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
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
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
THEATRVM ORBIS TERRARVM GEOGRAPHI REGII THE THEATRE OF THE WHOLE WORLD SET FORTH BY THAT Excellent Geographer Abraham Ortelius LONDON Printed by IOHN NORTON Printer to the Kings most excellent Maiestie in Hebrew Greeke and Latine 1606. HONI SOIT QVI MAL Y PENSE The sway by Sea Land great IAMES doth beare His Birth His Bloud These Kingdomes figure here But were his seuerall vertues to be crown'd A World past thine Ortelius must be fownd TO THE MOST HIGH MOST MIGHTY AND MOST HAPPY PRINCE IAMES BY THE GRACE OF GOD KING OF GREAT BRITAINE FRANCE AND IRELAND DEFENDER OF THE FAITH c. IOHN NORTON HIS MAIESTIES MOST HVMBLE AND FAITHFVLL SERVANT CONSECRATETH THESE IMMORTALL LABOVRS OF ABRAHAM OR TELIVS TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH ABRAHAMI ORTELII QVEM VRBS VRBIVM ANTVERPIA EDIDIT REX REGVM PHILIPPVS GEOGRAPHVM HABVIT MONVMENTVM HIC VIDES BREVIS TERRA EVM CAPIT QVI IPSE ORBEM TERRARVM CEPIT STILO ET TABVLIS ILLVSTRAVIT SED MENTE CONTEMPSIT QVA CAELVM ET ALTA SVSPEXIT CONSTANS ADVERSVM SPES AVT METVS AMICITIAE CVITOR CANDORE FIDE OFFICIIS QVIETIS CVLTOR SINE LITE VXORE PROLE VITAM HABVIT QVALE ALIVS VOTVM VT NVNC QVOQVE AETERNA EI QVIES SIT VOTIS FAVE LECTOR OBIIT IIII. KAL IVLII ANNO MD. XCIIX VIXIT ANN. LXXI MENSS II. DIES IIXX COLII EX SORORE NEPOTES B.M. POSS CONTEMNO ET ORNOMENTE MANV Α Χ Ρ Ω THE LIFE OF ABRAHAM ORTELL COSMOGRAPHER TO PHILIP THE SECOND LATE KING OF SPAINE written first in Latine by Francis Sweert of Antwerpe his familiar and louing friend and now translated into English by W. B as great a louer of his learning and vertues THe stocke of the ORTELS flourished not long since and liued in good state and credit at Auspurg in Bayern Augustam vindelicorum the Latines called it From that family came WILLIAM ORTELL who about the yere of our Lord 1460 left his natiue country and seated himselfe in Antwerpe at that time one of the famousest Mart-townes of the world where he did many notable things worthily deseruing great commendation among which that is most memorable that of his owne proper cost and charges he caused a goodly crosse of free stone to be set vp without the Emperours gate in that place where the malefactours are vsually woont to be executed and put to death Beneath this crosse at the base or foot of the same stood Mary and Iohn and beside them a little farther off hung the two theeues the one vpon the right hand and the other vpon the left vpon their seuerall gibbets This William died vpon the seuenth day of Ianuary in the yeere of our Lord God 1511 and was buried in the cloisters of the Franciscane Friers in Antwerpe leauing his sonne LEONARD ORTELL sole Executor and heire not only of his goods and substance but also of his vertues and good qualities For they report that he was a man so deuout and religious that it was an hard matter to finde him from his booke serious meditation on heauenly matters This Leonard maried ANNA HERVVAYERS and by her had issue two daughters and one some named ABRAHAM whose life we heere purpose to describe borne vpon the second day of Aprill in the yeere of our Lord God 1527. Hee was euen in his child-hood of singular towardnesse great capacity and passing quicke conceit and that which is very strange in youth hee was neuer giuen to the reading of any trifles or idle vanities Wherefore his father purposing to make him a scholar began first himselfe to instruct him priuatly at home in his owne house in the Latine and Greeke tongues For the old man was very learned in both these languages But see how these good purposes were soon crossed by the vntimely death of his most louing and kinde father who departing this life in the yeere of Christ 1535 left this his sonne to be further informed and taught abroade by strange schoolemasters whose care and diligence to profit him whatsoeuer their learning were was nothing so great and painfull notwithstanding euen vnder these he made such profit in the Artes and liberall Sciences that he was not much inferiour to the best of his degree and time For as I said before no vaine pleasure or trifles pastimes which commonly are the ouerthrow of many yongue men could euer with-draw him from his setled purpose or alienate his minde from his booke Yet his greatest delight and commendation consisted in the knowledge of the Mathematicall sciences which for the most part he studied and practised without an instructor or teacher atteining only by his owne paines and industrie to the great admiration of others euen to the vnderstanding of the greatest and deepest mysteries of the same In the thirtieth yeare of his age hauing many great matters in his head