you may meet large Vineyards plentifully stock'd with Grapes out of which is press'd a much more palatable sort of Wine then can be had in any part of Saxony or the Marquisate of Brandenburg Amongst the many kinds of plants and herbs wherewith the Fields and Forests as well as Gardens of Thuringen abound the chief and most peculiar to this Province are wild Saffron and Woad the later of which is used by our Dyers in their best blews and sky-colours and with which the old Britains as Cesar informs us were us'd to paint themselves Near Sangerhausen and Salfeld has sometimes been dug up considerable quantities of Copper and Silver Ore and at Franckenhausen Saltzungen and Sultza they have still rich Salt-pits The chief Rivers of the Country are the Sala Rivers Werra Vnstrut Hiera Ilm Leina Schwertze Wipper Helbe Rahna Helme Lossa and Giessel Besides these there are several great Lakes at the bottom of some of their Mountains the most considerable of which are the Weissensee and Schwansee The Bores of Thuringen are a rough and unhew'n sort of people downright Clowns Inhabitants and so far strangers to Courtship and breeding that they are with much difficulty brought acquainted with the common principles of humanity They hardly admit of any manner of government or order among them and are possibly the only Germans that are uncivil to Travellers The Thuringers upon their first appearance in these parts Government subjected themselves to a King of their own chusing and continued in this estate till their whole land was overrun and conquer'd by the Francks in the year 1522. In the days of the Emperor Charles the Great and his Father King Pepin who first rooted out Paganism and planted Christianity in this Province the greatest part of it was subject to the Archbishop of Mentz who govern'd it by several Deputies and Lieutenants By this means the Kingdom of Thuringen came to be divided into a great many Counties and Baronies or Lordships such were the Counties of Schwartzburg Kirchberg Kefernburg Schoneberg Gleichen Sangerhausen c. the Lordships of Franckenstein Saltza Heldrungen Dreffert Apolda Vargila c. After the death of the Emperor Otho Ludowic Count of Schoneberg got the Title of Count of Thuringen conferr'd on him by the Emperor Conrad II. and his Grandchild prevail'd with Lotharius II. to change the Title of Count into Landtgrave In this Line the honour continued till the death of Herman Landtgrave of Thuringen and Hessen in the year 1226. Whereupon Henry Duke of Brabant got possession of Hessen and Thuringen fell to Henry Marquise of Misnia and has ever since been subject to the House of Saxony Erfurt the Metropolis of Thuringen Erfurt and one of the largest Cities in Germany is thought by Bertius and other learned Geographers to have had its name from Erfa an old ruinous Castle near thirty English miles distant from the Town I had rather believe its ancient name to have been Ierafurt which signifies no more then a Ferry over the River Iera on the banks of which this City now stands There are three Baronies and seventy-two fair Villages subject to the Citizens of Erfurt so that the Country Rustics have some reason for that proverbial saying in ordinary use amongst them Erfurt is not a City but a Country When this great City which is about as large as Coln and as beautiful was first built is not easily determin'd 'T is certain that in the days of Boniface Archbishop of Mentz it was reckon'd an ancient City For there is still extant an Epistle written by that Prelate to Pope Zachary wherein we meet with these words Vnam esse sedem Episcopatus decrevimus in Castello quod dicitur Wurtzburg alteram in oppido quod nominatur Buriburg perhaps Nuriburg tertiam in loco qui dicitur Erphesfurt qui fuit olim Paganorum The Town is situate in a pleasant and fruitful plain abundantly stock'd with all manner of grain and affording great plenty of good Wine Vast multitudes of the Citizens are maintain'd by gathering and dressing the Herb Woad before mention'd which grows in great abundance in most fields near Erfurt This and the other Commodities of the Town Corn Wine c. are carried off at two great Fairs in the year whereof one is held the week after Trinity Sunday and the other at Martinmass Weimar a neat and well built City Weimar in the middle way betwixt Erfurt and Iena is thought to have been anciently call'd Weinmarckt from the great quantities of Wine sold daily at this Town It is questionless a place of great antiquity since as the old Chronicle of Thuringen witnesses the Emperor Otho II. held a general Diet of all the Estates of the Empire in this City in the year 975. The only remarkable thing in the Town is the Landgrave's Palace a regular and stately piece of building The City of Iena seated on the banks of the Sala Iena and famous for an Univesity and great concourse of learned men may justly be reckon'd the third in Thuringen Some German Etymologists would have this Town as well as the former fetch its name from the Grapes or Vineyards about it They tell us Jain signifies Wine in the Hebrew tongue and therefore too 't is probable say they that the Jews were first founders of this City But this conjecture has as little of probability in it as that fancy of some others who endeavour to derive the name of this Town from the old Roman God Janus since it does not appear that there grew any Vines near this place fome Centuries ago or that ever the Jews were Masters of it The Town is at present a well compact piece and tolerably well fortified with Walls and Turrets The foundation of the University was first begun by John Frideric Elector of Saxony who procured for it many brave and large priviledges from the Emperor Charles the Fifth But this good Prince never liv'd to finish the work he had begun but upon his deathbed committed that charge to his Sons who got the foremention'd priviledges confirm'd by the Emperor Ferdinand in the year 1558. Since that time there has never wanted a considerable number of eminent Professors and learned men in all Faculties in this University among whom the great J. Lipsius was one a man sufficient of himself not to mention any of his learned Collegues to eternize the credit of the place They have here a Library given them by some of the Dukes of Saxony and daily augmented but not so considerable as to merit a particular Description Gotha the fifth great Town in Thuringen Gotha seated on the Leina is thought to have been built by some of the old Gothic Troops on their march through this Country towards Italy and by them to have had the name of Gotha given it However 't is certain it was only a mean Village such as might just serve for the Tents of a company of hardy
Britannicum or Brittish Sea Mare Germanicum or German Sea c. and are therefore to be look'd upon by us as belonging to those Countries whence they derive their names We defer to speak of the Rives that are comprehended in one Country Rivers till we come to treat of that Country The most noted which run thro divers Countries are these First the Danubius or Danow which arising in the Alps runs thro Germany Hungary by Transylvania and Walachia into the Euxine Sea Next the Rhine which arising also in the Alps not far from the head of the Danow runs along by Germany and the Low Countries into the Brittish Ocean The next is Boristhenes or Nieper which has its rise in the Confines of Muscovy and runs thro Litvania Volinia c. into the Euxine Sea And lastly Don or Tanais arising likewise in Muscovy and running thro the lesser Tartary and other adjoining Countries falls into Palus Meotis We omit to speak of the Volga till we come to Asia to which it more properly belongs The dispositions of the Inhabitants cannot be easily reduc'd to one general character Dispositions varying according to the Religions the Governments the customary employments and the divers temperature of the air and soil in which they live The Arts peculiar to Arts. and most practis'd in Europe and there invented may be reckon'd Printing Painting Statuary divers particulars in the Art of War and Navigation and most especially in the learned and scholastic Sciences in which the Europeans have advanced to a much greater perfection than either the Asiatics or the Africans NOVISSIMA RUSSIAE TABULA Authore Isaaco Massa. Doctrina et humanitate praedito D. Isaaco Bernart rerum quae per Moscoviam maxime trahuntur mercatorâ—… peritissimo hanc Moscoviae tabula dedicat affinis finis Hen. Honâ—ius Wirst 〈…〉 〈◊〉 Germanica quorum 〈…〉 RVSSIAE vulgo MOSCOVIA dictae Partes Septentrionalis et Orientalis Auctore Isaaco Massa MUSCOVY OR RUSSIA MEsech or Mosoc 〈…〉 the son of Japhet is generally supposed to have peopled this Country the chief reason I conceive to be the similitude of the name We find also in Strabo frequent mention of the Moschi tho it be uncertain from him where their Country was Mela placeth them near the Caspian Sea Pliny near Iberia which is now called Georgia Lucan and since him Sidonius near the Sarmatae and it seems that Sarmatia was a name better known than Russia So that the Moschi seem to be some of those many Nations at this time under and that toward the south of the Muscovitish Empire But the Annals of the Country acknowledg no other name they had anciently then Russes tho some modern Latin-writers call them Roxalano's quasi Russo-Alanos but more Ruthenos and their Nation Rossia which signifies dispersion or scattering because they tho very great and populous yet lived dispersed without certain government in continual quarrels and dissentions one with another till Genareta Daniel or Ivan his son surnamed Caleta or Scrip because he always carried such an one at his girdle with money to relieve such as were in necessity gather'd and bound them together in one government and body And for their better union built amongst and almost in the middle of them the City Mosco upon a River of that name making it thenceforward the Metropolis of the Empire from whence they begun to be call'd Muscovites and by little and little have advanced themselves into a very great and famous Nation It is true 〈…〉 that the name of Russes was anciently further extended than now it ordinarily is for the Russes were said to inhabit from the Weisel to Volga and from the Black Sea to the Northern Ocean And even yet the Polonians call a part of the Kingdom of Poland Red Russia part also of the dominions belonging to Lithvania Black Russia and that under the Grand Tzaar White Russia as they say because that people ordinarily woar white garments but more universally white caps upon their heads Of these alone in this place we are to treat The dominion of the Grand Tzaar lies between 46 and 66 deg of Latitude that is from Astracan to Fretum Waygatz tho part of his Empire lies some more South and some more North which allowing 60 miles to a degree comes to 1260 English miles And in Longitude from Boristhenes about 55 deg to the Volga 80 deg after the same rate about 1500 of the same miles according to our best and newest Maps The borders toward the North are the Frozen Sea and some part of Lapland on the South are the Crimand Precop-Tartars on the East we may account the Volga and the Ob to be his borders and on the west the dominions of the King of Poland Sueden and some part of Lapland Tho these are not exactly set down yet they may serve for a general direction more preciseness must be expected in the description of the several parts But from this general notion every one perceives that there must necessarily be a vast difference as between the length of days some being not sixteen hours others six months long so to heat and cold betwixt the several parts of this countrey and consequently as great variety of seasons soils fruits and productions of the Earth likewise also of habits customs diet and even of the very dispositions and manners as well as the figures of the inhabitants upon which heat and cold have no small influence So that we shall omit these general descriptions and reserve what we find concerning the particulars to their proper places And of the Government and Empire in general it will be best treated of when we come to the Seat or Metropolitical City of the Empire Mean while we shall proceed to speak of the several Provinces as they lye in order beginning at the North-East part But we must bespeak the Readers first not to expect any exact description of the bounds and limits of each Province for besides that no Author hath so narrowly look'd into those things it should seem that the Emperor observes not always the same Commissions but enlarges or diminishes his Governments as himself pleaseth But for the same reason neither have we an exact enumeration of the Provinces some reckoning more some fewer Those who number them according to the titles of the Grand Tzaar cannot find their count for those places mentioned in his title are some of them small places and inconsiderable some again contain more Provinces then one and some such Governments as are not at this time under the Grand Tzaar but as they subdued any dominion they united all the titles to their former But of this only by the by In this we shall follow the tract of ground proceeding from North-East to North-West and make use of the best information we can find And before we enter upon Russia we shall take notice of a certain people that take up a great share of these northern parts not as inhabitants
