doth extraordinarily temperate the heat which else would extremely infest them And tho nothing of the Southern Frigid Zone be yet discover'd yet much which lyeth within the Northern is as Greenland Lapland and divers other places which are spoken of in the beginning of this Volume Which shews that tho the other be unknown to us yet it may notwithstanding its cold be inhabited as well as this The inhabitants of these Frigid Zones are call'd Periscii because when the Sun by its annual motion is risen to them it moves round about them without setting and so casts their shadow towards every part of the Horizon Those of the Temperate ones are Heteroscii because their Noon shadows are always cast only one way ours Northward the others Southward Those of the Torrid one are Amphiscii because their Meridional Shadows are sometimes North sometimes South Nor is the division of the Earth into Climes Climates by lesser Circles parallel to the Equator of much more use then the former for by saying that a Country lyeth somewhere within 8 deg 25 min. of the Equator where the longest day is above twelve hours and less then twelve and an half which is the first Clime its situation is but little better described then if we should say it was in the Torrid Zone The like may be said of the rest of the 24 Climes which are nothing else but a subdivision of the Zones into such unequal spaces that the longest day in that part of it which is next to the Equator is shorter by half an hour then it is in the other part which is towards the Pole So that look how many hours the longest day in any Country doth exceed twelve the double of that is the number of the Clime where it lyeth as because in England the longest day is about sixteen hours and an half therefore it is in the ninth Clime or eighteenth Parallel for one of the other makes two of these And thus we may reckon in the Southern as well as our Northern Hemisphere till we come to the beginning of the Frigid Zones where the Climes end for here the longest days being twenty-four hours i. e. the entire revolution of the Sun they encrease so fast that they must be distinguished by the difference of weeks and months as a degree and an half within the Polar Circles the longest day is a month three degrees and an half two months six deg 50 min. three months 11 deg 50 min. four months 17 deg 30. min. five months 90 deg six months Those who inhabit the opposite points of the same Clime have summer and winter together but not day and night and are called Perioeci Those who inhabit the same points of Climes equally distant from the Equator have day and night but not summer and winter together and are called Antoeci The Perioeci and Antoeci therefore agree in neither but are Antipodes to each other living under points diametrically opposite But the most exact and now most usual description of the situation of places is by their Longitude and Latitude The Latitude of any point is its nearest distance from the Equator as E 10 E 20 c. towards P. It is measured by the Arc of the Meridian intercepted betwixt them This directs to the very Circle under some part of which the place lies and so gives a better account of its sitethen Zones and Climes do therefore some formerly describ'd the situations of Countries by this only But to render the direction compleat 't is necessary that the Longitude also be added unto it This is the distance of the Meridian of the place from the first Meridian to be numbred in the Equator from 1 to 360 as in the Scheme E 10 20 c. towards E. But where to fix this first or great Meridian Geographers could never yet well agree from whence many confusions have been occasioned and are still continued in this science and will not be thorowly redress'd till they concur in the determination of this point which tho it may be fixt indifferently in any noted place yet they have all thus far agreed as to place it in some of the most Western parts of the Earth because the Sun and the rest of the Planets move by their proper motion fromward the West towards the East Ptolemy and other ancient Geographers fixt it in Hera or Junonia which is one of the Fortunate or Canary Islands and as 't is probable that which now is called Teneriff Hence the Arabians translated it about ten degrees Eastwardly Some of our later Geographers transferr'd it to the Azores or Insulae Flandricae thinking that a Meridian drawn over these did pass thorow the Poles towards which the Loadstone pointeth as well as thorow those of the World because here they observ'd no variation of the Needle But they differ in assigning thorow which of these Isles it ought to be described Some place it in St. Michael which is about 9 deg more West then Teneriff because here they say the Compass varyeth least Others say that the variation is less in Corvo which lies about 6 deg Weft of this i. e. 15 of Teneriff and therefore fix it here But some of the latest finding the great inconvenience that there is in having different Longitudes applied to the same place and also experimenting a far greater variation in the Azores then was pretended have reduced it again to Teneriffe and suppose it describ'd over the top of El Pico or the Peak which being the most noted and accuminate mountain in the Western parts of the World is better fitted for such a purpose then any shore or whole Island can be because it is not likely to be at all removed as shores sometimes by the encroachments of the Sea for a good space are and the top of it being but of a very small compass and as it were a point hence Longitudes may be computed even to a minute which from the forenamed Terms can scarce be done to a degree From hence all the Longitudes in the Maps of this Atlas are reckon'd And we wish that in all the new ones which shall be drawn henceforward it may be so to or at lest that it may particularly be express'd in them from what Meridian it is that they compute that so the account of Longitudes may become more intelligible and useful then for want of such direction it commonly is in most of our Maps Having the Longitude and Latitude of any place given to find it in the Map reckon the Longitude among the Meridians which commonly are described from the upper to the lower side thereof and the Latitude among the Parallels which are always drawn the contrary way and where you see or guess that these two Lines intersect each other is the place sought for The Latitude may be found out either in the day by the Sun How to find the Latitude or in the night by the Stars The elevation
each side four feet an head like an Acorn with four horns 2. The Sawfish which hath a long Snout on either side set with teeth like a Saw he seldome gives over the Whale till he hath killed him he eats up his tongue and nothing else 3. The Hay from two to three fathoms long round and small a sharp snout and three rows of teeth in his mouth with which he will bite great pieces out of the Whale and sometimes eat up all the fat the Fishermen have found Whales half devoured by them they are taken with a bait fastened to an Hook with an Iron Chain for a Rope they will presently sheer asunder The Whales when the Sea begins to freez go Southward dispersing themselves some unto the coast of America some few this way and many keep in the deep and wide Ocean where the Basques who say that the Whales follow the light used to fish for them before Greenland was discovered And I have heard that the Dutch caught a Whale near Japan that had sticking in her an Harping Iron lost at Greenland WILLOVGHBIES-ISLAND THe Dutch had no way to take from Sir Hugh Willoughby the honour of first adventuring upon these Northern Coasts which he did by the commission and at the charges of King Edward the sixth but at the advice and direction of the great Sea-man Sebastian Cabot Grand Pilot of England but by bestowing on him an imaginary Title of an Island which they call Willoughbies-Island and which they place near Nova-Zembla Besides what we have spoken to this matter in the description of Greenland it may further be noted that neither Captain Edge who travelled those Seas so many times nor Mr. Seller nor any other English man that we know of name any such Islands in their Maps nor do any of the Journals of our Mariners nor H. Hudson who expresly went to seek for it mention any such place and the latest Dutch Map of Nova Zembla which is the nearest Country to that imaginary Island set out 1678 makes not any mention of it nor does Sir H. Willoughby seem to have sayled that way which is East and by North from Sainam but set his course towards North-east nor doth the description he made of the Countrey agree to a small Island All which being considered Mr. Purchas with good reason several times affirmeth that Willoughbies-Island is no other then a conceit of the Cart-makers and for such we shall let it pass till better informed NOVA-ZEMBLA NOva-Zembla is separated from the Samoieds Countrey by the Streits of Waygates or as the new Map calleth them Straet van Nassau it was first discovered by the English in 1556 and since visited by several both English and Dutch who have attempted to find out a passage that way into the Tartarian-Sea and so farther to Cathay China Japan c. Yet notwithstanding all their endeavours very little progress hath been made in that discovery except you will say that they discovered by sad experience that though perhaps the Sea might be continued through those Streits yet by reason of the very great hinderance as well as danger of the Ice it is unpassable or if in some warm Summers perhaps it might be sailed yet is the danger and trouble so great that it is not worth the hazard and charges of the adventure Especially since the miscarriage of that worthy Pilot William Barents who out of confidence of the feasibility of the enterprise adventured so far that his Ship was first hem'd in and afterwards frozen and broken in the Ice so that they were forced to winter upon the land where the good man lost his life of whose sufferings by cold I have before spoken Only give me leave here to take notice of their particular observations of the setting and rising of the Sun comparing them with others made in Greenland by the English Our men that winter'd in Greenland 1630 The length of their nights lost the light of the Sun intirely Oct. 14 and saw him not again till Feb. 3. Those that stayed there in 1633 say that Oct. 5 was the last day they saw the Sun though they had a twilight by which they could read till the 17 on the 22 the Stars were plain to be seen all the 24 hours and so continued all Winter Jan. 15 they perceived for six or seven hours about noon so much light as they could make shift to read by it Feb. 12 they saw the light of the Sun upon the tops of the Mountains and the next day his whole body Those in Greenland in 1634 who all perished there left in writing that the Sun disappear'd Oct. 10 and was seen again Feb. 14. Those that winter'd in Nova-Zembla in 1596 in 76 deg on Nov. 2. new stile saith Purchas i. e. Oct. 23 saw the Sun not fully above the earth it rose South-South-East and set South-South-West after Nov. 4 Oct. 25 they saw the Sun no more but the Moon continued as long as she was in highest degrees to be seen day and night Jan. 24 they saw the edge of the Sun above the Horizon and 27 he totally appear'd and he then was in 5 deg 25 min. of Aquarius They farther observed that by an Ephemerides which they carried with them at Venice would be a conjunction of the Moon and Jupiter that very day at one a Clock in the morning which they in Nova-Zembla saw at 6 in Taurus So that the difference of Longitude of these two places is 5 hours which answers to 75 deg Venice therefore being accounted in the Longitude of 37 deg 25. min. Nova-Zembla must be 112 deg 25 min. And from thence it is no more than 60 deg to Cape Tabin the uttermost point of Tartary What to say to these observations so contrary to all Astronomers I know not had Barents made them they would have staggered us more but since the Observer hath so grosly mistaken in the Latitude of the place which he always places in 76 deg insomuch that Hudson saith that that place is by them laid too far North much out of its place to what end he knows not we have the less reason to assent to him in the rest besides to place Nova-Zembla in 76 is to make it in the same Latitude as Horn-Sound in Greenland which no man ever affirmed Nor can any one imagine that the refraction of the Sun-beams can cause such a difference for Mr. Baffins observation which he made in Greenland from the Air whereof that in Nova-Zembla cannot much differ will not admit any thing like that difference which take in his own words Beholding it about a north-north-east Sun by the common Compass at which time the Sun was at the lowest one fifth of his body was above the Horizon and four fifths below his declination for that instant was 10 deg 35 min. north being at noon in 2 deg 7 min. of Virgo his daily motion was 38 min. whose half being 19 to be
under him They made use of in their wars with the Tartars a General they call'd the Walking Captain or the Commander of the walking Castle which is nothing else but a double wall of thick pales so contrived that it might be in ashort time set up in length and then it would reach seven miles and the two walls about ten foot distance The pales were higher then a man and in them loop-holes to lay out the noses of their musequets And this is sufficient for the defence of their shot where the enemy hath no canon as the Tartars have not else it is of little use or esteem They had also one great Drum carried upon four horses fastened together and eight men to beat it but these customs are laid aside and they follow the modes of the Germans and other Europeans They are acknowledg'd to be better at keeping Forts and Cities then in a field battel Their Valour to which also their frequent fastings slender diet education to hardship do much dispose them Their women have many times supplied the defect of soldiers kept guards fought stoutly upon the works and even defended breaches In some of the Castles of Livonia when the Poles took them they found almost all the men consumed in one but two were left and yet those two refused to yeild up the Fort lest they should seem not to have performed their trust to their Prince When the Polonians upbraid them with their loss of so many battels when they had sufficient advantages they answer But who hath Smolensko Novogorod c. Their Forts are very well victual'd and man'd fortified commonly with turf kept up with bavins hurdles or timber which resist battery the better tho the frost have too much power upon them They now also face them with brick and stone Their Sinboiars are educated and inur'd to war in those Forts but they stay not above a year or two in one garrison as neither do the Governours There are generally two and sometimes three Governors in one garrison the chiefest hath care of the munition and never stirs forth the other upon occasion go abroad sally fetch in contribution c. many of them are very valiant expert and careful soldiers Of all their borderers they most apprehend the Swedes The Polonians are more valiant and will not fear with twenty thousand to fight sixty thousand Russes but they are not so expert in taking Towns nor are they so easily kept together their obedience being too voluntary The Tartars do the Russes most mischief for in sudden and violent inrodes they sweep a whole country carrying away all that are able to march and children that can endure to be carried in baskets which they bring with them for that purpose If the Russes meet with them they never refuse to fight with them but the Tartars seldom come to a battel but if they apprehend themselves weaker they will all disperse and rendezvous again at night or after one day or two In their last invasion he is said to have carried away four hundred thousand captives which is enough to depopulate a country The best defence against them is a great barren desart of twenty days march being the confines between them and the Russes But in general all wars are prejudicial to the Russ for they raise great armies for the most part of married men and are not very careful of preserving their men all the time therefore that war lasts the women are unfruitful and by that means the old stock decays and the new doth not advance The remedy they have is by working the Czremiss and other moderater Tartars mingled amongst them to a coalition with them into the same Religion and Government which the Russes sedulously endeavour and have in good part effected Next for their Religion and religious ceremonies Religin 〈◊〉 of the 〈◊〉 Themselves say that St. Andrew planted Christianity amongst them which was by invasion of the Tartars