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A70807 The English atlas Pitt, Moses, fl. 1654-1696.; Nicolson, William, 1655-1727.; Peers, Richard, 1645-1690. 1680 (1680) Wing P2306; Wing P2306A; Wing P2306B; Wing P2306C; ESTC R2546 1,041,941 640

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the name of the Dukedom of Bremen The name of this City is fetcht by some from one Luba a famous Fisherman that heretofore pitcht his Tents upon the Sea-shore in the same place where afterwards the great City of Lubec was built But this fiction is of the same stamp with the frivolous Etymologies with which some of our English Historians have furnish'd us of Britain from Brutus and London from King Lud. Others tell us that Lubec in the old Wendish tongue signifies a Crown and therefore would perswade us that this Town had its name from the preeminence which immediately after its first foundation it might justly challenge amongst the other Cities of Germany Whence Lindebergius alluding to this Etymology concludes his Elogium in the praise of Lubec with this Distich Et decus Europae lumen sit totius Ansae Et sit Vandalici pulchra Corona soli But the most probable opinion is what we have before mention'd that the name is truly High-Dutch and signifies no more than Lob-eck or ein eck des lobes a corner of Land for upon such a plot of ground 't is situate commendable for something or other in it extraordinary and notable The Polish Historians particularly J. Ludowic Decius in his History of Sigismund II. King of Poland are very zealous in asserting that this great City owes its birth to the Princes of their Country who having made themselves Masters of all this part of Germany built a Fort and in some short time after a wall'd Town in that neck of land upon which Lubec stands But the Germans as vigorously oppose this assertion affirming that Godschalck a certain King of the Vandals laid the first foundation of the Town A. D. 1040 which small beginnings were enlarg'd into the bulk of a considerable City by Crito a Prince of Rugen in the year 1104 or as others 1087. But however this is certain that it was never a City nor had any Charter confirm'd to it before it had been once utterly ruin'd and laid desolate by Ratzo Prince of Rugen in the year 1134 and rebuilt by Adolph II. Earl of Holstein A. D. 1140 who being unable to defend any part of his Territories against the victorious Duke of Saxony and Bavaria Henry II. surnam'd the Lion was forc'd to yeild up to him Lubec amongst the other conquer'd parts of his Dominions Afterwards when success and pride had swell'd Henry to that height as to make him neglect his duty and allegiance to the Emperor Frideric Barbarossa and to side with the Pope in a quarrel against him he was by the said Emperor publicly proscrib'd and devour'd by the joint forces of his neighbour Princes every one laying hold of that part of his Estates which lay next him In this confusion Lubec was besieg'd and taken by the Emperor himself but after his death restor'd to the foremention'd Duke Henry Afterwards it was conquer'd by Waldemar Duke of Sleswic and Brother to Canutus King of Denmark But not long after the Citizens finding themselves too severely treated by their Danish Lords put their City under the protection of the Emperor Frideric II. who granted them several priviledges and immunities and restor'd them to the ancient Liberties which they had enjoy'd under their first Masters Since that time Lubec has continued an Imperial City being always reckon'd one of the chief in the Empire and the Metropolis of the Hans-Towns The Bishopric of Lubec which since John Adolph Duke of Holstein was elected Bishop of that See in the year 1596 has always been in the possession of some of the younger Brothers of that House was first founded by the Emperor Otho I. at Oldenburg in Wagerland and afterwards removed hither with the permission of the Emperor Frideric I. by Henry the Lion Duke of Saxony in the year 1163. There is not any City in the Northern parts of the German Empire which at this day excels or perhaps can equalize Lubec either in beauty or uniformity of its Buildings or pleasantness of its Gardens and Groves The Streets are generally strait and even the Houses being all built with Brick and cover'd with Tyles In the year 1238 a great fire hap'ning in the City burnt down many of their Streets which at that time consisted of Houses made of Timber and cover'd with Thatch whereupon the Senators of the City made an Order that thenceforward no such Houses should be built within the walls of the Town From the public Conduit they have water convey'd by pipes into every Citizen's private House according to which pattern the Conduits in London and other great Cities in Europe were first contrived The Streets are in several places graced with rows of Linden Trees planted on each side The Churches about twenty in number are generally well built and adorn'd with high Steeples or Spires especially the Cathedral dedicate to St. Mary which is a piece of as curious Architecture as most in Germany The River Trave on which Lubec is seated about eight or ten English miles from the Sea is large and deep enough to carry the largest Vessels that sail upon the Baltic So that daily Merchant-men of the greatest bulk as well as flat bottom'd Barges are brought up to the Walls of the City which with its neighbour Hamburg is thought to maintain near six hundred Vessels in continual traffick The City is govern'd by twelve Burgo-masters who are all of them either Doctors of Civil Law or some of the grave and experienc'd Nobility of the City The Common Council is made up of half Lawyers and Nobles and the other half Merchants Their Laws will not permit any Handicrafts-man two Brothers nor Father and Son to be of this great Council of the City supposing that illiterate Mechanics can hardly have so much skill in State-affairs as will render them fit for Government and that near Relations will be apt to side with one another and not act with such unbyass'd judgments as others that are nothing akin II. WISMAR Wismar Seated in the way betwixt Lubec and Rostoc at an equal distance namely seven German or one and twenty English miles from both those Cities Cromer and Vapovius zealous assertors of the honour of their Country derive the name of this City from one Wissimir its founder who they tell us was a Polish Prince descended from their Great Duke Lechus The grounds of their story they borrow from Saxo Grammaticus and Crantzius who report that Wissimirus a Prince of the Vandals march'd with a good Army into Denmark and there slew Siward King of the Danes and at his return built Wismar Now these men imagining that Princeps Vandalicus and Vendicus signifie the same thing conclude presently that this Wissimir must certainly have been a Pole and then the greatest honour they can do him is to bring him from the Loins of Lechus Whereas granting the main part of Crantzius's story which nevertheless is undoubtedly false that Wismar was indeed built by such a Prince as
20 Zottl 22 51 00 29 10 Zottsted 22 51 10 28 20 Zottwitz 28 51 10 34 15 Zschimichen 22 50 50 29 30 Zubern 26 51 40 32 20 Zublow 10 13 53 00 32 10 Zuchou 22 50 50 29 20 Zuck 40 41 43 47 55 24 20 Zuckmante 1 24 30 50 10 34 30 Zuenicke 22 33 50 20 29 40 Zuffenhausen 45 48 35 25 50 Zug 38 46 40 24 40 Zuger See 38 46 40 24 40 Zhurstein 32 49 20 33 20 Zukleibe 23 51 40 32 00 Zulauff 24 25 51 30 34 00 Zulberg 22 50 20 29 00 Zule 0 53 30 28 10 Zullich 10 135 52 10 33 00 Zullichaw 24 25 36 52 10 32 20 Zulichendorff 10 12 52 40 30 20 Zulin 10 125 52 50 29 50 Zultenhagen 12 52 30 30 40 Zultz 24 50 20 34 00 Zumflin 22 50 30 29 30 Zumloch 38 50 20 23 20 Zumsw 42 48 15 24 ●5 Zumteich 20 51 40 28 50 Zuntzen 41 43 47 40 24 05 Zuntzentorf 41 48 40 24 05 Zuatlangenhain 19 51 10 26 40 Zur 16 52 10 25 50 Zur fl 41 48 40 24 20 Zurbach 40 48 10 24 30 Zurich 1 38 47 00 25 00 Zuricher 38 46 40 25 00 Zurlag 41 42 44 48 10 24 25 Zurlein 38 50 00 23 20 Zurlied 16 52 15 26 20 Zurmarhausen 01 48 10 27 30 Zurmulen 05 53 25 25 20 Zurzach 38 41 47 20 24 45 Zusweier 40 41 43 44 48 15 24 25 Zuten 10 12 52 00 31 00 Zutern 38 39 45 49 00 25 10 Zutphen 38 52 00 22 00 Zutzevitz 08 53 40 33 00 Zuverhusen 16 52 30 25 50 Zuyder Elbe 03 53 45 26 30 Zuyder gronden 3 4 53 45 24 00 Zuyder Zee 1 38 52 40 21 10 Zweckfrontze 27 51 35 33 40 Zwehofel 28 51 00 34 15 Zweibrucken 39 49 10 23 40 Zweidorf 16 52 15 27 10 Zweilitschinnen 38 46 00 24 00 Zwenfurt 22 51 20 29 30 Zwenick 22 50 30 29 50 Zwerbenberg 45 48 25 25 10 Zwergen 16 51 20 26 20 Zwetel 33 48 30 31 30 Zwettenicht 23 51 25 32 10 Zwetzen 15 51 00 28 20 Zweybrodt 28 51 05 34 05 Zwicka 22 33 50 30 29 10 Zwlckaw 22 50 40 29 30 Zwidel 33 48 50 30 20 Zwiebrucken 38 49 00 23 40 Zwifalten 45 48 05 26 10 Zwifalten Torst 35 48 05 26 00 Zwikowetz 33 49 50 30 40 Zwingr 40 48 00 24 25 Zwirzetitz 2 33 50 20 31 50 Zwitta 32 49 30 33 30 Zwitta fl 32 49 20 33 40 Zwole 32 49 40 33 50 Zwoleniowe 2 33 50 00 31 00 Zwoll 38 52 40 22 00 Zwyckow 2 33 50 40 31 30 Zwynge fl 04 54 00 25 40 Zypel 15 52 10 28 40 Zyra 22 50 30 29 00 Additional Subscribers since the Publishing of the first Volume of the Atlas MICHAEL Lord Arch-Bishop of ARMAGH Lord Primate and Lord Chancellor of Ireland Earl of ARRAN Eldest Son to D. Hamilton Earl of ANNANDALL in Scotland Sir Joseph Ash of Twittenham in Middlesex Richard Atkins of Newport-Pagnell Esq Sir Robert Atkins Tho. Allen M. D. and Fellow of the Colledge of Physitians London Ashburnham Esq Sir Thomas Allen of Sumirliton-Hall Suff. John Berkly Esq Robert Berkly Esq Nich. Barbon M. D. London Roger Braddyl of London Esq Sir John Brownlow Tho. Buck of Westwick Cambridge sh Esq David Bruce M. D. London Sir Will. Barkham of Norfolk Baronet Charles Cockaine Esq Son and Heir to Obrian Vicount Cullen of Righton Northampton shire Sir Charles Caesar of Benington Hartford sh Sir Robert Cotton of Hattly St. George in Bedford shire Baronet Sam. Craddock B. D. of Wickhambrook Suff. JAMES Lord Duffes of Scotland The Honourable MARGARET Danby Widdow Sir Will. Domvile his Majesties Attorney General in Ireland Duncan d ee of the Inner Temple Esq Davis M. 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Lord Bishop of Ross in Scotland Matthew Reeve Goldsmith in Bath Charles Roderick of Eaton Charles Rogers Esq Gentleman-Usher to her Majesty Jo. Speccott Esq of Penble Cornwal Jo. Stronge of Trinity Coll. Cambridge Jo. Staindbrook of Westminster Will. Stokeham M. D. London Stephens Fellow of Exeter Coll. Oxon. Sir Tho. Spencer of Yarnton Bar. Oxfordsh Sir Edward Smith of Hill-Hall Bar. Essex Sir Bryon Stapleton of Milton Bar. Yorkshire Ralph Stowell of Lawham Esq Somersetshire Tho. Sampson Citizen of London James Scott Esq in Bristol Scotland Will. Strickland Esq of Exon. Coll. Oxon. Sir Jo. Topham one of the Masters in Chancery in Ireland Sigismund Trafford of Lincolnshire Esq Trinity Coll. in Dublin Ireland Charles Toriano of London Merchant Sir Edward Villiers Peter Vande-Putt Merchant in London Usher Esq of Ireland HENEAGE Earl of Winchelsea OTHER Windesser Esq Philip Ward Esq Sir George Walker of Bushy-Hall Harfordsh Savil Whittle Chyrurgion to his Majesty Waterhouse M. D. of Exon. Devonsh Will. Warder of Westminster Esq Rob. Warden of Chester Esq Dean and Chapter of Worcester Charles Willoughby M. D. of Dublin in Ireland Edw. Wright of Scotland Esq JOHN Lord Yester of Scotland Benj. Young Minister of Enfield Middlesex Books Printed at the Theatre in Oxford since the Publishing of the first Volume of the Atlas And are to be sold by Moses Pitt at the Angel in St. Paul's Church-Yard London A Short View of the late Troubles in England briefly setting forth their Rise Growth and Tragical Conclusion As also some Parallel thereof with the Barons Wars in the time of King Henry the Third But chiefly with that in France called the Holy League in the Reign of Henry the Third and Henry the Fourth late Kings of that Realm To which is added a Narrative of the Treaties at Uxbridge An. 1644 by Sir Will. Dugdale Garter King at Arms fol. price bound 16 s. The Book of Common-Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church according to the Use of the Church of England with the Psalter or Psalms of David in folio of a large Roman Letter both upon ordinary and fine Paper Plantarum Historiae Universalis Oxoniensis Pars secunda seu Herbarum distributio nova per Tabulas cognationis affinitatis ex Libro Naturae observata detecta Authore Roberto Morison Med. D. Professore Botanico Regio folio Lactantius de mortibus persecutorum liber accesserunt S. S. Perpetuae Felicitatis S Maximiliani S. Felicis Of the Unity of the Church a Discourse written 1430 years since in the time of Decius the persecuting Emperour By Cyprian Bishop of Carthage and Martyr most useful for allaying the present Heats and reconciling the Differences among us quarto price 6. d. Directions for the Book-binder to place the Maps of this second Volume of the English Atlas 1 GErmania pag. 1 2 Albis Fluvius Generalis pag. 4 3 Circa Hamburgensis pag. 4 4 Saxonia Inferior pag. 53 5 Bremensis Ducatus pag. 56 6 Lunenburgensis Ducatus pag. 64 7 Mecklenburg Ducatus pag. 69 8 Pomerania pag. 76 9 Rugia Insula pag. 81 10 Marchia Brandenburgensis pag. 85 11 Vetus vulgo Altmarck pag. 88 89 12 Mittle Marck pag. 88 89 13 Nova vulgo Newmarck pag. 90 14 Anhalt Principatus Magdeburg Ep. 92 15 Brunsvicensis pag. 96 16 Luneburgensis pag. 101. 17 Hildesheimensis pag. 105. 18 Halberstadiensis pag. 107. 19 Turingia pag. 109. 20 Mansfeldiae Comitatus pag. 111. 21 Saxonia superior pag. 113 22 Misnia Voitlandia pag. 115. 23 Lusatia pag. 119. 24 Silesia Ducatus pag. 121 25 Inferior pag. 121 26 Gloganus Ducatus pag. 124 27 Volaviensis Ducatus pag. 124 28 Breslaviensis Ducatus pag. 125 29 Lignicensis pag. 125 30 Grotganus pag. 126 31 Glatz Comitatus pag. 127 32 Moravia pag. 129 33 Bohemia pag. 133 34 Franconia pag. 137 35 Terriorium Francofurtense pag. 139 36 Henneburgensis Ducatus pag. 140 141 37 Werthemiensis Comit. pag. 140 141 38 River Rhein pag. 4 39 Palatinatus Rheni pag. 4 40 Badensis Marchionatus pag. 145 41 Alsatia pag. 148 42 Upper Alsatia pag. 148 43 Lower Alsatia pag. 148 44 Strasburg pag. 149 45 Wertenburgensis Ducatus pag. 150
is T were situate on the River Twertza which falls into the Volga near this Town This is a large Town and hath in it about sixty Churches the chiefest that of our Saviour Upon the same River is placed Torsoch Tersack or Torsiock a large Town also The Province is rich both in Corn and Merchandise very populous also being ready to furnish their Prince with forty thousand good Horse and twice as many foot Here is also a Mint and a Bishops See Near to these is Plescow 〈…〉 which the Russes call Pscow the chief City hath a strong Castle situate upon a Rock whence springs the River Pskow which after six leagues dischargeth it self into the Lake of Peipis which Herberstein calls Czuezko or Czudzin It was govern'd by its own Princes till Ivan Vasilowitz 1509 united it to his Crown The Citizens till then were famous for their valour civility and honest dealing in their trade but the Grand Duke transported them and put Muscovites in their stead It is one of the strongest wall'd Cities in all Russia 't is of so great extent that when besieged by Stephen King of Poland there were said to be in it seventy thousand foot and seven thousand horse besides the inhabitants in garison Were it not for one ledg of Rocks the Navigation from hence to the Baltic Sea would be very convenient and easie There were in this Province divers places of strength which gave the Grand Tzar Vasilie great trouble to reduce them to his command South and by West of this Province of Novogorod that we dispatch all these Territories that ly together lies the great City of Smolensko Smolensko belonging anciently to Litvania recover'd to that Province by Vitold their Duke in 1413. Basilius the Grand Tzar made several attempts to recover it but in vain till his beloved General Michael Glinski a valiant Polish General that ran over to the Russes recover'd it more easily with his money then he could with his arms The Poles have endeavour'd several times to recover this City and in one battel near unto it slew eighty thousand Russes but could not reduce the City till Sigismund King of Poland took it in 1611 and in 1633 Michael Federowitz besieged it in vain yet his son Alexie Michaelowitz had it surrendred to him by composition in 1654 and the Russes still keep it The River Nieper commonly thought to be Boristhenes tho Beresine comes nearer that name runs thro it The City is very well fortified both with good walls well palisado'd and as they say above ten yards high and also with a very strong Castle upon the bank of the River To this jurisdiction belong Drohobus Wyesma and Mozaizko where the Emperor commonly once a year diverts himself and the Ambassadors in hunting This Mozaisko hath many times a Governour of its own and a Territory belonging to it The Town was taken from Alexander King of Poland by the Grand Tzar Ivan predecessor of Vasilie and the Grand Duke often repairs thither in devotion to St. Nicolas the great Saint of the Russes who is said to be buried in the Chappel of the Castle There remains one Province or Dukedom 〈…〉 which anciently belonged to Litvania the South-West border of Muscovy called Sewera Severia Siberia Which hath given occasion to some to confound it with that Province which the Russes call Sibior upon the River Ob. This is a large and fruitful Principality reaching from the Dnieper to the Castle of Mscenek which is now demolished This Country had at first Dukes of its own afterwards it acknowledg'd the superiority of the Dukes of Litvania together with which Jagello becoming Christian it submitted to the Kings of Poland afterwards they fell from Casimire unto the Grand Tzar at length in the Reign of Vasilie father of Ivan Vasilowich the Duke was accused of treason and lost his Principality which was united to the Crown of Muscovy The chief City Novogrod Siviersky and sometimes residence of the Dukes is called Novogrod Siviersky a City and Castle well fortified after the manner of Russia from whence to the City Moskow is an hundred and fifty leagues the way lies thro Bransko Serensko Worotin a small Principality the City Worotin is upon the River Occa and Coluga a Town also upon the Occa and dependant upon the Abbey of Troitza Other great Towns in this Province are Starodub Posiwol Czernigow Kilski Krom Arol and Osippow They that from hence travel towards Tartary pass the Rivers Sna Samara Ariel Koinschwada and Molosca They pass the Rivers on branches of trees fasten'd together instead of Boats This Country by reason of its neighbourhood to the Tartars upon whom it borders toward the East is much of it Desert and Forrest for want of culture but those few inhabitants there are are very warlike being kept in continual exercise by the Tartars Thus much for the Western parts of this Empire let us proceed to those that ly in the in-land Country 〈…〉 South of Vologda North of Jeroslaw lies the Town and Castle of Castrom upon a River of the same name which looses it self in the Volga And East of Castrom is the little Town of Galitz near the Lake Galitz here the Grand Tzar hath a manufacture of Salt Jaroslaw Jaroslaw fifty leagues North of Moskow a Province rich in Corn Cattel and Honey The City lies upon the Volga containing about forty thousand inhabitants strongly fortified and of a great trade as having a very easie passage to Archangel They make here much Linnen Cloth This used formerly to be the Title and subsistence of the younger Sons of the Emperors family till Ivan Vasilowich took it from them to himself 1565. Yet he permitted some of them to keep the Title being till of late called Knest Jaroslawski Of the same condition and propriety is Rostow 〈◊〉 the City is twelve leagues South of Jeroslaw upon a Lake of the same name Ivan Vasilowich put to death the last Heir to this Province of the family of the Grand Tzar 〈◊〉 In this Province is Vglitz a Town famous for its bread Chlopigrod was a great Mart for all the Northern Nations yet more bartering than buying and selling 〈◊〉 because of the River Mologa by which it communicateth with Weliki Novogrod It is now ruined The name signifies the Castle of Slaves for they say that when their Masters had subdued their Slaves with their Whips the Slaves retired hither Susdal is between Rostow and Wolodomir Susdal The City is famous for a stately Monastery of Nuns whither Ivan Vasilowitz confined his Wife and it was formerly the Metropolis of Russia This Province also belonged to the younger Sons of the Emperor and since ruin'd by the Tartars ann it hath never recover'd it self Castrom and Galitz belonged formerly to this Government Pereaslaw belonged formerly to Rostow Pereaslaw famous now for its salt Lake and fruitful Soil At the end of harvest the Grand Tzar
The second for businesses of war The third for the demeasne and revenue of the Prince The fourth for trade and merchandise The fifth for determination of civil causes amongst themselves The sixth for criminal matters Every Council hath its President Counsellors Secretaries c. who write all things at large in rolls after the ancient manner sometimes thirty or forty ells long whereof they have vast quantities orderly laid up in their respective offices To these also are referred all the affairs of the whole Nation every Province being assign'd to one of these to send their appeals make their relations receive orders and the like Every Council knowing the Provinces that belong to it and the Province knowing its own Council and office where to make their applications In their judgments they give sentence according to witnesses if there be any if none they give liberty for trial by combat wherein it is lawful for the Appellant or the Apellee to substitute another in his stead Sometimes they put them to the question or torment wherein they are very ingeniously cruel sometimes also to their oath tho no man be compelled to swear but if any voluntarily offers it it is commonly accepted and solemnly performed in the Church by kissing a cross But he that swears in this manner twice or thrice becomes infamous he is prohibited entrance into the Church nor will persons of condition willingly converse with him For there being amongst them no more abhorr'd crime then false-swearing they startle at every solemn oath tho in their conversation they are not scrupulous of swearing They refer also some doubtful matters to lots of which see a story in Hackluit p. 309. Their usual punishments are severe Their Punishments A robber is broke upon the wheel A sacrilegious person impaled A traitor and a servant that murthers his master beheaded An Adulterer compoundeth with the abused husband and besides is whipped from the Court to the house of the Adulteress and she if her husband pleases is repudiated and put into a Monastery and himself after six weeks hath liberty to marry another But none suffer more severity then those that are in debt who are kept prisoners till a day appointed when they engage to pay if they keep not their day and be able to pay they are every day brought into the Court and there beaten for an hour together upon their shins and the calves of their legs and back to prison at night and so till the debt be paid But if they be unable to pay it they are made slaves to the creditor The chief Officers of State and the Court for secular businesses under the Emperor are much-what the same as in all other Monarchies Officers of State The Chancellor who is also the chief Secretary and to him belongs and he presides in the office of Ambassadors his charge also is to present petitions to the Tzar and to return his answer which he doth in the Princes own words The Treasurer that looks to and takes account of all the revenue The Constable who looks after the soldiery The Master of the Horse who besides the Prince's horses minds also the Guards their discipline and quartering The Ocolnick or Chief Justice whom they call the Great Counsellor always present with the Princes person under whom is the Neddesnick who commands all the Serjeants Prisons c. And divers of these are sometimes bestowed upon the same person Ilias Danielowitz Miloslawsky was Generalissimo an employment very befitting him for he was a man of great courage and strength both of body and mind he had such a vast memory that he knew all the Commission-officers of an Army of eighty thousand what their abilities and where their quarters He was also Treasurer and had divers offices besides Afanase Nashockin succeeded him in his Princes favour and was Chancellor Treasurer Lord of Russia minor and had several other employments a man not corrupted by bribes very sober and abstemious indefatigable in business and who seriously set about a reformation of the evil customs of his country But such a vast dominion as Russia cannot be governed without very many Magistrates Inferior Magistrates and such indeed there are There is a Court or Council for the government of Moskow who have many officers under them In all the great frontier Cities are Weywods or Governors of great quality and experience and in every City two if not three besides the officers of Justice c. In lesser Cities are also Governors but of lesser quality whom the Grand Tzar appoints by delivering them a staff which at their return they restore him again and this is the ensign of their power Besides these there are divers other Magistrates as the Gubnoy-starust which is like an Alderman or Mayor of a Town Sotskoy-starust like a Baily of an Hundred And divers others who can judg in small cases and from whom there ly appeals a great catalogue of them is in Olearius an 1636. But Afanase Nasbockin had a design that to save the subjects trouble and the Princes charge the Governors should in many cases and even in some capital matters have power of judging without appeal and executing also their judgments One thing seems very faulty in their government that having so many Magistrates salaried by the Prince their stipends must necessarily be very small and inconsiderable yet are they by these to make their fortunes and many of them to receive rewards of former services and expences Consequently they must oppress the people and so much the more as will not only satisfie themselves but also buy their peace and impunity at their return from their employment Thus much for their government The revenues of the Emperor let us see what means there is to maintain it the Emperors revenues I mean which are very great and arise thus 1. There is the office of the Steward which receives all the Emperors revenue of his inheritance or Crown-lands which contain thirty-six Towns with their territories whereof some pay their rents in money others in corn or other provision This provision for the Emperors houshold is more then is spent and the surplus is sold by the Steward and the money brought into the Treasury which according to the bounty and hospitality of the Emperor is more or less In Ivan Vasilowich's time it was accounted 60000 Rubbles per ann but in his sons time 230000. And this commonly is employed in paying the wages of his houshold-servants 2. The office that receiveth the Tagla and Podat Tagla is an imposition upon every measure of grain that groweth in the Kingdom the Podat is a tax of money upon every Town and Precinct bringeth in communibus annis about 400000 Rubbles 3. The Court of the great income bulsha precod receiveth all the customs upon commodities in all the principal Towns and this is farmed out to the respective places and is therefore as trading riseth and falleth sometimes more sometimes less
