FLANDERS.  
OR, An Exact and Compendious Description of that fair, great, and fat country of FLANDERS.  
Wherein the Inhabitants, Bounds, Length, Breadth, Division, Riches, Rivers, forests, Cities, Towns, and Villages, Castles, Principalities, seaports, Courts of Justice, Abbeys, with the chief ESTATES are observed.  
As also a Distinct Relation of some battles fought, and Towns won, unto the now victorious Proceedings of the English and French Armies therein, with the taking Mardike, Dunkirk, Winnoxbergh, Vuern, and D●●mude, to the present besieging of Gra●eling.  
LONDON, Printed by Thomas Ratcliff on Saint Bennet's Hill near the Church. 1658.   

To the Illustrious, and Renowned peers, the Lord RICHARD Cromwell, Lord Chancellor of the famous University of OXFORD. And GILBERT Lord PICKERING, Lord Chamberlain to his highness the Lord PROTECTOR.  
My Lords,  
THe Sun affords his comfortable rays, and Influence upon the lowest Valleys, as the loftiest Hills, as well to shrubs, as Cedars; I hope the same from You, who by Divine goodness are placed such Glorious Lights in our Church and State.  
I crave leave to apologise, in rendering an account, for this Dedication, it is not Presumptuous vainglory, or Sordid flattery, or Covetous desire of gain that procured it; but first, this country is in some measure come into your possession; secondly, the weighty Actions on foot therein, have been, and are steered, and guided by your prudent Heads, and victorious arms. Thirdly, this country delineated, is that, in which you have good footing, and stout Forces: being likely to shake off the Spanish heavy yoke, and acknowledge Obedience to your Civil and Military Commands.  
Fourthly, 'tis tendered to your hands as the first fruits of what you will, 'tis hoped, comfortably enjoy: the first fruits have always been favourably accepted of God, and good men.  
Lastly, Princes Names, and fames are transmitted to posterity by writing: Scripta manent, and how just it is to have your grave, wise, and Religious Actings registered with eternal honour, this generation, if not utterly void of reason and conscience, cannot but acknowledge, and succeeding Ages reading them, admire.  
However should men turn ingrate, ye: God will not forget your labours, but will justify his Word, that, such as honour him, He will honour; and he hath spoken it, of the righteous, his Name shall be exalted with honour, and the upright shall be had in everlasting remembrance, 1 Sam. 2. 30. Psal. 112. 6.  
As God hath made this good in our eyes at present upon your persons, so I humbly pray his infinite goodness to continue it to yourselves, and posterities, even to the perfecting of it in the sight of Men and Angels; for such honour have all his Saints, Psal. 147.  
Most Illustrious Lords, Your meanest servant DONALD LUPTON.   

FLANDERS DESCRIBED.  
IT is usual with Writers of these subjects 
1. Name▪  to begin with the Names of places, but where there is ambiguity and uncertainty, and no real and absolute necessity to contend about it, 'tis better to leave enquiry, and to rest satisfied with the common known name of it, as it is at present called Flanders à Flando; from the various winds blowing upon the coast.  
It is one of the seventeen Provinces, which did 
2. Country▪  all formerly belong to the Emperor, and were given by the Emperor of Germany unto the King of Spain; who held them till he brought in that bloody Inquisition together with the Illegal oppressions, taxes and Spanish tyranny by that insolent Duke of ALBA General of his Forces: Some of the Provinces resolutely and unanimously joined themselves, and stood up in arms for their Lives and Liberties (for both were at stake to be lost) and did by the help of the English, Scots, and French, defend themselves, and gained upon their Enemy, and so cast out the Spanish Tyrannical intended slavery; these were called the United States, or the state's General of the United netherlands Provinces, by name, Holland, Zealand, stift of Utretcht, OverIsel, East and West Friezland, and have since their first contest gained a great part of Brabant, Gilderland, Cleeveland, with some places of note in this Country of Flanders; as the sluice; the Dam, Hulst, strong places, and to the States beneficial, and advantageous to curb the Spaniard.  
The ancient Inhabitants and Natives were in 
3. Inhabitants.  Caesar's time called Morini; as from the Moorish, fenny places, and Marshes, which were then therein; now by good Husbandry, and skill, made rich, and fat pastures and meadows.  
The People being civilised, and reduced to 
4. Made a County.  live under Government, this was formed into a County distinct by itself from others, in the year of our Lord, 877. by Charles called and surnamed Le have King of France, and then held its government from France.  
It was anciently bounded by the Sea, and the 
5. Ancient bounds of it.  Rivers some and Scheld, and then had these seven chief Cities, Arras, Gaunt, Bruges, Ipre, St. Omer, Lile and Douai, but that is now altered by marriages, and wars; so that now the true bounds of Flanders are; first, Calais in France on the West, the Sea on the North, and North-East; Zealand and part of Brabant on the East, and Brabant, and Artois on the South.  
