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
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-Hye-land and the other the low-Low-land The low-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
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
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
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
Russians doe hold that so holy a thing as that is highly prophaned if any resemblance of it be worne but above the girdle Possevinus in a treatise written of his Embassage into that Countrey where hee discourseth this whole matter Possevinus feare of the Emperour confesseth that hee was much afraid lest the Emperour would have strucken him and beaten out his braines with a shrewd staffe which then hee had in his hands did ordinarily carry with him and he had the more reason so to feare because that Prince was such a tyrant that he had not onely slaine and with cruell torture put to death very many of his subjects and Nobility before shewing himselfe more brutishly cruel to them than ever Nero and Caligula were among the Romans but he had with his owne hands and with the same staffe upon a small occasion of anger killed his eldest sonne who should have succeeded him in his whole Empire The people of this countrey are rude and unlearned Chiefe people rude and unlearned so that there is very little or no knowledge amongst them of any liberall or ingenuous Art yea their very Priests Monks wherof they have many are almost unlettered so that they can hardly do any thing more than reade their ordinary service And the rest of the people are by reason of their ignorant education dull and uncapable of any high understanding but very superstitious having many ceremonies and Idolatrous Solemnities as the consecrating of their Rivers by their Patriarch at one time of the yeare when they thinke themselves much sanctified by the receiving of those hallowed waters yea and they bathe their Horses and Cattell in them and also the burying of most of their people with a paire of Shooes on their feet as supposing that they have a long journey to goe and a letter in their hand to S. Nicholas whom they reverence as a speciall Saint and thinke that he may give them entertainement for their readier admission into heaven The Muscovites generally have received the Christian Faith but yet so that rather they doe hold of the Greeke Difference betweene the Greeke and Latin Church and the Easterne then of the Westerne Roman Church The doctrines wherin the Greek Church differs from the Latine are these First they hold that the holy Ghost proceeds from the Father alone and not from the Sonne Secondly that the Bishop of Rome is not the universall Bishop Thirdly that there is no Purgation Fourthly their Priests doe marry and fiftly they doe differ in divers of their ceremonies as in having foure Lents in the yeere whereof they doe call our Lent their great Lent At the time of the Councell of Florence There was some shew made by the Agents of the Greeke Church that they would have joyned in opinion with the Latines but when they returned home their Countrey-men would in no sort assent thereunto In the Northerne parts of the dominion of the Emperour of Russia which have lately been joyned unto his territories as specially Lapland Biarmia and thereabouts The people of Lapland very heathenish there are people so rude and heathenish that as Olaus Magnus writeth of them looke whatsoever living thing they doe see in the morning at their going out of their doors yea if it be a Bird or a worm or some such other creeping thing they doe yeeld a divine Worship Reverence thereunto for all that day as if it were some inferiour God Damianus a Goes hath written a pretty Treatise describing the manners of those Lappians The greatest part of the Country of Russia is in the winter so exceeding cold The extraordnary sharpnesse of the weather in winter that both the Rivers are frozen over the Land covered with snow and such is the sharpenesse of the Ayre that if any goe abroad bare faced it causeth their flesh in a short time to rot which befalleth to the fingers and toes of divers of them therefore for a great part of winter they live in Stoues and Hot-houses and if they be occasioned to goe abroad they use many Furs whereof there is great plenty in that Country as also wood to make fire but yet in the summer time the face of the soyle the ayre is very strangely altered insomuch that the Country seemeth hot the Birds sing very merrily the trees grasse corn in a short space do appeare so cheerfully greene and pleasant that it is scant to be beleeved but of them which have seene it Their building is most of wood even in their chiefe citie of Mosco Their buildings of wood insomuch that the Tartars who lie in the North-east of them breaking oft into their countries even unto the very Mosco doe set fire on their Cities which by reason of their woodden buildings are quickly destroyed Their government The maner of government which of late yeers hath bin used in Russia is very barbarous little lesse than tyrannous for the Emperour that last was did suffer his people to be kept in great servility permitted the Rulers chiefe Officers at their pleasures to pill ransack the common sort but to no other end but that himselfe might take occasion when he thought good