Gustavus X. ann 1655 and by this present King Charles XI in 1663 publickly ratified and subscrib'd to and ever since by him maintain'd so that Lutheranism may seem to have taken deepest root in this Kingdom The Clergy of Sweden is had in great honour and reputation 〈◊〉 And tho the revenues belonging to the Church are since the Reformation very much impaired Gustavus I. annexing as 't is said to the Crown at one time 7500 Farms and Ecclesiastical Livings yet the respect due to their Ministers does not seem to be much abated Their Archbishop always performs the Religious Solemnities at the Kings Coronation and with as many Bishops as the King pleases to chuse is admitted Privy-Counsellor to his Majesty He is reckon'd the chief person in the Kingdom next to the King himself and accordingly takes place of all Temporal Lords and anciently when it was granted to a Knight or Lay-Privy-Counsellor to have only twelve and a Senator eight it was order'd that he might have forty and a Bishop thirty Horses in their Retinue He has under him seven Suffragans viz. the Bishops of Lyncopen Scare Stergnes Westeras Wexio Aboa and Riga And divers Superintendents who have Episcopal Jurisdiction viz. of Calmare Gottenburgh Marienstadt Revel c. All which make up an Ecclesiastical College call'd the supreme Consistory of the Kingdom wherein the Archbishop always presides The Clergy of this Nation says Loccenius according to the manner of the Eastern Churches us'd to marry till Pope Innocent IV. by a Council held at Sceningia a City of Ostro-Gothia ann 1248 forbad marriage to Priests and caus'd those that had wives to put them away What concerns their Religion or their Church-Government being the same with that of the Lutherans must be elsewhere more largely treated of The King is the absolute Soveraign in Ecclesiastical matters which he determines not without the advice of his Archbishop and Bishops He names all the Bishops and by his power are summon'd all Ecclesiastical Assemblies Authors make a difference betwixt their Bishops and Superintendents but it is not considerable both equally depending upon the Archbishop but the Superintendents have not in all things equal power with the Bishops 5. The fifth and last City of Vpland is Stockholm Stockholme lying in 42 degrees of Longitude and of Latitude 58 ten minutes A Town of great Trade the present seat of the Kings of Sweden and the Metropolis of the whole Kingdom Situate it is in an Island on the side of the Lake Meller encompassed on all sides especially that toward the sea with high rugged Rocks called Scheren which hinder the prospect of the City but very much secure the Haven which is very large and of dangerous entrance though these Rocks are a defence to the Town yet by reason of them it is sometime set upon by an enemy unawares as it was by Sigismund King of Poland Anno 1594. It is said to have been founded by King Birgerus Anno 1261 and from the great quantity of wood used in the building of it called Stockholme Stock signifying wood and Holme an Island But Anno 1552 a fire happening in the City and by reason of the wooden buildings burning down a great part of it it was by publick command rebuilt part of stone part of brick part also upon Piles so that the sea flowes under the houses In it are several large well-built bridges only two gates opening to the South and North. Publick Inns or Lodging-houses here are none but strangers take up their quarters with some of the Burghers entertainment handsome and charges not great An. 1407 it was consumed by Lightning and some thousands of people destroyed by the fire In 1529 King Gustavus the first called several principal Burghers and Merchants out of other Cities to inhabit this most of the inhabitants being driven hence by the tyranny of Christiern II. King of Denmark There are in it eight Churches in all one of which is supplied by a Finlandish another by a German Minister who constantly preach in their own language In the Cittadel is the Kings Palace handsomely built some part eight or nine stories high yet of great strength and security within it is a large and magnificent Church built by King John erected upon Marble pillars and rooft with Copper with a private Chappel for the King very large also having forty windows on each side where at the high Altar is said to be a massy Silver Image of our Saviour crucified in full proportion This City has been very often besieg'd ann 1434 by the people of Sweden who rebelled upon account of Foreign Officers employed in the affairs of the Kingdom contrary to the Laws of the Land ' By King John 1481 1522 by Gustavus I. and at other times the enemy always taking advantage of a hill called Bruncaberge so near that from it they can batter the Cittadel The Arms of this City are the Head of Saint Ericus Crown'd Or taken by the agreement of the States in remembrance of that Kings Virtue and Piety and those of the Kingdom are three Crowns Or in a Field Azure given for the same reason This being the Metropolis and lying so conveniently is the greatest place of trade in the whole Nation from whence are exported Copper Iron Steel Lead Deal-board and very many Manufactures made of those materials Copper especially whereof this Kingdom supplies the necessities almost of the whole world This City is govern'd by four chief Magistrates or Consuls who are elected out of the Burghers and enjoy the dignity for their life Their Office is to give Laws and decide controversies arising 'twixt one Citizen and another if of lesser concern but if of great moment they always have the assistance of the Lieutenant of the Castle who is President of the Court for that time and either puts an end to the case or transmits it to the Kings Council They perform this office by turns two having precedence and supplying it one and the other two the next year When any extraordinary affairs happen they may have the assistance of some of the principal Citizens who take upon them particular businesses as the care of Buildings the decision of some private action promulgation of Laws c. Besides these there are twelve Senators or Aldermen chosen out of the Body of the City who have the office likewise for their lives Out of these four are elected to be Assessors to the Consuls and in all cases and differences arising to assist them In this City commonly reside a great number of Foreigners Germans and Finlanders especially who as all others of the Lutheran perswasion are allow'd free exercise of their Religion which is not granted to any of the Roman Communion The soil of the Country hereabouts Soil as in most parts of Sweden is generally fruitful affording store of Corn as Wheat Rye Barley Oats c. and pasturage and in some places no small quantity of Wood. In the
appeal but only to the King who may pardon the crime or mitigate the punishment as he pleases Under this for dispatch of business are two other Courts one for Civil and one for Criminal matters of inferiour concernment 2. The Court Marshal in which all matters relating to War are decided The Grand Marshal of the Army is always President having two Assessours Senatours of the Kingdom or publick Officers all men of the sword with the Master of the Camp Master of the Artillery and Captain General of the Kings Guards 3. The Court of Chancery for the decision of all cases Civil or Ecclesiastical 〈…〉 here the Chancellour of the Kingdom presides with four Senators Assessors and the two Secretaries of State here all Mandates Edicts Commissions c. are made in the Kings name all Decrees of Senate and Constitutions of the Kingdom registred and in a word cognizance taken of all complaints and Cases 'twixt one Subject and another whether relating to the Church or State which are brought hither by Appeal from some Inferiour Courts 4. 〈◊〉 The Court of Admiralty for the inspection and determining all business relating to the Navy or Sea affairs here the High Admiral presides four Senators four Vice Admirals and several Captains Assessours 5. The Court of the Kings Exchequer in which all business relating to the Kings Revenues or wherein the Crown is any way concerned are examined and decided here the Grand Treasurer is Judge who has four Assessours two Senators and two Noblemen Besides these there are other Inferiour Tribunals Inferiour Tribunals instituted at first by Gustavus Adolphus in the years 1614 and 1615 in some of the most principal Cities of the Kingdom 1. At Stockholme where the Drotset presides with sixteen Assessours four Senators six Knights and six Lawyers 2. At Junecopia in Gothland where the President is a Senator of the Kingdom six Nobles and as many Lawyers Assessours 3. At Aboa in Finland where a Senator is President six Nobles and six Lawyers Assessours 4. At Dorpat in Livonia a Senator President and twelve Assessours two other also were by him appointed one at Wismar in Pomeren and another at Rugen in the Dukedom of Breme but all proceedings there by reason of the wars 'twixt this Crown and the neighbouring Princes are quite stopt and the four former at present only made use of In the Cities of lesser note Justice is executed in this manner the first hearing is before an Inferiour Magistrate called Cammene Rat the second before the Consuls and Senate of the Town which are always four in number each having his particular charge the third if the case be of importance before one of the supream Tribunals where upon the first hearing the Judg or President of the Court is bound to determine the case or else to give under his hand that it is very intricate and requires longer time or a higher Court for its determination or else he with the twelve Assessours are to be fined each three Marks apiece Over and above all these Courts The Senate of the Kingdom and as it were a Compound of them all is the Senate of the Kingdom held anciently only for the election of their Kings and consisting of the Governours of the Provinces but at present made up of more members and summon'd for the same reasons and in the same manner as the Parliament in England In it there are two Persons elected out of every Consistory and one Rector of a Country Parish out of every District one Colonel with other Lievtenants and Majors out of every City one Consul one Senator or some other principal Citizen and out of every Territory one Inhabitant every different order of these have a distinct house to sit in and for every house a Chair-man or Speaker For the Nobility the grand Marshal for the Clergy the Arch-bishop for the Burgesses of Cities one of the Consuls of Stockholme or the Master of the Artillerie and for those of the Country some one elected out of their own Body When they have finisht their Deliberation severally they confer all the Houses together and having agreed upon a form present their resolves to the King if he is pleased with them and thinks fit to pass them into Acts he with the Members of the Parliament subscribe and seal them the Records of which the Marshal of the States an Officer appointed for that purpose puts into the Chancery causes them to be promulgated and then quits his Charge and his Staff the mark of his Dignity The Laws used in Sweden The Laws as well as those of Ostro and Westro-Gothia are very ancient every Province having formerly had says Loccenius particular Constitutions by which it was governed the Plantiff and Defendant using to plead their own Causes or to give the management of them to some of their Kindred never taking the assistance of any Advocate or Proctour contrary to their present practice In cases dubious it was in use here as in most parts of Europe to refer the determination of them to the trial either of Fire Ordeal sufficiently known to most men used at first in this Country by Olaus Scotkonung about the year 986 and quite abrogated by Bergerus Jerls about 300 years ago or of scalding water or of bringing the suspected Person in cases of murder to the dead body which if upon his approach begun to bleed they judged him to be the murtherer or of Duel call'd Wehiding i. e. consecration This manner of Tryal was first allowed say some by Frotho King of Denmarck whence being brought into Sweden and for sometime prevailing it was first of all by Gustavus the Great under great penalties forbid but not absolutely extirpated till the time of this present King A. 1662 when its punishment was made arbitrary At present if a Legifer be to be elected it is done by the Bishop who gives notice thereof in the Court eight weeks before the electionday and the people of the Territory who return three sufficient persons to the King and he chuses one of them If a President the Legifer and the people of the District chuse him Who takes an Oath to administer Justice impartially amongst them and can be Judg in one only District at the same time When a Plantiff commences an Action against the Defendant he with two able House-keepers goes to his house and summons him to the Court if he appear the first second or third Court day 't is well if not he loses the Action and distress is made upon his Goods In cases of Murder Adultery c. punishable by death if the guilty persons flie Bud kaffla or Hue and Cry is sent out after them which is to go through the whole Precinct and to be continued from one place to another by the delivery of a Staff the sign of authority A Woman convicted of adultery by six Witnesses loses her Dowry her Estate and if her husband pleases her life too
forty German miles from Pleskow and as many from Novogardia 2. Nieslot or Neuschlos i. e. new Fort not far from the Lake Peipus upon the River Narva 2. Viria Wiria or Wilandia Viria which has Alentakia on the East Harria on the West the Finnic Bay on the North and Jervia on the South Places remarkable in it are 1. Wesenberg not far from the River Weissenaa which A. D. 1581 was taken by the Swedes from the Muscovite 2. Tolsburg twelve miles distant from Wesenberg 3. Borcholm 3. Harria or Harrenland 〈◊〉 bounded on the South with Wicia on the East with Viria and on the North and West with the Finnic Bay In this division is Revalia the Metropolis of Liefland a little but handsom pleasant and well fortified City lying in 59 deg 30 min. of Longitude In the year 1374 it was sold to the great Master of Livonia In 1561 being in danger to fall into the hands of the Muscovite it committed it self to the protection of the Kings of Sweden and has ever since been subject to them Here was anciently a Bishops See but since Lutheranism spred it self into these parts that Title is here discontinued and all Ecclesiastical affairs manag'd by Superintendents For the promoting of Learning and good Education this City has one publick Gymnasium wherein Professors and Tutors are maintain'd to read and teach Humanity and all the Liberal Arts. The chief Church is dedicated to St. Olaus Not far from this place is the Monastery of St. Bridget seated upon the Finnic coast and the Fort Pades or Badis lying upon the River Assa 4. Vikia Wicia or Wikke which has in it these three places of note 1. Habsalia Habsel lying upon the Bothnic Bay formerly viz. in the time of Frideric II. King of Denmark in the possession of the Danes afterwards A. D. 1575 taken by the Muscovite and in the year 1581 gain'd by John III. King of Sweden 2. Lode 3. Leal 4. Wickel or Wyck all Forts of good strength and consideration 5. Jervia which lyes landward almost in the middle of the other Districts It contains Wittenstein Oberpalen and Lau or Lais places of moment II. Odepoa bounded on the East with the Lake Peipus on the North with Embeck and the Rivers Fela and Pernavia on the West with the great Bay of Livonia and on the South with Lettia In it are these places of note viz. 1. Derpat Derbat Dorpat or as the Russes call it Juriogoord a large City built most of Stone and Brick and secured by strong Stone-walls where was formerly a Bishops seat It was heretofore under the Tzar of Muscovy A. D. 1230. Under the Poles A. D. 1582. Afterwards taken from them by Charles Duke of Sudermannia But by them regain'd A. D. 1603. In the year 1625 when Gustavus Adolphus sent Forces into Livonia under the command of Jacobus de la Gardie this City was gain'd to the Swedish Crown and ever since remains as a part of its possessions Here by reason of the great abundance of all sorts of commodities of life and the healthfulness of the air Gustavus Adolphus ann 1632 at the desire of one John Skytte Baron in Ouderof who had sometime been Tutor to that King instituted an University and appointed and stipended one Rector and several Professors for Theology History Mathematicks c. 2. Warbek upon the mouth of the River Embeck 3. Kanneleks 4. The Fort Ringen 5. Odepoa a small Town whence the whole District has its name 6. Nienhausen a strong Fort upon the borders of Muscovy 7. Marienburg another Fort not far from the Lake Peipus 8. Tarnest a place anciently of good importance but being in the hands of the Muscovites it was besieged by the Polander and at last by them taken and when they quitted it so demolished that tho the Swedes have spent some charges in repairing it it has not at present attain'd its ancient strength and splendor 9. Felinum Fellin fifteen German miles from 10. Parnavia Parnow upon a River of the same name a Town of great trade for all commodities Corn especially first of all added to the Swedish dominions by Ericus XIV King of Sweden an 1562 Afterwards taken by the Poles and regain'd from them an 1617. 11. Sales or Lemsael with some other less remarkable Towns and Forts III. Lettia bounded on the East with part of Muscovy on the West with the Livonian Bay on the North with Odepoa and on the South with the River Dwina It s chief City is 1. Riga an Arch-Bishops See lying in 48 deg of Longitude and 57 deg 30 min. of Latitude upon the Dwina at its entrance into the Bothnic Bay It is defended with a strong Wall Bulwarks Towers an extraordinary large Trench and three rows of great Guns which were put in good order and readiness chiefly by the care of Gustavus Adolphus King of Sweden Here is a noted Harbour for Ships much frequented by Merchants from Germany Holland England c. who come hither in the summer-time and are laden with Hemp Flax Wax Pitch Tar with Planks also and Wood ready hew'n for building Ships with skins of all sorts as of Bears Elks Foxes c. and Furs of Castors Sables Martrons Ermins c. all which are brought to this City out of Muscovy and Poland in the winter-time over the ice and snow upon sledds and made ready for sale against the time when the Merchants usually arrive The Citizens commonly speak either Swedish German Curlandish or Livonian and have their Divine Service which is reform'd according to the Augustan Confession always celebrated in some one of those languages In the year 1581 this City was taken by Stephen King of Poland from the Emperor and by his successor Sigismund III. endow'd with many notable priviledges and immunities and by him kept in possession till 1605 at what time Gustavus Adolphus Prince of Sweden brought an Army into Livonia and after six weeks close siege had it surrender'd up to him since which time it has always been under the Swedish power 2. Dunamund i. e. the mouth of the Duna or Dwina so call'd from its situation being plac'd upon the Dwina two miles from Riga at its very entrance into the Livonian Bay It is a Fort of great importance commanding the whole River so that without leave had from the Governour here no Ship can pass into or come out of the Harbour of Riga And because the Dwina at this place breaking forcibly into the Sea and often in the spring-time especially bringing huge flakes of ice along with it very much alters the Channel and thereby makes the passage into the River very dangerous there are waiting here a sort of experienc'd Guides call'd Pilosen or Pilots who for small wages conduct all strangers along the safe way either up to Riga or back again into the Baltic 3. Kakenhusen Kockehaus a strong Fort where was anciently the residence of the Archbishop of Riga 4. Ascherad with many lesser Towns
of the greatest concourse of people who flock hither for justice in all causes Civil and Criminal It was formerly called Cimmersbeg as being the chief City of the ancient Cimbrians Tacitus calls it Civitatem parvam but withall that it had been a glorious and strong hold and the Metropolis of a terrible and warlike Nation Whence and when it got the name Wiberg is not easily determined Some tell us that after the many petty Principalities of the Cimbrians were united into one Monarchy by Wiglet this City lost its ancient name and was called after the Prince Wigburg corrupted by degrees into Wiberg Elnot in the life of St. Canutus says it had its new name from Wig an Idol worshipp'd in this place I rather think it the seat of the Danish Pyrats called formerly Wigs or Wikenger For it was the custom in the Northern Countries where the inhabitants were more then the fruits of the Land could sustain for young Noblemen to live of what they could catch abroad As the Lacedemonians thought Robbery so these fancied Pyracy lawful and glorious Whence Princes of the blood would often turn Pyrats and take upon them the title of Kings tho they had not the least dominion at land as the Norwegian History reports of St. Olaus The most notorious Pyrats mention'd by the Northern Historians are the Jomswikinger who dwelt in the City Wollin called anciently Jomsberg where they had established certain Laws and were subject to Magistrates and Governors chosen out of the Royal Family Cambden tells us that the Danes are usually understood by the name Viccingi in the Latin writers of our English History because says he they were professed Pyrats In our Learned King Aelfred's translation of Bede's Ecclesiastical History Pyrats are called Wicengas and Wicings and Mr. Cambden guesses probably that the inhabitants of Glocestershire Worcestershire c. were formerly called Wiccii from the Sea-robberies committed daily by them upon the mouth of the Severn The English-Saxons named a stout warriour Wiga skill in war Wig-chaept a fort Wighus c. In the old Francic History of the life of St. Anno Arch-Bishop of Cologne we read Ninus hiz der eristi mann De dir ie volc Wigis began i. e. Ninus is the first that ever made war And in Willeramus's Paraphrase upon the Canticles Wighuis is a Castle Wiigfimme the art of Combat c. Nial's Runic History says Gunnar var alra manna best Viigur deira sem de voru a Islande i.e. Gunnar was the best Champion that lived in Island in his days From what has been said it seems very probable that Wiberg signifies no more then Wigton the name of several great Towns in England and Scotland and the Scots still retain so much of the old Saxon word Wig as to call souldiers and pillagers of the Country Wigs or Wiganeers There has been for some years a quarrel between the Bishops of Alburg and Wiburg about precedency each pretending his Bishopric the more ancient 'T is very hard if not impossible to decide the controversie except we date the first institution of the Bishoprick of Alburg from the removal of the Bishops Palace to that City For the Bishopricks of Wiburg and Borlum were both founded in one year by Sueno Esthrith who made Heribert Bishop of Wiburg the same time that he gave Borlum to Magnus Witfield gives Wiburg the precedency but Alburg is reckon'd the better and more honourable preferment by other Danish writers From the high Court of Judicature holden at Wiburg the Jutlanders can make no appeal save to the King himself The most memorable Bays in this Diocess are Sallingsundt Virckesundt Hualpsundt Sebersundt and Othesundt The last of which had its name from the Emperor Otho the first who making an incursion into Jutland about the year 948 came as far as this Bay into which he is said to have cast his Spear and given it the name it retains to this day The most considerable and fruitful part of this Diocess is Salling a Peninsula in the Limfiord whence are brought the best Horses that are to be met with in the King of Denmark's Dominions The name of this Province seems to point out the seat of the old Sabalingi whom Ptolomey makes a people inhabiting some part of the Cimbrian Chersonese but more Southerly then Salling The chief River in the Bishoprick of Wiburg is Gudius Gutalus or Guddenus called by the Natives Gudden Aa and stored with plenty of Fish Arhuse is a neat and pleasant Sea-port Town on the coast of the Baltic Sea Arhusen whence Etymologists derive its name from Aar-hus i. e. the house of Oars Which is a much more probable conjecture then is brought by Pontanus who fetches the word Arhusen from Ptolomy's Harudes The greatest part of the Danish Historians are of opinion that it was first made a Bishops See about the year 1014. Tho if it be true that Poppo was made Bishop of this Diocess its original must be fetcht as high as the year 992. The Cathedral at Arhuse is a neat piece of Architecture adorned with several rich monuments of Bishops Noblemen c. The Bishops Palace has lain many years in its ruins which still retain marks of its antient splendour and grandeur It is seated in the heart of Jutland and furnished with all manner of necessaries that the Country affords at a very reasonable rate and what forreign Commodities either the need or luxury of its Citizens call for are brought daily in by the Mariners In this Diocess there are thirty one Judicatures Seven Cities three hundred and four Parishes and five Forts the strongest of which is Schanderborch or Schonderborch i.e. the neat Castle seated on the Gudden The rest of the Cities of note in the Bishopprick of Arhusen are 1. Horsen on the South of Arhusen 2. Randruse a place famous for the best Salmon in Jutland 3. Ebeltod on the Baltic Coast a Town of considerable trade The Bishoprick of Ripen Ripen bordering on the Southern Jutland contains in it seven Cities two hundred eighty two Parishes ten Castles and an hundred Noblemens houses It is seated upon the clear and sweet river Nipsaa which parting it self into three streams divides the Town into as many parts and gave occasion to the City's Arms which are three Lions Here abouts Ptolomy seems to place his Cimbros phundusios That this City should have its name from the Latin word Ripa upon its being situate on the banks of the river is no great wonder if we consider that whilst the Natives of these parts busied themselves chiefly in fortifying and peopling their great Ciities 't was ordinary for the Germans Romans and other Foreigners to give names to small Villages upon the Sea-Coasts which after a revolution of some years by the advantage of a brisk Sea-Trade grew bulky and were often advanced into large Corporations The Cathedral is a stately Fabrick of hewen stone beautified with a Tower of an incredible height which
