October they have a general rendezvous of men women and children who bring with them to the place appointed loaves of bread and vessels full of beer These they set on a table spread with hay That done they bring out a young heifer a boar and a sow a cock and hen with other such cattle and poultry as the house affords in pairs male and female When things are thus in readiness out comes an old Priest or Wizard who mumbling over a few hard words gives the sacrifice a blow with a stick which stroke is seconded by the whole company till the heifer be dead and beat to pieces Whilst this ceremony lasts they cry This oblation of thanksgiving we make thee O Ziemiennik so they call the feigned god for that it hath pleased thee to preserve us from all the evils of the year past and we beseech thee to protect and defend us for the future from fire sword pestilence and all our enemies After this they take a little of every dish they have provided and put it in four corners of the house and in the ground crying aloud Accept O Ziemiennik our offerings eat with us and be merry The solemnity thus over they spend the rest of that day in feasting and drunkenness There is no City or great Town in Samogitia of any consequence Mzdniki is a poor and despicable City all the rest scarce merit the name of villages Lithvania and this Province have all along been sharers in the same fortune and change They were both at once subject to the Russians at once overrun by the Teutonic Order and at once converted from Idolatry and subjected to the Crown of Poland by Vladislaus Jagello Livonia LIvonia or Liefland is bounded on the East with Russia on the West with the Baltic sea on the North with the Finland-bay on the south with Samogitia and some part of Lithvania The length of it is about 500 English miles and the breadth near 160. The country is generally plain and fruitful abounding with corn and hony some parts of it are fenny full of Lakes and rivers The many conquests this Land has suffered have made its inhabitants a medly of Moscovites Swedes Danes Polanders and Germans But the last have the greatest share in the country whence the generality speak High-Dutch The common people are used as hardly here as in Poland or Lithvania and the Nobility lord it as much Drunkenness and gluttony are vices the Lieflanders are generally addicted to from the greatest Lord to the meanest peasant The Bores would be hard put to 't to get a living considering the untolerable drudgery they undergo if they had not the priviledge of hunting hares of which they have great plenty in these parts white in winter and brown in summer foxes bears and other kinds of venison 'T is agreed upon by all Authors that Liefland was first annexed to the Crown of Poland by Sigismund Augustus though the story is told different ways Kojalowicz tells us That William Furstenburg Master of the Liefland Order of Knighthood upon his turning Lutheran had frequent quarrels with William Archbishop of Riga whom he accused at a session of the Nobility at Winden of a conspiracy of betraying Curland into the hands of Albert Duke of Prussia and the rest of Liefland to Sigismund King of Poland his kinsman Upon this pretence he immediately enters the Archbishop's territories with an army and takes him prisoner King Sigismund hearing this wages war with Liefland and A.D. 1557 conquers it But the reasons of this war seem to be grounded upon better pretensions then these For though it be true that there arose many skirmishes between the Archbishop and the Master of the Order touching points of religion yet during Furstenburg's government Ivan Duke of Moscovy and not Sigismund King of Poland overrun and lay wast the greatest part of Liefland Against whom Gothard Ketler Furstenburg's successour requested the aid of King Sigismund who quickly beat the Moscovian out of his holds and created Gothard Duke of Curland annexing the rest of Liefland to his own dominions But he found this country was easilier conquer'd then kept For the Revalians finding themselves unable to withstand the dayly incursions of the Moscovians committed their land to the protection of Eric King of Sweden Whereupon this King thought his title to Liefland was as good as the Polanders especially since Ferdinand the Emperour had given him the sole charge of defending it Upon these pretensions he presently routed the Poles out of Habsal Lehale Parnow and other places and put into them garrisons of his own Besides the Polish interest received at the same time another fatal blow upon this occasion John Duke of Finland married Katherine sister to the King of Poland to whom he lent 80000 some say 124000 dollars upon a mortgage of the castles of Wittenstein Karchise Frichate Helmult Ermise Ruja and Bortwic all in Liefland Returning into Sweden he was accused by King Eric his brother of high treason in offering to make a confederacy as he call'd it with Sigismund Augustus King of Poland without his consent In this rage the King robs his brother of all the castles and takes them into his own hand not without the pretence of being more able to defend them from the fury of the Moscovite Not long after upon the death of Eric King of Sweden and Sigismund King of Poland the Duke of Moscovy with irresistable force created the great Duke of Holstein King of Liefland When the Kings of Sweden and Poland perceived matters brought to this pass they thought it high time to lay aside all petit animosities between their two Kingdoms and to joyn forces against their common enemy the Moscovite fearing lest otherwise whilst they two stood quarrelling for each a shell he should snatch away the fish And indeed this confederacy prov'd very successful to the Swede who in the year 1580 retook many strong holds from the Moscovite as Lode Lehale Habsal Narwe the Province of Wicki Wittenstein Carelogrod c. Steven King of Poland fearing lest if the Swede went on with the same success and vigour he begun with he would bring all Liefland to his own beck claps up a peace with the Moscovite unknown to the King of Sweden upon these conditions That the Moscovite should restore all the places he had taken in Lithvania That on the other hand King Stephen should restore to the Duke of Moscovy Vielikoluk and some other forts he had taken in these wars After this when Sigismund son of John the third King of Sweden was upon the death of Stephen elected King of Poland the Poles admitted him upon this condition That he should annex all that part of Liefland which was under his goverment to the Crown of Poland But Sigismund the third coming to he Crown of Sweden could not by any means be perswaded to grant this request When he was deposed from his Kingdom there arose bloody wars between the King of Poland
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
Knights of the Teutonick Order had made their Master in the year 1525 it was agreed upon That the Teutonick Order should be wholly extirpated and that part of Prussia which to this day is called Ducal Prussia should be govern'd by the said Marquess with the title of Duke of Prussia and the rest or Regal Prussia remain still subject to the King of Poland But with this proviso That the Duke should always pay homage to the Crown of Poland and as a member of that Kingdom be President of the Kings Council Lastly John Casimir the late King of Poland granted first in the year 1657 and again 1663 full and absolute power and dominion over Ducal Prussia to the present Elector of Brandenburgh on this condition That the Dukedome upon defect of male issue should return to the Kings of Poland as supreme Landlords and be conferred on the Dukes of Onoldsbach and Culmbach as Feudataries Muscovy How affairs stand at present between the Great Duke of Muscovy and the King of Poland may appear by the Treaty of Peace signed by both parties A.D. 1667 spoken of before But formerly the Kings of Poland have laid claim and made good their title either by justice or the sword to several large Territories now in the hands of the Great Duke For first Jorislaus Duke of Russia was forced to pay tribute to Boleslaus Chrobri A.D. 1018. Afterwards A.D. 1069 Boleslaus II. possessed himself of Kiow and indeed the whole Dukedom of Russia over which he set Jesaslaus a tributary Duke After his death continual wars were between the two Nations till Casimir the Great in the year 1340 reduced the Southern Russia into the form of a Province But how little of that remains at this day in the hands of the present King of Poland we have shew'd before Several of the Kings of Poland have stiled themselves Kings of Sweden Sweden upon no other pretence then having made themselves masters of a great part of Liefland But this title ceased upon the death of John Casimir their late King as hath already been observed in the description of Liefland Of the Pretensions of Foreign Princes to the Kingdom of Poland WE have seen to what Kingdoms and Countries the Kings of Poland have in former ages claimed a right and title and we may perhaps find as many Kings and Princes of other Nations who have challenged the Crown of Poland upon as good grounds But to omit the many conquests obtain'd by the Russians Bohemians Hungarians and others over the Poles enough to entitle any potent Prince to their Kingdom the strongest pretensions to this Crown are those of the Emperor For the most of the Polish Historians tell us That Boleslaus I. was created King of Poland by the Emperor Otto III. before which time the Princes of that Nation were only Dukes This story is confirmed by besides the testimony of the most considerable writers of Poland an ancient Epitaph found in the Cathedral at Posen in which among other commendations of Boleslaus I. are the following rithmes Tu possedisti velut Athleta Christi Regnum Slavorum Gothorum seu Polonorum Caesar praecellens a te Ducalia pellens And again Ob famam bonam tibi contulit Otto Coronam Propter luctamen sit tibi salus Amen However tho the Historians of Poland grant that Boleslaus received the title of King at the hands of the Emperor yet they deny stubbornly that this Kingdom was ever subject or tributary to the Roman Empire But Conringius an ingenious and learned German Physitian in his book entituled De finibus Germanici Imperii c. 18. has demonstrated the contrary For not to take notice of Charles the Great who 't is more than probable conquer'd Poland as well as Silesia 't is certain that Miecislaus the first Christian Prince of Poland paid tribute to the Imperial Crown And the Polish writers are forced to confess That Otto III. remitted all homage due otherwise to Boleslaus Chrobri when he created him King After Boleslaus's death Miecislaus II. his successor was compelled to pay the usual tribute to the Emperor Conrad II. After this several of the Kings of Poland very willingly submitted themselves to the Emperors and others were forced out of their obstinate refusal At last in the long vacancy of the Imperial Throne soon after the middle of the thirteenth Century during which Richard Earl of Cornwal was one of the four elected Emperors whilst the Empire of Germany was in a confused distraction the Polanders took occasion to shake off the German yoke to which they could never since be reduced This is part of the relation which Conringius gives us of the ancient state of Poland in reference to the German Empire founded chiefly upon the testimonies of Dithmarus Mersburgensis and Helmoldus men of unquestionable veracity in their Histories Hartknoch endeavours to evade the force of his argument by saying That tho it be true that the Polanders have formerly paid some certain sum of money to the Emperors by whom it was demanded under the notion of a tribute yet this does not necessarily suppose any dependance of the Crown of Poland upon the Empire of Germany For 't is ordinary even with the Emperors themselves to buy peace with money And thus the English bought their peace of the Danes and made Lewis XI King of France pay for his But let him consider First whether the words of Helmoldus Chron. Slav. lib. 1. c. 1. num 9. can be properly understood of any such sum of money as is usually paid by any Nation upon the ratification of a Treaty of Peace when he says servit ipsa speaking of Poland sicut Bohemia sub tributo Imperatoriae Majestati Here the Historian tells us plainly the Kingdom of Poland was in his time as much tributary to the Emperor as Bohemia and how truly that was under his subjection every Historian will shew Again 't was not very considerately done to instance in the tribute paid by the English to the Danes or by Lewis XI to the King of England For both these were doubtless acknowledgements of subjection and homage The Danes all know were absolute Lords of our Land for 26 and made almost continual incursions into it for the space of 250 years Dane-gelt which perhaps Hartknoch as some of our own Historians have done mistakes for a tribute or composition-money paid the Danes upon any invasion was at first only a Subsidy gather'd for the maintenance of a standing army to oppose the Danish fury Afterwards indeed the word was used to denote a tribute sometimes amounting to 72000 pounds levyed yearly in England and paid to the King of Denmark upon the refusal of which payment the English were sure to feel the weight of that Kings displeasure This tribute was certainly a sign of a true and real subjection to the Crown of Denmark which might have lasted longer had not the Saxon and Danish lines been peaceably united in the pious King
Norwegian and Muscovitic Laps to be of the same original and extract are said to have descended from the race of the Finlanders and Samoieds The Inhabitants and their Original as may probably be gather'd from the likeness of their customs language and manner of worship and also from the very name of Laplanders i. e. banish'd men or Runnagado's for they are said to have been driven out of Finland once by the Tartars when they extended their dominions as far as the Lake Ladoga and afterwards by the Swedes And because such deserting of their Country was thought a disgrace to the whole Nation none of the Laplanders of any quality to this day will endure to be called by that name but give themselves some other compellation as Sabmienladti Sameednan c. And this opinion that they took their original from the Finlanders or rather were always of the same Nation with them seems to be confirm'd by those descriptions ancient Geographers give of Finland and the Finlandish people agreeing exactly to the modern Lapland and its inhabitants Saxo says that the Finlanders are the farthest people toward the North living in a Clime almost unhabitable good archers and hunters wanderers and of an uncertain habitation wheresoever they kill a beast making that their mansion and they slide upon the snow in broad wooden shoes all which holds true of the Laplanders as also do those descriptions of Finland set down by Tacitus and Jo. Magnus Besides all this the Norwegians and Danes call the Laplanders Finni or Finlanders in general and divide the whole Nation into Sioefinnar i. e. maritime Finlanders and Lappesinnar the same with the Laplanders The Russes also call them Kajienski as coming from Cajania a Province in Finland And as we may hence probably conclude the Laplanders at first to have come out of Finland so we may believe that the Finlanders more then once march'd out into Lapland which is evident from the several names of their Leaders whom some call Thinns-Rogre others Mieschogiesche The first and most ancient transmigration was that of the Biarmi whom some miscall Seridfinni so called from their going to dwell upon the mountains Varama signifying in their language a hilly country Which people was by Harald Harfager King of Norway almost all destroyed in battel and the Nation so scatter'd that for ever after both the name and credit of the Biarmi was quite abolished and forgot The second time of their deserting their Countrey was when the Russians enlarged their Empire as far as the Lake Ladoga which was about the sixth age after Christ For fearing the cruelty of these people they retired into Lapland and were called by the Russians Kajienski for the reason aforesaid To confirm what has been said give me leave to insert here a Testimony greater then all exceptions that is of the worthiest of all Princes Aelfred the Great who having himself represented Orosius or an antient Geographer and Historian in his own Saxon Language so as to add supplies where he is defective gives an account of these Northern Shores out of the Relation of a Norwegian Nobleman imployed by himself for the discovery of these Countreys The Testimony being more authentick then any one that hath written upon this subject so long ago we shall here set it down almost verbatim Otherus said to his Lord Aelfred that himself lived in the very Northerlyest part of Norway in the Country called Halgoland that Northwards of this Countrey was desert except some few places wherein a few Finns lived in Winter upon hunting and in Summer upon fishing that having sail'd Northward and Easterly with a good gale for seven days he arrived at a great River on the right hand whereof was the Country of the Ferfinni which was thinly inhabited by a few Fowlers Fishers and Hunters on the other side were the Biarmi a populous Nation so that he durst not land amongst them that they discours'd with him many things concerning their Countrey whether true or false he knew not but supposed that they speak the same language with the Finni That near this Countrey was the great fishing for Whales and Sea-horses which we call Morses whose teeth were then accounted of great value But there seems to have been another more general migration of these Finns into Lapland about the year 1150 and till this time we never find them called Lappi or Loppi and the occasion of this name seems to be about that time Ericus Sanctus King of Sweden subdu'd the Finlanders and brought them under the Swedish Government and also planted amongst them the Christian Religion whereupon they being subjected to Strangers and forc'd to be of a Religion different from that of their Ancestors many of them retired from their own Country and sought out a place where they might live more free and according to their own manner and those that stayed and submitted to the Swedes and embraced Christianity looked upon the departers as deserters of their Countrey whom fear of a good Government and better Religion had made Exiles especially when the King had put forth an Edict that all should be accounted banish'd that would not renounce Pagan superstition Being thus forc't out of their Native Countrey Their 〈◊〉 mannâ—â— of liviâ—â— at firâ— they liv'd for an age or more upon the Bothnic Coasts and in the Woods of Tavastia as a stragling and miserable people neither having Laws nor Governours till the year 1272 at which time they were made tributary to the Crown of Sweden under Magn. Ladulaos then King who to bring them under his subjection promised any one that could effect it the Government of them which the Birkarli i. e. those that lived in the allotment or division of Birkala undertook and having for a great while cunningly insinuated themselves into their conversation under a pretence of friendship at last set upon them unawares and quite subdued them and for their pains according to Ladulaos's promise they alone had the priviledge to traffique with them and receive Tribute from them which they constantly did till about Ann. 1554 when they were entirely united to the Crown of Sweden and in 1600 better discovered and more certainly known to the Swedes then formerly they had been and this was effected by the care of Charles the ninth then King who sent two famous Mathematicians M. Aron Forsius a Swedish professor and Hieron Birckholten a German with Instruments and all necessaries to make what discoveries they could of this Lapland This Countrey â—â—emâ—â— the 〈…〉 the 〈◊〉 lying under divers Climes has the Temperature of the Air and likewise the nature of the soyl very different In those parts that are most Northerly and within the Artick-circle the air is extream cold and the ground barren but without the Circle the heavens are somewhat more mild and benigne and the earth more liberal in her productions affording in those places near Bothnia some few sorts of Pot-herbs as Coleworts Rape-roots Parsnips
