thee to M. Camdens Britannia where this argument is handled at large and most learnedly Only in defence of Gaulfridus lest any man should thinke that I haue all this while spoken against his person I conclude with this sayng of a learned man of our time Cardanus ait sayth he illius aetatis scriptores tantopere mendacio fabulis fuisse delectatos vt in contentionem venerint quis plura confingeret Cardane sayth That the Historians and Writers of those times betweene foure hundred and fiue hundred yeeres since were so much delighted with fables and lies that they stroue who should lie fastest and win the whetstone It was you see the fault of the time and age wherein he liued not of the man The learned Oratour Tully in the second booke of his Offices as I remember thus describeth the vertues of a true Historiographer Ne quid falsi scribere audeat Ne quid veri non audeat Ne quam in scribendo suspitionem gratiae Ne quam simultatis ostendat A good Historian may not dare to write any thing that is false He may not be afrayd to write any thing that is true He must not shew any partiality or fauour in writing He ought to be void of all affection and malice Learned Antiquaries follow this good counsell of the graue Philosopher Sell vs no more drosse for pure mettall Refine what you reade and write Euery tale is not true that is tolde Some authours want iudgement others honesty Let no man be beleeued for his antiquity For you know what Menander sayd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Grayhaires are not alwayes a signe of wisdome and deepe vnderstanding olde men do sometime dote and will lie as well as others One sayth Nesc to quo casu illud euenit vt falsa potius quà m vera animum nostrum captant I cannot tell sayth he how it commeth to passe but surely true it is that we are more easily caried away with lies and fables than with truth And how hard a matter it is to remoue one from a setled opinion though neuer so false and absurd any man meanly experienced doth very well know f Yet Caesar saith that Britanniae Loca sunt temperatiora qùam in Gallia remissioribus frigoribus The temperature of the aire in England is better then in France the cold is nothing so bitter That is as the authour of the Panegyricke oration made to Constantius the Emperour doth interpret it In ea nec rigor est nimius hyemis nec ardor aestatis In it neither the cold of winter nor the heat of summer is very excessiue And Minutius Felix hee writeth that Britannia sole deficitur sed circumfluentis maris tepore recreatur In England the Sunne shineth not very hotte but that defect is repaied by a certaine steame or hot vapour which ascendeth vp out of the sea that inuironeth this iland on all sides round g What place this should be I dare not for truth constantly affirme Perhaps he meaneth Vitsam or as we call it Whitsan a little towne in the country of Bolloine some fiue or six miles from Calais situate vpon the sea coast built at the mouth of a small riuer which peraduenture he calleth Shant For in the Arabicke tongue Wadi-shant importeth so much h This is false and by himselfe contradicted for in another place if I be not deceiued he maketh it twenty fiue miles ouer wherefore I doubt not but for a mile the authour did put a parasange which conteineth three English miles And this is somewhat neere the mark i I take it that he meaneth Cercester in Glocestershire which vulgarly they now call Ciceter It is an ancient city called of Ptolemey Corinium of Antonine Durocornouium of the Saxons Cyrenceaster taking the denomination from the riuer Corinus or Churne vpon which it is situate The tract of the decaied wals of it which are two miles about doe testifie that it was sometime a very great citie Many antiquities and auncient monuments doe plainly shew that in the time of the Romans it was a place of good rekoning Now it is nothing so populous and well inhabited k From the Seuerne I vnderstand it which at euery floude enterteineth the salt water a great way vp into the countrey l Warham is a sea towne in Dorsetshire strongly fortified by nature vpon the South and North with two riuers Ware and Trent this now they call Piddle and with the maine sea vpon the East only vpon the Wew it lieth open to the assailaunt Yet it was in times past defended with a faire wall and a strong Castle It was very populous well inhabited and graced with the Kings mint for the refining and coining of his mony vntill the time of Henry the Second since whose daies by reason of ciuill warres casualty by fire and stopping of the hauen it is much decaied and hath lost much of that former beauty m This distance is much too great whether he meaneth the lands end in Cornwall or the farther part of Wales Westward which I rather incline to But obserue this once for all that there is no great heed to be taken to those his accounts of miles and distances n Dartmouth an hauen towne in Deuonshire situate vpon a little hill running out into the sea at the mouth of the riuer Dart or Dert as some write it The hauen is defended with two strong Castels or Block-houses It is very populous well frequented with Merchants and hath many goodly tall shippes belonging to it King Iohn granted them certaine priuiledges and euery yeere to chuse a Maior for their supreme magistrrate and gouernour in ciuill causes vnder the King o Thus our seamen cal it at this day The Arabian termeth it _____ Tarfi'lgarbi mina'lgiezira The Westerne bound of the iland Master Camden in his Scotland that I may note this by the way affirmeth that Taurus in Welch doth signifie the end or limbe of any thing Heere in Arabicke thou seest it signifieth the same And in English wee call if I be not deceiued the brimmes of an hatte The tarfe p SALISBVRY or rather SARISBVRY a sweet and pleasant city within the County of Wilt situate in a plaine at the meeting of the riuers Auone and Nadder It is not that ancient city Sorbiodunum mentioned by Antoninus in his Iournall but built of the ruines of it as seemeth very probable For this old towne being often distressed for want of water and at length spoiled and rased to the ground by Swein the Dane in the yeare of our Lord 1003. although it reuiued againe a little after about the time of William the First was forsaken and abandoned by the citizens who laid the foundation of this new citie about 400. yeares since at what time Richard the First was King of England That most stately Cathedrall Church which they report hath as many doores as there be months in the yeare as many windowes as the yeare hath daies and as many pillars as there are
and Mappes diuers places both of Sea and Land vnknowen to former ages to describe the tracts and coasts of the East and West South and North neuer spoken of nor touched by Ptolemey Pliny Strabo Mela or any other historiographer whatsoeuer and lastly to bend all his forces to the framing of that his THEATER which now is beheld and read with such admiration and applause of all men in which worke of his he was so generally well liked and approued of all that Philip the Second that renowmed King of Spaine graced him with the honour and title of The Kings Cosmographer He wrot also his GEOGRAPHICALL TREASVRE a very learned and pleasant worke in which the ancient names or appellations yea and oft times the new by which they are now called and knowen at this day of Mountaines Hils Promontories Woods Ilands Hauens People Cities Townes Villages Seas Baies Creekes Straights Riuers c. are at one view instantly to be seene Moreouer out of ancient coines for the benefit and delight of such as are louers and studious of antiquities he set out The HEADS OF THE GODS AND GODDESSES which afterward were illustrated with an historicall narration or discourse done by Francis Sweert the yonger In the yeere of Christ 1596 he set forth THE IMAGE OF THE GOLDEN WORLD that is A treatise describing the life Maners Customes Rites and Religion of the ancient Germans collected and gathered out of diuers and sundry old writers of both languages By these his labours and trauels he hath gotten and purchased vnto himselfe an immortall name and credit amongst the learned of all sorts In company he was of an excellent discreete cariage passing courteous merry and pleasant Such was his singular humanity that it was strange to see how he did winne and retaine the loue and fauour of all men wheresoeuer he became His enemies he chose rather to ouercome with kindnesse or to contemne them then to reuenge himselfe of their malice He did so much hate vice euen in his owne kindred that he rather reuerenced vertue in his enemies and strangers Vaine questions and subtill disputations of diuinity or matters of religion as dangerous and pernicious hee did alwaies greatly detest and abhorre A deepe in-sight and sound iudgment in any kinde of matter he preferred before glosing eloquence and quaint termes Present aduersity and daungers he alwaies endured with more patience then feare of such as were comming on and neere at hand and those which were bitter more easily then such as were doubtfull and vncertaine of euent He was a man which in his life time did set as little by himselfe as any man could For he neuer set his minde much vpon the wealth of this world or ought of those things in the same hauing alwaies in memory that his learned poesie CONTEMNO ET ORNO MENTE MANV I scorne and trimme with minde with hand For surely this man was led with some heauenly spirit which did so with-draw his minde from those earthly cogitations that he neuer tooke any thing in his life more vnkindly then when he was drawne from his bookes which he alwaies preferred before all other things in the world beside These great learned men following were his familiar friends and such as he did greatly loue and reuerence In Spain Benedictus Arias Montanus that great linguist and graue Diuine and the reuerend father Andrew Schotte borne in Antwerp a learned Iesuite In Italy Fuluius Vrsinus Franciscus Superantius and Iohannes Sambucus In Germany Gerard Mercator that famous Cosmographer Iames Monaw Marke Velser Ioachim Chamberlin Ionas Grutterus of Antwerp and Arnold Milius In France Petrus Pithoeus and others In the Low-countries Iustus Lipsius Laeuinus Tormencius Nicolaus Rockoxius Cornelius Prunius Balthasar Robianus Ludouicus Perezius Iohannes Brantius a ciuillian recorder to the state of Antwerp Iohannes Bochius secretarie to the same city Francis Raphalengius Christopher Plantine Iohn Moret Philip Gally Otho Venius that famous painter and Francis Sweert the yonger In England Humfrey Lloyd the only learned courtiour of his time and VVilliam Camden now Clarenceux the painfull and iudicious antiquary of our land With all these and many other he was familiarly acquainted To these he wrot often and from these he often receiued most kinde and louing letters He was a great student of antiquities and searcher out of rare and ancient things He had at home in his house Images