and admirable Note It is true of this Countrey which Solinus writeth of some other that Serpents and Adders doe not breed there and in the Irish Timber of certaine experience no Spiders webbe is ever found * Of Britaine The most renowned Iland in the world is Albion or Britannia which hath heretofore contained in it many severall Kingdomes but especially in the time of the Saxon. It hath now in it two Kingdomes England and Scotland wherein are * Foure languagâ—s there spoken foure severall Languages that is the English which the civill Scots doe barbarously speake the Welsh tongue which is the Language of the old Britaines the Cornish which is the proper speech of Cornewall and the Irish which is spoken by those Scots which live on the west part of Scotland neere unto Jreland The commodities and pleasures of England are well knowne unto us and many of them are expressed in this Verse Anglia Mons Pons Fons Ecclesia Foemina Lana England is stor'd with Bridges Hils and Wooll With Churches Wels and Women beautifull * Their originall The ancient inhabitants of this Land were the Britaines which were afterward driven into a corner of the Countrey now called Wales and it is not to be doubted but at the first this Countrey was peopled from the continent of France or thereabout when the sonnes of Noah had spread themselves from the East to the West part of the World It is not strange to see why the people of that Nation doe labour to fetch their pedigree from one Brutus whom they report to come from Troy because the originall of that Truth began by Galfriaus Monumetensis above five hundred yeares agone and his Booke contayneth great shew of Truth but was noted by Nubringensis or some Authour of his time to be meerely fabulous Besides that many of our English Nation have taxed the saying of them who would attribute the name of Britannia unto Brutus and Cornubia to Corynaeus Aenaeas Sylvius Epist 1.3 hath thought good to confirme it saying The English people saith hee doe report that after Troy was overthrowne one Brutus came unto them from whom their Kings doe fetch their Pedegrees which matter there are no more Historians that deliver besides a certain English man which had some learning in him who willing to equall the bloud of those Islanders unto the Romane stocke and generositie did affirme and say that concerning Brutus which Livie and Salust being both deceived did report of Aeneas Wee doe finde in ancient Records and Stories of this Island that since the first possessions which the Brittaines had heere it was over-runne and * The Brittains five times conquered conquered five severall times * First by the Romans The Romanes were the first that did attempt upon it under the conduct of Julius Caesar who did onely discover it and frighted the Inhabitants with the name of the Romanes but was not able so farre to prevaile upon it as any way to possesse it yet his Successours afterwards did by little and little so gaine on the Countrey that they had almost all of it which is now called England and did make a great Ditch or Trench from the East to the West Sea betweene their Dominion here and Scotland Divers of the Emperours were here in person as Alexander Severus who is reputed to be buried at Yorke Here also was Constantius Father unto Constantine the Great who from hence married Helena a woman of this Land who was afterwards Mother to the renowned Constantine But when the Romanes had their Empire much weakned partly by their owne discords and partly by that decay which the irruptions of the Gothes and Vandales and such like invaders did bring upon them they were forced to retire their Legions from thence and so leaving the Countrey naked the Scots and certaine people called the Tictes did breake in who most miserably ' wasted and spoyled the Countrey Then were the Inhabitants as some of our Authours write put to that choice that either they must stand it out and be slaine or give ground till they came to the Sea and so be drowned Of these * Secondly the Pâ—cts who used to print or pâ—unâ—e their 〈◊〉 Pictes who were the second over-runners of this Iland some doe write that they did use to cut and pounse their flesh and lay on colours which did make them the more terrible to be seene with the cuts of their flesh But certaine it is that they had their name for painting theÌ„selves which was a common thing in Brittaine in Caesars time as he reporteth in his Commentaries the men colouring their faces with Glastone or Ode that they might seeme the more dreadfull when they were to joyne battaile To meete with the cruelty and oppression of these Barbars the * Thirdly the Saxon. Saxons were in the third place by some of the Land called in who finding the sweetnesse of the soyle and commodiousnesse of the Countrey every way did repaire hither by great troupes and so seated themselves here that there were at once of them seven severall Kingdomes and Kings within the compasse of England These Saxons did beare themselves with much more temperance and placability towards those few of the Countrey that remayned than the Picts had done but yet growing to contention one of their Kings with another partly about the bounds of their territories and partly about other quarrels they had many great battels each with other In the time of these * Their Religion and devotion Religion and Devotion was much embraced and divers Monasteries and rich Religious houses were founded by them partly for penance which they would doe and partly otherwise because they thought it to be meritorious in so much that King Edgar alone is recorded to have built above foure severall Monasteries And some other of their Kings were in their ignorance so devoted that they gave over their Crownes and in superstition did goe to Rome there to leade the lives of private men These seven Kingdomes in the end did grow all into one and then the fourth and most grievous scourge and conquest of this kingdome came in the * Fourthly the Danes Danes who Lording here divers yeares were at last expelled and then William Duke of Normandy pretending that hee had right thereunto by the promise of adoption or some other conveyance from Herald did with his Normans passe over into this Land and obtained a great victory in Sussex at a place which he caused in remeÌ„brance therof to be called Battell and built an Abby there by the name of Battell Abby Hee tooke on him to winne the whole by Conquest and did beare himselfe indeed like a Conquerour For hee seised all into his hands gave out Barons Lordships and Mannours from himselfe reversed the former Lawes and Customes and instituted here the manners and orders of his owne Countrey which have proceeded on and beene by little and little bettered so that the
A BRIEFE DESCRIPTION OF THE WHOLE WORLD Wherein is particularly described all the Monarchies Empires and Kingdomes of the same with their ACADEMIES As also their severall Titles and Situations thereunto adjoyning Written by the Most Reverend Father in God GEORGE late Arch-bishop of Canterbury LONDON Printed by T. H. and are to sold by Wil. Sheares at the signe of the Harrow in Brittains Burse 1636. A BRIEFE DISCRIPTION of the whole WORLD Written by the Right Reverend Father in GOD. George Abbott Late Archbishop of Canterbury COSMOGRAPHIA 〈…〉 Will Marshall Sculpsit Printed for Will Sheares at the Harrow in Britaines by 1636. A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE whole World THE Globe of the Earth doth either shew the Sea or Land Of the Seas The Sea generall is called by the name of Ocean which coasteth all the World and taketh his name in speciall either of the place neer which it commeth as Oceanus Britannicus The diver â—â—s names giuen to the Seas and the reason why Mare Germanicum Sinus Persicus Mare Atlanticum of the hill Atlas in the West part of Africk or of the finder out as Fretum Magellanicum or of some other accident as the Red Sea because the sand is red Mare Mediterraneum because it runneth betweene the lands of Europe and Africk Mare Jcarium because Icarus was drowned there or the like There be some few Seas which have no intercourse with the Ocean as Mare mortuum neer Palestina Mare Caspium sive Hircanum not farre from Armenia and such a one is said to be in the North part of America Of the Straits or Narrow Seas The Straits or narrow Seas are noted in the Latine by the name of Fretum as Fretum Britannicum the English narrow Seas Fretum Herculeum the Straits between Barbarie and Spain Fretum Magellanicum c. Of the Earth The Earth is either Ilands which are those which are wholly compassed by the Sea as Britanâ—ia Sicilia Corsica or the Continent which is called in the English The firme Land in the Latin Continens The old known firme Land was contained onely in Asia Europe and Africa Europe is divided from Africa by the Mediterranean Sea from Asia by the River Tanais whereby appeareth that the North parts of Asia Europe in old time were but little known and discovered Africa is divided from Europe by â—he Mediterrean Sea from Asia by â—he River Nilus and so Asia by â—anais and Nilus is severed from Europe and Africk Of Spain TO say nothing of England and Ireland the most Western Country of Europe is Spain How Spain is bounded which is bounded on the South with the Mediterranean on the West with the Atlantick on the North with Oceanus Cantabricus or the Spanish Seas on the East with France from which it is severed with certain Mountains called Montes Pyrenei or the Pyrenay hils If wee should enquire into the times that were before the comming of the Carthaginians and Romanes into Spaine wee shall finde nothing but that which is either fabulous or neere to fables The Originall names of the CouÌ„tâ—ey of Spain here it was first called Iberia ab Ibero slumine afterwards Hispania ab Hispano wee may take as a tradition but their Gargoris their Habis their Geryon exceed beliefe of any but those that will take all reports on trust It is certaine that the Syrians planted a Colony there in the Isle of Gades corruptly now called Cadiz or Cales These