called S. Iohns-toun is the onely towne in Scotland that is walled about Of the wood Caledon whereof Ptolemey and other ancient writers haue recorded There is scarcely any mention to be found onely about the towne of Sterling there remaineth some shew of the name Thus farre of the kingdome of Scotland now it will not be amisse to speake somewhat of the ilands that lie round about the same and do belong vnto that crowne The HEBRIDES commonly called the West-iles both for bignesse and number do excell the rest Hector Boëthus saith that they be in number 43. But heere he reckoneth vp the I le of Man as one of them which is not subiect to the kingdome of Scotland but is vnder the allegeance of the King of England neither do I thinke that it was euer accounted of the ancients among the Hebrides The first of the Hebrides is Aran otherwise called Boëth then Hellaw and Rothes Not farre from these is Alize where are great plenty of Barnacles which they call Soland-geese The greatest of all and the most famous is Ile a fertile soile for corne and rich for veines of mettall Then Cumber and Mule Neere vnto these is Ione memorable for the tombs of Kings long since buried there Next vnto this is Lewis last of all is Hirth situate in the 43. degree of latitude Thus Boethus calleth them But Iohn Maior the Scot nameth them thus Argila Aranea Awyna Butha or Rothsaya and Leuisora In these ilands are those geese which they call Clakes Gyraldus calleth them Bernacles which Boëthus affirmeth to breed of the sea and of rotten wood and not to grow vpon trees as the common sort beleeue and haue published in their writings For if you shall cast saith he a peece of wood into that sea in continuance of time first wormes do breed within the wood which by little and little become to haue heads feet wings at the last being fledge and growen to their full growth to the bignes of a goose they attempt to flie and do somtimes swim and sometimes vse their wings as other Sea-foule do Beyond the Hebrides are the ORCHADES or the Orkeney iles of which the best is Pomona famous for the Bishops-sea a goodly Church and two strong castles One of these Iohn Maior calleth Zeland which is 50. miles in length In these grow no manner of trees nor any wheat and yet otherwise of all other sorts of graine they are very fertile It breedeth no serpent or venimous beast In Scotland they buy the barrell'd butter the inhabitants hauing abundance of Barley whereof they make a most strong kind of drinke and are very great drinkers yet as Boëthus saith you shall neuer see a drunken-man or madde man one bestraught or a naturall foole amongst them The same authour affirmeth the like of the inhabitants of the iles of Scetland but this is no wonder amongst them that drinke nought but water All the wealth and commodities of these Scetland-men consist in Stockfish and hides of beastes In the Hebrides they vse the Irish tongue in the iles of Orkeney they speake the Gottish language M. Iordanus in his mappe of Denmarke saith that the Orchades are subiect to the kingdome of Denmarke yet we know them to belong to Scotland vnder the title of a Dukedome But se what we haue written of this in the discourse to the mappe of Denmarke Of Scotland and of the ilands adioining thou maist read more at large in Hector Boëthus Iohn Maior and Iohn Lisley Scottish-men which haue written the histories of this their country SCOTIAE TABVLA Miliaria Scotica Cum Priuilegio Of ENGLAND THe South part of the Iland of Britaine is as we haue said before diuided into two parts That part which is toward the East abutting vpon the German Ocean is of the Angles a people of the Saxons which seated themselues there in their language called ANGLIA or England that is the Angles land The West part which is seuered from that other by the riuers Seuern and Dee and doth vse the ancient Brittish tongue is of the same Angles or Englishmen called WALLIA or Wales yet the Brittan or Welshman calleth himselfe Cumro and his country Cumria the English Saissons and their country Lhoëgria neither do they know or at least they will not acknowledge what England or an Englishman doth meane So great difference there is betweene the languages of the seuerall nations of this Iland All this South part England I meane and Wales hath their proper king vnto whom many Dukes Marquesses Earles Barons and great Noblemen are subiect and obedient It is a countrie at all times of the yeare most kind and temperate The Aire is thicke and so it is much subiect to windes clowdes and raine and therefore in regard of thicknesse of the aire it is neither opprest with too much heat or too much cold For it is found true by experience that although it be more Northerly than Brabant Flanders and other forrein countries yet heere the winter is neuer so bitter nor the frost so eger as in those parts It hath euerie where many hilles without wood and water which notwithstanding do bring forth very small and short grasse an excellent feed for sheepe and therefore infinite flockes of sheepe do bespread them which either by reason of the kindnesse of the aire or goodnesse of the soile do yeeld most soft wooll farre finer than those of other countries And for that this country breedeth neither woolues nor any rauenous beast you shall see in diuers places flocks of sheepe vpon the hilles and dales greene pastures commons fallowes and corne fields into which after the crop is off euery man by a certaine ancient custome doth put in his cattell in common to wander heere and there without a shepheard This indeed is that Golden fleece in which especially the riches of the inhabitants doth consist for an huge masse of gold and siluer is by Merchants which thither flocke from all quarters for such like wares yearly brought into the Iland and there doth continually rest for that it is by proclamation forbidden that no man may carry any money out of the Realme It aboundeth also with all sorts of cattell except asses mules camels and elephants There is in no place of the world greater and larger dogges nor better The soile is very fatte and fertile and naturally bringeth foorth beside all sorts of corne and pulse all maner of things onely the firre-tree and as Caesar saith the beech tree although that now it hath in diuerse places plenty of beeches The ay-green Bay tree doth in these Northren countries no where thriue better Such abundance of Rosemary heere doth grow in all places and that so high that they oft times do fence their gardens therewith Wine they haue none for the grapes seldome heere do ripen and is amongst them planted rather for shade and pleasure then for his fruit and profit There is in no country in Christendome more
