is for the most part in this our age full of Forrests as also it was in the time of Vopiscus as he witnesseth in the life of Aurelian especially a little beyond the riuer Arno vntill one come beyond Plumbino The inner part of the country is almost as much oppressed with Mountaines In it are these cities more famous than the rest Florence Siena Luca Perugia Pisa Viterbo c. FLORENCE or as they call it Fiorenza is situate vpon ech side of the riuer Arno conioined by foure faire bridges it is a most goodly and beautifull city whereupon commonly they call it Fiorenza la bella Florence the faire as if indeed it might seeme to bee the flower of all Italie For it is adorned with stately buildings aswell Churches and religious houses as of priuate citizens Amongst all other the Church of S. Maria Florida wholly ouerlaid with Marble arched with a roofe of an admirable workemanship neere to which is built a goodly steeple for the bels all of fine marble not farre from which standeth the ancient Temple of Mars of forme round very ingeniously built and of a cunning workemanship now dedicated to S. Iohn Baptist The dores of this Church are of cast brasse a very rare and curious peece of worke especially those which are next to the Church of S. Maria Florida are such that all men of iudgement and experience must absolutely confesse that in all Europe beside the like are no where to be seene But to reckon vp all the worthy buildings of this citie aswell sacred as profane it were too tedious and would require more paper than this our purposed discourse will beare He therefore that desireth to know more of the particulers more at large let him reade Leander SIENA lieth vpon the top of an hill round begirt with high rocks of Tophus-stone gorgeously bedecked with many noble mens houses amongst the which is the great and large Church of our Lady equall to the stateliest and sumptuousest Churches of all Europe whether you respect the worth and price of the Marble whereof it is built or the excellencie of the worke and workemanship of him that made it Besides that there is a most stately house of tree stone built by Pope Pius II. with many other goodly houses Worthy of commendation and record is the large and beautifull market place with Branda the pleasant fountaine alwaies full of most cleare water PERVGIA is seated vpon the mountaine Apennine the greatest part of the countrie arising with goodly pleasant hilles fertile of strong Wines Oiles Figges Apples and other sorts of most excellent fruits Beneath the citie at Asisia as also toward Tuder neere Tiber the pleasant champion fields do spread themselues yeelding plenty of wheat and other kind of graine The city by reason of the nature of the place is very strong adorned with gorgeous buildings both of religious houses and churches as also priuate citizens together with a famous and large fountaine in the middest of the citie It is very populous and the citizens are very ingenious and of couragious stomackes apt indifferently either for any maner litterature or for seruice in the field PISA long since hath beene a famous citie and many waies richly blessed not onely before the flourishing estate of the Roman Empire but euen when it was at the full height as also many yeares after Many famous Marine-conquests which it hath made by which it brought the Ile Sardinia subiect to their command do auouch this to be true Panormo a faire citie of Sicilia they won from the Saracens and of the bootie and spoiles taken in that warre they began to build the great Church which they call DOMNVM as also the beautifull palace of the Bishop It hath an Vniuersitie or Schoole of all maner of Liberall Arts and Sciences whose foundation was laid in the yeare of CHRIST 1309. VITERBO lieth in a pleasant and spacious champion hauing the Cyminian hilles now of this citie called Mont Viterbo vpon his backeside stately for many faire buildings and works of rare Art amongst which is a famous fountaine from whence issueth water in such abundance as is wonderfull LVCA is seated in a plaine not farre from the hilles foot a city of goodly buildings The people are neat wise and ingenious which haue most discreetly retained and kept their libertie of a long time whole in their owne hands although they haue been often assaulted by their neighbours See more at large of this in Leander Myrsilus the Lesbian Marcus Cato in his Origines and their Expositor Ioannes Annius Viterbiensis who also wrote a seuerall treatise of the antiquities of Hetruria William Postell Volaterranus and Laonicus Chalcocondylas a Grecian in his sixth booke and others haue described this prouince Ioannes Campanus hath written most elegantly of the Lake of Perugia THVSCIAE DESCRIPTIO AVCTORE HIERONYMO BELLARMATO Me Ianus tenuit primus formataue ab illo Imposui leges populis nomina Ponto Inferno Supero missos auxiue colonos Imperiumque Italos trans fines foedera natis Dum seruata meis sed me discordia preaeceps Romuleae genti domitam seruire coegit Quae deous antiquae longo post tempore linguae Auxilij male grata mei male grata laborum Abstulit mansit nomen quod Thura dedere Archades aut Lŷdi quod vel mutare Pelasgi Non ausi sacras quibus has concessimus oras Cum priuilegio The Signiory of FLORENCE OF the city of Florence read Blondus who in his view of Italie reporteth thus of it They commonly affirme saith he that this citie was first begonne by Sylla's souldiers vnto whom this part of the countrie was by Sylla assigned and because they first began to seat themselues ad Arna fluenta about the riuer Arno they then intituled it by the name of FLVENTIA And indeed Pliny who of all the old writers first mentioneth this place saith that the Fluentini were seated neere the riuer Arno. These souldiers came hither about the yeare after the building of the city of Rome 667. whereupon it appeareth that Florence was founded about 83. yeares before the birth of Christ This city suffered much wrecke in the time of the warres of the Gothes Yet was it neuer either by Totilas or any other of those ragings Tyrants vtterly rased or spoiled And therefore that which some do write of the repairing of Florence by Charles the Great I can by no meanes allow when as the histories of Charles written by Alcuinus his schoolemaster do only mention his keeping of Easter heere at two seuerall times as he went by this way toward Rome It was preserued from a great hazard of vtter ouerthrow which it was like to haue fallen into by the manhood of one Farinata Vbertino when as they of Pisa Siena and others of Tuscane meeting at a market in a consultation by them held hauing generally determined to rase Florence to the ground said stoutly That while he liued he would neuer suffer
his deare Mother which brought him vp by them to be spoiled Therefore Florence partly taking by force and partly by other meanes drawing to their part the Fesulanes about the yeare of Christ 1024. was much enlarged in wealth and authoritie at which time also Henry the first Emperour of Rome built the goodly Church of S. Miniate neere the walles of Florence This city was twise within a little while in the yeare 1176. miserably defaced by casualty of fire From which time it first began to be gouerned as now it is by the Priori the masters of the twelue companies and a Standard-bearer Gonfalonerio they call him One of the first Gonfalonerios was Stroza a nobleman borne of a great house The goodly Minster which in our time by the ingenious direction of Philippo Brunalitio a Florentine was most stately arched and dedicated to our Lady was begun in the yeare of our Lord 1294. Foure yeares after that was that gorgeous Palace where now the Priori or Aldermen do keepe first founded And fiue yeares after that was the Pomoerium the prospect or wast ground round about the city leuelled and the walles of the city enlarged Pistorio was the first city that the Florentines subdued vnder their command as Leander in his description of Italie affirmeth vpon the testimony of Aretino where also he hath these words of the diuers forms and different maner of gouernment of the same After that it was repaired saith he by Charles the Great they yearely chose two Consuls or Sheriffes who with the assistance of 100. Senatours or Aldermen should gouerne the city This forme of commonwealth being altered they created the Decemuiri the tenne called of them Antiani about the yeare of Grace 1220. as Volaterran affirmeth or as Blondus saith in the yeare 1254. After that in the yeare 1287. hauing redeemed their freedome of the Emperour Rudolfe for 60000. crownes as Platina writeth the Decemuiri the tenne were reduced to Octouiri eight and were called the Priori the maisters of the companies ouer whom was set the Standerd-bearer called by them Gonfalonerio di Giustitia the Lord chiefe Iustice which office they were to hold but two monethes and then others were to be elected This forme of policy for as much as I can gather out of historiographers was since that time thrise altered First in the yeare 1343. when the Florentines bought Luca of Mastino Scaligero for 5000. crownes their forces being ouerthrowne by the enemie they were constrained to demand aid of Robert King of Naples and obtained Gualterio Gallo a captaine of Athens for their generall who by great subtilty and cunning getting the rule of the city went to the Court and there deposed the Priori and other Magistrates from their office Yet he enioied not his vsurped authority long for the people at the persuasion of Angelo Accieuolo Bishop of the sea a Frier predicant rose vp in armes and deposing the Tyrant restored the Priori and Confalonerio to their places againe The second alteration of this Common-wealth happened in the time of Alexander the sixth Bishop of Rome when as his sonne Caesar Borgia Duke of Valence neuer labouring to bring home againe Peter Iohn and Iulian the sonnes of Laurence Medices who but lately had beene banished at length brought the matter so about that the office of the Gonfalonerio should be giuen to Peter Soderine for a perpetuall and standing office who together with the Priori chosen euery two moneths after the ancient custome most wisely behaued himselfe and orderly gouerned that Common-wealth vntill at length being expelled by Raimundo Cordona Embassadour of Ferdinand the King of Arragon and Naples who was to restore Iohn Cardinall Medices and his brother Iulian in the yeare of Grace 1412. and erecting the ancient maner of gouernment which continued vntill the yeare 1530. In the meane time although the city were commanded at the discretion and direction of the Popes Leo the tenth which was Iohn Medices and Clement the seuenth which was Iulius Medices the bastard sonne of Iulian the first Cardinall Cortonesse hauing the wardship and being Gardian to Hippolytus the sonne of Iulian the second of Alexander the bastard sonne of Laurenznio the nephew of Peter the second Yet notwithstanding the ancient Magistrates were chosen after the custome formerly vsed In that same yeare therefore when as three yeares before the Emperours souldiers besieging Clement the seuenth in Hadrians castle the city shaking off the yoke of bondage obteined freedome and endeuoured by all meanes to retaine the same Philip the Prince of Aurange leading the armie of the Emperour Charles the fifth Clement entreating that Alexander his nephew whom before he had intituled Duke of Penna to be brought againe into the city forced it being much distressed for want of victuall to yeeld to the obedience of the Emperour Charles the Emperour at the request of Clement the Pope presently created Alexander perpetuall Priour and thus the offices of the Priori and Gonfalonerio were vtterly taken away Then when the Emperour Charles had created Alexander Duke of Florence and giuen vnto him in mariage Margaret his bastard daughter in the yeare of our Sauiour 1535. and two yeares after that before the seuenth day of Ianuarie Laurence Medices the sonne of Peter Francis that he might set his natiue country at liberty as he pretended had miserably slaine him Cosmus Medices the sonne of Iohn Medices was created Duke in his roome Thus farre Leander vnto which I may adioine these words of my kind friend M. Iohn Pinadello When it was known saith he to Pius the fifth Pope of Rome that Cosmus Medices Duke of Florence had at that time taken great paines for the maintainance of the Church and Religion and spared no cost in the warres against the hereticks in the yeare 1570. in the moneth of Februarie comming to the city crowned him in Aula Regia the Kings hall a place in Vaticana so named and gaue him and his successours the title of The great Duke In whose Crowne the Pope caused these words to be engrauen PIVS QVINTVS Pont. Max. ob eximiam dilectionem Catholicae religionis zelum praecipuumque iustitiae studium donauit that is Pius the fifth Bishop of Rome in token of great loue earnest zeale of Catholique religion and constant maintainance of true Iustice gaue this Thus farre in few words of the Offices Policy and Iurisdiction of this city I thinke it not amisse here to adioine another short discourse because it is rare and not altogether from the purpose It is thus as Syffridus Presbyter reporteth in George Fabricius his historie of Misnia Otho the third Emperour of Rome lying at Mutina with his wife the Empresse fell in loue with a certaine Earle but when as he by no meanes would consent vnto her she so diffamed him vnto her husband the Emperour that he commanded him to be beheaded before euer he had examined the matter Who before he was beheaded entreated his wife
lake His words be these speaking of Sarte a riuer in this Prouince Sarte being come to the bridge commonly called Noien as farre as the towne of Malicorne how plentifully and miraculously it aboundeth with fish may appeare by this one example that not many yeeres past contrary to mens vsuall expectation here was taken a carpe of an ell and handfull long his tongue if we may beleeue the common report weighed six pounds which is confirmed also by a monument written vpon the Bishops palace They say that not farre from this place in the tract of Sagona there is an exceeding deepe lake it is named The causey-foord for it ends at the place commonly called Gay Chaucey out of which lake are taken carpes of so huge bignesse that one of them will suffice a meane family for an whole weeke together the experience whereof following the Court I learned in the towne of Blois Hitherto Robert Caenalis in his story of France CENOMANORVM Galliae regionis typus Auctore Matthaeo Ogerio La Mans. Neustria BRITANNIAE et NORMANDIAE TYPVS 1594. Cum privilegio decennali POICTOV AMongst the people of Aquitaigne some there are called by Ptolemey and Plinie Pictones by Caesar and Strabo Pictones with i in the first syllable and by Ammianus Marcellinus Pictauos Ausonius names the countrey Pictonicam regionem but later Writers call it in Latine Pictauia The inhabitants in their owne language terme themselues Poicteuins the region Poictou and the head city Poictiers which perhaps is all one with Ptolemey his Augustoritum The opinion of some who affirme it was thus named of the Pictes I holde altogether fabulous for out of Classicall writers it is apparent that Pictones is an ancienter name than Picti Poictou is now diuided into the Lower and the Vpper The Lower Poictou we call that which ends Westward vpon the sea of Aquitaigne and the Vpper which lieth Eastward towards Tourain and Berry South it confines vpon Xantoigne Angolesme and Limosin and North vpon Brettaigne and Aniou It is a countrey most fertile of corne and cattell rich in wheat and wine and abounding with fish Wild-fowle and beasts heere are great plenty and for that cause much hunting and hauking In this region are conteined 1200. Parishes vnder three Bishopricks namely Poictiers Luçon and Maillezais The principall places besides these are Roch-sur-yon Talmont Meroil Vouuant Meruant Bresuire Lodun Fontenay le Conte All which be in the Vpper Poictou In the Lower are situate Niort Partenay Touars Moncontoul Hernault Mirebeau Chalstelleraudt c. The head of all these is Poictiers which next vnto Paris is the principall citie in all France and is for the most part enuironed by the riuer Clain The antiquity of this towne sufficiently appeareth out of the Theater commonly called Arenas as likewise out of Gallienus his Palace and the Arches of Water-conducts as yet extant which the inhabitants call Arceaux de Parignè all which are Monuments of the Romans gouernment in this place Howbeit before their comming this citie was seated vpon another plot of ground as may be gathered out of the writings of Ammonius and Ado. For they make mention of a place called Olde Poictiers whereat they say was the diuision of the kingdome betweene Charlemaine and Pipin Kings of the Frankes Also in this table vpon the very same riuer of Clain towards Chastellerault you may see a place called Vieu Poictiers that is to say Old Poictiers The towne of Talmont or rather Talon du Monde in English The heele of the World is so called by the French because it stands vpon the vtmost border of this countrey towards the Ocean as if therefore it were to be esteemed the extreame part of the World Ouer against the shore of Poictou lie these islands Oleron by Plinie named Vliarius at the mouth of the riuer Charente called by Ausonius Charantonus fluuius and by Ptolemey Canentelum L'isle de Rez opposite to Rochell abounding with wine wherof it is named The isle Noir or Marmonstier which yeeldeth plenty of salt The isle Aulonne which in this Table is rather a Peninsula this aboundeth with wine and salt as doth another little isle called Chauet The Mappe also represents vnto you L'isle de Dieu or Gods isle and that likewise which is called Nostre-dame de Bouin By Saint Hillary the Apostle of Aquitaigne Ecclesiasticall Writers affirme that this region was conuerted to Christianity A more exact description hereof you may reade in Belleforrest who will referre you from himselfe to Iohn Bouchet his Chronicle of Aquitaigne Something you may learne out of Antony Pinetius in his description of Cities Theuet likewise is to be perused Concerning this region also Iohn de la Haye wrote a peculiar Treatise in French POICTOV PICTONVM VICINARVMQVE REGIONVM FIDISS DESCRIPTIO Auctore Nobili Dn̄o Petro Rogiero Pictone Regiae M t is Galliae consiliario etc. The region of BERRY called of olde BITVRIGES THe people Bituriges are mentioned in most of the ancient Geographers Plinie calles them Liberos and saith they were also named Cubos The country is now diuided into the Vpper the Lower The principall citie called at this present Bourges was named by Caesar as some thinke Auaricum Theobald Fagotius citizen of the same writeth that the territory adiacent is exceeding fruitfull and wanteth nothing that all France may affoord that the city is ancient as appeareth by diuers notable monuments that it is a towne of great trafficke that they haue an Vniuersitie flourishing with all kinde of learning insomuch as it may well be called The Honour of the liberall Arts and A Mart of learned men But concerning the originall of this citie and the deriuation of the name let vs giue eare to Iohn Calmey who writes thereof in maner following In the yeere of the worlds creation 1791. one Gomer of the nation of the Gaules bringing a Colonie into this region of the Bituriges planted the same in the chiefe citie the name of Ogygis being by Noah his grandfather imposed for honours sake vpon the inhabitants which by them for the fauor and loue they bare to their founder descended of Ogygis was afterward changed and they named themselues Bitogyges which in the Armenian tongue signifies The posteritie of Ogygis But as words by custome are often times corrupted for to make them familiar or more proper we will not sticke to adde detract or alter some letters or syllables so the name of this countrey and of the chiefe citie either by the force thereof or by the appointment of a certaine Prince named Biturix changed the name of Bitogyges into Bituriges Amongst other opinions some hold that it was called Bituris quasi Biturris of two ancient Towers which sometimes stood in this citie whereupon a certaine Grammarian hath written this verse Turribus à binis inde vocor Bituris that is Of Towers twaine Bituris I was nam'd Thus much out of John Calamaeus his booke of the originall of the Bituriges from whence
Nigra and that of Switta whereon standeth the city Brin next in dignity to Olmuntz also Thaysa which glideth along by the city Znaim famous for the death of Sigismund the Emperour and lastly Igla passing by the city Igla rendreth vp his owne and his neighbours substance to the great and renowmed Danubius But the riuer Odera springing not far from Olmuntz retaineth his name to the Ocean sea Some thinke it is called by Ptolemey Viadrus Odera is so named of a word borrowed from fowlers which call their watch-towers for the spying and taking of birds Odri and such towers you haue now in Morauia at the fountaine of Odera Neither must we heere omit the riuer Hana which albeit sometimes scant of water yet doth it so moisten the neighbour-fields being thereby the fertilest in all the region as the husbandmen in regard of their plentifull increase call them the fat of Morauia Here also more than in other places are found the siluer and gold coines of M. Antoninus of Commodus and other Emperours Which is a manifest argument of ancient warres betweene the forces of the Empire and the Marcomans in these parts This one thing is most worthy the admiration that in Morauia there is a kind of Frankincense Myrrhe not distilling out of trees as in other countries but digged from vnder the ground in one place only called Gradisco where till this present is found not only Frankincense called Male frankincense in regard of the resemblance it hath with the priuie parts of man but also in the shape of other members both of man and woman And of late VVenceslaus of the noble family surnamed à Quercu as he was making a foundation for the banke of a fish-poole in his field of Sterenberg he found the intire body of a man consisting all of Myrrhe the which distributing vnto his friends and remembring me among the rest bestowed on me more than halfe an arme which I vsed often for a perfume The inner part of the region is arable an exceeding fertile and fat soile and most apt for corne as the hilles for vines being more fauourable to Bacchus than the hilles of Bohemia wherefore it excelleth for abundance of good wine And it is so generally manured and hath such plentie of husbandmen that vnlesse it be in forests and desert places heere is no pasture at all for the feeding of cattell For the rest both in speech fashions and customes they are like the Bohemians Hitherto Dubrauius In the yeere 895. the people of this region were instructed in the Christian faith by S. Methodius at the procurement of Arnulphus the Emperour Vnder the Emperour Henry the fourth in the yeere 1086. this countrey together with Lusatia and Silesia was annexed to the kingdome of Bohemia Their language is mixt for the greatest part speake Bohemian and the high Dutch is vsed only in cities among persons of best account This Prouince as Dubrauius writeth yeelds plentie of wine but not of the strongest such saith Rithaimerus and I my selfe haue so found it by experience as exempteth not the drinker quite from care Duglossus in his Polonian storie saith that the name of the riuer Odera signifies in the Henetian tongue inundation or robbery Olmuntz the head citie of this region and the seat of a Bishop is described by Stephanus Taurinus in his Stauromachia Concerning Morauia besides Dubrauius reade Aeneas Siluius in his Bohemian story This Map of Morauia first drawen by Fabricius but afterward corrected by diuers gentlemen of the countrey was sent me by Iohn Crato Counseller and principall Physician to the Emperour Maximilian the second a bountifull fauourer of these my studies He gaue me also this catalogue of townes called both by German and Bohemian names The Dutch names The Bohemian names Behemsche Triebaw Trzebowa Czeska Landskron Landskraun Schirmberg Semanin Sciltperg Ssilperck Hanstadt Zabrzch Zwittaw Swittawa Merherische Tribaw Trzebowa Morawska Neustadt Nowy Miesto Deutstbrodt Niemeckybrod Iglau Cziblawa Budwers Budegowice Weissenkirch Hranitza Plos Pzin Drosendorff Drosdowice Freyen Vranow Schtignitz Trztenice Holsterlitz Hosteradice Mislicz Moristaw Ioslwitz Iaroslaiwice Dayex Diakowice Grustpach Hrussowamy Maydpurgk Dewczihrady Auspitz Hustopecz Nuslau Nosyslaw Tischain Itza Schwartz Wasser Strumen Selowitz Zidlochowice Brin Brno Olmutz Holomane Prostnitz Proslegew Wischa Wyskow Austerlitz Slawkow Kremfier Kromerziz Vngerischbrod Vherskybrod Goeding Hodomin Lumpenburg Brzetislaw Altmarck Podiwin Ostra Ostracia MORAVIAE QVAE OLIM MARCOMANNORVM SEDES COROGRAPHIA A. D. PAVLO FABRITIO MEDICO ET MATHEMATICO DESCRIPTA ET A GENEROSIS MORAVIAE BARONIBVS QVIBVSDAM CORRECTA AVSTRIA or AVSTRICH GEORGE RITHAYMER in his Abridgement of the situation of the world describeth Austrich vnder the name of Pannony the higher in these words Pannony the higher saith he toward the East abbutteth vpon the riuer Leyth Ptolemey maketh the riuer Rab his Eastern bound Vpon the West it is bounded with the riuer Onasus and Noricum which is a part of Bayern Some do on that coast limit it with the mountaine Caetius on the North with the riuer Tey and the countrey Morauia for so farre at this day it doth extend it selfe on that side Vpon the South coast it resteth vpon the mountaines of Steyri The soile is good and fertile of all maner of corne and is such as is manured and tilled with small charge In that part which is beyond Donaw and is called Marchfield where long since the Chetuari and and Parmecampi were seated the husbandman falloweth his land with one poore seely jade only Marle without which their land in Bayern is leane and barren what it meaneth the husbandmen of Austrich know not It beareth so good Saffron as no other in the world may compare with it It affoordeth Wine passing holesome and agreeable to the nature of man Althamerus vpon Cornelius Tacitus his Germania writeth that it yeeldeth plentie of Ginger in a mountaine neere the towne Hamburg in the middest of Austrich or Pannony It hath many ancient and famous cities notwithstanding those of greatest note are Styre Vadenhoff Melck Castell anciently called Claudionum Crembs Cetro castle now called Zeisselmaur Saint Hippolytus the two Newberies one surnamed of the Abbey the other of Corne. Petronell a village now but in old time a great citie as his foundation ruines and heaps of stones and rubbish do testifie The new city Pruck vpon the banke of the riuer Leyth and Hamburg out of all the most famous is VVien sometime called Flauiana and Iuliobona renowmed for the Vniuersitie and Schoole than which there is none that hath brought forth more excellent and greater Mathematicians This citie is round beset with Vineyards The houses of the citizens are stately and beautifull so that they may seeme to giue entertainment to Princes and are built with large and open windowes to let the aire in and out and therefore they are neuer pestered and offended with close and bad aire for that euery priuate house hath either his seuerall court-yard or back-side Hither is great concourse of forren nations
from all countreys of Europe Here is great plentie of all maner of prouision necessary for the maintenance of mans life The riuers of Austrich are Donaw sometime the vtmost border of the region but now it runneth thorow the midst of the same Onasus Drawn Erlaph which at Cella or Zelltal famous for the Church of the Virgine Marie ariseth out of a most pleasant lake Draisn Ypsie Melck Marck These doe seuer Morauia from Austrich Camb a notable riuer for sundry sorts of fish Leytte and Swegad in which are Crefishes or Crabs of a most pleasant taste Thus farre Rithaymer Of the originall and reason of the etymologie of the name of this countrey this report Lazius in his Commentaries of VVien doth giue The name of Austria saith he was inuented of late about foure hundred yeeres since of the blast of the South winde called of the Latines Auster which winde in this country bloweth oft or of the similitude of the German name which I thinke to be more likely for the Kings of the Franks called the East border of their Kingdomes Ostenrich like as the West part they termed Westenrich This region long since was first gouerned by Marquesses then by Dukes and lastly by Archdukes to whom it is now subiect as is more at large to be seene in the said Commentaries of Lazius The ancient armes of this countrey were fiue Larkes Ore in a field Azure but Lupold the Marquesse the fift of that name of an accident or euent that befell him was licenced by the Emperour to alter his coat and to beare a field Gules with a fesse argent for that in the siege and assault of Accon he was all ouer embrued with bloud onely his girdle excepted More thou maiest reade of this in Munster and Cuspinian The description of Austrich is to be seene in Bonfinius in the end of his fourth booke fourth Decade of his historie of Hungarie Pius the second in his description of Europe citeth an historie of his written of this countrey which notwithstanding as yet it was neuer our chance to see The same authour hath in his Epistles passing well described Vienna or VVien the chiefe citie of this Prouince AVSTRIAE DESCRIP per WOLFGANGVM LAZIVM The Bishopricke of SALCZBVRG FRANCIS IRENICVS saith that of the fiue Bishopricks of Bayern this is the principall and the Bishops sea termed of Aeneas Syluius the Metropolitan citie whose description we haue here set downe is by Munster thus described Iulius Caesar entending to make warre vpon the Germans caused a very strong castle to be built in the streights of the mountaines whither his souldiers in danger might retire themselues and from whence they might haue succour when need required and therefore it was called Castrum Iuuauiense in the German tongue Helfenberg The riuer vpon which it standeth called Iuuauius is thought by some to haue giuen the name to this castle of which also the citie afterwards built was named Iuuauia This citie hath Fennes Plaines Hilles and Mountaines round about belonging to it The Fennes yeeld pastures the Mountaines hawking and hunting But this citie hauing long since flourished for a few yeres in the time of Attila the King of the Hunnes susteined many inrodes and incursions and was miserably wasted with fire and sword Afterward about the yeere of Christ 520 whenas S. Rupert descended of the bloud royall of the Franks was inuested Bishop of the sea of VVormes and after the death of Childebert was driuen from that his Bishopricke Thedo Duke of Bayern entertained him at Ratispone with great ioy and solemnitie and was baptized of him with his Nobles and Commons Rupert the Bishop going on visitation and trauelling about by Noricum euen vnto Pannony preaching the Gospell conuerted many to the faith of CHRIST and comming vnto the riuer Iuuaue where sometime the citie Iuuawe had stood but now ruined decaied ouergrowen with bushes and without inhabitant and obseruing the place fitting and conuenient for a Bishops sea he obtained the possession thereof from the Duke stocked vp the trees and bushes and finding the foundation of the buildings he erected there a Church which he dedicated vnto the honour of S. Peter Also by the bountifull magnificence of the same Duke he erected a Monasterie of the order of S. Bennet and gouerned the Bishops sea foure and fortie yeeres c. The same authour in that place reckoneth vp also the rest of the Bishops and Archbishops of this sea See Auentinus who thinketh this citie to haue beene of Ptolemey called Poedicum This citie is seated amongst the Alpes Some doe thinke it to haue beene named Saltzburg of Salt which in the countrey neere adioyning not farre from Reichenhall is digged out of the earth in great plenty Yet who doth not see it not to be called of them Saltzburg or Salisburg but Salezburg of Salcz or Salczach the riuer vpon which it is built and situate like as Insperg Instadt of the riuer In Iltzstadt vpon Iltz Regensperg vpon Regen not farre from this place and a thousand such euery where to be obserued The territorie and liberties of this citie is rich of all sorts of mettels as of Golde Siluer Brasse and yron Here is also found Vitrioll Brimstone Alume and Antimonie It hath also some quarries of Marble VViguley Hund hath set forth a catalogue of the Bishops of this citie The Iournall of Antoninus maketh mention of Iuuaue But Gaspar Bruschius thinketh the more ancient name of Iuuaue to haue beene Helfenberg and of that the name Iuuaue to haue beene formed which in signification is the same Pighius writeth that he hath read these verses in the chiefe church of this city Tunc Hadriana vetus quae pòst Iuuauia dicta Praesidialis erat Noricis Episcopo digna Rudiberti sedes qui fidem contulit illis CHRISTI quam retinet Saltzburgum serò vocata Thus verbatim in English Where Hadriana old did stand which since they Iuuaue call'd A garrison towne to Roman State there Robert was enstall'd First Bishop of the sea who them did bring to cheerefull light Of Gospell cleere which yet they hold it now is Salczburg hight SALISBVRGENSIS IVRISDICTIONIS locorumque vicinorum vera descriptio Auctore Marco Secznagel Salisburgense Qui patriae adfert ingenio suae Illustre nomen Laudibus excolens Dignus fauore est praemióque Quem sequens veneretur aetas Cum Marcus ergo fecerit hoc opus Grato tuum te quaeso foue sinu Salczburga ciuem ges tiensque Posteritatis honore cinge BAVARIA BAyern or Bauiere called of the Latines Boiaria or as others like better Bauaria was inhabited in former times by the Narisci Vindelici and Norici The Nariskes which now are called Nardge the riuer Donaw parteth from the other two The Noricks did enter at the riuer In and doe decline toward the East and West euen vnto Hungarie and Italie The Vindelicks were conteined betweene the riuers Lyke Donaw Isara Inne and the Alps which Ptolemey calleth Penninae All this