troubled by their Neighbours desired aid of the Carthaginians a flourishing neighbour commonwealth descended of the Syrians as well as themselves who sent first to defend the Gaditanes against their neighbours afterwards heartned on by their successe in their first Expedition these Cathaginians Carthaginians sent to defend the Gaditanes successively sent thither three Captains Hamilcar Hasdrubal and Hannibal who for the most part subdued the Province and held it till by Scipio's and the Romane Forces they were dispossessed of it Yet for many years after the fortunes of the Romanes stucke as it were in the subduing of that Province so that from the time of the second Punick War untill the time of Augustus they had businesse made them in that Countrey continually neither could they till then bring it peaceably into the forme of a Province Spain once a Province of the Roman Empire It continued a Province of the Romane Empire untill the time of Honorius the Emperour in whose dayes the Vandalls came inâ—o it conquering and making it theirs then the Gothes the Vandalls either driven out or called over into Africke entring erected there a Kingdome which flourished for many yeeres Saracens Mâ—â—â—es erâ—cted it a Kingdome till by the comming of the Saracens and Moores their Kingdome was broken who setling themselves in Spaine erected a Kingdome changed the names of many places and Rivers and gave them new names such as they retaine to this day and continued for the space of some hundred of years mighty in that Countrey till they were first subdued by Ferdinand They were utterâ—y expelled by Philip the Third afterwards and that now lately utterly expelled by Philip the Third After the comming in of these Africans in this Countrey there were many Kingdomes as the Kingdome of Portugall toward the West the Kingdom of Granado toward the South the Kingdome of Navarre and Arragon toward the East and the Kingdome of Castile in the middle of the Land but the whole Dominion is now under the King of Spain Spain in former 〈◊〉 12 sevâ—â—all Kingdomes As Damianus a Goes doth write in that Treatise intituled Hispaniâ— there were in times past twelve several Kingdomes in Spain which hee nameth thus Castellae antiquae novae Leonis Aragoniae Portugalliae Navarâ—ae Granatae Valentiae Toleti Galitiae Algarbiorum Murtiae Cordubae which is not to be wondred at since in England a farre lesse Country there were in the time of the Saxons seven severall Kingdomes and Monarchies In the best Mappes of Spaine the Armes of these severall Kingdomes do yet distinctly appeare where for the Armes of Leons is given a Lion which manifestly argueth that whereas by some it is called Regnum Legionis that name is false for it is Leonis sutable thereunto for the Armes of Castile is given a Castle which was the cause that Iohn of Gaunt sonne to Edward the Third King of England did quarter with the Armes of England the Castle and the Lion as having maried Constance daughter to Peter King of Castile and at this day the first and chiefe Coat of the King of Spain is a Castle quartered with a Lion in remembrance of the two Kingdomes of Castile and Leons In Corduba as in times past it was called standeth Andoluzia neere unto which is the Island called properly Gades but since by deprivation of the word Cadiz and commonly Cales which was lately surprized by the English The Kingdome of Granada Granada â—oo yeeres possessed by the Moores Saracens which
all things were renewed and repaired againe as if there had never beene any such desolation Revenue of the Crowne of France exceeding great The Revenue of the Crowne of France is exceeding great by reason of the Taxes and Impositions which through the whole Kingdome are layd upon the subjects for their Sizes and Toules doe exceed all Imposts and tributes of all the Princes of Christendome in as much as there are few things there used but the King hath a commodity issuing out of them and not onely from matters of Luxury as in other States but from such things as be of necessity as Flesh Wood Salt c. It is supposed at this day that there be in the Kingdome thirty thousand men who are Vnder-officers and make a good part of their living by gathering of the Kings tribute This is much increased no doubt in these latter times but yet of old it was in so great measure which caused that speech of Maximilian the Emperour as Iohannes Aventinus witnesseth de Bello Turcico who said that the Emperour of Germany was Rex Regum meaning that his Princes were so great men The King of Spaine was Rex hominum because his people would obey their Prince in any reasonable moderation The King of England was Rex Diabolorum because the subjects had there divers times deprived their Kings of their Crownes and dignitie But the King of France was Rex asinorum in as much as his people did beare very heavy burthens of taxes and impositions In France the offices of Iustice bought and sold In this Kingdome of France is one great miserie to the subjects that the places and offices of Iustice are ordinarily bought and sold the beginning whereof was this Lewis the 12. who was called a Father of the Country began to pay the debts of his predecessour Charles the 7. which were very great and intending to recover unto France the Dukedome of Millaine and minding not to burden his people further than was need thought it a good course to set at sale all the Offices of the Crowne but with the places of Iustice he did not meddle But his successors after him tooke occasion also to make great profit of them witnesse the Author contra Machiavel lib. 1. cap. 1. By the customes of that Countrey The Custome of France for mustering and pressing Souldiers the King of France hath not that absolute power to muster and presse out Souldiers as in England and some other places of Christendome the Princes have But the manner is when the King will set forward any Military Service he sendeth abroad his Edicts or causeth in Cities and good Townes the Drum to be strucken up and whosoever will voluntarily follow he is enrolled Notwithstanding he wanteth few Souldiers because the Noble and Gentlemen of France doe hold it their dutie and highest honour both to attend the King unto the warres and to beare their own charges yearely for many moneths The person of the King of France hath in former time beene reputed so sacred that Guicciardine saith of them that their people have regarded them in that respect of devotion as if they had beene de mi-gods And Machiavel in his Questions upon Livie saith that they doted so upon their Kings that they thought every thing did become them which they did and that nothing could be more disgracefull than to give any intimation that such or such a thing was not well done by their King But this opinion is now much decayed the Princes of the bloud are in the next ranke under the King himselfe Paris the chiefe City of France There be many and very rich goodly Cities in France but the chiefest of all is Paris called Lutetia quasi Luto sita as some have merrily spoken which place is especially honoured first by the presence of the King most commonly keeping Court and residence there secondly by the great store of goodly houses whereof part belong to Noble men and part are houses of Religion thirdly by the Vniversity which is incomparably the greatest most ancient and best filled of all France fourthly in that it is the chiefe Parliament City of that Kingdome without the ratification of which Parliament at Paris Edicts and Proclamations comming from the King are not held authenticall fiftly by the great traffique of all kinde of Merchandize which is used in that place The Parliament Cities in France are places where their Termes are kept and in severall provinces are 7. unto which the causes of inferiour Courts within their distinct Provinces may be brought by appeale but the Parliament of Paris hath that prerogative that appeales from all Courts of the Kingdome doe lie there That which we call our Parliament in England is amongst them tearmed Conventus Ordinum or the States The kingdome of France divided into three parts France in ancient time as Casar reporteth in the first of his Commentaries was divided into three parts Aquitania which was towards the West Celtica towards the North and West and Belgica which is towards the North. Belgium is sometime called Gallia inferior and sometimes Germania inferior but wee commonly call it the Low-Countries the governement whereof at this day is not at all under France but Gallia Celtica and Aquitania are under the French King Gaules the ancient inhabitants of France The ancient inhabitants of this Countrey were the Gaules who possessed not onely all that we now call France being the greatest part of that the Romans called Gallia Transalpina but also a good part of Italy which they call Gallia Cisalpina a people whose beginnings are unknowne this of them is certaine that they were a Nation of valour for they not onely sackt Rome but also carried their conquering armes into Greece where they sate down and were called by the name of Gallogrecians or Galathians Some report also that they entred into Spaine and subdued and inhabited that part which was called Lusitania now Portugallia but howsoever their former victories and greatnesse they were by Julius Caesar subdued and made a province of the people of Rome and so continued under the Roman Empire till about foure hundred yeares after Christ when in the ruine and dismembring of the Roman Empire the French invaded Gaule and erected a Monarchie which hath continued to this day in the succession of sixty foure Kings of three severall races that is to say the Merovingians Carolovingians and Capevingians about twelve hundred yeares and now flourisheth under Lewis the 13. the now raigning King of France Although the French have done many things worthily out of their owne Countrey in the East against the Saracens although they have for a while held Sicily the Kingdome of Naples and the Dutchy of Millaine yet it hath been observed of them that they could never make good their footing beyōd the Alps France one of the strongest kingdomes in all Europe or in other forraigne Regions howbeit in it selfe France is one of the
