generis quam Meritis in Patriam Honoratiss o Viro D. o NICOLAO VON BODECK Consuli et Primario Iudici in celeberrion totius Maris Baltici Emporio Vrbe Gedanensi artium literarumque â—autori benevolentiss o D. D. D. Ioannes Ianssonius MASOVIA Masovia called by the Polanders Mazowsze by the Germans Die Masaw lies in the very middle of Poland bounded on the north with Prussia on the east with Lithuania and Polessia on the west with some part of the lesser Poland on the south with the Palatinate of Rava 'T is usually divided into these four parts The Palatinates of Podlachia Plockzo Masovia strictly so called and the territories of Dobrin which last ought rather to be reckoned a part of the Palatinate of Plockzo There are different conjectures touching the original of its name The most commonly received is That upon the death of Mieceslaus the second the Nobility of Poland not enduring the impotent and effeminate government of his surviving Queen Rixo layd hands upon what every man could catch Among these Masos or as others call him Maslaus formerly Cup-bearer to the deceased King siezed upon that large tract of land which he after his own name called Masovia This Masos was afterwards overcome by Casimir the first by whom he was taken and put to death By this means it was again restor'd to the Crown of Poland though it still retained the name of Masovia But Stanislaus Serictius rejecting in part this story derives more probably the Massovii from the Massagetes I know saith he what our Historians have written touching the original of the Massovians But it seems incredible to me that so famous and couragious a people should stoop to borrow their denomination from so mean a person In the year 1220 Lescus the white in the Parliament of Sandomir granted the Dukedomes of Masovia Cujavia and Dobrinia to his brother Conrade from which time it was governed by Dukes of its own doing homage however to the Kings of Poland till the the year 1495 but then the race of the Dukes of Masovia began to fail For that year John Duke of Masovia dyed a Batchelour upon which John Albert reunited Plockzo to the Crown leaving the rest of Masovia to his brother Conrade Which after his decease in the year 1503 was granted to his children upon condition that for default of male issue it should return to the Crown which was effected in the reign of Sigismund the first In the same manner the Palatinate of Podlachia formerly belonging to Masovia and joyned by Casimir Jagellon to Lithuania return'd to the Kingdom of Poland in the year 1567. There are no peculiar Bishops in Masovia but the whole Province is divided under the jurisdiction of Posnan Plockzo and Luceoria The Metropolis of Masovia is Warsaw by the Polanders called Warfrawa seated in the very centre of the Polish dominions upon the Vistula encompassed with a double wall and deep ditch distant 40 German or 160 English miles from Posen and Cracow Here the King of Poland keeps his Court in a large four squared Palace built by Sigismund the third but much beautifyed by his successours Over against this on the other side of the river which is passable by a stately wooden bridge sits the great Parliament of Poland in another of the Kings Palaces called Viasdow seated in the midst of many and delicate Groves and Gardens In the City are publique buildings of good note the most remarkable of which is St. John Baptists Church where divine service is performed by secular Canons Not far from Viasdow in the suburbs called Cracow stands as a trophie of the victory obtained by the Poles over the Moscovite a small Chappel built by the Kings command for the burial of Demetrius Suiscius great Duke of Moscovie who dyed a captive in the Castle of Gostenin The Nobility of Masovia which are more numerous then in any other part of Poland being reckoned to amount to near forty thousand whereof fifteen thousand appear'd in a body at the Coronation of Sigismund the third are all Roman-Catholicks never suffering any of other religions or opinions to reside among them Out of these are sent yearly to the general Assembly of the Estates one Palatine and six Castellanes The Palatinate of Plockzo lyes eastward from Masovia between the Vistula and Prussia Plockzo 'T is divided into the territories of Plockzo Zavera Mlava and Srensco and sends out to the great Parliament four Senators that is The Bishop The Palatine and Castellanes of Plockzo Radzyagas and Sieprez It has its name from Plockzo its chief City seated on a high bank of the Vistula whence you have a fair prospect of a pleasant and fruitful Countrey The City is an Episcopal See and very populous There are in it several religious houses and Churches besides the Cathedral very well endowed especially the Abby of Benedictines in the suburbs where among other reliques is kept the head of St. Sigismund to whom the Church is dedicated enchased in gold given by Sigismund the third The territory of Dobrizin is properly a part of the Palatinate of Plockzo though Mr. Blaeu Dobrzin and some others have made it a distinct part of Masovia It has its name from the City Dobrzin situate between Cujavia and Plockzo on a rock near the banks of the Vistula The houses in it are generally of wood and the whole City is environed with wooden fortifications The Countrey affords great store of fruit and fish PRVSSIA Whence Prussia or Borussia called by the Germans Preussen should fetch its name Prussia is not easily determined Certain it is That it is not to be met with amongst antient authors Cluverius thinks Helmoldus who flourished in the twelfth Century is the oldest writer that gives any account of the Countrey under this name But both Dithmarus who lived in the beginning of the eleventh Century in the days of the Emperour Henry the second and before him an Anonymous writer of the life of St. Adalbert the Apostle of the Prussians about the year 990 mentions it Marianus Scotus will have the word derided from Aprutis a City saith he in these parts where St. Adalbert suffered martyrdome in the year 995. But this conjecture is vain and precarious for where any City of this name formerly stood or its ruins can at this day be found only he himself can tell us Johannes Annius Viterbiensis tells us the Prussians were at first called Pruti and that from one Prutus a Scythian King grandchild to Noah That this nation is an offspring of the antient Scythians is indeed allowable but to the rest of the story we can say no more then That 't is well known how nimble this author and his feign'd Berosus are at counterfeiting of names in the Etymologies of Countries Others of the same authority with Viterbiensis bring the Prussians out of Asia under the command of Prussia a King of Bithynia Some will have the word Prussi or Prutheni corrupted
Brunsberg which drawing together some considerable numbers of people obliged him soon after to wall the place round and turn it into a City 6. EWANCZITZ 〈◊〉 seated at the confluence of the two Rivers Iglaw and Oslaw both which here lose their names and are afterwards call'd Schwartza This City was once notorious for harbouring more different Sects in Religion then almost any other Town in Europe The Parish Church was divided by the two prevailing parties of Hussites and Lutherans both of which had here the exercise of their inconsistent forms of Divine Worship at the same time One of their streets was wholly inhabited by Jews who had erected in it a Synagogue and School for themselves and children Without the Gates of the City the Calvinists had two Churches the one for the Bohemians the other for the Germans and these shar'd with the Hussites and Lutherans in the Magistracy and Government of the City Another part of the Suburbs was taken up by the Holy Brethren of Switzerland a pack of nominal Christians who never were baptized thought it a damnable sin to wear a Sword and celebrated the Lord's Supper only at Whitsuntide The Photinians Atheists and Quakers for such kind of creatures I take the Schwenckfelder to have been who denied the resurrection of the dead met at their devotions on the banks of a Fountain in the field At a small Village nam'd Olekowitz about half an English mile out of the Town dwelt the Anabaptists who were about four hundred in number But this ridiculous toleration and distraction in Religion came to this issue at last that now all those various parties of people who all of them pretended to be true Protestants are cashier'd