there no small fish as Cods c. and few great ones nor any bones of Whales Morsses or the like found upon the shore nor any drift wood 3. Because in 65 deg 30 min. the ice lay all in rands which he believes to be produc'd as in the shoal'd Bays For had there been any Ocean beyond it it would have been broken to pieces as they found it coming thro the Strait into the Sea Eastward 4. Because the ice seeks its way out to the Eastward driving out at Hudsons Straits But if there be any passage it is very narrow and the voyoge very long nor can any large Vessels fit to merchandise be able to endure the ice and other incommodities as the long nights cold snows frosts c. P. 24. col 2. l. 36. till Vasile Ivanowitz about the year 1509. P. 36. col 2. l. 63. as 5509 â— 1679. ibid. l. 66 7188-5509 P. 36. col 1. l. 41. Hungary About the year 1188 Bela was King of Hungary perhaps the original of the Imperial Family of the Russes the time corresponding very well P. 39. col 2. l. 1. del whose name seems to have been Zac. Litspenow l. 67. He died in the forty-ninth year of his age and two and thirtieth of his reign in the year 1677 and left his son Feodor Alexowich a young Prince of about ninteen years of age who reigns this present year 1680. In the Description of Sweden The times of the Kings supply thus the 6th began his reign A. M. 2014 the 25th the times of the rest being uncertain began A. M. 2637 the 26th A. M. 2712 the 27th A. M. 2831 the 31th the intermediate being also uncertain A. M. 3031 the 32th A. M. 3060 the 33th A. M. 3125 the 34th A. M. 3174 the 35th 3252 the 36th A. M. 3551 the 46th A. D. 3916 the 47th Ericus III. A. M. 3929 in whose time according to Loccenius whose computation we have here follow'd conceives our Saviour to have been born A MAP of the NORTH-POLE and the PARTS ADIONING OXON At the THEATER MDCLXXX NOVA ZEMBLA In the Philosophicll Transactions of a o 1674 n 101 there is set down a Description of a Nova Zembla as it was sent to the Royall Society from a Russia Merchant and discovered by order of the Grand Czaar but there being not joyned to it either Longitude Latitude or other measure we though it better to follow the two newest Maps one printed at Amsterdam a o 1678 the other at Nuremberg 1679 and to place this by itselfe which shews it not an Iland but joyned with the Continent at the letter K. K. To the Right honble Charles Fitz Charles Earle of Plymouth Viscount Totnes and Baron Dartmouth This Map is Humbly Dedicated by M Pitt Letter C. stands for Cape I. Iland M. Mount P. Point R. River S. Sound OXON … UNIV DOMINUS ILLVMINATIO MEA GREENLAND GREENLAND â—â—e Siâ—â—ation of Greenland call'd by the Dutch Spitsbergen because of its sharp-pointed Rocks and Mountains lies from 76 Degrees of Northerly Latitude to 82 but how much farther as also whether Island or Continent is not yet discover'd for as much as no man hitherto is known to have passed beyond that Our Mariners generally conceive it an Island the Dutch only say that they believe the Land to reach more North because the Ice they found was not broken and floating as in the Sea but firm and stable as continued to the shoar The South part of it looks towards the Promontories of Finland and Lapland North-Cape North-Kin c. The next Land on the West is the large Country of Groenland and Nova Zembla on the East but these at so vast a distance that they cannot be reckon'd as its confines or neighbours The Dutch attribute the first discovery of it to three of their own Pilots The Discovery of Greenland and have given most of the names to the Creeks and Promontories according to their own fancy Which diligence had our men used from time to time as also been careful to make Charts as our industrious Neighbours oblige their Shipmasters to do divers discoveries had been asserted to this Nation which are now almost disputed from us L. 4. c. 17. The Dutch gave names saith Purchas upon this very occasion to places long before discovered by the English as if themselves had been the finders I shall instance only in these discoveries which strangers as you may see in Hackluit attribute to us Vol. 1. â— 512 513 c. But the Dutch tho following our steps endeavour to assert them to three of their own Pilots ann 1596 who searching for a passage to the East-Indies light upon Greenland these were Jacob Heemskerck William Barents and John Cornelis Ryp what these men effected will be best known by their own Journal recorded by Purchas June 7 1696 they were in 74 Degrees the water as green as grass by the way it were worth enquiry whether this be not the cause of the blue Ice which is by every one noted as peculiar to these Coasts June 9 they were upon Cherry or Bear-Island in 74 Degrees and 13 Minutes the variation of the needle was 13 Degrees June 13 they departed thence North and by East 16 Dutch miles June 14 15 they continued their course 20 miles June 16 17 18 they continued 30 miles June 19 they saw land at 80 Degrees and 11 Minutes and sailed Southward upon the Western Coast till 79 deg 30 m. where they found a good road but could not land because of Ice June 20 they kill'd a mighty Bear whose skin was 13 foot long they found also a very good Haven and good anchorage on the East were two Islands on the West a great Creek or a River where they found many Geese sitting upon their Eggs of a perfect red colour such as come once a year into some parts of Holland as it should seem from this place This land they supposed to be Greenland the Compass varied 16 deg June 23 they weighed Anchor but were forced back with Ice 25 They weighed Anchor again and sailed Southward coasting till they entred into a River whence they got not to Sea again till the 27th 28 They kept on their course Southward where there were so many Fowls that they flew against their Sails and Masts 30 They were in 75 deg July 1 they saw Cherry or Bear-Island This is all that I can find concerning their voyage To this I shall oppose two voyages the first of Sir Hugh Willoughby 1553 the other of Steven Burrows 1556. The Dutch do not allow Sir Hugh Willoughby to have passed Seynam Blaeu's Maps which is in 70 deg and that also in 1571. Yet in their Maps they call a small Island by the name of Willoughby's Land of which our men know nothing except it be the same with Hope Island a part of Greenland as it is most likely for the land he discover'd was a large Country by the