England One of the honourable commendations which are reputed to bee in this Realme is the * Fair and large Churches fairenesse of our greater and larger Churches which as it doth yet appeare in those which wee call Cathedrall Churches many of them being of very goodly and sumptuous buildings so in times past it was more to be seene when the Abbeyes and those which were called Religious Houses did flourish whereof there were a very great number in this Kingdome which did eate up much of the wealth of the Land but especially those which lived there giving themselves to much filthinesse and divers sorts of uncleannesse did so draw downe the vengeance of God upon those places that they were not only dissolved but almost utterly defaced by King Henry the eight 1. Archbishopricks and 24. other Bishopricks There are here two Archbishoprickes and twenty foure other Bishoprickes within England and Wales It was a tradition among old Writers that Britaine did breed no Wolves in it neither would they live here but the report was fabulous in as much as our Chronicles do write that there were here such store of them that the Kings were enforced to lay it as an imposition upon the Kings of Wales who were not able to pay much money for tribute that they should bring in yearely certaine hundreds of Wolves by which meanes they were at the length quite rid from Wolves * The Countrey of Wales had in times past a King of it selfe yea Of Wales and sometimes two the one of North Wales and the other of South-wales betweene which people at this day there is no great good affection But the Kings of England did by little and little so gaine upon them that they subdued the whole Countrey unto themselves and in the end King Henry the eight intending thereby to benefit this Realme and them did divide the Countrey into Shires appointed there his Iudices itinerantes or Iudges of the circuite to ride and by Act of Parliament made them capable of any preferment in England as well as other Subjects When the first news was brought to Rome that Iulius Caesar had attempted upon Britaine Tully in the elegance of his wit as appeareth in one of his Epistles did make a flowt at it saying that there was no gaine to bee gotten by it For gold here was none nor any other commodity to bee had unlesse it were by slaves whom he thought that his friend to whom he wrote would not looke to be brought up in learning or Musicke Note But if Tully were alive at this day hee would say that the case is much altered in as much as in our Nation is sweetnesse of behaviour abundance of Learning Musicke and all the liberall Artes goodly Buildings sumptuous Apparell rich Fare and whatsoever else may bee truely boasted to bee in any Countrey neere adjoyning * Of Scotland The Northerne part of Brittaine is Scotland which is a Kingdome of it selfe and hath beene so from very ancient time without any such Conquest or mayne transmutation of State as hath beene in other Countries It is compassed about with the Sea on all sides saving where it joyneth upon England and it is generally divided into two parts the one whereof is called the Hye-land and the other the Low-land The Low-land is the most ' civill part of the Realme wherin religion is more orderly established and yeeldeth reasonable subjection unto the King but the other part called the Hye-land which lyeth further to the North or else bendeth towards Ireland is more rude and savage and whether the King hath not so good accesse by reason of Rockes and Mountaynes as to bring the Noblemen which inhabite there to such due Conformity of Religion or otherwise as hee would This Countrey generally is more * Scotland very pooâ—e in former times poore than England or the most part of the Kingdomes of Europe but yet of late yeares the wealth thereof is much increased by reason of their great trafficke to all the parts of Christendome yea unto Spaine it selfe which hath of late yeares beene denied to the English and some other Nations and yet unto this day they have not any Shippes but for Merchandize neither hath the King in his whole Dominion any vessell called A man of Warre Some that have travelled into the Northerne parts of Scotland doe report that in the Solstitium aestivale they have scant any night and that which is is not above two houres being rather a dimnesse than a darknesse The language of the Countrey is in the Lowland a kind of barbarous English But towards Ireland side they speake Irish * Thereason why it is said that in Brittain are soure languages which is the true reason whereof it is reported that in Brittaine there are foure Languages spoken that is Irish in part of Scotland English for the greatest part Welsh in Wales and Cornish in Cornwall In the Confines between the two Kingdomes of England and Scotland which are commonly called the * Borderers great Robbâ—s and Stealers Borders there lie divers Outlawes and unruly people which as being subject to neither Prince by their good wils but so farre as they list do exercise great robberies and stealing of Cattell from them that dwell thereabout and yet the Princes of both Realmes for the better preservation of Peace and Iustice doe appoint certaine Warders on each side who have power euen by Martiall Law to represse all enormities The Queene of England had on her side three whereof one is called the * Lord Warden of the Marches Lord Warden of the East Marches the other of the West Marches the third the Warden of the middle Marches who with all their power cannot so order things but that by reason of the out-rages thereabouts committed the borders are much unpeopled whiles such as desire to be civill do not like to live in so dangerous a place It hath beene wondred at by many that are wise how it could bee that whereas so many Countries having in them divers Kingdomes and Regiments did all in the end come to the Dominion of one as appeareth at this day in Spaine where were wont to bee divers Kings and so in times past in England where the seven Kingdomes of the Saxons did grow all into one yet that England and Scotland Note being continuate within one Iland could never till now bee reduced to one Monarchy whereof in reason the French may bee thought to have beene the greatest hinderance For they having felt so much smart by the Armes of England alone in so much that sometime all that whole Countrey almost hath beene over-runne and possessed by the English have thought that it would bee impossible that they should resist the force of them if both their Kingdomes were united and joyned into one The Custome therefore of the Kings of France in former times was that by their Gold they did binde unto them the Kings and
Nobility of Scotland and by that meanes the Kings of England were no sooner attempting any thing upon France but the Scots by and by would invade England Whereupon the * A Proverbe Proverbe amongst our people grew That hee who will France winne must with Scotland first begin * The policie of the French And these Frenchmen continuing their policie did with infinite rewards breake off the Marriage which was intended and agreed upon betweene King Edward the sixt and Mary the late unfortunate Queene of Scotland drawing her rather to bee married with the Dolphine of France who was Sonne to King Henry the second and afterward himselfe raigned by the name of King Francis the second But this was so ill taken by the English that they sought revenge upon Scotland and gave them a great overthrow in that battell which was called * Musselborough field Musselborough-field The people of this Countrey were in times past so * The barbarousnesse of these Scots in former times barbarous that they did not refuse to eate mans flesh which as Saint Hierome doth witnesse of them hee himselfe saw some of them to doe in France and the fame thereof went so farre that Chrysostome in one place doth allude to such a matter There bee many little Ilands adjoyning unto the great Iland Britaine as at the very North point of Scotland the * The Orcades the people barbarous Orcades which are in number above thirty The chiefe whereof is named Orkney whereof the people are barbarous On the West-side of Scotland towards Ireland lye the Ilands called Hebrides in number forty foure where inhabite the people ordinarily called the * The Red-shankes Red-shankes Not farre from thence is the I le Mona commonly called the * The I le of Man I le of Man the peculiar jurisdiction of the Earles of Darby with homage notwithstanding reserved to the Crowne of England On the North part of Wales is the Iland of * The I le of Anglesey Anglesey which is reputed a distinct Shire Towards France side on the South part of England is the I le of * The I le of Wight Wight in Latine called Vectis which is a good hold in the narrow Seas against the French More neere France are the Iles of * The Iles of Gernesey and Iernesey Gernesey and Iernesey where they speake French and are under the Crowne of England There are also many other but of small account As the Iles of Teanet and Sheppy on the side of Kent the Sorlings or Sully at the end of Cornewall in number as it is said 145. Caldey Lunday and the Flatholnes with * Divers other Ilands others in the mouth of Severne Holy-farne Cocket Ilands on the side of Northumberland And thus much of Great Britaine and the Ilands thereunto adjoyning Of the Ilands in the Mediterranean Sea THere be many Ilāds in the Mediterranean renowned in all the old Writers◠but the chiefe of them onely shall bee touched From the Pillars of Hercules going Eastward are two Ilands not far from Spaine which in times past were called * Iusulae Baleares Insulae Baleares for that the people of them did use both for their delight and Armour Slings which they continually almost carried about with them and whereunto as Pliny writeth they did traine up their Children from their youngest yeares not giving them any meat till they had