to call thē in question for their misdemeanor and so fill his own coffers with fleecing of them which was the same course the old Roman Emperor did use calling the deputies of the Provinces by the name of Spunges whose property is to sucke up water but when it is full then it selfe is crushed and yeeldeth forth liquor for the behalfe of another The passage by Sea into this country The passage by Sea into this country which was wont to be through the Sound and so afterward by land was first discovered by the English who with great danger of the frozen seas did first adventure to sayle so far North as to compasse Lapland Finmark Scricfinia Biarmia and so passing to the East by Noua Zembla half the way almost to Cathaio have entred the River called Ob by which they disperse themselves for merchandize both by water and land into the most parts of the Dominion of the Emperour of Russia The first attempt The first attempt which was made by the English for the entrance of Moscovia by the North Seas was in the dayes of King Edw. the 6. at which time the Merchants of London procuring leave of the King did send forth Sir Hugh Willoby with shipping and men who went so far toward the North that he coasted the corner of Scricfinia Biarmia and so turned toward the East but the weather proved so extream the snowing so great the freezing of the water so vehement that his ship was set fast in the Ice and there he his people were frozen to death and the next yeer some other comming from England found both the Ship and their bodies in it a perfect remembrance in writing of all things which they
had done discovered where amongst the rest meÌ„tion was made of a Land which they had touched which to this day â—s known by the name of Sir Hugh Villobies Land Sir Hugh Willobies Land The Merchants of London did not desist to pursue this discovery but have so far prevailed that they have reached one halfe of the way toward the East part of Chyna and Cathaio but the whole passage is not yet opened This Empire one of the greatest to the world This Empire is at this day one of the greatest dominioÌ„s in the world both for compasse of ground for multitude of men saving that it lyeth far North and so yeeldeth not pleasure or good traffique with many other of the best situated nations Among other things which doe argue the magnificence of the Emperour of Russia this one is recorded by many who have travelled into those parts that when the great Duke is disposed to sit in his magnificence besides great store of Iewels and abundance of massie plate both of gold and silver which is openly shewed in his hall there doe sit as his Princes and great Nobles cloathed in very rich and sumptuous attyre divers men ancient for their yeares very seemly of countenance and grave with white long beards which is a goodly shew besides the rich state of the thing But Olaus Magnus man well experienced in those Northerne parts doth say how truely I cannot tell that the manner of their sitting is a notable fraud and cunning of the Russian in asmuch as they are not men of any worth but ordinary Citizens of the gravest and seemliest countenance which against such a solemnity are picked out of Mosco and other places adjoyning and have robes put on them which are not their owne but taken out of the Emperours Wardrope Of Spruce and Poland Prussia bow situated IN Europe on the East and North corner of Germany lyeth a Countrey called Prussia in Latine most times Borussia in English Pruthen or Spruce of whom little is famous saving that they were governed by one in a kinde of order of Religion whom they call the Grand-Master and that they are a meanes to keepe the Moscovite the Turke from some other parts of Christendome This countrey is now growne to be a Dukedome the Duke thereof doth admit traffique with our English who going beyond the Hants townes doe touch upon his countrey amongst other things doe bring from thence a kinde of leather which was wont to be used in Ierkins and called by the name of Spruce-Leather-Jerkins Spruce Leather On the East side of Germany betweene Russia and Germany lyeth Polonia Polands Situation or Poland which is a kingdome differing from others in Europe because the King there is chosen by Election out of some of the Princes neere adjoyning as lately Henry the third King of France These Elections oftentimes doe make great factions there so that in taking parts they grow often there into civill warre The King of Polonia is almost continually in warre either with the Moscovite who lyeth in the East and North-east of him or with the Turke who lyeth on the South and South-east and sometimes also with the Princes of Germany whereupon the Poles do commonly desire to choose warriours to their King In this Countrey are none but Christians but so Their divers Religions that liberty of all Religion is permitted insomuch that there be Papists Colledges of Jesuites both of Lutherans and Calvinists in opinions Anabaptists Arrians and divers others They hate the Iesuites But of late yeares there hath bin made earnest motions in their Parliaments that their Colledges of Iesuites should bee dissolved and they banished out of that Kingdome as of late they were from France The reason of it is because that under colour of Religion they doe secretly deale in State causes and many times sow seditions and some of