which they say happens frequently in the great and sandy Desarts But these are very few and I suppose as easily blown asunder as brought together However these deserve here no particular consideration This rising of the Earth in large Continents is doubtless very great tho none either have or will ever be at the trouble and charge to measure it yet some estimation may be made by the length and swiftness of Rivers It is commonly said that a Ship is not able to sail against that stream whose declivity is one pace in an hundred yet some declivity there must be and as they say seldom is it less then one in five hundred Suppose then the Nile which runs in the greatest Continent Africk which we know in the world it disembogues into the Mediterranean Sea in 31 deg of Northerly Latitude and ariseth out of the Lake Zaire which is in 10 deg or as some say 14 of Southerly Latitude in all 41 deg which comes to about 2460 miles English if running streight but because of its bendings it may be well estimated 3000 miles which allowing two foot to a mile comes to six thousand feet if it move with as slow a motion as can be but considering that it is a swift River the mud not setling till it come to the Sea and hath in it divers great Cataracts the Lake of Zaire must needs be much higher then the mouth of Nilus But the height of mountains is more certainly and easily known and divers of them have been measured as one of the highest hills betwixt Yorkshire and Lancashire Pendle-hill if I be not mis-informed was not found to exceed half a mile in perpendicular height Olympus somewhat above a mile and some others as El Pico in the Isle of Teneriffe yet higher But the certainty we know not The manner of measuring and calculating is thus which is much easier in such a mountain as Teneriff or Pendle-hill being one peak or top standing in a plain then in those Juga or ledges of mountains which run thro and divide most of the great Continents of the world whereof the highest may be still higher then the other Let b c d represent a mountain whose height a c is thus found Take two stations in a straight line from it the first at b not far from the foot the other at e a considerable distance from it from each of these stations take the angles at the top b c a e c a then out of 90 subduct b c a the remainder is the angle c b a which also being subducted from 90 the remainder is the angle c b e. Therefore in the triangle c b e we have one side e b viz. the distance of the two stations which must be exactly measured and all the angles for c e b is the complement of the other two to 180 then say As the sine of the angle e c b is to the side e b So is the sine of the angle c e b to b c. Having then in the rectangular triangle b c a one side b c and all the angles for a b c is the complement of b c a to 90 say then As the Radius is to the sine of b c a So is b c to c a the height By the Quadrat Divide 10000 by the number of parts cut at each station then say As the difference of the Quotients is to the distance betwixt the statitions So is 100 to the height This great Globe is not only divided into Land and Water Divisions of the Earth but many other ways in respect to them As some are Continents which are great parts of Land without any Sea Islands are small parts encompassed by water Peninsula or Chersonesus is a part of Land which would be called an Island were it not for an Isthmus or neck of land which joins it to the Continent A Mountain or Rock jutting out into the Sea is called a Promontory Cape or Headland Again the Ancients divided all they knew of the Earth into three parts Europe Asia and Africa of each of these in their several places but another Hemisphere having been lately discovered there is commonly added to these America as the fourth part Others also name two more the Lands under the North and South Poles which indeed were not comprehended in the former division yet because we know not whether there be Land or only Sea as under the North Pole seems to be it is not expedient to account them distinct parts till better discovered Our Mariners that went with design to pass under or near the North Pole in their search of a passage to China and arrived as far as 82 deg of Latitude found nothing but some few Islands the rest as they could see being in the midst of Summer nothing but Ice Some do imagine that the three parts of the habitable world received their division from the three Sons of Noah and C ham indeed obtained Africa but Japhet dwelt in the Tents or habitations of Shem tho in process of time his posterity seems to have peopled the greatest part of Europe The reason of the names we despair of knowing they having been forgotten even in Herodotus's time there is no hopes now of retrieving them See the discourse concerning the Map of Europe Lastly the parts of the Land before-mentioned The particular observations in the descriptions are very opportune for the separating and distinguishing Countries Nations and Governments The knowledge and consideration whereof is the chiefest and most useful design of this whole Work and all others of the like nature For it little conduceth to know places unless we be