and none permitted the free exercise of their Religion but Jews and Papists To these we might add a great many more Cities if what Caspar Laudisman in his Directions for the speedy understanding of foreign Languages affirms it be true that there are in this Marquisate 100 Cities 410 Towns 500 Castles and 30360 Villages Which prodigious number of buildings would go near to cover almost all the habitable part of this Country But I think there are few more then we have already mention'd which deserve to be taken notice of any further then to give them room for their names in the Map BOHEMIA Notarum Explicatio Caritas Regia libera Oppidum Regis Bohemia Oppida â—â—â—inum et Nobil … Pagus Arx Castellum Monasterium Oppidum cum Arce Fodine Auri Fodine argenti Fodine Stanni Fodine ferri Therme Officina Vitriaria Nomina quae habent tri … in … nt Bohemica THE KINGDOME OF BOHEMIA BOHEMIA is bounded on the East with Moravia and Silesia on the West with Voitland the Upper Palatinate and the Dukedom of Bavaria on the South with the Arch-Dukedom of Austria and on the North with the Marquisates of Misnia and Lusatia Whence the learned Godalstus in that excellent Treatise of his entituled Commentarii de Bohemiae Regni incorporatarumque Provinciarum Juribus ac Privilegiis c. well argues that this Kingdom must needs have been anciently a branch of the German Nation and ought still to be so accounted since all the people that encompass it speak the High Dutch language The whole Kingdom is encompass'd round with Mountains the chief of which are the Montes Riphaei or Hills of Giants which part this Land from Silesia Out of these spring the great River Elb issuing out of two of them famous heretofore for the enchantments and apparitions of evil Spirits that used to haunt them One of these two is now adays named by the Silesian Germans that live near it Schneekippe from the continual Snow on the top of it and the other Knieholtz from the short shrubs or brush wood that grows there The other Rivers of note are the Eger Muldau Satzawa Orliecze Lusinitz Gyzera and Mise all which spring within the Kingdom and are at last emptied into the Elb at Dietzin Most of these run in a clear Channel and afford great plenty of fish In some of them the Natives find a sort of shell-fish much like a Horse-Muscle with a Pearl in it of good value such as those are which Mr. Cambden tells us ly gaping at the mouth of the River Irt in Cumberland In several parts of Bohemia especially at Teplitz and Wary both which have their names from the hot Baths there found spring Mineral and Medicinal waters which exceedingly refresh the body and cure many distempers The acid waters at Oegran and Comorzan are accounted mighty soveraign against many diseases and there was not many years ago a Fountain of as great credit at Stechowicz near Prague The like is still to be met with at Benessow near Caplicze which for the cures it has perform'd has got the name of Dobra Woda or good water There are no Lakes in the Kingdom Ponds excepting only one or two near the Towns of Mosta and Tepla of little or no moment But the Fish-ponds in many places seem to equal the Lakes in foreign Countries Witness those petty fresh water Seas at Pardubicz Clumecz Trzebon Rozdialowicz and Copydlan where the Ponds abounding with Perch Jack Carp and other fish bring their Masters in as large Revenues as so many good Lordships The Soil of the Country is generally fat and arable in few places barren or sandy Commodities You have here also fine Woods and Forests intermix'd but none so large as to render any considerable part of the Kingdom uninhabitable The Orchards and Gardens are so well stock'd with fruit that yearly great quantities of Apples Pears c. are hence exported into Misnia and other neighbouring Countries The inhabitants have Wine enough if the luxury of the present age did not want greater supplies then nature in their own Vineyards which is reckon'd a better bodied liquor then Moravian Wine and equals the Austrian in taste but is not capable of being kept to so good an age The Fields and Meadows are richly stock'd with all manner of Cattel especially Horses of more then ordinary courage and bulk Their Hop-gardens afford them a better and more plentiful crop then is usual in other Countries For which reason their Beer whereof they have two sorts white and brown is highly valued and exported into the neighbouring parts of Germany There have been some Salt-pits discover'd in Bohemia but so inconsiderable that they found the profit would not answer the cost of digging And therefore the Bohemians have their Salt out of Misnia and other Provinces of Germany But this want is sufficiently recompens'd by their rich Mines of Silver Copper Tin Iron Lead Sulphur Niter c. as also by their Glass and Allum made here in great quantities They pretend to have Carbuncles Ametheists and other precious stones in their Land which they say are often found in the Mines and amongst the Rocks of the Hill Countries Anselm Boetius Boodt whom we had occasion to mention in the description of
enters into his office he is obliged to present to the King and the principal Ministers of State the Apostolick brief of his Nunciature wherein he acknowledges the King as supreme To conclude it has been often controverted among which of Aristotle's five sorts of government the government of Poland may be reckon'd which when the most learned have not been able to determine they have all betaken themselves to the common Proverb frequently in the mouthes of the Polonians themselves Polonia confusione regitur yet such a confusion saith Coricinius which has preserved the Virgin honour of the Nation safe and undefiled in the midst of so many cruel and bloody Wars At this day there is no less confusion in the religion then government of Poland 〈…〉 In the year 965 Miecislaus King of Poland John the 13th being then Pope received and entertained the Christian faith according to the ceremonies of the Church of Rome which though it be still the most profest and reigning religion to this day yet have other Religions and Sects got no small footing in the Realm For in the year 1264 the Jews flock'd into Poland planting themselves whole Colonies together in this Kingdom To whom Boleslaus Duke of Great Poland granted several priviledges and immunities which Casimir the great at the suit of another Jewish Esther who was his Mistress very much enlarged by which means their number is now so encreased over all the Cities and Villages of Poland that is now called the Jews paradise In the year 1397 Vitoldus grand Duke of Lithuania having overthrown the Nagayan Tartars translated whole Herds of them into his own Territories who to this day obstinately maintain the follies of Mahomet Much about the same time in the reign of Vladislaus Jagello the opinions of John Huss brake forth and by the pains of Procopius Holy Brederick Straznicz and William Kotska prevailed so far in Poland even among the Nobility that though several severe Edicts were made against them yet could they never be wholly extirpated At length the Lutherans and Calvinists invaded the Roman-Catholick Religion with more danger to the Papacy their party being encreased by the Students of Cracow through the neglect of the Magistrates in not revenging the murder of one of their Collegiates For they thereupon dispersing into Bohemia and Germany upon their return so largely propagated the doctrine of Luther that Sigismund Augustus himself the Archbishop of Gnesna with the Bishops of Culmo and Camieniek lean'd very much to their party Among these the Arrians intermixed themselves and although so severely prosecuted by John Casimir and others that Alexander the seventh for their sakes gave the Kings of Poland the Title of Orthodox yet they still shelter themselves under the name of Dissenters As for the Calvinists how far they have strengthened themselves may appear by the late disturbances in Dantzick The Russians though a great part of them in the year 1596 joyned themselves to the Roman Church yet the more numerous party which go by the name of Not-united still retain the ceremonies of the Greeks under Arch-bishops and Priests of the same profession And their priviledges were confirmed by the agreement made in the year 1658. The Armenians who are very numerous in Poland upon the account of Trade profess the Roman Catholick religion being wrought thereto by the zealous industry of