them have given counsell to murther Princes and wheresoever they be they are the onely intelligencers for the Pope besides that many of the Papists but especially all their Friers and orders of Religion doe hate and envy them first for that they take upon them with such pride to be called Iesuites as if none had to doe with Iesus but they and are more inward with Princes than the rest are Secondly because many of them are more learned than common Monks and Fryers And thirdly because they professe more strictly and severely than others doe the Capuchins onely excepted Their chiefe Citie Cracovia This is that Countrey which in times past was called Sarmatia the chiefe Citie whereof is named Cracovia Of Hungaria and Austria Hungaria situated ON the South-East side of Germany lyeth Hungaria called in the Latine Pannonia which hath beene heretofore divided into Pannonia superior Pannonia inferior it is an absolute Kingdome and hath beene heretofore rich and populous The Christians that doe live there have among them divers sorts of Religion as in Poland This Kingdome hath bin a great obstacle against the Turkes comming into Christendome but especially in the time of Iohan. Huniades who did mightily with many great victories repulse the Turke Here standeth Bunda which was heretofore a great Fortresse of Christendome Bunda but the glory of this kingdome is almost utterly decaied by reason that the Turke who partly by policy partly by force doth now possesse the greatest part of it So that the people are fled from thence and the Christians which remaine there are in miserable servitude Notwithstanding some part of Pannonia inferior doth yet belong to Christendome The Turks for the space of these forty or fifty yeares last past have kept continuall garrisons and many times great Armies in that part of Hungary which yet remaineth Christned yea and sometimes the great Turks themselves have come thither in person with huge hosts accounting it a matter of their Religion not onely to destroy as many Christians as they can but also to win their land by the revenues whereof they may maintaine some Religious house which they think themselves in custome bound to erect but so that the maintayning thereof is by the Sword to be wonne out of the hands of some of those whom they hold enemies to them Hungary is become the onely Cockpit of the world where the Turkes doe strive to gaine and the Christians at the charge of the Emperour of Germany who entituleth himselfe King of Hungary doe labour to repulse them and few Summers doe passe but that something is either wonne or lost by either party The corner of Germany which lyeth neerest to Hungary or Pannonia inferior Austria is called Austria or Pannonia superior which is an Archdukedome From which house being of late much sprung come many of the Princes of Germany and of other parts of Europe so that the Crown imperiall of Germany hath lately oft befallen to some one of this house In this Country standeth Vienna Vienna that
being kindely intreated of the natives who much desire them to come and make some plantation amongst them hoping by them to be defended against the Spaniards whom they * They hate the Spaniard and love the English greatly hate and feare When Sir Walter Raleigh came to Guiana he overthrew the Spaniards that were in Trinidado and tooke Bereo their Captaine or Generall prisoner he loosed and set at liberty foure or five Kings of the people of that Countrey that Bereo kept in chains and sent them home to their owne which deed of his did winne him the hearts of that people and make them much to favour our English at this day Divers also of that Country which amongst them are men of note have beene brought over into England and here living many yeares are by our men brought home to their owne Countrey whose reports and knowledge of our Nation is a cause that they have beene well intreated of these Guianians and much desired to plant themselves among them * A strange Storie Our men that travelled to Guiana amongst other things most memorable did report and in writing delivered to the world that neere unto Guiana and not far from those places where themselves were there were men without heads which seemed to maintaine the opinion to be true which in old time was conceived by the Historians and Philosophers that there were Acephali whose eyes were in their breasts and the rest of their face there also situated and this our English travellers have reported to be so ordinarily confidently mentioned unto them in those parts where they were that no sober man should any way doubt of the truth thereof Now because it may appeare that the matter is but fabulous in respect of the truth of Gods creating of them and that the opinion of such strange shapes monsters as were said to be in old time that is men with heads like Dogs some with eares downe to their ankles others with one huge foot alone whereupon they did hop from place to place was not worthy to be credited although Sir Iohn Mandevill of late age fondly hath seemed to give credit and authority thereunto yea and long since he who tooke upon him the name of Saint Augustine in writing that counterfeit Booke Ad fratres in Eremo It is fit that the certainty of the matter concerning these in Peru should be knowne and that is that in Quinbaia and some other parts of Peru the men are