Parts of the map - Description in Latin

[Country description in Latin] – In: Tabula Hungariae… 1528, detail (National Széchényi Library, Collection of Early Printed Books, Apponyi Collection, App. M. 136.) Chorographia Hungariae

Totius Hungariae Chorographia, itinerariaque urbium, vicorum, arcium castellorum, fluminum, montium, sylvarumque iuxta geometricam dimensionem distantia. Intercapedo nanque duarum linearum in scala annexa aequivalet spa­tio unius miliaris. Estque potißimum duplex Hungaria, Septentrionalis & Meridionalis, illa trans Danubium in Germania, cubat, versus Arcton protendi­tur, ubi quondam apud veteres habitarunt populi ferocißimi, dicti a Graecis Getae Scytaeque, a Rhomanis Daci, Suevis ab Occidentis ora contermini, dicti quoque Dani, Dai, Davique in multa capita populorum divisi. Recentiores eos­dem Gotos vocare solent. Hi Italiam, Hispaniamque circiter annos Christi 400. abstulere Rhomanis, cognominati a germanicis vocabulis Ost & Vuest, quae Orientem & Occidentem significant, Ostrogetae, ac Vessogetae, Hunni tum ea loca occuparunt, & tenuerunt, pulsis Getis. Meridionalis Hungaria continet Pannonias & partem Norici iuxta Rhomanorum descriptionem quas regiones Avares & Huni, atque postea etiam Schlavi occuparunt, Iustiniano & Mauritio Imperatoribus sicuti divus Gregorius magnus scribit circiter annum Christi 600. Tandem anno Christi 800. Carolus ille magnus triplici exercitu ingressus eas regiones octo continuis annis cum Avaribus atque Hunis bella geßit, eos ad inter­netionem in hisce regionibus delevit, Colonias ibi Boiorum atque Schlavorum deduxit, Boiariae regnum ad Tibiscum Savumque amnes ampliavit. Post centum annos Arnulphus Imperator Hungaros adduxit adversus Svatobogum Moraviae regem. Post mortem Imperatoris Hungari has omnes regiones invasere, poßidere sexcentos annos. Iam & Turcus ipsis inminet. Ita omnium rerum vicißitudines sunt, regnis, nationibus, ut homini suus dictus est finis.

Description of Hungarian landscape, the distance between castles, forts, rivers, mountains and forests, according to geometrical measurements. The distance between two lines on the attached standard is a mile. Hungary can be easily divided into two parts, the northern and the southern, the former being over the Danube, on German lands, where, according to writers of old, savages have lived. These people were called Getae and Scythians by the Greeks, and those who lived to the east from the suevi, were called Daci by the Romans. They were also called Dani, Dai or Davi, since this people consisted of several tribes. Later they would be called Goths. These people conquered Italia and Hispania around A.D. 400, and after the German words “Ost” and “West”, they are called Ostrogetae and Vessogetae. After this, the Huns conquered and ruled these lands. The southern part of Hungary consists of the two Pannoniae and part of Noricum according to the Romans. These lands were occupied by Huns and Avars, and later, Slavs, during the reign of Iustinianus and Mauritius, as it is written by Saint Gregory the Great around 600. Finally, Charles the Great, with his army divided into three attacked these lands and fought for eight years continuously, until the last of the barbarians was dead. Bavarian and Slavic settlers were invited, and the borders of Bavaria were extended until the Tisza and the Sava. A century later, Emperor Arnulf invited the Hungarians against the Moravians. After the Emperor’s death, the Hungarians conquered these lands, and owned them for six hundred years. Now the Ottomans threaten their lands. These are the ways of fortune, kingdoms and nations, just like humans, always come to an end. (The German description is essentially the same, with a different wording. The only addition is a guide to using the callipers and the warning to use this map with a correct orientation)

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