afterwards either abolished or very much defaced till after the year 900 some say 960 other 989 it was again restored by Volodomir I find in Can. 28. Conc. Chalced. that it is order'd That the Churches of the Barbarians should receive their Ordinations from Constantinople Both Balsamon and Zonaras interpret this of the Russes So that these two learned persons were of this opinion that the Russes were Christians before that Council which began 451. And their Metropolitan being consecrated by the Constantinopolitan Patriarch may seem to argue so much But neither of these arguments are convincing let us therefore follow the common opinion It is acknowledged by all that they were Christians in Volodomir's time and that they follow'd or consented with the Greek Church as they do still in most of their opinions and practices The greatest difference seems to be their rebaptization whereof more by and by Their Ecclesiastical Government was the same with that of all the Churches till now of late i. e. by Bishops Priests and Deacons whether they retain the lesser Orders as they are called I cannot find Till of late the supreme Officer in their Church was the Metropolitan of Moskow who being elected by his Clergy was ordained or consecrated by a commission from the Patriarch of Constantinople But about the year 1588 there came to Moskow one Hieronymus who pretended to be Patriarch of Constantinople and to have been banished for I know not what reason by the Turk Others said that he was deposed by his own Clergy for complying too much with the Western Church And de facto he did endeavour to reconcile the Russes to the Church of Rome to which purpose Ant. Possevine was at that time also sent by the Pope the King of Poland and other Christian Princes who interessed themselves seriously in this affair which not succeeding Hieronymus began to treat about resigning his Patriarchship and translating of the See from Constantinople to Moskow which motion was greedily embraced by the Russes And Jan. 25 1588 in a very great solemnity the Prince and all the Nobility and Clergy going in procession thro a great part of the City at length in our Lady's Church he made an oration to the foresaid purpose deliver'd up his Resignation authenticated and his Patriarchal Staff into the hands of the Metropolitan of Moskow who presently with divers ceremonies was inaugurated Patriarch And his successors do all use that title and are consecrated by their own Bishops Whether this action was valid I dispute not 't is sufficient that the Patriarch of Constantinople who is most concern'd doth not question it and to stop his mouth as I suppose there is every year besides upon divers other occasions a very considerable present of five hundred crowns sent to him Besides the Greeks want not other artifices as sending things hallow'd reliques c. for which they receive very great presents Yet Filaretes Nikitys the late Patriarch and Father to the Emperor Michael Federowitz was consecrated by the
Rubbles per ann And for these and the like reasons many of them at first secretly favoured afterwards openly join'd themselves and their power to Demetri Particularly Peter Basmaneuf entrusted with an Army by Boris to fight against him went and carryed with him all his Army to Demetri and brought him to Moskow in a manner without any bloodshed At which time Boris first on April 13 1605 and shortly after his wife and son died either by poison as most say or murther'd by some sent from Demetri to that purpose and left the Throne void to that Impostor which he enjoyed not nine months before he was suspected as not sleeping after dinner nor using stoves and in divers other matters not conforming to the custom of the Muscovites And when the Russes saw moreover that he had engaged to marry the daughter of the Palatine of Sandomiria and to bring in the Roman Religion they formed a conspiracy against him chiefly by the practice of Vasilie Zuisky They chose for the execution of their design the seventeenth day of May 1606 nine days after his marriage when Zuisky with other Boiars and the people after dinner finding the Guards asleep forc'd their way into his chamber he affrighted with the noise leapt out of a window and broke his leg the Boiars follow'd and there slew him and hurried his carcass into the market-place where they also laid by him his great fautor Basmaneuf exposing them three days Afterwards they chose Vasilie Ivanowich Zuisky Grand Tzar in his stead who was crown'd June 1 1606. He had not reigned long before another Demetri appear'd in Poland and being by them assisted raised very great troubles in Muscovy After him also started up another Demetri in Moskow it self who also found followers and abettors people who in the times of trouble and licentiousness take even a sorry pretence to rob and plunder Mean-while divers of the Nobility bandied together against their Lord Zuisky pretending that he was unfortunate that victory seem'd to shun and troubles to follow him that as long as he govern'd there could be no hopes of peace c. Which silly stories prevail'd so much upon an amazed people that they seized upon Zuisky and shaving him put him into a Monastery Mean-while the Poles were not idle in defending and asserting their Demetri but came with their army before Moskow The Russes to heal all their wounds and soder up their differences chose Vladislaus son to the King of Poland to be their Grand Duke upon certain conditions whereof one was that Zuisky and his family should be put into the hands of the King of Poland which was accordingly done and he imprisoned till death and buried in the high-way The Polish army before Moskow understanding the election of their Prince behaved themselves very peaceably for a while and the General with part of his army was admitted into the Castle the rest of the army was quarter'd in the Villages without but they by little and little got into the City where they had not long continued e're there happen'd a quarrel which amongst men used to drunkenness is not hard to find of the Poles against the Russes whereupon they fell upon the City and in despight of their General plunder'd and burnt it They say that at that time perished two hundred thousand persons The treasury also was pillaged and all the wealth of the Emperor scatter'd amongst the Polish soldiers some of whom are said to have charg'd their pistols with pearl The Russes being in this almost desperate condition and upon the very brink of ruine at length a Butcher whose name seems to have been Zachary Listpenow began not to despair and to give out amongst the people that if there could be found an honest Treasurer there would not want good officers and soldiers of the Russ Nation to deliver them from their miseries and settle peace and glory again in their country The people destitute of other hopes catch'd hold upon this straw and bid him name whom he thought fit to be General which he did and proposed to them a very worthy but poor and neglected Gentleman called Pozarskey The people approved his choice took him for Commander and the Butcher they made Treasurer bringing readily unto him all the money they ow'd unto the Emperor and what they could spare of their own Wherewith he presently raised an army and joining it with a body of Cossacks then in service of the Muscovites They marched to Moskow besieged the Poles in the Castle and forc'd them to surrender and to march out of the Empire which they immediately performed Hereupon the Russ Nobility convened at Moskow and seeing their country free from strangers and an obedient army of their own they resolved upon electing of a new Emperor which they put in execution ann 1613 and made choice of a young man called Michael Federowitz and sware allegiance unto him His father had forsaken his wife for Gods sake as they say i. e. quitted her and betaken himself to his devotions in a Monastery he was of the house of Romanove and when his son was chosen Tzar he also was elected Patriarch and being a very wise and moderate person he put his son who was always obedient unto him upon secure and prudent counsels His name was changed to Philaretes Nikiditz and he died ann 1633. The first thing he did was to recover Smolensko and by the mediation of Christian Princes especially King James he made peace with the Poles He also made a peace with the Swedes who had been the sorest and heaviest enemy to the Russes And by the assistance also of King James an accord was made and all differences reconciled The Swede was to render Novogrod Stara Russa Porkow Lagda Aydow with all their Territories to the Muscovites And the Muscovites surrendred Ivanogrod Jama Coporia Noteburg with their precincts to the Swede and renounce all title to Livonia which was no small prejudice to the Russ who thereby lost the salt trade which had brought in no small revenue He died July 12 1645 in the forty-seventh year of his age and thirty-third of his reign He was a prudent pious and valiant person endeavouring by all means to banish the memory of former tyrannies and to make up the breaches of his own people which he did very successfully To him succeeded his son Alexes Michaelowitz a more martial but yet as mild a Governor whose actions are so fresh in all mens memories that I think it superfluous to write them but such have been these of the house Romanove that if their successors continue to tread in the steps of these their ancestors they need not doubt of both a lasting reign and glory to all posterity He died about the year 1676 and left his son a young Prince of about sixteen years of age to succeed him The Lakes and Rivers of Muscovy COncerning the Lakes and Rivers of Muscovy 't is to be observed 1. That almost all
so many in all as the Tatars to shew the greatness of the slaughter filled nine great sacks with their right ears and the Arabian authors say they amounted to 270000 which is manifestly false if spoke of this battel if of all the war may have some probability This battel was fought V. Id. Apr. 1241 at a place thence called Walstad a mile from Lignitz The Tatars also were so weakened that they stirred not out of their camp for fifteen days space to cure their men and to deliberate whither they should march next and they resolved upon Moravia to be nearer to their General The King of Bohemia raising what men he could sent them under the command of a very valiant and expert soldier Jaroslaus a Sternberg to defend such places as were most considerable He with much labour and difficulty got into Olmutz when the scouts of the Tatars appear'd before the Town Trusting to the strength of his works he forbore to fight the enemies so long that they conceiving him a coward began to despise him and to keep their own guards more negligently which Jaroslaus perceiving after they had recommended their cause to God by fasting and prayer chusing a dark night march'd out of a postern and with great silence fell into the Tatars camp of whom they slew a great number Peta was slain by Jaroslaus himself the rest drew off and marched to Batu into Hungary Batu had ravaged for two years together not only Hungary but Slavonia Bosnia Rascia Bulgaria and the countries on both sides the Danube Some say that after this making an attempt upon Austria and endeavouring to swim a great river he was drowned others that going against the Greek Emperor he was overthrown however it was it is agreed that his army returned back and seizing upon all the country between the Boristhenes and Volga and the Taurica Chersonesus which before they very much wasted there setled unto this day being called Crim-Tartars from the chief City of the Chersonesus called Crim and Precopenses from Precop which in their language signifies a ditch such a one being drawn cross the Isthmus to cut of that Peninsula from the continent The Tartars at first were Lords yet not absolute for they acknowledged the superiority of the Great Cham the chief heir of Gingis-Chan till Lochtan-Chan one of the descendants from Batu refused obedience to him and took upon himself the absolute dominion over all those places except some few cities in Taurica which notwithstanding their conquests remained in the hands of the Genoueses their inhabitants till about the year 1574 when Mahomet II. Emperor of the Turks took them A little before that they had forsaken their old religion of Gingis-Chan by the practices of Hedegh and Sida-hameth-Chan their Emperors and embraced the Mahometan yet the common people are not very zealous in it to this day but make use of their little puppet-idols of felt c. and continue many other pagan customs of their former religion Mahomet the Great fearing they should grow too powerful for him under colour of taking in the City of Caffa possessed by the Genoueses made himself Master of the best part of the Chersonesus and of the City of Azoph or Azek a strong place at the mouth of Tanais Afterwards the Crim-Tartar aided Selimus I. who married his daughter with an army of 150000 men against his father and then the two Nations made a league that the Tartars should assist the Turk when required with 50000 horse that they should not make war except against the Muscovite without leave of the Turk that they should yearly pay to the Turk a tribute of three hundred Christians some furs butter and such other things And the Turk should pay them 5500 ducats and the Cham should succeed to the Turkish Empire if the males of the Ottoman line should fail But this lasted not long for Amurath III. in the year 1584 quarelling Mahomet the Crim-Tartar as if he designed to intercept Osman Basha in his return from Persia to Constantinople authorized Osman to invade him who taking him and his two sons strangled them and set up Islan the brother of Mahomet under such conditions as the Grand Signior pleased The Tartars did enjoy also all the country of Budziak which lies between the Niester and Boristhenes as we shall shew hereafter but the Turk hath seized upon that so that now their dominion reacheth only between Dnieper or Boristhenes and the Don or Tanais and of this that Peninsula called Taurica Chersonesus is the chiefest part That Peninsula 〈…〉 or Chersonesus was called Taurica becaused inhabited by a sort of Scythians called Tauri and Tauro-Scythae Afterwards the Greeks mingled amongst them and brought the country into great beauty and fame But their names and actions belongs to the ancient Geography The Genoueses taking advantage of the great feuds of the Greeks amongst themselves in the year 1266 or about the time of the Holy-war took Caffa and planted a considerable interest in the country the Tartars either permiting them because of the gain they made by their traffick principally of slaves which they furnished to a great part of the world but especially to Egypt who generally had all their Mamalukes as long as that government lasted from this place or not being skilled in besieging of Towns especially such as could be perpetually relieved And indeed it was very convenient for the Genoueses for having besides this a great plantation at Pera near Constantinople they thereby enjoyed the whole trade of the Black-Sea till as we said they were ruin'd by the Turks since which time I cannot find that it hath suffer'd any considerable alterations We shall therefore describe it being by Christians an unfrequented country out of Mart. Broniovius who was sent Ambassador twice thither from Stephanes Battori King of Poland from which such little informations as we meet with since do not considerably differ This Chersonesus then is about fifty leagues long and thirty where broadest The first Town at the entrance upon the east is Przecop called by the Tartars Or situate upon the Dyke in the narrowest part of the Isthmus where it is not above a mile wide anciently called Eupatoria Pompeiopolis besides other names 'T is now a small Town of about four hundred fires it hath a stone Castle but not strong wherein the Cham hath continually his Beg or Palatine who commands the guard upon the rivers of Boristhenes and Tanais as also the Tartars in the plains betwixt he also examines all strangers suffering none to pass without the Chams letters Sachingeri the Great Cham here overthrew the Nagay-Tartars and raised seventeen forts upon the Dyke some of them of the skuls and bones of the slain Coslow situate near unto the Black Sea is a Town of traffick having near two thousand houses and is in the power of the Cham. Ingermen is now only a Castle but hath been a great Town as appears by the ruines amongst which
and Vilna For the Polonians believe that it very much avails both to the security of the Governour and to confirm the allegiance of them that obey that the King should be chosen by the Generality who can then have no pretence to complain of their own Act. The place of Election is in an open field not far from Warsaw near the Village Wola by reason of the multitude of them who have voices in the Election it is mark'd out by the Marshals of Poland and Lithuania When the day of Election is come and the Senators all met the Interrex asks the Question three times Whether it be their pleasure to command that such a one shall be declared King If by consent of voices they return for an answer It pleases us Let him live then the Archbishop declares him King in these words In the name of God I declare such a one King and great Duke of Lithuania and beseech the King of Heaven to enable him for so great a charge and through his mercy so to order that the Election may be prosperous for the Nation and happy for the Catholick Religion After which the Marshals proclaim the Election in the following manner King N. is unanimously elected and so declared by the Interrex him therefore all ye acknowledg your lawfully elected and declared King If the King so elected be absent his Ambassadours are obliged to confirm by oath the conditions and receive the decree of the Election After which the Marshalls make a second Proclamation in these words The Polanders have a lawful King On the other side before the King is admitted he is obliged by oath to preserve the Laws and priviledges of the Kingdom and the Covenants agreed upon by the Estates in all their clauses points and conditions and to renew the said oath at his Coronation But though he be now elected the Interregnum does not cease till after his Coronation for till then he assumes no other Title then that of King Elect neither are his Letters to Foreign Princes seal'd with any other seal then that of the Chamber So that though the present King was permitted to make use of the Seal of great Duke of Lithuania before his Coronation that was only done upon the necessity of the Muscovitick Expedition The usual place of Coronation is Cracow where the Crown is kept in the cheif treasury under the charge of the high Treasurer and the person performing the ceremony is always the Archbishop of Gnesna if not prevented by sickness The chief Ceremonies at the Coronation are the Questions propounded to the King Wilt thou profess the Catholick faith delivered by Catholick men Answ I will Wilt thou defend and maintain the Church and its Ministers Wilt thou uphold defend and govern the Kingdom by God committed to thy care according to Justice Ans I will All which he confirms by the usual form of words and laying his hand upon the Evangelists The Ceremony of anointing is perform'd with saying these words I anoint thee King with the sanctified oil in the name of the Father Son and holy Ghost The words of Confirmation are Sit and possess the Throne appointed thee by God Let thy hand be strengthned and thy right hand exalted The solemnity being ended the King repairs to the grand Assembly for the Coronation where the Interrex resigns his Authority and the Senatours together with the Nobility and Deputies of the Cities take their oaths of allegiance to the new King The present power and authority of the Kings of Poland will more plainly appear by a recital of the articles to the observance whereof they bind themselves as well before as at their Coronation for they contain all the essential properties of Regal Dominion under the name of Pacta Conventa As to their power in Ecclesiastical affairs the Roman-Catholick Kings of Poland have been so kind as to part with their chiefest prerogatives in that particular reserving only to themselves the collation of benefices The King swears to maintain peace between the dissenters in Religion of which there are many in Poland and to compose the causes and differences among persons professing the Greek religion as appears by the Pacta Conventa sworn to by John the Third now reigning As for foundations of Churches and Monasteries whatsoever liberty the King may have to erect they are to be confirm'd by all the orders at the general assembly of Estates and thus the immunities and priviledges granted by the Kings of Poland to the Academy of Vilna were also confirm'd The next prerogative is the legislative power concerning which we find that in the time of Lechus the Kings of Poland had an absolute authority of making Laws themselves as necessity required But afterwards when they had received the Christian faith they began to make Laws with the consent of the Peers Insomuch that Sigismund the Third in the year 1570 enacted That no Law should be of publick force till reviewed and subscribed by such a number of Deputies of the Nobility and Senators whose consent was to be required before-hand whether the Law should pass which Law remains to this day The determination of Controversies was likewise formerly in the breast of the King as supreme Judg till Vladislaus Jagello granted this priviledge to the Nobility That they should not be punished or imprison'd till convicted by Law After him Bathor threw off the burthen of hearing causes from his own shoulders and erected several courts of Judicature in Poland and Lithuania reserving only to himself the judgment of such causes as concerned his Chequer and such Cities as were immediately under his jurisdiction But now the Nobility create the chief Judg or Marshal with his assistants in those tribunals nor does the King sit alone upon causes that come before him by way of appeal besides the King swears to determine all Court causes according to the advice and opinion of the Senators and Officers residing at Court as also to call the causes in order as they are set down in the Register and neither to retard nor further any cause for favour or interest The power of making war did formerly without doubt absolutely belong to the King But Casimir the third in the year 1454 made a promise that he would undertake no war without the consent of the Senate At this day the Kings of Poland by the Pacta Conventa promise not to admit or call in any foreign assistance without the especial consent of the Estates not to encrease the number of the standing Militia nor raise forces privately not to send aid to any other Prince without consent as aforesaid nor to commit the trust of Forts or Castles to strangers or plebeians but to men of worth and landed Nobility Besides all these engagements there is a Council of War elected out of the Senate and Nobility to attend and advise him in the field according to the late Constitutions in the year 1676 and several others before He is also
Blekingia c. BY a Ratification of Peace concluded at Roschild Feb. 26 ann 1658 between Charles X. then King of Sweden and Frederic III. King of Denmark the Provinces of Scania Hallandia and the Castle of Bahus with all the Forts Islands c. and also all the Royalties Jurisdictions Dominions Ecclesiastical or Civil with the Revenues Tributes Payments and all Rights whatsoever whether by Land or Sea were by the King of Denmark in consideration of having some places restored to him as Sialand Laland Falstria c. which the King of Sweden had during the late war made himself Master of wholly ceded and given up to the Crown of Sweden as a perpetual possession to be incorporated with that Kingdom for ever in as full and ample manner as the Kings of Denmark and Norway had formerly possess'd and enjoy'd the same And by another Ratification of Peace held at Copenhagen ann 1660 between the said Frideric III. of Denmark and this present King of Sweden these Provinces in the same manner as they had been granted by the former Treaty were confirm'd to the Swedish Crown We shall treat of all these Provinces though by reason of the present Wars 'twixt the Swedes and Danes the possession of them is much disturb'd and some Cities and Forts in them seized and Garrison'd by the Danish Forces as Accessional parts of this Kingdom remitting what may be said concerning the ancient Titles the Kings of Denmark had to them or what else may concern them to be spoken to in that Kingdom 1. Scania or Schonen a Province abounding as was said in Gothia with Corn Beasts Birds and all Commodities of life having on the East Blekingia on the West the Sund along the shore of which it runs for the space of twenty German Miles on the North Hallandia and Westro-Gothia and on the South part of the Baltic or Ost-Zee It is in length eighteen and where broadest in bredth twelve German miels