borne as in other places and yet by devises which they have after the birth of Children when their bones and grisbles and other parts are yet tender and fit to be fashioned they doe crush downe the heads of the Children unto the breasts and shoulders and doe with frames of wood and other such devises keepe them there that in time they grow continuate to the upper part of the trunk of the body and so seeme to have no necks or heads And againe some other of them thinking that the shape of the head is very decent if it bee long and erect after the fashion of a Sugar-loafe doe frame some other to that forme by such wooden Instruments as they have for that purpose and by binding and swathing them doe keep them so afterwards And that this is the custome of those people and that there is no other matter in it Petrus de Cieca who travelled almost all over Peru and is a grave and sober Writer in his description of those Countries doth report * Their strange devises to take fowles There be in some parts of Peru people which have a strange device for the catching of divers sorts of Fowles wherein they especially desire to take such as have their feathers of pyed orient and various colours and that not so much for the flesh of them which they may eate as for their feathers whereof they make garments either short as Cloakes or as Gownes long to the ground and those their greatest Nobles doe weare being curiously wrought and by order as appeareth by some of them being brought into England And here by this mention of feathers it is not amisse to specifie that in the Sea which is the Ocean lying betwixt Europe and America there be * Divers flying fishes divers flying Fishes yet whose wings are not feathers but a thin kinde of skin like the wings of a Bat or Reare-mouse and these living sometimes in the water and flying sometimes in the ayre are well accepted in neither place for below either ravenous Fishes are ready to devoure them or above the Sea-Fowles are continually beating at them Some of the Spaniards desirous to see how farre this Land of Peru did goe towards the South travelled downe till at length they found the Lands end and a little straight or narrow Sea which did runne from the mayne Ocean toward Africke into the South Sea One * Magellanus Straits Magellanus was he that found this Straight and although it be dangerous passed through it so that of his name it is called Fretum Magellanicum or Magellane Straights And this is the way whereby the Spaniards do passe to the backside of Peru and Hispania Nova and whosoever will compasse the whole World as some of our English men have done hee must of necessity for any thing that is yet knowne passe through this narrow Straight Ferdinandus Magellanus having a great mind to travell and being very desirous to goe unto the Malucco Islands by some other way then by the backside of Africke if it might be did in the yeere 1520 set forth from Sivill in Spain with five ships and travelled toward the West Indies and went so farre toward the South as that he came to the lands end wher he holding his course in a narrow passage towards the West for the space of divers dayes did at the length peaceably passe through the Straights and came into a great Sea which some after his name doe call Mare Magellanicum some others Mare pacificum because of the great calmnesse quietnes of the waters there but most commonly it is termed the * The So th Sea South Sea the length whereof hee passed in the space of three Moneths and twenty dayes and came unto the Moluocos * The Moluccoâ—s where being set upon by the East Indian people himself and many of his company were slaine and yet one of his Ships as the Spaniards doe write called Victoria did get away from those Moluccoes and returning by the Cape Bonae Spei on the South side of Africke came safe unto Spaine * Magellanus the first that ever compassed the World So that it may be truely said that if not Magellanus yet some of his company were the first that did ever compasse the World through all the degrees of longitude Johannes Lyrius in the end of his Booke De Navigatione in Brasiliam doth tell that Sir Francis Drake of England when he passed thorow Magellane straits
and so to the Molucco Ilands then homeward from the East by Africke did in a devise give the Globe of the Earth with this word or motto Primus me circumdedisti which is not simply to be understood that never any had gone round the World before him but that never any of fame for Magellane himselfe was slaine as before is noted or else he did doubt of the truth of that narration that the Ship called Victoria did returne with safety into Spaine The Maps which were made at first concerning America Peru did so describe the Westerne part of Peru as if when a man had passed Magellane Straits and did intend to come upwards towards Nova Hispania on the further side he must have borne much West by reason that the Land did shoot out with a very great Promontory and bending that way But our Englishmen which went with Sir Francis Drake did by their owne experience certainely finde that the Land from the uttermost end of the Straits on Peru side did goe up towards the South directly without bending to the West and that is the cause wherefore all the new Maps and Globes especially made by the English or by the Dutch who have taken their directions from