to teach him and his Subjects in that Religion Ethelred accordingly order'd Sigfridus Arch-bishop of York and with him two Priests Eschillas and Davidus to go into Sweden where the King kindly receiv'd them was by them baptiz'd and at their intreaty built Christian Churches in most Provinces of his Dominions and as some say by reason of his great constancy and zeal in his Religion had the name of Christianissimus given him He among several good Laws and Constitutions order'd that the chief power of electing the Kings of Sweden should not belong to the Goths in any case but principally to the Swedes and that they before call'd Kings of Vpsal should be thenceforth stil'd Kings of Swedland and Gothland This King suppress'd Duelling and the Runick Characters introduc'd the trial by Fire Ordeal and dyed in a happy old age 98. Anundus nick-named Carbonarius because he order'd that whosoever offended against the Laws which he had promulgated should in proportion to the crime either have all his house or part of it burnt down He was educated in the Christian Religion by the care of his father Olaus which in his reign he defended and dyed peaceably 99. Enundus base-son to Olaus and brother to Anundus surnam'd Gammel i. e. base from his contempt of Religion or as some are of opinion because he yeilded up to the Crown of Denmark Schonen Blekingia and Hallandia which belong'd to him as being part of the Kingdom of Gothia 100. Haquinus III. surnam'd Rufus 101. Stenchillus II. bred up in the Christian Religion which he very much encouraged amongst his subjects making his Palace a sanctuary for any that were persecuted in any parts of his dominions for that profession 102. Ingo III. Not descended from the Blood-Royal but for his singular virtues elected King by the voices of the people He is said to have been so exact an observer of his own Laws that he never offended against any of them 103. Halstanus a just and peaceable Prince 104. Philippus 105. Ingo IV. in his progress through his dominions by some of his Courtiers poison'd at a small Village in Ostro-Gothia 106. Ragvaldus surnam'd Knaphofde i. e. cock-brain'd elected by the Swedes without the consent of the Goths which they not enduring as thinking it a breach of their priviledges rebell'd against him and in battel slew him For one to succeed him both Nations pitch'd upon 107. Suercherus II who as he was going to Church on Christmas day was by a Ruffian employ'd by one Scatelerus who hop'd to obtain the Crown after his death miserably assassinated Gothick Kings out of their own Country who reign'd over the Goths while they inhabited about the River Vistula or Weissel and also in Dacia and Thracia near that time when according to some Authors they divided themselves into Ostro and Westro-Goths 1. Anthinus 2. Antheas 3. Gothilas a Famous Queen whose Daughter Medumpa was married to Philip King of Macedonia 4. Sitalcus elected King An. ante Christum 300. He with an army of 150000 men lay'd wast all the Country of Greece 5. Dromgethes 6. Tanobonta 7. Boroista cotemporary with Sylla the Roman Dictator who lived An. ante nat Christ 76. 8. Commositus both King and Priest 9. Corillus under whose conduct the Goths says Lazius first of all invaded Dacia 10. Dorpaneus co-temporary with Domitian the Roman Emperor An. Christ 83. 11. Decebalus 12. Ostrogotha 13. Cinna or Omba 14. Cannabas or Canabandes 15. Hildericus surnam'd Ovida who liv'd in the time of Constantine the Great 16. Gebeticus 17. Armanaricus who was says Damasc suppl Eutrop. overcome by the Hunns and made Tributary to them 18. Vinnitarius 19. Hunimundus 20. Totismundus 21. Alaricus and Fridigernus who as Lazius mentions reign'd at the same time in Thracia they defeated the Roman Forces sent against them commanded by Valens the Emperor whom they put to flight and apprehending him in a small Cottage whither he had fled to hide himself burnt him to death 23. Theomarus who conquer'd Maesia 24. Radagaisus who to Maesia added a great part of Pannonia An. Christ 390. 25. Alvaricus a Potent King 26. Alaricus II. who subdued all Illyricum and extended his Arms as far as Italy Arcadius and Honorius sons to Theodosius the Emperor either for some private ends wishing the success or not being able to withstand the power of his Forces and thereupon not timely preventing his designs he sack'd Rome subdued Naples and overran the greatest part of that Country But at last the Goths were by Stilico General of the Roman Army driven out of Italy and after their departure thence they are said to have sate down in France The Ostro-Gothish Kings who ruled in Italy according to Wolf Lazius 1. Alaricus I. 2. Theodericus whom Leo or as Scalig. Zeno the Emperor made his adopted son he expell'd the Heruli out of Italy and wholly subjected it to the power of the Goths he had one daughter nam'd Amalasuentha 3. Theodatus or as Jornandes has it Eutharicus call'd out of France by the Italick Goths to be their King 4. Alaricus II though he was the first of that name who setled in Italy 5. Alaricus III. 6. Athalaricus who had one only Daughter whom he married to Vittigis who maintain'd a war against Justinian the Emperor for about fourteen years and defended himself bravely against the Roman Power 7. Illovadus he was kill'd in battel by Narses the Roman General 8. Alaricus IV. who reigned only five months 9. Totylas or Odilo 10. Teias the last Gothish King in Italy who himself was kill'd by the Romans and his people almost all rooted out and destroyed by them some few only remaining who mixing and incorporating with the Italians at present pass for the same Nation with them Westro or Wiso-Gothick Kings who reign'd in Gallia Lugdunensis and Aquitanica 1. Alaricus I. who as was said conducted the Gothick people into those parts An. Salut 411. 2. Austulphus son to Alaricus 3. Theodericus kill'd by Attyla King of the Hunns 4. Turismundus son to Theodericus who to revenge his fathers death waged war with the Hunns and overcame them 5. Dietmarus in whose time a great part of the Goths under the conduct of one Vallia went into Spain 6. Gundoccarus in the time of Theodosius junior After his reign the Goths in these parts grew inconsiderable as intermixing themselves with other people and not having a distinct King of their own but being subjected to many other Princes Besides these Gothish Kings which we have mentioned there were many other who ruled over the Wiso-Goths in Spain and the adjacent parts a Catalogue of whom we leave to be set down in Spain and Arragon and the Kingdoms where they reigned for the Goths in those parts blending with the Romani Alani Suevi Mauri Saraceni c. did not so much continue a distinct Nation of themselves as become a people incorporated with those of other Nations or these with the Goths so that they were ruled by
1135. 18. Eric Emund a pious and good King succeeded his Uncle Nicolas and was barbarously murder'd by one Plag Sorte a Nobleman of Jutland in his own Palace in the year 1139. 19. Eric Lamb succeeded his Uncle Eric Emund He laid down his scepter and put himself into a Monastery at Odensee in Funen where he dyed in the year 1147. 20. Swain Gratenhede Eric Emund's son got the Crown upon the death of his Kinsman Eric Lamb. In this mans days there were three Kings of Denmark at the same time Some running after Cnute King Nicolas's Grandchild others following Waldemar son to Cnute Duke of Flanders After some skirmishes in which both Swain and Cnute were slain the whole Kingdom was rul'd by 21. Waldemar surnam'd the Great He was Lord of all the Countries on the North of the Elb and dyed in the year 1182 leaving the Kingdom to his son 22. Cnute He bravely maintain'd a war against the Emperor of Germany who would needs demand homage of the Kings of Denmark He dyed at Ringstede in the year 1202. 23. Waldemar II. Cnute's brother He new modell'd the Danish conquer'd Norway and set over it a Vice-Roy vanquish'd and put to flight the Emperor Otto who thought to have made himself Master of Holslein and having reign'd victoriously thirty-nine years dyed in the year 1241 Crantzius says 1242 24. Eric Plog-penning Waldemar's son He was taken at Sleswic and slain by his brother 25. Abel who reign'd wickedly two years and was then murder'd by his rebellious Subjects in the year 1252. 26. Christopher I. brother to Eric and Abel He lived in a continual war with his own people to whom rebellion was now grown natural Some of the Danish Chronicles say he was at last in the year 1259 poyson'd by Arnefast Bishop of Arhuse as the Emperor Henry the Seventh was afterwards by Bernardine the Monk with the Eucharist 27. Eric Glipping King Christopher's son who being seated in his fathers Throne gave himself up to all manner of lewdness and debauchery His whole life is nothing else but a Catalogue of his oppressions sacriledges murders and whoredoms After a long uninterrupted course of wickedness sleeping one night in a Barn at Findetorp a small Village in the Bishoprick of Wiberg he was murder'd with fifty-six some say seventy wounds given him by seven Ruffians hired to dispatch him by Andrew Stigot Marshal of Danemark whose wife he had ravish'd and some others of the Nobility in the year 1286. 28. Eric Menved Glipping's son He was as godly a Prince as his father was impious The murderers of his father had conspired his death but were prevented by Providence which protected him both from the lewd life and miserable death of his Ancestors So that he dyed as he had lived peaceably in the year 1319 and was buryed at Ringstad where his Epitaph is still to be seen as follows Ego Ericus quondam Daniae Rex regnans ann xxxij Rectus Justiciarius pauperum divitum ubi jus habuerunt Oro omnes quibus aliquid forefeci ut mihi per suam gratiam indulgeant orent pro anima mea Qui obii A. D. 1319. die beati Brixij Episcopi Confessoris 29. Christopher II. Menved's brother He trod in his fathers steps and ended his days like him He is reported to have been an unfortunate sluggish cruel and perfidious Prince an hater of the Nobility and hated by the Commonalty Had he had any sense of Religion policy or common honesty in him he might have been an happy Prince for never were the Danes more unwilling to rebel and take up arms against their King then in his days tho never more provok'd to it Having linger'd out a reign of about thirteen years he dyed at last forsaken of all neglected and unpity'd at Nicoping in the Isle of Falster in the year 1333. After this Kings death the Danes seem'd to be weary of a supreme Soveraign and resolv'd not to set any more over them They fancy'd 't was more eligible to have no King at all then such as they had the bad luck to meet with a Sot or a Tyrant But after fifteen years confusion they found it was better to have an akeing head then none at all Whereupon weary of their new Anarchy they resolv'd to establish in the Throne of his father 30. Waldemar III. King Christopher's son who recollected the scatter'd members of the Kingdom into one body and dismounted most of the Usurpers without any great bloodshed He is represented as a Prince of great subtilty avarice and boldness When Pope Gregory XI threatned to excommunicate him for his saucy behaviour and sleighting of the Apostolic See he is said to have return'd this answer Valdemarus Rex Daniae c. Romano Pontifici salutem vitam habemus a Deo regnum ab incolis divitias a parentibus fidem vero a tuis praedecessoribus quam si nobis non faves remittimus per praesentes Vale. i. e. Waldemar King of Denmark c. To the Bishop of Rome sendeth greeting We hold our life from God our Kingdom from our Subjects our Riches from our Parents and our Faith from thy Predecessors which if thou will not grant us any longer we do by these presents resign Farewel He dyed in the year 1375 and was buried by his father at Sora. 31. Margaret King Waldemar's daughter was upon the death of her father crown'd Queen of Denmark and manag'd the Scepter more discreetly then almost any of the Kings her Predecessors had done A womans government seem'd at first a little uncouth but her Subjects soon found a great deal of satisfaction in her prudent management of affairs at home and wise conduct abroad when in one Campagn she took Albert King of Sweden Rodulph Archbishop of Scharen the Duke of Mecklenburg and the Earls of Holstein and Reppin prisoners Her father was wont to say of her That Nature intended her for a man but spoil'd her in the making She dyed a great friend to Religion and Patroness of the Clergy and was buryed at Roschild in the year 1412 leaving the Kingdom to her Great-Nephew 32. Eric son of Vratislaw VII Duke of Pomeren Who having spent a great many years in tyranny rapine perjury oppression and whoredom was at last in the year 1438 forced to quit his Throne and fly from the fury of his incens'd Nobles into Gothland whither he carried with him a vast treasure and one Cecilia his Concubine who by her evil counsels and proud humours brought him to these extremities 33. Christopher Duke of Bavaria and Count Palatine of the Rhine another of King Waldemar's Great-Grandchildren succeeding Eric in the Kingdoms of Denmark Norway and Sweden His reign was short but prosperous especially against the Rebels in Jutland and the Hans Towns He dyed childless at Helsingburgh in the year 1447. The Danish Chronicles are full of his commendations but Johannes Gothus and other Swedish Historians will not by any means allow him so good a character
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
or since their time The first occasion I suppose of the general mistake came from the Saxon Army's bearing a young black Horse which was afterwards upon the conversion of Witikind to the Christian Faith changed into a white one the Crest of the House of Brunswic's Arms to this day in their Flags Now Hengist or Hengst in the old Saxon dialect signifies a Stallion and that Horsa is a word of the same signification I need not tell the English Reader So that the Captains of the ancient Saxon Troops seem to have had the names of Hengist and Horsa given them for the same reason that some writers have enigmatically called the Emperor the Eagle the King of France the Lilly c. i.e. from the Arms they bear The excellency of the Municipal Laws observed in Saxony Laws even in the times of Heathenism appears from Charles the Great 's confirming a great part of them and that at the same time when he alter'd the Laws as well as Government of most other Provinces in Germany His example has been follow'd by the succeeding Emperor's down to our days Insomuch that the Saxons are still govern'd by the Laws of their Ancestors whereof a great part are comprehended in those two famous Digests of their Laws entituled Der Sachsen-Spiegel and Das Sachsische Weichbild Of which more hereafter For an account of the Ordeal their famous way of determining controversies soon after their being converted to the Christian faith we refer the Reader to what we have already said on that subject in the general Description of Denmark Tho I am apt to believe that this piece of Judicature was never practis'd by any other Saxons then the English and 't is certain they were not acquainted with it till some time after they had setled themselves in this Island SAXONIA INFERIOR Apud Janssonio-Waesbergios Mosem Pitt et Stephanum Swart A DESCRIPTION Of some of the most Considerable PROVINCES IN THE Lower Saxony THE general name of the Lower Saxony by some late Geographers has been made to comprehend the Archbishoprics of Magdeburg and Bremen the Bishoprics of Halberstadt Hildesheim Lubeck Swerin and Ratzeburg the Territories of the Dukes of Brunswic and Lunenburg Holstein Mecklenburg and Saxon-Lawenburg Amongst these an account of the Dukedom of Holstein has been already given in the Description of Denmark and nothing within the precincts of his Dominions excepting Hamburg in Stormaria and Lubeck in Wagerland is at present reckon'd a part of the German Empire Of the commodities present state c. of the rest we shall endeavour to give the Reader an account in the following sheets Beginning with a Description Of the famous City of HAMBURG and the Country adjacent WHence this great City should have its name Name is not easily agreed on by the German Historians Some derive the word from the Hams of Bacon brought hither from all parts of Saxony and here sold to foreign Mariners Others again fetch it from Jupiter Ammon whose Image they tell us was worshipp'd in these parts until Charles the Great had extirpated Idolatry and planted Christianity in this and the neighbouring Provinces Crantzius says 't was first call'd Hamburg from one Hama a stout Saxon Champion who was here slain by Starcater a Danish Giant Dresserus brings it from Hain which signifies a pleasant Grove The most probable opinion is that this City first had its name from the Forest Hamme which formerly lay between the Rivers Bille and Alster and gave the Title to the ancient Lords of Ham who about the time of Charles the Great 's leading his Army into these parts built themselves here a Castle which from their own names they call'd Hamburg This conjecture is embraced by Sylvius Hamburgensis Andreas Angelus P. Bertius Isac Pontanus and most other Authors of repute who have given us any historical account of this City Pontanus tells us that Ham in the old Saxon Dialect signifies a Forest or Chase and proves it from Suderham and Norderham two large Forests in Dithmars But Authors are as hardly reconcil'd about the situation as name of the place Situation The greatest part of Writers tell us the City stands in Stormaria a Province in the Duke of Holstein's Dominions But some German Historians are very zealous in asserting that it is a true Saxon City and the outmost bounds of Saxony and Stormaria adding further that to a diligent observer it will evidently appear that the greatest share of the Town even at this day is separated from the Continent of Stormaria by some small arms of the River Elb. Some Antiquaries have endeavour'd to shew Antiquity that this noble Hans-Town was in the days of Albion the grand Captain of the Albingi who was afterwards Christen'd at Minden with Witekind a considerable Village After the death of this Albion about the year 785 Charles the Great gave this part of the Country to Vtho one of his Noblemen and Attendants who to secure himself from the frequent incursions of the Vandals and others his Heathenish neighbours began first to fortifie the place in the year 787 or as some say 789 But these first foundations were quickly shaken and Vtho's rude draught of a strong City was utterly defac'd For the Vandals pouring in upon him and his small retinue sack'd the Town and laid it wast in the year 810. This says Conringius is that which the Author of an ancient Chronicle means when he tells us Anno 810 Castellum nomine Hochbuci Albi flumini contiguum in quo Odo Legatus Imperatoris Orientalium Saxonum erat Praesidium a Wilsis captum From hence we must conclude that the Saxons had no place that deserv'd the name of a City before Charles the Great 's time and that Hamburg was one of the first tho in great danger of perishing in its infancy The year following the Emperor regain'd this Country from the insulting and barbarous Vandals and rebuilt the Town which was afterwards by his Son Ludovicus Pius advanced into a considerable City The same Emperor made it an Archbishop's See about the year 833 An Archbishoprick bestowing it upon Ansgar the great Saint of the City of Hamburg call'd by some of their Writers Anscharius by others Ansagrius or Ansearius who first converted the inhabitants to Christianity Within a while after the whole Province round about embrac'd the Christian Faith and several Evangelical Preachers subjected themselves to the Archbishop of Hamburg Afterwards the Archbishopric was translated from this City to Bremen as we shall have occasion to shew hereafter and for several Ages last past there has been neither Archbishop nor Bishop of Hamburg After the Hamburgers were established in the Christian Religion To whom subject and began to trade they had daily large and ample priviledges conferr'd on them by most succeeding Emperors to whom they paid homage But we must needs conclude that they were sometimes obliged to change their Masters according as contrary interests of their
