# List of literary descriptions of cities (before 1550)

Literary descriptions of cities (also known as descriptiones urbium) form a literary genre that originated in Ancient Greek epideictic rhetoric. They can be prose or poetry. Many take the form of an urban eulogy (variously referred to as an encomium urbis, laudes urbium, encomium civis, laus civis, laudes civitatum; or in English: urban or city encomium, panegyric, laudation or praise poem) which praise their subject. Laments to a city's past glories are sometimes also included in the genre. Descriptiones often mix topographical information with abstract material on the spiritual and legal aspects of the town or city, and with social observations on its inhabitants. They generally give a more extended treatment of their urban subject than is found in an encyclopedia or general geographical work. Influential examples include Benedict's Mirabilia Urbis Romae of around 1143.
The earliest ancestor of the literary genre can be found in the New Kingdom Egyptian "praises of the cities", describing in poetic forms e.g. Thebes and Pi-Ramesses.
The Greek rhetorician Dionysius of Halicarnassus, in the first century AD, was the first to prescribe the form of a eulogy to a city in detail. Features he touches on include the city's location, size and beauty; the qualities of its river; its temples and secular buildings; its origin and founder, and the acts of its citizens. The Roman rhetorician Quintilian expounds on the form later in the first century, stressing praise of the city's founder and prominent citizens, as well as the city's site and location, fortifications and public works such as temples. The third-century rhetorician Menander expands on the guidelines further, including advice on how to turn a city's bad points into advantages. These works were probably not directly available to medieval writers, but the form is outlined in many later grammar primers, including those by Donatus and Priscian. Priscian's Praeexercitamina, a translation into Latin of a Greek work by Hermogenes, was a particular influence on medieval authors.
Surviving late Roman examples of descriptiones include Ausonius's Ordo Nobilium Urbium, a fourth-century Latin poem that briefly describes thirteen cities including Milan and Bordeaux. Rutilius Namatianus's De reditu suo is a longer poem dating from the early fifth century that includes a section praising Rome.
Numerous medieval examples have survived, mainly but not exclusively in Latin, the earliest dating from the eighth century. They adapt the classical form to Christian theology. The form was popularised by widely circulated guidebooks intended for pilgrims. Common topics include the city walls and gates, markets, churches and local saints; descriptiones were sometimes written as a preface to the biography of a saint. The earliest examples are in verse. The first known prose example was written in around the tenth century, and later medieval examples were more often written in prose. Milan and Rome are the most frequent subjects, and there are also examples describing many other Italian cities. Outside Italy, pre-1400 examples are known for Chester, Durham, London, York and perhaps Bath in England, Newborough in Wales, and Angers, Paris and Senlis in France. The form spread to Germany in the first half of the 15th century, with Nuremberg being the most commonly described city.
J. K. Hyde, who surveyed the genre in 1966, considers the evolution of descriptiones written before 1400 to reflect "the growth of cities and the rising culture and self-confidence of the citizens", rather than any literary progression. Later medieval examples tend to be more detailed and less generic than early ones, and to place an increasing emphasis on secular over religious aspects. For example, Bonvesin della Riva's 1288 description of Milan, De Magnalibus Urbis Mediolani, contains a wealth of detailed facts and statistics about such matters as local crops. These trends were continued in Renaissance descriptiones, which flourished from the early years of the 15th century, especially after the popularisation of the printing press from the middle of that century.

## Selected examples

The following chronological list presents urban descriptions and eulogies written before the end of the 14th century, based mainly on the reviews of Hyde and Margaret Schlauch, with a selection from the many examples written from 1400 to 1550.
