THE PRESENT STATE OF DENMARK By GVY MIEGE Author of the New Cosmography or Survey of the whole World LONDON Printed for Tho. Basset at the George in Fleetstreet near St. Dunstan's Church 1683. To His Royal Highness THE MOST ILLUSTRIOUS PRINCE GEORGE THE KING of Denmark's only Brother May it please Your Royal Highness THE Liberty I take to offer You this Work is not out of Presumption It is a Debt I come to pay an Homage I come to render to Your ROYAL HIGHNESS 'T is Your R.H. has occasion'd it upon the News of your happy Marriage with the Princess Which has diffused so great a Joy through the whole Nation that it had certainly broke out into Extraordinary and Publick Demonstrations at any other Conjuncture However it has created a Desire to know the estate of a Kingdom which has given us so Illustrious a Prince by his Birth so famous for his Courage and so Amiable by that Sweetness of Disposition which has already gained him so many Hearts in this Realm Therefore to satisfy the Publick I have undertaken this short Description of the State of Denmark in writing of which I had the advantage of speaking well of Denmark without having need to flatter And I am perswaded it will be so much the more Acceptable to Your ROYAL HIGHNESS and the Publick If it shall have the Fortune to please 't will be no small Satisfaction to me and I should think my self very happy to have done Something that had the Honour to be approved by so great a Prince For whom my Prayers to Heaven shall be to pour down its most benign Influences upon Your ROYAL HIGHNESS to crown your Marriage with a glorious Off-spring that this happy Alliance may prove an eternal Bond of Amity between the two Kingdoms of England and Denmark and that Your ROYAL HIGHNESS may all the days of your Life be the Delight of your Friends and Terrour of your Enemies I humbly beg of Y. R. H. to accept of these Marks of the Zeal I have for your Service and to believe that none can be with more Veneration than I am YOVR ROYAL HIGHNESSE'S Most humbly devoted Servant GVY MIEGE READER HERE you have a Short but Comprehensive Description of the State of Denmark which may be called Multum in Parvo The Occasion for Writing of it is easy to guess at Before the late Marriage of GEORGE Prince of Denmark with the Lady ANN the English had no other Interest in that Countrey but that of a Northern Trade And the Truth is few People minded it but such as traded that Way But now these two Crowns are come to a closer Vnion 't is worth our while to look back and to consider the State of that Monarchy wherein the English Nation has so great an Interest in the Prince's Person A Monarchy which has been in former times most formidable both to France and England and which has to this day the Command of the Baltick in a far better manner than the Venetians can pretend it of their Gulf. A Monarchy of great Latitude if we consider all the accessory Estates to the Crown of Denmark as the Kingdom of Norway with the Isles of Schetland Feroe and Iseland besides the Coast of Groenland in Terra Polaris Arctica and New-Denmark in the Northern America In Germany West of the Dutchy of Bremen the King of Denmark has got of late years the fruitful Counties of Oldenburg and Delmenhorst In Africk he has Frederixburg upon the Coast of Guinea besides some Holds in Asia As for the Kingdom of Denmark it self which is the main Thing of all I have had the advantage of knowing the Country not only by reading Authors upon that Subject but also by my own Experience when I was there an Attendant on the Right Honourable the Earl of Carlisle in his Northern Embassy's What material Changes have hapned there since I got out of my Memoires So that you have really in this small Tract the State of Denmark both Ancient and Modern Wherein you will find not only Geography but a great deal of History both Civil and Natural POSTSCRIPT Upon the finishing of this Book at the Press I was not a little surprised to see another get the start of it being of this very size upon the same Subject and bearing the same Title The Style whereof might have been more polite the Matter better digested the Impression much neater and the Faults less numerous had not the Book as I am informed been hurry'd into the World for the preventing of This. But some People will run though they make more Haste than good Speed ERRATA PAge 7. l. 2. for was read has p. 10. l. 12. for upon r. of p. 17. l. 13. 