under him They made use of in their wars with the Tartars a General they call'd the Walking Captain or the Commander of the walking Castle which is nothing else but a double wall of thick pales so contrived that it might be in ashort time set up in length and then it would reach seven miles and the two walls about ten foot distance The pales were higher then a man and in them loop-holes to lay out the noses of their musequets And this is sufficient for the defence of their shot where the enemy hath no canon as the Tartars have not else it is of little use or esteem They had also one great Drum carried upon four horses fastened together and eight men to beat it but these customs are laid aside and they follow the modes of the Germans and other Europeans They are acknowledg'd to be better at keeping Forts and Cities then in a field battel Their Valour to which also their frequent fastings slender diet education to hardship do much dispose them Their women have many times supplied the defect of soldiers kept guards fought stoutly upon the works and even defended breaches In some of the Castles of Livonia when the Poles took them they found almost all the men consumed in one but two were left and yet those two refused to yeild up the Fort lest they should seem not to have performed their trust to their Prince When the Polonians upbraid them with their loss of so many battels when they had sufficient advantages they answer But who hath Smolensko Novogorod c. Their Forts are very well victual'd and man'd fortified commonly with turf kept up with bavins hurdles or timber which resist battery the better tho the frost have too much power upon them They now also face them with brick and stone Their Sinboiars are educated and inur'd to war in those Forts but they stay not above a year or two in one garrison as neither do the Governours There are generally two and sometimes three Governors in one garrison the chiefest hath care of the munition and never stirs forth the other upon occasion go abroad sally fetch in contribution c. many of them are very valiant expert and careful soldiers Of all their borderers they most apprehend the Swedes The Polonians are more valiant and will not fear with twenty thousand to fight sixty thousand Russes but they are not so expert in taking Towns nor are they so easily kept together their obedience being too voluntary The Tartars do the Russes most mischief for in sudden and violent inrodes they sweep a whole country carrying away all that are able to march and children that can endure to be carried in baskets which they bring with them for that purpose If the Russes meet with them they never refuse to fight with them but the Tartars seldom come to a battel but if they apprehend themselves weaker they will all disperse and rendezvous again at night or after one day or two In their last invasion he is said to have carried away four hundred thousand captives which is enough to depopulate a country The best defence against them is a great barren desart of twenty days march being the confines between them and the Russes But in general all wars are prejudicial to the Russ for they raise great armies for the most part of married men and are not very careful of preserving their men all the time therefore that war lasts the women are unfruitful and by that means the old stock decays and the new doth not advance The remedy they have is by working the Czremiss and other moderater Tartars mingled amongst them to a coalition with them into the same Religion and Government which the Russes sedulously endeavour and have in good part effected Next for their Religion and religious ceremonies Religin 〈◊〉 of the 〈◊〉 Themselves say that St. Andrew planted Christianity amongst them which was by invasion of the Tartars afterwards either abolished or very much defaced till after the year 900 some say 960 other 989 it was again restored by Volodomir I find in Can. 28. Conc. Chalced. that it is order'd That the Churches of the Barbarians should receive their Ordinations from Constantinople Both Balsamon and Zonaras interpret this of the Russes So that these two learned persons were of this opinion that the Russes were Christians before that Council which began 451. And their Metropolitan being consecrated by the Constantinopolitan Patriarch may seem to argue so much But neither of these arguments are convincing let us therefore follow the common opinion It is acknowledged by all that they were Christians in Volodomir's time and that they follow'd or consented with the Greek Church as they do still in most of their opinions and practices The greatest difference seems to be their rebaptization whereof more by and by Their Ecclesiastical Government was the same with that of all the Churches till now of late i. e. by Bishops Priests and Deacons whether they retain the lesser Orders as they are called I cannot find Till of late the supreme Officer in their Church was the Metropolitan of Moskow who being elected by his Clergy was ordained or consecrated by a commission from the Patriarch of Constantinople But about the year 1588 there came to Moskow one Hieronymus who pretended to be Patriarch of Constantinople and to have been banished for I know not what reason by the Turk Others said that he was deposed by his own Clergy for complying too much with the Western Church And de facto he did endeavour to reconcile the Russes to the Church of Rome to which purpose Ant. Possevine was at that time also sent by the Pope the King of Poland and other Christian Princes who interessed themselves seriously in this affair which not succeeding Hieronymus began to treat about resigning his Patriarchship and translating of the See from Constantinople to Moskow which motion was greedily embraced by the Russes And Jan. 25 1588 in a very great solemnity the Prince and all the Nobility and Clergy going in procession thro a great part of the City at length in our Lady's Church he made an oration to the foresaid purpose deliver'd up his Resignation authenticated and his Patriarchal Staff into the hands of the Metropolitan of Moskow who presently with divers ceremonies was inaugurated Patriarch And his successors do all use that title and are consecrated by their own Bishops Whether this action was valid I dispute not 't is sufficient that the Patriarch of Constantinople who is most concern'd doth not question it and to stop his mouth as I suppose there is every year besides upon divers other occasions a very considerable present of five hundred crowns sent to him Besides the Greeks want not other artifices as sending things hallow'd reliques c. for which they receive very great presents Yet Filaretes Nikitys the late Patriarch and Father to the Emperor Michael Federowitz was consecrated by the
them are Simbeyska-gora Arbuchim but of the greatest part the names are unknown The river Adrobe enters Volga in 53 deg 48 min. as doth the river Vssa not much lower A little beyond in a great plain is a sandy hill call'd Sariol-Kurgan which they say was the burial of a Tartar Emperor and seven Kings there slain and made by the Soldiers carrying sand and earth in their helmets Three hundred and fifty versts below Casan is Samara a large City upon a river so called three versts from the banks of Volga tho it do not wholly join with the great stream till fifteen versts lower and over against it on the right hand fall in also the rivers Ascula and Lisran Below Samara an hundred and fifteen leagues is the mountain of the Donski Cosacks who from hence usually robbed the boats that came down the Volga below this the river Zagra joins the Volga and not far thence the river is so shallow that the Cosacks ford it and lurking in the sledgy and bushy Islands of the river rob and spoil securely These people do very much mischief to the Russes and the Emperor to repress the inrodes of them and the Tartars hath built divers Cities and Forts giving them to be inhabited only by soldiers one is Soratof in 52 deg 12 min. chiefly against the Kolmuck-Tartars whose country begins here and reaches to the Caspian Sea a very deformed barbarous and cruel sort of people great man-stealers and enemies both to Russes Cosacks and chiefly the Nagai-Tartars Czaritza Tsornojar and divers others were built for the same reason An hundred and fifty versts below Saratof on the left hand of Volga is the river Ruslana and over against that the mountain of Vrakufs-Karul where they say a Tartarian Prince called Vrak was killed by the Cosacks near to which is the river and mountain called Camaschinka near whereto Stenko Radzin was born the river rises out of the torrent of Iloba and falls into the Don. The Cosacks bring over land their boats upon four wheels thence into the Volga where they exercise their piracies and plunderings The river Bolloclea is ninety versts below Camuschinka and near that about 48 deg 51 min. is the shortest distance betwixt the Volga and Don which is about seven leagues In 49 deg 42 min. is Tzaritza three hundred and fifty versts from Soratof From thence to Astracan is only heaths and barren grounds below lies the Isle of Zerpinske over against which a little river rises out of the Don but so little that it will hardly bear a small boat Massa in his Map for in others it is not to be found calls it Kamous falls into the Volga Near to this place also was begun a trench large enough to convey Vessels from Don to the Volga and it is expressd in divers Maps but it was given over for the Nagai and the other Tartars fearing not without reason that it would be a means to bring the Turk upon them as the Muscovite also did they joined all together and not only disturbed the work but also beat the army of the Crim-Tartar consisting of 80000 together with 20000 Turks and 3000 Janisaries Below that on the same side the river Wesowi and thirty versts from that Wolodinerski Vtsga empty themselves into the Volga The country all hereabouts and down as far as Astracan is very plentiful in Liquorice Thence the river descends to Tzormegar a little City inhabited only by a garrison against the Cosacks who there used to rob and particularly defeated a great convoy of fifteen hundred Muscovites for the river being there very swift they suffer'd the soldiers to go first and then setting upon the Merchants killed seven or eight hundred of them and carried away all the goods before the convoy could come up to help them The next considerable place is Astracan a great City in an Island made by two branches of the Volga and called Dolgoi It was anciently the Metropolis of the Nagai-Tartars and built by one of their Kings called Astra-chan it lies in 46 deg 22 min. and the needle varies westward 13 deg 40 min. others say that it lies in 47 deg 9 min. yet is the winter which lasts but two months so cold that the river is frozen hard enough to bear sleds The Island is sandy and barren except some gardens cultivated by the richer Citizens The country also thereabout is marshy and desart yet do the inhabitants make a great profit by their salt which the Sun bakes upon the top of the water about a finger thick the inhabitants cast it up into great heaps and transport it to other countries The river also is mightily stored with fish and there is great plenty of fowls of all sorts They have great store of most excellent fruits and particularly grapes This City was ann 1554 taken from the Tartars by Ivan Vasilowich who sending his army in small parties and several ways arrived at the Town before he was expected or the enemies provided to receive him presently encouraging his men by promising them the plunder of the Town Aug. 1. he took it by storm where he spared none that would not be baptized Having re-peopled it with Muscovites he encompassed it with a stone-wall and other fortifications Michael Federowitz afterwards added another part to it so that the circuit of it at present is 8000 Geometrical feet defended by 500 pieces of Ordnance nine Regiments each containing 500 Musqueteers two Weywods c. The situation of it invites Merchants thither from all parts even from the Indies so that the customs tho very low amount to 25000 crowns per ann The inhabitants of the country Tartars of Crim and Nagaia are not permitted to live in the City as neither to build Cities or fortifie Towns But for the most part they live in huts of reed or cane like to our hen-coops which in cold weather they cover with a course cloth the summer they spend in rambling up and down to find pasture for their cattel in winter time retireing under Astracan for their security against the Calmuk and Jaick Tartars The Grand Tzar lends them arms which they restore at such a time they pay no tribute but are obliged to serve him in his wars which they do very willingly in hope of prey They have their own Princes Commanders and Judges but some of their chief Murza's are always kept as hostages at Moskow If any one desire to know what these Cosacks be Of the Cosacks that have caused all this noise and trouble in the world tho we shall treat more largely of them when we come to the Vkrain yet it will not be amiss to give here some general account of them Authors differ much concerning the reason of their name some say that they are so called from Cosa which in the Polish language signifies a Goat But I find that in the Circassian and other Tartar languages Cosac signifies a Soldier perhaps as Cimber in