from some post or beame cast it downe with a Sling Of these were those Fonditors or Sling-casters which the Carthaginians and Spaniards did use in their Warres against the Romanes The lesser of these which lyeth most West was called in old time Minorica The bigger which lyeth more East was called Majorica and now Minorica and Majorica they are both under the Dominion of the King of Spaine More Eastward in the Sea called Mare Inferum or Tyrrhenum lyeth the Island of * The Iland of Corsica Corsica over against Genua and direct Southward from thence lyeth the great * The Iland of Sardinia Island Sardinia For the quiet possession of which two the warres were often revived betweene the old Carthaginians and the Romanes for these two Islands lye in the middle very fitly The Iland of Corsica is subject to the State of Genua whither the Genoes doe transport things out of the Mayne and are ruled by their Governours as the Venetians doe Candie This Iland is but barren either in respect of some other that lye neere unto it or of the Countrey of Italy but yet yeeldeth profit ease and honour unto the States of Genua which have little land beside it The Island of Sardinia also is no way so fruitfull as Sicily but it is under the Government of the King of Spain and was the same which was promised to Anthony the King of Navarre Note Father to Henry the Fourth King of France in recompence of Pamplona and the rest of the Kingdome of Navarre then and now detained from him and his heires by the Spaniard But this was the device onely of the Cardinall of Lorraine who intending to draw him to Papistry and to order his politicke purposes did make shew of this which was no way meant by the Spaniard Further to the East at the very point of the South part of Jtaly lyeth the great * The Iland of Sicilia Iland Sicilia which some have supposed to have beene heretofore a part of the Continent but by an Earth-quake and inundation of water to have beene rent off and so made an Iland The figure of this Countrey is Triquetra triangled or three square Iustin in his fourth Booke doth seeme to suspect that Sicily was in times past fastned unto Italy But Seneca in Consolatione ad Martian Cap. 97. doth say plainly that it was sometimes a peece of the Continent There was also a great contention for this Countrey betweene the Carthaginians and the Romanes but the Romanes obtained it and had from thence exceeding store of Corne yearely whereupon Sicily was called Horreum Pop. Rom. Here stood the goodly * The Citie Syracusa Note City called Syracusa which was destroyed and sacked by Marcellus the Romane When as Livie writeth of him hee being resolved to set on fire that Citie which was then one of the goodliest places of the World could not chuse but break forth into teares to see how vaine and transitory the glory of worldly things is here At that time lived * Archimedes the famous Engine-maker Archimedes who was a most admirable ingenious Engine-maker for all kinde of Fortifications of whom it is said that by burning Glasses which hee made he did set on fire divers ships which the Romanes had lying in the Haven When the Citie was taken hee was making plots and drawing figures on the ground for to prevent the assaults of the Romanes and being unknowne he was slaine by some of the Souldiers which did breake in upon him Some thinke that it was
strongest kingdomes in all Europe at this day That which wee commonly call the Low-Countries Of the Low Countries containing 17 severall Provinces containeth seventeene severall Provinces wherof the most part have severall Titles and Governours as the Dukedome of Brabant the Earledome of Flanders c. Of which the inheritance at severall times did fall on Daughters who being married unto the Heyre of some of the other Provinces did in the end bring the whole Country into one entire governement which was commonly called by the name of the Dukedome of Burgundy and yet so that in the uniting of them together it was by composition agreed that the severall Provinces should retaine their severall ancient lawes and liberties which is the reason yeelded why some of those Provinces in our age thinke themselves freed from obedience unto the King of Spaine Note unto whom by inheritance they did descend because he hath violated their liberties to the keeping wherof at the first composition he was bound When this whole Country did belong unto the Crowne of France the Dukedome of Burgundy was bestowed by Philip de Valois King of France unto Iohn de Valois a yonger sonne of his from whom by descent it came at last to Charles the Bold otherwise Proud Duke of Burgundy who left one onely daughter and she was married to Maximilian the Emperour of the house of Austria from whom the inheritance descended unto Charles the fifth Emperour who yeelding it over to his sonne Philip the second did charge him to intreat that people well which he forgetting to doe under pretence of rooting out the profession of Religion did intangle himselfe and all that Country with a very long bloudy and wearisome warre The riches of the States in Generall There is no part of Europe which for the quantity of the ground doth yeeld so much riches and commodity as the Low-Countries doe besides their infinite store of shipping wherein they exceede any Prince of Christendome They were in time past accounted a very heavy dull people and unfit for the wars but their continuall combating with the Spaniards hath made them now very ingenuous full of action and managers of great causes appertaining to fights The names of the 17. Provinces either by Sea or Land The 17. Provinces are these Brabant Gelderland Artois Valencois Luxenburg Flaunders Henault Lile Namurce Holland Zeland Tornabum Tornacetium Mechlin Vtrecht and the East and West Freezeland France hath many petty governments that doe border upon it as the Dukedome of Savoy the State of the Switzers the Dukedome of Loraine the Burgundians or Walloons against all which the King is forced to keep his frontier Towns The Salike Law There is nothing more famous in this kingdome than the Salique Law whereby it is provided that no woman nor the heire of her as in her right shall injoy the Crown of France but it goeth alwayes to the heire male The author of the Commentaries against Machiavel reputeth it a great blessing of God that they have the Salique law in France and that not so much saith he because women by the infirmity of their sex are unfit to governe for therein many men who have enjoyed kingdomes have been and are very defective but because by that meanes the Crowne of France is never indangered by marriage of a forraigner to come under the subjection of a stranger And this is the opinion of Philip de Comines in the 8. Booke of his Commentaries This Law is very ancient among them so that it cannot certainly be defined when it was enacted but by vertue therof By this law Eâ—w the 3. King of England was put by the Crowne of France Edward the third King of England and his Heyres were cut off from inheriting the Crowne of France whereunto by marriage of a daughter hee was heire in generall And by reason of this Law Henry the fourth late King of France rather injoyed that Dominion than the Sonne of the Duke of Loraine who was neerer of bloud by descending from the Elder daughter of King Henry the second The Switzers government The Switzers are a people called in old time Helvetij who have no Noblemen or Gentlemen among them but onely the Citizens of their Townes the yearely Officers whereof and their Councell do governe their State 23 Cities or Cantons in Switzerland There are in Switzerland 23 Cities or Townes which they call their Canton although some rather thinke that name properly doth signifie the Rulers of those townes and of them some doe retaine to this day the Romish Religion but some others have embraced the Gospell The Countrey where they live is not very fertile and being far from any Seas they have no vent for their people but by sending them forth as hired Souldiers which for their pay doe fight oftentimes in Italy and France and sometimes in Germany Geneva Neare unto one part of them standeth Geneva which is challenged by the Duke of Savoy to have heretofore belonged to his Dominion but they pretend themselves to be a free City and by the helpe of Protestant Princes but especially by some of the Helvetians doe so maintaine it In this place there is a rare Law that if any malefactor A rare and excellent Law who hath fled out of his owne Country be convinced of any grievous crime he suffereth there as if he were in his owne Countrey which they are forced to doe because their Cities would be full of all sorts of Runnagates in as much as they stand on the Confines of divers Princes and States Of Germany THe next Countrey unto France on the East side is Germany Germany how bounded which is bounded on the West with France and the Low-Countries on the North with Denmarke and the Danish Seas on the East with Prussia Polonia and Hungary on the South East with Istria and Jllyricum on the South with the Alpe-hils and with Italy The Governour generall of this Country The Emprour governour of Germany Who be the 7. Electors is called the Emperour of Germany who is chosen by three spirituall Princes the Archbishop of Colen called Coloniensis the Archbishop of Ments called Moguntinus and the Archbishop of Trevers called Treverensis and three temporall Princes the Duke of Saxony the Marquesse of Brandenburge and the Count Palatine of Rhene which if they cannot agree as to make a Major part in their Election then thè King of Bohemia hath also a voyce whereof it commeth to be sayd that there be seven Princes Electors of the Empire His manner of Election The manner of the choise of the Emperour was established by a decree which is commonly called Bulla aurea which was made by Charles the 4. Emperour of Germany and King of Bohemia wherin he doth set downe all the circumstances of the Election of the Emperour and appointeth the King of Bohemia to be Sacri Imperij Archipincerna which is the Cup-bearer The 3.
