Fugitives and people of infamous conversation The writ of the Court runs Nos Capitaneus c. Tibi c. Mandamus vigore Regio nostra qua hac parte fungimur Authoritate c. In Criminal causes it is to be served a fortnight in Civil a week before the Court sits To the Judicia Campestria may be referred the Vice-Captains Court which takes cognizance of the division of Estates between brothers forcible ejections servants entertained without testimonial exaction of customs non-payment of publick duties c. The Sub-Chamberlains Court is for settling the bounds of Noblemens Estates The Commissorial Courts are erected for the same purpose when the controversy happens between a Noble-man and one of the Kings tenants For then the King sends down Commissioners to settle the limits of his own lands who therefore issue out their writ after this form Nos c. Commissarii per Majestatem Regiam specialiter deputati vobis Generosis c. innotescimus c. The tribunal-Tribunal-Courts are superiour Courts which take cognizance of all causes removed thither by way of appeal from the Courts of Land-judicature the Captains Courts the Vice-Chamberlain and the Commissorial Courts The Judges of these Courts are as well spiritual as secular The spiritual Judges are elected by the several Chapters of the Provinces the temporal Judges by the most voices of the Nobility These Courts are held only in two places for Poland Petricow and Lublin The Causes are heard in order for three days are allowed to enter all causes that come and whatever is not enter'd in those three days cannot be medled with that sitting Here are tried all causes that concern Ecclesiastical persons and the revenues of Churches and religious houses The writs issued hence run all in the Kings name under the Seal of the Province where the Defendant lives The Decrees of the Court are seal'd with the Seal of the province where the Court is held From hence there lyes no appeal either to the King or the General Session unless where the Court is equally divided or that the case in Controversy be not decided by the Constitutions The Courts of the General Conventions are either Criminal or Civil The Criminal either for publick crimes as High Treason Treason Robbing the Exchequer Violation of the priviledges of the General Parliament and adulterating or falsifying the publick Coin or else for private crimes as Murder Poysoning Incest Adultery and such like hainous offences To the civil Conventional Courts belong all causes concerning the Estate of the Kings table goods unlawfully received extortion of custome negligence of Magistrates c. all causes concerning the tenths of Noblemens Estates profanation of Churches Land-offices and Honours c. The Judges of this Court are the King and the Senatours Whilst the Senatours and Deputies give their votes the King absents himself afterwards when the decree is confirm'd by plurality of votes he returns and the Marshal having proclaimed the Sentence in the Kings presence commands the person condemn'd to be clapt into irons and takes care that execution be done For causes that relate to the public Revenues there is the Court of the Exchequer usually held at Radom and therefore called Tribunal Radomiense The Judges of this Court besides the Treasurer are certain Senators elected for this purpose in the general Parliaments of the Kingdom Before this Court are examined and tryed all Sub-treasurers and Collectors of contributions and Captains which have not brought into the Treasury what collections were paid into their hands as also all Merchants and others by whom the Treasury has suffer'd any dammage This Court seldome sits above a fortnight or three weeks and always adjourns before the meeting of the general Conventions Nearly relating to this Court is that which they call The Commission for payment of Souldiers wages Here are tryed such Souldiers as have not appeared after they have received their pay or that have committed any Acts of violence towards the Kings Subjects The Judges of this Court are the chief Commission-officers of the Army with certain selected Senators and Deputies to assist them To omit the Military Courts which are the same in all well disciplined armies the Marshal of the Kings house has also his Court whose jurisdiction extends not only over the Kings servants but also over the Senators themselves that live in the Court The Captural Court is two-fold either General which sits during the Interregnum to prevent disorders having absolute power of life and death whose Judges are chosen out of the prime Nobility Or Particular in the several Palatinates of the Kingdom the Judges whereof are chosen out of the Nobility at the several particular Conventions in the beginning of the Interregnum They take cognizance of all causes tryable in the Captains Court and of all injuries and batteries but meddle not with civil matters being like a Court constituted to keep the peace during the Interregnum All Captural Courts cease three weeks before the Assemblies for Election meet After the Election is over they sit again till the Coronation of the King The Jews are every where tried and judged by the Palatines from whom there lyes no appeal except the sum exceed an hundred Florens They that live in Towns or Villages belonging to Noblemen are under the jurisdiction of the Lord of the Royalty In the Assessorial Court the Chancellour sits as supreme Judge assisted by the Masters of requests and the principal Secretaries of the Kingdom Here are heard all causes removed from the City Courts as also from the Palatines when the controversy lies between a Christian and a Jew Of the Court of Relations the King himself is Judg and hears all causes removed by way of appeal out of the Assessorial Court Hence there lies no appeal but only to the Parliament it self and that but in two or three cases As when the action relates to an Estate which the possessour affirms that he holds by inheritance or that it concern the publick revenue of the kingdom I do not find any Ecclesiatical Courts particularly named however most certain it is that the Bishops have their several Courts where either they or their officials take cognizance of all ceremonies and institutions Ecclesiastical and are Judges of Heresy Schism Magick Incantations Usury Simony as also controversies about Tithes and Church-lands of murder or violence offer'd to a religious person or upon holy ground Moreover they determine the rights of Patronage Matrimonial differences and contests touching birth-right As for Wills and Testaments the differences about them are decided in the secular Courts as well as in these unless in case of some Legacies left to the Church From the Bishop's Court there lies an appeal to the Arch-bishop of Leopol from him to the Arch-bishop of Gnesna and thence to the Apostolick See To the Spiritual Courts belong the Court of Nunciature under the jurisdiction of the Popes Nuncio for that purpose always residing in Poland However before he
and Vilna For the Polonians believe that it very much avails both to the security of the Governour and to confirm the allegiance of them that obey that the King should be chosen by the Generality who can then have no pretence to complain of their own Act. The place of Election is in an open field not far from Warsaw near the Village Wola by reason of the multitude of them who have voices in the Election it is mark'd out by the Marshals of Poland and Lithuania When the day of Election is come and the Senators all met the Interrex asks the Question three times Whether it be their pleasure to command that such a one shall be declared King If by consent of voices they return for an answer It pleases us Let him live then the Archbishop declares him King in these words In the name of God I declare such a one King and great Duke of Lithuania and beseech the King of Heaven to enable him for so great a charge and through his mercy so to order that the Election may be prosperous for the Nation and happy for the Catholick Religion After which the Marshals proclaim the Election in the following manner King N. is unanimously elected and so declared by the Interrex him therefore all ye acknowledg your lawfully elected and declared King If the King so elected be absent his Ambassadours are obliged to confirm by oath the conditions and receive the decree of the Election After which the Marshalls make a second Proclamation in these words The Polanders have a lawful King On the other side before the King is admitted he is obliged by oath to preserve the Laws and priviledges of the Kingdom and the Covenants agreed upon by the Estates in all their clauses points and conditions and to renew the said oath at his Coronation But though he be now elected the Interregnum does not cease till after his Coronation for till then he assumes no other Title then that of King Elect neither are his Letters to Foreign Princes seal'd with any other seal then that of the Chamber So that though the present King was permitted to make use of the Seal of great Duke of Lithuania before his Coronation that was only done upon the necessity of the Muscovitick Expedition The usual place of Coronation is Cracow where the Crown is kept in the cheif treasury under the charge of the high Treasurer and the person performing the ceremony is always the Archbishop of Gnesna if not prevented by sickness The chief Ceremonies at the Coronation are the Questions propounded to the King Wilt thou profess the Catholick faith delivered by Catholick men Answ I will Wilt thou defend and maintain the Church and its Ministers Wilt thou uphold defend and govern the Kingdom by God committed to thy care according to Justice Ans I will All which he confirms by the usual form of words and laying his hand upon the Evangelists The Ceremony of anointing is perform'd with saying these words I anoint thee King with the sanctified oil in the name of the Father Son and holy Ghost The words of Confirmation are Sit and possess the Throne appointed thee by God Let thy hand be strengthned and thy right hand exalted The solemnity being ended the King repairs to the grand Assembly for the Coronation where the Interrex resigns his Authority and the Senatours together with the Nobility and Deputies of the Cities take their oaths of allegiance to the new King The present power and authority of the Kings of Poland will more plainly appear by a recital of the articles to the observance whereof they bind themselves as well before as at their Coronation for they contain all the essential properties of Regal Dominion under the name of Pacta Conventa As to their power in Ecclesiastical affairs the Roman-Catholick Kings of Poland have been so kind as to part with their chiefest prerogatives in that particular reserving only to themselves the collation of benefices The King swears to maintain peace between the dissenters in Religion of which there are many in Poland and to compose the causes and differences among persons professing the Greek religion as appears by the Pacta Conventa sworn to by John the Third now reigning As for foundations