took Sleswic destroyed the Church rooting out Christianity and replanting Paganism This relapse is sufficiently confirm'd by the many Runic monuments found daily in and about this City whose inscriptions shew them to be Heathenish reliques tho of too late a date to have been erected before the first appearance of Christianity in these parts But the Slavonians kept not long footing here For within a short while the Danes weary of the tyranny and Idolaty of strangers forced them to quit their Conquets and retire Whereupon paganism was once more rooted out Christianity reestablisht and the Cathedral rebuilt Soon after this the Angles that maintain'd a trade in Sleswic built the Church of the Holy Ghost near the market-place with the adjoyning Hospital The Dukedome of Sleswic was first given by Christopher King of Denmark about the year 1253 by way of pension to the children of King Abel upon condition the Duke of Pomeren and some other petit Princes of Vandalia would engage they should always acknowledg a dependance upon and never pretend any title to the Danish Crown After a revolution of some years it became the inheritance of Christiern of Oldenburg King of Denmark who annexed it to the Danish Realm a part of which it has continued ever since Assign'd indeed it hath been often as a portion to some of the younger Princes of the blood but never quitted its dependance upon the Crown This City as appears by their records was first made a Bishops See by the Emperor Otho the first who upon his conquest of Jutland first sent ministers hither to instruct the ignorant Heathens in the principles of the Christian religion and afterwards set a Bishop over the new Converts whom the records call Mark. Upon the South of Sleswic lies Ekelfort 〈◊〉 called so from the abundance of Squirrels in the adjoyning woods as the Arms of the Town still show It is a Town of good Trade and one of the safest parts in the Baltic shore Flensburch takes its name from Flen a small bay of the Baltic Sea upon which it is seated Mhier in his accurate History of the affairs of Flanders speaking of Henry Duke of Sleswic who died at the siege of this City A. D. 1427 says it ought to be called Vlensburg not Flensburg from Vlens which in the language of the Inhabitants signifies the flux and reflux of the Sea Some fetch its name from one Fleno a Danish Nobleman who had the Custom of the fishing trade in this place and was Lord of the Mannor It is situated in a low and pleasant valley begirt with several hills of great height It consists chiefly of one continued street of magnificent and noble buildings the length of which is said to be near two English miles All along this street the Ships are brought up in a port so commodious that the Citizens can lade and unlade their Vessels at their doors On the top of an hill in the Suburbs stands the Castle which easily commands the Town and Haven Betwixt this City and Sleswic is the undoubted seat of the antient Angles the ancestours and first Founders of our English Nation in Britain Which is not only proved by the assertion of our famous Historian Ethelwerd quoted before but from a small village in this tract which to this day is called Anglen Ptolomey indeed and Tacitus place the antient Angli furrher southward as far as the banks of the Elb and they were doubtless a more populous nation then can reasonably be imagined to be confin'd to so narrow a piece of ground as at this day goes under the name of Anglen in the maps of our modern Geographers For we cannot otherwise conceive they should so far overpower the Saxons and Jutes who came with them into Britain as to call so great a part of our Land after their own names without any notice taken of their Allyes Hadersleve seven German miles distant from Flensburg Northward Hadersleve was first made a City and had its Charter confirm'd by Waldemar Duke of Jutland about the year 1292. It was formerly defended by a strong Castle built on the top of an hill which overlooks the Town This John Earl of Holstein pull'd down and instead thereof begun to build a new one call'd from him Hansburg or John's-Castle for Hans in the High Dutch and Danish tongues is the same with John which was finished by King Frideric the Second The most of the streets in Hadersleve are of a good breadth and very uniform In the Great Church is to be seen a stately monument erected by King Eric the Eighth to the memory of Rombold Duke of Silesia who was sent Ambassador hither from the Emperor Sigismund to compose the differences between the King of Denmark and the Earls of Holstein about the claim laid by both parties to the Dukedom of Sleswic and died before the work was finished On the Western Coasts of South-Jutland live the Srond-Frisians Srond-Frisians mention'd often by Saxo Grammaticus as men of great strength and agility of body This Historian reckons Eyderstede a part of his Frisia minor but now a days there are none go under the name of Strand-Frisians except a small remnant of people who inhabit the Strant an inconsiderable Island in the German Ocean and a little narrow tract of land between Husem and Langenhorn In the middle of this petit Province they have a market-place where they maintain a small traffick and commerce amongst themselves Their country is defended from the rage of the Sea like Holland and other parts of the Netherlands by great Earthen banks which preserve their meadows and corn fields lying all on one level from the waves They have a great art of making the whitest and best salt in Europe of earth soked in the Sea-water dried and boil'd Saxo says these people are a Colony of Frislanders in the low Countries who being a laborious nation and destitute of habitations in their own Country came hither to seek their fortunes and by draining the fenns made this piece of marshy ground habitable What time this transplantation hapned is not mention'd in the Danish Chronicles but that it was so will be manifest to any one that will compare the language habit and manners of this people with those of the Frisians in the Netherlands The rest of the Towns of note in the Southern Jutland are 1. Husem a rich and neat port-Town on the Western Shore 2. The two Tunderens Greater and Less both places of considerable traffick upon the same coast 3. Gottorp the ancient seat of the Earls and Dukes of Holstein It is seated on the top of the Slie exceedingly well fortifyed and very remarkable for the Tol-booth or Custom-house which one year with another brings in Toll for at least 50000 Oxen which are brought out of Jutland into Germany 4. Appenrade seated on a small bay of the Baltic Sea and much frequented by the Danish Fishermen Of the ancient wall of Partition which
an oath taken in Norway and Iseland we read Hialpi mier suo Fryer og Niordur og hin al matke As i.e. So help me Frier and Niordur a Norwegian King Deified for his noble exploits and the almighty Asian i.e. Woden From him the Iselanders call the fourth day of the week Odensdagur and we Wendesday The Nobility of the ancient people of the North were wonderfully ambitious of fetching their pedigree down in a streight line from this Patriarch and God of the Northern Nations Hence possibly it comes that in some Copies of our Anglo-Saxonic Chronicle the Genealogy of our English King Cerdic with several others is run up to one who is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the son of Woden and there the pedegree breaks of As if in so doing they had sufficiently imitated St. Luke's Genealogy of our Saviour unto Adam which was the son of God And hence as may well be conjectured the Islanders do to this day call their Noblemen Godar and Hoffgodar i.e. such as are of the lineage or family of the Gods Besides these two we sometimes read of Freyer as in the Norwegian oath before quoted one of Wodens companions and Friga Wodens wife whence our Friday with several others of less note Arngrim allows 〈…〉 that several Christians came out of Norway into Iseland with Ingulf in the year 874 but that the Isle was then converted to the Christian faith he denies A full and total conversion he says was never attempted till about an hundred years after The first that openly preached the Gospel was one Frideric a Saxon born who came over into this Isle in the year 981 and succeeded so well that within three years after there were several Churches built The Iselandic Chronicle mentions one Thangbrandt another outlandish Bishop who came into Iseland in the year 997. At last in the year 1000 it was agreed on in a general Assembly of the whole Isle That the worship of Heathenish Idols being abandoned they would unanimously embrace the Christian Religion In the year 1056 Isleif an Iselander was consecrated Bishop of the whole Isle and enter'd upon the See of Schalholt the year following It is very observable what is recorded in the Iselandic Chronicle that this Isleif married Dalla the daughter of one Thorwald and by her had three sons The eldest of which named Gysser succeeded his father in the Bishoprick of Schalholt altho he also is said to have married Stenun the daughter of Thorgrin Since that time the inhabitants of Iseland have continued stedfast in the Christian faith Gudbrand Thorlac who entred the Bishoprick of Holen in the year 1571 abolished the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of Rome and introduced the Augustan Confession which to this day is maintained all over the Isle The same Bishop first procured a Printing-house to be set up in Iseland and afterwards caused the Bible and several other godly books to be translated into the Iselandic tongue and printed Christian the third King of Denmark founded two Free-schools in Iseland one at Holen and the other at Skalholt which by the munificence of his successors Frideric the second and Christian the fourth were improved into two considerable Colledges where young men were instructed in the liberal Arts and principles of Religion till they were thought fit for the ministry Of late years many ingenious men and learned Iselanders have been bred up in the University at Copenhagen We have before taken a survey of the mean Cottages or Burrows of the Rusticks in Iseland Cities and we cannot expect that their Citizens should live in much better fashion There are only two Cities in the Isle Holen and Skalholt the one the seat of their Northern the other of their Southern Bishop In both of them the houses are built of wood rarely of stone cover'd with either boards or turf The Cathedral at Holen according to Arngrim's description either is or at least has been a stately Fabrick In his days the Church-porch had on each side five pillars which were fourteen ells high I suppose he means Norwegian ells one of which is about three quarters of a yard English and five in thickness The Quire and Body of the Church were proportionable to the Porch This noble structure was blown down in the year 1584 but magnificently rebuilt at the charge of Frideric II. King of Denmark within four years after Neither of these Cities look any better then one of our ordinary Villages for the houses are not contiguous nor defended by any fortification or rampire Blefkenius tells us how truly I know not of a pleasant plain in the middle of Iseland Judicature where formerly stood an high flaming mountain which by degrees burnt away This plain says he is encompassed with huge rocks which make it inaccessible excepting only in one place and there too you have room for no more then one passenger at once From the tops of two of these rocks fall down two large rivers which with a terrible noise are swallowed up by a whirl-pool in the midst of the plain Hither yearly upon the twenty-ninth day of June repair all such as have any suit at Law or other controversie to be determined At the passage stands a guard of soldiers who admit all in that desire the favour but suffer none to go out without a pass from the Governor As soon as all who have any business are come in the Governor or Lieutenant of the Isle reads his Commission from the King of Denmark That done he gives his charge insisting much upon the good will and kindness which the King his Master and himself bear the Iselanders and advising them all to administer justice without respect of any manner of persons whatever After this he returns to his Tent where in a godly Sermon preach'd to him and the rest of the Assembly the necessity of punishing offenders and vindicating the injur'd is declared As soon as Sermon is ended the twelve chosen Justices whom they call Lochmaders i.e. men of the Law sit down on the ground with each a book of the Iselandic Laws in his hand After the Plaintiff and Defendant have both given in what they have to say they all arise and every man examines privately the verdict of his book in the case proposed Returning they consult awhile of the sentence and then unanimously pronounce it If any considerable doubt arise among them which they themselves cannot easily solve they consult the Lieutenant but will not give him authority or leave to decide the controversie by pronouncing of sentence These twelve Jurymen of whom one always is Foreman have great respect shew'n them as long as these Assizes last They have power to determine all Civil causes and to pronounce condemnation as they think convenient against all Criminals Those that are condemn'd to dye as Adulterers Murderers and notorious Thieves are beheaded but smaller misdemeanors are marked in the forehead with an hot iron This
his Son Charles succeeded Matthias in all his Titles and Dominions The Bohemians fearing he might prove as severe a persecutor of the Protestants in that Kingdom as his predecessor had been refus'd to acknowledg him their King but immediately upon his being proclaim'd Emperor proffer'd the Crown of Bohemia to Frideric V. Count Palatine of the Rhine who accepted their kindness Which so highly enraged the Emperor that he resolved to use his utmost endeavours wholly to ruin and overthrow the Protestant party Whereupon ensued that bloody German war of almost thirty years continuance which was at last happily concluded by the Westphalian Treaty of Peace in the year 1648. After a troublesom reign of seventeen years spent in a continual Civil war which had ruined and laid waste the greatest part of the Empire he dyed at Vienna leaving his distracted Empire to his Son 1637. Ferdinand III. who the year before his Fathers death was elected King of the Romans He carried on the war which his Father had begun with variety of success He obtain'd a great victory over the Protestant party at Ratisbon and broke the vast power of the Swedes at the battel of Norlingen But afterwards being forsaken by most of the Princes of the Empire he was forc'd to think of procuring a peace by fair means and Treaty Accordingly the Articles of Peace between the Emperor and the other Princes and Estates of the Empire were sealed at Munster and Osnaburg the Popish Agents keeping their residence at the former of these Cities and the Protestants in the latter A. D. 1648. In the year 1653 Ferdinand IV. this Emperors eldest Son was elected King of the Romans at Augsburg by an unanimous consent of all the Electors and within a month after solemnly Crown'd at Ratisbon But dying within a year after his Coronation he never liv'd to inherit the Throne of his Father who surviv'd till the third of April in the year 1657. 1658. Leopold the present Emperor of Germany and Son of Ferdinand III. was elected on the eighth day of July after a vacancy of fifteen months into his Fathers Throne and Crowned at Francfurt the twenty-second day of the same month He is a mild peaceful and religious Prince a great lover and encourager of Learning and more conversant in the study of Books then Arms. Whether his young Son now living who is not yet full three years old will be elected King of the Romans or the growing Interest of the French King may engage a party strong enough for the Dauphin is a question that time only can resolve Of the Power of the GERMAN Emperors THO the words Imperator and Rex seem to signifie the same thing yet the general consent of all Nations hath for many years distinguish'd between an Emperor and a King and given the former the preeminence All the European Monarchs that write themselves Kings do willingly and readily give place to the Emperor of Germany whose Ambassadors in foreign Courts are always first admitted to Audience David Vngnade the Emperor of Germany's Ambassador at the Court of Constantinople having design'd to take formal leave of the Sultan was admitted to Audience for that purpose but observing the most honourable place in the Presence-Chamber taken up by the Persian Ambassador and not like to be resign'd he flung away and had left the Sultan and Court in a huff if the Persian had not which he afterwards was forc'd to do given him the place and seated himself below him 'T is well known that from Julius Caesar the Roman Emperors got the name of Caesares and every one of them after Octavian got the trick of surnaming himself Augustus In Germany the Emperor is to this day stiled Der Keyser or Caesar and he always writes himself zur aller zeit Mehrer des reichs which the Germans make to signifie the same with semper Augustus Further it is the generally receiv'd opinion amongst the Commonalty and the tradition is stifly asserted and maintain'd by many of their most famous writers that the German Empire is the same with that which the Romans anciently pretended to and hence it is that they call their Emperor Der Romischer Kayser that is The Roman Cesar and the German Empire Das heilige Romische Reich that is The holy Roman Empire I shall not here stay to enquire after the large extent of the old Roman Empire or the power and authority of their Emperors 'T is sufficient to know that Petronius's Verse Orbem jam totum Victor Romanus habebat was only an hyperbolical rant And when St. Luke tell sus there went out a decree from Cesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed he means no more by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then the several Provinces and Territories of which the Romans had then made themselves Masters So that tho we should grant which we shall find but little reason to do that the whole power and authority of the Roman Cesars descended upon the German Emperors it will not thence follow what some of the High Dutch writers endeavour to make out that all the Princes of Europe to go no further ought to pay some homage or acknowledgment to the Emperor of Germany But we cannot indeed allow them so much as this that the German Emperors have any right or title to the ancient Roman Empire The original of this conceit sprung hence Charles the Great in the year 800 coming to Rome upon some religious account or other and not to lay claim to that City was unexpectedly saluted by Pope Leo III. and the Citizens by the title of ROMANORUM IMPERATOR AUGUSTUS But what a sorry kind of Empire the Romans could then pretend to is well known The Western parts of their ancient Empire Germany and France were already in Charles's possession and the Soveraignty which that City once challenged in Spain and other parts of Europe was quite lost Nay in Italy it self the Pope and Citizens of Rome had nothing left to dispose of except that City and some few small Towns which this Charles the Great and his Father had taken from the Lombards by force of Arms and annex'd to the Dominions of the Bishop of Rome Whence it will appear that Charles the Great got little more then a bare Title at Rome and that some other considerations as the vast extent of the German Empire beyond the narrow compass of any European Kingdom has moved all the Western Monarchs to give place to the Emperor Besides the crafty Bishops of Rome have always made it their business to diminish the Emperor's power and grandeur lest it should eclipse their own By which means the Authority which the Emperors do still retain is scarce sufficient to secure them from contempt and the Imperial Crown brings little more dominion along with it tho much more honourable then that of an inferior Monarch It is an undoubted prerogative of every great Monarch in the world to confer Titles of Honour as Dukes
present religious Emperor into a compliance with whatever they buz into his ears How the Emperors lost the power of Investiture c. we shall shew more at large when we come to treat of the Ecclesiastical Estate of the Empire In all Proclamations Patents Decrees c. the Titles of their present Emperor run as follows Leopold I. by the Grace of God Emperor Kayser of the Romans always Augustus Mehrer des Reichs c. King of Germany Hungary Bohemia Dalmatia Croatia Slavonia Bulgaria Bosnia Servia and Rescia Arch-Duke of Austria Duke of Burgundy Brabant Styria Carinthia Carniola Luxemburg Wittenberg together with the higher and lower Silesia Marquess of the Holy Empire Burgaw Moravia with the higher and farther Lusace Earl of Habsburg Tyrole Ferrete Kiburg Goritia c. Landtgrave of Alsace Lord of Windischamrck Portnaw and Salins For what more peculiarly relates to the Emperor as Arch-Duke of Austria we refer the Reader to the Description of that Country where he may also expect an account of the grandeur of the Emperors Court Retinue Servants c. Of the Election and Coronation of the GERMAN EMPERORS THE principal Members of the German Empire next to the Emperor himself are the Eight Electors viz. the Archbishops of Mentz Triers Colen who are also Arch-Chancellors of the Empire the first in Germany the second in France and the Kingdom of Arles and the third in Italy the King of Bohemia Cup-bearer to the Emperor the Duke of Bavaria Great Steward of the Empire the Duke of Saxony Grand Marshal or Constable the Marquess of Brandenburgh Great Chamberlain and lasty the Prince Palatine of the Rhine Cheif Treasurer of the Empire These Eight for so many they have been since the Westphalian Treaty tho heretofore only Seven have Right and Authority to Elect the Emperor and also to Depose him when by his enormous crimes or unmanly idleness he neglects the Honour of the Empire the public good and the duty of his place Thus they serv'd Wenceslaus tho advanc'd to the Imperial Throne at the request of his Father Charles the Fourth who had deserv'd far better things at their hands for composing the Aurea Bulla of which more hereaster The Archbishop of Mentz has several times taken upon him to remind such Emperors as have not suited with his humour of this grand power of the Electors and to threaten them with the execution of it if they should not alter their courses At what time the power of chusing the Emperors was first committed to those Princes who to this day bear the Title of Electors is not easily determin'd It is certain that Charles the Great transmitted the Imperial Dignity to his posterity by way of Succession And the same Right continued for some ages in his Family until some of his Successors falling far short of this incomparable Emperor were thought unfit to Govern Whereupon the Empire was offer'd to Otho Duke of Saxony and upon his refusal given to Conrad Duke of Franconia After his death Henry Duke Otho's Son was Elected Emperor by a general consent of all the Princes and Estates of the Empire and was succeeded afterwards by his Son Otho I. who obtain'd the Crown by the same means This way of Succession from Father to Son was observ'd till Henry IV. who coming to the Crown when he was a Child and managing it very ill when he was of years to have govern'd better was contemn'd and sleighted by the Lords of the Empire And Pope Gregory VII taking this opportunity of magnifying his own Authority in the German Empire excommunicated him and declaring him unfit to sway the Imperial Scepter order'd him to be deposed which was a thing before that time never heard of in the Empire Whereupon the Rebel Princes thinking themselves absolv'd from their Allegiance Elected Rudolph Duke of Schwaben into the Emperor Henry's place and made a Law That the Right of Succession should be therein abolished and the Power of chusing Emperors committed to the people What Anarchy and confusion follow'd upon this Decree the German Histories will sufficiently inform us But in process of time the less considerable part of the Rabble of Electors were depriv'd of their late gain'd right and priviledge of chusing Emperors the whole power being usurp'd by a few of the chief Officers in the Imperial Court From the year 1250 till 1500 it was the general opinion of all Historians that the Emperor Otho III. and Pope Gregory V. reduc'd the number of Electors to Seven only in this the Authors of those times cannot agree Whether the Emperor or Pope had the greater Authority in settling the Affair But this opinion has of later years been strongly oppos'd by most learned writers and 't is highly probable that more then Seven had voices in the Election of Emperors until the time of Frideric II. For Otho Frisingensis assures us that Henry II. was chosen by all the Lords of the Empire and after his death Conrad Duke of Franconia was advanced into his place by the consent of the same Electors Henry III. Conrad's Son was likewise Elected tho we are not told by whom The Abbot of Vrsperg tells us that Henry IV. was raised to the Imperial Dignity by the Bishops of Germany that Henry V. was chosen by an unanimous consent of all the members of the German Empire that Lotharius II. was made Emperor by two Archbishops eight Bishops with several Abbots and Lords of the Imperial Court that Conrad III. was admitted into the Throne the Duke of Saxony not being call'd to the Election and the See of Mentz being then vacant that Frideric Barbarossa was chosen by all the German Princes that Philip was Elected Emperor by the Suevians Bavarians and Saxons that Otho IV. had the Scepter from the Citizens of Colen Strasburg and some other Imperial Cities This Otho was afterwards excommunicated by the Pope of Rome and Frideric King of Sicily Elected into his room by the voices of the King of Bohemia the Dukes of Austria and Bohemia the Landtgrave of Thuringen and several other Princes of the Empire Hitherto we see the Emperors were not chosen by any set number of Electors tho it is likely that those Princes who have now got the sole power into their hands had even in those times the greatest share of authority in all Elections as being the most potent members of the Empire But when after the death of Frideric II. no man for many years took care of the supreme Government in this deplorable condition of the German Empire Seven of the chief Princes by taking upon them as is probable the management of all public affairs laid the first foundation of the Electoral dignity which was afterwards confirm'd to them by the Emperor Charles the Fourth's Aurea Bulla The reasons why the number of Electors was reduced to Seven was this because that if in any Election six of the voices chanc'd to be equally divided the seventh Elector might cast the ballance to that side where