John Casimir Lately for the better support of the Roman-Catholick Religion there was an Article inserted into the Pacta Conventa to which this present King swore That no Person should be elected to the Kingdom of Poland that was not of the Roman Catholick religion and that the Queen should be either a Roman Catholick born or by conversion PALATINATVS POSNANIENSIS IN MAIOTI POLONIA PRIMARII NOVA DELINATIO Per G. F. M. What has been hitherto said has related to Poland in general which according to the opinion of the best modern Geographers may be divided into the following Provinces 1. The Greater Poland which contains the Palatinates of Posnania Calissia Lancicia Bresta Inouladislavia Sirad and Rava and the Territories of Vielun and Dobrin 2. The Lesser Poland in which are contain'd the Palatinates of Cracow Sendomir and Lublin the Dukedomes of Oswiec Tabor and Aever and the County of Scepus 3. Lithuania which consists of three Palatinates of Vilna Troco and Brescia 4. Masovia to which belong the Palatinates of Masovia Ploco and Podlachia 5. Prussia Regia which is divided into the Palatinates of Culmo Mariaeburg and Pomerania and the Bishoprick of Varma 6. Samogitia in which are no Palatinates but the whole Province is subject to one Governour or Captain 7. White Russia which borders upon the great Dukedome of Moscovy and contains the Palatinates of Novogrod Micislavia Viteps Poloco Smolensco Czernichovia and Kiovia of which at present a great part is in the hands of the great Duke of Moscovy 8. Red Russia in which lay the Palatines of Russia Podolia Volhinia Belze and Braclavia Lastly the Southern tract of Livonia is also reckoned among the Provinces of Poland But of all these we shall treat more fully in the following Order GREAT POLAND THe Greater Poland containing the Counties of Posnania and Calissia Great Poland and the Palatines of Sirad Rava Vielun and Cujavia which last is subdivided into the Baronies of Breste and Junuvladislavia is bounded on the South with Silesia on the West with the Marquisate of Brandenburgh and the upper Pomeren on the North with Masovia and part of Prussia on the East with the Lesser Poland 'T is generally a level champain country abounding with pleasant Rivers Lakes and Ponds and well furnish'd with all manner of Fish and Fowl Some parts of Cujavia indeed are more mountainous but what those want in pleasure they repay with profit the hills every-where affording good store of Wool and the valleys plenty of Corn. The Metropolis of the whole Province is Posnania called by the Poles Posnan Posnania by the Germans Posen seated in 39 degrees of Longitude and 52 and about 10 minutes of Latitude on the river Warta The City is not large but well stockt with Merchants from all parts of Germany John Lubranski formerly Bishop of this place founded here a Gymnasium or petty-University in the suburbs ordering the Professours to be called from Cracow where himself had been Doctor of Laws Though this structure has since that time been very much beautifyed by Adam Canar one of Lubranski's successours in the Bishoprick yet t is still outdone by the Jesuits Colledge and Monastery in Posen The people here are civil and gentile orderly and cleanly in their houses and go more rich in apparel then is ordinary in any other place in Poland Cracow onely excepted with which notwithstanding Posen may vie for beauty trade and riches The greatest part of the inhabitants are Roman-Catholicks However there are many large swarms of Jews who live among them and enjoy more priviledges and immunities then the Citizens themselves
chief security to the Russes on this side but now are all given up by the forementioned Treaty A. D. 1616 into the possession of the Swedes As 1. Notteburg which the Russes call Oresia i. e. a Nut from its compactness and strength It is seated in a small Island at the mouth of the River Nieva which by reason of its breadth is a great security to it About the year 1614 Gustavus Adolphus besieged this City and after he had lain before it with his whole Army for a long time and not by force able to gain it it was at last by the Burghers voluntarily surrendred up to him not because they wanted any provision necessary to defend the City but because as is reported a strange distemper of Boils or Warts in the mouth and throat seized the greatest part of the inhabitants so that they were not able to eat any victuals or sufficiently to secure their Bastions against so potent an enemy 2. Ivanogorod built upon a Rock in a small Isthmus at the confluence of two Rivers it lies opposite to Narva parted from it only by a large and rapid River which runs from the Lake Peipus and empties it self into the Finnic Bay On the East-side of this City there is a small Mount made hollow partly by art and partly by nature in the side of which many of the poorer sort of people such as ordinarily live in the suburbs of great Cities come to inhabit 3. Jamagorod situated upon the River Laga 4. Capurium or Coporio a strong Fort lying upon the Finnic Bay All these Cities and Forts by vertue of the Peace concluded 'twixt Gustavus Adolphus King of Sweden and the Muscovite an 1616 or 1617 were deliver'd up into the hands of the Swedes and ever since by them retain'd of what was given to the Tzar by that Treaty see what was said in Muscovy p. 23. concerning the Province of Novogorod c. Of the new Accessions in Livonia SOme Livonia tho the lesser part of Livonia or Liefland as is taken notice of in Poland where a description of the whole Province may be seen belongs at present to the Crown of Poland all Esthonia with the Island Oselia and some Towns in Lettia and other parts which lye upon the Baltic coasts being in the possession of the Swedes and held by them by vertue of a Ratification of Peace concluded at the Monastery of Oliva near Dantzic ann 1660 between John Casimir King of Poland and Charles XI the present King of Sweden The Articles which chiefly relate to the Swedes and their possessions in Liefland we shall for the Readers satisfaction here insert 1. It was agreed on That a general and inviolable peace amnesty and friendship should thenceforward be maintain'd between the said Crowns of Sweden and Poland the Emperor Leopold and Frederic Wilhelm Marquess of Brandenburg and between their subjects of what degree condition or Religion soever 2. That the King of Poland for himself and his heirs should renounce all pretensions to the Crown of Sweden and the Great Principality of Finland and to all other possessions which his Grandfather John III. King of Sweden had formerly enjoyed but that the said John Casimir during his life might when he writ to any Prince or Ally whatsoever use the Arms and Title of the King of Sweden as well as those of Poland Only observing this that in all transactions 'twixt him and the King of Sweden he should stile himself King of Poland and Great Duke of Lithvania without adding any more Titles but only annexing three Etcaeterations thus John Casimir King of Poland Great Duke of Lithvania c. c. c. The like was to be done by the King of Sweden after the Title of Great Duke of Finland 3. That the King and States of Poland and Lithvania should yeild up to the Swedes all Livonia beyond Dwina with the Island Rune and some other places beyond the Dwina which the King of Sweden during the Truce had possession of and also all Esthonia and Oselia and all Cities Towns Forts c. that did formerly any way belong or appertain to the Crown of Poland the King of Sweden being hereby obliged vpon the surrender of these places not to lay any claim to Curland or Semigallia or to any Towns and Forts that belong to those Provinces That all the inhabitants in the Swedish Livonia should have free exercise of their Religion Laws c. with undisturb'd intercourse of Trade upon the Dwina And several such-like Conditions The whole Province of Liefland 〈…〉 in respect of its jurisdiction may be divided into Swedish and Polonian Liefland 1. Polonian Liefland Polonian Liefland which lies beyond the Dwina and contains in it the Dukedom or Principality of Curland and Semigallia with part of Lettia of which see Poland 2. Swedish Liefland 〈…〉 which may be said to contain the Districts of Esthonia Odepoa Oselia and Lettia This Province being frequently subjected to different Princes has no very certain limits set nor like names given to the parts of it by any that have undertaken to describe it Some Authors adding