Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition
The Flight of the Earls (Author: Tadhg Ó Cianáin)

section 69

On the following day they travelled a league, through the town called Niderharga, to the very famous river Rhine. They moved on to Bâle, a fine, strong, old, remarkable city which is built on it. There is a very good bridge in the centre of the city over the river, and numerous boats afford a means of leaving it and getting to it from Flanders and the country around the river. Those who occupy and inhabit it are heretics. There is a very large church in the middle of the city in which there were images, and pictures of Luther and Calvin and many other wicked evil writers. That city is an independent state in itself, and no king in the world claims submission or authority in it. It alone is the main entrance to the land of the Swiss called Helvetia. Afterwards, through fear of conspiracy by the heretics, they left the city. They proceeded two leagues up the river to a small strong town named Liesthal. Its inhabitants were Catholic. It is usual to demand custom in Bâle for the horses of strangers and travellers who cross through the country. The road was even and beautiful, advancing beside the river in a long rich valley. There were two high mountains, with much vines and good crops, on either side of it.