the moneths of May Iune and Iuly and reape within six weeks after Concerning this region reade the booke of Iaques Morguez le moine GVASTECAN THis also is a region of North America and part of New Spaine The inhabitants are poore Along the sea-coasts and the bancks of riuers they liue for the most part of fish but in the inland with Guinie-wheat which they call Maiz. Otherwise they are a people gentle enough The Spaniards haue planted two colonies here the one is called Panuco of the riuer that runneth by it and the other S. Iames of the vallies Not farre from Panuco neere the towne called Tamatao stands an hill with two fountaines vpon it one whereof disgorgeth blacke pitch and the other red which is scalding hot The BRITTISH Iles. THE EMPIRE OF GREAT BRITAIN included within the parallels 49. and 63. and the Meridians or longitudes 9. and 26. bounded vpon the South by France vpon the East by Germany vpon the North West by the Vast Ocean disioined from the rest of the maine land as High Admirall of the seas comprehendeth that Iland which at this day conteineth the kingdomes of England Scotland together with Ireland ouer against it Westward the circumiacent iles the Orchades Hebrides Man Anglesey Wight the Sorlings many others of lesse note and were generally of the old writers with one consent called BRITANNICAE INSVLAE The Brittish Ilands taking their denomination as seemeth from the greatest of them commander of the rest which indeed is properly called BRITANNIA Brittaine So named not of that fained Brutus the bloody parricide as the fabulous historian Geffrey of Monmouth against all reason authority truth of storie hath hitherto made the world beleeue nor of the Welch word Prydain or Prydcain as the learned Britaine Humfrey Lhoyd hath thought but of Brit a Celticke word which signifieth Painted For these people as Caesar and other old writers report vsed to paint their bodies and therefore were called of the Gaules their next neighbours BRITONES as those people of the same nation who to auoid the slauery and seruitude of the Romanes and withdrew themselues into the North parts from whom they continually molested their colonies heere were of them for the same reason in their language called PICTI The Greekes called it also ALBION not of Albion Neptunes sonne which sometime sweied the scepter heere as some haue most fabulously taught but of Alphiων the white cliffes vpon the sea coast which first offer themselues to the eie of those which to this our land saile hither from France and indeed the Welch poets call it Inis win that is as Orphaeus the most ancient poet of the Greeks doth interpret it Nesos leu caessa and Leucaios Chersos The white I le or The whiteland The first Inhabitants which seated themselues heere not long after the vniuersall Flood and Confusion of Babel came hither from France as by Neerenesse of place Likenesse of language Maners Gouernment Customes Name is by the learned Clarencieux Camden the onely light of our histories in that his thrise renowned Britannia euidently demonstrated For to this day the ancient Britans the Welchmen do call themselues CVMRI not Cambri as come from Gomer the sonne of Iapheth called of the Latines Cimber from whom are descended the Celtae or Gaules The Romanes a second nation vnder the conduct of Iulius Caesar about the yeare before the birth of CHRIST 54. entered Brittaine and planted their colonies in diuers and sundry places of this Iland The Scottes obseruing the Roman legions to grow weake and their Empire to decline thereupon tooke occasion first to seise vpon Ireland then about the yeare of CHRIST 446. great trouble arising in France the Emperours were constrained wholly to withdraw their forces from hence and to leaue the Brittaines naked and open to the furie of the Pictes their enemies From hence ensued a double mischiefe for first the vnquiet and turbulent Pictes thinking that now the onely opportunitie was offered them to accomplish their desires thought to make sure worke called in the Scottes out of Ireland combined themselues together against the poore disarmed Britans whereupon the Britans were constrained for safegard of their liues and liberties to call in about the yeare of CHRIST 440. the Angles Saxons and Iuites a warlike people inhabiting along the sea coast of Germany from the riuer of Rhein vnto Denmarke to aid them against their violent enemies The Normanes lead by William the Bastard their Duke tooke possession of Great Brittaine in the yeare 1066. The Vandalles Norweis and Danes who by their piracies and robberies a long time and oft greeuously vexed these Iles neuer seated their Colonies heere and therefore I passe them ouer with silence The forme of Brittaine is triangular like vnto that figure which the Geometers call Scalenum or as Nubiensis the Arabian saith to the head and necke of Alnaama the ostrich and therefore it may aswell as Sicilia be called TRINACRIA The three-cornered I le The ancient Geographers did hold it and that deseruedly to be the greatest Iland of the Maine Ocean wherefore Solinus saith it may well deserue the name