Statues Coines of Gold Siluer and copper both of the Greeks Romans and others Shelfishes brought from India and our Antipodes Marble of all kinde of colours Torteises shelles of such wonderfull bignesse that tenne men sitting round in a circle might eate meat out of them at once Others againe so little and narrow that they were skarce so bigge as a pinnes head His Library was so maruellously well stored with all sort of Bookes that his house might iustly haue beene termed A shoppe of all manner of good learning vnto which men flocked from diuers places like as in former times they did to Plato's Academy or Aristotle's Lyceum This Ernest and Albert returning conquerour from the battaill at Hulsten with other great Princes and men of all sorts came in troops to see and behold While he was thus busied and hauing now liued aboue threeskore and eleuen yeeres he fell sicke in Iune in the yeere of our Lord 1598 and growing euery day worse and worse at length he yeelded to nature and died vpon the 28 day of the same moneth The Physicians affirmed that he died of an vlcer of the reines which Hippocrates writeth will hardly euer be cured in old men He was of stature tall and slender the haire of his head and beard was of a yealow colour His eies were gray and his forehead broad He was very courteous and affable In serious businesses he was very graue and sober but without any shew of arrogant disdaine in mirth and iesting he was as pleasant yet with that moderation that all was guided by the rules of Christian piety and modesty This deceased bachelour Anna Ortell a virgine his sister who liued not long after this her brother Abraham for she died in the yeere of Grace 1600 caused to be buried and intombed in Saint Michaëls the Abby of the Praemonstratenses in Antwerp He might well want the honour of a gorgeous and costly tombe who by the generall consent of all men had for his rare and singular vertues deserued an euerlasting fame and reputation Francis Sweert the yonger gathered together the mournefull verses of those poets and friends of his which did bewaile his death set them foorth and dedicated them to the State and citizens of Antwerp Iustus Lipsius at the instant request of his heires and for a perpetuall memoriall of their constant loue and friendship wrote that Epitaph which is in capitall letters ingrauen vpon his tombe ABRAHAM ORTELIVS CITIZEN OF ANTwerpe and Geographer to Philip the second King of Spaine to the courteous Reader SEeing that as I
the moneths of May Iune and Iuly and reape within six weeks after Concerning this region reade the booke of Iaques Morguez le moine GVASTECAN THis also is a region of North America and part of New Spaine The inhabitants are poore Along the sea-coasts and the bancks of riuers they liue for the most part of fish but in the inland with Guinie-wheat which they call Maiz. Otherwise they are a people gentle enough The Spaniards haue planted two colonies here the one is called Panuco of the riuer that runneth by it and the other S. Iames of the vallies Not farre from Panuco neere the towne called Tamatao stands an hill with two fountaines vpon it one whereof disgorgeth blacke pitch and the other red which is scalding hot The BRITTISH Iles. THE EMPIRE OF GREAT BRITAIN included within the parallels 49. and 63. and the Meridians or longitudes 9. and 26. bounded vpon the South by France vpon the East by Germany vpon the North West by the Vast Ocean disioined from the rest of the maine land as High Admirall of the seas comprehendeth that Iland which at this day conteineth the kingdomes of England Scotland together with Ireland ouer against it Westward the circumiacent iles the Orchades Hebrides Man Anglesey Wight the Sorlings many others of lesse note and were generally of the old writers with one consent called BRITANNICAE INSVLAE The Brittish Ilands taking their denomination as seemeth from the greatest of them commander of the rest which indeed is properly called BRITANNIA Brittaine So named not of that fained Brutus the bloody parricide as the fabulous historian Geffrey of Monmouth against all reason authority truth of storie hath hitherto made the world beleeue nor of the Welch word Prydain or Prydcain as the learned Britaine Humfrey Lhoyd hath thought but of Brit a Celticke word which signifieth Painted For these people as Caesar and other old writers report vsed to paint their bodies and therefore were called of the Gaules their next neighbours BRITONES as those people of the same nation who to auoid the slauery and seruitude of the Romanes and withdrew themselues into the North parts from whom they continually molested their colonies heere were of them for the same reason in their language called PICTI The Greekes called it also ALBION not of Albion Neptunes sonne which sometime sweied the scepter heere as some haue most fabulously taught but of Alphiων the white cliffes vpon the sea coast which first offer themselues to the eie of those which to this our land saile hither from France and indeed the Welch poets call it Inis win that is as Orphaeus the most ancient poet of the Greeks doth interpret it Nesos leu caessa and Leucaios Chersos The white I le or The whiteland The first Inhabitants which seated themselues heere not long after the vniuersall Flood and Confusion of Babel came hither from France as by Neerenesse of place Likenesse of language Maners Gouernment Customes Name is by the learned Clarencieux Camden the onely light of our histories in that his thrise renowned Britannia euidently demonstrated For to this day the ancient Britans the Welchmen do call themselues CVMRI not Cambri as come from Gomer the sonne of Iapheth called of the Latines Cimber from whom are descended the Celtae or Gaules The Romanes a second nation vnder the conduct of Iulius Caesar about the yeare before the birth of CHRIST 54. entered Brittaine and planted their colonies in diuers and sundry places of this Iland The Scottes obseruing the Roman legions to grow weake and their Empire to decline thereupon tooke occasion first to seise vpon Ireland then about the yeare of CHRIST 446. great trouble arising in France the Emperours were constrained wholly to withdraw their forces from hence and to leaue the Brittaines naked and open to the furie of the Pictes their enemies From hence ensued a double mischiefe for first the vnquiet and turbulent Pictes thinking that now the onely opportunitie was offered them to accomplish their desires thought to make sure worke called in the Scottes out of Ireland combined themselues together against the poore disarmed Britans whereupon the Britans were constrained for safegard of their liues and liberties to call in about the yeare of CHRIST 440. the Angles Saxons and Iuites a warlike people inhabiting along the sea coast of Germany from the riuer of Rhein vnto Denmarke to aid them against their violent enemies The Normanes lead by William the Bastard their Duke tooke possession of Great Brittaine in the yeare 1066. The Vandalles Norweis and Danes who by their piracies and robberies a long time and oft greeuously vexed these Iles neuer seated their Colonies heere and therefore I passe them ouer with silence The forme of Brittaine is triangular like vnto that figure which the Geometers call Scalenum or as Nubiensis the Arabian saith to the head and necke of Alnaama the ostrich and therefore it may aswell as Sicilia be called TRINACRIA The three-cornered I le The ancient Geographers did hold it and that deseruedly to be the greatest Iland of the Maine Ocean wherefore Solinus saith it may well deserue the name of ANOTHER WORLD and Matthew Paris for the same cause calleth it THE QVEEN or Empresse of the Isles of the Ocean In respect of which large compasse it hath been in former ages diuided into many seuerall iurisdictions and kingdomes in the time of the Saxons England the South-east part into seuen and Wales into three Great Egbert in the yeare 800. reduced the Saxon heptarchy into a Monarchy The Irish Princes Nobles and Commons after the incarnation 1172. vnited their Pentarchy to the crowne of Egbert and swore alleageance to Henry the second King of England Edward the first to these did knit in the yeare after the birth of Christ 1282. the triple crowne of the Pety Kings of Wales In these our daies the eternall wisedome of the Great King of Heauen and Earth hath cast all these together with the crowne of Scotland into one massie Emperiall Diademe and placed it vpon the head of our dread soueraigne IAMES lineally descended from those mighty Monarches and shall we doubt not in time adde to these whatsoeuer from them vnto his Highnesse do belong BRITANNICAE INSVLAE or the Empire of Great Brittaine conteineth Ilands Greater and often mentioned in histories BRITANNIA diuided by the Romans into Superior the Higher conteining ANGLIA England CVMERIA Wales Inferior the Neather now called SCOTIA Scotland HIBERNIA Ireland vpon the West of Britaine Lesser yet famous belonging to England from it South Close to the shore of Brittaine VECTA Wight Vpon the coast of France CAESARIA Gersey SARNIA Gernsey And many other lesser West From the point of Cornwall SILLINAE Silly anno 145. In the middest betweene England Ireland and Scotland MONOEDA Man Wales MONA called of the English Anglesey of the Welch Tirmôn Scotland lying from it West HEBRIDES The West isles in number foure and fortie North ORCHADES Orkney-iles about