the chiefest profit and that which draws men to those desolate and comfortless places is the Whale-fishing Of Whales there are several sorts some unprofitable to the Fishers Whales as the Jubarta of a black colour sixty foot long with a fin upon his back his fins are nothing worth his back yeilds some not much Oyl his belly none at all Sedeva is of a white colour bigger then the rest his fins not above a foot long scarce any Oyl Sedeva Negra is of a black colour with a great tumor upon his back yields neither Oyl Fins nor Teeth Sewria white as Snow of the bigness of a Wherry yeilds little Oyl no fins but is good to eat Those which are more sought after and profitable are the Bearded or Grand-Bay because first killed in Grand-bay in Newfoundland black with a smooth skin and a thin shining membrane over it white under the chaps this is the best for Oyl and Fins yielding an hundred Hogsheads of Oyl and five hundred Fins he is commonly about eighty foot long Sarda is like the other but lesser so yeilds lesser Oyl and Fins hath growing things like Barnacles upon his back Trumpa as long but thicker then the former of a grey colour with one spout in his head the others have two and teeth about a span long but no Fins in his mouth In his head he hath a hole like a Well wherein lies that they call Spermaceti they also sometimes find Amber-grise in his guts like Cow-dung his Oyl coagulates and will be solid and white as Tallow he will yeild forty Hogsheads of Oyl Otta-Sotta gray having white fins in his mouth not above a yard long he yeilds the best Oil but not above thirty Hogsheads These Fins are that we call the Whale-bone and groweth in the upper jaw on either side of his mouth about three hundred of a side but the short ones are not regarded The Ancients thought that he lived upon the froth of the Sea which he raised and as it were churned by violent beating upon the water with these Fins and afterwards sucked it up and that because many times they found his stomach quite empty Others say that he feeds upon such plants and weeds as he finds in the Sea for they have found great quantity of such in his stomack but it is most likely that his chiefest meat are a certain sort of small Crabs some call them Sea-Beetles and Sea-Spiders whereof the Bays of that Sea are so cover'd that they seem black with them of which sometimes his Fins hang full which afterwards he sucks in These he pursues continually for they have both found the Crabs themselves and also sometimes great quantities in some a Bushel of those little Stones called Oculi-Cancrorum in his stomach That they devour not great Fishes it is manifest because their throat is so very strait not above half a foot wide The Female hath her natural part seven or eight foot wide the young one being bigger than an Hogshead when first brought forth and the Male's is equal to a little Pillar seven or eight foot long she brings forth her Foetus alive and nourisheth it with Milk which is white and sweet but tasting somewhat fishy her Teats two in number are as it were sheath'd in her breasts that they appear not till the young one comes to suck Their skins the ancients used instead of Ropes as also for covering their Houses and defence against the cold under the skin is that they call the Blubber or Adeps out of which being cut into thin slices and put into hot Coppers the Oyl is melted the flesh is thrown away the ribs are employ'd to make the houses of the Laps Fins Samoieds and the like the other bones they burn The Tail serves for a chopping block whereupon to cut their blubber For the manner of catching and ordering the Whale Whale-fishing it is this When they have discovered him which is by his spouting water which they can discern at a great distance though where they see plenty of those small Crabs they have good hopes of finding the Whales seldom fewer then two Shallops well man'd make towards him and row to him so near that the Harponer hath opportunity to lance out his Harping-iron which he doth with all his force but strikes not at adventure for some parts of him his head particularly are not vulnerable but either upon a soft piece of flesh which he hath near his spout or under a Fin. The Beast as soon as wounded hasts down to the bottom of the Sea they still giving him more Rope whereof one end is fastened to the Harping-iron then they diligently watch his rising again when with their lances they wound him in the belly and such places as are softest and deep as they can taking heed always that he strike not them or their boat with his tail When they see him spout up blood they know he draws towards his death and that shortly after he turns up his white belly which as soon as they spy they hale him close to the Ship and with great Knives slice his sides raising the blubber from the flesh which they do by fixing in it strong Iron Hooks made fast to a Ship rope which by a pully they lift up still as they cut and loosen the blubber many of these great flakes they put upon a rope and so drag them to the Shore where they are heaved up by a Crane and laid upon the Tail of the Fish chopt into small pieces afterwards sliced thin like Trenchers so put into the Cauldrons or Coppers which becoming brown with the fire are called Frittures are taken out and cast away as having yeilded their Oyl The Liquor then is laded out into a Boat half full of water both to cool and cleanse it by suffering all the filth to sink to the bottom and thence by long Troughs that it may be more cooled conveyed into the Hogsheads or other like vessels The Whale-bone The head which is at least one third of the whole Fish is cut off and tug'd as near the Shore as they can bring it then hoised up by a crane and the Fins Bronchiae Pinnae or whatever you please to call them their substance is like horn but we call them Whale-bone are cut out dressed and bound up by fifties and the rest of the head which yeilds Oyl cut as the rest of the body The tongue particularly which being very great of the figure of a Wool-sack is also fastened at both ends and lifted up only in the midst with which he spouteth up the water and about eight tuns weight veildeth from six to eleven Hogsheads One Housson a Diep-man in 1634 got twenty six Hogsheads Cados out of one tongue and a hundred and twenty out of the body of one Whale The Whale hath many enemies The Whales enemies 1. A kind of lowse or insect that eats through his skin to devour the fat he hath on
same persons went again arriving there July 2 they went on Shore and July 6 slew abundance of Morsses and not only with Shot as they did the year before but with Lances dextrously used directing them to certain places of their bodies they began also to boil their Blubber and made 11 Tuns of Oyl 5 of their bellies will yeild one Hogshead and abundance of Teeth Here also they found a Lead-mine under Mount-misery and brought away about 30 Tun of the Oar. In 1606 the same Ship with the same persons was sent again and landed July 3 in 74 deg 55 min. where they stayed till the Ice was all cleared for the Morsses will not come to Shore till the Ice be all vanished where at one time in six hours they slew betwixt 7 and 800 Morsses and 2 great Bears they made 22 Tuns of Oyl and 3 Hogsheads of Teeth In 1608 June 21 was so hot that the melted Pitch run down the sides of their Ship in 7 hours time they slew above 900 Morsses making 31 Tuns of Oyl and above 2 Hogsheads of Teeth besides 40 more They took alive into their Ship 2 young Morsses a Male and Female the Female died the Male lived 10 weeks in England where they taught it many things In 1610 at another voyage with two Ships they killed many Bears and saw divers young ones no bigger than young Lambs very gamesome and lusty they brought two of them into England Much Fowl also they slew and many Seals and June 15 set up an Ensign in token of possession of the Island for the Muscovia Company in Gull-Island they found three Lead-mines and a Coal-mine on the North side of the Island Three Ships more also came to fish at Cherry-Island they killed 500 Morsses at one time at other times near 300 more one man killing forty with his lance at one days hunting The Morss Walrush Horse-whale Rosmarus Morsses or Sea-horse for so he is by the Ancients often called though of late they have discovered another Fish not unlike him with straight teeth which they call the Sea-horse hath a Skin like a Sea-calf with short and sad yellow fur a mouth like a Lion if any hardly discernable ears yet they hear well and are frighted with noise which also is said of the Whale that he is driven away with the sound of a Trumpet large breast short thighs four feet and upon each foot 5 Toes with short sharp Nails with which they climb the Ice and as large as a great Ox having a great semicircular Tusk growing on each side of their upper jaw which are very much valued especially by the Northern people partly for their uses in medicines as to make cramp-rings which they make also of the bristles upon his cheeks to resist poison and other malignant diseases wherein they are at least equal to that called the Unicorns-horn but more for their beauty which is equal to if not surpassing Ivory The heaviness of it makes it much sought after for handles of Swords Their skins being dressed are thicker then two Ox-hides yet light and excellent to make Targets against Darts and Arrows of the Savages They feed upon Fish and Herbs and sleep if there be Ice upon that where if surprised the female casts her young ones of which she hath commonly two at a time into the Sea and her self after them swimming away with them in her arms and if provoked after she hath secured them returning many times to set upon the Boat into which if she can fasten her teeth she will easily sink it But if they be farther from the Water they all rise up together and with their weight and force falling upon the Ice endeavour to break it as they did when surprised by Jonas Pool in 1610 where himself and divers of his men escaped drowning very narrowly one of them being in the Sea the Morsses set upon him with their teeth but with very great labour and hazzard of his company he escaped death though sore wounded Frequently also they sleep on the Shore and if they have convenience upon an high and steep place they always go in great companies and set one to keep watch which if surprised a sleep 't is an easy matter to kill all the rest but if he give warning by grunting they clap their hinder feet under their two tusks and so roll into the Sea But if they be caught on plain ground yet are they hardly slain being both strong and fierce and all hasting one way to the water The Dutch at first were very much troubled to kill them their Shot the beast valued not much their Hatchets and Half-pikes would not pierce them nor did they think they could be killed except struck with great force in the midst of the forehead The first time they set upon them of 200 they could not kill one but went for their Ordinance to shoot them Our men after a little experience found the way to dispatch them with Javelins as is before rehearsed Some imagine this to be John-Mayens-Island but it seems rather that it is not for the northmost point of that is in 71 d. 23 m. whereas this is 74 d. 55 m. except the Dutch be not so accurate in their observations and calculations as were to be wisht which I much suspect v. Nova-Zembla Besides Cherry-Island is round not frequented with Whales but Morsses Our men also have travelled it on foot from North to South which on Mayens-Island cannot be done and though they tell many particulars of the place yet they never mention the great Beeren-berg Hope-Island indeed is a long Island lies much what as they say of Mayens and hath been visited by the Whale-fishers but it is more North then they place their Island The itch of ascribing discoveries to themselves hath brought as I fear confusion both in this and many other matters of this nature JOHN MAYENS-ISLAND JOhn Mayens-Island so called from the name of the first Discoverer as the Dutch pretend seems by the English to be called Hope-Island or if not I know not whether the English have been upon it It seems not to be of any great consequence all that is spoken of it being that it extends in length from South-west to North-east The farther it shoots out in length the more contracted and narrower it grows in breadth so that in the middle the distance is very small between both Shores Before the Whale-fishing was removed to Greenland in the Summer time this Island was much frequented by the Sea-men whom trade invited thither and the Island was well known to most of the Northern adventurers of Europe but since the Whales have deserted those Shores and have removed their Sea-quarters farther to the North the Sea-men and Fisher-men have been forced to follow their Prey to Greenland For it seems the Whales either weary of the place or sensible of their own danger do often change their Harbours In the Spring time the western side of the