of ANOTHER WORLD and Matthew Paris for the same cause calleth it THE QVEEN or Empresse of the Isles of the Ocean In respect of which large compasse it hath been in former ages diuided into many seuerall iurisdictions and kingdomes in the time of the Saxons England the South-east part into seuen and Wales into three Great Egbert in the yeare 800. reduced the Saxon heptarchy into a Monarchy The Irish Princes Nobles and Commons after the incarnation 1172. vnited their Pentarchy to the crowne of Egbert and swore alleageance to Henry the second King of England Edward the first to these did knit in the yeare after the birth of Christ 1282. the triple crowne of the Pety Kings of Wales In these our daies the eternall wisedome of the Great King of Heauen and Earth hath cast all these together with the crowne of Scotland into one massie Emperiall Diademe and placed it vpon the head of our dread soueraigne IAMES lineally descended from those mighty Monarches and shall we doubt not in time adde to these whatsoeuer from them vnto his Highnesse do belong BRITANNICAE INSVLAE or the Empire of Great Brittaine conteineth Ilands Greater and often mentioned in histories BRITANNIA diuided by the Romans into Superior the Higher conteining ANGLIA England CVMERIA Wales Inferior the Neather now called SCOTIA Scotland HIBERNIA Ireland vpon the West of Britaine Lesser yet famous belonging to England from it South Close to the shore of Brittaine VECTA Wight Vpon the coast of France CAESARIA Gersey SARNIA Gernsey And many other lesser West From the point of Cornwall SILLINAE Silly anno 145. In the middest betweene England Ireland and Scotland MONOEDA Man Wales MONA called of the English Anglesey of the Welch Tirmôn Scotland lying from it West HEBRIDES The West isles in number foure and fortie North ORCHADES Orkney-iles about
city a TARGHIN are fourescore and ten miles This city Targhin riseth vp higher into the countrey about the space of ten miles From the city Targhin vnto the city b AGRIMES vpon the sea coast are fourescore miles From the city Giarnmouth aforesayd the sea bendeth all at once Northward in maner of a circle And from the citie Agrimes afore-named vnto the citie c EPHRADIK are fourescore miles This city is farre from the ocean sea hard vpon the borders of the iland of SCOTIA which is notwithstanding ioyned to the I le England From the citie Ephradik vnto the fall of the riuer of d VVyska are an hundred and forty miles e This WYSKA is a fortification vpon that riuer vp higher into the countrey from the sea twelue miles From the citie Agrimes before-mentioned vnto the city f NICOLA vpland are an hundred miles A g riuer diuideth this citie in the middest and runneth from it vnto the citie Agrimes and so vpon the South side of it falleth into the sea as we haue sayd before From Nicola an vpland citie vnto the city Ephradik are likewise fourescore and ten miles From thence vnto the citie h DVNELMA are fourescore miles Northward vpland and farre from the sea Betweene the coast of the Wild of Scotia vnto the coast of the I le i IRELAND are two dayes saile Westward From the coast of the I le England vnto the iland k DANAS but one dayes saile From the coast of Scotia Northward vnto the iland l ROSLANDA are three dayes saile From the coast of the I le Roslanda Eastward to the I le m ZANBAGA are twelue miles The length of the I le Roslanda is n foure hundred miles the bredth of it where it is broadest is but an hundred and fifty miles ANNOTATIONS by the Translatour vpon some particulars for the better helpe and direction of the Reader a THe Arabicke Geography imprinted at Rome in the yeere of our Lord 1592 set out by Baptist Raymund at the cost and charges of the most illustrious Prince Ferdinand Medices Graund Duke of Tuscane in Italie is but an Abridgement of a greater worke intitled _____ Nazahti'lmoshtak that is The pleasant garden as the authour himselfe in his Preface to that his worke doth plainly confesse which Abbreuiatour as he himselfe in the beginning of the fourth section of the first Climate testifieth was an African borne in Nubia For he there saith that in this Parallel there be two riuers called Nilus whereof the one which is vulgarly knowen by that name and is for difference sake called Nilus of Egypt runneth along by our countrey _____ Ardiana from South to North vpon whose banks almost all the cities both of Egypt and of the Iland are built and situate By many places of this his worke it is manifest that he was a Mussulman that is by profession a Mahometane He liued as I gather aboue fiue hundred yeeres since presently after the entrance of the Normans into England For at the second section of the fourth climate he writeth that when he wrote this his worke Roger was King of Sicilia but whether this Roger were Roger the father sonne of Tanchred the Norman who draue the Saracens from thence or Roger his sonne who in the yeere after Christs incarnation 1103 tooke vpon him the gouernment of that kingdome it is vncertaine and for ought I know not to be learned out of his words ANGLIAE REGNI FLORENTISSIMI NOVA DESCRIPTIO AVCTORE HVMFREDO LHVYD DENBYGIENSE Cum Priuilegio c _____ Alinkalaterra as the Spaniards Italians and French do call it that is England or The Angles land so named by Egbert king of the West-Saxons about the yere of our Lord 800 is of the three the greatest most fertile flourishing kingdome of this whole ile and therfore it is hereby this our authour in this place by a figure put for Great Britaine the part for the whole Neither is this any strange thing not vsed by any other for Raymundus Marlianus that adioyned those Alphabeticall descriptions of Cities Places Mountaines and Riuers to Caesars Commentaries doth put Angliam Insulam and Angliae Insulam The Ile England and The I le of England for Britanniam Britaine Such is the maruellous greatnesse of this Iland that when it was first descried