Text, one version only translated from the 1590 Latin 4 Add, 1591 German 4 Add., 1592 Latin, 1595 Latin, 1598 French, 1598/1610/1613 Dutch, 1601 Latin, 1602 German, 1602 Spanish, 1603 Latin, 1606 English, 1608/1612 Italian, 1609/1612L & 1609/1612/1641 Spanish editions:
99.1. {1590L4Add{The dukedoms of Braunschweig and Lüneburg.
99.2. These two regions are at this moment subject to one prince. They are both named after their main cities, Braunschweig and Lüneburg. The city of Braunschweig was founded around the year {1591G4Add & 1602G only{of our Lord}1591G4Add & 1602G only} 860 by Bruno, the son of Ludolph who {not in 1598/1610/1613D{(as Crantzius says) first erected a borough, calling it Brunonis vicus, Bruno's town}not in 1598/1610/1613D} after which the whole city ever since has been called Braunschweig. [It is] a city of great renown, situated in the middle of Saxony on the river Oker {not in 1598/1610/1613D{which empties into the Weser}not in 1598/1610/1613D}{1591G4Add & 1602G only{which runs through Saxony and the duchy just mentioned and empties into the sea at Bremen}1591G4Add & 1602G only}. In the beginning, this town was small. But in the course of time it has now grown to such a state, richness and strength that its princes are justly called dukes of Braunschweig. But this took a long time.
99.3. For in ancient times they only had the title of lords, but under Frederick the emperor in the year 1235, renewing their position, they were ordained [to be] dukes. This is one of the seventy Hanse-towns. From which society, by a general council of all those towns held in Lübeck in 1381, they were excluded because of their most cruel and bloody uprising, in which they killed the greater part of their eldermen, banishing the rest. And so they were deprived of the benefits of this society for eight years, until they had done public repentance. From which time they were readmitted into this corporation of the Hanse, that is to say, {not in 1598/1610/1613D{to be [again] partakers of all privileges granted by the princes and governors to all that participated in the said society}not in 1598/1610/1613D} in these four famous markets, namely London in England, Brugge in Flanders, Bergen in Norway and Novgorod in Russia.
99.4. {not in 1598/1610/1613D{Their entitled saint or protector they consider to be St. Anthor the Confessor, once bishop of Trier. For the honour of whose body, because it could not be brought within their city walls, they established a monastery under the title of St. Ĉgidius, then, outside the city but near the walls, but now (the city having grown) [located] within it. So much from Crantzius' story of Saxony and Wandalia}not in 1598/1610/1613D}. {1601L, not in 1602G & 1608/1612I{Praise of this city you may find in Ĉneas Silvius {1602S, 1609/1612L & 1609/1612/1641S instead{Pius' II}1602S, 1609/1612L & 1609/1612/1641S instead} 32nd {1606E instead{23rd}1606E instead} chapter of Europe}1601L, not in 1602G & 1608/1612I}.
99.5. The city of Lüneburg, built around the year of Christ 1190 upon a hill named Kalkberg. It was so called, not (as the ignorant imagine) after Idolum lunĉ, the idol of the moon which Julius Cĉsar or I do not know who consecrated here, (for this is but an old wives tale) but after a place not far off by the river Elmenon called Luna, where there has now been a cloister of nuns for many years. It is a city of great strength, surrounded by ditches and walls.
99.6. The citizen's main merchandise is salt, for here there are most plentiful and rich salt pits, from which they make great profits. For salt is boiled here in great quantities, and transported from here both by sea and land to Hamburg, Lübeck and other places. These salt mines were first found in the year of Christ 1269. {not in 1598/1610/1613D{This city of Lüneburg has been described in a specific treatise by Lucas Lossius}1590G4Add & 1602G end Braunschweig/Lüneburg here}.
99.7. {1595L, not in 1598F & 1602G{About Hildesheim, five miles distant from Braunschweig, Mr. Antonius Moekerus, a citizen of this place, has also written a specific work}1595L, not in 1598F, 1598/1610/1613D & 1602G}.