of Churches and Monasteries whatsoever liberty the King may have to erect they are to be confirm'd by all the orders at the general assembly of Estates and thus the immunities and priviledges granted by the Kings of Poland to the Academy of Vilna were also confirm'd The next prerogative is the legislative power concerning which we find that in the time of Lechus the Kings of Poland had an absolute authority of making Laws themselves as necessity required But afterwards when they had received the Christian faith they began to make Laws with the consent of the Peers Insomuch that Sigismund the Third in the year 1570 enacted That no Law should be of publick force till reviewed and subscribed by such a number of Deputies of the Nobility and Senators whose consent was to be required before-hand whether the Law should pass which Law remains to this day The determination of Controversies was likewise formerly in the breast of the King as supreme Judg till Vladislaus Jagello granted this priviledge to the Nobility That they should not be punished or imprison'd till convicted by Law After him Bathor threw off the burthen of hearing causes from his own shoulders and erected several courts of Judicature in Poland and Lithuania reserving only to himself the judgment of such causes as concerned his Chequer and such Cities as were immediately under his jurisdiction But now the Nobility create the chief Judg or Marshal with his assistants in those tribunals nor does the King sit alone upon causes that come before him by way of appeal besides the King swears to determine all Court causes according to the advice and opinion of the Senators and Officers residing at Court as also to call the causes in order as they are set down in the Register and neither to retard nor further any cause for favour or interest The power of making war did formerly without doubt absolutely belong to the King But Casimir the third in the year 1454 made a promise that he would undertake no war without the consent of the Senate At this day the Kings of Poland by the Pacta Conventa promise not to admit or call in any foreign assistance without the especial consent of the Estates not to encrease the number of the standing Militia nor raise forces privately not to send aid to any other Prince without consent as aforesaid nor to commit the trust of Forts or Castles to strangers or plebeians but to men of worth and landed Nobility Besides all these engagements there is a Council of War elected out of the Senate and Nobility to attend and advise him in the field according to the late Constitutions in the year 1676 and several others before He is also
the lesser Councils or Conventions in the several Palatinates larger Provinces and certain Districts These Conventions precede the general Assemblies of the Kingdom six weeks unless upon some extraordinary accident and are held in the proper Cities of the Palatinates and Provinces appointed for that purpose Here after they have chosen a Marshal who seems to be much like our Speaker as being the Director of the Convention they first consider of such things as are propounded to them by the Kings Deputies dispatched away to every Convention and of what other business is to be motioned at the General Session After that they choose the Land Deputies or provincial Delegates for the general Assembly Every Province sends so many almost in the same manner as our Shires save only that they are not chosen by the people till the whole number amount to about 300. These Deputies are generally elected out of such Magistrates as are not of the Senatorian order excluding all Judges and their Assistants Collectors and all Officers of the Exchequer unless they have exact and full acquittances from the Treasurer The Delegates like our Burgesses have a certain allowance from their respective Provinces during the sitting of the general Assembly The particular Conventions being broken up which by the Law are not to sit above four days three weeks before the Senators and Delegates repair to the Grand Session they meet at the general Committees for the several Provinces where they again read over the Kings commands the instructions given to the Delegates and what was thought needful to be propounded for the publick good The grand Assembly being met the Deputies repair to their Chamber and choose their Marshal or Director which done they are all conducted to kiss the Kings hand and after that ceremony perform'd the Chancellours of the Kingdom and Dukedome in order declare to them the substance of those affairs which are to be the subject of their Debates Before they depart they put the King in mind of supplying such employments as are vacant with deserving persons and desire an account of such Laws or Ordinances as have been made by the resident Senators since the sitting of the last grand Convention Having so done they return to their Chamber The power of these Nuncii or Deputies is very great for when they send any of their number to the King they are presently admitted let the King be never so busy and have an immediate dispatch If they clash in their debates the King is careful to send some of the Senators to reconcile them who then give them the Title of Mosci Panovoie Bracia or Gracious Lords Brothers They have also power to impeach any great Officer of Misdemeanours and to put the King himself in mind of his promises touching the Laws and priviledges of the Kingdom neither is any constitution valid that has not its Original from the Chamber of the Deputies And which is yet more if any one of the whole number of the Nuncii dissent nothing can be legally concluded So that upon the protestation and departure of one Deputy the whole Convention is ipso facto dissolv'd Whilst the Deputies are thus consulting the King and Senators have little to do but to hear certain criminal causes appointed before hand for the first week and some other civil controversies the second till the return of the Deputies embodies the whole Senate together Then every man has liberty to deliver his mind with the leave and direction of the Marshal The King suspends his own opinion till the Senators and Deputies or the major part of them agree Then he endeavours to reconcile their different votes or if he cannot prevail concurs with that party which has voted most conformably to the Laws and priviledges of the Realm These consultations by the Law ought not to be continued above fifteen days after the joyning of both Houses though sometimes urgency of affairs causes farther prolongation When the Session breaks up the Deputies returning home give notice of their return to the Captains with Jurisdiction and the Palatines or Vice-Palatines give the same notice of the return to the Deputies to the Nobility inviting them withal to the Post-Comitial Assemblies or Conventions of Relation the meeting whereof the King appoints In these Conventions the Deputies produce the constitutions made in the last general Assembly of Estates delivered to them under seal by the Chancellours and take care that they be fairly transcribed into the Land and military Registers not omitting after this to give a full account of what they have acted in discharge of their Trusts If the grand Session break up in confusion not having effected any thing to purpose then certain Post-Comitial Councils are called wherein the King prefixes a time for another grand Session Nor is it a wonder that much disturbance should rise in the General Assemblies considering the multitude of the Deputies and the liberty of each member for which reason Cardinal Johannes Franciscus Commendonus facetiously said That Morbus Comitialis was the Epidemical distemper of Poland Now that the King may not want a Council in the interval of general Conventions they before they break up appoint 24 Senators 8 Palatines 8 Major and as many Minor Castellanes and four Bishops to wait quarterly four at a time one Bishop and three Senators till other 28 are chosen And these are bound so close to their duty that they accompany the King to the Wars for which they have a Stipend allowed and payed out of the Treasury The Courts of Judicature in respect of their division are the same as in other countreys 〈…〉 that is either Ecclesiastic or Secular either for civil or criminal causes but in respect of the Judges and manner of proceeding therein not easily to be understood without a particular survey The Nobles have a Court peculiar to themselves called the Court of Land-judicature wherein all actions relating to estates in Land are tryed Where also the Captains and by their permission the Kings Tenants may sue the Nobles themselves for wast done upon the Lands belonging to the Kings table To this Court likewise belong all actions of debt upon Contract The Judges of this Court are a chief Judg a Judg and a Secondary Upon the death of any of these the Nobility propose four landed men whom they recommend to the King who chuses one out of them into the dead place All the Judges are bound to be resident at the Session of the Court which is twice thrice and sometimes four times a year The next remarkable Court is that of the several Captains jurisdiction called Sudy Grodskie or Courtmilitary The chief Judg of this Court is a Captain he sits alone takes cognisance of Rapes Burglary Setting Houses on fire Robberies upon the High-way c. Noblemen not Landed are here also tryed and forreign Merchants coming to Faires He has also power without any noise of Law to condemn and punish idle Vagabonds Thieves Proscribed persons