also informed of what is contained what actions performed and what concerns our selves may have in them In those therefore we shall consider the names situation bounds of each Country as also what Cities Havens Towns Forts likewise what Mountains Valleys Caves Fountains and other such remarkable and to us and our Country unusual things as nature it self hath formed To which shall be added the condition and quality of the soil and its productions in order to the discovering what in every place abounds and what therein may be communicated to other Countries or what may probably be carried to them in order to trade In every Nation also account shall be given of their original Language Manners Religion Employments c. that if any art or science useful to society be there eminent it may be transferred into our own Country Much more considerable are their Governments Civil and Military their Magistrates Laws Assemblies Courts Rewards and Punishments and such like Neither must we omit the manner of educating their youth in arts liberal and mechanick taught in their Schools Universities Monasteries Shops also and the like Their manner of providing for their poor of all sorts either in Hospitals or Workhouses Lastly it will be expected that we give an account of the History or actions and successes of each
nearest distance betwixt the two places measured by the arc of a great Circle is the other side But this case hath so many varieties and intricacies that it will be too tedious to set down the whole operation especially because it is in effect the same problem with that in Navigation Having the difference of Longitude and Latitude betwixt two places to find out the degrees of the Rumb leading to them which may be more properly demonstrated in another Volume to be set forth concerning such matters An easie method and sufficiently accurate for ordinary use is to extend your Compasses from one place to the other and then to apply them to the Equator and mark how many degrees they set off there which being multiplied by 60 gives their distance in miles But indeed the most accurate observers find that about 66 miles and a quarter answer to a degree in the Equator so that 60 is used only for the roundness of the number and readiness of computation every mile according to this rate answering to a minute which would be a very strange and happy chance if it were exactly so This may be discovered by several ways but the most practicable and certain is by taking the height of the Pole at two places distant Northward one from the other about an hundred miles or as much more as may be and then taking the true distance and situation of one place from the other by a large surveying Instrument and Scale made by an accurate workman not going always along the High-ways but from bystations observing Churches and such remarkable places The miles and other measures are so much different in one Nation from what they are in another yea in one part of the same Nation from what they are in another that they cannot without a great deal of difficulty and uncertainty be reduced to one common standard hence it is that often in the same Map we have a triple scale of miles the longest shortest and mean ones The Italian mile is commonly reckon'd equal to the English Two of these make a French League somewhat more then three of them a Spanish League four of them a German mile five and somewhat more a Swedish or Danish mile What hath been farther attempted for the reduction of shorter foreign measures to our English foot may be seen in the following table  English Feet Inch. 10th part English Foot 00 12 00 Rynland or Lynden which was the old Roman Foot 01 00 04 Leyden Ell 02 03 01 Paris Foot 01 00 08 Lyon Ell 03 11 07 Bologna Ell 02 00 08 Amsterdam Foot 00 11 03 Ell 02 03 02 Brill Foot 01 01 02 Dort Foot 01 02 02 Antwerp Foot 00 11 03 Ell 02 03 03 Lorain Foot 00 11 04 Mechlin Foot 00 11 00 Middleburg Foot 00 11 09 Strasburg Foot 00 11 00 Bremen Foot 00 11 06 Cologn Foot 00 11 04 Frankford and Menain Foot 00 11 04 Ell 01 09 09 Hamburg Ell 01 10 08 Leipsig Ell 02 03 01 Lubic Ell 01 09 08 Noremburgh Foot 01 00 01 Ell 02 03 03 Bavaria Foot 00 11 04 Vienna Foot 01 00 06 Spanish or Castile Palm 00 09 00 Spanish Vare or Rod 03 00 00 Foot 01 00 00 Lisbon Vare 02 09 00 Gibralter Vare 02 09 01 Toledo Foot 00 10 07 Vare 02 08 02 Roman Larger Foot 00 11 01 Roman Lesser Foot 00 11 06 Roman Palm ten making a Canna 00 08 08 Bononia Foot 01 02 04 Ell 02 01 07 Perch 12 00 05 Florence Ell or Brace 01 11 00 Naples Palm 00 09 06 Brace 02 01 02 Canna 06 10 05 Genoa Palm 00 09 06 Mantoua Foot 01 06 08 Milan Calamus 06 06 05 Parma Cubit 01 10 04 Venice Foot 01 01 09 Dantzick Foot 00 11 03 Ell 01 10 08 Copenhagen Foot 00 11 06 Prague in Bohemia Foot 01 00 03 Riga Foot 01 09 09 China Cubit 01 00 02 Turin Foot 01 00 07 Cairo Cubit 01 09 09 Persian Arash 03 02 03 Constantinople greater Pike 02 02 04 Greek Foot 01 00 01 PAge 7. col 2. l. 29. in the Transactions of the Royal Society ann 1674 n. 101 it is mentioned that the Grand Tzaar sent to discover Nova Zembla and found it a Peninsula join'd to Tartary as in the Map which if true we cannot well imagine how Barents should winter upon it nor how divers other relations agree to it as concerning Waygatz and the like tho the French Surgeon seems to make it also continued to the main land In sum it is most probable that very little of those parts is discovered they who sail thither not tracing from Port to Port but because of the ill weather harbouring where they first approach and departing as soon as they can In the year 1676 the industrious and ingenious Seaman Capt. Wood was again sent out by his Majesty King Charles II. to make a more perfect discovery of that North-East passage perswaded unto it by