for that he was in managing all maner of businesses a most prudent faithfull and fortunate man by Lewis the Fourth the next successour in the Empire much set by and greatly esteemed In his time this whole prouince as it is heere set out in this our Chorographicall Chart was subiect to him and to other Princes and Earles of Hennenberg then liuing But HENRY his sonne dying without issue male the greatest part of this countrey by the marriage of his three daughters KATHARINE SOPHIA and ELIZABETH fell vnto the Marquesses of Misnia Burggraues of Noriberg and Princes of Wurtenburg which two last selling their portions the bishop of Wurtenburg did much enlarge his diocesse IOHN the second sonne of Berthold the first by his wife Adelheida of the house of Hessen had by Elizabeth of the family of Luchtenburg a sonne named HENRY the Fourth who by Mechtilda or Mawd daughter to the Marquesse of Bath WILLIAM the First who by his wife Anna of Brunswicke had WILLIAM the Second which by Katharine Countesse of Hanaw had issue WILLIAM the Fourth begotten of his wife Margaret daughter to the Duke of Brunswicke This William had by his wife Anastasia daughter of Albert Prince Electour of Brandenburg seuen sonnes and six daughters namely WILLIAM and CASPAR which died in their infancy IOHN Abbot of Fulden WOLFGANG and CHRISTOPHER which two died bachelours GEORGE ERNEST and BOPPO the Sixt This Boppo after the death of his first wife Elizabeth daughter to the Marquesse of Brandenburg maried Sophia daughter to the Prince of Luneburg he died vpon the fourth of March in the yeere of our Lord 1574. leauing no issue behind him He was a very godly prudent magnanimous and curtuous Prince That other George Ernest after the death of his wife Elizabeth daughter to the Duke of Brunswicke maried Elizabeth daughter to the Prince of Wurtenburg and at length vpon the seuen and twentieth day of December in the yeare of our Lord God 1583. yeelded to Nature and died in the seuentie and third yeare of his age being the last Prince of that stocke or family The description of this prouince of Hennenberg as heere it is set downe at this day is subiect vnto diuers Princes the greatest part of it belongeth to the Duke of Saxony the rest to the bishop of Wurtenburg and the Landtgraues of Hessen A more large and exact description of this Stocke and Family if any man be desirous to haue may be learned out of the Genealogy or Pedigree of M. Sebastian Glaser sometime Chancellour of this Principality of Hennenberg HASSIA or The LANDTGRAVY of HESSEN THe countrie of HESSEN which sometime was an EARLDOME and now graced with the title of a LANDTGRAVY ' was in old time possessed by the CATTI as almost all writers generally of our time do verily beleeue only Albertus Crantzius to my knowledge is of another mind for he laboureth to make the world beleeue that these Catti were those people which now are called Saxones This prouince hath vpon the East Turingen vpon the South Frankenland vpon the West Westphalen vpon the North the Duke of Brunswicke the bishop of Minden with other princes are neere neighbours It is a countrey very fertile of all maner of things necessary for the maintenance of mans life It beareth no vines but vpon that side only that lieth vpon the Rhein MARPVRG and CASSELL are the chiefe and principall cities of this country Whereof this latter is adorned with the Princes court and concourse of Nobles Gentlemen and other braue gallants following and attendant vpon the same the other is graced with a goodly Vniuersity well frequented with students from all places neere adioining round about In this Landtgrauy there are also diuers other Counties or Earledomes as CATZENELEBOG ZEIGENHEIM NIDA and WALDECK of all which now this Landtgraue writeth himselfe Lord. But listen what Eobanus Hessus that worthy poet in a certaine congratulatory poeme of his written and dedicated vnto Philip the Landgraue of this country vpon occasion of the victory atchieued by him at Wirtemburg wherin he doth by the way thus speake of the nature and situation of this prouince and withall something also of the maners of the people Qualis Hyperboreum prospectans Thraca Booten Gradiui domus ad Rodopen Hemumque niualem Circumfusa iacet gelidis assueta pruinis Gignit in arma viros duratos frigore quique Aut Hebrum Nessumque bibunt aut Strimonis vndas Talis ipsa situ talis regione locorum Et fluuijs siluisque frequens montibus altis Hassia naturae similes creat alma locorum Ceu natos in bella viros quibus omnis in armis Vita placet non vlla iuuat sine Marte nec vllam Esse putant vitam quae non assueuerit armis Quod si tranquillae vertantur ad otia pacis Otia nulla terunt sine magno vana labore Aut duro patrios exercent vomere colles Aequatosque solo campos rimantur aratris Namque planicies segetum foecunda patentes Explicat innumeras plenamesse colonos