Harland and Verland as distinct Provinces from the former which may seem rather parts only of Esthonia then different Principalities from the rest I. Esthonia Estia or Esthland 〈…〉 so call'd from the Estii its ancient inhabitants is bounded on the North with the Finnic Bay on the West with the Baltic Sea and the Islands Dagho and Oselia on the East with the Lake Peipus and part of Muscovy and on the South with the District of Lettia and the River Dwina It is cut out into five divisions or Dioeceses Alentakia Wiria Harria Wicia and Jervia 1. Alentakia Alentakia which lies betwixt the Lake Peipus and the Finnic Bay having the River Narva on the East and on the West the District of Wiria In it are two Cities of note 1. Narva call'd commonly the German Narva to distinguish it from Muscovitic Narva which lies opposite to it upon a River of the same name not far from the famous Fort Ivanogorod It is a place of great strength and consideration and ordinarily well garrison'd with Swedish soldiers Behind the Castle there is a small piece of ground encompass'd with wooden pales which was given by Gustavus Adolphus to the Russes where they are permitted to live and enjoy free exercise of their Religion which is according to the Ceremonies of the Greek Church The German Lutherans of which there is a vast number that reside here have a particular Church allow'd them and Sermons preach'd to them in their own language This City is said to have been built by Waldemarus II. King of Denmark A. D. 1223. It was taken by the Russes in 1558 and by them lost to the Swedes A. D. 1581 and in the year 1599 by a Ratification of Peace confirm'd to the Kings of Sweden and ever since by them possess'd It lies in 60 deg of Northerly Latitude
vast number of men employ'd in most parts of the Town This is reckon'd one of the best tasted Liquors which the German Nation affords and is ordinarily exported into most of the neighbouring Towns and Villages The Bores in Holstein are so great admirers of this sort of Drink that some whole Villages are fully perswaded 't would be present death to change their Liquor At Lubec it is esteem'd one of the choicest commodities which their City has from Hamburg and indeed the Germans have generally so good an opinion of it that it is sometimes brought as far as Francfurt upon the Main and there sold at an higher rate then their best Rhenish Wine Besides the Hamburgers have good store of all other necessaries for the furnishing out a good and commendable Table The Hollanders have taught them to stock their Gardens which ly without the Gates of the City with all manner of fruits and potherbs With these and all sorts of fresh-water and Sea-fish their Markets are daily stored from morning till night 'T would be needless to inform the Reader that few or no places in Europe have greater opportunity of providing themselves with the choicest commodities of foreign Countries then the Citizens of Hamburg since every man knows what swarms of Merchant Ships from the most considerable parts of the known world daily resort to this City This is the great I might say only Mart-Town in Germany which furnishes the other Cities and chief Towns of the Empire with the richest Merchandise of all other Nations The Haven is so commodious Haven and the River even up to the walls of that depth that the largest Merchant-men that trade on the main Ocean may with great ease be brought up to the Town excepting only some few of more then ordinary bulk and carriage which are forc'd to strike anchor at the New Mills about four English miles from the Town and there to unlade their Cargo into smaller Vessels Notwithstanding the many heavy burthens which are continually brought up the River to this Town the mouth of the Elb is reckon'd to be eighteen Dutch or seventy-two English miles distant from Hamburg and yet the Tide comes ordinarily sixteen English miles beyond the Town as high as the common Ford betwixt this City and Lunenburg So that the whole race of the Flood up the River Elb will amount to eighty-eight of our miles at least a much larger course then any other navigable River in Europe not excepting our Thames which only pretends to a second place can brag of The Trade which our English Merchants have English Trade for many years last past brought to this City seems more considerable then any commerce they have hitherto enter'd upon with other foreign Nations And therefore there is good reason that our Hamburg Company should be treated with that civility and respect which has of late been shew'n them in this place Our Merchants have the priviledg granted them which is denied to most other foreigners of pleading and trying all kind of Suits wherein they themselves are more immediately concern'd before their own Resident who determines all causes in a public and stately Hall built at the charges of the Company They are also permitted the free exercise of their Religion whilst men of other Nations and Confessions are forc'd to go as far as Altenaw to say Mass or hear a Sermon The chief Church in Hamburg is dedicated to St. Peter It was formerly a Cathedral Churches as long as the Town continued an Archbishoprick and there is still kept a kind of Dean and Chapter who keep here an Ecclesiastical Court from which an Appeal lies only to the Imperial Chamber at Spire In this Church which some say was first built in the year 801 others in the years 830 ly buried a great many of the Earls of Schawenburg and Holstein whose names are writ in a fair Catalogue next after Charles the Great and his Son Ludowic of their Benefactors which hangs up in the Body of the Church This amongst other things may be thought an argument sufficient to perswade any unprejudic'd man to believe that the Princes of Holstein and Schawenburg had formerly a power more then titular over this City whatever the Hamburgers may now-a-days pretend to the contrary The other Churches of note are St. Nicholas's St. Jacob's St. Catharine's the greater and less St. Michael's and the New Church in the New Town In each of these they keep a Register of poor and distressed people in the several Parishes who have money weekly distributed amongst them and a competent yearly allowance for clothes and fuel The lesser Churches are St. Gertrude's St. Mary Magdalen's and that of the Holy Ghost Near the last of these is the oldest Hospital in the Town which is endow'd with yearly maintenance for one hundred and fourteen poor people such as are old blind dumb c. But this is not all the provision which the Hamburgers have made for such of their own body as are poor and needy Hospitals For hardly any great City in Europe excepting Paris and some few others where an Epidemic conceit of the more then ordinary merit of good works have over-aw'd some Misers into an humour of bounty and munificence can shew more public Hospitals and larger allowances for the maintenance of the miserable then this Town For example 1. For such as live in any part of the Territories belonging to this City and not in the Town they have an Hospital in the Suburbs into which are readily admitted all such distemper'd or decay'd persons as are not able to maintain themselves any longer in the Villages adjacent This Hospital dedicated to St. George was founded about the year 1250 and endow'd with a sufficient salary for the maintenance of a vast number of poor people with servants and a Priest to attend them 2. For such as are disabled with the French Pox and not able to pay for their own cure they have a kind of Pest-house where such as are troubled with that disease are provided with Diet and Medicines convenient for their recovery This was built in the year 1509 and named St. Job for this reason without doubt because design'd for such as were smitten with Boils as Job was 3. For poor fatherless and motherless Orphans they have their Waysen-hauss as they call it or Orphanotrophium where such Citizens children as are left by their deceas'd Parents unprovided for and incapable of procuring for themselves any competent maintenance are carefully lookt after and furnish'd with all manner of necessaries They that are too young to be instructed in the School are attended on by Nurses and the rest are kept close to constant prayer reading writing casting accounts c. Sometimes near three hundred Infants are at the charge of the Hospital the whole yearly revenue of which is said to amount to 21000 Rix-dollars put to nurse abroad and taken into the House as soon as they are well able
