Heide + Meldorf, Icon Oppidi Heide / Delineatio Urbis Meldorpie.

A fine antique map with two bird's-eye plans by Braun and Hogenberg: Heide and Meldorf. From: Civitates Orbis Terrarum, ... Part 5. Köln, 1596.
HEIDE. TRANSLATION OF CAPTION: Picture of the town of Heide, drawn at the expense of Heinrich Rantzau and conveyed to us in the year 1596. Signed bottom right: Drawn by Daniel Freese of Dithmarschen.
COMMENTARY BY BRAUN (on verso): "Heide is a square town in Dithmarschen and the market there is also square and according to the dimensions of the drawing very large, 8,000 paces long and wide, and more streets lead off from all four corners. The town takes its name from the heath [German Heide] on which it was built and became famous for the tribunal of 48 judges that used to assemble there every week to dispense justice. People from the whole area also came to market here every Saturday, as is still the case today."

The town of Heide is presented in a bird's-eye view from the south. The houses are arranged around the rectangular marketplace, in whose middle stands St George's church, founded in 1560. Heide is first mentioned in records in 1404 as Uppe de Heyde. After 1447, when it was chosen by the inhabitants of the Dithmarschen region as their place of assembly, it rose in importance and remained the capital of the independent peasant republic of Dithmarschen until 1559.
Its assemblies were held on the market square, which at 12 acres remains Germany's largest open marketplace. Heide is today the district capital of Dithmarschen and currently has some 21,000 inhabitants.

MELDORF. TRANSLATION OF CAPTION: Picture of the town of Meldorf, drawn at the expense of Heinrich Rantzau, lord of the Lower Elbe, and conveyed to us for the embellishment of this 5th volume. Signed bottom right: Drawn by Daniel Freese of Dithmarschen.
COMMENTARY BY BRAUN: "Meldorf is also a small town in Dithmarschen; it takes its name from the River Melda flowing past, which was formerly navigable by boat and was of great advantage for the inhabitants. There is a magnificent church here, of which it is said that it was the first in the whole land, when after the eradication of heathen idolatry the Christian faith was proclaimed for the first time."
In this bird's-eye view from the south the houses are once again grouped around the church at the centre of the town. Dedicated to St. John but commonly known as Meldorf cathedral, the first church was constructed from AD 810 to 826; in the 13th century it was rebuilt in the Gothic style.
It originally stood right beside the North Sea, but due to land reclamation now lies - like the town itself - some 6 km from the coast. Meldorf is first mentioned in records in 1076. It was chartered in 1265 and served as Dithmarschen's place of assembly until Heide took over this role. Meldorf subsequently lost its charter in 1598. The town today has some 8,000 inhabitants. (Taschen).

Reference: Van der Krogt 4, 1742; Taschen, Braun and Hogenberg, p.387