Ditat ipsa sibi satis est aut ardua syluae Lustra petunt canibusque feras sectantur odoris Venatu genus assuetum genus acre virorum Aut leges iura ferunt aut oppida condunt Fortia non solum bello munimina verùm Quae deceant in pace etiam oblectentque quietos Quid sacros memorem fontes quid amoena vireta Quid valles ipsis certantes frugiferacis Vallibus Aemoniae dulces quid vbique recessus Musarum loca confessu loca digna Dearum O patriae gelidi fontes ô flumina nota O valles ô antra meis notissima Musis c. Thus much in English prose briefly Hessen in situation nature of the soile and temperature of the aire is a country of all the world most like vnto Thrace Which by reason that it is much ouerhanged with many tall and stately woods beset and enclosed betweene the snow-top'd mountaines Hemus Rhodope Pangaeus and Cercina watered and serued with the chill and frozen-streamed riuers Hebrus Nessus and Strimon doth breed an hard kind of people fit for all maner of seruice and toilesome trauell So heere as if they were descended from mighty Mars their chiefe delight is in the wars no other kind of life doth please them halfe so well nay they hold it otherwise no life at all or at least that that man is not worthy to liue that doth not especially delight himselfe in martiall feats and deeds of armes Yet if all be still and warlike Mars do sleep they cannot abide to liue idlely and to spend their time at home For then they either do giue themselues to husbandrie and to follow the plow For heere the large and open champion ground do with great aduantage repay the husbandmans hire and paines or else in hawking and hunting they do through thiâ—ke and thin darkest woods and most bushy forests ouer hedge and ditch highest hils and lowly vales follow
mother a Bohemian neece to Duke Wenceslaus by the brothers side A sonne of his called Mieslaus in the yeere 1001. was married to Rixa daughter of Erenfrid County Palantine neece to the Emperour Otho the third by his sister Melchitis and this man was the first that receiued the kingly diademe from Otho the third But after his decease the Polonians hauing by sedition expelled out of their kingdome the Emperours niece and his sonne Casimire Conradus the Emperour reseruing to himselfe a certaine tribute annexed Silesia to the crowne of Bohemia This Emperour was an Vratislauian borne and perhaps gaue the name of Vratislauia to his natiue citie which is now commonly called Breslaw But hereof I cannot certainly affirme ought This one thing is not to be doubted that the Silesians had no affection towards the Polonians whenas by the practise and industry of Iohn the first king of Bohemia father to the Emperour Charles the fourth they vnited themselues to the Bohemians Some there are by what authority or opinion I know not which affirme that in the same place where Breslaw now stands was built in times past by a Prince called Liguis the city of Budurgis mentioned in Ptolemey For it is apparent out of histories that Mieslaus Duke of Poland who was first created King by the Emperour Otho the third and in the yeere 965. embraced Christianitie did anno 1048. erect a woodden church or chapel to the honour of S. Iohn Baptist Whereby you may gather that in those dayes there was no great matter of building at Breslaw Moreouer Gotefridus the first Prelate of that church being an Italian preferred the village of Smogra before the citie of Breslaw hauing there his Schole and College Likewise about this time it is thought that the foundations of other the principall cities of Silesia namely of Lignitz Glogaw Luben c. were layd for out of monuments and Annales no certainty can be gathered whenas the ancientest writings in all Silesia are the letters of the Emperour Frederick the second which were written in the yeere 1200. all the residue being consumed and lost either by fires or inuasions which haue beene very terrible in these parts But by the good indeuour of Frederick Barbarossa Silesia was both pacified and so distributed among the sonnes of Vladislaus king of Poland that it seemed not altogether to be dismembred from that crowne But when the Polonians perceiued that Silesia grew full of Germans and that the Princes began to fauour them reiecting the lawfull heires they aduanced to the kingdome of Silesia one Vladislaus Locticus a cruell enemy to the Germans This was the occasion that they betooke themselues to the protection of Iohn king of Bohemia who being sonne to the Emperour Henry the seuenth married the daughter of Wenceslaus king of Bohemia and was inuested into the kingdome 1302. Wherefore after the decease of this Iohn of Lucelberg Silesia was subiect to twelue Bohemian kings one after another six whereof were Emperours one a Bohemian another an Hungarian fiue of the house of Austria two Polacks but descended from Austria by the mothers