called S. Iohns-toun is the onely towne in Scotland that is walled about Of the wood Caledon whereof Ptolemey and other ancient writers haue recorded There is scarcely any mention to be found onely about the towne of Sterling there remaineth some shew of the name Thus farre of the kingdome of Scotland now it will not be amisse to speake somewhat of the ilands that lie round about the same and do belong vnto that crowne The HEBRIDES commonly called the West-iles both for bignesse and number do excell the rest Hector Boëthus saith that they be in number 43. But heere he reckoneth vp the I le of Man as one of them which is not subiect to the kingdome of Scotland but is vnder the allegeance of the King of England neither do I thinke that it was euer accounted of the ancients among the Hebrides The first of the Hebrides is Aran otherwise called Boëth then Hellaw and Rothes Not farre from these is Alize where are great plenty of Barnacles which they call Soland-geese The greatest of all and the most famous is Ile a fertile soile for corne and rich for veines of mettall Then Cumber and Mule Neere vnto these is Ione memorable for the tombs of Kings long since buried there Next vnto this is Lewis last of all is Hirth situate in the 43. degree of latitude Thus Boethus calleth them But Iohn Maior the Scot nameth them thus Argila Aranea Awyna Butha or Rothsaya and Leuisora In these ilands are those geese which they call Clakes Gyraldus calleth them Bernacles which Boëthus affirmeth to breed of the sea and of rotten wood and not to grow vpon trees as the common sort beleeue and haue published in their writings For if you shall cast saith he a peece of wood into that sea in continuance of time first wormes do breed within the wood which by little and little become to haue heads feet wings at the last being fledge and growen to their full growth to the bignes of a goose they attempt to flie and do somtimes swim and sometimes vse their wings as other Sea-foule do Beyond the Hebrides are the ORCHADES or the Orkeney iles of which the best is Pomona famous for the Bishops-sea a goodly Church and two strong castles One of these Iohn Maior calleth Zeland which is 50. miles in length In these grow no manner of trees nor any wheat and yet otherwise of all other sorts of graine they are very fertile It breedeth no serpent or venimous beast In Scotland they buy the barrell'd butter the inhabitants hauing abundance of Barley whereof they make a most strong kind of drinke and are very great drinkers yet as Boëthus saith you shall neuer see a drunken-man or madde man one bestraught or a naturall foole amongst them The same authour affirmeth the like of the inhabitants of the iles of Scetland but this is no wonder amongst them that drinke nought but water All the wealth and commodities of these Scetland-men consist in Stockfish and hides of beastes In the Hebrides they vse the Irish tongue in the iles of Orkeney they speake the Gottish language M. Iordanus in his mappe of Denmarke saith that the Orchades are subiect to the kingdome of Denmarke yet we know them to belong to Scotland vnder the title of a Dukedome But se what we haue written of this in the discourse to the mappe of Denmarke Of Scotland and of the ilands adioining thou maist read more at large in Hector Boëthus Iohn Maior and Iohn Lisley Scottish-men which haue written the histories of this their country SCOTIAE TABVLA Miliaria Scotica Cum Priuilegio Of ENGLAND THe South part of the Iland of Britaine is as we haue said before diuided into two parts That part which is toward the East abutting vpon the German Ocean is of the Angles a people of the Saxons which seated themselues there in their language called ANGLIA or England that is the Angles land The West part which is seuered from that other by the riuers Seuern and Dee and doth vse the ancient Brittish tongue is of the same Angles or Englishmen called WALLIA or Wales yet the Brittan or Welshman calleth himselfe Cumro and his country Cumria the English Saissons and their country Lhoëgria neither do they know or at least they will not acknowledge what England or an Englishman doth meane So great difference there is betweene the languages of the seuerall nations of this Iland All this South part England I meane and Wales hath their proper king vnto whom many Dukes Marquesses Earles Barons and great Noblemen are subiect and obedient It is a countrie at all times of the yeare most kind and temperate The Aire is thicke and so it is much subiect to windes clowdes and raine and therefore in regard of thicknesse of the aire it is neither opprest with too much heat or too much cold For it is found true by experience that although it be more Northerly than Brabant Flanders and other forrein countries yet heere the winter is neuer so bitter nor the frost so eger as in those parts It hath euerie where many hilles without wood and water which notwithstanding do bring forth very small and short grasse an excellent feed for sheepe and therefore infinite flockes of sheepe do bespread them which either by reason of the kindnesse of the aire or goodnesse of the soile do yeeld most soft wooll farre finer than those of other countries And for that this country breedeth neither woolues nor any rauenous beast you shall see in diuers places flocks of sheepe vpon the hilles and dales greene pastures commons fallowes and corne fields into which after the crop is off euery man by a certaine ancient custome doth put in his cattell in common to wander heere and there without a shepheard This indeed is that Golden fleece in which especially the riches of the inhabitants doth consist for an huge masse of gold and siluer is by Merchants which thither flocke from all quarters for such like wares yearly brought into the Iland and there doth continually rest for that it is by proclamation forbidden that no man may carry any money out of the Realme It aboundeth also with all sorts of cattell except asses mules camels and elephants There is in no place of the world greater and larger dogges nor better The soile is very fatte and fertile and naturally bringeth foorth beside all sorts of corne and pulse all maner of things onely the firre-tree and as Caesar saith the beech tree although that now it hath in diuerse places plenty of beeches The ay-green Bay tree doth in these Northren countries no where thriue better Such abundance of Rosemary heere doth grow in all places and that so high that they oft times do fence their gardens therewith Wine they haue none for the grapes seldome heere do ripen and is amongst them planted rather for shade and pleasure then for his fruit and profit There is in no country in Christendome more
therefore they are of the English Nobility for seruice preferred before the English Yet of late heere they haue vsed themselues to dwell in cities to learn occupations to trade as merchants to go to plough and to do any maner of businesse good for the common-wealth as well as the English nay in this thing they excell them that there is no man so poore amongst them but for a while will set his sonnes to schole to learne to write and read and those whom they find to be apt they send to the Vniuersities cause them for the most part to giue their minds to the study of the ciuill law Heere hence it is that the greater part of those which in this kingdome doe professe the Ciuill or Canon law are Welshmen borne You shall find also very few of the common and meaner sort of people but can read and write his owne language and after their fashion play vpon the Welsh harpe Now also they haue the Bible and common praier booke printed in their owne tongue a language as we said vsed of their ancestors and wholly different from the English And as in old time long since being a people as Tacitus reporteth impatient of the least wrongs that might be offered they were alwaies together by the eares and cutting one anothers throates so now for feare of law to which they are more obedient then any other nation they will wrangle and contend one with another as long as they are worth a groate These few obseruations we haue gleaned out of Lhoyd to whom we send the Reader that desireth more of the particulars of this country Syluester Gerrard a Welshman hath described VVales in a seuerall treatise Read also the Iournall of VVales Moreouer VVilliam of Newbery in the 5. chap. of his 2. booke hath many things of the nature of this country maners of the people To these you may adioine Polyd. Virg. those things which Robert Caenalis hath written in the summe of his 2. booke de re Gallica This Cymri or as the English call it VVales belongeth that we may heere by the way say something of this by an ancient decree to the King of Englands eldest sonne or daughter if he faile to the Kings heire I meane who is to succeed next after him and he is called assoone as he is born The Prince of VVales and that in the same sense as in Spaine and Portugall they call the Kings heire The Prince and in France The Dolphin Ieffrey of Monmouth writeth that in these parts of VVales neere the riuer of Seuern there is a poole which the country people call Linligune This saith he when the sea floweth into it enterteineth the waters like a bottomlesse gulfe and so drinketh vp the waues that it is neuer full nor euer runneth ouer But when the sea ebbeth the waters which before it had swallowed do swell like a mountaine which then do dash and run ouer the banks At which time if all the people of that shire should stand any thing neere the poole with their faces toward it so that the water shall but dash into their clothes and apparell they shall hard be able to auoid the danger but that they shal be drawne into the poole But if ones backe shal be toward it there is no danger at all although he should stand vpon the very edge of the same This is the story I haue nam'd the authour let him approue the truth of the same Of Mona the iland vpon the shore of this country thou hast the opinion of Humfrey Lhoyd in his epistle which we haue adioined to the end of this booke Of this also Iohn Leland in his Genethliacon of Edward Prince of VVales thus writeth This Iland saith hee being conquered by the English changed the name and was called Anglesey that is the iland of Englishmen Polydore Virgill a man of great reading and good iudgement in many matters is of another opinion Hee laboureth with all his forces to proue Menauia to be Mona If the name which yet it retaineth If the citie Caernaruon which is ouer against it vpon the maine do take his denomination from hence and is called Aruon for Ar-mon If that same very short cut ouer of which the Roman writers do speake If the nesse or promontorie Pen-mon that is as the word signifieth The head of Mon If the huge bodies of trees and rootes couered ouer with sand which daily are digged out of the shore of Tir-mon If the firre-trees of maruailous length which in squally grounds are heere and there found within the earth in this Iland do not sufficiently proue that that was anciently called Mona which now we call Anglesey I know not what to say more then that I haue read this in the 14. booke of Cornelius Tacitus his Annales Excisique luci saeuis superstitionibus sacri c. Felling the woods consecrated to superstitious seruices c. The same Leland in another place hath these verses of this Iland Insula Romanis Mona non incognita bellis Quondam terra ferax nemorum nunc indiga siluae Sed Venetis tantum cereali munere praestans Mater vt à vulgo Cambrorum iure vocetur c. Tyr-môn in former times thus witnesse writers old was full of stately woods but now li'th bleake and cold The soile is passing good of corne it yeeld'th such store That Welsh-mens nurse it 's call'd as we haue shew'd before c. CAMBRIAE TYPVS Auctore HVMFRE DO LHVYDO Denbigiense Cambrobritano Aliquod Regionum huius tractus synonyma prout Latinè Britannicè Anglicè etiemnum appellanture Cambria L. Cambrÿ B. Wales A. Venedotia L. Gwÿnedhia B. Northwales A. Demetia L. Dÿfet B. Westwales A. Ceretica L. Ceredigion B. Cardigan A. Pouisia L. Powijs B. Dehenbart B. Sutwales A. IRELAND IRELAND which the Greekes and Latines call HIBERNIA others IVERMA and IERNA the Irish themselues call Eryn From hence strangers taking it from the mouth of the English which pronounce e the second vowell with the same sound that other nations do sound i the third vowell haue made as it seemeth Irynlandt compounded as is apparent of the Irish Erin and the Saxon or Dutch Landt which afterward was contracted for more commodity of speach and roundnesse of pronunciation into Irland from whence the Latines framed IRLANDIA The first inhabitants which seated themselues in this Iland came hither as may be easily demonstrated from Brittaine or England not from Spaine as some most absurdly haue written For the abridgement of Strabo doth flatly call these ilanders Britaine 's and Diodorus Siculus saith that Irin is a part of Britaine wherefore it was iustly of all old writers called INSVLA BRITANNIA One of the Brittish iles About the yeare of CHRIST 400. in the daies of Honorius and Arcadius the Emperours at what time the Roman Empire began to decline the Scottes a second nation entered Ireland and planted themselues as Orosius writeth in the North parts whereupon it was