Iron-mines and indifferent good store of corn It has but one City in it call'd Gevalia commodiously situated upon the Bay of Bothnia half a days Journey from Kupferberg 2. Helsingia Helsingia which was anciently a general name for all the Northern Provinces from the North-sea to the River Vla and the Lake Vlatresk in the North of Cajania as appears from some records of a Parliament held at Telgis A. 1328 and a distinct Kingdom of it self govern'd by its own Kings till the time of Ingellus the second King of Vpsal so were the Kings of Sweden anciently styl'd who at his Coronation invited the King of Helsingia and several other Princes to the solemnity and after having made them drunk with strong liquors set fire on the Palace and so destroyed them all and seized their possessions which ever after were united to the Crown of Sweden The inhabitants of this Country had anciently a peculiar language of their own and also an Alphabet altogether distinct from the Runick as appears by several old monuments found amongst them They are recorded to have fought many famous battels with their neighbours of Finland Carelia and Cajania and after having driven some of their Enemies as far as the Sund in memory of their conquest and to eternize their name to have built the City Helsingburg From them are said to have come the Nylanders who border upon Carelia and use the same manner of speech to this day The Natives are generally very hospitable and courteous to strangers of a docile and ingenious disposition and above all things endeavouring to be neat and handsom within doors The whole Country of Helsingia is divided into four Provinces 1. Helsingia properly so call'd Helsingia heretofore known by the name of Sundhede which has in it three lesser divisions Alora thro which runs the river Liusna Sundhede in the midst whereof is the Lake Dil and Nordstigh not far from the wood Arskog The soil is indifferently fruitful for Corn but chiefly for Pasture the inhabitants mostly imploying themselves in feeding and managing their stock of Cattel Here is but one City in the whole Country call'd Hudingsvaldia remarkable for the great quantities of Corn Butter Hydes Pitch Rosin Masts of Ships and Deal-boards that are convey'd hence into other Countries 2. Medelpadia Medelpadia much of the same nature with Helsingia but only it is narrower and abounds more with woods and mountains in it are two rivers very full of fish Some say the Kings of Helsingia anciently resided here 3. Angermannia a fruitful and pleasant Angermannia yet in some places mountainous Country The soil is so good and certain that tho it bear Corn plentifully it needs not be manur'd above once in ten years It is divided in the middle into two parts the northern and southern by a great wood which runs all along from the ragged mountain Scula and thence takes its name water'd it is by only one river well stored with Salmon and other fish secur'd by one City nam'd Hernosandia yeilding the same commodities as Hudingsvaldia only it affords no Copper 4. Bothnia Bothnia not so full of mountains as Angermannia of a sandy and barren turf but well supplied with fish and other commodities It has in it several rivers of considerable bigness which empty themselves into the Bothnick-Bay Cities here are none but this defect is supplied by a frequency of Market-Towns which are almost as numerous as the Parishes The advantage of this Country is chiefly by the trade from the nearer parts of Lapland which is managed chiefly by the Birkarli and all comes to the Sea-side this way II. Sueonia or Sweden strictly so taken Sueonia which contains in it these five Provinces Vplandia Westmannia Dalecarlia Nericia and Sudermannia DALECARLIAE et WESTMANNIAE Nova et Accurata descriptio VIRO ILLVST mo D. no PETRO JULIO COYET Equite Aurato S. R. M. Sueciae Cosiliario Aulico Scretario Status et nunc ad Confoederatos Belgas extra ordinem Ablegato D. D. D. Joh. Janssonius VPLANDIA 2. 〈…〉 On the South or South-east of Dalecarlia lies West or Wester-mannia or Westmannerland bordering upon Vpland and Gestricia It is according to the several Dales or divisions that are in it divided into three parts viz. Oster Wester and Sun-Dalia The soil is very fruitful and the Mines very considerable affording Steel Iron Copper Lead and some veins of Sulphur in greater quantity then those of any other Province of the whole Country There is also a Silver Mine discover'd and made use of at Salberg The Cities here are three Arosia Arbogia and Koping the chief of these is Arosia or Westeras a Bishops seat where in the Cathedral Church are several great stones with Gothick inscriptions as there are likewise at Stregnesia In this City the agreement by which the State of the Kingdom was changed from an Elective to an Hereditary Monarchy was concluded ann 1540 in the time of Gustavus I. and thence call'd Pactum Arosiense The history was thus The Swedes not being able to endure the tyranny and oppression of Christiern II. then King both of Sweden and Denmark forsook their Allegiance to him and under the conduct of Prince Gustavus who had wonderfully escaped from his imprisonment in Denmark took up arms against him expell'd him their Country and at last gain'd their former liberty and priviledges whereupon to requite their General for this signal good he had done the publick they at the instance of one Canutus President of the Council and Johannes Gothus the Popes Legat ann 1523 unanimously elected him King and considering how much it might tend to the happiness of the Kingdom to have the Succession ascertain'd to his Issue they in the year 1540 wholly gave up their power of Electing their Kings for the future and by Oath and solemn Covenant setled the Crown upon him and his Heirs for ever which confidence of the people in their Prince was justified in the event for the new King was so far from abusing his Absolute power that in that very year he published many Laws for the benefit of the people 3. 〈◊〉 South of Westmannia lies Nericia a little but fruitful Province yeilding good store of Sulphur Allum and Vitriol Some Silver Mines there are but not labour'd Most of its inhabitants are Smiths who supply the whole Country especially those that work in the Mines with Iron instruments of all sorts Here is one City nam'd Orebrogia 4. 〈…〉 South or South-east of Nericia lies Sudermannia or Sudermanland having on the East the Baltick Sea Ostro-Gothia on the South and the Lake Meller on the North. It is famous for several Cities it contains the chief and most considerable of which is Nicopia the ancient seat of the Dukes of Sudermannia Here also is the place for building of Ships the workmen are good and materials cheap Next to this is Stregnesia a Bishops seat with Telga Torsilia and Trosa all commodious for
Government Friderick the second ordered one superintendant to preside here and subjected all the Churches and Parishes about an hundred in all to his jurisdiction which authority was shortly after lost and by Christian the fourth again restored Upon the decaying of Wineta and Julinum Mart-Towns in Pomerania this City became famous for Trade and may be reckoned among the chief of the whole North. In this City Hydrographical Tables and Sea-mens Cards are said to have been first printed and perfected and rules for Navigation and Commerce for the whole Ocean as far as the Scythian Sea and Hercules his Pillars here prescribed and by Sea-men observed In it were anciently ten Churches and four Monasteries at present only seven Churches in all Near this place are several large Rocks with Gothic Epitaphs and Inscriptions of which see Pontanus This City was formerly under the command of the Teutonick Order in which time it was beseiged by Ericus King of Swedland Denmark and Norway and after much loss both of men and money on both sides the difference was referred to the Emperor who ordered that the Teutonick Order should yeild up to the King their Title both to the City and the Island and he in consideration of it to pay them in hand a 1000 English Nobles After King Ericus's death it was sometimes in the possession of the Swedes sometimes of the Danes See more amongst the Swedish Islands That this Country was first of all inhabited by the Goths and from them receiv'd its name is agreed on by most Authors but whence they came hither under whose conduct or in what age of the world is very much controverted That they came out of Scythia Europa over the Venedic Bay under Magog and from him were call'd Magogae Gothi or Getae is the opinion of Jo. Magnus and Olaus Magnus his Brother and successor in the Archbishoprick of Vpsal Tho they seem to have no motive for it other then the affinity of names not being able at such great distance of time to have any certain authority of Historians Other Authors and those of very good account affirm the Goths or Getes at first to have been a Colony of the Messagetae who inhabited Scythia Europaea in those parts near the Palus Maeotis or the Caspian Sea and thence to have come into Scandia there to have setled and sent out Colonies into Germany Italy and other parts both of Europe and Asia and from the Messagetae to have been called by an abbreviation Getae or Gothi being as most are of opinion the same Nation These Getae as soon as come over the Baltick Sea erected a Government among themselvs administred justice by their own Laws and in a short time Northern Nations being observ'd to be most prolific encrea'd to a numerous and potent Nation and the bounds of the Kingdom not being able to contain and the Provisions not sufficient to satisfy so great a number they were forc'd to seek out for themselves other more large and more convenient habitations which they chose to do in the neighbouring parts beyond the Venedic Bay and in other more Southern Countries where they became to the Roman and Greek Empires more known and more considerable then any other enemies with which they had to deal At what time their first emigration out of Gothia was Their Emigration out of Gothia Crantius and Jornandes are very positive It was say they A. M. 3790 the whole Colony was imbarqued in three Vessels too small a number to contain the seeds of so potent a Nation had not several other people as the Vandali Suevi Heruli c. joyned with them and made them in a short time very potent the first place they touch'd at was the Isle of Gothland not improbably so called from them thence they came to Rugen and so on to Pomeren where two of their Ships arriving before their fellows those that came first to harbour called the other when they came up to them by way of reproach Gepantae or Gepidae i.e. slow or slothful whom as not fit for their company and designs they left in those parts and joyning themselves with other Nations advanc'd on by land as far as Poland and the Palus Maeotis where they divided themselves into two Companies 1. Those that went toward the East called by the Romans the Oriental 2. Those that march'd into Transilvania and places near Germany Spain c. call'd the Occidental Goths which branch about the year of Christ 450 possess'd almost all the