side Of the Polonian race remained as yet in Silesia the Princes of Lignitz and Teschnitz for those of Munsterberg deriue their pedegree from George king of Bohemia Vratislauia the head-city of Silesia being burnt to ashes in the yere 1341 began then so stately to be built of stone as at this present both for order and beauty of houses and largenesse of streets it is little inferiour to any of the cities in Germanie Concerning other more true ornaments of a Common-wealth I shall not need to speake seeing it is manifest to all Germanie that scarse in any other region there are to be found so many Schooles such numbers of learned Professours and of excellent wits It beseemes me not to speake too gloriously of my countreymen yet thus much I may boldly say that there is almost no Princes court nor any famous common-wealth where the vertue and learning of the Silesians findes not entertainment The gentlemen likewise albeit addicted to tillage and good husbandry yet are they so warlike withall that no indifferent Iudges can deny but that by their valour the remainder of Hungarie is defended It is a region very fruitfull of corne especially in one place aboue the rest which is most carefully manured by our people It aboundeth with fish-pooles The famous riuer Odera confineth it East and North and South it is diuided from Bohemia by Sudetes But the situation best appeareth in the Map Of Silesia you haue somewhat written by Aeneas Syluius and by others which are ignorant of the countrey But Laurentius Coruinus could haue brought more certainties to light had not the age wherein he liued been fatally ouerwhelmed in ignorance Thus much Iohn Crato concerning his natiue countrey Silesia It containeth twelue Dukedomes one Bishoprick the Bishop whereof hath his residence at Neisse and sometimes at Breslaw for there is a Cathedrall church and a College of Canons Heere are foure Baronies also In this region about Striga and Lignitz is found a kinde of medicinable earth commonly called Terra sigillata like that of Lemnus and of equall force some quantitie whereof Iacobus Manouius Citizen and Senatour of Breslaw hath often bestowed vpon me The Chronicles of Silesia were of late written by Ioachimus Curius wherein he hath so curiously described the situation and the antiquity of their townes and cities the gouernment of their state and their memorable acts that the studious may here finde an absolute history I am informed by Iacobus Monauius that Francis Faber hath described it in verse also SILESIAE TYPVS A Martino Helwigio Nissense descriptus et Nobili doctoque viro Domino Nicolao Rhedingero ded MORAVIA MORAVIA is thus described by Ioannes Dubrauius in his Bohemian story Morauia was called of olde Marcomania because it confined vpon Germany at that place where Dariubius entreth Hungary For Mark in high Dutch signifies a limit or confine and thereupon Marcomanni are such as inhabit the borders of a countrey Concerning these people Arrianus in his relation of Germany the farthest of these nations saith he are the Quadi and Marcomanni then the Iazyges a people of Sarmatia after the Getes and lastly a great part of the Sarmatians Howbeit at this present because it is bounded by the riuer Mora from the same riuer the inhabitants are called Moraui and the countrey Morauia On three sides as it now stands it is diuided by mountaines woods forests or riuers on the East from Hungary West from Bohemia and North from Silesia for on the South part towards Austria it is plaine being some where separated therefrom by the riuer Thaysa and in other places by another obscure riuer The principall riuer in Morauia is Mora which enuironeth the chiefe city called Olmuntz and from thence running into Hungary dischargeth himselfe with his tributary streames into the chanell of Danubius For Mora receiuing into his bosome the riuer
his deare Mother which brought him vp by them to be spoiled Therefore Florence partly taking by force and partly by other meanes drawing to their part the Fesulanes about the yeare of Christ 1024. was much enlarged in wealth and authoritie at which time also Henry the first Emperour of Rome built the goodly Church of S. Miniate neere the walles of Florence This city was twise within a little while in the yeare 1176. miserably defaced by casualty of fire From which time it first began to be gouerned as now it is by the Priori the masters of the twelue companies and a Standard-bearer Gonfalonerio they call him One of the first Gonfalonerios was Stroza a nobleman borne of a great house The goodly Minster which in our time by the ingenious direction of Philippo Brunalitio a Florentine was most stately arched and dedicated to our Lady was begun in the yeare of our Lord 1294. Foure yeares after that was that gorgeous Palace where now the Priori or Aldermen do keepe first founded And fiue yeares