Hart of a Horse of a Man of a Bear bigger than a Horse And some Pictures as one of a Ninivite and another of Moses which they take to be Ancient Dr. Wagenseyl Professour of Law and History brother to Captain Wagenseyl who travelled with me from Heidelberg invited us to lodge at his House and shew'd me his Library and all his Rarities and Coyns whereof he hath a good Collection having lived in most places of Europe and speaks many Languages well he gave me a piece of the first mony that was coined in Germany In the University Library I saw a fair Hortus Eystetensis and Youngerman's Collection of Plants by his own hand At Nurnberg I met with the Son and the Secretary to the Holland Ambassador in Turky who had travelled hither over-land from Constantinople in their return into the Low-Countries travelling in Greek Habits From hence I went to Newmarkt a good Town in the upper Palatinate belonging to the Duke of Bavaria and the next day through Heinmaw subject to the Duke of Newburg to Regensburg Ratisbona Regensburg Augusta Tiberii Colonia Quartanorum the chief place of the Roman Forces in this limit of the Empire where the fourth Italick Legion had a constant station was made a Colony by Tiberius in the year as some conceive of the Passion of our Saviour It was much augmented and adorned by the Emperour Arnulphus who had a great affection for this place so pleasantly seated and in a good Country Here the River Regen runs into the Danube from whence it was called Regensburg There are two Bridges one of wood below the Town and another Bridge of stone of about fifteen Arches which is the fairest stone Bridge over the Danube It is an Imperial City but not without some acknowledgment to the Duke of Bavaria And although it be strongly fortified yet it was taken by the Swedes in the German wars There are many fair buildings in it both private and publick and though I am not able to confirm what some report that there as many Churches and Chappels in this City as there are dayes in the year yet are there many fair Churches and Convents As the Cathedral of St. Peter in the South-side of which is the Picture of St. Peter in a ship and on the North aother of the Apostles first Mission In the Piazza stands a neat little Church the Convent of St. Paul founded by St. Wolfgangus Bishop of this place the Convent of St. Emerammus Bishop of Ratisbone a Saint of great Veneration here though but of little mention or name in other parts The name of Albertus Magnus Bishop of this place hath also added unto the Fame of Regensburg But that which chiefly promoteth its lustre is the General Diet or Parliament which is often held in this City and is not to be called in any part out of Germany and the place is not unfit for the accommodation of such a noble Convention as are the Estates of Germany The Vice-Marshal taketh care to provide Lodgings respectively to their persons and seeth that all things be brought hither and at a just price that the Hall or Place of Assembly be furnished and adorned sutably to the dignity of the Persons convened and hath an especial eye and regard towards the Publick safety By this Convention the great Concerns of Germany are much secured and their peace and quiet Established Wherein Germany seems to have a better advantage than Italy For Italy being likewise divided into many Dominions and Principalities hath no Common Diet or Great Council whereby to proceed for their Publick safety Which makes them often so divided in their common Concerns in times of Danger and when they most need a joynt Combination I entred the notable River Danubius at this place which hath already run a good course and passed by many fair Towns or Cities as the large City of Ulme in Swabenland where it beginneth to be Navigable as also Donawert Neuburg and Ingolstadt and hath already received the considerable River of Licus or Leck whereby the Commodities of that great Trading City of Augsburg are brought into it When I first embarked at Regensburg I thought I might have taken leave of the Danube not far below Vienna but an opportunity made me see this great Stream beyond Belgrade as I have declared in another Account of my Travels The first day we passed by Thonawsteyn where there is a Castle seated upon a high Rock and came to Pfeter or Vetera Castra of old now but an ordinary place The Boats upon the Danube are generally painted black and white are flat bottom'd and broad at the Head and Stern there is a Chamber built in the middle and the Rudder is very large to be able to command the Boat where the River is rapid and of a swift Course The next day we came to Straubing a handsome walled Town belonging to the Duke of Bavaria the Streets are streight and there is a Tower in the Market-place painted all over with green and gold-colour There is also a Bridge of wood over the Danube We passed by Swartz in the Afternoon where the Church is seated upon a Hill and is frequented by Pilgrims and lodged at Deckendorff where there is another Bridge Near this Town comes into the Danube that considerable River Iser or Isara having passed by divers considerable Towns as Landshut Frising and München the Seat of Ferdinandus Maria Elector of Bavaria Great Steward of the Empire and at present the first of the Secular Electors and he is to take place immediately after the King of Bohemia it being so concluded on at the Treaty of Munster where Maximilian Duke of Bavaria was allowed to hold the Electorship which was confirmed upon him by the Emperour Ferdinand the Second when he excluded Frederick the Fifth Count Palatine and in lieu hereof there was an eighth Electorship erected for the Palatinate Family who also if the Bavarian branch doth fail are to re-enter into their ancient Electorship and the other newly erected is to be abolished Thursday November the fifteenth we came by Wilshoven to Passaw Patavia or Boiodurum a long and noble City in the lower Bavaria or Bayern made up of three Towns Iltstadt Passaw and Innstadt at the concurrence of the River Inne the Danube and the Iltz. As Towns are commonly of great Antiquity which are built at the Confluence of great Rivers for the Strength of the Situation and convenience of Commerce so is this accounted ancient as being a Roman Colony and the place of the Castra Batava in old times The Church of St. Stephen is stately besides other fair Churches The Bishop who is Lord of the City hath a strong Palace upon a Hill his Revenues are large and besides what he possesseth hereabouts he hath the tenth part of the notable great Lead-Mine at Bleyberg in Carinthia This place had lately suffered much by fire but a good part was rebuilt and very fairly after the Italian manner So that
then to the King of Spain afterwards by Vichet in the half way and then by Navagne a strong Fort in the Maes which commands the River and at that time did the Spaniard service then by pleasant Rocks on our left hand wherein many Cuts and Passages have been digged till we came in sight of Maestreicht This Town having been a little before taken from the United States by a sharp Siege was full of French and had a Garrison in it of about Ten thousand men and in the Market-place stood about Two hundred large Field-pieces We saw the places where they had their Batteries and their Mines and the Half-moon which the Duke of Monmouth took the Out-works were very numerous and many of them undermined Colonel Storff shew'd us a handsome Draught of all the Works Approaches and Manner of taking of the Town About a quarter of a Mile out of the Town we went into the great Quarry of Stone which is one of the noblest sure in the World Between Padoa and Vicenza I had formerly seen the famous Cave of Custoza or Cubola said to be above Five hundred Fathoms in breadth and Seven hundred in length but this doth far surpass it the Roof is very high and stately in most places the Pillars not to be numbred all very large we passed two miles under ground amongst them No Labyrinth can be contrived more intricate and yet all parts are uniform The Floor all in a level and the Roof in most places of the same height and so much hath that uniform rule which I suppose was set to those who first digged and so hath successively been observed added to the beauty of this place that there is scarce any thing more noble It put me in mind of the