noble citie which is now the principall Bulwarke of Christendome against the Turke from whence Solyman was repelled by Ferdinandus King of Hungary in the time of the Emperour Charles the fift It was in this countrey that Richard the first King of England in his returne from the Holy land was taken prisoner by the Archduke of Austria and so put to a grievous ransome There were lately divers brothers of the Emperour Rodolphus the second which were al called by the name of Archdukes of Austria Archdukes of Austria according to the maner of the Germans who give the titles of the Fathers nobility to all the children The names of them were Mathias Ernestus the youngest Albertus who for a good space held by dispensation from the Pope the Archbishopricke of Toledo in Spaine although he were no Priest and had then also the title of Cardinall of Austria was imploied for Viceroy of Portugall by Philip the 2 King of Spaine but after the death of the Duke of Parma hee was sent as Lievtenant generall governor of the Low-Countries for the K. of Spaine where since he hath attained to the marriage of the Infanta Isabella Eugenia Clara eldest daughter to K. Philip the second and last King of Spaine and by her hath hee the stile of Duke of Burgundy although peaceably he cannot enjoy a great part of that Country Thorow both Austria and Hungary doth runne the mighty river Danubius as thorow Germany doth run the Rheine The River of Rhine whereon groweth Vinum Rhenanum commonly called Rhenish wine Of Greece Thracia and the Countries neer adjoyning Situation of Dacia ON the South side of Hungary and South-east lieth a Countrey of Europe called in old time Dacia which is large and wide comprehending in it Transylvania Walachia Transylvania Walachia Moldavia Servia Moldavia Servia Of which little is famous save that the men are warlike and can hardly be brought to obedience They have lately bin under the K. of Hungary These Countries of Transylvania Walachia and Moldavia have certaine Monarchs of their owne whom they call by the name of Vognode which do rule their countries with indifferent mediocrity while they have the sway in their own hands but confining upon the Turk they are many times oppressed overcome by him so that often they are his tributaries yet by the wildnesse of the country uncertaine disposition of the Rulers and their people he never hath any hand long over them but sometimes they maintaine warre against him have slaine downe some of his Bassaes comming with a great Army against them by which occasion it falleth out that hee is glad now and then to enter confederacy with them so doubtfull a kinde of regiment is that which now adaies is in those Countries The river Danubius doth divide this Dacia from Mysia commonly called Bulgaria and Russia which lyeth on the South from Danubius and is severed from Graecia by the mountaine Haemus The mountaine Haemus This mountaine is that whereof they reported in times past though but falsly that who so stood on the top thereof might see the sea foure severall wayes to wit East West North and South under pretence of trying which conclusion not Philip Alexanders Father but a latter Philip King of Macedonia did goe up to that hill when in truth his meaning was secretly to meet with others there with whom hee might joyne himselfe against the Romans which was shortly the overthrow of that kingdome It should seeme that about this mountaine it is very cold by reason of that jest which Athenaeus reporteth Stratonicus to have uttered concerning that hill when he said that for eight moneths in the yeare it was very cold and for other four it was Winter Graecia bounded From Haemus toward the South lyeth Graecia bounded on the West by the Adriatike sea on the East by the Thracian sea and Mare Aegeum on the South by the maine Mediterranean sea This contained in old time foure speciall parts Peloponnesus Achaia Macedonia and Epirus Adjoyning whereunto was Illiricum Peloponnesus Moreah which is now called Moreah in the South part of Graecia being Peninsula or almost an Iland for that it is joyned by a little strait called Istmos unto the rest of Graecia Herein stood Sparta Sâ—â—â—ssus and Helicon and the ancient state of Lacedemon the lawes thereof were made by Licurgus by the due observation of which Tullie could say in his time that the title of Sparta in Lacedemon had continued in the same meanes and behaviour for the space of 700. yeares This Sparta was it which so often made warre against the Athenians and this and Athens were called the two edges of Graecia Neere the Jsthmos or Straits stood the famous City of Corinth Corinth which was in old time called the Key of Greece and whither S. Paul wrote two of his Epistles Aeneas Sylvius in his Cosmographicall Treatise De Europa cap. 22. saith that the Straits which divide Moreah from the rest of Graecia are in bredth but five miles and that divers Kings Princes did go about to digge away the earth that they might make it to be an Iland He nameth King Demetrius Julius Caesar Caius Caligula Domitius Nero of all whom hee doth note that they not onely failed of their purpose but that they came to violent and unnaturall deaths From the Isthmos which is the end of Peloponnesus or Moreah beginneth Achaia Achaia and spreadeth it selfe North-wards but a little way unto the Hill Othris which is the bounds betweene Achaia and Macedonia but East and West much more largely as Eastward even unto the Island Euboea Euboea with a great Promontory and Westward bounding unto Epirus The Inhabitants of this place were they which properly are called Achivi which word is so oft used by Virgil Here toward the East part stood Boetia upon the Sea-coast Boetia looking South-ward toward Moreah was Athens Athens which was famous for the Lawes of Solon for the warres against Sparta and many other Cities of Graecia and for an Vniversity of learned men which long continued there Pernassus and Helicon In this part of Greece stood Pernassus and Helicon so much talked of by Poets and Phocis and Thebes and briefly all the Cities wherof Livie speaking doth terme by the name of Achai or Vrbes Achaeorum The third Province of Graecia called Epirus Epyrus lyeth Westward from Achaia and extends it selfe for a good space that way but toward the North and South it is but narrow lying along the Sea-coast and looking South-ward on the Islands of Conegra and Cephalonia This was the Country wherein Olympias wife unto Philip of Macedonia and Mother unto Alexander the Great was born This was also the Kingdome of that noble Pyrrhus which made such great warres against the Romanes and in our later age it was made renowned by the valiant Scanderbeg who was so great a scourge
unto the Turk whose life is so excellently written by Martinus Partesius From the East part of Epirus Northward lyeth a Country which was never noted by any famous name but as it should seeme was sometime under Epirus from which it lyeth Northward sometimes under Macedonia from which it lyeth Westward and sometimes under Illyris or Dalmatia from which it lyeth Southward and it may be that there was in old time divers free Cities there Illyricum Illyricum which confineth upon Graecia toward the North and West neere unto the top of the Adriatick Sea and not farre from Venice is for a good part of it at this day under the Venetians The fourth and greatest part of old Graecia was Macedonia Macedonia which is falsly by the Maps of the Romane Empire placed on the Westside of Graecia for in truth it lyeth on the Eastside looking toward Asia the lesser being bounded on the Eastside by the Sea called Mare Aegeum on the Southside by Achaia and the Hill Othris and part of Epirus and on the Westside by certaine great Mountains but on the North by the Hill Haemus This was the Kingdome so famous in times past for Philip and Alexander his sonne who conquered the whole World and caused the name of the third Empire to be attributed unto this place Here stood the Hill Athos whereof part was digged downe by the army of Xerxes the great King of Persia who warred against the Grecians Here was the Hill Olympus the City of Philippi where the Philippians dwelt to whom Saint Paul wrote Here was Ampollonia Amphipolis Edessa Pella Thessalonica and Berea yea and the whole Countrey of Thessalia lay on the Southside of this part of Greece In this Countrey of Graecia were in ancient time many Kingdomes and States as at this day there are in Italy as the Macedonians the Kingdome of Epirus the State of Athens the government of Sparta the City of Thebes and very many other places insomuch that almost every Town had a peculiar government But now it is all under one Monarchy Many famous things from Grecia From Graecia in old time did almost all famous things come These were they that made the war against Troy that resisted Xerxes the mighty King of Persia that had the Famous Law-makers as Solon in Athens Famous Lawes and Lycurgus in Lacedemon that took away the Monarchy from the Persians that brought forth the Famous Captaines Famous Captains as Themistocles Miltiades Alexander and many other that were the Authours of civilitie unto the Western Nations and to some in the East as Asia the lesse that gave to Italy and to the Romanes the first light of learning because from them arose the first Poets as Homer The first Poets Hesiodus Sophocles and divers other The great Philosophers Socrates Plato Aristotle and all the Sects of the Academicks Stoicks Peripateticks Epicureans and almost all their Scholars The great Orators The great Oratours Demosthenes and Eschines and in one word the Mathematicks excepted which came rather from the Chaldeans and the Egyptians the whole flower of Arts and good Learning On the Northeast part of Graecia standeth Thracia Thracia which though heretofore it hath beene distinguished yet now it is accounted as the chiefe part of Greece Heere on the edge of the Sea-coast very neer unto Asia Constantinople standeth the City called Bizantium but since Constantinople because Constantine the Great did new build it and made it an Imperiall City This was the chiefe residence of the Emperour of Graecia sometimes called New Rome and the glory of the East where the Generall Councel was once assembled and one of the Seas of the Patriarks who was called the Patriark of CoÌ„stantinople But by the great discord of the Christians all Graecia and this Citie are fallen into the hands of the Turke who now maketh it his place of Imperiall aboad It was wonne in the time of Constantine the last Emperour so that by Constantine it obtained his honour and by Constantine it lost it In this City lyeth resident with the Turke an Ambassadour or Agent for the King of England The Christians that do live now in Graecia are in miserable servitude unto the Turke They disagree in many things from the doctrine of the Church of Rome Of the Sea running between Europe and Asia Northerne parts were not discovered in times past IF there were no other argument that the Northern parts of the World were not discovered in times past by any that travelled that way yet this would sufficiently avouch it that there was never thought upon any Land betweene Asia and Europe higher than the river Tanais which doth not extend it selfe very farre into the North but is short of the uttermost bounds that was by the space of foure thousand miles but this River which by the Tartarians is now called Don where it doth run it leaveth Asia on the Eastside and Europe on the West but going forward toward the South it disburdeneth it selfe into a dead Lake or Fen for so it seemeth which is called Maeotis-Palus Maeotis Palus Iustin Ovid. spoken of in the second book of Iustine and not forgotten by Ovid de ponto and at this day in the dead of Winter it is usually so frozen that the Scythians and Tartarians neer adjoyning do both themselves their cattâ—ll yea sometimes with Sleads after them passe over as if it were dry Land On the Southern part of this Maeotis is a narrow strait of the Sea which is commonly called by the name of Bosphorus Cimmerius Bosphorus Cimmerius because as it is thought sometime Oxen have ventured to swim crosse there from Asia to Europe or backward When the water hath runne for a pretty space in so narrow a passage there beginneth a great and wide Sea named Pontus Euxinus Pontus Euxinua Whither as Iosephus reporteth the Whale did carry the Prophet Ionas and there did disburden himselfe of his carriage by casting him upon the Land At the mouth of this Sea is a very great strait knowne by the name of Thracius Bosphorus Thracius Bosphorus where the bredth of this Sea is not above one mile severing Asia and Europe On the side of Europe standeth Constantinople On the side of Asia the City called Pera or Galata which for the neernesse is by some reckoned a part of Constantinople When any of the Turkes Ianizaries have committed ought worthy of death A strange custome among the Turks the custome is to send the same party in the night time over by boat from Constantinople to Peru where by the way he is throwne into the water with a great stone about his necke and then there is a piece of Ordnance shot off which is a token of some such execution The Turke is forced to take this course lest the rest of his Ianizaries should mutiny when any of their fellowes is put to death By reason of the standing of
Israel which were under one Kingdome till the time of Rehoboam the Sonne of Solomon But then were they divided into two Kingdomes ten Tribes being called Israel and two Iudah whose chiefe Citie was called Ierusalem Jerusalem Twelve Tribes divided The ten Tribes after much Idolatry were carried prisoners unto Assyria and the Kingdome dissolved other people being placed in their roome in Samaria and the Country adjoyning The other two Tribes were properly called the Iewes and their Land Iudaea The Iewes which continued long after in Ierusalem and thereabout till the Captivity of Babylon where they lived for seventie yeares They were afterward restored but lived without glory till the comming of Christ But since that time for a curse upon them and their children for putting Christ to death they are scattered upon the face of the Earth as Runnagates without certaine Countrey King Priest or Prophet In their chiefe City Jerusalem was the Temple of God first most gloriously built by Salomon and afterward destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar Jerusalem destroyed By the commandement of Cyrus King of Persia was a second Temple built much more base than the former For besides the poverty and smalnesse of it there wanted five things which were in the former as the Iewes write Note First the Arke of the Covenant Secondly the pot of Manna Thirdly the Rodde of Aaron Fourthly the two Tables of the Law written by the finger of God And fiftly the fire of the Sacrifice which came downe from Heaven Herod the Great an Edomite stranger having gotten the Kingdome contrary to the Law of Moses and knowing the people to be offended therewithall to procure their favour did build a third Temple wherein our Saviour Iesus Christ and his Apostles did teach The City of Jerusalem was twice taken and utterly laid desolate Ierusalem twice destroyed 1 By Nebuchadnezzar 2 By Vespasian first by Nebuchadnezzar at the Captivitie of Babylon and secondly after the death of Christ by Vespasian the Romane who first began the warres and by his Sonne Titus who was afterward Emperour of Rome who brought such horrible desolation on that Citie and the people thereof by Fire Sword and Famine that the like hath not beene read in any History Hee did afterwards put thousands of them on some one day to be devoured of the Beasts which was a cruel Custome of the Romanes magnificence Although Numbers and Times be not superstitiously to be observed as many foolish imagine yet it is a matter in this place not unworthy the noting which Iosephus reporteth in his seventh Booke and tenth Chapter de Bello Iudaico that the very same day whereon the Temple was set on fire by the Babylonians was the day whereon the second Temple was set on fire by the Romanes and that was upon the tenth day of August After this destruction the Land of Iudaea and the ruines of Ierusalem were possessed by some of the people adjoyning till that about sixe hundred yeares since the Saracens did invade it for expelling of whom from thence divers Frenchmen and other Christians under the leading of Godfrey of Bullen did assemble themselves thinking it a great shame that the Holy Land as they called it the Citie of Jerusalem and the place of the Sepulchre of Christ should bee in the hands of Infidels This Godfrey ruled in Ierusalem by the name of a Duke but his successours after him for the space of 87 yeares called themselves Kings of Ierusalem About which time Saladine who called himselfe King of Aegypt and Asia the lesse did winne it from the Christians For the recovery wherof Richard the first King of England together with the French King and the King of Sicilia did goe in person with their Armies to Ierusalem but although they wonne many things from the Infidels yet the end was that the Saracens did retaine the Holy Land Roger Hoveden in the life of Henry the Second King of England doth give this memorable note that at that time when the Citie of Ierusalem and Antioch were taken out of the hand of the Pagans by the meanes of Godfrey of Bullen and other of his Company the Pope of Rome that then was was called Vrbanus the Patriarch of Ierusalem Heraclius and the Romane Emperour Fredericke and at the same time when the said Ierusalem was recovered againe by Saladine the Popeâ— name was Vrbanus the Patriarch of Jerusalem Heraclius and the Roman Emperour Frederick Ierusalem in the Turkes Dominions The whole Countrey and Citie of Ierusalem are now in the Dominion of the Turke who notwithstanding for a great Tribute doth suffer many Christians to abide there There are now therefore two or more Monasteries and Religious Houses where Friers do abide and make a good commoditie of shewing the Sepulchre of Christ and other Monuments unto such Christian Pilgrimes as do use superstitiously to go in Pilgrimage to the Holy Land The King of Spaine was wont to call himselfe King of Ierusalem Of Arabia Arabia bounded NExt unto the Holy Land lyeth the great Country of Arabia having on the North part Palaestina and Mesopotamia on the East side the Gulph of Persia on the South the mayne Ocean of India or Aethiopia on the West Aegypt and the great Bay called Sinus Arabicus or the Red Sea This Countrey is divided into three parts the North part whereof is called Arabia Deserta Arabia divided into three parts the South part which is the greatest is named Arabia Foelix and the middle between both that which for the abundance of Rockes and Stones is called Arabia Petrea or Petrosa Of the Desart of Arabia The Desart of Arabia is that place in the which God after the deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt by passing thorow the Red Sea did keepe his people under Moses for forty yeares because of their rebellion feeding them in the mean time with Manna from Heaven and sometimes with water miraculously drawne out of dry Rockes For the Countrey hath very little water almost no Trees and is utterly unfit for Tillage or Corn. There are no Townes nor inhabitants of this Desart in Arabia Petrosa are some but not many Arabia Foelix for Fruitfulnesse of ground and convenient standing every way toward the Sea is one of the best Countries of the World and the principall cause why it is called Foelix is for that it yeeldeth many things in abundance which in other parts of the World are not to be had as Frankincense especially the most precious Balmes Mirrhe and many other both Fruits and Spices and yeeldeth withall store of some precious stones When Alexander the Great was young after the manner of the Macedonians hee was to put Incense upon an Altar and powring on great store of Frankincense one of the Nobilitie of his Countrey told him that hee was too prodigall of that sweet perfume and that hee should make spare untill hee had conquered the Land wherein the Frankincense did grow But when
As hee is a Prince absolute so hee hath also a Priest-like or Patriarchall function and jurisdiction among them * One of the greatest in the world This is a very mighty Prince and reputed to bee one of the greatest Emperours in the world What was knowne of this countrey in former time was knowne under the name of Aethiopia but the voyages of the Portugalls in these late dayes have best described it The people thereof are Christians * Their Religion as is also their Prince but differing in many things from the West Church and in no sort acknowledging any supreme prerogative of the Bishop of Rome It is thought that they have retained Christianity even from the time of our Saviour being supposed to bee converted by the Chamberlaine of Candace the Queene of Aethiopia who was instructed concerning Christ by Philip the Evangelist in the Actes of the Apostles Eusebius in his Ecclesiasticall story doth make mention of this But they doe to this day retaine Circumcision whereof the reason may be that the Eâ—nuch their Converter not having any further conference with the Apostle nor any else with him did receive the Ceremonies of the Church imperfectly retayning Circumcision which among the Iewes was not abolished when he had conference with Philip. Within the dominion of Prester John are the Mountains commonly called * Lunae montes Lunae montes where is the first wel-spring and rising of the river Nilus Yet there are that fetch the head of this River out of a certaine great Lake toward the South called Zembre out of which toward the West runnes the River of Zaire into the Kingdome of Moni-congo The River of Zuama or Cuama towards the South to the Kingdome of Monomotapa or Benomotapa as this River Nilus towards the North through the Kingdome of the Abissines to Aegypt which River running violently along this Countrey and sometimes hastily increasing by the melting of much Snow from the Mountaynes would over-runne and drowne a great part of Aegypt but that it is slaked by many Ponds Dammes and Sluces which are within the Dominion of Prester Iohn And in respect hereof for the maintenance of these the Princes of Aegypt have paid unto the Governour of the * The Abissines drowned Egypt Abissines a great Tribute time out of minde which of late the great Turke supposing it to be a custome needlesse did deny till the people of the Abissins by commandement of their Prince did breake downe their Dammes and drowning Aegypt did enforce the Turke to continue his pay and to give much mony for the new making of them very earnestly to his great charge desiring a peace In this Countrey also of Prester Iohn is the rising of the Famous River * The River Nigar Nigar supposed to have in it the most and the best precious stones of any River in the World which rising likewise out of a great Lake out of that Mount after it hath runne a good space hideth it selfe for the space of sixty miles under ground then appearing againe after it hath runne somewhat further makes a great Lake and againe after a great Tract another and at last after a long course fals at Cape Verde into the Atlantick Sea Ortelius in his larger Mappes describes it falling into the Sea like Nilus in Egypt with seven streames or Ostia but those that travell these parts say that there are only some Bayes but