divided formerly the Dukedom of Holstein from the Kingdom of Denmark BEfore the invention of Guns and other terrible Engines of war now used by all the Europeans and the greatest part of the known world the only fortifications and ramparts were strong walls and ditches which the ancients fancied as indeed they were sufficient to defend them from the arrows and battle-axes the only weapons then in use of their barbarous neighbours Hence it was that the Chinois thought their Empire secured from the incursions of their bloody neighbours the Tartars when their famous King Tzinzow had hedged them in with a wall of some hundreds of miles in length Thus the best expedient the Romans could find of putting the borders of their Brittish dominions in a posture of defence against the daily revolt of the Natives whom they had driven into Scotland was the building of Picts Wall and Severus's rampire which reach'd from Sea to Sea For the same reasons the Kings of Denmark having their Territories continually infested by the daily inroads of the Germans thought it highly requisite to block up their passage by walling up that neck of Land which lies between Hollingsted and Gottorp It is hard to determine from the account given by Historians when this work was first begun Paulus Aemilius a curious French Historian says Gothofred King of Denmark whom the Danish writers call Gothric was the first that made use of this stratagem to exclude the Armies of the Emperor Charles the Great about the year 808. The same story is told us by Aimoinus and Christianus Cilicius But Saxo Grammaticus Crantzius and the whole Class of the Northern Historians tell us unanimously That Queen Thyra daughter of Ethelred King of England and wife to Gormo Gamle King of Denmark was the Authoress of this fortification and that thence she had the surname of Danebode i.e. the Mistress builder of the Danish Nation bestowed on her I can scarce allow the latter part of the story to to be truth since we find that this surname was given her long before she had done any thing either towards the building or repairing of the Danewirk as they call'd this Fort. For upon a monument erected by King Gormo Gamle in honour of his Queen Thyra we find the following Inscription Gurmr Kunugr gerdi kubl dusi eft Turui Kunu sina Tanmarkur-bat i.e. Gormo the King erected this Tomb for Thyra his Queen Danebode or repairer of the Kingdom of Denmark This inscription cannot be an Epitaph writ after Queen Thyra's death seeing all the Danish writers assert positively that she outliv'd her husband Gormo many years and after his death took the Danewirk in hand So that its more then probable the surname of Danebode was given her for the many good offices she had done the Nation in repairing several old decayed Castles and Forts and building a great many new ones King Eric the Eighth in his Danish Chronicle says Thyra built the Fort of wood Which Witfield understands of the fencing the rampire with Stakes as bulwarks are guarded in our modern fortifications Others make Harald Blaatand Queen Thyra's son the first Author of this work after he had driven the Emperor Otho out of Jutland Which Erasmus Laetus the Danish Virgil alludes to when speaking of this King Harald he says Hic ille est solido primns qui Cimbrica vallo Munijt arva solique ingens e corpore dorsum Eruit immani quod se curvamine longos Incitat in tractus mediumque perambulat Isthmum Et maris Eoi ripas cum littore jungit Hesperio ac tenuem Sleswici respicit urbem King Eric decides this controversy by telling us That Thyra built a wooden fortification and afterwards advised her son to strengthen the work by Trenches and Rampires of earth Notwithstanding all these relations of other Historians both Pontanus and Wormius agree that 't is most likely the rude draught of this Fort was first drawn by King Gothric and only repair'd and improv'd by Queen Thyra King Harald and other succeeding Princes Waldemar the first built a wall of brick seven foot broad and eighteen high to strengthen it After so many improvements the fort was reckon'd impregnable For soon after King Waldemar's reparation when Henry Duke of Saxony surnamed the Lion intended to have endeavoured a breach through this fort into the King of Denmark's dominions he was disswaded from the enterprise by his chief Counsellor Bernhard Razburg who represented the undertaking as a thing impossible to be effected assuring him Danewirkae custodium Danorum sexaginta millibus mandatum esse i.e. That Danewirk was defended by a Garrison of sixty thousand Danes Hence King Sueno finding himself unable to force his way through so strong and so well man'd a Rampire endeavour'd to work his passage by corrupting the Keeper of Wiglesdor the only Gate leading through this wall into Jutland At this day there remain but sleight marks of so great a work At Schubuge and Hesbuge two small Villages upon the ruins of the wall the Inhabitants find reliques of old furnaces and brick-kilns whence the Danish Antiquaries conclude that King Waldemar had his bricks burn'd here tho he was forced to fetch mortar as far as Gothland Joh. Cypraeus tells us at Dennenwirch an inconsiderable Village in these parts may still be seen the ruins of an old Castle where Queen Thyra lodged The same Author says Wiglesdor was antiently called Kaelgate because placed in an open and plain part of the Country where the Enemy could have no shelter nor be in any probability of suprizing the Defendants HOLSTEIN ANtiently the whole Territories of the Dukedom of Holstein contained at present in the Provinces of Holstein properly so called Ditmarss Wagerland and Stormar went under the general name of Nortablingia or the country beyond the Elb Northwards Adam Bremensis and Helmoldus are the first that mention Holsatia which the former derives from Holts-geseten i.e. seated in a wood or forrest DUCATUS HOLSATIAE DESCRIPTIO NOVISSIMA Excudebant Janssâ—â—io-Waesbergii et Moses Pitt The fruitfulness of the soil convenience of trading in the Baltic and Brittish seas and industry of the Inhabitants render Holstein the richest Country in the King of Denmarks dominions and make the incomes of some of the Nobility exceed the treasure of many Princes in Germany The chief Cities and great Towns in Holstein are 1. Kyel Chilonium seated on the Baltic shore in a corner of land shut in betwixt the mouths of two rivers Whence some have fetcht its name from the German word Kiel which signifies a wedge It is furnished with a large and commodious haven which is continually throng'd with Merchant-Ships from Germany Liefland Sweden and all the Isles on the Baltic Sea There is yearly in this Town a meeting of the greatest part of the Nobility of Holstein who come hither to consult about the affairs of the Dukedom especially the concerns of the mint and value of money The Castle which is seated on the
top of an hill commanding the Town and haven was first built by Adolph of Schaumburg the first Earl of Holstein Earl Adolph IV. founded a monastery of Franciscan Minorites in this City which upon the bringing in of the Augsburg confession into this Country with the rest of the Danish Territories was changed into an Hospital 2. Rensborg or Reinholsburg founded by one Reinold of whom we have no further account then that he was either a Prince of the Blood or some Great Nobleman This is the best fortifyed Town in the Dukedom environed with the Byder and defended by a strong Castle built by Earl Gerhard the Great 3. Wilster a neat and well built City seated on a River of the same name which soon after empties it self into the Stor 4. Nieumunster seated on the North-West of the Stor not far from the head of it The Earldom of Holstein was only a Province of the Great Dukedom of Saxony until Lotharius Great Duke of Saxony afterwards Emperor of Germany bestowed it upon Adolph Earl of Schaumburg or Schouwanburg about the year 1114. Since which time we have the following account of the Earls of Holstein 1. Adolph of Schouwenburg the first absolute prince of Holstein On whom the Earldom was bestowed as a recompence for the services he had done the Duke of Saxony in his German and Danish wars 2. Adolph II. son to Adolph the I. having obtained his fathers Earldom cast out the Slavonians who a little before his time had overrun all this part of Saxony and planted in their rooms Colonies of Germans Frisians and Nether Saxons In the quarrel among the three pretenders to the Crown of Denmark Sueno Canutus and Waldemar he sided with Canutus and had setled him in the throne had not King Sueno by fair means and promises prevailed with him to lay down his Arms. He left the Earldom to his son 3. Adolph III. who after many skirmishes and battles with Waldemar II. King of Denmark was at last vanquished and kept close prisoner by that King who by the intercession of Andrew Bishop of Lunden and some others granted him his liberty upon condition That he should disclaim all right and Title which he and his predecessors had hitherto pretended to the Earldom of Holstein or any other place formerly subject to Henry surnamed the Lion Duke of Saxony and quietly retire to the inheritance of his Ancestors at Schouwenburg But these Articles tho at the first secured by Hostages were not long observed by his son 4. Adolph IV. who associating to himself Henry Earl of Zurin Gerhard Bishop of Bremen and some other petit Princes begun a rebellion against King Waldemar and succeeded so well in the undertaking that within a very short time he made himself master of all the Territories his father had been beaten out of and renounced His son 5. Gerhard enjoy'd peaceably the dominions left him by his Father He was for some time kept prisoner at Imsburg by the Folchungs a noble family in Sweden for being in company with one Ingemar an upstart Gentleman but great favourite of their King Magnus whom they slew in a rage and cast his companions into prison 6. Henry Gerhards son was the first that set up a Custom-house in Hamburg which brought in no small portion of the revenue of his successors 7. Gerhard the second son of Henry upon the death of Christopher the second King of Denmark was made Protector of the Danish Kingdom and Tutor to the young King Waldemar the third By these advantages his power grew so great that he ventur'd to stile himself Duke of Jutland and by degrees would in all probability have aspired to the Crown of Denmark if not timely taken off by one Ebbo a Danish Nobleman who murdered him in his bed at Randerhusen 8. Henry the second son to Gerhard II. refused the Crown of Sweden when it was offered him by Ambassadors sent from that Court A. D. 1363. He is said to have been a Prince of great courage and candor courteous in his behaviour and exceedingly chast and temperate in the whole course of his life In short a man that had in him all the Royal vertues that might deserve a Kingdom and the modesty to refuse one when offer'd 9. Gerhard the third Henry the second 's son after he had got the Dukedom of Sleswic annexed to the Earldom of Holstein by Margaret Queen of Denmark was slain by the men of Dithmarss whom he had required to do him homage His son 10. Henry the third being denied that right to the Dukedom of Sleswic which his father had enjoy'd made war against Eric the Eighth King of Denmark in which at the siege of Flensburg he was slain 11. Adolph V. commonly called the twelfth by those that reckon all the Earls of younger houses succeeded his brother Henry and was the last Earl of this house In the year 1440 he received the Dukedom of Sleswic at the hands of Christopher the third King of Denmark swearing fealty to that Crown Christian Earl of Oldenburg son of Hedvigis sister to Henry and Adolph the two last Earls of Holstein succeeded his Uncle Adolph in the Earldom of Holstein Which in his time was enlarged by the addition of Dithmarss and changed into a Dukedom by the Emperor Frideric the third A. D. 1474. When this Christian was advanced to the throne of Denmark the Dukedom of Holstein became a part of that Kingdom Yet so that the Kings of Denmark as the Kings of Sweden upon the late accessions in Germany to their Crown were reckoned Princes of the Empire as Dukes of Holstein tho not obliged to repair to any Diet. Afterwards the title of Duke of Holstein together with a considerable part of the Country was given to Adolph Christian the Third's brother created Knight of the Garter by our Queen Elizabeth A. D. 1562 who governed it interchangeably with the King his brother by turns Upon the decease of this Duke and his issue male the title was conferr'd on Vlric King Christian the fourth's brother Since his days there have been several houses of the Dukes of Holstein as Sunderburg Norburg Gluckburg Arnsbeck Gottorp and Ottingen Amongst whom the Duke of Holstein Gottorp is chief and challenges the same power in governing and administration of justice which was at first conferred upon Duke Adolph King Christian the third's brother In the late wars between the two Northern Crowns the King of Denmark jealous of the great power of the present Duke of Gottorp forced this Prince to quit his Dukedom and leave his Majesty in full possession of the whole Country of Holstein But at the signing of the Treaty between the Kings of France Sweden and Denmark at Fountenblaeu on the second of September 1679 the Danish Ministers promised their Master should at the desire of his most Christian Majesty restore to the said Duke all his Countries Towns and places in the state they were and the soveraignty thereof all which he
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
Italy it self Besides these ornaments the City is eminent for the great Exchange in it of all manner of merchandise the plenty it has of all sorts of fresh and salt Fish Wood either for fuel or timber Corn and many other rich Commodities The Citizens have been always commended for their great civility to strangers and no less praised for their undoubted valour and resolution in opposing the violences of any foreign enemies A more sufficient demonstration of their courage cannot be expected then they gave in defending their Town so bravely as they did against the forces of the Elector of Brandenburg in the year 1677. Which famous siege having possibly been one of the most memorable pieces of Gallantry if we consider the resolution and courage of both parties that these later Ages have produc'd will in this place merit a more particular relation then ordinary The Elector had the year before made an attempt upon this City but was in too weak a condition considering the posture of the place and the strength of the Garrison that defended it to pursue his intentions any further Whereupon he resolved for that time to withdraw his forces and to provide himself better before he would venture upon a second onset Accordingly that winter was spent in raising new Regiments and providing all manner of ammunition requisite for the carrying on of this design the Summer following All things thus in readiness on the fifth of July in the year 1677. His Highness parted from Berlin at the Head of an Army consisting of Twenty-four Regiments whereof Nine of Horse Ten of Foot and Five of Dragoons besides-Foot Guards and the assistance of Four Thousand Lunenburgers under the command of Major General Enten By these Forces the City was closely besieged from the seventh of July to the twenty-sixth of December following on which day the Town was surrendred upon the conditions following 1. That all the Swedish Soldiers should march out with Drums beating and Colours flying and have safe conduct for themselves with their bag and baggage as far as Liefland but all the Germans whether Officers or common Soldiers quitting the service of the King of Sweden should be listed under the Elector II. If any of the Swedish goods could not at present be carried off it should be lawful for the owner to leave them behind him to be restored upon demand as soon as the Frost was over and the River navigable III. A general pardon should be granted to all Partisans and Forragers excepting such as are known to have committed some notorious murder or other misdemeanour contrary to the Law of Arms in their Sally IV. All the wounded and sick Soldiers should have leave to ly in the City till they were cured V. All the prisoners on both sides should be set at liberty VI. That at the request of the Swedish Lieutenant General all Fugitives should be pardon'd and receiv'd back to their respective Regiments VII His Electoral Highness should grant to the said Lieutenant General Wulfzen the liberty to carry off any two pieces of Cannon which he should chuse VIII The Wives Widows and Children of the Swedish Officers should be permitted to tarry in Stetin if they thought fit till Easter and at their departure have pass-ports granted them IX All Officers of the King of Sweden whether Civil or Military should remain full Proprietors of all their goods movable and immovable paying the same homage to the Elector as they had formerly done to the aforesaid King X. Provided always that if any of the said Officers were willing to part with any such goods he should have a just price paid him and licence to carry of the same whither himself should please XI The Elector should not make any alteration in Religion XII The University and Church of St. Mary should enjoy their ancient Priviledges and Revenues XIII His Electoral Highness should take into his own protection all the Priests and Schoolmasters in the Town defending them from all the insolencies and injuries of his Soldiers These with some few more less considerable Articles being signed by both parties the Elector enter'd the Town a great part whereof lay miserably buried in its ruins the effects of the valour and prowess of its inhabitants During this siege the Brandenburgers are said to have spent thirty thousand Granadoes 24000 Hand-Granadoes an hundred and fifty thousand Cannon-shot and ninety-eight thousand pound of powder By the late Treaty of Nimeguen this Town was again restor'd to the King of Sweden II. â—â—â—min CAMMIN Formerly a Bishop's See whose Prelates had the priviledge of being invested and confirm'd immediately by the Pope himself In the Treaty of Munster 't was order'd that after the death of the then incumbent Canons the Bishopric of Cammin should be turn'd into a small Principality and descend upon the Elector of Brandenburg III. â—â—â—â—â—g COLBERG A strong Town on the mouth of the Persant annex'd formerly to the Bishopric of Cammin by Barnimus I. Duke of Pomeren and therefore given to the Elector of Brandenburg by the Westphalian Treaty The convenience of the Haven and plenty of good Salt made here and sent into other Countries has invited a considerable number of Merchants to traffick and enrich the Town IV. 〈◊〉 WOLLIN At this day a poor Town but the reliques of one of the greatest Cities that these parts afforded Adam Bremensis asserts positively that Julinum which was the ancient name of this Town turn'd afterwards into Wollin was once the largest City in Europe And no doubt it was a place extraordinary strong and populous that was alone able to maintain a war against the whole Kingdom of Denmark and to bring home its Monarch Suenotto three several times prisoner In those days 't was by all Nations resorted to as the greatest Mart-Town excepting perhaps Constantinople in Europe and the Danes Swedes Russians Jews and several other people had here their peculiar Streets and Houses of Exchange But within a while their Apostacy from the Christian Religion brought Gods heavy wrath and vengeance upon them which destroy'd a great part of their City by Lightning and Fire from Heaven and the rest by the hands of Waldemar King of Denmark who falling upon it unawares in the year 1170 with a great Army destroy'd the very ruins of the Town and burnt up what was only left its Ashes Never since has this place been any thing considerable scarcely deserving the name of a City or great Town being remarkable for nothing save that it gives name to the whole Isle where 't is situate which from it is call'd Das Wollinsche Werder V. 〈◊〉 USEDOM This was once after the destruction of its neighbour Julinum a Town of good traffick which was chiefly occasion'd by the resort of the Danes and Poles who remov'd their trade hither In the year 1473 the whole Town with the Town-Hall and all the Shops and Goods of the Merchants was burnt down after which time it