after that was the Pomoerium the prospect or wast ground round about the city leuelled and the walles of the city enlarged Pistorio was the first city that the Florentines subdued vnder their command as Leander in his description of Italie affirmeth vpon the testimony of Aretino where also he hath these words of the diuers forms and different maner of gouernment of the same After that it was repaired saith he by Charles the Great they yearely chose two Consuls or Sheriffes who with the assistance of 100. Senatours or Aldermen should gouerne the city This forme of commonwealth being altered they created the Decemuiri the tenne called of them Antiani about the yeare of Grace 1220. as Volaterran affirmeth or as Blondus saith in the yeare 1254. After that in the yeare 1287. hauing redeemed their freedome of the Emperour Rudolfe for 60000. crownes as Platina writeth the Decemuiri the tenne were reduced to Octouiri eight and were called the Priori the maisters of the companies ouer whom was set the Standerd-bearer called by them Gonfalonerio di Giustitia the Lord chiefe Iustice which office they were to hold but two monethes and then others were to be elected This forme of policy for as much as I can gather out of historiographers was since that time thrise altered First in the yeare 1343. when the Florentines bought Luca of Mastino Scaligero for 5000. crownes their forces being ouerthrowne by the enemie they were constrained to demand aid of Robert King of Naples and obtained Gualterio Gallo a captaine of Athens for their generall who by great subtilty and cunning getting the rule of the city went to the Court and there deposed the Priori and other Magistrates from their office Yet he enioied not his vsurped authority long for the people at the persuasion of Angelo Accieuolo Bishop of the sea a Frier predicant rose vp in armes and deposing the Tyrant restored the Priori and Confalonerio to their places againe The second alteration of this Common-wealth happened in the time of Alexander the sixth Bishop of Rome when as his sonne Caesar Borgia Duke of Valence neuer labouring to bring home againe Peter Iohn and Iulian the sonnes of Laurence Medices who but lately had beene banished at length brought the matter so about that the office of the Gonfalonerio should be giuen to Peter Soderine for a perpetuall and standing office who together with the Priori chosen euery two moneths after the ancient custome most wisely behaued himselfe and orderly gouerned that Common-wealth vntill at length being expelled by Raimundo Cordona Embassadour of Ferdinand the King of Arragon and Naples who was to restore Iohn Cardinall Medices and his brother Iulian in the yeare of Grace 1412. and erecting the ancient maner of gouernment which continued vntill the yeare 1530. In the meane time although the city were commanded at the discretion and direction of the Popes Leo the tenth which was Iohn Medices and Clement the seuenth which was Iulius Medices the bastard sonne of Iulian the first Cardinall Cortonesse hauing the wardship and being Gardian to Hippolytus the sonne of Iulian the second of Alexander the bastard sonne of Laurenznio the nephew of Peter the second Yet notwithstanding the ancient Magistrates were chosen after the custome formerly vsed In that same yeare therefore when as three yeares before the Emperours souldiers besieging Clement the seuenth in Hadrians castle the city shaking off the yoke of bondage obteined freedome and endeuoured by all meanes to retaine the same Philip the Prince of Aurange leading the armie of the Emperour Charles the fifth Clement entreating that Alexander his nephew whom before he had intituled Duke of Penna to be brought againe into the city forced it being much distressed for want of victuall to yeeld to the obedience of the Emperour Charles the Emperour at the request of Clement the Pope presently created Alexander perpetuall Priour and thus the offices of the Priori and Gonfalonerio were vtterly taken away Then when the Emperour Charles had created Alexander Duke of Florence and giuen vnto him in mariage Margaret his bastard daughter in the yeare of our Sauiour 1535. and two yeares after that before the seuenth day of Ianuarie Laurence Medices the sonne of Peter Francis that he might set his natiue country at liberty as he pretended had miserably slaine him Cosmus Medices the sonne of Iohn Medices was created Duke in his roome Thus farre Leander vnto which I may adioine these words of my kind friend M. Iohn Pinadello When it was known saith he to Pius the fifth Pope of Rome that Cosmus Medices Duke of Florence had at that time taken great paines for the maintainance of the Church and Religion and spared no cost in the warres against the hereticks in the yeare 1570. in the moneth of Februarie comming to the city crowned him in Aula Regia the Kings hall