six chief Courts of Judicature Courts of Judicature for the examination and trial of Cases Civil and Ecclesiastical in the Elector's Dominions 1. At Coen on the Spree or in the Elector's Palace at Berlin 2. At Colberg in Pomeren 3. Cleve 4. Halberstadt 5. Petershagh where all Causes depending between any of the Elector's Subjects in the Dukedom of Minden are brought to trial 6. Konigsberg in Prussia To these may be added the Court of Magdeburg since that Archbishopric is now fall'n into the Elector's hands But of this more hereafter The whole Marquisate of Brandenburg strictly so call'd is commonly divided into the Alt Mittel Neue and Vcker-Marck with the Territories of Prignitz and Sternberg But taking Prignitz and Vcker-Marck into the Middle and Sternberg into the New we may include them all under the three following heads ALT-MARCK FIrst ALT-MARCK or the old Marquisate is bounded on the North with the Dukedom of Mecklenburg on the West with Saxon-Lawenburg and some part of the Duke of Lunenburg's Territories on the South with the Dukedom of Magdeburg and on the East with the Middle Marck containing about thirty English miles in length or bredth Some Authors for the plenty it affords of all manner of Herbs and Fruits have been pleased to call it the Galilee of Germany It is commonly subdivided into four petty Provinces whereof that on the East called Das Balsamerland or Ostland contains Stendal Arneburg the City and County of Osterburg with some other Towns of note On the South lies Die Langer or Das Angerland taking its name from the River Anger Towards the West Das land zu Zermund in which is situate the ancient City Soltwedel And lastly Das Senland on the North supposed to have its name from the Senones who are thought to have been the ancient inhabitants of these parts The most considerable Cities and great Towns in the Old Marck are 1. Stendal the Metropolis of this Province Stendal seated upon the River Vcht about five English miles distant from the Elb and Angermund in a pleasant plain and at the side of a large Forest It was built by the Emperor Henry the First in the year of Christ 920 and afterwards fortified with strong Walls and Bulwarks by Marquise Albert surnam'd Vrsus in the year 1150. In this neat and well-built Hans-Town are kept the ordinary Quarter-Sessions for decision of all Law-Suits in the Old Marck The chief trade of the Citizens is in Corn and Linnen Cloth with which and the daily opportunity of entertaining Passengers that travel this road from Hamburg and Lubec towards Magdeburg Erfurt c. they make a shift to live handsomly MARCHIA VETUS Vulgo ALTE MARCK in March Brandenburgico To the R. t Wor. ll Ralph Macro M. D. r this Plate is Humbly Dedicated by Moses Pitt MARCHIA MEDIA Vulgo MIDLE MARCK in Brandenburg IE NE SERCH QVâ— To the R. t Hon. t Iames Earle of Northampton This Mapp is humbly Dedicated by M. Pitt 3. Gardleben GARDLEBEN Some Authors tell us that the ancient name of this Town was Isoburgum from the Image of Isis here worshipp'd Others believe 't was Isernburg and so called from its impregnable strength that name signifying properly a City of Iron The neighbouring old Fort call'd still by its ancient Wendish name Iseren Schnippe i. e. Iron Jaws gave occasion to both these opinions which are purely conjectural and are neither countenanc'd by Antiquity nor Probability But omitting these fancies with that of other Authors equally impertinent who write the Gardelegia and fetch its Etymology from Gardalegionum or Custodia Legionum because forsooth Claudius Drusus quarter'd some of his Soldiers here as well as at Soltwedel 't is most likely this City had its name from the multitude of pleasant Gardens among which 't is seated The Beer brewed in this Town is famous all Germany over and reckon'd amongst the greatest Blessings of the Old Marck Henry Meibonius a Professor in Helmstadt whither great quantities of this Liquor is ordinarily convey'd has writ a Panegyrick in commendation of it Another great commodity of the Town is Hops which are preferr'd by the Danish Merchants and others before the best in Germany and bought up at a higher rate The Arms of the City are three Hop-poles laden with Hops IV. Angermund ANGERMUND or Tangermund Seated as the name intimates on the mouth of the River Anger or Tanger about thirty English miles from Magdeburg The Emperor Charles IV. having bought the whole Marquisate of Brandenburg built the Castle of Angermund in the year 1376 making this the usual place of his residence for some years after The Citizens have a considerable trade from the advantage of the Elb by which their Corn and other Commodities of the Country are convey'd in Vessels down to Hamburg and thence into foreign Nations Other places of less note are 1. Seehusen or Senheusen as some write it seated on the River Alant and falsely suppos'd to have been built by the Senones who were indeed a Gaulish people and never inhabited these parts 2. Osterburg a great Corn-Market 3. Werben seated at the confluence of the Rivers Elb and Havel built by Henry surnamed the Fowler out of the ruins of the old Castellum Vari Gustavus Adolphus fancied this place capable of being made the strongest Fort in Germany and himself contributed so far towards its fortification as to cause that Castle to be built which now commands the whole Town 4. Havelberg anciently a Bishop's See 5. Perleberg the chief Town in Prignitz seated in a pleasant and fruitful plain Arneburg Wittemberg Bismarcht Schnakenburg with some others are Villages rather then great Towns II. MIDDLE-MARCK MIDDLE-MARCK as its name intimates is situate in the very midst of the Marquisate of Brandenburg 'T is the largest of the three and reaches from the banks of the Elb to the Oder about an hundred English miles The chief Towns in it are I. BRANDENBURG which Brandenburg tho at present far inferior to many of the neighbouring Cities well merits the preeminence as having been formerly the Metropolis of the whole Land and to this day giving name to the Marquisate Some of the German Historians endeavour to perswade us that 't was built 416 years before the birth of our Saviour by one Brenno a famous Captain of the Semnones Others more modestly fetch its original and name from one Brando who as they tell the story first built this City about the year 230. At present the Town is considerable for little but its age and the inhabitants would be put to a hard shift to pick up a livelihood if the neighbouring Lake about ten English miles in length did not supply them with good store of Fish In the great Church there are a great many Monuments and Sepulchers of Princes and Bishops and in the Market-place a Statua Rolandina of which last we have already given the Reader a short account II. BERLIN Berlin Angelius a
the Palatines or Woiwodes and Castellanes The Palatines are Governors of Dutchies or Counties Commanders of their Militia in the general Expeditions of the Kingdom appoint Conventions of the Nobles within their own Palatinate and preside in them and in Courts of Judicature and have the patronage of the Jews who are very numerous in Poland They are the first order of the secular Senators The Castellanes are as it were the Lieutenants of the Palatines commanding in time of war the Nobility under them there are divers of them belonging to one Palatine each of them having his District or Castellanate and from hence his title and generally some revenue but no jurisdiction in time of peace only as he is a Senator The Castellane of Cracow was preferr'd before the Palatine upon the rebellion of Scarbimirus the Palatine against Boleslaus III. The Castellanes of Vilna and Troco together with the Captain of Samogitia the only Captain in the Senate had pre-eminence in consideration of their antiquity The Palatines are seated thus 1. The Castellane of Cracow The Palatines of 2. Cracow and 3. Posnania by turns 4. Vilna 5. Sandomiria 6. Castellane of Vilna The Palatines of 7. Calistia 8. Troco 9. Sirad 10. Castellane of Troco 11. Palatine of Lenschet 11. Captain of Samogitia Palatines of 13. Bressic 14. Kiovia 15. Inouladislow 16. Russia formerly of Leopol 17. Volhinia 18. Podolia formerly Caminiecz 19 Smolensko 20. Lublin 21. Plockzow 22. Belze 23. Novogrod 24. Ploco 25. Vitepz 26. Masovia formerly Culmo 27. Podlachia 28. Rava 29. Brzecienski 30. Culmo 31. Mscislauia 32. Mariaeburgh 33. Breslow 34. Pomerania 35. Minsco 36. Czernichow After these Palatines sit the Castellanes distinguished into Greater and Lesser The Greater are these 1. Posnania 2. Sendomir 3. Calissia 4. Voynicz 5. Gnesna 6. Sirad 7. Lenschet 8. Samogitia 9. Brestie 10. Kiovia 11. Inouladislow 12. Leopol 13. Volhinia 14. Camieniecz 15. Smolensko 16. Lublin 17. Belze 18. Novogrod 19. Ploco 20. Witepz 21. Czetne 22. Podlachia 23. Rava 24. Brzescia 25. Culmo 26. Mscilow 27. Elbing 28. Breslow 29. Dantzic 30. Mirisco 31. Czernichow The Lesser Castellanes are 1. Sandecia 2. Medirec 3. Wislick 4. Biecie 5. Rogosnow 6. Radan 7. Zawichost 8. Lenden 9. Srim 10. Tarnow 11. Malagost 12. Vielun 13. Praemissia 14. Halicie 15. Senoc 16. Chelmo 17. Dobrzin 18. Polaniecz 19. Premetenski 20. Krivin 21. Czechow 22. Nackle 23. Rospir 24. Biechow 25. Bidgost 26. Briesin 27. Kruswic 28. Oswiecz 29. Camienecz 30. Spicimiria 31. Inoulad 32. Kowale 33. Santoc 34. Sochaczow 35. Warsow 36. Gostinin 37. Visna 38. Raciecz 39. Sierpz 40. Wysogrogende 41. Ripin 42. Zacochim 43. Ciechanon 44. Live 45. Slonsco 46. Lubaczow 47. Konar in Sirad 48. Konar in Lenschot 49. Konar in Cujavia These are called the Lesser as being more lately admitted into the Senate To greater Castellanes they give the title of Wielmozni or Magnifici to the Lesser that of Vrodzeni or Generosi but by private persons all Castellanes are called Jasnie Wielmozni or Illustrissimi It is established by Law that none may be either Palatine or Castellane in that Province in which he hath no lands The lowest in degree among the Senators are the Officers of the Kingdom and Great Dukedom of Lithvania in the following order 1. The supreme Marshal of the Kingdom 2. The Marshal of the Great Dukedom of Lithvania 3. The high Chancellor of the Kingdom 4. The Chancellor of Lithvania 5. The Pro-Chancellor of the Kingdom 6. The Pro-Chancellor of Lithvania 7. The Treasurer of the Kingdom 8. The Treasurer of Lithvania 9. The Marshal of the Court for the Kingdom 10. The Marshal of the Court of the Great Duke of Lithvania The office of the supreme Marshal is to call the Senate upon command of the King or Interrex to command silence and give leave of speaking therein to promulgate their acts to the people and to pronounce and put in execution the Kings decrees in all causes of infamy and death He prepares the place of the Diets and hath the chief management of matters in those Assemblies receives foreign Princes and Ambassadors at their arrival providing them with lodgings performs also most of the functions belonging to the Lord Steward of the Kings Houshold In the publick assemblies or when he goes before the King he carries a staff upright While the King resides in Lithvania the Marshal of Lithvania has the same power there The Chancellors are both secular persons and the office of Chancellor and Pro-Chancellor is the same only the Chancellor keeps the great and the Pro-Chancellor the lesser Seal In short these two are the mouth and hands of the King in the dispatch of all business The Treasurers are the Stewards of the publick Treasury and masters of the Mint When the King bestows this office upon any one four Senators are appointed to deliver the Treasury to him by an inventory of which there are three copies one with the King another with the Treasurer and the third they keep themselves This by the way take notice of in reference to all the Senators that none of them are permitted to stir out of the Kingdom without particular licence of the Grand Estates and upon some pressing occasion The rest of the Officers about the Court which are not of the Senatorian Order as the Principal Secretary Master of Requests Captain General c. I spare to mention being much-what the same as in other Nations only it is to be observed that there are two of every sort one for the Kingdom of Poland the other for the Great Dukedom of Lithvania The Masters of Requests are always present when the King sits to determine controversies and differences among his Subjects at which time it is their duty to lay open the nature and grounds of the controversie to the King They stand fair upon a vacancy to be admitted Senators The Magistrates for the several Districts are of two sorts that is Land or Camp-Magistrates The Land Magistrates are 1. The Vice-Chamberlain or Judg of bounds and limits 2. The Standard-bearer 3. The Land-Judg 4. The Tribune 5. The Land-Register 6. The Keeper of the Treasury Besides some other inferior Officers The Camp or Military Officers are 1. The Captain with Jurisdiction who is Governor of some Town or Castle 2. The Captain without Jurisdiction 3. The Burggrave who is Governor of some Castle and takes care of the out-guards 4. The Vice-Captain 5. The Judg-Advocate 6. The Field-Register The Councils Councils or Parliaments of Poland are of two sorts 1. Civil to which the Counsellors come in their Gowns 2. Military to which they come in Military habit The latter are only held in the time of an Interregnum The former are frequently called and are 1. Ordinary which by the Laws are summon'd once in two years 2. Extraordinary which are assembled as the necessity of affairs requires When either Ordinary or Extraordinary Councils are to be convened the King by his Letters summons