Suedes At the Treaty 1616 of Stolbow the Grand Tzar quitted the title of this Country to the King of Sweden Vodska or Votska thirty leagues North of Novogorod Vodska upon its left hand is the strong Castle of Ivanogorod surrender'd to the Swedes by the same Treaty as well as the Towns Jamagrod and Augdow and the Castles Coporia Noteburg and Kexholm They say that all the beasts that are brought into this Province turn white The inhabitants have a language proper to themselves Woskopitin is by some Authors placed between Kexholm and Noteburg Woskopitin a large and fruitful Province both for Corn and Cattle but so pester'd with Lakes and Marshes that it is very little frequented and the name scarce known Bieleiezioro Bieleiozioro situated upon a Lake of the same name and signification i.e. the White Lake which Lake is thirteen Leagues long and as many broad and furnishes only one River call'd Sosna which falls into the Wolga In this Lake is a Castle both for natural and artisicial strength accounted impregnable whither in times of danger the Princes have sent their treasure and themselves also retired The whole Province is full of Woods and Lakes that except when they are hard frozen it is not easily passable Near this Lake is another small Lake that produceth Sulphur I rather suppose Naphtha or Petroleum swimming like froth or oyl upon the water This is said to be first possessed by Sinaus Varegus whose brother Truvor setled in Pskouvia and Runiz in Novogardia These three are by the Russes look'd upon as the Founders of their Nation Vologda is the only City in all the Grand Tzars dominions that is fortified with a stone-wall Vologda and for its strength the Emperor is wont in times of danger to secure here part of his treasure It is as the rest of those Westerly and Northerly Provinces much encumbred with Woods and Marshes many of which are except in Winter utterly unpassable It is situated upon the River Waga which falls into the Dwina and it together with all the Provinces mention'd since Dwina belonged to the Dutchy of Novogorod Novogorod call'd Weliki or the Great Novogorod to distinguish it from others of that name The Dutch call it Nieugarten in 58 deg 23 min. situated upon the River Volgda not Volga or Volchou famous for its Bremes a little below the Lake Ilmin Whilst it was governed by its own Prince it was in so great power fame and wealth by reason of the vast commerce of several Nations there established that it was proverbially spoken Who can do any thing against God and Great Novogorod The reason of this trading was the convenience of the River which being navigable from the very Spring and the Country abounding in Wheat Flax Hemp Honey Wax and Leather which is better dressed here than in any other place invited hither so many Merchants from all the Northern Countries and those upon the Baltick Sea that it was the greatest City of all the North for trade and wealth The first diminution of it was from Vitold Duke of Lithvania who 1427 obliged the City to compound for their peace at a great rate But Ivan Vasili Grotsdin 1477 forced them to receive a Governour from him but that not satisfying of him he went thither in person pretending I know not what devotion and by the help of the Bishop being admitted into the City with his Army he pillag'd it carrying away three hundred Carts loaden with Jewels Gold and Silver besides many more filled with rich stuffs and sumptuous moveables all which he sent to Moscow and transported many of the inhabitants into other places and sent Muscovites to inhabit in their steads But their greatest calamity was from Ivan Vasilowich in 1569 who upon a suspition of their endeavouring to revolt came hither with his army slew drowned and trampled to death a vast number of people presently after this follow'd a great plague which brought so great a famine that they eat one another the Tzar on this occasion pretending to punish their inhumanity cut to pieces the greatest part of the remaining inhabitants His barbarous cruelties here acted are not sitting to be repeated It was in 1611 taken by the Swedes by storm but at the great Treaty between the two Crowns of Russia and Sweden it was agreed to be redeliver'd to the Russes and in their hands it hath continued ever since On the other side the water is a strong Castle built of stone join'd to the City by a large Bridge wherein lives the Weywod or Governor and the Metropolitan by which two all the affairs Ecclesiastical Civil and Military in all that Province are governed The Town is encompass'd with a Rampart of timber and earth and hath a Castle in the midst reasonably well fortified There are about an hundred Monasteries whereof that of St. Antony is the chiefest Churches and Chappels which have their Steeples and Towers cover'd with Copper gilded the Cathedral Church is that of St. Sophia In the territory belonging to this City Brunitza Sedrowa and Stara-Russa are Brunitza Sedrowa and Stara-Russa which the Baron of Herberstein calls Russ and saith it gave name to all the Russes Near that Town is a salt River which the inhabitants have formed into a Lake and with Conduits draw the salt-water to their houses where they boil the Salt with which and other commodities they drive a great trade into Polotskow a Province of Poland The Russes say that near to Novogorod was the famous battel of Whips mention'd by Justin l. 2. and many other Authors wherewith the Masters returning victorious after some years wars conquer'd their Slaves who in the long time of their absence had seized upon their estates and wives which is the reason why the Novogorod-money had formerly on one side an Horse-man shaking his whip Bielski is a Province between Novogorod and Smolensko Bielski having its principal City and Castle called Biela Bielha or Bielow situated on the River Osca This had heretofore a Prince of its own subject to the descendents of Jagellan Duke of Litvania till Basilius Prince of Bielski fell off to the Grand Tzar and agreed to pay him tribute it now augments the number of his Titles As doth also that of Rischow Rischow which hath also a Castle and City of that name it had also formerly a Prince of its own but now is a member of the Russ-Empire The Country is full of Forrests and Lakes particularly here is that great Forrest of Wolchonisky wherein arise the Volga the Dnieper the Dwina and the Lowat all great Rivers Near to this are Woloizk famous for its white Hares and the Princes frequent hunting there Wyelikyeluki a large City with a good Castle And Toropyecz a large Town also and a Castle all which came to the Crown of Russia by surrender of their proper Lords T wer is near to the foresaid 〈…〉 North-West from Moskow The capital Town
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
October they have a general rendezvous of men women and children who bring with them to the place appointed loaves of bread and vessels full of beer These they set on a table spread with hay That done they bring out a young heifer a boar and a sow a cock and hen with other such cattle and poultry as the house affords in pairs male and female When things are thus in readiness out comes an old Priest or Wizard who mumbling over a few hard words gives the sacrifice a blow with a stick which stroke is seconded by the whole company till the heifer be dead and beat to pieces Whilst this ceremony lasts they cry This oblation of thanksgiving we make thee O Ziemiennik so they call the feigned god for that it hath pleased thee to preserve us from all the evils of the year past and we beseech thee to protect and defend us for the future from fire sword pestilence and all our enemies After this they take a little of every dish they have provided and put it in four corners of the house and in the ground crying aloud Accept O Ziemiennik our offerings eat with us and be merry The solemnity thus over they spend the rest of that day in feasting and drunkenness There is no City or great Town in Samogitia of any consequence Mzdniki is a poor and despicable City all the rest scarce merit the name of villages Lithvania and this Province have all along been sharers in the same fortune and change They were both at once subject to the Russians at once overrun by the Teutonic Order and at once converted from Idolatry and subjected to the Crown of Poland by Vladislaus Jagello Livonia LIvonia or Liefland is bounded on the East with Russia on the West with the Baltic sea on the North with the Finland-bay on the south with Samogitia and some part of Lithvania The length of it is about 500 English miles and the breadth near 160. The country is generally plain and fruitful abounding with corn and hony some parts of it are fenny full of Lakes and rivers The many conquests this Land has suffered have made its inhabitants a medly of Moscovites Swedes Danes Polanders and Germans But the last have the greatest share in the country whence the generality speak High-Dutch The common people are used as hardly here as in Poland or Lithvania and the Nobility lord it as much Drunkenness and gluttony are vices the Lieflanders are generally addicted to from the greatest Lord to the meanest peasant The Bores would be hard put to 't to get a living considering the untolerable drudgery they undergo if they had not the priviledge of hunting hares of which they have great plenty in these parts white in winter and brown in summer foxes bears and other kinds of venison 'T is agreed upon by all Authors that Liefland was first annexed to the Crown of Poland by Sigismund Augustus though the story is told different ways Kojalowicz tells us That William Furstenburg Master of the Liefland Order of Knighthood upon his turning Lutheran had frequent quarrels with William Archbishop of Riga whom he accused at a session of the Nobility at Winden of a conspiracy of betraying Curland into the hands of Albert Duke of Prussia and the rest of Liefland to Sigismund King of Poland his kinsman Upon this pretence he immediately enters the Archbishop's territories with an army and takes him prisoner King Sigismund hearing this wages war with Liefland and A.D. 1557 conquers it But the reasons of this war seem to be grounded upon better pretensions then these For though it be true that there arose many skirmishes between the Archbishop and the Master of the Order touching points of religion yet during Furstenburg's government Ivan Duke of Moscovy and not Sigismund King of Poland overrun and lay wast the greatest part of Liefland Against whom Gothard Ketler Furstenburg's successour requested the aid of King Sigismund who quickly beat the Moscovian out of his holds and created Gothard Duke of Curland annexing the rest of Liefland to his own dominions But he found this country was easilier conquer'd then kept For the Revalians finding themselves unable to withstand the dayly incursions of the Moscovians committed their land to the protection of Eric King of Sweden Whereupon this King thought his title to Liefland was as good as the Polanders especially since Ferdinand the Emperour had given him the sole charge of defending it Upon these pretensions he presently routed the Poles out of Habsal Lehale Parnow and other places and put into them garrisons of his own Besides the Polish interest received at the same time another fatal blow upon this occasion John Duke of Finland married Katherine sister to the King of Poland to whom he lent 80000 some say 124000 dollars upon a mortgage of the castles of Wittenstein Karchise Frichate Helmult Ermise Ruja and Bortwic all in Liefland Returning into Sweden he was accused by King Eric his brother of high treason in offering to make a confederacy as he call'd it with Sigismund Augustus King of Poland without his consent In this rage the King robs his brother of all the castles and takes them into his own hand not without the pretence of being more able to defend them from the fury of the Moscovite Not long after upon the death of Eric King of Sweden and Sigismund King of Poland the Duke of Moscovy with irresistable force created the great Duke of Holstein King of Liefland When the Kings of Sweden and Poland perceived matters brought to this pass they thought it high time to lay aside all petit animosities between their two Kingdoms and to joyn forces against their common enemy the Moscovite fearing lest otherwise whilst they two stood quarrelling for each a shell he should snatch away the fish And indeed this confederacy prov'd very successful to the Swede who in the year 1580 retook many strong holds from the Moscovite as Lode Lehale Habsal Narwe the Province of Wicki Wittenstein Carelogrod c. Steven King of Poland fearing lest if the Swede went on with the same success and vigour he begun with he would bring all Liefland to his own beck claps up a peace with the Moscovite unknown to the King of Sweden upon these conditions That the Moscovite should restore all the places he had taken in Lithvania That on the other hand King Stephen should restore to the Duke of Moscovy Vielikoluk and some other forts he had taken in these wars After this when Sigismund son of John the third King of Sweden was upon the death of Stephen elected King of Poland the Poles admitted him upon this condition That he should annex all that part of Liefland which was under his goverment to the Crown of Poland But Sigismund the third coming to he Crown of Sweden could not by any means be perswaded to grant this request When he was deposed from his Kingdom there arose bloody wars between the King of Poland
Knights of the Teutonick Order had made their Master in the year 1525 it was agreed upon That the Teutonick Order should be wholly extirpated and that part of Prussia which to this day is called Ducal Prussia should be govern'd by the said Marquess with the title of Duke of Prussia and the rest or Regal Prussia remain still subject to the King of Poland But with this proviso That the Duke should always pay homage to the Crown of Poland and as a member of that Kingdom be President of the Kings Council Lastly John Casimir the late King of Poland granted first in the year 1657 and again 1663 full and absolute power and dominion over Ducal Prussia to the present Elector of Brandenburgh on this condition That the Dukedome upon defect of male issue should return to the Kings of Poland as supreme Landlords and be conferred on the Dukes of Onoldsbach and Culmbach as Feudataries Muscovy How affairs stand at present between the Great Duke of Muscovy and the King of Poland may appear by the Treaty of Peace signed by both parties A.D. 1667 spoken of before But formerly the Kings of Poland have laid claim and made good their title either by justice or the sword to several large Territories now in the hands of the Great Duke For first Jorislaus Duke of Russia was forced to pay tribute to Boleslaus Chrobri A.D. 1018. Afterwards A.D. 1069 Boleslaus II. possessed himself of Kiow and indeed the whole Dukedom of Russia over which he set Jesaslaus a tributary Duke After his death continual wars were between the two Nations till Casimir the Great in the year 1340 reduced the Southern Russia into the form of a Province But how little of that remains at this day in the hands of the present King of Poland we have shew'd before Several of the Kings of Poland have stiled themselves Kings of Sweden Sweden upon no other pretence then having made themselves masters of a great part of Liefland But this title ceased upon the death of John Casimir their late King as hath already been observed in the description of Liefland Of the Pretensions of Foreign Princes to the Kingdom of Poland WE have seen to what Kingdoms and Countries the Kings of Poland have in former ages claimed a right and title and we may perhaps find as many Kings and Princes of other Nations who have challenged the Crown of Poland upon as good grounds But to omit the many conquests obtain'd by the Russians Bohemians Hungarians and others over the Poles enough to entitle any potent Prince to their Kingdom the strongest pretensions to this Crown are those of the Emperor For the most of the Polish Historians tell us That Boleslaus I. was created King of Poland by the Emperor Otto III. before which time the Princes of that Nation were only Dukes This story is confirmed by besides the testimony of the most considerable writers of Poland an ancient Epitaph found in the Cathedral at Posen in which among other commendations of Boleslaus I. are the following rithmes Tu possedisti velut Athleta Christi Regnum Slavorum Gothorum seu Polonorum Caesar praecellens a te Ducalia pellens And again Ob famam bonam tibi contulit Otto Coronam Propter luctamen sit tibi salus Amen However tho the Historians of Poland grant that Boleslaus received the title of King at the hands of the Emperor yet they deny stubbornly that this Kingdom was ever subject or tributary to the Roman Empire But Conringius an ingenious and learned German Physitian in his book entituled De finibus Germanici Imperii c. 18. has demonstrated the contrary For not to take notice of Charles the Great who 't is more than probable conquer'd Poland as well as Silesia 't is certain that Miecislaus the first Christian Prince of Poland paid tribute to the Imperial Crown And the Polish writers are forced to confess That Otto III. remitted all homage due otherwise to Boleslaus Chrobri when he created him King After Boleslaus's death Miecislaus II. his successor was compelled to pay the usual tribute to the Emperor Conrad II. After this several of the Kings of Poland very willingly submitted themselves to the Emperors and others were forced out of their obstinate refusal At last in the long vacancy of the Imperial Throne soon after the middle of the thirteenth Century during which Richard Earl of Cornwal was one of the four elected Emperors whilst the Empire of Germany was in a confused distraction the Polanders took occasion to shake off the German yoke to which they could never since be reduced This is part of the relation which Conringius gives us of the ancient state of Poland in reference to the German Empire founded chiefly upon the testimonies of Dithmarus Mersburgensis and Helmoldus men of unquestionable veracity in their Histories Hartknoch endeavours to evade the force of his argument by saying That tho it be true that the Polanders have formerly paid some certain sum of money to the Emperors by whom it was demanded under the notion of a tribute yet this does not necessarily suppose any dependance of the Crown of Poland upon the Empire of Germany For 't is ordinary even with the Emperors themselves to buy peace with money And thus the English bought their peace of the Danes and made Lewis XI King of France pay for his But let him consider First whether the words of Helmoldus Chron. Slav. lib. 1. c. 1. num 9. can be properly understood of any such sum of money as is usually paid by any Nation upon the ratification of a Treaty of Peace when he says servit ipsa speaking of Poland sicut Bohemia sub tributo Imperatoriae Majestati Here the Historian tells us plainly the Kingdom of Poland was in his time as much tributary to the Emperor as Bohemia and how truly that was under his subjection every Historian will shew Again 't was not very considerately done to instance in the tribute paid by the English to the Danes or by Lewis XI to the King of England For both these were doubtless acknowledgements of subjection and homage The Danes all know were absolute Lords of our Land for 26 and made almost continual incursions into it for the space of 250 years Dane-gelt which perhaps Hartknoch as some of our own Historians have done mistakes for a tribute or composition-money paid the Danes upon any invasion was at first only a Subsidy gather'd for the maintenance of a standing army to oppose the Danish fury Afterwards indeed the word was used to denote a tribute sometimes amounting to 72000 pounds levyed yearly in England and paid to the King of Denmark upon the refusal of which payment the English were sure to feel the weight of that Kings displeasure This tribute was certainly a sign of a true and real subjection to the Crown of Denmark which might have lasted longer had not the Saxon and Danish lines been peaceably united in the pious King