a place in Vaticana so named and gaue him and his successours the title of The great Duke In whose Crowne the Pope caused these words to be engrauen PIVS QVINTVS Pont. Max. ob eximiam dilectionem Catholicae religionis zelum praecipuumque iustitiae studium donauit that is Pius the fifth Bishop of Rome in token of great loue earnest zeale of Catholique religion and constant maintainance of true Iustice gaue this Thus farre in few words of the Offices Policy and Iurisdiction of this city I thinke it not amisse here to adioine another short discourse because it is rare and not altogether from the purpose It is thus as Syffridus Presbyter reporteth in George Fabricius his historie of Misnia Otho the third Emperour of Rome lying at Mutina with his wife the Empresse fell in loue with a certaine Earle but when as he by no meanes would consent vnto her she so diffamed him vnto her husband the Emperour that he commanded him to be beheaded before euer he had examined the matter Who before he was beheaded entreated his wife
Genes 13. signifieth an heap It stood ouer against Bethel Saint Hierome labouring to expresse the Hebrew letter Ain writeth it Hagai and saith that in his time 〈◊〉 parua 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a small heap of rubbish HEBRON Whâ—n Abraham returned out of Aegypt after his long Peregrination seeking a new resting place leaueth Bethel and trauelleth vnto Hebron Hebron oft mentioned in diuers places of Holy Scripture had many more ancient names Of which one was Cariath-arbe that is Tetrapolis Foure cities For antiquity diuided the principall and Metropolitane cities into foure parts wardes we would call them The first was the court of the Prince where also the Counsell the Nobility and Princes did keep The second was for the souldiers and military men The third was reserued for the husbandmen In the Fourth the artificers and tradesmen dwelt There also was the vale of Mamre so called of an Ammonite who possessed it Gen. 14. and made a league with Abraham Heere three guests who went to destroy Sodom and Gomorrhe were interteined of Abraham There Abraham buried Sara his wife Gen. 23. And therefore some thinke it was called Ciriath-arbe that is tetrapolis the city of 4 great men for that heere were buried 4. Patriarkes Adam Abraham Isaac and Iacob Gen. 25.35.49 IABOC the riuer Iaboc that is of emptinesse or scattering or wrestling The things done heere and the histories recorded are agreeable to the etymologie and reason of the name for heere Iacob wrestled with the Angell and therefore he was after that named Israel that is a Prince of God or preuailing with God But the place where he wrestled Iacob called Penuel that is seeing God or the face of God IERICHO Some do expound it his moone others his mon'ths or his smell We do approue the later exposition of smelling rather than either of the two former and that for the pleasant and fragrant smell which partly issued from the gardens and orchyeards of the rare and soueraigne Balsam a plant only growing in this place and partly from the Palmetrees which heere do grow in greater abundance than any where else in the world beside And therefore in the 34. of Deut. it is called the City of Palme trees IERVSALEM that is The vision of peace It enclosed two mountaines vpon the which it stood the name of the one was Sion vpon the which stood the castle or palace of Dauid Now Sion signifieth a watch tower a beacon The name of the other was Moria vpon which the temple of Salomon was built For the very name also doth shew that the fathers in old time did sacrifice in that place And Abraham lead his sonne Isaac to sacrifice him to the Lord to this mountaine As concerning the etymologie of mor-iah we are contented with that deriuation of Abraham who nameth it God shall see Therefore let this be receiued that mor-iah signifieth the beholding or the demonstration of God Yet other etymologies and deriuations are not altogether from the purpose and to be reiected as these the illumination of God or the feare of God IORDANIS A famous riuer running through the middest of the country arising out of the foot of the mount Libanus It hath two fountaines or heads like vnto our riuer of Thames one called by the name of Ior which name in the Hebrew tongue signifieth a brooke the other by the name of Dan. These meeting and running together in one channell they are called by one name Iordan compound of the names of the seuerall heads MACHANAIM that is two camps Gen. 23. These are the campes of God as Iacob himselfe nameth this place For as he returned out of Mesopotamia by Gilead the Angels of God met him Whereupon he called this place Mahanaim the tents or camp of God that is the presence and gard or garrison of the Lord. NAIM a city so called of the pleasant situation of it as seemeth by the etymologie of the word for