that the Cabbadges heere cauli capucei they call them do often weigh as Mazella reporteth sometime thirty sometime fortie pound and therefore Martiall said not amisse Nos amiternus ager felicibus educathortis In Amiternoes fertile fields we liue and spend our daies The fields before this citie do yeeld such great plenty of Saffron that thereof yearely they make 40000. ducates Heere is once a yeare kept a great Faire It hath 110. Churches Neere this city as Blondus saith is a stone from vnder the which runneth a streame of oile which they call Oile of peter or Petroleum and is desired and sought for of many but of the Almaines and Hungarians it is more esteemed then of the Italians The same authour recordeth that the country people shewed him a Peare-tree growing vpon an hill not farre from the head of the riuer Pescara or Aterno shooting vp in such a sort that the water falling vpon it diuideth it selfe into three parts which become three great riuers Velino Tronto and Pescara running three diuers waies Amiterno in former times a goodly city famous in histories and the natiue country of Salust the noble historian can hardly be discerned where it stood yet Blondus saith that they do yet shew some pieces of the Theater Temples and Turrets Mazella affirmeth that there yet do remaine the Temple of Saturne the tombe of Drusus daughter and a triumph of the Samnites engrauen in marble a memoriall of their happie victory obtained against the Roman army ad furcas Caudinas Teramo long since called Interamnia for that it is situate between three riuers Fiumicello Trontino and Vitiole is the head city of this prouince whose Bishop is graced with many titles and dignities and the lord of the soile is called by the name of the Duke of Teramo Adria the ancient colonie of the Romanes is now called Atri Some do thinke that the Emperour Hadrian was borne heere and of it tooke his name as also the Hadriaticke sea now called Mare superum the higher sea the Gulfe or Bay of Venice Furconium sometime hath been a famous Bishopricke whose Bishops are often mentioned in the Councels and Synods held 800. yeares since at Rome or other places of Italie At this day only some small mention is to be seen of it for it was destroied by the Lombardes and the Bishops sea was by Pope Alexander the fourth from thence translated vnto Aquila The arms of this country as Scipio Mazella writeth is an Eagle argent crowned standing vpon three mounts ore in a field Azure He that desireth to vnderstand more of this country let him repaire to the forenamed Authours who I doubt not will satisfie him to the full APRVTII VLTERIORIS DESCRIPTIO 1590. NATALIS BONIFACIVS SEBENIICENSIS DESCRIBEB The kingdome of NAPLES THis kingdome generally comprehended between the Adriaticke and Mid-land seas from the riuer Fronto and Fundi a city situate vpon the lake Fundano vnto the Frith Messina the Latines call it Fretum Mamertinum or Messanae the Italians el faro di Messina conteineth nine most rich and goodly countries of Italie namely these A part of Latium Campania felix Lucani Calabria Magna Graecia Salentini Apuli Peucetij Apuli Dauni and Aprutium The gallant city Naples which gaue the name to the whole kingdome seated between the sea shore and the foote of most pleasant mountaines hath a temperate and wholesome aire with most sweet fields about it and therefore in this our age Princes and Noblemen do resort hither asmuch as euer heeretofore for almost all the Nobility of this whole kingdome do spend most of the yeare in this city and all for the most part haue heere most beautifull and stately houses so that the frequent throng of Princes Dukes Marquesses Earles Knights Doctors Barons and Noble-men is heere so great that there are very few cities of the world which in my iudgement in that respect may compare with Naples The city in compasse is very large and wide gorgeously built and seated as I said between the sea and the goodly pleasant hils strongly walled and fortified especially that part which was done of late daies at the commandement of Charles the fifth The buildings either of Churches or priuate citizens houses are most beautifull and stately with diuers Castles and Towers almost inuincible But amongst the rest the house of the Duke of Grauina and the Prince of Salerno do farre excell The streets of the city are very faire and straight There are foure Courts which they call Seats Capuana Nida Montana and S. Georgio where the Princes Dukes Marquesses and other of the Nobility do meet to consult of waighty matters and publike businesses The strong Castels are these Castello nouo which Alphonsus the first raised and entrenched with very great charges and expences so that now it may be accounted one of the most defencible fortification of all Europe Next to this is Castello Capuano which now is emploied for place of meeting for the state in consultation for matters of the kingdome and city Then is Castellum oui a little distance without the city standing vpon a rocke the ancients called it Meagrum compassed round with the sea Beside these is Castellum Santemerense vpon a cliffe looking ouer the walls of the city lately fortified very strongly by Charles the fifth Without the wals vpon the South side of the city there is a Block-house in the sea a worke of wonderfull art and cunning workemanship built for the defence and safegard of the Hauen continually full with shippes almost from all quarters of the world Heere also is an Vniuersitie where all maner of Arts and Liberall Sciences are taught and professed vnto which there is great concourse of students from all places of the kingdome Thus farre Vbertus Folietta in a Treatise of his which he wrote and intituled Brumanum Without the wals of this most stately city there are most pleasant sweet fields yeelding all maner of things necessarie not onely for the maintainance of man and beast but also such as serue for pleasure and delight Especiallie with all maner of Corne and Graine and of rich and strong Wine such plenty that he that hath not seene the great store both of Corne and Wine that one Aker of ground doth yeeld may hardlie be made to beleeue it The Hilles and Mountaines in this place are very fertile and full of most excellent fruits and some of them enclosing the lowly plaines in manner of a Theater do affoord plentie of Deere and game for the Nobilitie Moreouer about Naples are most pleasant and fine Orchards planted with Medicinall plants and such like goodlie fruite trees euerie where resounding with a most sweet noise of brookes and streames running to and fro euery where most fragrant and odoriferous smelles do offer themselues vnto your senses such is the abundance of Myrtill Laurell Gelsemine Rosemarie Rose-trees c. in euerie corner To be short the beauty delightsomnesse and elegancie of all places round about
wine which they heere call Maluasia and is from hence transported almost into all countries hath made this iland famous all the world ouer This kind of wine old writers called Pramnium as Bellonius recordeth Volaterran is of opinion that it is called Maluisia for Aruisia by the addition of one letter And he furthermore addeth that that kind of vine was first brought into Creta from the cape Aruisium in the ile Chios now Scio and therefore the wines were called vina aruisia Heere is great store of Cypresse trees whereof they make their ships which are of such great height as Dom. Niger reporteth that it is a most goodly fight to behold In this iland was the Maze or Labyrinth built by Daedalus after the patterne as Plinie saith of that in Aegypt A mention of which as George Alexander the Lieutenant of this iland for the Venetians affirmeth in Volaterran do remaine vnto this day There is a mountaine saith he cut through hollow euery way with many windings and turnings and hath one onely narrow and straite entrance The guide a man that well knoweth the place goeth before with a burning torch directing the way in and out and shewing the strange cranks in the darke corners But Peter Bellone a curious searcher of ancient monuments and antiquities and one that in our age diligently viewed this iland saith that this in old time was a quarry of stone not a Labyrinth Notwithstanding that the people of the country do so call it which indeed is more probable seeing that Pliny affirmeth that in his time there remained no signe of it But of this place take this description of P. Bellone There is a place between Gnosium and Cortina which hauing been obserued to be verie conuenient for the cutting and digging out of stone the country people made there a Stone-mine lapidicinam out of which when as many stones were digged there were many windings and turnings left so that he which by himselfe will venture to go vp and downe in this stone-pit he shall light vpon many crooks and by-waies and may easily loose himselfe Neere to the riuer Leth is this falsly-supposed-labyrinth the which if any be desirous to see he must needs vse the help of some one or other of the country people of the next village to go in before him with candle to guide and direct him But in it such a number of Battes do lodge that except a man do take great heed they will by their flying vp and downe put out the candle with their wings In the bottome of the pitte are found great heaps of Battes dong and their little yong ones yet hanging vpon the sides and wals The dammes when they can no longer flie do not cleaue and sticke to the wall nor stand vpon their feet but there they hang vpon the beams and rafters as our Battes do in the clifts of timber and holes of walles Thus farre Bellonius The like story vnto this altogether as Bellonius reporteth it in my mind I haue seen when as for recreation I trauelled from Rome to Hostia and in my iourney at the hauen of Traiane I went vnder the ground first hiring mine host to go before me with a light that I might view the ruines of the same It was anciently dedicated to Iupiter because that heere old folks did thinke he was bred and brought vp and at length buried Bordonius affirmeth that vpon the North side of this iland there is a great caue vnderneath the earth made by the labour and industrie of man forty cubites in length and foure in breadth which at this day they call Iupiters tombe and that vpon the head of it yet to this day his Epitaph remaineth written in great Capitall letters Strabo writeth that the people haue been long since accounted for the best Mariners as being wholly inuironed with the sea and from thence arose that by-word Cretensis mare nescit A Cretian hath no skill in sailing They haue of old been very infamous for their leuity deceit lying and other such like vices Heere hence sprong these prouerbs Cretiza cum Cretensi Cretensis Cretensem Cretensis cum Aeginate E Creta raptus c. of which thou maist read in Erasmus his Chiliades Wherefore they are also ill reported of by S. Paul for the same faults But I feare me least that which hath commonly been spoken of the Cretian may indeed be truly verified of many other Nations nay I would to God that all Nations wheresoeuer all the world ouer were not in this of kinne to the Cretians L. Caecilius Metellus Creticus first brought this iland vnder the command of the Romans about the yeare 685. after the building of Rome Afterward it was subiect to the Emperours of Constantinople Then it was giuen to Bonifacius of Monteferrato by whom it was sold to the Venetians in the yeare of Christ 1194. to whom at this day it doth belong Amongst the ancient Geographers Strabo hath curiously described this iland Amongst the latter writers Domi. Niger Volaterran Vadian Zieglerus and Bened. Bordonius haue done the like But most excellently of all others and exactly Iodocus Ghistelius in his iourney to Hierusalem and Bellonius in his obseruations Iodocus à Meggen also hath something of this Iland in his Peregrination to Ierusalem worth the obseruation and reading We are beholding to that braue nobleman The Honourable Sign Francisco Superantia a Gentleman of Venice not only a louer of the Mathematicks and earnest student of Geographie but a worthy esteemer of all maner of learning Certaine Ilands in the sea ARCHIPELAGO THe Aegaean sea now called Archipelago conteineth many ilands as the Cyclades Sporades and diuers others of which some of the chiefe we haue described in this plotte NEGROPONTE sometime called Eubooea his chiefe city then was called Chalcis now they call it Negroponte whereof the whole iland tooke the name It was not long since wholly subiect vnto the Venetians from whom it was taken by the Turks about the yeare of Christ 1471. It yeeldeth great plenty of oile corne and wine and is of all things that the earth bringeth forth very fertile especially it affoordeth very good wood for the making of shippes and gallies as Anonymus reporteth who wrote of the sacking and taking of it The inhabitants which is almost generally true in all the iles of this sea are partly Greeks and partly Turks but each vseth his owne language and religion NICSIA in old time Naxos is accounted one of the most fertile ilands of this sea It yeeldeth good store of Wine Some do thinke that heere is a veine of Gold but such is the slouth and negligence of the people that yet it is not knowne where about it is Heere is a kind of Waspe whose sting they report to be deadly Heere are very many Battes It was sometime belonging to Iohanni Quirino a nobleman of Venice afterward it came into the possession of a certaine captaine named Iacobo Crispo whom Solimus the
beast which the Latines call Alces the Dutch Elandt The people speake the Slauonian tongue like as also the Polanders do Their chiefe city is Vilna a Bishop sea and is as bigge as Cracow but the houses in it do not stand close together or touch one another but like as in the country gardens and orchyeards are between house and house All that Oke-timber which we call Wagenschott of which almost all the buildings carpenters worke and ioiners worke as well publicke as priuate is made in the Low-countries as also the greatest part of their furniture and houshold-stuffe is feld in these parts and from thence is through the East sea the Latines call it Mare balticum the Dutch Oostsee the Russians Wareczkouie morie and Germane ocean transported into these countries In SAMOGITIA which in their language signifieth Low-land the people are tall and of a goodly stature but rude and barbarous in their maners and behauiour vsing a sparing and homely diet The Russians call this prouince Samotzkasemla Heere is no maner of faire buildings but their houses are like houels or poore cottages made of wood and couered with straw or reed From the bottome vpward by a little and little their buildings are made lesse and lesse like the keele of a ship or great helmet In the toppe it hath one window letting in the light from aboue vnderneath which is the hearth or chimney where they dresse their meat In that house they hide themselues their wiues children seruants maides sheep cattell corne and houshold-stuffe altogether Sichardus in his history of Germany writeth that the people of Samogitia are descended from the Saxons and therefore although they be subiect to the kingdome of Polonia yet the Saxons challenging it to be a part of their iurisdiction they do affirme it to pertaine to the precinct of Saxony MASOVIA is a shire held of the king of Poland in homage The chiefe or Metropolitane city of this prouince is Warsouia where they make the excellent mead a kind of drinke made of hony c. VOLHINIA a country abounding with all maner of things a very fertile soile full of townes and castles PODOLIA is of such a fruitfull soile that the grasse in three daies will couer a sticke being cast into it It is so ranke and groweth so fast that a plough being left in it vpon the head-lands or grassie places of the field in a very few daies wil be so couered ouer that you shall hardly find it againe Heere also is great store of hony The head city is Camyenetz RVSSIA yeeldeth great plenty of Horses Oxen and Sheep of very fine wooll Their drinke is mead which they make of hony Wine also is brought hither from Pannonia Moldauia and Walachria The chiefe city of this prouince is Leunpurg the Latines call it Leopolis Lion-city MOLDAVIA is a part of Walachia whose metropolitane city is Sossouia commonly called Sotschen The inhabitants of this country are a fierce and cruell people but very good souldiours and therefore they are at continuall enmity with the Transsiluanians As the custome of the Thracians was in old time to marke the Noblemens children with a hot iron so they report that the Lords of Moldauia to this day do vse to marke their children assoone as they be borne with some kind of marke least a question might arise whether they were the right and lawfull heires or not and that aliens and strangers might be excluded from inheritance amongst them as Reinerus Reineckius in his discourse of noble families hath written Many other things of thse countries thou maiest read of in Matthias of Michow in his discourse of the Sarmaties Albert Crantz in his description of Wandalia Bonfinius in his history of Hungary and Laonicus Chalcondylas in his first and third bookes But of all Martine Cromer in his Chronicle of Poland hath most excellently described these countries and Sigismund of Herberstain in his commentaries of Moschouia See also Sebastian Munster Pius Secundus Pope of Rome and Dauid Chytraeus in his Chronicle of Saxony Iohannes Duglossus a most copious historian of the Polonians is cited by Ioach mus Cureus but as yet not published as he affirmeth George of Reichersdorff hath most curiously described Moldauia Laonicus Chalcondylas also in his second booke hath diuers things worth the knowing of this country POLONIAE LITVANIAEQ DESCRIPTIO Auctore Wenceslao Godreccio et correctore Andrea Pograbio Pilsnensi Cum Priuilegio Imp. Regiae etc. decennali SPRVSE GRomer in his description of Poland describeth this country on this maner Amongst many other nations of Sarmatia in Europe the Borussi by Ptolemey are placed very farre North in that coast where now as I thinke the Liuonians and Moschouites do dwell beyond the riuer Chernish next neighbours to the Ryphaeans Those with Erasmus stella I iudge to haue passed further South and West and possessed a great part of Sarmatia which is vpon the East adioined to the Russians and Moschouites and is enclosed on the South with woods and the Hercynian forrest and all that coast along by Pautzkerwicke or Frish-haff as some thinke Ptolemey calleth it Sinus Venedicus Pliny Clylipenus the Balticke and East seas euen vnto the riuers Vistula Wixel or Weissel and Ossa and to be called Borussi or Prussi by names not much different In this compasse now do inhabit the Liuonians Lithuans Samagites and the Pruissen yet retaining the ancient appellation nations distinct in respect that they are subiect to diuers states and gouerned by different lawes and policies but vsing altogether the same language vulgarly wholly differing from the Slauonians yet hauing diuers Latine words intermedled and mixt among but for the most part corrupt and formed rather after the Italian and Spanish termination than after the Latine Notwithstanding the Dutch and Germanes of late yeares conquering that part which lieth vpon the sea and is called Spruisse and Liuonia haue planted their colonies there Heere hence it is that the Dutch tongue is more familiar and vsuall to these people than that ancient and vulgar language especially in the cities and townes Which also is vsuall amongst the Lithuans who by reason of their neighbourhood and entercourse with the Russians and colonies from thence enterteined do much what speake the Russian language For in that Duglossus deriueth the name and originall of this nation from Prusias the king of Bithynia it is altogether fabulous and not worth the confuting Some do thinke that the Borussi in the German tongue were so called for that they were neere the Russi but whether truly or fasly I list not heere to dispute When and how the Latine tongue did intermedle it selfe with the vulgar language of the Borussians Lithuanians and Liuonians we dare not constantly affirme Erasmus Stella saith that Borussia Prussia or Spruse was rather assaulted by the Romanes then conquered and alleadgeth Pliny for his authour whereupon that followeth that together with the Empire the Latine tongue could not there be spread
immediately after Baiazeth he placeth Mahomet And that I may giue euery man his right the singular learned man my good friend Georgius Bruno Agrippinensis hath taught me that the very Turkes themselues do not account him for an Emperour After him MAHOMETES tooke vnto him the crown of the Empire who made fierce warres vpon the Walachians subdued a great part of Slauonia first passed with an armie ouer the Donaw conquered Macedonia and pearced through the country euen as low as the Ionian sea He translated his Court from Prusias in Bithynia vnto Adernopoli in Greece where he died in the fourteenth yeare of his raigne After him AMVRATH the second succeeded in the kingdome This man conquered Epirus Aetolia Achaia Boeotia Attica and Thessalonica now Salonichi a city belonging to the state of Venice After him MAHOMET the second tooke vpon him the Diademe he ouerthrew Athens the most renowmed Vniuersity of the World He wonne by battery the great city of Constantinople vpon the nine and twentith day of May in the yeare after the birth of Christ 1452. He subdued the kingdome of Trapezonda vnder his command He tooke Corinth He forced the ilands Lemnos Stalamine they now call it Euboea Nigroponte and Mitylene to yeeld to his obedience He got Capha a city belonging to the Signiory of Genua and at Geiuisen a city of Bithynia died in the 32. yeare of his raigne BAIAZETH the second after his death possessed the crowne He made warre vpon the Venetians and wanne from them Naupactus Lepanto or as the Turkes call it Einebachti Methona Modon or Mutune a city in Peloponesus Dyrrachium Durazzo and spoiled all Dalmatia He was poisoned by a Iew his Physition After whom SELYMVS his sonne succeeded in the Emperiall throne He wanne Alcairo the strongest city of Aegypt and killing the Souldan subdued Alexandria and all Aegypt vnder his obedience He tooke also Damascus in Syria SOLYMANNVS the only sonne of Zelimus possessing his fathers roome wanne Belgrad tooke Buda the Princes seat and spoiled Strigonium and almost all Hungary He gatte the Rhodes by composition and vtterly rased Quinqueecclesias in Hungary the Turkes call it Petscheu the Dutch Funfkirchen Hauing surprized the city he besieged Zygeth where he ended his life ZELIMVS the second his sonne continued the battery wanne it and sacked it in the yeare of Christ 1566. And thus vnder 11. Emperours in 260. yeares a great part of Africa a greater of Europe and the most of Asia was by Turkish tyranny brought vnder their yoke But he that desireth a more absolute knowledge of the histories of the Turks let him read Paulus Iouius Christofer Richer Cuspinian Baptista Egnatius Gilbertus Nozorenus Andreas Lacuna Pius the second in the fourth chapter of his Europa and others that haue written of the Turkish affaires but no man hath set out these histories either with greater diligence or more amply than M. Richard Knolles our learned countryman my singular good friend Laonicus Chalcondylas hath curiously described the pedigree of the Ottomans together with the originall of the Turks Iohn Leonclaw hath very lately imprinted the Annalles of the Souldan Otthomans written by the Turks in their owne language and interpreted by him into the Latine tongue Of their ancient maner of life behauiour and customes thou maist read in the eighteen chapter of Leo the Emperour of Warlike preparation as also in Bartholomew Georgieuiz who hath written a seuerall treatise of that argument but especially the Annalles of the Turkish Souldans and the history of the Musulmans both written by the singular learned Iohn Leonclaw shall satisfie thee to the full TVRCICI IMPERII DESCRIPTIO Concordia parue res crescunt Discordia maximae dilabuntur Cum priuilegio The HOLY LAND THat which the ancients called Palestina and Phoenicia all the Europeans generally now call The HOLY LAND vnder which name they comprehend that whole country which God gaue vnto the Israelites by the name of the Land of Promise to them and their seed to possesse and inhabite for euer and which after the death of Solomon we read was diuided into two kingdomes IVDAH conteining two tribes Iudah and Beniamin whose cheife or Metropolitan city was Ierusalem and SAMARIA or ISRAEL which comprehended the other tenne tribes together with the city Sebaste or Samaria A latter description of the modern situation of this country very curious exact done by F. Brocard in a seuerall treatise vnto whom we send the Reader for further satisfaction we offer in this Mappe for the former tables did present vnto thy eie the ancient face and more beautifull countenance of this land To him they may adioine that please the treatise of William Tyrius entituled The Holy warres and other authours that haue written their Peregrinations to Hierusalem of which sort there is a great number written and imprinted in diuers languages For many Christians not only out of sundrie parts of Europe but from all quarters of the world haue in former times and now do daily trauell vnto Hierusalem for deuotion to visite the holy sepulchre of our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ and are there sometimes by the Franciscane Friars dubbed Knights who thereof are named Knights of the Sepulchre the order ceremonies of making these Knights we haue thought not altogether impertinent from our purpose to describe in this place as it is set out by Iod. a Meggē an ei-witnes of that in the 12 chap. of his treatise intituled Peregrinatio Hierusolymetana And thus he hath down the maner of it First of all therefore the Knight that is to be made prepareth himselfe vnto his deuotions that he may receiue the fauour of the degree of the holy order and making his confession hauing heard Masse receiued the Sacrament he is admitted into the roome where the holy sepulchre is and then they begin on this manner First all being gathered together within the holy sepulchre they sing this Psalme Come holy spirit c. Then this Send forth thy spirit c. The Answear And renew c. Lord heare c. Let vs pray Thou Lord which know'st the harts of the faithful c. Then the Gardian demandeth of him what wouldest thou haue He answeareth vpon his knees I do desire to be made a knight of the order of the Holy sepulchre of our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ Question Of what state and condition of life art thou of Answear A noble man borne of honourable parents Question Hast thou sufficient liuing whereby thou maist liue and maintaine the estate and dignity of knighthood without the help of merchandise or vse of any mechanicall or handie-craft occupation Answear I haue thankes be to God sufficient liuing and maintenance by lands and reuenews Question Art thou prepared to sweare with hart and mouth to keep and obserue to the vttermost of thy power those militarie sacraments and orders which shal be heereafter inioined thee namely these which follow First a knight of the holy order of the sepulchre
absolute height and greatnesse The people of this city from the first infancy euen vnto the last of childhood which was limited almost within the compasse of three hundred yeares abode the bitter assaults and warres of their neighbours round about them then hauing growen to a striplings age and past the rodde after many outragious furies of Mars it passed the Alpes and narrow sea Being come to mans estate and best yeares from all quarters of the wide world it brought away the laurell the signe of conquest and triumph but now being old and beginning to dote and sometime only bearing the name of conquerour rather than winning ought indeed it hath betaken it selfe to a more quiet kind of life Therefore this city reuerend for so many glorious conquests of stout and fierce nations and for so many good and wholesome lawes which it hath enacted hath now at last like a kind and thrifty father both wise and wealthy committed her patrimony and possessions to the Emperours as vnto her naturall sonnes to be ruled and gouerned And lately although the tribes and wardes be idle the hundreds and wapentakes still and quiet and there be no dissensions in the Senate house but that the more secure and calmer times such as Numa Pompilius liued in were come againe yet in all parts of the world wheresoeuer it is regarded as a Mistresse and Queen in all places the reuerend gray haires of the graue Senatours euery where the very name of the Roman Nation is greatly esteemed and honourable Thus farre Ammianus Moreouer this you shall find in Sulpiciaes Satyricke poeme Two things there are which raised great Rome to that height valour in warre and wisdome in peace As this Romane Empire in the iudgement of all men was esteemed very great and large so also indeed it was especially if you shall compare it with those which haue been in former ages as that of the Assyrians Persians and Grecians Item with those which since their fall haue sprong vp in their places as namely that of the Othomans amongst the Turkes the Sophies amongst the Persians of the great Cham ouer the Tartars in Asia and of Prester Iohn as we call him ouer the Aethiopians or Abyssines in Africa But if you shall compare it with that Monarchy which Charles the fifth Emperour of Rome within the memorie of our fathers established in diuers parts of the world and Philip his sonne in our age hath enlarged and shall by looking into an vniuersall mappe of the Earthly globe conferre and measure the greatnesse of this with those others by the eie you shall plainly and truly discerne that this for largenesse may not only be preferred farre before all those other forenamed but also euen before that of the Romanes The kingdome of the Portugals after that by diuers nauigations they had subdued vnder their obedience the marine tracts and sea coasts of East India together with the ilands there about if it did reach and were extended vp as farre within the land as it commandeth about the shore it might doubtlesse be accounted none of the least Empires Seeing now therefore that this also at this day is vnder the obedience of the said K. Philip who doth not see that this Empire is the greatest that euer was in the world Of the Empire of Rome as it stood in his daies Tertullian in his booke De Pallio speaketh thus honourably Reuera Orbis cultissimum huius Imperij rus est that is In very deed the whole world is nothing else but a farme well stocked and stored belonging to this Empire Lastly Ouid in his second booke De Fastis thus writeth of it Gentibus est aliis tellus data limite certo Romanae spacium est vrbis Orbis idem All other nations in the Earth their certaine bounds may name The compasse of the World and Rome they only are the same ROMANI IMPERII IMAGO Originis Incrementi et Culminis Imperij Romani breuis enumeratio Primo sub Regibus septem Romulo Seruio etc. per annos ducentos tres supra quadraginta non amplius quam vsque Portum atque Hostiam intra decimum octanum miliariū Romanum processit Imperium Sub Consulib verò inter quos interdum Dictatores et Decemuiri ac Tribuni militares fuerunt per annos quadringentos septem supra quadraginta vsque trās Padum Italia est capta Africa Hispaniaeque subactae Gallia et Britannia tributarie sunt factae Illyrici Histri Liburni Dalmatae sunt domiti ad Achaiam transitum est Macedones expugnati cum Dardanis Moesis et Thracibus est bellarum ad Danubium est peruentum ac in Asia pulso Antiocho primum pedem posuerunt Romani Mithridate victo regnum Ponti est captum cum Armenia minori quam idem tenuerat in Mesopotamiam progressum est cum Partbis foedus initum contra Carduenos Saracenoe ac Arabas pugnatum Judaea omnis victa Cilicia et Sÿria in potestatem redacta ac tandem in Aegÿptum peruentum Sub Imperatoribus autem a Diuo Augusto nempe ad Theodosij superioris et Honorij ac Arcadij eius filiorum tempora per annos quadringentos quadraginta Cantabri Astures totaque Hispania sub iugum missa est Alpes maritimae Cocciaeque et Rhetiae Noricum Pannoniae et Moesiae Imperio accesserunt Omnis ora Danubij in Prouincias est redacta Pontus omnis et Armenia maior Mesopotamia Assÿria Arabia Aegÿptus in Imperij Romani iuna concesserunt Atque hoc modo his Principibus viris populi Romani virtute ac immortali eorū gloria hoc Augustissimū Imperium ad summū fastigium perductum fuit Cuius limites fuere ad Occidentē Oceanus à Septentrione Rhenus et Danubius ab Oriente Tigris à Meridie Atlas mons quae omnia in hac tabula ob oculos historiae candidatis ponuntur Ex Liuio Dionÿsio Plutarcho hanc genealogiam septem Regum desumpsimus atque huic tabulae in historiae Romanae studiosorum gratiam adiecimus In qua maxima linea est Regum mediocres sunt coniugum mintinae verò filiorum filiarumque Circuli duplicibus circumferentijs descripti masculos denotant simplicibus autem foeminas Diuina mens ciuitatem populi Romani egregia temperataque regione collocauit uti Orbis terrarum imperio potiretur Vitruuius lib. 8. Cum Gratia et Priuilegio EVROPE IN the diuision of the world diuers haue placed Africa in the third part some few haue made no more but Asia and Europe only and Africa they make a part of Europe saith Salustius This is that which S. Paulinus in Antonius out o the opinion of the same Salust thus writeth of Europam Asiamquè duo vel maxima terrae Membra quibus Lybiam dubiè Sallustius addit Europae admixtam postit quum tertia dici Europe and Asia vast the Earthly globe between them share Yet whether Africke should a part of this our Europe be or make a