neighbours prevail'd Whether the Earls of Schawenburg had not formerly a more then ordinary Jurisdiction over this City is a point which to this day the Hamburgers do not care to dispute Crantzius Chytraeus and other Historians can inform us that Woldemar Duke of Sleswic by the assistance of his Brother Canutus VI. King of Denmark took Hamburg out of the hands of the Emperor Otho IV. which City when himself was afterwards advanc'd to the Danish Throne he setled upon Albrecht Earl of Orlemund and his Heirs for ever But the same Albrecht as Chytraeus reports sold his whole Right and Title to the Citizens for fifteen hundred Marks of good Silver and so made the City a free and independant State of it self Afterwards Adolph IV. Earl of Holstein confirm'd the said Liberties and Priviledges to this City which example of his was follow'd by his Successors down to Adolph XIV and last Earl of Holstein and Schawenburg of that Family who dyed in the year 1459. Upon his death the Province of Holstein subjected themselves by a formal Capitulation to Christian I. King of Denmark whom they freely Elected their Prince and paid him homage under the Title of Duke of Holstein At the same time the Citizens of Hamburg enter'd into an agreement with the said King promising that as long as the Kings of Denmark should continue their priviledges to them which King Christian upon the signing of this Compact confirm'd to them they would always be ready to maintain the like friendship and correspondence between the Crown of Denmark and themselves as had been formerly preserv'd betwixt them and the Earls of Schawenburg To these conditions the King assented without demanding any manner of homage or token of subjection However his Successors have always had an itching desire to get Hamburg wholly into their own clutches and therefore have endeavour'd by all means imaginable to perswade the Citizens to submit themselves to the protection of their Crown But all their artifices have hitherto prov'd unsuccessful and every one of their Treaties and Capitulations brought to an end Salvo jure Caesaris Imperii salvis libertatibus Civitatis ab Imperiali culmine obtentis In a Diet held at Augsburg in the year 1510 the Emperor Maximilian I. together with the Estates of the Empire then and there assembled declar'd Hamburg a free Imperial City and summon'd the Duke of Holstein to make his appearance before the Imperial Chamber at Spire and there to make good or renounce all pretensions to the said City What success the late quarrels of the present King of Denmark Christian V. had in the year 1679 we have already told the Reader in the Description of Denmark where a particular account is given of the Interim's Recess signed at Pinneberg between the said King and the Deputies of the City of Hamburg The continual jealousies betwixt the two Northern Crowns are a considerable security to the Citizens of Hamburg Their Security by the Jealousies 〈◊〉 the two Northern Crowns who would be in great danger of being utterly overthrown and enslav'd if both those Kings should conspire to ruine them But when the King of Denmark endeavours to annoy and incommode that City by the opportunity of the Fort at Gluckstadt which commands the River Elb and can easily stop the Merchant Ships which sail that way the Swedish Garrison at Stade oppose him and protect the Merchants from the mischief design'd them Another grand Bulwark of this great City consists in the prodigious riches of its inhabitants which are reckon'd by some so inexhaustible that should both the Northern Kings join their Forces the Senate of Hamburg would be able to oppose them and to preserve their own Liberties by the expence of their Treasure Hamburg is ten good German or betwixt forty and fifty English miles distant from Lubeck Description being for the most part of it an Island naturally well fenc'd in the middle of the River Elb which runs in many little arms and streams thro several of its streets It consists of two parts the old and new Town separated from each other by a Wall both which are well fortified and so close united that they may well pass for one City From the tops of Towers and the City-walls you have a curious and pleasant prospect every way There are only four great Gates that lead into the City 1. Altenaver Thor or the Gate which leads towards Altenaw on the western side of the old Town call'd commonly by the Citizens the Millers Gate 2. Das Dam-Thor or the Gate which leads to the great Trenches on the North-side of the Town 3. The Stone-Gate leading Eastward 4. The South-Gate which leads to the Islands in the Elb call'd by the inhabitants for what reason I have not yet learn'd das Dihiane Thor. The streets are generally crooked or would otherwise vye with if not outstrip any in Germany The Buildings are most of Brick and exceeding high and stately On the North the Alster drives all the Mills which supply the whole Town with Meal The great Bulwarks of the City were not thrown up till within these few years Fortifications and very much mended upon the late fright the Citizens were put into by the King of Denmark's near approach to Penneberg The better part of those vast Rampires and outworks which now so securely guard the Town from the fury of any that shall venture to besiege it was finish'd in the space of four years and remains to this day a sufficient testimony of the inexhaustible treasure of the inhabitants The Town is every-where exceeding populous Multitude of inhabitants Those that have seen an ordinary Jahr-Markt or Fair at Francfurt or Leipsic will admire where those little Cities can find lodgings for so many guests as commonly resort thither but at Hamburg each Street is daily as much throng'd as those other two trading Towns are twice or thrice a year and you are here continually as in a Fair. He that shall at noon or in the evening take a view of their public Exchange a neat piece of Building but inferior to ours at London may possibly meet with a greater number of people in one hour then at Leipsic in a whole Michael's-Mess The whole Town consists of a great many little Islands in the Elb and Alster Bridges out of one into another you are led by a great number of Bridges which are almost as plentiful here as at Amsterdam The Sea flows up these small Channels and sometimes when a tempest is rais'd about the change of the Moon or in a Spring-tide does much harm in several parts of the City often hurrying along with it whole Houses and Families Such a mishap as this befell the Town in the Spring of the year 1651 which ruin'd some considerable Families and endamaged a great many more The most famous Home Commodity which the Hamburgers have Commodities is Beer in Brewing of which there are a
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
to dress themselves Such Boys as the Schoolmasters who are five in number observe to have parts are fitted for and sent to the Universities and there maintain'd upon the public stock of the Hospital till they may be well suppos'd to be in a condition of providing for themselves The rest of them are put out to such Trades as the Trustees think them most qualified for and the Girls as soon as they have learn'd to read write spin knit c. are sent to credible Services to earn their living and make their fortunes 4. They have a common Pest-house for such as are sick of the Plague or any other infectious disease whither not only poor people but others of the best rank and quality are brought to be cured of their virulent distempers For the good and skilful attendants which all manner of diseas'd persons are sure to meet with in this place renders it exceedingly preferable to any conveniences they could expect at home 5. They have a large and sumptuous Hospital for sick strangers Das Gast und Krancken-hauss first built in the year 1632 where a Physitian Chirurgion and all sorts of necessary Medicines and Salves are provided for such poor Travellers as are fall'n sick upon their road and are not in a condition to provide for themselves 6. For distressed aged and decay'd Sea-men the Burgers built and liberally endow'd a fair Hospital in the year 1556 which since that time has been very much augmented both in its buildings and revenues In this Hospital there is not only a considerable maintenance allotted for a great number of maimed aged and feeble Mariners of all sorts but also an ample provision is made for all such poor Widows and Orphans as have lost their Husbands or Parents at Sea and are hereby reduc'd to want and beggery In which particular the Hamburgers may seem to have out-done the munificence of the present King of France in his sumptuous Hospital Hostel des Invalides built lately near Paris for maim'd and decay'd Soldiers For tho this noble and brave structure may justly challenge a preeminence beyond any in its kind that perhaps Europe or the world could ever shew yet there wants in it a provision for the poor Wives and Children of such as have lost their limbs or lives in His Majesty's service which would in all probability prove as effectual a motive and encouragement to all his Subjects to venture their lives and fortunes in his Army as any expedient hitherto thought on since some men are not so soon deterr'd from venturing into the Camp upon a prospect of the danger of losing their own lives as a foresight of an inevitable ruin to their Families at Home if they should chance to be taken off or maim'd in the Field Besides these there are a great many more less and inconsiderable Hospitals for set numbers of poor Widowers Widows Orphans c. together with a large number of Free-Schools endow'd with competent stipends for the education of the Children of poor Burgers who are in these places commonly furnish'd with Clothes and Books out of the public revenues of the Schools where they are instructed till fitted for a Trade or the University as their Friends are able or willing to dispose of them To these Hospitals I think I may add their Bridewell Bridewel or House of Correction Das Werckund Zucht-Hauss since to reclaim lazy vagabonds from their ill courses by hard labour and severe punishments is as great a piece of charity as to cloth the naked or feed the hungry This House was set on fire and burnt down by some of the wicked Varlets that had been committed to this Prison in the year 1666 but soon after nobly rebuilt at the public charge of the City This structure consists of two parts whereof the first is appointed for such poor and needy people whether foreigners or domestics as are willing to earn their livings with the sweat of their brows but are at a loss for masters to set them at work Here they may be sure to find employment and have an opportunity of procuring bread by their labour according to the motto written over the door of their Work-house LABORE NVTRIOR The other part of the House is reserv'd for Thieves Whores Vagabonds and such kind of licentious persons as are disobedient to the Magistrates of the City or regardless of the commands of their Parents or Masters The motto or inscription over the door of this partition is LABORE PLECTOR Ducatus olim Episcopatus BREMENSIS et ostiorum ALBIS et VISURGIS Fluviorum novissima Descriptio To the WORP full Sr HENRY CALVERLEY of Eriholme in the Countij of Torcke knt this Map is Humbly D. D. by M Pitt Notarum Explicatio Grosse Stätte Kleine Stätte Kirch dorffer Adel häusser Dorffer Häuser The Magistracy of the City consists of four Burgomasters and twenty Schepins or Aldermen Magistrates who were formerly all of them Civilians or other learned men but are now chosen out of the Merchants and rich Tradesmen in the Town Besides these they have twelve Common-Council-men call'd in their language Die Oberalten or chief Elders who consult together and order the public affairs of the whole City If any matter of more then ordinary moment be brought before them they join with sixty more grave Citizens whom they call Die Burger-alten or Elders of the City and if these dare not venture to give a final determination in the matter propos'd the whole business is referr'd to a general Assembly of all the Freemen of the Town The Hamburgers have one notable custom amongst them for the speedy reparation of any losses by fire In most great Streets and other parts of the Town 't is the fashion for such a number of the Citizens to enter into a solemn Covenant and Agreement whereby they unanimously engage themselves to contribute a certain sum of money towards the rebuilding of any house which shall be burnt down within the circle of that Company to which they belong Now any man has the liberty to engage himself in as many Companies as he pleases So that sometimes it happens a considerable improvement of a Burger's Estate to have his House burnt down when the contributions he receives from the several Companies of which he has made himself a member amount as often they do to more then his House was worth at the first The Territories belonging to this City contain a small circle of Stormaria Territories wherein nevertheless are several fair Villages and some Noblemen's Palaces of good note A great many of the little Islands in the Islands in the Elb formerly subject to the Dukes of Lunenburg or Lawenburg are now under the Dominion of the Hamburgers To whom also belongs the strong Castle of Ritzenbuttel the best Fort in Hadderland or the Country betwixt the mouths of the two great Rivers Elb and Weser A little below this to the North-West they have another considerable Fortress call'd Das
newe Werck built for the convenient harbouring of such Merchant-men as sail that way But the greatest Royalty the Citizens of Hamburg can pretend to without the limits of their own City is from the Custom-house at Tollenspicker not far from Winsen where all passengers pay a certain Toll for themselves and their carriages There are other places of less note that are equally subject to this City and Lubeck and pay an acknowledgment to both Corporations The moneys currant in Hamburg Money and the adjacent parts are the same as in the Empire those especially of the Emperor's coining and the Kingdom of Denmark Some small pieces are coin'd by the authority of the Burgo-masters and Radtsherrn of the City and the Coins of all trading Nations in Europe will pass here at a good value THE Dukedom and City OF BREMEN THE Dukedom of Bremen is bounded on the East with the Territories of the Duke of Lunenburg Bounds on the South with the Weser on the West with the German or British Ocean and on the North with the Elb. Which large plot of ground was anciently inhabited by the Cauci a valiant and warlike people and probably the ancestors of those who to this day inherit this part of Germany The whole Dukedom is subdivided into several lesser Provinces Division amongst which the chief is the Bishopric of Verhden on the borders of the Dukedom of Lunenburg The next in order and greatness is the Land of Bremen strictly so call'd containing a Circle of some miles round that large and famous City The third considerable Province is Wursterland on the Sea-coast from the Weser down to the mouth of the Elb. The inhabitants of this Province are reckon'd men of as good spirits and as brave Soldiers as any Subjects of the Empire whatever Their frequent rebellions under the Archbishops of Bremen first inur'd them to war and they have ever since delighted in following the Camp 'T is reported of them that in the height of their obstinacy for which they were often severely lash'd by many of the Archbishops they never built themselves any Cities or Forts of defence but relied wholly upon the strength and courage of their Companions which they fancied a sufficient bulwark against the sturdiest enemy that should dare to assault them And they have still this character given them That the Wursterlanders will fight and drink with the best men in Dutchland After these come the inhabitants of Hadelia or Hadeliria das landt Hadelen a proud and ignorant people so strangely enamour'd of gay-clothes that their neighbours alluding to this piece of vanity say proverbially of them There are no Pesants in Hadeland Some part of this Province upon the mouth of the Elb where stand the Forts of Ritzenbuttel and New-Werck was as we have said formerly in the hands of the Dukes of Saxon-Lawenburg and is now subject to the Citizens of Hamburg Another considerable portion of it in which is seated the Castle and Town of Atterndorff which commands the greatest part of the Province is still under the dominion of the said Dukes and no part of the Dukedom of Bremen to which no place of any consequence in Hadelland is subject except the Village and Castle of Nyen-huss on the mouth of the Oste Next after Hadel-land comes Kedingerland in which is seated the City of Stade and beyond that Alt-land or Old-land a pleasant and fruitful Country of about fourteen English miles in length He that shall travel the road betwixt Bremen and Stade Soil will be apt to have a very mean opinion of the whole Dukedom of Bremen meeting with nothing but barren Sands and Heaths a wast and uninhabited Country And yet elsewhere there is not any Country on the Northern parts of the German Empire fuller of pleasant Fields and Meadows fruitful Orchards and all other necessaries or delights Whence some witty Geographers have pleased themselves in fancying the Dukedom of Bremen to be mighty like a spred Cloak the two flaps of which containing the Countries along the banks of the Elb and Weser are lined with Velvet or Plush but the middle part which reaches from Vehrden up as far as the mouth of the Oste is nothing but course Canvas or Buckram Before the Westphalian Treaty in the year 1648 Bishops and Archbishops this Tract of Land went under the name of an Archbishopric and all the Princes under whose subjection it was were stiled Archbishops of Bremen Of whom with their three Bishops the account we have left us is in short as follows 1. Wilhad or as some of the German Historians call him Willibald an English Priest was at the request of Charles the Great sent over into Germany by Egbert Archbishop of York about the year 788 where he was employ'd in converting the Infidels of that Country to Christianity and for his meritorious performances at last advanc'd to the Bishopric of Bremen After he had spent several years in a vigilant execution of his Office he died in the year 790 and was buried in the Cathedral at Bremen where to this day they pretend to shew his Tomb. 2. Willeric another English man is said to have succeeded Wilhad tho many of their ancient Chronologers do not mention any such Bishop And indeed the whole account we have of him is only That having for some unknown time some upon what grounds I know not say till the year 840 enjoy'd this Jurisdiction he left his See to 3. Luderic a German The old Saxon Chronicle calls him Lenderic and tells us that for his intolerable pride and arrogance he was deposed by the Emperor Ludowic the Godly Charles the Great 's Son who chang'd the Bishopric of Bremen into an Archbishopric by setting up into this man's place 4. Ansgar of whom we have said something before the first Archbishop of Bremen and Hamburg who was remov'd to Bremen upon the sacking of Hamburg by the Vandals in the year 850 from which time till his death in the year 865 he kept both the Titles The Archbishop of Colen stoutly oppos'd this union alledging that the Bishops of Bremen had always been Suffragans to his See and that therefore 't was an encroachment upon his Jurisdiction to convert that place into an Archbishopric But the Emperor took no notice of these murmurings proceeding to confirm this newly conferr'd dignity to Ansgar and his Successors ordering as by his Diploma still extant does appear that within the Province of the Archbishop of Bremen and Hamburg should be reckon'd all the Bishops in Denmark Sweden Norway Groneland Halsingland Island and the rest of the Northern Countries 5. Rembert St. Ansgar's Scholar and adopted Son was immediately upon his predecessor's death advanc'd to the Archbishop's Seat which he kept tweny-three years and died in the year 888. Wilhad Ansgar and this Rembert are reckon'd the three great Apostles of the Saxons many of which Nation have taken the pains to write their lives But the stories they
City of Bremen were first fenc'd round in the year 1623 and the a-la modern fortifications of the Newe-Statt on the other side of the Weser cannot pretend to any greater age At this day Bremen is a large and well-built Town Description The Streets generally strait and even excepting only near the Cathedral which stands upon a small rising The great Trade brought to this City by the Shipping and the fruitfulness of the neighbouring plain which is continually stockt with vast droves of Cattle has strangely enrich'd the inhabitants of late years and render'd the place exceeding populous Nature as well as art has made this City very strong and were the walls beat down 't would be a difficult task to take it if resolutely defended For being situate on a level the Citizens can immediately drown the neighbouring plain with the Weser which usually once a year like another Nile overflows its banks and thereby mightily improves the adjacent sandy fields The Haven at Bremen is not so convenient for Ships to harbour in as that at Hamburg Haven and sometimes a great flood casts up such banks and ridges of sand as makes the Weser for some miles unnavigable for Merchant Ships of any great burthen So that oftentimes the Citizens of Bremen are at vast charges to cleanse the passage and yet can scarce clear the River so far as that Vessels of greater bulk then ordinary can be brought within six English miles of their Bridge At this distance from the Town the Rahts-herrn and Magistracy of Bremen have a Custom-house where all foreign Commodities are unladed and brought up to the City in flat-bottom'd Boats or small Vessels By the Weser the Citizens of Bremen transport all their own commodities as Timber Commodities Wool Corn and Minerals into other Nations and by the same stream convey the commodities of foreign Countries into Westphalia the Dukedom of Brunswic Hassia Thuringen and other parts of the German Empire They have here an excellent art of dressing of Leather and Cloth vast quantities of both which are sometimes brought hither out of other Countries and remitted to the great gain of the inhabitants Another considerable commodity of this City is their Fish which is caught in the Sea and Weser and hence transported into most neighbouring Countries Every month they have a several sort of Fish in season and within the very walls of the Town many thousands of Salmons and Lampreys are caught yearly and after they are pickled up or dry'd in the smoak shipp'd off Soon after the Reformation which was first begun at Bremen in the year 1522 Gymnasium the Burgers built a Free-School and endow'd it with a fair revenue This was afterwards advanc'd into a Schola Illustris as they term it or a College wherein were profess'd and taught the four superior faculties of Divinity Law Physic and Philosophy At last it became a Gymnasium or little University and is at this day the most noted one in Germany famous for the education of Nat. Chytraeus Chr. Pezelius Vrban Pierius Matthias Martinius Joh. Lampadius Lud. Crocius Joh. Combachius Joh. Coccejus and several other learned men The Magistracy of the Town consists of four Burgomasters and four and twenty Raths-herrn Magistrates or Common-Council-men who are divided into four Classes So that one Burgomaster and six Rahtsherrn may be allotted for each quarter of the City If any of the Burgomasters or Rahts-herrn dy or be brought so low in the world as not to be able to bear his office any longer they are bound to chuse another into his place within four and twenty-hours after his burial or resignation The election is carried on in this manner Out of each Class one Elector is pitcht upon by lot and the four that are at last set out for that office take an oath to chuse a person out of the most considerable freemen of the Town whom in their conscience they think the fittest for the place vacant This done they are shut up together in a Chamber by themselves and not suffer'd to speak to any man before they have finish'd the Election All manner of Law-Suits tam Civiles quam Criminales Fiscales ac Consistoriales are tried before these Magistrates from whose Court no Citizen can appeal to the Imperial Chamber at Spire without being liable to pay a fine of fifty Gold-gulders to the common Treasury This is one of the most considerable Imperial Cities in the Empire and was always reckon'd the third Hans-Town after Lubec and Colen Its first great priviledges were granted to it by the Emperor Henry V. in the year 1111 in remembrance of the valiant performances of the Citizens of Bremen in the Holy War For thus the words of their Charter run Ob obsequiorum promptitudinem multasque Deificas virtutes viriles actus non modicos labores expensas quos quas Bremenses per mare suis navibus per terram fecerunt in passagio ultra mare ad terram sanctam quando Civitas Hierosolymitana capta est c. But before this Emperor's time 't was certainly a free City as appears from the Statua Rolandina which is still to be seen in the Market-place bearing the Arms of the Empire a spread-Eagle with this inscription in the old Neder-Saxon language Vryheitt do ick ju openbahr De Carll und manig Forst vorwahr Deeser Stadtt ghegheuen hatt Dess dancket Gode iss min Rath i.e. I am a testimony of the Liberty which Charles the Great and many other Emperor's have granted to this City For which I advise you to return God thanks 'T will not be amiss in this place to give the Reader a short account of the reasons which moved the ancient Germans especially the inhabitants of the Upper and Lower Saxony to erect these kind of monstrous Statues in their Cities and great Towns The tradition usually receiv'd amongst the Saxons is That Charles the Great overran their Country by the help of one Roland a Gigantic General in his Army and that thereupon the Emperor order'd his Image to be set up in all the Cities of note which he conquer'd with this priviledg That so long as they kept up such Statues they should have a right to several Regalia not allow'd to other Cities in the Empire But the truth or probability of this story depends wholly upon the credit and authority of the common people for from them some of the German Historians have borrow'd the relation and afterwards without any further enquiry impos'd it upon the world for a piece of authentic History How ridiculous and absurd would it be for a triumphant Emperor to erect Trophees to the honour of Commanders in his Army where himself is acknowledg'd to be the Conqueror Besides it appears from the unquestionable testimony of the best Dutch Records that several of those Cities which shew such kind of Statues as these were built many years after the death of the Emperor Charles the Great Nor