| Title | Date | Author | City | Country | Format | Language | Notes |
| Antiochicus | c. 360 | Libanius | Antioch | Syria | Prose | Latin | Also called Oration in Praise of Antioch, this is Libanius' Oration XI.$^{:23}$ |
| Ordo Nobilium Urbium | 4th century | Ausonius | Various | | Poetry | Latin | |
| De reditu suo | Early 5th century | Rutilius Namatianus | Rome | Italy | Poetry | Latin | |
| Laudes Mediolanensis civitatis | ~738 | | Milan | Italy | Poetry | Latin | Or Versum de Mediolano civitate |
| De laude Pampilone epistola | 7th century | | Pamplona | Spain | Prose | Latin | The laudatio is known from a composite with an unrelated text dating from c. 410 |
| Versiculi familiae Benchuir | 8th century | | Bangor | Ireland | Poetry | Latin | The Versiculi form a "religios laus civitatis in praise of a monastic community. |
| Poema de Pontificibus et Sanctis Eboracensis Ecclesiae | Early or mid-780s | Alcuin | York | England | Poetry | Latin | |
| Versus de Destructione Aquileiae | Late 8th century | Paulinus of Aquileia or Paul the Deacon | Aquileia | Italy | Poetry | Latin | Attribution disputed |
| Laudes Veronensis Civitatis | 796–806 | | Verona | Italy | Poetry | Latin | Or Veronae rhythmica, Versus de Verona |
| The Ruin | 8th – late 9th century | | An unnamed Roman spa, probably Bath | England | Poetry | Old English | Date uncertain; subject has also been suggested to be Chester or a town near Hadrian's Wall |
| Versus de Aquilegia | 844–855 | | Aquileia | Italy | Poetry | Latin | |
| De Situ Civitatis Mediolani | ~780–1000 | | Milan | Italy | Prose | Latin | Or De situ urbis Mediolanensis |
| Opening of the Vita Theoderici | 1050–1060 | Sigebert of Gembloux | Metz | Holy Roman Empire | Prose | Latin | Found at the start of a biography of Bishop Dietrich I of Metz, written during the episcopate of Adalbero III. |
| Durham | Mid-11th century to ~1107 | | Durham | England | Poetry | Old English | Or De situ Dunelmi; date disputed |
| Liber Pergaminus | 1112–33 | Moses de Brolo | Bergamo | Italy | Poetry | Latin | |
| Mirabilia Urbis Romae | ~1140–43 | Benedict | Rome | Italy | Prose | Latin | |
| Descriptio Nobilissimae Civitatis Londoniae | 1173–74 | William Fitzstephen | London | England | Prose | Latin | Or Descriptio Nobilissimi Civitatis Londoniae |
| De mirabilibus urbis Romae | 1150–1200 | Master Gregory | Rome | Italy | | Latin | |
| De laude Cestrie | ~1195 | Lucian of Chester | Chester | England | Prose | Latin | Or Liber Luciani de laude Cestrie |
| In Ymagines historiarum | ~1180–1200 | Ralph de Diceto | Angers | Angevin Empire | Prose | Latin | |
| Graphia Aureae Urbis Romae | ~1154–1280 | | Rome | Italy | | Latin | |
| De Laude Civitatis Laude | ~1253–59 | An unnamed Franciscan | Lodi | Italy | Poetry | Latin | |
| Liber de preconiis ciuitatis Numantine | 1282 | Juan Gil de Zamora | Zamora | Spain | Prose | Latin | |
| De Magnalibus Urbis Mediolani | 1288 | Bonvesin della Riva | Milan | Italy | Prose | Latin | |
| De Mediolano Florentissima Civitate | ~1316 | Benzo d'Alessandria | Milan | Italy | Prose | Latin | |
| Visio Egidii Regis Patavii | ~1318 | Giovanni da Nono | Padua | Italy | Prose | Latin | |
| Byzantios | post 1312 | Theodore Metochites | Constantinople | Byzantium | Prose | Greek | |
| Recommentatio Civitatis Parisiensis | 1323 | | Paris | France | Prose | Latin | |
| Tractatus de Laudibus Parisius | 1323 | Jean de Jandun | Paris, Senlis | France | Prose | Latin | Written in response to Recommentatio Civitatis Parisiensis |