by the Romans they thought it almost well woorthy the name of ALTERIVS ORBIS Another world And he that made the Panegyricke oration to Constantius writeth that Iulius Caesar who first discouered it to the Romans ALIVM se ORBEM TERRARVM scripserit reperisse tantae magnitudinis arbitratus vt non circumfusa Oceano sed complexa Oceanum videretur did write vnto his friends that he had found Another World supposing it to be of that wonderfull greatnesse that it could nor possibly be inuironed round on all sides of the sea but rather that it contrariwise did enclose the sea And for that it lieth so farre remote from the South like as Thule it was by poets and other ancient writers intituled Vltima Britannia Great Britaine the farthest part of the world Northward d _____ Alnaama In Auicen is a fowle called of the Latines Struthium an Ostrich as Gerardus Cremonensis his interpretour vnderstandeth the word and indeed the South part of the I le the sea falling in betweene Wales and Cornwall doth represent the necke and head of such a like fowle with the mouth gaping wide open Liuy and Fabius Rusticus did liken it Oblongae scutulae vel bipennt To aswingling stocke or sword which those vse that dresse hempe and flax to a twall or twibill a kinde of warlike weapon vsed in fight by some nations And indeed the whole iland being triangular triquetra they call it but of vnequall sides which kinde of figure the Geometers call Scalenum may also aswell as Sicilia be named TRINACRIA For from Taruisium a promontory or forland in Scotland now called Howburne all along by the shore vnto Belerium the cape of Cornwall are 812. miles from whence to Cantium The Forland of Kent are 320 miles from thence againe to Howburne in Scotland 704 miles So that by this account the circuit and compasse of Britaine is 1836 miles which commeth much short of that account of Pliny and is somewhat lesse than that of Caesar e The first inhabitants which seated themselues heere presently after the vniuersall floud in the dayes of Noe came hither from France as Necrenesse of place Likenesse of maners Gouernment Customes Name and Language doe very demonstratiuely prooue and euince And thereupon they call themselues Cumro as come from Gomer the sonne of Iapheth called of Historiographers Cimber from whom are descended the Celiae or ancient Gauls the inhabitants not only of France but generally of all the Northwest parts of Europe What thinke you then of that story of Brute Mary I thinke he wanted honesty that first inuented that fable and he wit that beleeueth it But Iohn Wheathamsted sometime Abbat of S. Albans a graue learned man and of good
therefore they are of the English Nobility for seruice preferred before the English Yet of late heere they haue vsed themselues to dwell in cities to learn occupations to trade as merchants to go to plough and to do any maner of businesse good for the common-wealth as well as the English nay in this thing they excell them that there is no man so poore amongst them but for a while will set his sonnes to schole to learne to write and read and those whom they find to be apt they send to the Vniuersities cause them for the most part to giue their minds to the study of the ciuill law Heere hence it is that the greater part of those which in this kingdome doe professe the Ciuill or Canon law are Welshmen borne You shall find also very few of the common and meaner sort of people but can read and write his owne language and after their fashion play vpon the Welsh harpe Now also they haue the Bible and common praier booke printed in their owne tongue a language as we said vsed of their ancestors and wholly different from the English And as in old time long since being a people as Tacitus reporteth impatient of the least wrongs that might be offered they were alwaies together by the eares and cutting one anothers throates so now for feare of law to which they are more obedient then any other nation they will wrangle and contend one with another as long as they are worth a groate These few obseruations we haue gleaned out of Lhoyd to whom we send the Reader that desireth more of the particulars of this country Syluester Gerrard a Welshman hath described VVales in a seuerall treatise Read also the Iournall of VVales Moreouer VVilliam of Newbery in the 5. chap. of his 2. booke hath many things of the nature of this country maners of the people To these you may adioine Polyd. Virg. those things which Robert Caenalis hath written in the summe of his 2. booke de re Gallica This Cymri or as the English call it VVales belongeth that we may heere by the way say something of this by an ancient decree to the King of Englands eldest sonne or daughter if he faile to the Kings heire I meane who is to succeed next after him and he is called assoone as he is born The Prince of VVales and that in the same sense as in Spaine and Portugall they call the Kings heire The Prince and in France The Dolphin Ieffrey of Monmouth writeth that in these parts of VVales neere the riuer of Seuern there is a poole which the country people call Linligune This saith he when the sea floweth into it enterteineth the waters like a bottomlesse gulfe and so drinketh vp the waues that it is neuer full nor euer runneth ouer But when the sea ebbeth the waters which before it had swallowed do swell like a mountaine which then do dash and run ouer the banks At which time if all the people of that shire should stand any thing neere the poole with their faces toward it so that the water shall but dash into their clothes and apparell they shall hard be able to auoid the danger but that they shal be drawne into the poole But if ones backe shal be toward it there is no danger at all although he should stand vpon the very edge of the same This is the story I haue nam'd the authour let him approue the truth of the same Of Mona the iland vpon the shore of this