can the most accurate German Antiquary prove that there was any such thing as a Statua Rolandina ever heard of in the Empire before A.D. 1000. Again what could perswade the Emperor to bestow such signal kindnesses upon mean and contemptible Villages in Saxony as some to this day are which nevertheless dare still pretend to shew one of these ancient Statues whereas we do not find that any of the brave Cities upon the Rhine had such priviledges and immunities granted to them If there be any probable account to be given of this custom Goldastus's conjecture is the most likely to hit the mark Now he fancies that Roland or Ruland is not a proper name but an appellative deriv'd from the old Dutch word Rugen signifying to judg or pass sentence in any Law-Case So that by Ruland or Rugeland nothing else as he thinks can be meant then ein Mahlstadt da man frey Kayserlich Gericht helt i. e. a City or great Town on the utmost borders of the Empire where the Emperor has been pleas'd to appoint a Session of Judges and Advocates to try and determine in his name all Law-Suits and Controversies And this power and authority committed to the Burgers of such certain Cities was represented as it is still at Bremen Magdeburg and many other great Towns in Saxony by the portraicture of a great Giant mistaken for one Roland whom they make Sister's Son to Charles the Great representing the Emperor and bearing the Arms of the Empire And they were anciently so superstitious in erecting or pulling down these Statues according as they had the right of Judicature conferr'd on or taken from them that when the Emperor Charles the IV. had obliged the Hamburgers to submit themselves to the Dukes of Holstein they broke their Statue in pieces Quam says Crantzius pro signo libertatis olim erectam habuerant To conclude 't is a sufficient argument that these Statues were not first set up in Saxony nor ever appropriated to that Country in remembrance of General Roland their Conqueror that we meet with the like monuments in Kinsberg Prinslaw and some other places in the Marquisate of Brandenburg where we never read that Roland commanded an Army The money currant in Bremen Money is chiefly the Emperor's own Coin Some pieces they have out of Sweden tho there cannot be any great treasure exported out of so poor a Kingdom I have not seen any notable coin of their own except their Bremischer Grot or Vier-pfenninger which is worth little more then an English half-penny From this Nether-Saxon word Grot used instead of the High-Dutch Grosch our English Groat had probably its first original for their Grot as well as ours is valued at four Pence altho a Penny at Bremen as well as in Scotland be not worth above a sixth part of one of ours The Arms of Bremen are a Key Argent in a Field Gules Arms. to denote the power of the Citizens to open or shut at their pleasure the passage of any Ships which traffic upon the Weser Other Places of Note in the Dukedom of BREMEN I. VEHRDEN Vehrden formerly a Bishop's See and no part of the Archbishopric of Bremen but may now reasonably enough be accounted a part of the Dukedom as having been given up into the hands of the Swedes together with the Archbishopric under the name of one entire Dukedom at the Treaty of Munster Bruschius in his History of the German Bishops tells us that Charles the Great founded this Bishopric at Konende upon the Weser others say Bardewic about the year 776 whence not long after it was remov'd to Vehrden which even in those days was if the Saxons had any such a strong and populous City Crantzius reports that the first Bishop of this Diocess was one Suibert an English man who died in the year 708 near seventy years before the first foundation of the Bishopric according to Bruschius's calculation and was succeeded by one Patto a Scot. But Emmius in his accurate Frisian History shews that this Historian mistook Suidbert the Frislander who was indeed the first Bishop of Vehrden for one of the same name who came over into Germany with Wilhad the first Bishop of Bremen And yet this correction of Crantzius's relation is not to be approv'd unless we read 788 or 798 instead of 708 since as we have before inform'd the Reader one of our English Archbishops first furnish'd Bremen with a Bishop at the request of the Emperor Charles the Great in the year 788. We may from these contradictions easily gather what credit is to be given to the account which German writers are able to give us of the ancient State of this City and the present is not worthy of a large description having nothing in it extraordinary or remarkable The River Aller upon which 't is seated brings in all the Trade of the Town since up the Weser into which River the Aller emties it self not far from Vehrden are brought flat bottom'd Barges of a considerable bulk laden with all foreign and domestic commodities which the Market of Bremen will afford Count Tilly took this Town at the first assault in the year 1626 and afterwards in the year 1631 the Imperial Army gave it a second blow which it has felt ever since II. Ottersberg OTTERSBERG A small fortified Town not far from Bremen beautified and defended by a strong Castle the ancient residence of some of their Archbishops Chytraeus tells us that the Castle of Ottenberg bore a part for many years with the Citizens of Bremen in a rebellion against their Archbishops to whom they were at last upon some condition agreed to by both parties forc'd to submit themselves in the year 1547. In the last Civil Wars of Germany this Castle was twice taken and plunder'd by the Imperialists and once by Count Coningsmark the Swedish General III. Rotterberg ROTTERBERG A small City seated on the River Wein at about four English miles distance from Ottersberg In the place where this City now stands Nicolas the thirty-seventh Bishop of Vehrden built a Palace for himself and successors which was afterwards fortified with strong Walls and a deep Ditch about the year 1500 by Barthold the forty-ninth Bishop of that Diocess At the same time the adjoining Village or Suburbs were Wall'd in and made a small City which by degrees is grown to be a place of some trade and is considerably populous IV. Buxtehude BUXTEHUDE Seated on the River Essa not far from the Elb in as pleasant and fruitful a Country as any in the whole Empire This is one of the Granaries of Hamburg and furnishes that great City with a large portion of their provision both for man and horse V. Stade STADE The second City of note next after Bremen in the whole Dukedom seated on the mouth of the River Zwinga and banks of the Elb. Bertius and other writers skill'd in the ancient Geography of these parts would
but the Elector's Palace which would be fit enough to entertain a Prince if it stood at Dresden or any such pleasant part of Misnia V. MERSEBURG Formerly a Bishop's See 〈◊〉 but now usually assign'd as a portion to some of the Elector's younger Brother 's and upon that account enjoy'd by Duke Christian youngest Brother to the late Elector of Saxony Some Antiquaries affirm that in this place stood formerly the famous Saxon Idol Irmensewl of which the Reader has already had an account which they take to be the same with Mars among the Romans and thence conclude the true etymology of the word to be Marsburg or the City of the God Mars The Town at present consists of a great number of old fashion'd and ruinous houses amongst which there is hardly any thing worth the taking notice of save the Cathedral Near this Church they have a Library wherein are a great company of venerable Manuscripts but very ill kept Amongst which I took notice of the Books of Sammuel and the Kings in Latin written in a fair and ancient Anglo-Saxonic character Torgau falsly plac'd by Mercator in the Upper Saxony Ilenburg Naumburg with some others are Towns of some note and traffick but not by much so considerable as those already described LUSATIA SUPERIOR Auth. Bartholomeo Sculteto Gorlitio Apud Janssonio-Waesbergios Mosem Pitt et Stephanum Swart Vrbs Oppidum munitum Oppidum Arx Monasterium Pagus cum Templo Pagus Mons notabilis Officina ferri THE MARQUISATE OF LUSATIA LVSATIA or Laussnitz as the Germanes call it is bounded on the South with the Kingdom of Bohemia on the West with Misnia and Saxony on the North with the Marquisate of Brandenburg and on the East with the Lower Silesia Not many years since this Province was