In it are besides many Towns and Villages twelve Nomarchies or Principalities The chief City is 1. Lundia Lundon or Lune formerly from the year 1109 to 1559 the seat of an Arch-bishop who was wont to be call'd to the general Diets of the Empire and have his voice in them It is said to have two and twenty Churches in it and amongst the rest a magnificent Cathedral dedicated to St. Laurence no less remarkable for its high Steeple which is a guide to Mariners and its large vault under the Quire then for the Dial which shews the year month week day and hour of the day all at the same time with all Feasts both moveable and fix'd as also the motions of the Sun and Moon and their progress through every degree of the Zodiack This Clock is so order'd by artificial Engines that when ever it strikes two Horse-men come forth and encounter each other the one giving the other just so many blows as the hammer is to strike upon the Bell at what time a door opening the Virgin Mary appears sitting upon a Throne with Christ in her arms and the Magi doing him reverence and two Trumpeters sounding all the while This is the suppos'd work of Caspar Bartholine the famous Mathematician The Altar also of this Church is an excellent piece of work of black and white Marble adorn'd on the fore-part with the Sculptures of Frederic II and Sophia his wife and upon the Table-stone with the Images of our Saviour and his twelve Apostles at his last Supper 2. Malmoge or as some call it Elbogen at the very Southern point of Schonen just opposite to Copenhagen in Zeland a well traded Port the birth-place of the said Caspar Bartholine or Malmogius Danus as some pleas'd to name him the great Mathematician 3. Trelleberg North of Elbogen 4. Landscroon on the Sea side a place of great consequence and strength built by Ericus VIII An. 1413. It has six Gates in all three towards the Sea and three towards the Continent with a fair Market-place and a stately Stadt-house Here is a large and convenient harbour for Ships though of somewhat hazardous entrance This City was fortify'd with a Castle by Christian III. who remov'd the Fair at Engelholm to this place where it is kept at Mid-summer every year with a great concourse of Merchants 5. Helsemburg a mean Town but fortified with an impregnable Castle just opposite to Helsinore and Croneberg in Seland the other of the two Keys which openeth into the Sund. In the middle of the Castle rises a high four square Tower which shews it self to Mariners a great way off from the Castle and serves them as a mark to steer their course by In this Town are kept two Fairs every year one in Mid-Lent the other upon Palm-sunday noted for the concourse of people and great store of Merchandize vended here 6. Radneby a Frontire Town bordering on Verendia 7. Christiania or Christendorp built by Christiern IV. An. 1604 out of the ruins of Ahusia and Vaea or Wa and fortifyed with eight Bulwarks and so encompass'd with Fens and Marshes on one side and with the Sea on the other that it may seem almost impregnable To these may be added 8. Scanore the most ancient of any 2. Hallandia Hallandia or Hallandt which lyes to the North East upon part of Westro Gothia its limits begin at the Promontory call'd by the Natives Hallands-Ars by Strangers Coll and thence runs along the Codane Shore to Elsburg sixteen German miles and may be said to have on the West the Sea which runs 'twixt it and Jutland on the North part of Smalandia and on the South Scania or Schonen Of this Province see what was said in Westro-Gothia 3. Blescida Blekingia or Blecking Blekingia a Province somewhat mountanous woody and barren and not near so fertil as either of the two former It is bounded on the East and South with the Baltic Sea on the North with Verendia in Smaland and on the West with Schonen The whole Province is divided into eight Nomarchies and contains these Cities and Towns of note all lying upon the Baltic 1. Vstadium vulg Vster 2. Stanthamera or Santhamer 3. Ahuiis 4. Selsburg 5. Elenholm 6. Rottenbuy 7. Christianopolis Christenberg rais'd out of the ground by Christiern IV. King of Denmark A. D. 1604 to defend his Kingdom on this side but not long after by a warlike Stratagem surpris'd by the Swedes An. 1611 and by them destroy'd and quite dispeopled since which time it has been rebuilt and at present is very well replenished with Inhabitants and much frequented by Merchants 10. Bromsebro famous for the treaty of peace betwixt Christina Queen of Sweden and Christianus IV. King of Denmark concluded at this Town A. D. 1648 with many smaller Towns and Villages To these may be added 4. Jemptia Jemptia or Jempterland so called from one Kietellus Jampte a Norwegian Nobleman who escaping from the tyranny of Harald Harfager King of Norway came
this City are expressed by Westhow a Danish Poet in three Distichs thus Fluctibus Arctoi sat bella Coagia ponti Alluor hinc campus subjacet inde nemus Quae silvae utilitas agri emolumenta fretique Commoda sunt meus haec omnia civis habet Dat glandes ligna nemus dat pascua campus Piscibus variis mercibus unda beat LALAND LAland or Lawland so called from its low situation is an Island about 32 English miles in length and 20 in breadth It is divided from Seeland by the narrow bay Gronesond or as some Maps call it Goldersond and from Falster by a bay much narrower then the former It is a very fruitful Country and affords great quantities of Corn and good store of rich pasturage Lyscander says of this Dukedome That there are in it four several Gentes I suppose he means Herrits or Lordships and as many Cities The great Towns or Cities he speaks of are 1. Naschaw or Nachscouw which together with the adjoyning Monastery was stormed taken and burnt by the Lubeckers in the year 1510. 2. Sascoping 3. Newstadt once famous for a noble Monastery built here A. D. 1286. 4. Lavinscoping Besides these the Nunnery of Mariaebo spoken of before in the Description of Sor was as considerable and remarkable a place as any in the whole Island Other Islands less considerable in the Baltic Sea WHat Islands have been of late delivered up by the Danes into the hands of the Swedes upon the Ratification of Treaties and Leagues may be seen in the description of Swedeland Of those that remain still in the hands of the King of Denmark these we have mentioned are of most note and 't were irrational to expect a particular account of those millions of diminutive Islands that lay scattered along the Coasts of Seeland Schonen Jutland c. Among them these following are all that are worth the taking notice of 1. Falster Falster a considerable Island adjoyning to Laland It is not above 16 English miles in length but so fruitful that it furnishes not only its own Inhabitants but a great part of the Dukedom of Mecklenburg and several other parts of Germany with Corn. Great Towns of note in this Island are 1. Nycoping which Dr. Heylin for I cannot find that he borrowed the expression from any other writer calls the Naples of Denmark from the pleasantness of its situation and uniformity in building 2. Stabecoping a place of some Trade upon the account of Passengers who come daily this way betwixt Seeland and Germany 2. Mona or Meun Mona A chalky Island to the Northeast of Falster which serves for a good Landmark to the German Vessels that trade in these Seas Lyscander tells us 't was formerly annex'd to the stipend of the Danish Admiral as a place the fittest of any in the King of Denmark's Dominions for such an Officer to reside in The only Town of consequence in it is Stege which bravely withstood the Lubeckers in the year 1510 and forced them at last to retreat 3. Langeland Langeland A narrow Island betwixt Funen and Laland about 28 English miles in length and only 8 in breadth whence it has its name There are in it 16 Parish Churches and a great number of Noblemens houses besides the impregnable Castle of Traneker which is admirably well provided with all manner of Military ammunition Rutcoping may pass for what the Danish writers will needs have it to be a City but 't is a miserably poor one and in no great probability of being advanced by Traffic 4. Alsen Alsen A small Isle over against the Bay of Flensburg in the Dukedom of Sleswic of which it is a part and therefore only subject to the Kings of Denmark as Dukes of Sleswic The learned and Noble Danish Antiquary Rantzow thinks the Elysii Arii and Manimi