It is richly seated, and large in itself, as having 
6. Length and breadth of it  about it for three parts, the Sea, and such rich countries to trade to, as England, France, Denmark and Holland, and by land all the Empire of Germany, and Italy: It contains in length thirty five or thirty six leagues, amounting to a hundred of our English miles; and that is from Antwerp to the New Foss, or Ditch towards France: In breadth it is full thirty leagues, or ninety English miles from the forest of Ninoven to gravelling. So that the Circumference of it is three hundred English miles.  
Some countries are wholesome for air, but not 
7. Air, fruitfulness of it.  rich; others are rich, but not wholesome; but Flanders is throughout both pleasant, and healthy for air, and rich through all the parts of it, but the air is the most pleasant further South, and the most rich towards France, and the Sea.  
It breeds large and able Cattle, as Horses and 
8.▪ cattle.▪  Mares, so that 'tis grown into a proverb; to call a tall and lusty woman, a great Flanders Mare, and so for cows; and oxen, and other cattle.  
Flanders is divided into three parts, viz. that▪ 
9 Division of it into Flanders, Flamingant, Gallican, and Imperial.  which is called Flanders, Flaming-gant, the greatest and noblest, wherein are three Capital Cities, as Gaunt, Bruges, and Ipre; as also the four seaports sluice belonging to the States of Holland, Ostend, and Newport (as yet in the Spanish power, but may ere long be rid of their old Masters, and come into the hands of better. Duinkirk, victoriously won and strongly possessed by the English, as the flourishing colours upon the Castles, Forts, and works do show; and Graveline, which now lies grovelling ready to starve, and must ere long without speedy relief (which is hard to come by) yield to his highness the Lord Protector, it being beset at Sea with our stout frigates, and at land by Mardike on the East, Bourburgh on the South, and Calais on the West.  
Flanders Gallican, the Name shows it lies upon France Westward, Artois on the South, and the River Scheld on the East. Flanders Imperial is towards Brabant, Flanders Gallican, and this are the richer for Wheat, but the other for rye, Oats, Peason, Fitches, Beans, Buck-wheat, flax and hemp, fruits and roots of all sorts.  
The Rivers in Flanders are many, which bring 
10. Rivers and forests.  in wealth, and are commodious for traffic, fishing, and pleasure, the chief of them are the Lis, the Scheld, and Tender; there are many forests, and Woods, which do not only adorn and beautify it, but also breed infinite store of cattle and abundance of foul, as Pheasants, partridges & the like, but they are also of singular use for building & fire, the chief are Neip and Nonnen, the country hath no rocks or mountains but is even and flat, and so the more fruitful, yet some pretty pleasant fruitful hills are intermixed, pleasant for hawk and hound, and rather for prospect, then to tire the traveller in going over them.  
This County of Flanders exceeds most of her other 
11. Cities and Towns walled  sixteen sisters for famous, beautiful, large, populour, strong, and pleasant Cities and Towns; for there are no less than twenty eight walled Towns; which because they are so many and so fair ones; I will name them, (viz.) Gaunt, Bruges, Ipre the three chiefest: Lile, Douai, Tournay, Courtrick, Oudenade, Aulst, Hulst, Termont, Bieruleit, sluice, Newport, Dunkirk, gravelling, Dam, Burburgh, Dixmude, Vuerne, Ardenburgh, Ninove, Winoxbergh, Grammont, Cassel, Demsee, Orchier, Lannoy.  
Besides these, there are thirty other great 
12. Unwalled Towns.  towns, that had they Walls, they might be judged for their greatness to be Cities; some of them have had Walls, but through the fury of War dismantled and cast down, or else through time decayed, yet many, nay most of them have Bulwarks, and Works, and Moats, and Draw-bridges to defend them from sudden depredations, Some of them are mainly fortified, as ostend and Mardike (which place is happily now garrisoned by his highness) and hath been a pleasant seat; but what by French and Spaniards hath been reduced only to a strong, and at present an impregnable Fort, so long as so many stout English hearts have it in possession; they are as follow, Oudenburg, Messine, Belle, Poppering, Torone, Ostburgh, Axeile, Middleburgh (there is one of the same name in Zealand) ho, Werwick, Blanckberg, Houcke, Rosselor, Tielt, Giestle, Ecclo, Lombarzide, Steechet, Honscot, Morcherede, Meenen, Haelvein, Wastein, Steegers, Mergen, Haesbrook, Armentiers, which the other two of ostend and Mardike make up thirty fair, well peopled, and well traded Towns.  