all France situate partly in a valley towards the riuer of Vienne and the towne and church of S. Stephen and partly on an hill towards the suburbe of S. Martiall The length farre surpasseth the bredth extending North and South It is strongly fortified with walles and ditches and abounds with water deriued from a notable Fountaine in the highest part of the citie which serues likewise both to water their horses and to clense their streets But the ruines of the ancient walles yet standing in the next Vineyards do plainly shew that the Citie in times past was much larger than at this present For first the Romans surprized it and afterwards the Gothes as witnesseth Sidonius Apollinaris when he hath reckoned vp all the cities of Aquitaigne sacked and destroyed by them The Francks also miserably afflicted it After them Charles Martell laid it waste And lastly the English made spoile thereof Notwithstanding at this time for the bignesse it is accounted one of the richest cities in the whole Kingdome being very well ordered and gouerned in regard of the Court of Parliament there as likewise the authoritie of the Vicount the Kings Eschequer and the assembly of the Consuls in Merchants affaires which they commonly call The Burse Thus much and more concerning this region writeth Belleforest Blaisois BLESIENSIS TERRITORII hanc tabulam describebat Ioannes Temporius Blesis anno Messiae nati 1592. epoche Christianae 1590. Mundi 5610. Le Blaisois contient en longitude d'Occident en Orient depuis S. Ouin iusques à Brinon 25 lieuez en latitude de l'Equateur vers le Nord depuis Chasteauroux iusques à Rabestan 40. lieues La cincture de la terre est divisee en 360. degrez a chascun degre donnons 25. lieues Toute la terre contient 9000. lieues LEMOVICVM TOTIVS ET CONFINIVM PROVINCIARVM QVANTVM AD DIOECESIM LEMOVICENSEM SPECTANT NOVISSIMA ET FIDISSIMA DESCRIPTIO Io. Fayanus M. L. describebat Homere Demosthene et Archimede ensemble Lymoges á nourry óu la Vertu sassemble Muret Dorat Fayen trois excellens Esprits Muret son Demosthene et Dorat son Homere Fayen son Archimede ayant sa ville Mere Sa Prouince et son Plan heureusement compris IOACHIN BLANCHON CALAIS and BOVLONGNE THis Cart conteineth the description of that North-western part of France which the English were masters of from the yere 1347. vntil the yere 1557. At what time the Duke of Guise Lieutenant for the French King tooke it by force of armes The townes of Calais Guisnes and Ardres the English from time to time haue furnished with able garisons And Calais hath heretofore beene the Staple for Woolles and other English commodities Concerning the tract of Boulongne thus saith Robert Caenalis in his 2. book and 3. Perioche De re Gallica Of Gessoriacum a port of the Morini I may well say with Meierus that it is now truely called Boulongne vpon the sea shore from whence there is a very short cut to Douer on the English coast But the Docke or place for building ships called Nauale Gessoriacum which Bilibaldus falsely affirmes to be Gaunt I thinke rather to be Castellum now named Cassell Some by another name call it Petressa and Scalas commonly Scales Moreouer by the situation of Boulongne one may easily coniecture whether it were Portus Iccius or no. Wherein that no man may doubt let vs learne this one thing out of Strabo That the sea between Portus Iccius and England was iust 320. stadia or furlongs ouer which make in all 40. miles But the later Maps containe betweene Boulongne and Douer 17. English which are longer than Italian miles and from Calais 18. Whereby it is manifest that from Boulongne to Douer it is but a very short cut wherefore Portus Gessoriacus the hauen and Nauale Gessoriacum the docke are not all one which docke whoso thinketh stood where Calais now stands I will not greatly contradict him Thus farre Caenalis This very place of Boulongne is described by Arnoldus Ferronius who continued the French history of Paulus Aemilius till his owne time in maner following There is saith he Base Boulongne and High Boulongne The base towne was vnwalled before the comming of the English There stands the church of S. Nicholas and a cloister of Franciscans the English sea beateth vpon this towne Neere vnto this Frierie which is not farre from the sea there is a very commodious place to passe for England It is distant from the higher Boulongne about 100. pases or somewhat more But Boulongne the higher is inuironed with most strong walles and with high ditches compassing the walles All this region is full of that sand which those that dwell on the coast call hot sand Whereupon they will haue the name of Boulongne to be deriued of the French word that signifies such kinde of sand notwithstanding we know it out of Ammianus Marcellinus to be an ancient name Thus much out of Ferronius Concerning these matters reade Diuaeus also VERMANDOIS THis Region which of olde the Veromandui inhabited still retaining the ancient name is at this present called Vermandois From hence the riuers of Some and Schelde fetch their originall Here in times past as Robert Caenalis witnesseth stood the city called Augusta Veromanduorum now raced all saue a Monasterie which remaineth This citie was the sea of a Bishop but vnder Medardus the Bishop thereof it was translated to Noion as Carolus Bouillus reporteth Howbeit the place yet holdeth the ancient name and is called Vermand-abbey Wherefore they seeme to be in an errour that thinke the towne of S. Quintins to haue beene Augusta Veromanduorum Concerning the people of this region reade Peter Diuaeus in his booke of the antiquities of Gallia Belgica CALETENSIVM ET BONONIENSIVM DITIONIS ACCVRATA DELINEATIO VEROMANDVORVM EORVMQVE CONFINIVM EXACTISSIMA DESCRIPT Iohanne Surhonio Auctore PICARDIE THe name of Picardie as all that write of France do affirme not to be ancient so the originall or deriuation thereof none of them can render Caenalis dares not say that it was so called of the Begardes Belleforest flatly denies it supposing the Picardes to be somewhat ancienter than the Begardes Some thinke that they were so named of the warlike weapon called the Pike which as they imagine was here first inuented Certaine it is that the prouince of Picardy was larger in times past for we reade that Artois with a part of Flanders as farre as the riuer Lis and the countie of Boulogne were all comprehended vnder the name of Picardy The region which is now properly called Picardy extends not so farre as the Map it selfe This Region is part of Gallia Belgica whilom inhabited by the Ambiani Bellouaci and Veromandui or as Ptolemey calles them Romandui The riuer Somme which some thinke to be Ptolemey his Phrudis refresheth the wole countrey and makes it most fertile of all kinde of graine and the townes and cities to abound with all necessaries for it yeeldeth such plentie of wheat as it is
though it be somewhat loathsome to those that are not accustomed with it yet salt being cast thereupon it smelleth either but a little or not at all But concerning these coales you may reade more at large in the Tables of Namur and Henault This region they say was conuerted to the faith by S. Materne the first Bishop of Tungeren about the yeere of our Lord 101. For the Bishopricke which is now at Liege was then at Tungeren and there continued till the yeere 498 what time it was by S. Seruatius translated to Maestright where it remained till the time of S. Hubert the Bishop who in the yeere 713. remoued it to Liege where it continueth till this present Touching this Prouince reade more largely in Guicciardin Hubert of Liege and Placentius To whom you may adde Francis Roserius his description of Loraigne LEODIENSIS DIOECESIS TYPVS BRABANT THe Dukedome of Brabant is in such sort circumscribed by the riuers Maese Scheld Sambre and Dender as it no where ouerpasseth them nor doth it in all places stretch so farre for on this side the Maese lies a great part of the Prouince of Liege But that we may describe the bounds hereof more perfectly it hath to the North Holland and Guelders East the Bishoprick of Liege South the counties of Namure and Henault and West it is diuided From Flanders by the riuer Scheld It is a goodly and pleasant country exceeding fertill and abounding with come and fruits of all sorts especially to the South of the riuer of Demer For the North part thereof namely Kempenland is somewhat more barren and sandy Howbeit this part is not altogether fruitlesse for Iacobus Spielegius writing to Guntherus of Genoa affirmeth that the husbandmen of Brabant are so industrious as they make the driest sandes to beare wheat Also to head-cattell and sheepe the greatest part whereof as we reade in Homer of those Libyan sheepe are horned it yeelds most pleasant and plentifull pasture And now by the industry vncessant labour of the husbandmen it is dayly so manured that where in times past there was nothing but vnprofitable sand-heaps you may at this present beholde to the great benefit of the inhabitants most fruitfull corne-fields On the East part of this Prouince there is a kinde of bogge or quagmite called Peele the ground whereof as Plinie reporteth of the fields Gabiensis and Reatinus trembleth vnder a mans foot neither can it be passed by horses or wagons but only in Winter when the vpper crust thereof is hardened with frost This region containes the Marquesat of the sacred Empire the chiefe citie whereof is Antwerpe as likewise the Marquesat of Bergis the Dukedome of Arschot the Earledomes of Hochstraten Megen and that of Cantecroy lately erected by Charles the fifth c. It hath also woods and forests abounding with wilde beasts of sundry kindes the principall whereof are Grootenhout Grootenheyst Meerdael Zauenterloo and Soenien the greatest of all conteining in it for the space of seuen miles compasse sundry villages monasteries Hunting and hawking except in these fiue woods which are reserued for the Princes owne game are free for all men The people are so iocund as they seeme scarse to feele the inconueniences of olde age which frolike disposition of theirs hath giuen occasion to their neighbours round about to vse this iest The longer the Brabanter liues the more foole he The aire is exceeding holsome for when the plague hath beene most vehement in all the regions adiacent Brabant hath often most wonderfully remained free This Dukedome of Brabant hath six and twentie cities enuironed with walles and ditches And they are these following ANTVVERPE situate vpon Scheld the most famous mart not only of Germanie but of all Europe and one of the strongest cities in the world being much beautified with the steeple of S. Maries built an incredible height of white marble The palace lately built is scarse to be matched in all Europe BRVSSEL abounding with sweet fountaines Here for the most part resideth the Prince and therefore is this towne so much frequented by Nobles and Courtiers LOVAIN a large city conteining Gardens Vineyards and Pastures within the walles well may you call it The habitation of the Muses for which purpose in the yeere 1426. Iohn the fourth Duke of Brabant established here an Vniuersitie which flourisheth with all kind of learning The territorie of this citie makes Brabant to glory of her vintage Then followes MACHELEN famous for the court of Parliament there instituted by Duke Charles of Burgundie in the yeere 1473. HERTOGENBOSCH a towne of no small importance conteining an excellent Grammar schoole and inhabited in times past with a most warlike people TIENEN vpon the riuer Ghette from whence are brought great store of cheeses Here stands the church of S. Germans whereunto belongs a college of Canons LEVWE where the noble ale is brewed NIVELLE In this citie there is a chanterie of Nunnes whereinto none but ladies of great nobilitie can be admitted The Gouernesse of this chantry the Nunnes themselues chuse by voices yet with the consent of the Prince and the Bishops approbation and she is called the ladie of Niuella Also the temporall and ecclesiasticall iurisdiction of the towne and adioyning territory soly belongeth vnto her ARSCHOT situate on the riuer Demer bearing at first the title of a Marquesat but since by Charles the fift aduanced to a Dukedome BERGEN ap Zoom so named of a small riuer that runnes thorow it a towne heeretofore of good traffique but now by the neighbourhood of Antwerpe not so frequented of forren merchants MEGHEN situate vpon the Maese BREDA a towne most fairely built Here stands the Palace of the Earles of Nassau so gallantly begun by a most skilfull architect that being once finished it may I thinke be preferred before all the Princes houses in this region MAESTRIGHT a large populous and rich citie which though it seemeth to lie without the bounds of Brabant acknowledgeth the Duke of Brabant as her souereigne Lord. STEENBERGEN vpon the sea-shore In times past it was a flourishing mart towne but now it is almost brought to nothing LIERE so beautifull and pleasant a towne as many noble men make choise thereof as a place of recreat and solace VILVORDEN Here is a strong fortresse and the castle of the Duke GEMBLOVRS The Abbat of this towne beareth the greatest sway in causes both ecclesiasticall and temporall IOVDOIGNE for the holesomnesse of the aire in times past the nurserie of the yong Princes of this region HANVT heretofore reported to haue beene an Earledome situate in a most fertile place LANDEN esteemed of some the most ancient towne in all Brabant HALEN almost vtterly ruinated by warres DIEST built on either side the riuer Demer a spacious citie the inhabitants whereof gaine much by clothing SICHENEN a towne vpon the same riuer HERENTALS that maintaines it selfe also by clothing EINDHOVEN in the middest of Kempenland vpon the riuer Dommel HHLMONT
and vnder-homage so that hitherto the Princes on both sides haue vsed this custom namely that Boulogne no more acknowledgeth Artois nor S. Paul Boulogne Howbeit about this point in the latter treaty of peace 1559. there was some variance wherefore the matter being referred to Commissioners remaines as yet vndecided the King of Spaine holding still possession It is commonly supposed that Calais the next port of the continent vnto England was by Caesar called Portus Iccius from whence he sailed out of France thither But if we more thorowly consider the matter we shall finde it to haue beene another Port namely the towne of Saint Omer which that it was of old an hauen and a most large inlet of the Ocean sea euen the high cliffes which in a maner enuironing the citie do plainly demonstrate besides infinit other arguments and reliques of antiquitie which though no man should affirme it do most euidently conuince that the territorie adiacent was in times past couered with sea the trueth whereof is till this day also confirmed by common and constant report Yea Sithieu the ancient name of the citie for who knowes not that the name of S. Omer is but new manifesteth the same As if it were deriued of Sinus Itthius or Iccius Also that the said haue was in the prouince of the Morini which Virgil and Lucan doe call the farthest people And that this is most true an attentiue Reader may by many arguments easily gather both out of Caesar his entrance and returne from England Neither can the space of thirtie miles or thereabout which he sayth the island is there distant from the maine hinder my beliefe in this point whenas the violence of the sea especially in so narrow a place may easily either adde or diminish Nor doth the distance of the sea there from the maine to the continent much differ Sufficeth thus much to haue beene said concerning Portus Iccius Whether we haue hit the trueth or no let others iudge Moreouer this Prouince hath three Bishopricks to wit Arras S. Omer and Boulogne one and twentie Abbeys and seuen Nunries besides many Couents and Hospitals It hath many riuers also the principall whereof are Lys Scarpe Aa Canche and Authy besides others that are nauigable Great is the number of villages and hamlets thorowout the whole prouince The soile is most fertile and abundant of all corne and especially of wheat Wherefore in the ancient French tongue some write it was called Atrech that is to say The land of bread Nor is it destitute of woods and groues especially towards the South and West The garments of the Atrebates or Artesians S. Ierome in his second booke against Iouinian noteth for precious Also the Artesian mantles Vopiscus celebrateth in the life of the Emperour Carinus Likewise the same Ierome and other authours affirme that in his time it rained wooll in this prouince This region as others also adioyning Guicciardin hath most notably described Artois ATREBATVM REGIONIS VERA DESCRIPTIO Johanne Surhonio Monteusi auctore Illustri ac amplissimo viro Domino Christophoro ab Assonleuille equiti aurato Domino ab Alteuilla R. M t s consiliario primario Ab. Ortelius in hanc formam compraehendebat et dedicabat Cum priuilegio Imp. et Regiea Maitis FLANDERS THe extreme part of Europe opposite to England and Scotland enuironed by France Germanie and the Ocean is called by the inhabitants The low countries or lower Germanie but the French and all strangers in a maner call it by the name of Flanders But in very deed Flanders hath not so great extension For albeit Flanders properly so called was larger in times past yet at this present it is bounded by Brabant Henault Artois and the Ocean sea This they diuide into three parts namely Flanders the Dutch the French and the Imperiall which last part because it neuer acknowledged any superior besides the Prince of Flanders they name also Flanders proprietarie The Dutch Flanders hath these cities Gant Bruges Yperen Cortrijck Oudenard with Pammele Newport Furnas Bergen Sluise Damme Bierflet Dixmud Cassel Dunkerke Greueling Burburch and Hulst The French Flanders L'isle Doway and Orchies And Flanders Imperiall or Proprietary Aelst Dendermond Geertsberg and Ninouen The principall riuers are Scheld Lys and Dender Most part of the region is pasture-ground especially towards the West it breedeth faire oxen and most excellent and warlike horses It abounds with butter and cheese and yeeldeth wheat in abundance The inhabitants are most of them merchants and of flax wherof they haue in Flanders great plenty excellent good and wooll which is brought them out of Spaine and England they make great quantity of linnen and woollen cloth which they disperse farre and wide This Prouince of Flanders hath 28. walled cities 1154 villages besides fortresses castles and noble mens houses Among which Gaunt is the greatest citie Whereof Erasmus of Roterdam in his Epistles writeth in maner following I am of opinion saith he if you looke all Christendome ouer you shall not finde a citie comparable to this either for largenesse and strength or for the ciuill gouernment and towardlinesse of the people So far Erasmus It containeth in compasse three Dutch miles It is watered by three riuers which diuide it into twenty inhabited isles For multitude and beauty of houses Bruges excelleth almost all the cities of the Netherlands so famous a mart in times past as saith Iacobus Marchantius by that meanes the name of Flanders obscured all the regions round about Yperen stands vpon the riuer of Yperlee very commodious for Fullers By clothing it grew in times past to an huge bignesse till the English and men of Gaunt besieging it cast downe the large suburbs and greatly diminished the same As it is sayd in a common prouerbe that Millan for a Dukedome excelles all Christendome so doth Flanders for an Earledome It hath certaine prerogatiues for the Prince thereof writes himselfe Earle of Flanders by the grace of God which clause is proper to the stile of Kings For it is giuen saith Meierus to no Duke Marques or Earle in Christendome but only to him of Flanders whenas all others vsually adde By the clemency or By the assistance of God c. He had in times past sundry officers peculiar to a King as namely his Chancellour his Master of the horse his Chamberlain and his Cupbearer also two Marshals and ten Peeres as in France The armes of this region in times past were a scutcheon Azure diuided by fiue Crosse-barres of golde with another small red scutcheon in the midst Now it is a blacke lion in a golden field which some are of opinion he tooke for his armes together with the other Netherlandish Princes when they set forth on their expedition towards Syria in the company of Philip of Elsas for at that time the princes of Flanders Louaine Holland Lutzenburg Limburg Brabant Zeland Frisland Henault c. changing their ancient armes assumed to themselues lions of diuers colours
the earth receiue the ocean deep Nor land well able was his owne from sea to keep The place so dangerous is that none to it dare go And whether sea or land it be men skarce do know Yet now these our Ilands are habitable and easie and safely to be come vnto by the industrie and labour of man and not by the benefit and nature of the place ZELANDICARVM INSVLARVM EXACTISSIMA ET NOVA DESCRIPTIO AVCTORE D. IACOBO A DAVENTRIA Cum priuilegio HOLLAND THus Erasmus of Roterodam an Hollander doth describe Holland his natiue country Most learned men saith he do agree in this and that vpon great probabil ty that that iland of the Rhein vpon the maine sea which Tacitus maketh mention of in his 20. booke is the same that now they call HOLLAND A land that I must alwaies both highly commend reuerence as to whom indeed I owe my life and natiuitie And I would to God that it lay in my power to do it againe as great credit as it hath done me honour and good for the which I am much bound to praise the Lord. For in that that Martiall doth accuse this nation rusticitatis of clownish simplicity and that in that Lucane calleth the same trucem rough and vnciuill either it is nothing to vs or els I deeme both to be interpreted as a great commendation vnto the same For what nation in former times hath not been somewhat rude and vnciuill or when were the Romanes more to be commended then when they knew no other art or mysterie but husbandrie and discipline of warre If so be that those things which then were said of the Hollanders some man shall stand in they may be verified of them now what greater praise can be attributed to Holland my natiue country then if it may truly be said to loath those iests of Martiall which he himselfe calleth nequitias knaueries And I would to God that all Christians had such eares as these Hollanders had that they might either not entertaine those pestilent conceits of that Poet or at the leastwise would not be delighted with them If any man please to call this clownishnesse we do willingly beare that slanderous reproch as being a thing common to vs with the good Lacedemonians with the old Sabines the worthy Catoes so much commended And Lucane as I thinke called the Hollanders truces rough in no other sense then Virgill calleth the Romane acer stout and hardie Otherwise if any man do respect their homely and plaine maners there is no nation more prone to ciuility and curteous humanity in which there is lesse cruelty or surly sternnesse they are of a good nature plaine void of all trechery and guile inclined to no notorious vices only they are a little too much giuen to their pleasure especially in banquetting the reason of which I iudge to be the wonderfull plenty of all maner of things prouoking them thereunto and that partly by reason of the forrein commodities brought vnto them for that not only it possesseth the two mouths of the goodly riuers Maese and Rhein but also for that the greatest part of this West coast is continually washed with the maine sea partly by reason of the naturall fertility of the countrie which euery where is watered with many great and nauigable riuers well stored with fish and so hath abundance of pastorage and most fatte meadowes Moreouer the fennes and woods affoord infinite store of wild-foule and therefore they constantly affirme that there is no country in the world which in so little compasse and plot of ground conteineth more cities and townes not very big in quantity and circuite but for state of common-wealth and gouernment excellent For cleanlinesse and near keeping of their houses the Hollanders do beare away the bell from all other nations whatsoeuer by the iudgement of Merchants which haue trauelled ouer the greatest part of the world Of meane learned men there is no where greater plenty The reason why many of them come not to the height of that exquisite learning especially of the ancients is their wanton and riotous life or for that they esteeme more of honesty and vertue then great learning For it cannot be denied but that they haue good wits as is manifest by many arguments although indeed it doth not appeare by me whose gift that way is not great as in nothing els Thus farre Erasmus in his Chiliades This country of Holland almost wholly enclosed like a Peninsula with the sea and the mouths of the riuers Maes and Rhein is not very large as being in compasse not more then 60. Dutch miles yet it comprehendeth 29. walled cities which are these DORDRECHT about an hundred yeares since by a deluge and ouerflowing of the sea made an iland by this 4. riuers do runne It is a mightie city inhabited of very wealthy citizens and beautified with most gallant buildings both publike and priuate Heere is a great concourse of Merchants for in it is held the staple of Rhenish wine corne timber and other wares and merchandice which are brought downe by the Maes and Rhein into these countries to be sold HAERLEM this is the most stately and greatest citie of all Holland situate in a most pleasant place Hard without the town walls is a very fine groue whither the citizens vpon festiuall daies do withdraw themselues for their pleasure and recreation after their labour and toilesome busines This town is famous for clothing where it is certaine that there are tenne or twelue thousand clothes yearely made Heere the citizens do perswade themselues the mysterie of printing was first inuented and practised DELET so named of Delft which in their language signifieth a ditch Heere also the townesmen vse clothing Moreouer in this city they brue good beere which from hence in great plenty is transported into Zeland This towne in the yeare 1536. suffered great losse by fire the greatest part of it being vtterly defaced LEIDEN vpon the Rhein not far from his mouth where it sometime did fall into the sea which now you may perceiue to be stopped choaked with sand It is thought to be the most ancient city of this prouince for some do thinke it to haue beene so named of a Roman legion which sometime wintered in this place Certaine antiquities are heere yet to be seene to this day GOVDE vpon the riuer Isel in that place where it meeteth with the riuer Goude or Gouwe whereof the city tooke his name It is very populous AMSTELREDAM most stately built vpon the inlet or bay called Tie the most populous and frequent Mart towne of all these parts In euery street almost like as in Venice a man may passe from place to place by boate aswell as by foot to dispatch his businesse Heere daily from Norway kussia and other Northren countries as also from Spaine France England c. great store of shippes do arriue and ancher so that sometimes you shall see at once
two hundred or three hundred faile of Merchants shippes hulks they call them to ride heereat anchor Therefore this city for traffique is commonly held to yeeld to none but Antwerp ENCKHVISEN vpon that sea which they vulgarly call in their language Suyderzee Famous euen in forren countries for the building of great shippes HOORN situate also vpon the same bay Heere in May is kept a faire where there is sold such infinite store of butter and cheese as is wonderfull ALKMAER this place for plenty of butter and cheese doth excell all other cities of this prouince PVRMERENDE famous for the castle or palace of the Count Egmond EDAM for building of shippes and good cheese deserueth also to be remembred amongst the rest Moreouer MVNNEKENDAM WEESP NAERDEN and WEERT may not be forgotten OVDEVVATER heere groweth great store of hemp so that heere they make almost all the nets ropes and cables which the Hollanders and Zelanders do vse in fishing SCOONHOVEN as who would say At the faire Orchards Here is continuall fishing for Salmons where also is held a Staple of this commodity as we said there was of wine at Dordrecht Next after these do follow ISELSTEIN VIANEN Item LEERDAM ASPEREN and HVEKELEN three little cities round in a circle vpon the riuer Lingen not about 500. pases one from another GORICVM and WORICHVM situate vpon the banke of the riuer Wael one ouer against another Gorichum hath a very goodly and beautifull castle A man may iustly call this town a city of store of all maner prouision such a market is heere daily kept of such things as are necessary for the sustenance of mans life which are from thence transported by shippe vnto other countries but especially to Antwerp Lastly there are HVESDEN ROTERODAM SCHIEDAM and both the MOVNTS the one known by the name of S. Gertrude the other of the number of Seuen Seuenbergen I meane and Geertruydenberge for so they call them Other towns there are which sometime were walled which although at this day we do now see them to want either by the rage of violent warre or by reason of other misfortunes yet they still enioy their old liberties and fredoms Of this sort Medenblick Beuerwijck Muiden Neuport Vlaerdingen and Grauesande Moreouer in this prouince there are aboue foure hundred villages amongst the which the Haghe which they call Earls Haghe doth farre excell the rest This town Guicciardine thinketh for bignesse wealth beauty and pleasant situation to surpasse all other in Europe whatsoeuer for it conteineth two thowsand houses of which the Princes pallace built like a castell fortified with a wall and dich where the Priuy courts of Iustice are held is one Neere vnto is a darke or thicke grone which by reason of the singing of birds and sight of Deere is both to the eares and eies most pleasant and delightfull I might more iustly call it Comopolis a citie like town and may boldly compare it with Ctesiphon a borough in Assyria situate vpon the riuer Tigris much magnified of all ancient writers of which Strabo writeth that that town is equall to a city for command and bignesse and was the place where the Parthian kings did vse to winter when they were desirous to spare the city of Seleucia Vnder the Iurisdiction also of Holland are certaine Ilands as Voorn with the towns Geervliet and Briele Goereden or Goere with a town of the same name Somersdijcke Tenel diuers others The diocesse of Vtrecht gouerned not long since by a Bishop in which were 5. cities yeelded it selfe to be subiect to the iurisdiction of Holland in the time of Charles the fifth Emperour of Rome This country is so enclosed with the sea seuered by riuers lakes creeks and ditches whereby it is diuided as it were into certaine plots and quarters that there is no city nor village heere to which one may not go aswell by water as by waggon Neither is there any place in the whole prouince from whence one may not easily in three houres space go to the sea Chrysostomus Neapolitanus hath described this Olland for so he writeth it in an eloquent letter of his directed to Counte Nugarolo Of this read the history of Holland compiled by Gerardus Geldenhaurius and Cornelius Aurelius as also Peter Diuey but especially Hadrianus Iunius his Batauia Of the wonderfull store and abundance of this country read Lud. Guicciardine Of the ruines of the Roman armory or storehouse of munition which the country people call The Brittish castle which is vpon the shore of the Germane ocean at a village called Catwijcke opzee not far from the city Leijden and of the inscriptions in marble there found we haue not long since set forth a peculiar treatise dedicated only to that argument Of the prouince of Vtrecht which now is vnder the command of Holland and is likewise described in this Mappe see the history of Lambertus Hortensius Monfortius HOLLANDIAE ANTIQVORVM CATTHORVM SEDIS NOVA DESCRIPTIO AVCTORE IACOBO A DAVENTRIA FRIESLAND THat the Frisij a most ancient nation did long since inhabit along the sea coast neere the mouth of the riuer of Rhein where also at this day they dwell it is very apparant out of the records of ancient writers For Ptolemey placeth them aboue the Busactores or Busacteri the people of that prouince which now is called Westfalia as some thinke between the riuers Vidrus they call it Regge and Amasius now called Eems Tacitus who reporteth that they were of good account amongst the Germanes and along by the sea coast to dwell on ech side the Rhein diuideth them according to their power and greatnes of command into Maiores and Minores the Greater and the Lesser hee moreouer affirmeth that they dwell round about certaine huge Lakes such as were capable of the Roman fleet The same authour nameth certaine Frisios Transrhenanos Frieslandmen dwelling beyond the Rhein which he saith did rather mislike the auarice of the Romanes then their command Iulius Capitolinus in the life of Clodius Albinus the Emperour saith that these Transrhenane Frieslanders were by the same Clodius Albinus discomfited and ouerthrowne Pliny mentioneth certaine Ilands of the Frieslanders insulas Frisiorum in the riuer of Rhein and the Erisciabones a kind of people between Helium and Fleuum two mouthes of the Rhein where it emptieth it selfe into the maine sea It is manifest therefore that the Frisij anciently did not passe the riuer Eems but at this day they are further spred Eastward almost as farre as the riuer Weser the old Geographers called it Visurgis Who also otherwise of them sometime were designed by the name of the Chauci or Cauchi for diuers authours write it diuersly it is out of all doubt And beside these vp higher euen in Denmarke in the confines of the little prouince Dietmarsh there dwell a people vulgarly knowne by the name of Strandt Vriesen that is Frieslandmen inhabiting vpon the sea coast These it may be were those which Ptolemey calleth Sigulones