advised by the Popes Legat and some Jesuits that an Oath taken by him with Heretics was not obligatory or if he scrupled that that a Dispensation for the breach of it was easily attainable from the Pope at last solemnly took it and promising the States faithfully to observe all the conditions of it he left Sweden and return'd into Poland During his absence all affairs of the Kingdom were managed by Duke Charles his Uncle who for some small time executed the Office of Vice-Roy very quietly and to the great satisfaction of the Kings subjects but some differences arising about Religion the Papists Jesuits especially to whom free exercise of their Worship had been granted growing powerful and thereupon behaving themselves insolently towards the Lutherans the businesses of State became troubled and the determination of controversies and removal of jealousies out of the peoples hearts a very difficult matter Hereupon Sigismund is sent for out of Poland but both delaying to come into Sweden and to send Orders to his Uncle An. Ch. that Popish Delinquents as they were represented to him should according to Law be proceeded against as enemies to the State and that other such-like grievances should be redress'd he so lost his interest with his Swedish Subjects that when at last he came amongst them they opposed him as a public enemy made war against him and overcame him in Battel After he was defeated he return'd to Poland and his Crown of Sweden was by the States set upon the head of his Uncle 135. Charles IX Duke of Sudermannia and brother to John III. He maintain'd the Augustan Confession during his whole Reign carryed on a bloody war against his Nephew Sigismund and Christianus IV. King of Denmark whom he challeng'd to a Duel and after he had reigned eleven years dyed at Nycopia in his return from opposing the Danes The Government after his death according to the right of Inheritance descended upon his eldest son 136. Gustavus Adolphus II. surnamed the Great This King in the beginning of his Reign prosecuted the war with Denmark which his father was engaged in at his death but intending to turn the whole forces of his Kingdom against his Cousin Sigismund K. of Poland he within a short time concluded a peace both with the Dane and Muscovite this done he invaded Livonia took several places of great importance in that and other Provinces which belong'd to the Pole and at last making a Truce with his Cousin for six years he return'd into Sweden During the war with Poland Ferdinand II. Emperor of Germany had done him as he alledged very many injuries as his sending assistance to the Pole into Borussia under the command of Arnhemius his not admitting the Swedish Delegates to a Treaty of Peace at Lubeck but charging them to depart the Empire c. whereupon he invaded the Imperial dominions took several strong Cities and after he had over-run a great part of the Empire was kill'd in battel near Leipsick He was succeeded by 137. Christina his only daughter who being then but seven years old the affairs of the Kingdom were order'd by her Guardians till she came to the eighteenth year of her age at which time she took the Government upon her self made a Peace with the Emperor and the King of Denmark and at last either weary of ruling so potent a Kingdom or thinking the care of it too great a burthen for her to undergo voluntarily laid down the Crown and commended it to 138. Charles Gustavus X. A Noble and Victorious Prince He maintain'd war against the Pole the Muscovite and the Dane As he was returning from Gottenburg upon the confines of Denmark to Stockholm he dyed of a Feaver and his Kingdom according to right of succession descended upon 139. Charles XI his son then four years of age During his Minority the Kingdom was govern'd by his Guardians but coming to full age he took upon himself the management of all publick affairs and is now reigning A. D. 1680. Aged twenty-four years A warlike and virtuous Prince Of the Great PRINCIPALITY OF FINLAND BEyond the Bothnic Bay lies the Great Principality of Finland Finland call'd by the Natives Somi or Soma from the great number of Lakes that are in it Soma signifying a Lake but by the Swedes first and after them by all strangers call'd Finland q. Fine-land from the pleasantness of the Country or as others say q. Fiende-land i.e. the Land of Fiends or Enemies the Finlanders using for a long time before they were under the Swedish power to make frequent incursions into that Kingdom and very much injure and molest its inhabitants It is bounded on the East with the Sinus Finnicus and the Lake Ladoga on the West with the Bothnic Bay on the North with part of Lapland and on the South with part of the Finnic and Baltic Seas It is divided into these seven Provinces Its Provinces 1. Southern-Finland 2. Northern-Finland 3. Cajania 4. Savolaxia 5. Tavastia 6. Nylandia And 7. Carelia 1. Southern Finland Southern Finland parted from the Northern by the River Aujaroki which waters the Episcopal City Abo. It extends it self all along the Finnic Bay Eastward having on the North and North-East the Provinces of Tavastia and Nylandia In it are besides several little Towns two remarkable Forts viz. Gusto in the Western and Raseberg to which belongs a Dynasty or Principality in the Eastern part of it 2. Northern Finland Northern Finland running along the East-side of the Bothnic Bay towards the North. It is indifferently large in circumference taking in both the Satagunda's with Viemo and Masco Water'd it is by one only River call'd Cumo-elff famous for its abundance of Salmon and other sorts of Fish which falls into the Sea near the City Biorneborgh Towns of note here are Raumo Nystadh and Nadhendal to these Sanson adds Castelholm in the Island Alandia 3. Cajania Cajania or Ost-Bothnia as some call it in opposition to West-Bothnia which lyes over against it on the West side of the Bothnic Bay In it are many large Rivers the chief of which are Kimi-elff which emptieth it self into the Bothnic Bay at the most Northern Cape of it and parts this Province from West-Bothnia Iio-elff and Vla-elff Cities here are 1. Vlam or Vlo 2. Vasa or Wassam Cal to which may be added the Forts Cajaneburg and Vlaburg 4. Savolaxia Savolaxia which is bounded on the East with the Lake Ladoga on the West with a a ridge of Mountains which part it from Carelia on the North with part of Muscovitic Lapland and on the South with Tavastia and Carelia This Province abounds much with Lakes and Rivers most of which disburthen themselves into the Lake Ladoga The Rivers afford Fish Pike especially in great abundance and the Lakes besides the great quantity of Fish they breed supply the inhabitants with Sea-Calfs not met with in any other Scandian Lakes Here is one remarkable Fort
Villages and Forts Of the late Accessions in Pomeren and the Empire HOw far the victorious Arms of Gustavus Adolphus spred themselves in the Empire of Germany passing over the Elb the Rhine and the Danow in one year and thereby becoming as well the terror as wonder of Europe is sufficiently known to all the world and how after his death the Swedish Conquests in those parts began to lessen and several places of importance to be either forcibly regain'd by the Emperor or by the succeeding Kings of Sweden freely yielded up to him is no less manifest What Cities Towns Forts Titles Territories c. were by a Ratification of Peace concluded between the Imperial Ministers and the Swedish Agents in lieu of those many and large Dominions which Gustavus Adolphus had possess'd himself of given up into the hands of the Swedes either absolutely and for ever or under some conditions to be by the Swedes observ'd we shall in this place only mention remitting the more large description of them to Pomeren Germany c. whereunto they did formerly belong and where an account of them may be expected By a Treaty of Peace between the Imperial Plenipotentiaries and Swedish Ministers held at Osnabrug and Munster A. D. 1649 it was concluded That because Christina Queen of Sweden had required of the Emperor and the Electoral Princes that satisfaction should be made her for delivering up to them several places which had been by her Father in the late Wars brought under the Swedish power and likewise upon account that she earnestly desired as much as in her lay to restore and promote the publick peace of the Empire which the Emperor and their Electoral Highnesses on the other part were very ready by all means to advance and take care of His Imperial Majesty with the consent of the Electoral Princes and States of the Empire should give up to the Queen of Sweden and to her Heirs and Successors these following Dominions to be held by them in full right of possession as a perpetual and immediate Feud of the Empire viz. 1. All Nether-Pomeren commonly call'd Nor-Pomern with the Isle of Rugen in the Baltic Sea in the same manner and extent as the late Dukes of Pomeren had possess'd and enjoy'd the same And also in Further-Pomeren Stetin Gartz Dam Golnau the Isle Wollin with part of the River Oder that encompasseth it the Sea commonly call'd das Frische Haff with its three Bays Peine Swine and Divenow and so much land on each side as shall be agreed on by the Commissioners to be appointed for assigning the just limits for both Parties Which said Kingdom of Pomeren and principality of Rugen with all Dominions belonging or places annex'd to either of them and also all Territories Prefectures Cities Forts Towns Villages Feuds Rivers Isles c. with all Tributes Revenues Titles Dignities Preeminences Immunities and Praerogatives Ecclesiastical or Civil with all other Rights and Priviledges should from that day 27 of July A. 1648 for ever belong to and be freely used and inviolably possess'd by the then Queen of Sweden her heirs and Successors in as full and ample manner as the former Dukes of Pomeren had had enjoy'd or govern'd the same Moreover That the King of Sweden and the Duke of Brandenburg should both of them use the Titles and Arms of Pomeren after the manner that the former Dukes of Pomeren used them The King of Sweden for ever and the Dukes of Brandenburgh so long as any of the Issue Male of that Family remain'd but that upon defect of the masculine Line of the house of Brandenburg none should lay claim to those Titles and Arms of Pomeren but the Kings of Sweden solely to retain them without any Competitor and not only so but then to have all Further Pomeren with the Bishoprick and Chapter of Camminen yielded up to them and their successors for ever 2. That the Emperor with the consent of the Electors should give up to the said Queen and her successors for ever the City and Port of Wismar with the Fort Walfisch and the Prefectures of Poel the Towns Sehedorff Wietendorff Brandenhusen and Wangern which belong to the Hospital of the Holy Ghost in Lubeck excepted and Newen Closter with all Rights and Priviledges belonging to them in as full and ample manner as the Dukes of Meklenburg had before enjoy'd and possess'd them 3. That the Emperor with c. should give up to the Queen of Sweden and her successors for ever the Arch-Bishoprick of Breme and the Bishoprick of Verden with the Town and Prefecture of Wilshausen and also all the Right the Arch-Bishops of Breme had to the Chapter and Dioeces of Hamburg provided that the house of Holsatia and the City and Chapter of Hamburg retain'd their respective liberties possessions c. with all and singular Rights Priviledges c. Ecclesiastical or Civil to the said Arch-Bishoprick Bishoprick and Prefecture in any-wise belonging yet to retain them for ever as an immediate Fee of the Empire using the ancient Arms which belong'd to them but changing the Ecclefiastical Title into a secular one viz. that of Arch-Bishop and Bishops into Duke of Breme and Verden And likewise the Kings of Sweden by vertue of this Grant to have priviledge to be present at all Diets of the Empire under the Titles of Dukes of Breme Verden and Pomeren Princes of Rugen and Lords of Wismar and to take place amongst the secular Princes on the fifth seat in the said Diets and in all Controversies arising concerning these Territories to appeal to some of his Imperial Majestie 's Courts of Judicature there to have them determin'd 4. That the Queen of Sweden or her successors might have power to erect an Vniversity where they thought most convenient in any part of these new Dominions Lastly that her Majesty of Sweden and her successors should acknowledge all these Possessions as Feudiatary to the Emperor and receive all Investitures from and as their Predecessors and other Vassals of the Empire formerly used to do to take an Oath of Fidelity and Allegiance to him and his Imperial successors for ever By these additional Dominions in Pomeren and Germany which at present by reason of the wars between the two Northern Crowns are very much disturb'd and in great confusion the Kings of Sweden had as was said several new Titles conferr'd upon them which with others that are taken from their late conquests in Livonia Carelia c. make up the greatest part of the whole Catalogue The present King styling himself thus The most Serene and most c. Prince Charles XI King of the Swedes Goths and Vandals and Hereditary Prince Great Prince of Finland Duke of Schonen Esthonia Livonia Carelia Breme Verde Stetin Pomeren Cassubie and Wenden Prince of Rugen Lord of Ingria and Wismar Count Palatine of the Rhine Duke of Bavaria Juliers Cleves Bergen c. Of the new Accessions in Denmark within the Baltic Sea viz. Scania Hallandia
coming of the Asians into these parts says Odin or Woden the great Captain of the Asae spread his language over Saxony as well as Denmark Sweden and Norway Adding further That within awhile the Asian tongue was generally spoken in all the neighbouring Countries The strongest argument to prove a difference between this tongue and the old Teutonic may be had from a diligent enquiry into the various phrases and proprieties of speech used in both of them But when we consider how much the idioms of the High and Low Dutch differ and how vastly the Syntax of our English Language is alter'd from the Danish and German we shall have reason to confess before we pronounce these last two distinct primitive languages that time is able strangely to alter the physiognomy of tongues as well as men However the dispute is like shortly to have an end and the Danes will in a little while if they do not already speak good Dutch For the German tongue is now ordinarily spoken in Copenhagen and most of the chief trading Cities in Denmark To let pass the stories of King Dan Government whom some Historians make to reign in this Kingdom three hundred years before the birth of our Saviour it is manifest from the unquestionable testimonies of the best Roman writers that Denmark was a Monarchy in the Consulship of Catulus and Marius near an hundred years before Christ Afterwards we have a certain account of Gothric King of the Danes in the days of the Emperor Charles the Great from whom the present Kings of Denmark are descended in a lineal succession except what Pontanus seems not to allow of the line of the ancient Kings failed upon the death of King Christopher III. A. D. 1448 The power of the Danish Nobility in Council is exceeding great but not so large as to make the supreme Government Aristocratical Some would argue That the Nobles are above the King since 't is well known they denied to Crown Frederic II. in the year 1559 till he had sworn never to pretend to be able by his own authority to put any Nobleman to death From this and some other like instances Bodinus endeavours to prove the Kings of Denmark petty Princes rather then absolute Monarchs not remembring that even in France it self as well as all other Kingdoms of Europe it has always been thought requisite for the satisfaction of the people that every King at his Coronation should make some solemn Vow to maintain the ancient Laws and Priviledges of his Country and Subjects And if in the case mentioned the Nobility of Denmark required their King to lay a stricter obligation on himself then was usual the performance was arbitrary and not constrain'd The Subjects might possibly upon the Kings refusal to gratifie them have rebell'd against their lawful Sovereign but could not justly have compell'd him to a compliance Before the year 1660 King the Kingdom of Denmark was not as Norway Hereditary but Elective yet so that the Senators usually chose the eldest son of their King who thenceforward was styled the Prince The rest of the Kings sons had the Titles of Dukes and Heirs of Norway The Election in ancient times was commonly had in this solemn manner As many of the Nobles as were Senators and had power to give their voices agreed upon some convenient place in the fields where seating themselves in a circle upon so many great stones they gave their votes This done they placed their new elected Monarch in the middle upon a stone higher then the rest and saluted him King In Seland to this day there is such a company of stones which bear the name of Kongstolen or the Kings seat And Olaus Magnus tells us the same story of a great stone call'd by the Vicenage Morastaen near Vpsal in Sweden Near St. Buriens in Cornwall in a place which the