hardly recover'd any of its ancient riches and grandeur and is now moulder'd into a Sea-Port Town of less note if possible then Wollin Cities and great Towns of Note in the Lower POMEREN FIrst 〈◊〉 STRALSUND When this City now the largest and wealthiest in Pomeren was first built is not certainly known The most credible Historians tell us it owes its first original to Sunno II. King of the Franks who laid the first foundation of this Town in the year 145 or 146 calling it from his own name Sunnonia which was afterwards corrupted into Sunda and by the addition of Strala an Island situate no man knows where turn'd at last into Stralsund But I had rather believe it had the name Sund as 't is still sometimes call'd from the narrow Sea upon which it stands since this as well as the Baltic Straits betwixt Helsingore and Helsingborg would be properly nam'd in the Danish or Gottish tongue de Sund. The other part of its modern name seems afterwards added von den Stralen oder flussen from the interchangable portions of Sea and Land in this place The first undoubted truth we find related of this City is that after some great spoiling or utter destruction it was magnificently rebuilt enlarged and peopled with Germans by Jaromar Prince of Rugen about the year 1209. By this Prince's Son its fortifications were first begun in the year 1230 and the City removed a little out of the place where its first foundations had been laid by his Father For before Jaromar had quite encompass'd his new built Town with a slender Wall which he fancied would have been sufficient to have defended it against the incursions of the Danes on the one hand and the Pomeranians on the other the Dukes of Pomeren broke in upon him and overpowering his small Garrison burnt up the greatest part of the intended City So that the Stralsunders have good reason to reckon the Age of their City no farther then from the year 1230 as they intimate from the following distich engraven in several places of the Town in Golden Letters Annis Ducentis ter denis mille retentis Fit Stralsundensis Civitas cui nomen ab undis Since that time it has had almost as many fair priviledges and immunities conferr'd upon it as any City in the Empire of its age As 1. The Magistrates of the Town have power to determine all controversies as well in Criminal as Civil causes within their own Courts from whence lies no appeal to any superior Judge or Prince whatever 2. They have power to coin money and raise forces either for Sea or Land 3. In case of an engagement of the whole German Empire with some foreign Nation in a Sea-Fight the Stralsunders are not obliged to venture any further abroad then is convenient for the defence of their own City 4. They have had power to make Leagues and Confederacies for the advancement of their own trade and to chuse their own Patrons and Protectors out of all the Princes of the Empire At this day the City is in a flourishing and splendid condition the Houses generally stone and very uniform This last year 1680 some part of the Town was burnt down by an unhappy accident but the plentiful purses of the inhabitants will be able quickly to repair the damages of that fire The Sea betwixt this Town and the Isle of Rugen is about an English mile in breadth down to which from the Walls there are six great Gates and as many Bridges leading thither To these Bridges the Merchantships of 150 or 200 Tun which ride in the Harbour are fasten'd Towards the Land it is fortified with regular Bulwarks and Fish-ponds of twice a Musket's shot in bredth over which there are four Dams and Bridges leading from the four Land-Gates of the Town The chief Commodity of the Town is Corn which the Merchants transport in great quantities into the Low-Countries Scotland Norway and many other parts of Europe In some of the Northern Nations the Stralsund beer is reckoned a choise Commodity and for that reason many tun of that Liquor is here yearly ship'd off Stralsund has always so bravely maintain'd its priviledges and Liberties that it would be a voluminous History to give an account of the many several Proofs its Inhabitants have given of their valour in this kind Historians will acquaint us that at once it withstood the United Forces of two Kings of Denmark and Sweden and ten Princes against the assaults of all which it bravely defended it self and in the engagement took Eric Duke of Saxony Prisoner After this exploit the City began to be as terrible as before it had been impregnable and none of the Neighbouring Princes durst offer either violence or any affront to the Citizens of Stralsund In the Civil Wars of Germany Count Walstein trusting to Fortune that had always favour'd his former enterprises lay close siege to the Town but after a furious onset and a long but vain expectance of success was at last forced shamefully to retire Within a while after the Stralsunders put themselves under the protection of Gustavus Adolphus the triumphant King of Sweden who though at first designed only for a titular Patron prov'd in the end their real Lord and Master However the present Elector of Brandenburg is the only Prince that can justly brag of having fairly conquered the City of Stralsund which after he had taken Stetin and the greatest part of the upper Pomeren was by him besieged and taken in the year 1678 though afterwards as he stood obliged by the Fifth Article of the Treaty of peace signed by the Ministers of the Kings of France and Sweden and the said Elector at St. Germain's en Laye the 29th of July in the year 1679 he resign'd it back into the hands of the Swedish King II. Bardt BARTH or BARDT This Town not many ages agoe was the Metropolis of the upper Pomeren and gave name to all that part of the Countrey wherein are now situate Stralsund Grimmen Tribsees with many other Cities and great Towns of good note Some fancy it derived its name from the Longobardi whom they make the undoubtedly antient Inhabitants of these parts and in confirmation of this their conjecture produce the old Arms of the Town wherein it bears a mans head with a long beard But the more probable opinion is That 't is so called from the River Barte or Bartze on the mouth of which it is seated The Fields about this City are exceeding fruitful and abound with all manner of grain whence were the Haven here as deep and fit to harbour Ships of a considerable burthen as that at Stralsund Bardt would be capable of being as much advanced by Merchandise as any of its Neighbouring Cities But that small Arm of the Sea upon which this City stands is so shallow that neither Merchantmen nor almost any other Vessels save only such as serve to convey Passengers from hence into Denmark or Sweden
state nor any thing truly great in the City 3. Speyer SPEYER is subject to the Elector Palatine at the same rate with Wormes It is thought to be the Nemetum Civitas or Noviomagum mention'd by Julius Cesar altho Freherus proves that the whole Country near this place was anciently concluded under that name 'T is seated in a plain on the Western banks of the Rhine a large and populous City which owes its security more to the number of its inhabitants then the strength of any fortifications near it For Gustavus Adolphus the victorious King of Sweden demolish'd its Bulwarks and Rampires being unwilling to spare so many men out of his Army as were requisite to Garrison it and make it good against any future assault of the Imperialists The Citizens of Wormes and Spire tho Lutherans swear fealty to their Bishops who are under the Jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Mentz There are in this Town many stately Houses and fair Churches the chief of which is the Cathedral beautified with four Towers But the great Glory of the Town is the Imperial Chamber which was first placed at Worms by the Emperor Maximilian the First and not long after fix'd at Speyer from whence it cannot be removed but by a general consent of the Estates of the Empire This fills the City with a constant concourse of people from all parts of Germany who repair hither for the final determination of such Law-suits as they fancy have not been well decided by inferior Courts of Judicature in their own Country For hither there lies an Appeal from any Prince's Court in the Empire And the Electors themselves may in some Trials at Law be summon'd to appear before this Court 4. Zweybrucken ZWEYBRUCKEN call'd by the French Deux-Ponts has its name from the Bridges over two Rivers at the confluence whereof 't is seated This City is signal for little more then its giving name to a small Principality in the neighbourhood which is enjoy'd by a younger House of the Counts Palatine who are commonly stiled Principes Bipontini or Principes Gemini Pontis These poor Princes have paid dear for some of the French King 's late victories especially his Triumphs in the beginning of the year 1677 wherein their chief City Zweybrucken was almost quite demolish'd So near was it to an utter overthrow that at this time there is hardly any thing more to be seen then the Skeleton of a City 5. Vdenheim or Philipsburg UDENHEIM a Town subject to the Bishop of Spire seated on the mouth of the Saltza and on the Eastern banks of the Rhine 'T was anciently a Village but was wall'd round by Gerhard Bishop of Spire who first made it a City and procured for it severallarge Priviledges 'T is conveniently seated for the command of the most considerable part of the adjacent Country and for that reason well fortified by the Bishop of this Diocess a little before the breaking out of the Civil Wars of Germany These new Fortifications begun in time of peace gave ground to the neighbouring Princes to suspect that some more then ordinary designs were carrying on by this Prelate Whereupon Frederic V. the then Elector Palatine and Prince in chief of Vdenheim required him to desist from finishing what he had begun which he refused to do alledging the Emperor's Placaet for what he did Upon this contempt the Elector beat it down by force For this affront to the Emperor's Authority the Elector and his Confederates were cited to appear before the Imperial Chamber at Speyer wherein 't was resolved that they should be proceeded against with all imaginable severity This hard usage was one of the chief motives which induced the unfortunate Elector to accept the Crown of Bohemia and consequently a chief cause of the Civil Wars of Germany In which unhappy juncture Marquise Spinola the Spanish General thought this Town so capable of being improv'd into a strong Hold that he repair'd the demolish'd Fortifications and having made the place almost impregnable gave it the new name of Philipsburg By the Treaty of Munster this Town and Castle were put into the hands of the French and by the late Treaty at Nimeguen resign'd up to the Imperialists in exchange for Freyburg in Brisgow The present King of France before the breaking out of the late bloody Wars caused this Inscription to be written over the great Gate at Philipsburg Tuendis RHENI Finibus LUDOVICUS XIV Francorum Navarrae Rex Christianissimus Confecto in utraque Germania bello restaurata ubique Pace Munimentum hoc suae virtutis Assertaeque libertatis Germaniae Monumentum firmari isthoc agere muroque Regiis sumptibus extructo fecit Anno M. DC LXVI Perfecit in terrorem hostium Foederatorum Praesidium Liliorum Subsidium alterum Galliae cis Rhenum propugnaculum ac Germaniam versus Ostium in ferius situ non Robore Quod ille claudit nemo aperit Idem aperit nemo claudit But when afterwards in the succeeding War it had fall'n into the hands of the Imperialists the Emperor raz'd out the former Inscription and caused this following one to be written in its stead LEOPOLDVS IMPERATOR CAESAR Pius Faelix Augustus VICTOR TRIUMPHATOR Suscepto Juvandis Sociis Tuendis civibus Arcendis hostibus necessario bello restaurandae ubique Paci Munimentum hoc Vindicatae ab injectis Gallicae servitutis compedibus Libertatis publicae futurum ad Posteros monumentum expugnavit Germaniaeque postliminio restituit Anno Christianae salutis MDCLXXVI Terrori hostium Tutelae Civium Germaniae Praesidio alterum Galliae cis Rhenum receptaculum ac Germaniam versus Ostium Auspicato plura pari successu recuperandi augurio Gallis clausit Germanis reclusit Quod Gallus claudit Germanus aperit There are some more well fortified Towns in the Lower Palatinate such as Manheim upon the confluence of the Rhine and Neccar Coube Franckenthal Keysers-Lautern Simmeren c. but none of so good note as those already described Helvetii Alsatia Pal. Rheni Arch Mogun Arch. Trevir Arch. Colon. Clivia Geldria VltrajectuÌ„ Hollandia Apud Jâ—â—ssoâ—â—â—-Waesbergios Mosem Pitt et Stephanum Swart RHENVS Fluviorum Europae celeberrimus cum MOSA MOSELLA et reliquis in illum se exonerantibus fluminibus Apâ—â— Jâ—â—ssâ—â—â—â—-Waesbergios Mosem Pitt et Stephanum Swart PALATINATVS AD RHENUM Apud Janssonio-Waesbergios Mosem Pitt et Stephanum Swart Not. Explicatio Civitates munite Vrbes Vici Pagi Arces Coenobia Fortalitia Vera totius MARCHIONATUS BADENSIS et HOCHBERGENSIS ceterorumque Ducatum Landgravionatuum et Comitatuum ad Princeps huius nominis spectantium Geometr Astro Calcu Delineatio Heic domus AEneae cunctis dominabitur oris Et gnati gnatorum et qui nascentur ab illis Excudebant Janssonio-Waesbergii Moses Pitt et Stephanus Swart Explicatio Notarum Vrbs Oppidum Pagus notabilis Pagus Arx Monasterium Pagê° not cum Arce Arx et Pagus Monast cum Pago Balneum Acidus fons Fodinae AErarum THE MARQUISATE OF BADEN BADEN lying along
deserve that punishment or as have by any way faln under the Tzars displeasure for these also he sends thither with their wives and children and sometimes gives them there some small government To poor people it is now not terrible to be sent into Siberia as formerly it was because they find tolerable livelihood there but to the rich and noble it is look'd upon as sending to the Galleys in France and other places only they are obliged to bring in a certain number of Sables upon pain of severe bodily chastisement nor is it an easie matter for any of them to escape One thing more is to be observed that many learned men and amongst them Olearius confounds this Siberia with another Province near that name under the Grand Tzars dominion in the South bordering upon the dominions of Poland which is almost as great an error as that of those who think Samoiedia and Samogitia to be the same This Country is said to have yeilded in 1589 a tribute of four hundred sixty-six timber of Sables every timber containing forty skins five timber of Martrons an hundred and eighty cases of black Fox every case containing also forty skins besides other commodities To Tobolsca which is almost in the midst of Siberia are brought all the tributes and thence sent by convoy to Mosko but the chief Governor of all these northern Countries resides at Vergateria Permia situate upon the River Vischora or Vistorna which is ten miles from Weliki Perme or great Permia the chief City of this Province Permia and falls into the River Cama Permski upon the East borders upon Tumen which is under the Tartars where is a great trade from Boghar and Persia From Tumen to Tobolsca they travel in fourteen days from Tobolsca to Beresova another great trading Town upon the Ob in nine days from Beresova into the River Ouse and down that into the Petzora and so to Pustozera in three weeks The Permians pretend to be an ancient Nation I suppose because they have a peculiar language and characters Yet till they submitted to the Muscovites they lived no otherwise than the Samoieds neither as yet have they much use or knowledg of bread nor do they plant or sow but live upon hunting and have their Sleds drawn with Deer or great Dogs which they bring up for that purpose and when the snow is hard frozen they have their Nartes which the Laps and Fins call Saksit other Nations Artach or long Skeits made of thin wood or bark wherewith they glide over the snow with incredible swiftness but these are used in all northern Countries where they are accustom'd to much snow They were very zealous Idolaters insomuch that the first Bishop who was sent to convert them they flay'd alive yet did not this discourage his successor Stephen who happily setled Christianity and civility in a great part amongst them he also invented characters for their peculiar language and is reckon'd amongst the Saints in the Russ-Calendar Yet amongst them as amongst the Siberians Samoieds and most of these northern Countries are secretly still many Idolaters who frequent not their Cities but live in Woods and amongst the Marshes They seem to be a rich people for when Ivan Vasilowich sought for an aveny or pretence to fleece them he sent to them for so much Cedar to build him a Palace they returning answer that they had no such thing in their Country nor did they know what it was he punish'd their obstinacy at twelve thousand and sixty Rubbles or Marks Whence we may gather that they were united to the dominion of the Muscovite before that time and some say under Vasilie his father This demand of the Emperors might either take its reason from the report of Cedars upon the mountains of Siberia or that report from this message Jugoria Jugria Hugria Juhar Juhria Juharia Jugâ—â— Jugra where it is situated I know not for some place it on the East others on the West-side of Ob. H. Smith who lived in Petzora 1580 saith that it lies over against Waygatz If it be true which the Baron of Herberstein saith that this was the Country whence Attila with his Huns over-run so much of Europe and afterwards setled in Pannonia which from the name of their own Country Jugaria they called Hungaria they should seem to be West of Ob for Dubravius who writes the story saith that they were a very barbarous and deformed Nation living amongst great Lakes and Forrests which agrees well enough to the Jugorsky and that some of them hunting a Stag the beast took thro the Marshes and by that means shewed them a way into a better Country then their own which knowing no other till then contented them very well But the hunters returning and declaring the pleasures and riches they had discover'd perswaded them to leave that uncomfortable place and by their valor seek better habitations which they presently put in execution The difficulties in this opinion are that the present Juhria is not stored with horses that the inhabitants are a very poor miserable and but few people much undisposed for such high and generous thoughts of conquering their neighbours Yet is not the argument which the diligent and learned Baron useth to be despised which is that both the remainder of the ancient Hungarians who live between the Danow and Tibiscus and these Jugarians use the same language which is not known to be any where else spoken But reserving this dispute to a properer place we have nothing more to say of them but that they live much-what after the manner of the Samoieds the same diet clothing tribute c. DWINAE FLUVII nova descriptio Sumptibus Janssanio-Waesbergiorum et Mosis Pitt To this of Dwina Vstiug we will subjoin Vstiug Ostium Jugh Fl. that gives name to a Provice tho but a poor one The natives formerly had a language proper to themselves as well as divers other Provinces before mention'd but the care of the Emperor is such that he abolishes them by degrees and introduceth the Muscovitish which the people willingly do finding it much better for their commerce Here and in Dwina Sables are not of so great reputation but they have the best black Foxes Here are also very great and famous Fairs and Marts West of Dwina is Corella Carelia Carelen Corella and betwixt them both the Island Solowski famous for the Abby of St. Nicolas whereinto they permit not any woman to enter It is in 63 deg 50 min. The banks of the Sea hereabouts are white and shining with Alabaster In this Province is much Salt boiled The people live much-what like the Laplanders tho not altogether so barbarous for they have some Towns as Corelnburg Nordenburg upon the mouth of a Lake which by the River Warfuga emptieth it self into the Bay of St. Nicolas Kexholm in the hands of the Suedes and the greatest part of all this Province pays tribute both to the Russes and