14. r. most part p. 31. l. 16. blot out formerly p. 108. l. 23. r. 64th p. 111. last line r. to drive p. 127. l. 10. r. to the Czar THE PRESENT STATE OF DENMARK A Prefatory Discourse of the Rise and Progress of this Monarchy THE State of Denmark the Description whereof I take in hand has been in former Ages a great and formidable State Gotricus or Godfrey was the first King of Note that took upon him the Danish Government Which hapned in the Year of our Lord 797. And 't was about this time that the Danes first began to infest the Coasts of England that they invaded Frizeland with a Fleet of 200 Sail and would have indangered the great Monarchy of France if the Death of Godfrey and the Quarrels that arose about the Succession after his Decease had not kept them off At last their Affairs at home being composed again they employ'd their whole Forces against England as the weaker Enemy This hapned in the beginning of the ninth Century that is in the time of Egbert the last King of the West-Saxons and the first of England Which being now reduced from a State of Heptarchy into that of a Monarchy was unhappily disturbed by these new Guests Who having filled up the void Rooms of the Juites and Angles in Jutland formerly called the Cimbrick Chersonese thought it convenient to follow them into Britain also So that next to the Saxons the Danes were the most considerable Actors in the Stage of England Where they continued about 225 years during which time they first erected many small Sovereignties Till after several Checks given them by King Alfred his Son Edward and Athelstan Edward's Son they were at last brought by King Edred under the English Government and compelled by him to be christened So that they lived with the English mixed in Marriages and Alliance and incorporated with them But toward the latter end of the tenth Century in the Reign of King Ethelred a weak Prince the Danes began again to grow upon the English Insomuch that the King was sain to buy his Peace of them at the yearly Tribute of ten thousand Pounds inhanced soon after to forty thousand A vast Sum in those Times which was
Germans called all Thieves Cimbers These Cimbri having left their Peninsule the Saxons Jutes and Angles took Possession of it And upon the Removal of these into Britain the greatest part of it was peopled by the Danes who dwelt in the Islands The Danes in general are of a good Stature clear of Complexion well coloured for the most part healthful and long lived Their Language is but a Dialect of the German Tongue From which it does however so differ that the Danes and Germans cannot understand one another unless they do first converse some time together As to their Inclinations they do not vary much therein from the Swedes and Germans Only they are look'd upon to be more crafty than the latter and more ambitious than the former The Women are fair courteous and good Houswives fruitful in bearing of Children and yet delivered of them with great difficulty For Men of Learning they have had Tyche Brahe that renowned Astronomer Hemingius a well known Divine Bartholinus a Physician and Philosopher of very good esteem John Cluverus the Historian c. For great Captains Gotricus or Godfrey who setled the Government of this Kingdom and indangered the great Monarchy of France Sueno and Canute the fortunate Conquerours of England Waldemar III. a right valiant Prince but unsuccessful in his Wars against the Hanse-Towns Christiern II. a great Commander but a cruel Prince Christiern IV. little inferiour to many of his Predecessors Amongst whom we may list Queen Margaret the Semiramis of these Northern Countries a Lady of a Masculine Spirit no less fortunate than daring in her Enterprises This Nation was converted to the Christian Faith in the time of King Harold about 650 years ago Till then it cannot be said that the Christian Religion was rooted here though I read of some Christian Kings before this as Eric and Froto both living in the ninth Century Neither was the Gospel so well fix'd in Harold's time but that the Danes relapsed still for the most part to their ancient Heathenism till they were finally regained by Pope Adrian the Fourth an Englishman In process of time the Popes of Rome would needs pretend some Power and Jurisdiction over them Which when they began to exercise with too much Authority King Waldemar III. the Father of Queen Margaret is said to have return'd this Answer Naturam habemus à Deo Regnum à Subditis Divitias à Parentibus Religionem à Romanâ Ecclesiâ quam si nobis invides renuntiamus per Praesentes That is to say We hold our Life from God our Crown from our Subjects our Riches from our Ancestors our Religion from the Church of Rome which Religion if you envy us we do here remit it by these Presents But this Renunciation though then threatned was not made till afterwards King Frederick I. was he that abolished the whole Mass of Popery using therein the Ministry of Bugenhage a Divine of Pomeren by whom the Danes were reformed according to the Doctrine of the Lutheran Churches And ever since they have continued in that state of Reformation wherein the Church of Denmark differs not much from the Church of England For as they have rejected several Errors and Abuses of the Church of Rome so they have still retained a settled and prescribed Liturgy for all their Churches most of the Holy-days observed in the former Ages the Cross in Baptism Kneeling at the Communion and many other practicable Ceremonies transmitted to us from the Primitive Church The main Point wherein they differ as Lutherans from all other Protestants is the Article of Consubstantiation