have this City look'd upon as a place of the greatest antiquity of any in Saxony esteeming it the same with Ptolomy's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tho I think the Longitude and Latitude which Ptolomy assigns to that old Town being 29 deg of Long. and 51 deg 20 min. of Lat. will scarce come near this City This large and ancient City was formerly subject to Earls and Marquises of its own and thence we find the inhabitants in and about the City named by the Latin Historians Stadenses Stadingi or Stedingii as a people distinct of themselves and independant upon any of the neighbouring Princes Of these Earls and Marc-Graves the Reader may meet with a Catalogue in Crantzius or Angelius a Werdenhagen In the year 1234 the Stadenses were the occasion of a bloody and terrible war in the Archbishopric of Bremen which happening in the very infancy of Christianity in these parts had like to have stifled Religion in its Cradle This bloodshed was occasion'd by a revolt of the Citizens of Stade from their obedience to the See of Bremen Whereupon the Clergy of that City being resolv'd to keep by a strong arm what their enemies had endeavour'd to wrest from them took up arms and engaged several of their neighbours in the broil But this expedient did not meet with the expected success having after a long quarrel only weaken'd both parties and in no wise vindicated the Archbishop's Title At last a volley of curses and excommunications from the Bishop of Rome frighted the Citizens of Stade into submission and obliged them to yield obedience as formerly to the Archbishop's of Bremen Hereupon Philip Duke of Schwaben and Earl of Stade annex'd the whole County to the Archbishopric reserving only to himself the City with its ancient priviledges and immunities In which state it continued till in the Civil wars of Germany it fell into the hands of the Swedes and was confirm'd to that Crown as a part of the Dukedom of Bremen by the Treaty of Munster And possibly we may have some reason to call this the Metropolis of the whole Country which is now subject to the King of Sweden as Duke of Bremen since the City of Bremen it self was exemted from the Homage payable to that Monarch from the Archbishopric by vertue of that Treaty and is to this day a free Imperial City immediately subject to the Emperor and to him only Notwithstanding the vast Rampires and Bulwarks wherewith this City is fortified and the natural strength of the place it was besieg'd and taken in one day April 13 1645 by the Swedish General Count Coningsmark who having at the first assault taken the Fortress on the mouth of the Zwinge betwixt the City and the Elb press'd forward with his whole Army to the Gates of Stade and forc'd his way into the City Whereupon the Burgers were glad to surrender up the Castle and other strong Forts upon any conditions the Conqueror was pleas'd to propose The Town is at present in a flourishing condition being seated in a wholesom Air and a pleasant rich Country The Burgers who have the character of the most civil and courteous people in this part of the Empire have commonly Orchards and Gardens of pleasure without the walls of the City well stockt with all manner of Fruits and Flowers Their Haven is large and commodious and Ships of larger carriage and burthen come up to Stade then are able to reach Hamburg The Market-place Rahthauss or Town-Hall Exchange and several of their Churches are Buildings worthy a Traveller's sight Many and great have been the priviledges by several Emperors granted to this City It was always reckon'd a Sanctuary for fugitives insomuch that all manner of malefactors whether Germans or Foreigners that could reach Stade before vengeance overtook them were sure to find shelter here and be secure from the hand of justice Besides the priviledg of coining money authority to hunt in the neighbouring Forests and the like prerogatives challeng'd by all Imperial Cities they have power to demand a certain Toll or Custom of every Merchant-man that passes up the Elb to Hamburg every such Vessel being oblig'd to strike anchor at the mouth of the Zwinge and there to tarry till dismiss'd by the Masters of the Custom-House These pretensions occasion'd not many years ago a quarrel between the Citizens of Stade and the Hamburgers the later pretending that 't was an infringement of their prerogative who were absolute Masters of the Elb below their own City for Stade to lay claim to any such priviledg But the controversie soon after was amicably compos'd and each City has since peaceably enjoy'd its own peculiar Regality This ancient Hans-Town being one of the first that was enroll'd into that noble society was once reduc'd to a mean and beggarly condition by the overgrown trade and riches of the Hamburgers insomuch that it was forc'd to sell almost for bread the public stock not amounting to ninety pounds sterling a year to these upstart thriving Merchants its ancient priviledges and put it self under the protection of the Archbishops of Bremen But in this low condition it did not long continue before the English Merchants upon some affront the Hamburgers had offer'd them remov'd their commerce to Stade By which means this City in a short time recover'd its former grandeur and grew on a sudden rich and populous VI. BREMER-VERDEN A wall'd Town Bremer-Verden on the road betwixt Bremen and Stade distant from the later about twelve English miles and from the former near twenty-eight It was first built by Luder Duke of Saxony and afterwards made a Palace for the Archbishops of Bremen who had here their usual residence In the Castle which commands a great part of the adjacent plain the Swedes have commonly a strong Garrison The Town would otherwise be of little note not having the convenience of any trade except what is brought by the resort of passengers that travel this way to Bremen or Stade THE DUKEDOM OF LUNENBURG THE Dukedom of Luneburg Bounds or Lunenburg is bounded on the South with the Dukedom of Brunswic on the South-East with Magdeburg on the East with Brandenburg on the North with Lauwenburg and Holstein on the North-West with Bremen and on the West with some part of Westphalia The Metropolis which gives name to the whole Dukedom is thought by some to have had its name from the Moon Lunus or Luna worshipp'd by the ancient Idolatrous Inhabitants of this Land Others derive the word from the name of the River Elmena or Ilmenow on which the City of Luneburg is seated which they tell us was formerly call'd Luno from Isis the Egyptian Goddess who coming into Germany to visit her Kinsman Gambrivius who was in those days Lord of that part of the Country where Hamburg now stands was here Deified and worshipp'd under the Image of an Half-Moon Several of the Saxon Chronologers report that this Idol was first brought hither by
his Brother Christian Elect Bishop of the Diocess of Minden This brave Prince govern'd the Dukedom in great peace and prosperity two and twenty years and enlarg'd it with the Principality of Grubenhagen After his decease in the year 1633 the Dukedome of Luneburg fell to his Brother Augustus Elect Bishop of Ratzeburg upon which incomparable Prince of whom the Reader may expect a larger account in the description of the Dukedom of Brunswic descended not long after by the death of Frideric Vlric the Dukedom of Brunswic Whereupon the Dukedom of Luneburg was given to Duke George Lieutenant General of all the forces of the Lower Saxony in the year 1636. He left four Sons whereof the eldest Christian Ludowic for some years govern'd the Luneburgers paying each of his younger Brethren an annual stipend of 12000 Ric-dollars Upon his death the second Brother George William succeeded in the Government and kept as he doth to this day his Residence in his Brothers Palace at Zell By the Treaty of Hildesheim the Dukedoms of Calenberg and Grubenhage were assign'd over to the third Brother John Frideric who kept his Residence at Hannover in much greater state then his Brother at Zell These and all other Territories subject to the late Duke of Hannover are now in the possession of the youngest Brother Ernest Augustus who by the Treaty of Munster was made Bishop of Osnabrug and is now upon the death of his Brother John Frideric this last year 1680 Duke of Hannover He married the Lady Sophia youngest Sister to our Prince Rupert of whom this character is usually given that she is the most accomplish'd Princess in Europe by whom he hath three Sons and a Daughter Chief Cities and other places of greatest note in this Dukedom are FIrst Luneburg LUNEBURG We have already given the Reader an account of the most probable opinion about the original of the name of this City and but little more can be sai concerning its first Founders and those that fortified it The story of Julius Cesar's laying the first foundation of a City in this place is at best incredible and groundless There 's hardly an ancient City in Europe which does not pretend to some venerable piece or other of Julius's Architecture which tho ordinarily admir'd by the vulgar yet is contemn'd and laugh'd at by men of sence and knowing Antiquaries The best testimony of its age I can meet with is Dithmarus Mersburgensis's mentioning Luinberg by the name of Civitas in speaking of an Earthquake which hapned in the days of the Emperor Henry II. But 't is easie to observe how the Historians of those times were wont to compliment any mean Village with the title of Civitas Yet Lambertus Schafnaburgensis an Author of almost as great antiquity as the former in his account of the transactions of the year 1073. gives this character of Luneburg that 't was then Oppidum maximum Ottonis Ducis Saxoniae situm in confinio Saxonum Luticiorum At present the Town contains about two English miles in circumference being not built in exact square but rather an oblong figure The Streets are broad and most of the Houses tolerably well built Over against the Town-hall which is a neat and compact piece of building stands the Duke's Palace where the Duke of Zell and his Family are lodg'd when he has a mind to reside at Luneburg The chief Trade of the Town is in Salt which the Citizens make in great abundance out of certain pits of salt water which spring within the walls Their Salt-houses are fenc'd round and continually guarded as being the main support of the City These bring in the Duke a considerable yearly Revenue and besides provision is hereby made for a great number of poor labouring men who might otherwise starve for want of employment II. Bardewic BARDEWICK At this day a Village within a mile of Luneburg but anciently a strong and populous City Some Authors fancy it to have been the first City in Saxony And so questionless it was if it be true as they pretend to be able to demonstrate that it was built 990 years before Christ Over the door of the Cathedral which is now the only Church left of nine are wrote in an old Gothic character these hobling verses Abram dum natus mox Treveris incipit ortus Hinc annis Barduic mille sex X quoque quinque Post Barduic Roma duo C cum quinque triginta M C post Nat. junctis octaginta novemque Dum Brunsvicensis Henricus Leo dictus Simonis in festo Barduic subvertit ab alto Meibomius a learned Antiquary whom we have already had occasion often to mention has taken great pains to pick up out of these Rithms and all other Monuments of note about this Town a large account of the Antiquity of the place The name he imagines contrary to the humour of some other Historians who speak of Bardo a Knight Errant of old and Founder of Bardewic derived from the Bardi a Northern people who wandring a great many years up and down Saxony and the neighbouring Countries at last fix'd themselves in this place Whether these Bardi may not have been a Tribe of such Poets as Mr. Cambden and some other of our Antiquaries says gave name to Bardsey one of our British Islands I shall leave to the Reader 's judgment since every Historian that mentions the Bards will tell us that they were the Genealogists amongst the Gauls an undoubted branch of the German Nation as well as the Britains The Verses before-mention'd will inform us that this great City was destroy'd by Duke Henry surnam'd the Lion on St. Simon and Jude's day in the year 1189. Since that time it has never been able to recover its glory and is now remarkable for nothing but a College of Eight Residentiary Canons and some few Vicars III. ULTZEN A neat uniform little Town Vltren about the middle way betwixt Lunenburg and Zell 'T was anciently call'd Lawenwald i. e. Lion-Forest as appears from several of its old Records and an inscription to this day legible on the North-side of the Town-hall And from this its old name the Arms or Rebus rather of the Town are still a Lion Passant Azure in a Field Verd betwixt Three Trees of the Second The modern name Vltzen it had from the neighbouring Monastery of Olden-Stadt which as is evident from several ancient Writings bearing date A. D. 1255 and 1338 was formerly call'd Old-Vlssen On the twentieth of September in the year 1646 this City was miserably destroy'd by a fire which in a very short time burnt down the fairest and richest part of it This blow it has hardly yet so well recover'd as to be entirely rebuilt but however the most considerable streets and places of consequence are very much advanc'd by it and the new buildings are every-where more regular and splendid then the former The Citizens have a Tradition among them that the first English Saxons
he mentions yet upon examination we shall find that this Wisimir if ever there was any such man must have slain Siward about the year of Christ 340 and we never hear of Duke Lechus in Poland before the year 550 nay some say he began his Government in the year 644. Wherefore omitting these impertinent contradictions and anticronisms it is certain that Wismar had its name from the convenience of its situation Wis-meer signifying no more then a safe and secure part of the Ocean such an one as that is upon which this City is now seated Nor is the Town so ancient as they would make it but first built or at least made a City out of the ruins of Mecklenburg which as hath been already said was once the Metropolis of this whole Dukedom about the year 1250 or as some will have it 1238 by Gunceline II. Earl of Swerin Afterwards Henry Duke of Mecklenburg for his great performances in the Holy Land surnam'd Hierosolymitanus brought hither the Statutes and Ordinances observed in the Government of the City of Lubec and new modell'd Wismar about the year 1266. From which time it grew so extravagantly great and populous that within a very short time it was reckon'd one of the chief Hans-Towns and was made the Harbour for all the Men of War belonging to that Society This engaged the whole Community to contribute towards its fortification insomuch that within the compass of a very few years it became almost impregnable By the Treaty of Munster the City and Haven of Wismar with the Castle of Wallfrisch and the Peninsula of Pole excepting the Villages of Schedorff Weitendorff Brandenhusen and Wangeren which belong to the Hospital of the Holy Ghost in Lubec as also Newen-Closter were given up to the Swedes since which time the King of Sweden has always stiled himself Lord of Wismar But in these late Wars between the two Northern Crowns the City of Wismar amongst many others was taken by the present victorious King of Denmark Christian V. Altho it was agreed by the Eighth Article of the Treaty of Peace signed at Fountainblaeu on the second day of September in the year 1679 by the French and Danish Ministers that Wismar and Rugen should be restor'd to the Swedes within three weeks after the ratification of the said Treaty yet in a second Treaty sign'd on the twenty-sixth day of the same month at Lunden in Schonen it was agreed that Wismar should remain in the hands of the King of Denmark as a surety for the arrears of certain Contributions due from that King to the Crown of Sweden This obligation it seems is not yet cancell'd for the Danes to this day keep possession of this great Town and are not like to be forc'd in any short time to yeild it up III. Rostock ROSTOCK A City of great antiquity if we believe the stories which some of the German Antiquaries report of it For they tell us that this is the very place which several of the ancient Roman Writers point at when they report great things of Lacinium Rhodopolis and Laciburgium all which names the modern Historians appropriate to Rostock But how its name came at last to be chang'd for there seems to be but little affinity betwixt Lacinium or Laciburgium and Rostock altho Rhodopolis come something nearer to the modern name they cannot so easily determine Some think the word Rostock or Rostzogz a compound of two old Wendish Monosyllables signifying as much as a confluence of two Rivers So that this City according to this derivation had its name at first for the same reason that several great Towns in France are at this day nam'd Confluent The Polish writers say the name was first given it by some of their Country-men in whose language Rostock signifies a moist or boggy place P. Lindebergius in his Chronocle of Rostoch proves from inscriptions upon the Seal of the City and other ancient Monuments that the true name of the Town is Rotzstock and he guesses that this name was first given it from a great Red Pillar von einem rothen saul oder stock which in the days of Paganism and Idolatry was worshipp'd by the Inhabitants of these parts And this conjecture seems most agreeable to the name of Rhodopolis before-mention'd not to mention its being back'd with the authority of a learn'd man and great Antiquary But whatever grand conceit the Mecklenburgers may have of the antiquity of this City 't is certain that in the year 329 't was only a small inconsiderable Village built by some poor Fishermen on the banks of the Warna and consisting of a few slender Tents rather then Houses Afterwards it was advanc'd into a small City by Gotheschalk King of the Heruli and by his successor Primislaus the Second notably enlarged about the year 1160. At last Burevinus Primislaus's Son made it a compleat City having been at the charges of walling it about and new modelling it according to the Laws and Constitutions of the City of Lubeck Burevinus's Charter which the Citizens of Rostock shew to this day amongst other records of their Corporation is signed in the year 1218. At this Day it consists of three parts the Old New and Middle City in all which are reckoned 140 Streets and many thousands of high and stately Citizens Houses The most memorable things in Rostock are usually by the Mecklenburgers in their Saxon Dialect reckoned up in the following Rithms Seven doren tho St. Marien-karcke Seven Straten van den grooten Marckle Seven thore so der gahn tho lande Seven kopmans bruggen by dem strande Seven torne so up den Radthuss staan Seven Klocken die daar daglycken slaan Seven linden op den Rosen-garden Dat syn die Rostocker kennewarten i. e. There are seven times seven remarkable things in Rostock 1. Seven great doors to the Cathedral Church of St. Mary 2. Seven large Streets leading to the chief Market-place 3. Seven Gates of the City towards the Land Seven Bridges over the Warna which runs through several places of the Town 5. Seven Towers on the top of the Town Hall 6. Seven great Bells which chime at certain hours in the Town Clock 7. Seven vast Linden trees in the Common Garden But of late years one of their Bridges being decayed with age fell down and because of no great use has not since been repaired so that one of their Septenaries is fail'd The most notable Commodity of the Town is Beer which is here brewed and carryed into several parts of Germany and other Nations A Rostocker will tell us that yearly by the 250 priviledged Brewers in this City there are at least so many thousand Tun of Beer brewed besides the vast quantities which many of the Private Citizens men especially of the chiefest rank and repute must be supposed to brew for their own use The University at Rostock which is now one of the largest and best stockt in the German Empire was first founded by John
in this Church forty-nine Altars whereof the High Altar in the Quire is of one piece of stone curiously wrought and of various colours It is nine Hamburg Ells each of which makes one foot and ten inches in length four in bredth and one in thickness and valued at above two Tun of Gold Magdeburg had once the supreme Jurisdiction in Civil Cases as well as Ecclesiastical over all the other Cities in Saxony Judicature and the Archbishop of this Diocess was like our Bishops of Durham a Count Palatine who had the sole power of determining all Causes brought before him But that grand Authority was lost by degrees and now the Citizens of Magdeburg have no other Courts of Judicature then such as are kept by the Burgomasters and Raedtsherrn of other Cities as well as this That part of this Dukedom which lies on the Western banks of the Elb is exceedingly fruitful in Corn but wants Wood and other fuel and on the contrary that part of it which lies beyond the River has plenty of Wood but wants Corn. There are contain'd in the whole Circle twenty-eight Towns which anciently paid homage to the Archbishops of Magdeburg and are now subject to the Elector of Brandenburg as their Duke ANHALT BEtwixt the Sala and the Elb lies the greatest part of this Principality the whole being environ'd by the County of Mansfeldt the Upper Saxony the Bishopric of Halle the Dukedom of Magdeburg and the Bishopric of Halberstadt MARCHIA NOVA Vulgo NEW MARK in March Brandenburg PRINCIPATUS ANHALDINUS ET MAGDEBURGENSIS Archiepiscopatus Apud Janssonio-Waesbergios Mosem Pitt et Stephanum Swart 'T will not in this place be amiss to inform the the Reader that Prince Lewis beforemention'd to the great credit of himself and Family was the first Founder of the Frucht-Barende Geselschaft as the Germans call it or Fructifying Society The story of which is as follows This Prince having travell'd over all Europe and observed the great advantages which the Nobility in France Italy and other Nations had in being furnish'd with store of excellent Books in their own Languages was resolved to try whether he could perswade any of his own Countrymen to set upon the Translation of the best Latin and Greek Authors into a more easie and intelligible stile then was ordinarily used among them In pursuance of this design he instituted the Society aforesaid whereof himself was the first President and succeeded so well herein that in a very short time after there were above twenty Princes and at least six hundred Lords and Noblemen who enter'd and enroll'd themselves in this College of Wits And how much the German Nation is beholden to the endeavours of these Virtuosi there is no intelligent man but what is abundantly sensible For besides the opportunity which every man has of reading the writings of foreign Authors in his own Language the Germans are able to spell their own tongue aright which before the Institution of this Society so few of them could do that Duesius tells us one main design of his publishing a German Grammar was to teach the Nobility of that Nation to put their words into writing The most considerable Towns in this small Principality are 1. Zerbst Seated on a small River about an English mile distant from the banks of the Elb. Dresserus fancies this a Town of great Antiquity Zerbst and had its name from the Servetii or Cervetii as he reads it an old Wendish people But Werdenhagen a better Antiquary rejects this frivolous assertion and proves that Zerbst in the Wendish Dialect signifies a strong Fort. 'T is at this day remarkable for nothing but a sort of strong heady Beer which the Citizens brew in Summer and send abroad into all the neighbouring Towns and Provinces 2. Bernburg Bernburg Another Residence of the Princes of Anhalt separated from the Palace by the River Sala On the eleventh of March in the year 1636 this Town was taken by the Elector of Saxony's Forces who put the whole Garrison that defended it with all the inhabitants excepting only those few that belong'd to the Prince's Court to the Sword and plunder'd the City 3. Dessau A well fortified Town on the Elb Dessau seated in a pleasant and fruitful part of the Country It had its name given as most of the German Etymologists imagine by the Jews who in their mungrel Dutch-Jewish Dialect call a fat soil such as this Town stands on Desse The Prince's Palace in Dessau was first built as appears by an old Inscription over one of the Gates by Albert and Waldemar two Brothers Princes of Anhalt in the year 1341. In one of the Chappels of this Town is to be seen the Tomb of Jeckel Rehebock whom some German Historians name Meniken von Belitz an old Miller who having for some time attended Waldemar Marquise of Brandenburg in the Wars took upon him to counterfeit his slain Master and carried on the design so cunningly that a great many believ'd him to be the very Marquise and follow'd him with as great respect as they had done his Master before He dyed in the year 1350. 4. Aschersleben or Ascania Ascania whence the Princes of Anhalt got the name of Principes Ascanii 'T is an old Town on the confines of the Bishopric of Halberstadt and for that reason seized on by Canons of that Church upon the death of Prince Otho's Widow in the year 1315. Since which time the Princes of Anhalt have often complain'd of the injustice of this action and hoped for a redress at the Treaty of Munster but in vain for the Bishopric of Halberstadt was by that Treaty granted to the Elector of Brandenburg who is too potent a Prince to be frighted into a resignation of any of the dependances upon that Diocess THE DUKEDOME OF BRUNSWIC THE Dukedom of Brunswic strictly so call'd comprehends only the Territories subject to the Dukes of Brunswic and Hannover or Calenberg The Principality of Grubenhagen with the Counties of Blanckenburg and Reinstein are indeed usually comprised under the same name because subject to the Dukes of Zell and Wolfenbuttel who are both entituled Dukes of Brunswic as well Luneburg but are however in themselves distinct Dominions and shall accordingly be separately described The Dukedoms of Brunswic and Hannever are exceeding populous and fruitful Soil The Wheat and Rye in this Country grows sometimes to that prodigious height that their ordinary Ears of Corn are higher then the tallest man on Horseback But yet we must not expect to meet with such pleasant and profitable Cornfields as these in every part of the Country A great share of the Hercynean Forest ran thro this Land tho that be now parcell'd out into smaller Woods and Parks In these the Inhabitants have besides the provision of Timber and Fuel great store of Deer wild Swine Hares c. with Fowl of all sorts Not to mention their rich Mines of Iron Salt and Coal-pits of which in
immediately suspecting by their number the whole matter confess'd her design and was pardon'd by her Husband From the eldest of these Whelps or Guelps for so the old Count order'd them to be nam'd in remembrance of the Midwife's answer was descended that Henry Guelph Earl of Altorf whom the Emperor Conrad II. made afterwards Duke of Bavaria How this Family came afterwards to encrease their Dominions by the accession of the Lower Saxony is already shew'n in the Catalogue of the Dukes of Luneburg and needs not here be repeated The Reform'd Religion Religion according to the Doctrine of Luther and the Augsburg Confession was first brought into this Country by Duke Julius who died in the year 1589. Since which time the greatest part of the Duke of Brunswic's Subjects have been rigid assertors of Lutheranism and as vehement opposers of Popery and Calvinism Indeed of late years the great authority and respect which the Calixti and other Latitudinarians have got at Helmstadt has won over some multitudes to their perswasion but the generality are of their Prince's Religion and zealously pursue the footsteps of their Megalander as they are pleas'd to call him Martin Luther Each particular Dukedom has its distinct supremacy in Ecclesiastical as well as Civil affairs Churchgovernment which are administred in this Manner Under each Dukedom there is one Superintendens Generalissimus who has supreme inspection over all the Church and resembles one of our Archbishops To him are subject the several Superintendentes Generales or Bishops and to these the Superintendentes Speciales which are the same thing in effect with our Arch-deacons In some Provinces they have no other distinction of Superintendents then into Generales and Speciales to wit where the whole Province is of so small extent as not to require more then one single Bishop So that we see how willing the Lutherans are to admit of the Office and Dignity of Archbishops and Bishops in their Church altho they have got a trick of bawling out against their names as Popish and Anti-Christian Cities and Great Towns in the Dukedom of BRUNSWIC BRUNSWIC Brunswic I. In the Cathedral at Brunswic among many other Monuments there is an old Parchment writen in Plat-Dutch containing a short account of the most considerable persons which ly buried in that Church which begins thus Alse man Schreff na Goddes gebordt 861 hefft Hertogg Danckquarth tho Sassen erstlik dusse Borch bemuhret unde Danckquarderode geheten unde nomen laten i. e. In the year of Christ 861 Danckquarth Duke of Saxony first walled in this Castle and called it Danckquarderode or Tanquard's-Cross Which agrees with the story we find in most German Chronologers of note who treat of the Antiquities of this place For they tell us that Bruno and Tanquard Sons of Ludolph Duke of Saxony were the first Founders of this Town which from the former was called Brunswic the latter only giving name to the Castle Since that time this City has been continually augmented by the succeeding Dukes of Saxony and Brunswic and is now become one of the most considerable Hans-Towns in the Empire Insomuch that the Citizens divide themselves into five distinct Corporations who are govern'd by several Magistrates of their own and have so many different Courts of Judicature These Companies never unite but upon some extraordinary occasion wherein the common interest of the whole Town seems concern'd Whether Brunswic be a free Imperial City or subject to the Dukes of Brunswic and Luneburg has been a question often controverted betwixt both parties concern'd each of whom have endeavour'd to assert their pretensions by dint of Sword and have come off with various success witness the Sieges in the years 1492 1550 1553 1605 1606 1614 1616 c. 'T was last of all besieged by the present Duke Rudolphus Augustus who took it in the year 1671. Since which time he has taken care to be very often resident in the Town and always at his departure to leave behind him a strong Guard The chief Trade of this City is in Hides and Mum. Trade The Tanners have Skins out of England Denmark and other Nations which they return dress'd Their Mum is of two sorts one whereof is of a thin and weak body the ordinary drink of the Citizens and neighbouring Rustics the other which they call Ship-Mum is a much clammier and grosser liquor brew'd on purpose to be transported into foreign Nations This kind of drink which is scarce potable before it has been putrified by working at Sea is made of Barley and Hops with a small mixture of Wheat There are a set number of Brewers who have the sole power of making it and their appointed time of brewing is from the beginning of October to the latter end of March Here by the way I cannot but wonder that Meibomius writing a Commentary de Cerevisiis potibusque ebriaminibus extra vinum aliis should omit the two most famous liquors of his own Nation Mum and Breuhane II. WOLFENBUTTEL Wolfenbuttel This is the ancient Seat of the Dukes of Brunswic Famous for its strong and impregnable fortifications It confists of two parts 1. Arx Guelpica or the Duke's Palace which is properly call'd Wolfenbuttel Which name it has from its first Founder Duke Ekbert who was of the Guelphian Family The termination of the word in this as many other names of Cities and great Towns in Germany denotes a moist and watery situation such as this Town has and which contributes very much to its strength and security 2. The City or Henrich-Stadt so called from Duke Henry the younger its founder The only remarkable thing in this part of the Town is the new Church which some Italians and many other Foreigners if we believe the Citizens have look'd upon as a most admirable piece of Architecture In a vault under the Quire lie buried one and twenty Dukes and Dutchesses of Brunswic wrapt up in Coffins of Lead with Inscriptions In the Duke's Palace the most remarkable thing is BRAVNSWICK MEYDBVRG com ceteris adiacentibus Apud Janssonio Waesbergios Mosem Pitt et Stephanum Swart DUCATUS BRUNSVICENSIS Accuratissime discriptio Apud Janssonio-Waesbergios Mosem Pitt et Stephanum Swart His Son and Successor Duke Rudolphus Augustus keeps now his residence at Wulfenbuttel a mild learned and religious Prince following the steps of his Father rather in his Study then in Acts of Chivalry He has no male issue but is like to be succeeded by some of the Sons of his Brother Antony Vlric the eldest whereof was slain at the late siege of Maestricht III. HELMSTADT Which City is reckon'd the oldest in Saxony next Bardewic It was built by the Emperor Charles the Great about A. D. 782 and so nam'd from the abundance of Elm-trees that encompass it Here St. Ludger who was sent into these parts by the foremention'd Emperor to convert the Infidel Saxons preach'd and the Citizens pretend to show Travellers the
very Church now almost nine hundred years old wherein his first Sermons were deliver'd But the great ornament of this Town is the Academia Julia or University founded by Julius Duke of Brunswic-Wolfenbuttel in the year 1576. Amongst other grand priviledges granted to this University by the Emperor Maximilian II. 't was order'd that its Rectors should for ever be honour'd with the Title and Dignity of Counts Palatine Whereupon Henry Julius Duke Julius's eldest Son and Bishop of Halberstadt was by his Father made the first Rector and before his succession to the Dukedom of Brunswic upon his Father's death founded the fair College which is still call'd Juleum novum These two Dukes procured for the use of the Professors and Students in this University a considerable Library of Books which since has been well augmented but comes far short of that at Wolfenbuttel Amongst some hundreds of Hebrew Greek Latin and Dutch Manuscripts of little value they have two old Volumes containing the Pentateuch in Hebrew written on Vellam in a fair and legible character For these two Books they tell us several Jewish Rabbies who pretend to more then ordinary skill in discerning the true Antiquity of such kind of Monuments in their own language have offer'd some hundred of Rix-dollars After the death of Duke Frideric Vlric the last Prince of the ancient House of Wolfenbuttel the Dukes of Lunenburg divided the Rectory of this University amongst them agreeing that each of the Dukes Regent should in his course supply that Office for one year and no more And in state it has ever since continued There is not any University in the German Empire that has bred up more eminent and learned men within the compass of one Century then Helmstadt Witness Joh. Caselius Jac. Horstius Val. Forsterius Reinerus Reineccius Hen. Meibomius Joh. Stukius Jac. Lampadius Conr. Hornejus c. and of late years the ingenious Calixti and incomparable Conringius IV. 〈◊〉 HANNOVER The Metropolis of the Dukedom of Calenberg whence the Duke's Palace was removed hither by George Duke of Brunswic-Calenberg upon the decease of the above-mention'd Frideric Vlric The Town was anciently call'd Lawenroda from the neighbouring Castle which was subject to Counts of that name About Henry the Lion's time it got the name of Hanover from a Ferry at this place over the River Leina as some imagine Han over in the old Dialect of the Lower Saxons signifying the same as the more modern High-Dutch haben uber i.e. to have or carry over There are yearly kept in this Town four Fairs during which there is always a vast concourse of Foreigners as well as Germans from all parts of the Empire These contribute exceedingly to the enriching of the Citizens but however a more considerable share of their wealth arises from their Breuhane a sweet and muddy sort of Beer which is hence exported in great quantities into the neighbouring Towns and Villages V. HAMELEN Hamelen An ancient City on the outmost confines of the Dukedom of Brunswic-Calenberg seated on the mouth of the River Hamel whence it has its name and the banks of the Weser This place is look'd upon as the Key to the whole Dukedom and is therefore better fortified and garrison'd then almost any other City in the Duke of Brunsic's Dominions The Records of this City relate a notable accident which hapned amongst the Burgers on the 26th day of June in the year 1284. The story is as follows The Citizens being strangely infested with Rats and having tried all imaginable expedients but in vain to rid themselves of these troublesom guests at last met with a stranger who undertook for a certain reward to do the feat The Burgers agreed to his proposals and the strange Gentleman immediately with his Tabret and Pipe draws after him all the Rats in the Town like so many Maurice-dancers to the River and there drowned them Returning for his reward it was denied him as being judg'd to great a recompense for so small a performance However less he could not be perswaded to take but left the Town in a rage threatning in a short time to be reveng'd Accordingly about a year after he came again and play'd the second part of the same Tune but with another Train after him For now he went attended with a great number of Children who follow'd him in at the mouth of a great Cave on the top of a neighbouring Hill call'd by the Burgers Koppel-berg and were never after heard of In remembrance of this sad accident the Citizens were wont for many year after as appears by several old Deeds and other Records in that City to date all their Indentures and Contracts such a year von unser kinder aussgang i.e. since the departure of our Children The street thro which they pass'd is to this day call'd Bungloese Strass or Tabret-street and on the top of the Mountain near the Cave's mouth is still to be seen a mounment of stone with this inscription Post duo CC mille post octoginta quaterque Annus hic est ille quo languet annus uterque Orbantur pueros centum etque triginta Johannis Et Pauli caros Hamelenses non sine damnis Fatur ut omnes eos vivos calvaria sorpsit Christe tuere reos ne tam mala res quibus obsit Which sorry piece of dogg'rel is there translated into two Distichs in the Nether Saxon Dialect much of the same strain The Principality of GRVBENHAGEN GRUBENHAGEN Name in the Dutch language signifies properly a Grove or Forest belonging to the ancient Family of the Grubes tho afterwards that word was appropriated to a Castle built by some of the said Family which in process of time communicated its name to the whole Principality Thus the Hague in Holland called by the Low Dutch s'Gravenhaghe which is ordinarily render'd in Latin by Haga Comitis had its name from the neighbouring Forest where it seems the Earls of that Province were anciently used to hunt And indeed this whole Principality is nothing else but a large Forest Hercynian Wood. most of it being a part of the Hartz or Sylva Hercynia mention'd by Roman Writers Julius Cesar in his Commentaries says that this Wood is at least nine days journey in bredth and of an unaccountable length Several men he tells us have travell'd forty days together strait forward in it but that no man durst ever yet boast that he had seen both ends of it The German word Hartz out of which without all question the Latins form'd their Hercynia signifies properly Rosin or Pitch which is nothing else but the liquor distill'd out of the Pine and Fir-trees the only Timber wherewith this Forest abounds Since the Empire began to be cultivated and the inhabitants understood the advantage of uniting themselves into Cities and Corporations the Hercynian Wood has in many places been converted into great Towns and large Corn-fields but yet passing over these 't is still easie to track it
quite cross the Country In this Principality are most of the Mines of Silver Mines Copper Lead c. belonging to the Duke of Brunswic and Lunenburg The chief of which are at Rammelsberg Wildeman and Zellerfeld Rammelsberg is an high Mountain not far from the City Goslar on one side shaded with part of the Hercynian Forest but on the other cover'd with nothing but moss The German Historians tell us that the Mines on this Mounttain were first discover'd in the year 972 by a Hunter who having tied his Horse to a bush and gone some distance from him at his return found a great piece of Ore beat out of the ground with his Horse's hoof This Hunter they say was surnamed Ramme and thence the Mountain got the name of Rammelsberg Upon the bruit of this Discovery the Emperor Otho I. immediately procured a company of Franks that well understood the art of melting and refining all sorts of Minerals and sent them hither to teach the Saxons their mystery to which before that time they were utter strangers From these Franks the Town of Frankenburg not far from the Mines of Rammelsberg had its name Not long after the riches of this mountain had been thus discover'd the Miners were grown so numerous that this one place could neither find work nor food enough for such vast multitudes as daily resorted thither Whereupon they began to seek for new treasures in the neighbouring Hills and met with so good success that in the year 1045 as Albinus testifies another great vein of Ore was discover'd in the place where Wildeman now stands and a third at Zellerfeld in the year 1070. This last Town is now the chief of all the Mine-Cities belonging to the Princes of Brunswic Here the chief Overseer of the Mines keeps his Court every Saturday and orders every workman his pay for the week past The chief Metals which are found in these Mines are Silver Lethargy Lead 〈…〉 and two sorts of Copper one whereof is melted out of the Ore like other Metals the other is made by the Vitriol water upon great plates of Iron which they steep in troughs made for this purpose Besides these Metals they find a great many sorts of Minerals which abundantly recompense the workman's labour tho not sufficient to atone for the loss of his life which is too often taken away by their nauseous and deadly smells The richest of these are 1. Gray Vitriol 2. Atramentstein or Ink-stone a Mineral of many various colours Out of these two bray'd and boil'd together is made the ordinary green Vitriol 3. Gedien Vitriol which grows like Isicles out of the Rocks and may be used without any further cleansing or purifying 4. Blew Vitriol commonly made out of the Copper Ore 5. White Vitriol made of Lead Ore 6. Misy a Mineral much of the same colour and nature with the ordinary yellow Brimstone 7. Brimstone made out of a peculiar sort of Ore found here in great quantities out of which drop the stores Sulphuris which usually coagulate like Icesicles The several ways of discovering of Mines ordering of Minerals Ore c. are the same here as at Friberg and other Mine-Towns in the German Empire So that for an account of these and the like rarities we refer the Reader to the following Description of Misnia The Metropolis or chief Town in the Principality of Grubenhagen is Eimbeck or Ein-beck 〈◊〉 which says Letzner has its name from the confluence of a great many small Rivulets in this place into one common stream For Beck in the dialect of the Lower Saxons as well as that of the Northern English signifies the same with the High Dutch word Bache a Rivulet or small torrent The only Trade of the Town was formerly in Breuhane which was here brewed and exported into many of the neighbouring parts but of late years the Citizens have addicted themselves exceedingly to Husbandry and Tillage and enrich'd the City mightily with their Comtrade Which would doubtless be daily advanc'd if they had the advantage of a good River to take off their vast stocks of all manner of grain Clausthal Altenau Andreasberg Osterrode and the other great Towns of this Principality are wholly inhabited by Miners who being a sort of people bred in Caves and the bowels of the Earth do not trouble themselves with the erecting of fair structures above ground The County of BLANCKENBVRG and REINSTEIN THis County as appears from many ancient Charters 〈◊〉 and other Instruments sign'd by several of the German Emperors was formerly call'd Hartingow or Hartgow which name the Dutch Writers explain by das Gow an Hartz and we may English it the Hercynian County For as the ancient Romans divided their whole Land into so many Provinces which were again subdivided into certain Praefecturas Praesidiatus Colenias or Municipia so old Germany consisted of a set number of Gowen or Pflegen and these were made up of inferior Voigteyen or Dingstule that is Hundreds or Bailiwicks For altho the words Gowe and Pflege now fleck signified Pagus a Town yet the old Saxons and other people of Germany had not formerly above one of these in a whole County so that Gow-graff or Judex Paganus was in effect the same thing as Comes an Earl or Count. But when about the year of Christ 1100 the name of Gowen began to be antiquated and laid aside Hartingow once the largest County in the Lower Saxony was forgot and the County or Grassschaft a new word instead of Gowe took its name from the two chief Forts in it Blackenburg and Reinstein Together with its name it lost its ancient boundaries and was contracted into a much narrower compass then formerly For the Counties of Stolberg Schwartzburg and Hohenstein with the Bishopric of Quedlinburg and County of Wernigerode were cut off from this Province However because the County of Wernigerode is still subject to the same Master with Blackenburg we shall at present comprise both Provinces under one name and give a description of them together Tacitus speaking of these parts tells us the inhabitants live in an intolerable sharp air and Seneca says they have a continual Winter And certainly if this character may be justly appropriated to any Province in Germany 't is to this which is continually exposed to the North-wind and endures the cold blasts from the top of Bructerus and the neighbouring Mountains which are usually cover'd with Snow till Midsummer But this sharp air is not destructive to the healthy and vigorous constitutions of the inhabitants who more commonly then any other Germans arrive at the age of 100 or 110 years But however were there such an intemperies Coeli as these Authors mention constantly hovering over the heads of the Blackenburgers yet that inconvenience would in a great measure be recompens'd by those other ways whereby Nature has enrich'd this Country For the Valleys tho they afford but little Corn yet are as plentifully stock'd with Kine
you may meet large Vineyards plentifully stock'd with Grapes out of which is press'd a much more palatable sort of Wine then can be had in any part of Saxony or the Marquisate of Brandenburg Amongst the many kinds of plants and herbs wherewith the Fields and Forests as well as Gardens of Thuringen abound the chief and most peculiar to this Province are wild Saffron and Woad the later of which is used by our Dyers in their best blews and sky-colours and with which the old Britains as Cesar informs us were us'd to paint themselves Near Sangerhausen and Salfeld has sometimes been dug up considerable quantities of Copper and Silver Ore and at Franckenhausen Saltzungen and Sultza they have still rich Salt-pits The chief Rivers of the Country are the Sala Rivers Werra Vnstrut Hiera Ilm Leina Schwertze Wipper Helbe Rahna Helme Lossa and Giessel Besides these there are several great Lakes at the bottom of some of their Mountains the most considerable of which are the Weissensee and Schwansee The Bores of Thuringen are a rough and unhew'n sort of people downright Clowns Inhabitants and so far strangers to Courtship and breeding that they are with much difficulty brought acquainted with the common principles of humanity They hardly admit of any manner of government or order among them and are possibly the only Germans that are uncivil to Travellers The Thuringers upon their first appearance in these parts Government subjected themselves to a King of their own chusing and continued in this estate till their whole land was overrun and conquer'd by the Francks in the year 1522. In the days of the Emperor Charles the Great and his Father King Pepin who first rooted out Paganism and planted Christianity in this Province the greatest part of it was subject to the Archbishop of Mentz who govern'd it by several Deputies and Lieutenants By this means the Kingdom of Thuringen came to be divided into a great many Counties and Baronies or Lordships such were the Counties of Schwartzburg Kirchberg Kefernburg Schoneberg Gleichen Sangerhausen c. the Lordships of Franckenstein Saltza Heldrungen Dreffert Apolda Vargila c. After the death of the Emperor Otho Ludowic Count of Schoneberg got the Title of Count of Thuringen conferr'd on him by the Emperor Conrad II. and his Grandchild prevail'd with Lotharius II. to change the Title of Count into Landtgrave In this Line the honour continued till the death of Herman Landtgrave of Thuringen and Hessen in the year 1226. Whereupon Henry Duke of Brabant got possession of Hessen and Thuringen fell to Henry Marquise of Misnia and has ever since been subject to the House of Saxony Erfurt the Metropolis of Thuringen Erfurt and one of the largest Cities in Germany is thought by Bertius and other learned Geographers to have had its name from Erfa an old ruinous Castle near thirty English miles distant from the Town I had rather believe its ancient name to have been Ierafurt which signifies no more then a Ferry over the River Iera on the banks of which this City now stands There are three Baronies and seventy-two fair Villages subject to the Citizens of Erfurt so that the Country Rustics have some reason for that proverbial saying in ordinary use amongst them Erfurt is not a City but a Country When this great City which is about as large as Coln and as beautiful was first built is not easily determin'd 'T is certain that in the days of Boniface Archbishop of Mentz it was reckon'd an ancient City For there is still extant an Epistle written by that Prelate to Pope Zachary wherein we meet with these words Vnam esse sedem Episcopatus decrevimus in Castello quod dicitur Wurtzburg alteram in oppido quod nominatur Buriburg perhaps Nuriburg tertiam in loco qui dicitur Erphesfurt qui fuit olim Paganorum The Town is situate in a pleasant and fruitful plain abundantly stock'd with all manner of grain and affording great plenty of good Wine Vast multitudes of the Citizens are maintain'd by gathering and dressing the Herb Woad before mention'd which grows in great abundance in most fields near Erfurt This and the other Commodities of the Town Corn Wine c. are carried off at two great Fairs in the year whereof one is held the week after Trinity Sunday and the other at Martinmass Weimar a neat and well built City Weimar in the middle way betwixt Erfurt and Iena is thought to have been anciently call'd Weinmarckt from the great quantities of Wine sold daily at this Town It is questionless a place of great antiquity since as the old Chronicle of Thuringen witnesses the Emperor Otho II. held a general Diet of all the Estates of the Empire in this City in the year 975. The only remarkable thing in the Town is the Landgrave's Palace a regular and stately piece of building The City of Iena seated on the banks of the Sala Iena and famous for an Univesity and great concourse of learned men may justly be reckon'd the third in Thuringen Some German Etymologists would have this Town as well as the former fetch its name from the Grapes or Vineyards about it They tell us Jain signifies Wine in the Hebrew tongue and therefore too 't is probable say they that the Jews were first founders of this City But this conjecture has as little of probability in it as that fancy of some others who endeavour to derive the name of this Town from the old Roman God Janus since it does not appear that there grew any Vines near this place fome Centuries ago or that ever the Jews were Masters of it The Town is at present a well compact piece and tolerably well fortified with Walls and Turrets The foundation of the University was first begun by John Frideric Elector of Saxony who procured for it many brave and large priviledges from the Emperor Charles the Fifth But this good Prince never liv'd to finish the work he had begun but upon his deathbed committed that charge to his Sons who got the foremention'd priviledges confirm'd by the Emperor Ferdinand in the year 1558. Since that time there has never wanted a considerable number of eminent Professors and learned men in all Faculties in this University among whom the great J. Lipsius was one a man sufficient of himself not to mention any of his learned Collegues to eternize the credit of the place They have here a Library given them by some of the Dukes of Saxony and daily augmented but not so considerable as to merit a particular Description Gotha the fifth great Town in Thuringen Gotha seated on the Leina is thought to have been built by some of the old Gothic Troops on their march through this Country towards Italy and by them to have had the name of Gotha given it However 't is certain it was only a mean Village such as might just serve for the Tents of a company of hardy
the Cities Image or Statute and how applicable this name is to a draught or model of State-Government such as is contain'd in this Book let the Reader judg There are several Editions of this Code which contains only 137 choice Articles out of the Sachsen-Spiegel with some notable observations thereupon Wittenberg Wittenberg as we have said was once an Electoral City and is still reckon'd the Metropolis of the Upper Saxony Some Etymologists fetch its name from King Wittekind whom they make the first Founder of this City others will have it signifie no more then a white Rock such as may be ordinarily met with in the Vicenage and upon which they imagine the Town to be built And from this later conceit the Students in this City usually write its name in Latin Leucoris The University was founded after a long deliberation of several Electors from the year 1399 by Duke Frideric surnamed the White in the year 1502. There are in it at present three Colleges whereof the eldest is appointed for disputations in Physicks and other Arts the new one for Divines and the third for Lawyers Wittenberg has no great reason to brag of any eminent Scholars which of late it has produced Abraham Calovius has indeed scribled over a great deal of paper but to little purpose Another of their Professors Teutschmannus has taken vast pains to run down the Calvinists and establish the Doctrines of Luther but both his answers and arguments are so contemptibly weak and silly that the reading over his Book may probably confirm his Adversary but is in no danger of confuting him The Town is only one long street and has little or nothing in it observable so that the account which one gave waggishly of it may possibly be pertient enough viz. Leucorin intranti tibi quae sunt obvia quaeris Sus Miles Meretrix aut studiosus erit Halle tho a dependant on the Archbishopric or Dukedom of Magdeburg Halle and for that reason now subject to the Elector of Brandenburg may justly be referr'd to this place as being situated on the banks of the Sala within the precincts of those Territories which were comprised at first under the general name of the Upper Saxony It is thought to borrow its name from the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Salt from the abundance of Salt-pits in this place But this is only Goropius Becanus's fancy and therefore I shall not press it too hard upon the Reader These Pits were first discover'd by the Hermunduri a branch of the Suevian Nation some years before the coming of our Saviour and by them valued at as high a rate as if they had been so many Mines of Gold Of what value they are now a days may easily be computed from the weekly toll paid out of them to the Administrator of Magdeburg which ordinarily amounts to five or six hundred Crowns The Town is neatly built on the side of a pleasant hill cover'd with Vines The inhabitants are a gentile sort of people and by some fancied to be greater masters of the High Dutch tongue then the Citizens of Leipsick This City is usually call'd Halla Saxonum to distinguish it from some others of the same name in Schwaben Brabant c. and not as Bertius and Mercator would have it because 't is the Metropolis of the Lower Saxony For tho as Albinus rightly observes the ancient Geographers have been accustom'd to reckon her among the Cities of the Lower Saxony yet her situation together with the language and manners of her inhabitants declare her rather Misnian or High Saxon. To these we may add Quedlinburg Quedlinburg a small City betwixt Halberstad and Ermesleben For altho this Town be indeed situated within the Circle of the Lower Saxony yet of late years the German Geographers have been pleased to reckon it a part of the Upper as being subject to the Elector 'T was formerly guarded by a Castle on the top of an adjoining hill which is now demolish'd From this Castle the Town got the name of Quedlinburg which is a word of the same importance as Scarborough in English For Quaddelen in the Dialect of the Lower Saxons signifies marks or scars got by blows or slashes on the face or other parts of the body At this day 't is remarkable for nothing but a Lutheran Nunnery the Abbess whereof who is always either a Princess of the blood of Saxony or a Countess at least is Lady Paramount of the whole City and the Territories thereto belonging It was once a Hans-Town but upon a rebellion of the Citizens against their Abbess in the year 1475 that privilege was lost and the City enslaved rather then subjected to the Elector of Saxony For a Catalogue of the Electors of Saxony we refer the Reader to the following Description of Dresden in Misnia where their usual Residence is now kept Marchionatus MISNIAE una cum VOITLANDIA Authore Olao Ioannis Gotho S. R. M. Sueciae Geographo Excudebant Janssonio-Waesbergi●● Moses Pitt et Stephanus Swart To IAMES FRASER Esqr this Map is humbly dedicated THE MARQUISATE OF MISNIA MEISSEN or Misnia which is so called from a City of the same name formerly a Bishop's See and the Metropolis of this Country but now dwindled into a Town of little note is bounded on the East with Lusatia or Laussnitz on the South with Bohemia on the West with Thuringen and on the North with the Upper Saxony The whole Marquisate which is a vastly large Country is usually divided into four parts 1. Misnia strictly so call'd or Osterland containing Dresden Konigstein Pirna the old Fort of Sonnenstein c. 2. Der Ertzgebergische Creyss a Mountainous Countrey wherein are comprehended the Mine-Towns of Friberg Alteberg on the Moglitz Augustus-burg Annenberg Marienberg with some others 3. The Circle of Leipsick which besides the depenances on that rich City comprises the Counties of Rochlitz Waldheim and Geringswald with some other places of note 4. Voitlandia which was formerly reckon'd a distinct Principality of it self but is now accounted by all a part of Misnia Besides these Provinces there are in this Marquisate three Bishopricks 1. Meissen 2. Naumburg 3. Mersburg To each of these there are several Lands and Territories annex'd some part of the Revenues whereof are disposed of towards the maintenance of a certain number of Canons in every Cathedral but the greatest share is employed in raising Portions and Estates for the Elector's younger Children The Plains of Misnia are wonderfully fruitful in all manner of grain and the Hills as well stored with the richest Metals In some places especially on the banks of the Elb near Dresden and Meissen you may meet with large Vineyards but their Wine is none of the best At Libenau Possern Teuditz and some other places in the Bishoprick of Mersburg there have been formerly Salt-pits but these were so infinitely out-done by those at Halle before mention'd that the Salters