Rubbles per ann And for these and the like reasons many of them at first secretly favoured afterwards openly join'd themselves and their power to Demetri Particularly Peter Basmaneuf entrusted with an Army by Boris to fight against him went and carryed with him all his Army to Demetri and brought him to Moskow in a manner without any bloodshed At which time Boris first on April 13 1605 and shortly after his wife and son died either by poison as most say or murther'd by some sent from Demetri to that purpose and left the Throne void to that Impostor which he enjoyed not nine months before he was suspected as not sleeping after dinner nor using stoves and in divers other matters not conforming to the custom of the Muscovites And when the Russes saw moreover that he had engaged to marry the daughter of the Palatine of Sandomiria and to bring in the Roman Religion they formed a conspiracy against him chiefly by the practice of Vasilie Zuisky They chose for the execution of their design the seventeenth day of May 1606 nine days after his marriage when Zuisky with other Boiars and the people after dinner finding the Guards asleep forc'd their way into his chamber he affrighted with the noise leapt out of a window and broke his leg the Boiars follow'd and there slew him and hurried his carcass into the market-place where they also laid by him his great fautor Basmaneuf exposing them three days Afterwards they chose Vasilie Ivanowich Zuisky Grand Tzar in his stead who was crown'd June 1 1606. He had not reigned long before another Demetri appear'd in Poland and being by them assisted raised very great troubles in Muscovy After him also started up another Demetri in Moskow it self who also found followers and abettors people who in the times of trouble and licentiousness take even a sorry pretence to rob and plunder Mean-while divers of the Nobility bandied together against their Lord Zuisky pretending that he was unfortunate that victory seem'd to shun and troubles to follow him that as long as he govern'd there could be no hopes of peace c. Which silly stories prevail'd so much upon an amazed people that they seized upon Zuisky and shaving him put him into a Monastery Mean-while the Poles were not idle in defending and asserting their Demetri but came with their army before Moskow The Russes to heal all their wounds and soder up their differences chose Vladislaus son to the King of Poland to be their Grand Duke upon certain conditions whereof one was that Zuisky and his family should be put into the hands of the King of Poland which was accordingly done and he imprisoned till death and buried in the high-way The Polish army before Moskow understanding the election of their Prince behaved themselves very peaceably for a while and the General with part of his army was admitted into the Castle the rest of the army was quarter'd in the Villages without but they by little and little got into the City where they had not long continued e're there happen'd a quarrel which amongst men used to drunkenness is not hard to find of the Poles against the Russes whereupon they fell upon the City and in despight of their General plunder'd and burnt it They say that at that time perished two hundred thousand persons The treasury also was pillaged and all the wealth of the Emperor scatter'd amongst the Polish soldiers some of whom are said to have charg'd their pistols with pearl The Russes being in this almost desperate condition and upon the very brink of ruine at length a Butcher whose name seems to have been Zachary Listpenow began not to despair and to give out amongst the people that if there could be found an honest Treasurer there would not want good officers and soldiers of the Russ Nation to deliver them from their miseries and settle peace and glory again in their country The people destitute of other hopes catch'd hold upon this straw and bid him name whom he thought fit to be General which he did and proposed to them a very worthy but poor and neglected Gentleman called Pozarskey The people approved his choice took him for Commander and the Butcher they made Treasurer bringing readily unto him all the money they ow'd unto the Emperor and what they could spare of their own Wherewith he presently raised an army and joining it with a body of Cossacks then in service of the Muscovites They marched to Moskow besieged the Poles in the Castle and forc'd them to surrender and to march out of the Empire which they immediately performed Hereupon the Russ Nobility convened at Moskow and seeing their country free from strangers and an obedient army of their own they resolved upon electing of a new Emperor which they put in execution ann 1613 and made choice of a young man called Michael Federowitz and sware allegiance unto him His father had forsaken his wife for Gods sake as they say i. e. quitted her and betaken himself to his devotions in a Monastery he was of the house of Romanove and when his son was chosen Tzar he also was elected Patriarch and being a very wise and moderate person he put his son who was always obedient unto him upon secure and prudent counsels His name was changed to Philaretes Nikiditz and he died ann 1633. The first thing he did was to recover Smolensko and by the mediation of Christian Princes especially King James he made peace with the Poles He also made a peace with the Swedes who had been the sorest and heaviest enemy to the Russes And by the assistance also of King James an accord was made and all differences reconciled The Swede was to render Novogrod Stara Russa Porkow Lagda Aydow with all their Territories to the Muscovites And the Muscovites surrendred Ivanogrod Jama Coporia Noteburg with their precincts to the Swede and renounce all title to Livonia which was no small prejudice to the Russ who thereby lost the salt trade which had brought in no small revenue He died July 12 1645 in the forty-seventh year of his age and thirty-third of his reign He was a prudent pious and valiant person endeavouring by all means to banish the memory of former tyrannies and to make up the breaches of his own people which he did very successfully To him succeeded his son Alexes Michaelowitz a more martial but yet as mild a Governor whose actions are so fresh in all mens memories that I think it superfluous to write them but such have been these of the house Romanove that if their successors continue to tread in the steps of these their ancestors they need not doubt of both a lasting reign and glory to all posterity He died about the year 1676 and left his son a young Prince of about sixteen years of age to succeed him The Lakes and Rivers of Muscovy COncerning the Lakes and Rivers of Muscovy 't is to be observed 1. That almost all
old time amongst the Germans which name most properly agrees to them for they are no other then a collection of theeves and robbers out of all nations and countries living chiefly upon spoil pillaging and piracy They are of two sorts according to the places of their habitations which they chuse in fastnesses desart and unknown places more for their security then other conveniences Those that live upon the Boristhenes in the Vkrain are called Zaporousky but besides them there are another sort like those who because they live upon and about the Don or Tanais are called Donsky and these are they of whom we speak at this time They are in some degree subjects to the Grand Tzar as the other were to the Polanders but they obey not much more then themselves please tribute or acknowledgment they pay none laws and government such as it is they have of their own only when the Grand Tzar commands they assist him with what number of soldiers he pleaseth but he pays and protects them against their enemies i.e. all the world but chiefly the Crim-Tartars their neighbours One of these was Stenko or Stepan Radzin who to revenge his brothers death that was hanged for heading a sedition of the Cosacks in the army of the Grand Tzar against the Poles ann 1665 by Jurie Alexowitz Dolgarowsky the Russ General ann 1667 after he had got so much into the favour of the Cosacks as to be acknowledged their General he began to pillage upon the Volga and the Caspian Sea as far as Jaick which he plunder'd and burnt he destroyed all their fisheries their villages and whatever he could light upon bringing a very great calamity upon all those nations Thence he went to the other side of the Caspian Sea to Terki c. and so into Persia where in a certain City finding great quantity of excellent wine himself and soldiers of whom he had five or six thousand were so drunk that the Persians fell upon them and slew them Stenko with about five hundred of his Cosacks with great difficulty escaped to their boats which they call Stroogs Thence he came again to Volga to recruit his losses both of men and spoils which he did in short time and one day entertaining his Officers upon the river with his Mistress a very beautiful Persian Lady whom he had taken prisoner he drowned her with his own hands and presently upon that set up Reformer against drinking whoring c. and got so much into the favour of the people that Astracan was by the Citizens and Soldiers surrendred unto him where his cruelties upon the Governor and the Officers are not easily express'd besides other great mischiefs he did to the Grand Tzar But amongst his own Cosacks he was very humble and of easie address Nor could any one know him from an ordinary Cosack by his garb or outward appearance but only by the very great observance they gave him bowing to the ground when they came to him and by the compellation they used towards him which was Batskie Father Which partly also shews the manner of the Cosacks government which is that their General hath no more power then the Soldiers give him voluntarily which is commonly according to the advantage and success they get by him But as I said more of these when we come to the Vkrain TAVRICA CHERSONESVS Hodie PRZECOPSCA et GAZARA dicitur CRIM-TARTARS The Country of the Crim-Tartars containing Precop and the Taurica-Chersonesus BEfore we treat particularly of this country it is necessary that we speak of the Tartars in general and shew the reason of their name and how they came into these places And because this discourse doth more naturally belong to Asia we shall here only give a brief account of them reserving a larger treatise to its proper place We must also premise that since Historians do so much disagree especially the Western from the Eastern in their relations concerning these people the Reader must not here expect either the reconciling or setting down all their differences much less the confutation of any but we shall briefly and with the best judgment we have deliver that which seems to us most probable and that also chiefly out of the Eastern writers who seem to have more exact knowledg of these matters then our own people Martinius saith that in the Chinese Histories mention is made of the Tartars four thousand years ago but I cannot find them nam'd in our Historians till about twelve hundred years after Christ That the Scythians anciently inhabited all the northern Regions I think is out of doubt as also that these Tartars were a tribe of them which subduing all the rest abolished the former and introduced their own name They are by all the ancientest Historians called Tatars and this seems to have been the general name of those Nations that inhabit beyond Imaus the north-east parts of Scythia and north of the wall of China built as some say a few years before our Saviours time tho our Historians make no mention of it till the greatness of these Tatars suggested to the Chinois to secure themselves by this defence from their fury There are divers conjectures concerning the reason of the name some derive it from a Syriack word that signifies abundance because of the populousness of that Nation some from a word signifying remainder i. e. of the twelve Tribes others say that it is the name of the Province they inhabit or of the river upon which they are seated and is the greatest river in all that tract They are divided into many Tribes and that which dwels upon this river is particularly called Mogul i. e. watery or fenny Tatars Others say that Mogul or Mongul is the name of the Nation and Tatar of the Tribe and that Tribe which lives on that river are called Su-Mogul or Mohall which is the Arabians opinion Su-Mogul in their language signifying watry Mogul The great fame and the first knowledg that we have of the Tartars was from the victories of Gingis Jinjis Chan whom our Historians call Chinchis Changius Cinguys c. Gingis they say signifies the sound of iron and they gave him this name because he was a Blacksmith Can is a title of the greatest honour in their Language as Emperor in ours In the year of the Hegira 559 which is of our Saviour 1202 reigned over these eastern Tribes of Scythia call'd Tatars one Vng-Chan in whose service was entertain'd or as some say brought up with him a young man call'd Tamugin who became a person of very great prudence valour and good fortune and arrived at so great esteem for his military services that by the malicious suggestions of those who envied him Vng-Chan conceived a very great jealousie against him and resolved to apprehend imprison and proceed against him as there should be reason The night appointed for this exploit was discover'd to Tamugin by two of Vng-Chans servants Who providing against it left his Tents
and Vilna For the Polonians believe that it very much avails both to the security of the Governour and to confirm the allegiance of them that obey that the King should be chosen by the Generality who can then have no pretence to complain of their own Act. The place of Election is in an open field not far from Warsaw near the Village Wola by reason of the multitude of them who have voices in the Election it is mark'd out by the Marshals of Poland and Lithuania When the day of Election is come and the Senators all met the Interrex asks the Question three times Whether it be their pleasure to command that such a one shall be declared King If by consent of voices they return for an answer It pleases us Let him live then the Archbishop declares him King in these words In the name of God I declare such a one King and great Duke of Lithuania and beseech the King of Heaven to enable him for so great a charge and through his mercy so to order that the Election may be prosperous for the Nation and happy for the Catholick Religion After which the Marshals proclaim the Election in the following manner King N. is unanimously elected and so declared by the Interrex him therefore all ye acknowledg your lawfully elected and declared King If the King so elected be absent his Ambassadours are obliged to confirm by oath the conditions and receive the decree of the Election After which the Marshalls make a second Proclamation in these words The Polanders have a lawful King On the other side before the King is admitted he is obliged by oath to preserve the Laws and priviledges of the Kingdom and the Covenants agreed upon by the Estates in all their clauses points and conditions and to renew the said oath at his Coronation But though he be now elected the Interregnum does not cease till after his Coronation for till then he assumes no other Title then that of King Elect neither are his Letters to Foreign Princes seal'd with any other seal then that of the Chamber So that though the present King was permitted to make use of the Seal of great Duke of Lithuania before his Coronation that was only done upon the necessity of the Muscovitick Expedition The usual place of Coronation is Cracow where the Crown is kept in the cheif treasury under the charge of the high Treasurer and the person performing the ceremony is always the Archbishop of Gnesna if not prevented by sickness The chief Ceremonies at the Coronation are the Questions propounded to the King Wilt thou profess the Catholick faith delivered by Catholick men Answ I will Wilt thou defend and maintain the Church and its Ministers Wilt thou uphold defend and govern the Kingdom by God committed to thy care according to Justice Ans I will All which he confirms by the usual form of words and laying his hand upon the Evangelists The Ceremony of anointing is perform'd with saying these words I anoint thee King with the sanctified oil in the name of the Father Son and holy Ghost The words of Confirmation are Sit and possess the Throne appointed thee by God Let thy hand be strengthned and thy right hand exalted The solemnity being ended the King repairs to the grand Assembly for the Coronation where the Interrex resigns his Authority and the Senatours together with the Nobility and Deputies of the Cities take their oaths of allegiance to the new King The present power and authority of the Kings of Poland will more plainly appear by a recital of the articles to the observance whereof they bind themselves as well before as at their Coronation for they contain all the essential properties of Regal Dominion under the name of Pacta Conventa As to their power in Ecclesiastical affairs the Roman-Catholick Kings of Poland have been so kind as to part with their chiefest prerogatives in that particular reserving only to themselves the collation of benefices The King swears to maintain peace between the dissenters in Religion of which there are many in Poland and to compose the causes and differences among persons professing the Greek religion as appears by the Pacta Conventa sworn to by John the Third now reigning As for foundations of Churches and Monasteries whatsoever liberty the King may have to erect they are to be confirm'd by all the orders at the general assembly of Estates and thus the immunities and priviledges granted by the Kings of Poland to the Academy of Vilna were also confirm'd The next prerogative is the legislative power concerning which we find that in the time of Lechus the Kings of Poland had an absolute authority of making Laws themselves as necessity required But afterwards when they had received the Christian faith they began to make Laws with the consent of the Peers Insomuch that Sigismund the Third in the year 1570 enacted That no Law should be of publick force till reviewed and subscribed by such a number of Deputies of the Nobility and Senators whose consent was to be required before-hand whether the Law should pass which Law remains to this day The determination of Controversies was likewise formerly in the breast of the King as supreme Judg till Vladislaus Jagello granted this priviledge to the Nobility That they should not be punished or imprison'd till convicted by Law After him Bathor threw off the burthen of hearing causes from his own shoulders and erected several courts of Judicature in Poland and Lithuania reserving only to himself the judgment of such causes as concerned his Chequer and such Cities as were immediately under his jurisdiction But now the Nobility create the chief Judg or Marshal with his assistants in those tribunals nor does the King sit alone upon causes that come before him by way of appeal besides the King swears to determine all Court causes according to the advice and opinion of the Senators and Officers residing at Court as also to call the causes in order as they are set down in the Register and neither to retard nor further any cause for favour or interest The power of making war did formerly without doubt absolutely belong to the King But Casimir the third in the year 1454 made a promise that he would undertake no war without the consent of the Senate At this day the Kings of Poland by the Pacta Conventa promise not to admit or call in any foreign assistance without the especial consent of the Estates not to encrease the number of the standing Militia nor raise forces privately not to send aid to any other Prince without consent as aforesaid nor to commit the trust of Forts or Castles to strangers or plebeians but to men of worth and landed Nobility Besides all these engagements there is a Council of War elected out of the Senate and Nobility to attend and advise him in the field according to the late Constitutions in the year 1676 and several others before He is also