Cornish-men call Biscow-Woune are to be seen nineteen stones set in a round circle distant every one about twelve foot from the other and in the very center one pitched far higher and greater then the rest This Cambden fancies to have been some Trophee erected by the Romans under the later Emperors or else by Athelstane the Saxon when he had subdued Cornwal and brought it under his dominion But Wormius more probably guesses that in this place some Danish or Saxon King was elected by his followers And I conceive the same may be said of Long Meg and her daughters near little Salkeld in Cumberland But to return to Denmark of later years the Danes in their elections have follow'd the customs of other Countries till Frederic III. in the year 1660 who was the first that ventur'd to exercise the authority of an absolute Prince and to shake off the dependance his Ancestors were wont to have upon the good will of their Subjects procuring with fair words and threats a Law to be established That for the future the Kingdom of Denmark should immediately upon the Kings death descend upon his lawful Heir Whereupon the present King Christian V. was the same night his Father dyed without any previous election or consent asked of the Nobility proclaimed King The Rites of Coronation are usually perform'd at Copenhagen where the King is anointed by the Bishop of Roschild The Chronicles of the Kings of Denmark which have hitherto been publish'd Catalogue of their Kings are so imperfect and contradictory one to another that 't is utterly impossible to give an exact Catalogue of their Kings Saxo Grammaticus who liv'd saith Stephanus in the twelfth Century has made a shift to collect a great many stories out of the scatter'd fragments of old Runic Inscriptions and ancient Ballads and to relate them in a better method and stile then could be well expected from the age he liv'd in But when we consider that the best he met with could not possibly be of more authority then such venerable scraps of Chronicles as are published by Wormius at the end of his Monumenta Danica and see how these two run counter it is hard to rest satisfied with the relation he gives us and yet as difficult to provide our selves of a better The first rational account given us of any of the Danish Kings which we may safely rely upon for truth is in our English Chronicles which as the Learned Sir Henry Spelman in an Epistle to Ol. Rosecrantz formerly Danish Ambassador in England treat more fully and clearly of the affairs of Denmark then any of the Danish Historians Wherefore omitting the relations given of Dan Humblus and the rest of their Heathen Kings as either false or frivolous we shall content our selves with a short Register of the Kings of Denmark since the first planting of Christianity in that Kingdom And 1. Harald being beaten out of his Kingdom by his brother Reinferd's accomplices fled to the Emperor Ludowic for help who assisted him in regaining of his Crown upon condition he would forsake his Idolatry and turn
so ridiculous as to have the work of so many years confuted in one page by our learned Dr. Pell at that time publick Professor of Mathematicks in Amsterdam 6. Arrild Witfield Lord of Odersberch and sometime Chancellour of Denmark was the first that reduced Saxo's History to a Chronological method annexing the year to every memorable passage Besides he composed and published an accurate Chronicle of the Kings of Denmark and Norway in the Danish tongue of which work Pontanus who was once his Clerk gives a very high Character 7. Stephanus Stephanius Professour of History in the University at Sor has illustrated Saxo Grammaticus with most accurate and learned Notes Besides he writ an exact account of the affairs of Denmark during the reign of Christian the Third from the year 1550 to 1559 which since his death was printed at Sor A. D. 1650. 8. Olaus Wormius late Regius Professor of Physick in Copengagen besides the rare collection he made of natural Curiosities of which his Musaeum Wormianum is nothing else but a Catalogue has with great diligence and success made discovery of that venerable and mysterious part of learning which before his time had lain unregarded for many ages in every corner of Denmark His Literatura Runica Monumenta Danica Fasti Danici and other writings of this kind are enough to inform any man how much his own Countrey-men and all that are well-wishers to learning are indebted to his indefatigable pains and industry 9. Petrus Johannes Resenius Professor of Moral Philosophy and Counsellour to the present King of Denmark has for several years last past applyed himself to an Enquiry after the antiquities of his Country In order to which he has made a much larger Collection of Runic Monuments then ever Wormius met with which as I am informed he designs ere long to publish in a work of some Volumes The Edda Islandorum and other antient pieces already printed may give us a tast of his abilities in these severer Studies and teach us what to expect from so curious an Antiquary To these many more as Petrus Severinus the two Bartholins Borrichius and several others which are to found in Erasmus Vindingii his Academia Hafniensis might be added but those that have been reckoned up are sufficient to shew us how much Denmark has contributed to the advancement of Learning What kind of Idols and false Gods were worshipped by the antient Danes Re … and in what manner shall be shewn at large in the Description of Island Christianity begun to be first planted in these Northern Countries by King Eric who had been baptized in Germany at the request of the Emperor Ludovicus but it took no deep root at first For Eric being setled in his Throne relapsed into his former paganism and turned a bitter persecutor of St. Anschar who was sent to promote the Christian Religion in Denmark Norway c. by the said Emperor and Pope Gregory the Fourth A. D. 835 and his followers After this tho some of them were initiated in Christianity yet the Christians had no considerable footing in this Kingdom before the reign of King Sueno Tweskeg who at his Baptism had the Emperor Otho II to his God-father and from him was afterwards called Suenotho He by the assistance of Poppo who as we have said confirm'd his doctrine by a miracle which introduced the use of fire Ordale established the Christian reliligion upon a sure foundation and appointed several Bishops in the Kingdom Frideric Duke of Holstein being elected King of Denmark brought with him the Augsburg Confession which has ever since been professed in that Kingdom Christian the third gave liberty to the English Scots and Hollanders to build Churches and have the free exercise of their religion though no Calvinists are to be found except some few at the present Queens Chappel Those few Papists that live in this Kingdom are forbid the publick exercise of Divine service Plutarch reports of the antient Cimbrians 〈…〉 that they had Shields and Helmets painted with the shapes of several kinds of wild beasts Others say they used to set a brazen Bull on the top of their Standard as a token of strength and valour At this day the King of Denmark's Arms are a complication of fourteen several Coats thus ordered In a field Gules he bears a Cross Argent the Arms of the house of Oldenburg which quarters the upper part of the Coat into four Cantons The first of these gives the Arms of Denmark Or six half hearts Gules three Lions passant Guardant Azure with Crowns of the First This Coat is parted with the Arms of Norway Gules a Lion Crowned Or holding in his paws an Hatchet Argent with an haft of the Second The second Canton carries Gules a Leopard in Chef Or the field sown with nine hearts of the Second which are the Arms of Gothland These are parted with Gules a Dragon Crown'd Or the antient Coat of the Vandals or Slavonians According to the distich Hinc rigidos Slavus effert pernicibus alis Et loca propugnat sanguinolenta DRACO The third Canton gives Azure three Crowns Or to denote the union of the three Kingdoms of Denmark Norway and Sweden This Coat is parted with Gules a paschal Lamb Argent holding a Cross Or at which hangs a Streamer of the Second charged with a small cross of the First The first original of this Coat is said to have been this in the year 1218 when King Waldemar the second engaged the Lieflanders in sharp and bloody war the Danish Army having lost their Standard began to be so discouraged that they gave ground and had almost yielded the victory to their Pagan Enemies when on a sudden a new Standard fell from heaven displaying a white Cross in a bloody flag At the sight of this the Danes immediately rallied their scattered forces with so much courage and success as made them in a short time masters of the field In remembrance of this so miraculous a deliverance the Kings of Denmark kept the sacred flag with as much veneration as ever the Romans did their Palladium thinking their future success would very much depend upon the safety of so holy a Relique This is the account the Danish Historians give us of this part of their Kings Arms. But 't is more probable that the Pope gave King Waldemar this banner when he went against Liefland to mind him that the business he now undertook was the Conversion of those poor ignorant Heathens he should there meet with Thus the Emperor Constantine the Great made a Cross be carried before his Army with this Motto In hoc signo vinces and the Knights of the Teutonic Order bore a white Cross when they were sent to convert the Prussians But to return the fourth Canton bears Or two Lions passant Azure which are the Arms of Sleswic These are parted with Gules an headless Fish stuck on a stake and crown'd Argent which is the coat of Island In
divided formerly the Dukedom of Holstein from the Kingdom of Denmark BEfore the invention of Guns and other terrible Engines of war now used by all the Europeans and the greatest part of the known world the only fortifications and ramparts were strong walls and ditches which the ancients fancied as indeed they were sufficient to defend them from the arrows and battle-axes the only weapons then in use of their barbarous neighbours Hence it was that the Chinois thought their Empire secured from the incursions of their bloody neighbours the Tartars when their famous King Tzinzow had hedged them in with a wall of some hundreds of miles in length Thus the best expedient the Romans could find of putting the borders of their Brittish dominions in a posture of defence against the daily revolt of the Natives whom they had driven into Scotland was the building of Picts Wall and Severus's rampire which reach'd from Sea to Sea For the same reasons the Kings of Denmark having their Territories continually infested by the daily inroads of the Germans thought it highly requisite to block up their passage by walling up that neck of Land which lies between Hollingsted and Gottorp It is hard to determine from the account given by Historians when this work was first begun Paulus Aemilius a curious French Historian says Gothofred King of Denmark whom the Danish writers call Gothric was the first that made use of this stratagem to exclude the Armies of the Emperor Charles the Great about the year 808. The same story is told us by Aimoinus and Christianus Cilicius But Saxo Grammaticus Crantzius and the whole Class of the Northern Historians tell us unanimously That Queen Thyra daughter of Ethelred King of England and wife to Gormo Gamle King of Denmark was the Authoress of this fortification and that thence she had the surname of Danebode i.e. the Mistress builder of the Danish Nation bestowed on her I can scarce allow the latter part of the story to to be truth since we find that this surname was given her long before she had done any thing either towards the building or repairing of the Danewirk as they call'd this Fort. For upon a monument erected by King Gormo Gamle in honour of his Queen Thyra we find the following Inscription Gurmr Kunugr gerdi kubl dusi eft Turui Kunu sina Tanmarkur-bat i.e. Gormo the King erected this Tomb for Thyra his Queen Danebode or repairer of the Kingdom of Denmark This inscription cannot be an Epitaph writ after Queen Thyra's death seeing all the Danish writers assert positively that she outliv'd her husband Gormo many years and after his death took the Danewirk in hand So that its more then probable the surname of Danebode was given her for the many good offices she had done the Nation in repairing several old decayed Castles and Forts and building a great many new ones King Eric the Eighth in his Danish Chronicle says Thyra built the Fort of wood Which Witfield understands of the fencing the rampire with Stakes as bulwarks are guarded in our modern fortifications Others make Harald Blaatand Queen Thyra's son the first Author of this work after he had driven the Emperor Otho out of Jutland Which Erasmus Laetus the Danish Virgil alludes to when speaking of this King Harald he says Hic ille est solido primns qui Cimbrica vallo Munijt arva solique ingens e corpore dorsum Eruit immani quod se curvamine longos Incitat in tractus mediumque perambulat Isthmum Et maris Eoi ripas cum littore jungit Hesperio ac tenuem Sleswici respicit urbem King Eric decides this controversy by telling us That Thyra built a wooden fortification and afterwards advised her son to strengthen the work by Trenches and Rampires of earth Notwithstanding all these relations of other Historians both Pontanus and Wormius agree that 't is most likely the rude draught of this Fort was first drawn by King Gothric and only repair'd and improv'd by Queen Thyra King Harald and other succeeding Princes Waldemar the first built a wall of brick seven foot broad and eighteen high to strengthen it After so many improvements the fort was reckon'd impregnable For soon after King Waldemar's reparation when Henry Duke of Saxony surnamed the Lion intended to have endeavoured a breach through this fort into the King of Denmark's dominions he was disswaded from the enterprise by his chief Counsellor Bernhard Razburg who represented the undertaking as a thing impossible to be effected assuring him Danewirkae custodium Danorum sexaginta millibus mandatum esse i.e. That Danewirk was defended by a Garrison of sixty thousand Danes Hence King Sueno finding himself unable to force his way through so strong and so well man'd a Rampire endeavour'd to work his passage by corrupting the Keeper of Wiglesdor the only Gate leading through this wall into Jutland At this day there remain but sleight marks of so great a work At Schubuge and Hesbuge two small Villages upon the ruins of the wall the Inhabitants find reliques of old furnaces and brick-kilns whence the Danish Antiquaries conclude that King Waldemar had his bricks burn'd here tho he was forced to fetch mortar as far as Gothland Joh. Cypraeus tells us at Dennenwirch an inconsiderable Village in these parts may still be seen the ruins of an old Castle where Queen Thyra lodged The same Author says Wiglesdor was antiently called Kaelgate because placed in an open and plain part of the Country where the Enemy could have no shelter nor be in any probability of suprizing the Defendants HOLSTEIN ANtiently the whole Territories of the Dukedom of Holstein contained at present in the Provinces of Holstein properly so called Ditmarss Wagerland and Stormar went under the general name of Nortablingia or the country beyond the Elb Northwards Adam Bremensis and Helmoldus are the first that mention Holsatia which the former derives from Holts-geseten i.e. seated in a wood or forrest DUCATUS HOLSATIAE DESCRIPTIO NOVISSIMA Excudebant Janssâ—â—io-Waesbergii et Moses Pitt The fruitfulness of the soil convenience of trading in the Baltic and Brittish seas and industry of the Inhabitants render Holstein the richest Country in the King of Denmarks dominions and make the incomes of some of the Nobility exceed the treasure of many Princes in Germany The chief Cities and great Towns in Holstein are 1. Kyel Chilonium seated on the Baltic shore in a corner of land shut in betwixt the mouths of two rivers Whence some have fetcht its name from the German word Kiel which signifies a wedge It is furnished with a large and commodious haven which is continually throng'd with Merchant-Ships from Germany Liefland Sweden and all the Isles on the Baltic Sea There is yearly in this Town a meeting of the greatest part of the Nobility of Holstein who come hither to consult about the affairs of the Dukedom especially the concerns of the mint and value of money The Castle which is seated on the