I cannot let two of the head Cities, and some of 
13. Gaunt & Bruges briefly described.  the others go or pass in silence, to wit, Gaunt and Bruges, Dunkirk and ostend. Gaunt was built by Julius Caesar four leagues distant from Sea, It is seated upon three Rivers, the Scheld which runs by Antwerp, the Lis, and Liette, which make within the City twenty six isles, and fourscore and ten great Bridges, under and through which goes small ships and Vessels with all sort of wares, besides many smaller ones pleasant and profitable, It is strong by nature and art, fortified by a strong and a large citadel, Gallant in buildings, stately, high and uniform, the wall more than sixteen English miles about; there be six principal watermills; one hundred and thirty windmills upon the walls; fifty eight public Churches, four Orders of friars, twenty six Schools of literature, fifty two Companies of Trades, and twenty seven Orders and degrees of Weavers, of Gold and Silver, Silks, linen, woollen, tapestry, Sarges, Fustions, worsteds, Buckroms, and all other sorts of Stuffs; this City is famous for the birth of the Emperor Charles the fifth, and that valiant princelike John of Gaunt.  
Bruges is little inferior, for 'tis a stately town 
14. Bruges.  and ancient, strong and healthy, the Wall is five Italian miles in compass, hath many Schools, in it are threescore and six Churches well built and beautified, the chief of them is dedicated to Donatus: here are sixty eight free Companies, besides abundance of Cloisters, Nunneries and Priories; the City for health and pleasure is frequented by great persons of Nobles and Gentry, it is well stored for all sorts of provision and at cheap rates, its full of pleasant Gardens, Orchards and walks, you may guess of the rest by these two, famous in building, riches, commerce and pleasure.  
I will refer the story of Dunkirk toward the end 
15. Villages in Flanders.  of this Treatise, and so I show you the gallantness of this County for the great number of rich and pleasant Parishes and Villages that are in it, being one thousand one hundred fifty four, wealthy and great as any in Europe, besides 
16. Castles.  the great number of Castles, Fortresses, signories, Noble and gentlemen's Houses beautiful and large, and rich, and to augment the splendour of this County there are forty eight fair 
17. Castles, Abbeys.  abbeys, besides Nunneries a vast number of Priories, Canonical colleges, and Monasteries, so that the Spaniards, when they came first into Flanders and beheld the variety of buildings and multitude of Parishes (notwithstanding it hath been so harrassed by wars for these sixty years) said that all Flanders was but one entire City of pleasure and profit: and who knows not that old true saying that France is the great and mightiest kingdom of all Europe, Milan the mightiest dukedom, and Flanders the mightiest and greatest county.  
Next observe that in this country there 
18. Dignities & Government and Officers of State.  are five ancient Vicounties, viz. of Gaunt, Ipre, Vuerne, Winnoxbergh, and Haerbleck. The States of Flanders consist of four members, Nobles, Prelates, Towns, castleneves, or Commanders of Castles and Towns, here are in Flanders thirty one Courts of Justice or bailiwicks, four great Baronies which all give the Bear for their Arms, but distinguished 
19 Principalities.  by the fields, viz. Pamele, Cison, Heine, Boulaer; there are eighteen Baronies of latter erection, yet of great Command: here are also twelve Preres in this County in imitation of France: here also are three Principalities of Steinhawse, Gauree, and Espinoy.  
I will not omit to name the Earl of Flanders 
20. Officers peculiar to the Earl of Flanders.  chief Officers, such as follow him and are of his Court, and have Lordships and signories of inheritance in Flanders annexed to their office, there are, first, a great Constable, two Marshals for Justice, a Master of his horse, chief Master of his Game, a Chancellor, a chamberlain: four Receivers of his Revenues, a chief Steward, besides abundance of inferior Officers and Ministers under these: he also hath a set number of Chaplains, three Secretaries, one for the church-affairs, one for state-affairs, 
21. The Earls Revenues.  and one for his own special occasions, the Earls Revenues and estate in times of peace were wondrous large, from his Churches and Religious persons, from his own Hereditary Lands, and from his customs upon all Commodities by sea and land, computed to amount to the sum of two millions of Rix dollars or crowns by the year in our moneys according to pound sterling, after this rate they come to five hundred thousand pound per ann.  
I promised ere I concluded to set down the State of Dunkirk and Ostend, both of them have 
22. ostend.  been subject to the fury of war, and change of Lords and Laws: for Ostend 'twas a fishing Town, and lived by what they got at Sea, as well by labour as by piracy; for they used both as well against us English, as against the Hollanders, who once were Masters of it, and did by the valour of English Commanders, especially Sir Francis Vere, and Horatio afterwards Lord Vere his valiant brother, and Sir John Ogle with other hardy Commanders hold out a tedious siege of three years, three months, and odd days against all the Spanish power and strength, who spared neither men nor bullets, to get it into his hands; which at last (when it was not a Town, but an heap of battered Rubbish) by the fury of his Cannon and Granadoes) when it had cost him almost a million of men and millions of moneys was honourably yielded into his hands; to the never dying fame and honour of our Commanders and soldiers, and so the Spaniard hath kept, and builded it anew, so that at present it is a neat pretty new town, but strongly fortified, and hath done a world of mischief to our Merchants, fishermen, and Colliers, and would have been a sore nest of Pirates had they not been valiantly kept prisoners within by our stately Men of war, who have barred up this nest of pickeroons with good Cannon, and stout Seamen; and who will (I hope) ere long roost them out of this Hole, and make them look out another kennel; and reduce O end as Dunkirk is, to the obedience of his highness, to the benefit of all Merchants and honour of our Nation.  