riches 1370 Lodowick King of Hungary and Nephew of Casimir the Great Hitherto the Crown of Poland was successive except when the King dyed without issue In the third Class it began to be elective Vladislaus Jagello being obliged to swear as Hartknoch acquaints us that he received it by election and not succession This Class contains the Kings of the Jagellonian family in the following order 1386 Vladislaus Jagello chosen Husband to Heduiges second daughter to Lodowic and therewith King of Poland upon condition that he should unite to the Crown his dominions of Litvania Samogitia and part of Prussia become Christian himself and endeavour the conversion of those Nations and lastly pay two hundred thousand Florens to William Duke of Austria forfeited by Heduiges who was before contracted to the said Duke He was a pious Prince and founder of the University at Cracow 1434 Vladislaus III. 1447 Casimirus IV. 'T is very memorable what Loccenius reports of this King how that meeting with Charles King of Swedeland at Dantzick he was forced to get a Monk to talk Latin with the said King who understood no Polish but talked Latin accurately Hereupon Casimir being ashamed of the ignorance of himself and his followers returning home caused publick proclamations to be made That from thence-forward no man should be advanced to any dignity except he were able to speak Latin Whence saith the same Author it came to pass that the Polanders have ever since excelled in the Latin tongue 1492 Johannes Albertus In whose reign the Tartars laid waste Rusia Podolia and several other parts of the Kingdom 1501 Alexander This King is reported to have been such a prodigal that had he ruled long he would have begger'd the Nation His Queen Helena was not suffer'd to be crowned because being a Greek she refused to conform to the Roman Church 1507 Sigismund I. Reckon'd by Paulus Jovius one of the three Worthies Charles V. Emperor and Francis I. King of France being the other who had they not been contemporary Princes deserv'd singly to have ruled the whole world Besides the large endowments of his mind he was a person of such vast strength of body that 't was ordinary for him in his youth to break asunder horse-shoes and strong ropes 1548 Sigismundus Augustus In his time the Lutheran Religion began first to take footing in Poland The fourth and last Class contains a Register of Kings elected out of divers families which occasioned several Interregna The order of these Princes is as follows 1574 Henry Valois Duke of Anjou He fled from Poland into France upon news of his brother Charles's death and was thereupon deposed by the Estates He reigned five months 1576 Stephen Bathor Palatine of Transylvania 1587 Sigismund III. Prince of Sweden who after the death of his father John III. was crown'd also King of Sweden but deposed again by his subjects chiefly for attempting to introduce the Roman Religion amongst them in which he had been educated by his mother His Uncle Charles IX Duke of Sudermannia was chose in his place 1632 Vladislaus IV. Famous for his many conquests over the Turks and subduing Muscovy of which he was elected Tzar in his Fathers life-time 1648 John Casimir designed for a Religious and had lived two years of probation amongst the Jesuits but as Hartknoch writes nominated Cardinal by Innocent X. before he took the vow of that order Being elected King he married his brother Sigismund's widow He laid down his Diadem and retired into France 1669 Michael Koributh Duke of Wisniowiec An unfortunate Prince who lost Caminiec to the Turks 1674 John Sobieski formerly General against the Turks now reigning A. D. 1679. The Queen of Poland except she be a Roman Catholick is never crown'd nor then unless the King himself request it who is always present at her Coronation During his life the charges of her Court are defrayed out of his Exchequer but after his death she maintains her self out of the revenues of such lands as the King with the consent of the Estates made over to her upon marriage The Senate of Poland is famous as well for the Nobility as number of persons Among whom he that precedes all the rest both in dignity and place is The Archbishop of Gnesna who always sits next the King upon his right hand He has belonging to his Court a Marshal who is also a Senator of the Kingdom in the rank of the Castellanes This Marshal rides before the Archbishops Coach and when he goes to Court carries a staff before him upright till he comes into the Kings Chamber where he turns it downwards His authority is so great that in the absence of other Marshals he bears the staff of authority before the King when he goes to the General Assemblies The Archbishop has also a Cross born before him which the bearer holds upright behind his chair whilst he sits in the Senate Next to the Marshal is the Chancellor for the dispatch of publick affairs both in Church and State The other Officers of the Archbishops Court are the Chamberlain Master of Requests Steward of his Table Treasurer Chaplain Library-keeper Master of the Horse and Clerk of the Kitchin As he is a Prince while his meat is going up to table whether at home or abroad the drums beat When he comes to Court he goes directly to the King never waiting his Majesties leisure or any prefixt time And upon notice of his coming he is met at the bottom of the stairs by the sub-Chamberlain at the top by the Marshal of the Court. When he approaches the Royal presence the King himself goes some paces to meet him The title which the King gives him is To the most Reverend Father in Christ By others he is styled Most High and most Reverend Lord Lord N. by the grace of God and the Apostolick See Archbishop of Gnesna Legate born Primate and chief Prince of the Polonian Nobility His prerogatives are so great that he gives not place to any Cardinal for which reason no Cardinal is ambitious of being sent into Poland Next to him the Archbishop of Leopol takes place After these two Archbishops the Bishops are seated in the Senate according to their dignity in the following order 1. Cracow 2. Cujavia who is also Bishop of Vladislow and Pomerania 3. Vilna and 4. Posnania by turns 5. Polockzo 6. Varmia and 7. Luceorea by turns 8. Praemislia 9. Samogitia or Mednic 10. Culmo 11. Chelmo 12. Kiovia and Zernichovia 13. Kamienieck 14. Smolensko These Bishops sit on the right and left hand of the King next the two Archbishops Concerning the revenues and splendor of the Bishops of Poland see Cromer l. 2. descript Pol. pag. 177. and Stanislaus Lubienski in vita Angelotti fol. 310. Bishops by the Law are forbidden to hold Abbeys in commendam with their Bishopricks only the Bishops of Kiovia and Kamienieck having lost their revenues are now permitted that liberty for their subsistence Next to the Bishops sit
the Palatines or Woiwodes and Castellanes The Palatines are Governors of Dutchies or Counties Commanders of their Militia in the general Expeditions of the Kingdom appoint Conventions of the Nobles within their own Palatinate and preside in them and in Courts of Judicature and have the patronage of the Jews who are very numerous in Poland They are the first order of the secular Senators The Castellanes are as it were the Lieutenants of the Palatines commanding in time of war the Nobility under them there are divers of them belonging to one Palatine each of them having his District or Castellanate and from hence his title and generally some revenue but no jurisdiction in time of peace only as he is a Senator The Castellane of Cracow was preferr'd before the Palatine upon the rebellion of Scarbimirus the Palatine against Boleslaus III. The Castellanes of Vilna and Troco together with the Captain of Samogitia the only Captain in the Senate had pre-eminence in consideration of their antiquity The Palatines are seated thus 1. The Castellane of Cracow The Palatines of 2. Cracow and 3. Posnania by turns 4. Vilna 5. Sandomiria 6. Castellane of Vilna The Palatines of 7. Calistia 8. Troco 9. Sirad 10. Castellane of Troco 11. Palatine of Lenschet 11. Captain of Samogitia Palatines of 13. Bressic 14. Kiovia 15. Inouladislow 16. Russia formerly of Leopol 17. Volhinia 18. Podolia formerly Caminiecz 19 Smolensko 20. Lublin 21. Plockzow 22. Belze 23. Novogrod 24. Ploco 25. Vitepz 26. Masovia formerly Culmo 27. Podlachia 28. Rava 29. Brzecienski 30. Culmo 31. Mscislauia 32. Mariaeburgh 33. Breslow 34. Pomerania 35. Minsco 36. Czernichow After these Palatines sit the Castellanes distinguished into Greater and Lesser The Greater are these 1. Posnania 2. Sendomir 3. Calissia 4. Voynicz 5. Gnesna 6. Sirad 7. Lenschet 8. Samogitia 9. Brestie 10. Kiovia 11. Inouladislow 12. Leopol 13. Volhinia 14. Camieniecz 15. Smolensko 16. Lublin 17. Belze 18. Novogrod 19. Ploco 20. Witepz 21. Czetne 22. Podlachia 23. Rava 24. Brzescia 25. Culmo 26. Mscilow 27. Elbing 28. Breslow 29. Dantzic 30. Mirisco 31. Czernichow The Lesser Castellanes are 1. Sandecia 2. Medirec 3. Wislick 4. Biecie 5. Rogosnow 6. Radan 7. Zawichost 8. Lenden 9. Srim 10. Tarnow 11. Malagost 12. Vielun 13. Praemissia 14. Halicie 15. Senoc 16. Chelmo 17. Dobrzin 18. Polaniecz 19. Premetenski 20. Krivin 21. Czechow 22. Nackle 23. Rospir 24. Biechow 25. Bidgost 26. Briesin 27. Kruswic 28. Oswiecz 29. Camienecz 30. Spicimiria 31. Inoulad 32. Kowale 33. Santoc 34. Sochaczow 35. Warsow 36. Gostinin 37. Visna 38. Raciecz 39. Sierpz 40. Wysogrogende 41. Ripin 42. Zacochim 43. Ciechanon 44. Live 45. Slonsco 46. Lubaczow 47. Konar in Sirad 48. Konar in Lenschot 49. Konar in Cujavia These are called the Lesser as being more lately admitted into the Senate To greater Castellanes they give the title of Wielmozni or Magnifici to the Lesser that of Vrodzeni or Generosi but by private persons all Castellanes are called Jasnie Wielmozni or Illustrissimi It is established by Law that none may be either Palatine or Castellane in that Province in which he hath no lands The lowest in degree among the Senators are the Officers of the Kingdom and Great Dukedom of Lithvania in the following order 1. The supreme Marshal of the Kingdom 2. The Marshal of the Great Dukedom of Lithvania 3. The high Chancellor of the Kingdom 4. The Chancellor of Lithvania 5. The Pro-Chancellor of the Kingdom 6. The Pro-Chancellor of Lithvania 7. The Treasurer of the Kingdom 8. The Treasurer of Lithvania 9. The Marshal of the Court for the Kingdom 10. The Marshal of the Court of the Great Duke of Lithvania The office of the supreme Marshal is to call the Senate upon command of the King or Interrex to command silence and give leave of speaking therein to promulgate their acts to the people and to pronounce and put in execution the Kings decrees in all causes of infamy and death He prepares the place of the Diets and hath the chief management of matters in those Assemblies receives foreign Princes and Ambassadors at their arrival providing them with lodgings performs also most of the functions belonging to the Lord Steward of the Kings Houshold In the publick assemblies or when he goes before the King he carries a staff upright While the King resides in Lithvania the Marshal of Lithvania has the same power there The Chancellors are both secular persons and the office of Chancellor and Pro-Chancellor is the same only the Chancellor keeps the great and the Pro-Chancellor the lesser Seal In short these two are the mouth and hands of the King in the dispatch of all business The Treasurers are the Stewards of the publick Treasury and masters of the Mint When the King bestows this office upon any one four Senators are appointed to deliver the Treasury to him by an inventory of which there are three copies one with the King another with the Treasurer and the third they keep themselves This by the way take notice of in reference to all the Senators that none of them are permitted to stir out of the Kingdom without particular licence of the Grand Estates and upon some pressing occasion The rest of the Officers about the Court which are not of the Senatorian Order as the Principal Secretary Master of Requests Captain General c. I spare to mention being much-what the same as in other Nations only it is to be observed that there are two of every sort one for the Kingdom of Poland the other for the Great Dukedom of Lithvania The Masters of Requests are always present when the King sits to determine controversies and differences among his Subjects at which time it is their duty to lay open the nature and grounds of the controversie to the King They stand fair upon a vacancy to be admitted Senators The Magistrates for the several Districts are of two sorts that is Land or Camp-Magistrates The Land Magistrates are 1. The Vice-Chamberlain or Judg of bounds and limits 2. The Standard-bearer 3. The Land-Judg 4. The Tribune 5. The Land-Register 6. The Keeper of the Treasury Besides some other inferior Officers The Camp or Military Officers are 1. The Captain with Jurisdiction who is Governor of some Town or Castle 2. The Captain without Jurisdiction 3. The Burggrave who is Governor of some Castle and takes care of the out-guards 4. The Vice-Captain 5. The Judg-Advocate 6. The Field-Register The Councils Councils or Parliaments of Poland are of two sorts 1. Civil to which the Counsellors come in their Gowns 2. Military to which they come in Military habit The latter are only held in the time of an Interregnum The former are frequently called and are 1. Ordinary which by the Laws are summon'd once in two years 2. Extraordinary which are assembled as the necessity of affairs requires When either Ordinary or Extraordinary Councils are to be convened the King by his Letters summons
the lesser Councils or Conventions in the several Palatinates larger Provinces and certain Districts These Conventions precede the general Assemblies of the Kingdom six weeks unless upon some extraordinary accident and are held in the proper Cities of the Palatinates and Provinces appointed for that purpose Here after they have chosen a Marshal who seems to be much like our Speaker as being the Director of the Convention they first consider of such things as are propounded to them by the Kings Deputies dispatched away to every Convention and of what other business is to be motioned at the General Session After that they choose the Land Deputies or provincial Delegates for the general Assembly Every Province sends so many almost in the same manner as our Shires save only that they are not chosen by the people till the whole number amount to about 300. These Deputies are generally elected out of such Magistrates as are not of the Senatorian order excluding all Judges and their Assistants Collectors and all Officers of the Exchequer unless they have exact and full acquittances from the Treasurer The Delegates like our Burgesses have a certain allowance from their respective Provinces during the sitting of the general Assembly The particular Conventions being broken up which by the Law are not to sit above four days three weeks before the Senators and Delegates repair to the Grand Session they meet at the general Committees for the several Provinces where they again read over the Kings commands the instructions given to the Delegates and what was thought needful to be propounded for the publick good The grand Assembly being met the Deputies repair to their Chamber and choose their Marshal or Director which done they are all conducted to kiss the Kings hand and after that ceremony perform'd the Chancellours of the Kingdom and Dukedome in order declare to them the substance of those affairs which are to be the subject of their Debates Before they depart they put the King in mind of supplying such employments as are vacant with deserving persons and desire an account of such Laws or Ordinances as have been made by the resident Senators since the sitting of the last grand Convention Having so done they return to their Chamber The power of these Nuncii or Deputies is very great for when they send any of their number to the King they are presently admitted let the King be never so busy and have an immediate dispatch If they clash in their debates the King is careful to send some of the Senators to reconcile them who then give them the Title of Mosci Panovoie Bracia or Gracious Lords Brothers They have also power to impeach any great Officer of Misdemeanours and to put the King himself in mind of his promises touching the Laws and priviledges of the Kingdom neither is any constitution valid that has not its Original from the Chamber of the Deputies And which is yet more if any one of the whole number of the Nuncii dissent nothing can be legally concluded So that upon the protestation and departure of one Deputy the whole Convention is ipso facto dissolv'd Whilst the Deputies are thus consulting the King and Senators have little to do but to hear certain criminal causes appointed before hand for the first week and some other civil controversies the second till the return of the Deputies embodies the whole Senate together Then every man has liberty to deliver his mind with the leave and direction of the Marshal The King suspends his own opinion till the Senators and Deputies or the major part of them agree Then he endeavours to reconcile their different votes or if he cannot prevail concurs with that party which has voted most conformably to the Laws and priviledges of the Realm These consultations by the Law ought not to be continued above fifteen days after the joyning of both Houses though sometimes urgency of affairs causes farther prolongation When the Session breaks up the Deputies returning home give notice of their return to the Captains with Jurisdiction and the Palatines or Vice-Palatines give the same notice of the return to the Deputies to the Nobility inviting them withal to the Post-Comitial Assemblies or Conventions of Relation the meeting whereof the King appoints In these Conventions the Deputies produce the constitutions made in the last general Assembly of Estates delivered to them under seal by the Chancellours and take care that they be fairly transcribed into the Land and military Registers not omitting after this to give a full account of what they have acted in discharge of their Trusts If the grand Session break up in confusion not having effected any thing to purpose then certain Post-Comitial Councils are called wherein the King prefixes a time for another grand Session Nor is it a wonder that much disturbance should rise in the General Assemblies considering the multitude of the Deputies and the liberty of each member for which reason Cardinal Johannes Franciscus Commendonus facetiously said That Morbus Comitialis was the Epidemical distemper of Poland Now that the King may not want a Council in the interval of general Conventions they before they break up appoint 24 Senators 8 Palatines 8 Major and as many Minor Castellanes and four Bishops to wait quarterly four at a time one Bishop and three Senators till other 28 are chosen And these are bound so close to their duty that they accompany the King to the Wars for which they have a Stipend allowed and payed out of the Treasury The Courts of Judicature in respect of their division are the same as in other countreys 〈…〉 that is either Ecclesiastic or Secular either for civil or criminal causes but in respect of the Judges and manner of proceeding therein not easily to be understood without a particular survey The Nobles have a Court peculiar to themselves called the Court of Land-judicature wherein all actions relating to estates in Land are tryed Where also the Captains and by their permission the Kings Tenants may sue the Nobles themselves for wast done upon the Lands belonging to the Kings table To this Court likewise belong all actions of debt upon Contract The Judges of this Court are a chief Judg a Judg and a Secondary Upon the death of any of these the Nobility propose four landed men whom they recommend to the King who chuses one out of them into the dead place All the Judges are bound to be resident at the Session of the Court which is twice thrice and sometimes four times a year The next remarkable Court is that of the several Captains jurisdiction called Sudy Grodskie or Courtmilitary The chief Judg of this Court is a Captain he sits alone takes cognisance of Rapes Burglary Setting Houses on fire Robberies upon the High-way c. Noblemen not Landed are here also tryed and forreign Merchants coming to Faires He has also power without any noise of Law to condemn and punish idle Vagabonds Thieves Proscribed persons