and loathing to liue idly at home in his owne natiue country he began to entertaine a conceipt of trauelling into diuers and sundry forreine parts and countries of the world To Frankford vpon the Main by reason of the great Marts or Faires there held at two seuerall times euery yere he went very often In the yeere of our Lord 1575 he went with Iohn Viuian of Valence a Marchant but a great louer of learning and Hierome Scoliers of Antwerp to Leige Trier Tungren and Mentz of which iourney and peregrination of theirs there is at this day a booke of his exstant in print wherein he hath learnedly described the particulars obserued by them In the yeere of Christ 1577 with Immanuël Demetrius of Antwerpe hee trauelled beyond the Seas into England and Ireland Italy that nource of great wits that worker of strange woonders that mother of reuerend antiquities and ancient monuments hee visited thrise The third time that he went thither which was in the yeere 1578 he went in company of George Houfnayle of Antwerp who was so excellent a painter that he was greatly esteemed and beloued of the illustrious princes Albert and VVilliam Dukes of Bayern of Ferdinand Duke of Austrich yea and of Rudolphus himselfe at that time Emperour of the Germanes But this his consort to the great greefe of his friends and such as loued his singular qualities left his life at Prage in Bohemia vpon the thirteenth of Ianuary in the yeere of our Lord 1600. This man was woorthy of longer life if the Fates would respect men for their great parts and excellent vertues But so it is that Death like as the sythe in Haruest cutteth downe without distinction aswell the yongue as old There was nothing either in Germanie or in France that was woorth the seeing that this our authour had not seene and viewed with a censorious and iudicious eie At length hauing ouercome so many tedious and toilsome trauels he returned againe to Antwerpe his natiue soile There and then he began to apply himselfe to benefit succedent ages to write of those countries by him viewed and seene to set out in Charts
fifth Section of the third Climate of his Geographicall garden imprinted in the Arabicke language at Rome in the yeare of our Lord 1592. The place saith he where Lot with his family dwelt the stinking sea and Zegor euen vp as high as Basan and Tiberias was called the Vale for that it was a plaine or bottome between two hils so low that all the other waters of this part of Soria do fall into it and are gathered thither And a little beneath in the same place he addeth All the brookes and springs do meet and stay in the lake of Zegor otherwise called the lake of Sodom and Gomorrha two cities where Lot and his family dwelt which God did cause to sinke and conuerted their place into a stinking lake otherwise named The Dead lake for that there is in it nothing that hath breath or life neither fish nor worme or any such thing as vsually is wont to liue or keepe in standing or running waters the water of this lake is hot and of a filthy stinking sauour yet vpon it are little boates in which they passe from place to place in these quarters and carry their prouision The length of this lake is 60. miles the breadth not aboue 12. miles Moreouer Aben Isaac who in like maner wrote in the Arabicke tongue a treatise of Geography certaine fragments of which I haue by me for which I am beholding as also for many other fauours to Master Edward Wright that learned Mathematician and singular louer of all maner literature thus speaketh of this place The sea Alzengie saith he is a very bad and dangerous sea for there is no liuing creature can liue in it by reason of the vnwholesomnesse and thicknesse of his waters which happeneth by reason that the sunne when it commeth ouer this sea draweth vp vnto it by the force of his heat the thinner and more subtill parts of the water which is in it and so doth leaue the thicke and more grosse parts behind which by that meanes also become very hot and salt so that no man may saile vpon this sea nor any beast or liuing creature liue neere it Item the sea Sauk as Aristotle speaketh of it which also is in these parts and doth reach vp as high as India and the parched Zone so I thinke the word Mantakah that is a girdle or belt which heere he vseth doth signifie that there is not in it any liuing creature at all of any sort whatsoeuer and therefore this sea is called The Dead sea because that whensoeuer any worme or such like falleth into it it mooueth no longer but swimmeth vpon the toppe of the water and when it is dead it putrifieth and then sinketh and falleth to the bottome yet when there falleth into it any stinking and corrupt thing it sinketh immediatly and swimmeth not vpon the water at all Thus farre out of Aben Isaac This sea is of Ptolemey called ASPHALTITES