discourse that he hath profited more in a Travel of two years then if he had stayed ten in his Study P. I might easily confess to you that the conversation of several persons increaseth prudence but I do not perceive how the seeing of Forain Countreys can make us able Souldiers G. Travel teacheth us to understand the plenty of Countreys the Fords of Rivers the conveniency of Bridges the distance of places the strength of Cities the number of the people the inclination of the Subjects the humour of Princes the Sympathy and Antipathy of Nations and many other things which may instruct a General of an Army and a Counsellor of State giving them particular advantages Travel doth also give us lessons of Temperance Modesty Patience and the Languages which are useful to all men but necessary to those who would have any Command in Armies P. Languages are so necessary to persons of Command that our Ancestors would advance no man to the Imperial Dignity that was not able to speak Latin Italian Sclavonian and Dutch And the Emperor Frederick II. besides these advantages could speak elegant French Spanish and Turkish and which was very rare in his time he was skill'd in the Ancient and vulgar Greek G. The Emperor Frederick the second of that name and the last of the House of Suevia or Swaben with whom the Majesty of the Empire was buried for many years was both Valiant and Learned and if you employ your excellent natural endowments well you will become so too you have a good Judgment a happy Memory a sound Body and a vigorous Complexion P. I am God be thanked of a strong Temper and I retain long enough what I have once learnt But why is it necessary to learn so many Languages if Latin be sufficient to hold conference with Strangers and Dutch to employ my cares upon the good of the affairs of the Empire and the administration of my Fathers States if God give me the grace to come to the Government G. I know that the Latin and Dutch Languages may serve your turn and that a Prince may Reign piously justly and religiously without the knowledge of Forain Tongues Nay I know one who is even the Tutelar Angel of his Subjects and who without haveing learnt either Latin or French governs his State in the fear of God and without oppressing any man hath paid his debts and built a Castle of a marvellous bigness while others more knowing than he have brought poverty upon their Subjects and left it to their own children But the intercourse of business which we have with Strangers suffers us not to neglect their Languages without the hazard of incurring some inconvenience thereby P. I understand by what you said last that one may be a good prince though he have not studied and yet that you would have me to possess a reasonable knowledge of Forain Languages that I may not stand in need of an Interpreter to deal with other Potentates that have affairs in Germany or Lands lying within the limits of the Empire which would oblige me as well to understand Swedish and Spanish as French and Italian seeing the Crown of Sweden possesseth a good part of the Lower Saxony and that of Spain more than half of the Netherlands G. It were good to know the Languages you mention but being it is impossible to master them all one should endeavour to learn the most necessary Spanish is the noblest of all the bastard Languages and I know never a one of them that pleaseth me more but the King of Spain making use of Burgundians to treat with us and Dutch being no less common amongst the better sort of Swedes than the Swedish it self methinks one may better want the Swedish and Spanish than the French and Italian Languages P. Why do you call Spanish a bastard Language G. I call it so because it is not a Mother Tongue but compounded of the Latin Gothick Arabick and old Spanish for the Romans the Goths and the Moors having Reigned many ages in Spain introduced a mixture of all those Languages P. If mixture only be enough to bastardize a Language there are but few Legitimate for there be many Greek words found in the Latin and many Latin and French in our Dutch And questionless it is for this cause that Lewis prince of Anhalt obliged those of the Fructifying Company or the Society of good Wits to avoid that medley with all possible care G. Greek words that are found in the Latin Tongue or Forain terms which vanity rather than necessity hath introduced into ours do not qualify them to be of the same nature with the Spanish The Romans and the Germans have admitted those stranger words by way of wantonness and may do well enough without them if they will on the contrary the Spaniards have so few of their own that if they should restore to the Latines and Arabians what they have stollen from them they would no longer be able to express their conceptions but would remain as destitute of words as Horace's Jackdaw saw her self stript of feathers when every bird had resumed his own P. Is French in any better condition and can it well pass without those Latin terms which the Romans brought in while they held