top of an hill commanding the Town and haven was first built by Adolph of Schaumburg the first Earl of Holstein Earl Adolph IV. founded a monastery of Franciscan Minorites in this City which upon the bringing in of the Augsburg confession into this Country with the rest of the Danish Territories was changed into an Hospital 2. Rensborg or Reinholsburg founded by one Reinold of whom we have no further account then that he was either a Prince of the Blood or some Great Nobleman This is the best fortifyed Town in the Dukedom environed with the Byder and defended by a strong Castle built by Earl Gerhard the Great 3. Wilster a neat and well built City seated on a River of the same name which soon after empties it self into the Stor 4. Nieumunster seated on the North-West of the Stor not far from the head of it The Earldom of Holstein was only a Province of the Great Dukedom of Saxony until Lotharius Great Duke of Saxony afterwards Emperor of Germany bestowed it upon Adolph Earl of Schaumburg or Schouwanburg about the year 1114. Since which time we have the following account of the Earls of Holstein 1. Adolph of Schouwenburg the first absolute prince of Holstein On whom the Earldom was bestowed as a recompence for the services he had done the Duke of Saxony in his German and Danish wars 2. Adolph II. son to Adolph the I. having obtained his fathers Earldom cast out the Slavonians who a little before his time had overrun all this part of Saxony and planted in their rooms Colonies of Germans Frisians and Nether Saxons In the quarrel among the three pretenders to the Crown of Denmark Sueno Canutus and Waldemar he sided with Canutus and had setled him in the throne had not King Sueno by fair means and promises prevailed with him to lay down his Arms. He left the Earldom to his son 3. Adolph III. who after many skirmishes and battles with Waldemar II. King of Denmark was at last vanquished and kept close prisoner by that King who by the intercession of Andrew Bishop of Lunden and some others granted him his liberty upon condition That he should disclaim all right and Title which he and his predecessors had hitherto pretended to the Earldom of Holstein or any other place formerly subject to Henry surnamed the Lion Duke of Saxony and quietly retire to the inheritance of his Ancestors at Schouwenburg But these Articles tho at the first secured by Hostages were not long observed by his son 4. Adolph IV. who associating to himself Henry Earl of Zurin Gerhard Bishop of Bremen and some other petit Princes begun a rebellion against King Waldemar and succeeded so well in the undertaking that within a very short time he made himself master of all the Territories his father had been beaten out of and renounced His son 5. Gerhard enjoy'd peaceably the dominions left him by his Father He was for some time kept prisoner at Imsburg by the Folchungs a noble family in Sweden for being in company with one Ingemar an upstart Gentleman but great favourite of their King Magnus whom they slew in a rage and cast his companions into prison 6. Henry Gerhards son was the first that set up a Custom-house in Hamburg which brought in no small portion of the revenue of his successors 7. Gerhard the second son of Henry upon the death of Christopher the second King of Denmark was made Protector of the Danish Kingdom and Tutor to the young King Waldemar the third By these advantages his power grew so great that he ventur'd to stile himself Duke of Jutland and by degrees would in all probability have aspired to the Crown of Denmark if not timely taken off by one Ebbo a Danish Nobleman who murdered him in his bed at Randerhusen 8. Henry the second son to Gerhard II. refused the Crown of Sweden when it was offered him by Ambassadors sent from that Court A. D. 1363. He is said to have been a Prince of great courage and candor courteous in his behaviour and exceedingly chast and temperate in the whole course of his life In short a man that had in him all the Royal vertues that might deserve a Kingdom and the modesty to refuse one when offer'd 9. Gerhard the third Henry the second 's son after he had got the Dukedom of Sleswic annexed to the Earldom of Holstein by Margaret Queen of Denmark was slain by the men of Dithmarss whom he had required to do him homage His son 10. Henry the third being denied that right to the Dukedom of Sleswic which his father had enjoy'd made war against Eric the Eighth King of Denmark in which at the siege of Flensburg he was slain 11. Adolph V. commonly called the twelfth by those that reckon all the Earls of younger houses succeeded his brother Henry and was the last Earl of this house In the year 1440 he received the Dukedom of Sleswic at the hands of Christopher the third King of Denmark swearing fealty to that Crown Christian Earl of Oldenburg son of Hedvigis sister to Henry and Adolph the two last Earls of Holstein succeeded his Uncle Adolph in the Earldom of Holstein Which in his time was enlarged by the addition of Dithmarss and changed into a Dukedom by the Emperor Frideric the third A. D. 1474. When this Christian was advanced to the throne of Denmark the Dukedom of Holstein became a part of that Kingdom Yet so that the Kings of Denmark as the Kings of Sweden upon the late accessions in Germany to their Crown were reckoned Princes of the Empire as Dukes of Holstein tho not obliged to repair to any Diet. Afterwards the title of Duke of Holstein together with a considerable part of the Country was given to Adolph Christian the Third's brother created Knight of the Garter by our Queen Elizabeth A. D. 1562 who governed it interchangeably with the King his brother by turns Upon the decease of this Duke and his issue male the title was conferr'd on Vlric King Christian the fourth's brother Since his days there have been several houses of the Dukes of Holstein as Sunderburg Norburg Gluckburg Arnsbeck Gottorp and Ottingen Amongst whom the Duke of Holstein Gottorp is chief and challenges the same power in governing and administration of justice which was at first conferred upon Duke Adolph King Christian the third's brother In the late wars between the two Northern Crowns the King of Denmark jealous of the great power of the present Duke of Gottorp forced this Prince to quit his Dukedom and leave his Majesty in full possession of the whole Country of Holstein But at the signing of the Treaty between the Kings of France Sweden and Denmark at Fountenblaeu on the second of September 1679 the Danish Ministers promised their Master should at the desire of his most Christian Majesty restore to the said Duke all his Countries Towns and places in the state they were and the soveraignty thereof all which he
insomuch that every man who had any thing to dispose of made his Will before he went to fight as never expecting to return out of the field alive And we do not find that Germany was ever yet subdued by any foreign enemy Nor can it be imagin'd but those that from their Cradles if ever they had any such thing were accustom'd to lye on the ground and go naked should at last make good Soldiers And accordingly we find they spent the greatest part of their lives in Martial exercises In time of any general invasion every man except infirm persons and such as attended their Sacrifices that exceeded the age of twenty years was press'd to take up Arms. Otherwise in case of a more inconsiderable quarrel in which some few particular Provinces were only concern'd every Gow or Village sent out an hundred fighting men with a Centurion to command them The greatest mischief was they understood but little Martial discipline and therefore their chief confidence lay in the number and resolute humours of their Soldiers Their armies used commonly to encamp in some large Wood or Forrest and there ly skulking till they had an opportunity of making an advantageous Sally upon the enemy Many of them fought naked others wore some slender Armour over their Head and Shoulders made of the Hide of a Wolf or some other wild Beast Every man carried a Club on his Shoulder such as Hercules is ordinarily pictur'd with and most of them had Spears in their hands When the Romans came amongst them they learned to be more methodical and orderly in their engagements By degrees they came to wear good substantial Helmets of Iron which they adorn'd on the top with a tufft of Horse-hair or sometimes a bunch of red Feathers Whence to this day the Germans reckon that an ancient Coat of Arms which shews such a tufft in the Crest As 't is likewise accounted no small token of Nobility to bear in their Coat Pallets of several colours since the old Germans used to wear Shields on their left sides streaked with red blew white and several other colours for distinction's sake Some of their Commanders and other great men in the Army wore a long and broad Sword on their right side which they used to manage with both hands These are reported to have been so weighty that when well guided with the whole force of a lusty German they would cut off both the Head and Arm of a Roman at a blow Their Horsemen never used any Saddles but instead thereof rid upon painted Clothes He that had slain an enemy hand to hand used to bring home his Head in triumph which if 't was the Head of an Officer could not be redeem'd at any rate but was kept as the richest piece of furniture in the house and shown at publick Entertainments Among the ancient Princes of Germany Inheritance the eldest Son or other Heir apparent of the Family always inherited the whole and entire jurisdiction of his deceased Father and the younger children had certain Villages and Lordships assign'd them for portions The Hermunduri are said to have been all of one Family which had encreas'd so largely in the revolution of some years as to over-spread all that vast Province which they inhabited Out of the Nobility the Peasants chose themselves a King or Captain Government who had supreme dominion over all the Province in which he presided Cluverius likens this Governor to him whom the Lacedemonians and Spartans were used to set over their Commonwealth who was bound by his place to be their General in time of war I am of opinion that this great Leader of any Province had the same name which their Dukes retain to this day each of them being even in those days call'd ein Hertzog which as our word Duke signifies no more then A Captain or General of an Army M. Luther makes this title as ancient as will serve my purpose when he derives the word Vercingentorix which was the name of a German Prince encountred by Julius Cesar and Florus fancies the repeating of it enough to frighten an Army from Hertzog Hinric i. e. Duke Henry Tho the Germans Religion before Charles the Great took care to have them converted to Christianity were Idolatrous Heathens yet we do not read that they were guilty of such horrid impieties and profaneness as their neighbours They liv'd up to the rules of Morality as much as any Nation that never heard of God and the true Religion What a great respect they had for Divine Service as they ignorantly call'd their Idolatrous practices is manifest from their chusing of Priests out of their Nobility who besides the knowledge of their profession were commonly tolerably well vers'd in Moral Philosophy and Physicks and ordinarily call'd to Council upon debate of any weighty State affair They had Females too amongst them who were sometimes admitted to the Priestly Office and had as great respect paid them as the men History makes mention of one of these She Druids who prophesied of the Emperor Severus's death and another who foretold the coming of Diocletian to the Empire They all believ'd the immortality of the Soul and rewards and punishments after this life They were great worshippers of the Sun whom Cluverius says they look'd upon as the only true God Some in confirmation of this opinion have made Sonn in the old Teutonic language to signifie as much as the modern Sonders Sonderlich i. e. Only Thus probably the Latin word Sol is only a corruption of Solus And for the same reason both the Romans and Dutch together with all other Nations who speak nothing but different Dialects of the Latin or German tongue dedicate the first day of the week to the Sun Another God they had to whom they used to offer man's flesh who is sometimes call'd Woden elsewhere Godan by some Codan by others Dan whence probably the name of Danes and Danish as well as from Teut Teutisch and from Got Gottish From him we have our Wednesday which the Westphalians call Godensdach or Goensdach the Netherlanders write it Woensdach the Danes Onsdag and the Swedes Odensdagk But of this and their God Teut we have spoken before and shall only add that the word Godan was after some time contracted into God or Gott Another God they worshipp'd who is stiled by Latin writers Taranes the same doubtless with the Danish Thor mention'd in the Description of Denmark and answers to the Roman Jupiter as Woden to Mercurius They worshipp'd this Taranes as the God of Thunder which in our old British or Welsh language is still called Taran but in the Danish tongue Torden Whence it appears that Thor and Taranes as well as the Dutch Donnersdag and our Thursday signifie the same thing 'T is very probable that this same God was by the ancient Celts named Pen or Pin which in their language signified High and Chief And hence 't is that the Austrians
had from the Lutherans the authority of Calvin prevail'd so exceedingly as to be entertain'd in France Scotland the Netherlands a great part of Poland and many Provinces of Germany Whereas Lutheranism never reach'd much further then it was at first spread by Luther himself The Kingdoms of Denmark and Sweden embraced Luther's Doctrine very early and the generality of the inhabitants of both those Nations profess it to this day But in the Dominions of the Electors of Saxony and Brandenburg Luther's credit decays daily and is thrust out by Calvinism The present Elector of Brandenburg is a Calvinist and encourages men of his own perswasion in the Universities of Francfurt upon the Oder Konigsberg and Rostoc This makes the Scholars of Leipsic who are strict Lutherans dread his coming into their neighbourhood when he comes to take possession of Holie which falls into his hands upon the death of the present Administrator Augustus Duke of Saxony For the Lutherans hate a Calvinist as much as a Turk insomuch that in the Great Church at Leipsic they have the pictures of the Devil Ignatius Loyola and John Calvin hung in one frame with this subscription The three great enemies of Christ and the Christian Religion At Wittemberg the only support which Luthers Doctrine has left is Abraham Calovius an old Gentleman that has taken great pains to run down all opposers of his opinions But the greatest part of the University begin to close with Calixtus Junior one of the present Professors in the University of Helmstadt and his followers who are stout pleaders for Comprehension In the Kingdom of Bohemia Arch-Dukedoms of Bavaria and Lorain the Territories of the three Spiritual Electors and other Bishoprics which still remain in the hands of the Clergy the Popish Religion is still profess'd A short Account of the GERMAN Emperors THat the vast tract of Land which to the Ancients was known by the general name of Germany was subject to several Princes and never acknowledged the Supremacy of any one Governor except perhaps in the time of war in which all the particular Provinces were mutually concern'd to unite and defend themselves from the assaults of some potent foreign enemy before the coming of Charles the Great to the Imperial Crown seems plain from the whole History of that Nation From this great Prince we must therefore begin to reckon the German Emperors A. D. 800. Charles son of Pepin King of France was Anointed and Crown'd Emperor by Pope Leo the Third upon Christmass-day He had before this rescued Italy and a great part of Germany from the tyranny of the Lombards and annex'd the whole Dominions of their King Desiderius whom he took prisoner to the Kingdom of the Franks In the year 772 he began to make war upon the Saxons at that time the most potent people in Germany in hopes to reduce them which he at last effected to Christianity Wherever he conquer'd he establish'd the Christian Religion and erected Schools for the education of young children in the same Doctrine He was a great Benefactor to the University at Paris where he would himself frequent Disputations and reward the industry of those he found to be deserving men Besides he was the Founder of an incredible number of great Schools and petit Universities in Germany insomuch that we shall scarce in the following Description mention a Town of considerable note in the Empire which has not receiv'd some signal kindness from him I know not whether it were his Acts of Piety or Prowess got him the title of Great but doubtless both deserv'd it After he had been Emperor fourteen years he died at seventy-two years of Age in the year 814 and was buried at Aix la Chapelle where he had built a Church and design'd also to have establish'd the chief Residence of the German Emperors All his Epitaph was Magni Caroli Regis Christianissimi Romanorum Imperatoris corpus hoc Sepulchro conditum jacet He bequeath'd his Empire to his Son Ludowic then King of Aquitain 814. Ludowic or Lewis for his piety and zeal in promoting the Christian Religion surnam'd the Godly succeeded his Father He was Crown'd Emperor by Pope Stephen IV. at Rheims in France Soon after his entrance upon the Empire he procur'd a translation of the Bible into the Saxon tongue Copies of which he caused to be distributed among the Commonalty The greatest exploit of war which he is reported to have done was the expulsion of the Saracens out of Italy Besides this he took his Nephew Bernhard King of Lombardy who had endeavour'd to make himself Master of Italy prisoner and putting out the eyes of him and his followers condemned them all to a Monastery By his first wife Irmengarde he had three Sons Lotharius Ludowic and Pipin who overpower'd with the perswasions of some bad companions rebelled against their Father whom they took prisoner and shut up in a Monastery Some say his Son Ludowic released him willingly but the most generally receiv'd story is that most of his Subjects rose up in Arms resolving to rescue their Emperor Which Ludowic seeing he submitted himself to his Father and begg'd pardon After he was set at liberty he march'd with his own and his Son Ludowic's Forces against Lotharius who had raised the strongest rebellion but dyed on the way at Mentz in the twenty-seventh year of his Reign and sixty-fourth of his Age. 840. Lotharius the Emperor Ludowic's eldest Son succeeded his Father in the whole Empire having thrown out his two Brethren who were left partners with him He was the first that annex'd Austrasia which was from him call'd by the High Dutch Loth-reich by the French Lot-regne now Lorreign i. e. Lotharius's Kingdom to the German Empire After he had ruled fifteen years he retired into a Monastery at Treves where he lived some time after In his days Pope Joan under the covert name of John VIII as the Historians of that time generally relate was Head of the Church of Rome 855. Ludowic II. a Prince of wonderful Piety and Learning succeeded in the Empire upon his Fathers resignation He conquer'd the Sclavonians and converted them to Christianity defended Italy from the incursions of the Saracens and made provision in most parts of his Empire for poor Widows and Orphans He had a great quarrel with the Court of Rome for electing a Pope without acquainting him But the Popish writers tell the story otherwise and say That when the Emperor heard how that Court had elected Pope Adrian II. into the room of Nicolas I. without staying for his voice he commended them highly for so doing Nay they make him give this reason for his approbation of their proceedings Qui enim fieri posset ut peregrinus hospes dignoscere posset in aliena republica quis potissimum caeteris praeferendus sit i. e. How is it possible that a stranger should be so well skill'd in a foreign Commonwealth as to be able to pitch upon a man fittest