Light-horse as the King thinks fit and pay in yearly such a sum of money into the Treasury But these are neither so numerous nor large as before the alteration of Government in the year 1660. Again out of the Nobility are chosen all the Court-Officers Of which the chiefest are 1. Court-Officers The Chancellor 2. The Admiral who takes care of the building and repairing of all sorts of Ships belonging to the Crown He has under him a Vice-Admiral who acts by his Commission 3. The Marshal who provides necessaries for all manner of dispatches in the times of war and peace 4. The Treasurer who receives in and gives acquittances for all summs paid into the Kings Exchequer he has under him two Secretaries of the Nobility and a great number of inferior Scribes 5. The Master of the Horse There are only seven Bishopricks in Denmark Bishopricks which are all as in England in the Kings gift 1. Copenhagen where the Bishop has Archiepiscopal rights tho without the title 2. Ripen and 3. Arhusen both in the Northern Jutland 4. Odensee in Funen 5. Wiburg 6. Arhusen 7. Sleswic in the Southern Jutland The Cities are governed by their distinct Corporations Citâ—â—â— And the Citizens enjoy peculiar Priviledges and Charters as in other parts of Europe The Rustics are either Freeholders Frybunder Rustics such as have hereditary Estates paying only some small Quit-rent to their Landlords Or Wornede Villains absolutely in the power of their Lords Whilst the Kingdom of Denmark lay confused and broken into several incoherent parts Laâ—â— the Provinces had not all the same Laws but were governed by peculiar Statutes established by their petty but independent Princes Whence in Danish Authors we meet often with mention made of the Leges Scanicae Leges Sialandicae c. But afterwards when all these scatter'd members came to be re-united under the same head they were all subject to the same Government and Laws The Laws now in use were drawn into one body which they call the Jydske Lowbog or the Book of the Laws of Jutland and established by King Waldemar the first and revised and confirm'd by Waldemar the second To the observation of these as the only Municipal Laws of the Land the Kings of Denmark have formerly bin sworn at their Coronation Howbeit some of them have been since changed As for instance by the ancient Laws of Denmark as well as in England as may appear by the frequent mention of manbot and wergild in our English-Saxon Laws murder was not punished with death but a pecuniary mulct This custom was observed till the days of Christian the third who looking upon it as a constitution inconsistent with the Law of God and dictates of humane reason abrogated it ordering that from thenceforward wilful murder should be judged a capital crime The ancient Danes were so careful and zealous to transmit their Estates to their right heirs that tho they could be so merciful as to suffer murderers to live yet they punished Adultery with death Which Law is still in force in Saxony as may be seen in any Sachsen-Spiegel and many other parts of Germany The fashion of deciding all manner of causes in our English Courts by a Jury of twelve men Judâ—â—â—ture may seem to have bin borrowed from the Danes who used formerly as they do still in some parts of Jutland to assemble every Parish by themselves once a year in the fields to determine all differences by twelve select men From whom if the disagreeing parties were not reconciled an appeal lay to the Judge of the Province and thence to the supreme Court of Justice as is shown before The Heathen Danes had another way of determining Controversies by Duels in which the Challenger was to demonstrate the justice of his cause by his success This custom lasted till the first planting of Christianity by Poppo who to confirm the truth of his Doctrine took up with his bare hands glowing-hot bars of Iron without the least harm to the admiration of all beholders This miracle wrought not only a change in the Religion but Laws also of the Kingdom For hereupon King Sueno or Suenotto ordered That thence forward all persons accused of any hainous crime should clear themselves by carrying in their hands a glowing plough-share or some other piece of hot iron This kind of purging is called by some of the Danish Writers Jerntegn i. e. Iron-token by others Ordale Whence this last word should fetch its original is not agreed on by our modern Etymologists Verstegan brings it from Or an old word for Law and deal a part or portion And indeed the German word Vhrteil seems to favour this derivation Our fore-fathers the Saxons had borrowed from the Danes several kinds of Ordale As by carrying a bar of hot iron up to the high Altar bare hand by treading barefoot and blindfold over a certain number of glowing barrs laid on the ground at unequal distances by thrusting the naked arm into a pot of boiling water and lastly as they use to try Witches by throwing the accused party into a River or deep Vessel of cold water He that desires to see an exact account of the ceremonies used in the second and third kinds of Ordale may read them at large in the Ecclesiastical Laws of King Athelstane published by the Learned Sr. Henry Spelman Concil Britann tom 1. pag. 404. And in the same Kings Laws as they are published by Mr. Lambard you have the other two sorts described The first that throughly abolished all kinds of Ordale in Denmark was King Waldemar the Second about the year 1240 at the request of Pope Innocent the Third who thought it an intolerable and hainous impiety thus to tempt God Barclay in his Icon Animorum wonders that such innumerable swarms of men should sally out of these parts as were able to overrun the greatest part of Europe whereas at this day there is such a scarcity of Inhabitants that the King of Denmark is hardly able to wage war with any of his Neighbours without a supply of Souldiers out of foreign Countries But this is no such great miracle when we consider how the vastest Empires in the World Assyria Egypt Judaea and Rome it self vainly flattered with the name of Vrbs Aeterna have had their periods The greatest strength of the King of Denmark as of all Princes of Isles consists chiefly in the number of their Mariners and good Ships In all Skirmishes and Wars between the Dane and Swede it is obvious to observe how much the latter have usually prevail'd at Land and the former at Sea Christian the second upon a short warning fitted out a hundred good men of war to aid Henry the Second King of France against the English and this present King has a much larger Fleet always ready for action The Danish King can afford to build yearly twelve men of war without impoverishing his Exchequer And in this Naval force the
people what the Reader misses in the general description of Norway may possibly be met with in the following one of Island The Prefecture of Masterland THis Prefecture takes its name from the chief City in it seated on a rocky Peninsula and famous for its great trade in Herrings and other Sea-fish This City with two more of less note Congel and Oddawald and the adjoining Country are commanded by the strong Castle of Bahus now in the hands of the King of Sweden It was first built by Haquin IV. King of Norway about the year 1309 upon a steep rock on the bank of the river Trollet and was then look'd upon as the best Fort that King had in his dominions and a sufficient Bulwark against the daily assaults and incursions of the Swedes and Westro-Goths The Bishopricks of Anslo and Staffenger with the Province of Aggerhuse ANslo called by the inhabitants Opslo and by some Latin writers Asloa was first built by King Harold cotemporary with Sueno Esthritius King of Denmark who frequently kept his residence in this City Here is held the chief Court of Judicature for all Norway wherein all causes and suits at Law are heard and determined before the Governor who acts as Vice-Roy of the Kingdom The Cathedral is dedicated to St. Alward who took great pains in preaching the Gospel to the Norwegian Heathens In this Church is to be shew'n the Sword of Haquin one of their ancientest Kings a signal testimony if the stories they tell of it be true of the strength and admirable art of some Norwegians of former ages The hilt of it is made of Crystal curiously wrought and polished whence Olaus Magnus will needs conclude that the use of Crystal was anciently much more ordinary in Norway then it is at this day in any part of Europe Not far from Opslo on the other side of the Bay stands the Castle of Aggerhusen memorable for the brave resistance it made the Swedish Army in the year 1567 which besieg'd it hotly eighteen weeks together but was at last beat off and forced shamefully to retire About twenty German miles Northward of Opslo lies the City Hammar formerly a Bishops See but at present under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Opslo Near this Town is the Island Moos where if we believe Olaus Magnus a huge and monstrous Serpent appears constantly before any grand alteration in the State or Government of the Kingdom of Norway In this Province besides the places already mentioned stand the Cities of Tonsberg Fridericstadt Saltsburgh and Scheen which have all a considerable trade from the Copper and Iron Mines which hereabouts are in greater numbers then in any other part of the Kingdom 'T was in this Province that the Silver Mines mention'd before were first discover'd at the expence of Christian IV. King of Denmark and some of the adjoining hills are by the neighbourhood to this day called Silver-bergen or the mountains of Silver To these Mines and the lofty woods of Pines and Fir-trees with which this part of the Country is overspread the Kingdom of Norway owes the greatest part of if not all its trade The City of Staffenger lies in 59 degrees some reckon 60 and a great many odd minutes of Latitude It is seated in a Peninsuia upon a great Bay of the Northern Ocean full of small Islands and guarded by the strong Castle of Doeswick which lies about two English miles from the Town In Civil affairs this City is under the jurisdiction of the Governor of