there is no River in those parts running into the Sea but Senega There bee other Countries in Africke * Countrie 3 more in Africk as Agisimba Lybia interior Nubia and others of whom nothing is Famous but this may be said of Africke in generall that it bringeth forth store of all sorts of wild Beasts as Elephants Lions Panthers Tygres and the like yea according to the Proverbe Africa semper aliquid apportat novi Oftentimes new and * Strange shapes of wild beasts strange shapes of wilde beasts are brought forth there the reason whereof is that the Countrey being very hot and full of Wildernesses which have in them little water the Beasts of all sorts being enforced to meet at those few watering places that bee where oftentimes contrary kinds have conjunction the one with the other so that there ariseth a new king of Species which taketh part of both Such a one is the Leopard begotten of the Lion and the Beast called Pardus and somewhat resembling either of them And thus farre of Africk Of the Northerne Ilands THe Ilands that do lie in the North are in nuÌ„ber almost infinite the chief of them onely shall bee briefly touched Very farre to the North in the same Climate almost with Sweden that is under the Circle Articke lyeth an Iland called in old time * Thule Thule which was then supposed to be the farthest part of the world North-ward therfore is called by Virgil Vltima Thule The Countrey is cold the people barbarous and yeeldeth little * Their commodities commodity saving Hawkes in some part of the yeare there is no night at all Vnto this land divers of our English Nation doe yearely travell and doe bring from thence good store of Fish but especially our deepest and thickest Ling which are therefore called Island-Lings It hath pleased God * Their Religion that in these latter times the Gospell is there preached and the people are instructed in Christianity having also the knowledge of good Learning which is brought about by the meanes of the King of Sweden unto whom that Iland is now subject There is lately written by one of of that Nation a pretty Treatise in Latine which describeth the manner of that Countrey and it is to be seene in the first Tome of master Hackluits Voyages Southward from thence lyeth * Frizeland Frizeland called in Latine Frizlandia whereas the Frizeland joyning to Germany is in Latine called Frizia On the coast of Germany one of the seventeene Provinces is called * Zealand in it standeth Flushen and Middleburge Zealand which containeth in it divers Ilands in whom little is famous saving that in one of them is Flishen or Flushen a towne of war and Middleburge is another a place of good Mart. Levinus Lemnius and some of the low Germanes bee of opinion that this Citie first was built by Metellus the Romane and that which now is called Middleburge was at the first termed Metelli Burgum The States of the Low-countries doe hold this Province against the King of Spaine These Ilands have beene much troubled of late with inundation of water The Iland that lyeth most West of any fame is * Ireland Ireland which had in it heretofore many Kings of their owne but the whole Land is now annexed to the Crowne of England The people naturally are rude and superstitious the Countrey good and fruitfull but that for want of tillage in divers places they suffer it to grow into Bogges and Desarts * A rare
threescore Degrees to returne againe From these Ilands it is that those strong and pleasant Sacks which are called * From hence the best Canary Sackâ—s Canary Wines are brought and from thence are fetched those that they call Canary Birds These Ilands are under the Crowne of Spaine The heat of the Countrey is very great and therefore fitter for concoction but besides that the soyle of it selfe is accommodated thereunto and by reason of them both these Ilands doe bring forth a Grape which is sweeter in taste then any other Grape and hath that propertie with it that the Wine which is made thereof doth not fume into the head like other Sacke but doth helpe the stomacke and exercise the force of it there The slips of their Vines have beene brought into Spaine and some other places of Europe but they have not sorted to the same purpose as they doe in their native Countrey There doe grow also in these Iles From hence great store of Sugar-canes good store of Sugar-canes which yeelde plentifully that kinde of commoditie unto Spaine either for Marmalets wherein they much delight or for other uses Peter Martyr in the beginning of his Decades which hee hath written De Orbe novo doth particularly touch the names and some other things of these Ilands On the backe-side of Africa also just under the Aequinoctiall is the * The I le of S. Thomas I le of Saint Thomas inhabited by the Portugals which Island was taken in the latter time of Queene Elizabeth by the Dutch it is reported that in the middest of this Island is an Hill and over that a continuall Cloud wherewith the whole Island is watered such a like thing as this is reported of the * The I le of Cloves Isle of Cloves The ayre of this Island is unwholsome and there is hardly seene any Portugall or stranger that comes to dwell there which lives till hee be above fortie yeares of age More Northward from Africke lie those Islands which are called * The Ilands of Azores Azores Insulae being sixe or seven in number of which Tercera is one of the chiefe of whom the rest by some are called Terceras which are farre inferiour in fruitfulnesse unto the Canaries These were first under the Crowne of Portugall and one of them was the last which was kept out from the King of Spaine by the Prior Don Antonio who afterward called himselfe King of Portugall but the Spaniard at last tooke this Tercera from him and doth possesse all these Islands together with the rest of the Dominion which did belong to the Portugals Hee who list to see the unadvised proceedings of Don Antonio both in parting with Lisbon Note the unadvisednesse of Don Antonio and the rest of Portugall as also in losing these Islands which last of all held out for him let him read Conestagio of the uniting of Portugall to the Crown of Castile But these Azores have in times past yeelded much Oade which thereupon in England was called Jsland Oade but now they are the place where the Spaniards do commonly touch and take in fresh water both going and comming to and from America finding that to passe directly without turning on either hand towards America is very hard by reason of the strong current of the water from the Gulph of Mexico and so forward to the East and therefore they are enforced either to goe lower to the South and so to water in some part of Guinea or thereabout or else to keepe up as high as these Ilands Of America or the new World ALthough some doe dispute out of Plato and the old Writers that there was not onely a guesse but a kind of knowledge in ancient time that besides Europe Asia and Africa there was another large country lying to the West yet he that shall advisedly peruse the conjectures made thereupon may see that there is nothing of sufficiencie to enforce any such knowledge but that all Antiquity was utterly ignorant of the new found Countries towards the West Whereunto this one argument most forcible may give credite * The people of America utterly void of all manner of God or goodnesse that at the first arriving of the Spaniards there they found in those places nothing shewing trafficke or knowledge of any other Nation but the people naked uncivill some of them devourers of mens flesh ignorant of shipping without all kinde of learning having no remembrance of Historie or writing among them never having heard of any such Religion as in other places of the World is knowne but being utterly ignorant of Scripture or Christ or Moses or any God neither having among them any token of Crosse Church Temple or Devotion agreeing with other Nations The reasons which are gathered by some late Writers out of Plato Seneca and some other of the Ancient are rather conjecturall The reasons conjecturall of a new found World that it was likely that there should bee some such place then any way demonstrative or concluding by experience that there was any such Countrey and the greatest inducement which they had to perswade themselves that there was any more Land towards the West then that which was formerly knowne was grounded upon this that all Asia Europe and Africk concerning the Longitude of the World did containe in them but 180 Degrees and therefore it was most probable that in the other 180 which filleth up the whole course of the Sunne to the number of 360 degrees GOD would not suffer the water onely to possesse all but would leave a place for the habitation of men beasts flying and creeping creatures I am not ignorant that some who make too much of vaine shewes out of the British Antiquities have given out to the World and written something to that purpose that Arthur sometimes King of Britaine had both knowledge of these parts and some Dominion in them for they finde as some report that King Arthur had under his government many Ilands and great Countries towards the North and West which one of some speciall note hath interpreted to signifie America and the Northerne parts thereof and thereupon have gone about to entitle the * Some have entitled the Queene of England Soveraigne of these Provinces Queene of England to bee Soveraigne of those Provinces by right of Descent from King Arthur But the wisedome of our State hath beene such as to neglect that opinion imagining it to be grounded upon fabulous foundations as many things are which are now reported of King Arthur onely this doth carrie some shew with it that now some hundred of yeares since there was a Knight of Wales who with shipping and some pretty Company did goe to discover those parts whereof as there is some record of reasonable credit amongst the Monuments of Wales so there is this one thing which giveth pregnant shew thereunto that in the late Navigation of some of our men to Norumbega and some other
