Text, one intermediate version only, translated from the 1584 Latin 3rd Add., 1584Latin, 1584 German 3rd Add., 1585 French 3rd Add., 1587 French, 1588 Spanish, 1592 Latin and 1598 French editions:
85.1. {1584L3Add{DENMARK.
85.2. Saxo Grammaticus has described the kingdom of Denmark as follows: DENMARK, he says, separated in the middle by the boisterous sea, contains a few small parts of the mainland, separated and disjoined from one another by the intrusion of the ocean winding and turning itself in various ways. Of these [we find] Jutland, located with respect to its size and beginning, at the entrance of the kingdom of Denmark. Since it is situated at the entrance, so it extends further, and is situated at the utmost borders of Germany, from whose borders it is separated by the intruding river Eider which runs broadening out towards the North, all the way to the banks of the coast of Norway.
85.3. In it, you find the bay of Limfjord which abounds with such quantities of fish that only this [bay] provides as much provision of food to the inhabitants as the whole remainder of the country. It is linked to lesser Friesland, lying lower than Jutland with plain and flat fields. It receives water from the sea which inundates it with great strength and courage, and it is very fertile in corn.
85.4. It is hard to say whether [the sea] in its inundations and violent tides brings the country people more profit, or more damage. For in tempestuous weather, when the sea breaks in through the creeks which normally contain the water, such a mass of water often comes and pours into the country that at various times it overflows not only the shallow fields, but also drowns entire families with their goods and cattle.
85.5. After Jutland follows the island of Fyn on the East, which is separated from the mainland by a narrow arm of the ocean. This island looks out upon Jutland towards the West, and towards the East it has the island of Sjælland, an island much recommended for the great abundance of all kinds of necessary things that it yields, which for its excellent location is thought to excel above all the provinces of this kingdom. It is regarded as [being] the middle of Denmark, equally situated between one end of it and the other. On the East side of this there runs an arm of the ocean between it [this island] and Skåne.
85.6. This sea affords good income to the fishermen each year, {1585F3Add, 1587F & 1598F only{particularly herrings}1585F3Add, 1587F & 1598F only}. For this whole bay, or gulf of the sea is so full of all sorts of fish that the fishermen often catch so much fish, and they load their boats so much with them, that they can no longer move their oars, nor do they use any nets here, or other means to catch fish, but often they are caught [just] by hand. [Then there are] moreover Halland and Blekinge, two provinces issuing forth from the mainland of Skåne like two arms from one and the same body of a tree, at many places and corners joined and fixed to Gotland and Norway. So far Saxo Grammaticus. See also Albert Crantzius and Sebastian Münster.
85.7. The kingdom of Norway is subject to the crown of Denmark as is also the case for the isle of Gotland. The same (if you believe Mark Jordanus in his map of Denmark) [applies to] the islands of Greenland, Iceland, Hetland, Faroer and the Orkneys. Yet we have said before that the Orkney isles belong to the kingdom of Scotland {1585F3Add, 1587F & 1598F instead{Sweden}1585F3Add, 1587F & 1598F only} under the name and title of a duchy. {1592L only{About these [Orkney islands] I will relate what I heard from a trustworthy man, namely about Christianus, count of Oldenburg and first chosen king of Denmark, who gave his bastard daughter Margareta in marriage to Jacobus the Third more than 120 years ago, who had asked for this through an envoy. And he promised a dowry of sixty thousand guilders. He received ten thousand, and for the rest he received the Orkneys islands as a pawn, under the condition that the king of Denmark could at any time redeem it by furnishing the remainder of the money, which has not happened up to the present time}1592L only}. Olaus also says, but incorrectly as I persuade myself, that the isle of Gotland belongs to the kingdom of Sweden.
85.8. The isle of Gotland is a good place for the feeding and bringing up of cattle, horses and oxen. There is plentiful fishing and hunting. It is very rich in a kind of fair marble, as also in all kinds of things necessary to maintain one's life. The marble ruins you still find here testify its antique splendor. On it is the worthy town of Visby, once a famous and well-frequented market of Europe. Presently, it is famous for its fair cloister of the Benedict friars, and its library contains about 2000 books of various authors, [and] rare and ancient books. So far for Olaus Magnus and Jacobus Zieglerus.
85.9. OLDENBURG.
85.10. This country derived its name from Oldenburg, its main city. Albert Crantzius in his Metropolis, {not in 1584G3Add{in the 15th {1585F3Add, 1587F, 1588S & 1598F instead{25th}1585F3Add, 1587F, 1588S & 1598F instead} chapter of his third book}not in 1584G3Add}, writes that this is one of the most ancient duchies of all. For in the thirtieth chapter of his second book, he considers Wedekind, duke of Saxony, who lived at the time of Charles the Great (1588S instead(the Fifth}1588S instead} among the counts of this country. Irenicus states that this city was repaired by Charles the Great {1588S has instead{Charles the Fifth}1588S instead}, who also dedicated a church to St. John the Baptist there, consecrated by Adalgargus the bishop.
85.11. I think he is deceived when he counts this city among the cities of Wandals and describes it as being on the coast. For this is another city, different from that one, and it is in Wagria, a province of Holstein. This is by the Wandals [also] called Stargard, [and] by the Danes Brannesia, each according to the propriety of his own language, as the same Crantzius writes.
85.12. The author of this map thinks that the Ambrones (a people who went into Italy with the Danes, and were slain and overthrown by emperor Marius, as Plutarchus records) dwelt in this area and their name still lives among the people they call Amelanders. He has the same opinion about the Alani Saxones who he truly believes to have dwelled sometime near lake Alana in this province, on both sides of the river Alana, even as high up as the castle of Oria now called Lengener, as who would say Alani and Averlenger, that is, the Alanes on the further side.
85.13. Andreas Hoppenrode in his book on Pedigrees has something about the dukes of this county}1584L3Add, 1584L, 1584G3Add, 1585F3Add, 1587F, 1588S, 1592L & 1598F end here}.