Bergenhusen tho it has its own peculiar Bishop constantly residing in the Town The whole Bishopric is divided into the several Districts of Stavangersteen Dalarne Jaren Listerleen Mandalsleen Nedenesleen and Abygdelag Thomas Conrad Hvegner Bishop of this Diocess in the year 1641 took the pains to collect a great number of Runic inscriptions which lay scatter'd up and down his Diocess some of which are published by Wormius who further informs us that this Conrad's predecessor whose name he omits writ a Topographical description of this City and Bishoprick Beyond the Bay appears the Island Schutenes three German miles in length but scarce half an one in breadth Between this Island which has in it several considerable Villages and the Continent runs up a narrow Frith to Bergen which is called by the Dutch Merchants T' Liedt van Berghen To the Bishopric of Staffenger belongs the Province of Tillemarch or Thylemarch which gave Procopius the first grounds for that assertion of his which he defends with so great vehemency viz. that Scandinavia taken in its largest extent of which Thylemarch is a very inconsiderable part is the ancient Thule The Parish of Hollen in this Province is very remarkable for a Church-yard or burying place on the top of a Church dedicated to St. Michael which is cut out of a great high rock call'd by the Vicenage Vear upon the Lake Nordsee half a mile distant from Scheen Wormius thinks 't was formerly an Heathenish Temple but converted to Christian uses upon the first planting of the Gospel in this Kingdom The Prefecture and Bishoprick of Berghen THis Bishoprick the most fruitful and pleasantest part of all Norway lies to the North of Aggerhusen in the middle or heart of the Kingdom It derives its name from the fair and noble Emporium or Mart-Town of Berghen or else from the strong Castle of Berghenhusen the usual seat of the Vice-Roy of Norway at a small distance from Berghen Northward Berghen an ancient and famous Sea-Port Town mentioned by Pomponius Mela and Pliny is the Granary and Magazine of the whole Kingdom of Norway It lies distant from Bahusen about an hundred German miles by Sea and sixty by land from Truntheim as many from Schagen the outmost Promontory of Jutland almost eighty Some have fetcht its name from the Norwegian verb Bergen which signifies to hide or conceal because the Haven being surrounded with hills seems to be a kind of sculking-place for Ships where Vesfels of two hundred Tun and upwards ride in a spatious and most secure Harbour free from all danger of wind and weather But we need not trouble our selves any further for the derivation of the name then to consider that Berghen in the Norwegian language signifies mountains and Berghen-husen a company of houses among the hills The buildings in this City till within these few years were exceeding mean and contemptible most of them of wood cover'd with green turf and therefore frequently burnt down But of late the Hamburghers Lubeckers Hollanders and others that trade this way have beautified the Town with an Exchange and a great many private houses of credit The most peculiar trade of this City lies in a kind of Stock-fish catcht upon these coasts and thence called usually by the Norway Merchants Berghenvisch This the Fishermen take in winter commonly in January for the conveniency of drying it in the cold and sharp air Besides hither Furs of all sorts and vast quantities of dry'd
withall When her young ones are fledg'd and gone the inhabitants take away the down and cleanse it for use If the feathers be pull'd off by mens hands they are good for nothing but immediately rot away Another notable sort of bird they have which they call an Imbrim with a long neck and beak the back grey and checquer'd with white spots with a white ring about the neck This bird has two holes under her wings each large enough to hold an egg here 't is thought she hatches two eggs at once being never seen with above two young ones at a time nor known to come ashore The adjoining Seas furnish the inhabitants with Cod Whiting large Flounders c. besides Murts a kind of Pilchards so plentiful in these parts that the Havens and Creeks are fill'd with them Of these with the Seals Grind-whales and Dog-fish which were formerly caught in great numbers upon their Coasts the inhabitants of the Fero-Islands made anciently a vast advantage but of late years their fishing-trade is strangely decayed These Islands were first inhabited in the reign of Harold surnam'd the fair-hair'd King of Norway in the year 868. For that King having taken a resolution to reduce all Norway under the subjection of one Prince fell foul upon all the petit Princes in that Kingdom whose subjects being by this means either undone by the wars or dispossess'd of their inheritances resolv'd to seek out other habitations and under the conduct of one Grimar Camban a Pyrate at last seated themselves in these Islands REGNI NORVEGIAE Nova et Accurata descriptio F. Lamb Sculp To the Worp ll Mark Cottle Esq Registe r of the Prerogative Court this Map is Humbly Dedicated EPISCOPATUS BERGENSIS Sumptibus Janssonio-Waesbergiorum et Mosis Pitt Nova et accurata Tabula EPISCOPATVVM STAVANGRIENSIS BERGENSIS et ASLOIENSIS Vicinarumque aliquot territoriorum Excudebant Janssonio-Waesbergii et Moses Pitt Their diet is moderate and frugal on milk fish gruel and flesh They dry both their fish and flesh in the wind without salt having windhouses built for this purpose After the flesh is dry'd they boil it in water and thicken the broth with Barly-meal which is reckoned one of their greatest delicacies The men wear woollen Shirts flannel Trowces and Wastcoats with short loose Coats of the same The women rich and poor go all alike in strait Gowns without skirts Their Stomachers are commonly large and adorn'd with thin guilt gingling plates of Tin Their Shoes which have no soles but are made of pieces of Leather drawn together at the heels and toes and fasten'd with a string or ribband above the ancle are of sheep-skin for the women and tann'd Neats-leather for the men They lye on beds of Hay overspread with pieces of Flannel The Norwegian tongue was heretofore generally spoken in the Fero-Islands but of late years the Danish dialect has much prevail'd However in the Northern Islands their language is for the greatest part made up of Norwegian words and phrases tho the Southern inhabitants make use of a quite different dialect The whole dominion of these Islands is divided into the six districts of Norderoe Osteroe Stromoe Waagoe Sandoe and Sanderoe To each of these districts belongs a Sheriff who as Judge determines all causes and controversies of less moment These Sheriffs gather the Kings tythes and put in execution all orders they receive from the Kings Commissary The people are governed by the Laws of Norway having no peculiar Laws of their own They have a general Sessions held once a year in the spring time at Thors-haven in which the Kings Commissary or Bayliff presides as Judge being assisted by the six Sheriffs who exhibit to the Court all Law-suits either Civil or Criminal which come not under the cognizance of their petit Commission Besides these there are thirty-six more six for each district chosen like our Jury-men to assist the Commissary in pronouncing of sentence and a Recorder appointed to register the proceedings and sentence The Ecclesiastical affairs are governed by a Synod of the Priests or Ministers who meet and sit once a year Out of the whole Synod one is elected to preside over the rest with the title of Provost These people were first converted to Christianity in the fourth year of the reign of Olaus Trygeson King of Denmark in the year 1000 by Sigismund Bresteson a Ferroyer born and sent into his own Country by the said King for this purpose After the Augsburg Confession was embraced in Denmark and Norway it soon reached these Islands There are at this day thirty-nine Parishes in all the Islands which are supplyed by so many Pastors of the Lutheran Religion Besides Sundays Holidays and the usual days of prayer as in other places these men observe yearly six peculiar days of Prayer viz. three in Ascention-week and three in Michaelmas-week They have but one publick School among them which was endowed by King Christian IV. and Nicolas Trolle formerly Governor of Roschild and Vice-Admiral of Denmark This furnishes the University of Copenhagen oft times with as able Scholars as any other School in the King of Denmarks dominions The chief Commodities of these Islands are Skins Feathers Tallow Train-oyl and Stockins upon all which there is a particular price set Stockins are the chief staple commodity they have in making of which all the inhabitants rich and poor Priests and Plowmen are forced to employ themselves to help out the small incomes of their mean possessions and inconsiderable stipends Of the Isle of SCHETLAND SChetland or Hetland as Arngrim Jonas will have the word writ is an Island lying between the Fero-Islands and the Promontory of Schagen in Jutland It has been long a dispute amongst the best Geographers whether this be not the ancient Thule Gasper Peucer tells us and our learned Cambden encourages us to believe him that this Island is called by the Northern Mariners to this day Thilensell Pomponius Mela says of Thule that it was Belgarum which Mr. Cambden reads Bergarum understanding thereby the City and Territory of Berghen littori opposita which account agrees well with the situation of this Island Besides says Mr. Cambden Schetland is about two days sail from Cathness in Scotland which is the exact distance between Thule and the Caledonian Promontory in Solinus 's relation Again Schetland lies in 63 degrees of Northern Latitude as well as Ptolomy's Thule Whether our learned Antiquary read Solinus aright or no I shall not venture to question tho I know there are some that read the place quoted thus A Caledoniae promontorio Thulen petentes bidui navigatione excipiunt Haebudae Insulae and not as the vulgar Copies have it A Caledoniae promontorio Thulen petentibus bidui navigatio est and the rather because it follows Ab Orcadibus Thulen usque quinque dierum ac noctium navigatio est However I am afraid the Latitude of Schetland will not be found to exceed sixty degrees and a few odd