the Gauls under their jurisdiction G. I do not think it is being certainly perswaded that all Nations which have long been under obedience to Strangers have lost the purity of their ancient Languages So that we have more reason to wonder that the French brought so few Dutch words into Gaul when they laid the foundation of a flourishing Kingdom there then that the French Language is half Latin P. Were the Gauls ever subject to a German power G. Yes for all Historians do unanimously agree that Pharamond the first King of France was Duke of Franconia that he extended his Empire all along the Rhine that Clodius his Son proceeded as far as Cambray and that Merovée his Granchild setled his Royal Seat in Paris from whence Clovis the great brought Burgundy under his Dominion and forced the Goths to forsake those parts of Gaul about Narbon Afterwards his successors degenerating from his virtue and leaving the management of affairs to the Maiors or Stewards of their Palace Charles Martel who preserved Christendom by the victory he obtained at Tours gave so much reputation to his Son Pepin that he easily seated himself upon his masters Throne having thrust Childerick the Lazy into a Monastery P. Therefore Princes ought to take special heed that their servants make not themselves great at the expence of their masters Honour and authority for a Prince without authority is like a head without eyes or a body without a Soul G. Authority is the soul of Government and the reputation of a Prince is the support of his State without these things there is nothing to be seen but contempt disobedience and rebellion The most moderate seeing their Prince devoid of these good qualities
desire that he may obtain them the most Religious pray God to give him them the most couragious grumble and the most seditious losing all respect talk of putting another into his place The unfortunate life and death of Henry the Third King of France are unquestionable evidences of this truth P. How should one do to gain authority and reputation G. Authority depends upon reputation for the people believing that their Prince is valiant liberal and prudent doth readily obey his will and receive his Commands with respect honour and reverence Now to gain the reputation of a prudent Prince he should be very careful that his servants and Ministers be friends to the publick good affable modest and generous To be esteemed valiant it is sufficient that he shew a constant resolution to maintain his People in their ancient Splendor even at the expence of his life that adversity cast him not down nor prosperity make him insolent And to give a fairer lustre to his liberality he should take care that the little he bestowes arise not out of the oppression of his People If it be thus indeed then without being present every day at Councel without drawing his sword or giving much his Subjects his Friends and his Enemies too will esteem him valiant liberal and prudent and all of them fearing to offend him will pay him the duties of Subjects Friends and Neighbours P. A Prince that carries true piety in his heart and all Christian virtues in his soul needs not doubt but God will dissipate and disappoint all the evil designs of his mutinous Subjects and ambitious Neighbours But what Countrey-man was Pepin G. It is generally said that he was originally a German nay many think that Charlemagne his son was born near the Rhine John de Serres in his Inventary of the History of France Tom. 1. pag. 315. says he was born at Wormes crowned at Spire and buried at Aix and in pag. 324. of the same Tome he says he was buried at Aix where he was born How ever it be they were both of them Kings of France and the latter won so much renown by preserving the Church of Rome and defending the Pope who was unjustly assailed by Desiderius King of Lombardy that the Pope the Senate and people of Rome proclaimed him Emperor in the year of our Lord 800. P. I thought it was Pope Leo III. only that divided the Empire and gave the Western part with the name of Emperor to Charlemagne when he made him Advocate of the Holy See G. The Popes labour to perswade us so and would have it believed that the Crowns of Lombardy and Rome are essential to the Imperial dignity saying that the Emperor becomes King of Germany by the election which the Princes make of his person but acquires the name of Emperor Cesar and Augustus by the consecration and approbation which he receives from the Pope But this opinion of the Popes and of some writers their Votaries is ridiculous otherwise the Heathen Emperors would not have been lawful Emperors and those professing Christianity who resided at Constantinople since Constantine the Great until Constantine Paleologus nay those of Germany since Ferdinand the First till this very day would have been Usurpers having been Crowned neither at Milan nor Rome which cannot be said without the guilt of High Treason From whence you ought to conclude that the Emperors are so by the Grace of God without being any way beholden