hundred Chambers of Nero which he caused to be made under Ground in the Rocks at Baiae And the Water which we met with in one place made me think of Nero's admirable Fish-pond built in the like manner within the Earth We came out again near to a Convent upon the Banks of the River and returned by water to Maestreicht The next day we parted Company Mr. Newton Mr. Ettrick Mr. Grove Mr. Carlton and Mr. Newcomb went for Aken and Colen Mr. Bates and Mr. Daston went up the River again to Liege at which place staying a day or two to find a convenience to pass to Brussels we were nobly entertained at a Dinner with Venison Wild-boar and other Dishes by that worthy Person and Learned Mathematician Franciscus Slusius one of the great Canons of Liege who also continued his high Civilities to us to the last Minute we stayed in Town Leaving Liege we soon came in sight of Tongres or Tungrorum oppidum the most ancient place in all these Countries Ortelius would have it to be called of old Atuatuca It was a strong hold before the coming of Julius Caesar into Gaul and was afterwards made a Roman Station and in process of time became so great that Attila the Hun destroyed an hundred Churches in it it being at that time a Bishops See which in the year 498 St. Servatius removed unto Maestreicht Many old Coins and Antiquities are still found here and part of an old Chappel said to be built by St. Maternus Disciple to St. Peter is still remaining When the King of France made his great inroad into the Low Countries 1672. he borrowed this Town of the Elector of Cologne and then passed on to Maseick where crossing the Country to the Rhine by the sides of these great Rivers Rhine and Maes he made that notable Incursion and quitted not Tongres till he had taken Maestreicht the year following We dined this day at Borchloe and lodged at St. Trurn or St. Truden a handsome little Town so called from a Church and Abby herein dedicated to that Saint The next day we dined at Tienen or Tilmont on the little River Geet once one of the chief Towns in Brabant but long since decayed In these Plain Countries in many places we saw small Hills or Sepulchral Eminences of the Ground And near unto the Walls of Yienen are three very remarkable ones said to be the Tombs of great Commanders In the Evening we came to Lovain Lovain is the chief City of that quarter of Brabant which comprehendeth Arschot Halen and Judoigne an ancient and large City pleasantly seated upon the River Dele it is of great Circuit and the compass of the wall accounted above four miles about but there are many void Spaces Hills Fields and Gardens within it which makes it very pleasant and delightful There are herein divers good Buildings Convents and Churches the chief whereof is the stately Church of St. Peter the Convent of the Carthusians the Hospital The publick Palace or Senate-house are also Noble It is the great University of these parts said to have had its beginning about 926. but endowed by John the Fourth Duke of Brabant and confirmed by Pope Martin the Fifth 1425. There are Forty three Colledges in it whereof the four chief are Lilium Falco Castrum Porcus Goropius Becanus a Learned Man and Native of Brussels affirmeth That no University in Italy France Germany or Spain is to be compared unto it for its elegant and pleasant Situation The University is under the Government of Rector who is in great esteem and honour among them This University hath produced many Learned Men But neither the Buildings of the Colledges nor their Endowments do equal those of our Universities and the Situation thereof seems not to exceed that of Oxford We travelled from hence to Brussels being most part of the way in the sight of the very high Tower of the Church of St. Rombald at Machlin Count Monterei was then Governour of the Low-Countries and resided at Brussels the ordinary Seat of the Governours of the Spanish Netherlands which City he had taken care to fortifie and to make it more tenable if it should be attempted by the French From Brussels we passed to Antwerp where we were handsomely treated by Mr. Wauters and Mr. Hartop and having visited some of our Friends the next day we passed the River Schelde and took Coach in the morning travelling through a fruitful plain flat Country set with rows of Trees in most places and arrived in the evening at Ghent Gaunt Gandavum or Ghent is esteemed to be the greatest City not only of Flanders but of all the Law-Countries and challengeth a pace amongst the greatest in Europe but at present it decreaseth and decays rather than encreaseth And if Charles the Fifth were now alive he could not put Paris into his Gant a greater Glove would not fit that City which is so much increased since his time In Ghent are many noble Convents among which the Jesuites is one of the fairest There is a Cloister also of English Nuns The Cathedral is stately and the Tower belonging to it being very high gives a prospect of a pleasant and fruitful Country round about it
AN ACCOUNT OF Several Travels Through a great part of GERMANY In Four Journeys I. From Norwich to Colen II. From Colen to Vienna with a particular Description of that Imperial City III. From Vienna to Hamburg IV. From Colen to London WHEREIN The Mines Baths and other Curiosities of those Parts are Treated of Illustrated with Sculptures By EDWARD BROWN M. D. Fellow of the College of Physicians of London and of the Royal Society LONDON Printed for Benj. Tooke and are to be sold at the Sign of the Ship in St. Paul's Church-yard 1677. Imprimatur G. Jane R. P. D. Hen. Episc Lond. à Sacris Dom. Sept. 26. 1676. TO THE READER HAving given the English World an Account of some remote and seldome travelled Countries of Europe in the Year 1673. I remained indifferent as to the publishing any thing more concerning nearer or better known places a great part whereof hath been delivered by some good and observing Writers upon which consideration though written some years since these Papers have not come abroad and had still remained private had not the desires of Friends solicited this Publication and also a Promise in my former Book oblig'd me to say something of Vienna as likewise my Journey unto that Place from England by the Belgian Provinces and Germany and of my Return from Vienna by Austria Trans-Danubiana Moravia Bohemia Misnia Saxonia unto Hamburg hereof I have therefore given some Account in this Work not much engaging into the Policy and State Government of Places which have been so largely delivered as to make up just Volumes but have rather set down what is Naturally Artificially Historically and Topographically remarkable together with some Customes and Occurrencies which might be acceptable unto the Inquisitive Reader or serve as hints of further Enquiry to such Persons as may hereafter Travel into those Parts A JOURNEY FROM NORWICH TO COLEN in GERMANY IN the year 1668. I left the large and pleasant City of Norwich and went by land to Yarmouth a Port Town in Norfolk at the mouth of the River Hierus or Yare large fairly built and populous very considerable for the great Herring fishing in the Autumn and the commerce it maintaineth in the Streights Baltick British and German Seas With Italians French Spaniards Dutch Danes and Swedes I was here nobly entertained by that worthy and obliging person Sr. Iames Iohnson who also furnish't me with letters of Credit to Amsterdam Franckfort Venice and Vienna Whereby I was readily and handsomely accommodated in all Parts where I had afterwards occasion to travel August the 14. about six a clock at night I went aboard the Angel-Ketch in Yarmouth Road a Vessel of about 55 Tuns and we immediately set sayl for Rotterdam we left St. Nicholas-Sand on the Larboard and after that the Nowles a new Sand not taken notice of to be raised above twelve years before We kept our course all night East and by South and East South East The Sea burned at the head of the Ship at the beginning of the night but the Moon rising there appeared nothing but froth In the morning we discovered Gravesandt Steeple It is the custom upon all this coast to send out Pylot-boats continually to meet all Ships at Sea and furnish them with Pylots to bring them through the sands and no Ship is to refuse one Having taken in our Pylot we soon discovered Goréé Steeple and then the Briel