generis quam Meritis in Patriam Honoratiss o Viro D. o NICOLAO VON BODECK Consuli et Primario Iudici in celeberrion totius Maris Baltici Emporio Vrbe Gedanensi artium literarumque â—autori benevolentiss o D. D. D. Ioannes Ianssonius MASOVIA Masovia called by the Polanders Mazowsze by the Germans Die Masaw lies in the very middle of Poland bounded on the north with Prussia on the east with Lithuania and Polessia on the west with some part of the lesser Poland on the south with the Palatinate of Rava 'T is usually divided into these four parts The Palatinates of Podlachia Plockzo Masovia strictly so called and the territories of Dobrin which last ought rather to be reckoned a part of the Palatinate of Plockzo There are different conjectures touching the original of its name The most commonly received is That upon the death of Mieceslaus the second the Nobility of Poland not enduring the impotent and effeminate government of his surviving Queen Rixo layd hands upon what every man could catch Among these Masos or as others call him Maslaus formerly Cup-bearer to the deceased King siezed upon that large tract of land which he after his own name called Masovia This Masos was afterwards overcome by Casimir the first by whom he was taken and put to death By this means it was again restor'd to the Crown of Poland though it still retained the name of Masovia But Stanislaus Serictius rejecting in part this story derives more probably the Massovii from the Massagetes I know saith he what our Historians have written touching the original of the Massovians But it seems incredible to me that so famous and couragious a people should stoop to borrow their denomination from so mean a person In the year 1220 Lescus the white in the Parliament of Sandomir granted the Dukedomes of Masovia Cujavia and Dobrinia to his brother Conrade from which time it was governed by Dukes of its own doing homage however to the Kings of Poland till the the year 1495 but then the race of the Dukes of Masovia began to fail For that year John Duke of Masovia dyed a Batchelour upon which John Albert reunited Plockzo to the Crown leaving the rest of Masovia to his brother Conrade Which after his decease in the year 1503 was granted to his children upon condition that for default of male issue it should return to the Crown which was effected in the reign of Sigismund the first In the same manner the Palatinate of Podlachia formerly belonging to Masovia and joyned by Casimir Jagellon to Lithuania return'd to the Kingdom of Poland in the year 1567. There are no peculiar Bishops in Masovia but the whole Province is divided under the jurisdiction of Posnan Plockzo and Luceoria The Metropolis of Masovia is Warsaw by the Polanders called Warfrawa seated in the very centre of the Polish dominions upon the Vistula encompassed with a double wall and deep ditch distant 40 German or 160 English miles from Posen and Cracow Here the King of Poland keeps his Court in a large four squared Palace built by Sigismund the third but much beautifyed by his successours Over against this on the other side of the river which is passable by a stately wooden bridge sits the great Parliament of Poland in another of the Kings Palaces called Viasdow seated in the midst of many and delicate Groves and Gardens In the City are publique buildings of good note the most remarkable of which is St. John Baptists Church where divine service is performed by secular Canons Not far from Viasdow in the suburbs called Cracow stands as a trophie of the victory obtained by the Poles over the Moscovite a small Chappel built by the Kings command for the burial of Demetrius Suiscius great Duke of Moscovie who dyed a captive in the Castle of Gostenin The Nobility of Masovia which are more numerous then in any other part of Poland being reckoned to amount to near forty thousand whereof fifteen thousand appear'd in a body at the Coronation of Sigismund the third are all Roman-Catholicks never suffering any of other religions or opinions to reside among them Out of these are sent yearly to the general Assembly of the Estates one Palatine and six Castellanes The Palatinate of Plockzo lyes eastward from Masovia between the Vistula and Prussia Plockzo 'T is divided into the territories of Plockzo Zavera Mlava and Srensco and sends out to the great Parliament four Senators that is The Bishop The Palatine and Castellanes of Plockzo Radzyagas and Sieprez It has its name from Plockzo its chief City seated on a high bank of the Vistula whence you have a fair prospect of a pleasant and fruitful Countrey The City is an Episcopal See and very populous There are in it several religious houses and Churches besides the Cathedral very well endowed especially the Abby of Benedictines in the suburbs where among other reliques is kept the head of St. Sigismund to whom the Church is dedicated enchased in gold given by Sigismund the third The territory of Dobrizin is properly a part of the Palatinate of Plockzo though Mr. Blaeu Dobrzin and some others have made it a distinct part of Masovia It has its name from the City Dobrzin situate between Cujavia and Plockzo on a rock near the banks of the Vistula The houses in it are generally of wood and the whole City is environed with wooden fortifications The Countrey affords great store of fruit and fish PRVSSIA Whence Prussia or Borussia called by the Germans Preussen should fetch its name Prussia is not easily determined Certain it is That it is not to be met with amongst antient authors Cluverius thinks Helmoldus who flourished in the twelfth Century is the oldest writer that gives any account of the Countrey under this name But both Dithmarus who lived in the beginning of the eleventh Century in the days of the Emperour Henry the second and before him an Anonymous writer of the life of St. Adalbert the Apostle of the Prussians about the year 990 mentions it Marianus Scotus will have the word derided from Aprutis a City saith he in these parts where St. Adalbert suffered martyrdome in the year 995. But this conjecture is vain and precarious for where any City of this name formerly stood or its ruins can at this day be found only he himself can tell us Johannes Annius Viterbiensis tells us the Prussians were at first called Pruti and that from one Prutus a Scythian King grandchild to Noah That this nation is an offspring of the antient Scythians is indeed allowable but to the rest of the story we can say no more then That 't is well known how nimble this author and his feign'd Berosus are at counterfeiting of names in the Etymologies of Countries Others of the same authority with Viterbiensis bring the Prussians out of Asia under the command of Prussia a King of Bithynia Some will have the word Prussi or Prutheni corrupted
finished Herman de Salza Master of the Teutonic Order gave Laws and Constitutions Die Kulmsche Handveste for its government a specimen of which antient Canons is given by Lambecius out of an old Dutch Manuscript in the Emperor's Library at Vienna The City at present looks old and ruinous but is still a Bishop's Sec. The Lutherans were permitted the exercise of their religion in private houses by a publick edict signed and published in this City by John Malachowski Bishop of the Diocess the thirteenth of March 1678. 4. Thoorn built at the same time with Culm by the Knights of the Teutonic Order for a post against the Heathen Prussians but not in the place where it now stands Old Thoorn was seated a mile West-ward from the new where to this day are found the ruins of an old Castle and City By whom and when new Thoorn was first founded is not easily determined for when in the year 1454 this part of Prussia delivered it self up into the hands of the King of Poland the old and new Thoorn joyned interests and made up one entire Corporation betwixt them Whence it hapned that the records of the new City were neglected and lost Thoorn seems to have had its name from the German word Thor a gate because built by the Teutonic Order as a gate to let in such forces into Prussia as they should have occasion for Hence the arms of Thoorn are a Castle and Gate half open At present this City is the neatest and best built in Regal Prussia The streets are much broader and the houses statelier then at Dantzig It owes much of its beauty to Henry Stroband Burgo-master of the Town who died in the year 1609. He built the Gymnasium here and endowed it with a considerable revenue for the maintenance of several Lecturers and poor scholars He founded also the Hospital and public Library and built a-new the Town-hall which were it not of late out-done by the Stadthuis at Amsterdam might be reckoned the stateliest in Europe of its kind The rest of this Country comprchended under the general name of Ducal Prussia is subject to the Elector of Brandenburgh and therefore as a part of the Empire shall be treated of in the description of Germany The Great Dukedom of Lithvania WHence this large and noble Country should have its name is utterly unknown Lithvania 'T is ridiculous to bring the word from the Latine Lituus a hunting-horn because forsooth the inhabitants are much addicted to hunting Erasmus Stella an Historian of good credit tells us some Prussians under the command of Litwo one of their Kings sons came into these parts about the year 573 and called the land after their Captains name Litwania or Litvania The Polish Historians agree generally in this story That Palaemon flying the fury of Attyla left Rome and came with several Italians into this Country who gave it the name of La Italia which was afterwards corrupted into Lithvania The Lithvanians themselves glory in this derivation of the name of their Country and prove this story of Palaemon true by the Roman names of their Nobles Vrsin Column Julian c. But this etymology seems too far fetch'd Stella aims fairest tho he miss the mark a little For 't is certain the Prussians did conquer this land and seat themselves in it tho the additional story of Prince Litwo seems feign'd More likely it is that the Prussians not satisfied with their change call'd the Country Lithvania from Litwo which in the ancient Prussian language signifies a vagabond or wanderer The ancient inhabitants are thought to have been the Alani Antient inhabitants since the Lithvanians do still retain some footsteps of the name of these people in their Lithalani and Roxalani But he that shall compare the account which Ammianus Marcellinus gives of the manners of the ancient Alani with what the best Authors say of the old Lithvanians will easily perceive that they are not both one Nation Their language sufficiently proves them to be of the same original with the Prussians and what that is we told you before About the year 1235 Ringeld son of Gimbut Alteration of Government of the posterity of Palaemon is said to have first taken upon him the title of Great Duke of Lithvania In the year 1319 Gedimin who first built Vilna refused to pay homage to the Russian and entring Novogrod with an army took Volodimir and made all Volhinia swear fealty to the Magistracy of Lithvania How large the Dukedom is may appear from the vast territories he left to each of his seven sons at his death To Montvid he gave Kiernova and Slomin To Narimund Pinsko Mozyr and part of the Province of Volodimir To Olgierd Creve and the Country beyond as far as Beresine To Kieystut Samogitia and the territories of Troce Lida Vpide and Subsylvania To Coriat Novogrod and Volkowiski To Lubart Volodomir and Volhinia To his youngest son Javnut Vilna Osmia and Braslaw designing him for Great Duke But soon after when the Tartars begun to infest Volhinia and Kiow Javnut was deposed and his brother Olgierd made Great Duke in his place He in the year 1331 falls upon the Tartars and in a short time makes himself Master of Podolia which they had kept for some years About the same time Demetrius Duke of Moscovy sent an Ambassador into Lithuania to demand a restitution of all those Provinces which formerly belong'd to the Dukedom of Russia The Great Duke immediately upon his arrival commits him to close custody and marching forthwith in the head of his army towards Moscovy surprised the Duke in his Palace and forced him to accept of a peace upon this condition That for the future the bounds of Lithuania should reach as far as Mosco and the river Vgra When Vladislaus Jagello was chosen King of Poland in the year 1386 he promised that from thence forward the Great Dukedom of Lithuania should be annexed to that Crown At the same time the Lithvanian and Russian Nobility took an oath of allegiance to the King and Queen of Poland which was repeated in the years 1401 and 1414. But this obligation they afterwards shook off For when the Polanders desired to joyn Volhinia Podolia and some other Provinces of Russia to their own Kingdom the Lithuanians loath to part with so fair possessions opposed them with that vehemence That for several years there was nothing but continuall skirmishes between the two Nations At last in the year 1566 differences begun to be composed which were finally determined A. D. 1569 by articles drawn up and subscribed to by both parties in the presence of several Ambassadors of other Nations The principle Articles agreed upon were these That the Lithuanians should for the future disclaim all right and title to the Provinces of Podlachia and Volhinia and the Palatinate of Kiow That they should never by themselves elect a Great Duke but upon a vacancy repair to the place whither they
and Charles IX whom the Swedes had set up King in his place These Gustavus Adolphus continued and in them overrun almost all Liefland till in the year 1629 a truce was made for six years upon these terms That in the mean time the King of Sweden should enjoy all he had won This truce was again renewed for 26 years more A.D. 1635. by the mediation of Ambassadours from the Kings of England and France and the States of the Vnited Provinces In the year 1654 whilst a great part of Lithvania was laid wast by the Moscovite Charles Gustavus King of Sweden before the 26 years were expir'd proclaimed war against the King of Poland alledging among other things as a reason for his proceedings That the Polish Ambassadour at Stockholm had protested against his succession to the Crown of Sweden At the beginning the fortune of the war went much on his side but within a short while the Danes making incursions into Sweden forced him to quit Poland and be more concern'd to defend what he had at home then to seek for new conquests abroad However the war still continued till A.D. 1660. when upon the death of Charles Gustavus peace was established between the two Kingdoms at Oliva a Monastery near Dantzic of which these are some of the Articles That John Casimir King of Poland should for ever renounce all pretensions to the Kingdom of Sweden and Principality of Finland That he should only challenge the title of King of Sweden for his life but not make use of it in any of his letters to the Swedish King That he should deliver up to the Swedes all that part of Liefland which lyes beyond the river Duna and disclaim all right and title to Esten and Oesel and whatever on this side the Duna was in the hands of the Swedes during the truce That the King of Poland should still keep the southern Liefland in which are reckoned Duneburg Rositen Luzen Marienhusen c. This country was long subject to Paganism and Idolatry until about the year 1158 it begun to be frequented by Merchants from Lubeck who got leave of the inhabitants to build a small Chappel in an Island upon the Duna thence called Kircholm for the exercise of Christian worship Afterwards Menard a Monk of Segeberg was consecrated Bishop of Liefland by the Archbishop of Bremen and sent over by the Merchants to propagate Christianity in these parts His seat was at Vxkel a small village upon the Duna not far from Riga Bertholdus a Monk of Bremen of the order of St. Paul succeeded him in his Bishoprick He was the first founder of Riga whither he removed his See but lived not long to enjoy it there For endeavouring to promote Christianity more by the sword then spirit he was overcome and slain by the Pagans Albertus Bertholdus's immediate successour fortifyed Riga and made it a City That done he joyned himself to the order of the sword bearers an order of Knighthood confirmed by Pope Innocent the third about the year 1204 hoping thereby to be better able then his predecessor had been to oppose the rage of the Heathen Not long after when this order was changed into the Teutonic order the Bishop of Riga and the rest of his society subjected themselves to the Teutonic Order of Prussia The master of which had power given him to appoint a Provincial of Liefland On the other hand the Prussian Bishops of Culm Pomesen and Sambland did though not at the same time as some would have it advance the power of the Bishop of Riga making him an Archbishop and themselves his Suffragans Only the Bishop of Warme as having never been subject to the Teutonic Order would not yield to be reckoned a member of the Province of Riga In this state the Church of Liefland continued for a long time till in the year 1513 William Plettenberg the XLI Provincial of Liefland bought off all homage to the Teutonic Order in Prussia and was himself made absolute Prince of Liefland His successors lived and injoyed their dominions in peace till the days of Sigismund Augustus King of Poland but afterwards what with foreign and domestic wars and the continual incursions of the Moscovite Polander Swede and Dane the Country was brought to be a meer medly of men and religions At this day those parts that are subject to the Danes and Swedes do generally profess the Lutheran religion Most of the subjects of the King of Poland adhere to the Church of Rome though some are Lutherans In some parts of Esten the poor ignorant Rusticks are half Pagans Liefland was formerly divided into two parts only Letten and Esten to which the order of the sword bearers added Curland Some have divided the whole Country into six parts Curland Semigal Esten Letten Harland and Virland but Semigal is no more then a Province of Curland and Harland and Virland parts of Esten Of these Curland is immediately subject to its own Duke who nevertheless pays homage to the King of Poland Some parts also of Letten which go under the name of South Liefland are since the treaty at Oliva in that Kings possession The Curoni antient inhabitants of Curland and Semigal are thought by some to be the same with the Caryones mentioned by Ptolomey There is not far from Windaw a small village which still bears their memory in its name being by the inhabitants to this day called Curon The most notable places in it are 1. Mitaw the seat of the Dukes of Curland upon the bank of the river Mauss taken by Gustavus Adolphus in the year 1621 but restored A.D. 1629. The Town is but mean and inconsiderable but the Castle magnificently rebuilt by some of the late Dukes 2. Windaw or Winden as the Germans write it though the inhabitants call it Kies seated on the mouth of the river Windaw whence it has its name Here formerly was the residence of the Provincials of Liefland afterwards the general Parliament or great Council of Curland had their sessions in this City which made it exceeding populous At this day there is little appearance of its antient splendor nor is it frequented by any but a few Dutch Merchants who are here laden with Tar Pitch and Wax 'T is a mistake very ordinary among the historians that write of this Country to confound this City with Wenden in Letten telling us that this too is called by the Polanders Kies And the old Dutch sea-carts mention a kind of Castle with three towers upon the mouth of the Windaw but never take notice of of any sea-port-Town in this place 3. Pilten or Piltyn the seat of the Bishop of Curland built by Waldemar King of Denmark A.D. 1219. The southern or Polish Liefland contains only a few small Towns or villages among which there is nothing worth taking notice of but Duneburg a Castle as its name intimates seated on the river Duna Volhinia Podolia c. THough the Polish dominion reached formerly a considerable