for it to the See of Rome P. Did the posterity of Charlemagne keep possession of the Empire and the Kingdom of France for any long time G. It held the Empire and France together not very long for the children of Lewis the Debonaire sharing their Fathers Estates that division weakned the House occasioned Wars between the brethren and was the cause that his Grandchildren lost the Empire in the year 912. and the Kingdom of France in the year 987. at which time Hugh Capet made Charles Duke of Lorraine Unckle by the Fathers side to Lewis the Fifth to be declared unworthy to succeed to the Crown of his Progenitors because he had done homage to Germany for his Dutchy So the race of Charles the Great to whom all Christendom doth owe so much fell totally from their greatness and made room in Germany for the Saxons and in France for the Capetians who set up the Empire and France again in their first lustre P. Was Hugh Capet a Frenchman G. He was born in France but a Saxon by extraction for Charlemagne coming to an agreement with Witikind of Saxony after a long and bloody War took one of Witikinds sons into France with him and did so much for him that his successors raised themselves with ease to the highest Offices of State and at length Hugh Capet put the Crown upon his own head and transmitted it to his descendents who enjoy it still with more happiness and authority then their predecessors did P. I learn by what you tell me that all the Kings who have reigned in France since Pharamond came out of Germany and I am glad to understand so much because it is an honor for our Nation to have given Kings unto so considerable a part of Europe But methinks this discourse draws us much off of our mark and being to speak of Languages and of the place where they should be learnt we allow that subject the least share of our thoughts G. It is true indeed that we make long digressions but they bring us nearer to the end we aim at for the best way to learn Languages is to speak and discourse with those that have the reputation of speaking well P. Do not all Frenchmen and Italians speak their own native Language well G. There are Provinces in France and Italy where you meet with few persons that speak French or Italian purely and never a one where the vulgar hath not some terms out of use and rejected by the learned So that those who travel to learn languages should take care to make their stay in places where the common people have the best accent and the least barbarous phrases P. Where should Italian be learnt G. You know that the inundation of people who to show the Romans that they were not invincible came at several times out of Gaul and Germany so corrupted the Latine in Italy that it degenerated into a language exceedingly mingled Since that time the great wits as Petrarch Boccace Ariosto Tasso Bembo and many others have so cultivated it that their writings do in no wise give place to the elegancy of the Greeks and Latines Now as Cities are some more or less ingenious then others the inhabitants of Sienna have surpassed them all in the sweetness and politeness of the Italian tongue and the Court of Rome which is composed of all the rest hath brought it to its perfection P. That being so I will stay longer at Sienna and Rome then in other places G. So I advise you and
Romans hath no authority of his own and his dignity is but subordinate to that of the Emperor from whence it follows that without imposing two Heads upon the Empire or two Masters upon Germany a Successor to the Emperor may be nominated who instead of procuring or desiring his death may only ease his pains get insight in business and learn how to govern P. Where do the Electors meet when there is question of making an Emperor or a King of the Romans G. The election should be made at Francfort and indeed the greatest part of the Emperors received that honor there Nay the Elector of Saxony questioned the election of Ferdinand I. because it was made at Collen in the year 1530. Nevertheless before Ferdinands time Henry II. was chosen at Mentz Henry III. at Aix Henry V. at Collen Lotharius II. at Mentz and after him Maximilian and Rodolph II. and Ferdinand III. received that honor at Ratisbon From whence you may conclude that the place of the Election is not certain P. Wherefore was the number of the Electors reduced to seven And what was the reason that there were three Ecclesiastical and four Military G. Religion and Arms being the foundation and sure support of the Christian Common-wealth the Emperor could not provide bette for the safety of the Empire then by choosing three Prelates and four Captains to help him in bearing part of that great burthen while â—elived and to put another into his place after his death But there were seven of them noâ— only because that number is mysterious and venerable but because being odd if the voice in an election hapned to be equally divided one of the Electors might cast the ballance tâ— that side where he thought there was the moâ—â— merit Besides there were some of theâ— Church-men for this reason that being it was impossible for them to come to the Crownâ— they might keep the other Electors within thâ— compass of their duty and put a bar that nâ— man should be chosen but he that deserved that dignity Which as we have already declared is the chiefest in Christendom P. You place the King of Bohemia amongst the real and true Electors whereas many as well Germans as Foreiners say that he is not called to the Diets nor hath any voice at the election of the Emperor but when the other Electors cannot agree G. The King of Bohemia hath no voice nor place in the Assemblies which the learned call the Vniversal Senate and the Epitome of the Empire neither is he summoned to appear there because being not registred in the Matriculation-roll nor contributing any thing to the necessities of the Empire he doth not sit in those meetings nevertheless they that say he is no true Elector and hath no voice at Elections do not reflect that King Ladistaus made a bitter complaint because he was omitted at the Election of Maximilian I. that he threatned to take arms and never left clamouring till the Empire came to this accord with him That whoever should omit him for the time to come should be condemned to pay 500. marks of gold And they that are most experienced and skilful in this point give him the first voice and say that Sigismond of Luxemburg King of Bohemia being in the Diet for the choice of an Emperor after the death of Robert of Bavaria spoke the first according to the custom and saying that he knew no man more worthy of the Empire then he was named himself whereupon the rest of the Electors his Collegues admiring his freedom and generosity unanimously gave him their voices P. I see then the Electors may name themselves G. Yes but not all The Ecclesiasticks have not a passive or reflexive voice in those Diets of Election that is they may name another but not themselves because the Ancients thought it not fit that one and the same hand should bear the Crosier and the Sword nor one and the same head wear the Mitre and the Imperial Crown P. It being necessary then that the Emperor should be Secular may all Seculars indifferently be raised to that dignity G. The Electors can advance no man to the Imperial Throne but he that is of an illustrious rich and German Family The reason why the Emperor should be of an illustrious Houst is this because being he is to be Head oveâ— many Princes that resemble so many Kings it is to be presumed they would not willingly yield obedience to a person of mean condition He should be rich because the Emperors have alienated almost all the Rights of the Empire and by their ill husbandry forced the Electon to have an eye to the riches of him they choose that he may maintain himself out of his owâ— Revenues with that splendor that is requisite to the Imperial Majesty He should be a German because a stranger having but little affection for us might transfer the seat of the Empire to some other place and deprive Germany of that prerogative or put it upon a necessity to keep the same by way of Arms. P. It seems to me that all the Emperors of Germany have not been natural Germans and consequently it is not necessary that he that is chosen should be so G. Before the Emperor Charles IV. had made the Golden Bull to be published it was not required that the Emperor should be a German but since that time though it be not absolutely necessary for him to be born in Germany it is necessary that he be a German by extraction Such were Charles and Ferdinand the First though the former were born in the County of Flanders and the latter at Medina in Castile Likewise Francis I. King of France alledging that he was a German when they made scruple to place him upon the Imperial Throne did not pretend to have it believed that Angoulesme was in Germany but that his predecessors were originally of Germany P. I conceive it may be seasonable in this place to ask whether it be better that Kingdoms should be Elective or Successive and because I know you will be able to resolve the doubt I desire you to satisfie my curiosity G. In speculation each of these forms hath its advantages and discommodities but I do not think that rationally one can be preferred before the other but with respect to places times and persons Germany Denmark and Poland find it expedient to elect their Princes The French Spaniards and Swedes like it better that the Son or nearest Kinsman should succeed their Kings The reasons of those that prefer Succession are plausible They say that ordinarily in the time of the Interregnum Elective Monarchies fall into Anarchy disorders and the danger of utter ruine being like a ship in a storm without a Pilot that Elective Princes having no assured hope to transmit the Crown to their children endeavour to enrich them at the charge of the publick and that no man hath so great a care to preserve anothers estate as his own They
not to enter into dispute let us go forward and tell meat what time those Princes put the Imperial Crown upon their head G. Frederick II. having past from this life to a better the Empire continued some year without a Head After which Interregnum all Germany esteeming the vertue of Rodolph Count of Habspourg worthy of the Empire he was set upon the Throne in the year 1278. and reigned 18. Rodolph being dead Adolph Count of Nassau was chosen in his stead But Albert Rodolphs son being now become Duke of Austria by the gift which his Father made him of that Principality and Lord of Carinthia by the marriage which he contracted with Elizabeth inheritrice of that Province because he could not brook a Superior took arms slew the Emperor Adolph in battel and forced the Electors to put him into his place in the year 1298. and ten years after on May-day 1308. he was killed upon the high way by his Nephew John the son of Rodolph and his successors were no more admitted to that honor till the year 1438. in which Albert the Fifth Duke of Austria and second Emperor of that name was raised to that dignity He reigned no longer then one year and was succeeded by Frederick III. his Cousin who reigned 54. years and got his son Maximilian I. to be Elected whilest he lived To Maximilian Charles V. his grandchild succeeded and to Charles Ferdinand I. his brother from whom are descended in a right line of males all the Emperors that have reigned ever since his death and still reign happily to this day P. I think the sons of Philip Archduke of Austria Duke of Burgundy divided that House into two branches G. That House arriving to greatness by little and little by the acquisition of the Countreys of Austria Carinthia Stiria Tirol and Alsatia was raised to a prodigious grandeur by the marriage of Maximilian of Austria with Mary of Burgundy who brought him in Dowry the 17. Provinces of the Low-Countreys with the Franche-County And a little after it acquired a great part of the world by the marriage of Jane of Spain with Philip the saiâ— Maximilians son For by the death of the Queen of Portugal her elder Sister Jane became heiress of all that her Father and Mother had in Spain and of the Kingdoms of Naples Sicily Majorca Minorca Sardinia and the New World So that Charles V. seeing he had enough to satisfie the two branches severally quitted all that he had in Germany to his brother Ferdinand reserving nothing thereof to himself but the name of Austria and gave his son all his other Dominions which are so great that the Sun never sets upon them P. You do not tell me that Philip II. son to Charles V. got the Kingdom of Portugal partly by right and partly by force after the death of the King and Cardinal Henry Unkle by the Fathers side to Sebastian who was unfortunately lost in Africa in the year 1578. G. I reserve those things to be spoken of when we shall travel into Spain and then I shall tell you that Philip II. having gotten the Kingdom of Portugal with the East Indies Brasile the places of Ceuta Tanger Marzagan many Isles in the Ocean Sea and all the Coasts of Africa unto the great Monomotapa many lands and fortresses beyond the Cape of Good Hope in Persia Arabia and the Indies he and his son possessed them prosperously But Philip IV. his grandchild lost that Kingdom upon Christmas-day 1640. and afterwards all that depended upon that Crown followed the sway and revolution of Portugal P. This House being most mighty in Europe Africa Asia and America and having the Imperial Crown upon its head ever since the year 1438. without intermission it must certainly have priviledges unknown to other Houses of Germany G. The Princes of this House have received extraordinary mercies and advantages from God from nature and from men From Nature inasmuch as they have all a long chin and thick lips which is a Physiognomical mark of their piety constancy and integrity From God inasmuch as by giving a glass of water with their own hand to one that hath great Wens hanging at his throat they cure him and by kissing one that cannot speak plain they unloose his tongue nay which is more this House having within 300. years afforded twelve Emperors five Kings of Spain and forty other Kings Cardinals Archdukes and Dukes there hath been never a Tyrant amongst them all As for the priviledges they have received from the Emperors of that House they can create Gentlemen Barons and Counts through the whole Empire and the Emperor cannot take from them the lands they are seized of to give them to another The Archduke of Austria is the first and most intimate Privy Counsellor of the Empire and hâ—â— Principality is not subject to contributionâ— These Princes when they receive the land they hold in Fee are in Royal habit wear aâ— Archdukes Cap upon their head pay nothing for their Investiture and are not subject to the Justice of the Empire In Assemblies they take their place on the right hand of the Emperor after the Electors before the Ecclesiastical Princes If they be challenged to fight a Duel they may take a Champion though that priviledge be denied to their adversary And if