Tract in Latin containing its description and vertues The Oder is the chief of all the Rivers in Silesia Rivers It springs near the Town Oder not far from Teschen on the borders of Moravia and passes by Ratibor Cossel Oppelen Brieg Brieslaw Glogaw Beuthen and Crossen with some more Cities of less note before it leaves this Dukedom Other remarkable Rivers are the Bober Neisse Ohla and Queiss Besides these 't is the honour of Silesia that the Vistula the best River in Poland and the Elb spring out of its mountains There are also in this Country good store of Ponds and Lakes which yeild plenty of all manner of fresh water fish especially Lampreys which are caught in prodigious quantities in the Neisslish Sea and some other waters Other Commodities of the Land are Madder ●●mo●●ies Flax sweet Cane or Galengal Wine especially in the Dukedoms of Sagan and Crossen Silver Copper Lead Iron and Chalk They have plenty of Salt-peter and some good Salt tho not so much as to be sufficient for their own use so that daily great quantities of this Commodity are brought in from Poland and other neighbouring Countries They have all the sorts of wild and tame Beasts that any other part of the German Empire affords Butter Cheese particularly a kind of pitiful stuff made of Ewe's milk Bacon Honey c. But the greatest trading Commodities they have are Wool and Flax. Silesia has bred several good Scholars and brisk Wits ●●abi●●ts tho the ordinary Rustics are look'd upon as a people of a shallow understanding and small sence They are commonly in way of derision stil'd by their neighbour Nations Eselsfresser or Ass-Eaters The occasion of which nick-name some say was this A blunt Country Rustic travelling from near Breslaw into the Dukedom of Crossen ' spy'd in a field an Ass feeding which the poor fellow having never before seen the like Creature mistook unhappily for an overgrown Hare Whereupon discharging his Blunderbuss he shot the strange beast and brought it home to his friends and acquaintance who being a pack of Bumpkins of no longer heads then himself roasted and eat up the outlandish Puss This is the relation which the common people of Silesia give of their Title Another story is that the Miners at Reichenstein not far from Glatz having discover'd a vein of Gold-Ore which they nam'd der guldener Esel lay at it continually being resolv'd that no strangers or foreigners should share with them in the Treasure And hence they got the name of Ass-eaters from stuffing their purses and not their carcases But this later narrative may possibly have been contriv'd by some of the Silesian Wits who by this means were in hopes to wear off the disgrace and ignominy of the former Some of them like the Bores of Italy and Bohemia have a custom of reckoning the hours of the day from the Snnsetting but few of the Nobility observe that method The Lieutenantship of Silesia was for some time committed to Matthias Corvinus King of Hungary but afterwards was conferr'd upon the Bishops of Breslaw until the Emperor Rudolf II. decreed that this charge should be committed to some of the Temporal Princes of that Nation who were to be nominated as well as the subordinate Lieutenants of the several petty Dukedoms or Counties by the Council Chamber at Prague to whom was also committed at the the same time the supreme inspection into all Law-Cases and the different administration of Justice in all Courts of Judicature in each particular Province Christianity was first planted in Poland and at the same time in Silesia Religion which was then a part of that great Dukedom about the later end of the ninth and beginning of the tenth Century In the infancy of Religion in these parts the Polanders and Silesians were wont to assemble themselves in Woods and other desert places of the Land for fear of laying themselves too open to the cruelty of their Magistrates who were men of another perswasion But at last Christianity was admitted to Court for Mieceslaus Duke of Poland having married Drambronica Daughter of Boleslaus Duke of Bohemia a Christian was himself baptized at Gnesna in the year 965. Whereupon he caused nine Bishopricks to be erected in his Dominions amongst which one was founded at Schmogra in Silesia which was afterwards removed to Bitschen and at length fix'd at Breslaw Soon after the Reformation begun by Luther the Augsburg Confession was brought hither and at last confirm'd by the Emperor Rudolph II. in the year 1609. But Ferdinand II. a bloody persecutor of the Protestants repeal'd that Charter allowing the public profession of the Lutheran Religion to the Citizens of Breslaw and some few Towns more and that too with several limitations and restrictions However that Emperor was sensible before his death how vain 't was to endeavour the extirpation of Protestants and the whole Empire some years after groaned under the dismal effects of his misguided zeal for the Church of Rome The Silesians are at this day generally Lutherans only some few of the Nobility with their Dependants adhere still to the Superstitions and Fopperies of the Romanists We have hitherto given the Reader a general account of the vast Dukedom of Silesia and proceed in the next place to a more particular survey of the several petty Provinces which make up this large Territory beginning with I. The Dukedom of CROSSEN IN the time that the Silesian Princes were Dukedom by the subtilty of John King of Bohemia set at variance and enmity amongst themselves of which stratagem we have already taken notice this Dukedom was first separated from the other parts of the Great Duke of Silesia's Dominions For in the year 1272 the City of Crossen was pawn'd to the Archbishop of Magdeburg but redeem'd within two years after by Henry Duke of Breslaw Four years after this the Citizens of Breslaw pawn'd it a second time to John Marquise of Brandenburg for four thousand Crowns towards the ransom of their Duke but with this proviso that the Marquise should not give assistance to Boleslaus Duke of Lignitz in his wars against their City Not long after Crossen was again redeem'd out of the Marquise's hands But John the Great commonly known by the name of Cicero Germanicus got possession of it a second time in lieu of fifty thousand ducats owing him for his wife's portion Again John Duke of Sagan deliver'd up this Dukedom into the hands of John the third Elector of Brandenburg with the consent of Vladislaus King of Hungary and Bohemia in the year 1391. Lastly Joachim II. and his Brother John Marquises of Brandenburg had the sole and entire possession of this Dukedom granted them by the Emperor Ferdinand the first King of Bohemia Since which time the Electors have always enjoy'd it and stiled themselves Dukes of Crossen in Silesia Crossen City in the language of some of the Natives of this Country signifies the outmost seam or selvidge
of a piece of Cloth an apt name for a City which being seated on the frontiers of the Marquisate of Brandenburg is the furthest Boundary and Bulwark of the Dukedom of Silesia 'T is a comly old City seated in a pleasant plain and in a good air The Duke's Palace Town-Hall and some Citizens Houses are built with a neat and well polish'd stone The neighbouring Hills are cover'd with Apples Pears and other sorts of Fruit. Some Wine they have growing but exactly such trash as Altmarck and some other parts of the Elector's Dominions are wont to produce II. The City and Dukedom of GLOGAW THIS City is usually known by name of Great Glogau City to distinguish it from a much more inconsiderable Town of the same name in the Dukedom of Oppelen Cureus fancies it to be the same place with Ptolomy's Lugidunum which as he probably enough conjectures had its name from the Lugii the ancient inhabitants of this part of the Country It s present name is of Wendish extraction and signifies properly a Thorn-bush so call'd from its situation amongst Thickets or in a Copse Glogaw was made a true City by Conrad Duke of the place about the year 1260 at which time the City and Cathedral the only strength and ornament of the Town were built and the City stock'd with Germans who establish'd here the Laws and Customs of their own Country The Palsie is an epidemical disease in this Town which is thought to proceed from the extraordinary intemperance of the Burgers in drinking a sort of bitter and muddy but withal wonderful strong and heady Beer They are also commonly tormented with the Stone and Gravel in the Kidneys a distemper partly ascribed by their Physitians to the same cause with the former and partly to their feeding chiefly on Pork Cheese c. To this Dukedom belong the petty Towns of Guhrau Dukedom Sprottau Grunberg Schwibussen Beuthen Pulkwitz Koben Newstatt Warienberg and Primnikaw The people of this Province have this peculiar Anti-Salic Law amongst them that upon failure of Issue male a Daughter inherits the Estate of her Father before any of the nearest of his male Relations III. The City and Dukedom of SAGAN SAGAN once one of the best and most populous City and still one of the largest Cities in Silesia 'T was in the Civil Wars of Germany several times taken by the Swedish forces and retaken by the Imperialists There is now little remarkable to be seen upon that large spot of ground whereon this City is placed except only the Castle St. Mary's Church and two Monasteries and these are rather venerable for age then commendable for any thing of rarity that 's in them The Dukedom called by the Polish writers Ducatus Zeganensis is of no large extent in length or bredth Du●● 'T is bounded on the West with Lusatia and the Barony of Sora which is reckon'd a part of rhe Marquisate of Brandenburg on the South with the Dukedom of Javer on the East with the Dukedom of the greater Glogaw and on the North with Crossen 'T was once a part of the Dukedom of Glogaw but afterwards it was subjected to Princes of its own sometimes three or four at once whence we read of the Dukedoms of Sagan in the plural number There are some large and rich Corn-fields in this Province which are well water'd with the Rivers Bober Queiss Tschirn and Neisse Pribus Naumburg and Freywald three small Cities are all subject to the Dukes of Sagan IV. The Town and Dukedom of WOLAW NOtwithstanding that Wolaw was anciently accounted a part of the Dukedom of Lignitz Du●● and has always been subject to the same Laws and Government yet the petty Princes of Silesia whether it be to multiply their Titles or for what other reason I shall not determine have of late years made it a Dukedom of it self And because thus separated from Lignitz 't is still too large to be guided and govern'd by one man being near as big as either of our English Counties of Huntingdon or Rutland they have subdivided it into six larger Circles or Hundreds which have their names from the chief Towns in them viz. Wolau Hernstadt Winzing Ruten Raude and Steinaw none of which are worth the describing To these they add two more Enclosures no bigger then one of our small Parishes in England whereof the one goes by the name of Koben and the other Breubawischer hald both which the Reader may see in the Map and thence be able to take an estimate of their true bulk and value Wolau it self which in this Country makes a shift to give Title to a Duke City might pass for a Market-Town in England but would never merit as here it does the name of a City 'T is every way mean and inconsiderable The buildings in it are contemptible and the Citizens for so they will needs stile themselves hardly able to provide bread for their Families out of the little or no trade of the place The neighbouring Lake der Gross Teich furnishes them indeed with Fish enough for the support both of themselves and their children or otherwise they would not I think have any possibility of subsisting And yet this mean place was for some time the seat of the German Civil Wars nay the Swedish Lieutenant Gortzke thought it no small piece of honour that he bravely maintain'd himself and a Garrison in the Town for some months when God knows no Commander of note would so far undervalue himself as to attack it DVCATVS SILESIAE GLOGANI Vera Delineatio Notarum Explicatio Vrbs. Oppidum Pagus cum templis Pagus cum Sede nobile Pagus Arx. Monasterium Vinetorum Colles Fedina et Officina Ferri Lacus sive St●●●um Paludes Ducatus SILESIAE WOLANUS Notularum explicatio Urbs Oppidum Pagus cum templo Pagus Arx Molindinum Vinetum Mons notabilis Bona Ecclesiastica DUCATUS BRESLANUS sive WRATISLAVIENSIS Sumptibus Janssonio-Wa●sbergiorum Mosis Pitt et Stepha●●● Swart Notularum explicatio Vrbs. Oppidum Pagus cum templo Pagus Molendinum Arx. W ●●YAL DEVOIR To the … be Honourable Sr GEORGE CARTWRIGHT Bar. vice C●●●berline of the kings househould 〈◊〉 Mapp is humbly ●●●dicated BRESLAW totius SILESIAE METROPOLIS Ducatus SILESIAE LIGNICIENSIS Ex Officina Janssonio-Waesbergiana Mosis Pitt et Stephani Swart Notularum explicatio Vrbs. Pagus cum templo Pagus Arx. Molendinum Mons notabilis Locus vbi dimicatum FV̈RSTLICHE STADT LIGNITZ Schloss Closter Zu Vaser liebē Frawen S. Iohans S. Peter vnd Paul V. The Dukedom and City of OELSE OELSSE is seated in the Lower Silesia about sixteen miles distant from Breslaw first made a City out of a poor Village by the Emperor Henry I. in the year 936. The Country round this Town is pleasant enough and the air wholesom The Gates Walls Turrets and other Fortifications of the City were handsom and noble before the late Wars but the Swedish General Wittenberg's Troops demolish'd the greatest part of
them in the year 1648 which have not since been rebuilt However the place is still beautified with a fair Church College and Town-Hall and the Streets especially the Market-place which is in an exact square are generally neat and uniform Oelsse had anciently its own Duke who kept his residence in that City but upon the death of Duke Conrad the Eighth in the year 1492. the Dukedom was given to the Dukes of Munsterberg who have ever since been Lords of it In this Principality are reckon'd the small Cities of Bernstatt Festenberg Kunstatt Stroppen Mosebahr Hundsfeld and Trebnitz VI. The City and Dukedom of BRESLAW BRESLAW or Wratislavia the Metropolis of Silesia has its name from Wratislaus a Bohemian Prince its first Founder whence the Citizens bear a great W in their Coat of Arms to this day 'T is seated at the confluence of the two Rivers Oder and Ohla in a rich and pleasant Country Towards the North indeed there are some Marshes and moist fields whence are now and then some unwholesome gales sent into the Town and the whole City is reported to have been built in the place of a great Pond dried up The Citizens who are exceedingly numerous by reason of their great Traffick with the Hungarians Bohemians Polanders and other foreign Merchants who resort hither are said to be as neat and gentile in their Clothes and Cookery as any other of the Emperor's Subjects whatever Breslawers love to be esteem'd immediate members of the German Empire and cannot endure to be reckon'd a part of the Kingdom of Bohemia Hence 't is that they have obtain'd leave of the Emperors to bear the spred Eagle in their Escutcheon and that they petitioned Charles V. to confirm their priviledges For this reason M. Boregius a Breslawer who wrote a Chronicle of the Kings of Bohemia ranks Breslaw among the Imperial Cities but ne're mention it with the King of Bohemia's Towns altho it be certain that 't was formerly subject to that Prince This Goldastus in his learned Treatise of the Kingdom of Bchemia evidently proves notwithstanding what is usually alledg'd as an argument to the contrary by some ignorant and silly Historians that it was once one of the Hans-Towns The generality of the buildings in this City are fair and stately only on the banks of the Oder stand four old fashion'd Fabricks with Turrets on the top which the Antiquaries of this place fancy to have been the ancient Palaces of so many Schwabish Princes who in former days were Lords of this City Besides the vast traffick of the Citizens the Town is famous for a Bishop's See and an University wherein have been bred many learn'd men and some great Writers The Bishops of this Diocese who had anciently the Epiphet or Title of Golden given them from their vast revenues are put in by the King of Bohemia whom they acknowledg their supreme Head at least in Temporals 'T is a receiv'd Tradition in these parts that the Kings of Bohemia have no power to promote a stranger to any Bishopric in Silesia so that a Bohemian is no more capable of being advanced to one of their Dioceses then a Silesian is of being preferr'd to the Archbishopric of Prague But how false this report is Historians will sufficiently inform us Boleslaus Dukedom surnam'd the Long a Polish Prince was created the first Duke of Breslaw and Lignitz by the Emperor Frideric in the year 1163. But these kind of petty Princes not being able to secure their Territories and especially this large and rich City which was a bait sufficient to tempt the most potent Prince of the neighbourhood from the incursions of the Tartars Polanders and other foreign Enemies the Citizens of Breslaw were forced to put themselves under the protection of the Kings of Bohemia or as they will have it Emperors of Germany to whom they are now immediately subject VII The Town and Dukedom of LIGNITZ LIGNITZ a fair City on the banks of a small Rivulet call'd Katsbach is thought to have its name from the Lygii City a German people the ancient inhabitants of this part of Silesia About the year of Christ 1170 this Town was much enlarg'd beautified and fortified by Boleslaus the Long the first Duke of Lignitz After him Duke Frideric the second so far improv'd his predecessor Boleslaus's undertakings that in the year 1532 it became one of the best fortified Cities next to Breslaw in all Silesia Things best worth seeing in the Town are the Hospital the Town-Hall and Castle The Dukedom of Lignitz is reckon'd one of the best Corn-Countries in Silesia Dukedom and affords near as great plenty of the Terra Sigillata as the Dukedom of Schweidnitz especially the white sort which is here more plentiful then in any other Province The whole is commonly subdivided into seven Circles whereof four have names from the four Cities of Luben Parchwitz Hayn and Goldberg and the other three are the division of the barren or desert part of the Dukedom VIII The Ducal Cities of JAWER SCHWEIDNITZ BRIEG MONSTERBERG and OPPELEN THE City of Jawer is seated in a pleasant Valley Jawer tho not far distant from the rugged Crags and Mountains which separate Silesia from the Kingdom of Bohemia It has not the advantage of any River near it so that all the fortifications it has are high Rampires and deep Ditches There is little of note in the Town but the Church burnt down in the late Civil Wars A. D. 1648. but rebuilt more stately then before and the Castle wherein resides the Lieutenant of the two Dukedoms of Jawer and Schweidnitz The Emperor Charles IV. King of Bohemia married Ann Daughter of Henry II. Duke of Javer who with his Brother Bolco Duke of Schweidnitz died without issue whereupon these two Dukedoms were more immediately subjected to the Kings of Bohemia in whose hands they still remain To the Dukedom of Javer belong the Towns of Buntzlau Lemberg Schonau Greiffenberg Lahn Fridberg Lubenthal Schmideberg Naumburg upon the Queiss Kupfferberg and Hirschberg 2. SCHWEIDNITZ or Schweinnitz Schweidnitz has its name from the great Herds of wild Swine which were harbour'd in this place before the Forest was cut down in the year 1070. Whence the Arms of the Town are a wild Boar. It was afterwards much enlarged by Boleslaus I. who fortified it with Walls and Rampires and beautified it with several fair buildings so that 't is now one of the finest Cities in Silesia The most remarkable sight in the Town next to the Churches and other publick buildings is the great Gun in the Armory which carries a Bullet of three hundred and twenty pound weight This is by Schickfusius in his Preface to Curaeus's Chronicle of Silesia very improperly reckon'd amongst the great and extraordinary blessings which the Almighty has been pleased to bestow on some of the Cities in Silesia In the Dukedom of Schweidnitz are the Towns of Strigau memorable as we have already acquainted
the Reader for the Terra Sigillata found here in great quantities Reichenbach Polckenhahn Landeshut Freyberg Friedberg Fridland Zobten Waldberg and Gottesberg 3. Brieg BRIEG or Brig has its name from the Polish word Berega which signifies an exceeding high bank of a River such as this City is seated on The streets here are uniform enough and the houses generally built of stone St. Nicholas's Church is an high and stately old Fabrick beautified with two Towers and built after the ancient Franckish mode This whole City excepting only some few publick buildings was laid in ashes by the Hussites who overran a great part of Bohemia and Silesia in the year 1428. In the Dukedom of Brieg are reckon'd the Towns of Strelen Olau Nimptsch Pitschen Creutzburg Loben Michelau and little Oelsse The two Mine-Towns of Reichenstein and Silberberg are jointly subject to the Dukes of Brieg and Lignitz who are both of the same Family and descended from the ancient Hereditary Kings of Poland 4. Monsterberg MONSTERBERG or Munsterberg so called from the Monastery built in this place by the Emperor Henry the first the Founder of this City is seated not far from the head of the River Ola in a pleasant and fruitful plain The Town is neither large nor strong and has nothing in it of note but the School an old Castle and a fair Town-Hall In this Dukedom are the Towns of Franckenstein and Warta to which some Historians and Geographers are pleased to add Hainrichau Tepliwoda and Kamentz 5. OPPELEN is seated in a sandy and dry Oppelen but fruitful Country 'T is subject to the King of Poland who prevail'd with the Emperor to withdraw all his Forces and Subjects hence in the year 1647. Since which time the Citizens of Oppelen and all the Rusticks in the Villages near it speak the Polish language If strong Gates and thick Walls were proof against modern sieges this Town were sufficiently provided against the assaults of an Enemy but otherwise its fortifications are very mean and inconsiderable Among the many Towns and Villages in this Dukedom the most remarkable are little Glogaw Neustat Kosel Beudten Gleibitz Tost Strehlitz Falckenberg Zultz Rosenberg Lublinitz and Schurgast IX The Cities and Dukedoms of GROTKAW JEGERNDORF TROPPAU RATIBOR and TESCHEN CROTKAW is a City of no great 〈◊〉 bulk as its name seems to intimate but so well seated that 't is a proverb in this Country 'T is as impossible as for a Grotkawer to starve or freeze The reason of which expression is grounded upon each Burger's having a plentiful share in the adjacent Corn-fields and neighbouring Woods Most of the Houses in the Town are Wood-buildings only the Church Bishop's Palace and the Town-Hall are of stone The Dukedom of Grotkaw is subject to the King of Bohemia tho sometimes its Lieutenant is a Polander and contains in it the Cities of Neisse a place of great traffick Otmachau Wansen Ziegenhals Freywald Hozenplotz Jawernick Kaltenstein Patschkau Oyest Weidau and Zackmantel The great trade of this Country especially the Citizens of Neisse is in making and selling to the Merchants of Bohemia and Poland a sort of strong and durable Linnen-Cloth for Beds and Bolsters 2. JAGERNDORF Jagerndorf Which signifies in the German language a Village inhabited by Huntsmen and had its name probably from the abundance of all manner of Game in the neighbouring Woods The Moravians call this Town Carnowf whence the Dukedom is ordinarily by Latin Authors nam'd Ducatus Carnoviensis and a Citizen of this place Carnowfsky from the ancient Arms of the City which are a pair of Horns between two great Stones This City with the small Dukedom which bears its name was given by Ludowic King of Hungary and Bohemia to George Marquise of Brandenburg who was at the charges of building the Castle and erecting the other little fortifications that defend the Town DUCATUS SILESIAE GROTGANUS cum Districtu Episcopali NISSENSI To John Nicholls Esq of Trewane in Cornwall this Mapp is Humbly Dedicated by Moses Pitt Notularum Explicatio Vrbs Arx Pagus cum Templo Pagus nobilis Pagus Episcopalis Commenda COMITATUS GLATZ Notae Vrbs Oppidum Pagus cum templo Vicus Arx Auri et argenti fordinae Mons Notabilis Kohloruben Holtz fluesse The inhabitants of these and all other Towns and Villages in the Dukedom observe the same Laws with the Moravians For which reason the greatest part of them have often endeavour'd to associate themselves to the Marquisate of Moravia and renounce all dependance upon the great Dukedom of Silesia but have always been opposed by the Citizens of Troppau who have still been zealous to continue members of their ancient Body 4. RATIBOR is seated in a pleasant plain about six German miles from Oppelen We have no account of it before the year of Christ 1164 so that most Geographers venture to say that 't was built about that time The private dwelling Houses of the Citizens are as in most parts of Silesia generally wooden buildings but the Duke's Palace Cathedral and some other publick buildings are of stone There is still in the City one Popish Monastery and formerly the Jesuits had a great footing in it but since the Reformation that sort of Cattel were driven out of their Harbors The Dukedom of Ratibor which contains the Towns of Oderberg Sora Ribenick Pilzowitz and Mieslowitz was formerly governed by a Duke of its own but upon the death of Duke Valentinus its last Prince who died without issue in the year 1516 it became more immediately subject to the King of Bohemia 5. 〈◊〉 TESCHEN or Tessin is one of the oldest Cities in Silesia said to have been built by Cessimir or Gessimir Son of Lescus III. Duke of Poland A. D. 810 and from him to have had its first name which has since been corrupted into Tessin It is seated on the confines of Silesia Moravia Poland and Hungary whence it comes to pass that its Citizens speak a medly of languages hardly intelligible to any but themselves They have here great store of all sorts of Venison and wild Fowl the Vistula and Elsa afford them plenty of Fish and the Hungarian Merchants bring them in daily vast quantities of Wine Fruit and other Commodities of that Country At one of their Churches they have weekly Divine Service and a Sermon in the Bohemian language and at another the like in High Dutch for of these two Nations the Burgers chiefly consist Here is brew'd Beer of two sorts the one with Wheat and the other with ordinary Barly Malt the latter of these they call Matznotz a sort of drink pleasant enough but mighty strong and heady which too often on their Market-days makes the poor Rusticks commit several outrages and disorders in the height of their jollity In this Dukedom there are several high mountains whereof two Rows are more especially remarkable and taken notice of by Geographers and Historians The first of these are those on the