Kingdom of France This division to be made first of all after their emigration out of their own Country Loccenius with some other Swedish Writers cannot allow but say that their Country was divided into Ostro and Westro-Gothia before ever they parted from it that being the most certain constant and first distinction as may be gathered from the ancient Swedish Laws which in the very beginning says the same Loccenius testify the same thing Those that went into Spain are said to have driven out the Inhabitants planted themselves in their room about the year 369 or 407 and retain'd that Kingdom till an 710 the chief families of Spain counting it an honour to have their pedigree deduced from the ancient Goths By those that went towards Italy under the conduct of Alaricus or Allreich who Anno Christi 409 sack'd Rome it self and the Government of it retain'd by Theodoricus Veronensis Dietrick vonberne who died An. 526 and after the Government was for seventy years by them maintain'd they were quite overcome and utterly expell'd that Country by Narses of which see the Catalogue of their Kings They that travell'd as far as Thracia and Maesia and the parts of Macedonia were by Claudius the Roman General almost all overcome in Battle he at one time killing 320000 of them as he himself in a Letter to the Senate declares for which signal victory a golden Statue was erected for him in the Capitol At several other times and in several other places they made head against the Roman Empire as in the time of Constantine and Theodosius who overcame 20000 of them which to mention in this place is not so pertinent as in that where the Seat of the war was wherefore at present we shall relate no more of those famous exploits which were performed by the Goths after their departure out of Scandia but leave them to be taken notice of in other more convenient places Besides this emigration which is said to have been under the conduct of Berico or Berig Authors make mention of another egression of the Gothish or Getish people as should seem much ancienter in the reign of Ericus one of their first Kings about the time of Sarug or Saruch great Grandfather to Abraham when as was said were peopled Denmark Jutland Fionia and the neighbouring Islands then called Wetalaheedha i.e. marshy and waterish places This opinion tho as to the time of the transmigration it may seem somewhat improbable the earth then not being
and set up a Government for himself in this Province and Helsingia which lyes Northward in Suecia properly so call'd having on the East part of the Province of Medelpadia on the West the Dofrine Mountains on the North Angermannia and on the South part of Helsingia and Medelpadia This Province did anciently belong to the Kings of Norway though in the reign of Olaus Scotkonung it is said to have revolted from Olaus Crassus then King of Norway and become Tributary to the Crowns of Sweden In the year 1613 by a peace concluded between the Northern Crown it was by Gustavus Adolphus yielded up to the King of Denmark but A. 1642 repossess'd by the Swedes Pontanus in his Map of Scandia reckons up some places of note in it viz. Alsne Ron Aus Lidh Hamer-dal Vndersaker Oviken c. In the time of Olaus Magnus this Province was under the jurisdiction of the Arch-Bishop of Vpsal Near a small Village in this Country there are says Messenius several large stones with Gothick Inscriptions which are a prophesy of what for the future would befall the Scandians 5. Herrndalia Herrndalia call'd by Pontanus Herdalia and by most Authors reckon'd as a part of Helsingia contains the Territories of Nomedal Hellegeland Frostena Indera Heroa with some others all which belong to the Dioeceses of the Bishop of Nidrosia and are in the possession of the King of Sweden Of the Baltic Sea the Finnic and Bothnic Bays and the Swedish Islands contain'd in them THe Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea so called says Pontanus from the Saxon and English word Belt because it encompasseth the Kingdom of Sweden after the manner of a belt or girdle or as Jornandes would have it from Baltia or Basilia i. e. Queen of Islands the ancient Greek name of Scandia or Scandinavia or as Adam Bremensis is of opinion from the Wiso-Goths who inhabited upon the Coasts of it usually call'd Balts i. e. a stout and valiant people is the largest of any Sea in Europe except the Mediterranean containing in it five and thirty Islands of considerable bigness besides an infinite number of lesser note The whole Bay as some are of opinion is call'd by Mela Sinus Codanus q. Gothanus or Gothicus from Gothia that borders upon it or Caudanus from Cauda because it comes from the main Ocean after the manner of a tail of a beast by Strabo the Venedic Bay from the Venedae a people of Germany who liv'd upon the Coast of it and by the Danes and Swedes the Oost-Zee because as may be gather'd out of the History of Eric Eigod King of Denmark the Danes who went pilgrimage to the Holy Land used to pass into Russia and the Eastern parts by this Sea It beginneth at the narrow place call'd the Sund and interlacing the Countries of Denmark Sweden Germany and some part of Poland extendeth it self to Livonia and Lithvania It either by reason of the narrowness of the passage by which the Ocean flows into it or because of its Northerly situation whereby the Celestial influences have less power over it never ebbs nor flows From the several Countries and places that it washes it has diverse names given it and is distinguished into different Bays the most remarkable are 1. The Bothnic Bay The Bothnic Bay counted from the Island Alandia Northward to the River Kimi which falls into it at the very furthest Cape It has its name from Both signifying in the Swedish Language a Fenny Country or a Land overflown with water 2. The Finnic Bay The Finnic Bay so call'd from the Principality of Finland which it waters Some will have the Sinus Venedicus of Strabo and the Mare Amalchium of Pliny particularly to denote this Bay The Swedish Islands in this Sea concerning those that are under the Danish Power see Denmark to begin with the most Southerly first are 1. Rugen upon the Coasts of Pomeren given to the Swedes by the great Treaty of peace at Munster and Osnaburg A. D. 1649. Of which consult the Volume of Germany 2. Bornholm is situate more Northward then Rugen and lyes opposite to Blekingia it has one City in it nam'd Santwyk and thirty-two small Villages This Island was by a Ratification of Peace held at Copenhagen A. D. 1660 given up to the Danes under certain conditions of which mention is made in Denmark 3. Huena or Hueen a very small Island in the Oresundic Bay famous for the City Vraniburg built by that excellent Mathematician Tycho Brahe where the Pole is elevated 55 deg 54 min. This Isle was yielded up to the Swedes by vertue of the foremention'd Peace concluded betwixt the two Northern Crowns A. D. 1660. 4. Vtklippa 5. Vtlengia both lying over against Blekingia 6. Oelandia a fruitful and pleasant Island in which are said to be the best breed of Horses that are in all the Swedish Dominions This Island A. D. 1526 was taken by Christiern King of Denmark and shortly after regain'd by Gustavus I. King of Sweden A. D. 1613 it was put into the hands of Gustavus Adolphus and ever since retain'd by the Swedes See more concerning it amongst the Provinces of Gothia 7. Gotland lying over against Ostro-Gothia in length seventy-two miles and in breadth twenty For a long time almost torn in pieces by the continual Arms of Denmark and Sweden till 1648 by a Treaty of Peace betwixt Christina Queen of Swedeland and Christiern IV. of Denmark it with the City Wisbuy of which see amongst the Gothic Provinces was wholly yielded up into the hands of the Swedes to be held by them as a perpetual possession 8. Oselia call'd by Pliny Oserica opposite to Liefland and reckon'd by some as a District of Esthonia fifty-six miles in length and twenty-eight in breadth In it is the City Arnsburg fortifyed with a strong Castle 9. Daghoe Dachden or Dagheroort parted from Oselia by a very narrow Bay 10. Alandia lying in the middle Sea betwixt it and Vpland reckon'd by some as a part of Finland in it is the Fort Castleholm 11. Hogland in the Finnic Bay with severalothers of less note and importance REGNI DANIAE Accuratissima delineato Nobilissimo Amplissimo Consultissimoque Viro D. GERARDO SCHAEP I. V. D. Inclyti et Celeberrimi Ansterodamensium Emporii Consuli ac Senatori et ad Serenissimos SVECIAE DANIAque Reges Legato Dignissimo Fidelissimo D. D. D. Ioannes Ianssonius DENMARK SAxo Grammaticus deduces the name of Denmark Danmark or Dania from Dan 〈◊〉 the son of Humblus a Prince of these parts many years before the coming of our Saviour This opinion seems to have been an ancient tradition amongst the Danes and is confirmed by one of the old Chronicles of their Kings published by Wormius out of a manuscript copy of the Scanian Laws writ in Runick characters in the beginning of which we read Dan heet den forste cunung i Danmurk der var fore Christus borth Af hannom call is Danmurk i. e. The first
of the German Empire But because there ought to be had a respect to the convenience of the several Princes and Estates as well as the Emperor himself therefore in the Capitulation sworn to by the present Emperor Leopold 't is expresly said Vnd sunderlich keinen Reichstag ausserhalb des Reichs Teutscher Nation auch ehe und bevor wir darzu umb der sieben Churfursten consens und verwilligung durch sonderbahre schickung angehalten und uns mit denselben so wohl der zeit al 's mahlstat vergleichen oder sie von selbsten des Reichs anliegen halber uns darumb unterthanig angelanget und erinnert vornehmen oder ausschreiben i. e. And especially no Diet without the bounds of the German Empire nor before by an express Ambassador we have obtain'd the consents of the seven Electors and consulted with them about the time as well as place of the Diet 's sitting or they themselves taking the public good of the Empire into consideration shall humbly desire Us to call such an Assembly At present the Diet is usually held at Ratisbon as a place of a convenient distance from the Courts of most of the Princes and other Estates of the Emprie As soon as any of the Estates â—â—ing Emâ—â—â— or their Ambassadors are come to the place appointed the first thing they do is to beg audience of the Emperor to whom they shew their Summons thank his Imperial Majesty for his gracious calling a Diet and promise their utmost endeavours in promoting the general good of the Empire in the following Assembly The Ambassadors are bound to give the Emperor an account of the reasons of their Masters absence according to an Order of the Diet to that purpose as appears from the Reichs Ascheide zu Trier und Colln A. D. 1621. § Es sollen auch die Churfursten c. This done they are to acquaint the Marshal of the Empire Count Papenheim with their arrival that he may be the better able to execute his Office which is to provide each man a lodging sutable to his Quality and to write down the names of every particular member Lastly they are to give in their names to the Chancellor's or Archbishop of Mentz's Office and there to shew their Credentials The proposal of every thing to be discussed in the Assembly belongs to the Emperor alone â—â—osals and not to the Estates or Members of the Diet. And altho in his Summons a particular day be always nominated for their Session yet 't is in the power of his Imperial Majesty to defer the proposal of any business for some time longer Insomuch that oftentimes the Estates to save charges have made a later appearance then was appointed in their Summons When the late Emperor Ferdinand III. had call'd a Diet at Ratisbon in the year 1654 three months were almost slipt over after the day appointed before any thing was proposed to the Assembled Members When at last the Emperor is pleased to make the States acquainted with their business the Vice-Marshal gives warning to every particular Member to attend his Imperial Majesty at such a set time At which time appointed the Electors and the rest give their attendance and wait on the Emperor to Church where public prayers are had for the happy success of all their consultations in settling the Affairs of the Empire Which done they all return to the grand Council Chamber where the Emperor in his Robes declares to the Estates the reasons why they are assembled and proposes to them the heads they are to treat of in the following Diet. The controversie about taking place in the Diets has been long since determined amongst the Electors by the Golden Bull â—â—ecedenâ—â— but