part of the Kingdom of Bohemia and is usually describ'd as such by most Geographers But when in the year 1620 the Lusatians had joined themselves in an open Rebellion with other confederate Traytors of that Kingdom the Emperor issued out his Commission to John George Elector of Saxony to quell these Revolters and reduce them if possible to their ancient obedience This he did effectually and for his reward and encouragement to proceed in these good services had the whole Province pawn'd to him till further satisfaction should be made At last by the Treaty of Prague in the year 1635 the Emperor setled this Marquisate upon the Elector and his Heirs for ever in which State excepting only some few places in the Lower Lusatia which are subject to the Elector of Brandenburg it continues to this day This great Marquisate is usually divided into the Upper and Lower Laussnitz the former whereof is sometimes by Geographers named Hexapolis because it has in it six Cities Lobau Budissin Camentz Gorlitz Lauben and Zittau all confederate In the Lower Lusatia the Cities subject to the Elector of Saxouy are Lubben on the Spree Guben Lucken and Calow The rest as Cotbus Peytze Sommerfeld with some others of less note pay homage to the Marquise of Brandenburg We cannot much commend this Country for its fruitfulness the greatest part of it being a dry sandy and barren soil and the rest made up of Fens and Bogs However the inhabitants make a hard shift to grow so much Corn as is sufficient for their own relief tho they never have so great plenty as to be able to export any of it into foreign Countries They have no want of Wood. Venison nor Fish nay they have such plenty of these Commodities as is sufficient had they the convenience of trafficking with other Nations to enrich the Country and bring in all the Rarities of other places The two chief Rivers of the Country are the Spree and Neiâ—â—e Rivers both of them exceedingly well stock'd with all manner of fresh fish The EElster too springs in this Marquisate but is a rivulet of no consequence 'till it has pass'd thorough some parts of the neighbouring Provinces It appears Inhabitants from the mixture of an abundance of Wendish words with the High Dutch spoken in these parts that the ancient inhabitants of Lusatia were a branch of the Slovâ—nian Nation Hence in the Villages and most barbarous places of the Marquisate especially in the Lower Lusatia you meet with a strange kind of unintelligible gibbrish tho the Citizens every where speak good Dutch Some of these people Geographers say have their original from the Ilingi Elysii or Lygii others from the Semnâ—nes a third sort from the Scrabi and a fourth from the Lusici or Lutitii But from what Nation or Kindred the Polanders named this Marquisate Ditivonia as Cromer Newgebawer and others tell cannot yet learn The modern Lusatians are thought to be men of as apprehensive and quick natural parts as any of their neighbours but exceedingly addicted to covetousness and penury Their Country breeds neither Horses nor Horsemen but if we believe Joh. Boter in the account he has given us of the Military power of all the great Princes and Potentates of the world they are able upon a very short warning to raise twenty-thousand hardy foot Soldiers who will endure a shock better then twice that number of delicate and well-bred Western Warriours They are in all Cases Civil and Criminal strict observers of the Saxon Laws to the harsh tenure of which they pay a better obedience then ever they were known to do formerly to any Statutes of the Kings of Bohemia The Chief Cities in LVSATIA BAUTZEN Bautzen or Budissina Seated on the River Spree and first built by a Bohemian Duke of this name about the year 800. In the year 1634 this City was so warmly besieged by the the Elector of Saxony's forces that the Emperor's Soldiers who kept the Town were forc'd to fire the Suburbs for fear of sheltering the Enemy This fire was unhappily driven over by a strong wind into the City and in a few hours laid it in ashes In this miserable condition having nothing standing but the walls and Castle it was soon after surrender'd by the Imperialists But not long after even the small remainders of this large Town were demolish'd by some of the Swedish Generals Since which time it has not been able to recover its glory but is still something inferior to II. Gorlitz GORLITZ Which City seated on the Western banks of the River Neisse is said to have been built and fortified by Boleslaus III. Duke of Poland who died in the year 1139. Others say 't was founded by Duke Sobieslaus about the year 1131. However all agree in this that after its first foundation 't was burnt down to the ground and that thence it got the name of Gorlitz which in the Slavonian language as well as Brandstat in the High Dutch a name given it by most Germans signifies a burnt City For Gorlitz is a corruption of Tzschorlitz the ancient name of this Town and that of Ischorelik There are at present several neat Churches in the Town
Alphabet made use of in writing out the Bible by him translated into his own mother-tongue What became of this Translation I know not except as some late Antiquaries have ventur'd to say the ancient Moscovian Bible printed in the year 1581 be a Transcript of it In the year 1346 the Bishopric of Olmutz was remov'd from under the jurisdiction of the Elector of Mentz and subjected to the new Archbishop of Prague tho some of the late Bishops of Olmutz have denied to pay homage to any Prelate under the Pope 2. BRINN call'd in the Bohemian language Brno and by Latin writers Bruna Brinn is the second City in Moravia and a Town of so great repute that it seems to share with Olmitz in the Title of Metropolis since in these two Cities by turns the chief Courts of Judicature or Assizes for the whole Marquisate are held 'T is seated at the confluence of two small Rivers Schwarta and Zwitta and defended by the Spilberg a strong Castle on the top of the adjoining Hill The Moravian Philosophers make a great noise with the Vnicornu Minerale which amongst the other fossilia of their Country is said to be found near this City Of which Osv Grollius in his book entituled de Signaturis gives this account Vnicornu Minerale nobis quoque Deus largitus est in Moravia tribus milliaribus Bruna ubi eram ante Medicus non longe a territorio Abbatis Zabrdovicensis sub altissima rupe duorum inusitatae magnitudinis animalium incognitorum ossa una cum duobus junioribus efossa sunt quae absque dubio tempore Diluvii aquarum impetu perierunt in illa solitudine c. Another Author of the same Tribe Anselm Boetius de Boodt Physitian to the Emperor Rudolf II. gives a far different account of it Cornu fossile says he prope Brunam Moraviae urbem inventum ita exacte figuram trunci Juglandis intrinsecus extrinsecus refert ut nemo nisi Caecus negare possit truncum illius Arboris fuisse ac in Terra transmutationem accepisse Hertod in his ingenious Book beforementioned says there have been several fragments of this Mineral found in the Quarries near Niclsburg one whereof exactly resembled a man's thigh I know not what more to make of all these relations then that there are now and then in the fields near Brinn found several rare petrifications for that I think is as fit a name for them as Vnicornu fossile representing the parts of certain Animals and Plants Which is no greater miracle then may be daily met with in the fields here about Oxford as may be seen at large in the learn'd account given of such Rarities in the fifth Chapter of the Natural History of this County 3. IGLAW call'd by the Bohemians Gihlawa Iglaw seated on the borders of Bohemia upon a River of the same name is said to have been built in the year 799 and to have had its name from an Urchin or Hedghog which in the German language is call'd Igle but by the Moravians Gehlak because that upon the laying the first foundation of this City a great company of these kind of Creatures were found amongst the shrubs and thickets which grew in this place The Town is large well built and strongly fortified 'T is a great thorow-fair frequented by multitudes of Travellers that pass this way out of Bohemia towards Hungary And for this reason the Citizens as being daily accustom'd to converse with strangers are more obliging in their carriage then the rest of their Country-men In the Hussites-wars this City stedfastly opposed the introducing of the Reform'd Religion