mentioned by Tacitus were the antient Inhabitants of this Island Ar and Meun and that these three Isles have the same names at this day saving only a small alteration such as may easily happen in the revolution of a few years which they had when that learned Roman writ his Annals This Isle is every where either exceeding fruitful or very pleasant and so populous that several thousands of stout fighting men have been raised in a very short time out of its four Towns and thirteen Parishes Sunderburg heretofore the usual seat of the Dukes of Sleswic and to this day one of the strongest holds which the King of Denmark has is the chief Town in the Island LALANDIAE et FALSTRIAE Accurata Descriptio Apud Janssonio-Waesbergios et Mosem Pitt On the coasts of Jutland between the Promontory of Schaghen and the Isle Funen there are several little inconsiderable Islands as Anholt Lasso Niding Helm Tune Kitholm Jordholm Samsoe c. Among these the three first are notorious for the dangerous Sands which lye round them whence 't is an ordinary proverb used by the inhabitants here Lassoe Niding und Anholt Maecken dat menich stuerman niet werdt oldt i. e. Lassoe Niding and Anholt Hinder shipmen to grow old Of the ancient Inhabitants of the Isles in the Baltic Sea THat the Dani Insulares as Saxo calls the inhabitants of these Isles are all of one extraction will be found a question very disputable after a diligent enquiry into the different customs and languages used in several of the Baltic Islands Ptolomy we know and most of the ancient Geographers make Scandinavia or Schonen an Island but of so large a bulk that Alter Terrarum Orbis is one of the most usual names they give it This Pliny tells us was by some of the Greek writers call'd Baltia which by Pytheas is corrupted into Basilia Now if we grant that this Continent which the ancients mistook for an Island were named Baltia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because the noblest Isle in this Sea which seems the most probable conjecture then it will not by any means be irrational to conclude that in all probability the inhabitants of all these petit Islands were only so many small branches of the old warlike Nation of the Goths whom the most learned Historians place in Schonen But then 't will still be doubted whether these Goths were not a Nation wholly distinct from the Getes mention'd in Jutland and consequently whether those that inhabit the Isles upon the coasts of Schonen be not descended of another stock then they that live near Jutland can reasonably pretend to Pontanus is exceeding angry at Jornandes Orosius and others for affirming that the Getes and Goths are one and the same people but as I conceive without any great reason For if as is prov'd in the description of Jutland the Getes gave name to a great part of the Cimbrian Chersonese these two Nations are easilier brought together then he is aware of And could we once perswade Pontanus's admirers to grant that the Getae Gutae Vitae or Witae were the ancient inhabitants of Jutland as
England the Art of Printing The King furnish'd him with seven hundred Marks and Thomas Boucher Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and Chancellor of Oxford who put the King upon this business contributed three hundred more to carry on the design For some time Tourner did nothing but travel up and down with Caxton who traded at Amsterdam and Leyden and could never come at Harlem because the Citizens were cautious of admitting any stranger that might cheat them of the Monopoly of this new Art At last after the King had sent him a new supply of five hundred Marks he agreed with Frideric Corsellis one that wrought at the Press to steal away from his Trade and come over with him into England Which according to contract he did and set up a public Print-house at Oxford Where a strong Guard continually attended him till others had learned his Art for fear he should make an escape before he had perform'd his promise Not long after this there was a Print-house set up at Westminster another at St. Albans a third at Worcester and many others in several Monasteries The oldest Book we find printed at Westminster is Caxton's Chronicle of the Kings of England which was published in the year 1480. Boterus who is follow'd by some late Authors that rely too much upon his authority affirms that the Chinois had the use of Printing amongst them above a thousand years before 't was known in Europe and that the Europeans are not beholden to their own ingenuity for the discovery but the good nature of these strangers who imparted the secret to them But if this be true why then did not Marcus Venetus bring over the Art with him to Venice Rome or Naples that so the Italians might have had the credit of being the first Teachers or Restorers at least for Boter hardly allows the Germans any better title of the Art of Printing in Europe When this question is press'd home to Boter he is forc'd to confess tho unwillingly I Tedeschi sono stati Inventori della stampa dell'artigliaria et dell ' horologio a mota cose Nobilissime i. e. The Germans have been Authors of three noble Inventions Printing Guns and Clocks I do not find any great reason to believe the Germans to have been the first Inventors of Clock-work Clock-work tho they are as likely men if Histories would allow us to fix our conjectures upon them as any in the world But I am afraid Boter injures his own Country in ascribing this to the High Dutch The first man whom the Latin Historians mention as the contriver of an Engine in this kind is Severinus Boetius a famous Philosopher and Nobleman of Rome We meet with a Letter from Theodoric King of the Goths to this Boetius to beg a Clock of him to present to his Brother-in-law Gundibald King of Burgundy in which Letter he calls this Engine Machinam mundo gravidam coelum gestabile rerum compendium i. e. A Machine that encircled the world a portable Heaven an abstract of the Universe But however none have more improved the Art of making Clocks and Watches then the Germans The Emperor Charles the Fifth had a Watch in the Jewel of his Ring and our King James had the like both which were made in Germany In the Town-hall of Prague there is a Clock that shews the annual and periodical motions of the Sun and Moon the names and numbers of the Months Days and Festivals of the whole Year the time of the Sun 's rising and setting the rising of the Twelve Signs in the Zodiac and lastly the Age of the Moon with its several Aspects In the Elector of Saxony's Stable at Dresden there is a Saddle which in the pommel hath a gilded head with eyes continually moving and in the hinder part of it a Clock which shews exactly the hour of the day These and the like knacks are ordinary in every part of Germany but the most famous in its kind is the great Clock at Strasburg of which a full account shall be given when we come to treat of that City Tycho Brahe tells us that William Lantgrave of Hassia had spent much study in contriving a way to regulate Clocks and Watches that the former should not gain nor the latter lose any thing in their motion but what success he met with that great Astronomer does not inform us This in great measure is now perform'd by the regulation which is given to motion by the Pendulum and farther emprovements are projected by some ingenious members of our Royal Society at London and 't is hoped they will be shortly able to give the world a good and satisfactory account how they have sped in the enterprize The High Dutch have far outgone the rest of the European Artificers at the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or ingenious knacks and extravagances of Art then which nothing more demonstrates the excellency and curious skill of a workman One of these not many years presented the Landtgrave of Hassia with a Bear and Lion of pure Gold which were hollow within and each of them about the length of a man's middle finger Every part and lineament in them was proportionable to their length and both together weighed no more then a French Crown The most curious man in this kind which ever the German Nation bred was Johannes Regiomontanus who as Keckerman tells the story when the Emperor Maximilian came to the City of Noremberg made a wooden Eagle which flew an English mile out of Town to meet him and return'd back with him to his Lodgings Peter Ramus reports of the same man