Valenciennes, Valencena, quondam Cygnorum Vallis, Urbs Han: Perelegas, et Valde Magnifica.

TRANSLATION OF CARTOUCHE TEXT: Valenciennes, once Valley of the Swans, is a very fair and magnificent city in Hainaut.

COMMENTARY BY BRAUN: "Valenciennes developed out of a castle that lay surrounded by water, and which was initially called the Valley of the Swans on account of the many swans; later, however, as the city grew ever larger, the inhabitants named it Valenciennes. It is a large and charmingly situated city with magnificent buildings, cloisters and churches, of which the church of Our Lady and the church of St John are the most admirable. The latter was built by Pippin, the king of France."

Valenciennes and the path followed by the Schelde as it crosses the city are seen here in a bird's-eye view from the south. From this angle the impressive basilica of Notre-Dame-du-Saint-Cordon, celebrating its millennium in 2008, stands out, along with the Gothic church of Saint-Géry. In the middle of the 16th century Valenciennes became a centre of Calvinism, and daily life during this period was dominated by confessional conflicts, some of them armed. Following Valenciennes's capture in 1580 by Alexander Farnese, Count of Parma, Protestantism was suppressed. In the course of the Counter-Reformation, a jesuit college was founded in 1591 whose library is still prized today. (Taschen)

The Civitates Orbis Terrarum, or the "Braun & Hogenberg", is a six-volume town atlas and the greatest book of town views and plans ever published: 363 engravings, sometimes beautifully coloured. It was one of the best-selling works in the last quarter of the 16th century. Georg Braun wrote the text accompanying the plans and views on the verso. A large number of the plates were engraved after the original drawings of Joris Hoefnagel (1542-1600), who was a professional artist. The first volume was published in Latin in 1572, the sixth volume in 1617. Frans Hogenberg created the tables for volumes I through IV, and Simon van den Neuwel created those for volumes V and VI. Other contributors were cartographer Daniel Freese, and Heinrich Rantzau. Works by Jacob van Deventer, Sebastian Münster, and Johannes Stumpf were also used. Translations appeared in German and French.

Reference: Van der Krogt 4, 4552; Fauser, 14565; Taschen, Br. Hog., p.230.