our men are reformed according to this new observation When the Spaniards had once found an ordinary passage from the South Sea towards the Moluccoes they never ceased to travaile that way and discovered more and more and by that meanes they have found out divers Ilands not knowne in former Ages as two for example sake a good distance from the Moluccoes which because * Insulae Latronum they be inhabited by men which do steale not only each from other but doe pilfer away all things that they can from such strangers as doe land thereabouts they are called Insulae Latronum They have also descryed some other neere unto the East Indies which they now tearme * Jnsulae Solomonis Insulae Solomonis But the most renowned of all are those of whom the name is given * Philippinae Philippina in remembrance of Philip the Second King of Spaine at whose cost they were discovered * Their Richâ—s These Philippinae are very rich and from thence is brought abundance of costly Spices and some other rich Merchandize yea and Gold too There were also some other Ilands descryed by Magellanus himselfe which he called * Insulas infortunatas Insulas infortunatas as being of quality contrary to the Canaries which are tearmed the fortunate Islands for when hee passing thorow the South Sea and meaning to come to the Moluccoes where hee was slaine did land in these Ilands thinking there to have furnished himself with victuals and fresh water hee found the whole places to be barren and not inhabited Of the Countreys that lie about the two Poles HAving laid downe in some measure the description of the olde known World Asia Africa and Europe with the Islands adjoyning unto them and also of America which by some hath the title of New-found-world it shall not be amisse briefly to say something of a fift and sixt part of the Earth the one lying neer the South Pole and the other neer the North which are places that in former times were not known nor thought of When Magellanus was come downe to the Southerne end of Peru he found on the further side of the Straits a maine and huge land lying towards the South-Pole which some of his name called since * Regio Magellanica Regio Magellanica and that so much the rather because he touched upon it againe before he came to the Moluccoes Since his time the Portugales travelling towards Calecut and the East Indies there have some of them bin driven by tempest so far as to that which many now call the South Continent and so divers of sundry Nations have there by occasion touched upon it It is found therefore by experience for to goe along all the degrees of longitude and as in some places it is certainely discovered to come up so high towards the North as to the Tropicke of Capricorne so it is conjectured that towards the South it goeth as farre as to the Pole The ground whereof is that never any man did perceive the Sea did passe thorow any part thereof nay there is not any great River which hath yet beene described to come out of it into the Ocean whereupon it is concluded that since somewhat must fill up the Globe of the Earth from the first appearing of this land unto the very Pole and that cannot be any Sea unlesse it should be such a one as hath no entercourse with the Ocean which to imagine is uncertaine therefore it is supposed that it commeth whole out into the Land to the Antarticke Pole which if it should be granted it must needs be acknowledged withall that this space of Earth is so huge as that it equalleth in greatnesse not only Asia Europe and Africa but almost America being joyned unto them Things memorable in this Countrey are yet reported to be very few only in the East part of it over against the Moluccoes some have written that there bee very waste countries and wildernesses but we find not so much as mention whether any do inhabit there or no. And over against the promontory of Africke which is called Caput bonae spei there is a Countrey which the Portugals called * Psittacorum Regio Psittacorum regio because of the abundant store of Parrots which they found there Neere to the Magellane straits in this South part of the world is that land the Spaniards call Terra del fuego * Terra del fuego those also which have touch'd at it in other places have given to some parts of it these names Boach Eucach Maletur but we have no perfect description of it nor any knowledge how or by whom it is inhabited * A description of the people About this place the said Portugals did at one time saile along for the space of 2000. Miles and yet found no end of the land And in this place they reported that they saw inhabitants which were very faire and fat people and did goe naked which is the more to be observed because we scant read in any writer that there hath bin seen any people at all upon the South-coast More towards the East not far from the Moluccoes there is one part of this countrey as some suppose although some doubt whether that be an Iland or no which commeth up so high towards the north as the very Aequinoctial line and this is commonly called * Nova Guinea Nova Guinea because it lieth in the same climate and is of no other temperature then Guinea in Africke is I have heard a great Mathematician in England finde fault both with Ortelius and Mercatâ—r and all our late Makers of Maps because in describing this Continent they make no mention of any Cities