but two walled cities namely Eemden and Awricke Of which EEMDEN situate at the mouth of the riuer Eems is the common Mart-towne of the whole prouince for concourse of Merchants especially famous which indeed is caused by the commodiousnesse and opportunity of the hauen which doth thrust it selfe so farre vp into the heart of the city at such a great height and depth that it doth easily receiue and entertaine great shippes full laden with sailes stricken into the very middest of the same This city is much beautified with the sumptuous palace of the Prince a gorgeous Church the Yeeld hall and the goodly houses of the priuate citizens AVRICK by reason of the woods and groues which on all sides almost do inclose it is inhabitd for the most part of Gentlemen and Noblemen where they recreate and delight themselues with Hawking and Hunting In the territorie of this city there is as Kempius reporteth a place called Iyl enclosed round with a wall beset with bushes a commodious dwelling for Hares and Deere in which as in a Parke or warrein they maintaine a great number of these kind of beasts which none dare take vnder a great penalty but they are reserued for the Earles disport and pastime when he is disposed to recreate himselfe with hunting In the confines also of this city Awricke is a little hill rising somewhat high commonly they call it Obstalsboom or Vpstalsbom where the seat of Iustice or Court leet for the whole shire is ordinarily held Heere they were wont euery yeare out of all the Zelands to meet in the open and wild fields and there by the most skilfull and approued lawiers such as best knew their customs and lawes to end and determine all controuersies arising between man and man In this precinct also are diuen castles villages and farms Of hamlets and end-waies such is the number that oft times one doth touch another The greatest part of which both for beauty of their houses and streets as also for multitude of inhabitants and strangers do so excell that they may foe honour and greatnesse contend with diuers cities of Germany The people do giue themselues either to traffique as Merchants or to get their liuings by occupations and handy-crafts or by playing the husbandmen and tilling the ground With their neighbours and forreners they speake in the Dutch tongue amongst themselues they vse a peculiar language proper to that nation and not vnderstood of strangers They are comely apparelled yea euen the very country people so that a man would take them to be citizens The women weare a kind of attire and apparell much differing from that of other nations They bind vp all the haire of their had into one locke and that set out with diuers siluer and gilt spangles and buttons they let to hang behind their backe Their head they bind vp in Summer with a caull of red coloured silke behung with siluer spangles but in the Winter they weare an hood of green cloth wherewith they do so couer their whole head that skarsely one may see their eies this kind of attire they call an Hatte Their vpper garment huick of loose gowne which they weare abroad from the head to the foot is pleited with many small pleits and is so stiffe with siluer and gilt wire or plate wouen into it that when it is put off it will stand vpright This sometime is made of red sometime of green cloth In this country of East-Friesland there are also two other counties the one called Esens the other Ieueren bearing the names of their chiefe towns Of the situation of this prouince nature and maners of the people read Vbbo Emmius FRISIA ORIENTALIS RIDERIAE PORTIONIS facies ante inundationem qui postea sinus maris factus est DENMARKE SAxo Grammaticus hath thus described Denmarke DENMARKE saith he parted in the middest by the boisterous sea conteineth a few small parts of the maine continent seuered and disioined one from another by the breaking in of the ocean winding and turning it selfe diuers waies Of these IVTIA Iuitland is in respect of the greatnesse and beginning in the enterance of the kingdome of Denmarke Which as it is in situation first so running out further it is placed in the vtmost borders of Germany From whose company it being parted by the intercourse of the riuer Eydor it runneth with a larger breadth toward the North euen to the banke of the frith of Norwey he calleth it Fretum Noricum In this is the bay of Lemwicke Sinus Lymicus abounding with such store of fish that it alone yeeldeth as much prouision of victuall to the inhabitants as all the whole country beside To this is adioined FRESIA Strand Friesen a prouince much lesser which lying more low then Iuitland in plaine and champion fields receiueth from the sea ouerflowing it great strength and heart and is very settile for come Whose inundation or violent tide whether it do bring to the country people more profit or dammage it is hard to say For in tempestuous weather the Sea breaking in through the creeks wherein the water was wont to be contained such a world of waters oft times doth follow and come into the country that diuers times it runneth ouer not only the fallow fields but drowneth also whole families with their goods and cattell After Iuitland the ile FIONIA Fuinex doth follow vpon the East which a narrow arme of the ocean sea doth seuer from the maine land This iland as vpon the West it looketh toward Iuitland so vpon the East it hath the ile SEELAND Sialandia he calleth it an iland much commended for the great abundance of all maner of necessary things that it yeeldeth which for pleasant situation is thought to excell all the prouinces of this kingdome and is supposed to be in the middest of Denmarke indifferently situate between the one end of the same and the other Vpon the East side of this an arme of the ocean runneth between it and SCONE Scania Scandinauia Basilia and Baltia called by diuers authours a part of Norwey or Swedland This sea yearely affoordeth great gaine to the Fishermen For this whole bay or gulfe of the sea is so full of all sorts of fish that the fishermen oft times do catch such store and therewith they so fraight their boats that they haue no roome to stirre their oares neither do they heere vse any nets or other meanes to take the fish but many times they are taken only with the hand Moreouer HALLAND and BLIEKER Blekingia he nameth it two prouinces issuing forth from the maine land of Scone like two armes from one and the same body of a tree are by many spaces and by-corners adioined and knitte to Gotland and Norwey Thus farre Saxo Grammaticus See also Albert Crantzius Sebastian Munster and the Ecclesiasticall history of M. Adams The kingdome of NORVVAY is subiect to the crowne of Denmarke as also the ile GOTLAND Item if you will giue credit to Marke
their game most laboriously others do take as great paines in ordering and ruling the commonwealth ending of controuersies and seeing that the lawes be duly kept and executed others do busie themselues in building and fortifiing of towns and câ—ties making them not only defensible against the assault and battery of the enemy in time of war but also gorgeous and beautifull to the great delight and astonâ—shment of the beholders in time of peace What should I speake of the goodly wholesome springs the pleasant greene meadowes pastures and vallies which for fruitfulnesse may iustly contend with those of Aemonia that fertile country of Greece so much commended by Poets and Historians Of the sundry and manifold pleasures and delighâ—some places brookes and cleare running waters of this country c. HENNEBERGENSIS DITIONIS vera delineatio Cum Privilegio decennali 1594. HASSIAE DESCRIPTIO IOANNE DRYANDRO AVCTORE Cum Gratia Privilegio decen 1579 THVRINGIA OR DVRINGEN THis Prouince was sometime a Kingdome at this day it is onley graced with the title of a LANDTGRAVY It is seated betweene the two riuers Sala and Werra Vpon the North it is bounded with that great wood which the Historians call Sylua Hercinia and of them is called Hartz On the South it hath the vast forest of Thuringia Duringer Waldt they call it The length of this country which is equall to the breadth is about twelue Germane miles In this narrow compasse as I remember not long since Hugh Brinkhorst an Englishman a citizen of Erford my good friend did tell me there are 12. COVNTIES or Earledomes and as many ABBEIS which they call Gefurstete Abtyen 144. CITIES with so many MARKET TOVVNS Mercktflecken 2000. PARISHES and 150. CASTLES It is a passing fertile country and of wheat and such like corne it yeeldeth greater plenty than any other country of Germany whatsoeuer Whereupon George Agricola doubted not to call it Sumen Germaniae The Sweet-bread of Germany Heere yearely groweth great plenty of woad Isatis the Latines call it which from hence is transported into other countries to the great gaine and commodity of the inhabitants It is an herbe or weed much vsed of Diers to set the more perfect and durable colour in wooll or wollen cloth Heere some are of opinion that sometime the SORABI did inhabite Reinerus Reyneckius in his booke which he wrote of the Originall of the Myssen Mysni doth thinke these Tyringetae to be nothing else but as one would say Tyringotae that is The Gothes of Thuringia and thereupon their city Gothen or Gotha he maketh no question tooke the name Zacharias Riuander in the Dutch tongue hath set out a peculiar treatise containing a description of this countrie The Metropolitane or chiefe city of this prouince is Erford which is held to be the greatest city of all Germany The crystall and nimble streamed Gera runneth almost through euery street of this city as we there beheld to our great delight and exceeding commodity of the people inhabiting the same In it there is a mount vpon the which doth stand a goodly Monastery of Frier Benedictines dedicated vnto S. Peter Here also is a stately church built by Boniface bishop of Mentz and dedicated to our Lady Mary the blessed Virgin This church hath a bell famous all Germany ouer for the huge bignesse of it and massie weight MISNIA THis country is by Iohn Garzo of Bononia an Italian thus described This prouince saith he is seated vpon the riuer Elbe on the Eastside the Vindali the Bohemi on the South the Saxons on the North and Libonotria or the Eudoses on the West are neere neighbours to this country it is contained within the riuers Sala and Muldaw beyond the riuer Sala the Thuringers dwell In it are many rich and wealthy cities and diuers strong castles Here sometime as Ptolemey testifieth the Calucones and the Danduti did inhabite But Libonotria was possessed of the Herthanae Eudosi Varini and Suardones all which afterward were generally called Serabi The country is very fertile of all maner of graine so that it is able in regard of the great abundance thereof to serue almost all the neighbour countries neere adioining Neither doth it yeeld such great store of wheat only but also of wine hony and cattell Thus farre out of the same Garzo The head city of this prouince is Meissen Misna of which the whole country tooke the name The riuer Elbe Albis runneth hard by the wals of this city Heere is a very goodly and strong castle Dresden where the Prince doth ordinarily keepe his court is a city also situate vpon ech side of this riuer Elbe crosse ouer the which a goodly bridge doth passe from one part of the city to the other Torgaw also standeth vpon the same riuer where there is brewed an excellent kind of beere and is thereupon called by the name of this towne Torgaw beere Item Leipzig situate vpon the riuer Pleisse is the greatest and wealthiest market towne in all these parts hither the Merchants do flocke from all quarters farre and neere to the Mart that here is held thrise euery yeere Heere also is a pretty Vniuersity translated hither as Munster saith from Prage in Bohemia about the yeere of our Lord 1408. This towne is verie goodlily built and hath many faire houses but especially the Guild-hall where the Aldermen vsually meet not long since repaired with great cost and expences is of all others most gorgeous The people are very neat cleanly courteous and humane Beside these there are diuers other pretty townes as Zeitz Schreckenberg Naumburg and Freiberg a rich towne by reason of the Gold-mine neere adioining Heere in old time dwelt the Hermanduri as Munster with other good authours doth teach vs. The Originall Famous acts Remooues or colonies and great Commands of this nation are set out not long since by Georgius Chemnicensis in the Latin tongue by Reynerus Reyneckius and at large by Petrus Albinus Niuemontius in the Germane tongue Of LVSATIA a prouince also contained in this mappe we haue spoken before at the Mappe of Saxony TVRINGIAE NOVISS DESCRIPT per Iohannem Mellinger Halens Cum Priuilegio MISNIAE ET LVSATIAE TABVLA Descripta à M. Bartholemaeo Sculteto Gorlit THE MARQVESATE OF BRANDENBVRG THe Marquesate of Brandenburg runneth out in length threescore German miles Vpon the West it bordereth vpon Saxony Misnia and Meckelburg Vpon the North it is bounded by Pomeran Stetin and the Cassubij His East part resteth vpon Polonia and Silesia On the South it hath Bohemia Lusatia and Morauia It is diuided into Old-march Middle-march and New-march This Marquesate also conteineth within his iurisdiction the Lordship of Cothuss or Cotwitz of Peilzen Bescaw and Storkaw all in Neather Lusatia the Dukedome of Crossen in Silesia the Earledomes of Rapin Stolp and Vierad To it also doth belong the little Prouince Prignitz It hath three Bishopricks Brandenburg Hauelberg and Lubusz situate in Middle-march Moreouer beyond the riuer Oder it hath the citie
and shire Sternberg OLD-MARCH beginneth at the Desert of Luneburg and so extendeth it selfe vnto the riuer Elbe It is confined with the Diocesses of Magdeburg Halberstadt and Meckelburg The inhabitants long since were the Senones Sueui and in some places also the Angriuarij with the Teutones In this coast are seuen cities of no small account Tangermundt vpon the riuer Elbe in that place where the riuer Angra or Tonagra now Tanger vnlodeth it selfe into Elbe sometime the imperiall seat of the Emperour Charles the fourth Stendal the principall citie of this shire where there is a church of S. Nicolas they call it Thumstift of regular Canons of the order of S. Barnard commonly called Ordo Cistertiensium first founded at Gistertium now called Citeauz a place in Gallia Narbonensi Soltwedel diuided into two cities the Old the New Gardeleben with a castle called Eischnippe As also Osterburg Werben and Senohuse now Sehausen so named perhaps of the Senones a people that sometime dwelt here about Arnburg with his castle situate vpon the riuer Elbe Bismarch Beuster Bueck standing not farre from the Elbe Kalbe and Neflingen which they otherwise also call Letzlingen Besides these townes it hath seuen monasteries richly endowed with temporalties and secular iurisdiction and diuers Nunries as Arntsehe Damke Diestorff Crewessen and Niendorff The breadth of this countrey being equall to the length is not aboue eight Dutch miles and yet in it are at the least 465. villages of good note MIDDLE-MARCH beginneth on the other side of the Elbe and stretcheth it selfe vnto the riuers Oder and Spre sometimes called Sueuus It is watered with the riuer Hauel and other small brooks of lesse account In former ages it was inhabited by the Sueui or Switzers The soile is very fertile especially for corne It hath many Woods Fish-ponds Pastures and Medowes as also certeine Vineyards first planted heere by Albert the Marquesse surnamed The beare Brandenburg his chiefe citie is by the riuer Hauel diuided into two parts this is called The New citie that The Olde and was so named of Brandon sometime a captaine of the Franks Here is held the generall court of iustice for the whole countrey Many priuileges and great liberties haue by emperors kings and princes been granted to this prouince a token or monument whereof is the statue or image erected in the new city holding in his hand a drawen sword whom the citizens call Rowland Not farre from this citie is the territory of Hauelan so called of the riuer Hauel that enuirons it Also the monastery of Lenin of the order of S. Bernard After Brandeburg followes Rathenaw vpon the Hauel Spandaw with a castle vpon the riuer Spree likewise Coln and Berlin seuered by the same riuer In Berlin is the Princes court at this present Berlin was so named either of Albert the Marques surnamed Bear or as others hold opinion of wild beares that haunted this place when the foundations were first laid Colne was so called of Colliers that in great numbers inhabited the same in times past or rather of the Latine word Colonia Frankford vpon Oder was anciently reckoned in the number of the Hanse-townes in which regard at this present it payes no tribute to Lubeck nor to any other cities of that association It hath three marts euery yeere Here is a College or Vniuersitie founded by Ioachim the first marques of that name in the yeere 1506. Not farre from the Abbey of Carthusians in this citie runnes a small freshet springing out of a vine-bearing hill whereinto whatsoeuer is cast hardeneth into the nature of a stone Other townes there be also as Brietzen surnamed The loyall also Belitzen and Bernaw where excellent beere is brewed Bellin seated by a foord of the little riuer Rhien Mittenwald Monnixberg Bisental Blumbergen of the diocesse of Brandeburg Botzaw with a castle Falkenhaghe with a castle sometimes belonging to the Templers Frienwald and Oderberg Here marques Albert the second of that name built a castle in the midst of the riuer to constraine passengers to pay tolle Then haue you Fridland a cloister of Nunnes with a little borough Frisach of the diocesse of Brandeburg Gereswald Grimnitz Grunheid Grunwalde and Koppenick foure parks of the Prince with castles annexed Hochelberg a village Landsberg an obscure place with a castle of great antiquitie Lichen a small towne Liebenwald with a parke Nawen Putstam a little towne with a castle Newstadt Eberswald and not farre from thence Chorin a monastery of Bernardines Mulrosa a small borough and a village Sarmunde Sconbeck with a parke Strausberg Trebin Bernewijck a little borough Zendenick a cloister of Nunnes Zossa a small borough with a castle Stendel Swet Wrusen not farre from Odera Lietzen Selow a small borough with many villages and hamlets This middle marquesat containes eight and twentie Dutch miles in bredth and so many in length NEVN-MARCH is diuided from the middle by the riuer Odera about that place where the riuer Warta falles thereinto nere the towne of Kustren The said riuer of Warta beginnes in Poland and watereth this region at the citie of Lansberg and the townes of Zandock and Sonneberg The head citie of this marquesat is Kustren reedified by the marques Iohn sonne to Ioachim the first who to his exceeding charge fortified the same and there established his court Other townes there be as Landsberg vpon Warta Koningsberg Bernwald and Bernsteine a small borough with a castle Bernwijchen and Berlinichen or the towne of New Berlin Then haue you the citie of Arnswald the borough of Thame Soldin whilome the principall citie Furnstenfield a small borough Dramburg Driesen Falkenberg the towne and castle situate on the confines of Pomerlandt also Himelstedt a cloister of Nunnes Kalis a village Kartaw and Lepen two little boroughs Morgenwald an Abbey Morni a small towne Nieuberg a village Nurnberg Reitz with an abbey of the knights of the Rhodes Quartzen containing the palaces of noblemen Schiffelben a towne that beares the name for good beere and excellent Armorers Moreouer you haue Osmund Sconflis Woldenberg a small borough Sciltberg a village Zeden a little towne with a monasterie and Zandock a petie borough vpon the riuer Warta The circuit of this new marquezat is about foure and twenty Dutch miles Now the whole marquezat of Brandeburg with the regions aboue mentioned thereunto subiect containeth fiue and fifty cities of importance threescore and foure townes sixteene boroughs commonly called Marcktflecken eight and thirtie castles or noble mens houses ten parks seuenteene monasteries of men and women This region also yeeldeth Corall the Eagle-stone or the Aetites and the saffron-coloured stone called Schistus with other gemmes of no lesse account Thus much out of the Dutch discourse of Wolfangus Iobstius You may reade also Munster and Irenicus and Dauid Chytraeus his storie of Saxonie BRANDEBVRGENSIS MARCHAE DESCRIPTIO Marchionatus hic primum erectus fuit ab Henrico I. Imperatore ao. 923. fuitue eius primus marchio nomine
Henricus Olim enim sub ducibus Saxoniae erat BVCHAVIA or BVCHONIA IN this prouince standeth the Abbey of Fuld concerning the originall and situation whereof thus writeth Munster FVLDA is the head city of that part of Germanie which in times past some called Buchonia others the forest or desert of Buchauia namely of Beech-trees wherefore at this present we call it Fagoniam and Fagunetum And that this name is deriued of Fagus a beech the name of a towne therein called Fag or Fach not farre from the high hill Taurus doth plainly import This region is situate betweene Turingen Frankenlandt Hesse and Wederaugia bordering on the confines of all the said regions and lying as it were in the center of them For townes castles villages riuers pooles woods fields hortyards sweet fountaines and fruitfull soile so farre forth as the asperitie of these regions may affourd it is none of the meanest parts of Germanie notwithstanding it beareth no vines at all The riuers are Fuld whereof the city that it runnes by is called Fuld Hun Guerra and Vlster The whole countrey is full of woods abounding with oaks and beeches The little villages neere the city they call Celles in token of the order of the Benedictins there dwelling in times past But the chiefe grace and ornament of this region is the ancient and magnificent Church of S. Sauiour which the memory of S. Boniface makes most renowmed by whose meanes the city of Fulda was first built and inlarged being before but a waste wildernesse For this being the Church of that most ancient monastery was before the towne anno 655. erected in the time of the Emperour Pipin father to Charlemaigne More you may reade in Sebastian Munster Sundry particulars also concerning the originall of this Abbey and the deeds of the Abbats you shall find in the Chronography of Valentine Muntzer published in Dutch where he saith that the ground-plot of this city of Fulda before the building thereof was called Eulenloch that is The den of Owles And where the Abbey of S. Peter now standeth it was of old named Eulenbergh or The hill of Owles THE COVNTIE OF WALDECK THis Countie containeth a part of Hesse it is a fruitfull region and watered with many riuers the principall whereof abounding with fish is called Eder and is sayd to yeeld graines of gold Then haue you also the riuers Dimel Twist Ahra Vrba and Ither The soile affourds both corne and wine Also it hath mines of siluer quick-siluer copper lead salt and alume The principall places are the city and castle of Waldeck which giueth name to the whole region Astinchusen Dudinchusen Landawe a city and castle with the towne and castle of Mengerhusen where the Earle at this present holds his court the towne and castle of Roden in the territory whereof is much hunting Wetterburg a castle most pleasantly situate betweene Twist and Ahra the old and new towne of Wildung distinct both in name and place neere vnto which are certaine mines that yeeld both golde copper and siluer Here are likewise fountaines of sower water And here they brew the best beere in all the countrey The castle of Eisenburg in the fields whereof as at Wildung is digged vp gold and yron mine Here also they dig a kinde of stones which they burne in stead of coales The castle of Eilhusen most gallantly seated and diuided by a riuer from Vrba Corbach a strong city the castle and towne of Newburg the castle Ither and the monastery of Werben c. BVCHAVIAE siue FVLDENSIS DITIONIS TYPVS Wolfgango Regrwill auctore 1574. WALDECCENSIS COMITATVS DESCRIPTIO ACCVRATISSIMA Cum Priuilegio Caes. et Reg. M t s decennali Iustus Moers describ Anno. 1575. The Dukedomes of BRVNSWIICK and LVNENBVRG THese two regions are at this present subiect to one Prince They are both named of the principall cities Brunswijck and Lunenburg The city of Brunswijck was about the yeere 860. built by Bruno the sonne of Ludolphus who as Crantzius saith first erected a street or borough calling it Brunonis vicus whereupon the whole citie hath euer since beene called Brunswijck A place of great renowme situate in the midst of Saxonie vpon the riuer Onadri which falles into the Weser The beginnings of this towne were small Howbeit in processe of time and by degrees it is now growen to such state riches and strength as the Princes thereof are worthily called Dukes of Brunswijck But it was very long first For of ancient times they bare only the title of Lords but vnder Frederick the Emperour in the yeere 1235 renewing their stile they were ordained Dukes This is one of the seuentie Hanse-townes From which societie by a generall Councell of all the said townes held at Lubeck anno 1381 they were excluded in regard of a most cruell and bloudy sedition wherein the greatest part of their Aldermen they slue and the rest they banished And so they were depriued of the benefit of the said societie for eight yeeres vntill they had done publike penance and satisfaction From which time they were admitted anew into the said incorporation of the Hanse that is to say to be partakers of all priuileges granted by Princes and gouernours of former times to all that were free of the said societie in those foure famous marts to wit London in England Bruges in Flanders Bergen in Norway and Nouogrod in Russia Their tutelary saint or protectour they holde to be S. Anthor the Confessor whilome Bishop of Triers For the honour of whose body because it could not be brought within their city walles they erected a monastery vnder the title of S. Giles then neere vnto the walles but now the city being inlarged within the same Thus much out of Crantzius his story of Saxonie and Wandalia The praise of this citie you may finde in Aeneas Siluius his 23. chap. of Europe The citie of LVNEBVRG built about the yeere of Christ 1190. vpon an hill named Calcarium was so called not as the ignorant imagine from Idolum lunae the idol of the moone which Iulius Caesar or I wot not who did there consecrate for this is but an old wiues tale but from a place not farre off by the riuer Elmenou called Luna where there hath for many yeeres continued a cloister of Nunnes It is a citie of great strength enuironed with ditches and walles The citizens greatest traffique is for salt for here are most plentifull and rich salt-pits out of which they raise exceeding gaines For salt is here boiled in great quantitie and vented from hence both by sea and land to Hamborough Lubeck and other places These salt-mines were first found in the yeere of Christ 1269. This city of Luneburg with the territory adiacent is in a peculiar Treatise described by Lucas Lossius Of Hildesheim fiue miles distant from Brunswijck M. Antonie Mockerus a citizen thereof hath written also a peculiar discourse In this Table vpon the riuer Weser or Visurgis stands the citie of
Hamelen concerning which the learned and famous Physitian D. Arnold Fretaghius wrote to me in a letter the story ensuing his words be these I chanced of late to light vpon a Saxon and a Chronicler of Saxonie He reports that 130. yeres ago the citie of Hamelen vnder the iurisdiction of Duke Ericus being exceedingly pestered with mice there came a iugler that offered his seruice to the townes-men to driue them away this offer was most acceptable vnto them because they could keepe nothing in safetie from those mischieuous vermine Being agreed with the townes-men by the sound of a bell he drawes all the mice out of the citie Then he demandeth his promised hire They denie it him Well in a great rage he departs the citie and within a yeere after returneth and sounding the same bell which before he had vsed to coniure the mice he drew after him vnto an hill not farre off a great number of the citizens children whither being come both they and he immediatly vanished A girle of the company either for wearinesse or by Gods appointment stayeth a good distance behinde who returning home and being asked what she saw makes report that her fellowes were gone vp the hill with the iugler Then euery man runnes to seeke his childe but in vaine for from that time forward they could neuer know what was become of them Hauing read this I iudged it either to be a fable or as it is in very deed a most wonderfull and strange narration Discoursing therefore with certaine citizens of this place I made mention heereof They all affirmed it to be true and sayd that the yeere the day and the number of children that were lost was registred in the records of the citie of Hamelen and it is yet a custome among them in their bonds and couenants which they write in an ancient hand to vse this forme or clause of speech Don onser kinder ausgangh that is to say From the departure of our children And they say that the way or street thorow which they were led for the perpetuall memorie of their mishap was called by the inhabitants Die Bungloese straess and that it is not lawfull thereto ring a bell If you haue perhaps read this storie heretofore I doe now call it to your remembrance If you know any thing that may stand me in stead I pray you impart it as leasure and occasion shall serue Fare you well and loue your Fretaghius From Groenninghen the ninth of Nouember 1580. A description of the territory of NVRENBERG OVt of Pighius his Hercules Prodicius I haue thought good to set downe the originall and description of this place his words be these When the barbarous Hunnes ouerran a great part of Europe and oppressed also the people Norici inhabiting Bauaria certaine principall families of them for shelter and refuge fled vnto the forrest Hercynia planting themselues in a commodious place by the riuers of Pegnitz and Regnitz and so vpon an hill by nature strongly situate and free from hostile incursions they built them a rude and homely castle as the Chronicles of Bauaria doe beare record Within a while their number was increased by the neighbour-husbandmen and the shepheards of the forrest Hercynia and so of a medley of diuers sorts and professions of people they grew at last to the bignesse of a towne But giuing themselues to a base and dissolute kinde of life without gouernours without lawes and continually molesting the neighbour Prouinces with riots and robberies it seemed good to the German Emperours to send thither a colonie of olde souldiers which might serue in stead of a garison for the place to bridle their outrages and to prescribe vnto them lawes of ciuilitie Some report that Henry of Bauaria first brought it into the forme of a citie adorned it with the church of S. Giles enacted lawes and enuironed the castle with a larger wall Also that Conradus the second ioined it to the Empire for at the beginning it was a popular estate One onely ciuill discord in the time of Charles the fourth changed it into an Aristocratia or gouernment of a few principall persons by which meanes the whole authoritie came into the hands of the Senatours who euer since haue vsed such equitie and moderation in their gouernment as there hath not at any time in so great a multitude of common people and diuersitie of nations growen any notable sedition or pernitious mutinie In the citie there are three degrees of people that is to say Senatours Merchants and Artizans Ancient and honourable families there are 28. out of which alwayes are supplied new Senatours who all of them are six and twentie in number Thirteene of these called Burgomasters doe consult of matters of Estate and the other thirteene they call Scabins who being alwayes assisted by three stipendarie lawyers doe vpon Court and Leet dayes execute iustice and decide controuersies among the citizens It is forbidden by their ancient lawes S.W. Herberts opinion confirmed that any professed lawyer or any that beares the title of a Doctour should be admitted to their senate or to the gouernment of their Common wealth Out of either of the said halfes or thirteenes they chuse euery Lunar moneth or new moone a new Consull so that euery yeere the chiefe magistracie falles by turnes for the space of a moneth to euery man of both the foresaid thirteenes Fiue there are of the same company that in criminall causes do make inquiry giue sentence and allot punishment to malefactours They haue likewise a Iudge or President for their suburbs who executes iustice among the pesants and villageois Out of the same company also they yerely elect two Treasurers men of sufficient yeeres credit and honesty who take charge of the customes and reuenues of the whole citie and haue the receit and disbursing of the same All the said magistrates and others that haue any authoritie are chosen only out of the foresaid number of Senatours Two hundred there are yeerely nominated out of the three Estates and the whole citie who once a yeere or vpon any vrgent occasion being assembled by the magistrates do sit in common counsell The State or company of merchants albeit very great and honourable are freed notwithstanding from all publike offices and endowed with most ample priuileges wherefore following their priuate traffike they do in this citie as in a common ware-house hoord vp the riches not only of Europe but of the most remote countries and islands in the world The labourers and artizans which are the last and meanest degree are suffered to haue no conuenticles nor meetings priuate or publike in the citie no solemne banquets nor festiuall assemblies of many together vnlesse it be for a matter of religion or some great funerall for they hold it a thing pernicious to the publike tranquillitie hauing found by often experience that most dangerous factions and seditions haue growen of such popular meetings where people in their drunkennesse
part now is vnder the dominion of the Dukes of Bayern and doth wholly rest in the name of Bayern Bayern is diuided into the Higher and the Lower THE HIGHER is situate vnder the Alps and toward the South This is combred with many marishes huge lakes swift streames darke and fearefull woods Besides beares bores and such like wild beasts it hath many heards of stags of an hundred yeeres old which no man may hunt without the Princes leaue but vnder a great penaltie It is a good soile for pastorage and for the feeding of cattell It yeeldeth yeerely great plentie of Apples Barley Oats and such like corne although not of all sorts it is inhabited but here and there The cities of this countrey are Munchen vpon the banke of the riuer Isara a most goodly and famous citie and the Dukes seat This citie continually mainteineth Lions Many men do thinke it to surpasse all the cities of Germany for beautie Ingolstadt adorned with a publike Vniuersitie Beside these there are Freising a Bishops sea Wasserburg Neuburg Rosenhaim Auensburg c. THE LOVVER BAYERN is more fertile and better inhabited and by reason of the riuers Donaw Isara and Lauar it bringeth forth Vines His cities are Regensburg which some call Ratisbone formerly called Augusta Tiberia situate vpon Donaw whose suburbs vpon the opposite banke of the riuer are ioyned to it by a faire stone bridge Patauium commonly called Passaw at the mouth of the riuer In where it falleth into Donaw famous for his Bishops sea Strawbing Landshut Dinglesing Osterhoff and diuers others This countrey generally is reasonably fertile as of Salt Corne Cattell Fish Woods Birds Pastures Deere and of all such things necessarily required to the maintenance of mans life either for apparell or victuall it is sufficiently stored It breedeth many swine feeding and fatting them with mast and wildings in such sort that as Hungary affoordeth Oxen so this Swine to the most countries of Europe Salt Cattell and Corne are transported from hence and solde into forren countries Wines are from other places as out of Italie Istria Rhetia Rheni Nicker and Pannony conueyed hither But no Prouince of Germanie is beautified with more and finer cities for within his borders as Philip Apian in his Map of Bayern writeth it conteineth foure and thirtie cities six and fortie townes Mercktflecken they call them threescore and twelue monasteries beside an innumerable company of villages castles and noblemens houses In it Salczburg is the Metropolitan citie and the Archbishopricke which hath vnder it many Suffragans as of Trent Passaw Wien c. The people do rather giue themselues to husbandrie and grasing than to warfare neither do they delight in merchandise and traffique they be much giuen to drinking and venery They seldome trauell forth of their owne countrey The first authour of this nation was Alemanus Hercules the eleuenth King of High Germanie His name as yet is preserued in this countrey in the village and castle Almonstain and the riuer Aleman In time past this countrey was ruled by his proper King vntill the dayes of Arnulph the Emperour him as the Parthians Arsaces the Egyptians Ptolemey they called Cacan After that it had Dukes which as yet it reteineth Marke a certaine disciple of S. Paul conuerted this Prouince vnto Christian religion and he was the first Bishop of Laureacke which Bishopricke afterward was translated vnto Passaw Thus much out of Auentine Munster and Iohn Auban of Bohemia BAVARIAE OLIM VINDELICIAE DELINEATIONIS COM PENDIVM Ex tabula Philippi Apiani Math. Cum Priuilegio NORTGOIA or the Countie Palatine of BAYERN THe other part of Bayern which is on the other side Donaw and runneth out beyond the Bohemian wood is called in our time and long since was Nortgoia hauing Noremberg for the chiefe citie from whence the country as some men thinke tooke his name And although that Noremberg be no ancient citie yet his castle situate vpon the toppe of an hill is very ancient This region hath many townes monasteries and villages especially Amberg which in the yeere of Christ 1300. was enclosed with a wall Awerbach Sultzpach Castell Munster where in old time the Princes of Nortgoia haue held their Court Eger Beierut Eister Napurg Newenstadt Rewenkelm Kemnat Krusen Greuenwerdt Eschenbach VVeiden Pernaw Pleistein Herspruck Rurbach Neumarckt Tursenrut Elbogen Cham Schonsee Kunsperg Stauff c. Which for the most part do belong vnto the Palatine Princes For Lewis the Emperour and Duke of Bayern in the yeere of CHRIST 1339. made such a diuision that of the whole prouince of Bayern the prouince of Nortgoia should be subiect vnto the Palatine Princes except only certaine townes which should belong to the Emperour and many also that did appertaine to the crowne of the Empire in time past haue beene pawned to the Princes of Bayern In this Prouince betweene Bamberg and Neremberg in the East toward the towne Eger there is a great mountaine called Fichtelberg out of which do issue foure riuers Meane Nabe Sala and Eger This mountaine conteineth in compasse about six miles it bringeth forth diuers kinds of mettals it yeeldeth the best blew colour which commonly they call Azure In the toppe of the mountaine there is also found Tinne and many caues out of the which in former times mettals haue beene digged generally all that whole prouince euery where swelleth with mines especially of iron by which meanes the Nortgoians do yeerely reape great profit Otherwise the soile is hard and rough although in some places it doth bring forth good store of graine and is excellent pasture ground This Prouince of Nortgoia conteineth one of the foure Earledomes or Landtgrauies which long since were erected by the Emperors namely Luchtenberg which taketh his name of the castle Luchtenberg notwithstanding that the Princes of that iurisdiction doe keepe their Court in the towne of Freimbd and sometime in Grunsfelden the situation of which towne thou mayest see in the Mappe The Earle which now possesseth the place is called George it I be not deceiued descended from his progenitours Albert and Fredericke This Earledome hath not growen vnto such greatnesse as the other three which in processe of time are much enlarged both in possessions and command and especially the Landtgrauie or Earledome of Hessen Thus farre Sebastian Munster See also Pius the second Of the beginning of the Countie Palatine of this Prouince reade Francis Irenicus Conradus Celtes the Poet hath most excellently described Noremberg the chiefe citie of this Prouince and of late also Pighius in his Hercules Prodicius Gasper Brusch of Egra hath described Fichtelberg a mountaine plentifully bearing Pine trees in a peculiar treatise The territorie or iurisdiction of STRASBVRG THe booke of Records Notitiarum liber maketh mention of Argentoratensis tractus the precinct of Strasburg It taketh his name of Argentoratum or Argentina as others name it now called Strasburg This tract is a part of Holst where in time past the Triboces or