the lake Ashaltites of others Asphaltes of the bitumen which it doth yeeld in great plenty of the Iewes MARE PALAESTINORVM ORIENTALE SOLITVDINIS siue DESERTI the Sea of Palaestina the East Sea the Sea of the desert or wildernesse of the situation and position of it vnto the land of Iewry Item MARE SALIS the Salt-sea of the hot and fitish saltnesse of the same aboue other salt-waters which the Arabian iustifieth to be true Pausanias that ancient and famous historian of the Greekes and Iustine the abridger of the large volume of Trogus Pompeius call it MARE MORTVVM the Dead sea of the effect there is saith Iustine a lake in that country which by reason of his greatnesse and vnmoueablenesse of his waters is called the Dead sea for it is neither mooued with the wind the heauy and lumpish bitumen which swimmeth vpon the toppe of the water all the lake ouer resisting the violence of the greatest blasts neither is it saileable for that all things that are void of life do sinke to the bottome neither doth it sustaine any thing that is not besmered with bitumen to these both my Arabians do subscribe of Galen the Prince of Physitions it is called LACVS SODOMAEVS the Lake of Sodome for him Nubiensis doth stand who neuer nameth it Bahri a sea but Bahira a lake or standing poole yet contrariwise Isaac termeth it Bahri not Bahira and by this name it is generally knowen to all the Europeans Solinus calleth it TRISTEM SINVM the Sad-bay like as the gulfe of Milinde is of some named ASPERVM MARE the rough or boisterous sea like as Isaac my authour calleth this same lake Tzahhib the churlish and dangerous sea Iosephus in the tenth chapter of his first booke of the Antiquities of the Iewes saith that this place where now is the Dead-sea was before named the Vale of bitumen pits Strabo otherwise a most excellent Geographer and curious searcher out of the truth in these discourses falsly confoundeth this lake as I touched before with the Sirbon lake Why the Arabian should call it Zengie and Sawke I know not This we haue heere added partly out of the Geographicall treasury of Ortelius for the ease and benefite of the Reader least the diuersity of names might make him mistake the thing Hauing thus finished the Mappes of HOLY write It now remaineth that we do in like maner begin and go on forward with those of PROPHANE histories A draught and shadow of the ancient GEOGRAPHY THou hast gentle and curtuous Reader in this Mappe a draught a plot or patterne I might call it of the whole world but according to the description ruder Geography of the more ancient authours of those of middle age For this our globe of the earth was not then further knowen a wonderfull strange thing vntill in the daies of our fathers in the yeare 1492. Christofer Columbus a Genoway by the commandement of the king of Castile first discouered that part of the West which vnto this day had lien hid vnknowen After that the South part hitherto not heard of togther with the East part of Asia much spoken of but neuer before this time entered was descried by the Portugals That part which lieth toward the North we haue seen in this our age to haue been first found out by the English merchants and nauigatours a particular view and proofe of which thou maist see at large in that worthy worke of the English Nauigations composed with great industrie diligence and charge by my singular good friend Master Richard Hacluyt By him England still shall liue and the name of braue Englishmen shall neuer die The other countries which as yet do lie obscured within the frozen Zones and vnder both the Poles are left for succeding ages to find out Peraduenture ancient writers that liued many hundred yeares since haue named some country or some one place or other out of this our continent but they haue not written ought of the situation of the same as being indeed altogether vnknowen vnto them In
the maine land was a monastery erected by S Columba where diuers of the kings of Scotland haue been buried beside the bishops sea in the village Sodore in whose diocesses all the rest were and therefore were of it called Insulae Sodorenses All the other beside Hirth are of small account as being nothing but rocks stones and craggie knols in which you shall scarce all the yere long finde a greene turffe The people in maners behauiour apparell and language do much resemble the Irish as those in the Orkney doe the Goths and Norweyans More of these see in Solinus and M. Camdens Britannia to whom we are beholding for this The I LE of MAN which Pliny calleth Monabia Orosius and Bede Menauia Gildas Eubonia the Welch Menaw they themselues Maning Caesar Mona and Ptolemey Monoëda that is as who say Mon-eitha Mon the father for a distinction from Anglesey which is also called Mon is midway between England