parts of Germany So that these still retain'd their ancient forms until the Franks having made themselves Masters of all introduc'd new modes and establish'd a new sort of Government every-where For these Conquerors imitating the Romans reduc'd all Germany into Provinces over which they appointed so many Dukes who had authority to govern and to administer justice according to the tenure of their respective Commissions To these Dukes they sometimes added Assistants who were from their office which was to aid the Dukes in the management of great and weighty affairs call'd Counts or Comites The Dukes were always elected by the King and Nobility out of some illustrious Family yet so that if the deceased Duke's Son were capable and worthy of his Father's honour he was seldom rejected At last the power of these Dukes grew exceedingly great and terrible insomuch that 't was ordinary for several of them to deny to pay homage to the Emperors Which when Charles the Great observ'd he destroy'd the two great Dukedoms of the Francic Kingdom Aquitane and Bavaria by dividing them into several smaller Counties But not long after Charles's death the Emperors created new Dukes in most places where he had chang'd them into Counts Whereupon the Empire was quickly reduc'd to the former straits every Duke pretending to and exercising Regal authority in his own Province The first of these that grew formidably potent was Otho Duke of Saxony afterwards elected Emperor who tho he refus'd the Imperial Diadem and got it conferr'd on Conrad Duke of Franconia was always look'd upon as the most powerful Prince of the German Empire in his time After Otho's death the Emperor Conrad used all means possible to reduce the overgrown power of the Duke of Saxony to some tolerable mediocrity but his endeavours prov'd unsuccessful and Duke Henry stoutly maintain'd the Honours and Priviledges which his Father Otho had enjoy'd without disturbance From that time forward the Emperors lay under an obligation of creating new Dukes who getting into their hands the government of several potent Cities set up for almost absolute Princes Our Learned Antiquary Mr. Selden reckons up six several sorts of Graves or Counts which are these 1. Schlecht-Graven or simple Counts 2. Counts Palatine which as will be shew'n anon are subdivided into several other branches 3. Counts of the Empire 4. Marck-Graves or Counts of the Frontiers 5. Landt-Graves or Counts of Provinces 6. Burg-Graves or Counts of Cities and great Towns There was anciently a seventh sort Here-Graven who answer'd exactly to the primitive Dukes or Her-tzogen for as the office of these was to conduct and govern the Soldiers so the others were to determine all controversies as Field-Judges The Gefurstete Graven do not make a distinct species being nothing else then such Counts as besides their ordinary Title may challenge that of Furst or Prince In the old Laws and Constitutions of the Empire we meet with almost an innumerable company of inferior Officers who have the title of Graven bestow'd on them Such are 1. Cent-Grave he that had the government of an Hundred We may English the word High-Constable 2. Holtz-Grave or Wald-Grave Overseers of the Woods and Forests 3. Gograf of which before 4. Spiel-Grave the Master of the Revels 5. Hans-Grave a Title formerly given to the Chief Judg in all matters relating to Trade debated in the Diet at Ratisbon But we shall not weary the Reader with insisting upon these obsolete Titles of Honour contenting our selves with a short account of the six first kinds which are all our famous Antiquary beforemention'd has thought worthy his taking notice of The first are such as are stiled barely Counts Schlechtgraven without the addition of any more then the place which gives them that Title As Der Graf von Eissenburg Der Graf von Ortenberg c. There were formerly only four of this kind in the whole Empire who were ordinarily called Die vier Graven dess Heiligen Romischen Reichs i. e. The four Graves or Counts of the Holy Roman Empire These were the Counts of Cleve Schwartzenburg Ciley and Savoy But since the Counts of Cleve and Savoy were advanced to Dukes and the Family of the ancient Counts of Ciley was extinct which happen'd about two hundred years ago the Count of Schwartzenburg in Thuringen is the only Prince that bears that Title stiling himself usually to this day der vier Graven dess Reichs Grave zu Schwartzenburg i. e. of the four Counts of the Empire Count of Schwartzenburg Besides him there are now-a-days several other German Counts who may justly be referr'd to this head tho they have no Investiture into any Graffschaft or County but are only stiled Counts of some small Castle or inconsiderable Territories of which they are Lords Such are the Counts of Ottingen and Zollern who are supposed to be of the posterity of some of the ancient Counts of the Empire and thence retain the title tho not the grandeur and power of their Ancestors Counts Palatine call'd by the Germans Pfaltz-Graven Counts Palatine or Dess Heiligen Romischen Reichs Hoffe-Graven are such as have in their Title a certain eminence of their Dignity from a relation as their name denotes to the Emperors Court or Palace For Palatinus is but the possessive of Palatium and signifies no more then an Officer of the Houshold with us in England But this Title is twofold 1. Originally Feudal and annex'd to the name of some Territory or Grafschaft with such jura Imperii Majestatis as other ordinary Princes of the Empire have not as we see in the Title of the Counts Palatine of the Rhine 2. Meerly Personal without the addition of any particular Territory proper to him that hath the Dignity Both the Title and Nature of this later kind are originally to be fetcht from the Examples of the old Roman Empire but the former tho the Nature of it may be found in the ancient Constitutions of the Roman Empire under the name of Praefectus Praetorio yet was in ordinary use as to the Name and Title only in the Francic Kingdom For there was in the Court of the Francic Kings long before their Kingdom was chang'd into an Empire a chief Officer known by the name of Comes Palatii or Count Palatine who had a Vice-Regency under the King in like sort as the Praefecti Praetorio in the elder Empire or the old Chief Justice of England under our ancient Kings that is he had the exercise of supreme Jurisdiction in the name of the King in all causes that came to the Kings immediate audience I suppose the Office of Hofmeister used to this day in every German Prince's Court is a relique of this Palatinate And that Comes Palatii might easily signifie the same thing with Praefectus Praetorio or Hofmeister will not be difficult for any man to imagine that shall consider the signification which the word Comes had amongst the ancient Romans in the usual compellation of
have votes in the Diets All the Ecclesiastical Members of the Diet have not equal votes Prelates as neither have the secular ones The Ecclesiastical as well as Secular Princes of the Empire as also all other Prelates that have Princely Dignities annex'd to their Sacred Functions together with the Master of the Teutonic Order have single voices and give in their votes to the Vice-Marshal by turns But others that can lay no claim to any Temporal Principality give their voices by companies Of this last sort there are at this day two Benches die Schwabische and Rheinische Formerly the Counts and Barons of the Empire had no more then two voices and were therefore as the Prelates are now divided into two Benches call'd by the Germans in those days die Wetterawische und Schwabische Bank Afterwards in the Diet held in the year 1641 the Counts of Franconia had a peculiar voice allow'd them and not long after in the year 1654 another vote was given to the Counts of Saxony and Westphalia So that at present there are four Benches of Counts the Schwabish Wetterawish Francic and Westphalian who have votes in the public Diets of the Empire The Deputies or Delegates of the Imperial Cities make up the third and last rank of the Members of a General Diet or Assembly of the Estates of the Empire Imperial Cities What time the Cities that have now votes and go under the known name of Imperial Cities came to have that priviledg cannot certainly be learn'd from the German Historians The Author of the Chronicle of Spire endeavours to prove that several of these Cities were invested with this honour in the twelfth Century The Oath taken by the Emperor Ferdinand I. may seem to countenance this relation In Christi Nomine Juro non solum Principum sed Civitatum ccnsilio negotia confoederationes Collegia Vniversitatis tractanda esse But this passage is not to be understood of the Cities of Germany which in this Emperor's days were in too mean a condition to offer to concern themselves in the Government of the Empire but of those in Italy which many years before had been call'd to public Assemblies in the Italian Kingdom The most probable opinion is that the Imperial Cities those I mean in Germany which at this day bear that name were not admitted to the Diet before the fourteenth Century not long before they were reckon'd up by the Emperor Charles IV. in his Golden Bull amongst the other Estates of the Empire Their Deputies at present are divided into two Benches whereof the one is called Die Rheinische and the other Die Schwabische Bank On the former sit the Deputies of Lubec the free Cities upon the Rhine in Witteraw Alsace Saxony and Thuringen On the latter the Delegates from the free Cities in Schwaben and Franconia The Deputies of the City where the Diet is held sit at a Table by themselves and there take an account of the voices of other Delegates which are brought to them and register'd by the two Registers of Vlm and Spire whereof the former represents the Cities in the Rheinish Circle and the latter those of Schwaben Some Historians will tell us Debates that the greatest disputes which happen at a German Diet are about precedency and that more time is spent in ranking the Members in their due places then in debating the Emperor's Proposals when they are set down Another fourth part of their time or rather more they will have to be spent in set drinking matches Whence the Emperor Ferdinand is said sharply to have reprehended the intemperance of the greatest part of the Ambassadors sent to the Diet from the several Princes and Imperial Cities A third quarter of their time is employ'd in disputing the Priviledges and Prerogatives of a Diet and shewing in what cases it may or may not be curb'd or controll'd by the Emperor The fourth and last part they spend upon the business proposed by the Emperor which is commonly concerning some Articles of Peace with some foreign Nation the making or renewing some Laws of the Empire the regulating of Coinage raising of Taxes or some such State affair Of the Imperial Chamber and other General Courts of Judicature IN the days of Charles the Great and some of his Successors Imperial Chamber the Bishops and Officers of the Crown jointly with the Emperor decided all Ecclesiastical causes The Prelates Counts and other persons of Quality who had any Suits of Law to commence were heard at the first instance in the Emperor's Court but the Secular Princes could not be judged but in the General Diets of the Empire Afterwards when Law-suits began to multiply in proportion to the growing malice and wickedness of men the infinite numbers of Clients that overstockt the Court became burthensom to the Emperor who could not possibly attend and hear all Causes brought before him Besides the Emperor's Court being not always kept in one place both parties concern'd in any controversie were forced to follow the Emperor for a decision into the remotest parts of Germany Upon these considerations Maximilian I. taking compassion upon his quarrelsom Subjects and desiring as much as possibly