all the Princes of this House happen to fail the eldest daughter shall inherit all their Estate and bring all these priviledges to her husband P. In real truth this House hath done so many good offices to the Empire that I wonder not to see it priviledged above all others Are these Princes many G. No That Emperor is since dead as also his brother and one of his sons but few The King of Spain at the time we are now speaking which is the year 1657. hath but one son the Emperor two and one brother and the Archdukes of Inspruck are two Thus the branch of Burgundy is in danger to be totally extinguished but that of Austria is strong enough still there being five young Princes of it P. If the Branch of Burgundy should totally fail should not that of Austria inherit G. I believe of Right it ought to succeed for it is no less descended of Jane of Spain then that of Burgundy But being daughters inherit it would be known whether the heiress of the Kingdom will not marry some other Prince and whether a Spanish Lord will not have a mind to taste so dainty a bit P. It would be a great weakening of the Emperor to take from him the strong support he hath alwayes found in King Phillips Exchequor Let us now look if you please upon the Palatine House G. By your demands you oblige me to follow the order which the Princes observe in their sitting at the Assemblies After the House of Austria that of the Palatine holds the first rank without dispute This House enjoyes the first Electorship and the first place amongst the Secular Electors after the
to submit to their Judgement G. The Quarters of the Nobility do usually meet together once a year and besides the publick affairs which are debated in those Assemblies they do also judge the differences there that happen between the Gentlemen And when they have judged a thing reasonable they entreat the parties to acquiesce therein and so doing to comply with their duty and prevent Law-suits which nourish misunderstanding and hatred between those that should love one another and which might give occasion to those that look upon the flourishing Nobility with an evil eye to contemn and despise it If one of the parties think himself wronged he prayes the Court of the Nobility that they would be pleased once more to consider his right and his reasons Wherein they gratifie him and when that is done the parties are again entreated to agree but then if they refuse to submit to the Judgement they are permitted one to convent the other before the Imperial Chamber P. If it be so the Directors of those Quarters have not power to oblige the Nobility to the doing of that which they think just and reasonable G. Equals neither ought nor can pretend to any jurisdiction over their equals Nevertheless it is very rare to meet with a Gentleman there who doth not yield to and acquiesce in the Judgement of the Assembly and who had not rather depart with some of his right then send or go to Spire where suits are spun out to a tedious length P. All honest men hate going to Law and the Nobility should leave that plague to quarrelsom and litigious persons And indeed I think a true Gentleman had rather talk of war and be present at assaults and Battels then discourse of the Orders and Decrees of a Parliament and be bound to court and cringe to the Judges to get a favourable sentence Tell me something of the advantages which that Nobility hath G. The Franchises and priviledges of Gentlemen of the Empire are great and in so great number that it would require a volume to lay them all down in writing Those which I value the most are that every well-bred Gentleman may pretend to become Elector or Eccle siastical Prince if his Religion do not stand in his way for the Electors of Mentz Trier and Collen and the Bishops of Bamberg Wirsbourg Spire Wormes Constance Augsbourg and Eichstet are ordinarily chosen out of this Body Every Gentleman is as free upon his own lands as the Chiefest Lord in the Empire no man besides himself can impose upon his Subjects there are many Chapters and Nunneries and other Church preferments which cannot fall but into the hands of the Nobility And which surpasses all the rest he that touches one Gentleman touches them all and the Emperors are still ready to favour and support them thereby to gratifie the Prelates and have them alwayes at their Devotion P. The Mediate Gentlemen that is such as do not only depend upon the Emperor but are also under the Jurisdiction of some other Prince have they not right to come into the Chapters you lately mentioned G. There are very few or no Canons in the last above-named Cathredral Churches who are not Members of the Free Nobility of the Empire Other Gentlemen have their advantages and Churches whereinto they may and ought to admitted as Hildesheim Paderborne Osuabrug Munster c. And besides they are not obliged to appear in Judgement unless the Judge give them a summons in writing the Judge makes them sit down while he hears them they are free from paying Toll they are not put in prison for