country thou hast the opinion of Humfrey Lhoyd in his epistle which we haue adioined to the end of this booke Of this also Iohn Leland in his Genethliacon of Edward Prince of VVales thus writeth This Iland saith hee being conquered by the English changed the name and was called Anglesey that is the iland of Englishmen Polydore Virgill a man of great reading and good iudgement in many matters is of another opinion Hee laboureth with all his forces to proue Menauia to be Mona If the name which yet it retaineth If the citie Caernaruon which is ouer against it vpon the maine do take his denomination from hence and is called Aruon for Ar-mon If that same very short cut ouer of which the Roman writers do speake If the nesse or promontorie Pen-mon that is as the word signifieth The head of Mon If the huge bodies of trees and rootes couered ouer with sand which daily are digged out of the shore of Tir-mon If the firre-trees of maruailous length which in squally grounds are heere and there found within the earth in this Iland do not sufficiently proue that that was anciently called Mona which now we call Anglesey I know not what to say more then that I haue read this in the 14. booke of Cornelius Tacitus his Annales Excisique luci saeuis superstitionibus sacri c. Felling the woods consecrated to superstitious seruices c. The same Leland in another place hath these verses of this Iland Insula Romanis Mona non incognita bellis Quondam terra ferax nemorum nunc indiga siluae Sed Venetis tantum cereali munere praestans Mater vt à vulgo Cambrorum iure vocetur c. Tyr-môn in former times thus witnesse writers old was full of stately woods but now li'th bleake and cold The soile is passing good of corne it yeeld'th such store That Welsh-mens nurse it 's call'd as we haue shew'd before c. CAMBRIAE TYPVS Auctore HVMFRE DO LHVYDO Denbigiense Cambrobritano Aliquod Regionum huius tractus synonyma prout Latinè Britannicè Anglicè etiemnum appellanture Cambria L. Cambrÿ B. Wales A. Venedotia L. Gwÿnedhia B. Northwales A. Demetia L. Dÿfet B. Westwales A. Ceretica L. Ceredigion B. Cardigan A. Pouisia L. Powijs B. Dehenbart B. Sutwales A. IRELAND IRELAND which the Greekes and Latines call HIBERNIA others IVERMA and IERNA the Irish themselues call Eryn From hence strangers taking it from the mouth of the English which pronounce e the second vowell with the same sound that other nations do sound i the third vowell haue made as it seemeth Irynlandt compounded as is apparent of the Irish Erin and the Saxon or Dutch Landt which afterward was contracted for more commodity of speach and roundnesse of pronunciation into Irland from whence the Latines framed IRLANDIA The first inhabitants which seated themselues in this Iland came hither as may be easily demonstrated from Brittaine or England not from Spaine as some most absurdly haue written For the abridgement of Strabo doth flatly call these ilanders Britaine 's and Diodorus Siculus saith that Irin is a part of Britaine wherefore it was iustly of all old writers called INSVLA BRITANNIA One of the Brittish iles About the yeare of CHRIST 400. in the daies of Honorius and Arcadius the Emperours at what time the Roman Empire began to decline the Scottes a second nation entered Ireland and planted themselues as Orosius writeth in the North parts whereupon it was
followes Ruremonde situate where the riuer Roer falles into the Maese It hath in my remembrance beene a Bishopricke Zutphen at the mouth of the riuer Berkel where it dischargeth it selfe into Yssel It beares the title of an Earledome It hath a rich College of Canons and is vnder the iurisdiction of the Bishop of Munster Arnhen stands vpon the banke of Rhijne This is the seat of the high Court of iustice and of the Chancery The Clergie of this towne are subiect to the Bishop of Vtrecht HATTEM a towne well fortified vpon the riuer Yssel ELBVRG on the shore of the Zuyder sea HARDERVVIIK vpon the same shore Heere likewise you haue WAGENING TIEL BOMMEL BRONCHORST DOESBVRG DOTECHEM SHEERENBERG gouerned by a peculiar prince vnder the name of an Earledome LOCHEN GROLL BREDEVORD GELRE which perhaps gaue name to the whole region STRAELEN VENLO a towne vpon the banke of Maese fortified both by arte and nature WACHTENDVNCK of ancient times the city of Hercules in the Dukedome of Iuliers Besides these there are other small townes of note which though now either by furie of warre or iniurie of time they are vnwalled yet they doe enioy the freedomes and priuileges of cities Their names be Keppel Burg Genderen Bateburg Monteford Echt Culeburg and Buren both which haue a peculiar Lord as Bateburg also Vnder Earle Ottho the third this region was mightily inlarged for he compassed with walles and endowed with priuileges the townes of Ruremond Arnhem Harderwijk Bemel Goch and VVagening which till that time had remained villages In the Chronicle of Iohn Reigersbeg written in Dutch I finde this region in the time of Carolus Caluus to haue beene called by the name of Ponthis and that it was by him in the yeere 878. erected to a Signiorie Then in the yeere 1079. this Signiorie of Ponthis was by Henrie the third adorned with the title of an Earledome and called the Earledome of Guelders and the first Earle thereof was Otto à Nassau It went vnder the name of an Earledome till Reinhold the second But whenas this Reinhold not only for his valour and mightinesse grew terrible to his neighbours but renowmed in regard of his iustice his piety and fidelity towards the Roman empire he was at Frankford in a solemne and royal assembly by Lewes the Emperour consecrated Duke in presence of the King of England the French King and the Princes Electours in the yeere of our Lord 1339. Some say that in the time of the Emperour Carolus Caluus towards that place where the towne of Gelre now standeth there was a strange and venimous beast of huge bignesse and monstrous crueltie