whereby they believe that in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper the Elements of Bread and Wine remain in Substance with the real Body and Blood of our Saviour after the Consecration Of the Danish Government THis Kingdom has been till of late Elective and not Hereditary whatever Heylin pretends to the contrary 'T is true the Danes have usually preferred the Royal Family and set the eldest Son on the Throne of his Father But because the House of Austria for example has hitherto injoy'd the Imperial Crown above 240 years successively I hope it do's not follow therefore that the Empire is not Elective 'T is well known that in Denmark after the death of Christopher the Crown was transferred to the House of Oldenburg who held it on no other ground but by that of Election And about 160 years ago was not King Christiern II. outed of his Estate and Frederick advanced unto it But Dr. Heylin eludes that by saying that such things have hapned in Estates that were clearly Hereditary and ought to make no Precedent and that Acts of Violence and Force are only justifi'd by the false Topick of Success When all is done 't is undeniable that the Crown of Denmark was formerly Elective if we consider that it was made in due form Hereditary no longer ago than the year 1660 in the Person of King Frederick Which hapned thus soon after the Treaty concluded that very year betwixt his Majesty and the now King of Sweden The Clergy and Commonalty had been always jealous of the great Power of the Nobility and more particularly during the War with Sweden They therefore being now armed especially the People and consequently capable of all things secretly combined together as well out of hate to the Nobles as out of gratitude to the King for his Fortitude in preserving of them to make him Hereditary Monarch of their Crown Their declared Reasons were that being his Majesty had undergone in his War with Sweden all imaginable Dangers and that he had with admirable Constancy and Magnanimmity demonstrated his affection and willingness in Conservation of his People and Kingdom they were of opinion that so great Benefits ought not to be let pass without the demonstration and some extraordinary Marks of their Gratitude Which could not be better expressed than by presenting the Crown to his Majesty's Line by Succession Wherein they were the more incouraged by the Example of a neighbouring Kingdom meaning that of Sweden where the same Thing had been done with good Success and notable Advantage to the People This Resolution being taken these two States appointed Deputy's to inform the Senators of their design and desired them to communicate it to the Nobles whom they acknowledged to be the first and most conspicuous Part of the Whole They farther wished them to cooperate in perswading them to a Compliance in this Point that they might all joyntly agree in so reasonable and plausible an Undertaking After great Deliberation they were answered that the Proposition was not so new but that several Discourses had been had about it heretofore and that very important Reasons had been produced Pro and Con in the matter But that the Nobility could not forbear complaining of the Informality used herein namely that a Business of so great weight should not only come abroad so secretly and without the least Communication but also positively be
't is observable besides that in Imitation of the Picts Wall in England there was within few miles South of Sleswick a long Trench and Wall from the one Sea to the other so broad that a Chariot or two Horsemen a breast might ride upon it The same was first built by Gotricus or Godfrey King of Denmark in the time of Charles the Great either to stop the Current of his Victories or to hinder the daily Incursions of the Saxons The Tract thereof still very easy to be seen is called Danewark to this day South of the Dukedom of Sleswick lies that of Holstein A woody Country called Holstein from the Dutch word Holt which signifies a Wood or Forest The River Eyder divides it Northward from Sleswick Westward it is bounded partly with the Elb and Eastward with the Baltick The River Elb one of the five great Rivers of Germany divides it from the Dukedom of Bremen and further Southward it is bounded with the Dukedom of Saxen Lawemburg This Country is divided into four principal Parts viz. Dithmarsen North-westward Holstein properly so called Stormaren Southward and Wageren North-castward First Holstein specially so called together with Stormaren was made an Earldom by the Emperour Lotharius Anno 1134. in the Person of Adolph Earl of Schomburg who had deserved well of him in his Wars And when Christiern Earl of Oldenburg was called to the Crown of Denmark Anno 1448 he having gotten Dithmarsen of the Emperour Frederick the Third prevailed so far as to have the whole Estate erected into a Dukedom to be held by him and his Successors of the sacred Empire The famous Hanse-Towns of Hamburg and Lubeck that on the Elb and this on the Trave both on the Borders