Northern parts of America they finde some tokens of civility and Christian Religion but especially they doe meet with some words of the Welch Language as that a bird with a white head should be called Pengwinn and other such like yet because we have no invincible certaintie hereof and if any thing were done it was only in the Northerne and worse parts and the entercourse betwixt Wales and those parts in the space of divers hundred yeares was not continued but quite silenced wee may goe forward with that opinion that these Westerne Jndies were no way knowne to former ages God therefore remembring the Prophecie of his Sonne that the Gospell of the Kingdome should before the day of judgement bee preached in all coasts and quarters of the World and in his mercy intending to free the people or at the least some few of them from the bondage of Satan who did detaine them in blockish ignorance and from their Idolatrous service unto certaine vile spirits whom they call their Zemes Their Religion and most obsequiously did adore them raised up the spirit of a man worthy of perpetuall memory one * Columbus the first discoverer of America Christophorus Columbus borne at Genua in Italy to set his mind to the Discovery of a new World who finding by that compasse of the old knowne World that there must needs be a much more mighty space to the which the Sunne by his daily motion did compasse about then that which was already known and discovered and conceiving that this huge quantity might as wel be land as Sea he could never satisfie himselfe till that he might attempt to make proofe of the verity thereof Being therefore himselfe a private man and of more vertue then Nobility after his reasons and demonstrations laid downe whereby hee might induce men that it was no vaine thing which hee went about hee went unto many of the Princes of Christendome and among others to Henry the seventh King of England desiring to bee furnished with shipping and men fit for such a Navigation but these men refusing him partly because they gave no credit to his Narration and partly lest they should bee derided by their neighbour Princes if by this Genoe-stranger they should be cousened but especially for that they were unwilling to sustaine the charges of shipping at last hee betooke himselfe unto the Court of Ferdinandus and Elizabeth King and Queene of Castile where also at the first hee found but small entertainment yet persisting in his purpose without wearinesse and with great importunity it pleased God to move the mind of Elizabeth the Queene to deale with her husband to furnish forth two Ships for the discovery onely and not for conquest whereupon * In the yeare 149. America discovered by Columbus Columbus in the yeare one thousand foure hundred ninetie and two accompanied with his brother Bartholomeus Columbus and many Spaniards sayled farre to the West for the space of threescore dayes and more with the great indignation and often mutinies of his company fearing that by reason of their long distance from home they should never returne againe insomuch that the Generall after many perswasions of them to goe forward was at length enforced to crave but three dayes wherein if they saw not the Land hee promised to returne and God did so blesse him to the end that his voyage mighâ— not prove in vaine that in that space one of his Companie did espie fire which was a certainâ— Argument that they were neere to the Land as it fell out indeed The first Land whereunto they came was an Iland called by the Inhabitants * The Iland Haity Haity but in remembrance of Spaine from whence heâ— came hee termed it Hispaniola and finding it to bee a Countrey full of pleasure * The riobes of the Countrey and having in it abundance of Gold and Pearle hee proceeded further and discovered another bigge Ile which is called * The Iland Cuba Cuba of the which being very glad with great treasure hee returned unto Spaine bringing joyfull newes of his happy successe When Columbus did adventure to restraine the time of their expectation within the compasse of three dayes engaging himselfe to returne if in that space they saw no Land there bee some write that hee limited himselfe not at all adventures but that bee did by his eye discerne a difference in the colour of the Clouds which did arise out of the West from those which formerly hee had seene which Clouds did argue by the clearenesse of them that they did not arise immediately out of the Sea but that they had passed over some good space of the Land and thereby grew clearer and clearer not having in them any new or late risen vapours but this is but conjecturall * The pride of the Spaniard labouring to abscure the same of Columbus The Spaniards who are by nature a people proud have since the death of Columbus laboured to obscure his fame envying that an Italian or stranger should be reported to bee the first discoverer of those parts And therefore have in their writings since given forth that there was a Spaniard which had first beene there and that Columbus meeting with his Cardes and Descriptions did but pursue his enterprize and assume the glory to himselfe But this fable of theirs doth savour of the same spirit wherewithall many of them in his life time did reproach him that it was no matter of importance to finde out these Countries but that if that hee had not done it many other might and would Which being spoken to Columbus at a solemne Dinner hee called for an Egge and willed all the Guestâ—one after another to set it up on end Which when they could not doe he gently bruising the one end of it did make it flat and so set it up by imitation whereof each of the other did the same whereby hee mildely did reprove their envy towards him and shewed how easie it was to doe that which a man had seene done before To go forward therefore Columbus being returned to Castile after his welcome to the Princes was made Great Admirall of Spaine and with a new Fleete of more Ships was sent to search further which hee accordingly did and quickly found the mayne Land not farre from the Tropick of Cancer Which part of the Countrey in honour of Spaine hee called * Hispania nova Hispania nova in respect whereof at this day the King of Spaine doth entitle himselfe Hispaniarum Rex Some there bee which write that Columbus did not discover further than the Islands and that hee spent the greatest part of his former labours in coasting Cuba and Hispaniola to see whether they were Ilands or a Continent that some other in the meane time did thrust themselves forward and descryed the firme Land Among whom * Of whom this Countrey had its name Americus Vespucius was the chiefe of whose name a great
ground and therefore howsoever they brought home some store of earth which they supposed to bee Oare and of shining stones yet when it came to the tryall it prooved to be nothing worth but verified the Proverbe All is not gold that glisters In very many parts of these Northerne Countries of America there is very fit and opportune fishing some pretty way within the Sea and therefore divers Nations of Europe doe yearely send Fishers thither with shipping and great store of salt where when they have taken fish and dryed it and salted it at the land they bring it home into Christendome and utter it commonly by the name of New-found-land-fish The fish of New-found land The English about the yeare 1570 did adventure farre for to open the North parts of America and sayled as farre as the very Circle Articke hoping to have found a passage by the North to the Molluccoes and to China which hitherto neither by the North of Asia nor by the North of America could be effected by them by reason of the very great Colde and Ice in the Climate The rest of the Island being a hugh space of Earth hath not hitherto by any Christian to any purpose beene discovered but by those neere the Sea-coast it may be gathered that they all which doe there inhabite are men rude and uncivill without the knowledge of God Yet on the North-west part of America some of our Englishmen going through the Straights of Magellan and passing towards the North by Hispania Nova have touched on a Countrey where they have found good entertainment and the King thereof yeelded himselfe to the subjection of the Queen of England whereupon they termed it * Nova Albion Nova Albion Sir Francis Drake who toucht upon that Countrey and for some pretty time had his abode there doth report in his Voyage that the Countrey is very good yeelding much store of divers Fruits delightfull both to the eye and taste and that the people are apt enough by hospitality to yeeld favour and entertainment to strangers but it is added withall that they are marveilously addicted to Witch-craft and adoration of Devils from which they could not be perswaded to abstaine even in the very presence of our Countrey-men Of Peru and Brasile The Portugales discovery of Brasile WHen the Portugals had first begun the Navigation by Africke into the East Indies some of theÌ„ intending to have held their course East-ward unto Caput bonae spei were driven so farre West-ward by Tempest that they landed in a large and great Countrey which by a generall name is called Brasilia where they began to enter Traffick and with Townes and Castles to plant themselves before that the Spaniard had discovered Peru which is the South part of America So that at this day whatsoever the King of Spaine hath in Brasilia it is in the right of the Crowne of Portugall Wee may read in Guicciardine how when the Spaniards towards the West and the Portugales towards the East had descryed many New-found-lands there grew great contention betweene them what should be appropriated unto the one and what might be seized on by the other therefore for the better establishing of peace amongst them they had both recourse unto Alexander the sixt who was Pope in the yeare 1492. and somewhat before and after and hee taking on him after the proud manner of the Bishops of Rome to dispose of it which belonged not unto him did set down an order betweene them which was that all the degrees of Longitude being 360 in the Globe being divided into two parts the Spaniards should take one and the Portugals the other so that in this division they were to begin in those degrees under which some of Peru standeth from the which they counting forwards towards the East did allow Brasilia and 180 degrees to the Portugals Eastward and so from Brasilia Westward to the Spaniards as many so that hee had in his portion all America except Brasilia A large Country and much inbaâ—ited This Countrey is large having in it many people and severall Kingdomes which are not all possessed by the Portugals but so that other Christians as namely the Frenchmen being driven out of their Countrey for Religion have set foote in there though afterwards againe they have abandoned it What the Portugals doe at this day in Brasilia I know not but it is likely now that whatsoever there is held by the Christians is reputed to be under the Spaniards as many other parts of Brasile promiscuously are yet certaine it is that now almost 40. yeares since some of the French-men which professed sincere religion and could not then be suffered quietly to live in France did provide certain shipping and under the conduct of one Villagagno a Knight of Malta but their owne Country-man did goe thither and continued there by the space of one yeare having Ministers and Preachers amongst them and the exercise of the word Sacraments but after by the evil counsell of some of the chiefe Rulers of France which were addicted unto the Pope the heart of Villagagno was drawn away insomuch that he contumeliously using the Pastors and chiefe of that Company did force them to retire into France so that the habitation there was then utterly relinquished and hath not since been continued by any of the French There is a learned man one Iohannes Lyreus who was in their voyage and hath written a Tract called Navigatio in Brasiliam which is very well worth the reading not onely to see what did befall him and his Company but what the manners of that people with whom they did converse The Inhabitants here are men also utterly unlearned but men more ingenious than the common sort of the Americans goodly of body and straight of proportion going alwayes naked reasonable good Warriours after their Countrey fashion using to fat such enemies as they take in the Warres that afterwards they may devoure them which they may devoure them which they doe with great pleasure For divers of the people of those Quarters as the Caribees and the Cannibals and almost all are eaters of mans flesh * The abundance o Brasile wood In this Countrey groweth abundance of that wood which since is brought into Europe to die red colours and is of the place whence it commeth called Brasil Wood the Trees whereof are exceeding great The people of Brasil where Lyrius and his fellowes lived are called by the name of Tauvoupinambaltii by description of whose qualities many things may be learned concerning the rest of the Inhabitants neere thereabout First then they have no letters among them and yet seeme to bee very capable of any good understanding as appeared by the speech of some of them reproving the Frenchmen for their great greedinesse and covetousnesse of gaine when they would take so much paines as to come from another end of the World to get Commodities there * Their Religion Their