of Lechus the first Others think it the same with Ptolomey's Carodunum corrupted into Cracow This City as 't is the largest so it is the best built of any one in Poland Cromer sets it in competition with the best built Cities of Germany or Italy but we must allow him to stretch a little more then ordinary in commendation of his own Country The houses are for the most part of free-stone and four or five stories high but covered with boards instead of slat There are in it a considerable company of Italian and German Merchants who bring in such foreign wares as the Country stands in need of It consists like London and Paris of three parts 1. Cracow properly so called or the antient City 2. Cazimiria joyned to the rest by a wooden bridge cross the Vistula 3. Stradomia which lyes between Cracow and the bridge The King's Palace is seated on the top of an high hill whence it overlooks both City and Country 'T was rebuilt in the magnificent posture it now stands by Sigismund the Elder who added the gallery on the north side from whence you have one of the best prospects in Europe The University of Cracow was first begun by Casimir the Great finished by Vladislaus Jagello in performance of the last will and testament of his Queen Hedwig and had its priviledges confirmed to it by Pope Vrban In the year 1549 the scholars of Cracow by a general consent left the University upon an affront put on them by the Magistrates of the City who refused to execute justice upon the servants of Andrew Czarnkowski when in a quarrel they had slain a great number of students and dispersed themselves into several parts of Germany whence returning Lutherans they spread the reform'd opinions all Poland over and got great numbers of proselytes Upon the first planting of Christianity in this Kingdom Miecislaus the first who begun his reign in the year 964 Cracow was made an Archbishoprick But within a hundred years after Lampert Zula refusing to receive his Pall from the Pope of Rome as his predecessors had done before him it degenerated into a Bishoprick Afterwards in the reign of Boleslaus the chast which begun A.D. 1226 a contest arising between Jvo Bishop of this Diocess and the Bishop of Vratislaw about precedency the Bishop of Cracow upon his submissive appeal to the See of Rome was again restored to the dignity of an Archbishop which only lasted during his life At this day the Bishops of Cracow wear an Archbishop's Pall set richly with jewels which is the only relique they have of their antient honour The next Palatinate of the Lesser Poland Sendomir is that of Sendomir The City is seated on the bank of the Vistula and fortifyed with walls and a Castle both built by Casimir the Great who afterwards dyed of a surfet by eating too freely of the fruits of this Country which are reckoned the fairest and best in Poland Here is nothing else worth the taking notice of save the Monastery of Dominican Friars founded by Jvo Archbishop of Cracow The Palatinate of Lublin was taken out of that of Sendomir as being too big for the jurisdiction of one Palatine by Casimir Jagellonides Lublin The City is not very large but well built and much frequented especially in the Fairs kept three times a year by Christian Jewish and Turkish Merchants 'T is much better fortifved by the marshes which environ it then its walls and more beholden to nature for its defence then either Casimir the Great who walled it round or the Russians who built the adjoyning Castle The great Church in it was built by Lescus the black upon a great conquest obtain'd against the Lithvanians near this City and dedicated to St. Michael who in a vision the night before the battel had promised him good success St. Bridgets Monastery among many other magnificent ones was founded by Vladislaus Jagello One of the two chief Courts of Judicature from which no appeal lies save to the Parliament of Poland is kept at Lublin Hither for judgment in controversies of any great moment repair the Palatinates of Cracow Sendomir Russia Podolia Lublin Belze Podlassia Volhinia Braclaw Kiow and Czernichow or at least so many of them as are still subject to the Crown of Poland Of other Countries and Provinces to which the Kings of Poland have formerly pretended a title by conquest contract or otherwise BEsides the places mentioned and at present subject to the Crown of Poland the Kings of that Nation have from time to time lay'd claim to many and large Territories now in the hands of other Princes Omitting Bohemia Moravia Wagria Misnia and the Dukedomes of Rugen Mecklenburg and Lunenburg which whatever some of the Polish writers assert and endeavour to make good were very little or not at all subject to Boleslaus Chrobri who was the only King that ever could plausibly pretend a title to any part of them we shall confine our discourse to those Countries to which the Polonian Princes may seem to have had a more just and legal title That all or most of Silesia was part of the Dukedome of Poland Silesia in the days of Lechus the first and several of his successours is highly probable from the writings of Adam Bremensis and Helmoldus who both of them make the river Oder the bounds of Poland Besides the German Chronologers tell us that Charles the Great Ludovicus Pius and other Emperors conquer'd the Silesians and made them tributary to the Empire But the Polish Historians upon what grounds I know not are generally positive in asserting That Silesia was always without any such intermission or conquest as the Germans strive to make out a part of the Polish dominions Only Vincentius Kadlubko agrees with the Germans affirming That Boleslaus Chrobri amongst his many other conquests regain'd Selucia as he calls it and left it annexed to the Crown of Poland After his time we find that Casimir the first translated the Bishoprick of Bicine to Vratislaw whence 't is manifest that in his days Silesia was part of the Realm of Poland Not long after Henry the IV Emperour of Germany in the Diet at Munster A.D. 1086 made over Silesia Lusatia and indeed all Poland to Vratislaus King of Bohemia though as Cromer says he had no right to a foot of land in any of them Whereupon ensued a bloody war betwixt the Bohemians and Poles wherein it is to be conjectured the latter had the better since all Historians agree that Silesia was under the King of Polands goverment during the whole reign of Boleslaus the third His son Vladislaus the second being deposed by his brethren who were left Co-heirs with him in the Kingdom fled first to the Emperor Frederick the first who brought Boleslaus Crispus Duke of Poland and brother to Vladislaus to such straits that he was forced to resign all Silesia into the hands of his brother's children but upon condition they should
still pay homage to the Princes of Poland From that time the Polanders begun to sleight and hate the Silesians seldom calling any of the Silesian Nobility to Councils of Parliament and balking the right succession if any of this Province had a just title to the Crown These jealousies and quarrels were fomented and increased by John King of Bohemia son to the Emperor Henry the seventh who by this means whedled the Dukes of Silesia into his yoke and afterwards forced Casimir the Great to resign the supreme government of that Province into his hands After this the Poles though they had frequent skirmishes with the Bohemians yet never regain'd any considerable footing in Silesia For excepting the small territory of Wschovia retaken by Casimir the Great A.D. 1343 and some other parcels of ground annexed to the estates of several Bishopricks and Abbeys in Poland Silesia is at present wholly subject to the King of Bohemia Lusatia was once conquer'd by Boleslaus Chrobri but soon after lost again Lusâ—â—â—â— For though when John King of Bohemia subdued Silesia Lusatia was reckoned a part of that Country and has ever since so continued yet the Polanders claim'd no more of it as Lords of Silesia then a few frontier Towns the rest was under the Marquesses of Misnia and Lusatia Princes of the Empire as Goldastus proves 'T is without all authority of Annals what some of the Polish writers have endeavoured to make out by Etymologies Neâ— Maâ—â—â— that the greatest part of the Marquisate of Brandenburgh was formerly subject to the Princes of Poland That New Marck indeed or at least a good share of it was theirs is beyond all controversy since as the best Historians witness Miecislaus or Miscio the first Christian Duke of Poland towards the latter end of the tenth Century first founded the Bishoprick of Lubuss This City was taken from the Polanders by the Emperour Henry the second but recovered by Boleslaus the first King of Poland His successours kept it till the year 1109 when it was again taken by the Emperour Henry V who gave it to Adelgot Archbishop of Magdeburg But soon after it return'd into the hands of the Poles When Silesia was as we have said divided among the sons of Vladislaus the second the territories of Lubuss devolved into the hands of the Silesian Dukes whence it happened within a short while after to be made a part of the Marquisate of Brandenburgh Cromer says 't was mortgaged by Boleslaus the bald and never redeemed But Dlugossus ad ann 1198. tells us 't was sold by Boleslaus son to Henry Duke of Vratislavia From that time the Kings of Poland have had very little to do in New Marck and at present have not one foot of land in it Vladislaus Jagello brought it wholly under his power but his son found it too hot service for him to keep it and was therefore fain to resign it up to the Marquess John Casimir their late King parted with the last stake by delivering up the Town and Castle of Drahim to the present Elector of Brandenburgh in the treaty at Bydgost in the year 1657. That the Slavonians were antient inhabitants of Pomeren is undeniably true Pom … Pomorska in the Slavonian language signifies near the sea whence Vincentius Kadlubko an antient and judicious Polish writer uses frequently the word Maritima for Pomeren and speaking of this Country these phrases are ordinary with him Maritimae Praeses Maritimae Dux Ingressus est Maritimam c. But whether or no the Polanders were masters of Pomeren immediately upon the entrance of the Slavoniaus is a grand question which the Poles affirm but the Pomeranians deny and 't is hard to decide the controversy between them Helmoldus agreeing as it should seem with the latter places Pomeren amongst the free Slavonian Provinces lying without the bounds of the Polish dominions And before his days Adam Bremensis gives us the same account Micraelius an Historian of good credit lib. 2. Chron. Pomer num 46. p. 191. is of opinion that the first entrance which the Polanders made upon Pomeren was in the tenth Century when the Emperor Otto III. authorized Boleslaus Chrobri King of Poland to make war upon and bring into his subjection the Prussians Pomeranians Wendi and Russians Which done the Emperor at a visit given King Boleslaus made the Bishop of Colberg a Suffragan to the Archbishop of Gnesna In the beginning of the eleventh Century Miecislaus II. spread his dominions all over Casubia and the Eastern Pomeren putting Garrisons into all the Forts and Castles between the Persandt and the Vistula and committed the government of them to Bela the King of Hungary's brother But upon Bela's return into Hungary Pomeren shook off the Polish yoke and only was subject to Dukes of its own till Svantibor surrendred it again to Boleslaus III. Duke of Poland upon condition he would free him from prison to which his own subjects had committed him After Svantibors death the Dukedom of Pomeren was divided amongst his four sons whereof two who were Dukes of the Western Pomeren from Colberg as far as the Marck and the Dukedom of Mecklenburgh were admitted Princes of the Empire by Frederick Barbarossa the other two were forced to yeild themselves subjects to the Crown of Poland But the Pomeranians soon weary of bondage revolted once more from the King of Poland and perhaps had for ever rejected his government had not Mestwin their Duke wanting issue endeavour'd to subject them to the Dukes of West Pomeren For looking upon the people of that Country as meer strangers being indeed three parts of them Germans they chose rather to give themselves up into the hands of their acquaintance then to be slaves to an upstart and foreign Nation Whereupon they unanimously swore fealty to Praemislaus II. King of Poland who took upon him the title of Duke of Pomeren and quarter'd his Coat with the Arms of Pomeren the Gryphins By this means the Kings of Poland became sole Lords of the Eastern Pomeren In the year 1460 Casimir Jagellonides straitned in the wars he was engaged in against the Teutonick Order in Prussia committed the Cities and Castles of Lavenburgh and Bouta to the trust of Eric II. Duke of West Pomeren whose successor George son of Bugislaus X. and Nephew to Sigismund I. King of Poland had these Cities confirmed to him and his posterity upon condition of paying some sleight acknowledgment to the Crown of Poland Upon these terms the present Elector of Brandenburgh renewed his title to these places after the usual fashion by his Ambassador in the year 1670. What right the Polanders have at this day in Prussia we have shew'd before but formerly their pretensions were much greater then now Sometimes the Duke of Masovia Lorded it over the Prussians and made the Master of the Teutonick Order his Vicegerent But in the treaty made between Sigismund I. King of Poland and Albert Marquess of Brandenburgh whom the
desist from their worship at that time but if it seem lighter then ordinary they then think him well pleased and so proceed in their ceremonies They bind their sacrifice which is always a male Deer before their stone Idol and after having run a thred thro his right ear kill him and reserve the hearts-blood in a bason this done the Priest takes the horns and bones of the head and neck with the shanks and hoofs of the Rain-Deer and carries them to the consecrated mountain where their God dwells at the first approach he uncovers his head bows or prostrates his body and pays all ceremonies of honour and respect then he anoints the stone with the blood and fat of the sacrificed beast and places the horns behind it to the right horn he tyes the Rain-Deer's yard and to the left some red thred wrought upon tin with a little piece of silver All the flesh that remains the Votaries take a way with them and depart with a mighty deal of satisfaction This is the ordinary way of sacrificing to Storjunkare tho in some places of the country the ceremonies alter a little but not much The last of the principal Idols is the Sun whom they call Baiwe common to them with all other Heathens worship'd especially for his light and heat both extreamly grateful to these poor people They fancy all things especially their Rain-Deer to be made by this God and that he is an universal principal of being They sacrifice to him in the same manner as to Storjunkare only the string which they run thro the beasts ear is white the Victim a Rain-Doe and there are neither tables images nor horns erected as in those ceremonies Nor is their Idolatry more notorious then their Witchcraft it being generally believ'd by all that have heard the name of Laplanders that they are strangely addicted to Magick and all arts of Sorcery The ancient Biarmi are said to have been so skilful at the trade that by only speaking to they could ensnare and bewitch one another and by their very looks not only stare men out of countenance but their reason too nor are the Laplanders at present much degenerated from them but rather seem to have attain'd to greater proficiency in it They have professors of this black Art not inferior to Zoroaster himself from whom some say they receiv'd their knowledge Masters also and Tutors to bring up their children in the way of their forefathers and never count a son worthy the inheritance of his father till he is able to manage a spell which is commonly his best portion Their familiar Spirits are peculiar to each distinct family and more or less in number according as they are resolved to be upon their guard or inclined to be mischievous If the Devil have a mind to make especial use of any one of them he seizes them whilst young with some distemper or other and all the time lies close siege to them filling their imaginations with all sorts of dreadful apparitions and this he does sometimes three or four times to the same person making him fitter for his councils by giving him a nearer prospect of Hell Those that are thus seized by the Devil are the ablest Sorcerers of any and can effect their Magical designs without the usual assistance of a Drum as Mr. Scheffer tells a story of a Laplander who upon complaint made against him for keeping a Drum brought it and deliver'd it up to him and with tears confest that tho he did thus willingly part with it and never intended to provide another yet he should still be tormented with the same fearful and troublesome visions about future events which tho his eyes were shut were always present to his imagination Yet such inspired Wizzards as these are rarely to be met with most commonly they make an art of it which according to the diversity of instruments made use of may be divided into two parts the former employ'd about their Drum the latter about knots darts spells c. The Drum is peculiar to the Laplanders call'd Kannus or Quobdas made of a hollow piece of wood which is always the root either of Pine Fir or Birch growing in a peculiar place and having the grain of the tree following the course of the Sun i. e. winding from the right hand to the left It is made hollow on one side upon which they stretch a skin fastening it with wooden pegs on the other they make two holes to hold it by the shape of the upper part is oval about half an ell in diameter upon the skin they paint several pictures in red stain'd with the bark of an Alder-tree and thro the middle they draw some cross-lines in every quarter of which they place their chiefest Gods with their attendants neither do they observe always the same Gods nor the same method as appears by the picture of them in Scheffer only it is remarkable 1. That ordinarily they paint the Sun in the middle their Gods above and the earthly things under him 2. That since Christianity came amongst them many of them do place upon their Drums our Saviour and his Apostles acknowledging him to be or have the power of one of their Gods 3. And that they alter their figures according to the occasion of their inquiry retaining the general notion all Heathens had of the Deity that divers of them had particular charges and employments and hence i. e. from this general consent of Idolaters it may not improbably be gather'd that their was but one original of all mankind in as much as all acknowledg sacrifices and ceremonies whereby they might consult of things future of their good success in their affairs and the aversion of their calamities only this may be noted that all Nations as they grew to be more civilized became less addicted to Magick the unpunish'd practice of which became so exceedingly harmful and destructive to mankind so that the poor Northern Nations were left in a manner abandon'd to the power of the Devil their great enemy till Christianity was brought in in a manner forcibly by the rigorous commands of the Kings of Sweden Notwithstanding which tho they have in many places given over their Drum yet do they practice still their knots have their Familiars in the shape of Flies Bees c. but chiefly their black Cats whom they not only consult at home about their houshold affairs but take with them also in their huntings tho in the depths of snow and their diabolical extasies if I may so call them which are exercised sometimes with sometimes without a Drum if with a Drum the Sorcerer kneels down and having a bunch of rings or other pieces of brass laid in the middle of the Drum he beats with a consecrated hammer so strongly that the rings dance upon it by the resting of which upon such a figure they draw forth an answer to what they would desire to know but if this be not