the other Princes and Deputies for the Imperial Cities have continual quarrels at every meeting insomuch that sometimes the Diet is ready to break up in confusion and would doubtless often do it if some milder spirits then the rest did not compose the strife by yeilding their places to their Antagonists with a reserved protestation against making use of this single instance as a president for the future The order observed by the Electors in the Assembly is somewhat different from what it was before the Treaty of Munster upon the account of the Duke of Bavaria's being made one of the number At this day they seat themselves thus First the Elector of Mentz challenges the chief place and sits always in the middle On his right hand are placed the Electors of Treves and Colen by turns and after one of them the Bavarian and Brandenburgher On the left after one of the abovenamed Spiritual Electors the Duke of Saxony and Prince Palatine of the Rhine The Ambassadors of the Electors take the same place among themselves as if their Masters were personally present but if any one Elector appear in his own person the Ambassadors of all the rest yeild him the place tho perhaps he should have sat below all their Masters The Princes of the Empire divide themselves into two Benches Princes of the Empire Die Geistliche und Weltliche as they call them or the Spiritual and Secular In the Diets of the old Francic Kingdom the Bishops or Prelates and Secular Princes made two distinct and separate Bodies as they do to this day in Provincial Courts And the reason was the same because the Prelates used not to intermeddle with matters of State but concern'd themselves only in setling the affairs of the Church with which the Secular Princes were never concern'd But afterwards when the Bishops of Rome had removed the debate of all Ecclesiastical affairs from the German Assemblies to their own Courts the Prelates of the Empire appear'd no more in the public Diets as Bishops but as Temporal Princes such as had no Secular Jurisdiction being shut out of the Court. On the Spiritual Bench sit the Arch-Dukes of Austria and the Dukes of Burgundy who were permitted this honour because Princes tho Secular yet of a more then ordinary eminence in the Empire the Archbishops and Bishops that are not Electors several Abbots some of which had Princely Dignities conferr'd on them by Charles the Great and lastly the Master of the Teutonic Order The Lutheran Prelates were formerly wholly excluded from all appearance at any General Assembly of the Estates of the Empire against which hard usage their often repeated Protestations prov'd unsuccessful At last matters were so order'd in the Westphalian Treaty of Peace that they obtain'd a Seat in the Diets but not amongst the Roman Prelates nor the Secular Princes but on a Bench by themselves betwixt both the other But because the Archbishopric of Magdeburg by vertue of the said Treaty is turn'd into a Dukedom and the Bishoprics of Lubeck and Osnabrug into Secular Principalities by turns therefore at this day all the Reformed Princes excepting those that are Electors sit on the Secular Bench which is appointed for all Princes Counts and Barons of the Empire who
the name of the Dukedom of Bremen The name of this City is fetcht by some from one Luba a famous Fisherman that heretofore pitcht his Tents upon the Sea-shore in the same place where afterwards the great City of Lubec was built But this fiction is of the same stamp with the frivolous Etymologies with which some of our English Historians have furnish'd us of Britain from Brutus and London from King Lud. Others tell us that Lubec in the old Wendish tongue signifies a Crown and therefore would perswade us that this Town had its name from the preeminence which immediately after its first foundation it might justly challenge amongst the other Cities of Germany Whence Lindebergius alluding to this Etymology concludes his Elogium in the praise of Lubec with this Distich Et decus Europae lumen sit totius Ansae Et sit Vandalici pulchra Corona soli But the most probable opinion is what we have before mention'd that the name is truly High-Dutch and signifies no more than Lob-eck or ein eck des lobes a corner of Land for upon such a plot of ground 't is situate commendable for something or other in it extraordinary and notable The Polish Historians particularly J. Ludowic Decius in his History of Sigismund II. King of Poland are very zealous in asserting that this great City owes its birth to the Princes of their Country who having made themselves Masters of all this part of Germany built a Fort and in some short time after a wall'd Town in that neck of land upon which Lubec stands But the Germans as vigorously oppose this assertion affirming that Godschalck a certain King of the Vandals laid the first foundation of the Town A. D. 1040 which small beginnings were enlarg'd into the bulk of a considerable City by Crito a Prince of Rugen in the year 1104 or as others 1087. But however this is certain that it was never a City nor had any Charter confirm'd to it before it had been once utterly ruin'd and laid desolate by Ratzo Prince of Rugen in the year 1134 and rebuilt by Adolph II. Earl of Holstein A. D. 1140 who being unable to defend any part of his Territories against the victorious Duke of Saxony and Bavaria Henry II. surnam'd the Lion was forc'd to yeild up to him Lubec amongst the other conquer'd parts of his Dominions Afterwards when success and pride had swell'd Henry to that height as to make him neglect his duty and allegiance to the Emperor Frideric Barbarossa and to side with the Pope in a quarrel against him he was by the said Emperor publicly proscrib'd and devour'd by the joint forces of his neighbour Princes every one laying hold of that part of his Estates which lay next him In this confusion Lubec was besieg'd and taken by the Emperor himself but after his death restor'd to the foremention'd Duke Henry Afterwards it was conquer'd by Waldemar Duke of Sleswic and Brother to Canutus King of Denmark But not long after the Citizens finding themselves too severely treated by their Danish Lords put their City under the protection of the Emperor Frideric II. who granted them several priviledges and immunities and restor'd them to the ancient Liberties which they had enjoy'd under their first Masters Since that time Lubec has continued an Imperial City being always reckon'd one of the chief in the Empire and the Metropolis of the Hans-Towns The Bishopric of Lubec which since John Adolph Duke of Holstein was elected Bishop of that See in the year 1596 has always been in the possession of some of the younger Brothers of that House was first founded by the Emperor Otho I. at Oldenburg in Wagerland and afterwards removed hither with the permission of the Emperor Frideric I. by Henry the Lion Duke of Saxony in the year 1163. There is not any City in the Northern parts of the German Empire which at this day excels or perhaps can equalize Lubec either in beauty or uniformity of its Buildings or pleasantness of its Gardens and Groves The Streets are generally strait and even the Houses being all built with Brick and cover'd with Tyles In the year 1238 a great fire hap'ning in the City burnt down many of their Streets which at that time consisted of Houses made of Timber and cover'd with Thatch whereupon the Senators of the City made an Order that thenceforward no such Houses should be built within the walls of the Town From the public Conduit they have water convey'd by pipes into every Citizen's private House according to which pattern the Conduits in London and other great Cities in Europe were first contrived The Streets are in several places graced with rows of Linden Trees planted on each side The Churches about twenty in number are generally well built and adorn'd with high Steeples or Spires especially the Cathedral dedicate to St. Mary which is a piece of as curious Architecture as most in Germany The River Trave on which Lubec is seated about eight or ten English miles from the Sea is large and deep enough to carry the largest Vessels that sail upon the Baltic So that daily Merchant-men of the greatest bulk as well as flat bottom'd Barges are brought up to the Walls of the City which with its neighbour Hamburg is thought to maintain near six hundred Vessels in continual traffick The City is govern'd by twelve Burgo-masters who are all of them either Doctors of Civil Law or some of the grave and experienc'd Nobility of the City The Common Council is made up of half Lawyers and Nobles and the other half Merchants Their Laws will not permit any Handicrafts-man two Brothers nor Father and Son to be of this great Council of the City supposing that illiterate Mechanics can hardly have so much skill in State-affairs as will render them fit for Government and that near Relations will be apt to side with one another and not act with such unbyass'd judgments as others that are nothing akin II. WISMAR Wismar Seated in the way betwixt Lubec and Rostoc at an equal distance namely seven German or one and twenty English miles from both those Cities Cromer and Vapovius zealous assertors of the honour of their Country derive the name of this City from one Wissimir its founder who they tell us was a Polish Prince descended from their Great Duke Lechus The grounds of their story they borrow from Saxo Grammaticus and Crantzius who report that Wissimirus a Prince of the Vandals march'd with a good Army into Denmark and there slew Siward King of the Danes and at his return built Wismar Now these men imagining that Princeps Vandalicus and Vendicus signifie the same thing conclude presently that this Wissimir must certainly have been a Pole and then the greatest honour they can do him is to bring him from the Loins of Lechus Whereas granting the main part of Crantzius's story which nevertheless is undoubtedly false that Wismar was indeed built by such a Prince as
he mentions yet upon examination we shall find that this Wisimir if ever there was any such man must have slain Siward about the year of Christ 340 and we never hear of Duke Lechus in Poland before the year 550 nay some say he began his Government in the year 644. Wherefore omitting these impertinent contradictions and anticronisms it is certain that Wismar had its name from the convenience of its situation Wis-meer signifying no more then a safe and secure part of the Ocean such an one as that is upon which this City is now seated Nor is the Town so ancient as they would make it but first built or at least made a City out of the ruins of Mecklenburg which as hath been already said was once the Metropolis of this whole Dukedom about the year 1250 or as some will have it 1238 by Gunceline II. Earl of Swerin Afterwards Henry Duke of Mecklenburg for his great performances in the Holy Land surnam'd Hierosolymitanus brought hither the Statutes and Ordinances observed in the Government of the City of Lubec and new modell'd Wismar about the year 1266. From which time it grew so extravagantly great and populous that within a very short time it was reckon'd one of the chief Hans-Towns and was made the Harbour for all the Men of War belonging to that Society This engaged the whole Community to contribute towards its fortification insomuch that within the compass of a very few years it became almost impregnable By the Treaty of Munster the City and Haven of Wismar with the Castle of Wallfrisch and the Peninsula of Pole excepting the Villages of Schedorff Weitendorff Brandenhusen and Wangeren which belong to the Hospital of the Holy Ghost in Lubec as also Newen-Closter were given up to the Swedes since which time the King of Sweden has always stiled himself Lord of Wismar But in these late Wars between the two Northern Crowns the City of Wismar amongst many others was taken by the present victorious King of Denmark Christian V. Altho it was agreed by the Eighth Article of the Treaty of Peace signed at Fountainblaeu on the second day of September in the year 1679 by the French and Danish Ministers that Wismar and Rugen should be restor'd to the Swedes within three weeks after the ratification of the said Treaty yet in a second Treaty sign'd on the twenty-sixth day of the same month at Lunden in Schonen it was agreed that Wismar should remain in the hands of the King of Denmark as a surety for the arrears of certain Contributions due from that King to the Crown of Sweden This obligation it seems is not yet cancell'd for the Danes to this day keep possession of this great Town and are not like to be forc'd in any short time to yeild it up III. Rostock ROSTOCK