that having invited some friends to a Feast to divert them he threw an iron Fly from his hand which flew round the Room and return'd to him again Engraving Painting Cutting of Seals c. are Arts which the High Dutch are almost generally well skill'd in Of the Religion of the Modern GERMANS WE have before given the Reader a view of the Idolatrous practices Ceremonies and Sacrifices of the Pagan Germans and shew'n how zealous they were in defending the Rites and Customs of their false Religion and how much honour and respect they paid their Priests and indeed all others who attended upon their Altars Nor shall we find them less zealous in maintaining the true Religion after their Conversion to Christianity A sufficient testimony of which we may have from the multitude of Monasteries Nunneries Bishoprics and Collegiate Churches which are every-where to be met with in Germany This great Country cannot be suppos'd to have been all converted at once but piecemeal and hardly one Province in it but had its different Apostle Theodoret mentions Germany as well as Britain amongst the Nations converted by the Apostles And the Historian who under the name of Dorotheus Bishop of Tyre publish'd a Synopsis of the Twelve Apostles and Seventy Disciples reports that St. Thomas the Apostle preach'd in Germany But these and the like stories have little of certainty
eating too much of a Melon tho he was never tax'd for being guilty of any manner of intemperance in meat or drink but always esteem'd a severe punisher of drunkenness and gluttony 1493. Maximilian succeeded his Father Frideric having been before his Fathers death Crown'd King of the Romans in the year 1486. From his birth till he was almost nine years old he is said to have been utterly speechless but afterwards he gain'd the use of his tongue and prov'd one of the most eloquent and learned Emperors that Germany ever bred He married Mary the only Daughter and Heiress of Charles Duke of Burgundy upon which marriage all the Dukedoms Marquisats Earldoms and other Dominions of which the said Charles had been Lord were for ever annex'd to the Territories of the House of Austria The wars he was engag'd in against his neighbours on all hands especially the Venetians were almost innumerable tho for the most part he was forc'd to take up Arms in his own defence 'T is reported of him that he would never pass by a Gallows or Gibbet without a reverent salute in these words Salve sancta Justitia For five years before his death which happen'd in the twenty-fifth year of his reign he had his Coffin always by him and carried after him in every expedition he undertook which gave some of his retinue occasion to conjecture that he had some great treasure in it and that the pretence of its putting him in mind of mortality was only a false veil to blind the vulgar 1519. Charles V. Son to Philip King of Spain was elected Emperor and Crown'd with the greatest pomp imaginable at Aix la Chappel A puissant and brave Prince who well deserv'd the surname of Great conferr'd on him by Pope Paul III. The whole History of his Life seems to be nothing else but a Catalogue of his Conquests The writers of those times mention forty great victories obtain'd by him and seventy battels from which he came off the field a Conqueror The Pope of Rome and the French King were at the same time his prisoners He quash'd the League made by the Protestants at Schmalcade and took the Elector of Saxony and Landtgrave of Hassia prisoners He forced the Great Turk to relinquish Vienna and afterwards won the Kingdom of Tunis At last having reign'd thirty-eight years loaded with victories and honour he resign'd the Empire and betook himself to a Monastery where he was used to say That he had more pleasure and satisfaction in the retired and solitary enjoyment of one day in a Monk's Cell then ever he could perceive in all the fortunate Triumphs that attended the rest of his life 1558. Ferdinand I. upon the voluntary resignation of his Brother Charles V. was by an unanimous consent of the Electors declared Emperor tho Pope Pius IV. refused to pronounce the Election valid because Ferdinand had granted the Lutherans a toleration But some say the same Pope was afterwards so far reconciled to him as to grant him the priviledg of receiving the Sacrament of the Lords Supper in both kinds He was a mild peaceful and temperate Prince a hard student and perfect Master of the Latin tongue He was exceeding courteous to all even the meanest of his Subjects and had a certain hour in every day in which he attended the suits and complaints of poor men When some of his Courtiers objected to him the inconveniences that would follow upon the permission of so easie an access to all manner of supplicants he answer'd That himself could expect but harsh usage at Gods Throne if beggars were hinder'd from approaching his He dyed of a Catarrh in the sixty-first year of his age after he had reign'd six years 1564. Maximilian II. Ferdinand's Son and King of Bohemia was elected into his Fathers room being first proclaim'd King of the Romans at Francfurt and afterwards Crown'd King of Hungary This Emperor prov'd as great a favourer of the Protestants as his Father insomuch that some Roman Catholics have not stuck to call him the Lutheran Emperor He renewed the Articles of Peace agreed upon between the Protestant and Popish parties at Passaw and granted some of his Nobility and branches of the Austrian Family a free exercise of the Lutheran Religion Qui in conscientiis Imperium sibi sumunt conantur coeli arcem invadere is a saying which Historians know not whether to attribute to this Emperor or Maximilian I. but 't is most probable it was the former's since he is known to have been the greatest favourer of the Protestant perswasion that ever rul'd the German Empire He dyed at Ratisbon in the year 1576 having reign'd twelve years 1576. Rudolph Maximilian's Son was elected Emperor immediately upon his Father's death Some curious Chronologers have fancied his coming to the Imperial Crown in this year something ominous since the Numeral letters in RVdoLphVs IMperator AVgVstVs make up the number 1576. He was a Prince exceedingly addicted to the studies of all manner of Arts and Sciences especially the Mathematics and Mechanics In both which he receiv'd great assistance from the famous Astronomer Tycho Brahe who dyed in his Court where he had spent the greatest part of his banishment Several Cities and Provinces in Germany at his request began to make use of the Gregorian account tho many Ambassadors sent from the Electors to Rotenburg to treat of this particular rejected it The greatest war he engaged himself in was against the Turks with whom at last he concluded a Peace in the year 1600. But the truth is he minded his book more then Arts of Chivalry and was a greater Scholar then Soldier Which gave his Brother Matthias opportunity of undermining and cheating him of the Kingdoms of Hungary and Bohemia and forcing him to content himself with the Arch-Dukedom of Austria and the Empire 1612. Matthias upon his Brother's death was Elected and Crown'd Emperor at Francfurt The Protestant Religion was as much persecuted by this Emperor as it was encouraged by his predecessor Which harshness and severity gave occasion to that bloody Civil-war which broke out first in Bohemia and had afterwards like to have set the whole Empire in a flame When the oppression which the Protestants lay under had occasioned some dangerous seditions in a great many considerable Cities and Market-Towns in the Kingdom of Bohemia the Emperor order'd a Synod to be call'd at Prague designing to allow the dissenting party as they term'd the Lutherans some small priviledges but such as should be far short of the large Charter given and confirm'd to them by his Brother Rudolph At this meeting the Emperors Ambassadors William Slabate and Jurislaw Bazius where thrown out of the window for their domineering carriage and so perished This mightily incensed the Emperor who endeavouring to be reveng'd had like to have ruin'd himself and his Empire He dyed without issue having reign'd seven years 1619. Ferdinand of Gratz Arch-Duke of Austria and Grandson to Ferdinand I. by
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 â—â—moâ—â—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 â—â—abiâ—â—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