99.8. On this map can be found the city of Hameln on the river Weser {not in 1598/1610/1613D{or Visurgis}not in 1598/1610/1613D}. About which the learned and famous physician D. Arnold Fretaghius wrote the following story in a letter to me. These are his words: I happened to meet a Saxon and a chronicler of Saxony. He reports that 330 (1606E has instead{130}1606E instead}[Baedekers mention June 26, 1284] years ago the city of Hameln, {not in 1598/1610/1613D{[then] under the jurisdiction of duke Erich}not in 1598/1610/1613D}, was exceedingly infested with mice. [Spanish editions everywhere have instead: rats]. There came a hawker[the Dutch editions have quack, the English one juggler, the Spanish and Italian charlatan] who offered his services to the townsmen to drive them away. This offer was most acceptable to them, and they agreed on a reward, {not in 1598/1610/1613D{because they could keep nothing safely out of the way of this mischievous vermin}not in 1598/1610/1613D}.
99.9. Having reached agreement with the townsmen, he draws all the mice out of the city with the sound of a drum {1606E has instead{bell}1606E}. Then he demands the wage that he has been promised. They deny it to him. In a great rage he departs from the city, and in the following year he returns. And sounding the drum {1606E has instead(bell}1606E} which he had used before to cast a spell on the mice, he drew after him, to a hill not far off, a great number of the citizens' children. When they arrived there, both the children and the hawker immediately vanished. A girl of this company, either out of tiredness {not in 1598/1610/1613D{or by Gods intention}not in 1598/1610/1613D}, stayed a good distance behind. And returning home, reports that her fellows had gone up the hill with the hawker and had disappeared.
99.10. Then everyone ran out to seek his child, but in vain, for from that time onwards, they never found out what became of them. Having read this, I judged it either to be a fable or, (as it is indeed) a most wonderful and strange story. I mentioned it after discussing it with certain citizens of this place. They all confirmed it to be true and said that the year, the day, and the number of children that were lost had been registered in the records of the city of Hameln, and it is yet their custom among them, recorded in bonds and covenants written in an ancient hand, to use this figure of speech [for indicating a date]: VON VNSER KINDER AUFGANGH, {not in 1598/1610/1613D{that is to say Since the departure of our children}not in 1598/1610/1613D}. And they say that the way or street through which they were led [away], to the perpetual memory of this misfortune, was called by the inhabitants DE BVNGLOESE STRAESS, [the street without a sound] since then it is against the law to sound a drum {1606E has instead{bell}1606E} there.
99.11. {1598/1610/1613D only{This is what Fretaghius writes}1598/1610/1613 only which ends here and has no text on Nürnberg}. If you have perhaps read this story before, I recall it now to your memory. If you know anything that brings me closer to the truth, I pray that you tell me, leisure and occasion permitting. Fare you well, and love your Fretaghius. From Groninghen {not in 1606E{by Halberstadt}not in 1606E}, the fourth {1608/1612I has instead{tenth}1608/1612I instead}{1606E instead{ninth}1606E instead} of November 1580.}1590L4Add, 1592L, 1595L, 1598F, 1601L, 1602S, 1603L, 1606E, 1608/1612I, 1609/1612L & 1609/1612/1641S end the Braunschweig/Lüneburg text here}.
99.12. {1590L4Add{A description of the territory of Nürnberg.
99.13. On the authority of Pighius' Hercules Prodicius, I have thought it right to record the origins and description of this place. His words are these: When the barbarous Huns overran a great part of Europe and also oppressed the people called Norici inhabiting {1602G only{Upper and{1591G4Add only{Lower}1591G4Add & 1602G only} Bavaria, some of their important families for shelter and refuge fled to the forest of Hercynia, settling in a commodious place near the joining of the rivers Pegnitz and Regnitz. And on a hill, by nature safely located and free from hostile invasions, they built themselves a simple and homely castle, as is recorded in the Chronicles of Bavaria.
99.14. In a while, their numbers increased by [an influx of] the neighbouring farmers and the shepherds from the forest of Hercynia. And then out of this mixture of various sorts of people with different professions, they grew at last to the size of a town. But leading a base and loose kind of life, without governors, without laws, and continually bothering the neighbouring provinces with riots and robberies, it seemed right to the German emperors to send there a settlement of old soldiers who might serve instead of a garrison for that place, to restrain their evil deeds, and to prescribe civil laws to them.
99.15. Some report that Heinrich, duke of Bavaria first turned it into a city, adorned it with the church of S[aint] Ĉgidius, enacted laws and surrounded the castle with a larger wall. Also that Conrad the second incorporated it into the empire, for at the beginning it was a peoples estate. One single civil disagreement in the time of Charles the fourth changed it into an aristocracy or government of a few important persons, through which the whole authority came into the hands of the senators who ever since have used such equity and moderation in their government that there was not, at any time, in such a multitude of common people and diversity of nations any notable uprising or mutiny.
99.16. In the city there are three kinds of people, namely senators, merchants and artisans. There are 28 {1608/1612I has instead{26}1608/1612I instead} ancient and honourable families from which new senators are supplied, altogether twenty-six in number. Thirteen of these, called burgomasters, consult about matters of estate. The other thirteen they commonly call scabins, who are always assisted by three stipendary lawyers. {1606E only{On court and leet days}1606E only} they deal out justice and decide on controversies between citizens. It is forbidden by their ancient laws that any professed lawyer, or anyone bearing the title of doctor should be admitted to their senate, or to the government of their commonwealth. From either of the halves or [groups of] thirteen referred to they choose every lunar month or new moon a new consul, so that every year the chief magistracy comes in turn for the duration of one month to everyone of the [group] of thirteen mentioned.{1606E only in margin{S.W. Herberts opinion confirmed}1606E only}.
99.17. Five there are of the same group that in criminal cases make inquiries, pronounce sentences and allot punishment to offenders. They also have a judge or president for their suburbs who executes justice among the peasants and villagers. From the same group, they also yearly elect two treasurers, men of sufficient age, reputation and honesty, who take charge of the taxes and revenues of the whole city, and collect and disburse them. All the magistrates mentioned and others that have any authority are chosen only from the number of senators mentioned. There are two hundred people yearly nominated from the three estates and from the whole city, who once a year, or on any urgent occasion, being assembled by the magistrates, sit in common counsel.
99.18. The company of merchants, although very important and honourable, are yet free from all public offices, and endowed with the most ample privileges. Carrying out their private trade, they amass in this city, as in a common warehouse, great riches, not only from Europe, but [also] from the most remote countries and islands in the world. The labourers and artisans who are of the lowest and meanest rank are not permitted to have public or private gatherings or meetings in the city, no solemn banquets or festive assemblies of many coming together, unless it concerns a matter of religion or some important funeral.
99.19. For they consider them as threatening public tranquillity, having found out through frequent experience that the most dangerous uprisings and separations have originated from such meetings, where people in their drunkenness dispute about the commonwealth. And that such tumults have deprived many cities of their liberty and brought great calamities upon them. Now, if any quarrel or disagreement arises among the common people, it is not referred to their masters or wardens of their crafts and trades, but to the senators themselves, who immediately appoint two arbiters to investigate the cause and exert themselves to sort it out.
99.20. If they cannot reach an agreement, then it comes before the senate, who, having considered the matter, impose silence on both parties under a grievous penalty. {not in 1590G4Add & 1602G{With great severity they punish fights, brawls, injuries and private quarrels, to maintain the public peace, to the extent that one would think that Minos and Rhadamantus dealt sentences from their seats of judgment}not in 1590G4Add & 1602G}. {not in 1608/1612I{So far for Pighius concerning the origins, the magistrates and the commonwealth of this city. You may read more by the same author}not in 1608/1612I}.
99.21. The regions surrounding the city, by nature barren and sandy, have been made fruitful by the industry of the people. In the same territory is Altdorf, where a few years ago the states of Nürnberg instituted a university. Nürnberg is watered by the river Pegnitz which is crossed by many stone bridges. In circumference it is about eight miles. It is surrounded by a double wall with 183 turrets, next to castles and fortresses. Concerning the origins, location, manners and customs of this city, there is a notable discussion written by Conradus Celtis, the poet laureate}1590L4Add, 1590G4Add, 1592L, 1595L, 1598F, 1601L, 1602G, 1602S, 1603L, 1606E, 1608/1612I, 1609/1612L & 1609/1612/1641S end here}.