trusted rather to their swords of steele than walles of stone it was notable for the pleasantnesse of the place only commendable now for his antiquitie hauing a most goodly prospect round about aboue are the woods of Beech beneath are the fertile hilles of Vines c. The late Dukes of Wirtemberg for many ages past held their Court in this tower taking from thence their name their stocke and their armes as is to euery man very apparent There are which thinke that the Dukes of Wirtemberg haue had their ofspring from the Tuscans or Rhaetians others from the French Whether of these opinions are more probable I much regard not for in a thing altogether vncertaine I affirme nothing constantly It is certaine that they were strangers whether they came first forth of Italie or from France that as yet is not certainly knowen c. Thus farre Iohn Pede WIRTENBERG DVCATVS Accurata descriptio In qua omnia eius Opida Monasteria pagi nemora flumina et riuuli alicuius nominis diligentissimè exprimuntur Auctore Georgio Gadnero Cum Priuilegio Imp. Regiae M. 1579. The Precinct of SWITZERLAND THey which diuided the Empire of Germany into certeine Bands or Circles Kreis they commonly call them they made Switzerland the fourth in order now in all they record tenne it is certaine as approued histories do mention that at first Switzerland was a Kingdome but afterward reduced vnto a Dukedome Notwithstanding at this day there is none of the Princes of Germanie which is graced with the title of Duke of Switzerland for it is now diuided amongst many Princes One part hath accrued by lot of inheritance vnto the house of Austrich the duke of Wirtemberg enioyeth the greatest part in it there are many free cities and such as do belong vnto the crowne of the Empire many are subiect vnto the Duke of Bauiere There is none of the old writers which doth not make report of this Nation as of the most noble and ancientest of all Germany It is cleere out of Ptolemey Strabo and other authours that heretofore they were seated vpon the riuer Sweue and Albis But now at this day it is the vtmost prouince of all Germany for it abbutteth vpon the Alpes It is bounded by Bayern Frankenland and Alsatia or Elsas on euery side round about In olde time this countrey was called Alemanie of the lake Lemanus vulgarly now called Lac de Losanne or Lac de Geneue the Germans call it Ienfferlee as some thinke The countrey as Iohn Auban in that worthy worke of his De moribus gentium describeth it is partly champian partly hilly The soile is fruitfull of which there is no part which lieth vntilled excepting that which Lakes Mountaines or Woods do possesse In it are many woods and therefore the nation is giuen much to hunting and hawking they haue abundance of corne and great store of cattell The whole prouince by reason of the holsomnesse of the aire is euery where replenished with goodly cities villages castles and bulwarks strongly fortified aswell by nature as arte About the mountaines it yeeldeth iron siluer and other mettals The nation is populous stout audacious and warlike and therefore Plutarch calleth it The most excellent nation of all the Germans Whose renowme is recorded to be such and so to be enlarged that for valour and feats of armes it seemeth to haue deserued the Empire of the whole world which indeed it hath most gloriously for the space of somewhat more than an hundred yeeres enioyed Thus farre out of Iohn Auban where thou mayest at large see the customes and maner of life of this nation Augusta Vindelicorum Augspurg vpon the riuer Lech and Vlm vpon Donaw are the most famous cities of this prouince at this day There are also Campodun Memmingen Werd Nordling and others of which thou mayest reade in Munster Donaw the greatest riuer of all Europe here taketh his beginning and passeth thorow the middest of the countrey This riuer laden with threescore streames which Cuspinian according to the report of Collimitius describeth by name and order emptieth it selfe into Pontus Euxinus the Greeks now call it Maurothalassa the Italians Marmaiore the Turkes as Busbequius affirmeth Cara-denis that is The blacke-sea by six huge mouthes Euery one of which mouthes are so great and the streame so violent as Pliny saith that you shall obserue the sea to be ouer-mastered and driuen backe the space of fortie miles and so farre the water to be perceiued to be sweet Of this countrey and his people and first inhabitants see the ancient Geographers and of the latter writers Iohn Auban of Bohemia Munster and Irenicus who affirmeth that Naucler hath penned certaine books only of this argument and that Berno a certaine Abbat hath written many volumes of this nation In the vpper part of this Map you see a little prouince cōmonly called Kreichgey Dauid Chytraeus hath described it in a seuerall treatise The territorie of BASELL THis Map conteineth that coast in which long since the Rauraci and the Cis Iurani did inhabit as also the Waste of Heluetia The Rauraci in time past according to the opinion of most men were contained betweene the riuers of Rhein Byrsa and Ar and those mountaines which from Iurassus doe reach hither At this day it is for the most part vnder the iurisdiction of Basell In it as yet is there a village vpon the Rein distant a Dutch mile from Basell called Augst sometime the chiefe citie of this nation and was called Augusta Rauracorum but now it is become a base village notwithstanding many apparent signes of decayed buildings which as yet do testifie his antiquitie we haue seene to remaine and be yet extant there The country is rough full of many cragged rocks and euery where shadowed with thicke woods yet is very well inhabited and manured so that euen in the mountaines besides the goodly pastures for cattell of which it is greatly stored it beareth plentifully very good wine and corne Sequani CisIurani did long since reach from the mountaine Iura euen vnto the banke of the riuer Rhein Now this part is called Sungow and the Higher Elsas and is subiect for the most part vnto the Dukes of Austrich Brisgow and Blacke-wood commonly called Swartz-wald possesse the other banke of the Rein. Here the waste or wildernesse of Heluetia is placed by Ptolemey Brisgow is very well replenished with cities and villages and is very rich in corne The common people for the most part liue vpon Vintage The iurisdiction and gouernment of this countrey is diuided betweene the Archdukes of Austrich and the Marquesses of Bath Of this shire thou mayest see many things in Munster Christian Vrstise in a peculiar treatise hath most exactly described the citie of Basell In like maner Aeneas Syluius afterward called Pope Pius II. BASILIENSIS TERRITORII DES CRIPTIO NOVA Auctore Sebastiano Munstero Miliaria Germanica duarū horarū itineris Circulus siue Liga SVEVIAVE Vulgo Schwa
are Aquileya adorned with the title of a Patriarchy This citie Mela nameth The rich In times past it was the seat of the Emperours and therefore it was called Another Rome and was in compasse twelue miles In it there haue beene accounted long since an hundred and twentie thousand citizens The great prosperitie and flourishing estate of this citie especially grew by the great thronging hither of Merchants for that from all quarters almost of the world by reason of the great commodiousnesse of the place easie and safe entrance vnto it aswell by land as by sea merchandise were conueyed to this citie as to a common ware-house That great trade of merchandise ended together with the fortune of the citie the Venetians growing mightie and drawing vnto themselues all meanes of trade and traffique so that now of a most flourishing and populous city it is almost wast and desert Vtina which also is called Vtinum the Italians vulgarly call it Vdene the Dutch Weyden situate in a plaine hath a strong castle built vpon the toppe of an hill raised by the labour and industrie of man conteining at this day fortie furlongs in compasse Tergeste Trieste vpon the sea shore a colonie of the Romans Goritia sometime if I be not deceiued called Noreia Here are many monuments of great antiquitie to this day remaining The citie Austria many thinke it in olde time to haue beene called Forum Iulij situate in the straights of the mountaines is a place strong and fortified by nature Thorow the middest of it doth runne the riuer Natiso vpon the which is a faire stone bridge S. Daniels towne seated vpon a very high and steepe hill Porto Gruaro vpon the South banke of Limine Then Spilimbergo Marano Montfalcone and others of which thou mayest reade in Leander out of whom we haue drawen this briefe description Iohannes Candidus hath written an historie of Aquileia whose copartener in his labour and trauell Leander writeth to haue beene Gregorius Amasaeus Of the monuments and antiquities of Aquileia Sabellicus hath written six bookes which are euery where to be gotten FORI IVLII ACCVRATA DESCRIPTIO Cum Priuilegio Ex Bibliotheca Nobilis et doctissimi Ioannis Sambuci Imperatoriae Mats. Historici 1573. IVLIAE ALPES IAPIDES ET CARNI The liberties of the citie of VERONA THe citie of the Cenomanes situate in Gallia Cisalpina or as now they call it Lombardie is within the iurisdiction of the Venetians a citie most stately built vpon ech banke of the riuer Adese but conioyned by foure faire bridges The same riuer as it doth diuide it into two parts so it doth almost on euery side enclose it round so that it is not only a commodity vnto the citie but also a defence and ornament vnto the same The soile of this tract is excellent good yeelding many things necessary and profitable vnto it Great store of oile and corne yeelding yeerely great gaines vnto the country people by selling and transporting it to forren nations Woll for finenesse excelling the other sorts of Italie The citie is most excellently and pleasantly seated beautified with faire and goodly buildings aswell priuate as publike It hath many famous monuments of antiquitie worth the regarding amongst the which is the Amphitheater which the common sort call Arena The sand of all those which remaine in Italie or in other places of Europe the whollest and least defaced either by iniurie of times or rage of barbarous nations Moreouer a triumphall arche in whose inscription this citie is termed COLONIA AVGVSTA VERONA NOVA GALLIENIANA There are also other monuments which here for breuitie sake we must omit The liberties or ground belonging to this citie is in length from the little towne Baruchello vnto Riua which is on the farther side of Lago de Garda sixtie fiue miles in bredth which beginneth at La torre delle confine vnto Riuoltella fortie miles and conteineth in all 1443378. fields so the common people of Italie call the measure whereby they measure their lands Seardeonius interpreteth it Akers whereof 1223112. are fertile 220266 are barren which notwithstanding dayly by the industry and diligence of the husbandmen are made more fruitfull There is in this tract a very high mountaine the Mappe placeth it betweene Lago de Gardo and the riuer Adese which they call Baldo This hill is very well knowen to Herborists and Apothecaries which flocke hither from all quarters and do gather many kindes of herbs and roots necessary in Physicke and good and holesome for the vse of man There is also here in a certaine vale called Policella a place named Negarina where there is a very hard stone to be seene hauing vpon it teats carued to the iust fashion and proportion of a womans breasts out of the which pappes water doth continually distill and droppe wherewith if a nurse or a woman giuing sucke doe wash her breasts dried vp by sicknesse or any other mischance it presently draweth downe the milke againe There are also other waters of this countrey giuen by the benefit of nature both pleasant and profitable But the studious Reader desirous to know more of this territory let him reade Blondus and Leander he shall be I dare boldly affirme satisfied at the full Torellus Sarayna hath written a whole booke of the antiquities originall gouernment and policy and famous men of the citie of Verona Georgius Iodocus Bergamus hath described Lago de Garda or Benacke lake in verse in fiue books Iulius Caesar Scaliger hath sounded forth the praise of the citie Verona and the lake Benacke in his funerall oration VERONAE VRBIS TERRITORIVM Ã Bernardo Brognolo descriptum 1579. Cum Priuilegio decannali The Duchie of MILLANE LEander in the description of Italie after a long discourse of the gouernment of this Duchie maketh this relation of Millane his chiefe citie The citie Millane saith he is so conueniently seated that besides the great store of fruite which the ground of his territories do yeeld out of Gallia Cisalpina or Lombardie all things aswell for pleasure and delight as for profit and necessarie vse in mans life may be easily transported thither It is so great that it may well compare with the greatest cities of all Europe It hath very longe and large suburbes by which it is greatly augmented some of them so huge that they may contend for bignesse with other great cities of Italie Notwithstanding of late yeares they suffered great wrecke by reason of the mortall warres and continuall troubles betweene Charles the fift and the French and Venetians By which they were by fire and sword almost vtterly ouerthrowne and destroied although now by great diligence and industrie of the citizens they are reedified againe Wide and deepe diches full of water do compasse both the citie and suburbes by which on euery side by boate and barge such great store of prouision is brought vnto it that there is not any thing heere which is not to be bought at a reasonable rate It is very
CREMA CRema a towne in the confines of Millane is a Castle place of garrison of the Venetians This as Leander affirmeth vnder the gouernment of the same Venetians hath so incresed in multitude of citizens and goodly buildings that it may well be accounted amongst the most famous places of all Italie Wherefore they vse to say in a common prouerb in their vulgar tongue Barleta in Puglia Pratum in Toscana Crema in Lombardia signifying the excellency statelinesse and richesse of these three places The Venetians haue often assaied to adorne the towne with the title of a city but the citizens fearing that whereas now it is accounted amongst the best townes it shall then be reckoned amongst the meanest cities haue hitherto withstood that their purpose It is seated in a pleasāt plaine in compasse large wide fortified with a strong wall famous for wealth very populous and abounding with all things necessary for the soile of the territorie and liberties of this towne is very fertile and yet by the great diligence and industrie of the husbandmen it is dailie bettered and amended Many brookes well stored with diuers sorts of fish do euery where water this prouince Blondus writeth that after that Fredericke Barbarossa had spoiled Cremona hee built Crema in scorne to hinder and disgrace it There are others as Leander witnesseth which do thinke it to haue beene built by the citizens of the city Parasium which was ouerthrowne rased to the ground by the Bishop of Millane for heresie which it maintained and therefore they called it Crema in memoriam Crematae patriae in memoriall of their natiue city burned and spoiled But this I leaue to the iudgement of the discreet Reader AGRI CREMONENSIS TYPVS Antonius Campus pictor Cremonensis descripsit 1579. Cum Priuilegio CREMAE DITIONIS DESCRIPTIO Lectori Ne tabula hoc loco omnino vacua extaret hoc Cremae territorium à quodam patriae studioso descriptum hic studiosis exhibere placuit The liberties of BRESCIA THe liberties of Brescia now possesseth part of that coast where in time passed the Cenomanes dwelt and extendeth it selfe in length 800. furlongs or 100. miles in bredth 400. furlongs or 50. miles as Elias Capriolus affirmeth it is situate betweene the lakes Garda and Iseo the Alpes and the riuer Oglio These fields as Iohn Planer writeth are worthily accounted amongst the most delightsome champions of Lombardie For it hath as Baptist Nazario saith Gold Siluer Brasse Lead Iron Alume Marble both Porphyrie and Serpentine as they call it barly coloured with blacke and greene Plinie calleth it Ophites and other stones of great price as also the Marchasite which aunciently hath beene called Pyrites or The fire stone The citie Brixia whereof this territorie tooke his name as yet reteineth the same his auncient name for the inhabitants do call it Brescia the which for his riches and beautie they terme in that common prouerbe of theirs The Bride of the city of Venice There is not any of the old writers either Historians or Geographers which do not make mention of this city Trogus Pompeius writeth that it was built by the Galli Senones Liuy saith that it is the chiefe city of the Cenomanes Pliny in his Epistles of this writeth thus vnto Iunius Mauricus Brixia is that city which constantly retaineth as yet much of that graue modesty and old frugalitie of our auncient Italians It hath beene graced with the title of a Duchie for so I find written in Diaconus his 5. booke of Lombardie in the 36. Chapter But because that none of the late writers that I may say nought of the more ancient haue described this citie more learnedly and eloquently than Pighius in his Hercules Prodicius thou shalt heare him speake in his owne termes Brescia which is seated at the foot of the mountaines may contend with most of the cities of Italie for antiquitie and statelinesse of buildings Iulius Caesar Scaliger a famous Poet of our age hath thus described it in this Epigramme Thou Brixia great which proudly ouerlook'st the boornes and lowlie plaine by due desert now iustlie mayst the soueraigne Empire claime Thy healthfull seat thy pleasant fertile soile thy people wise and nation stout If ciuill discord had not crosst long since had brought about That where long time thou hast beene thrall and stoop'st to others lore Thou mightest haue lorded ouer those to whom thou serud'st before For this Citie by reason of ciuill discord and dissention being subdued vnder the yoke of the French and their next neighbours the Insubres or the Millaners hath endured much miserie yet now at length vnder the peaceable gouernment of the Venetians it is growen very wealthy a great market well furnished with all things necessary very populous and inhabited of a wise and discreet nation The shire is very fertile of oile wine corne and most excellent fruites of all sorts It hath also some rich veines of Mettalls but especially of Iron and Copper whereof ariseth to this citie great gaine and commodity Liuie and other good authors report That Brescia was built by the Galli Cenomanes about the time of the Romane kings which afterward the Romanes hauing subdued all that part of the countrey of the Gaules which lieth beyond the riuer Po reduced vnder their iurisdiction It is apparant out of Liuie how firme it sometimes stood with the Romans especially in those most dangerous warres between them and Hanniball Some would haue it to haue beene made a Colonie present after the end of the League-warre when as Cneius Pompeius Strabo the father of Pompey the great planted colonies in Verona and other cities beyond the riuer Po. Not long after by the fauour of C. Caesar it together with other cities there about obtained the freedome of the city of Rome and after that it is woonderfull how it flourished vnder the Roman Emperours so long as the greatnesse of that Empire stood vnshaken This diuers monuments of Antiquitie which as yet remaine in this city and in the liberties of the same as namely many goodly inscriptions of marble statues pillars and Epitaphes of famous men do constantly auerre by which the former greatnesse of this city may easily be gathered Thus farre Pighius Baptista Nazario wrote a seuerall Treatise of this city in the which he setteth downe all the inscriptions of the auncient monuments of this country Helias Capriolus hath comprized the whole historie of this citie in 12. bookes Gaudentius Merula in his tract of the originall and antiquitie of the Cisalpines speaketh somewhat of it as also Chrysostomus Zanchus writing of the originall of the Orobij and Cenomanes likewise Leander Albertus and lately Andrete Paccius in his sixth booke of the Wines of Italie There is in this prouince a towne called Quintianum 20. miles south-eastward from Brescia neere to the riuer Ollio of the which Iohn Planer a citizen of the same wrote a small Treatise who in an Epistle of his to Paullus
this is one That once in a moneth they obserue one day in the which all meeting in a Church after a collation made by their filthie and wicked Superintendent at night the Candles being put out without any choice or regard they fall like bruite beastes vnto their beastly Venerie This we haue taken out of Leander where thou maist read if thou pleasest many other such like things Dominicus Niger also hath written of this Country Paradine in his description of Sauoy writeth That the Dukedome of Piemont doth conteine in it beside goodly Cities great and populous which are in number fiue more then fiftie Townes well fortified and beautifull and also two hundred Borrowes walled and fenced with Fortresses and Castles And that it hath Earles Marquesses Barones and other sorts of Nobilitie all subiect to the Duke of Sauoy Thou seest also in this Chart the description of Montferrate which at this day is vnder the dominion of the Dukes of Mantua of the which Blondus thus writeth At the riuer Taner the famous Countie of Montferrate beginneth whose boundes are the riuer Po on this side and the Mount Appennine on that side the riuer Taner from his fountaine vnto his mouth where it falleth into Po and on his vpper side the hilles next to Moncalerio where Piemont beginneth The prouince of Montferrate is almost wholly subiect vnto the Marchions the most noble house of Italie descended from the Constantinopolitane Emperours which haue held that tract these 150. yeares Thus farre Blondus Merula also in his sixt booke of his historie of Vicounts hath written something of this Country PEDEMONTANAE VICINORVMQVE REGIONVM AVCTORE IACOBO CASTALDO DESCRIP Cum priuilegio The Liberties of PADVA THe territories of Padua which is a part of the Marquesate of Treuiso in old time was more large now it is conteined within these bounds On his South side runneth the riuer Athesis now called Ladessa on the North coasteth the little riuer Muson vpon the East lieth the gulfe of Venice vpon the West are Montes Euganei and the prouince of Vincenza Whereupon this verse was engrauen in the ancient seale of the City Muso mons Athesis mare certos dant mihi fines The Mose the Hilles Ladessa and the sea enclose me round It is in compasse 180. miles In it are 347. villages and hamlets Vnto the court-leet of Padua now do belong these seuen goodly townes Montiniano Castro Baldo Atheste Monselesse Pieue di Sacho Campo S. Piero and Citadella As also these six villages Miran Oriaco Titulo and Liuiano Arquado famous for great Petrarchaes tombe Consyluio and Anguillaria There are also in this territorie the mountaines called Euganei famoused by the poets neere vnto which is Abano a village seated vpon the Spring Abano oft mentioned by Claudian and Martiall Also Cassiodorus in his Epistles writeth that Theodoricus K. of the Gothes gaue order for the repairing of them The fertilitie of the soile of this prouince of the liberties of Padua is such that of those things which necessarily are required to the sustenance of mans life it yearely transporteth vnto the neighbour cities and countries round about great abundance without any dearth or want to the inhabitants Their Wines are very rich hunting fowling and fishing heere are very common It is so well watered with brookes and riuers that to the great gaine and profit of the inhabitants there is no country village aboue fiue miles distant from a riuer This great plenty and abundance of all things they bragge of in this their common prouerbe saying Bononia lagrassa Padua la passa that is Padua for fertilitie doth surpasse rich Bononia Thus farre of the shire now something of the city whereof that tooke his name It is seated in a flatte euery way crossed with pleasant riuers The city is very strong enclosed with a broad deepe water ditch with high and thicke walles and is very populous It hath a goodly large common without the citie wherein the enemie that will besiege it shall not find a place to shrowd himselfe A Session-house the Yeeld hall we call it most stately and sumptuous all couered ouer with lead An vniuersitie most famous of all Europe begunne as they report by Charles the Great finished by Fredericke the eleuenth in the yeare of our Lord 1222. and fortie yeares after that confirmed by Vrbane the fourth Bishop of Rome There is in this citie an Orchard which they call the Physicians Garden in forme round and verie large planted with all maner of strange herbs vsuall in Physicke for the instruction of yong students in the knowledge of Herbs and Plants a singular and worthy worke Clothing is the chiefe trade of the Citizens a matter of 600000. pounds returne yearely and more This we haue taken out of Bernardino Scardeonio who hath written a whole volume of the situation liberties antiquities famous men and things worthy of note of this city he that is desirous to see more of this let him read him and if he please to him he may adioine Leander his description of Italie Of the fennie places described vpon the sea-coast thou maist read Cassiodore his twelfth booke Variar Dedicated vnto the Admirall and Masters of the Nauie Of the Liberties of TREVISO BLONDVS in his description of Italie making The Marquesate of Treuiso the tenth prouince of Italie in it placeth these famous cities Feltre Belluno Ceneda Padua Vicenza and Verona the head of which he maketh Treuiso whereof the whole prouince tooke his name The goodly riuer Sile which for clearenesse and swiftnesse of his waters is inferiour vnto none passeth by this citie running Eastward about ten miles from the same is nauigable and falleth into the Adriaticke sea Many little brookes runne through the towne which is compassed with a strong wall and is very populous it is beautified with many stately buildings both Churches and priuate houses The country adioining to Treuiso is most pleasant and rich yeelding all maner of things necessarie to the vse of man and beast For in it is a very large plaine yeelding not onely great store of all sorts of graine and excellent wines but also it hath many goodly pastures feeding abundance of cattell Neither are his mountaines altogether craggie and barren But his lower hilles are set with vines oliues and other fruit-trees and affoord plenty of Deere pastime for the hunter In this country are many faire Townes For on the East and North sides of the same are Opitergium now Oderzo as I thinke Coreglanum or Conegliano both vpon the riuer Mottegan Serraualle Motta Porto Buffole and Sacile these three last are situate vpon the riuer Liuenza To these are to be added the Countie of S. Saluador Colalto S. Paulo Cordignan Roca di val di Marino Cesarea Cesana I take it and Mel. On the West and South are Bassianum Bassan Asolo Castrum fratrum Castelfranco Nouale and Mestre Moreouer in it are diuers End-waies villages and hamlets But hee that desireth to vnderstand more of the
Turke draue from hence Therefore it is now inhabited by Turks and Iewes SANTORINI of the ancients called by the name of Therasia This Iland riseth by little and little euen from the shore vnto the middest vntill it become an high mountaine vpon whose toppe is placed the castle Scaro The people for the most part liue by fishing This also as the other is vnder the command of the great Turke SCIO the old writers called it Chios is all full of trees and mountaines it is watered with many small brooks Vinum aruisium they now call it Maluasia was from hence first transported into Candia This iland only breedeth the Mastiche-tree whose gumme from hence is conueied all Christendome ouer Andronicus Palaeologus the Emperour of Constantinople gaue it to the Genowaies who possessed it vntill the yeare 1465. when as Soliman by a wile gatte it from them The women of this I le are commended aboue all other for fauour and beauty Of this you may read in Laonicus his tenth booke RHODVS still retaineth the ancient name It hath a city of the same name very strong and defensible with a very large and capacious hauen It is the more famous for the Colossus of the sunne a statue or image seuentie cubites high which being broken off at the knees by an earth-quake was ouerthrown fell to the ground Certaine Egyptians as Domi. Niger reporteth in the time of Constance the Emperour passing the sea from Alexandria to Rhodus amongst other things ouerthrew this Colossus brake it in pieces and with the brasse did lade away 900. camels It was giuen by Emanuel Emp. of Constantinople vnto the knights of Ierusalem which for a long time and often did valiantly defend it against the furious assaults of the Turks vntill in the yeare 1522. when as Solyman besieging it round by sea and land they were forced to yeeld it vp and to flie into the ile Melita Of these see more in Theodoricus Adamaeus STALAMINE this the Gretians in old time called Lemnos Of it read that which we shall write in the description of Cyprus MILO former ages long since called it Melos In it is a mine of Siluer where also is found the Sardoine a pretious stone METELLINO old writers called it Lesbot It hath a city of the same name shaken and ruined by an earth-quake They are vnder the gouernment of the Turke as the other yet they retaine their old language and religion CERIGO in old time they called it Cythera SCARPANTO the ancients named it Carpathus or as Homer writeth it Crapathus whereupon the sea about this place was called Mare Carpathium It is situate almost in the mid-way between Candia and Rhodus It is in compasse forty or as others affirme fifty miles Eustathius in his commentaries vpon Homer saith that it is craggy and euery where mountainous and full of hils and was called Porphyris in old time of the great abundance of Purples a kind of fish whereof commeth the purple colour found in this sea and Tetrapolis of the foure cities in this iland From this iland sprong that prouerbe Carpathius leporem as the same Eustathius deliuereth out of Iulius Pollux It is spoken of those which do so do a thing that afterward being done they do repent them of it Because these Ilanders first brought in hares into this country and within a little while after when they perceiued how they eat and spoiled their corne they destroied them againe It hath many Hauens but those very narrow shallow and dangerous The inhabitants do speake the Greeke tongue and professe the Religion of the Greeke Church but are subiect to the iurisdiction and gouernment of the Signiory of Venice You may read more of these ilands in Bordonius and Porcacchius which in the Italian tongue haue written peculiar treatises of Ilands CANDIA INSULA ARCHIPELAGI INSVLARVM ALIQVOT DESCRIP METELLINO CERIGO SCARPANTO NICSIA SANTORINI MILO STALIMENE NEGROPONTE RODVS SCIO CYPRVS CYprus doth iustly challenge his place amongst the greater Ilands of the Mediterran sea The forme of the Iland is much longer than it is broad The Metropolitan or chiefe city is Nicosia Famagosta also is a most goodly city the Mart-towne of the whole I le and very rich in regard of the commodious hauen and great customes and toles there paid It is inferiour to no Iland that I know for it yeeldeth plenty of wine and oile it hath also sufficient corne to find it selfe Moreouer it hath had some veines of Brasse or Copper in which veines there was also found Vitrioll and Rubigo aeris the rust of brasse simples of soueraigne vertue in the practise of Physicke In it doth grow in great plenty the sweet cane canna mellis out of which they do boile Sugar It affoordeth an excellent kind of strong wine as good as that of Candy which they call Malmesey There is a kind of stuffe made there of goates haire which now we call Chamelett the Italians Zambelloto This Iland sendeth ouer diuers commodities into other countries whereof they yearely raise great profit and gaines it doth not much stand in need of any forrein commodities or merchandise The aire is not very wholesome nor healthfull The people generally do giue themselues to pleasures sports and voluptuousnesse the women are very wanton and of light behauiour The fruitfulnesse of it is so great that in old time they called it Macaria that is The Blessed Iland and the lasciuiousnesse of the nation such that vulgarly it was supposed to haue beene dedicated to Venus the Goddesse of loue It is 427. miles about and 200. long as Bordonius hath recorded The Venetians do hold it by right of inheritance and is vnder them gouerned by a Lieutenant or Praetor Diodorus Siculus in his 16. booke saith that in this iland were nine goodly cities which had their seuerall petie Kings by whom they were gouerned all notwithstanding subiect to the King of Persia Inferiour townes also were commanded by their proper Kings But that the fertility of this I le may better appeare I thinke it good to set downe that commendation of Ammianus Marcellinus which he hath left behind him of it Cyprus saith he is so fertile and aboundeth with such variety of all things that without the help of any forrein commodities only of themselues it is able to build a ship from the keel to the toppe saile and send it to the sea ridged and furnished with all things necessary whatsoeuer Sextus Rufus also hath these words of it Cyprus famous for wealth and great riches tempted the poore and needy Romanes to inuade it so that we held the possession of that iland iniustly and rather for gaine then for any right we had vnto it But this ô Rufus is not as they say mercenary commendation of the Roman valour Amongst the ancient writers Strabo Mela and other Geographers haue described this Iland Of the latter Benedictus Bordonius in his treatise of Ilands Vadianus Pius the second Pope of Rome Domin Niger
