Text (translated from the 1584 Latin 3rd Add, 1584 Latin, 1584 German 3rd Add., 1587 French, 1588 Spanish, 1592 Latin, 1595 Latin, 1598 Dutch, 1598 French, 1601 Latin, 1602 German, 1602 Spanish, 1603 Latin, 1606 English, 1608/1612I, 1609/1612 Spanish & 1609/1612 Latin edition)
63.1.{1584L3Add{The Bishopric {1608/1612I only{or jurisdiction}1608/1612I only} of LIEGE.
63.2. It is a common and strong opinion that those who we now call Leodienses {1606E only{or Liegeois}1606E only} are a German people named after the old Eburones. A relic or monument of that ancient name remains still in the village EBVRE, a German mile distant from the city of Liege. {not in 1598D{This very place (as I suppose) is described by Dion Bk. 40 under the name Eburonia}not in 1598D}. Whatever be the case, it is certain that the jurisdiction of Liege stretches much further than that of the Eburones used to do. {not in 1587F, 1598F & 1598D{Mention is made of the Eburones by Strabo, Cæsar and Florus. Dion calls them Eburos. And later writers corruptly call them Eburonates}not in 1587F & 1598F}. They call themselves in their mother tongue (which is a kind of broken French) Liegeois, but in high German LVTTICHER, and {1584G3Add only{the Dutch say}1584G3Add only} LVYCKENAREN. Whoever wants to know about the derivation of Eburones and Leodienses I refer to the antiquities of Goropius Becanus and to a small pamphlet by Hubert Leodius}not in 1598D}.
63.3. This region includes a large part of ancient Lorraigne, for it contains under the name of the diocese of Liege the dukedom of Bouillon, the marquisette of Franckmont, the Earldom of Hasbania or HASPENGOW, and Loots, and many Baronies. In this region, next to Maestright, half of which is subject to the Duke of Brabant, there are twenty-four walled cities, <and> a thousand seven hundred Villages, with Churches, and many Abbeys and Signiories. The names of the cities are the following: Liege upon the Maese, the seat of the Bishop after which the whole country is named. Bouillon, Franchemont, Loots, Borchworm, Tongeren, Huy, Hasselt, Dinant, Maseic, Stoch, Bilsen, St. Truden, Viset, Tuin, Varem, Bering, Herck, Bree, Peer, Hamont, Chiney, Fosse and Covin, as Guicciardinus names and numbers them. Moreover Placentius writes that part of Maestright was added to this diocese by the donation of Porus, Earl of Louvain. {1592L, but not in 1598F & 1602G{The territory of this city is called the county of Maesland in the ancient records of St. Servatius abbey, built here by King Arnulphus in the year 889. Now, this county is usually called Haspengow}1592L but not in 1598F & 1602G}.
63.4. It is a region exceedingly pleasant and fertile of all things, especially in the Northern {1602G has instead{Western}1602G instead} part, where it joins Brabant. For there, it abounds with corn and all kinds of fruits, and in some places it yields wine. But on its Southern frontiers towards Lutzenburg and France, it is somewhat more barren, mountainous and covered with woods. Here is yet some part of the Arduenna, the greatest forest of all of France, {not in 1598D{as Cæsar writes}not in 1598D}. This is the outward appearance of the country. But in its entrails and bowels, it is enriched with metals and various kinds of marble. And also with coal {1587F & 1598F only{which they call Houille}1587F & 1598F only}, which they burn instead of wood, and all these things are of such high quality that they have, as in a common proverb is said: bread better than bread, fire hotter than fire, and iron harder than iron. {not in 1598D{By their iron (which the surrounding provinces use since there is no better, or indeed any other) they raise a great revenue}not in 1598D}.
63.5. Nor do the Smiths and Beer Brewers {not in 1598D{in all these parts of the Low countries}not in 1598D} heat their furnaces with any more blazing fire than with these mineral coals of Liege, which are of a strange nature, since water increases their flames, but oil puts them out. The smell of this fire or smoke may be somewhat loathsome to those who are not accustomed to it, but when salt is cast upon it, it smells either a little or not at all. But concerning these coals, you may read in greater detail in <the texts of> the Maps of Namur and Henault.
63.6. This region, they say, was converted to the <Christian> faith by S<t.> Materne, the first Bishop of Tungeren, around the year of our Lord 101. For the Bishopric which is now at Liege was then at Tungeren, and there continued till the year 498 (1598D has instead{489}1598D}, at which time it was by S<t.> Servatius transferred to Maestright, where it remained till the time of S<t>. Hubert the Bishop, who in the year 713 transferred it to Liege, where it continues <to be> till the present. {not in 1598D{Regarding this province, read more details in Guicciardini, Hubert of Liege, and Placentius. To whom you may add Francis Roserius' description of Lorraigne}1584L3Add, not in 1598D} © Marcel van den Broecke ©.