A City of great antiquity if we believe the stories which some of the German Antiquaries report of it For they tell us that this is the very place which several of the ancient Roman Writers point at when they report great things of Lacinium Rhodopolis and Laciburgium all which names the modern Historians appropriate to Rostock But how its name came at last to be chang'd for there seems to be but little affinity betwixt Lacinium or Laciburgium and Rostock altho Rhodopolis come something nearer to the modern name they cannot so easily determine Some think the word Rostock or Rostzogz a compound of two old Wendish Monosyllables signifying as much as a confluence of two Rivers So that this City according to this derivation had its name at first for the same reason that several great Towns in France are at this day nam'd Confluent The Polish writers say the name was first given it by some of their Country-men in whose language Rostock signifies a moist or boggy place P. Lindebergius in his Chronocle of Rostoch proves from inscriptions upon the Seal of the City and other ancient Monuments that the true name of the Town is Rotzstock and he guesses that this name was first given it from a great Red Pillar von einem rothen saul oder stock which in the days of Paganism and Idolatry was worshipp'd by the Inhabitants of these parts And this conjecture seems most agreeable to the name of Rhodopolis before-mention'd not to mention its being back'd with the authority of a learn'd man and great Antiquary But whatever grand conceit the Mecklenburgers may have of the antiquity of this City 't is certain that in the year 329 't was only a small inconsiderable Village built by some poor Fishermen on the banks of the Warna and consisting of a few slender Tents rather then Houses Afterwards it was advanc'd into a small City by Gotheschalk King of the Heruli and by his successor Primislaus the Second notably enlarged about the year 1160. At last Burevinus Primislaus's Son made it a compleat City having been at the charges of walling it about and new modelling it according to the Laws and Constitutions of the City of Lubeck Burevinus's Charter which the Citizens of Rostock shew to this day amongst other records of their Corporation is signed in the year 1218. At this Day it consists of three parts the Old New and Middle City in all which are reckoned 140 Streets and many thousands of high and stately Citizens Houses The most memorable things in Rostock are usually by the Mecklenburgers in their Saxon Dialect reckoned up in the following Rithms Seven doren tho St. Marien-karcke Seven Straten van den grooten Marckle Seven thore so der gahn tho lande Seven kopmans bruggen by dem strande Seven torne so up den Radthuss staan Seven Klocken die daar daglycken slaan Seven linden op den Rosen-garden Dat syn die Rostocker kennewarten i. e. There are seven times seven remarkable things in Rostock 1. Seven great doors to the Cathedral Church of St. Mary 2. Seven large Streets leading to the chief Market-place 3. Seven Gates of the City towards the Land Seven Bridges over the Warna which runs through several places of the Town 5. Seven Towers on the top of the Town Hall 6. Seven great Bells which chime at certain hours in the Town Clock 7. Seven vast Linden trees in the Common Garden But of late years one of their Bridges being decayed with age fell down and because of no great use has not since been repaired so that one of their Septenaries is fail'd The most notable Commodity of the Town is Beer which is here brewed and carryed into several parts of Germany and other Nations A Rostocker will tell us that yearly by the 250 priviledged Brewers in this City there are at least so many thousand Tun of Beer brewed besides the vast quantities which many of the Private Citizens men especially of the chiefest rank and repute must be supposed to brew for their own use The University at Rostock which is now one of the largest and best stockt in the German Empire was first founded by John
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
them in the year 1648 which have not since been rebuilt However the place is still beautified with a fair Church College and Town-Hall and the Streets especially the Market-place which is in an exact square are generally neat and uniform Oelsse had anciently its own Duke who kept his residence in that City but upon the death of Duke Conrad the Eighth in the year 1492. the Dukedom was given to the Dukes of Munsterberg who have ever since been Lords of it In this Principality are reckon'd the small Cities of Bernstatt Festenberg Kunstatt Stroppen Mosebahr Hundsfeld and Trebnitz VI. The City and Dukedom of BRESLAW BRESLAW or Wratislavia the Metropolis of Silesia has its name from Wratislaus a Bohemian Prince its first Founder whence the Citizens bear a great W in their Coat of Arms to this day 'T is seated at the confluence of the two Rivers Oder and Ohla in a rich and pleasant Country Towards the North indeed there are some Marshes and moist fields whence are now and then some unwholesome gales sent into the Town and the whole City is reported to have been built in the place of a great Pond dried up The Citizens who are exceedingly numerous by reason of their great Traffick with the Hungarians Bohemians Polanders and other foreign Merchants who resort hither are said to be as neat and gentile in their Clothes and Cookery as any other of the Emperor's Subjects whatever Breslawers love to be esteem'd immediate members of the German Empire and cannot endure to be reckon'd a part of the Kingdom of Bohemia Hence 't is that they have obtain'd leave of the Emperors to bear the spred Eagle in their Escutcheon and that they petitioned Charles V. to confirm their priviledges For this reason M. Boregius a Breslawer who wrote a Chronicle of the Kings of Bohemia ranks Breslaw among the Imperial Cities but ne're mention it with the King of Bohemia's Towns altho it be certain that 't was formerly subject to that Prince This Goldastus in his learned Treatise of the Kingdom of Bchemia evidently proves notwithstanding what is usually alledg'd as an argument to the contrary by some ignorant and silly Historians that it was once one of the Hans-Towns The generality of the buildings in this City are fair and stately only on the banks of the Oder stand four old fashion'd Fabricks with Turrets on the top which the Antiquaries of this place fancy to have been the ancient Palaces of so many Schwabish Princes who in former days were Lords of this City Besides the vast traffick of the Citizens the Town is famous for a Bishop's See and an University wherein have been bred many learn'd men and some great Writers The Bishops of this Diocese who had anciently the Epiphet or Title of Golden given them from their vast revenues are put in by the King of Bohemia whom they acknowledg their supreme Head at least in Temporals 'T is a receiv'd Tradition in these parts that the Kings of Bohemia have no power to promote a stranger to any Bishopric in Silesia so that a Bohemian is no more capable of being advanced to one of their Dioceses then a Silesian is of being preferr'd to the Archbishopric of Prague But how false this report is Historians will sufficiently inform us Boleslaus Dukedom surnam'd the Long a Polish Prince was created the first Duke of Breslaw and Lignitz by the Emperor Frideric in the year 1163. But these kind of petty Princes not being able to secure their Territories and especially this large and rich City which was a bait sufficient to tempt the most potent Prince of the neighbourhood from the incursions of the Tartars Polanders and other foreign Enemies the Citizens of Breslaw were forced to put themselves under the protection of the Kings of Bohemia or as they will have it Emperors of Germany to whom they are now immediately subject VII The Town and Dukedom of LIGNITZ LIGNITZ a fair City on the banks of a small Rivulet call'd Katsbach is thought to have its name from the Lygii City a German people the ancient inhabitants of this part of Silesia About the year of Christ 1170 this Town was much enlarg'd beautified and fortified by Boleslaus the Long the first Duke of Lignitz After him Duke Frideric the second so far improv'd his predecessor Boleslaus's undertakings that in the year 1532 it became one of the best fortified Cities next to Breslaw in all Silesia Things best worth seeing in the Town are the Hospital the Town-Hall and Castle The Dukedom of Lignitz is reckon'd one of the best Corn-Countries in Silesia Dukedom and affords near as great plenty of the Terra Sigillata as the Dukedom of Schweidnitz especially the white sort which is here more plentiful then in any other Province The whole is commonly subdivided into seven Circles whereof four have names from the four Cities of Luben Parchwitz Hayn and Goldberg and the other three are the division of the barren or desert part of the Dukedom VIII The Ducal Cities of JAWER SCHWEIDNITZ BRIEG MONSTERBERG and OPPELEN THE City of Jawer is seated in a pleasant Valley Jawer tho not far distant from the rugged Crags and Mountains which separate Silesia from the Kingdom of Bohemia It has not the advantage of any River near it so that all the fortifications it has are high Rampires and deep Ditches There is little of note in the Town but the Church burnt down in the late Civil Wars A. D. 1648. but rebuilt more stately then before and the Castle wherein resides the Lieutenant of the two Dukedoms of Jawer and Schweidnitz The Emperor Charles IV. King of Bohemia married Ann Daughter of Henry II. Duke of Javer who with his Brother Bolco Duke of Schweidnitz died without issue whereupon these two Dukedoms were more immediately subjected to the Kings of Bohemia in whose hands they still remain To the Dukedom of Javer belong the Towns of Buntzlau Lemberg Schonau Greiffenberg Lahn Fridberg Lubenthal Schmideberg Naumburg upon the Queiss Kupfferberg and Hirschberg 2. SCHWEIDNITZ or Schweinnitz Schweidnitz has its name from the great Herds of wild Swine which were harbour'd in this place before the Forest was cut down in the year 1070. Whence the Arms of the Town are a wild Boar. It was afterwards much enlarged by Boleslaus I. who fortified it with Walls and Rampires and beautified it with several fair buildings so that 't is now one of the finest Cities in Silesia The most remarkable sight in the Town next to the Churches and other publick buildings is the great Gun in the Armory which carries a Bullet of three hundred and twenty pound weight This is by Schickfusius in his Preface to Curaeus's Chronicle of Silesia very improperly reckon'd amongst the great and extraordinary blessings which the Almighty has been pleased to bestow on some of the Cities in Silesia In the Dukedom of Schweidnitz are the Towns of Strigau memorable as we have already acquainted