And now we are almost come to a period, only 
23. Dunkirk.  this Place must not be omitted. It hath the name from the Church Duin-kerk, in Dutch signifying a Church in or near the downs, or to be seen in the downs as a mark at Sea: there is a convenient Harbour for shipping, and a strong Castle, the Town indifferent large, well built, too good for such vermin as are now cast out of it, strong it is, and well bulwarked toward sea and land; 'tis commodiously seated for pleasure and profit, the great Church is fair in building, and will be fairer when as Popish superstition is removed, and the Gospel preached in its with vigour, zeal, and purity which is already begun; the Townsmen may praise God for so happy a change, it hath been subject to many alterations; I will only name some for brevity's sake, it was sacked, pillaged, and burned, Anno. 1558. by monsieur Termes. It was besieged and won from the Spaniard by the French, Anno 1655. Again, the peace being not broke betwixt England and Spain it was regained by the Spaniard (but he was beholden then to us for it) and now this present year after a short siege, though hot for the time; it was at first yielded into the hands of his Majesty of France, who presently redelivered it into the Lord Lockarts possession for his highness, who now is sole owner of it and Mardike her strong neighbour; both turned from Spanish and French fashion into English: So that at present Flanders is under the Government of two free States, to wit, England and Holland, and under two Kings, of France and Spain.  
This cowtrey hath been the seat of war for 
24. Battles in Flanders.  sixty years and upwards, sometimes by the Dutch and Spaniards, who worried one another in this country in several sieges, as that of Scluis, and that at Dam, and two voyages to Hulst; the first time the Prince of Orange was glad to come off with some loss, but the second time entering with a strong Army took that Town of Hulst, and the States of the Low-countries do keep it garrisoned at this present, it is not far distant from sea.  
It hath also been the thorough-fair for the French and Spanish armies to range and rove in, to the extreme harassing and impoverishing the husbandman and trades.  
The most famous battle that hath been fought in 
Newport battle.  this country was that of Neiwport; great were the Armies as well that of the States, as that of the archduke Albertus, and almost for number equal, the advantages of wind, or Sun, or ground little or none; the States had a sad morning, and the archduke a fatal evening, for the Spaniards cut off twelve hundred stout and hardy Scots at a narrow passage, (a great loss for the quality of the soldiers, or number at that pinch of time, for they were (with the English) the flower of the state's Army, the Spaniards followed their game so furiously, that Prince Maurice left the field, all the Dutch ran a shipboard, that valiant and wise Sir Francis Vere was shot in the morning, which wound rendered him unable for Command that day, but he committed it to his brother a prosperous, and religious Leader; who managed it so, that when the Spaniard had gained so much ground that they possessed the Cannon, and cried out Sancta Maria, Victoria, victoria, and all was given for lost, yet the English Regiments (who only kept and won the field) did so pour their bullets amongst the enemies, that they presently regained the Ordnance, and charged them presently with small shot, and discharged them so successfully, that the Spaniards were forced to leave the field in disorder; that night, and their heels was their shelter. But the English pursuing their victory slew and cut down all they overtook straggling, so that the day was gained by the English, who did not only gain that field then, but from time to time have upheld the Low-countries; who in truth had been totally ruined by the Spaniard, without our help, this famous battle was fought with at least forty five thousand men on both sides.  
And now at present this County of Flanders is the Seat of war, wherein England and France are tugging against Spain, and hitherto have performed admirable service, as the taking of Bourburgh and Mardike, the surrender of Dunkirk into our hands, that Town so infamous for Piracies; the great overthrow given to the Spaniards striving to relieve it, with a great number of field Officers and others, made prisoners, the speedy gaining of Winnoxberg, Vuern, Dixmude, Towns that have all of them titles added to their names; as Dunkirk for trade, Winnoxbergh for a gallant Market, Vuern for pleasure, and Dixmude for excellent butter.  
And at this Instant that strong seated, deep moated and treble-walled Town of gravelling is besieged, Newport and Ostend kept close In, which when gained will cause the Spaniard to shrug and shrink in his bombasted titles and Bravadoes; and be a just cause of England's triumph, and rejoicing over the proud Spaniard.  
FINIS.