aboue 4000. furlongs and where it is narrowest it is 1300. furlongs broad The Prussians Lithuanians and Russians dwell round about it the rest the Liuonian Gulfe doth bound Liuonia conteineth the CVRONES ESTHENI and LETTI nations different both in maners and language In the cities and townes they vse the Saxon or German tongue The country is full of wood plaine and champion without hils or mountaines for the most part lying lay and vnhusbanded notwithstanding that the soile is good and fertile For if you shall except wine and oile and some few other such things which nature yeeldeth to some countries that are situate in a more temperate climate for these only are brought in hither vnto them other things more necessary for the maintenance of mans life are heere found in such great plenty that they do liberally communicate them to strangers and forreiners They haue great plenty of Fish and Deere Munster affirmeth that the Hares in this country do in euery season of the yeare change their colour for in the winter they are white and in the summer they are gray From hence wax hony ashes stone-pitch pix arida liquid pitch the Dutch call it Ther we Tarre and that kind of corne which the Latines call Secale the Germanes Rogghe and we Rie is yearely brought vnto vs in great abundance It hath certaine cities very large and finely built of them the chiefest is RIGA a colonie of the Germanes of the Bishopricke of Breme commodiously seated vpon the riuer Duin It is a goodly Mart towne and the Metropolitane of the whole prouince RIVALIA they vulgarly call it Reuel the Russians Roliua built by Waldemare king of Denmarke famous for his goodly hauen vpon a bay of the Balticke or East-sea This for traffique is not lesse frequented or populous then Riga DORPATVM Derpt neere neighbour to the Russians which call it Iuriongorod The riuer Becke runneth by the walles of this city very commodious for traffique with the Russians This riuer is caried in one channell into the sea which running violently with a great fall from steep rocks worketh the same effect to the people neere adioining as Lewenclay saith that the cataracts or fals of the riuer Nilus did to the Aegyptians which in continuance of time by little and little grow to be deaffish and thicke of hearing Besides these cities there are certaine lesser townes fortified with goodly strong castles VENDA Wenden the more honourable for that heere the Grand-captaine or Master of the order keepeth his court It is situate in the middest of the country Then VELINVM Welum Parnaw vpon the sea Wolmer Veseburgum I thinke they call it Yseborg Wittestein Narua and others Willichius and Cureus do thinke that the Efflui and Limouij did sometime dwell in these quarters Of the forme of gouernment and ordering of their common-wealth which is at the prescript of the knights of the order of the Holy Crosse read Iohn Aubane Munster Lewenclay Gaguine in his Sarmatia and Herberstein out of whom we haue culled these particulars But Crantzius also in his sixth booke of Wandalia is to be read with Oderbornes second booke of the life of Basilidis and Dauid Chytraus his Chronicle of Saxony who hath written of the same with greater diligence than the rest POMERANIA or POMERLAND PEtrus Artopoeus Pomeranus in Munsters Cosmography thus describeth this country his natiue soile POMOERANIA saith he situate vpon the Balticke sea of the first inhabitants in their natiue language that is in the Wandall tongue is called PAMORZI It is still possessed of the first in-borne inhabitants gouerned by their proper Princes and was neuer subdued or made subiect to any forrein iurisdiction It is in all places very fertile well watered with riuers brookes lakes creekes and in-lets from the sea it hath many good hauens rich pastures and good corne grounds it hath great plenty of apples cattell deere fishes foule corne butter cheese hony wax and such like commodities it hath many rich mountaines populous cities townes castels and villages there is no void place or wast ground in it but those which lakes or mountaines do possesse Before Christianity was entertained here they spake the Wandall language and followed their fashions and maner of life vntill such time as they were subdued vnder the command of the Roman Emperours for then together with Religion they began to vse the Saxon tongue which to this day they retaine Thus farre Artopoeus Pomerye in the Wandalian language which is the same with the Slauonian tongue signifieth nothing els as Herberstein affirmeth but neere the sea or a marine coast The banke or sea-wall of this country is so strongly fortified by nature with such a strong rampart that heere is no feare of the sea breaking in to ouerflow them The more famous cities vpon this coast besides some other situate further within the land are Stetin Newgard Stargard c. STETIN sometime was but a small village inhabited by a few poore fishermen but after that Christianity was planted heere about Wineta vtterly destroied and the mart was remoued hither it begun presently so to flourish that now it is become the Metropolitan of the whole country It is most pleasantly seated vpon the banke of the riuer Oder from the which it ariseth by little and little higher vpon the side of an hill It is enclosed with a strong wall and deep trench GRYPSVVALD is a towne in the Dukedome of Wolgast which others do call the Dukedome of Barth this towne being long together much afflicted with ciuill warres was much hindered and impaired but in the yeare 1456. by erecting and placing of an Vniuersity there it began againe by little and little to lift vp the head IVLINVM a towne sometime not inferiour vnto the goodly cities of Europe whether you respect the wealth of the citizens or stately buildings of the same This was sometime a famous mart towne of the Wandalls Such a multitude of merchants did flocke hither from Russia Saxony Laussnitz Meisen and all parts of Wandal-land in such troopes that in all Europe except Constantinople there was scarce such a mart to be found but it was so shaken by the violent warres of the Danes that at last it was almost wholly brought to nothing such is the mutability of vnconstant fortune alwaies delighted in change Now they call it Wollin STRALSVND vpon the sea shore It hath had sometime his proper prince viz. the Duke of Barth It is a city very populous and greatly frequented by Merchants WINETA this sometime was also a city of good reckoning peraduenture it is now called Archon or Iulinum Wollin For the cities of Wandal-land according to the diuersity of languages of sundry nations had their diuers names That which the Wandalls called Stargard the Saxons named Aldenburg and the Danes Bannesia as Crantzius affirmeth But I thinke it good to set down the description of this country which the singular learned man M. Peter Edling sent me from Colberg in this
ac proprio idiomate vtuntur Haec saxa hoīm iumentorúm camelorúm pecorumque caeterarumque rerū formas referentia Horda populi gregis pascentis armētaque fuit Que stupenda quadam metamorphosi repente in saxa riguit priori forma nulla in parte diminúta Euenit hoc prodigium annis circiter 300. retro elapsis Cum priuilegio TARTARIA OR THE EMPIRE OF THE MIGHTIE CHAM HE that will take vpon him to describe TARTARIA he must needes speake of a great number of nations farre asunder and remote one from another For all that huge tract and portion of the Maine land is now called Tartaria that is between the East sea or as he calleth it Mare Mangicum the sea of Mangi or of Sin a country all the World ouer and vulgarly knowen by the name of China and the South countries Sin or China that part of India which is beyond Ganges the country of the Saci the riuer Iaxartes now they call it Chesel the Caspian sea Mar delle Zabacche Maeotis palus it was called of the ancient writers and Westward vp as high almost as the Moscouites For all these countries well neere the Tartars did possesse and in these places they were seated So that it comprehendeth that country which the old Historiographers called Sarmatia of Asia both the Scythiaes and Seria the country where the Seres dwelt which now I take to be named Cataio The name of this Nation was neuer heard of in Europe before the yeare after Christs incarnation 1212. They are diuided in stead of shires into Hordaes that is as the word amongst them doth signifie into companies or couents But as they do inhabite large and wide countries farre distant and remote one from another so in manners and kind of life they are as farre different They are well limmed men broad and fatte faced scowling countenanced and hollow eied shauen all but their beards which they neuer cut low they are strong and of able bodies and do eat horse flesh and other beasts howsoeuer they come to their deaths only hogges excepted from which they wholly abstaine they can more easily endure hunger and thirst than other men a little sleepe doth serue them moreouer when they ride if they be very hungry and thirsty they vse to pricke the veines of their horses vpon which they ride and by drinking of their bloud to slacke their hunger and thirst And because they roue vp and downe and haue no certaine place of abode they guide their course and iourney by the stars especially by the obseruation of the North pole starre which they in their language call as Sigismund Herberstein testifieth Seles nicol that is the iron clubbe naile or sterne They stay not long in one place taking it to be a signe of ill fortune to dwell long vpon one plotte They obserue no maner of iustice or law The people especially the poorer sort are very rauenous and couetous alwaies gaping after other mens goods They haue no maner of vse either of gold or siluer In this country thou seest TANGVT a prouince from whence all the Rheubarbe that is spent and vsed in all the world is brought vnto vs and other places Heere also is the country CATAIA whose chiefe city is Cambalu which as Nicolaus de Comitibus writeth is eighteen Italian miles about or as M. Paulus Venetus thirty two It is of a square forme in ech of whose corners there are castles built foure miles in compasse where continually the Emperours garrisons are kept But Quinzai a city of the prouince Mangi which is from hence Eastward vpon the Eastern sea is thought to be farre bigger than this For this as the same M. Paulus Venetus affirmeth who dwelt there about the yeare after the birth of Christ 1260. is in compasse an hundred miles The same is also auouched by Odericus of Friuli de foro Iulio who nameth it Cansay It is situate in a lake of fresh water There are in it 1260. bridges whereof many are of such great height that shippes full laden may go vnder them and neuer strike saile Heere the Great Cham hath a standing garrison of 12000. trained souldiers continually resident It is a wonderfull stately and pleasant city whereupon it obtained that name for Quinzai they interpret The city of Heauen The Tartars call their Emperour Cham which signifieth the same that Princeps a Prince hereupon Cambalu is interpreted The seate or city of the Prince Sigismundus of Herberstein writeth that the Tartars do call themselues Besermanni The Tartars together with their manner and course of life are most liuely described by Sigismund of Herberstein and Martine Broniouius as also in the Historicall Glasse or Mirour of histories writen by Vincentius Beluacensis in the 30. 31. and 32. bookes of the same See also the commentaries of Hungary written by Antonio Bonfinio M. Paulus Venetus who it is certaine liued long there amongst them and the Iournall or Trauells of Iosapha Barbarus a Venetian Of their originall read Matthias of Michou Haiton the Armenian Caelius secundus Curio his Saracen history and the letters of Iacobo Nauarcho a Iesuite Of the Tartars there be many things worth the reading in the trauells of two Friars which about the yeare 1247. were sent into these quarters by Pope Gregory the fourth in the thirtieth chapter of Nicephorus his eigteenth booke Laonicus also hath many things in diuers places of his workes of the Tartars vnder the name of the Scythians the like hath Gregoras another Greeke writer Lastly Dauid Chytraeus in his Saxon chronicle hath written much of this nation But no man hath more fully and amply set out the maners and life of the Tartars then William Rubricius a Friar of the order of S. Francis a copy of whose trauells into these parts in the yeare of Christ 1253. I haue by me in written hand TARTARIAE SIVE MAGNI CHAMI REGNI tÿpus Continet haec tabula oēm Tartariam cum reliqua Asiae Orientalioris vsque Oceanū Eoum parte Magno Chamo obediente Cuius imperium Obij fl Kataia lacu Volga fl Mari Caspio Chesel flu Vssonte monte Thebet regione Caromoram fluuio Oceano terminatur Cum Priuilegio CHINA BErnardinus Scalantus hath in the Spanish tongue set out a peculiar description of this country in a seuerall tract out of whom we haue gathered these few lines This huge kingdome of China the inhabitants do call TAME and themselues TANGIS but of the bordering nations it is named CHINA and is that Tein or Sin which Auicenna so many hundred times mentioneth and commendeth for rare simples and plants of soueraigne vse in Physicke and is the same no doubt with SINAE or Sinarum regio a country for rich commodities much talked of amongst all ancient Cosmographers This country on the East bordereth vpon the East sea vulgarly called Mare Cin the sea of China on the South vpon the prouince Cauchinchina on the West it is bounded by Bramas on the North
high tower and my deliuerer my protectour in whom I haue put my trust is he that subdueth my people that is vnder me Glory be to the Father and to the Sonne c. Saue thy seruant o Lord God which putteth his trust in thee Be thou o Lord vnto him a tower of strength from the face of his enemie Lord heare our praier The Lord be with you c. Let vs pray O holy Lord father almighty who only dost gouerne and rightly disposest all things who hast by thy gratious prouidence granted to man in this world the vse of the sword to represse the malice and audacious lewdnesse of the wicked and to maintaine right and equity and wouldest that the order of knighthood should be instituted for the safegard and protection of thy people who also causest it to be proclaimed by Saint Iohn Baptist to the soulders which came vnto him into the wildernesse that they should smite no man but be content with their owne wages we do humbly beseech thy gratious goodnesse that as thou gauest to thy seruant Dauid power to ouercome Goliath and madest Iudas Marcabeus to triumph ouer those fierce nations which called not vpon thy name so also to this thy seruant N. who lately hath submitted his necke to the yoke of knighthood grant for thy mercies sake power strength to defend faith and iustice giue vnto him the encrease of faith hope and charity and in him order all things aright that pertaine to thy feare and loue of thy holy name to true humility perseuerance obedience and patience that he may hurt no man wrongfully with this sword or any other that he may with it defend all things that are iust and right and like as he now is promoted from a low and mean degree vnto this new and honourable estate of knighthood so he putting off the old man with all his affections may put on the new man that he may feare and reuerence thee aright as he ought to do may shunne the company of the wicked miscreant Infidels and may extend his charity vnto his neighbour be truely obedient in all things to him to whom he is subiect and do his duty vprightly in all things that he shall be emploied in by Christ our Lord Amen The forme of the oth which they must take before they may be admitted to take this holy order of knighthood vpon them thou maist see in the Orientall iournall written by Leonard Rauwolph in the Dutch tongue TERRA SANCTA A Petro Laicstain perlus trata et ab eius ore et schedis à Christiano Schrot in tabulam redacta NATOLIA sometime called ASIA The Lesser PEtrus Bellonius in those learned obseruations which he made and set forth of his trauels saith that this part of Asia called of the ancients Asia minor Little Asia is at this day named of the Turkes NATOLIA or Anatolia of the Greeke word Anatale which signifieth the East vnder which name they comprehend all that part of Asia that is beyond Propontis Mar di Marmora it is now vulgarly called and Hellespontus or Stretto di Gall poli the streits of Gallipoli as at this day they terme it that is to witte all Phrygia Galatia Bithynia Pontus Lydia Caria Paphlagonia Lycia Magnesia Cappadocia and Comagena The miserable estate and condition of which countries the maner of life and customes which the people there do now at this day vse if any man be desirous to know let him repaire to the said authour who was himselfe an eie-witnesse of the same and he shal be I doubt not satisfied to the full Let him also looke ouer the description of the East countries Orientalem Cosmographiam done by Andrew Theuet the Orientall obseruations of Nicolas Nicolai and Peter Gill his Bosphorus or description of Constantinople and the places neere about that city Laonicus Chalcocondylas writeth that of all the prouinces of Asia Minor Paphlagonia doth yeeld a mine of Copper or Brasse and that the King of this country Ismaël he calleth him doth yearely raise a custome or reuenue of 10000. rose-nobles Stater the Greeks call this kind of gold coine Yet it seemeth that he meaneth not generally all Asia when as he addeth this afterward That this copper is thought to be the best in goodnesse next that of Iberia for Iberia is a prouince of Asia bordering vpon the Caspian sea But peraduenture this may be true of that Asia which is called Asia Minor of which Paphlagonia is a portion Theodoricus Adamaeus of Suallemberg hath described the Rhodes an iland which lieth not farre from the coast of Asia Minor AEGYPT VPon the West this country is enclosed with the deserts of Barca Lybia and Numidia vpon the East with the deserts which lie between Nilus and the Red-sea on the North it hath the midland-sea on the South it is confined with the territories of the city Bugia Thus it is bounded according to the iudgement of Iohannes Leo Africanus who doth diuide it into three prouinces Assahid or Alsahid which lieth between Bugia and Alcairo Errifia from Alcairo to Rossetto and Bechria between Pelusium and Tenessa In Haithon the Armenian we read that it was sometime diuided into fiue shires namely Sa yt Demesor Alexandrina Resnit and Damiata That which Haithon calleth Sa yt and Leo Assahid Tyrius nameth Serch except the copy be corrupt and faulty The same authour maketh mention of another shire of Egypt which the Egyptians do call in their language Phium Haithon doth make the country of Egypt to be fifteen daies iourney in length a manuscript copy which beareth the title of Antonius Curchinus not of Haithonus Armenus hath corruptly and falsly as I thinke fiue and twenty daies iourney for fifteen daies iourney and three daies iourney ouer To this computation Gulielmus Tyrius doth seeme to consent who saith that betweene Phacusa and Alexandria cities of the lower Egypt are somewhat more than an hundred Italian miles The vpper Egypt is scarsely seuen or eight miles broad in some places it is so straitely beset and enclosed with mountaines and hils that it is not aboue foure or fiue miles ouer Leo saith that from the Mediterran sea vnto Bugia it is 450. miles long the breadth of it especially in the vpper part is almost nothing to speake of That Nilus the riuer which runneth through the middest of it and watereth all the country doth empty it selfe into the Midland sea only by foure mouthes against the opinion of all ancient writers Gulielmus Tyrius doth teach vs who is a man worthy to be beleeued in this case for he was both an eie-witnesse and a most diligent searcher out of the truth of the same I haue a Mappe which I thinke was made by the pen in Egypt which mentions so many neither doth it point out more that are worth the speaking of Haithon writeth that in this whole country there is beside Alexandria and Cairo neuer a strong city or any that is fortified with
Vniuersall Mappe PRESBITERI IOHANNIS SIVE ABISSINORVM IMPERII DESCRIPTIO Titulus Insignia Presbiteri Iois DAVID SVPREMVS MEORVM REGNORVM A DEO VNICE DILECTVS COLVMNA FIDEI ORTVS EX STIRPE IVDA FILIVS DAVID FILIVS SALOMONIS FILIVS COLVMNAE SIONIS FILIVS EX SEMINE IACOB FILIVS MANVS MARIAE FILIVS NAHV SECVNDVÌ„ CARNEM FILIVS SANCTORVM PETRI ET PAVLI SECVNDVM GRATIAM IMPERATOR SVPERIORIS ET MAIORIS AETHIOPIAE ET AMPLISSIMORVM REGNORVM IVRISDICTIONVM ET TERRARVM REX GOAE CAFFATES FATIGAR ANGOTAE BARV BALIGVANZAE ADEAE VANGVAE GOIAMAE VBI NILI FONTES AMARAE BAGVAMEDRI AMBEAE VANGVCI TIGREMAHON SABAIM PATRIAE REGINAE SABAE BARNAGASSI ET DOMINVS VSQVE IN NVBIAM QVAE IN AEGYPTVM EXTENDITVR BARBARY and BILEDVLGERID THe later writers which haue diuided Africa into foure parts do name this Barbary for the chiefe and they do thus bound it On the East toward the rising of the sun it hath the deserts of Marmarica at this day they call it Barcha euen as farre as that part of the mount Atlas which now is vulgarly called Meies which part peraduenture was described by Strabo vnder the name Aspis This mountaine which runneth all along by the side of it from the East vnto the West euen to the maine sea which of it is called Mare Atlanticum the Atlanticke sea doth bound it vpon the South On the West it abutteth vpon the said Atlanticke sea On the North coast the Mediterran sea doth beat therefore all that whole tract of Africa which formerly conteined both the Mauritanies Africa properly so called and Cyrene is generally by one name called BARBARIA all which tract as Suidas witnesseth was vnder the command of King Masmissa This now is held for the best and most famous part of all Africa and is diuided into foure kingdomes or if you like that terme better foure prouinces namely Marroccho Fesse Telesine and Tunete The people generally of this whole country are of a brownish or tawny complexion They which dwell in cities are very ingenious in Architecture and such like Mathematicall inuentions which a man may easily gather by their rare and artificiall workmanship shewed in their buildings They are if we may beleeue Iohn Leo Africanus most singular honest men without any deceit or couen not only making a shew of simplicity and true dealing outwardly and in word but also approouing the same by their actions to be so indeed and in hart They are very stout and strong men but especially those which dwell in the hils and mountaines There is no Nation vnder Heauen that is more zealous so that they had rather die than to put vp any wrong or disgrace offered by their wiues They are very couetous of wealth and as ambitiously giuen to seeke after honour and preferment and therefore they trade and traffique almost into all quarters of the World They which dwell in tents that is such as follow grasing and do liue by cattell are very kind men courageous patient curtuous good housekeepers and as great louers of vprightnesse as any men in the whole world elsewhere But seeing the state of the world is such that there is no man altogether blessed none but haue their faults these also are not without their vices for the citizens which before we spake of are exceeding haughty and proud hasty and fumish so that the least iniury or indignity that may be offered they do as the common saying is engraue in marble they will neuer forget it The country or vplandish people are so clownish and of such rude behauiour and that so deepely imprinted in their mindes that they will hardly be wonne to acquaint themselues with any stranger he shall hardly euer winne their fauour They are so plaine and simply minded that they are easily drawne to beleeue things told them although almost incredible Of naturall Philosophy they are so ignorant that they hold all things done by the naturall force and operations of Nature to be wholy supernaturall They are so hasty and cholericke that one shall hardly in the day time walke the streets but he shall see two or three either quarrelling or together by the eares They neuer speake but hastily aloud and as if they would eat one another Thus farre of the quality and behauiour of the people now it remaineth that we should speake somewhat of the nature of the soile and country That part of the country which is toward the Mediterran sea is full of hils and mountaines From these mountaines euen vnto famous Atlas it is plaine and champion yet heere and there rising with knols and hils Heere are very many goodly springes and therefore it is well watered with diuers pleasant brookes and riuers It yeeldeth great store of Dates and Pomegranates it is not very fertile for corne and graine but of figges and oliues with such like fruites it affoordeth yearely great plenty Mount ATLAS verie cold and barren on all sides full of woods and couered ouer with snow breedeth almost all the riuers of Africke Yet the cold heere is neuer so great and sharp that one need to desire to come to the fire to warme him The later end of Autumne all the Winter and a great part of the Spring haue many boisterous and bitter stormes of wind and haile and oftentimes they are in these places much vexed and affrighted with terrible thundrings and lightning in some places they haue great and deep snowes c. But Iohannes Leo Africanus hath described these countries and people very curiously and at large who will satisfie thee at the full to whom it thou pleasest thou maiest adioine what Ludouicus Marmolius and Fazellus in the first chapter of the sixth booke of the latter decade of his history of Sicily haue written of this prouince Caelius Augustinus Curio hath set out the description of the kingdome of Marocho in a seuerall treatise to him he that pleaseth may adioine Diego de Turribus who in the Spanish tongue hath written a booke of the Originall and Succession of the Xariffes BARBARIAE ET BILEDVLGERID NOVA DESCRIPTIO Cum Priuilegio The kingdomes of FESSE and MAROCCHO THat part of Africa which of old was called MAVRITANIA TINGITANA at this day comprehendeth the kingdomes of Fesse and Maroccho which heere we present vnto thy view in this Mappe Of the which MAROCCHO taketh the name of Maroccho they call it Marox the Spaniards Marwechos the chiefe and metropolitane citie of the same The territories round about this city and generally the soile and fields of the whole kingdome as Iohn Leo Africanus writeth are most pleasant and fertile euery where bespread with heards of cattell flockes of sheep and diuers sorts of deere and wild beasts in all places are green and goodly pastures most plentifully yeelding whatsoeuer is necessary for the maintenance of mans life whatsoeuer may recreate the senses by pleasant smels or please the eies with delightsome shewes The whole kingdome is almost nothing else but one large champion not much vnlike Lombardy
length being released for a long time preacheth the Gospell in Rome and other places of Italy v. 31.32 Some there are that thinke that after his enlargement he went also into Spaine and France and planted the Gospell amongst those Nations Lastly he was againe apprehended by Nero and at Rome put to death by him in the last yeare of his raigne which was the 70. yeare after the birth of Christ The PEREGRINATION of ABRAHAM the Patriarke ABraham the first Patriarke whom Iesus the sonne of Syrach chapter 44. v. 19. calleth a Great man and Admirable for glory and honour the sonne of Thare was borne as Iosephus writeth in the 292. yeare after the vniuersall floud in V R a city of the Chaldees otherwise called Camarine as Eusebius witnesseth it may be it is the same that Ptolemey calleth Vrchoa He goeth forth of his country and natiue soile at the commandement of God when he was as Suidas teacheth but foureteen yeares old into CHARRAN which S. Stephen in that oration which he made to the Iewes Act. 7.2 3.4 as also Achior in the story of Iudith chapter 5. v. 7. in his speech to Holofernes and likewise the 72. interpretours do expound to be Mesopotamia Iosephus taketh it for a city That this place was Carrae famous for the great ouerthrow heere giuen to the Romane forces led by Crassus against the Parthians although there be some which are of that opinion yet I dare not wholly yeeld vnto them only I leaue it to the learned to determine Hauing staid a while in this country of Mesopotamia his father being dead there as the same Suidas reporteth from thence he goeth with Sarai his wife Lot his brothers sonne and all his family and the soules or liuing creatures that he had gotten in Charran toward the land of Chanaan Gen. 12.5 And if you will beleeue Nicolaus Damascenus in Iosephus he dwelt sometime neere Damasco where in his daies he saith there was to be seen a street which they vulgarly called Abrahams house When he came from thence into SICHEM at the plaine of MOREH a place which diuers interpreters diuersly interpret some the Oke Moreh others the Oke-groue of Moreh Zozomene writeth that in his time it was called Terebinthus the Terebinth or Turpentine tree Gen. 12.6 God appeared vnto him and promised to giue to him and to his seed that land for an inheritance for euer therefore in this place he built an altar to the Lord which heere appeared vnto him v. 7. From thence remouing vnto a mountaine Eastward from Bethel he pitched his tent hauing Bethel on the Westside and Haai on the East and there also he built an altar vnto the Lord and calleth vpon the name of the Lord v. 8. thence he remooueth and goeth on toward the South v. 9. But a great famine arising in that land and euerie day growing still more grieuous than other he goeth downe into EGYPT to soiourne there v. 10. And comming thither with his wife a very faire and beautifull woman v. 11. whom he called by the name of his sister v. 13. Pharao the king of Aegypt fell in loue with her and tooke her into his house v. 15. and for her sake intreated Abram extraordinarily well and bestowed great gifts vpon him v. 16. who also was there as Iosephus affirmeth for his eloquence wisedome and great experience in all things had in great estimation amongst the Aegyptians But when the Lord punished Pharao and all his family with many great and greeuous plagues for Sara Abrams wiues sake v. 17. he debated the matter with him and examined him what his reason was to giue out speech that she was his sister and that he had not told him that she was his wife v. 18. and so he restored her to her husband againe v. 19. and gaue commandement that he his wife and all that he had should be conueighed out of the land v. 20. Therefore Abram goeth vp backe againe to Bethel chapter 13.3 into that place where formerly he had built an altar and there he called vpon the name of the Lord v. 4. After this returne Abram and Loth who had alwaies accompanied him grew exceeding wealthy and rich in sheep cattell tents and familie v. 5. that the land could not conteine them both neither might they dwell together v. 6. Besides that their heard-men sheep-heards and seruants could not agree v. 7. Therefore they consent to diuide the land between them v. 9. Loth he chose the plaine of Iordane a champion country well watered euery where with that goodly riuer diuers smaller brookes lakes wels and poolles a tract of ground for pleasantnesse and fertility like vnto Paradise and Aegypt In this place then stood Sodome Gomorrha and those other cities which as yet the Lord had not destroied v. 10. In these cities Loth dwelt euen vp as high as Sodome but Abram he abode still in the land of Chanaan v. 12. Thus they being parted the Lord appeared vnto Abram and shewed him all the country round about Northward and Southward Eastward and Westward as farre as he could see v. 14. all which he promised to giue to him and to his seed for euer v. 15. From thence he remoued and came to dwell in the plaine of Mambre The Septuagint interpretours haue translated it The oke of Mambre quercum Mambre Iosephus hath the Oke Ogyn Euagrius writeth that in his time the place was called Terebinthus the Turpentine tree of the Turpentine tree as I suppose that stood six furlongs off as we read in Iosephus and which Eusebius Pamphilus saith stood still in that place euen in his time This place was not farre from HEBRON or as some write it Chebron v. 18. Heere Abram hearing of the newes of Lots captiuity with his whole familie and goods and substance whatsoeuer taken by the kings of the Nations when they sacked and spoiled Sodom for Lot dwelled at Sodome chapter 14.11.12 he armed 308. slaues or bond-seruants bred and borne in his owne house and with all possible speed maketh out after the enemy v. 14. following them euen as high as DAN and CHOBA Saint Hierome calleth it Hoba and Iosephus Soba v. 15. rescueth his nephew recouereth all his goods and booty that they had taken and bringeth them backe againe with the women and all the people v. 16. Being come home from the slaughter of Chodorlaomer and the rest of the kings which were with him at the VALLEY OF SAVE the Kings dale as Saint Hierome doth call it or the Kings field as Iosephus nameth it the King of Sodome meeteth him v. 17. together with Melchisedech King and Priest of Salem or Ierusalem who bringing forth bread and wine entertained him most kindly v. 18. blessing him and wishing all good fortunes vnto him v. 19. to whom Abram gaue tith of all that he had v. 20. These things being thus performed God appeareth vnto him againe chapter 15.1 and promiseth him an heire of his owne seed v. 4.
they turned their faces toward the right-hand when they did their seruice to their gods Of this matter Plinie in the second chapter of his eight and twentieth booke writeth thus In worshipping of the gods wee offer to kisse the right hand and withall we wind and sway about the whole body which the Gauls did hold to be more religious if it were done toward the left hand To these they did offer in their sacrifices men and other things but especially vnto Mars as Caesar testifieth who thus writeth of them To him namely to Mars when they haue fought any battell for the most part they do bequeath those things that they haue wonne in the field those beasts and liuing creatures that they conquere and take they kill and offer them for sacrifice all other things whatsoeuer they bring into one place In diuers cities in certaine holy and consecrated places you may see great heapes of these things and you shall hardly euer find any man so backward in religion or so vngodly that either will hide and conceale such things as he hath gotten in the field or that will dare to take away ought that hath beene once consecrated and laid vp in those sacred and religious places and if so be that any man be either so prophane or hardly that dareth take ought away he is to bee punished by their lawes with most cruell tortures Diodorus Siculus reporteth the very like of them They doe keepe in the chappels and temples of their gods saith he great store of gold which hath from time to time beene offered to them lying scattering heere and therein euery corner and yet no one man for his life such is their great superstition dareth bee so bold as to touch one piece of it But Caesar goeth on forward in the same discourse They saith he which are sicke or much diseased and such as are in any great danger or are to follow the warres for their sacrifices do either kill and offer other men or else doe vow hauing obtained their purpose to sacrifice themselues and in these their ceremonies they doe vse the aduise direction and assistance of the Druides And this they doe for this reason namely for that they doe verily beleeue that for the life of man preserued the immortall gods can no way be satisfied and pleased but with the life and bloud of man And therdfore for that purpose they haue certaine sacrifices appointed to be publickly solemnized and done Others haue certaine images of an huge and mighty bignesse whose limmes and parts of the body being made of osiers wreathen and roddled one within another they fill full of liue men these images being set on fire the men within them are smoothered and at length with them burnt and vtterly consumed to ashes The death and punishment of such as are apprehended for murther or fellony or any other odious crime they thinke to be much more pleasing to the gods than the death and sacrifice of other men but when there do want a sufficient number of such wicked men to furnish this tragedy then honest guiltlesse men must be forced to play a part and to vndergoe that punishment that they neuer deserued Thus farre Caesar The same almost but much different in words Strabo doth write of them Some saith hee in their diuine ceremonies they shoot through with arrowes or else doe hang them vp by the neckes till they be dead and then making an huge colossus or stacke of hay and sticking vpright a long pole in the midst of it they burne altogether sheepe and all kind of beasts and cattell yea and reasonable creatures men and women Item Diodorus Siculus writeth of this matter thus Condemned men which they keepe for the space of fiue yeares together continually bound to a stake at length together with other goods and cattels they sacrifice and burne in an huge bonne-fire Minutius Felix also doth testifie that to their god Mercurie they did vse to sacrifice men Tertullian in Apologetico saith that Maior aetas Mercurio prosecatur The ancienter sort are hewed in pieces and sacrificed to Mercury So that it had beene much better for the Gauls as Plutarch in his booke of Superstition writeth that they had neuer had any maner of knowledge of the gods at all then to haue beleeued that they might no otherwise be pleased and satisfied then with the liues and bloud of mortall men and to thinke that this is the best and only solemne sacrifice and oblation that euer was vsed by any Solinus also plainly affirmeth that this kind of sacrifice and detestable custome was no maner of worship and seruice pleasing to the gods but rather a great iniurie and wrong done to religion much offending them This custome of killing of men was not vsed only when they offered sacrifices to their gods but euen in their diuinations and sorceries For they tooke those men that were appointed for the sacrifice or ceremonies and striking them vpon the backe by the panting of their bodies they did gesse and diuine of the euent of that action intended as Strabo doth witnesse of them When they do deliberate or consult of any great matter they do obserue saith Diodorus a woonderfull and strange kind of custome and ceremonious superstition For going about to kill and sacrifice a man they strike him vpon the midriffe with a sword But without the aduice and presence of one of their Druides they may not offer any maner of sacrifice at all And although that these butcherings and massacres of men were forbidden by Tiberius Caesar as Pliny testifieth yet Eusebius in his fourth booke de Praepar Euang. doth greatly lament that they were still practised in his time who liued as all men know in the daies of Constantine the Great It is recorded by Pliny that these people did vse in their sorceries coniurations and answering to demands in maner of prophesying the hearb verueine And thus much of the three Galliaes in generall Of which thou maist reade many other things in Caesar Liuy Ammianus Strabo Diodorus Polybius and Athenaeus Something also might haue beene said of euery part particularly if so bee that the smalnesse of this sheet had beene capable of so large a discourse as also much might haue beene said of Gallia Narbonensis the fourth part which was a prouince of the Romanes much differing from the other three in nature of soile temperature of the aire and quality of the inhabitants and people which was as Pomponius Mela writeth better manured inhabited and more fertile and therefore was also a farre more pleasant and goodly countrie than any of the rest But of this we haue spoken in another place apart by it sesfe Behold the inscription which we spake of before and promised to acquaint thee withall DIS MANIBVS Q. CAESIVS Q. F. CLAVD ATTILIANVS SACERDOS DEANAE ARDVINNAE FECIT SIBI ET SVIS HAERED IN FR. P. XII IN AGR. P. XV. IIII. ID OCTOB IMP. CAES. FLAVIO DOMITIANO VIII
people Paeones a common errour among the Grecian historians which Dion in his nine and fortieth booke did first discouer For of the Romans and of themselues they are called Pannonij The Paeones are a nation diuers from these lying betweene mount Rhodope and the marine coasts of Macedonia Ptolemey Strabo Dion Aurelius Victor and ancient inscriptions do diuide Pannony into the HIGHER and LOVVER Liber Notitiarum The booke of Remembrances into the FIRST and SECOND Optatus Afer maketh three Pannonies but vntruely seeing that those aboue named approoued authours doe describe but two and the coine of the Emperour Decius this countriman borne doth mention no more Solinus writeth that this country is very plaine and champion and as rich and fertile a soile as any other thereabout Appian saith that it is full of woods and that it hath no cities nor townes only the lands and fields are diuided vnto certaine farmes and families In Hygenus I reade that a price and custome was imposed vpon these lands according to the fertility and goodnesse of euery aker for there were fields of the first and second price woods yeelding yearely great plentie of maste woods of the meanest sort of feed and pastorage c. But Iornandes certaine ages after reporteth otherwise of this his natiue country and affirmeth it to be beautified with many goodly cities The people doe liue and fare as hardly as any people vnder heauen hauing neither good ground nor good aire nor hauing of their owne growing either oile or wine but very little and bad neither doe they regard to plant and set these commodities the greatest part of the yeare being there very colde and bitter nothing else almost but a continuall vnkinde Winter Dion writeth that they haue some Barley and Millet Strabo saith Spelt Zea and Millet of which they make their bread and drinke and withall affirmeth that he writeth not this by heare-say or relation from others but of his owne experience and knowledge as he learned and saw at such time as he was Lieutenant there Yet he saith they are a most stout and hardy people but hauing nothing woorthy the name of honesty and ciuility being generally very hasty and bloudy minded killing and slaying without any respect or feare of God or man and that vpon euery crosse word and light occasion Solinus auoucheth the same to be true saying that this country is very strong and well furnished with couragious and stout men Tibullus in his fourth booke saith that they are a wily and crafty people Statius and Paterculus called them Feroces fierce and cruell But the same author doth againe asmuch commend them not only for their great loue of military discipline but for their skill and knowledge of the Latine tongue and for that diuers of them are learned and studious of the liberall sciences Ausonius nameth them Armiferos a warlike people Eusebius in his tenth booke de Praeparat Euangelica giueth out that these people especially those that dwelt about Noricum Bauaria or Bayern did first finde out the vse of copper or brasse Herodian saith that they are bigge bodied very tall ready to fight and to kill and slay vpon euery occasion but of so dull a conceit and simple that they doe not easily perceiue whether one deale or speake ought craftily and subtilly or meane well and plainly The Panegyricke of Mamertinus nameth this Pannony the Empresse of all nations for valour and like as Italy renowmed for ancient honour Pliny saith that this countrey yeeldeth great plenty of mast or akornes The same authour also in his historie of Nature hath left recorded as if it were a matter of some moment that heere the herbe saliunca a kinde of lauender doth naturally grow of it owne accord Oppian commendeth the Pannonian dogges which Nemesianus in this verse affirmeth to be good hunters Nec tibi Pannonicae stirpis temnatur origo The hounds heere bred are not the woorst that ere I see The Pannonian cappes made of beasts skinnes or furres such as souldiours vse to weare Vegetius in his booke of warre doth highly commend This country afterward Probus the Emperour permitted to haue vines and by the helpe of the souldiers himselfe did plant them in mount Almus Arpatarro neere Sermium Sirmisch the place where he was borne as also vpon mount Aureus Meczek in Moesia superior Seruia as Sextus Aurelius Victor in his life doth testifie In Paeonia a prouince heere abbuttant vpon mount Rhodope toward Macedony in Greece the soile is rich and fertile of golde that many men haue found lumps of golde-ore of more then a pound weight And in the confines of this country Aristotle in his Admiranda doth write that oftentimes the earth or vpper soard being by continuall showers washed away that kinde of golde which they call apyrum quicke-golde if I may so call it such as haue not touched the fire is found without digging or any other labour But heere againe I doe also obserue an error very frequent amongst the Greeke writers mistaking Paeonia for Pannonia For Pannonia or Hungary euen to this day is so rich of golde that it is wonderfull and scarse to be beleeued of such as haue not seene it as Bonfinius Broderith and Ranzan doe iointly affirme who do all write that they haue seene very many golden twigges of vines some as long as ones finger others of halfe a foote long but of the richnesse of Paeonia for mines of golde I haue neuer heard nor read in any authour to my remembrance Diogenes Laertius in the life of Pyrrhus Eliensis hath noted that the Paeones doe vse to cast the bodies of dead men into pondes or deepe pooles Maximus Tyrius in his eight and thirtieth oration writeth that the Paeones did worship the Sunne and that the signe or idoll of the same which they adored was a little dish put vpon the end of along pole and set vpright But whether this be meant of them or of the Pannones for that this authour is a Grecian I know not I leaue it to the consideration of the learned The like is that place of Aelianus in the twelfth chapter of his seuenth booke de Animalibus where he writeth a discourse of the laborious painfulnesse of the women of this countrey well worth the reading and obseruation Tzetzes also in the three hundred and eighteenth chapter of his tenth Chiliade nameth the Paeones for the Pannones where he hath something perteining to this our purpose Antigonus in his booke de Mirabilibus writeth that in Illyria and Pannonia is that kinde of beast which they call Monychos Aelianus termeth it Monops Others Bonasus Diaconus in the eighth chapter of his second booke of the historie of Lombardie writeth that Pannonia breedeth great plenty of Buffes or Bugles Bisontes and that he heard of an honest old man that fifteene men haue beene knowen to lie together vpon one buffe hide noting thereby the huge greatnesse of this beast And thus much of both those
Entribae Erasinij Gondrae quae et Cyndrae et Rondaei Hypselitae Ligyrij Maduateni Mypsaei Podargi Priantoe Pyrogeri Sabi Satro centae Scaeboae Sindonaei Trisplae MONTES Cissene Dunax Edonus Ganos Gigemorus Libethrius Melamphyllon Meritus Mimas Nerisum Pindus Zilmissus FLVVII Aristibus Cebrinus Cius Cyndon Edon Zorta VICI Aliphera Asae SINVS Bennicus NEMVS Abroleua FONS Inna CAMPVS Areos pagos Plura erant his addenda uti quoque in ipsa tabula referenda ex Zonara Cedreno Nicephoro ceterisque Byzantinae historiae graecis scriptorib at quia hos inter veteres non numero consulto omisi Cum Imp. et Belgico privilegio decennali 1585. round vntill they die In this countrie is the riuer Cochryna of whose water if any sheepe do drinke they bring foorth none but blacke lambes Between Byzantium Constantinople and the Chersonesus there is an hill which they call The holy mount neere to which the sea oftentimes carieth vpon the top of his waters a kinde of slimy substance called of the Latines Bitumen In Agria a shire of this country the riuer Pontus carieth downe in his channell certaine stones much like vnto coales which being kindled and water cast vpon them they burne the better but being blowne with bellowes they go quite out There is no manner of vermine or venemous creatures that can abide the smell of this kinde of siring Amongst the Cinchropsoses there is a fountaine of whose water whosoeuer shall drinke they die immediately In Botiaea there groweth a stone which by the heat or reuerberation of the Sunne beames kindleth and casteth foorth sparks and flames of fire Plutarch writeth that there is a spring not farre from the hill Pangaeus of whose waters if one fill one and the same vessell and then weight it he shall finde it to be twise so heauy in the winter as it was in the summer Plutarch whom Tzetzes calleth The yonger another nameth him Parthenicus reporteth certaine things of the herbe Cythara the stones Pansilypus and Philadelphi found in the riuers Ebrus and Strymon which because they are more like to fables than true stories I do in this place willingly omit To reckon vp heere the seuerall Nations Mountaines Riuers or Cities of this country I thinke it nothing necessary because they are at one view better to be seene in the Mappe it selfe Yet of the city Byzantium now Constantinople for that it is sooft mentioned in ancient histories to say nothing at all for that we do in some sort hold it an iniury I thinke it not amisse to write these few lines following of the description of it The first founder of BYZANTIVM which was also in times past called LYGOS was as Trogus and Eustathius do thinke one Pausanias a Captaine of the Spartanes and that as Cassiodorus writeth at such time as Numa Pompilius was king of the Romanes It was so called of Byzantes the sonne of Ceroessas a captaine of the Megareans whom Eustathius affirmeth to haue beene the vprightest and most iust man that euer the earth did beare This city is situate vpon an high cliffe at the narrowest place of Bosphorus Thracius the frith or streights of Constantinople in a very fertile soile and vpon a fruitfull and commodious sea fertili solo foecundo salo as Tacitus writeth In respect of which situation being strongly fortified by nature it is thought to be almost inuincible Whereupon Trebellius Pollio calleth it claustrum Ponticum The blocke-house of Pontus Orosius termeth it Principem gentium the soueraigne of all Nations Sextus Rufus Arcem secundam Romani orbis The second bulwarke or fortresse of the Romane Empire Procopius Arcem Europae Asiae obicem ponentem The Castle of Europe and barre against Asia Themistocles Euphrada Magnificentiae officinam The shop of all manner of brauery and courtlike fashions and Ouid he calleth it Vastam gemini maris ianuam The huge gate of the two seas to wit Propontis Mar di marmora and Pontus Euxinus Mar maiore For the rampart and wals of it which Pausanias and both the Dions so highly commend were so strong that the Athenians vsed in former times as the same Eustathius writeth to cary all their goods and treasure thither and there to bestow it holding it to be a place impregnable and not to be surprized by any enemy whatsoeuer Of the great felicity of this city you may read many things worth the obseruation in diuerse ancient writers especially in Polybius Herodian Xiphiline Dion Prusens and Themistocles Euphrada in his sixth oration who deemeth the citizens thereof to be most happie men both for the goodly riuer which passeth by it temperature of the aire fertility of the soile wherein it standeth capacious hauen and creeke of the sea gorgeous church and stately wals of the same Heerupon grew that daintinesse luxury drunkennesse and wantonnesse of these people which vices of theirs are noted by Athenaeus in the tenth booke of his Deipnosophiston and Aelianus in the foureteenth chapter of the third booke of his varia historia This city fortune often frowning vpon it was sometimes possessed of the Spartans or Lacedemonians after that it was vnder the command of the Athenians Then shaking off their yoke it began by a little and a little to chalenge vnto it selfe a kinde of soueraignty and freedome from any forren iurisdiction which it held for a while vntill Vespasian the Romane Emperour subdued it and reduced it vnto the forme of a prouince While it thus stoode vnder the command of the Romanes it was by Septimius Seuerus who held on Nigers side assaulted battered raced to the ground and of a goodly flourishing city made a poore and beggerly village and withall was adiudged to belong vnto the Perinthij But Antonius Caracalla Seuerus his sonne restored them to their ancient liberties and was called by the name of ANTONIA as Eustathius testifieth Yet for Antonia that I may note this by the way an ancient brasse coine of the Emperour Seuerus which I haue doth teach vs that it ought to be read Antoninia For vpon this peece of money was stamped ΑÎΤΟÎΕΙÎΙΑ ΒΥΖΑÎΤΙΩΠΣΕΒΑΣΤΑ that is Antoninia the Emperiall city of the Bizantini But after this it was againe wasted by Gallienus the Emperour and all the citizens and garrison souldiers thereof slaine and put to the sword Yet for feare least the Scythians Getes and other barbarous nations might breake in to the Romane territories on that side it was againe reedified repaired and fortified by the same Emperour But Constantine worthily in deed and name surnamed the Great did yet farre more strongly fortifie it and adorne it with the most goodly temple of Santa Sophia and moreouer gracing it with many stately ornaments and curious workes of Architecture which he caused to be brought out of Asia Africa Europe yea and from Rome it selfe and after his owne name by proclamation caused it to be intituled and called by the name of CONSTANTINOPOLIS that is Constantines city Item he tooke it from the
Strabo out of Homer reporteth who otherwise saith which Plato iustifieth that it had only fourescore and tenne Yet I in this my mappe out of the writers in both languages haue gathered an hundred seuerall names of cities and more many of which for that I knew not their situation and place I haue set apart by themselues as certaine other places heere mentioned by some authours Amongst the greater iles of the midland sea this as Eustathius testifieth possesseth the fourth place In Strabo Diodorus Heraclides in his Commonwealth and Athenaeus in his Deipnosophiston beside other you may read many things of this iland SARDINIA Now SARDEGNA OF those seuen ilands of the Midlandsea more famous and memorable than the rest for their greatnesse some there are as Eustathius writeth which make this the third They which describe countries by their formes and proportions do liken this to the print of a mans foot whereupon it was sometime named ICHNVSA and SANDALIOTIS of the Greekes it was called of Sardon Hercules his sonne SARDON of the Latines SARDINIA This by the testimonie of Pausanias in his Phocica may be compared to those iles which either for greatnesse or goodnesse of soile are most highlie commended Polybius saith That for greatnesse multitude of men and all manner of excellent fruites it beareth the bell from other ilands in this sea AElianus calleth it The best nurce for cattell Strabo maketh it The best soile for corne whereupon Florus termeth it Annonae pignus a pawne for all maner of prouision Prudentius writeth That a nauie which should bring ouer into Italy the store of graine in Sardinia would burst all the barnes of Rome Saluianus nameth this iland Vitalem vrbis Romae venam the vitall artery or veine wherein the life bloud of the citie of Rome doth consist Sidonius in Panegyrico Maiorani saith that it is very fertile of siluer It is an iland verie rich and fertile of siluer as Pomponius writeth Item hee writeth that the soile is much better than the aire and as it is verie fruitfull so is it for the most part pestilent and vnwholesome the which Strabo also confirmeth where he saith That in sommer time it is verie dangerous for sickenesses especially in those places where it is most fertile To these discommodities the hearb Sardonia also may be adioined which as Dioscorides in the foureteenth chapter of his sixth booke writeth that if it be eaten troubleth the braine taketh away a mans memorie maketh him yawne and so to die as if he laughed There is also the Solifuga as Pliny calleth it or Solipungia as Festus a little creature much like to the Spider vpon which whosoeuer shall chance to sit he lightlie shal be dangerouslie hurt The Musmo a beast like to a ramme which Pliny saith is proper to Corsica Strabo attributeth to this I le to whom also AElianus in the foure and thirtith chapter of his sixteenth booke De Animalibus doth seeme to giue his voice Suidas saith that heere are bred the best and finest purples Nonnius Marcellus by the authority of Varro in his booke De genere vestimentorum commendeth the Sardinian tapestrie except there be a fault in the copie and for Sardineae it should be written Sardianis of Sardis the citie of Asia which I do rather thinke to be true and more probable for of the Sardian tapestrie we maie read in Athenaeus and others Claudianus in the later end of his treatise De bello Gildonico doth most finely describe Calaris Calari or Caglire the chiefe city of the same Strabo maketh the depth of the sea heere to be M. elles Other things proper to this ile you maie see in Pausanias Solinus Eustathius Claudian and others This iland of Iustinian in his Code is reckoned amongst the iles of Africa CORSICA THis iland the Grecians called CYRNVS the Latines CORSICA of Corsa a certaine woman so named as Eustathius thinketh or rather of the toppes of the craggie mountaines as Dionysius hath written For as Strabo saith it is rough and very vneuen in many places not passable nor scarce habitable There is no iland Dionysius saith more woodie That it is full of tall trees very fit for ship timber Theophrastus in his fifth booke of the History of Plants teacheth that the Romanes out of those woods heeretofore at one time cut downe such wonderfull store of timber that of it they made a flote that was driuen with 50. sailes Some do thinke that it was called of Ouid Therapne The Scholiast of Callimachus saith that in his time it was named TYROS Beleeue him that list Pliny out of Diodorus writeth That it is very full of Box and that the Hony heere is bitter Item that it hath abundance of Foxes Conies and wild fowle but as for Oxen Goates Woolues Hares and Stags it breedeth not any at all as Polybius in his 12. booke witnesseth Procopius in his 3. booke of the warres of the Gothes saith CRETA Iouis magni medio iacet insula ponto Ex conatibus geographicis Abrahami Ortelij Incertae positionis locorum nomina LOCA Adrasus Athrona Corium Hippocoronium Onychium Pergamia Tripolus POPVLI Ceretae Drÿitae Lÿcij Orij FLVVII Amnisus Oaxes Tethrÿnes Triton MONTES Asterusia Arbius Carine Lasion Othrÿs Styracium STAGNV̄ Coresium TEMPLV̄ Rocceae Dianae INSVLAE Asticla Naumachos Vrbium Cretae nomina quorum situs ignoratur Albae Arcadia Archidium Asos Aulon Axus Biennus Boeae Cantanus Catrea Caunus Chalcetoriū Clatos Cytinos Dulopolis Drauca Elyrus Etia Glamia Grammium Hierapolis Holopyxos Hydramia Hattia Lasio Istros Lycastos Marathusa Methymna Miletus Mycenae Myrina Nauphra Naxus Oaxus Olus Olyssa Pergamum Phalanna Phalannea Pharoe Proefus fortè Prasum Priesus Pyloros Rhaucos Rhizenia Rhytium Satra quae Eleutherna Sibyrtus Strenos Syia Syrinthos Tegea Therapnae Loca incoḡita positionis Alalia Blesino Carax Enconiae Prosidium Vapanis Incognitae positionis vocabula Sardonica VRBES vel LOCA Agraule Aradis Biora Carbia Caput Tyrsi Celiem Charmis Cochlearia Elephantaria Fan. Carisy Ferraria For. Traiani Gemellae Ad Herculē Longones Lugudonec Media Metalla Molaria Nafa Othoca Porticenses Sarrapos Sorabile Tharpos Turobolis Ad Turres Viniolae Ad Puluinos POPVLI Aconites Balari Pellidi Sossitani Diagebres qui quondam Io laenses fortè ijdem cum Iliensibus that it breedeth Horses but so little that they are not much bigger than sheep Item Apes if one may beleeue him very like vnto a man in shape and proportion Liuy in his 40. booke of his History hath giuen out That there hath been heere such maruellous plenty of Hony that Marcus P narius a Praetor caried out from thence 100000. pounds at once In bignesse of all the iles of the midland sea it chalengeth the third part That the ilanders are more sauage and inhumane than wild beasts and to liue by robbing and cutting of throats we do read in Strabo That they are very long liuers Eustathius sheweth and before him Athenaeus affirmed the same Martianus Capella hath giuen vs notice of 33. cities which
this iland sometime had and the mappe will shew that I out of Latine and Greeke writers haue gathered the names of many more The student of Geography if he please may haue a larger description of this iland in the 5 booke of Diodorus Siculus Seneca also in his Consolation to Albinus and likewise againe in his verses describeth the same The ILANDS of the IONIAN SEA THe Ilands of the Ionian sea of better note are these Corcyra Cephalenia Zacynthus Ithaca Leucadia and Echinades of which seuerally take these few lines CORCYRA now called Corfu the natiue soile of Alcinous as Dionysius saith was called CERCYRA as also long since by diuers other names as PHAEACIA SCHERIA DREPANVM CERAVNIA ARGOS MACRIS and as some thinke CASSIOPE as thou maist see more particularly in our Geographicall Treasury This iland grew to such great strength and power as Eustathius writeth that it subdued many other ilands and cities and brought them vnder their command Item that it was so strong in shipping that it alone in the Persian warre did set out and furnish threescore shippes Yet afterward it was brought to that desolation that of it became this prouerbe Cercyra est libera caca vbi volueris Corfu is emptie now you may vntrusse where you list There is another Corcyra different from this in the Hadriaticke sea named otherwise Melaena CEPHALENIA otherwise called MELAENA SAMOS and TAPHOS as also DVLICHIVM as some men haue written by the testimony of Strabo Eustathius and Tzetzes haue written that it was sometime inhabited of foure sundrie nations namely of the Pronij Samij Palenses and the Cranij to these Liuy addeth the Nesiotae In this iland if one may trust Aelianus the Goates drinke not for the space of six moneths together Looke in the discourse of Zacynthus following In Antigonus we read that a certaine riuer runneth through the middest of it vpon the one side of which there are great store of grasse-hoppers and on the other side not one ZACYNTHVS now Zante and as Erythraeus saith somtime Hierusalem HYRIA it was in old time called and CASSIOPA the poet nameth it Nemorosa woody These ilanders Athenaeus saith are no good souldiers the reason he yeeldeth to be for that they be very wealthy and haue such plenty of all things that they giue themselues to nought else but to their ease and pleasure The Phalangium a kind of spider is heere more dangerous and hurtfull to mankind than in any place of the world beside as AElianus saith So long as the Etesiae East windes which rise ordinarily in the dogge daies blow the Goates stand yawning and gaping with their noses vp into the North and are so satisfied therewith that they looke after no water nor euer care for drinke as Antigonus hath left recorded That in this iland there is a caue commonly called Coeranium Plutarch in his booke of the comparisons of beasts doth affirme It hath a fountaine very full of fish out of which great store of pitch is taken if we may giue credit to Ctesias Item heere F. Desiderius Lignamineus Patauinus writeth that he found this Epitaph of Cicero M. TVLLI CICERO HAVE God be with thee good Cicero which he saith was in the yeare 1544. Adamus Tefellenius Louaniensis in his Iournall a manuscript copy of which M. Hadrian Marselar lent me to read ouer writeth that he in this iland in the yeare of Christ 1550. handled the bones of Cicero and read vpon his tombe this epitaph Ille oratorum princeps gloria linguae Romanae iacet hac cum coniuge Tullius vrna Tullius ille inquam de se qui scripserat olim O fortunatam natam me consule Romam The learned Tully who for fined tongue in Rome had neuer peere With louing wife in clay full low lie both enterred heere That Tully great I meane who of himselfe sometime thus proudlie said Now Rome thou blessed art indeed since I thy scepter swaied ITHACA which was also in old time called NERITIA of Neritus a mountaine if I be not deceiued is now vulgarly of the Italians called Valle di Compare and as Porcaccius saith Teachi of the Turkes as the learned Lewnclawe writeth Phiachi Moreouer in the 10. booke of Straboes Geography I find that there is heere a city called Ithaca which Plutarch in his Greeke Questions nameth Alalcome but Stephanus Alcomenae Athenaeus writeth that it hath many hauens but withall is very mountainous rough and craggie so that it will not easily without great and infinite labour and toile yeeld any small or meane profit vnto the husbandmen as Plutarch telleth vs. In Porphyry out of the writings of Artimedorus I read that this iland from Panormus an hauen of Cephalina lieth Eastward and conteineth in compasse 85. furlongs It is very narrow but high In it is as the same authour with Homer doth witnesse a caue of the Nymphs We read in Antigonius that it breedeth no Hares at all Except it had been the natiue soile and country where Vlysses was borne there had no mention at all of it remained in any recordes of ancient writers LEVCAS or LEVCADIA now S. Maura although Pliny maketh it but a peninsula or demy-ile yet Mela calleth it flatly an iland That it was made an iland and was seuered from the maine continent yet afterward by force and violence of windes ioined to the same againe Strabo doth teach vs. In a very high foreland or promontory of this I le AElianus describeth the temple of Apollo Aelius from whence yearely they were wont to tumble some one or other downe into the sea headlong thereby to appease the wrath and fury of their Gods as Strabo hath left recorded ECHINADES Echidnae Seneca in his Troas and Euripides in Iphegenia in Aulide call them but Stephanus Echinae so named of the great multitude of the Echini Vrchines or Hedge-hogges which do greatly infect this iland Apollodorus calleth them STROPHADES now they are knowen by the name of the Cozzulari they are as Ouid in the 8. booke of his Metamorphosis writeth in number 5. these were also part of the continent as Pausanias in his Arcadia testifieth their forme and fashion is often altered and changed by the ebbing and flowing if I may so speake of the mudde of the riuer Achelous Aspri or Pachicolamo at whose mouth they stand as Strabo would faine perswade vs. Neere these are the Taphiae and Acutae otherwise called Thoae Plutarch in his treatise of the ceassing of oracles telleth a story or fable rather worth the reading of the death of Pan which tell out about these ilands AFRICA PROPRIA AFRICA properly so called AS that part of Asia which is inclosed with Mar Maiore Archipelago Midland sea and the riuer Euphrates is of the Geographers properly called Asia so this part of Africa aboue all other prouinces of the same hath alwayes hitherto beene knowen by the name of AFRICA PROPRIA This also is worth the obseruation that in all ancient stories when Asia or