Regem honorasse dicuntur From all which it apears that there is something extraordinary in this Myrrh or call it what else you please which well merits the view and study of a curious Physiologist The Country Rusticks believe there is this strange vertue in this Mineral for so I think I may venture to name it that it puts to flight all manner of Serpents and amongst the rest that old Serpent the Devil Aeneas Sylvius who for having penn'd so many true stories was at last judg'd fit to sit in St. Peter's Chair 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 and become an infallible Pope calls the Moravians Gentem ferocem rapinarum avidam ut quae tum iter non nisi armato potentiorique praebeat And most Travellors brand their barbarous inhumanity or at least incivility to strangers The Hanaks especially or Bores that live along the banks of the River Hana are said to be notoriously guilty of this crime but these are by the gentiler sort of Moravians themselves contemn'd and scouted as a pack of barbarous and ill bred Lowts The true character of the Moravians in general is that they are men of exemplary obedience and fidelity to their Governors free and open in conversation and therefore apter to be deceiv'd then to impose upon they are not easily provok'd to be angry but when once enraged hardly appeas'd not guilty of too much wit in discourse but rational enough hardy in the Camp and valiant in fight faithful observers of their promises and compacts and abhorrers of baseness and meanness of spirit They are indeed too apt to give credit to old Prophesies a folly observ'd in the inhabitants of our own Island and a little given to drinking and carousing but are not so superstitious nor so great drunkards as they are represented to be by the satyrical pens of some Geographers Their language I mean that which is ordinarily spoken by the Country-Rusticks Langâ—â—â—â— for the Nobility and Citizens speak generally High Dutch is a Dialect of Slavonian and little different from the Bohemian of which more anon The Moravians are said to have been first converted to Christianity by St. Cyril and Meludius Religâ—â—â—â— assisted by some other pious Doctors and Fathers of the Church Soon after the Reformation had been set on foot in Bohemia by John Huss a good part of Moravia began to throw off the Pope's yoke and to profess the purer and undefiled Religion of the primitive Christians and Apostles But John de Praga at that time Bishop of Olmitz and afterwards Cardinal of the Church of Rome so vigorously oppos'd the endeavours of all that labour'd to carry on the Reformation in this Marquisate that during his time it never got any deep rooting Afterwards during the Reigns of George Vladislaus and Ludowic Kings of Bohemia Popish Idolatry and Superstition was wholly extirpated and the Reform'd Religion unanimously profess'd in all the Cities and great Towns of Moravia But to see the unhappy consequents of Toleration and Liberty of Conscience as soon as the Synod at S. Brinn which met in the year 1608 to settle the affairs of Religion had made this Edict Vt liceret omnibus credere prout cuique Deus dat cognoscere i.e. That every man should have power and license to regulate his Faith according to the measure of knowledg which God had given him each Cobler set up for a Preacher of the Word and an Expounder of Scriptures Whereupon the Church was immediately confounded and broken into an irreconcilable medly and hotchpotch of Sects and Schismaticks Hussites Picards Anabaptists Arrians Flaccians Trinitarians Photinians Lutherans Calvinists Dulcians Lugentians c. So that no less then fourteen several Conventicles had assembled themselves in one City each of them asserting peculiar Doctrines and Tenets of their own and denying all manner of Communion in Church-Ordinances with the other thirteen Now what could be expected from this Anarchy in the Reformation but the reestablishment of Popery which accordingly hapned For soon after Frideric the King of Bohemia's Forces were overthrown by the Emperor Ferdinand II. at Prague in the year 1620 Francis Cardinal of Districhstein and Bishop of Olmitz found it a very easie matter to root out the divided and mutinous members of the Reform'd Church and to replant his own Doctrines and Church-Discipline After which some scatter'd parcels of the Reformed party lay skulking amongst the Rocks and Mountains on the borders of Silesia for some years but durst never appear in publick and within a while after dwindled into nothing The Kings of Moravia for 't was anciently a Kingdom were once the greatest Potentates in this part of Europe having for some time under their subjection the Kingdoms of Bohemia and Poland About the year of Christ 700 Zuantacop King of Moravia being at the same time Lord of the Dukedoms of Bohemia Poland and Silesia refused to pay Tribute or Homage to the Emperor of Rome who falling in upon his Country to demand satisfaction for this insolence was forced to make a dishonourable retreat But resolving not to endure this disgrace he rallies up his scatter'd forces and calls in to his assistance the Hungarians an infidel people who before that time were aw'd by the Moravians and kept from committing any outrages upon the Christian-Countries By the help of these Heathens the Emperor routed Zuantacop's Army forcing him to fly for shelter into the neighbouring Woods where he associated himself to an Hermite with whom he spent the residue of his days By this means Bohemia Moravia and Silesia came to be disunited and parcell'd into four different Dukedoms which were reckon'd so many Provinces of the Roman or German Empire Some ages after the Dukedom of Moravia degenerated into a Marquisate which name it still retains altho a great part of it be at this day immediately fubject to the Crown of Bohemia and the rest broken into a few petty Baronies and Lordships The chief Cities and great Towns in MORAVIA OLMITZ 〈◊〉 or Olomutium which Ortelius with whom agree Stephanus and Bertius fancies to be the same place with Ptolomy's Eburum is the Metropolis of Moravia and the only Bishop's See in the Marquisate 'T is not very large but neatly and well built and seated in a convenient place on the banks of the River Morawa to maintain a Trade with the Merchants of Bohemia Hungary Poland Silesia and Austria The Antiquaries of this Country are of opinion that Olmitz or Olmutz is nothing but a corruption of Juliomontium and thence conclude that the Town was first built and so it was as sure as either the Tower at London or Castle at Leyden by Julius Cesar But how then came it to be call'd Velgrad as Boregius proves 't was when King Suatopluck built himself a Palace here St. Cyril the great Apostle of this Country who liv'd about the year 880 was the first Bishop of this Diocess He was the Author as Aventinus affirms of the old Wendish or Crcation
Alphabet made use of in writing out the Bible by him translated into his own mother-tongue What became of this Translation I know not except as some late Antiquaries have ventur'd to say the ancient Moscovian Bible printed in the year 1581 be a Transcript of it In the year 1346 the Bishopric of Olmutz was remov'd from under the jurisdiction of the Elector of Mentz and subjected to the new Archbishop of Prague tho some of the late Bishops of Olmutz have denied to pay homage to any Prelate under the Pope 2. BRINN call'd in the Bohemian language Brno and by Latin writers Bruna Brinn is the second City in Moravia and a Town of so great repute that it seems to share with Olmitz in the Title of Metropolis since in these two Cities by turns the chief Courts of Judicature or Assizes for the whole Marquisate are held 'T is seated at the confluence of two small Rivers Schwarta and Zwitta and defended by the Spilberg a strong Castle on the top of the adjoining Hill The Moravian Philosophers make a great noise with the Vnicornu Minerale which amongst the other fossilia of their Country is said to be found near this City Of which Osv Grollius in his book entituled de Signaturis gives this account Vnicornu Minerale nobis quoque Deus largitus est in Moravia tribus milliaribus Bruna ubi eram ante Medicus non longe a territorio Abbatis Zabrdovicensis sub altissima rupe duorum inusitatae magnitudinis animalium incognitorum ossa una cum duobus junioribus efossa sunt quae absque dubio tempore Diluvii aquarum impetu perierunt in illa solitudine c. Another Author of the same Tribe Anselm Boetius de Boodt Physitian to the Emperor Rudolf II. gives a far different account of it Cornu fossile says he prope Brunam Moraviae urbem inventum ita exacte figuram trunci Juglandis intrinsecus extrinsecus refert ut nemo nisi Caecus negare possit truncum illius Arboris fuisse ac in Terra transmutationem accepisse Hertod in his ingenious Book beforementioned says there have been several fragments of this Mineral found in the Quarries near Niclsburg one whereof exactly resembled a man's thigh I know not what more to make of all these relations then that there are now and then in the fields near Brinn found several rare petrifications for that I think is as fit a name for them as Vnicornu fossile representing the parts of certain Animals and Plants Which is no greater miracle then may be daily met with in the fields here about Oxford as may be seen at large in the learn'd account given of such Rarities in the fifth Chapter of the Natural History of this County 3. IGLAW call'd by the Bohemians Gihlawa Iglaw seated on the borders of Bohemia upon a River of the same name is said to have been built in the year 799 and to have had its name from an Urchin or Hedghog which in the German language is call'd Igle but by the Moravians Gehlak because that upon the laying the first foundation of this City a great company of these kind of Creatures were found amongst the shrubs and thickets which grew in this place The Town is large well built and strongly fortified 'T is a great thorow-fair frequented by multitudes of Travellers that pass this way out of Bohemia towards Hungary And for this reason the Citizens as being daily accustom'd to converse with strangers are more obliging in their carriage then the rest of their Country-men In the Hussites-wars this City stedfastly opposed the introducing of the Reform'd Religion and with a great deal of resolute obstinacy and malepert zeal maintain'd the superstitious Discipline of the Church of Rome but as soon as Luther's Doctrine began to peep abroad in the world the heat was over with them and the Citizens of Iglaw of all the Cities of Moravia subject to the Kings of Bohemia were the first who embraced the Augsburg Confession and turn'd Rebels as themselves before had term'd other Protestants to the Pope's Interest In the late Civil wars of Germany immediately after the Imperial Forces were routed at Jankow in the year 1645 this Town was given up into the hands of the then triumphant Swedes who to make the City more tenable burnt down the large Suburbs on every side and having so done defended the Town with so much gallantry and manhood that all the forces the Emperor could bring against it were beaten off for a twelve-month after The Jesuits College with the Gymnasium annex'd founded by Adolph Michael Earl of Altham is a great ornament to the Town and the two Monasteries of Dominicans and Franciscans are well worth the seeing The chief trade of the Town besides the entertainment of passengers which brings in the greatest part of their riches is in selling Beer and a sort of course woollen Cloth which is made and dress'd after their fashion 4. Znaim ZNAIM in the Bohemian language Znoymo and in Latin writers Znogma stands on the Teya in a pleasant soil and wholesom air The learned Cluverius is of opinion that this place is the same with Ptolomy's Medoslanium But I do not find that his Latitude will agree at all to Znaim tho his Longitude comes near it The Annals of Moravia tell us this City was first built in the place where it now stands by Primislaus Ottacar about the year 1222 having before that time lain buried in its ashes from the year 1145 when Vladislaus King of Bohemia upon a provocation given him by his Kinsman Cunrad Marquise of Moravia wholly destroy'd it and its inhabitants with fire and sword The Town is defended by a Castle sufficiently fortified both by Nature and Art but in great danger of being damag'd in time of siege from the top of the Peldtenberg an adjacent mountain which overlooks it and stands within Canon-shot of it It lies upon the coasts of Austria and therefore is sure to be the first place attack'd by the Imperial forces in case of any rebellious uproar in either Bohemia or Moravia as it has often already found by woful experience There are a great many Vineyards round the City which yeild commonly good store of an indifferently palatable Wine but the chief income of the Citizens arises from the harbouring of passengers which travel this road betwixt Vienna and Prague 5. Cremsir CREMSIR or Kremsier call'd by the Bohemians Kromeritz seated on the River Morawa about the middle way betwixt Olmitz and Hradisch was not many ages ago a poor Village but is now become one of the fairest Cities in Moravia The occasion of which alteration was this John Bishop of Olmitz bought the Lordship of this Village for himself and his successors of Otto Marquise of Moravia After his death Bruno Bishop of the same Diocess observing the convenient and pleasant situation of the place built in it a fair Palace call'd to this day from its first Founder's name