We entred the River Mosa or Maes a Large and noble Stream which arising in the Mountaines of Vauge or Vogesus passing by Verdun Dinant Namur Liege Maestricht Ruremond Venlo and many considerable Places doth here fall into the Ocean we had a very pleasant passage up the River sayling by many neat Villages as Maese-sluys Schedam Delfshaven and handsome rowes of Trees upon the shore and arrived at Rotterdam about six at night This is one of the three chief passages by Sea into Holland the other being by Flushing and the Texell The nearest cut out of England into Holland is from Laistoffe Point to Gravesandt which is 28 Leagues and the deepest part of the Sea is about 28 Fathoms There lay two of the greatest Ships in Holland at that time near Rotterdam the Crane and the Wassenaer this latter built in lieu of that in which Admiral Opdam was blown up fighting against his Royal Highness the Duke of Yorke The Heads or Keyes between which we entred the towne by water are handsome and Ships of great burden are received into the middle of divers streets without difficulty their Channels being deep and large the houses are well built and the town Populous they have an Exchange or place for Merchants to meet at the streets are so clean that the Women goe about in white Slippers they being paved with Bricks laid edgwise The Landthuise hath a fair front In the great Church the Organs the Tower and the Monument of De wit upon the Bridge the Statue of Erasmus as also the house where he was born and the Pleasure boats of the States are worth the seeing It being then the time of their Kermis or Faire there were playes acted and many rarities shewn as Lions Leopards c and a great noise was made about a tall Woman to be shewn of seven foot high but the Boor of Leckerkir'k not far from this town was higher Parsons and Evans porters to King Charles the first did also exceed her but I have seldom heard of any that was taller than Martin Wierwski a Polander who at the age of forty two years was presented to the Emperour Maximilian the second as a rarity of nature and was full eight foot high whose picture as big as the life I saw near to the Franciscans Convent at Vienna in Austria From Rotterdam I passed by Overschee to Delft by the Powderhouse which is a handsome one built now at some distance from the towne to prevent the like accident which befell when the former took fire and blew up part of the town The Piazza or market-place is a very fair one having the front of the town house at one end of it and the high steeple of the new Church at the other In the old Church Van-Tromps Tombe is very well carved upon the side of the Wall himself lying upon a Canon encompassed with Arms and trophies In the middle Isle of the new Church there is a noble monument the Tombe of William of Nassaw Prince of Orange together with his Wife and Son Prince Maurice his Statua is in armour with his Dog at his feet and four Obelisks are supported by ten Marble pillars In a house of this Town there were shewn me in a Wall the marks of the bullets shot at Prince William who was thereby murthered 1584. and in another Church which was broad and spacious I saw a handsome Tomb for Sr. Charles Morgans Lady and the Monument of Peter Hein the Admiral who took the Spanish Silversleet The Hague Haga Comitis the ancient place of Residence
any other of the World It is seated upon the River Ye and hath its name as 't is reported from a Castle appertaining long since to the Lords of Amstel to whom this place also belonged At the beginning the seat of a few fishermen but afterwards increasing it received many priviledges from the Counts of Holland and was made a Town or City by the favour of their Grants and Charters In the year 1470. it was walled about with a Brick-wall to defend it against the Citizens of Utrecht they having been in great danger to have fallen into their hands if those of Utrecht had pursued their victories In few Months after also the whole Town was almost reduced to Ashes by fire but by the increase of their Traffick they easily overcame these losses waded through all difficulties and rendred good services to their Counts and received the honour afterwards from Maximilian the Emperour to have the Imperiall Crown over their Armes which are three Crosses on a Pale About the year 1525. Gelen sent from the new King of Munster passed through Friesland and came to this City where having made a party and communicated his design he resolved to surprize the Town by night at the time of the sounding of the Bell to which intent they were already entred the Market place had set upon the Town house and cut in pieces those who resisted them When by great providence the rope to the great Bell was taken away the Magistrates had notice of it and caused all the streets and Avenues leading to the Market-place to be stopped up with Woolsacks and Hopsacks whereby they were hindred in their design of taking the Town by night and the next morning their number being discovered to be inconsiderable they were set upon driven into the Stadthuis and defeated Of late years this City is mightily encreased and encompassed with a new Wall and fortified after the modern way The new Streets are large and uniform and the whole Town being in a low Marshy ground the water is let in through all the considerable Streets The River Amstel passeth through the City being let in under a handsome well-contrived Bridge of Eleven Arches which is so built as to make part of the Wall and Rampart and is 26 paces broad The whole Town is built upon Piles or high Firr-trees driven down perpendicularly into the Earth so thick together that nothing more can be forced in between them And by this means they build Houses in the Sea and lay Foundations strong enough to support the greatest Buildings whatsoever in places where no solid bottom is to be found But they must needs be at a great expence and labour before they can lay the first Stone And the number of Trees required to each Foundation is considerable since for the Foundation of one Tower or Steeple alone over against the Church of St. Katherine Mr. J. de Parivall who wrote Les Delices de la Hollande reckoneth that there was rammed into the ground a Forrest as he calls it of Six thousand three hundred and thirty four great Trees About this manner of work for the fixing their Foundations I saw them employed in divers places particularly at the East-India-house and at a place where a Lutheran Church was then designed to be built So that it was not improbably said That if a man could see all under this City he could hardly behold a greater Forrest The Stadthuis or Town-house is the noblest Building in all these Countries A Pile of Freestone of an hundred and ten paces in Front being larger than the Magnified Front of the Church of St. Peter's at Rome and eighty one paces deep or on the sides The Chambers in it the Pictures and Statues are worthy to be seen and admired The first Room on the right hand or Judgment-hall where the Malefactors receive their Sentence is adorned with large Statues hanging down their heads in mournful postures as if concerned or grieving at what was then pronounced The Floors are of Marble the Roofs are richly gil't and painted Upon the top of all stands Atlas or Columlus holding a Globe upon his shoulder made of Copper of about ten foot Diameter which is as large perhaps as any Ball or Globe whatsoever employed to this ornamental use That upon St. Peter's at Rome as having been in it I judge to be less as likewise that at Florence The Turkish Ornament to the Tower of their Mosques is three Balls one above another and an half Moon over them but they are less by far at least such as I have seen and by relation from Eye-witnesses the largest of the three noble gilded Balls at Morocco are inferiour to this But I will say nothing more of this great building the Stadthuis since there is a peculiar description of it in Folio with Cuts and Figures of the most remarkable Curiosities in it The Exchange is fair and large and above it are Shops it is very well frequented and he that cometh after twelve payeth six stivers Divers of their Churches are fair In the new Church the partition with Ballisters of Brass and the carved Pulpit are noble In the old Church the Tomb of Van Hulse and Heemskerk are remarkable Heemskerk did his Country great Services in their first attempts upon India for the King of Spain having consiscated some of the Hollanders Ships who traded to his Dominions which were then the Staple for the India Trade It was resolved by the permission of Prince Maurice and the States to set out a Fleet of eight ships for the Indies four of which were to pass by the way of the Atlantick Ocean and the Cape of Good-hope And the other four were to search a passage towards the Kingdoms of Cathay and China by the North-east whereby the passage also into those parts might be expected much shorter than that which was known to the Spaniards To this intent these four last vessels sailed out of the Texel June 5. 