divers relations of our own and Dutch Mariners who reported many things concerning it which Capt. Wood upon his own experience conceives to be false as that they were either under or near the Pole that it was there all thaw'd water and the weather as warm as at Amsterdam c. He saith further that himself could pass no further then 76 deg where he found the Sea as far as he could discern entirely frozen without intermission That it is most likely that Nova Zembla and Greenland are the same Continent at least that there is no passage between them for that he found scarce any current and that little which was ran E. S. E. along the ice and seemed only to be a small tide rising not above eight foot That whilst he was in that degree there was nothing but Fogs Frost Snow and all imaginable ill weather tho at the same time the heat seemed to be as great as at any time in England That the land where not cover'd with Snow was so boggy that they could not walk upon it being grown over with a deep moss under which they dug in less then two foot to a firm body of ice so that it was impossible to make any Cave for their winter-lodging had they been forced to it There were great store of rills of very good waters and some veins of black Marble The point he landed at he call'd Speedill point in 76 deg 30 min. the Sea-water was extraordinary salt and so clear that he could see the shells at 80 fathoms deep The like opinion also Capt. James hath deliver'd concerning the North-West passage which is That there is no passing that way to China Japan c. because there is a constant tide ebb and flood setting into Hudsons Straits the flood still coming from the Eastward which as it procedes correspondent to the distance it alters its time of full Sea which also entring into Bays and broken ground becomes distracted and reverseth with half tides 2. Because he found
from Bructeri an antient people of Germany who say they conquered and peopled these parts The most probable opinion is that the Prussians are the same with the Borusci a people formerly inhabiting some parts of Russia about the Raphaean mountains whence they were driven out by excessive snows and cold For to omit the affinity there is among the three words Borusci Borussi and Prussi the antient language of the Prussians is onely a dialect of the Russian as we shall have occasion to shew by and by Who were the first inhabitants of Prussia is harder to find out then the etymology of the word Many as well ancient as modern Geographers think Eridanus and the Insulae Electrides so famous for the Electrum or Amber carryed all Greece and Italy over were in this country But who in those days peopled the land they dare not determine The most likely story is that the Venedi or Venedae a large branch of the Slavonian Nation were here seated This seems plain from the words of Ptolomy who tells us the Venedi upon the Vistula had on the South the Phinni and Gythones And Cluverius confirms the assertion from several places in Liefland which to this day retain the names of Wenden Windaw Vschewende c. Hence came the mistake of the Latin Poets who having read that Electrum was brought from the Venedi confounded these people with the Venetians of Italy and fancied Padus was the ancient Eridanus Besides the Venedi the Galindae and Sudini are here placed by Ptolomy and Hartknoch proves from the idolatrous worship used formerly in Prussia that the Goths were sometime masters of the country The Aelii and Aelvaeones reckon'd by some writers as the ancient inhabitants of Prussia were Goths At this day the Prussians are a kind of heterogeneous people made up of Swedes Polanders Germans and others of the neighbouring Nations The whole country is bounded on the North with the Baltick Sea for fifty German or two hundred English miles together on the East with Lithvania and Podlachia on the South with Masovia on the West with the Vistula which separates it from Cassubia and part of Pomeren The chief Rivers in it are the Vistula Nemeni Cronon called by the Natives at this day Mimel and near the mouth of it Russ Nogat Elbing Vuser Passar Alla Pregol Ossa Vrebnicz Lice and Lave By the help of these and the convenient havens which are every-where found upon the Baltick shore all the commodities of the country are easily exported and foreign wares brought in The inhabitants are generally strong-body'd and long liv'd Adam Brememsis in his description of Denmark and the Northern parts of Europe tells us the Prussians were grey-ey'd and yellow-hair'd The same opinion the ancients had of all the Northern Nations whence Sidonius Apollinaris speaking of the Heruli who doubtless came out of this country saith Hic glaucis Herulus genis vagatur Imos Oceani colens recessus Algoso prope concolor profundo And Ausonius speaking of Bissula a Swabish Virgin taken captive by the Romans says of her Sic Latiis mutata bonis Germana maneret Vt facies oculos caerula flava comis But since the Prussians have mix'd themselves with other Nations and admitted of the modish luxury of the rest of the European countries they are neither so healthy nor of the same complexion as formerly The apparel of the Prussian-Gentry is not much different from tho not altogether so gaudy as that of the more Southern Nations The Rusticks wear after the fashion of their forefathers long and strait coats of course wool or leather 'T is reckon'd an argument of more then ordinary riches if a Yeoman be able to purchase an holiday Suit of course English cloth Tho the Venedi as Tacitus witnesses were the first of the Scythian race that forsook their waggons which their ancestors were wont to live in and begun to build houses yet their successors are not yet arrived at any great curiosity in Architecture Near the Vistula indeed which is