he could to save both their labour and money setled a Sedentary Parliament at Worms or Francfurt in the year 1495 which was soon after brought to Spire whence it cannot be removed without a consent of all the Estates of the Empire except in time of Plague or War At first the Assessors Assessors appointed as Judges in this Court were only sixteen but their number has since been encreased to fifty who are all nominated by the Head and principal Members of the Empire The Emperor names the supreme Judg who is always a Count or Baron and well skill'd in the Civil and Municipal Laws of the Empire and four of the principal Officers Each Elector names one Assessor and the rest are promoted to that employment by the several Circles or Benches of Voters in the Diets Now as those Princes and Estates of the Empire who have power to nominate the Assessors in this Court are of different Religions some adhering to the Doctrines of the Church of Rome and others professing the Reform'd Religion and embracing the opinions either of Luther or Calvin so are also the Assessors themselves Tho there lies no appeal from the Imperial Chamber to any other Court of Judicature Visiters yet if the Judg and Assessors of this Court be accused of any unjust proceedings in the determination of any controversie execution of the sentence pronounced is deferr'd till the Visiters of the Chamber examine the reasonableness of the complaint and redress the grievance if justly alledg'd Whence it appears that the Assessors themselves that sit at this Tribunal are not the supreme Judges of the Empire but that their Visiters may more justly claim that Title For some time before the conclusion of the Westphalian Treaty of Peace it was almost impossible to procure
for some time inhabited that part of it which bordereth on the Euxin Sea at last they pass'd thro the Hercynian woods into Germany and gave the name of Sacasena afterwards turn'd into Saxonia to the Country that here by their Conquests they had made themselves Masters of Strabo indeed says and we may believe him that the Sacae did leave their ancient Scythian Seats and Mr. Cambden observes well that Ptolomy places his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 near that part of Scythia whence these men are said to have sallied out But that they ever pass'd the Hercynean woods is one of Goropius's Forgeries and a story not to be met with in Strabo or any other Author of credit I wonder most that Mr. Cambden who was so great a Master of our old English-Saxon tongue should not discern the absurdity of this etymology For in that language saex in the singular number signifies a Saxon as well as Sachs to this day in the High Dutch dialect and seax seaxna and seaxena as also the modern Dutch words Sachsen and Sassen are plurals Now if seax and seaxen be only broken remnants of sacson and sacsones we should in all probability meet with the entire words in some of our ancient Saxon Monuments which could never yet be produced by the best of Antiquaries Wherefore to omit other impertinences of this kind the most probable opinion is that the Saxons had their name from a short kind of weapon call'd in their language Seax different from what any other Germans wore and peculiar only to their own Nation In confirmation of this conjecture some of our English Historians give us a relation of a treacherous parly betwixt Hengist the first Saxon that landed in Britain and King Vortigern It was agreed that both parties should meet on Salisbury-Plain unarm'd but the Saxons intending nothing but treachery carried privately under their Coats short Daggers which upon the watch-word nem eowr Seaxes or take your Seaxes they immediately drew out these weapons and slew no less then three hundred of the British Nobility The like story and as equally true some of the German writers relate of a treacherous massacre committed by the ancient Saxons in Thuringen Pontanus urges the reasonableness of this Etymology more home when he tells us that Saxony in its ancient Arms bears two Seaxes or Hangers cross-ways which says he is an undoubted proof of their first denomination And 't is said that Erkenwyn King of the East Saxons gave for his Arms three short Daggers Argent in a Field Gules A Sythe is still call'd Saisen in the Netherlands and Scher-Sax in the High Dutch signifies as much as ein messer damit man scheret a Razor Wormius tells us that Sags or Saks in the Runic Dialect signifies a Sword or Dagger whose Hilt and Blade were almost of equal length Nor is it at all extraordinary for people to take their names from the several sorts of weapons used by them in battel Thus most learned men agree that the Scythians had their name from the Teutonic word Scytan to shoot because they were excellent Bow-men The Picards are thought to have been first called by that name from Pikes a sort of weapon they best understood We may therefore venture to conclude with the Latin Rythm of the Learned Engelhus Quippe brevis gladius apud illos Saxa vocatur Inde sibi Saxo nomen traxisse putatur From the account which is given us of this people by Zosimus Marcellinus Diaconus Manned and other ancient writers we may learn that they were men of a vast bulk of body and proportionable strength the most renown'd Warriors in Germany and the most terrible enemies which the Romans ever encounter'd Mr. Cambden says they were such notorious Pyrats and most of them so accustom'd to live at Sea that they were afraid to appear on dry land Which agrees with the relation which Isidorus gives of them Gens Saxonum says he Myoparonibus non viribus nituntur fugae potius quam bello parati Hence it was that all along the coasts of Britain and France as far as the borders of Spain the Romans maintain'd continual standing Regiments under the command of several Generals who from their Commission and Office which was to secure the Inhabitants from the sudden and frequent incursions of the Saxon Pyrats were stiled Comites litoris Saxonici per Britanniam Galliam Sidonius in one of his Epistles gives this character of a Saxon Pyrat That he is an enemy formidable beyond comparison one whom frequent Shipwracks recreate rather then terrifie as being not only acquainted but grown familiar with the perils of the Ocean c. Their whole Nation was govern'd by Twelve of the chief Nobles in the Land Government who were Elected to that Dignity by the Commonalty In time of war they chuse a King out of these Twelve chief Commanders who executed Regal authority over the rest as long as the war lasted but as soon as peace was concluded was degraded into his former quality This custom continued amongst them until the conclusion of their wars with the Emperor Charles the Great at which time Wittikind a Nobleman of Angria in Westphalia and one of their Twelve Rulers had the name and authority of a King conferr'd on him But when he was afterwards conquer'd and converted to Christianity by that Emperor this fading Title was turn'd into the more durable one of Duke and his Eleven Companions were advanc'd to the Honourable Titles and Dignities of Earls and Lords from whom the greatest Princes at this day in the German Empire derive their pedigrees Some have imagined that from this Duodecemviral Government of the ancient Saxons our modern way of Judicature by the Verdict of Twelve Jury-men had its first original Whether this opinion be wholly allowable I shall not stand to dispute having said something of this matter in the Description of Island But 't is certain that under the Reigns of some of our English-Saxon Kings this way of proceeding was practis'd in the decision of most Causes both Civil and Criminal For proof hereof I shall only quote an old Law made in King Ethelred's time wherein cap. 3. de Pignore ablato 't is enacted that tÆ¿elf lahmen scylon rehte taecean Ç·ealan and AEnglan syx England syx Ç·ylisce þlien calles þaes hy agon gif hi Æ¿oh taecen oþþe geladian hi ê§ hi bet ne cuþon i. e. All controversies betwixt the English and Welch should be determin'd by Twelve men skill'd in the Law six of each Nation who if they pass'd sentence contrary to the Law should forfeit their whole Estates except they should excuse themselves by acknowledging their error and bewailing their want of judgment in the case proposed Which penalty is near akin to the attainder to which our modern Juries are liable when they bring in a false and corrupt Verdict Tho we have spoken before of the Heathenish Gods worshipped in all parts of Germany Irmenseul and amongst the
that great Conqueror From his Loins after several generations descended Billiengus a potent King of the Vandals whose Mother say some was Charles the Great 's Sister He was the first that after his own conversion brought in the profession of Christianity into Mecklenburg tho afterwards at the instigation of his Son Micislaus both himself and all his Subjects turn'd Apostates The next famous Prince of Mecklenburg was Gottschalck surnam'd the Godly who would often himself take the pains to preach Christianity to his Subjects by whom he was at last for his Religion murder'd in the year 1066. From him descended amongst many others Henry II. who dying in the year 1228 left behind him two Sons Nicolot and John From the former of these sprang all the succeeding Princes of the Vandals until William the last Prince of that Line who died in the year 1430. From the later surnam'd Knese Janko or John the Divine because he had taken a Doctor of Divinity 's degree in the University at Paris are descended the present Dukes of Mecklenburg This John left behind him Henry who was six and twenty years kept prisoner by the Turks Father to Henry surnam'd the Lion whose two Sons Albert and John Dukes of Mecklenburg were by the Emperor Charles IV. created Princes of the Empire in the year 1349. Which is not to be understood tho I find this construction put upon it by several of the modern German Historians as if these two Princes before Charles's creation had been only ordinary Lords or Barons of Mecklenburg and by the Emperor advanc'd to the dignity of Princes or Dukes For from him they receiv'd no more than an admission into the number of the Estates of the Empire under whose protection they were brougth by making themselves members thereof upon condition they should be subject to its Laws and contribute to its necessities Albert's eldest Son Albert II. was chosen King of Sweden and not long after taken prisoner by Margaret Queen of Denmark by whom after several years imprisonment he was at last releas'd upon the payment of a vast ransom So that the management of the Dukedom of Mecklenburg was committed to his Brother Magnus a Prince that if we believe Chytraeus who in his first Book of the Saxon Chronicle has given him a noble character was nomine re Magnus endow'd with all the excellent qualities that are requisite to make a brave Prince His Son John who succeeded his Father in the Dukedom founded the University at Rostock in the year 1419. This Duke's Successors Henry the Fat and Magnus II. Founder of the Cathedral Church at Rostock upon the death of William