1594. and returned in September not being able to proceed by reason of the Ice But upon the relation of the Voyage by William Barenson there were two other Expeditions afterwards to Nova Zembla in the last of which they wintered there and Barenson lost his life Heemskerk was the chief of the twelve which returned from that cold habitation where none but Bears and Foxes could well endure the Winter where he had been twice and afterwards made two rich Voyages into India Upon whose happy returns the Holland East-India Company was first established and a prohibition made for any other of that Country to trade thither for the space of One and twenty years But to proceed to other publick Buildings in this City The Tuchthuis or Raspelhuis or House of Correction for debauched young men such as are incorrigible and disobedient to Parents or Laws hath at the entrance of the Gate two Lions bridled a proper Embleme with this Inscription Virtutis est domare quae cuncti pavent This
and on each side of the Altar a large Statua whereof one is of a Moor and under the Quire another Church The Convent of the Carmelites is also considerable wherein the Treaty of Peace was held with good accommodation in it though with no success in the year 1673. In the Church of St. Ursula is her Tomb and the Tombs of divers of the Eleven thousand Virgins martyred by the Huns. Upon the Monument of St. Ursula is this Inscription Sepulcrum Sanctae Ursulae indicio Columbae detectum Upon many of the Tombs which are old are Crosses and Lamps Many Bones and Heads of the Martyrs are also kept in this Church The Cathedral is dedicated to St. Peter and is very large but not finished The Body of the Church hath four rows of Pillars within it The Quire is handsome and very high behind it are believed to be the Tombs of the three Wise men which came from the East to worship our Saviour or the Kings of Arabia of whom it was prophesied that they should bring Gifts commonly called the three Kings of Colen Melchior who offered Gold Gaspar Frankincense and Balthasar Myrrhe Their Bodies as the account goeth were first removed to Constantinople by Helena the Mother of Constantine the Great then to Milan by Eustorfius Bishop thereof and they have now rested at Colen for above five hundred years being translated from Milan hither by Rainoldus Bishop of Colen in the year 1164. There are also divers other Monuments of Bishops and Noble Persons in Brass and Stone and one in the shape of a Castle with six Towers The Canons of this Church are all Noblemen among whom the Duke of Newburg who ordinarily resides at Dusseldorff about twenty English miles below this City upon the Rhine hath two Sons In a Church dedicated to all the Apostles they shew a Tomb which being opened by Thieves intending to plunder it the woman buried in it arose up and went home and lived with her Husband divers years after In one of the Streets is a Tower or rather one Tower upon another which seems to be ancient now made a Prison Upon another Ruine also in the Streets lies a Tombemade out of one Stone of which sort of Tombs there are many in this City and other places but the greatest number of them I ever saw was at Arles in Provence The Senate House is Noble having a fair Tower upon it from whence there is a good prospect over the City Upon the Front of the Senate House is a Man in Basso relievo fighting with a Lyon who as it was related to me was formerly one of the Consuls who having had a contest with some Clergy-men about the Government of the City on a suddain they caused a Lyon to be let in upon him upon which occasion he behaved himself so well as he delivered himself and slew the Lyon The Elector or Archbishop of Colen hath two Palaces in the City but by agreement between him and the Town he is not to stay here above three days together Only this present Archbishop upon the coming down of the Imperial Forces and his loss of Bonna took Sanctuary here in the Convent of St. Pantaleon where he continued a great while The City is Imperial and Free and yet it doth Homage to the Elector much after this Form We free Citizens of Colen promise to the Archbishop to be faithful and favourable unto him as long as he preserves us in Right and Honour and in our ancient Priviledges Us our Wives our Children and our City of Colen Most of the City are of the Roman Church and the whole Town so full of Convents Churches Church-men and Reliques that it is not undeservedly styled the Rome of Germany The Lutherans have also a Church within the Walls and the Calvinists at Mulheim half a League down the Stream on the other side of the Rhine Over against Colen lieth Dútz a small Village inhabited chiefly by Jews The Vessels which come out of the Low-Countries hither are long round bellied and of great burden Near to the Wall of the Town upon the Quay or Key is a kind of Harbour made for them into which they may be drawn and escape the Injuries they would otherwise suffer by the Ice in Winter Besides the rich Clergy there are many wealthy Citizens and Merchants here and they maintain a Traffick and Correspondence with divers Countries especially by the convenience of the Rhine They speak not the best High-dutch but Latin and French are understood by many Divers Hosts in Inns speak Latin and the Servants French which proves a good help unto Travellers It was made an University about the year 1388. Besides the General Hospitals for young and old persons there are two for the Sick and well accommodated They have a Pharmacopaea Coloniensis or a Dispensatory proper to the place whereby Apothecaries compound their Medicines I was acquainted with one of the best Mr. Elburg a knowing and obliging person who was his Majesties Apothecary while he resided at Colen and whom my honoured Friend Sir Alexander Fraser his Majesties chief Physician made use of who lived in great reputation in this City Two hundred years since Aeneas Sylvius left an high expression concerning this place Coloniâ quae de conjuge Claudii matre Neronis Agrippina dicta est trium Magorum ossibus illustrata nihil magnificentius nihil ornatius totâ Europâ reperias which though if strictly construed will hardly be admitted by any who hath beheld Paris Naples Venice c. yet doth it declare the nobleness of this City even in former times We left Colen about four a Clock in the Afternoon being drawn up the Stream with Horses they being made fast by a very long Rope to the Mast we lodged in a small Village having had a good prospect of Colen all this Evening from off the water Near to this Place Julius Caesar made his Bridge over the Rhine The next day we came to Bon the Seat of the present Archbishop and Elector of Colen Maximilianus Henricus Duke of Bavaria Bishop of Hildisheim and Liege and Arch-Chancellor of the Empire throughout Italy This place was formerly called Bonna or Castra Bonnensia the wintering place in the time of Tacitus of the sixth Legion It was not long since very well fortified by the order of the present Archbishop and the direction of Colonel Biser a blind man having Cataracts in both his eyes The Archbishops Palace is very Noble and there is a Chamber seated a good way into the Rhine to which they pass thorow a Gallery This Night we lodged at the foot of the highest of the seven Hills by the Rhine which are seen at a great distance and upon divers of them stand old ruined Castles On the 15th we passed by a pleasant Island with a Convent in it at Remagen is also a Convent upon a Rock fortified with round Towers In the Evening we lodged near to a Castle ruined four years