lust and ambition 1002. Upon Otto's death Henry Duke of Bavaria was chosen Emperor by the Electors His piety got him the Title of Holy and a mischance in his Childhood surnam'd him the Lame Willegise Archbishop of Mentz a Wagoner's Son whence that City got a Wheel for its Arms Crown'd him He fought many great Battels and from most of them came off Conqueror The Saracens were by him driven out of Apulia and Calabria and the Wendish Armies which had over-run a great part of Germany he utterly vanquish'd He is by some Historians stiled the Apostle of Hungary because he was the first that thorowly converted that Nation Upon his death-bed after he had reigned twenty and three years he is said to have return'd his Empress Cunigunda to her friends for a pure Virgin in which state by mutual consent they both had continued from the first day of their marriage Tho we read that once he so far question'd his Wife's chastity and the performance of her Vow as to make her purge her self by a fiery Ordeal Which she perform'd by going barefoot over a red-hot iron grate without the least shrink or sense of pain 1024. Conrad a Prince descended from Charles the Great succeeded Henry and was Crown'd Emperor at Aix la Chappel by the Archbishop of Colen Amongst Historians we find this high character of him that he was Acer consilio manuque strenuus charus Principibus Populo acceptior Reipublicae salutaris i. e. Quick at Council-board and valiant in the field one on whom the Princes of the Empire doted the People's Darling the strength of the Empire One of the good Laws which he established was That it should be death for any Prince to offer to disturb the peace of the Empire by making an offensive war upon any particular Province in it He died suddenly in his return from an expedition against the Hungarians and was buried at Spire after he had reigned fifteen years 1039. Henry surnam'd the Black Conrad's Son succeeded his Father in the Empire He reign'd seventeen years and seven months The first war he engag'd himself in was against the Bohemians upon their refusal to pay tribute to the Emperor Afterwards he turn'd his Forces against the Hungarians and restored their King Peter who had been deposed by his own Subjects for Tyranny In the year 1046 he march'd into Italy to compose differences among the three Popes who were set up by contrary factions But he depos'd them all and made a fourth viz. Clement II. renewing the old Law wherein it was enacted That no Pope should be created without the consent of the Emperor 1056. Henry IV. succeeded his Father at six years of age He is said during his reign which lasted fifty years to have fought sixty-two great battels which are more then either Marcus Marcellus Julius Caesar or any other Roman General could ever brag of Pope Hildebrand who went under the name of Gregory VII cast off this Emperors yoke and after some skirmishes got Rudolph Duke of Schwaben proclaim'd Emperor in his stead to whom the Pope presented an Imperial Crown with this Inscription Petra dedit Petro Petrus diadema Rudolpho But this Emperor of the Pope's making was soon vanquish'd and slain However within a while the Empire was taken from him in good earnest and that by his own Subjects who deposed him and elected his Son into his room This Emperor is reported to have been brought to those extremities before his death as to be forc'd to beg a Prebendary of the Bishop of Spire some say Wormes in the Church which he himself had built which was nevertheless denied him 1106. Henry V. was admitted into his Father's Throne by his rebellious Subjects and crown'd Emperor at Goslar At his Coronation part of his Sword was melted with Lightning but the Scabbard was untouch'd and himself escap'd without harm He was forc'd to acknowledg the Pope's Supremacy and to quit all pretensions to the power of Investiture which his Ancestors challeng'd as their right He reigned nineteen years dyed without issue and was buried at Spire 1125. Lotharius Duke of Saxony was elected to succeed Henry V. and receiv'd his Crown from the Pope at Rome in the year 1133. The greatest thing this Emperor did was the reviving the practice of the Civil Law in the German Empire after it had been banish'd thence for the space of five hundred years 1138. Conrad Duke of Schwaben and Lotharius's Sister's Son succeeded his Uncle carrying the Empire against Henry Duke of Bavaria who for some time opposed him In his days a Body of the Canon Laws was first set forth by Gratian a Benedictine Monk and publicly taught in the Universities of Germany He reign'd fourteen years 1152. Frideric Duke of Schwaben surnam'd Barbarossa from his red beard was elected Emperor upon the death of Conrad and was Crown'd at Rome by Pope Adrian IV. He was a wise valiant and pious Prince and commonly fortunate in all his undertakings Pope Alexander the third excommunicated him for his obstinacy but afterwards was reconciled when the Emperor threw himself at the Pope's feet and suffer'd him to tread on his neck In the year 1187 accompanied with our King Richard I. and Philip II. King of France he went to fight against the Saracens in the Holy Land Here he was drown'd in a river wherein he intended only to have bathed himself and was buried at Tyre after he had reign'd thirty-eight years 1190. Henry Frideric Barbarossa's Son tho short of his Father in deserts was-elected into his place He took Tancred prisoner in Sicily who thought to have supplanted him in that Kingdom and having put out his eyes sent him bound into Germany Pope Celestine who Crown'd him Emperor perswaded him to engage himself in the Holy-war but he never reach'd Palestine dying upon his journey thither when he had reigned almost eight years 1198. Upon the death of the Emperor Henry his Brother Philip was at first elected But because he refused to submit himself to the Pope as his Ancestors had done he was shortly after excommunicated and Otto Duke of Brunswic by the Electors and the Pope's authority declared Emperor Whereupon the two Emperors engaged the whole Empire in a long and bloody war each asserting a legal title and refusing to quit his pretensions to the Crown At last Philip was treacherously slain in his bed after he had ruled the Empire at least the greatest part of it ten years 1208. Otto Son of Henry surnam'd the Lion Duke of Brunswic got possession of the Empire as soon as Philip was taken of He had not reign'd four years e're he met with his Predecessor's fate having the Imperial Crown taken from his head by the Pope of Rome and the Electors and given to Frideric King of Sicily Otto got some succours from the Kings of England and Poland but was never able to make any considerable resistance One battel decided the controversie establishing Frideric in the Imperial Throne
Otto being deserted on all hands and afterwards dyed miserably at Brunswic in the year 1218. 1212. Frideric II. King of Sicily being by these means advanced to the Empire prov'd a wise valiant and learned Prince in every respect like his Grandfather Frideric Barbarossa before-mention'd He is said to have understood perfectly the German Greek Italian and Turkish tongues and to have been admirably apprehensive at learning all manner of Arts and Sciences He was five several times excommunicated by three Popes but could never be forced to submit Pope Gregory IX was deposed by him and had doubtless lost his head if he had come into his hands alive His continual quarrels with the Popes gave the first occasion of heats and animosities which afterwards burst out into a terrible combustion and flame betwixt the Guelphs and Gibellines whereof the former adher'd to the Pope's interest and the later to the Emperors After he had reign'd thirty-eight years he dyed some say was poyson'd in Italy After his death follow'd an Interregnum of twenty-three years continuance during which time the Empire was govern'd indeed by none but claim'd by these seven following Princes 1. Henry Landtgrave of Hassia and Thuringen who was slain at the siege of Vlm 2. Conrad IV. Frideric the Second's Son who was elected King of the Romans and in the year 1254 after he had pretended to be Emperor for three years and five months was poysoned by his Physitians 4. Manfred 5. William Earl of Holland who was first pronounced King of the Romans by the Pope in opposition to Frideric II. He was slain treacherously by the Frisians 6. Alphonsus King of Castile the Author of the famous Astronomical Tables that still bear his name 7. Richard Earl of Cornwal Brother to our King Henry III. He is supposed to have bought the voices of the Archbishop of Colen and the Elector Palatine of the Rhine who proclaim'd him King of the Romans in the year 1254. But the same men that set him up deposed him afterwards and he was forc'd within six years to return to England where he ended his days 1273. Rodolph Earl of Habsburg after a long and grievous Interregnum was by an unanimous consent of the Electors chosen at Francfurt His election was confirm'd by the Pope but he refused to fetch his Crown from Rome alledging for an excuse that of Horace quia me vestigia terrent Omnia te adversum spectantia nulla retrorsum Whereupon he was Crown'd at Aix la Chapelle and immediately after his Coronation put out several Edicts for the suppressing of Robberies Oppressions and Tumults which the late licentious Anarchy had produced These Statutes and Proclamations he back'd with force of Arms till he had at last reduc'd the Empire to its former peace and tranquillity And 't was no easie matter to effect this since in the single Province of Thuringen he met with no fewer then sixty strong Castles which the Robbers had made almost impregnable He was the first that raised the Austrian Family creating his Son Albert who was afterwards Emperor Arch-Duke of Austria He dyed in the year 1271 and was buried at Spire in the seventy-third year of his age 1292. Adolph Earl of Nassaw was by the interest of the Elector of Mentz declared Emperor contrary to the expectation of most of the German Princes who thought him a Prince no way qualified for so high an advancement He serv'd in person and took pay in the Army of our King Edward I. who was at that time engaged in a war with France This was so highly disgusted by the Elector of Mentz his late promoter who thought it an action highly infamous in an Emperor to make himself mercenary that he prevail'd with the other Electors to depose him and elect in his stead Albert Arch-Duke of Austria Adolph tho not able to manage the Empire was unwilling to part with the power he had once got into his hands and therefore assisted by Otto Duke of Bavaria Rudolph Count Palatine of the Rhine and several of the Imperial Cities he was resolv'd to oppose Albert and his party to the uttermost But all the forces which he or his friends could raise were not sufficient to secure him so that upon the first engagement which happen'd near Worms his whole Army was routed and he himself slain by Duke Albert's own hand after he had reign'd six years and six months The German Historians observe that all the Officers who commanded Albert's Army against the Emperor Adolph came to untimely ends 1298. Albert having thus slain Adolph was Crown'd Emperor at Aix la Chappelle and receiv'd his Crown tho he once refus'd to do it at the hands of Pope Boniface VIII He is said to have been a Prince of quick parts and solid judgment a munificent rewarder of men of great deserts and as severe a punisher of delinquents but withal one that too greedily gap'd after the Territories and Dominions of neighbour Princes He made his Son Rudolph King of Bohemia and endeavour'd tho in vain to bring the Kingdom of Hungary under his own subjection At last when he had reign'd ten years he was treacherously slain by his Nephew and three Ruffians more of his party who for this murder were afterwards imprison'd and executed 1308. Henry Earl of Luxemburg for his great wisdom and valour was elected into the room of Albert. He rul'd the Empire four years and nine months and is reported to have been a Prince of such an even temper that no excess either of prosperity or adversity could move him and so devout in the exercise of religious duties that he would spend whole nights in prayer before a Crucifix and constantly every day receive the Sacrament of the Lords Supper This last piece of devotion cost him his life for he was poyson'd by a Franciscan Minorite with a Consecrated Wafer The Emperor was immediately sensible of the Friar's villany and therefore advised him to withdraw speedily lest he should be apprehended But the Priest neglecting his counsel was seized on first flay'd alive and afterwards put to death After the murder of this Emperor ensued a great famine in most parts of Germany which was so terrible in Bohemia and Poland that in some Families Parents and Children fed upon one another Nay in many Provinces the Malefactors that were in the day time executed for Murder and Robbery were in the night stoln from the Gallows or Gibbet and carried by the half-starved Bores to their Cottages and there eaten up Those that escaped the Gallows abroad and the jaws of hungry friends at home had much ado to secure themselves from the ravenous Wolves which could hardly be kept off with the best weapons the inhabitants were able to provide The German Chronologers have made use of the word Cucullum to bring to their remembrance the remarkable year when this famine first begun for it lasted three years in all whence the Verse Vt lateat nullum tempus famis ecce
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
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
But his large Dukedom was broken in pieces by the Emperor as we had occasion to tell the Reader before and himself reduc'd from a great Duke of Saxony and Lord of all the neighbouring Territories to a mean and inconsiderable Duke of Brunswic and Luneburg Hitherto we have found the Dukedoms of Brunswic and Luneburg united and subject to one Prince Dukes of Lunenburg But upon the death of this Henry which hapned in the year 1195 they were divided For Henry the Lion had three Sons viz. Duke Henry who was afterwards made Prince Palatine of the Rhine Duke Otho who was advanced to the Imperial Throne and Duke William who succeeded his Father in the Territories of Luneburg but only stiled himself Dominus de Luneburg And indeed he had but little reason to take upon him any greater Title since his two Brothers were sharers with him in the Estate of his deceased Father For Otho took possession of the City and Country of Brunswic and Duke Henry seized upon Zell Bremen and Stade About the year 1213 Duke William dy'd and was succeeded by his only Son Otho who afterwards in the year 1235 was made Duke of Brunswic by the Emperor Frideric the Second's Diploma which is at this day to be seen in the Duke of Zell's Archives Duke William dying in the year 1252 left behind him two Sons Albert and John Albert kept all his Fathers Dominions in his own hands but at last resign'd the Dukedom of Luneburg to his Brother John Since that time the Dukedoms of Brunswic and Luneburg have been always reckon'd two distinct Principalities and usually subject to two different Princes After this division of the two Dukedoms Duke John governed the Dukedom of Luneburg about eight years and then dying in the year 1276 left his Estate to his Son Otho By the way we may take notice of a notorious Parachronism in Dr. Heylin's Cosmography wherein reckoning only the eight years Government of Duke John without mentioning any power enjoy'd by his Brother Albert in the Dukedom of Luneburg he brings Otho II. to the Dukedom in the year 1261 which is fifteen years exactly the time that Duke Albert kept possession of both his Father's Dukedoms before his Father's death Otho having reign'd 53 years and dying in the year 1330 left behind him two Sons Otho and William who were joint-Governors of the Dukedom of Luneburg for the space of four and twenty years After which upon the death of Duke Otho without any Heirs male William was the sole Governor for some small term of years But considering that upon the failure of issue from himself and his Brother the Line of Luneburg was like to be extinct he resolv'd during his life-time to chose himself a Successor Whereupon at first he pitcht upon Albert