and Ireland as Caesar in his fifth booke of the warres of France and Gyraldus Cambrensis report yet the people are more like in language and maners vnto the Irish men It is in length from South to North about 30. miles in breadth in some places it is 15. in other places where it is narrowest not aboue 7 or 8 miles ouer In Bedaes time it had but 300. families or housholds now it conteineth 17. parishes very populous and well inhabited It beareth great plenty of Hempe and Flax. The soile is reasonably fertile either for Corne or Grasse and therefore it yeerely yeeldeth both great plenty of Barly Wheat and Rie but especially of Oats whereof they for the most part make their bread maintaineth great store of cattel and many flocks of sheepe but that aswell the one as the other are lesse than they be in England They burne Seacole insteed of wood of which they haue none or very little Vpon the South coast lieth a small ile which they call The calfe of Man where there is such wonderfull plenty of sea fowles which they call Puffins and of those geese which we call Bernacles Clakes or Soland geese as none which haue not seene them will easily beleeue Thus farre of Mona described by Caesar the other Mona which Tacitus and Dion do speake of now followeth That which we now call ANGLESEY that is The English I le Tacitus and Dion as I said called Mona the Welchmen Mon Tir-mon Inis Dowyl that is The darke ile the Saxons Monege a very goodly and fruitfull iland the ancient seat of the Druides was brought in subiection vnder the Romane Empire by Paullinus Suetonius and Iulius Agricola about 46. yeeres after the birth of Christ It is very neere the coast of Britaine as Dion saith yea so neere that from the main by swimming ouer the flattes and shallow places Iulius Agricola as Tacitus witnesseth conueied in thither both horsemen and footmen to suppresse certaine rebels that held it against the Romans But of this iland there is in this our Theater a whole discourse written by Humfrey Lloyd a learned gentleman painfull student in the British stories Vpon the coast of Wales also lieth BERDSEY that is The birds Ile called of the Britans Enhly of Ptolemey Edry of Pliny Andros or Adros a plaine and champion country toward the West but in the East very hillie and mountainous Then GRESHOLME and STOCHOLME excellent pastorage passing pleasant by reason of the sweet smell of the wild Tyme which heere groweth euery where in great abundance Next to these is SCALMEY as fertile as any called of Pliny Silimnus of Ptolemey Limi and in the catalogue of Martyrs Lemeneia Insula In the mouth of Seuern lie the Holmes or as the Welchmen call them the Echni FLATHOLME and STEEPHOLME Reoric in Welch Item BARREY SILEY CALDEY and LONDEY small Ilands but very fertile Thirty or forty miles off West from the Cape of Cornewall which the seamen commonly call The lands end lie the SORLINGS or the SYLLY called by Sulpitius Seuerus Sillinae of Antonine Sigdeles of Solinus Silurae or Silurum Insulae the Grecians of their situation named them Hesperides the West iles and of their rich commoditie of Tinne Cassiteros which they yeeld Cassiterides the Stanneries but why Festus Auianus should name them Ostrimnides I know not They are in all 145. beside craggie rockes which are innumerable There are 10. of them which also Eustathius doth testifie S. Mary Annoth Agnes Sampson Silly Brefer Rusco or Triscraw S. Hellen S. Martine and Arthur with Minanwitham and Minuisisand greater and more famous then the rest for their rich veines of Tinne from whence as Pliny saith Medacritus first brought Lead or Tinne into Greece Many of them are good corne ground all of them infinite store of Conies Cranes Swannes Herons and other Sea-fowle These are those ilands as Solinus writeth which a tempestuous frith of two or three houres saile ouer doth part from the outmost end of Cornwall Danmoniorum ora whose inhabitants doe still obserue the ancient customes they keepe no faires or markets they care not for mony they giue and receiue such as one another haue neede of they rather regard more to get necessary things for exchange than those of high price and great valew they are very deuout in their religious seruices to their Gods and both women and men in like manner do hold themselues to be very skilfull in foretelling of things to come Vpon the coast of France ouer against Normandy are GERSEY Caesarea Antoninus calleth it a fertile soile good corne ground and reasonable pastorage it hath 12. parishes wel inhabited and very populous Item GARNSEY SERKE ALDERNEY ARME the QVASQVETS and others which although the ancients did neuer reckon amongst the number of the Brittish iles yet we know that they are now subiect to the crowne of England and euer haue beene since the yere of our Lord 1108. at