a House anciently belonging unto the Knights of the Teutonick Order which hath the priviledge of a Sanctuary for Man-slayers and Bankrupts but it is a security but for fourteen days Upon this side there is the largest portion of Land belonging to Franckfort on the other side very little This being a trading place it is no wonder that there are so many Jews in it for a distinction they wear great Ruffs their Sons Bonnets and their Wives a peculiar dress of their Head The Collegiate Church of St. Bartholomew where many of the Emperours have been crowned is large hath a high Steeple and is built of a red stone There are divers handsome Fountains in the Town and good Houses in one of the best of which liveth Monsieur Pierre Neufville a great Merchant and a civil worthy person well known in most places of Commerce who obliged me with Letters to Venice and other places From Franckfort I continued my Journey through the Bergstraes passing by Darmstadt which belongs to one of the Brothers of the House of Hessen commonly known by the name of the Landtgrave of Hessen Darmstadt and afterwards through a fruitful plain Country in the sight of Hills and sometimes near them the whole Country planted with Wallnut-trees Vines Corn and in some places with Tobacco till I arrived at Heidelberg In coming into this Town we passed over the River Neccar Nicer or Necarus upon a Bridge covered over from one end to another with a large Roof of Wood in the same manner is the long Bridge covered at the entrance of the City of Alessandria della paglia in Italy The River Neccar ariseth near the Sylva Martiana now Swartzwald or Black Forest and passing through the Territories of the Duke of Wittenberg runneth into the Rhine at Manheim This though none of the greatest yet is a considerable River of Germany and hath divers good Towns upon it and near it as Sultz Tubingen Wirtingen Essingen Stutgard Canstat Lauffen Hallbrun Heidelberg There being wars at that time when I was in this Country between the Elector Palatine and the Duke of Lorain The Elector resided for the most part at Frankendale to be near his Forces Heidelberg is seated on the South-side of the River Neccar between it and a ridge of high Hills so as it cannot well admit of a modern Fortification or hope to be extraordinary strong as being over-looked by the adjacent Mountains It lieth most at length from East to West It hath been an University since the year 1346. at which time it was begun by Rupertus Count Palatine and at present is much frequented In the great Church was kept the famous Library which after that the Spaniards had taken this Town 1620. was carried to Rome and added to the Vatican where I saw it in the year 1664. being placed upon one side of a very long Gallery belonging to the Vatican Library and the Duke of Urbin's Library placed on the otherside over-against it both which made a notable addition to the Papal Library In this Church and the Church also of St. Peter are divers Monuments of Princes of the Palatine Family and of Learned and Famous Men. The French have a Church here and the present Elector is of the Order of the Holy Ghost and his Son a Mareschal of France and good French and High-dutch are both generally spoken here The Lutherans have also a Church in this Town by the favour of the present Elector although he himself be a Calvinist and to express his generous kindness the higher in this point the first Stone was laid by himself and his Son and it is called the Church of Providence according to the Elector's Motto Dominus Providebit Upon the Town-house is a Clock with divers Motions and when the Clock strikes the figure of an Old man pulls off his hat a Cock crows and shakes his wings Souldiers fight with one another and the like The Prince's Stables for above a hundred Horses are seated upon the River very conveniently but were fairer formerly above half thereof having been ruined by the Imperialists as also divers of the Statues on the outside of the Castle which is seated high above the Town The present Elector is Carolus Ludovicus Son to the King of Bohemia Frederick the Fifth he was born in the year 1617. and passed his Youth an Exile from his Fathers Kingdom and Electorate and at the pacification at Prague 1635. he was excluded from any restitution to be made to him But at length in the Treaty of Munster 1648. he was restored to the lower Palatinate and 1652. returned to the possession of his Fortunes a highly accomplished Prince much honoured and beloved by his Subjects In the year 1650. he married Charlotta Daughter to William the Fifth Landgrave and to the famous Amelia Elizabeth Landgravess of Hassia by whom he had the Chur Prince or Electoral Prince Charles and a Daughter the Princess Charlotta Elizabetha but upon some discontent the Princess Electress since returned to her own Friends and Country This Elector is also Knight of the most Noble Order of the Garter Great Treasurer of the Empire and together with the Elector of Saxony Vicar of the Empire In his Palace or Castle at Heidelberg are divers things remarkable a very great Tower to be equalled by very few within which is a Theatre for Comedies This was formerly called Trutzkaisar or the Tower that bad Defiance or threatned the Emperor but since the Restauration of the Elector there are some Works drawn about it in the figure of a Star and the old disobliging Name is by Proclamation forbidden to be continued and it is at present called the Sternschanz or the Star-fort By it is a handsome Garden in the Ditch whereof there was then kept a great Bear and a very large Wolf The Grotto's and Water-works are very handsome they were also making divers others having the advantage of the side of the Hill to bring down the water and to make Grots and Caves in the Rock Amongst other Fountains that of the Lions head with a Frog in his Ear is taken notice of The Cellars are very large and cool filled with Vessels of no ordinary size yet inconsiderable if compared to the great Tun kept in a great Building joyning to the Cellars it was built by this present Elector's Order 1664. and goeth far beyond any made before It contains 204 Faiders and odd measure or about two hundred Tuns instead of Hoops it is built with large knee Timber like the ribs of a Ship which are painted and carved and have divers Inscriptions upon them and supported by carved Pedistals Upon one side of it is a handsome Staircase to ascend to the top of the Vessel upon the top of which is a Gallery set round with Ballisters three and forty steps high from the ground About an English mile from Heidelberg between the Hills is a solitary place where three large Streams or Springs gush out of the
1192. The Austrians pretending they had received some affront from the King at Joppa and that he had taken down the Ensign and Banner of Duke Leopold in a contemptuous way The other outward of a great breadth made of Earth and faced with Brick edged with Free-stone so well built as to render this City one of the most considerable fortified places in Europe The Esplanade gently descendeth from the Town for three hundred Paces there are very few Out-works It is very uncertain who was the first Builder of Vienna and after it had been long built it ran to decay again for Four hundred years together till Henry the First Duke of Austria in the year 1158. did much repair it and the ransome afterwards of King Richard beautified it The whole compass taking in the Suburbs makes a very large Circuit but the City it self which is walled in may be about three miles in Circumference and is exceeding populous as full of People for the bigness of the place as most of the great Cities And I could not but take delight to behold so many Nations in it as Turks Tartars Graecians Transylvanians Sclavonians Hungarians Croatians Spaniards Italians French Germans Polanders c. all in their proper Habits The chief Gates are six 1. Stubnthor or the Stuben Gate towards the East 2. Karnterthor or the Gate of Carinthia towards the South 3. Burgthor the Town Gate or Castle Gate 4. Schottenthor or the Scotch Gate 5. Newthor or the Newgate these two last towards the West And 6. the Gate of the red Tower towards the North which leadeth unto the Bridge over the Danube and towards the water side there is also a Port by the Emperours palace and a Cloyster or Nunnery in the Town hath