and with a great deal of resolute obstinacy and malepert zeal maintain'd the superstitious Discipline of the Church of Rome but as soon as Luther's Doctrine began to peep abroad in the world the heat was over with them and the Citizens of Iglaw of all the Cities of Moravia subject to the Kings of Bohemia were the first who embraced the Augsburg Confession and turn'd Rebels as themselves before had term'd other Protestants to the Pope's Interest In the late Civil wars of Germany immediately after the Imperial Forces were routed at Jankow in the year 1645 this Town was given up into the hands of the then triumphant Swedes who to make the City more tenable burnt down the large Suburbs on every side and having so done defended the Town with so much gallantry and manhood that all the forces the Emperor could bring against it were beaten off for a twelve-month after The Jesuits College with the Gymnasium annex'd founded by Adolph Michael Earl of Altham is a great ornament to the Town and the two Monasteries of Dominicans and Franciscans are well worth the seeing The chief trade of the Town besides the entertainment of passengers which brings in the greatest part of their riches is in selling Beer and a sort of course woollen Cloth which is made and dress'd after their fashion 4. Znaim ZNAIM in the Bohemian language Znoymo and in Latin writers Znogma stands on the Teya in a pleasant soil and wholesom air The learned Cluverius is of opinion that this place is the same with Ptolomy's Medoslanium But I do not find that his Latitude will agree at all to Znaim tho his Longitude comes near it The Annals of Moravia tell us this City was first built in the place where it now stands by Primislaus Ottacar about the year 1222 having before that time lain buried in its ashes from the year 1145 when Vladislaus King of Bohemia upon a provocation given him by his Kinsman Cunrad Marquise of Moravia wholly destroy'd it and its inhabitants with fire and sword The Town is defended by a Castle sufficiently fortified both by Nature and Art but in great danger of being damag'd in time of siege from the top of the Peldtenberg an adjacent mountain which overlooks it and stands within Canon-shot of it It lies upon the coasts of Austria and therefore is sure to be the first place attack'd by the Imperial forces in case of any rebellious uproar in either Bohemia or Moravia as it has often already found by woful experience There are a great many Vineyards round the City which yeild commonly good store of an indifferently palatable Wine but the chief income of the Citizens arises from the harbouring of passengers which travel this road betwixt Vienna and Prague 5. Cremsir CREMSIR or Kremsier call'd by the Bohemians Kromeritz seated on the River Morawa about the middle way betwixt Olmitz and Hradisch was not many ages ago a poor Village but is now become one of the fairest Cities in Moravia The occasion of which alteration was this John Bishop of Olmitz bought the Lordship of this Village for himself and his successors of Otto Marquise of Moravia After his death Bruno Bishop of the same Diocess observing the convenient and pleasant situation of the place built in it a fair Palace call'd to this day from its first Founder's name
part are to be seen the ruins of the ancient Palace of the Dukes and Kings of Bohemia There is still standing a great part of the walls round this Palace the cement whereof is so good that hardly any Engine can be invented which will pull them down The Jesuits of late years have built here a new College for themselves which goes beyond the other they had before in the Old Town 3. The Little Town or Kleine Seiten as they sometimes call it lies on the West side of the Muldau over which you pass by a stately Stone-bridg of sixteen Arches In this place stands Winceslaus's Palace wherein the Emperor when he comes to Prague keeps his Court. Some have ventur'd to affirm that as good High Dutch is spoken in this Palace and by the neighbouring Burgers as in any City of Germany But he that shall curiously and critically enquire into the truth of this assertion will find that the Language here spoken falls as far short of the pure Misnian Dialect as this Palace does of the Elector's Court at Dresden Not far from hence is the Cathedral of this Archbishopric dedicated to St. Vite from the top of which you have the best prospect of the City of Prague At Weissenberg or the white Hill near Prague was fought the fatal battel between the Duke of Bavaria and Count Bucquoy Lieutenant of the Emperor Ferdinand the Second's Forces and Frideric Count Palatine of the Rhine and elected King of Bohemia in which the new King was conquer'd his Forces totally routed his Ordnance seized on and himself and his Queen our King Charles the Martyr's Sister forced to fly into Silesia Prague was forced to resign it self up immediately into the hands of the Emperor who soon after rooted out all maintainers of the Protestant Religion throughout the Kingdom Some Historians have taken notice that of the Gospel appointed to be read on the day whereon was fought this Battel which was the twenty-third Sunday after Trinity A. D. 1620 this Text Render to Cesar the things that are Cesars is a part Which is as observable as the Church of England's appointing the 27th Chapter of Matthew to be read the second Lesson on the thirtieth of January whereon our late King suffer'd Martyrdom II. EGRA Egra◠a great City on the borders of the Palatinate is call'd by the Bohemians Chebbe but by the Germans that inhabit it Egra from the River upon which 't is seated It was made an Imperial City by the Emperor Frideric I. in the year 1179 in remembrance of the fidelity of the Burgers to that Emperor in opposing Henry Duke of Bavaria who had overrun the greatest part of this Country It is walld with a double sometimes with a tripple wall and defended by an almost impregnable Castle The Market-place is surrounded with very fair buildings and some of their Churches make a good show Bertius and Ens speak of strange cures perform'd by the waters issuing out of a Fountain in the Suburbs of this City The Well they mention is not in the Suburbs but about two English miles from the Town Its waters are something salt and brinish but very cool and clear They are said to cure all infirmities in the Eyes Ears or other parts of the head and many other cures are wrought by their purging and cleansing the body Jac. Theodorus Tabernaemontanus gives us an account of some strange feats wrought by them in his Book entituled Wasser-Schatz printed at Frantfurt A. D. 1584. And Paul Macasius publish'd a whole Treatise about the nature and vertues of these Egrish waters in the year 1616. Some Antiquaries pretend to prove that the old name of this City was Sourstad from these bitter waters But we can expect no great faithfulness in the account of its Antiquities since the City with all its Records perish'd in the flames A. D. 1270. Other Cities of note are 1. Budweiss a fair and large Town not far from the borders of Austria 2. Kuttenberg a Mine-Town on the Elb. Elnbogen a strong Town on the borders of Misnia call'd usually the Bohemian Key to the German Empire 4. Thabor in the way betwixt Prague and Budweiss whence the Picarts got the name of Thaborites Leimiritz Augst Bern Bruck Gretz Maut Hoff Jaromir Pilsen c. are no better then ordinary Market-Towns FRANCONIAE Nova Descriptio Sumptibus Jansonio-Waesbergiorum Mosis Pitt et Stephani Swart Reverendissim o Illustrission Principi ac Domino Dnō FRANCISCO Episcopo Bambergensi Wirceburgensi Franciae Orientalis Duci Domino suo clementissimo humillime offert Nicolaus Rittershusius U. I. D. THE Great Circle OF FRANCONIA FRANCONIA is the chief of the Ten great Circles or Districts into which the German Empire is usually divided This District sends to the Diets the Bishops of Wurtsburg Eichstadt and Bamberg the Counts of Henneberg Wertheim c. with several other Princes Spiritual and Temporal besides the Deputies of the Imperial Cities of Noremberg Rottenburg Winsheim and Schwinfurt 'T is bounded on the South with Schwaben and Bavaria on the West with the Rhine and the Lower Palatinate on the North with the Landgraviate of Thuringen and on the East with the Kingdom of Bohemia The Country has undoubtedly its name from the Franks its ancient inhabitants whom some Historians make a remnant of the old Trojans who at first being expell'd their own Country by the Grecians seated themselves upon the Sea-shore near the mouth of the Danubius These Sicambri for so they were then call'd being beaten from their hold by the Goths were forc'd to seek out new habitations and at last about 430 years before Christ fix'd themselves under the command of their General Marcomir on the banks of the Rhine in Westphalia Frisland and Gelderland all which Countries were afterwards compris'd under the General name of Sicambria About four hundred years after they named themselves Franci after the name of their great Commander Francus who led them beyond the Rhine and subdued for them the greatest part of Gallia which they nam'd Franckric the Germans call it still Franckreich or the Kingdom of the Franks Others say that the Franks were not one particular people but that the Vbii Mattiaci Juhones Sicambri Tencteri Vsipetes Marsi Marsaci Tubantes Bructeri Chamavi Angrivarii Dulgibini Chassuarii Ansibarii Frisii Chanci Cherusci Gambrivii and some other branches of the German Nation united themselves into one Body by a solemn League and Covenant as the only means to secure themselves against the growing power of the Roman Emperors Having thus link'd themselves together they took as the Almans had done before them one common name calling themselves Francken which in their language signified as Freyen in the modern High Dutch a free people as we find in our ancient Law-books Francisia for freedom Franciscare to set at liberty and Franchises is a word still commonly used for liberties About three hundred and sixteen years after Christ there was great contest between the Thuringians and Schwabes
return'd promoters of Puritanism and rebellious Principles They arriv'd at Francfurt in June A. D. 1554 where by the favour of John Glauberge an Alderman of the City they were permitted the free exercise of their Religion in a Church formerly assign'd to the French Protestants Their chief Ring-leaders were Whittingham Williams Goodman Wood and Sutton who before they began to instruct their flocks took upon them to reform the Liturgy and Discipline of the Church of England The Surplice and Litany were cashier'd as rags of the Whore of Babylon and the Responsals laid aside as formal pieces of canting which disturb'd the due course of Divine Worship In short the whole Liturgy except the Lessons and Psalms was rejected as savouring too much of Rome and Antichrist Instead of the Magnificat Nunc dimittis c. they sung so many Stanza's of Sternhold's Rithms After Sermon they had a prayer for all states and conditions of men more particularly for the Church of England meaning their own Tribe in imitation of our prayer for the Church Militant and then concluded with The Peace of God c. The noise of this upstart Church wherewith Dr. Scory Bishop of Chichester now Superintendent at Embden Grindal Sandys and Haddon at Strasburg and Horn Chambers and Parkhurst at Zurick had refused to have communion drew Knox the Scotch Incendiary from Geneva in hopes of making a better market here then he could do in Switzerland Here he arriv'd about the latter end of September and immediately took upon him the Superintendency of the Church Whittingham and the other Divines submitting themselves to his Apostleship and Government This was highly resented by the Divines of Strasburg and Zurick who were well acquainted with Knox's principles and knew of what dangerous consequence the promotion of such a Hotspur was like to prove Whereupon Gryndal and Chambers were sent to Francfurt to endeavour a composure of differences and a reunion of all the English Protestants But their endeavours prov'd successless and vain tho they proposed that the substance of the English Liturgy being retain'd there might be by a general consent an omission of some ceremonies and offices in it allow'd of For Knox and Whittingham were as zealously bent against the substance as circumstantials of the Book In the midst of these confusions Dr. Cox Dean of Westminster and a principal composer of the Liturgy in King Edward the Sixth's days comes to Francfurt attended with a great many more English Exiles Upon his first arrival he causes one of his company to read the Litany in the Pulpit and not long after got Knox expell'd the Town for publishing some treasonable expressions against the Emperor Having thus worsted his adversary he was resolv'd to follow the blow which he did so effectually as to procure an Order from the Common Council of the City requiring all the English Protestants to be conformable to the Discipline of their Church as contain'd in the Book of Common Prayer But Cox tho at present Master of the Field was not able to appease the dissatisfied Brethren who follow'd Knox to Geneva and there set up the profession of their former Schismatical Tenents In short these scandalous ruptures first begun at Francfurt and afterwards carried on at Geneva occasion'd the irrecoverable discredit of our Church beyond Seas and were the first seeds of those lamentable animosities which to this day threaten our destruction The Territory of Francfurt which is under the subjection of the Citizens and Magistrates of the Town is bounded on the East with the County of Hanaw Territory on the South with the Landgraviate of Darmstat on the West with the Archbishopric of Mentz and on the North with the County of Wetteraw The soil is generally cover'd with Woods or Vineyards and there is little of arable or pasture ground in it The inhabitants of this Country are a laborious sort of people Inhabitants applying themselves chiefly to the planting of Vineyards and making Wine The poor people sell off their Wine and drink water having seldom the happiness to taste a draught of Beer It was indeed anciently a proverb in Germany Sachs Bayr Schwab und Franck Die lieben all den Tranck i. e. The Saxons Bavarians Swabes and Francks Are all inclin'd to excessive drinking But now adays that piece of debauchery is laid aside in Franconia and you shall seldomer meet with a drunkard here then in any other part of Germany The ancient Francks were men exceedingly plain and careless in their habit whence the Germans to this day say of any thing that 's plain and ordinary 't is gut Alt Franckisch but the case is alter'd and the modern Francfurters are rather foppish then slovenly in their Apparel In this they are still imitators of their Ancestors that they are a stout and hardy people which is enough to keep up that honour and repute which their Ancestors have got in foreign Nations The Asians call all the Europeans Francks and the Mahometans give the Western Christians the same name The Abyssines in Africa as Vagetius witnesses call the other part of the Christian World Alfrangues and the Country they inhabit i.e. Europe and some parts of Asia Francia The Principality of HENNEBERG HENNEBERG was formerly no more then a bare County the Earls whereof were first advanced to the honour of Princes of the Empire by the Emperor Henry VII in a public Convention or Diet of all the Estates of the Empire in the year 1310. The first of these Princes was Berthold surnam'd the Wise who was succeeded by Henry This Prince married his Daughter to Frideric Marquise of Misnia bestowing on her for a Dowry the County of Coburg The last Prince of this Line was George Ernest after whose death which hapned in the year 1583 the County of Coburg with the whole Principality of Henneberg fell into the hands of the Elector of Saxony 'T is a populous and fruitful Country 〈◊〉 bounded on the East with the Forests and Mountains of Thuringen on the South with the Bishopric of Bamberg on the West with the Diocess of Wurtzburg and on the North with the Territories annex'd to the Abbey of Fulda The Castle or Palace of Henneberg whence the Principality has its name is seated on the top of a Hill not far from the City Meiningen but has nothing in it remarkable SCHLEUSINGEN 〈◊〉 which has its name from the River Schleuss on which 't is seated is accounted the chief City in the County tho perhaps not in the Principality of Henneberg 'T is famous for a Gymnasium built here by the last Prince of Henneberg George Ernest A. D. 1577. 'T was for some time the chief Residence of the Earls and Princes of this Country many of whose monuments are still to be seen in the great Church Besides this the Towns of Romhilt Meinungen and Koningshoven challenge the name of Cities but very ill deserve that character We have already given a description of