what time they were by Henry the first annexed to this kingdome They are all in the diocesse and iurisdiction of the Bishop of Winchester Close to the shore of England is the I le of WIGHT Ptolemey calleth it Wictesis Pliny Suetonius Vectis the Panegyricus Eutropius Vecta Diodorus Icta all deriued from the Brittish word Guith which signifieth a deuision or separation for that it was once ioined as then they vulgarly held vnto the maine land like as Sicilia was to Italy It is 20. miles long 12. miles broad Vespasian first brought it vnder the obedience of the Romans in the raigne of the emperor Claudius as Suetonius writeth in the fourth chapter of his Vespasianus yet Eutropius affirmeth it to be done by Maximianus the emperor It is by the sea which entreth vp high within the land diuided into two prouinces Fresh-water ile and Binbridge I le In Bedaes time it conteined but 1200. families now it hath 36. parishes villages castles which do belong all to Hantshire and are of the diocesse Winchester The soile is
iudgement shall speake for me Totus iste processus saith he de Bruto poëticus est potius quà m historicus opinatiuusque magis propter varias causas quà m realis That whole discourse of Brute is rather to be accounted as a fable and fiction forged in poets braine then a true history done and acted indeed Item William of Newbury a writer of good credit and one that liued at the same time with this Geffrey of Munmouth did accuse him to his face of forgery and challenged him for the same For first for the name of Britons they neuer knew what it meant vntill the entrance of the Romans and was then as harsh vnto these Cumbri as the name of Welchman is to them at this day which it is certeine diuers of the vpland people do not acknowledge nor vnderstand what it should meane Againe Ludouicus Vines Hadrianus Iunius Buchanan Polydore Virgil Bodine and other great men do all iointly confesse that there was neuer in the world any such man as this Brutus Moreouer That presently after the confusion at Babell in the infancy of the world when the iles of the Gentiles were diuided into their lands as the Scripture speaketh euery man after his tongue after their families in their nations that is That such men as by reason of difference and diuersity of language did separate themselues from such as they vnderstood not and therefore could not conuerse withall into their seuerall companies and hords did beare the name and denomination of their father and prince of that family it is very plaine and manifest but that any nation was named or called after the name of the chiefe leader and conductour of a colony I yet find not auouched by any good authour It is most certaine and without all controuersie true That diuers countries haue beene called by sundry names by forreners and strangers neuer knowen nor acknowledged of the nations themselues Do you thinke that the ancient inhabitants of Spaine did euer know what Hesperia meant None surely euer called that countrey by this name but the Graecians only Albion and Britannia doubtlesse were names as barbarous vnto these our Cumbri and neuer heard of before the entrance of the Romans There is no Colony although neuer so small and few but will reteine much of their owne countrey language either wholly vncorrupt or els manifestly to be distinguished by the phrase and proprietie of speech Those few Flemmings who their countrey being by the breaking in of the sea ouerflowen and drowned obteined of King Henrie the first a part of Penbrooke shire in Wales which the Welchmen call Rosse lying betweene two riuers not farre off from Milford hauen are they not to this day distinguished from their neighbours round about them by their speech and language And because their speech doth much resemble the English is not their countrey commonly called of those which inhabit neere vnto them Little England beyond Wales The like you shall obserue by the British colony which aboue eleuen hundred yeeres since tooke possession of that part of France which of them euer since hath beene knowen by the name of Britaine Of the colony of the Scots in Ireland and of the Irish in Scotland If any man will say that there is the like resemblance betweene the Welch tongue and the Greeke or Latine I will iustifie it that there is as great affinitie betweene the Welch and Arabicke and againe that these are as like the one to other as an apple is to an oister Moreouer this entrance of Brute was an absolute conquest the giants if there were euer any such being vtterly destroyed or quite chaced out of the land and therefore there is no reason to the contrary but they should haue for the space of seuen hundred yeeres kept their language from corruption as well as they haue done since being since the entrance of the Romans sixteene hundred yeeres and more The Latines or Greeks so prodigall alwayes in their owne commendation would doubtlesse not haue forgotten to record the setting forth of such a famous colony Could this affinity haue beene hid from Caesar would they not thinke you haue claimed kindred of the Romans Constans and Constantius Emperours of Rome were the first by the testimony of Iulius Firmicus that euer durst venture thorow these seas How then did this Brutus so many hundred yeeres before in such small barks so slightly built passe the same Aeneas they report of his many ships lost all but one before he could get home in the Midland sea which is nothing so dangerous and troublesome Can it be thought credible that such a warlike nation as these Troians hauing so lately got footing and seated themselues in so goodly a countrey as Italy would so suddenly remoue so farre off to a place vnknowen The Romans hauing such dangerous warres and such occasion to vse men and braue commanders would neuer haue suffered them in such troopes to passe out of their countrey If it had tooke the name of Brutus it should doubtlesse haue been called Brutania not Britannia as Caesar nameth it nor Bretania Pretanice or Pretanis as the Greeks do write it But list what Caesar sayth of this matter Britania pars interior sayth he ab ijs incolitur quos natos in insula ipsi memoria proditum dicunt Maritima pars ab ijs qui praedae ac belli inferendi causa ex Belgio transierant The inner part of the ile is inhabited of such people as were bred and borne there as they themselues do report from their ancestours The sea coast is possessed of such as haue come thither from Flanders and thereabout to robbe and spoile the countrey If this were all that was then knowen and that Gildas Sapiens and Venerabilis Beda knew nothing to the contrary how came this our authour so many hundred yeeres after them to the knowledge of this so absolute an history where not only persons places and actions are so distinctly set downe with their precise difference of time as if they had beene done but yesterday The historian for things done in his owne time or not long before is beleeued vpon his owne word but for such things as were done many ages before he was borne he must bring his author to iustifie his assertion If there had beene any such tradition commonly deliuered from man to man it would questionlesse haue beene intimated to Caesar Records can not be preserued but by writing and that knowledge came in with the Romans But if it be a question whether there were euer any such city as that Troy so much renowmed by meanes of that learned poëme of the famous Poët Homer what will become of the stories of Aeneas which if I mistake him not the great Historiographer Titus Liuius doth make a doubt of and of this our Brutus neuer patronaged by any great learned wise man I know that is improued by some and I thinke it may be demonstrated For further satisfaction I referre
thee to M. Camdens Britannia where this argument is handled at large and most learnedly Only in defence of Gaulfridus lest any man should thinke that I haue all this while spoken against his person I conclude with this sayng of a learned man of our time Cardanus ait sayth he illius aetatis scriptores tantopere mendacio fabulis fuisse delectatos vt in contentionem venerint quis plura confingeret Cardane sayth That the Historians and Writers of those times betweene foure hundred and fiue hundred yeeres since were so much delighted with fables and lies that they stroue who should lie fastest and win the whetstone It was you see the fault of the time and age wherein he liued not of the man The learned Oratour Tully in the second booke of his Offices as I remember thus describeth the vertues of a true Historiographer Ne quid falsi scribere audeat Ne quid veri non audeat Ne quam in scribendo suspitionem gratiae Ne quam simultatis ostendat A good Historian may not dare to write any thing that is false He may not be afrayd to write any thing that is true He must not shew any partiality or fauour in writing He ought to be void of all affection and malice Learned Antiquaries follow this good counsell of the graue Philosopher Sell vs no more drosse for pure mettall Refine what you reade and write Euery tale is not true that is tolde Some authours want iudgement others honesty Let no man be beleeued for his antiquity For you know what Menander sayd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Grayhaires are not alwayes a signe of wisdome and deepe vnderstanding olde men do sometime dote and will lie as well as others One sayth Nesc to quo casu illud euenit vt falsa potius quà m vera animum nostrum captant I cannot tell sayth he how it commeth to passe but surely true it is that we are more easily caried away with lies and