the Name of a Port called Himmel port or the Gate of Heaven The five first of these Gates are vaulted and arched with long passages through the Town-wall and have good Bridges of Wood with Draw-bridges to pass over the Town ditch The sixth is under a Tower and leads to the Bridges of the Danube For that River running here in a flat low Country divideth its streams so that to pass it quite over there are at present seven long Bridges made up of many thousand Tree laid one by another after their way of making Bridges There is also a Bridge within the City of Vienna called the Hochbrug or High-bridge which is made by the crossing of two Streets at equal Angles the ground of one street being as high as the tops of the Houses of the other so that to continue it they were forced to build a Bridge or Arch in the Lower-street to let the upper pass over it The City is fairly built of stone and well paved many Houses are of six stories high they are somewhat flat roofed after the Italian way the Streets are not narrow but the compass of ground will not admit them to be very broad and their Buildings are remarkable both above and below ground their Cellars are very deep To satisfie my curiosity I went into some of them and found four Cellars one under another they were arched and had two pair of Stairs to descend into them Some have an open space in the middle of each roof to let the Air out of one Cellar into another and from the lowest an adit or tube unto the top to let the Air in and out from the street somewhat after the manner of the Mines Aenaeas Sylvius about two hundred years since commending the City of Nurnburg among other expressions le ts fall this Cuperent Scotorum Reges tam egregiè quam mediocres Cives Norinbergenses habitare The Kings of Scots would be content to dwell so well as the middle sort of Citizens of Nurnburg I must confess when I first entred Nurnburg I was much surprised to see such a noble large spruce rich and well built City But Vienna doth also deserve the commendation which he affordeth it Ubi Palatia digna Regibus Templa quae mirari Italia possit Where there are Palaces fit for Kings and Churches which Italy may admire And this being spoken so long ago is now better verified of it A noble copper Columne Standing before the Iesuites College in Vienna Iohn Oliuer Fecit There are also many fair Churches rich Convents and Conventual Churches as that of the Carmelites of the Franciscans of the Benedictines of St. Nicholas In this Church I could not but take notice of the late Sepulchral Monuments of Count Strozzi and Cardinal Harach The Dominican Convent is very fair The Augustines have a large Church in the middle whereof they have built a Chappel after the manner of the Holy House at Loretto upon the top of which hang the Colours taken from the Turks and Tartars many of which Ensigns are not square like ours but made Escucheon-wise some filled with Circles wherein are expressed half Moons The Jesuites Colledges are large who seldome fail of noble Convents especially in places where they have so good footing as in this The Front of one of their Colledges openeth into a fair Piazza in the middle whereof stands a large and high composite Column of Copper upon a Pedestal of white stone with four Angels with Escucheons and on the top the blessed Virgin Inscriptions also in which the Emperour dedicates Austria unto her Patronage and Tuition In another Market-place where the Town-house is there is a handsome Statua of Justice in Copper I could not but observe the Scotch Church and Cloyster which gave also the name unto the Scotch Gate of the City because I somewhat wondered how the Scots in old time should be so considerable in this place but I found by Information and the Account of Lazius and Matthaeus Merian in High-dutch that this Convent was in former times a great Receptacle for the Scots in their long Pilgrimage unto Jerusalem founded and endowed by Duke Henry the First in memory of St. Gregory and it may seem less strange that the Scots should have a Convent here and be numerous in these parts in former Ages if we consider that St. Colman one of the Saints of the greatest Veneration in this Country was a Scotchman and said to be of the Royal Blood of Scotland who in his passage to Jerusalem was murdered by the Baurs or Country people at Stockerau four German miles from Vienna and hanged on a Tree where as the Story goes his Body remained uncorrupted for a year and a half and divers Miracles being affirmed of it it was taken down and honourably interred near Stockerau but by Meginhard Bishop of Aichstadt it was translated unto Melk and afterwards sent into Hungary and his Head kept a long time at Stullweissenburg or Alba Regalis according to the Account which is here given of this Saint The Church of St. Peter is also considerable not for its Splendour but Antiquity as being accounted the oldest in the City standing in a place where in old time there
Furnace where the Litharge is driven off agreeth better with the Figure of it in Agricola than those of Hungary some of the Litharge is green Their Buck-work and their Engines which pound the Ore the Coal and Clay are also very neat Much of their Ore is washed especially the poorest and that which is mixed with stones quarts or sparrs This is peculiar in their working that they burn the pounded and washed Ore in the Roasthearth before they melt it in the Smeltzoven or melting Furnace At these Mines of Hungary where I was they used not the Virgula divina or forked Hazel to find out Silver Ore or hidden Treasure in the Earth and I should little depend thereon but here they have an esteem of it And I observed the use thereof and the manner how they did it But I shall omit the Description of it because it is set down in divers Books and it cannot be so well described as shown to the Eye I saw also another Mine called Auff der Halsbrucker about eighty of our Fathoms deep and much worked They have divers sorts of Ore but they contain either Silver and Copper Silver and Lead or all three but they work them only for Silver They have divers damps in these Mines where it is deep The Mines are cold where the outward Air comes in but where not warm The greatest trouble they have is by dust which spoileth their Lungs and Stomachs and frets their Skins But they are not so much troubled with water and have very good Engins to draw the water out The Sulphur or Brimstone Ore which is found here is also rich it is hard and stony as other Ores are that which hath red spots is accounted the best They use a peculiar Furnace to melt the Brimstone from the Ore some whereof yieldeth three pounds of Sulphur out of an hundred weight of Ore which as it melteth runneth out of the Furnace into water or the Exhalations from the Ore near or in the Fire are condensed into Brimstone by the Surface of the Water placed to receive it this is once again melted and purified Some of the Brimstone Ore containeth Silver some Copper and some both in a small proportion Two Miners in their habits Virgula Divina The figure of an Iron retort such as are vsed at the quicksilver worke at Idria The other use and which is more considerable is for the making of Vitriol or Copperose in this manner They take the Ore out of which the Brimstone hath been already melted and burn it once again or let it still burn in the open Air then putting it into a large Fatt they pour water upon it so as to imbibe and drink in the Vitriol this Water is afterwards boyled to a sufficient height and let out into the Coolers where sticks are set in it as in the making of Sugar Candy The purest Chrystallized Vitriol sticks unto the wood the rest to the sides and bottom Thus the Sulphur Ore after the Sulphur is taken out of it still worketh upon the Silver Ore and openeth the Body of it in the Fire but when this Ore is also deprived of its Vitriol it worketh no more upon Metals Friberg is a round well-walled City hath handsome Streets a Piazza the Elector's Castle and five Gates the Church of St. Peter is fair where many of the Dukes and Ducal Family have been buried and have fair Monuments especially Duke Mauritius Elector of Saxony whose Monument in black Marble is raised three piles high adorned with many fair Statua's in Alabaster and white Marble and esteemed one of the noblest if not the best in Germany And when this Town was surrendred unto Holck and Gallas Octob. 5. 1632. the Duke of Saxony paid 80000 Dollars to save the Monuments of his Predecessours from being ransacked and defaced it being the fashion of divers German Princes to be buried in their Robes with their Ensigns of Honour Rings Jewels and the like which would have been booty and probably have run the same fortune as the Cloister of Haibron within twelve English miles of Nurenberg where some of the Marquisses of Onspach who are of the Electoral House of Brandenburg lye entombed where Tillie's Souldiers brake open the Vault and robbed the dead Corpses of the Marquisses George Frederick and Joachim Ernest of the Jewels Rings and other rich Ornaments with which they were entombed There are some Vaults and Subterraneous Cavities in the City by which there are passages into the Mines This place was formerly streightly besieged by the Emperour Adolphus for the space of a year and a month and at last betrayed by a Fugitive who let in a party of the Emperours into the Town by a Subterraneous Passage near St. Donats Gate and upon the continual Batteries made at the Town and concussion of the Earth about it the Earth sunk down in many places and swallowed great numbers of the Emperours Army These Mines afford great benefit unto the City and also unto the Elector They are said to have been found out in the year 1180. But there have been other Silver Mines discovered since as at Schneeberg at Anneberg and at Joachims Dale 1526. Having passed some time at Friberg I ordered my Journey for Leipsick and travelling by Waltheim and Coldick came unto it Leipsick is seated upon the River Elster which arising in Vortland or Terra Advocatorum passeth by it and afterwards runneth into the River Sala It is a rich and great trading City hath three Marts in the year and great resort unto it from many parts It is well-built and divers Houses are seven stories high The Castle is strictly guarded and hath in it a strong white Town But the Works about the Town are not very considerable although they might be made strong The Church of St. Nicholas is well adorned and hath the name to be the fairest within side of any Lutheran Church in Germany they have also a remarkable Burial-place or Godtsaker walled about and cloystered near the Wall wherein the better sort are buried as the rest in the middle and open part Which put me in mind of that noble Burial-place which I saw at Pisa in Tuscany called Il campo Santo because the Earth which the Emperour Frederick Barbarossa brought from the Holy Land for the Ballast of his Ships was laid upon that Ground Leipsick is famous for two great Battels fought near unto it in the last Swedish wars one between Gustavus Adolphus King of Sweden and Count Tilly General of the Imperialists 1631. wherein the Swedes obtained a great Victory Tilly was wounded fled and lived not long after Another some years after in the same place wherein Leonard Torstenson the Swede overcame Archduke Leopoldus Gulielmus and Octavio Piccolomini Generals of the Imperial Army And about a mile and a half from hence at Lutzen another great Battel was fought 1632. between the King of Sweden and the Imperial Army commanded by Albert Wallensteyn Duke of Friedland
him who was employed by King Charles the First to endeavour a reconciliation between the Lutherans and Calvinists in Germany and to unite them if possible We were now in the Territory of the Elector of Brandenburg Fridericus Wilhelmus Great Chamberlain of the Empire who is in effect possessed of Magdeburg and next unto the Austrian Family is the most potent Prince in Germany being able to raise great Armies and his Dominions so large that they are reckoned to extend two hundred German miles in length from the further part of Prussia unto Cleve but they lay not together but interspersed with many other Princes Countries Howsoever a Horse-man may so order his Journey as to lye every night in one of the Electour's Towns in travelling from one end of his Territories to another I had now left the pure German Language behind me for at Magdeburg comes in another kind of German called Plat-Deutch Broad-Dutch Nidersachsische or the Language of lower Saxony a great Language spoken in the North part of Germany They speak it at Hamburg Lubeck and many great Cities But they can converse with the other High-dutch and with some difficulty also with the Netherlanders the one speaking in his Language and the other replying in his At this City of Magdeburg was performed the first Turnament that was in Germany which was opened in the year 635. by the Emperour Henry Surnamed the Fowler who coming from the war of Hungary exceedingly satisfied with the Nobility would oblige them to exercise themselves in handling their Arms and managing their Horses and therefore instituted these Sports whereby the Nobility was powerfully attracted to Valour and Gallantry and induced to perfect and accomplish themselves in all kind of Chevalry No new Nobility no Bastard no Usurper none guilty of High Treason no Oppressor of Widows and Orphans none born of Parents whereof one was of base Extraction and Ignoble no Heretique Murderer Traytor no Coward that had run away from the Battel nor indiscreet Person that had given offence to Ladies by word or deed were admitted to this Honour nor above One of the same Family at a time Princes came into the Lists with four Squires a piece Counts and Barons with three a Knight with two and a Gentleman with one The hour and place for the Turnament being appointed he that had a desire to break a Lance there came to the Presidents Lodgings to have his Name written down which was done in the presence of three Heralds to whom the Champion delivered his Helmet and Sword and after he had been at Confession presented himself in the Lists with one or more Squires according to his quality The Horses of the Combatants were to be without fault or exception the Caparisons and Furniture such as gave no offence their Saddles without any extraordinary rising before and behind and all things equal After which they performed all kind of Exercises on Horse-back and after the Jousts were ended every man repaired to the President of his Nation to wait for the Sentence of the Judges and he that best deserved the Prize received it either from the hand of some Lady or from the Prince that gave it These Pastimes were afterwards disused upon the Emulation it caused between the Princes and Nobility who strove to outvie one another or upon wars in which there was no leisure for such Exercises or perhaps upon consideration that divers brave men lost their lives in these Encounters And no less a Prince than Henry the Second King of France neglecting to wear his Beaver down was slain in a Turnament And at Darmstadt also in the year 1403. at the Three and twentieth Turnament which was held in Germany the Gentlemen of Franconia and those of Hesse drew so much blood upon one another that there remained dead upon the place seventeen of the former and nine of the latter The Winter growing on called me to make haste to Hamburg from whence I intended to pass by Sea into England and therefore I took the advantage of the Stage-Coaches at Magdeburg and in four days came to Hamburg I travelled through a Country for the most part barren of little accommodation or scarce any thing very remarkable through part of the Electour of Brandenburg and then through the Duke of Lunenburg's Country passing by the City of Lunenburg a handsome walled City beautified with divers fair Churches with high Spires The Church of St. Lambert the Town-house and the Duke's Palace are fair Here are Salt-springs in the Town very beneficial to the place and supplying the neighbour Countries The Town is commanded by a Hill near to it called Kalkberg which lieth on the North-side In this Road through lower Saxony I could not but take notice of many Barrows or Mounts of Earth the burial Monuments of great and famous Men to be often observed also in open Countries in England and sometimes rows of great Stones like those in Wormius his Danish Antiquities And in one place I took more particular notice of them where three massy Stones in the middle were encompassed in a large square by other large Stones set up an end Hamburg is a fair City