followes Ruremonde situate where the riuer Roer falles into the Maese It hath in my remembrance beene a Bishopricke Zutphen at the mouth of the riuer Berkel where it dischargeth it selfe into Yssel It beares the title of an Earledome It hath a rich College of Canons and is vnder the iurisdiction of the Bishop of Munster Arnhen stands vpon the banke of Rhijne This is the seat of the high Court of iustice and of the Chancery The Clergie of this towne are subiect to the Bishop of Vtrecht HATTEM a towne well fortified vpon the riuer Yssel ELBVRG on the shore of the Zuyder sea HARDERVVIIK vpon the same shore Heere likewise you haue WAGENING TIEL BOMMEL BRONCHORST DOESBVRG DOTECHEM SHEERENBERG gouerned by a peculiar prince vnder the name of an Earledome LOCHEN GROLL BREDEVORD GELRE which perhaps gaue name to the whole region STRAELEN VENLO a towne vpon the banke of Maese fortified both by arte and nature WACHTENDVNCK of ancient times the city of Hercules in the Dukedome of Iuliers Besides these there are other small townes of note which though now either by furie of warre or iniurie of time they are vnwalled yet they doe enioy the freedomes and priuileges of cities Their names be Keppel Burg Genderen Bateburg Monteford Echt Culeburg and Buren both which haue a peculiar Lord as Bateburg also Vnder Earle Ottho the third this region was mightily inlarged for he compassed with walles and endowed with priuileges the townes of Ruremond Arnhem Harderwijk Bemel Goch and VVagening which till that time had remained villages In the Chronicle of Iohn Reigersbeg written in Dutch I finde this region in the time of Carolus Caluus to haue beene called by the name of Ponthis and that it was by him in the yeere 878. erected to a Signiorie Then in the yeere 1079. this Signiorie of Ponthis was by Henrie the third adorned with the title of an Earledome and called the Earledome of Guelders and the first Earle thereof was Otto à Nassau It went vnder the name of an Earledome till Reinhold the second But whenas this Reinhold not only for his valour and mightinesse grew terrible to his neighbours but renowmed in regard of his iustice his piety and fidelity towards the Roman empire he was at Frankford in a solemne and royal assembly by Lewes the Emperour consecrated Duke in presence of the King of England the French King and the Princes Electours in the yeere of our Lord 1339. Some say that in the time of the Emperour Carolus Caluus towards that place where the towne of Gelre now standeth there was a strange and venimous beast of huge bignesse and monstrous crueltie feared all the countrey ouer which lay for the most part vnder an Oake This monster wasted the fields deuoured cattell great and small and abstained not from men The inhabitants affrighted with the noueltie and vncouthnesse of the matter abandoned their habitations and hid themselues in desert and solitarie places A certaine Lord of Ponth had two sonnes who partly tendring their owne estate and partly also the distresse of their neighbours assailed the beast with singular policie and courage and after a long combat slew him The said Lord therefore not farre from the Maese vpon the banke of Nierson for the perpetuall memorie of his sonnes exploit built a castle which he called Gelre because when the beast was slaine he often yelled with a dreadfull roaring noise Gelre Gelre from whence they say began the name of the Guelders Thus much out of the Chronicle of Henry Aquilius a Guelder borne More concerning this Prouince you may reade in Francis Irenicus but a most large description hereof you shall finde in Guicciardin GELRIAE CLIVIAE FINITIMORVMQVE LOCORVM VERISSIMA DESCRIPTIO Christiano Schrot Auctore The Bishopricke of LIEGE IT is a common and constant opinion that those which we now call Leodienses or Ligeois are a German people named of old Eburones A relique or monument of which ancient name remaineth as yet in the village Ebure a German mile distant from the city of Liege And this very place as I suppose is described by Dion lib. 40. vnder the name Eburonia Howbeit certaine it is that the iurisdiction of Liege stretcheth much farther than that of the Eburones did of olde Of the Eburones mention is made by Strabo Caesar and Florus Dion calles them Eburos and late Writers barbarously terme them Eburonates Themselues in their mother tongue which is a kinde of broken French they call Ligeois but in high Dutch Lutticher and Luyckenaren The deriuation of Eburones Leodienses whoso desires to know I refer him to the antiquities of Goropius Becanus and to a small pamphlet of Hubert Leodius This region taketh vp a great part of ancient Lorraigne for it containes vnder the name of the diocesse of Liege the dukedome of Bouillon the marquesat of Franckmont the countie of Haspengow and Loots and many Baronies In this region besides Maestright halfe wherof is subiect to the Duke of Brabant there are foure and twentie walled cities a thousand seuen hundred Villages with Churches and many Abbeys and Signiories The names of the cities are these following Liege vpon Maese the seat of a Bishop after which all the whole countrey is named Bouillon Franchemont Loots Borchworm Tungeren Huy Hasselt Dinant Masac Stoch Bilsen S. Truden Viset Tuin Varem Bering Herck Bree Pera Hamont Chiney Fosse and Couin as Guicciardin doth both name and number them Moreouer Placentius writeth that part of Maestright was added to this diocesse by the donation of Pori Earle of Louaine The territorie of this citie is called the countie of Maesland in the ancient records of Seruatius abbey built here by King Arnulphus in the yeere 889. Now this countie is vsually called Haspengow It is a region exceeding pleasant and fertile of all things especially on the North part where it ioyneth to Brabant for there it aboundeth with corne and all kinde of fruits and in some places it yeeldeth wine But on the South frontiers towards Lutzenburg and France it is somewhat more barren mountainous and ouerspred with woods here yet being some remainder of Arduenna the greatest forest in all France as Caesar writeth This is the outward hiew of the country but in the entrals and bowels thereof it is enriched with mettals and sundry kinds of marbles as also with sea-coales which they burne in stead of fewell and all these so surpassing good as in a common prouerbe they vsually say that they haue bread better than bread fire hotter than fire and iron harder than iron By their iron than which all the prouinces around vse neither better nor indeed any other they raise a great reuenue Nor with any other more forcible fire do the Smithes and Bearebrewers in all this part of the Low countries heat their furnaces than with these minerall coales of Liege which are of so strange a nature as water increaseth their flame but oile puts it out The smell of this fire or smoke
and vnder-homage so that hitherto the Princes on both sides haue vsed this custom namely that Boulogne no more acknowledgeth Artois nor S. Paul Boulogne Howbeit about this point in the latter treaty of peace 1559. there was some variance wherefore the matter being referred to Commissioners remaines as yet vndecided the King of Spaine holding still possession It is commonly supposed that Calais the next port of the continent vnto England was by Caesar called Portus Iccius from whence he sailed out of France thither But if we more thorowly consider the matter we shall finde it to haue beene another Port namely the towne of Saint Omer which that it was of old an hauen and a most large inlet of the Ocean sea euen the high cliffes which in a maner enuironing the citie do plainly demonstrate besides infinit other arguments and reliques of antiquitie which though no man should affirme it do most euidently conuince that the territorie adiacent was in times past couered with sea the trueth whereof is till this day also confirmed by common and constant report Yea Sithieu the ancient name of the citie for who knowes not that the name of S. Omer is but new manifesteth the same As if it were deriued of Sinus Itthius or Iccius Also that the said haue was in the prouince of the Morini which Virgil and Lucan doe call the farthest people And that this is most true an attentiue Reader may by many arguments easily gather both out of Caesar his entrance and returne from England Neither can the space of thirtie miles or thereabout which he sayth the island is there distant from the maine hinder my beliefe in this point whenas the violence of the sea especially in so narrow a place may easily either adde or diminish Nor doth the distance of the sea there from the maine to the continent much differ Sufficeth thus much to haue beene said concerning Portus Iccius Whether we haue hit the trueth or no let others iudge Moreouer this Prouince hath three Bishopricks to wit Arras S. Omer and Boulogne one and twentie Abbeys and seuen Nunries besides many Couents and Hospitals It hath many riuers also the principall whereof are Lys Scarpe Aa Canche and Authy besides others that are nauigable Great is the number of villages and hamlets thorowout the whole prouince The soile is most fertile and abundant of all corne and especially of wheat Wherefore in the ancient French tongue some write it was called Atrech that is to say The land of bread Nor is it destitute of woods and groues especially towards the South and West The garments of the Atrebates or Artesians S. Ierome in his second booke against Iouinian noteth for precious Also the Artesian mantles Vopiscus celebrateth in the life of the Emperour Carinus Likewise the same Ierome and other authours affirme that in his time it rained wooll in this prouince This region as others also adioyning Guicciardin hath most notably described Artois ATREBATVM REGIONIS VERA DESCRIPTIO Johanne Surhonio Monteusi auctore Illustri ac amplissimo viro Domino Christophoro ab Assonleuille equiti aurato Domino ab Alteuilla R. M t s consiliario primario Ab. Ortelius in hanc formam compraehendebat et dedicabat Cum priuilegio Imp. et Regiea Maitis FLANDERS THe extreme part of Europe opposite to England and Scotland enuironed by France Germanie and the Ocean is called by the inhabitants The low countries or lower Germanie but the French and all strangers in a maner call it by the name of Flanders But in very deed Flanders hath not so great extension For albeit Flanders properly so called was larger in times past yet at this present it is bounded by Brabant Henault Artois and the Ocean sea This they diuide into three parts namely Flanders the Dutch the French and the Imperiall which last part because it neuer acknowledged any superior besides the Prince of Flanders they name also Flanders proprietarie The Dutch Flanders hath these cities Gant Bruges Yperen Cortrijck Oudenard with Pammele Newport Furnas Bergen Sluise Damme Bierflet Dixmud Cassel Dunkerke Greueling Burburch and Hulst The French Flanders L'isle Doway and Orchies And Flanders Imperiall or Proprietary Aelst Dendermond Geertsberg and Ninouen The principall riuers are Scheld Lys and Dender Most part of the region is pasture-ground especially towards the West it breedeth faire oxen and most excellent and warlike horses It abounds with butter and cheese and yeeldeth wheat in abundance The inhabitants are most of them merchants and of flax wherof they haue in Flanders great plenty excellent good and wooll which is brought them out of Spaine and England they make great quantity of linnen and woollen cloth which they disperse farre and wide This Prouince of Flanders hath 28. walled cities 1154 villages besides fortresses castles and noble mens houses Among which Gaunt is the greatest citie Whereof Erasmus of Roterdam in his Epistles writeth in maner following I am of opinion saith he if you looke all Christendome ouer you shall not finde a citie comparable to this either for largenesse and strength or for the ciuill gouernment and towardlinesse of the people So far Erasmus It containeth in compasse three Dutch miles It is watered by three riuers which diuide it into twenty inhabited isles For multitude and beauty of houses Bruges excelleth almost all the cities of the Netherlands so famous a mart in times past as saith Iacobus Marchantius by that meanes the name of Flanders obscured all the regions round about Yperen stands vpon the riuer of Yperlee very commodious for Fullers By clothing it grew in times past to an huge bignesse till the English and men of Gaunt besieging it cast downe the large suburbs and greatly diminished the same As it is sayd in a common prouerbe that Millan for a Dukedome excelles all Christendome so doth Flanders for an Earledome It hath certaine prerogatiues for the Prince thereof writes himselfe Earle of Flanders by the grace of God which clause is proper to the stile of Kings For it is giuen saith Meierus to no Duke Marques or Earle in Christendome but only to him of Flanders whenas all others vsually adde By the clemency or By the assistance of God c. He had in times past sundry officers peculiar to a King as namely his Chancellour his Master of the horse his Chamberlain and his Cupbearer also two Marshals and ten Peeres as in France The armes of this region in times past were a scutcheon Azure diuided by fiue Crosse-barres of golde with another small red scutcheon in the midst Now it is a blacke lion in a golden field which some are of opinion he tooke for his armes together with the other Netherlandish Princes when they set forth on their expedition towards Syria in the company of Philip of Elsas for at that time the princes of Flanders Louaine Holland Lutzenburg Limburg Brabant Zeland Frisland Henault c. changing their ancient armes assumed to themselues lions of diuers colours
houres in the yeare was at the same time begunne by Richard Bishop of Sarum in a most goodly plot of ground which vulgarly was called MERIFEILD and in fourty yeares with infinite cost and charges it was by him and others finished and brought to that perfection which it is at now at this day q SOVTH-HANTON we now call it built vpon an arme of the sea betweene two riuers is enclosed with a double ditch and a faire stone wall For the better defence of the Hauen Richard the Second caused a very goodly castle to be built all of free stone It is a passing fine city very populous rich and well frequented of Merchants Clausentum that ancient city mentioned by Antoninus and stood sometimes in that field which at this day is called Saint Maries was often spoiled and sacked by the Danes and at length in the time of Edward the Third was vtterly consumed and burnt downe to the ground by the French-men Of whose ruines this New city was built in a place much more better and commodious r This riuer peraduenture was anciently called WENT and thereof the citie Wentchester happily tooke the name like as the cite Colnchester in Essex was so called of the riuer Colne vpon Which it standeth s WINCHESTER A very auncient citie well knowen to the Romanes and is oft mentioned in old historians Afterward in time so the Saxon Heptarchie the West Saxon Kings ordinarily kept their court heere Straite after the entrance of the Normans and peraduenture somewhat before the Records for the whole land were here bestowed and laied vp It was once or twise much defaced by casualty of fire and oft spoiled and sacked by vnruly souldiers in time of ciuill warres but Edward the Third to salue these damages and hinderances of the citizens and townesmen placed heere THE STAPLE or marte for wooll and cloth At this time it is very populous and well inhabited The wals of this citie are about a mile and an halfe in compasse It hath six faire gates and very large Suburbes adioyning to euery one of them t SHORHAM an ancient Borough and hauen towne in Sussex first called as Master Camden writeth CIMENSHORE of Cimen the brother of Cissa who together with Aella their father landed a greater multitude of their Saxons But in continuance of time a greate part of that towne being eaten vp with the sea and the mouth of the hauen with beech and sand det vp of a goodly towne it is become a small village at this day knowen by the name of OLD SHOREHAM the decay of which gaue occasion of the building and name of another not farre off from it commonly called NEVV SHOREHAM u Heere Athelstane King of the West-Saxons who made a lawe that no man should be so hardy as to dare to coine money out of great townes priuiledged by the King for that purpuse erected a Minte for the coyning of his Siluer and other mettals by which means it became so famous that in the time of the Saxons it deserued the name of a city and was then called by them HASTINGACEASTER In a plaine before this towne that bloody battaill betweene William the bastard Duke of Normandy that cruell tyrant and Harold the vsurper sonne of Earle Goodwin was fought vpon the fourteenth day of October in the yeare of our Lord 1066. It is one of the cinque ports w DOVER before the entrance of the Saxons was called Dubris as Antoninus in his Iournal testifieth who nameth it Portus Dubris The haven Dubris Vpon that side next the sea that was sometime defended with a strong wall whereof some part is to be seene at this daie Victred King of Kent did heere erect a goodly Church which hee dedicated vnto Saint Martines The castle which standeth vpon the toppe of an exceding high cliffe and is thought to be the strongest holde of all England and therefore called by Matthew Paris Clauis repagulum Angliae The key and barre of England was begunne as is probable by the Romans yet not by Iulius Caesar as they would faine make men beleeue Vpon another rocke or cliffe ouer against this on the other side of the towne there was as seemeth a lanterne or watch-tower Pharus they call it opposite and answerable to that which the Romans had built at Bollein beyond the straights in Fraunce which afterward being decaied was repaired by Charles the Great and at this day is called by the French Tour d'order by the English THE OLD MAN OF BVLLEN x This is that famous passage traiectus from the Continent vnto this Iland by which Caesar and the Romans alwaies entred and had accesse hither For vntill the time of Constans and Constantine Emperours of Rome it was thought almost impossible to come hither from Rome with a nauy thorough the maine Ocean And since that long it was in time of Christianity by proclamation forbidden that whatsoeuer hee were borne within the alleageance of England that had a minde to goe beyond the seas for religion or pilgrimage it should not be lawfull for him to take shipping any where else but heere The Frenchmen vulgarly call it Le pas de Calais but the English call it The streights of Douer y London we now call it but of the French and Strangers it is commonly called Londres or Londra Yet Tacitus Ptolemey Antonine and Ammianus Marcellinus doe with one consent write it LONDINVM or LONGIDINVM so named of the Britons as is probable of Llong Ships and Dinas a Citie answerable to those places of Graecia Naupactus Naupactus Naustathino c. denominated of Ships It is doubtlesse a very ancient citie as Ammianus Marcellinus testifieth who twelue hundred yeares since called it Vetustum oppidum An ancient towne Yet Iulius Caesar neuer mentioneth it in all his writings Cornelius Tacitus who liued in the daies of Nero that bloody Emperour was the first if I be not deceiued that euer wrot of it calling it by the name of Oppidum copia negotiatorum commeatu maxime celebre A Towne very famous both for trafficke and great concourse of Marchants as also for victualls and all manner ot prouision whatsoeuer Nay he that made the Panegyricke oration to Constantius the Emperour and Marcellinus who liued after him giue it no better title Yet at this day it is An abridgement or breefe view of the whol iland The Imperiall seate of the Brittish iles Regumque Angliae camera and The chamber of the English Kings and therefore it may now iustly assume that title of AVGVSTA The roiall city which Ammianus so many hundred yeeres since gaue vnto it And being situate vpon the rising of a little hill in a most wholsome and healthfull aire in the middest of the richest countries of the land all a long vpon the North side of the Thames one of the goodliest riuers of Europe it is at this day as famous a Marte for all manner of trade and trafficke as any in the whole world beside The
iland MONA the ancient seat of the DRVIDES TO satisfie your request concerning the Name and situation of the I le MONA most learned Ortell and to set downe in writing what I haue obserued of that argument in the reading of ancient and moderne authours what I haue found by experience and trauell and what I haue gathered by the knowledge of the British tongue which to this day is spoken vulgarly by the inhabitants of this iland were but so much as I confesse is due to your kinde loue and manifold courtesies whereby you haue many wayes eternally bound me vnto you Notwithstanding in so doing I am sure to be seuerely censured of many condemned of some and generally to be subiect and opposed to the obloquy and scandalous speeches of the baser sort such I mean as haue no maner of learning or sound iudgement For a preiudicate opinion though neuer so false and absurd nay euen the grossest errors if they be once receiued and setled in the heart will hardly euer be remoued especially being patronaged and defended by the authority of Polydore Virgil a graue learned man and one that for those times was accounted very eloquent But by their leaue I may say That this man hath stuffed his Histories with many manifest errours mille mendis mendacijs with a thousand faults and falshoods which he fell into not only for that he wanted the knowledge of the British tongue which now the English after the maner of the Germans call Welsh that is Strange or Barbarous without which euen the very name of the iland can by no meanes be truely vnderstood But also either for that he neuer read the best of our Authours or els for that he bearing a proud splene and malice against the Britons whom the best and most honorable of all the Romane Emperours did loue and greatly esteeme little weighed their authority and haughtilie attributing too much to his owne neglected the better and followed the steps poore blinde man of one William Little little in name and little in estimation and credit as blinde a foole as himselfe But let this brasen faced diminisher of the Britons honour burst himselfe if he will and do what he can to the vttermost of his might and malice so long as Diodorus Siculus Dion Cassius twise Consul of Rome Herodian Plutarch Pausanias Ptolemey and Strabo are extant amongst the Greekes Caesars Commentaries Tacitus his Annals Eutropius Suetonius Orosius Aelius Spartianus Iulius Capitolinus Aelius Lampridius Flauius Vopiscus Aurelius Victor Ammianus Marcellinus Sextus Rufus The Panegyricks of Mamertinus and others Pliny Antonine Mela and Solinus amongst the Latines beside the Annals of the three Gildases Ninnius and diuers other very learned men written many hundred yeres since in the British tongue who before the comming of the English which our countreymen to this day call by their ancient name Saxons haue learnedly penned the histories of this their natiue countrey and beside Asserius Obbern Felix Monumetensis Henricus Huntingtonensis Malmesburiensis Annouillanus Iscanus Neccham Gyraldus Parisiensis Trenetus and infinite others which since those Saxons conquered that part of the iland which they call England but we reteining the old name Lhoëgria haue done the like Let I say this proud Italian burst himselfe and let him snarle at the worthy acts of the Britons while so many and such ancient authours do liue to sound the trumpe of their honour no impudent lying fellow shall euer be able with his calumnies to obscure the bright lusture of the Britons glory to impeach the honourable fame of their renowmed deeds spread abroad by such worthy men or to fasten the least infamy vpon them But now it is time to come to our proposed argument and to speake more particularly of MONA which Polydore Virgil taking vpon him more than he well might hath depriued of the ancient name and leauing it namelesse hath giuen both it and Menauia to the I le of Man as may thus be proued both out of the Greeke Latine and British writers as also out of the language which here to this day is spoken by the inhabitants It is apparent out of Caesar Tacitus and others that MONA was an iland very neere to the coast of Britaine betweene it and Ireland In which Sea there are but two beside the Hebrides that are of any note and bignesse Therefore it must needs follow that one of those two is that MONA which is so often mentioned in ancient histories Wherefore I thinke it not amisse to set downe before your eyes the position of them both and how they do lie from the coast of England other ilands round about them that by that meanes that which followeth may the better be vnderstood The first of these which Polydore calleth ANGLESEY is very neere to that part of Britaine which we call Cumry and the English Wales from which it is seuered by a very narrow frith or bay of the sea the countrey people call it Menai which ouer-against the middest of the iland is hardly a mile ouer Vpon the East side of this I le there is a very strong castle and a prety fine citie called Beaumarish Bellum mariscum both built by Edward the First King of England On the other side of the iland opposite to this city there is a maruellous conuenient place to take shipping for Ireland and therefore it is much for that purpose resorted vnto and frequented by the English They call it Holy-head but of the Welsh men it is called Caërgybi that is Gubchester or The citie of Kybi In this iland is Aberfraw which within these three or foure hundred yeeres was the chiefe seat where ordinarily the King of Northwales Gwynedia or as some barbarously write it Venedocia did reside and keepe his Court This iland for the bignesse of it mainteineth and breedeth much cattell and sheepe It yeerely yeeldeth such plentie of wheat that in respect of that fertility it is commonly called The mother of Wales They haue little wood here growing yet euery day the bodies of huge trees with their roots and sirre trees of a woonderfull length and bignesse are heere by the inhabitants found and digged out of the earth in diuers places in low grounds and champion fields The people speake the Welsh tongue and for the most part they do not vnderstand one word of English notwithstanding they haue for these three hūdred yeeres and more beene subiect as the rest of Wales hath beene to the Kings and Crowne of England But now let vs come to the other iland to which also Polydore Virgil hath not long since without any ground or good authoritie giuen the name of MONA That standeth in the middest of the maine sea distant from the neerest place of England at the least fiue and twentie miles It is almost as bigge as that other but it is farre more barren and waste and those men that are borne and bred there are weake and nothing so fit for
whereby they were sometime called before the entrance of the Saxons But let vs come againe to Mona Our countreymen and the inhabitants of this ile speaking now at this day the ancient British tongue doe know no other name of it than MON for so they all generally call it Polydore Virgil calleth it ANGLESEA that is The English ile I grant that this iland being subdued by the English men was beautified and graced with their name and that the English men do so call it I do not denie But I pray thee did the English men first descrie this iland was it neuer seene before or had it no name at all before their comming Hearest thou Polydore bethinke thy selfe thou mayest aswell say that England is not that land which was sometime called Britannia nor that was not Gallia which now we call France Nay which is a greater matter than this and more strange the inhabitants of this ile notwithstanding they be subiect to the crowne of England do neither know what England or an English man doth meane For an English man they call Sais but in the plurall number speaking of more than one Saisson and this their natiue countrey they name Mon. Moreouer that faire citie built vpon that arme of the sea or frith aboue mentioned on the other side ouer against the West part of this iland is called Caeraruon that is The citie vpon Mon For Caer in our language signifieth a walled towne Kir in Hebrew is a wall and Kartha in those Easterne tongues is a walled citie Ar is as much to say as Vpon and as for the v in the last syllable for m that is the proprietie of the language in some cases for in all words beginning with m in consequence of speech that letter after some certeine consonants is changed into v for which our nation doth alwayes vse f because that v with them is euermore a vowell So we call Wednesday Diem Mercurij Die Mercher but Wednesday night Nos Fercher Mary we call Mair but for our Ladies church we write and pronounce Lhanuair Neither is this citie only thus named but euen that whole tract of the continent of Britaine that runneth along by it is called Aruon that is Opposite or ouer against Mon. But let it be that this iland was not that Mona so oft mentioned by the ancients then ought Polydore for his credits sake haue found another name for it and not to haue left it wholly namelesse Now let vs come vnto the other which our countreymen do call MENAW and which all the inhabitants generall as also the English and Scots reteining the Welsh name but cutting it somewhat shorter MAN Therefore there is no man for ought I know beside this proud Italian and one Hector Boëthius a loud liar that euer called this iland by the name of Mona But leauing these demonstrable arguments which indeed do make this matter more cleere than the noone day let vs come vnto authorities and testimonies of learned men which in some cases are rather beleeued than any other arguments whatsoeuer by these I doubt not but the true and proper name shall be giuen to ech of these ilands and the controuersie decided without any maner of contradiction There is a piece of Gildas Britannus that ancient writer a man euery kinde of way learned at this day remaining in the Librarie of the illustrious Earle of Arundell the only learned Noble man of his time in which he hath these wordes England hath three ilands belonging to it Wight ouer against the Armoricanes or Bretaigne in France The second lieth in the middest of the sea betweene Ireland and England The Latine Historians doe call it Eubonia but vulgarly in our mother tongue we call it MANAW Thou hearest gentle Reader a naturall Welsh man speaking in the Welsh tongue For thus we call Polydore Virgils Mona in our natiue language euen at this day Moreouer the reuerend Beda that worthy Englishman famous thorow all Christendome in his dayes for all maner of literature and good learning in the ninth chapter of the second booke of his Historie writeth thus At which time also the people of Northumberland Nordan Humbri that is all that nation of the Angles which did inhabit vpon the North side of the riuer Humber with Edwin their king by the preaching of Paulinus of whom we haue spoken a little before was conuerted vnto the faith of Christ This king in taking of good successe for his enterteinment of the Gospel did grow so mightie in Christianitie and the kingdome of heauen and also had that command vpon the earth that he ruled which neuer any king of the English did before him from one end of Britaine to the other and was king not only of the English but also of all the shires and prouinces of the Britons Yea and he brought vnder his subiection as I haue shewed before the iles of Man insulae Menaniae Here I do thinke that for Menauiae it ought to be written Menauiae seeing that there is such small difference betweene an n and a u that they may easily be mistaken and one put for another Moreouer Henry Archdeacon of Huntingdon a worthy Historiographer who wrote about the yeere of our Lord 1140 one that followed Beda in many things almost foot for foot doth seeme also to correct this fault and cleere the doubt For he setting forth the great command and conquests of this Edwine King of the Northumbers brusteth out into these words Eduwyn the king of the Northumbers ruled ouer all Britaine not only ouer that part which was inhabited of the English but ouer that also which was possessed of the Britons Kent only excepted Moreouer he brought the I le Menauia which lieth between Ireland and Britaine and is commonly called MAN vnder the obedience of the Kings of England Here obserue that this English man did giue also to this iland which Polydore Virgil falsly calleth Mona the English name for it is commonly sayth he called Man by which name it is knowen called at this day of all the English Besides this also Ranulph of Chester in the foure and fortieth chapter of the first booke of his Polychronicon doth thus speake of those ilands which are neere neighbours vnto Britaine Britaine sayth he hath three ilands lying not farre off from it beside the Orkney iles which doe seeme to answer vnto the three principall parts of the same For WIGHT lieth hard vpon the coast of Loëgria which now is called England Anglia MONA which the English call Anglisea perteineth vnto Cambria that is to Wales But the I le EVBONIA which hath two other names Menauia and Mania lieth oueragainst Scotland These three Wight Man and Anglisea Vecta Mania Mona are almost all of one bignesse and conteining the like quantitie of ground Thus farre Ranulph of Chester The reason why Gildas and others haue called this iland Eubonia I take to be this because it was first inhabited of the same nation
to wit the Irish of the which the Euboniae the West iles commonly of the Historians called Hebrides are The reuerend Beda and Henry Huntington in that they write it Menauia do seeme to allude to the Welsh name Manaw but this is it which we would haue thee diligently to obserue that none of them do call it Mona By these arguments and testimonies it is manifest that Mona is that iland which the inhabitants as I haue shewed before doe at this day name Mona or Mon acknowledging no other name and is that which of the English is called Anglisea but the other which Polydore Virgil and such as doe loue with him to wallow in the mire rather than to seeke for the cleere streames doe call Mona is of Gildas called Eubonia of Henry Huntington Menauia and of others Mania Here I will conclude this discourse with this one testimonie which may indeed woorthily stand for many to wit this of Syluester Girald a Welsh man borne a man no lesse famous for his learning than for his noble birth For he was descended from that noble house of the Giralds to whom the Kings of England are beholding for that footing which they haue in Ireland Moreouer he was greatly beloued of Henrie the second King of England and was afterward Secretarie to King Iohn his sonne whose name also is very famous and oft mentioned in the Popes Decretals For being but bishop of S. Dauids in Wales he did notwithstanding contend with the Archbishop of Canturburie about the prerogatiue primacy This man I say in that his booke which he intituled Itinerarium Balwini Archiepiscopi Cantuariensis crucem in infideles per Cambriam praedicantis The Iournall or trauels of Baldwin Archbishop of Canturbury when as he preached the Gospell and crosse of Christ against the Infidels thorowout all Wales whose company he neuer forsooke in all that peregrination writeth thus of the I le MONA On the morrow we passed by the castle of Caer-aruon and from thence thorow the valleys and steepe hilles and mountaines we came vnto Bangor where we were most kindly enterteined of the bishop whose name was Gwian who was almost constrained to take vp the crosse of Christ with a great lamentation and shout of all sorts of people both men and women From thence crossing a vety narrow arme of the sea we passed ouer to MONA an iland lying about two miles off from the maine land Here Rothericke the yonger sonne of Owen came very deuoutly with all the people of that I le and of the countreys round about him to meet vs. There they making as it were a theater of the craggie rocks by the preaching of the Archbishop and of Alexander the Archdeacon of that place many were wonne vnto the crosse and to beleeue in Iesus Christ but certeine yong men lustie-bloods of the seruants and followers of Rothericke which sate oueragainst vs would by no meanes be drawen to beare the crosse Of these some within a little while after following certeine theeues or free-booters being slaine outright others hurt and dangerously wounded did of their owne heads lay a worldly crosse one vpon anothers backe Rothericke was married to Prince Reese's daughter who was allied to him in the third degree her by no admonitions he could be made to put away from him hoping that by her meanes he should the better be able to defend himselfe against his brothers children whom he had disherited and put by their lands and possessions notwithstanding it fell out contrary to his expectation for within awhile after they recouered all againe out of his hands This Iland hath three hundred three and fortie villages or farmes yet it is esteemed but at three Cantreds Britaine hath three ilands lying not farre off from it all almost of like quantitie and bignesse VVight vpon the South Mon vpon the West and Man vpon the Northwest The two former are very neere to the continent the armes of the sea by which they are seuered from England being but very narrow and not farre ouer The third which is called Man lieth mid way betweene Vlster a prouince of Ireland and Gallawey of Scotland Mona or Mon of the inhabitants by reason of the great plenty of wheat which it yeeldeth ordinarily euery yeere is called The mother of Wales And a little beneath the same Authour writeth thus of this iland Hugh Earle of Shrewsbury and Arundell with Hugh Earle of Chester entring this iland by force did shut dogs all night in the church of Fefridanke which the next morning were found all starke madde and he himselfe afterward by the inhabitants of the Orkeney iles comming thither as pirats and sea-robbers vnder the leading of Magnus their captaine being shot in the eye which part of his body only was vnarmed and subiect to the enemies weapon fell stone dead from the decke of the shippe into the sea which Magnus beholding cried out in the Danish language Leit loope that is as much to say in English Let him leape Moreouer Henry the Second going into North-Wales with an armie of men ioyned battell with the aduersarie at Caleshull in a narrow straight betweene two woods and withall sent a saile of ships into Mona which spoiled the foresayd Church with other places there wherfore they were almost all slaine taken dangerously wounded or put to flight by the inhabitants of that I le There were in this company two noble men and his vncle which wrote this story with other mo sent hither by the King to wit Henry the sonne of Henry the First and the vncle of Henry the Second begotten of the honourable lady Nesta daughter of Reese Theodore's sonne borne in the confines of South-Wales I meane in the skirts of it next vnto Demetia or West-Wales and the brother of Steuen brother to Henry by the mothers side but not by the fathers a man that first in our dayes breaking the way for others not long after this attempted the entrance and conquest of Ireland whose worthy commendations the prophicall history doth at large set foorth Henry being too venturous and not being seconded in time was killed at the first encounter with a pike But Robert distrusting his owne strength and doubting whether he should be aided or not fled and being sore wounded very hardly recouered the shippes This iland outwardly appeareth as if it were barren rough and ouergrowen like as the countrey of Pebidion neere Menauia doth although indeed it be very fertile of many things in diuers places Thus farre Gyraldus What could euer be spoken or written more plainly and euidently of the name situation fertility and valourous inhabitants of Mona as also of the situation and name of that other iland The same authour in his description of Wales thus speaketh of this Iland In North-Wales betweene Mona and Snowdon hilles is Bangor the bishops sea As of all Wales the South part about Cardigan shire Cereticam regionem he calleth it but especially euery where in West-Wales Demetia
but especially the Neck-land or Peninsula knowen vnto the old writers by these names Scandia Scandinauia Baltia and Basilia but to them neuer throughly discried which in regard of his greatnesse they haue called Another World and the Shoppe of men and as it were the scabberd from whence so many Nations haue been drawen But of the diuers names of this country read that which we haue written at the mappe of Island as also in our Treasury of Geography in the word BASILIA This Neckeland in this our age conteineth three kingdomes Norwey Swedland and Gotland with a part of the kingdome of Denmarke and many other prouinces as Bothny Finmarke Finland Lappland c. whose seuerall descriptions we will heere set downe out of Iames Ziegler NORVEGIA Norway if you would interpret it is as much to say as the Northren tract or Northren way This was sometime a most flourishing kingdome and comprehended Denmarke and Friesland with the circumiacent Ilands vntill such time as the kingdome was gouerned by an hereditary succession of kings Afterward the line failing in the time of vacancie by the consent of the Nobility it was decreed that the kings should be chosen by election At this day it is vnder the iurisdiction of the kings of Denmarke who do not only take the lawfull reuenews iustly due to the crowne but imposing intolerable exactions and by scraping and raking all commodities into their hands they conuey all the wealth of this country into Denmarke Neither is this aggreeuance alone but with all the disaduantage and condition of the place doth much hurt the subiects for all the hauens roads shipping are at the command of the king of Denmarke so that neither they may without his leaue vse the sea or transport their merchandise into forren countries This kingdome either for the temperature of the aire goodnesse of the soile or benefit of the sea is not of meane estimation and account This doth transport into other parts of Europe a fish which is a kind of codde slitte and spread vpon a post and so dried and hardened with the frost and cold and thereupon the Germanes call it Stockfish The best time of the yeare to catch them is in Ianuary when as the weather is coldest to drie them those which are taken when the weather is more mild they shrinke or rotte away and are not fit to be transported any whither All the sea coast of Norway is very calme and temperate the sea freeseth not the snow continueth not long SVECIA Sweden or Swedland is a kingdome rich of siluer copper lead iron corne and cattell