Zell,Berncastel,Manderscheid - Cel im Ham, Berncastel, Ober Manderscheidt, Nider Manderscheidt. [on one sheet]

A fine antique map with three bird's-eye views on one sheet: Zell - Berncastel - Manderscheid, from: Civitates Orbis Terrarum, ... Part 5. Köln, 1596.

ZELL AN DER MOSEL. Zell, which was granted its charter in 1222, is seen from an elevated viewpoint on the opposite bank of the Moselle. Zell is the main town in the Zeller Hamm district, the particularly winding section of the Moselle between Pünderich and Alf.
Beside the river on the left is the former electoral palace, built from 1530 as a secondary residence for the Trier Electors. Above the town lies the parish church of SS Peter and Paul, whose origins go back to the 12th century. The building on the far right may be the old town hall.

BERNKASTEL. COMMENTARY BY BRAUN: "Bernkastel is a small town in the archbishopric of Trier, situated on the Moselle. Around 1277 Henry II and subsequently Boemund, both bishops in Trier, furnished the town with a palace with walls, towers, bulwarks and the like. Bishop Boemund also granted the city great privileges and freedoms, such as the status of an imperial city. Opposite Bernkastel lies a magnificent hospice built from the ground up by the highly learned Nicholas of Cusa."

Bernkastel is also seen from a hill on the left bank of the Moselle. Above the town on the right is just a glimpse of Landshut castle, a former summer residence of the Trier archbishops, which was almost entirely destroyed by fire in the 17th century. Braun mentions the Hospital of St Nicholas in Kues on this side of the Moselle, consisting of cloisters and a courtyard and founded by Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa.
The angle from which Bernkastel is here presented does not permit a view of its picturesque marketplace lined with half timbered houses from the late Middle Ages and the early Renaissance. In Braun and Hogenberg's day the St Michael's fountain in the marketplace had only recently been completed, as had the Renaissance town hall. The parish church of St Michael, whose spire doubled as a defensive tower, can be seen in the foreground.

MANDERSCHEID. COMMENTARY BY BRAUN: "There are two castles here, called the Ober and the Unter Manderscheid. Obermanderscheid lies on top of a bluff in the Eifel and due to its situation has a great deal of wood and wine available. Untermanderscheid lies in the Eifel on the river called the Lieser, in an equally fertile location belonging to the Counts of Manderscheid."
Manderscheid's two castles lie in a picturesque landscape. On the left is the Oberburg from the 10th century with its Romanesque keep. When the Oberburg passed into the possession of the archbishops of Trier in the 12th century, the Lords of Manderscheid built the Niederburg as their residence. The town that sprang up around it, also called Niederburg or (as here) Niedermanderscheid, sits 90m above the Lieser and was incorporated within the Niederburg's fortifications in the 14th century by William V of Manderscheid.
In 1460, the Lords of Manderscheid were elevated to the rank of Imperial Counts by the Emperor and maintained their status until the French Revolution.

Reference: Van der Krogt 4, 4925; Taschen, Braun and Hogenberg, p. 380.