Nahim signifieth pleasant delightsome Our Sauiour Christ going from Capernaum entreth into Naim and in the very gate and entrance of the city he raiseth the only sonne of a widdow from death to life and so turneth the heauinesse and mourning of the mother into ioy and gladnesse SALEM was the dwelling place of Melchisedecke Iosephus saith that it was that towne which afterward was named Ierusalem Neither will I oppose my selfe against this opinion receiued by so many great and learned men But there was another Salem which afterward was called Sichem as is left recorded in the 33. chapter of Gen. as we haue touched before Thou seest therefore how Abraham Loth Melchisedecke who was the same with Sem the sonne of Noe dwelt not farre one from another SAMARIA the keeper of God Obserue heere that our Authour mistooke the name of a man for the name of a place For Samariah 1. Chronic. 12.5 was one of Dauids friends that went with him when he fled from the presence of Saul or else one of the sonnes of Harim of the number of those that had maried strange wiues as is manifest out of 1. Esdr 10.32 when as the city was named in the Hebrew tongue not Samaria but Shomrom This city was the seat of the Kings of Israel the Metropolitane of the tenne tribes where their princes vsually kept their court It was battered and laid leuell with the ground by Hyrcanus the high Priest of the Iewes This afterward being reedified againe by Herod the sonne of Antipater was called for the honour of Augustus Caesar by a Greeke name Sebaste that is AVGVSTA Heere Philip whose consorts and fellow helpers were Peter and Iohn first preached the Gospell Actor 8.5 Samaria is spoken of 3. king 18.19 and 4. king 6.7.10.17 SAREPTA a melting house a refining or clensing house For the Sidonians which first inuented the maner of making of glasse heere first erected and built their furnaces or glasse houses In the time of that great famine which raged and was spread all ouer Iudaea Elias by the prouidence and commandement of God was sent vnto a widdow of Sarepta whom he together with her sonne preserued from famine and death 3. King 18. Moreouer in the 15. chapter of S. Matth. there is mention made of the Chanaanite woman that besought Christ to heale her daughter SICHEM or Sechem Gen. 12. Thither Abraham went presently after he came from Charram in Mesopotamia Sichem stood in that part of the country which afterward was allotted to the tribe of Ephraim neere the famous mount Garizim and not farre from whence not many yeares after the city Samaria was built The word Shecem signifieth a shoulder and the city peraduenture was so named of the situation neere the mount Garizim But the name also of the sonne of Hemor was Shecem of whom some thinke this place was so called This towne is oft spoken of in the holy Scriptures In the last chapter of Iosua it is expresly written that the bones of Ioseph were buried in this place
make cheese others are wholly ignorant of sowing planting grafting and of such other points of husbandrie In their cariage and conuersation they are as Diodorus Siculus speaketh of them plaine simple and vpright farre remote from the wily subtillies and crafty deuices of our men which liue more neere the Court. They fare basely and feed vpon grosse meats and are wholly estranged from wealth and gorgeous life and maintetenance and as Mela saith of them they are only rich in cattell and great lands and compasse of ground For they do not hold it lawfull to eat either hare henne or goose notwithstanding they keepe them as Caesar writeth for game and pastime Yet they haue a kind of geese heere which they call chenerotes bernacles which they esteeme for great dainties so that in England they haue not a daintier dish as Pliny testifieth They feed vpon milke and flesh meat as the same authour saith They lay their corne vp in their barnes in the eare of sheaffe vnthrashed from whence they fetch and thrash as much as shall serue them from day to day Of their temperate and sparing diet together with their patience in aduersity and affliction Dion in the life of Nero will teach thee That they did make their drinke which they called Curmi or as now they pronounce it Courow ale of barley Dioscorides that famous physition or industrious and painfull student and searcher out of the true nature of medicinall simples so many hundred yeeres hath left recorded Zonaras writeth that they did vse to make a kind of meat of which if any man should take but the quantity of a beane he should neither be an hungred or a thirst for a great time Beleeue him that list Of the same Britaines Herodian thus writeth they weare no kind of garment onely about their neckes they claspe a piece of iron thinking that to bee as great a iewell and signe of wealth as other barbarous nations do by gold Caesar saith that they be clad in skins and