the ancient seat of the Venedi the houses are magnificent in comparison of the wooden huts which you meet with towards the wild confines of Lithvania Tacitus tells us the Phenni who dwelt in these parts had no other shelter from the injuries of the weather and wild beasts then the boughs of trees twisted together And to this day the invention is not much improved for the rude commonalty have yet no other habitation then hovels made of stakes interwoven with rods and cover'd with earth at best a little fern The many incursions which have been made into this country upon the several late quarrels of the Dukes of Brandenburgh with the Polander and Swede have forced them to raise some Castles and Fortifications of stone but otherwise a stone-house is as rare as a coat of English Freeze Nor is there any greater advancement made in their lodgings for the ancient Prussians lay on the ground or sometimes on the skins of beasts and these sleep on straw They are naturally content with spare diet and more given to sloth then gluttony or drunkenness The most ordinary food they have is fish their land abounding with great store of Rivers and Lakes to the number as they have been formerly reckon'd by some of their Monks of two thousand thirty and seven They never used to eat herbs or any manner of roots before the Teutonick order came among them So that it seems not so natural to man if we may judge of mans nature by the actions of these men who had never yet studyed luxury in variety of meat and drink to feed upon the fruits of the earth as Aristotle in his Oeconomicks would perswade us The drinks used heretofore in Prussia as well as the neighbouring Countries were water Mares-milk mixed sometimes with blood and Mead. This last is still much in use among them and made in such quantities that they can afford to send it into other Nations From the Germans they have learned the art of brewing beer They have been alwaies and are still both men and women much given to drunkenness seldome or never keeping holiday without a fit of it and judging they have not made a friend welcome enough except the whole family be drunk in the entertainment TRACTUUM BORUSSIA circum Gedanum et Elbingam ab incolis WERDER appellati cum adiuncta NERINGIA nova et elaboratissima delineatio Authore Olao Ioannis Gotho 〈…〉 To the â—orp WILLIAM PEACHEY Esq of New Grovâ— in SUssex This Mapp is Hum bly Dedicated The Prussians as we have said had little or no knowledge of the use of mony before the arrival of the Teutonick order among them in the year 1230. These men coming out of Germany brought with them the coin of their Country Among the rest of their peices of mony the broad Bohemian Gross was long currant both in Prussia and Poland But not judging that small stock they had brought with them sufficient to furnish the Country with
fountain of the laws By these Governours and Deputies agreeeing together Tributes are exacted and Taxes levied According to an order of the Senate held at Lyncopen 1599 they were to keep Courts of Justice twice in every year all of them meeting in the Winter time about February at Vpsal at the publick Fair called Disting and in Summer at Lyncopen States or Orders of men in this Kingdom there are says Bureus six 1. Princes of the Blood Royal Nobility Clergy Souldiery Merchantry and Commonalty 1. Princes of the Blood The Princes of the Blood-Royal are disposed of by the King according to their age and capacity The eldest as was said is Heir apparent to the Crown The younger are commonly created Dukes and made Governours of Provinces of Vpsal first and the rest in order of dignity These after the death of their elder brother if he dye without issue have right to succeed in the Throne 2. Nobility The Nobility which is said to have descended from King Ingon or Harold of Norway and spred through Germany Suitzerland Spain c. when the Goths invaded the Roman Empire It is divided into three ranks or orders 1. Consists of Earls and Barons or Franck-Barons The Earls Jerl anciently were created only upon extraordinary accounts as were also their Dukes called Hertog neither of their titles being then hereditary A war happening between them and some of their Kings their Honour and Titles were for some ages quite laid aside till King Ericus XIV about the year 1560 first of all renewed these lost Titles and restored them to their owners which gracious favour of his was follow'd by his successors they not only conferring like honour during life but at present making it hereditary The second consists of those whose ancestors have been advanc't to the honour of Senators of the Kingdom The third sort is made up of those who are neither Counts nor Barons and whose ancestors have not been of the Senatorian Order of these Orders may be either their Knights for their valour created by the King whose Titles are not transmitted to their Heirs tho frequently upon equal desert confer'd on them or Gentlemen who are the lowest degree of the Nobility anciently called Affwappen either because they were expert in war or bore a Coat of Arms. All these Noblemen enjoy great priviledges and immunities All their estates are free from taxes and impositions so much only out of the Lands of Earls and Barons excepted as they at their creation receive of the King for which they pay some acknowledgment to the Crown only in time of war and all exigences whatever they are obliged to fit out horses and men for the Kings service proportionable to their estates Out of these are commonly elected the Senators Judges and chief Officers of the Kingdom men of low birth tho of considerable parts seldom advancing themselves into places of great trust and employment in Civil affairs in Ecclesiastical more frequently The estates of these Noblemen are inherited