and one of the great ones in Germany it is seated in a Plain being populous rich and remarkably strong It is fortified a la Moderne much after the way of Holland with works of earth but in no place yet Revestues or faced with brick or stone The Territory belonging to it is but small it is divided into the new and the old Town There are five Gates The Stone gate leading towards Lubeck the Dome-gate the Alten-gate or which leadeth unto Altenaw a place near the Town belonging to the King of Denmark where the Romanists and Calvinists have their Churches the Bridge-gate and the Dike-gate The Buildings of this City are handsome and commonly have a fair entrance into them The Senate-house is noble adorned with carved Statua's of the Nine Worthies The Exchange or place of meeting for Merchants was then enlarging it being too small to receive those Numbers which frequented it Many of their Churches are very fair with high Steeples covered with Copper The Front of St. Katherines is beautiful The Steeple of St. Nicholas is supported with great gilded Globes The other great Churches are the dome-Dome-Church St. Peters St. Jacob. The greater and less St. Michael the New-Church in the New town The lesser Churches are St. Gertrude St. Mary Magdalen and the Holy Ghost They have a Sermon every day as in other Lutheran Cities The River Alster runs through it into the Elbe and turneth many Mills and the Tide comes up into divers Streets through Chanels although it be distant eighteen German miles from the Sea or Mouth of the Elbe This place aboundeth with shipping and many of good Burden and is well seated for Trade as having an open passage into the Ocean and being but a days Journey from the Lubeck on the Baltick Sea and being seated upon the long
till Attila the King of the Huns or Hungarians destroyed it About four hundred years after Charles the Great riding out a hunting in these parts as he passed through the Woods his Horses Foot strook into one of these Hot-springs near which he also took notice of the Ruins of ancient Palaces and Buildings long before forsaken and being still more and more delighted with the pleasant Situation of the place and conveniency of these hot Rivolets he renewed and adorned the Baths built his Royal Palace near them and appointed that the King of the Romans should be crowned with an Iron Crown here as with a Silver one at Milan and a Gold one at Rome He also built a noble Collegiate Church dedicated to the blessed Virgin in the presence of many Princes and Bishops in the year 804 and endowed it with Revenues for the maintainance of Canons who lived together in a Colledge at first but at present separately in the manner of Prebends He built also the old or inward Wall of the City so that it flourished till the year 882. at which time it was again ruined by the Fury of the Normans and the Emperours Palace burnt to the ground This City besides these Devastations from the Irruptions of the Huns and Normans hath been divers times since destroyed by Fire as in the year 1146. which loss it overcame in such manner that Twenty six years after it recovered not only its former greatness but was so much increased that the large outward Wall was built by the command of the Emperour Frederick the First In the year 1224. happened another great Fire in which not only the Buildings but many of the Inhabitants perished And the Roof of the Church was burnt in another Fire 1236. And now of late for it is not long since it hath recovered its losses by the Fire in the year 1656. when twenty Churches and Chappels and about five thousand private Houses were destroyed The Town-house or Senate-house was built 1353. being all of Free-stone handsomely adorned with the Statues of the Emperours The first and second Story of this Building is divided into Chambers but the highest is all one entire Room or Hall 162 Foot long and 60 Foot broad It is well painted in divers parts by Amisaga Two Pieces of whose drawing are much esteemed here one of the Resurrection and another of Charles the Great giving the Charter to the City of Aken Here the Emperours at the time of their Coronation used to keep their Feasts together with the Electours and other Princes The Roof is supported by four Pillars through the middle of which the smoak of all the Chimneys of this Building is by a handsome contrivance conveyed away Over against this House in the middle of the Piazza is a Fountain considerable both for largeness and neat structure contrived by a great Artist Gerard Coris where four Springs perpetually empty themselves from above into a large Bason of Copper of thirty Foot Diameter from whence again it descends by six Pipes into a Cistern of Stone handsomely engraved and passeth to many other Fountains in the Town On the top of this Fountain stands a large Statue of Charles the Great Patron of this City made of brass and gilded over He is in Armour and looketh towards Germany About the edges of the great brass Bason is this Inscription Hic aquis per Granum Principem quendam Romanum Neronis Agrippae fratrem inventis calidorum fontium Thermae à Principio constructae Postea verò per D. Carolum Magnum Imp. constituto ut locus hic fit caput regni sedes trans Alpes renovatae sunt quibus Thermis hic gelidus fons influxit olim quem nunc demum hoc aeneo vase illustravit S. P. Q. Aquisgranensis Anno Domini 1620. The Church of our Lady built by Charles the Great is of an odd Figure At the West-end is a Steeple adorned with divers Pyramids and on the top a large Globe and Cross From hence higher much than the Church passeth a Gallery supported by a large Arch to a Cupola near the middle of the Church At the East-end is also a small Turret or Lanthorn The inside of the whole is adorned with Marble Pillars of divers sorts with Pillars of brass gilded Statues brass Doors and Partitions and much Mosaick work In the middle of the Church where Charles the Great was buried hangeth a very large Crown given to this Church by the Emperour Frederick the First This Crown is made of silver and brass gilt adorned with sixteen little Towers and eight and forty Statues of silver of about a Foot high and thirty two which are lesser Between these stand eight and forty Candlesticks to receive the Lights burnt here upon Festivals Of these large Crowns I have seen at Colen and other parts and it hath been an ancient Ornament in Churches The Greeks have a Crown or large Circle much like this in the middle of most of their best Churches on which they hang many Ostrich Eggs and the Pictures of the Apostles and Saints The Turks do likewise imitate it in their Mosques but instead of Pictures place Lamps Frederick the First took up the Body of Charles the Great out of its Sepulchre in the middle of the Church and afterwards buried it again partly in a silver Coffin under the Altar of the Quire and partly near the Wall of the old Building covering it with the same Tomb-stone as before which is here reported to have been first taken from the Tomb of Julius Caesar It is of white Marble and hath the Figure of Proserpina upon it Out of this Tomb of Charles the Great were taken up a great number of Reliques and considerable Rarities which he had got together in his life time some of them given him by Aaron King of Persia by the Patriarch of Constantinople and others divers of which are still preserved here and these following we had the opportunity to see Some of the blessed Virgins hair One ring or link of the Chain with which St. Peter was chained in Prison The Head of Charles the Great The bones of his Arm. His Sword which the Emperours wear at the time of their Coronation The Picture of the Virgin Mary with our Saviour in her Arms embossed upon a Jaspis done by St. Luke hanged about the Neck of Charles the Great and so found in his Tomb. A Noble Manuscript of the Gospels found in the same Tomb. Charles the Great 's Horn which he used when he went a hunting His Crucifix made out of the wood of the Cross Our Saviour's Girdle of Leather with the Seal of Constantine the Great at each end A piece of the true Manna Some of the Bones and Blood of St. Stephen richly enchased upon which the Emperours are sworn at their Inauguration A piece of one of the Nails of the Cross An Agnus Dei sent from the Pope to Charles the Great and many other Reliques Here is