Henry the First 's Sister tho others think it rather a corruption of Papenberg or Pfaffenberg as having been anciently the Seat of the Priests or Pfaffen We have already acquainted the Reader with the delicate situation of this City abounding with all sorts of rich fruits and plants beyond any of its neighbouring Provinces and shall here only take notice of what is observable within the Town The old Earls of Bamberg kept their residence at Altenburg about an English mile from the Town but the Bishops have now adays a Palace in the midst of the City on a small Island in the River Regnitz 'T is a pile of building sufficiently magnificent and splendid rarely beautified with large and fair Orchards and Gardens The Jesuits College and Church make a good shew and the four Spires at the Cathedral are noble SCHWEINFURT or Trajectus Svevorum has its name from the Swabes passing the River Mayn in this place Sâ—â—â—â—â—â— fâ—â—â— Goltmeyer says this Town was built 217 years before Christ but brings little proof for what he reports The Town is at present neither very large nor populous but tolerably well fortified with Walls and Rampires and has the advantage of a good River running by This City is by some reckon'd a part of the Principality of Hennenberg of which anon TERRITORIUM FRANCOFURTENSE To Iohn Hillersdon of the Inner Temple Esq thisMapp is Humbly Dedicated by Moses Pitt The City and Territory of FRANCFURT upon the MAYN THE Emperor Charles the Great King of the Francks having once made war against the Saxons and thoroughly incensed that bold and resolute people he could get but little rest till he had subdued them beyond all possibility of a Rebellion For they were continually pressing in swarms upon the Francks whom when they found themselves too numerous for their enemies they would be sure to pursue to the very banks of the River Mayn where they had sometimes the misfortune to be cut in pieces by the Francks who well acquainted with the Fords of that River would suddenly rush in upon them and put most of them either to flight or the sword From these sallies 't is thought the Town of Francfurt had its name it being seated upon one of these common Fords of the Francks This is the opinion of the ingenious Gunther in his Ligurinus where he says quia Carolus illic Saxonas indomita nimium feritate rebelles Oppugnans rapidi latissima flumina Maeni Ignoto fregisse vado mediumque per Amnem Transmississe suas neglecto ponte cohortes Creditur c. But others say tho without reason that 't was built by Francus the first Captain of these people and that from him it got its name And some as ridiculously have call'd it Helenopolis from the Emperor Constantine's Mother The Town is divided into two parts separated from each other by the Mayn whereof the greater is call'd Francfurt and the less Sachsen-huss or the House of the Saxons These two are united by a Stone-bridg cross the River of thirteen or fourteen Arches and subject to the same Magistrates The City is strong and well fortified and which gives it more strength then Walls or Rampires can do its inhabitants are unanimous professors of the Lutheran Religion The Jews indeed have one street to themselves and are allow'd a Synagogue with the public profession of their Religion But these are so inconsiderable an handful of men that there is no fear of their disturbing the Government It is a place of great traffick and well seated for that purpose For the Mayn passing by the great Cities of Bamberg Schweinfurt Wurtzburg and Guemund gives it an opportunity of trading with the greatest part of Franconia and the same River running into the Rhine carries off and brings in Commodities from the Remoter parts of the German Empire and the Netherlands The greatest concourse of foreign Merchants is at the two great Fairs kept here yearly in March and September at which times all sorts of Commodities especially Books are brought hither by the Factors of the Germans Hollanders Italians French and English They have every year a Catalogue publish'd of such new Books as are or will be brought into the Fair and from them our London Booksellers have of late years learn'd the trick of printing a Catalogue every Term. As long as this Mart lasts which is usually three weeks there is here as great variety and choice of Books as in any City in Europe but when that is over the Booksellers shops are usually shut up On the North-side of the City they have a spatious Horse-Fair wherein yearly a vast number of good Horses are bought and sold Among the many Priviledges conferr'd on this City by several of the German Emperors Priviledges the chief is its being appointed the certain place for the Election of every new Emperor This was a customary thing ever since Arnulph the First 's days but confirm'd only by Charles IV. Author of the Aurea Bulla of which we have already treated at large in the General Description of Germany After the Electors have given their voices in St. Bartholomew's Church if it does not appear as now there are Eight Electors it may easily happen which person has the most votes it has been usual for the two Candidates to determine the quarrel by battel in the neighbouring Fields wherein the Conqueror is carried off with great acclamations back to the City and there proclaim'd King of the Romans Thus the controversie was decided betwixt Henry Landgrave of Thuringen and Conrad Son to the Emperor Frideric II. as also between Ludowic Duke of Bavaria and Frideric Arch Duke of Austria and lastly betwixt Gunther Count of Schwartzenburg and Charles IV. These are the instances given by Munster and some other German writers all of whom Martin Zeiller relying on the Authority of Chrst Lehman in his Chronicle of Spire fancies to be mistaken and to report stories which none of the more ancient Historians who flourish'd in the times when these things should have been transacted ever mention St. Bartholomew's Church in Francfurt is a venerable and stately piece of Architecture having been first built by King Pepin Charles the Great 's Father Some other public buildings as the Town-Hall several Monasteries c. are worth the seeing But the Mineral Springs and Baths are most remarkable which are daily visited by the Nobility and Gentry of the Town and neighbourhood Amongst the rest there is one Cold Bath wherein as Zeiller reports 't was the custom in his days to wash women before they went to be married or as soon as their month of childbed was over But that which gave England the greatest cause to remember this City was the entertainment of some of our Protestant Ministers who with their Congregations fled hither in the days of Queen Mary's bitter persecution Yet I am sorry our Island is forced to own such a sett of Ecclesiastics who went hence a pack of Zuinglian Gospellers and
an Imperial City At the Jesuits College was to be seen before the Wars with France a large old Roman Aries or Battering-Ram a piece of Antiquity of great value but whether t is now to be met with I know not To these we may add Moltzheim Hasle on the Brusch Seltz and some few Towns more places of no great note before they were visited by the French Armies and of much less since The chief Cities and great Towns in the Vpper ALSACE THE City of Brisach call'd by Antonine in his Itenerary Mons Brisiacus is the Metropolis of Brisgow the old inhabitants of which Province we find often mention'd in Latin Historians by the name of Brisigavi or Brisigavii B. Rhenanus and some other High Dutch Antiquaries are of opinion that Brisach stood formerly on the Western banks of the Rhine because on that side the old Romans used to build their Forts and on the East of this Town there is still a great hollow valley which they take for the ancient Channel of the Rhine But Cluverius is of a contrary opinion and proves that the Emperor Valentinian whom all allow to have been the first Founder of Brisach built Castles on both sides the River The Town stands on the top of a round Hill excellently well fortified both by nature and art But they have only one deep Well which supplies the whole City with water the River being at some distance and the passage troublesom In the Civil Wars of Germany this Town was besieged and taken by the Duke of Saxon-Weimar whose Forces were with a great deal of courage and gallantry resisted by the Imperialists for four months together During which time the besieged were brought to those extremities as to dig up the dead bodies of their Soldiers after they had been some days buried and to eat their flesh In this siege 80000 men are said to have been slain and about 1100000 Rixdollars spent in ammunition on both sides Since that time A. D. 1638 the French under whose Banners the foremention'd Duke of Saxony then bore Arms have remain'd masters of this City wherein their present victorious King having of late repair'd its Fortifications keeps a strong Garrison and a Court of Judicature in imitation of the Chamber at Spire which decides all Controversies in his new Conquests levies Contributions gives him right to all neighbouring Villages as Dependancies on some great Towns yeilded up to him by the late Treaty at Nimiguen c. 2. FREYBURG in Brisgow was at first a Village built by a company of Miners who wrought at the Silver and Copper Mines about a German mile from Brisach and in a short time grew so rich as to purchase the Estates and Titles of Noblemen By this means their Village grew up into a large City which was able upon a very short warning to send into the field three thousand fighting men This City fell into the hands of the House of Austria A. D. 1386 and was by the present Emperor resign'd up to the French together with its Villages of Lehn Mezhausen and Kirchzart in exchange for Philipsburg There are in the Town fourteen Religious Houses and an University founded by Albert Arch-Duke of Austria in the year 1450. The Citizens are excellent Artists at polishing all manner of pretious stones such especially as are found in Lorrain and the neighbouring Countries 3. Near the place where the Imperial City Colmar is now seated stood the ancient Argentuaria which was conquer'd by Gratian the Emperor A. D. 378 and afterwards destroy'd by the Gothic General Attila Out of the ruins of this old Town Colmar or Cole-market was first built A City which stands in a plain and fruitful Country and formerly so populous that in the great Church at an Easter-time 't was usual to have near four thousand Communicants But the Civil Wars of Germany wherein 't was taken by the Swedish forces and by them resign'd to the French and the late engagements with the King of France's Armies have made it as desolate of inhabitants as houses VTRIUSQUE ALSATIAE SUPERIORIS AC INFERIORIS NOVA TABVLA Apud Janssonio-Waesbergios Mosem Pitt et Stephanum Swart Lantgraff im Obern Elssas Lantgraff im Vnderen Elssas ALSATIA inferior Apud Mosem Pitt ALSATIA Superior cum SVNTGOIA et BRISGOIA TERRIROTIUM ARGENTORATENSE Apud Janssonio-Waesbergios Mosem Pitt et Ptephanum Swart Mulnhausen by most late Geographers placed in the Upper Alsace is one of the Confederate Cities of Switzerland Keysersberg and Turcheim are Imperial Cities but of no great note The City and Bishopric of STRASBURG ARGENTINA is a name of a Monkish invention instead of Argentoratum as well as Moguntia for Moguntiacum To omit other frivolous conjectures about the Etymology of the words Argentoratum and Strasburg we shall satisfie ourselves with the fancy of the learned Cluverius who thinks the ancient name of this famous City to have been Argen Straaten or Bad-street which might easily by adding a Latin termination be turn'd into Argentratum or Argentoratum and afterwards by omitting the two first syllables and annexing burg to denote some new built Fort with as much ease turn'd to Straetburg or Straesburg This City tho at first design'd only for a strong Fortification is now one of the most populous and best trading Towns in Germany The Citizens are generally courteous and rich most of their Merchants and Magistrates having Houses fit to entertain so many Princes of the Empire The Cathedral is one of the Wonders of Germany described at large by Os Schadaeus in a particular Tract upon this subject by him publish'd at Strasburg A. D. 1617. The Tower of this Church is the highest in the German Empire nay possibly in Europe or the whole world Some have reckon'd it perpendicular from the top of the Spire to the ground at 574 others 575 geometrical feet but Schadaeus who seems most accurate in his computation says 't is 489 feet and 8 inches Yet much more famous is this Cathedral for the great Clock in it which by the Honourable Mr. Boyle and some others of our ingenious Virtuosi has been mention'd as an instance of the late great improvements of Arts Mechanical 'T was finished in the year 1574 at the charge of the Magistracy of the Town by one Habrecht a famous Artificer of whose work they have many more pieces in the same kind This workman has his Instructions from D. Wolckenstein and Conr. Dasypodius two learn'd Mathematicians the latter whereof has publish'd a Tract about this Clock The first thing presented to your view is a Celestial Globe with all the motions of Planets fix'd Stars c. Behind which there is a perpetual Almanack wherein the day of the month is pointed at by a Statue standing by The Hours are crow'd by a gilt Cock and afterwards struck on a Bell by an Angel not far from which stands another Angel with an Hour-glass in its hand which it turns round as soon as the Clock has done striking The first