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
an Imperial City At the Jesuits College was to be seen before the Wars with France a large old Roman Aries or Battering-Ram a piece of Antiquity of great value but whether t is now to be met with I know not To these we may add Moltzheim Hasle on the Brusch Seltz and some few Towns more places of no great note before they were visited by the French Armies and of much less since The chief Cities and great Towns in the Vpper ALSACE THE City of Brisach call'd by Antonine in his Itenerary Mons Brisiacus is the Metropolis of Brisgow the old inhabitants of which Province we find often mention'd in Latin Historians by the name of Brisigavi or Brisigavii B. Rhenanus and some other High Dutch Antiquaries are of opinion that Brisach stood formerly on the Western banks of the Rhine because on that side the old Romans used to build their Forts and on the East of this Town there is still a great hollow valley which they take for the ancient Channel of the Rhine But Cluverius is of a contrary opinion and proves that the Emperor Valentinian whom all allow to have been the first Founder of Brisach built Castles on both sides the River The Town stands on the top of a round Hill excellently well fortified both by nature and art But they have only one deep Well which supplies the whole City with water the River being at some distance and the passage troublesom In the Civil Wars of Germany this Town was besieged and taken by the Duke of Saxon-Weimar whose Forces were with a great deal of courage and gallantry resisted by the Imperialists for four months together During which time the besieged were brought to those extremities as to dig up the dead bodies of their Soldiers after they had been some days buried and to eat their flesh In this siege 80000 men are said to have been slain and about 1100000 Rixdollars spent in ammunition on both sides Since that time A. D. 1638 the French under whose Banners the foremention'd Duke of Saxony then bore Arms have remain'd masters of this City wherein their present victorious King having of late repair'd its Fortifications keeps a strong Garrison and a Court of Judicature in imitation of the Chamber at Spire which decides all Controversies in his new Conquests levies Contributions gives him right to all neighbouring Villages as Dependancies on some great Towns yeilded up to him by the late Treaty at Nimiguen c. 2. FREYBURG in Brisgow was at first a Village built by a company of Miners who wrought at the Silver and Copper Mines about a German mile from Brisach and in a short time grew so rich as to purchase the Estates and Titles of Noblemen By this means their Village grew up into a large City which was able upon a very short warning to send into the field three thousand fighting men This City fell into the hands of the House of Austria A. D. 1386 and was by the present Emperor resign'd up to the French together with its Villages of Lehn Mezhausen and Kirchzart in exchange for Philipsburg There are in the Town fourteen Religious Houses and an University founded by Albert Arch-Duke of Austria in the year 1450. The Citizens are excellent Artists at polishing all manner of pretious stones such especially as are found in Lorrain and the neighbouring Countries 3. Near the place where the Imperial City Colmar is now seated stood the ancient Argentuaria which was conquer'd by Gratian the Emperor A. D. 378 and afterwards destroy'd by the Gothic General Attila Out of the ruins of this old Town Colmar or Cole-market was first built A City which stands in a plain and fruitful Country and formerly so populous that in the great Church at an Easter-time 't was usual to have near four thousand Communicants But the Civil Wars of Germany wherein 't was taken by the Swedish forces and by them resign'd to the French and the late engagements with the King of France's Armies have made it as desolate of inhabitants as houses VTRIUSQUE ALSATIAE SUPERIORIS AC INFERIORIS NOVA TABVLA Apud Janssonio-Waesbergios Mosem Pitt et Stephanum Swart Lantgraff im Obern Elssas Lantgraff im Vnderen Elssas ALSATIA inferior Apud Mosem Pitt ALSATIA Superior cum SVNTGOIA et BRISGOIA TERRIROTIUM ARGENTORATENSE Apud Janssonio-Waesbergios Mosem Pitt et Ptephanum Swart Mulnhausen by most late Geographers placed in the Upper Alsace is one of the Confederate Cities of Switzerland Keysersberg and Turcheim are Imperial Cities but of no great note The City and Bishopric of STRASBURG ARGENTINA is a name of a Monkish invention instead of Argentoratum as well as Moguntia for Moguntiacum To omit other frivolous conjectures about the Etymology of the words Argentoratum and Strasburg we shall satisfie ourselves with the fancy of the learned Cluverius who thinks the ancient name of this famous City to have been Argen Straaten or Bad-street which might easily by adding a Latin termination be turn'd into Argentratum or Argentoratum and afterwards by omitting the two first syllables and annexing burg to denote some new built Fort with as much ease turn'd to Straetburg or Straesburg This City tho at first design'd only for a strong Fortification is now one of the most populous and best trading Towns in Germany The Citizens are generally courteous and rich most of their Merchants and Magistrates having Houses fit to entertain so many Princes of the Empire The Cathedral is one of the Wonders of Germany described at large by Os Schadaeus in a particular Tract upon this subject by him publish'd at Strasburg A. D. 1617. The Tower of this Church is the highest in the German Empire nay possibly in Europe or the whole world Some have reckon'd it perpendicular from the top of the Spire to the ground at 574 others 575 geometrical feet but Schadaeus who seems most accurate in his computation says 't is 489 feet and 8 inches Yet much more famous is this Cathedral for the great Clock in it which by the Honourable Mr. Boyle and some others of our ingenious Virtuosi has been mention'd as an instance of the late great improvements of Arts Mechanical 'T was finished in the year 1574 at the charge of the Magistracy of the Town by one Habrecht a famous Artificer of whose work they have many more pieces in the same kind This workman has his Instructions from D. Wolckenstein and Conr. Dasypodius two learn'd Mathematicians the latter whereof has publish'd a Tract about this Clock The first thing presented to your view is a Celestial Globe with all the motions of Planets fix'd Stars c. Behind which there is a perpetual Almanack wherein the day of the month is pointed at by a Statue standing by The Hours are crow'd by a gilt Cock and afterwards struck on a Bell by an Angel not far from which stands another Angel with an Hour-glass in its hand which it turns round as soon as the Clock has done striking The first
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
The Town is governed by a Court of Schipins or Aldermen who themselves are subject to a Burgo-master chosen yearly as a Mayor in our Cities out of them who during his government has the title of General of Great Poland conferred on him The Bishop and Clergy are in the Province of the Archbishop of Gnesna Seven miles from this city you have Gnesna called by the Dutch Gnisen formerly the Metropolis of Poland Gnesna built by Lechus the first Duke of Poland by whom it had its name given from the Polish word Gniasao which signifies a nest because in this place Lechus found an Eagles nest Whence to this day the Princes of Poland bear a spread Eagle for their Arms. This is the seat of the chief Metropolitan Archbishop in the whole Kingdome of whose state and grandeur we have given you a relation before In the Cathedrall is kept an inestimable treasure of Gold Silver and curious enamel'd vessels left by several Princes of Poland and Archbishops of this See which was much encreased by the legacies of Henry Firley late Archbishop who besides many vessels and vestments of great worth gave them his own mitre valued at 24000 Polish guilders which being reduced to our English money will amount to about 2300 pounds sterling The gates leading into the Cathedral are of Corinthian brass and rarely wrought These at first were taken out of the Monastery of Corsuna in the Tauric Chersonese whence they were removed to Kiow and from thence brought hither by Boleslaus the second In the year 1613 this city was miserably laid wast by fire and does yet daily loose something of its antient glory The rest of the Towns of Posnania are meanly built and without any considerable fortifications Their buildings excepting onely the Churches Monasteries and other religious houses are most commonly of wood The County of Calissia has its name from the chief City in it Calissia by the Polanders called Kalisk seated on Przoen and fortifyed with a strong brick wall Stanislaus Karncow Archbishop of Gnesna founded here a stately Colledge of Jesuits and endowed it with a considerable revenue The countrey round this City is generally like the rest of the greater Poland pleasant fruitfull and very well cultivated and inhabited every where abounding with great Towns and villages Among which Borek and Goluchow are the most considerable the former for a famous picture of the Virgin Mary resorted to with a great opinion of devotion by most of the zealous Romanists in these parts the latter for an extraordinary peice of modern Architecture in the Palace of the Counts of Lesno The City of Sirad Sirad which gives name to the Palatinate of Siradia is seated on the south of Calissia upon the river Warta 'T is fortifyed with a strong brick wall Most of the houses are of wood and very mean and low This City and the territories about it made formerly a Dukedome usually given to the second son of the Polish King Seven German Petricow or twenty nine English miles from Sirad lyes Petricow a neat and well built City where sits yearly the Parliament of Poland Vielun Vielun or Wielun is somewhat differing in beauty from the rest of the Cities of these parts most of its houses being brick Rava is as populous a City as Vielun Rava but short of it in the splendor of its buildings which are commonly wood except the castle which is brick In this is reposited a fourth part of the revenues of the Crown and all captives if persons of any considerable quality are here kept prisoners Instances whereof we have in the natural son of Charles King of Sweden who with other officers of the Swedish army was taken prisoner in the Lifland wars and Baldise General of Gustaphus Adolphus's forces who with Streffe Taiste and other Colonels was taken in the wars of Prussia Five German Lowicz or twenty English miles from Rava lies Lowicz the residence of the Archbishop of Gnesna 'T is a place much more populous then Rava and yearly in the Fair-time throng'd with great numbers of merchants who flock thither from all quarters The Archbishop's Palace is seated in a low and marshy ground nevertheless its fabrick is magnificent and well becoming the state of so great a Prince Lancicia or Lanschet giving denomination to a Palatinate of the same name Lancicia is situate in a low and fenny ground encompassed with a ditch and brick wall Not far from the City is a Monastery which might easily if as well provided for by art as nature be made impregnable There is besides little in the City worth taking notice of except the great fairs kept once a year and the sessions of the Deputies of this Palatinate which are here holden Cujavia is bounded on the East with Masovia and the Palatinate of Rava Cujavia on the south with the Palatinates of Lanschet and Calissia on the north with Prussia It contains in it two Baronies Breste which lies to the east and south and Juniuladislavia This Countrey is rich in corn and cattel and well stored with Fish In the Palatinate of Bresty lies the City of Vladislaw Bresty the seat of the Bishop of Cujavia and Pomeren The Cathedral here is a pitiful old-fashioned peice of building but well furnished with plate and rich ornaments and reliques within The houses are generally of brick Matthias Golanciew who was forty two years Bishop of this See beautifyed this City very much by building that stately Palace which is seen at this day in Vladislaw instead of an old ruinous castle and founding the Church of St. Vital the Martyr The next considerable place is Bresty built of brick and wood interlayd The other Towns of note are Nisaw a wall'd Town Rasienski guarded with a fair Castle Radschow seated on the lake Goplo and Kowale upon the Vistula Cruswick belongs properly to the Palatinate of Bresty though situated upon the confines of Inouladislavia Cruswick In the suburbs of this City stands a Church dedicated to St. Peter built of square stone with a Colledge of twenty four Canons In the adjoyning Island stands a Brick Castle built by Popielus the elder who chose this place to live in rather then Cracow or Gnesna whither he had once removed his Court as being of too timorous a nature to trust himself in the confines of the Russians or Hungarians Here as the Polonian Chronicles report Papielus son of Papielus the elder was devoured by mice heaven by this punishment revenging the blood of several of his relations whom his greedy ambition of swaying the scepter had prompted him to poyson at a banquet Cromer advances the story by telling us That his father in his ordinary revels used to wish himself and his children this kind of death and That the mice were miraculously generated out of the carcases of his poyson'd kindred PRUSSIA ACCURATE INSCRIPTA a Gasparo Henneberg Erlichensi Nobiliss o tam prosapia
we add the Revenue of all the Demesns immediately subject to these Princes and the Church-lands which after the Reformation were annex'd to the Electoral Estate we may probably find the sum arise much higher But now adays the case is alter'd and the greatest share of the Riches as well as Honours anciciently appropriated to this House is enjoy'd by the Duke of Bavaria The state of Religion 〈◊〉 both in the Upper and Lower Palatinate has been exceedingly chang'd and varied since the first introducing of the Augsburg Confession by Count Frideric II. For Frideric III. set up the Doctrine and Discipline of John Calvin which soon after his death was thrown out by Ludowic V. a restorer of Lutheranism His Son Frideric IV. brought the Calvinists once more in play for the satisfaction chiefly of his beggarly Courtiers who knew no readier way of raising their Fortunes then by invading the Tythes and Glebe with the other poor remainders of the Church's Patrimony By which means the Clergy being reduc'd says Dr. Heylin to miserable short stipends under the name of a Competency became so contemptible and neglected by all sorts of men that at last the Church of the Palatinate was in the same condition with the Church of Israel under the reign of Jeroboam when Priests were made out of the meanest of the people But a Church reduc'd to these straits was not like to be of any durable continuance but to end ere long in misery Accordingly the Bavarians and Spaniards soon after this havock made of the Church fell upon them and took away their ill-gotten Estates and starv'd Religion leaving in the place of the latter the Idolatry and Superstition of the Church of Rome which is to this day openly profess'd in most parts of the Elector Palatine's Dominions notwithstanding his own firm adherence to the Doctrines of the Calvinists The Chief Cities in the Lower PALATINATE HEYDELBERG is the Metropolis of the Lower Palatinate and as some would have it of all Swaben 'T is seated on the Neccar which parts Swaben and Franconia It has its name from a little sort of shrub resembling Myrtle the fruit whereof growing plentifully on the Hills round this City the Germans call Heidelbeeren whence Latin Authors write the name of this Town Myrtillorum mons and Myrtilletum 'T is compass'd round with Hills cover'd with Vines except only towards the West which way you have a good prospect over a large and pleasant plain The Town is neither large nor very populous its chief beauty consisting in one fair street set off with an uniform Market place The Elector's Palace on the ascent of the hill Konigstul which overlooks the whole Town is a stately Fabrick beautified with a great many delicate Gardens Grottoes c. Not far distant from which stands a strong Tower which for its fortifications and heighth is hardly to be parallel'd in the German Empire 'T was formerly call'd Trutzkayser or Defiance to the Emperor but since the restauration of the late Elector that disobliging name has been abolish'd and 't is now call'd from some new Works made round it in form of a Star Stern-schantz or Star-fort But the most remarkable thing in this Palace and indeed in Heydelberg is the great Wine-fat Great Tun mention'd by all that travel this Country under the name of the Tun at Heydelberg That which is now to be seen in an outer building near the Palace was built by the order of the last Elector Charles-Ludowic and far exceeds any of the former It contains above 204 Fudder of Wine which amounts to about 200 Tun of our English measure Instead of Hoops it is built with large Trees of knee Timber like the ribs of a Ship which have several Inscriptions painted and carv'd upon them and are supported by carv'd pedestals Upon one side of the Vessel you have a handsom Stair-case leading to the top where you meet with a Gallery set round with Ballisters three and forty steps from the ground Before the year 1664 in which year this was built the old Tun tho one of the wonders of the German Nation was not comparable to this 'T was encircled with great Hoops of Iron each of which are said to have weigh'd 12200 pound It contain'd only 132 Fudder of Wine and there were no more then seventeen steps to the stop The University was founded by Count Rupert in the year 1387 Vniversity tho some will needs have it ten years older and others near forty It is still much frequented and has given education to many eminent men in former days Witness R. Agricola Munster H. Buschius Xylander Paul Cisner Pacius Franciscus Junius P F. Smetius Freherus and Janus Gruterus In the great Church Library dedicate to the Holy Ghost was formerly kept the Elector's Library of which the learned Scaliger in one of his Epistles to Janus Gruterus gives this account Indicem Bibliothecae vestrae sedulo legi Locupletior est meliorum Librorum quam Vaticana One great part of this Collection was the Library of the Monastery of Sponheim to which says Trithemius in a Letter to Damius Curtensis A.D. 1507 no Library in the German Empire is worthy to be compar'd either for the rarity or multitude of Books especially its Manuscripts in the Hebrew Greek Latin Chaldaean Arabic Indian Russian Tartarian Italian French German and Bohemian languages But this Treasure of Learning was siezed on and plunder'd by the Spanish forces who took Heydelberg in the year 1620. At which time a considerable number of choice Books were trodden to dirt and the rest carried over the Alps to the Vatican where they may still be seen in a long Gallery over against the Duke of Vrbin's Library 2. WORMES Wormes tho more immediately subject to the Bishop of that place is reckon'd the second Town in the Lower Palatinate Freher a man admirably skill'd in the Antiquities of this Country says that 't was anciently the Metropolis of the Vangiones the old inhabitants of these parts and that within these few years was to be seen this Inscription in Capital Letters over the Peacock-Gate SPECULA VANGIONUM But Cluverius tells us it s old name was Bormitomagus or Borbetomagus corrupted afterwards into Vorvetomagus Vorvemagus Vormagia Guarmacia and at last Wormacia The Imperial Chamber was formerly kept here and in those days Worms was one of the most considerable Towns in the Empire Munster says that in his time 200 Cities Great Towns and Villages lay so near this City that their inhabitants could daily bring into Worms such provision as their Country afforded and return home at night to their respective dwellings But the many calamities which this place and the neighbourhood underwent in the Civil Wars of Germany and by the late incursions of the French forces not to mention the miseries they have suffer'd by the often rebellion of the Citizens against their Bishop have mightily alter'd the case and there is now nothing of
state nor any thing truly great in the City 3. Speyer SPEYER is subject to the Elector Palatine at the same rate with Wormes It is thought to be the Nemetum Civitas or Noviomagum mention'd by Julius Cesar altho Freherus proves that the whole Country near this place was anciently concluded under that name 'T is seated in a plain on the Western banks of the Rhine a large and populous City which owes its security more to the number of its inhabitants then the strength of any fortifications near it For Gustavus Adolphus the victorious King of Sweden demolish'd its Bulwarks and Rampires being unwilling to spare so many men out of his Army as were requisite to Garrison it and make it good against any future assault of the Imperialists The Citizens of Wormes and Spire tho Lutherans swear fealty to their Bishops who are under the Jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Mentz There are in this Town many stately Houses and fair Churches the chief of which is the Cathedral beautified with four Towers But the great Glory of the Town is the Imperial Chamber which was first placed at Worms by the Emperor Maximilian the First and not long after fix'd at Speyer from whence it cannot be removed but by a general consent of the Estates of the Empire This fills the City with a constant concourse of people from all parts of Germany who repair hither for the final determination of such Law-suits as they fancy have not been well decided by inferior Courts of Judicature in their own Country For hither there lies an Appeal from any Prince's Court in the Empire And the Electors themselves may in some Trials at Law be summon'd to appear before this Court 4. Zweybrucken ZWEYBRUCKEN call'd by the French Deux-Ponts has its name from the Bridges over two Rivers at the confluence whereof 't is seated This City is signal for little more then its giving name to a small Principality in the neighbourhood which is enjoy'd by a younger House of the Counts Palatine who are commonly stiled Principes Bipontini or Principes Gemini Pontis These poor Princes have paid dear for some of the French King 's late victories especially his Triumphs in the beginning of the year 1677 wherein their chief City Zweybrucken was almost quite demolish'd So near was it to an utter overthrow that at this time there is hardly any thing more to be seen then the Skeleton of a City 5. Vdenheim or Philipsburg UDENHEIM a Town subject to the Bishop of Spire seated on the mouth of the Saltza and on the Eastern banks of the Rhine 'T was anciently a Village but was wall'd round by Gerhard Bishop of Spire who first made it a City and procured for it severallarge Priviledges 'T is conveniently seated for the command of the most considerable part of the adjacent Country and for that reason well fortified by the Bishop of this Diocess a little before the breaking out of the Civil Wars of Germany These new Fortifications begun in time of peace gave ground to the neighbouring Princes to suspect that some more then ordinary designs were carrying on by this Prelate Whereupon Frederic V. the then Elector Palatine and Prince in chief of Vdenheim required him to desist from finishing what he had begun which he refused to do alledging the Emperor's Placaet for what he did Upon this contempt the Elector beat it down by force For this affront to the Emperor's Authority the Elector and his Confederates were cited to appear before the Imperial Chamber at Speyer wherein 't was resolved that they should be proceeded against with all imaginable severity This hard usage was one of the chief motives which induced the unfortunate Elector to accept the Crown of Bohemia and consequently a chief cause of the Civil Wars of Germany In which unhappy juncture Marquise Spinola the Spanish General thought this Town so capable of being improv'd into a strong Hold that he repair'd the demolish'd Fortifications and having made the place almost impregnable gave it the new name of Philipsburg By the Treaty of Munster this Town and Castle were put into the hands of the French and by the late Treaty at Nimeguen resign'd up to the Imperialists in exchange for Freyburg in Brisgow The present King of France before the breaking out of the late bloody Wars caused this Inscription to be written over the great Gate at Philipsburg Tuendis RHENI Finibus LUDOVICUS XIV Francorum Navarrae Rex Christianissimus Confecto in utraque Germania bello restaurata ubique Pace Munimentum hoc suae virtutis Assertaeque libertatis Germaniae Monumentum firmari isthoc agere muroque Regiis sumptibus extructo fecit Anno M. DC LXVI Perfecit in terrorem hostium Foederatorum Praesidium Liliorum Subsidium alterum Galliae cis Rhenum propugnaculum ac Germaniam versus Ostium in ferius situ non Robore Quod ille claudit nemo aperit Idem aperit nemo claudit But when afterwards in the succeeding War it had fall'n into the hands of the Imperialists the Emperor raz'd out the former Inscription and caused this following one to be written in its stead LEOPOLDVS IMPERATOR CAESAR Pius Faelix Augustus VICTOR TRIUMPHATOR Suscepto Juvandis Sociis Tuendis civibus Arcendis hostibus necessario bello restaurandae ubique Paci Munimentum hoc Vindicatae ab injectis Gallicae servitutis compedibus Libertatis publicae futurum ad Posteros monumentum expugnavit Germaniaeque postliminio restituit Anno Christianae salutis MDCLXXVI Terrori hostium Tutelae Civium Germaniae Praesidio alterum Galliae cis Rhenum receptaculum ac Germaniam versus Ostium Auspicato plura pari successu recuperandi augurio Gallis clausit Germanis reclusit Quod Gallus claudit Germanus aperit There are some more well fortified Towns in the Lower Palatinate such as Manheim upon the confluence of the Rhine and Neccar Coube Franckenthal Keysers-Lautern Simmeren c. but none of so good note as those already described Helvetii Alsatia Pal. Rheni Arch Mogun Arch. Trevir Arch. Colon. Clivia Geldria Vltrajectū Hollandia Apud J●●sso●●●-Waesbergios Mosem Pitt et Stephanum Swart RHENVS Fluviorum Europae celeberrimus cum MOSA MOSELLA et reliquis in illum se exonerantibus fluminibus Ap●● J●●ss●●●●-Waesbergios Mosem Pitt et Stephanum Swart PALATINATVS AD RHENUM Apud Janssonio-Waesbergios Mosem Pitt et Stephanum Swart Not. Explicatio Civitates munite Vrbes Vici Pagi Arces Coenobia Fortalitia Vera totius MARCHIONATUS BADENSIS et HOCHBERGENSIS ceterorumque Ducatum Landgravionatuum et Comitatuum ad Princeps huius nominis spectantium Geometr Astro Calcu Delineatio Heic domus AEneae cunctis dominabitur oris Et gnati gnatorum et qui nascentur ab illis Excudebant Janssonio-Waesbergii Moses Pitt et Stephanus Swart Explicatio Notarum Vrbs Oppidum Pagus notabilis Pagus Arx Monasterium Pagꝰ not cum Arce Arx et Pagus Monast cum Pago Balneum Acidus fons Fodinae AErarum THE MARQUISATE OF BADEN BADEN lying along