as well by their daughters as their sons the son if one having half and a daughter three parts of them which custom King Bergerus Jerl is said to have made and brought in about four ages ago 3. The Clergy Clergy concerning whom what we find is set down under Vpsal 4. The Souldiery 〈◊〉 which enjoys very great priviledges from the King as soon as any is listed Souldier he has over and above his ordinary pay all his Lands Tax-free if in time of war a Souldiers horse be killed under him the King provides him with another and if any be taken Captive by the Enemy the King redeems him at his own charges and such like which we shall mention when we speak of the Forces of the Kingdom 5. The Merchantry Merchantry in whose possession the most considerable part of the riches of the Kingdom is kept and by whose procurement forreign Commodities are imported For the good government and benefit of these every Maritime City and Mart-Town had anciently their particular Municipal Laws derived from Berca the ancient seat of their Kings and about 600 year ago a Town of the greatest trade in the Kingdom by these it was ordered how and in what manner the Maritime Cities might exercise Trade as well with Inland Towns as Forreigners what Commodities they might traffick with not hindring one anothers commerce c. These laws were by the Civil wars in the Kingdom quite neglected and for a long time out of use but by the care of some of the late Kings they or some equivalent to them begin to be restored and put in Execution 6 The last and lowest state Commonalty and as it were the Basis of the rest is the Commonalty called Bond or Beond of which there are two sorts 1. Named Scatbonder who have Hereditary Lands priviledges of fishing and fowling c. belonging to them these in time of war are bound to fit out one Horse and Man for the Kings service The second sort are those that labour in the Mines called Bergs-men no less profitable to the publick then the former and enjoy no less priviledges and immunities both possessing Estates and Fishery of their own and like the Commons of England having their Representatives in the publick Council of the Kingdom Of these some by reason of their freedom and advantage of Education which is denyed the Pesantry of other Countrys sometimes arrive at great honours in Church and State the famous King Ericus furnamed the Saint is said to have been a Country-mans son The Swedes as all other Nations were for a long time governed only by the laws of nature the confus'd edicts of their Kings Decrees of the States and Responses of the wise till about the year 1251 Bergerus Jerl compiled a body of Laws and Constitutions for the Kingdom collected out of the former These before the invention of Paper were engraven upon large wooden Posts thereby after the manner of the Romans and Athenians to be promulgated to the people They were commonly very short and general as designing the decision of particular cases to the publick Magistrates Besides these they had upon any emergent difficulties other ancient Laws which they called Recessus Regni and other ancient Statutes of the Kingdom by which only great controversies were decided At present the Courts of Justice are more regular and for the speedier execution of it there are in the whole Kingdom five supream Courts of Judicature 1. The Kings Chamber which is divided into three ranks or degrees 1. Supream in which all Cases twixt Senator and Senator brought thither by Appeal are decided 2. The Middle in which are determined actions of Treason and all others betwixt Noblemen Lagmen and publick Officers 3. The lowest where ordinary Trials are decided whether Civil or Criminal where it is judged whether the procedure in Inferiour Courts in actions brought thence by Appeal has been Legal or not From this Court there lies no
seems plain from the arguments and authorities of learned men before alledged 't will be no difficult matter to evince the truth of this assertion That the Getes and Goths together with all the inhabitants of the Danish Isles in the Baltic Sea are originally one and the same Nation 'T is true in some small Islands in and near the Finnic Gulph the people use a language altogether unintelligible to a true Dane or Swede but further westward the languages spoken in all the Baltic Islands are so many dialects of the Gothic tongue And the old Runic monuments daily found in most Provinces of the Danish and Swedish dominions prove manifestly the same words and characters to have been used in Schonen Jutland and the intermediate Islands From the difference of manners customs habits c. in these Isles no more can be conclucluded then that some wanting the convenience of traffick and correspondence with other Nations are forced to content themselves with the rude and ungentile ways of living taught them by their homebred Ancestors whilst others who lay more in the road of Merchant-ships must needs insensibly admit of a daily alteration both in manners and language NORWAY WHat the Edda Name and other Mythological writers tell us of Nor son of their God Thor Grandchild to Woden the first grand Captain of the Norwegians from whom that people and their Country fetch say these men their names merits just as much credit as the Danish stories of their King Dan. The truth is Norway or Norweg as the Germans write it whence the Latin word Norwegia is only via seu tractus septentrionalis i. e. a country situated towards the North. Hence in the Danish Swedish Norvegian tongues 't is to this day called Norrike or the Northern Kingdom Pliny's Nerigon is only a corruption of this word and we find that anciently all the Cimbrian Kingdoms were named Regna Norica By Helmoldus the Norwegians are called Nordliudi which word is not as Dr. Heylin guesses derived