Saarburg & Pfalzel, Chorographica descriptio Civitatis Sarburgensis [on sheet with] Opp: Palatinum ad Mosellam Flu; vulgo Pfaltz auff der Musell.

A fine antique map with two bird's-eye views by Braun and Hogenberg: Saarburg and Pfalzel, from: Civitates Orbis Terrarum, ... Part 5. Köln, 1596.
COMMENTARY BY BRAUN (on verso): "The small town of Saarburg in the Archbischopric of Trier, situated on the Saar, is little known amongst chroniclers and hence almost nothing is written about its origins and background. [...] A stone bridge, which is called the Kunz bridge after the neighbouring village, crosses the Saar not far from the Moselle. [...] At both ends of the bridge stands a tower in which watch is kept."
The Trier electoral palace and the town around it are seen from Beurig on the right bank of the Saar, today a suburb of Saarburg castle (top right), the later residence of the Trier archbishops, is first mentioned in the 10th century, although the settlement that sprang up beneath it was granted its municipal charter as early as 1291.
In the 16th century the town comprised 100 homes of ordinary citizens (that is, not including those of the nobility or clergy). On the left the parish church of St Lawrence lies in the immediate vicinity of Saarburg's main attraction, a waterfall, where the Leuk Stream plunges 20 m over rocks. The Kautenturm, on the far left, is a tower that today marks the edge of the Old Town. Saarburg, in the Rhineland-Palatinate, currently has some 6,000 inhabitants.

PFALZEL AN DER MOSEL. CARTOUCHE: The town of Palatinum ad Mosellam, known in German as Pfalzel an der Mosel.
COMMENTARY BY BRAUN (on verso): "Not far from Trier, further down the Moselle on the left bank, lies a small town with a castle, called Pfalzel. Its origins are thought to date from the time of King Dagobert in France. In ancient manuscripts and chronicles in the Horrem monastery, at least, it is written that Pfalzel numbered amongst the suburbs of Trier in AD 642, around which time the bishop of Trier furnished this place with a nunnery for noblewomen, whose first abbess was Adela and after whom Pfalzel was subsequently named."

The lower view shows the small town of Pfalzel an der Mosel in what is almost a bird's-eye view. In the centre the electoral palace of the Trier bishops rises above the surrounding houses. It was erected within the western half of the ruins of the Palatiolum (small imperial palace), a Roman complex probably constructed in the 4th century AD and once thought to have belonged to Caesar. Adela of Pfalzel founded the nunnery of St Mary, which dates back to the 10th century.
Visitors today can still admire extensive sections of Pfalzel's unmistakable ramparts with their six original large bastions, of which the Moselle Bastion is the best preserved. (Taschen)

Reference: References: Van der Krogt 4, 3801; Taschen, Braun and Hogenberg, p. 380.