fables than with truth And how hard a matter it is to remoue one from a setled opinion though neuer so false and absurd any man meanly experienced doth very well know f Yet Caesar saith that Britanniae Loca sunt temperatiora qùam in Gallia remissioribus frigoribus The temperature of the aire in England is better then in France the cold is nothing so bitter That is as the authour of the Panegyricke oration made to Constantius the Emperour doth interpret it In ea nec rigor est nimius hyemis nec ardor aestatis In it neither the cold of winter nor the heat of summer is very excessiue And Minutius Felix hee writeth that Britannia sole deficitur sed circumfluentis maris tepore recreatur In England the Sunne shineth not very hotte but that defect is repaied by a certaine steame or hot vapour which ascendeth vp out of the sea that inuironeth this iland on all sides round g What place this should be I dare not for truth constantly affirme Perhaps he meaneth Vitsam or as we call it Whitsan a little towne in the country of Bolloine some fiue or six miles from Calais situate vpon the sea coast built at the mouth of a small riuer which peraduenture he calleth Shant For in the Arabicke tongue Wadi-shant importeth so much h This is false and by himselfe contradicted for in another place if I be not deceiued he maketh it twenty fiue miles ouer wherefore I doubt not but for a mile the authour did put a parasange which conteineth three English miles And this is somewhat neere the mark i I take it that he meaneth Cercester in Glocestershire which vulgarly they now call Ciceter It is an ancient city called of Ptolemey Corinium of Antonine Durocornouium of the Saxons Cyrenceaster taking the denomination from the riuer Corinus or Churne vpon which it is situate The tract of the decaied wals of it which are two miles about doe testifie that it was sometime a very great citie Many antiquities and auncient monuments doe plainly shew that in the time of the Romans it was a place of good rekoning Now it is nothing so populous and well inhabited k From the Seuerne I vnderstand it which at euery floude enterteineth the salt water a great way vp into the countrey l Warham is a sea towne in Dorsetshire strongly fortified by nature vpon the South and North with two riuers Ware and Trent this now they call Piddle and with the maine sea vpon the East only vpon the Wew it lieth open to the assailaunt Yet it was in times past defended with a faire wall and a strong Castle It was very populous well inhabited and graced with the Kings mint for the refining and coining of his mony vntill the time of Henry the Second since whose daies by reason of ciuill warres casualty by fire and stopping of the hauen it is much decaied and hath lost much of that former beauty m This distance is much too great whether he meaneth the lands end in Cornwall or the farther part of Wales Westward which I rather incline to But obserue this once for all that there is no great heed to be taken to those his accounts of miles and distances n Dartmouth an hauen towne in Deuonshire situate vpon a little hill running out into the sea at the mouth of the riuer Dart or Dert as some write it The hauen is defended with two strong Castels or Block-houses It is very populous well frequented with Merchants and hath many goodly tall shippes belonging to it King Iohn granted them certaine priuiledges and euery yeere to chuse a Maior for their supreme magistrrate and gouernour in ciuill causes vnder the King o Thus our seamen cal it at this day The Arabian termeth it _____ Tarfi'lgarbi mina'lgiezira The Westerne bound of the iland Master Camden in his Scotland that I may note this by the way affirmeth that Taurus in Welch doth signifie the end or limbe of any thing Heere in Arabicke thou seest it signifieth the same And in English wee call if I be not deceiued the brimmes of an hatte The tarfe p SALISBVRY or rather SARISBVRY a sweet and pleasant city within the County of Wilt situate in a plaine at the meeting of the riuers Auone and Nadder It is not that ancient city Sorbiodunum mentioned by Antoninus in his Iournall but built of the ruines of it as seemeth very probable For this old towne being often distressed for want of water and at length spoiled and rased to the ground by Swein the Dane in the yeare of our Lord 1003. although it reuiued againe a little after about the time of William the First was forsaken and abandoned by the citizens who laid the foundation of this new citie about 400. yeares since at what time Richard the First was King of England That most stately Cathedrall Church which they report hath as many doores as there be months in the yeare as many windowes as the yeare hath daies and as many pillars as there are
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