feared all the countrey ouer which lay for the most part vnder an Oake This monster wasted the fields deuoured cattell great and small and abstained not from men The inhabitants affrighted with the noueltie and vncouthnesse of the matter abandoned their habitations and hid themselues in desert and solitarie places A certaine Lord of Ponth had two sonnes who partly tendring their owne estate and partly also the distresse of their neighbours assailed the beast with singular policie and courage and after a long combat slew him The said Lord therefore not farre from the Maese vpon the banke of Nierson for the perpetuall memorie of his sonnes exploit built a castle which he called Gelre because when the beast was slaine he often yelled with a dreadfull roaring noise Gelre Gelre from whence they say began the name of the Guelders Thus much out of the Chronicle of Henry Aquilius a Guelder borne More concerning this Prouince you may reade in Francis Irenicus but a most large description hereof you shall finde in Guicciardin GELRIAE CLIVIAE FINITIMORVMQVE LOCORVM VERISSIMA DESCRIPTIO Christiano Schrot Auctore The Bishopricke of LIEGE IT is a common and constant opinion that those which we now call Leodienses or Ligeois are a German people named of old Eburones A relique or monument of which ancient name remaineth as yet in the village Ebure a German mile distant from the city of Liege And this very place as I suppose is described by Dion lib. 40. vnder the name Eburonia Howbeit certaine it is that the iurisdiction of Liege stretcheth much farther than that of the Eburones did of olde Of the Eburones mention is made by Strabo Caesar and Florus Dion calles them Eburos and late Writers barbarously terme them Eburonates Themselues in their mother tongue which is a kinde of broken French they call Ligeois but in high Dutch Lutticher and Luyckenaren The deriuation of Eburones Leodienses whoso desires to know I refer him to the antiquities of Goropius Becanus and to a small pamphlet of Hubert Leodius This region taketh vp a great part of ancient Lorraigne for it containes vnder the name of the diocesse of Liege the dukedome of Bouillon the marquesat of Franckmont the countie of Haspengow and Loots and many Baronies In this region besides Maestright halfe wherof is subiect to the Duke of Brabant there are foure and twentie walled cities a thousand seuen hundred Villages with Churches and many Abbeys and Signiories The names of the cities are these following Liege vpon Maese the seat of a Bishop after which all the whole countrey is named Bouillon Franchemont Loots Borchworm Tungeren Huy Hasselt Dinant Masac Stoch Bilsen S. Truden Viset Tuin Varem Bering Herck Bree Pera Hamont Chiney Fosse and Couin as Guicciardin doth both name and number them Moreouer Placentius writeth that part of Maestright was added to this diocesse by the donation of Pori Earle of Louaine The territorie of this citie is called the countie of Maesland in the ancient records of Seruatius abbey built here by King Arnulphus in the yeere 889. Now this countie is vsually called Haspengow It is a region exceeding pleasant and fertile of all things especially on the North part where it ioyneth to Brabant for there it aboundeth with corne and all kinde of fruits and in some places it yeeldeth wine But on the South frontiers towards Lutzenburg and France it is somewhat more barren mountainous and ouerspred with woods here yet being some remainder of Arduenna the greatest forest in all France as Caesar writeth This is the outward hiew of the country but in the entrals and bowels thereof it is enriched with mettals and sundry kinds of marbles as also with sea-coales which they burne in stead of fewell and all these so surpassing good as in a common prouerbe they vsually say that they haue bread better than bread fire hotter than fire and iron harder than iron By their iron than which all the prouinces around vse neither better nor indeed any other they raise a great reuenue Nor with any other more forcible fire do the Smithes and Bearebrewers in all this part of the Low countries heat their furnaces than with these minerall coales of Liege which are of so strange a nature as water increaseth their flame but oile puts it out The smell of this fire or smoke
whereby they were sometime called before the entrance of the Saxons But let vs come againe to Mona Our countreymen and the inhabitants of this ile speaking now at this day the ancient British tongue doe know no other name of it than MON for so they all generally call it Polydore Virgil calleth it ANGLESEA that is The English ile I grant that this iland being subdued by the English men was beautified and graced with their name and that the English men do so call it I do not denie But I pray thee did the English men first descrie this iland was it neuer seene before or had it no name at all before their comming Hearest thou Polydore bethinke thy selfe thou mayest aswell say that England is not that land which was sometime called Britannia nor that was not Gallia which now we call France Nay which is a greater matter than this and more strange the inhabitants of this ile notwithstanding they be subiect to the crowne of England do neither know what England or an English man doth meane For an English man they call Sais but in the plurall number speaking of more than one Saisson and this their natiue countrey they name Mon. Moreouer that faire citie built vpon that arme of the sea or frith aboue mentioned on the other side ouer against the West part of this iland is called Caeraruon that is The citie vpon Mon For Caer in our language signifieth a walled towne Kir in Hebrew is a wall and Kartha in those Easterne tongues is a walled citie Ar is as much to say as Vpon and as for the v in the last syllable for m that is the proprietie of the language in some cases for in all words beginning with m in consequence of speech that letter after some certeine consonants is changed into v for which our nation doth alwayes vse f because that v with them is euermore a vowell So we call Wednesday Diem Mercurij Die Mercher but Wednesday night Nos Fercher Mary we call Mair but for our Ladies church we write and pronounce Lhanuair Neither is this citie only thus named but euen that whole tract of the continent of Britaine that runneth along by it is called Aruon that is Opposite or ouer against Mon. But let it be that this iland was not that Mona so oft mentioned by the ancients then ought Polydore for his credits sake haue found another name for it and not to haue left it wholly namelesse Now let vs come vnto the other which our countreymen do call MENAW and which all the inhabitants generall as also the English and Scots reteining the Welsh name but cutting it somewhat shorter MAN Therefore there is no man for ought I know beside this proud Italian and one Hector Boëthius a loud liar that euer called this iland by the name of Mona But leauing these demonstrable arguments which indeed do make this matter more cleere than the noone day let vs come vnto authorities and testimonies of learned men which in some cases are rather beleeued than any other arguments whatsoeuer by these I doubt not but the true and proper name shall be giuen to ech of these ilands and the controuersie decided without any maner of contradiction There is a piece of Gildas Britannus that ancient writer a man euery kinde of way learned at this day remaining in the Librarie of the illustrious Earle of Arundell the only learned Noble man of his time in which he hath these wordes England hath three ilands belonging to it Wight ouer against the Armoricanes or Bretaigne in France The second lieth in the middest of the sea betweene Ireland and England The Latine Historians doe call it Eubonia but vulgarly in our mother tongue we call it MANAW Thou hearest gentle Reader a naturall Welsh man speaking in the Welsh tongue For thus we call Polydore Virgils Mona in our natiue language euen at this day Moreouer the reuerend Beda that worthy Englishman famous thorow all Christendome in his dayes for all maner of literature and good learning in the ninth chapter of the second booke of his Historie writeth thus At which time also the people of Northumberland Nordan Humbri that is all that nation of the Angles which did inhabit vpon the North side of the riuer Humber with Edwin their king by the preaching of Paulinus of whom we haue spoken a little before was conuerted vnto the faith of Christ This king in taking of good successe for his enterteinment of the Gospel did grow so mightie in Christianitie and the kingdome of heauen and also had that command vpon the earth that he ruled which neuer any king of the English did before him from one end of Britaine to the other and was king not only of the English but also of all the shires and prouinces of the Britons Yea and he brought vnder his subiection as I haue shewed before the iles of Man insulae Menaniae Here I do thinke that for Menauiae it ought to be written Menauiae seeing that there is such small difference betweene an n and a u that they may easily be mistaken and one put for another Moreouer Henry Archdeacon of Huntingdon a worthy Historiographer who wrote about the yeere of our Lord 1140 one that followed Beda in many things almost foot for foot doth seeme also to correct this fault and cleere the doubt For he setting forth the great command and conquests of this Edwine King of the Northumbers brusteth out into these words Eduwyn the king of the Northumbers ruled ouer all Britaine not only ouer that part which was inhabited of the English but ouer that also which was possessed of the Britons Kent only excepted Moreouer he brought the I le Menauia which lieth between Ireland and Britaine and is commonly called MAN vnder the obedience of the Kings of England Here obserue that this English man did giue also to this iland which Polydore Virgil falsly calleth Mona the English name for it is commonly sayth he called Man by which name it is knowen called at this day of all the English Besides this also Ranulph of Chester in the foure and fortieth chapter of the first booke of his Polychronicon doth thus speake of those ilands which are neere neighbours vnto Britaine Britaine sayth he hath three ilands lying not farre off from it beside the Orkney iles which doe seeme to answer vnto the three principall parts of the same For WIGHT lieth hard vpon the coast of Loëgria which now is called England Anglia MONA which the English call Anglisea perteineth vnto Cambria that is to Wales But the I le EVBONIA which hath two other names Menauia and Mania lieth oueragainst Scotland These three Wight Man and Anglisea Vecta Mania Mona are almost all of one bignesse and conteining the like quantitie of ground Thus farre Ranulph of Chester The reason why Gildas and others haue called this iland Eubonia I take to be this because it was first inhabited of the same nation
to wit the Irish of the which the Euboniae the West iles commonly of the Historians called Hebrides are The reuerend Beda and Henry Huntington in that they write it Menauia do seeme to allude to the Welsh name Manaw but this is it which we would haue thee diligently to obserue that none of them do call it Mona By these arguments and testimonies it is manifest that Mona is that iland which the inhabitants as I haue shewed before doe at this day name Mona or Mon acknowledging no other name and is that which of the English is called Anglisea but the other which Polydore Virgil and such as doe loue with him to wallow in the mire rather than to seeke for the cleere streames doe call Mona is of Gildas called Eubonia of Henry Huntington Menauia and of others Mania Here I will conclude this discourse with this one testimonie which may indeed woorthily stand for many to wit this of Syluester Girald a Welsh man borne a man no lesse famous for his learning than for his noble birth For he was descended from that noble house of the Giralds to whom the Kings of England are beholding for that footing which they haue in Ireland Moreouer he was greatly beloued of Henrie the second King of England and was afterward Secretarie to King Iohn his sonne whose name also is very famous and oft mentioned in the Popes Decretals For being but bishop of S. Dauids in Wales he did notwithstanding contend with the Archbishop of Canturburie about the prerogatiue primacy This man I say in that his booke which he intituled Itinerarium Balwini Archiepiscopi Cantuariensis crucem in infideles per Cambriam praedicantis The Iournall or trauels of Baldwin Archbishop of Canturbury when as he preached the Gospell and crosse of Christ against the Infidels thorowout all Wales whose company he neuer forsooke in all that peregrination writeth thus of the I le MONA On the morrow we passed by the castle of Caer-aruon and from thence thorow the valleys and steepe hilles and mountaines we came vnto Bangor where we were most kindly enterteined of the bishop whose name was Gwian who was almost constrained to take vp the crosse of Christ with a great lamentation and shout of all sorts of people both men and women From thence crossing a vety narrow arme of the sea we passed ouer to MONA an iland lying about two miles off from the maine land Here Rothericke the yonger sonne of Owen came very deuoutly with all the people of that I le and of the countreys round about him to meet vs. There they making as it were a theater of the craggie rocks by the preaching of the Archbishop and of Alexander the Archdeacon of that place many were wonne vnto the crosse and to beleeue in Iesus Christ but certeine yong men lustie-bloods of the seruants and followers of Rothericke which sate oueragainst vs would by no meanes be drawen to beare the crosse Of these some within a little while after following certeine theeues or free-booters being slaine outright others hurt and dangerously wounded did of their owne heads lay a worldly crosse one vpon anothers backe Rothericke was married to Prince Reese's daughter who was allied to him in the third degree her by no admonitions he could be made to put away from him hoping that by her meanes he should the better be able to defend himselfe against his brothers children whom he had disherited and put by their lands and possessions notwithstanding it fell out contrary to his expectation for within awhile after they recouered all againe out of his hands This Iland hath three hundred three and fortie villages or farmes yet it is esteemed but at three Cantreds Britaine hath three ilands lying not farre off from it all almost of like quantitie and bignesse VVight vpon the South Mon vpon the West and Man vpon the Northwest The two former are very neere to the continent the armes of the sea by which they are seuered from England being but very narrow and not farre ouer The third which is called Man lieth mid way betweene Vlster a prouince of Ireland and Gallawey of Scotland Mona or Mon of the inhabitants by reason of the great plenty of wheat which it yeeldeth ordinarily euery yeere is called The mother of Wales And a little beneath the same Authour writeth thus of this iland Hugh Earle of Shrewsbury and Arundell with Hugh Earle of Chester entring this iland by force did shut dogs all night in the church of Fefridanke which the next morning were found all starke madde and he himselfe afterward by the inhabitants of the Orkeney iles comming thither as pirats and sea-robbers vnder the leading of Magnus their captaine being shot in the eye which part of his body only was vnarmed and subiect to the enemies weapon fell stone dead from the decke of the shippe into the sea which Magnus beholding cried out in the Danish language Leit loope that is as much to say in English Let him leape Moreouer Henry the Second going into North-Wales with an armie of men ioyned battell with the aduersarie at Caleshull in a narrow straight betweene two woods and withall sent a saile of ships into Mona which spoiled the foresayd Church with other places there wherfore they were almost all slaine taken dangerously wounded or put to flight by the inhabitants of that I le There were in this company two noble men and his vncle which wrote this story with other mo sent hither by the King to wit Henry the sonne of Henry the First and the vncle of Henry the Second begotten of the honourable lady Nesta daughter of Reese Theodore's sonne borne in the confines of South-Wales I meane in the skirts of it next vnto Demetia or West-Wales and the brother of Steuen brother to Henry by the mothers side but not by the fathers a man that first in our dayes breaking the way for others not long after this attempted the entrance and conquest of Ireland whose worthy commendations the prophicall history doth at large set foorth Henry being too venturous and not being seconded in time was killed at the first encounter with a pike But Robert distrusting his owne strength and doubting whether he should be aided or not fled and being sore wounded very hardly recouered the shippes This iland outwardly appeareth as if it were barren rough and ouergrowen like as the countrey of Pebidion neere Menauia doth although indeed it be very fertile of many things in diuers places Thus farre Gyraldus What could euer be spoken or written more plainly and euidently of the name situation fertility and valourous inhabitants of Mona as also of the situation and name of that other iland The same authour in his description of Wales thus speaketh of this Iland In North-Wales betweene Mona and Snowdon hilles is Bangor the bishops sea As of all Wales the South part about Cardigan shire Cereticam regionem he calleth it but especially euery where in West-Wales Demetia