from the Dutch word Nordt and the French lieu for Nordliod or Nordtleut in the Northern languages is no more then the people of the North. In the Preface to our King Aelfred's Anglo-Saxonic Version of Orosius this Kingdom is stiled Norðh manna land the Country of the Normans Adam Bremensis calls it Normannia And we know Rollo brought his Normans out of these parts This Kingdom is bounded on the South with the Baltic Straits Bounds which separate it from Jutland on the North and West with the Northern Ocean on the East with Sweden and Lapland The whole length of it from the Baltic Sea as far as Finmark is reckoned to be about 210 German miles The Eastern part of Norway is very thin peopled Soil being a Country of nothing but inaccessible and craggy mountains Towards the South there is greater store of inhabitants who dwell in pleasant valleys encircled with barren and rocky hills The rest of the Country is overspread with woods which furnish the greatest part of Europe with Deal-boards and Masts for Ships The long ridge of high mountains which divide this Kingdom from Sweden where Pliny places his Sevo are continually covered with snow whence intolerable sharp winds are sent down into the valleys beneath which by this means become desolate and unfruitful But more Southerly and all along the Western coasts the air is much more temperate and would be healthful enough if not corrupted by the putrefaction and stench of a certain kind of Rats called by the inhabitants Lemmer which infect the whole Country with the Epidemical disease of the Jaundice and a giddiness in the head which is most especially apt to seize on strangers unacquainted with the danger and unarm'd against the distemper In the valleys there are good breeds of Cattel Commodities insomuch that the inhabitants export yearly great quantities of Butter Tallow Hides and Cheese Their chief Grain is Barley The woods afford Timber Pitch Tar rich Furs and great store of Filberds Besides these commodities they have a good trade from their Stock-fish and Train-Oyl which is vended all Europe over Christian IV. King of Denmark employ'd several Artists in the search of some Silver and Gold Mines in the year 1623. And 't is said some lumps of the Oar of both those mettals were here found and presented to the King But this discovery never turned to any considerable account For the Natives were utterly ignorant of the art of refining any kind of Minerals themselves and altogether unwilling to admit into their Country any foreigners skill'd in that way The inhabitants are much of the same complexion and humour with the Danes 〈…〉 They are generally effeminate and lazy not so much thro any fault of nature as the want of employment For the King of Denmark seldom or never makes use of this Nation in his wars as being loth to trust them with arms The ancient Norwegians as well as their neighbours are every where reported to have been notorious Pyrats but at this day the Seas are scarce in any place in Europe so secure from robbery as on the coasts of Norway The cause of this alteration can scarce be attributed to the modern honesty of this Kingdom so far excelling that of former days but rather to the general poverty and mean spiritedness of the inhabitants into which the Danish rigor has forc'd them For they have little or no Shipping allow'd them and are too low kept to pretend to hector and domineer Their diet is what they furnish other Countries with Stockfish 〈◊〉 and a coarse kind of Butter and Cheese Their usual drink Rostock Ale In this they commonly drink three draughts one in remembrance of God the second to the Kings health and the third to the Queens As Norway is still reckon'd a distinct Kingdom from Denmark 〈◊〉 so it had formerly its own independent Kings who sometimes Lorded it over the Monarchs of Sweden and Denmark Nevertheless the account we have of these Princes from the Chronica Norvagica published by Johannes Slangerupensis in the year 1594 and Olaus Wormius in the year 1633 and the relations of other Historians is so imperfect and incredible that 't would but waste paper to give the Reader a catalogue of them The last King that sway'd the Scepter in Norway was Haquin who in the year 1363 married Margaret eldest daughter of Waldemar III. King of Denmark thereupon uniting the two Kingdoms Now tho King Haquin had only one son by Queen Margaret Olaus for some while King of Denmark who dyed without issue yet the Danes having once got footing in this Kingdom were resolved to keep their station and therefore to secure themselves from all future insurrection and rebellion they immediately put strong Garrisons into all the Cities and Forts of consequence in the Nation Since it is manifest from the language manners c. of the inhabitants that the Norwegians and Islanders are both one
of residence of the Counts Regent is Eisleben which has its name as well as Eysenach Eissfeld Eysenberg and other neighbouring Towns from the abundance of Iron-Ore which the Natives call Eysen found in these parts and not from the Egyptian Goddess Isis who as some Legendary Historians tell us upon the death of her Husband Osiris being in a melancholy humour wander'd into this Country and gave her own name to several of the Towns in which she sojourn'd The most notable thing which the German Historians have recorded of this City is that their Megalander Martin Luther was born in this Town in the year 1483 and here ended his days in the year 1564. Over the door of the House wherein he was born the Citizens took care to set up his picture in stone with this inscription Hostis eram Papae Sociorum pestis hujus Vox mea cum scriptis nil nisi Christus erat John Forster a Professor of Divinity at Wittenberg and Superintendant of the Church at Eisleben tells us that