debt and if they be accused of any Crime they are not to be put to the question or rack nay if they be convicted they cannot be condemned to the Galleys And so in every Countrey Gentlemen have their advantages P. Can they that are Subjects to a particular Prince appear at Turnaments G. The Ordinances of that exercise do admit thereunto all those that can make proof of their Nobility not excluding any that have lived in the fear of God and with reputation in the World So that any Gentleman may and ought to be received thereunto who is not debarred or kept off by reason of some Crime P. Seeing it is necessary to make proof of two and thirty Coats of true Nobility it is certain that new Gentlemen cannot have entrance But do you think that Patricians of Cities should be permitted to enjoy that honour and that great Princes should honour those actions with their persons G. There is no question but they that begin the Nobility of their Houses are excluded from that honour and that it is allowed to a Patritian of a good and ancient Family to come in if he renounce all right of Burgership and promise to live Nobly for the time to come But the unfortunate hurt which was followed by the death of Henry II. King of France ought to serve for an example to all Princes not to expose themselves to that danger P. The misfortune of King Henry II. should oblige Great men to wear their Beaver down and to look carefully to the safety of their persons but not to hinder them from coming into the Lists when they are able of body and skilful at that exercise which I think was heretofore in very much use and credit in Germany G. Those sports which the ancient French called Behours were brought into Germany by the Emperor Henry the Fowler who coming from the war of Hungary exceedingly satisfied with the Nobility would oblige them to exercise themselves continually in handling their arms and managing their horses to which purpose he instituted those exercises in the year 935. Since that time so many of them have been held that they who have written expresly of them do forget some of them in their reckoning The first was opened at Magdebourg in the foresaid year 935. After that Rottembourg Constance Mersbourg Brunswick Trier Hall in Saxony Augsbourg Gottinguen Collen Nuremberg Wormes twice Wirsbourg as often Ratisbon four times Bamberg twice Stutgard as often Swinfort Ravensbourg Inguelheim Eslinguen Schafausen Darmstadt Hailbrun Landshut Mentz Heidelberg Anspach and many other places have been honoured with the like Assemblies P. Being taught by you that Henry I. was the Introductor of these sports into Germany I would gladly learn who celebrated the rest G. The Emperor Henry the Fowler celebrated the first The three Otho's that succeeded him had other matters to think on Conrade II. and Henry III. and IV. celebrated each of them one of those that next followed and gave licence to the Princes Cities and Free Nobility to appoint and celebrate the like So almost all the Turnaments were opened at the request and charges of particular Princes the Imperial Cities and the Nobility P. How comes it to pass that this Exercise is almost totally abolished G. Those sports being not alwayes free from emulation and jealousie because every one desired to make a better
money and the Grisons with money and ammunition to enable them to enter into the Valteline that means should be used to make peace between the Turk and the Persian to the end the first should invade Germany through Hungary and Bethlehem Gabor through Transylvania that the Hollanders should furnish Canon and Canoneers to the Moores of Africa to besiege Mamora and Larache Yet that whirlwind was scattered by the breath of God by the prudence of the Catholique King and by the counsel of the Conde Duke for that Lord sent a Fleet to Brasile which recovered the Bay of Todos los Santos that the Hollanders had taken Genoa and the Valteline were relieved by two Armies which rescued the first when it was brought to the last gasp and preserved the Catholique Religion in the second the English were forced to let Cadiz be quiet after they had lost 5000. men there the Hollanders lost Breda the Africans were repelled from Mamora and Larache with notable loss and after the King of Denmark was beaten at the Battel of Lutter and many other encounters he was finally shut up into a corner within his Isles P. It is true that Christian IV. King of Denmark did his business but ill in Germany and that after the defeat of Frederick V. Elector Palatine of Charles Count of Mansfeld of Christian of Brunswick Bishop of Halberstadt of George Frederick Marquiss of Dourlach and of that King the Emperor was at a high point of prosperity and power G. After all those victories the greatest part of the World thought Ferdinand II. unconquerable as well as he had been unconquered before Now all Europe looking with an evil eye upon the too flourishing condition of the House of Austria and the Emperor endeavouring to re-plant the Monks in their Cloysters from