leather They vsed to haue tenne or twelue wiues common amongst a certaine company of them especially brothers with brothers and fathers with their sonnes were thus co-partners but if any of them were gotten with child whosoeuer got it it was accounted to be his who first maried her when she was a maide Thus Caesar in his time wrote of them That many of them had but one wife onely Eusebius in his seuenth booke de Praepar euangel hath giuen vs to vnderstand which also Clemens Alexandrinus in his 9 booke Recognitionum doth auerre Plutarch saith that they do ordinarily liue till they be an hundred and twenty yeares old They vse brasen money or iron rings made of a certaine weight and poise in steed of gold or siluer coines Pliny saith that they vsed to weare rings vpon their middle finger In Caesar I read that their houses did stand thicke and close together but as Strabo writeth they were for the most part made of reeds or timber They dwell in woodes like as we do in cities For they call that a towne when they haue with a banke or ditch enclosed or fortified a combersome wood whither they may flocke and resort to auoid the inuasion and assault of their enemies as Caesar in his commentaries doth giue vs to vnderstand and there as Strabo saith they make cabbines or cottages for themselues and stables for cattle such as may serue them for that present necessity Herodian calleth them a very warlike and bloudy nation They fight not only on horsebacke and foote but also with coches and waggons armed after the maner of the Gauls Couinos they call them whose axeltrees or linces were armed with hookes made somewhat like to the Welch bils now adaies vsed as Pomponius Mela affirmeth they vse likewise in their warres a great multitude of waines as Caesar Strabo and Diodorus do tell vs. They fight with huge great swords as Tacitus signifieth these swords Herodian saith hang close downe by their bare skinne only sheathed in a streight peece of leather Pomponius Mela writeth that they vsed to adorne the pommels of their swords with the teeth of certaine sea fish They know not what a brigandine iacke or head-peece meane these peeces of armour they neuer vse accounting them to be but a trouble and hinderance to them when they are to passe ouer any bogges or fennes For they vse to swimme runne through or to wade vp to the twist ouer those fennes and marishes and many times being bare-legged they spare neither thicke nor thinne yet afterward we learne out of Dion by the oration of Bunduica their queen that they were wont to arme themselues for defence with helmets habergions and greaus when they gaue the on-set vpon their enemies the same authour teacheth vs they vsed to make a great noise and to sing terrible and threatning songs They make warre manie times vpon small occasions and for wantonnesse and very often they inuade and annoy one another of set purpose especiallie for a desire of further command and couetousnesse of enlarging their possessions Tacitus moreouer affirmeth that they also go in the field vnder the leading and conduct of women for a manifest proofe of which he bringeth in in the foureteenth booke of his Annals Boudicea with her daughters Dion affirmeth the same but he calleth her Bunduica item Tacitus in the life of Iulius Agricola writeth her name Voadica Corpora inficiunt vltrò they purposedly staine and paint their bodies there is a very learned man who thinketh that for vltrò heere should be read nitro with saltpeter but wherefore or to what end they did it that is vncertaine Mela and Iornandes do thinke they did it for ornament and to set out themselues or that they might seeme more terrible vnto their enemies in time of sight as Caesar saith who ouermore addeth that they thus paint their bodies with wood Luteum he calleth it which will make a blew or skie-colour Others heere for Luteum do read Glastum on whose side Pliny seemeth to speake but that he affirmeth this only of the women where he writeth that the Britans wiues and women did vse to besmere all their body ouer with glastum woad an hearb like plantaine and to go starke naked to some certaine solemnities when they were to performe some rites and ceremonies in this imitating the Blackamoores But why I should not reteine the ancient reading which in Caesar was glasto for that which now they would haue luteo I see no reason seeing that out of a fr gment of a description of Britaine done by my good friend M. Humfrey Lhoyd I vnderstand that amongst the West Britans in the ancient Brittish tongue which they still speake euen to this very day by the word glas they vnderstand the blew or skie-colour as also by the same they signifie the hearb Isatis th t is woad which is very like the plantaine And that the men also did not onlie staine their bodies with some kind
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