City named Tingvalla 4. Hallandia Hallandia which has oâ— the West the Sinus Codanus on the South Schonen and on the North and North-East Smalandia and Westro-Gothia A pleasant and fruitful Province reaching in length from Bahusia to the City Laaholm upon a small River which falls into the Sinus Codanus several miles but in breadth in some parts not above half a mile and where broadest not exceeding three miles It has in it four Cities 1. Halmstadt 2. Falkenburg 3. Laaholm 4. Waersburg all lying upon the Codane Bay very conveniently for Trade and exporting of those Commodities which come out of the more Northerly Provinces In the year 1645 by a Ratification of peace held betwixt Christina Queen of Swedland and Christian the IV King of Denmark this Province with all its Cities Towns Forts and Appurtenances was granted to the Crown of Sweden for thirty years as a pledg of security whereby the Swedes might be ascertain'd of their free passage through the Sund or Oresund the controversies about which had been the chief occasions of their former war At the end of thirty years if the Swedes thought convenient either this Province was to be retained by them as a pledg for the performing of the covenant on the part of the Danes or they to have some other Province or Cities and Forts equivalent to it given into their hands which might be to them sufficient assecuration An. 1658 by articles of a peace concluded at Roschild a City in Zeland it with all its Cities Towns and Forts was granted to Charles the X then King of Sweden and to his successours for ever II. Eastern-East or Ostro-Gothia Ostro-Gothia which has in it these Provinces 1. Ostro-Gothia properly so call'd 2. Smalandia and 3. Oelandia to which may be added Gotlandia Scania and Bleckingia GOTHIA Apud Janssonio-Waesbergios er Mosem Pitt SCANIA Vulgo SCHONEN Apud Janssonio-Waesbergios Mosem Pitt VIROIllustri Generosissimo Dno OTTHONI KRAGH Toparchae in Trutzholm Summo R. M. DAN Secretario Patrono suo magno Dedicat Consecrat Johannes Janssonius 2. Smalandia parted from Ostro-Gothia by the Wood Holavedh a very large Province being 95 German miles in compass indifferently fruitful in those parts where it is not overgrown with wood It abounds very much with Cattel whence some say it has its name Smala signifying Cattel which are exported hence in great numbers into Denmark and from thence into Germany and Holland In it there are very many Lakes the chief of which are Bolm Viostez Moklen and Asnan Rivers likewise not a few as Nyssea Laga Helga Marboa Aem c. This Country is cut out into several Divisions or Territories the principal of which are Tieherad Verendia which is said anciently to have had distinct Laws of its own Tiustia Finheidia and Mauringia c. It abounds with several Mines as of Copper and Lead and in some parts with great store of Iron which is said to be found in the bottom of their Lakes and Rivers Cities here are 1. Calmar whose name is said to have been given to it by the Germans from the coldness of the air which blows from the Baltick Sea Here is a very convenient Port frequented by our English Merchants and some of other Nations In the year 1230 Ericus King of Denmark Norway and Swedland instituted thirteen Prebendaries in this City and ordered that the Cathedral Church here should have the priviledges of an Ecclesiastical Colledg It is at present governed by one Superintendent who with the rest of the Bishops has a place in the publick consistory of the Kingdom This City was sometimes under the power of John King of Denmark and Christiern the second who succeeded him but not long after regain'd by the Swedes In the year 1611 Christianus the fourth King of Denmark took this City putting all the Inhabitants to the Sword but two years after it was by vertue of a ratification of peace made betwixt the Northern Crowns restored to the Swede In the year 1647 it was almost quite consumed by fire not above sixty houses left standing in the whole City but since that is very handsomly rebuilt and at present by reason of its commodious Situation upon the Baltick a very considerable Trade-Town 2. Jenecoepia or Jenecoepping situate in a Vale near the Lake Veter built for the most part of Wood a City quite naked and easy of access It is reported that anciently the houses of this City were covered on the outside not with Thatch or Stone but with a sort of courser Cloth or Canvas which the Inhabitants thought a great piece of handsomness M. Heberer in his Itinerary reports that when he came to this City he found a great number of very large Serpents which were kept tame by the Citizens and though they were familiarly admitted into their houses yet never did them any injury whether or no they used to eat them as the Indians are said to do at this day is not by him set down though 't is probable they did not feed them in their houses for no other end then to sport with 3. Vexio a Bishops See where some of the first Planters of Christianity as was said lie buried 4. Ekesio and 5. Vesterwick 3. Oelandia a pleasant and fruitful Island lying in the Baltick Sea divided from Smalandia by a very narrow Bay in it are Cattel as Oxen Horses c. Birds also and Wild-beasts in great plenty and besides the Fort called Barkholme or Bornholme two and thirty Parishes in all This Island was by the Dane yeilded up to Gustavus Adolphus an 1613. See more concerning it amongst the accessional Provinces of the Crown of Sweden 4. Scania or Schonen a Province abounding with Corn Beasts Birds and all other Commodities of life here several Mines of Silver Lead Iron c. are said to be laboured and their Mettal to be hence transported into other Countries but this seems to be a mistake either from the confounding of the word Scandia with Scania which is frequently done by Geographers or from counting that Mettal which is brought hither from the more Northern Provinces to come immediately from this This Province an 1658 was ceded to the Swedes and an 1660 confirm'd to them so that it may seem one of the new accessions to the Kingdom amongst which see a description of it 5. Blekingia a fruitful Province lying upon the Baltick coast It was given up to the Swedes an 1658 and as was Schonen confirm'd to them an 1660. A larger account of this Province may be expected by and by 6. Gothlandia or Gothland an Island lying in the Baltick Sea over against Ostro-Gothia about eighteen German Miles in length and five or six in breadth fourteen miles from the Gothick Shore twenty from Curland thirty from Dantzic fifty from Bornholme and eighty from Rostock It has in it one City named Wisbuy or Visburg the residence of the Governour of the Island When it was under the Danish
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
so well stored with inhabitants especially in Suecia and Gothia places so far removed from the Mount Ararat which is generally supposed to be Caucasus upon which as many Authors are of opinion Noah's Ark rested as to be forced by reason of the multitude of them to send out Colonies into other Countries yet as to the evincing an emigration into these western and southern parts very anciently to have been it is by Jornandes Crantzius and all Swedish writers unanimously approv'd to whom we refer the Reader for further satisfaction in so difficult and obscure a controversie This people tho at present united under the same Government and Laws with the Swedes The 〈…〉 and commonly passing under the same name with them was anciently different from them as well in their manners as their policy whereupon it may not be amiss to set down in this place what occurs amongst Authors as proper to this Nation in relation to their manners and customs which may probably seem to have been the same not only in Scandia but also in all the other parts of Europe and Asia which they subdued and whither they extended their dominion they always ruling by their own Laws and Constitutions which they suffer'd not to be translated into any other language but always published in their own not only making those they overcame their subjects but by instilling their customs and manners into them as much as possible the same Nation This piece of policy was practised by William the Conquerer here in England who caused all our Laws to be turned into the French language that thereby this Nation might in time forget its own tongue and be better disposed to endure his yoke That the Goths were always a warlike people their several swarmings into other neighbouring Countries and the great victories they obtain'd over them do fully manifest Mela does not only commend them for their courage but their honesty and plain-dealing who says Of all the Thracians it seems they had in his time advanc'd into and been considerable in the more Southern parts of the world the Goths or Getes are the most valiant and the most just And this their courage in war was from the belief they had of the immortality of their souls a doctrine they receiv'd from Zamolxes their great King and Prophet according to Lucan lib. 2. De bello Pharsal where speaking of the Goths he says certe populi quos despicit Arctos Faelices errore suo quos ille timorum Maximus haud urget Lethi metus inde ruendi In ferrum mens prona viris animaeque capaces Mortis ignavum rediturae parcere vitae Their education and usage whilst young was such as best fitted them for warlike enterprizes and couragious exploits for their children as soon as born were dipp'd over head and ears first in cold then in hot water and as the Spartan children used to be whipp'd at the Altars of their Gods these were constantly lash'd with scourges till the blood gushed out thereby to inure them to hardship nor when they were grown up were their exercises or employments any other then such as agreed best with men of a military constitution They practis'd Tilts and Turnaments as did also the Swedes riding the great Horse vaulting c. and for recreation Chess-play As any one exceeded another in rank and quality so more and more noble performances were expected from them their Kings sons being never admitted to sit at table with or scarce come into the presence of their fathers before they had received some signal testimony of their courage from the very chief of their enemies as is reported of the Longabards a people says Wolf Lazius anciently inhabiting Scandia who under the conduct of Alvinus son to their King Odvinus obtaining a great victory over the Gepidae requested that their General who with his own hand had slain the King of the Gepidae's son might be admitted to sit with him at the publick or triumphal Banquet but the King refused their address and told them that it was against the custom of theirs and the Gothick Nation in general that their Kings son should be permitted to eat with his father before he had commendations of his valour from another Prince This the son hearing took with him forty soldiers went to Jurismundus's Camp so was the King of the Gepidae named and telling him he was the man who slew his son in battel desired of him a testimonial of his courage the King admiring his boldness courteously received him placed him by him in his dead sons room and giving him the armour which he used to bear peaceably dismissed him Lovers they were tho no great practisers of Learning and according to the character Johannes Magnus gives of them easier drawn by perswasion then command as always hating and thinking it unworthy themselves to be inferior to any in knowledg or courage Towards their friends courteous towards their enemies if obstinate cruel and revengeful if submissive none more merciful and kind and no Nation readier then the Goths to accept a parley or any overture of peace Their wives of which they as also the Scythians were allow'd plurality were not less valorous considering their sex then their husbands they accompany'd them in all dangers and frequently taking up arms made a great and considerable part of their army as they are said to have done in Thracia and Maesia when they were set upon by Claudius the Roman Commander Yet did not the women always and upon every Colony and Detachment of Goths sent out of Scandia several of which are mentioned by Wolf Lazius follow their husbands for the Laws commanding the men to return into their own Country or to forfeit their Estates every one that presum'd to be absent after such a time being thereby adjudged dead in Law and his next heir to enter upon his inheritance were chiefly procured by the women whom the Goths at their departure had left in Suecia and Gothia The Virgins were taken in marriage without any other dowry then their own perfections to commend them to their husbands choice never having any portions given them Adultery amongst them was punished by death with many such-like customs which may be gather'd out of their Laws publish'd by Isidore Bishop of Sevil in Spain Their manner of Government was the best Their Government and according to Aristotle's opinion the most natural of any the Monarchical their King when distinct from the Swedish not being bound in any Covenant with his people nor holding his Estate at the Will of the Subject whereupon perhaps their Kingdom was more considerable in it self and more terrible to its enemies as being more expeditious in its determinations and united in its designs then a Democratical State is frequently found to be Their Kings did not only bear rule over the Goths their own Nation but after their uniting with the Swedes sometimes commanded that people also tho at present the King
forty German miles from Pleskow and as many from Novogardia 2. Nieslot or Neuschlos i. e. new Fort not far from the Lake Peipus upon the River Narva 2. Viria Wiria or Wilandia Viria which has Alentakia on the East Harria on the West the Finnic Bay on the North and Jervia on the South Places remarkable in it are 1. Wesenberg not far from the River Weissenaa which A. D. 1581 was taken by the Swedes from the Muscovite 2. Tolsburg twelve miles distant from Wesenberg 3. Borcholm 3. Harria or Harrenland 〈◊〉 bounded on the South with Wicia on the East with Viria and on the North and West with the Finnic Bay In this division is Revalia the Metropolis of Liefland a little but handsom pleasant and well fortified City lying in 59 deg 30 min. of Longitude In the year 1374 it was sold to the great Master of Livonia In 1561 being in danger to fall into the hands of the Muscovite it committed it self to the protection of the Kings of Sweden and has ever since been subject to them Here was anciently a Bishops See but since Lutheranism spred it self into these parts that Title is here discontinued and all Ecclesiastical affairs manag'd by Superintendents For the promoting of Learning and good Education this City has one publick Gymnasium wherein Professors and Tutors are maintain'd to read and teach Humanity and all the Liberal Arts. The chief Church is dedicated to St. Olaus Not far from this place is the Monastery of St. Bridget seated upon the Finnic coast and the Fort Pades or Badis lying upon the River Assa 4. Vikia Wicia or Wikke which has in it these three places of note 1. Habsalia Habsel lying upon the Bothnic Bay formerly viz. in the time of Frideric II. King of Denmark in the possession of the Danes afterwards A. D. 1575 taken by the Muscovite and in the year 1581 gain'd by John III. King of Sweden 2. Lode 3. Leal 4. Wickel or Wyck all Forts of good strength and consideration 5. Jervia which lyes landward almost in the middle of the other Districts It contains Wittenstein Oberpalen and Lau or Lais places of moment II. Odepoa bounded on the East with the Lake Peipus on the North with Embeck and the Rivers Fela and Pernavia on the West with the great Bay of Livonia and on the South with Lettia In it are these places of note viz. 1. Derpat Derbat Dorpat or as the Russes call it Juriogoord a large City built most of Stone and Brick and secured by strong Stone-walls where was formerly a Bishops seat It was heretofore under the Tzar of Muscovy A. D. 1230. Under the Poles A. D. 1582. Afterwards taken from them by Charles Duke of Sudermannia But by them regain'd A. D. 1603. In the year 1625 when Gustavus Adolphus sent Forces into Livonia under the command of Jacobus de la Gardie this City was gain'd to the Swedish Crown and ever since remains as a part of its possessions Here by reason of the great abundance of all sorts of commodities of life and the healthfulness of the air Gustavus Adolphus ann 1632 at the desire of one John Skytte Baron in Ouderof who had sometime been Tutor to that King instituted an University and appointed and stipended one Rector and several Professors for Theology History Mathematicks c. 2. Warbek upon the mouth of the River Embeck 3. Kanneleks 4. The Fort Ringen 5. Odepoa a small Town whence the whole District has its name 6. Nienhausen a strong Fort upon the borders of Muscovy 7. Marienburg another Fort not far from the Lake Peipus 8. Tarnest a place anciently of good importance but being in the hands of the Muscovites it was besieged by the Polander and at last by them taken and when they quitted it so demolished that tho the Swedes have spent some charges in repairing it it has not at present attain'd its ancient strength and splendor 9. Felinum Fellin fifteen German miles from 10. Parnavia Parnow upon a River of the same name a Town of great trade for all commodities Corn especially first of all added to the Swedish dominions by Ericus XIV King of Sweden an 1562 Afterwards taken by the Poles and regain'd from them an 1617. 11. Sales or Lemsael with some other less remarkable Towns and Forts III. Lettia bounded on the East with part of Muscovy on the West with the Livonian Bay on the North with Odepoa and on the South with the River Dwina It s chief City is 1. