricks of Leige and Cambray which being alwaies under the protection of the Belgicke Princes partakers of their fortunes either good or ill and lying intermixt among their estates shall have their turn in the description of these Countries divided generally into 2 Bishopricks 1 Leige or Luick 2 Cambray 4 Dukedomes 1 Limburg 2 Luxenburg 3 Gelderland 4 Brabant 1 Marquisate viz. of the holy Empire 7 Earldomes 1 Flanders 2 Artoys 3 Hainault 4 Namur 5 Zutphen 6 Holland 7 Zeland 5 Baronies 1 West-Friseland 2 Vtretcht 3 Over-yssell 4 Machlin 5 Groyning Of these nineteen two only did acknowledge the Soveraignty of the Kings of France viz. Flanders and Artoys the Earls whereof were Homagers unto that Crown but seldome did descend so low as to do their Homage quitted at last to Philip the second King of Spain and his Successours by K. Henry the second of France in the treaty at Cambray Anno 1558. The rest were held originally of the German Empire and by Maximilian Emperour of Germaâ—e and Regent of those Countries for his son Philip who had a purpose to subject them to the Empire again were made the tenth Circle of the Empire called the Circle of Burgundie But neither since nor before that time would the Princes of the house of Burgundie acknowledge any such subjection but governed these Estates as absolute Princes without relation to the Empire or subordination to the Emperor or Imperiall Officers never appearing at the Diets nor contributing to any Taxes there imposed nor holding themselves bound by any Constitutions which were made therein So that these severall Relations being out of use we must behold it at this time as it stands divided betwixt the Spaniard and the States beginning first with those Provinces which belong to the Spaniard the true Proprietary of the whole and therein first with Flanders as of most esteem 1. FLANDERS and 2. ARTOIS THese two I have thought fit to joyn together because at first but one Estate and though divided for a time yet after five or six descents were again united and have so continued ever since 1. FLANDERS so called as some say a Flando because it lyeth open to the winds is bound on the East with Hainalt and Brabant on the West with the English or German Ocean on the North with the Seas of Zealand and a branch of the Scheld and on the South with part of Picardie in France interposing betwixt Calice and Graveling The Soyle indifferently fruitfull in corn and pastures the aire healthfull temperate and pleasant The whole Countrey not in length above 90. miles and in breadth but sixty and yet containing in that compasse above thirty Cities for they reckon all Cities which be walled 1154. Villages which stand so thick as needs they must in so narrow a compasse that the Spaniards aâ— their first comming in with King Philip the second took the whole Province for one Town Divided commonly into Imperialem 2. Gallicam and 3. Teutonicam or Flanders Imperiall 2. Flanders Gallicant and 3. Flanders Flammengant 1. FLANDERS FLAMMENGANT which is the greatest of the three is bounded on the East with Imperiall Flanders and the River Scheld on the west with the English Ocean on the North with the seas of Zealand and on the South with Artois and Flanders Gallicant The chief Towns of it 1. Gaunt in Latine called Gandavum seven miles in compasse but taking in the Suburbs which are great and large the whole circuit is ten miles at least One of the greatest Cities of Europe for extent of ground but not so populous as many of a lesse capacity there being made waste ground even within the wals Commodiously seated on the banks of the Scheld and the Ley both which run thorow it and make in it 26. Ilands joyned together with 98. Bridges and had not her many seditions ruinated her beauties she might have been the Queen of Europe In this Town were born John Duke of Lancaster commonly called John of Gaunt and Charles the fift Emperor and King of Spain which last to restrain the People from their old seditions which had been very troublesome to his predecessors the Gauntois taking on them many times to rule and over-rule their Princes built a strong Citadell in the place where stood the Abbie of S. Bavons For Churches Monasteries and other places of devotion there were numbred in it 55 all of them answerable to the grandeur and renown of the City the private buildings being also very stately if not majesticall But now it is much fallen from its former glories the often seditions of this people drawing upon themselves the vengeance of their angred Prince and their wealth much empaired by the long wars and the diversion of their trading by the Hollanders who command the seas 2. Bruges or Brug more within the land a town that hath neither Port nor River yet formerly of such wealth and the people in those times so willing to shew it that Queen Joan the wife of Philip the fair having been there and marked the pomp of the women complained that She was not Queen alone The town of four miles circuit within the wals wonderfully well peopled the buildings fair and sumptuous amongst which 60. Churches and Religious houses the streets large and streight and a spacious market-place from which the six principall streets of the City do passe directly on to as many â—ates which is very pleasant to behold And though the Town hath neither Port nor River as before was said yet was it anciently of so great trading that it was accounted one of the four Mart-towns of Christendome flourishing chiefly by the benefit of the English Cloth and sensibly decaying when the English traffick was removed hence to Antwerpe It was walled by Earl Baldwin Anno 890. is distant three leagues from the sea and seated
and preaching often honoured and one of the principal of the Decapolitans Some marks of its former greatness it retained when Saint Hierome lived who confesseth it to be a Town of some good capacity but so decaied in the time of Breâ—denbeck and brochardus that it consisted but of six poor Fishermens houses 3. Hamath so called from Hamaâ—â—â— the Sonne of Canaan planted in these parts a Town of such esteem in the elder times that it was rekoned one of the Gates of the Land of Canaan and therefore called in Scripture introitum Hamath or the entrance of Hamath as Num. 34. 8. Jos 13. 5. Judg. 3. 3. c. Mistaken by Saint Hierome for another of the same name in Syria by the Greeks and Romans after them called Epiphania And in this I say he is mistaken Epiphania being placed by Ptolomy two degrees more Eastward than Caesarea Philippi the most Eastern City of all Galilee and two degrees more North than that though the most Northern City of all Palestine The ground of this mistake we have seen before Won by the Syrians of Damascus it was again recovered to the Crown of Israel by Jeroboam the second the Son of Joas and after added by the Romans as were Scythopolis Pella Gadara and some other of the Cities of this tract unto Coele-Syria 4 Kadesh to difference it from others of the same name called Kaâ—â—â— Naphthalim high-seated on the top of an hill as is said Jos 20. 7. the King whereof being taken and slain by Iosuah it was made one of the Cities of Refuge and given to the Levites Most memorable for the birth of Barac who discomsited Sisera Lieutenant of the host of Jabin before mentioned in the infancy of the Jewish State one of the ten Cities of Decapolis in the time of the Romans and an Episcopal See in the first ages of Christianity 5. Riblah watered with the Fountain of Daphnis a little Riveret which hereabouts falleth into Jordan to which City as some say but I think erroniously Zedechias the unfortunate King of the Iews was brought Prisoner unto Nebuchadnezzar who caused his Children to be slain before his face and then put out his eyes But this I look on as an Errour in them that say it the scaene of this sad Tragedy being by Iosephus laid in Reblatha or Riblah a City of Syria the same which in succeeding times had the name of Antioch And certainly Iosephus who for so long was Governour of both the Galilees cannot be conceived to be so ignorant of the State of this Province as to transferre that bloody execution to a City of Syria if it had been acted in this Countrey Nor can I think that this Riblah none of the greatest Towns in the Tribe of Naphthali should be capable of the Court and train of that mighty Monarch especially for so long a time as he is said to have attended in that place the success of his forces then before Hierusalem and the disposal of the State when the Town was taken 6. Saphet another of the Decapolitan Cities strongly if not impregnably seated one of the strongest Fortresses of the Western Christians as it was after their expulsion of the Turks and Saracens who from hence wasted and subdued all the neighbouring Countrey as far as to the very Sea The onely place not of this Countrey onely but of all the East in which the Iews who possessed a third part of this Town have any shew or shadow of a Common-wealth 7. Bethsemes mentioned Ios 15. 38. made tributary unto those of this Tribe though otherwise possessed by the Canaanites who held out against them 8. Carthan or Kiriaitham situate neer the mountain which in following times was called Moas Christi because much freqvented by our Saviour who here made choice of his Apostles as is said Mark 3. 13 and where he also made that Divine Sermon recited in the 5 6 7. Chapters of Saint Matthews Gospel 9. Masoloth a place of great strength but forced by Baccludes Generall of the Armies of the Kings of Syria in the time of the Maccabees 10. Cinnereth a strong City after called Gennesareth whence the Lake or Sea of Tiberias neighbouring neer unto it is sometimes called the Lake of Gennesareth as Luke 5. 1. c. 2. The Tribe of A SER was so called from Aser the 8. Sonne of Iacob begotten on Zilphah the hand-maid of Leah of whom at their first muster when they came out of Egypt were found 41500 persons able to bear Armes all above 20. years of Age and at the second muster when they entred the Land of Canaan 53400 fighting men of the new increase The portion of the land allotted for their habitation was plentifull in wine oyl and wheat with great store of Balsam extending from the coast of Sidon to Ptolemais 30 miles in length and from the Mediterranean Eastward to the Tribe of Napththali some twelve miles in breadth And though they never were of power to reduce the maritime Cities of Ptolemais Tyre Sarepta and Sidon under their command yet had they in this narrow compasse many beautiful Cities and Towns of note which they were quietly possessed of till their subjugation by the Kings of Assyria The principal of those and others which have since been founded 1. Aphek memorable for the great slaughter there made of the Syrians when besieged by Benhadad of whom 100000. were slain by the Israe it es under the leading of Ahab and 27000 killed by the fall of the wall 2. Gabalâ— mentioned by Ptolomy amongst the mid-land Cities of Phoenicia but belonging properly to this Tribe one of those twenty which were offered by Sâ—lomon unto Hiram and upon his refusal peopled by the Israelites Fallen to decay it was afterwards re-built and strongly fortified by Herod the Great 3. Giâ—â—ala a Town of great strength and consequence the birth-place of Iohn or Iehochaman one of the three seditious â—â— Hierusalem when besieged by Titus where he did more mischief than the enemy Attempting to betray this City to the power of the Romans he gave the Tyrians an opportunity to be Masters of it by whom it was burnt unto the ground But being re-built by the Authority of Iosephus then Governour of Galilee for the Iews it was afterwards yielded to Titus upon composition 4. Cana for distinction sake called Cana-Ma or to difference it from another of that name in the Lower Galilee assumed for the dwelling of that woman whose daughter Christ delivered of an evil Spirit called by Saint Mathew a woman of Canaan cap. 15. a Syro-Phoenician by Saint Mark chap. 7. the Syro-Phoenicians of this Tract being originally of the race of Canaan as was said before 5. Hetâ—lan or Châ—â—â—lan the furthest City of the North as 6. Messal or Masheal to the South of the Tribe of Aser Of later date there are 7. Thoron a strong piece built by the Christians on the hills neer Tyre to â—â—â—der the excursions of the Turks when they held
discomfited by the Philistims slew himself for grief or else for fear of falling into the hands of those merciless Enemies against whom he had so often returned victorious 5. Naim on the banks of the River Chison where CHRIST raised to life the Widowes Sonne 6. Hapharaim or Aphraim on the banks of the same River also 7. Endor of chief note for the Witch with whom Saul consulted and the discomfiture of the Midianites by Gedeâ—m who perished at Endor and became as the Dung of the Earth saith the Royall Psalmist 8. Dabarath one of the Cities of refuge 9. Arbela not far from the Cave of the two theeves which so greatly infested Galilee in the time of Herod And 10. of a later date the Castle of Pilgrims Castrum Peregrinorum in Latine Writers built by Raymond Earl of Tholouse and after fortified by the Templers for the security of such as traveled to the Holy Land and for long time the Magazine or Store-house of the Western Christians now called Tortora Situate on the shores of the Mediterranean neer a spacious bay on the North-side whereof Mount Carmel described already As for those Galileans which succeeded in the place of these Tribes they were for the most part originally such as were sent hither by Salmanassar to inhabit there when the Israelites were led away into endless thraldome but intermixed with some Remainders of the ten Tribes as was said before And yet as if they had been wholly of the same extraction with the rest of the Samaritan Nations they were as much despised by the Jews as witnesseth that scornful by-word Can there any good come out of Galilee as the others were though these as Orthedox in Religion as the Jews themselves In which so zealously affected that neither threats nor force could make them offer sacrifice for the health of the Roman Emperours whom they looked on as the Enemies of their Law and liberty Brought under the command of the Kings of Iewry by the Maccabaeans and with the rest of that Kingdome bestowed on Herod by the Romans Left by him at his death to Herod surnamed Antipas the second of his Sonnes then living with the title of Tetrarch which he enjoyed till the death of our Saviour and on his deprivation being banished to Lyons in France by the Emperour Caligula bestowed upon Agrippa his brothers Sonne the first King of the Iews so named Under him and his Sonne Agrippa the second it continued till the generall revolt of the Jewish Nation Subjected by the sword of Titus to the power of the Romans it hath since followed the same fortune with the rest of Palestine 4. SAMARIA SAMARIA is bounded on the East with the River Jordan on the West with the Mediterranean Sea on the North with Galilee and on the South with Iudaea So called from Samaria the chief City of it of which more hereafter The Countrey interchangeably composed of fields and mountains excellent good for tillage and full of trees yielding variety of fruits watered both with the dew of heaven and many fresh springs which the Earth affordeth it occasioning thereby abundance of grass and consequently of Milch-beasts exceeding plenty Heretofore very wealthy and no less populous but now famed for neither The people for the most part were originally the descendants of those Assyrians whom Salmanassar sent hither to possess the dwellings of the captive Israelites Gentiles at first till better instructed by the Lions whom God sent amongst them and after by the Priests sent hither by the Kings of Assyria they entertained the five Books of Moses and out of them learned the manner of the God of the Land 2 Kin. 17 Further then this they would not go rejecting all the rest of the sacred Canon and no strict observers of this neither And though at first they so embraced the worship of God as that they still adhered to the gods of the Nations where before they dwelt as Nergal Ashimah Nibbar Tartak and the rest of that rabble mentioned 2 Kings 17. yet they were soon taken off from those impieties and became zealous in the worship of one onely God erronious cheifly in the place which was destined to it The wicked policy of Ieroboam the Sonne of Nebat was as naturall to them as if they could not have possessed his estates without it and therefore would not suffer their people to go up to Hâ—rusalem to worship as the Law required More pious yet in this than their Predâ—cessours that they erected no Golden Calves in Dan and Bethel or any other parts of their Dominions though to divert the people from the Temple of God they would have a Temple of their own Mount Garizim and the Temple there of which more anon as sacred unto them as that of Solomon to the Iews Schismaticat enough in this but not idolatrous and Schismaticall as the others were yet so conceited of themselves and their own perfections that they imagined themselves defiled by any company but their own If therefore they had visited any of their neighbour nations at their return they used to sprinkle themselves with urine but if by negligence or the necessitie of business they had touched any not of their own Sect they drenched themselves cloathes and all in the next fountain But in this the Iews cryed quittance with them not so much as eating or drinking with them nor having with them any kind of commerce or dealing as appeareth Iohn 4. 9. but loading them on the other side with all the bitternesse of reproach and hatred There are two manner of people saith the Sonne of Sirach which mine heart abhorreth 〈◊〉 the third is no people they that sit on the Mountains of Samaria the Philistims and the foolish people that dwell as Sichem Ecâ—ius 50. And this continued to the times of our blessed Saviour whom when the Jewâ— endeavoured to reproch with their heaviest calumnies they could find out none so great as to say he was a Samaritan which they thought came all to one a man that had converse with Devils and familiar spirits Of these there were some Sects also as amongst the Jews 1. the Dositheans so called from Dâ—suâ—eus or Dosthâ—â— supposed to be the first Priest who was sent thither by the Kings of Assyria agreeing with the Jews in Circumcision and the Sabbath and the doctrine of the Resurrection in which last they differed from the common Samaritan who was a Saducee in that point but differing from them in some points of as signal consequence For they rejected the writings of all the Prophets as not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inspired by the Holy Ghost they eat of nothing that had life like the Pythagoreans abstained from mariage like the Essenes and in the point of Sabbath-keeping out went the Pharisees it being resolved upon amongst them that in what posture soever a man was found on the Sabbath-day-morning in the same he was to continue without alteration the whole day after 2. The Sebvians so called from
it with Boats and Barges as the Thames Westward doth London the River ebbing and flowing no nigher than Pont del ' Arche 75 miles distant from the Citie We may divide it into four parts the Town the Citie the Universitie and the Suburbs La Ville or that part of it which is called The Town is situate on the North side of the River the biggest but poorest part of the four inhabited by Artizans and Tradesmen of the meaner sort In this part are the Hostell de Ville or the Guild-hall for the use of the Citizens the Arserall or Armory for the use of the King and that magnificent building called the Place Royall new built and beautified at the charges of King Henry the fourth for Tilts and Turraments and such solemnities of State And in this also neer the banks of the River stands the Kings Palace of the Bouvre a place of more fame than beauty and nothing answerable to the report which goes commonly of it A building of no elegance or uniformitie nor otherwise remarkable but for the vast Gallerie begun by King Henry the fourth and the fine Gardens of the Tuilleries adjoyning to it The City is that part of it which takes up the circumference of a little Iland made by the embracements of the Seine joyned to the other parts on both sides by several Bridges The Paris or Lutetia of the old Gauls was no more than this the Town on the one side and the Vniversity on the other being added since This is the richest part and best built of the whole Compositum And herein stand the Palace or Courts of Parliament the Chappel of the Holy Ghost and the Church of Nostre-dame being the Cathedral of antient times a Bishops See but of late raised unto the dignity of a Metropolitan On the South side of the River lyeth that part which is called the Vniversitie from an Vniversity here sounded by Charles the Great Anno 792. at the perswasion of Alcuinus an Englishman the Scholar of Venerable Bede and the first Professor of Divinity here It consisteth of 52 Colleges or places for study whereof 40. are of little use and in the rest the Students live at their own charges as in the Halls at Oxon or Inns of Court or Chancery at London there being no endowment laid unto any of them except the Sorbonne and the College of Navarre Which possiblie may be the reason why the Scholars here are generally so debauched and insolent a ruder rabble than the which are hardly to be found in the Christian World Sensible of this mischief and the cause thereof Francis the first whom the French call the Father of the Muses at the perswasion of Reuchline and Budaeus those great restorers of the Greek and Hebrew Languages intended to have built a College for 600 Students and therein to have placed Professours for all Arts and Sciences endowing it with 50000 Crowns of yeerly Revenue for their constant maintenance But it went no further than the purpose prevented by the inevitable stroak of death from pursuance of it In bigness this is little inferiour to the Town or Ville and not superiour to it for wealth or beauty few men of any wealth and credit affecting to inhabit in a place of so little Government The 4th and last part is the Suburbs or the Faux-bourgs as the French call them the principal whereof is that of S. Germans so called from an antient Abbie of that name the best part of the whole body of Paris for large Streets sweet Air choyce of the best Companie magnificent Houses pleasant Gardens and finally all those contentments which are wanting commonly in the throngs of most populous Cities Here are also in this Isle the Royal house of Madrit a retiring place of the Kings built by King Francis the first at his return from his imprisonment in Spain 2 Ruall a sweet Countrie house of the late Queen Mothers and 3 Boys de Vincennes remarkable for the untimely death of our Henry the fifth I add this only and so end That this Isle hath alwayes followed the fortune of the Crown of France never dismembred from the Soveraigntie of the same though sometimes out of the possession of the French Kings as when the English kept it against Charles the 7th and the Leagners against Henry the 4th A thing which hardly can be said of any other of the Provinces of this flourishing Countrie the French Kings of the race of Merovee and Charles the great alienating from the Crown many goodly Territories contented only with a bare and titularie Homage from them By meanes whereof more than three parts of the whole Kingdom was shared first amongst the great Princes of the French which afterwards by inter-mariages and other Titles fell into the hands of strangers most of them enemies of this Crown and jealous of the Grandour and power thereof Which kept the French Kings generally very low and poor till by Arms Confiscations Mariages and such other meanes they reduced all these Riverets to their first and originall Channel as shall be shewen in the pursuance of this work CHAMPAGNE CHAMPAGNE is bounded on the North with Picardie on the South with the Dukedom of Burgundie and some part of the Countie on the East with Lorrein on the West with France specially so called The Countrie for the most part very plain and pleasant whence it had the name adorned with shadie Woods and delectable Meadows fruitful in Corn and not deficient in Wines The Seat in elder times of the Trieasses Catelauni Rhemi the Lingones and Senones of which last Tribe or Nation were those Cisalpine Gaules who sacked Rome under the conduct of Brennus part of them Celts and part Belgians and so accordingly disposed of the Belgians into the Province of Belgica Secunda the Metropolis whereof was Rhemes the Celts into Lugdunensis quarta of which the Metropolis was Sens both Cities seated in this Countrie The chief Rivers of it Bloise Marne and Yonne Chief places of the whole are 1 Chalon on the River Marne an Episcopal See Suffragan to the Arch-Bishop of Rhemes called antiently Civitas Catalaâ—norum 2 Join Ville situate on the same River belonging to the house of Guise the eldest Sonne of which Familie is called Prince of Joinville in the Castle whereof seated upon an high and inaccessible Hill is to be seen the Tomb of Clande the first Duke of Guise the richest Monument of that kind in all France A Baronie which hath belonged to the house of Lorrein ever since the yeer 1119. when Thierry the Sonne of William Baron of Joinville succeeded his two Vncles Godfrey and Baldwin in that Dukedom 3 Pierre-Fort defended with a Caste of so great strength that in the civil Wars of France A. 1614. it endured 1100 shot of Cannon and yet was not taken 4 Vassey upon the River Bloise a Town of as sweet a situation as most in France These three last scituate in that part of Champagne
multum aeris habet ex eo fuso fit aes as that Author hath it It is one of the least of the Belgick Provinces containing in it but 125. Villages and no more then five walled Towns or Cities viz. 1. Limbourg which gives name to the whole Estate pleasantly seated on an hill amongst shady woods under which runneth the River Wesdo which having watered the whole countrey emptieth it self into the Maes well built and fortified with a very strong Castle mounted upon a steep Precipice of no easie accesse 2. Walkenbourg called by the French Fauquemont a reasonable fair Town with a large territory two Dutch miles from Maestricht conquered from Reynold Lord hereof by John the 3. Duke of Brabant 3. Dalem a little Town with a Castle the territory thereof extending beyond the Maes conquered by Henry Duke of Brabant of that name the second 4. Rhode le Duck a little old Town with as old a Castle half a league from Walkenbourg 5. Carpen situate between Gulick and Colen beautified with a Collegiate Church and a strong Castle in which there is a Governour with a good Garrison for defence of the place Each of these Towns hath jurisdiction on the parts adjoyning but with appeal unto the Chancery of Brabant The ancient inhabitants of this â—act and the Bishoprick of Leige adjoyning were the Eburones When it was first made an Earldome I am yet to seek but of an Earldome it was made a Dukedome by the Emperour Frederick Barbarossa anno 1172. Henry one of the Dukes hereof marryed his daughter Margaret to Godfrey the 3. Duke of Brabant which gave that house some colour to pretend unto it backed with a better title on the death of an other Henry the last Duke of Limbourg whose next heir Adelph sold it to John Duke of Brabaâ—t pretending to it in the right of the former marriage anno 1293. But Reynold Earl of Gueldres thinking himself to have a better title then Adolph in right of Ermingrade his wife the daughter of Herman a late Duke hereof put in his plea and challenged it by force of Armes but being vanquished and taken prisoner by the said Duke John in the battell of Woranem was fain for his release to release all his claim and title to the Dukedome of Limbourg after that quietly enjoyed by the Dukes of Brabant till they fell both together to the house of Burgundie The Armes hereof are Argent a Lyon Barrie of ten pieces Or and Gules 8. LVICK-LAND OR The Bishoprick of LEIGE Westward of Limbourg but a far mightier estate then it lieth LVICK-LAND as the Dutch or the Bishoprick of LEIGE Leâ—diensis as the Latine and French writers call it anciently under the protection of the Dukes of Brabant and afterwards of the Princes of the house of Burgundie as Lords of that countrey By some accompted of and described as a part of Germany but for the reasons before mentioned I shal place it here environed on all sides with the Belgick Provinces that is to say with the Dukedome of Limbourg on the East with Brabant on the North and West on the South with Luxembourg The Aire hereof is very wholesome and the Earth as fruitfull abounding with all kinde of grain and fruits some store of wine and as for flesh fish fowle and venison it hath very great plenty and that too of an excellent taste But the chief riches of this Countrey is under ground consisting in mines of Lead and Iron and some few of Gold quarries of Albasier mingled with all sorts of Marble rich veins of Brimstone and unexhaustible pits of Coal which last it hath in such abundance that there is digged within the compasse of one league of the City of Leige not only sufficient for that great City but so much overplus as being sold at mean prices about the countrey amounts unto 100000. duckets of yearly value The Coal much sweeter then elsewhere and of a nature contrary to all other Coal in that it is kindled with water and quenched with oyle and the strong servour of it taken off by casting salt on it The whole countrey containeth 24 walled Towns and 1800. Villages the principall of which are 1 Leige or Luick in Latine Leodium situate in a pleasant valley environed with hils the Meuse entring it in two branches accompanied with four lesser Riverets which make in it many delightfull Ilands The compasse of it about four miles the ordinary buildings very fair all built of stone the Bishops palace a magnificent and sumptuous piece the Churches in number forty of which eight are Collegiate 32. Parochiall all of them for their riches and bounty excelling all in any City of France or Germanie Besides these there are so many Convents Mâ—nasteries and religious houses about the Town that taking all together they amount to an hundred all of them of such fair revenues so well endowed and the Religious persons there of so great authority that it is cailed the Paradise of Priests and that deservedly It is also an University of good Antiquity wherein were Students at one time 9. Kings sons 24. Dukes sons 29. Earls sons besides Barons and Gentlemen the greatest part of which were Canons of the Church of S. Lambert which is the Cathedrall of the City Yet notwithstanding it hath tasted of the malice of fortune as well as others being first destroyed by the Danes then by the Normans twice taken and once destroyed by Charles of Burgundie anno 1468. Subject it is unto the Bishop as Lord temporall of it from whom being long since made an Imperiall Ctiy there lyeth an Appeal to the Chamber of Spires 2. Dinand upon the Meuse near Namur of very great traffick till destroyed by Charles of Burgundie in the same year with Leige hardly recovered of which wounds it was again sacked by K. Henry the 2. of France anno 1854. 3. Maeseck upon the Meuse or Maes also a league from whence is the fair Nunnery of Thuren of the same nature with that of Mentz and others spoken of before the like to which there is near 4. Bilsen another Town of this Bishoprick the Abbesses of each having the priviledge of coyning both gold and silver 5. Lootz by the Dutch called Borclom in the county of Diostein made a county in the time of Charles the Great the title and possession of Vgier the Dane so famous in the History of Gallen of France and others of the old Romances 6. Franchimont which gives the title to a Marquesse of the Bishop of Leige 7. Centron or S. Truden a fair Town so called of the Abbie dedicated to that Saint 8. Huy or Hoey so called of a violent River which there runs into the Meuse 9. Tungres the chief City of the Tongri which together with the Eburones were once the Inhabitants of this tract in which are still the ruines of a Temple consecrated to Hercules Anciently an Episcopall See translated hence to Maestreicht and at last to Leige and
by which parted from Frankenland So called from the Turingians the antient Inhabitants hereof communicating their name to the place they dwelt in The Countrey environed round about with woody mountaines but within those mountains plain and pleasant fruitfull in Corn and very plentifull of Woods which yeelds great profit to the people not without some Mines of Gold and Silver and rich pits of Salt able to furnish out a feast but for wine onely which is the greatest want hereof The whole length of it is not above 120 miles and the breadth not more Yet is so populous and well planted that there are said to be in it 12 Earldomes and as many Abbies 144 Cities and as many market Towns 150 Castles and 2000 Villages The principall of these are 1. Jene on the River Saltza bordering upon Misnia an University chiefly of Physitians founded in the year 1555. by the sonnes of John-Frederick the Electour taken prisoner and deprived by Charles the fift 2 Erdford on the River Gers out of which are cut so many Channels that every street hath almost the benefit of it A rich populous and well built City accounted amongst the best of Germany and made an University in the time of the Emperour Wenceslaus anno 1392. Many times burnt but still reviving like the Phoenix out of the ashes into greater glory At first immediately subject to the Archbishop and Electour of Mentz but having freed themselves from him they have since governed themselves as a free Estate and one of the Hansetowns not subject to the Duke of Saxony as their Lord but their Patron and good neighbour onely 3. Mulhuisen and 4 Noorthuisen two Imperiall Cities but not else observable 5 Smalcald famous for the league here made anno 1530. between all the Princes and Cities which maintained the doctrine of Luther into which first entred John Frederick the Duke of Saxon and his sonne Ernest and Francis Dukes of Luneburg Philip the Lantgrave George Marquesse of Brandenbourg the Cities of Strasburg Nurenberg Heilbrune Ruteling Vlmes Lindaw Constance Mening and Campedune Afterward anno 1535. there entred into it Barnimus and Philip Princes of Pomeren Vlrick Duke of Wirtenberg Robert Prince of Bipont William Earl of Nassaw George and Joachim Earls of Anhalt the Cities of Franckford Hamborough Auspurg Hannolder and not long after the Palsgrave and the King of Danemark By which famous confederacy Luther not onely kept his head on his shoulders but the Religion by him reformed grew to that strength that no force or policy could ever root it up 2 Kale or Hale where Philip the Lantgrave was treacherously taken prisoner as you shall hear anon 5 Wiemar a town which together with the Castle of Gotha were assigned for the estate and maintenance of that religious though unfortunate Prince Iohn Frederick Duke of Saxony after this discomfiture and imprisonment by Charles the fift The ordinary seat of the Dukes of Saxon Weimar who live here in a stately and magnificent Castle made of polished stone most artificially contrived and beautified with Orchards Gardens and other pleasures but made more pleasant by the watering of the River Ilma upon which it standeth 6 Gotha upon the River Lonn said by Rithaimerus to bee built by the Gothes and by them thus named A place not long since of great importance and fortified with a very strong Castle called Grimmensten which being made the retiring place of one Grunbachius and other seditious persons under the protection of John Frederick one of the sonnes of the deprived Elector was taken after a long siege by Augustus the Elector of Saxony to whom the strength of this peece being in the hands of the injured family was a very great eye-sore and by command of the â—â—states of the Empire in the Diet at Regensberg anno 1567. demolished and levelled with the ground The old Inhabitants hereof were the Chasnari of Tacitus and after them the Turingi who with the Heruli under the conduct of Odoacer conquered Italy called by some Turcilingi by others supposed to be the Tyrangetae of Ptolemie Not heard of in this Countrey till the reign of Childerick the fourth King of the French then taking up the whole Provinces of Hassia and Turingia under one Bissinus their King Their Armes at that time and long after Azure a Lion Barrie Argent and Gules armed and Crowned Or. Being overcome at the great battell of Zulph neere Colen where they joined with the Almans they became subject to the French afterwards added to the Empire by Henry the first William the sonne of the Emperour Otho the first being Archbishop of Mentz by the permission of his Father held the City of Erdford and all the rest of Turingia which hee lefâ— unto his successours in that See governed by their Vidames and Provinciall Officers till the time of Conradus Salicus when Ludovicus Barbatus one of these Vidames or Vicedomini made himselfe the Proprietarie of it and left the same unto his children after his decease But in the time of Conrade the second the issue of this Ludovicus either failing or dispossessed it was by that Emperour conferred upon Lewis of Orleans sonne to a sister of his Emperesse the title of Lantgrave being given to them of this family for their greater honour Under eight Princes of this line whereof five successively had the name of Lewis this Estate continued next falling to Herman a brother of the fift Lewis then to a sixt Lewis and last of all to Henry the brother of that Lewis whom the male issue failed having continued for the space of 252 years To please all parties interessed in the succession the Estate before entire was divided into two parts or Provinces Of which this now called Duringen or Turingia was alloted to Henry Marquesse of Misnia sonne of Judith the daughter of Herman the Western part hereof with the title of the Lantgravedome of Hessen adjudged to Henry Duke of Brabant in right of Sophia his wife daughter of Lewis the sixth In the description of which Countries we shall hear more of them 2 MISNIA or Meissen is bounded on the East with Lusatia on the West with Duringen on the North with Saxonie specially so called and some part of Brandenburg on the South with Voiteland and some part of Bohemia The Countrey once overspread with woods and full of bogs rendring the air unwholesome and the soyl unprofitable both rectified by the care and industry of the people now yeelding some mines of silver and great plenty both of corn and pasturage well watered with the Rivers Sala Plisses Elster and Musda Places of most observation in it are 1 Dresden seated on the Albis having continually on her wals and Bulwarkes 150 Pieces of Ordinance a stable of the Dukes in which are 128 horses of service and a Magazin out of which 30000 Horse and Foot may be armed at a dayes warning The Town it self situate on both sides of the River by which divided into the
fortunes of Bithynia it self I look upon the Bithynians as a Thracian people whom both Strabo and Herodotus speak of as the founders of the name and Nation Of such a King of theirs as Bithynius I finde some mention in my Authors and possibly it might be he who had the leading of the Thrni or Bithyxi in this expedition that being the name rather of his Nation then his proper Family But for the line of Kings which held out till the flourish of the Roman greatnesse they begun to reign here some few geaerations before the time of Philip and Alexander the Macedonians by whom having other imployment and lying out of the road towards Persia they were little troubled alantus one of Alexanders Captains made an expedition into their Countrey and was vanquished by them and afterwards they had to do with one of the Lieutanants of Antigonus one of Alexanders greatest Princes who though he humbled them for the present yet got he neither title nor possession by it And thus they held it out till the time of Prusias so shuffling with the Macedonian and Syrian Kings that betwixt both they still preserved their own estates This Prusias when the Romans became so considerable as that no danger need be feared from Greece or Syria peeced himself with them and having aided them in their warres against Philip and Antiochus both and most unworthily promised to deliver Anniball who had fled to him for succour unto their Embassadours made all sure on this side His Sonne and successour Nicomedes being outed of his Kingdome by Muhridates King of Pontus and restored again unto it by the power of the Romans held it as their Fenditarie as did Nicomedes his next Successour simamed Philometor who dying without issue in the time of Augustus gave his whole Kingdome to the Romans By them with the addition of that part of Pontus which lay next unto it it was made a Province of their Empire by the name of Pontus and Bithynta continuing so till the division of that Empire into the Eastern and the Western when falling to the share of the Constantinopolitans and with them to the power of the Turkish Tyrants who do still possesse it 2. PONTVS PONTUS is bounded on the East with Colchis and Armenta on the West with Bithynia and the River Sangarius on the North with the Euxine Sea and on the South with Phrygia Mayor Paphlagonia Galatia and Cappadocia So that it taketh up the whole length of Anatolia or Asia Minor from Bithynia to the River Euphrates which parts it from Armenia Major but not of answerable breadth and gives name to the Sea adjoining a Ponto regione illi adjacente it a appellari as Ortelius hath it called from hence Pontus by the Latines the adjunct of Euxinus comming on another occasion which we have spoken of before A Countrey of a large extent and therefore divided by the Romans when Masters of it into these four parts viz. Metapontus or Pontus specially so called 2. Pontus Galaticus 3. Polemomacus and 4. Pontus Cappadocius 1. PONTUS specially so called or Metapontus bordering on Bithynia and bounded on the East with the River Parthemius which divided it from Paphlagonia had for the Chief Cities thereof 1. Claudiapolis so called in honor of Clausdius the Roman Emperor as 2. Flaviopolis in honor of Flavius Vespasianus and 3. Fulipolis in honor of the Julian family all midland Towns 4. Diospolis on the Euxine Sea so called from a Temple consecrated to Jupiter of great resort 5. Heraclea a Colonie of the Phocians called for distinctionssake there being many of that name Heraeclea Pontit memorable of late times for being the seat or residence of a branch of the Imperial family of the Conent when at the taking of Constantinople by the Western Christians David Alexius Comnexi fled into these parts the first fixing here his Royal residence commanded over this part of Pontus and paphligonia the other possessing himself of Cappadocia and Galatia made Trabezond his Regall or Imperiall City But these two Empires though of the same date were of different destinies that of Heraclea and Pontus being partly conquered by the Greek Emperours residing at Nice and partly seized on by the Turks in the beginning and first fortunes of the Ottoman family the other keeping up the Majesty and State of an Empire till the year 1461. when subdued by Mahomet the Great 6. Phillium at the mouth or influx of the River Phillis upon which it is seated 7. Amastris the farthest Town of this part towards the East on the Sea-side also once of great strength but take by Lucullus together with Heracles Sinope Amisut and other Townes in the war against Mithridates the great King of Pontus 2. Eastward of Pontus specially so called or Metapontus as Justin the historian call's it lyeth PONTUS GALATICUS so named because added to Galatia in the time of the Romans The chief Cities whereof were 1. Sinope pleasantly seated on a long point or Promontorie shooting into the main remarkable in antient storie for the birth and sepulture of Muthridates before mentioned and in the later times for being the chief seat of the Issendiars and noble Family of the Turkes who had taken it with the rest of this tract from the Comneni and held it till the same year in which the Empire of Trabezond was subdued by Mahomet First built by the Milesians and continuing in a free estate till taken by Pharatees a King of Pontus and made the Metropolis of that Kingdome 2. Castamona the head City of the Principality of the Isfendiars before mentioned preferred by them for strength and conveniency of situation before Heraclea or Synope 3. Themiseyra now called Favagoria seated on a spacious plain neer unto the Sea and antiently giving name to the Province adjoyning 4. Amasia the birth-place of Strabo the Geographer remarkable in the Ecclesiatical Histories for the Martyrdome of St. Theodorus and of late times for being the residence of the eldest Sonnes of the Grand Signeur sent hither as soon as circumcised never returning back again till the death of their Father Accompted now amongst the Cities of Cappadocia and the chief of that Province a midland Town as also is 5. Cabira called afterward Dtopolis memerable for the great defeat which Lucullus gave there unto Mithridates more for the trick which Mithridues there put upon Lacullus For being well acquainted with the covetousnesse of the Romans he saw no better way to save himself and the rest of his forces after the defeate then to scatter his treasures in the way which he was to take that by that meanes his enemies might slacken the pursuite to collect the spoiles and he preserve himself to another day and so accordingly it proved 6. Coniaus to difference it from another of that name called Comana Pontica to which other being of Cappadociae or Armenia Minor Mithridates came in safety by the trick aforesaid and thence escaped unto Trgranes the Armenian
easie of entrance by the first but very difficult by the last the Streits thereof called Pyloe Cilicioe or the Ports of Cilicia being indeed so strait and almost impassable that had they been guarded or regarded by the Persians as they should have been the progress of Alexanders victoties might have ended there But Arsenes who had the charge of them durst not stand his ground and so left them open to the Enemy whom by those Ports he put into the possession of the Kingdome of Persia With better faith though no better fourtune did the Souldiers of Pesceninus Niger make good these Streits against the Emperour Severus the Monarchy of the World lying a second time at stake and to be tried for in this Cock-pit For the Nigrians possessed of these Streits and entrances couragiously withstood the Severian party till at last a sudden tempest of rain and thunder continually darting in their faces as if the very Heavens had been armed against them they were fain to leave the passage and therewith the victory to the adverse faction having sold that at the loss of 20000. of their own lives which Alexander had the happiness or the hap to buy for nothing In the borders of this Countrey towards Pamphylia lived a Tribe or Nation called the Soli originally of Attica but in long tract of time difused from converse and communication with their Countrey-men they spake that language so corruptly that from their barbarous manner of pronunciation and as rude expression came the word Soloecismus Yet amonst these were born three men of eminent note that is to say Chrysippus the Philosopher Philemon and Aratus the Poet out of the writings of which last Saint Paul vouchsafed to use this passage 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. for we are also his offspring Acts 17. v. 28. That blessed Apostle thought himself never the worse Preacher for being brought up in humane learning at the feet of Gamaliel nor held it any disparagement to the influences of the Holy Ghost to make use of it in his Sermons and divine discourses And therefore to prevent those cavils which ignorance or misprision might chance to make in times succeeding he hath thrice vouchsafed the words and testimony of the heathen writers viz. of Epimâ—nides Tâ—tus 1. v. 12. of Menander 1 Cor. 15. v. 33. and that of Aratus before mentioned So lawfull is it in this kind for those of the spirituall Israel to rob the Aegyptians and to make this Hagar serviceable to their Mistress Sarah Principall Cities in this Province 1. Soloe the habitation of the Soli before remembred by some said to be built by Solon the Athenian but generally affirmed to have been planted by those of Rhodes and Attica mistakingly called Heliopolis by Qu. Curtius which is as much in Latine as Solis civitas or the City of the Sunne On the site hereof then decayed and ruinous the Town having been destroyed by Tygranes the Armenian King in his late warres against the Romans did Pompey build his City of Pomperopolis after his victory over the Pirates who not onely lorded it over the Seas and consequently obstructed trade and merchandize but wasted and spoiled the Villages of Italy it self Pompey being Victor and having inflicted exemplary punishment on the Ring-leaders with the rest peopled this new Town and the Countrey adjoining allowing them competent possessions lest want and necessity should again inforce them to the like courses An action truly commendable and worthy so great a Captain rather to take occasion of offending from the people than after offence done to punish them Hythlodoeus in the Utopia somewhat bitterly though perhaps not unjustly inveigheth against the lawes of England for ordaining death to be the punishment of theft Cum multò potius providendum fuerit uti aliquis esset proventus vitae ne cuipiam sit tam dira furandi primùm deinde pereundi necessitas Where as saith he the lawes ought to make provision for putting men in to some orderly course of life and not let them runne upon the necessity of stealing first and then being hanged for it 2. Tarsus the birth-place of Saint Paul the Apostle for that sufficiently famous were there nothing else to commend it to consideration But it was a Town withall of great note and consequence the Metropolis first of all Cilicia and after the division of Cilicia Prima The Inhabitants whereof had the privilege of Roman Citizens Situate in a goodly plain on the banks of the Cydnus and by some said to be the work of Sardanapalus the last King of Assyria it being engraven on a Monument erected to him that in one day he had built this Tarsus and 3. Anchiala another City of this Countrey neer the Sea-side and not farre from the Promontory Zephyrium Of the same date if the said Monument speak truth but neither of the same fortune nor continuance that being utterly decayed but Tarsus still remaining of great wealth and strength Much spoken of in the wars of the Holy Land and in the Stories of the Caramanian and Ottoman Kings And thoughthe Tarsians to ingratiate themselves with Julius Coesar would needs have their City called Juliopolis yet the old name survived the new and it is to this day called Tersia or Terassa by the vulgar Grecians but Hamsa by the Turks as Bellonius telleth us 4. Adena the Adana of Ptolomy a large Town but unwalled instead whereof defended by a very strong Castle Situate in a fruitful soyl both for wine and corn wherewith the Town is alwaies furnished for the use of those that are to travell over the Taurus who commonly take in here three daies provision 5. Epiphania the birth-place of George the Arian Bishop of Alexandria thrust on the world of late by some learned men but of more industry than judgement for George the Cappadocian Martyr 6. Mopsuestia as famous or infamous rather for giving title to Theodorus Mopsuestenus Bishop hereof and a great Patron of the Nestorian Heresies in the time of Saint Chrysostome The City otherwise of good note and of great consequence in the course of the Roman warres described at large by Ammianus Marcellinus 7. Issus upon a spacious Bay called hence Sinus Issicus neer the borders of Syria memorable for the great battel here fought betwixt Alexander and an handful in comparison of his Macedonians and that vast Army of Darius himself there in person consisting of 600000 undisciplined Asians whereof so many lost their lives that the dead bodies seemed to have buried the ground For partly by the unskilfulness of the Commanders who chose so ill a place to sight in that they could make no use of their mighty numbers and partly by the effeminatness of the Asian Souldiers unable to endure the charge there fell that day no fewer than 200000 of the Persians 40000 of them being taken Prisoners amongst them the wives and daughters of Darius and not above 100 of the Alexandrians if Qu. Curtius be not partiall in
the people sowed dissentions amongst them So that the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount-Seir utterly to slay and destroy them and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Mount Seir every one helped to destroy one another 4. Cerioth or Carioth the birth-place of Iudas hence sumamed Iscariot or the man of Carioth who betrayed our Saviour 5. Jether or Jatter nigh unto which was fought that memorable battell wherein Asa King of Iudah by the help of God discomfited Zerah King of the Arabians whose Army consisted of a Million of fighting men 6. Marsia the native Soyl of the Prophet Michah neer whereunto first Asa King of Iudah discomfitted the vast Army of Terah the Arabian or Ethiopian consisting of above a Million of men and afterwards Gorgias was overthrown by Iudas Maccabaeus 7. Emaus after called Nicopolis memorable for the third overthrow which Iudas gave to the said Gorgias for our Redeemers shewing himself after his Resurrection to Cleophas and another of his Disciples for the hot Bathes hereabouts which gave the name of Salntaris to this part of Palestine The sovereign vertue of which waters Sozomen a Christian attributes to the washing of Christ's feet in them as he passed by at that time but Iosephus a Iew ascribes as it is most likely unto naturall causes 8. Hasor or Chatsor one of the forntiere Towns towards Idumaea 9. Odalla or Hadullan an antient and magnificent City taken and destroyed by Josuah and long after much enlarged and beautified by Ionathan one of the Maccabees 10. Ceila or Keila where David sometimes hid himself when he fled from Saul by him delivered afterwards from the assaults of the Philistims 11. Eleutheropolis or the Free City not far from Hebron a City of later date than any of Iudah mentioned by Ptolomy and much remembred by Saint Hierome 12. Azecha not far from Emaus to which Iosuah followed Dabir the King of Eglon and his four Associates whom he discomfited in the cause and quarrell of the Gibeonites molested by them for submitting to their common Enemy Seated in the vally of Terebinth and of very great strength presuming upon which it revolted from Ioram King of Judah at the same time that Libnâ— and the Edomites had revolted from him 13. Beth-Sur or Seth-Sora that is to say the house on the Rock so called from the situation on a rocky hill one of the strongest places of Sudah Fortified first by Roboam the son of Solomon after by Iudas Maccabaeus and finally made impregnable by his brother Simeon 14. Adoram bordering on the Dead-Sea beautified also by Roboam 15. Zoar in former times called Bela but took his name from the words of Lot alleging that it was but a little one Gen. 19. 20. as the word Tsohor doth import in whose escape it was preserved being otherwise one of the five Cities of the Region called Pentapolis doomed unto destruction the other four Sodom Gomorrals Adâ—ma and Seboim being at the same time destroied by fire and brimstone 16. Massada situate on an high Mountain called Collis Achilloe an impregnable fortress built by Herod the Great in the place where Ionathan the Maccabee had sometime raised a very strong Castle Which he fortified with 27. Turrets and left therein as in a place impregnable and inaccessible a Magazine of Armes and all warlike furniture for an Army of 100000 men 17. Libna a strong City seated in a corner of Iudah running between the Tribes of Dan and Benjamin This City revolted from Ioram King of Iudah at the same time the Edomites did and continued a free State even as long as Iudab continued a Kingdome 18. Ziph in the wilderness wherein David hid himself from the fury of Saul Hither when Saul pursued him David came into his Camp the watch being all asleep and took thence his spear and a Cruse of oyl and departed Abishai indeed would fain have killed him but David though he knew that Samuel had by Gods command abdicated Saul from the Kingdome and that himself was appointed in his stead would not touch him but left him to the judgement of the Lord whose annointed he was 19. Bethlem or to distinguish it from another of this name in Zabulon so called Bethlem-Iudah where Christ was born and the Innocents suffered for him before he had suffered for them In this general Massacre of young children a sonne of Herods which was at nurse was also slain Which being told unto Augustus he replyed he had rather be Herods swine than his sonne His swine being safe in regard the Iews were forbidden hog-meat but his sonnes frequently made away upon fears and jealousies A Town for this cause had in great respect by the Primitive Christians beautified by Helen with a Stately Temple which yet standeth entire by the Lady Paula much extolled by Saint Hierome with some goodly Monasteries in one of which the body of that Father lieth and by the Western Christianâ— with a See Episcopal 20. On the frontire of this Country towards the Philistians was that strong Castle which Herod repairing called Herodium seated on a hill the ascent unto which was made with 200 steps of Marble exceeding fair and large In this Countrey also are the hils of Engaddi in a Cave of which David cut off the lap of Sauls garment and all along the bottomes whereof were the gardens of Balsamum or Opobalsamum the trees of which were by Cleopatra at such time as she governed M. Antony and the East sent for to be replanted in Heliopolis of Aegypt and Herod who durst not deny them plucked them up by the roots and sent them to her 5. The Tribe of BENIAMIN took name from the twelf and youngest sonne of Iacob by Rachel his best beloved wife who died in that Child-birth of which at the first muster neer unto Mount Sinai were numbred 35000 able men and at the second muster when they entred the Promised Land there were found of them fit for Armes 45600. persons A Tribe in great danger to have been utterly cut off by the folly of the men of Gibeah all Israel arming against it as one man For besides those that perished in the former battels there fell in one day 25000 men that drew the sword the sury of the Conquerours after that great victory sparing neither man nor beast nor any thing that came to hand and burning down all their Cities also which they came unto So great an havock was there made even of innocent maidens that when the edge of this displeasure was taken off there were not wives enough found for those few young men which had escaped the other Tribes having bound themselves by a solemn oath not to bestow their daughters on them insomuch that they were fain to provide themselves of wives of the daughters of Iabesh-Gilead a Town of the Manissites beyond Iordan which they took by assault and of the daughters of Shilo whom they took by Stratagem The whole
houses not above five and twenty shops one Temple all the rest a ruine So truly said the antient Poet Sic patet exemplis Oppida posse mori Thus by examples do we see That Towns may die as well as we Of note at the present 1. Tunis supposed to be the Themisa or Thunisa of Ptolomie of small accompt till the last destruction of Carthage by whose fall it rose Situate not far from the ruines of that famous City in compass about five miles and in that compass said to contain 10000 housholds Of great traffick and well frequented by the Merchants of forrein nations chiefly from Genoa and Venice Remarkable in the Story of the Holy Wars for the sieges and successes of two of our English Princes that namely of King Edward the first in his fathers life time and that of Henry the fourth then but Earl of Darby by both which though the last served only under the command of the French the City was compelled to a Composition Lewis the 9. commonly called S. Lewis dying at the first siege of it 2. Goletta a strong Fort built for defence of the Haven of Tunis in a Demy-Iland divided from the main Land by two narrow passages but so that it commands them both Taken but not without extreme difficulty by Charles 5. Ann. 1535. together with the Turkish Navy riding in the Lake fast by it but again recovered by the Turks about 40 years after Ann 1574. 3. Cairoan built by Hucba who first conquered Africk for the Saracens in a sandie Desart about 100 miles from Tunis and 36 from any part of the Sea to secure himself from any invasion which the commodiousness of the Sea might bring upon him Adorned by the first founder of it with an admirable Temple raised on Pillars of Marble who placed also in it a College of Priests and made it the chief Residence of his posterity for the space of 170 years who reigned here under the great Caliphs as the Sultans of Africk Destroyed by the Arabians in the 424 year of their Hegira but regained from them by the King of Morocco and still of such esteem amongst these Mahometans that their chief men are brought thither to be buried from all parts of the Country hoping by the prayers of those Priests to find a shorter way to Heaven then in other places 4 More Westward yet lies the Province named CONST ANTINA so called from Constantina the chief City of it Extended from the Lake Hipponites now named Guaditharbar to Constantine a Mountain bordering on Bugia which I conceive to be the same with Mons Audus in Ptolomie The soil hereof said to be very rich and fruitful both for Corn and Cattel yielding abundance of Fruits and great store of Butter Rubricatus by Orosius called Ordalio now Ludog the chief River of it Principal Cities of this Province 1. Tabraca on the East and 2. Hippo Regius on the Western bank of Rubricatus both Roman Colonies but this last most famous in being the Episcopal See of renowned S. Augustine 3. Bona the birth-place of that Father built by the Romans about an hundred miles from the Sea but situate in a large Plain containing 40 miles in length 25 in breadth so rich and fertile that the Town flourisheth to this day adorned with a sumptuous Mosque and never without the company of Merchants coming from Genoa Tunes and the Isle of Zerby for their Fruits and Butter 4. Thuburnica another Colonie of the Romans 5. Sicca Veneria another Town of the same nature by Solinus called Veneria only and by Pliny Sicca 6. Culcua another of the Roman Colonies by the Moors now called Cucutina but Constantina by the Latines and most Nations else Now the chief City of this Province situate near a Mountain of the same name near the edge of Bugia An antient City but containing still 8000 families many sumptuous buildings amongst which a large Temple two Colleges and three or four Monasteries frequently visited by the Merchant every Trade having here its peculiar Street their chief commodities Wooll Cloth Silks Oyl and some sorts of Fruits which they exchange for Dates or Slaves who are here good merchandise The City for the most part fenced about with high craggy rocks and where those want with strong wals of a great height and most exquisite workmanship declaring the antiquity of it A further argument whereof may be a fair Triumphal Arch not far from the City and some Hot Bathes after the manner of the Romans 5. Most Westward lieth the Province of BVGIA extended from Mount Constantine to the River Ampsaga now called Chollo or Sef-Gemar which with so much of Constantina as lieth on the West-side of Rubricatus made up that Province which the Romans called by the name of Numidia The length hereof 150 miles on the Mediterranean the breadth not above half so much Narrower then Mauritania as is said by Pliny sed ditior magis culta but the richer of the two and the better peopled The Country of a sat soil plentiful both in fruits and corn but most fit for pasturage to which the people were so addicted that many of them cared not for building Houses instead whereof they used the Hold of a Ship with the Keel turned upwards but removed from one place to another as their Pastures failed them From thence called Nomades by the Grecians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying to feed or grase The people of good mettal swift of foot and well skilled in horsmanship but better in the onset and to give a charge then in standing to it such as the wild Arabians are now said to be Chief Towns hereof besides Thuburnica Culcua Bona Hippo spoken of before belonging to Numidia though not to Bugia 1. Bugia built by the Romans on the side of a lofty Mountain looking into the Sea by some conceived to have been the Thebuaca of Ptolomy now the chief City of this Province adorned with many sumptuous Mosques some Monasteries and Colleges for Students in the Law of Mahomet and many fair Hospitals for relief of the Poor Fenced also with a strong Castle Secured by the strength whereof and growing rich by the fruitfulness of the situation the Citizens began to grow proud and wanton working much mischief to the Spaniards by their Gallies which they had at sea till taught more modesty by Peter of Navar a Spanish Captain A. 1508. by whom the Town was taken and the people plundered 2. Chollo upon the Sea-side the Chollops Magnus as I take it of Ptolomie reported for a wealthie City 3. Nicaus seated towards Mount Atlas in a pleasant and delightful country which though interspersed with many hils yet being those hils are clothed with woods yield them good store of Goats and Horses and feed the Vallies with fresh springs which do issue from them they rather adde then detract any thing from the pleasures of it 4. Madaura by some called Madurus the birth-place of Apuleius 5. Thunudromum another of
name of Mauritania Sitifensis from Sitiphis in those times the principal City as Procopius telleth us The Country said to be fruitful of all things necessary to life pleasing to the fight and sweet to smell to particularly well stored with Grain and Pulse plentiful of Oyl Honey and Sugar liberally furnished with Dates Grapes Figs Apples Pears and all sorts of Fruits exceedingly well stocked with Cattel but with Goats especially whose skins afford a very excellent kind of leather and of their â—leece materials for the finest Chamlets which are here made in most of their Cities The whole Country divided commonly into these seven parts viz. 1. Guzzula 2. Sus 3. Morocco specially so called 4. Hea. 5. Hascora 6. Duccala and 7. Tedles 1. GVZZVLA the most Southern Province of this Kingdom hath on the East some part of Tremesen on the West Sus or Susa from which parted by a ridge of Mountains called Ilda on the South Mount Atlas and on the North part of the territory of Morocco and the rest of Susa The Country rich in Mines of Brasse Iron and other metals of which are made many Vtensils for domestick uses exported hence into other places The People barbarous and rude not easily acknowledging subjection to the Kings of Morocco and at continual wars amongst themselves except only for two moneths in the year which being the time of their publike Marts and then much visited with Strangers from other Countries they lay aside their private quarrels and cheerfully entertain such Merchants as repair unto them Walled Towns here are not any but some very great Villages the chief whereof 1. Guzula on the Northern bank of the River Sus whence the name of the Province 2. Tagressa not far off but on the other side of the water towards the foot of Mount Atlas 3. Tedza inclining towards the borders of Morocco Of these nothing memorable 2. West of Guzzula lieth the Province of SVS or SVSA so called from the River Sus with which well watered or giving name to it Rich in Gold-Mines the cause of continual wars amongst the people well stored with Sugar-Canes which the Inhabitants know neither how to boyl nor purifie and on the Sea-shores furnished with great plenty of Amber bought by the Portugals of the people at an easie rate Chief Towns hereof 1. Cape D'Aguer on a Promontory so called a place of such importance to the Portugals that the taking of it by Mahomet then King of Sus after of Morocco also made them all the Forts which they had in this Country 2. Tagavast a 〈◊〉 and wealthy Town the greatest in the Province and situate in a large Plain near the foot of Mount Atlas 3. Teijent situate in a spacious Plain also but on the banks of the River Sus divided into three parts each a mile from the other which joyned together make the exact figure of a Triangle 4. Messa or Massa seated at the influx of the said River on the Promontory called Caâ—â— Gilen three Towns in one not much the better for the Sea and but ill befriended by the Land as leated in a barren and unpleasing soile remarkable for a fair Temple the beams and rasterâ— of which are made of the bones of Whales which usually are left dead on the shâ—re 5. Taroâ—â—â— a large Town built by the Africans before the conquest of this Country by the Geths or Saraceâ—s the Residence of the Vice-Roy for the Kings of Fesse when the Lords of this kingdom but more enriched of late by the Merchants of France and England who have here a Staple for their Sugars By this Commerce the people made more civil then in other parts of this Province the whole number of them thought to amount to 3000 families 6. Tedza more within the land bigger then Taradant but less wealthy the chief Ornament of it being a fair Mahometan Temple liberally furnished with Priests and Readers of that Law at the common charge Not far from hence the Hill Anchisa where it snoweth at all seasons of the year and yet the people go extreme thin in the sharpest Winter Nothing else memorable of this Province but that a little before the Xeriffe made himself King of Morocco it had the title of a Kingdom and gave the title of King to Mahomet the second Xeriffe made King of Taradaâ—t or Sus before he dispossessed his brother of the Crown of Morocco 3. Northward of Sus lieth the Province of MOROCCO specially so called the most fruitful and best peopled part of Barhary not much unlike to Lombardy in wealth and pleasures the very Hills hereof as fruitful as the Vallies in other places To which fertility of the soâ—l the Rivers 1 Tensist and 2 Asisinâ—ad give no small advantage though much defaced by the frequent incursions of the Portugals who have extreamly spoiled this Country Places of most observation in it 1. Delgumaba built upon a very high Mountain and environed with many other Hills at the foot whereof the Fountain of Asisiâ—uad 2. Elgiumuba a small but ancient Town on the River Sisseva 3. Tesrast a small Town upon Asifinuad 4. Imizmizi situate on a Rock spacious and seated neer the entrance of a narrow way leading into Guzzala 5. Tenezze an old Town but very well fortified 6. Agnet upon the River Tensift all ruined except the Fort and some scattered houses formerly second unto none but Morocco from which distant 24 miles the Hils and Valley about it adorned with pleasant Gardens fruitful Vineyards a fair River and Fields so fertile that they yield a fifty-fold increase 7. Seâ—sina where they have snow at all times of the year 8. Temnella an Heretical Town differing in opinion from the rest of the Mahometan Sect and so well grounded in their â—enets that they challenge all their Opposites to a Disputation 9. Hantera very full of Jewes 10. Morocco the principal of this province and of all the Kingdom situate in or near the place where once stood the 〈◊〉 Ilemerum of Ptolomy Once reckoned amongst the greatest Cities of the World at what 〈◊〉 was â—aâ—d to contain 100000 families since so defaced and wasted by the depredations of the Arabians and the removal of the Seat-Royal to Fesse when that Kingdom was in the Ascendent that it is hardly a third part so great as formerly The founder of it Joseph sirnamed Telesinus the second King of the house of the Almoravides but much enlarged and beautified by Abdul-Mumen one of his successors The principal buildings in it are the Church and the Castle the Church of Mosque one of the greatest in the World adorned with many sumptuous pillars brought out of Spain when the Mâ—â—rs had the possession of that Country and beautified with a stately Steeple in compass at the bottom an hundred yards and of so great height that the Hils of Azati one of the branches of the Lesser Atlas being 130 miles distant may be thence easily discerned the Castle very large and strong on a Tower whereof stand
throw their children amongst a bed of Serpents supposing that childe to be born of an adulterate bed the very smell of whose body would not drive away a whole brood of the like poysonous vermine Others there were of less note which that Author calleth Minores Gentes many in number of small fame and therefore not material to be here inserted those of most note the Africerones whom some Authors call the Gampsaphantes honoured with the Attribute of Gens Magna the greatest as it seems of those lesser Nations None of them of much note in the way of story except they were these Libyans which are so famoused in Herodotus for an expedition they made against the South winde For when this wind blowing abroad the hills and desarts of sand had dried up those many rills and waters they had among them they to revenge this injury by common consent armed themselves and went to fight against him But they took not the South winde unprepared For he mustered up his forces incountred them with such a brave volley of sand that he overwhelmed and slew them all A better friend was the North wind to the Citizens of Rhegium in Italy and better was he rewarded for it for having scattered a mighty fleet which Dionysius prepared against them he was by the common-councell made free of their City That part of Caesars war which was managed here we shall hereafter meet with on another occasion Thus having took a view of the state of this Country as it stood of old we will next look upon it in its present condition as comprehending the whole Provinces of 1 Biledulgerid or Numidia 2 Libya Deserta or Sarra and 3. a great part of that Country which is now called Terra Nigritarum But because the greatest part of this last Country is to come under another Accompt we will here only take the two first into consideration 1. NVMIDIA 1. NVMIDIA is bounded on the East with Egypt on the West with the Atlantick Ocean on the North with Mount Atlas which parteth it from Barbarie and Cyrene on the South with Libya Deserta It was thus first called by John Leo an African Writer to whose description of all Africk we are much beholding because of that resemblance which the People of it have to the old Numidians which is after the custom of the Nomades living without houses under their Wagons and Carts as Lucan testifieth of them thus Nulla domus plaustris habitant migrare per arva Mos atque errantes circumvectare Penates They dwell in wains not houses and do stray Through fields and with them lead their gods each way And worthily may they owe their names to them from whom they borrow so much of their nature for the people to this day spend their lives in hunting and stay but three or four dayes in a place as long as the grass will serve the Camels This is the cause why this Countrey is so ill peopled the Towns so small in themselves and so remote from others An example hereof is Teffet a great City in their esteem which yet containeth but 400 housholds and hath no neighbours within 300 miles of it The Country aboundeth with Dates whence it is called Dactylorum regio and in the Arabick Biledulgerid which signifieth also a Date-region These Dates are to speak properly the fruit of the Palm Trees usually growing in hot Countries of which some are male some female the first bringing forth only flowers the other fruit and yet the male so beneficial to the increase of the Dates that unless a flowred bough of the male be ingrafted into the female the Dates never prove good in case they bear any Dates at all as before was noted This fruit is the chief diet of the people but this sweet meat hath sowre sawce for it commonly rotteth their teeth betimes As for the stones of these Dates they feed their Goats with them whereby they grow fat and yield store of milk The Aire hereof of so sound a nature that if a man be troubled with the French disease he shall there without any course of Physick finde a present remedy The natural Inhabitants of this Country are said to be base and vile people theeves murderers treacherous and ignorant of all things feeding most commonly on Dates Barley and Carrion accounting Bread a Diet for their Festival Dayes But the Arabians who are intermingled with them in most part of the Country affirmed to be comparatively with the Natives ingenuous liberal and civil The Garments of these Numidians of the coursest cloth so short that they cover not half the body the richer sort distinguished by a Jacket of blew Cotton with wide sleeves Their Steeds are Camels which they ride on without stirrop or so much as a saddle a leather thrust thorow on hole made in the nose of the Camel serves them for a bridle and to save the charge of Spurs they make use of a goad Their Religion Mahometism to which perverted Christianity having once had some footing here in the year 710. the Azanaghi and other people of those parts then subdued by the Saracens who held them for a Nation of so little reckoning that no man of accompt amongst them would descend so low as to be their Prince but left them to be ruled as in former times by the Chiefs or Heads of their several Clans The chief River which is left hath the name of Dara and possibly enough may be the Daradus of Ptolomy the rest which are mentioned in that Author rising out of Mount Atlas and falling headily this way finding these barren wildernesses to afford them the readiest Channels are trained along by the allurements of the Sands and are either swallowed up in great Lakes or being too liberal to the thirsty sands in their way to the Sea die at the last for thirst in the midst of the Desarts The Principal of their Provinces if capable of a distinction into better and worse 1 DARA more cultivated then the rest because of the River running thorow it whence it hath its name 250 miles in length indifferently fruitful where the River doth overflow and water it and of so different a nature from all the rest that here the Country people have some scattered Villages the better sort their several Castles 2 PESCARA so called from the chief Town of it exceedingly infested with Scorpions the sting whereof is present death 3 FIGHIG so called from the chief Town also inhabited by an industrious and witty People in respect of the rest some of which betake themselves to Merchandise some to the studie of their Law which they studie at Fesse and grow rich upon it 4 TEGORARIN a large Region and well inhabited better then any except Dara as having in it 50 Castles or Gentlemens houses and 100 Villages The people wealthy in regard of the gread trade which they drive with the Negroes and pretty good husbands in manuring their land on which they are
while But not being able to withstand the puissance of the West-Saxons this Kingdom was subdued by Ina the Successor of Ceadwall by whom united to that Crown III. The Kingdom of WEST-SEX or of the WEST-SAXONS the third in order and that which did in fine prevail over all the rest conteined the Counties of Cornwall Devon Somerset Dorset Wilts Southampton and Berks begun by Cerdic a noble Commander of the Saxons ariving with new Forces out of Germany Anno 495. who having overcome the Britans of this Western tract conducted by Natanland their Chieftain entituled himself King of the West-Saxons Anno 522. The Christian Faith suppressed here as elswhere was restored again in the time of Kingâ—ls their first Christian King by the preaching of S. Birinus Bishop of Dorchester neer Oxford then a great City of no fewer than ten Parishes now reduced to one Chief Cities of this Kingdom were 1 Exeter a fair and goodly Citie and a Bishops See removed hither from Cridington or Kirton by Leâ—fricus Anno 1049. Seated upon the bank of the River Ex whence the name of Ex-ceaster environed with deep ditches and very strong wals in compass about a mile and half besides the Suburbs in which are contained in all 15 Parish Churches besides the Minster a beautifull and stately Fabrick 2 Bath so called from the Bathes there being the chief Citie of Somerset by the Latives called Aquae Solis by the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the self same reason Situate in a low Vallie environed about with Hils very steep and high from whence come many Rivulets and fresh Springs to the great commodity of the people A fine neat Town and beautified with as neat a Church heretofore a Monasterie partner with Wels the Bishops See in the stile Episcopall and gives the Title of an Earl to the noble Family of the Bouâ—châ—â—rs 3 Falemoâ—th in Cornwall seated upon a large and capacious Bay so â—ull of Creeks and Roads capable of the best Ships that it is said an hundred sayl of Ships may be lodged therein with such convenience that from the top of the one the Mast of another is not to be seen the mouth or entrance of it defended for the greater safety with two very strong Castles built by Henry the 8th that of S. Mandits on the Fast and that of Pendinas commonly called Pendennis upon the West 4 Dorchester the chief Town of Dorsetshire which is thence denominated by Antoninus called Durnovaria the principall at that time of the Durotriges an Inland Town and consequently of no great trading not so much famous for ought else as giving the Title of a Marquess to Henry Earl of Kingston of the noble Family of the Pierrepoints 5 Wilton the head Town in those times of Wiltshire and a Bishops See honoured with the residence of nine severall Bishops But by translating of the See to Sarum or Sarisbury as the fitter place and carrying thither therewithall the thorow-fare which before was here it fell by little and little into decay and is now hardly worth the reputation of a Market-Town 6 Winchester called Venta in the times of the Romans by the Saxons Vent-ceaster situate on the banks of a pleasant River the seat Royal of the West Saxon Kings who had here their Palace called Wolves-eye so named from the Kings of the Wolphian Family and the situation of it in the circlings of the fore-said River which the old Saxons called an Eye not from the Woel-Staple here kept as some much less from Cardinal Wolsey as others most absurdly think The house given after to the Bishops and made their Palace The Town in compass two miles besides the Suburbs commodiously seated in a low place between very steep Hils by which it is defended both from cold and wind afflicted very much since those times both by war and fire half of the ground within the Town being fields and gardens but still adorned with a magnificent Cathedrall and a gallant but no great Castle bravely mounted upon an hill for defence and prospect besides a College and an Hospital added since those dayes 7 Southampton conveniently seated on an Arm of the Sea capable of Ships of burden to the very Key which maketh it one of the richest Towns in those parts of England Well built of fair large streets beautified with 5 Parish Churches and fortified with high walls a double ditch and a right strong Castle but the Castle now decayed and ruined 8 Reading on the Banks of the River Kennet where it falleth into the Thames by which means it hath the convenience of both Rivers A Town of great trade for clothing well-built and of three Parish Churches heretofore beautified with a strong Castle and a goodly Monasterie but both now decayed 9 Wondsor called Windleshores in the old Saxon situate neer the Banks of the Thames on a rising ground which gives it a fair prospect over all the Countrey adorned in succeeding times with a Palace Royall of the Kings of England and the seat of the Order of the Garter 10 Wallingford the Guallena of the Antients and then the chief Town of the Attrebatii as it was afterwards in the time of the Saxons of the Countie of Berks a mile in compass at that time within the walls fortified with an impregnable Castle and adorned with twelve Parish Churches So desolated by a Plague Anno 1348. that there is now but one Church left hardly Inhabitants enough to keep that in repair and nothing of the wals left as not much of the Castle but the tract and ruins The Kings of the West Saxons A. Ch. 522. 1 Cerdic the first King 17. 539. 2 Kenric 29. 565. 3 Celingus or Châ—uline 10. 595. 4 Celric 5. 600. 5 Ceolwolf 14 614. 6 Kingil the first Christian King 646. 7 Kenewalchin 31. 677. 8 Sigebert 1. 678. 9 Esâ—win 2. 680. 10 Cent win 7. 687. 11 Ceadwall 690. 12 Ina who first gave the Peterpence to the Church of Rome 725. 13 Ethelard 14. 739. 14 Cuthbert 16. 755. 15 Sigebert II. 1. 756. 16 Kinulph 31. 787. 17 Bithric 13. 800 18 Egbert the most puissant King of the West Saxons who united all the Heptarchie into one Estate of whom see more amongst the Monarchs of the Saxons and the Kings of England IV. The Kingdom of EAST-SEX or the EAST-SAXONS was begun about the yeer 527 by Eâ—â—nâ—nwin descended from Weden the common Progenitor of the Saxons from whom we have the name of Wednesday or Wâ—dnesday as they called it formerly It contained only the Counties of Midlesex Essex and so much of Hartfordshire as is in the Dâ—ocese of London The Christian Faith expulled here as in other places was restored again in the time of Sebert the Founder of the Abby Church of S. Peter in Westminster by the preaching of Mellitus the first Bishop of London after the entrance of the Saxons suppressed again by Seward and Sigebert the Sonnes of Sebert but setled stronger than before by Cedda
the next Bishop there Principall Cities of this Kingdom besides London spoken of already were 1 Westminster situate in those times a mile from London now adjoyning to it The See of the Archbishop of London in the time of the Britains afterwards by the Saxons called Thorn-eye or the Thorny Iland till the new Minster built by Sebert as before is said and the western situation of it in regard of S. Pauls built at the same time by Ethelbert the King of Kent gained it this new name A Citie honoured with the seat of the Kings of East-Sex and since those times with that of the Kings of England the names of the old Palace of the one and the new Palace of the other still remaining there beautified upon that occasion with more stately and magnificent houses belonging to the King Bishops and Nobility than all the other in the Kingdom having of late a new Town added to it in the Convent Garden a place belonging formerly to the Monks of Westminster for uniformity of building and handsome streets inferiour to no Citie of France or Italy 2 Colchester the chief Town of Est-sex situate neer the Sea on the River Coln a Colonie of the Londoners in former times thence called Colonia Londinensium and Colonia only then a Bishops See from which or from the River with the Addition of Ceaster after the manner of the Saxons came the name of Colchester A fair and well built Town and of good resort fortified with an old Roman wall and having in it to the number of 14 Churches 3 Ithancester in Dengey Hundred where S. Ceaddae the second Bishop of London baptized the relapsed East-Saxons 4 Hartford the chief Town of the Countie so called by Beda named Herudford and of great note in his time for a Synod there held in the dawning of the day of Christianity among the Saxons in which S. Augustine the Monk the first Apostle of that People had a conference or consultation with the British Bishops more memorable in the following times for giving the title of an Earl to the illustrious Family surnamed De Clare the addition of an Honour and a goodly Patrimonie to Ioâ—u of Gaunt D. of Lancaster and at this time the title of Earl and Marquess to the noble Family of the Seymours The Kings of the East-Saxons A. Ch. 527. 1 Erchenwin the first King 587. 2 Sledda 596. 3 S. Sebert the first Christian King 4 Sâ—ward and Sigebert 623. 5 Sigebert II. or the Litle 6 Sigebert III. 661. 7 Swiâ—helme 664. 8 Sighere 664. 9 S. Sebba 694. 10 Sigbeard 11 Seofride 701 12 Offa. 709. 13 Selred 774. 14 Suthred the last King of the East-Saxons subdued by Egbert the great and potent King of West-Sex Anno 828. and his Kingdom made a Member of that rising Monarchy V. The Kingdom of the EAST-ANGLES so called from the Angli or English which possessed these parts and the Eastern situation of it begun by Vffa a great Commander of the Saxons Anno 575. contained the Counties of Norfolk Suffolk Cambridge-shire and the Isle of Fly The Christian Faith first planted here in the Reign of Redwall the third King by the Ministerie of Felix a Burgundian the first Bishop of the East-Angles the See whereof was afterwards removed to Norwich Places of most importance in it were 1 Dunwich on the Sea-shore the first Bishops See of the East-Angles for the Countie of Suffolk then a Town capable of that Dignity now ruinous decayed and for the greatest part worn into the Sea 2 Ipswich in the same Countie of Suffolk and the chief of the Countrie a rich populous and well traded Emporie consisting of no fewer than 5 Parish Churches 3 Norwich the head Citie of Norfolke situate on the River Yare which runs thence to Yaremouth lying out in length a mile and an half half as much in breadth and in that Circuit comprehending about 30 Parishes well walled about with many a Turret and 12 Gates for entrance but hath within it much wast ground the Citie suffering great loss both in wealth and buildings by Kets Rebellion in the time of K. Edward the sixth recovered of the first blow by the Dutch Manufactures of the last still languishing yet still it glorieth in the beauties of a fair Cathedrall the three Palaces of the Bishops the Dukes of Norfolke and the Earls of Surrey and the ruins of an antient Castle of the Saxons building 4 North Elmham the Bishops See of the East-Angles for those parts which we now call Norfolk both this and that of Dunwich ruinated in the Danish Wars but this reviving at the end of 100 yeers and here continuing both Sees united unto one till removed to 5 Thetford another Town of this Countie situate on the confluence of the Thet and the lesser Ouse a larger Town than either of the other two from whence at last removed to Norwich 6 Cambridge the chief Town of that Countie by Antonine called Camboritum whence the modern name unless we rather fetch it from a Bridge over the River Cam or Grant for some call it Grantbridge as perhaps we may A Town well built by reason of the Vniversity said to be founded by Sigebert King of the East-Angles of whom it is affirmed by Beda that he Founded a School for the education of Children in the wayes of good Learning but he speaketh neither of Vniversitie nor nameth Cambridge for the place 7 Ely situate in the Isle so named occasioned by the divided streams of Nor and Ouse with the over-flotes of other Rivers turning a great part of this tract into Fens and Marishes the Inhabitants vvhereof were called Girvii A place of no great beauty or reputation as situate in a foggy and unhealthfull ayr but only for a Fair Monastery built by S. Ethelreda Wife of Egfride King of the Northumbers by her made a Nunnery aftervvards rebuilt and replenished with Monks by Ethelwold B. of Winchester Anno 970. or thereabouts finally made a Bishops See in the time of King Henry the first Anno 1109. The Kings of the East-Angles A. Ch. 575. 1 Vffa the first King 582. 2 Titullus 593. 3 Redwall the first Christian King 624. 4 Erpenwald 636. 5 S. Sigebert 638. 6 Egric 642. 7 Anna. 654. 8 Ethelbert 656. 9 Edelwald 664. 10 Alauffe 683. 11 Elswolph 714. 12 Beorn 714. 13 S. Ethelred 749. 14 Ethelbert II. treacherously murdered by Offa the great King of the Mercians to whose Court he came an invited Guest Anno 793. after whose death this Kingdom became subject to the 〈◊〉 and then to Egbert the West-Saxon governed by Tributarie Kings of their own Nation of whom we have no constat till the time of 870. 15 S. Edmund descended from Anna the 7th King hereof Martyred by the Danes for his stout and constant perseverance in the Faith of CHRIST from whence the fair Town of S. Edmunds burie in the County of Suffolk took denomination After whose death the Kingdom was possessed by the Danes