the last Prince of the Vandals made themselves Masters of the whole Land of Mecklenburg After the death of this Magnus and his Son Albert II. the Dukedom came to his Grandchild John Albert in the year 1547 who first brought in the Lutheran Confession into his Dominions by demolishing Popish Abbeys and converting their Revenues to the use of the University at Rostock His Son John III. who died in the year 1592 left two Sons the eldest was Adolph Frideric who married Ann-Mary Countess of East Frisland by whom amongst other children he had Christian-Ludowic the present Duke of Mecklenburg-Swerin His youngest Son was Gustavus Adolphus who seated himself at Gustrow In the late Civil Wars in Germany the whole Land of Mecklenburg was overrun by the Imperial Army and the Dukedom conferr'd upon their ambitious and at last unfortunate General Albrecht Duke of Friedland However within a little while after the two Dukes Adolph Frideric and John Albrecht were reinstated in their Dominions by Gustavus Adolphus the victorious King of Sweden their Kinsman For a character of the present Dukes of Mecklenburg the Reader may have recourse to the following descriptions of Swerin and Gustrow the places of their residence The strength of these Princes would be considerable enough Militâ—â—â— strength sufficient to secure their own Territories and keep their neighbours in awe if firmly united Their equal pretensions to the sole government of the City and University at Rostock did formerly occasion some animosities between the two Houses but this quarrel has for some years last past been quite laid aside and now a difference in Religion the Duke of Swerin being a Romanist and he of Gustrow a Lutheran is the greatest cause of their mutual fears and jealousies Heretofore they thought it their chief interest to adhere to the Swedes and secure themselves under the wings of the potent Kings of that Nations but when after the many conquests of the brave Gustavus Adolphus the power of those Princes grew so formidable as to threaten an universal slavery to their neighbours round about them rather then the defence of any of their Liberties the Dukes of Mecklenburg thought it high time to relinquish that party and join with the Dane and Branburger in opposing their common enemy the King of Sweden They saw Wismar rent out of their hands without any probability of being ever recover'd and they had reason to fear that a great part of the adjoining Country would follow it if their ruin were not timely prevented by the strength of their new Allies The whole Land of Mecklenburg so much I mean as is now subject to the two Dukes which bear that Title is usually divided into these six parts Territries The Dukedomes of Mecklenburg strictly so call'd and Vandalia the Earldom of Swerin the Baronies of Rostock and Stargard and the Bishopric of Butzow In the Dukedom of Mecklenburg are reckon'd the Cities of Wismar to which is the neighbouring Island Poel Tempsin Gades Rhena and Bucow In the Dukedom of Vandalia Gustrow Sterneberg Malchin Stavenhagen Ivenack Neu-Calven Warin Pentzlin Rebell Wredenhagen Malchau Tetrou Goltberg Parchum Plage Lupsian Grabou Domitz Neu-Statt Eldenau and Gorlosen In the Barony of Rostock the City of Rostock Ribnitz Gnoien Tessin Laga Schwan Salines and Morlou In the Barony of Stargard Brandeburg Stargard Furstenburg Strelitz Mirow Fredland and Wesenberg And lastly in the Bishopric of Butzow the City of Butzow and the Peninsula of Swerin The most considerable Cities in the Dukedom of MECKLENBURG I. LUBEC Lubec This City is indeed situate in Wagerland and for that reason we have already given the Reader some short account of it in the Description of Denmark but because it is of it self an Imperial City wholly independant upon the Crown of Denmark and immediately subject to the Emperor of Germany we have reserv'd a more particular survey of it for this place And it cannot so properly be referr'd to any particular Province of the Empire as the Dukedom of Mecklenburg For altho the Citizens of Lubec do not pay any manner of tribute or homage to the Princes of Mecklenburg yet it may perhaps as justly be reckon'd part of that Dukedom as Bremen which never yet acknowledg'd any subjection to the Kings of Sweden may be esteem'd part of that Principality which now bears
Pomeren with which Dukedom after the failure of that Line it should have been annex'd to the Marquisate of Brandenburg but as hath been before noted in consideration of the signal favours the King of Sweden had done the Protestant party in the Civil Wars of Germany the Princes concern'd in the Westphalian Treaty thought fit to annex the Lower Pomeren to the Dominions of that King and as a part of this Dukedom the Isle of Rugen was thrown into the bargain Afterwards the King of Denmark Frideric III. began to revive some ancient pretensions of some of his Ancestors to the Principality of Rugen but the ensuing wars betwixt him and the Crown of Sweden of which we have given the Reader some account in the Description of Denmark put an end as 't was thought to these pretensions For the said Frideric in the Treaty of Roschild made between the two Northern Crowns in the year 1658 disclaim'd all right and title to the Isle of Rugen However notwithstanding the promises and protestations made in that Treaty the present King of Denmark shew'd that Contracts made between great Princes and Commonwealths are no longer obligatory then consistent with the intrigues of State For hearing that the Elector of Brandenburg had besieged Stetin and that Count Koningsmarck the valiant Swedish Governor of Rugen had thereupon drawn the greatest part of his forces into Pomeren leaving the Island of Rugen to be defended by a small company of about fifty Horse he immediately ship'd six thousand Soldiers intending with them to surprize the deserted Island and regain it into his own possession But the weather not favouring this design the Danish Forces were kept off at Sea by contrary winds till that small Garrison which kept the Isle was alarm'd and had time to give notice to the General who nevertheless could not arrive with the rest of his Army before the enemy had made themselves Masters of Jasmund However after one brisk engagement with the Count 's left Wing the Danes were forc'd to fly in great disorder leaving six hundred of their Companions dead in the field and two thousand five hundred more taken prisoners The rest retreated confused into Wittow where they were beset with the Swedes who slew took prisoners and plunder'd as many of them as they pleased In this Victory the Swedes are said to have taken from the Danes besides an incredible number of prisoners six and twenty Standards sixteen Field-pieces five Mortar-pieces and thirty thousand Rixdollars in money Yet this unhappy overthrow was not sufficient to discourage the brave King Christian from a second adventure and the drawing back his Arm after this defeat seem'd only intended to fetch the greater blow For having doubled his Forces in the year following 1678 he fell upon the Rugians with that irresistable strength and courage which obliged them to resign up the whole Island upon his own terms And it might to this day have been at his devotion had not the French King struck in as Mediator betwixt the Northern Crowns in the alte Treaty signed by the Danish and Swedish Ministers at Lunden in Schonen Sept. 26. A. D. 1679 by the seventh Article of which Treaty 't was agreed because Lewis the Great was pleas'd to have it so that Rugen should be deliver'd up to the Swede on or before the sixth of December following Accordingly the King of Sweden is now repossess'd of that Island and has sent in new Garrisons to fortifie and defend it against all future assaults of its formidable neighbours the Danes and Brandenburgers The only Town of note in the whole Isle of Rugen is Bergen Towns situate about the middle of the Island It had the name of a City given it in the year 1190 but so little deserv'd that title that it had not the advantage of being fortified or wall'd round All the account which modern Travellers give of it is that 't is one of the better sort of Villages consisting of about four hundred Houses Stralsund indeed seems the Metropolis of Rugen and as it was formerly may still be so accounted if we consider the many and great priviledges which the Burgers of that City still pretend to in that Island For 1. The High Court of Admiralty in Stralsund determines all causes and contests arising in any of the Port-Towns in Rugen and therefore because the Stralsunders will not assign over this Jurisdiction to any Delegates residing in the Island the Rugians are obliged upon debate of all such quarrels to repair to Stralsund for judgment 2. Without the consent of the Senate and Citizens of Stralsund no definitive sentence can be given nor no Court of Equity or Judicature whatever erected in any part of the Isle 3. The Rugians may not without leave first obtain'd from the Common Council of Stralsund export any manner of Grain or other Commodities or brew Beer for sale In short this City is the Key of the Island and the only Fortress upon which depends its security or ruine So that had Rugen been kept by the King of Denmark and Stralsund by the Elector of Brandenburg according to the Rights of Conquest in the late Wars 't is probable that those new accessions would in a short time have occasion'd quarrels and animosities between the two Princes The Elector would questionless have been loth to have disclaim'd all Right and Title to the Priviledges which the City of Stralsund now challenges in Rugen and on the other hand His Majesty of Denmark would in all probability have been as unwilling to have suffered any Prince of the Empire to Lord it in his Dominions 'T is almost necessary considering the present State of Stralsund and the Isle of Rugen that both these places should be subject to the same Master though not impossible to make the Island at least independant upon if not a Terror to that City For since all the Merchant Ships which come from the Danish Sund to the City of Stralsund are obliged to sail round the Isle of Rugen 't would not possibly be so expensive as profitable to build three or four good Port-Towns in Wittow Jasmumd and other parts of the Island and thereby not only command all Ships that sailed this road but also divert the grand current of trade from Stralsund to Rugen the Store-house of that City But as long as the City of Stralsund wants Provision for its Inhabitants and the Isle of Rugen vent for its great abundance of Corn and other Commodities there seems to be such a mutual dependance between the two places that to subject them to different Masters manifestly threatens the destruction of their Common Interest Tho never poor Island has been more miserably mangled and afflicted with war witness the Civil wars in Germany and the late Northern Broils Nobility in both which Rugen was several times taken and retaken yet you shall meet with a great many noble Families that pretend to derive their pedigree from the true antient Rugii