there hapned a great fire in this City in the year 1601 wherein the Counts Palace and 250 Citizens-Houses perish'd but yet 't was observed that the Church wherein this blessed Saint Luther as he calls him was Christned the house wherein he was born and another in which he dyed were sav'd from the flames tho all about them were laid in ashes But however this great man's sanctity tho able it seems to protect whole Houses from the rage and violence of the flames was not sufficient to secure his monument from the fury of the Imperialists who in the late Civil wars of Germany broke down his Image and defaced the Inscription above mention'd The old and ruinous City of Mansfeld which gives name to the County lies about five English miles from Eisleben 〈◊〉 It is defended by a strong Castle on the top of an high hill which for many years had laid desolate but was repair'd and fortified in the year 1547. Wippra Arnstein Quernfurt with some others are remarkable for nothing else but giving names to so many petty Counties into which the the whole County of Mansfeld to provide Titles for its many Earls is usually divided SAXONIA SVPERIOR Apud Janssonio-Waesbergios Mosem Pitt et Stephanum Swart THE UPPER OF SAXONY ALTHO 't is usual with every Historian that treats of the affairs of Germany to make frequent mention of the Saxons yet in such different senses is that word used by them that we shall scarce meet with two of them that mean the same thing by Saxony Now the the reason of this disagreement is to be ascribed to the uncertain bounds and limits of the Dominions of that ancient and warlike people and the division of their Land into so many petty Tribes and Provinces who were all ambitious of appropriating the name of Saxons to themselves Albinus says the ancient Limits of Saxony were on the East the Elb on the West the Embs on the South Bohemia and Franconia and on the South Bohemia and Franconia and on the North Denmark but Ptolomey confines that Nation within much narrower bounds Henry the Lion's Territories reach'd from the Elb to the Rhine and from the Baltic down as far as the utmost bounds of the Hercynian Wood. This whole Tract was more immediately divided into the Lower and Upper Saxony of the former whereof we have already given the Reader an account Under the name of the later are sometimes comprehended besides the Dukedom of Saxony or Chur-Sachsen as the Germans call it the Marquisate of Misnia Voitlandia Thuringen the whole Hercynian Forest the Principality of Anhalt with some more of the neighbouring Provinces But in this place we only understand the Upper Saxony strictly so call'd or that small Province which gives the Elector the Title of Duke of Saxony Which is bounded on the East with the Lower Lusatia and some part of the Marquisate of Brandenburg on the North with the Principality of Anhalt on the West with the County of Mansfeld and Landgraviate of Thuringen and on the South with the Marquisate of Misnia This small Province came to retain the name of Saxony upon this occasion When the overgrown power of Henry the Lion was grown so formidable as to oblige the Emperor to depose him and to divide his Territories amongst the neighbouring Princes many of whom by their good services had deserved large recompenses at his hands the Dukedoms of Brunswic and Luneburg were the only Dominions continued to the posterity of the deposed Prince The lower parts of Westphalia were seized on by the Archbishop of Coln and another part of it above the Weser fell into the hands of the Bishop of Paderbourn and a third was given to Herman Landgrave of Thuringen The Princes of Anhalt and Counts of Mansfeld were made Masters of another portion of this large Dukedom and several of the Hans-Towns were made Imperial and subjected to a Government of their own By this means there was nothing left to be setled upon Bernhard Prince of Anhalt whom the Emperor Frideric Barbarossa had created Duke Elector in the room of Henry the Lion but the Territories betwixt the Sala and the Elb and some of that too as the City of Wittenberg was before assign'd him by the Emperor Conrad the third However 't was order'd that these narrow Dominions should have the name of Ober-Sax or the Upper Saxony given them and that Wittenberg should from thence forward be the Electoral City The County is tolerably well provided for with all manner of grain Soil but comes far short of its neighbouring Provinces Misnia and Thuringen Tho the Hills here afford some Mines of Silver and other kind of Metals yet the Country will scarce yeild so much Wood as is sufficient to cleanse and purifie it The inhabitants of this Country are still strict observers of the ancient Municipal Laws of their Heathen Ancestors Laws which were look'd upon by the Emperor Charles the Great as so agreeable to the dictates of right reason that he saw no necessity of abrogating these upon his introducing of Christianity and the observation of Gospel precepts The choicest of these old Statutes are collected into two Bodies or Digests whereof the one is call'd Der Sachsen-Spiegel or Speculum Saxonicum the other which is only an abstract of the former das Sachsische Weichbild The Sachsen-Spiegel was at first like Justinian's Institutes collected by a German Nobleman Ecke von Repkau out of a great many old Records and Laws publish'd in the days of Superstition and Idolatry It contains in it three Books whereof the first consists of 71 Articles the second of 72 and the third of 91. This with a Glossary annex'd explaining all the difficult and antiquated Law-terms in it was first publish'd by one Burchard Lord of Mangelfeld but a more accurate Edition was afterwards set out in Print by C. Zobelius at Leipsick in the year 1569. Das Weichbild or Wickbild signifies properly