which they had been long excluded and it may be to force all the Members of the Empire to go to Mass Gustavus Adolphus King of Sweden animated with the desire or at least with the pretense of maintaining the Protestant Religion and Lewis XIII King of France fearing that the oppression of Germany might bring both the Empire and Europe into slavery they confederated with the Stares of Holland and some German Princes So the Emperor had his hands full on one side with the valiantest Prince that ever wore sword for many years past and on the other the wisest Cardinal that ever was honoured with the Purple And then Ferdinand knew that be had not fastened and secured the instability of Fortunes wheel P. Hercules had not been strong enough to resist so many powerful enemies then it is no marvel if both the counsel and courage of the Emperor were shaken G. The Emperor was not alone to bear that shock For having honoured Maximilian Duke of Bavaria with the Dignity of Frederick V. Elector Palatine he found him ready to follow his fortune and serve him with all the strength of his mind body and estates Ferdinand Elector of Collen brother to Maximilian did the same and the Duke of Lorraine forgeting his own Interest embraced that of the House of Austria the Prelates and some other Princes of the Empire did the like and entred into a Confederacy for that purpose P. Those were strong parties indeed especially being amongst Nations that do not easily take Arms and when they are once taken do more hardly lay them down G. When the Forces of two Enemies are equal if piety employ them to preserve liberty of Conscience or vain-glory to get more Crowns they produce sad and dismal effects and bring destruction upon many Provinces And so it hapned here where love to Religion having united the Protestants of Germany to the King of Sweden the current of his prosperities was so great and so sudden that if death had not put a stop to his victories without doubt his best friends would have had cause to entertain both jealousie and fear of him But when that Mars had shot like thunder from the four corners and through the midst of the Empire so that neither powerful Armies deep Rivers thick Forests nor impregnable Forts could stop the Torrent of his good success he was slain at last the sixth of November 1632. That death did somewhat slacken those unparalleled prosperities but a little after the Generals that succeeded him being assisted with the counsel and good instructions of Cardinal Richelieu and with the Treasure of France laid the foundations of a longer and bloodier War Which obliged the Elector of Saxony and some other Princes to change Interest and endeavour to keep up the greatness of the House of Austria So the Emperor being supported by the Catholique King some Electors and other Potentates of Germany and Italy and the Swedes assisted by the Forces of France Holland and some Protestant Princes the match became so equal that the War held on sometimes with gain sometimes with loss from the year 1630. till 1648. P. It is said that the last War of Germany continued 30. years without intermission G. It is true that the Bohemians being perswaded that the Emperor Matthias derogated from their priviledges and the liberty of their Religion when he gave judgement for the Catholiques in the case concerning some Churches which the Protestants had built at Brunaw and Clostergrab conceived strange designs of revenge and trusting to their own Forces and those of their Confederates they threw the principal Officers of the Realm headlong down from a Tower created a new King and took the field so suddenly that Ferdinand II. their lawful King and new Emperor had cause to say that Crowns have as much sharpness from their thorns as lustre from their precious stones But all that the Elector Palatine the Counts de la Tour and Mansfeld the Marquiss of Dourlach and the King of Denmark attempted did but serve to augment and improve the Forces glory and confidence of the Emperor I count here only from the King of Swedens entring into Germany till the Peace in which time there were fought within the Empire seven pitcht Battels fourteen exceeding bloody Fights and divers others of less note which have reduced our Countrey unto so miserable a condition that one can hardly find a whole unruined house in the Campania nor one Province throughout all the Empire that hath half so much people in it as it had before the last troubles P. Famine and Plague those usual attendants of War came also into play and rifled a world of people But since the relation of past evils is pleasant to those that have gone through them it will not be troublesome to you to tell me at what time in what place and by whom those Battels and Combats were fought and who had the better or the worse in them G. The first Battel was given at Leipsick in Misnia between Gustavus Adolphus King of Sweden of glorious memory on the one part and the Imperialists with their Confederates under the command of Count Tilly on the other