| Libellus de Descriptione Papie | 1330 | Opicino de Canistris | Pavia | Italy | Prose | Latin | Or Liber de laudibus civitatis Ticinensis |
| Polistoria de virtutibus et dotibus Romanorum | 1320–46 | Giovanni Caballini | Rome | Italy | Prose | Latin | |
| Cronaca Extravagans | 1329–39 | Galvano Fiamma | Milan | Italy | Prose | Latin | Contains material from Bonvesin della Riva's text |
| Cronica Book XI | 1338 | Giovanni Villani | Florence | Italy | Prose | Italian | |
| Florentie Urbis et Reipublice Descriptio | 1339 | | Florence | Italy | Prose | Latin | Manuscript is untitled |
| Cywydd Rhosyr | Mid 14th century | Dafydd ap Gwilym | Newborough | Wales | Poetry | Welsh | Date and attribution uncertain |
| Laudatio florentinae urbis | ~1400 | Leonardo Bruni | Florence | Italy | Prose | Latin | |
| Laudatio Urbis Romae et Constantinopolis | ~1411 | Manuel Chrysoloras | Rome | Italy | Prose | Greek | |
| "O wunnikliches Paradis" | 1414–18 or after 1430 | Oswald von Wolkenstein | Konstanz | Holy Roman Empire | Poetry | German | Von Wolkenstein also wrote poems on other cities, including Nuremberg and Augsberg |
| Descriptio urbis Romae eiusque excellentiae | ~1430 | Niccolò Signorili | Rome | Italy | Prose | Latin | |
| Roma instaurata | 1446 | Flavio Biondo | Rome | Italy | Prose | Latin | |
| Lobspruch auf Nürnberg | 1447 | Hans Rosenplüt [de] | Nuremberg | Germany | Poetry | German | |
| Ye Solace of Pilgrimes | ~1450 | John Capgrave | Rome | Italy | Prose | Middle English | |
| Canmol Croesoswallt | Mid 15th century | Guto'r Glyn | Oswestry | England | Poetry | Welsh | |
| I Varedydd ab Hywel ab Morus, ac i Drev Croes Oswallt | Mid 15th century | Lewys Glyn Cothi | Oswestry | England | Poetry | Welsh | |
| "Y ddewistref ddiestron" | Mid 15th century | Ieuan ap Gruffudd Leiaf | Conwy | Wales | Poetry | Welsh | |
| Die Bamberger Traktate | 1452 | Albrecht von Eyb | Bamberg | Germany | | Latin | |
| "[What a splendid appearance this city presents!]" | Late 1450s | Enea Silvio Piccolomini | Nuremberg | Germany | Prose | Latin | |
| Lobspruch auf Bamberg | ~1459 | Hans Rosenplüt [de] | Bamberg | Germany | Poetry | German | |
| Brodyr aeth i Baradwys | Late 15th century | Ieuan ap Huw Cae Llwyd [cy] | Brecon | Wales | Poetry | Welsh | |
| "Cistiau da, 'n costio dierth" | End of the 15th century | Tudur Aled | Oswestry | England | Poetry | Welsh | |
| Lobspruch auf Nürnberg | ~1490–92 | Kunz Hass | Nuremberg | Germany | Poetry | German | |
| De Venetae urbis situ / Del sito di Vinegia | 1492 | Marcantonio Sabellico | Venice | Italy | Prose | Latin, Italian | |
| De origine, situ, moribus et institutis Norimbergae | ~1492–96 | Conrad Celtis | Nuremberg | Germany | Prose | Latin | |
| To the City of London | ~1501 | Sometimes attributed to William Dunbar | London | England | Poetry | English | Or In Honour of the City of London It is the basis for the cantata In Honour of the City of London (1937). |
| Tractatus de civitate Ulmensi | By 1502 | Felix Fabri | Ulm | Germany | | Latin | |
| Blyth Aberdeane | ~1511 | William Dunbar | Aberdeen | Scotland | Poetry | Middle Scots | |
| Ein Lobspruch der statt Nürnberg | ~1530 | Hans Sachs | Nuremberg | Germany | Poetry | German | Sachs also wrote praise poems to Salzburg (1549), Munich (1565), Frankfurt (1568) and Hamburg (1569) |
| Ein Lobspruch der Hochloeblichen weitberuembten Khuenigklichen Stat Wienn in Osterreich | 1547 | Wolfgang Schmeltzl | Vienna | Austria | Poetry | German | |