reedified who sending thither certeine people to inhabit and dwell there made it a Romane colony and this was the first colony of the Romans that euer was transported foorth of Italy It was of Cayus Gracchus called IVNONIA as it is recorded by Appian Solinus and Dion who also addeth that it was afterward by Augustus Caesar againe the second time made a Colony because that when Lepidus had wasted a great part of it and left it destitute and without inhabitants he in maner seemed to haue dissolued the right and priuiledge of the Colony Therefore this city began againe to flourish and vnder the Romane Emperours to be renowmed vnder the name of The second Carthage So that that city which lately was renowmed for seats of armes and martiall prowes was now as Martianus writeth as honourable for worldly felicity and all maner of earthly blessings It tasted also of the beneuolence and bounteous magnificence of the Emperour Hadrian and thereupon it was of him called HADRIANOPOLIS that is Hadrians city as Spartianus hath left recorded Item the Romane Emperour Antoninus Pius did much grace it with many sumptuous and stately buildings as you may reade in Pausanias Lampridius writeth that in respect of the fauourable kindnesse of the Emperour Commodus toward this city it was in like maner of him named ALEXANDRIA COMMODIANA TOGATA But as the state of all things vnder the cope of heauen is vnconstant and variable the same city vnder Gordianus the Emperour was as Herodian testifieth by one Capellianus Lieutenant of Mauritania taken the second time and spoiled about six hundred and foure score yeeres after it first had submitted it selfe to the command and iurisdiction of the Romans In the reigne of Honorius the Emperour it was by treachery the third time taken sacked and vtterly defaced by Genserichus king of the Wandals in the foure hundred and thirty yeere after the incarnation of CHRIST our Sauiour The like it suffered of certeine mutinous souldiers vnder one Salomon a lieutenant of the Maurusij or Barbary as Procopius hath recorded From these it was woon by Belisarius in the yeere of CHRIST fiue hundred thirty eight in the time of Iustinian the Romane Emperour who caused it to be repaired and fortified with a strong wall and deepe ditch who moreouer beautified it with many goodly publike buildings of most curious architecture as Cloisters Galleries the Theodorian Bathes the gorgeous Church of our Lady the chiefe Saint and others which are reckoned vp by the same Procopius After this it continued vnder the Romans vntill the time of Heraclius the Emperour when as it was conquered and surprised by the Persians about the yeere of CHRIST six hundred and sixteene It was taken sacked and spoiled by the Egyptians three score and six yeeres after that as Procopius and others do constantly witnesse Neither was this the last misery of this city for it being spoiled rased almost to the ground layed waste and left dispeopled and void of inhabitants by the Mahumetanes so continued vnto the dayes of one Elmahdi a Bishop who as Iohannes Leo Africanus reporteth gaue it vnto certeine people of that countrey which were in number so few that they did not replenish aboue the twentieth part of it The same authour an eye witnesse of that which he wrote affirmeth that of all this greatnesse and glory beside certeine ruines of the walles and a part of the Conduit there remaineth at thus day not any whit or mention at all This now in these our dayes is the fate and forme of this most goodly city This is that city which as Herodian testifieth in time past for wealth multitude of people and greatnesse of circuit did only yeeld it selfe inferiour to Rome and with Alexandria of Egypt long contended for the second place Item this is it which long since was of that power that it commanded all the sea coast of Africa from Arae Philenorum all along as far as to the Straights of Gibraltar ouer which they passing by ship conquered all Spaine euen vp as high as the Pyreny mountaines So that Appian a graue writer doth deeme the Empire and command of this city of equall value to the power of the far-commanding Greeks or wealth riches of the braue Persian which were an easie matter for one to iustify out of Strabo and Pliny two authours of good credit For this man affirmeth that this city commanded in Africa alone three hundred cities and it selfe conteined seuenty thousand men dayly inhabitants within the walles of the same Item Scipio hauing conquered this city transported from thence vnto Rome foure hundred and seuenty thousand pound weight of siluer Of this city which as long as it stood out and was master of it selfe as Trogus witnesseth was esteemed as a goddesse and in Africa as Saluianus writeth was accounted as another Rome there remaineth now no more but the bare name onely Of the nation of the Africans from whence they came into this country and what they were Procopius in the eleuenth booke of his History of the Wandals hath written somewhat worth the obseruation Of Heauen-walke Via coelestis which we in a word touched before I thinke it not amisse here in this place to speake somewhat more at large In Victor Vticensis these words following are read in all copies that euer I saw Nam hodiè si qua supersunt subinde desolantur sicut in Carthagineo Theatro aedem Memoriae viam quam Caelestis vocitabant funditus deleuerunt For viam I make no question but the authour did write etiam that it might be referred to aedem or templum as Iulius Capitolinus in Pertinax doth call it that is a chapell temple or church Furthermore of this Caelestis dea Heauenly goddesse as Capitolinus in Macrinus and Trebellius Pollio in Celsus tyrannus do call her a goddesse peculiar to Africa there are here and there diuers things to be obserued in diuers authours Aelianus writeth that the Egyptians doe call Venus Vrania that is Heauenly Venus caelestis which is all one is expressed in an ancient piece of coine which I haue of Iulia Soëmia's S. Augustine in his booke De ciuitate Dei doth speake of the Heauenly Virgine Virgo caelestis meaning doubtlesse the Heauenly goddesse but by that epithite I suppose he had a purpose to distinguish her from that other I meane that wanton which Iulius Firmicus calleth Venerem virginem Herodian nameth her Vrania and addeth moreouer that of the Phoenicians she is called Astroarche Alilat Herodotus sayth she was named and affirmeth that it is the Moone S. Hierome in his treatise against Symmachus writeth that the Persians call her Mithra idque pro diuersitate nominis non pro numinis varietate all these different names signifying as S. Ambrose sayth one and the same goddesse Apuleius in the sixth booke of his Golden Asse witnesseth that all the nations of the East countreys do generally call her Zigia There is a notable record of this
the Cup-bearer the Second is the COVNTY PALATINE of Rhein the Sewer the Third is the DVKE OF SAXONY the Sword-bearer the Fourth is the MARQVESSE OF BRANDENBVRG the Lord Great Chamberlaine to the Emperour In the Second ranke doe follow first the Foure Dukes of the Empire to wit the DVKE OF SVVITZERLAND the DVKE OF BRVNSVVICKE the DVKE OF BAYERN and the DVKE OF LOREIN Then vpon the left hand the Foure MARQVESSES videlicet the MARQVISSE OF MEISSEN the MARQVESSE OF MORAVV the MARQVESSE OF BADEN and the MARQVESSE OF BRANDENBVRG In the Third and last ranke do follow the Eight EARLES of the Empire whereof the LANDTGRAVE OF DVRINGEN the LANDGRAVE OF HESSEN the Earles of LVCHTENBVRG and of ALSATIA are Earles Prouinciall the other Foure MEIDENBVRG NVRVBERG RENECK and STOMEBVRG are Earles Marshall or of the field ORDINES SACRI ROMANI IMP AB OTTONE III INSTITVTI Of the FOVNDATION and ORDER of the GERMANE EMPIRE in the West THE SECOND MAPPE OTTO the Fourth or as some haue written OTTO the Third of whom wee haue spoken in the former Mappe vnderstanding that Gregory the Fifth Pope of Rome whom he had not long since promoted to that dignity was driuen out of his Sea and Crescentius a Consul or Alderman of Rome by the Romanes made Emperour passeth the Alpes with a great power furiously assaulteth Italy forceth the Romanes and any other cities that had stood out against him for the aduerse part to set open their gates and to yeeld themselues to his mercy Crescentius when he heard that the enemy was receiued into the city was exceedingly amazed and therefore betaketh himselfe with Pope Iohn the vsurper which he had promoted to that dignity vnto Adrians castle which not long before he had fortified and repaired for their last refuge and succour But being not able to sustaine the batterie and violent assaults which dayly the Emperours souldiers made against him at length yeeldeth the castle and himselfe to Otto who presently commandeth Crescentius the authour of this commotion to haue his eies put out his nose cut off and to be caried on horsebacke round about the towne with his face to the horsetaile This being done his iudgement was to haue his hands and feet to be cut off and at the townes end to be hanged vpon a paire of gallowes where before he was altogether dead the souldiers do pitifully wound and mangle him from top to toe Moreouer Pope Iohn the vsurper being displaced Gregory vpheld and maintained by Otto the Emperours authority climbeth vp againe into the Papall throne from which before he had most iniuriously by Crescentius beene expelled Then Gregory to requite the kindnesse of the Emperour and his Germanes and withall that he might sufficiently reuenge himselfe of the Romanes for the intolerable wrongs that they had done vnto him consulteth with the Emperour about a new law and forme of election of the Emperour to be made by the Princes of Germany that this choice might only and for euer remaine in their power and againe that they should alwaies choose one of their corporation or body as it were vnto that dignity which custome remaineth euen to these our daies duely kept and obserued By vertue of this their choice he is by and by vpon that their election to be called only CAESAR and KING OF THE ROMANES but hauing receiued the Imperiall diademe from the hands of the Pope he was euer after to beare the title of IMPERATOR AVGVSTVS But before these ordinances were published Otto calling together the Princes and States of Germany shewed them how confusedly and disorderly the choice and election of the Emperor had hitherto beene made and how many there haue beene which haue assaied by all meanes possible to preferre their friends and kinsfolke vnto that dignity which thing cannot but in continuance of time breed great dissention and danger to the Christian common-wealth and that it were therefore good that some of the Princes of Germanie were chosen which might haue the whole power and authority of this election and withall admonisheth them that the fewer there were of those Electours so much lesse the contention would be that should arise about the choice Moreouer he endeuoured to perswade them that these Electours might bee appointed and taken out of the Peeres and Officers of the Empire for that they of all other best knew what was good for the body and state of that kingdome and empire All men generally liking of that course and counsell by him proposed the Emperour and the Pope nominated vnto them first Three ecclesiasticall Princes bishops of Germany which they wished might be the Lord Chiefe Chancellours of the Empire to wit The bishop of Mentz for all matters in Germany The bishop of Colen for Italy The bishop of Trier for France To these they adioined Foure Secular Princes which should in all things aid the Emperour attend vpon his person and that should acknowledge him for their Lord and Monarch of the World viz. The Duke of Saxony Sword bearer to his Maiesty signifying that hee is the fountaine of Iustice The Marquesse of Brandenburgh Lord Great Chamberlaine The County Palatine of Rhein Sewer and The K ng of Bohemia Cup-bearer these were to attend vpon the Emperour and to gard his person By these the King of the Romans was chosen the Caesar or he that was next to be Emperour was appointed in their hands the whole right interest and authority of choosing that king resided lest any man heereafter as heeretofore had beene vsuall should challenge this dignity vnto himselfe as due by inheritance from his ancestours Charles the Fourth many yeares after this comprised this instrument or act into a bullion or tablet of gold which to this day is extant wherein hee explaned euery particular more expresly and significantly It is reported that this ordinance was decreed vpon and made in the yeare of Grace 1001 and did much discontent the Frenchmen who tooke it heinously as a great indignity offered vnto them Yet beside these there were then and afterward in succedent ages were made many and sundry other ordinances and decrees in the Romane Empire and diuers other Offices appointed and erected for the state and greater maiesty of the Empire For beside these seuen Electours there were appointed Foure Dukes Foure Marquesses Foure Landtgraues Foure Burggraues Foure Earles Foure Barons Foure Knights of the field Foure Cities Foure Villages and Foure Yeomen or Rusticks all which offices we haue expressed in their true characters in these two mappes appointed for that purpose only Notwithstanding other Emperours following not content with these constitutions and ordinances haue daiely made new Dukes and Earles yea and many that were but Earles before they haue aduanced to the title and honour of Dukes To these forenamed dignities that they might as much as was possible strengthen the state of the Empire they haue adioined certaine other new officers to wit these which follow Foure HIGH MARSHALS as
sted of that they make of barley steeped and sodden a kinde of very strong drinke which will assoone make the tosse-pot drunke as the strongest wine in France Lewis Guicciardine writeth that about halfe a Dutch mile off from this towne there is a Mine or quarry of stone that is very like to mettall of Pliny in the 10. Chapter of the foure and thirtieth booke of his Naturall historie it is called Lapis aerosus Cadmia and lapis calaminaris if I be not deceiued The brasse stone or Copper ore D. Fusch testifieth that it hath also diuerse veines of Lead and Iron A kinde of blacke stone cole like vnto that which we heere call Seacoale of a sulphurous nature a good fuell and much vsed of Farriers and Smithes is in diuers places of the country digged out of the ground in great abundance Moreouer heere are found diuers sorts of stone not much vnlike to Marble or Iasper party coloured very beautiful and good for building This countrey at the first was no more but a County or Earldome vntill that Fredericke surnamed Barbarosso in the yeere of our Lord 1172. graced it with the title and dignity of a Duchie The first Duke that enioied this honor was Henry the First lineally descended from Henry the Fourth that valiant and religious Emperour At length Henry the Second Duke of Limburgh dying without heire male Iohn the First Duke of Brabant about the yeere after Christs incarnation 1293 by right of inheritance claimed the same and by dint of sworde driuing out Reynold Earle of Gelderland the Vsurper obteined it since whose daies it hath beene quietly possessed by the house of Brabant Therefore for iustice in ciuill causes not only Limburg but also Faulconburg Dalem and other liberties and free townes beyond the Mose do come to the courts of Brabant which ordinarily are held at Brussels otherwise for ecclesiasticall iurisdiction they doe belong to the diocesses of that Bishop of Leige But beside this dukedome of Limburgh there are diuers other Iursdictions and Signiories described in this Charte of the which these following are the chiefe whereof it shal not be amisse to speake a word or two Faulconburgh Valckembourg it is called of the Dutch but of the French Fauquemont is a very prety towne which hath iurisdiction and command ouer a large circuite of ground conteining many fine villages It is three great Dutch miles from Aix and but two small miles from Mastricht It was conquered and taken by Iohn the third Duke of Brabant who ouercame Ramot the Lord of Faulconburgh a troublesome man that at that time laid seege to Mastricht and had much and oft vexed the country round about him DALEM is a prety fine towne with a Castle but of no great strength It is three long miles from Aix and two from Liege It was honoured with the title of an Earldome and had iurisdiction and command ouer many villages and a great circuit of ground vp as high as the riuer of Mose Henry the Second Duke of Brabant conquered it and adioined it to his dominions ROIDVCK or as Guicciardin calleth it Rhodele-duc is an ancient little towne with an old Castle about one long Dutch mile as the forenamed authour would haue it from Faulconburg yet this our Mappe maketh it about two AIX or AIX LACHAPELLE if we may beleeue Munster was that which the Latines called Aquisgranum so much spoken of and mentioned in the stories of Charles the Great and others of those times Others would haue it to be that which Ptolemey in the 9 chapter of the second booke of his Geography calleth Veterra and where he saith the thirtieth Legion called Vlpia legio did reside Limprand nameth it Palais de Grau Rheginon Palais de eaux that is the Water palace which in my iudgement seemeth most probable because I find that that city in Prouence in France which the Romans called Aquae Sextiae the Frenchmen do at this day call Aix This city is situate betweene Brabant Limburgh the Duchie of Gulicke and the Bishopricke of Liege Some thinke that it was destroied and laid leuell with the ground by Attila king of the Humes others thinke that it was first founded by Charles the Great But to leaue all these as doubtfull this is certeine that it standeth in a most pleasant plaine and as healthfull and sweet an aire as any may be elswhere found in these parts That faire Church of our Sauiour and the blessed Virgin his mother was built by this Emperour and by him was endowed with great lands priuiledges many holy and precious reliques brought thither from sundry places of the world Beatus Rhenanus writeth that Charles the Great made it the head and chiefe city of the kingdome of France and generally of all the whole Empire the ordinary Court and place of residence for the Emperour in these Westerne parts of the same Moreouer he ordained that heere the Emperour should by the Bishop of Collen Metropolitan of this prouince be crowned with a crown of Iron at Millan with a crowne of Siluer and at Rome with a crowne of Gold Ouer one of the doores of the Towne-house are written these six Latine verses Carolus insignem reddens hanc condidit vrbem Quam libertauit post Romam constituendo Quòd sit trans Alpes hic semper regia sedes Vt caput vrbs cuncta colat hanc Gallia tota Gaudet Aquisgranum prae cunctis munere clarum Quae prius imperij leges nunc laureat almi And ouer another doore these two Hîc sedes regni trans Alpes habeatur Caput omnium ciuitatum prouinciarum Galliae This famous Emperour hauing reigned ouer the Frenchmen 47. yeares and worne the imperiall diadem 14. ended his life in the yeere of our Lord 813. and was heere enterred in a tombe of Marble in our Ladies Church with this plaine epitaph Caroli Magni Christianissimi Romanorum Imperatoris Corpus hoc conditum est sepulchro That is the body of Charles the Great Emperour of the Romans lieth heere interred in this tombe Thus farre Guicciardine to whom I wish thee to repaire if thou desire a larger discourse of these particulars LIMBVRGENSIS DVCATVS TABVLA NOVA EXCVSA SVMPTIBVS IOAN BAPTISTAE VRINTS AEMVLI STVDII GEOGRAPHIAE D. AB ORTELLI P. M. COSMOGRAPHI REGII c. ILLVSTRISSIMO DOCTISSIMOQVE DOMINO D. GASTONI SPINOLAE COMITI BRVACENSI c. ORDINIS EQVESTRIS S. IACOBI PRIMO A STABVLIS ATQVE A CVBICVLIS SERENISSIMI DVCIS BRABANTIAE EIVSDEMQVE IN BELLICIS CONSILIIS ASSESSORI ORDINARIO DVCATVS LIMBVRGENSIS TOTIVSQVE REGIONIS VLTRAMOSANAE GVBERNATORI VIGILANTISSIMO OMNISQVE ERVDITIONIS ASYLO VNICO HANC TABVLAM GEOGRAPHICAM NOVISSIMIS DIMENSIONIBVS A SE AD EXACTISSIMAM REDACTAM PERFECTIONEM AEGIDIVS MARTINI ANTVERPIENSIS IN VTROQVE IVRE LICENTLATVS ET MATHEMATICVS FECIT ET DEDICAVIT ANNO M.DCIII AN EPISTLE OF HVMFREY LHOYD VVRITTEN TO ABRAHAM ORTEL COSMOGRAPHER TO PHILIP the Second King of SPAINE wherein at large and learnedly he discourseth of the
the territorie of Hundsruge together with this present Dukedome of Lorrain retaining as yet the ancient name Lotharingia imposed by Lotharius sonne to Ludouicus Pius vnto whose share it befell lying in the midst between Westrasia or as some vnskilfully call it Noastria which fell to Charles and Austrasia to Lewis Lotharius Brethren This therefore I thinke not amisse more largely to describe not in mine owne wordes but in the wordes of Symphorianus Campeggius sometimes a famous Physition of Lorrain LORRAIN saith he ioineth East vpon Alsatia commonly Elsas South vpon Burgundy West vpon Champaigne North it is bounded vpon the Forest Arduenna This region albeit compassed with loftie Alpes is notwithstanding so fat and fertile as it need no supply from the neighbour-prouinces it abounds with cattell great and small with meadowes corne wine fishpooles high woods healthfull bathes saltpits yron copper lead tinne siluer precious stones looking glasses Calcidons and is watered by sundrie riuers foure whereof are famous aboue the rest Mosa the first of these foure springing out of mount Vogesus of which mountaine a great and a good part of Lorraine is named Le bois and Le forest de Voige and running along by Neufchasteau a towne very commodious both for pleasant situation and wholesome ayer diuideth the duchie of Barre from Lorraine and casteth it selfe into one of the chanels of Rhene before it falleth into the sea Mosella the second beginneth Southeast not far from the towne of Rimeremont wherein is a monastery of Nunnes all gentlewomen endowed with large reuenues About six miles from hence are certaine hot-bathes whereunto resort great multitudes of people to cure themselues of sundrie diseases Then runnes it along with swift streames to the townes of Espinall Charmes Toul which in olde time was called Leuca and Mediomatrices now called Metz not farre from whence it falls into the Rhene at a city of Germany called of olde Confluentia and now Cobolentz Betweene these two riuers neere the towne of Vitell is a double fountaine seuered like a mans nosethrills from whence the small riuer Vena issueth which sometimes is sandy and sometimes miry and for the most part very vnseemely and forlorne the waters whereof are commonly dried vp in Iune except the pooles which the swelling and violent streames haue made so deepe Murtha the third riuer falling from certaine rockes of siluer-mines holdeth on his course through the valley of S. Didier wherein is S. Godeberts fountaine which is generally reported to be medicinable for many diseases The said riuer runnes along by the towne of S. Didier and then by the townes of Raon and Luneuill all which both for naturall situation and for rampiers and walles are places of singular defence Then followes the towne of S. Nicholas generally famous both for abundance of marchandise and multitudes of miracles Lower downe the riuer stands Nancey the principall towne of Lorraine a place for munition and fortification of great importance First it is compassed with two ditches of exceeding depth and a double wall also it hath foure most admirable bulwarks with plenty of warlike engins and artillery Murtha falles into Mosell And Sartha the fourth riuer running along the confines of Westereich a prouince subiect to Lorraine towards the East holdeth on his course by the townes of Sarburg Saralben Sarprucke with others and then falles into Mosell Now whereas Lorraine aboundeth all ouer with speciall commodities many of them we will omit and speake only of the most principall First therefore the mountaines of this prouince doe in all kind of mineralls excell euen the Pyreney mountaines wherein not to speake of the rest there are diuers siluer-mines so abounding with that kinde of mettall as it is incredible what commoditie it yeelds to the whole countrey There are also salt-mines out of which is digged most pure sauorie and snow-white salt which yeeldeth yerely to the Duke all charges deducted 100000. francks Heere is found likewise a kind of matter whereof they make looking glasses and drinking glasses the best by all mens confession in Europe nor is there in any place the like to be had Also Calcidons of so extraordinarie bignesse that I my selfe saw at the Bishops of Toul a great cuppe made of one whole piece Item the Lazul or Azure stone representing most excellent colours A minerall out of which the miners raise exceeding gaine In the valley of Voige are fountaines a matter memorable and not to be omitted so abounding with a kinde of pearles and precious stones as the greater part of Germanie doth vse them which all Lapidaries and Iewellers of other countries do not only approue but also preferre before the stones and pearles of the Indies There is a lake of foureteene miles in compasse stored with carps of huge bignesse for they are generally of three foot long and a foot broad which for pleasantnesse of taste are in mine opinion to be preferred before all other standing-water-carps in Europe The lake is fished with nets euery third yeere the fishing whereof as euery man knowes yeeldeth the Duke of Lorrain 16000. francks Moreouer Lorrain aboundeth with wheat wine cattell of all sorts woods excellent horses which surpasse the Turkish horses in courage the Spanish in swiftnesse and the English in stature In briefe for tall men and beautifull women and all things necessary for mans life it is inferiour to no other countrie Thus farre Symphorianus Francis Roseus very lately wrote a large volume of the pedegree and famous acts of the Dukes of Lorraine And I my selfe in mine Itinerarium or Iournall haue published some things of this Region not vnwoorthie the remembrance Lorraine LOTHARINGIAE NOVA DESCRIPTIO Scala milliariorum Lotharingicorum 1587. Cum Priuilegio decennali The County of BVRGVNDIE THere are two Burgundies the lower called Regia intitled with the name of a Dukedome whilome the countrey of the Aedui and the higher named Imperatoria adorned with the title of a Countie or Earledome commonly called LA FRANCHE COMTE that is to say The free Countie This of old the Sequani inhabited It is represented in this Table The confines hereof to the North are Lorraine and vpper Germany to the South Sauoy and Bresse to the West the lower Burgundie and to the East part of Switzerland It is at this present diuided into three partitions or gouernments The Vpper the Lower and that of Dole The cities of the vpper are GRAY one of the principall of the whole gouernment situate vpon the riuer Araris or Saone rich in sundry kindes of merchandise and brauely built On the one side it is endowed with most large and fruitfull fields VESOVL It hath strong walles beautifull houses and faire vineyards MOMBOSON IVSSEY and PALMA standing vpon the riuer Dubis or Doux PORT-SVR-SAONE vpon the riuer Araris or Saone with CROMARAY MONTGVSTIN and FAVLCOGNEY The cities of the lower Burgundie are SALINS a large citie so named in regard of certaine salt and high fountaines for here is excellent white
salt made which is carried hence in carts to the neighbour countries and yeelds great reuenue to this region SCODINGA situate in a long streight valley extending in length betweene a double ridge of high mountaines which beare vines in such places as are most open to the Sunne it is exceeding strong being fortified with two castles and diuers loftie turrets ARBOIS seated in a most pleasant soile and abounding with all necessaries especially with excellent and durable wine It hath large suburbs on all sides It is enuironed with ditches but such as they make gardens vpon Round about it are mountaines of most beautifull prospect watered with cleare springs and clad with fruitfull vines and sightly woods It is called Arbois ab Arboribus because it is so planted with trees POLIGNY a faire towne fortified with stately walles and towers the castle called Grimonia lying within it and on the one side it hath mountaines of woods and on the other side hilles set with vines the wine whereof is principall good PONTARLIER situate in a low valley betweene two mountaines on the bancke of Dubis Not farre hence stands the strong castle of Iura or Ioux on the top of an exceeding high hill so that for situation it is impregnable NOZEROY founded vpon an open hill in the very nauell or midst of this region All the houses in a maner are built of stone the Prince of the countrey hath here a castle called The Leaden castle because it is couered with lead Here is a Faire kept foure times in the yere In times past this towne before it was walled was named Nucillum of the abundance of hazel-nuts that grew round about it CHASTEL CHALON built and named by the Emperour Charlemaine both pleasantly and strongly situate MONTMOROT vpon a steepe mountaine planted with vines ORGELET abounding with merchandise The inhabitants are industrious and painfull and exercise themselues in clothing Their fields are barren for they are full of hilles and craggie rocks whereupon is grounded a common prouerbe which saith That Orgelet hath fields without grasse riuers without fish and mountaines without woods and groues The cities of Dole are first DOLE it selfe the head citie of the prouince a nurse of all learning and especially of the ciuill law most pleasantly situate vpon the riuer Dubis adorn'd with bridges walles and inuincible forts The houses churches and schooles both for greatnesse and curious building are most delightfull to the beholders QVINGEY a most ancient towne situate vpon the bancke of Louë ORNANS standing also among high mountaines by the riuer Louë LA LOY a most ample village ROCHFORT a pretie litle towne VERCELLES with ruinous and deformed walles In this countie stands BESANÇON a citie Imperiall and Metropolitan of both Burgundies the description whereof because I cannot condignly expresse in this page being exactly performed by Gilbert Cognatus Paradine and George Bruno in his volume of cities I cease here to speake any farther For sith their books are so easie to be had I referre all students to them To these also you may adde Robert Caenalis It were to be wished that Cognatus had not frustrated the hope of students for he promised in a booke to restore and bring to light ancient Burgundie together with a particular Map and the olde and new names of places But we haue hitherto expected him in vaine Howbeit not long since Lewis Gollusius published concerning this Countie in French a great and peculiar volume BVRGVNDIAE COMITATVS Hugo Cusinus sive Cognatus patriam suam sic describebat 1589. Cum Privilegijs Imp. Regis et Brabantiae ad decennium The Dukedome of BVRGVNDIE THat part of France which the Aedui whilome enioyed is now called The Dukedome of Burgundie It is limited North by Champaigne and Gastinois West by Niuernois and Burbonnois South it borders vpon Lionnois and East the riuer Rhosne diuides it from Sauoy and the county of Burgundy The head citie in times past was Augustodunum but now Diuio or Diuionum as Gregory Turonensis in his third booke calles it or as the inhabitants Digion hath gotten the superiority for here the supreme court of Parliament for the whole Dukedome is holden It is seated on the bancke of Oscarus commonly Ousch a riuer abounding with fish in a fertile and plentifull soile the mountaines adiacent yeelding strong and excellent wines as the said Turonensis reporteth who most learnedly describes it Some thinke it was built by the Emperour Aurelian but others affirme it to be much ancienter It is a citie both by arte and nature most strongly fortified against all hostile attempts certaine new forts being lately added Belna commonly Beaulne is the second citie of the Dukedome famous for the wines of Beaulne which all men commend This Citie is fairely built being impregnable in regard of a Castle which Lewis the twelfth erected here It hath an hospitall comparable for building to any Kings Palace Here also is the seat of the high court of Chancery In the territorie adiacent was built by Duke Otho about the yeere of our Lord 1098. the abbey of Cistertium in a woody and clammy soile which some thinke was so called in regard of certaine Cisternes there digged Vnder the iurisdiction of this Monasterie Belleforest reporteth that there are 1800. other Monasteries of Friers and as many of Nunnes Next followes Augustodunum which some though vpon no sufficient grounds of antiquitie suppose to haue beene called Bibracte now Auttun That this citie of ancient times was most large and populous it is euident out of sundry authours and especially out of Caesar Here are yet extant mightie ruines of a Theater of Statues Pillars Water-chanels Pyramides and many other monuments of antiquitie Likewise here are dayly digged vp coines little vessels and other such ancient fragments This citie hath endured two memorable ouerthrowes one by Caesar in his French warres and the other about the time of Galienus the Emperour But it was afterward reedified by Constantine the sonne of Claudius as the Panegyrick of Eumenius calling it Flauiam Heduorum doth testifie And at this very day it is adorned with stately temples and other buildings for publicke vses Then haue you Matiscona Caesaris or Matisconense castrum Antonini where he placeth in garrison the tenth Roman legion It is now called Mascon Of olde it was graced with the title of an Earledome It ioyneth the bancks of Araris by a bridge Here the Lords day of the Christians began first to be hallowed as Paradine reporteth out of the Edict of Guntram The relation of the citie of Mascon Philip Bugnonius hath elegantly and briefly set downe Cabilonum now Chalon vpon the bancke of Araris also anciently called Orbandale as reporteth Peter Sanjulian By Antoninus the foureteenth Roman legion was here put in garrison It was of olde the royall seat of Guntram which notwithstanding afterward Lotharius sonne to Ludouicus Pius so destroyed and abolished with fire as he left no mention at all of a citie yet now it is very