Text (translated from the 1579/1580L2Add, 1584 Latin, 1595 Latin, 1602 German, 1606 English, 1609/1612 Spanish and 1609/1612 Latin edition).
71.1. {1579/1580L2Add{HENAULT. {1598D & 1602G have instead{Henegou.}1598D & 1602G instead}{1609/1612S{HENNAV.}1609/1612S}
71.2. Lessabæus writes (on what grounds I do not know) that this Province was formerly called Pannonia because the rustic god Pan was worshipped here, then Saltus Carbonarius {not in 1598D{or The coal Forest}not in 1598D}, and after that The lower Picardia. But finally it was named Hannonia {1579/1580L2Add, 1584L, 1602G & 1609/1612L only{which it retains to this day}1579/1580L2Add, 1584L, 1602G & 1609/1612L} after the river Hania which runs through the middle of it. The inhabitants call it Hainault and the Dutch HENEGOW, {not in 1579/1580L2Add & 1602G{which in the ancient language of the area means The Land of Hania, for GOW in Dutch means Land}not in 1579/1580L2Add}. {1595L, not in 1598D{Another derivation of the name of this country is produced by Carolus Bouillus in his discourse about the variety of vernacular languages}1595L, not in 1598D & 1602G}.
71.3. To the West this Province <is bordered> by Flanders and Artois, to the North <by> Brabant, and <by> Brabant with part of Namur and Liege on the East. South it is bounded by Champaigne, a Province of {1598D{The King of}1598D}France. <It is> a country as pleasant, and as well stored with lovely woods, lakes, springs, meadows and pastures as any other in this entire area. The inhabitants are warlike, and most loyal and obedient towards their Prince. {1595L, not in 1602G{They usually boast about their liberty or freedom in a common proverb, saying Pays de Hainault tenu de Dieu & du Soleil, that is, The Province of Henault <only> holds <in high esteem> God and the sun}1595L}. {1598D has instead in rhyme: God only, who rules the Sun and the Stars/truly covers this Land with the Shining Sun}1598D}.{1606E{Which proverb Nicolaus Brontius in a discourse of his published to recommend this region interprets in two Latin verses {1609/1612S & 1609/1612L{Solus ab hac tellure Deus nutu astra gubernans, Lucidus Titan ius sibi iure petunt}1609/1612S & 1609/1612L}{not in 1609/1612S & 1609/1612L{to this effect:
71.4. Star-guiding Iove and Phoebus bright
Of this place only challenge right}1606E, not in 1602G}.
71.5. In length it measures about twenty, and in breadth sixteen miles, in which space,}not in 1609/1612S & 1609/1612L} (as Guicciardin reports) it comprises twenty-four towns and more than nine hundred and fifty villages or hamlets. But Robert Cnalis counts in this Province two thousand two hundred petty villages with Churches, {1579/1580L2Add, 1598D & 1602G only{bells}1579/1580L2Add, 1598D & 1602G only} and steeples. At this moment it has the title of an Earldom, and it contains within it one Princedom, eight lower Earldoms as they now call them, twelve Peers, twenty-two Baronies, twenty-six Abbeys as well as other titles of dignity, as can be seen in Guicciardine.
71.6. The main cities are Mons and Valenciennes, the latter one, situated on the river Scheld where it begins to be navigable for boats and barks, is a very large and strongly walled town. The townsmen mostly employ themselves in trade of merchandise, and reap very high profits by a kind of cloth they call Fussets, of which a great quantity is woven in this city, and transported from there to the furthest parts of the world. Mons lies on the little river Trouille, almost in the very middle of the region. <It is> a town very efficiently fortified against all hostile attacks. The citizens thrive by a kind of stuff commonly called Saye, which is made here in great abundance.
71.7. Next, here are the towns of Condet, Halle, Angie, Maubeuge, Avesne, Beaumont, Chimay, Quesnoy, Binchium, the decaying place of Mary, sister of the Emperor Charles the fifth who built a most stately and sumptuous Palace there, which was then highly esteemed, but later by the French King Henry the second totally burnt and destroyed. Here is also Bavacum, commonly called Beauvais which some think to be <the same as> Baganum or Bagacum mentioned by Ptolemæus. Others are of the opinion that Cæsar in his commentaries calls it Belgium. However, Hubertus of Liege thinks that it was not so mighty in Cæsar's time, but has rather flourished most under Constantine the Emperor, which he concludes from ancient coins, daily dug up here in great quantities, with the image of the Emperor just referred to on them.
71.8. On the market place of this town stands a pillar of stone at whose foot the inhabitants say that all those roads start which with a high and direct passage extend from here to all parts of France. These roads (they say) were made by Brunehild. And to this very day they are called after his name. For the French commonly call them Chemins de Brune hault, and the high Dutch call them DE KASSIJE <=cobblestones>. To this day there are still in various places some broken remains of these roads. Bouillus notes certain miracles about them, namely, that they are higher than the fields on either side <of them>; that they lie most directly between the main towns of France and that they are paved with flint stones of which none is to be found in the adjacent fields, so that with admiration a man may imagine that these flint stones either sprang out of the earth or rained down from heaven, or by a greater force than mans hand were gathered from all over the world to provide paving for these roads.
71.9. Also, at the frontiers of this region towards the river Maes, on the way to France, you have Charlemont, Marieburg and Philippeville, very strong garrisons against attacks from the French, built and thus named by Emperor Charles the fifth, by his sister Mary and by King Philip his son.
71.10. This region abounds with iron and lead mines. Here are also found various kinds of marble, such as black, white and multi-coloured, very convenient for adorning palaces and sepulchres of Kings and great Noblemen. Similarly, very much lime is dug up here. Also a kind of stony and black coal, hardened like pitch, which the inhabitants use for fuel instead of wood. And here are also made those thin transparent panes of glass by means of which unpleasant winds and weather are repelled from houses and churches, and this glass excels above all others that are made anywhere else. {1579/1580L2Add, 1584L, 1598D, 1602G & 1609/1612L only{Also all kinds of glass jars and such like}1579/1580L2Add, 1584L, 1598D, 1602G & 1609/1612L only}. You may read more in Guicciardini and in a specific treatise that Iacobus Lessabæus has written about this region. {not in 1598D{Also Hubertus Thomas of Liege in his book de Tungris & Eburonibus writes many memorable things about this province}1579/1580L2Add, not in 1598D} © Marcel van den Broecke ©.