of Holstein and Germany are reckoned as Towns of Holstein though neither of them subject to the King of Denmark nor to the Dukes of Holstein Hamburg is of that part of Holstein which is called Stormaren about sixteen German miles from Bremen in Germany six East of Staden and eight West of Lubeck It is built at the Influx of the Alster into the Elb in a large Plain with fat and rich Pastures round about it the Ships coming up to it a great way with the Tide This is an ancient City great populous beautiful and rich and a Place of vast Trading There is the old and new Town both surrounded with good Walls and well fortified The Buildings for the most part are of Brick the Streets somewhat narrow but the publick Structures very fair especially the Council-house adorned with the Statues of the nine Worthies carved with very great Art then the Exchange or Meeting-place for Merchants and amongst the Churches S. Nicolas and S. Catharines Church this last having a marble Chair with Figures of Alabaster and Ornaments of Gold most delicately wrought It is observed says Heylin that there were in this Town at one time 177 Brewers when there was but forty Bakers one Lawyer and one Physician The Reason of which Disproportion was that a Cup of Nimis was their usual Physick that Bread was counted a Binder and so not to be used but in case of Necessity and that their Differences were sooner ended over a Can than by course of Law This formerly was the Staple Town for English Cloth from whence on some Discontents it was removed to Stade and at last to Holland Anciently Hamburg was an Archbishops See founded by Charles the Great but transferred to Bremen Anno 850 with the Consent of Lewis the then Emperour Moreri says that Hamburg was sometime subject to the Archbishops of Bremen that afterwards the Hamburgers were under particular Lords of their own and at last came to be under the Dukes of Holstein But Heylin having told us that this City was repaired by Charles the Great and walled by the Emperour Henry the Fourth says further that it was accounted since that time an Imperial City and made one of the Hanse upon the first Incorporating of those Towns Which notwithstanding upon a Controversy arising about that time betwixt the Earl of Holstein and the People of Hamburg this Town was adjudged to belong to the Earls of Holstein and that Determination ratify'd by Charles the Fourth Anno 1374. In pursuance whereof the Hamburgers took the Oath of Allegiance to Christiern Earl of Oldenburg the first King of Denmark of that House as Earl of Holstein acknowledging him and his Successors for their lawful Lords But since that time they have slip'd their Necks out of the Collar and having took upon themselves to live as a free State they only pay some small Duty to the King of Denmark as Duke of Holstein and that rather by way of a Toll upon the account of Gluckstad that lies betwixt Hamburg and the Mouth of the River Elb than on any other account However the King of Denmark seems to have a just Claim to Hamburg and he never draws near it with any Forces but the Hamburghers jealous of their Liberty and perhaps conscious of their Guilt put themselves into a Posture of Defence In order to which besides their constant Garrison and the promised Assistance of the rest of the Hanse-Towns upon all occasions they can raise about fifteen thousand Citizens in Arms to stand for their Liberty Lubeck the chief of all the Hanse Towns was at first but a goodly Borough which Adolphus Earl of Holstein built Anno 1143. in the time of the Emperour Conrade III. But it was so well priviledged by the said Earl and his next Successors that in a short time it bid defiance to its Founders and was made a Dukedom of it self By the Emperour Frederick I. it was united to the Empire but after his Death they chose themselves another Duke Who having governed them five Years was subdued by the Danes and the City made subject to that Kingdom In which Condition they remained till delivered by the Emperour Frederick II by whom being infranchised again it became Imperial and was afterwards listed amongst the Hanse Towns Anno 1500. John King of Denmark attempted to reduce this City under his Obedience which War broke out again in the year 1509 and then the Swedes espoused the Lubeckers Quarrel Anno 1547 in Charles the fifth's time they sent their Deputy's to the Emperour to get a Continuation of their Privileges for which they presented his Imperial Majesty with 100000 Crowns Anno 1562. they ingaged in a War with Eric King of Sweden which War continued till the year 1570. Ever since this City has been in a flourishing Condition And though it has been burnt down several times particularly in the year 1238 yet it raised it self always out of its Ashes T is built upon all the sides of a rising Hill on the top whereof stands the Church of St. Mary whence is a descent to all the Gates of the City affording to the eye a most pleasing Prospect The Buildings are very beautiful and all of Brick the Streets strait and even