Wonderfull plenty of fish is heere taken both in riuers lakes and creekes aswell as in the maine ocean Heere are many Deere and wild beasts Stockholme is the kings seat and chiefe mart towne a city fortified both by nature by art and industrie of the ingenious Architect It standeth in a fenne like Venice and thereof it took the name for that being situate in the waters it is built vpon piles which they call Stockes GOTHIA Gotland that is the Good land is subiect to the king of Sweden In it is the port and mart towne Calmar a great city Heere is a goodly Castle which for ingenious Architecture or Fortification as also for large compasse and content is not much inferiour to that of Millane in Italie Neere Tinguallen are mines of excellent iron Thus farre Ziegler Of DENMARKE and the BRITISH ILES we will speake nothing in this place seeing that we entreated of them at their proper and seuerall mappes In this chart there is described also ISLAND an Iland as famous as any other for strange miracles and secret works of nature Item GROENLAND another Iland knowen to very few Heere also is FRIESLAND a third iland altogether vnknowen to ancient writers neither is it once named of the latter Geographers or Hydrographers only Nicolao Zeno a Venetian who in the yeare of Christ 1380. tossed with many continuall bitter stormes in this sea at last rent and weather-beaten arriued in this I le This authour affirmeth that this iland is subiect to the king of Norway and to be greater then Ireland and that the chiefe towne is of the same name with the I le it selfe lastly that the country people do for the most part liue by fishing For in the hauen of this towne they catch such abundance of all sorts of fish that from thence they lade whole shippes and transport them into other ilands neere adioining The sea next to this iland vpon the West full of shelues and rocks as he writeth is of the inhabitants called Mare Icarium Icarus sea and an iland in it he saith is named ICARIA Of GROENLAND he writeth that the winter heere is 9. moneths long and all that time it neuer raineth nor the snow which falleth in the beginning of winter euer dissolueth vntill the latter end of the same But that is most wonderfull which he telleth of the Monastery of the order of Frier Predicants dedicated to the honour of S. Thomas in this Iland namely that there is not farre from it a mountaine which like vnto Aetna in Sicilia doth at certaine seasons burne and cast out huge flakes of fire and that there is in the same place a fountaine of hot or skalding waters wherewith not only all the chambers of this monastery are warmed in the maner of Stones and hot-houses but also all kind of meat and bread is sodden and dressed and with no other fire All the monastery is built of a kind of hollow light stone which the flames of that burning mountaine do cast forth For these burning stones being by nature somewhat fat and oily are solid and firme but being quenched with this water they become drie full of holes and light and the water wherewith they were quenched is turned into a clammy kind of stuffe like bitumen wherewith these stones are laied in steed of mortar when they are to vse them in building and thus they make a sure worke against the iniury of all weathers Their orchyeards also and gardens watered with this water are alwaies green and do flourish almost all the yeare long with all maner of flowres kinds of corne and fruits This Priory standeth vpon the sea shore and hath a reasonable capacious and large hauen into which the forenamed fountaine emptying his waters doth make it so warme that it neuer freeseth in the hardest and egerest froast that euer was knowen Whereupon heere is such abundance of fish which do flocke hither from more colde places that not only these Monkes but also the neighbours round about are furnished from hence with prouision of victuall These thinges amongst many others Zenus hath written of these Ilands who being made by Zichimnus king of certaine Ilands heere about high Admirall of his nauy discouered all these Northren coasts The ile FRIESLAND now againe in these our daies was descried by the Englishmen and was by them called by a new name WEST
ENGLAND In old writers there are but few records left of these Ilands Amongst the new writers Olaus Magnus Gothus Episcopus Vpsaliensis Albertus Crantzius Saxo Grammaticus Iacobus Zieglerus Sigismundus ab Herberstein in his commentaries of Moscouia haue described these countries And Nicolas Wimman hath set forth the nauigation of the Northren sea See also a little discourse of Antony and Nicolas Zenis two brethren of the ilands situate vnder the North pole together with the shipwracke of Peter Quirinus written by himselfe and Christophero Fiorauante as also by Nicholas Mighel in the Italian tongue There is also a discourse of these Northren parts written by Sebastian Cabato who in the yeare 1557. first sailed into these quarters But aboue all the history of Saxony lately written and set out by Dauid Chytraeus is not to be forgotten SEPTENTRIONALIVM REGIONVM DESCRIP ISLAND I Do find in the Ecclesiasticall history lately set forth and imprinted vnder the name of M. Adams That the people of this Iland came vnto Adelbert Bishop of Breme earnestly entreating him to appoint them some learned diuines that might be able to preach the Gospell and plant Christianity amongst them Neither do I thinke that there is any mention of this Nation in any other more ancient writer than he Although I must confesse that Sigebertus Gemblacensis hath left record that Great King Arthur about the yeare of Christ 470. subdued this iland and reduced the people to his obedience This I take as a fable not for any true history For I do certainly know that this was neuer written by Sigebert but shuffled in as many things els by some other For a very faire Manuscript copy of mine owne as also another in parchment of my friend haue it not Now this Adelbert died about the yeare after Christs incarnation 1070. And that the name Thule oft spoken of almost by all old writers aswell Poets and Historians as Geographers doth not pertaine to this Iland against the opinion well neere of all the learned men of our time but rather to Scone Scandia Peninsula a neck-land of Norway not only the authority of Procopius a graue discreet writer but also for that a note and remnant of that name yet remaineth to this day in Scone in that part which is opposite to the Orkeney iles namely in a place of Norway where the famous Mart of the Belgae is seated For amongst other shires of Norway there is one in this place which they call Tilemercke that is the March or shire of Tule The ilands also ouer against this shore which vulgarly are called Hetland and Shetland the seamen as I vnderstand out of England by the relation of my good friend M. W. Camden are commonly called Thylinsel whereby I conceiue that this Iland tooke the name from the next maine land opposite vnto it For what els is Thilensel but the iland of Thile This opinion of mine not only Pomponius Mela doth confirme who writeth that Thule was opposite to the sea coast of the Belgae he directly saith I say Belgarum not Britannorum littori the sea coast of Britaine where indeed Island is situate not Thule but also Ptolemey the prince of all Geographers and writers in that argument who placeth Thule vnder the 29. degree of Longitude and 63. of Latitude Which position and calculation of degrees doth exactly and precisely fall vpon Tilemarke And as for Island there is no man that hath looked with halfe an eie into Geographicall Mappes and Charts but doth know it to lie vnder the first degree of Longitude and the sixtieth degree of Latitude And I perswade my selfe euen Arngrimus Ionas himselfe an Islander borne in that his Treatise of Island where he saith that the latitude of this Iland is about 44. degrees and 45. minutes was much deceiued It is therefore as cleare as the noone day as he saith that Island is not the same that Thule was and the same Procopius saith that it is inhabited by thirteen Nations and gouerned by so many Kings and to be tenne times as great as Brittaine so that not without good cause Stephanus giueth it the title of Great when as it is certaine that Island is much lesse than Brittaine The same Procopius affirmeth that the Scritifinni a kind of people so called did inhabite Thule these Diaconus nameth Strictofinni and speaketh of them in Scandia as doth also Iornandes in his history notwithstanding he corruptly calleth them that I may note this by the way Crefennae Thus gentle Reader thou seest that which they name Scandia or Scone he calleth Thule and the same nation to this day dwelleth in the same Scandia called by the same name no whit corrupted For they are called vulgarly Scrickefinner and do dwell in Scandia and not in Island In Thule Procopius writeth that there be huge great woods in Island all the world knoweth there are none at all And so Isacius vpon Lycophron saith truly when he affirmeth that Thule is vpon the East of Brittaine not vpon the North as is Island Contrary to that which Strabo a most worthy and diligent Geographer by the sound iudgement of all the learned saith of it but from the relation as there he addeth of Pytheas a shamefull lying historiographer whose custome was as Diodorus Siculus in his second booke writeth to counterfait and coine fables so cunningly that ordinarily they passed for true stories This is that Thule which Tacitus reporteth when the Romane nauy sailed round about Brittaine was seen and viewed by them but not regarded and therefore not entered as is probable This could not be Island which is much farther off and out of kenning But this is enough in this place of Thule or Scandia We will addresse our selues to speake of Island an iland altogether vnknowen and not once named in any ancient writer ISLAND or the Frosen or Icie land which is all one was so named of the ice which lieth continually vpon his North side for there now beginneth the Frosen-sea as Crantzius writeth It was called SNELAND of the Snow which all the yeare long doth heere in some places continue Item GARDARSHOLM that is Garders ile so called as Arngrimus himselfe being an Islander borne writeth of one Gardar a man so named who first found it or inhabited the same This iland is an hundred Germane miles in length as commonly most writers do hold but the foresaid Arngrimus Ionas saith it is 144. miles long For the most part it is not inhabited but is wast and mountainous especially toward the North part by reason of the bitter blasts of the South winds which will not suffer as Olaus teacheth so much as any low shrubbe or bush once to put forth his head It is subiect to the king of Norway and so hath continued euer since the yeare of Christ 1260. at what time first the same Arngrime affirmeth they did their homage to that Crowne Whereupon the king of Denmarke euery yeare sendeth thither a Lieutenant by