Duke of Saxony his Brother's Daughter's Son but afterwards changing his resolution he resign'd the Dukedom to Ludowic Duke of Brunswic who had married his eldest Daughter Mechtild Duke Ludowic having govern'd three years and dying without issue in the year 1358 was succeeded by Magnus surnam'd mit der ketten or Torquatus to whom the Luneburgers submitted themselves upon condition that he should protect them against all injuries offer'd them either by the Emperor Charles IV. or any of the Dukes of Saxony Soon after Torquatus upon his Father's death got possession of the Territories of Brunswic and so both Dukedoms were once more united But notwithstanding the great confidence they repos'd in their new Prince and the vast pormises he made them Albert Duke of Saxony assisted by the foremention'd Emperor Charles the fourth in pursuance of his Right as being descended from the elder Brother's Daughter by force recover'd the Dukedom of Luneburg in the year 1372 and enjoy'd it fourteen years After his death there were great wars betwixt the Houses of Brunswic and Saxony each of them laying claim to and contending for this Dukedom At last in the year 1388 Bernhard Duke Magnus's Son obtain'd the Government But soon after Frideric Duke of Brunswic being slain in his return from Francfurt where he was newly chosen Emperor Bernhard was remov'd to Brunswic and the Dukedom of Luneburg given to his Nephew Henry who before had some share with him in the Government Henry having been sole Duke of Luneburg for the space of sixteen years dyed A. D. 1416. and was succeeded by his Son William who within a while after falling out with his Cousin Otho Duke Bernhard's Son made several incursions into the Dukedom of Brunswic many of the most considerable Cities whereof he laid siege to and took Some while after the quarrels betwixt the two Dukes were composed upon this condition that they should change Dukedoms which was accordingly done in the year 1428 and so Otho was made Duke of Luneburg and William removed to Brunswic Otho's Brother Duke Frideric succeeded him tho Dr. Heylin makes him his Predecessor in the Dukedom of Luneburg and having govern'd about fourteen years quitted the Dukedom and shut himself up in a Monastery at Zell in the year 1459. Hereupon the Government was committed to his two Sons Bernhard and Otho the former of which dyed within five years and the latter surving about seven years left behind him only one young Son about three years old This forced the old Duke Frideric in his extreme dotage to reassume the Government till his Grandchild should come to maturity he mannaged the Affairs of his Dukedom for seven years longer dying in the year 1478. The young Duke Henry being not above ten years of age at his Grandfather's death was assisted in the Government by his mother for some years Ten years before his death which hapned in the year 1532 he setled the Dukedom upon his three Sons Otho Ernest and Francis The first of these preferring a retired life to the state and grandeur of a Dukedom resign'd his Right to his Brother Ernestus during his Father's life demanding only a certain annual stipend sufficient for the maintenance of himself and a small family This Ernest together with his Brother Francis who shared with him in the Government till the year 1539 but was afterwards put off with the Lordship of Giffhorn and Monastery of Isenhagen brought in the Reform'd Religion in the year 1530. He died in the year 1546 and was succeeded by his Son Francis Otho who having govern'd about thirteen years dyed without Issue male and left the Dukedom to his two Brothers Henry and William These two rul'd peaceably together for the space of ten years but afterwards they separated themselves and agreed that William should have the sole government of the Dukedom of Luneburg and Duke Henry be content with the Revenues of the Lordship of Dannenberg and Monastery of Scharnebeck to which were afterwards added the Lordships of Hitzaker Luchau and Warbke In the year 1592 Duke William died and was succeeded by his Son Ernest who kept the Dukedom of Luneburg till the year 1611. In which he left it to
Wartislaus The former seated himself in Pomerellia and retain'd the language and manners of his Countrymen the Slavonians the later was made Lord of the Lower Pomeren bordering upon the Dukedom of Mecklenburg and shortly after conform'd himself to the Laws and Language of the Saxons his neighbours Whereupon this part of his Father's Territories began to be reckon'd a part of the German Empire and Bugislaus and Casimir Wartislaus's Sons receiv'd the Title of Dukes of Pomeren and Princes of the Roman Empire from the Emperor Frideric Barbarossa This Dukedom was afterwards in the year 1217 parted betwixt Bugislaus and Otho two Brothers from whom sprang the two Houses of Wolgast and Stetin which continued near two hundred years But the House of Stetin failing A.D. 1464 upon the death of Otho the third that part of the Estate was conferr'd upon Frideric the second Marquise and Elector of Brandenburg by the Emperor Frideric the third This the Dukes of Pomeren-Wolgast look'd upon as a notorious piece of injustice to their Family and therefore were resolv'd to oppose with all imaginable vigor the Elector's pretensions At last the Quarrel was composed between the two Houses of Pomeren and Brandenburg upon these conditions That both of them should retain the Arms and Title of Dukes of Pomeren But the Possession and Revenues of all Territories comprised under that name should be yeilded up to the Dukes of Wolgast And that upon the failing of their Issue male it should descend upon the Heirs of the House of Brandenburg Accordingly upon the death of Bugislaus the fourteenth who dyed without issue in the year 1637 the late Elector of Brandenburg George-William put in his claim to the Estate But the Swedes having under pretence of assisting Duke Bugislaus against the Imperialists in the Civil Wars of Germany made themselves Masters of all the strong places in the Country could not be perswaded to part with a Maritime Province which lay so convenient for them And therefore as Conquerors use to prescribe Laws with far less regard to justice then their own interests they would not yeild to the conclusion of any Peace at the Treaty of Munster before it was agreed That all the Lower Pomeren with the Isles of Rugen and Wollin and the Town of Stetin should from thenceforward be annex'd to the Crown of Sweden and the Upper Pomeren only be enjoy'd by the House of Brandenburg and that no longer then the male issue of that Family lasted upon the failure whereof it also was to be added to the King of Sweden's Dominions and in the mean time both Princes were to enjoy the Titles and bear the Arms of the Dukes of Pomeren But because for the common peace of the Empire and in compliance to the peremptory demands of the Queen of Sweden's Ministers the Elector had in this Agreement quitted the Title to a good part of his Inheritance 't was further concluded That his losses should be recompenc'd by the addition of the Bishopricks of Halberstadt and Minden converted into Temporal Principalities to the Marquisate of Brandenburg to which was also added the Reversion of the Archbishopric of Magdeburg which after the death of the then Incumbent Administrator Augustus Duke of Saxony was to descend upon him and his Heirs Now altho the Elector may seem to have gain'd by this bargain since the Lower Pomeren which he has quitted to the Swedes will not doubtless yeild so good a Revenue as the Principalities of Magdeburg Halberstadt and Minden yet there is no question but upon examination we shall find reason to believe that he had rather have the entire Dukedom of Pomeren restored then three more such inland Provinces bestow'd on him Since by this means he would have the opportunity of making himself considerable at Sea and be freed from the inconveniences of having a potent neighbour who keeps him in perpetual Jealousies Upon these considerations the States of the Empire have thought fit to make a further reparation of his damages by allowing him Voices in their Assemblies as Duke of Pomeren and Magdeburg and as Prince of Halberstadt and Minden And because formerly the Archbishops of Magdeburg and Bremen took their turns in the Direction of the Circle of the Lower Saxony they have agreed that the Elector of Brandenburg should alternate with the King of Sweden who enjoys the ancient Archbishoprick of Bremen under the same Title as the said Duke does that of Magdeburg in the same quality After the Ratification of this Treaty at Munster the Swedes quietly enjoy'd the Lower Pomeren according to the tenure of the Articles aforesaid until in these late wars the united forces of the Danes and Brandenburgers not without great difficulty and much bloodshed over-powred them and siezed on all the Lower Pomeren together with the Isle of Rugen and the City of Stetin But of this we shall have occasion to say more in the following Descriptions of particular Cities Chief Cities in the Vpper POMEREN I. Stetin STETIN This has ever been reckon'd the Metropolis of all Pomeren and Stralsund only the chief Town in the Principality of Rugen By whom or when it was first built cannot easily be determin'd and 't is to no purpose to trouble the Reader with the idle conjectures of illiterate Historians who pretend to fetch its genealogy from a warlike Nation whom they call Sidini that before the building of Towns or Houses came in fashion in these parts of the world kept their usual Rendezvous in the place where Stetin now stands However 't is more commendable for the improvements it has receiv'd in the beauty of its buildings and number of inhabitants within the memory of its own Records then any Antiquity it can boast of altho as we have said it is beyond the skill of the ablest Antiquary to find out its original About four hundred years ago Stetin was built of a quite different figure from what it has at this day the Church of St. Peter which now stands without the walls being plac'd in the very middle of the Town The convenient and pleasant situation it now has on the rising of a small hill its regular fortifications beauty and strength it owes to the Saxons who by permission of some of the Dukes of Stetin came hither to reform the barbarous manners and language of their then Wendish Subjects By this means trading was advanc'd and the number of the inhabitants multiplied so exceedingly that some Writers who give us a description of this City in its modern condition represent it as a place where more people inhabit under ground then above it intimating that the Town is so populous that a great number of its Citizens are forc'd to live in Cellars and Vaults The Castle formerly the Palace of the Dukes of Stetin and now the usual Residence of the Swedish Governor is a Pile of building which excels perhaps any piece of Architecture in these parts of Europe and may vy with most of its kind in
the Eastern banks of the Rhine is a Province of no large extent but exceedingly fruitful in Corn Wine and Hemp. The Country is every-where very populous and the Villages so thick that the whole Marquisate has been by some compared to one continued City with fair Gardens interlac'd among the buildings Entz 〈◊〉 Wirmb Phintz and the other Rivers afford plenty of Fish And the Chases and Parks are so well stock'd with Venison and Fowl that what the Nobility in other parts of the German Empire covet as a delicacy the Rustics of Baden have for their ordinary food The Merchants of Amsterdam Antwerp and other great trading Towns in the Netherlands furnish themselves hence with those vast quantities of Flax and Hemp which they transport into foreign Nations so that what passes for Holland Flax here in England grows for the most part in the Marquisate of Baden and is brought thence down the Rhine There are in this Country whole Woods of Chesnut Trees which feed their great Herds of Swine at a cheaper rate then the Hog-Merchants of Whestphalia who buy their Chesnuts at Bremen can afford to do The Quarries give the inhabitants an advantage of building fair Houses with a small cost 〈◊〉 providing them with a good Free-stone and Marble of all colours Amongst these especially in the County of Sponheim they sometimes find Agat which is here rarely polish'd and sent into foreign Countries 〈◊〉 But this Marquisate is most peculiarly happy in the multitude and goodness of its hot Baths and Mineral-waters especially at Baden of which more anon 〈◊〉 From the vast conflux of the Nobility from all parts of the Empire to these Baths we may reasonably imagine that the complaisant carriage towards strangers which we find every-where practis'd by the inhabitants of this Country has in a great measure proceeded from their conversation with strangers who flock hither upon the strong conceit they have of the more then ordinary virtues of these waters They are generally a stout and hardy people inur'd to labour and toil or the severities of a Camp from their their Cradle Hence they come to be reckon'd as good Soldiers as any in the Emperor's Dominions And 't is not a little Honour the Country has got this last year 1681 in having their Marquise Herman made choice of to succeed the late famous Commander Montecuculi in the place of General of all the Imperial Forces No question the Marquises of this Country are descended of an ancient stock of Princes Marquises but of what old Family they are to be reputed a branch the German Heraulds can scarce determine Some fetch them from the Vrsins and others from the House of Della Scala or the Scaligers Some again labour to prove that Baden and Hochberg are different Families and others that they are but one Other Genealogists tell us that the Emperor Frideric Barbaressa brought Herman Marquise of Verona out of Italy and made him the first Marquise of Hochberg and Baden A. D. 1155. Which will very ill agree with what the best High Dutch Historians report of a Monastery being founded by Herman Marquise of Baden in his Village of Backenau A. D. 1116 which was confirm'd by Bruno Bishop of Spire in the year 1122. The most probable opinion is that they are descended from the ancient Counts of Vindonissa and Altemburg in Switzerland from whom also the Dukes of Zeringuen and Tek the Counts of Habspurg and the Arch-Dukes of Austria derive their original At present there are two Families of the Marquises of Baden whereof one is a profess'd Lutheran and the other a zealous Papist For this reason their interests seem different the Marquise of Durlach associating himself with the Count Palatine the Marquise of Brandenburg the Duke of Wirtenberg and the Count of Solms and the Marquise of Baden with the Dukes of Bavaria Savoy and Lorrain and the Princes of Hohernzollern Each of these Princes stiles himself Marquise of Baden and Hochberg Landgrave of Sausenberg Earl of Sponheim and Eberstein Lord of Rotel Badenweiler Lohr and Mahlberg The Chief Cities in the Marquisate of BADEN BADEN is the Metropolis of this Marquisate Baden and has its name from the vast number of Hot Baths in this place which are said to be above three hundred The Town stands amongst Hills on a craggy and uneven spot of ground so that there 's hardly a strait and plain street in it Some of the Baths are scalding hot and all of them running out of Rocks of Brimstone Salt and Allum have the same tast One of them is call'd the Kettle out of which the water boils at a wonderful rate reeking as if set over a Furnace These waters are reckon'd soveraign medicines for several diseases especially the Cramp and Gout both which distempers have been admirably cur'd by them For this reason there is a continual resort of the German Nobility and Gentry who flock hither in as great companies during the whole Summer as our English Gentry are wont to do to Bath in Somersetshire See Joh. Keiffer's description of the Baths of this Country 2. Durlach DURLACH is seated on the bank of the River Psintz at the bottom of a high hill on the top whereof stands a Tower wherein contintial watch is kept for the security of the City The streets in this Town are generally fair and strait and the buildings stately and uniform The Marquise's Palace far excells that at Baden and is large enough to receive the Court and Attendants of the greatest Monarch in Europe There is a Gymnasium kept up by some few Professors who read public Lectures in the several Faculties But that which is most worthy a Scholar's sight is the rare Collection of ancient Coins and Meddals in the Marquise's Cabinet and the Library adjoining wherein are some pieces of good note 3. PFORTZHEIM says Rhenanus Pfortzheim was anciently call'd Orcynheim and by Latin Authors Porta Hercyniae because 't is seated at the entrance into the Schwartzwald a part of the Hercynian Forest as you travel from Spire On one side of the Town you have fair Meadows Pasture-grounds and Corn-fields but the other side is nothing but Mountains and Woods This Town was formerly subject to the Dukes of Schwaben but fell afterwards upon the death of Conradine the last Duke of that Country into the hands of the Marquises of Baden who are now Lords of it 4. GERSBACH is a Town of no great extent Gersbach having in it only two Churches whereof one is frequented by Lutherans and the other by Papists The Marquises of Baden as Counts of Eberstein a Castle not far from this Town have here a Palace and Court of Judicature for the determining all Controversies and Law-suits arising within the bounds of this small County 5. BADENWEILER a City betwixt Freyburg and Basil Badenweiler is a part of the Marquisate of Baden tho seated in the Territories of Brisach The hot Baths of this