Boulongne

Sources from old books

1635. Historia mundi: or Mercator's atlas. London. by Gerhard Mercator.

THE COVNTIE OF BOVLONGNE. VVherein are these Countries: Guines, Ardres, and the Baronry of Fiennes. Also the Bishoprick of Tarvania, and Morinea, by which the other Countries in spirituall matters are subject. (Book Boulongne)

The Meridians thereof are placed at the Parallels 50. and 45. (Book Boulongne)

THE Country of Bolonia, or as some call it, of Bononia, in French Conté de Boulogne, is very large.* 1.1 All this Country is Sandy, having a kinde of Sande which they call burning Sand: whence some doe judicially thinke that it was called Bolonia from Boullir, whereas indeed it was so named from the Towne of Bulloigne, which is now devided into the Higher and the Lower. The County of Bononia beginneth at the Mountaines of S. Ingelbert: and runneth forth to the River Cancha, which is the length thereof, and to the Wood Tournoth,* 1.2 which is the breadth thereof. Bolonia was made a County in the time of Carolus Calvus King of France, at what time S. Paul, Oye, Guines, and Artesia were honored with the same Title. It hath many Townes and Villages, and amongst the rest there is Bulloigne, which is twofold,* 1.3 the Higher and the Lower. The former is seated on a high ground, on which was onely a Burrough Towne, before the English besieged it. The latter being seated in a plainer soyle is washed with the Sea, and they are distant from each other an hundred paces, or there abouts. And a certaine Panegyrick written by an unknowne Author, and spoken before the Emperour Constantine calleth it Bononiense opidum, or the Towne of Bononia. Now it is commonly called Boulogne: and the Low-Countrymen comming neerer to the ancient appella, tion doe call it Beunen. Ioseph Scaliger in his Letters to Merula, Papiriut, Massorius, Leland, Ortelius, and others doe think that it was anciently called Gessoriacum. Also Peutingers Table doth confirme the same in which Gessoriacum is put for Bononia. Antoninus calleth it Gessoriacum, and doth place there the 15. Legion, and otherwheres he calleth it Gessoriacensis Portus, or the Haven of Gessoriacum, or Gessoriagum: Ptolemy calls it Gessoriacum a Haven of the Moriakans: Iohn Talbot thinketh it should bee named Galesium, and others that it should bee called Saint Aud•mar: Turnebus calleth it the Towne of Soacum: and Boetius Slusa: Hermolaus Barbarus calleth it Brugas, and Bilibaldus Gand•vum. Robert Caenalis distinguisheth Gessorlacum Portum, and Gessoriacum Navale, and thinketh the one to be B•n•nia, and the other Cassell. Hence came that Godfrey of Boulogne, the Sonne of Eustathius Earle of Boulogue, who was Duke of Lotharingia, and the first King of the Christian Solonians. Neere to Boulogne was the Haven Itius, which some thought to be the Towne of Calis, whom Ptolemy easily confuteth, who first placeth the Promontory of Itius behinde the mouth of the River Seyn, and afterward Gesoriacum a Haven of the Morinnians, from which the Towne of Calis is above tweenty Miles distant. M. Velserus is perswaded that Gessoriacum is the same with Itium. Some thinke the Haven Itius to be S. Andomar, enduced thereunto both because this City was in ancient times called Sitieu, as it were the Bay of Itium, and also by the situation thereof, which being very low, yet by the high shores which lie round about the City, it seemes it was a great Bay of the Sea. Camden in his Brittannia sheweth that the Haven Itius was long accounted to bee in that place which they now call Withsan: neere Blanestum. But we leave these things to be decided by others Next to the County of Bononia is Guisnes which is parted from the County of Oye, by a great Channell; which making the Territory impregnable,* 1.4 and glideth by the chiefe Towne called Guisnes, being devided into two parts, one whereof is seated in the Marish ground, the other on the Continent, and is naturally strong and well fortified. King Henry the second tooke it, Francis Lotharingeus Duke of Guise being sent thither in the yeere 1558. Concerning the Danes right heretofore, to the Country of Guise, Meyerus writeth much in the Annals of Flanders, and concerning this Country other Historiographers do write other things which are not now to be mentioned. There are also other Townes, as Hartincourt, Peuplinge, Conquelle, the Nievelletian Haven. This Country hath under it the Baronies of Ardres and Courtembrone, which are so called from these two Townes Ardres and Courtembrone, and also the Barony of Fiennes.

Two miles from Ardres towards the Ocean is Calis, a Towne well fortified both by nature and Art, esteemed alwayes to be the Key and Gate of France, which Philip of Boulogne Unkle to S. Ludovick as they report, first walled about, it having a Castle with a strong Tower, which commands the entrance into the Haven. Edward the fifth, King of England tooke it the day before the Nones of August, 11. moneths after that cruell Battell fought against Philip the sixth, King of France, neere to Cressy in the yeere 1347. which Paulus Aemilius, lib. 9. lively delineateth. The English did possesse it 211. yeeres, (for Philippus Bonus a Burgundian did in vaine besiege it in the yeere 1431. his Flandrians forsaking him) and did keepe it (as the English were wont to say) as the Key of France, the Duke of Guises afterward tooke it, and the Frenchmen regain'd it in the yeere 1558. in the moneth of February. In the mid-way betweene Calis and Bononia towards the Mediterranean Sea is Teroane: which still retaineth that name, although Charles the fifth passed it, and call it Terrennerbere•, Anten•••• nameth it Tervanna or Tarvenna, the Itinerary Tables Tervanna, and Ptolemy Tarvanna. Bovillus affirmeth that some doe call it Taruba•um. T••themius in his History of France mentioneth the Terrabania••.

Some call it Tervana as it were Terra-vana, in regard of the meanenesse of the Territory. In the Register of the Provinces; where the Cities of Belgia are reckoned up, it is called the City of the Morinneans, that is, l' Evesché de Teroane. In the Inscription of an ancient Stone, which in former time was found in Gilderland it is called the Morineans Colony. The Territory of Oyana or Terre de Oye, doth reach even to Dunkerk▪ a Towne of Flanders. There are also beside Oya, some other smal Towns.* 1.5 I returne now to Boulogne which is watered with stremes and Rivulets, which running by the Towne Arque, and S. Audomare doe come to Graveling. Not farre from thence is the Bay of Scales, flowing even to the Castle of Ardera. There are also two other Rivulets, namely, one in Marquisia, the other in Bolonia. There is also the River Hantia or Hesdin, which doth impart his name to the Towne Hesdin. There is also in this Country the Moorish streames of the Pontinians, and the River Cauchia. Some of these Rivers doe make Lakes and Fish-pits, which are full of Fish, and are denominated from the neighbouring Townes: as those which they call in French le Vivier, d' Hames, d' Andre, d' Arbres. All this Country toward the Sea is environd with sundry Hills, and in the inner part thereof there are those Hills which they call in French les Mons de S. Ingelvert, and les Mons de neuf Castel, and Dannes. All the Country is interlaced with many Woods, as the Woods les Bois de Surene, Celles, &c. The Inhabitants are accounted to be froward, and too much conceited of themselves.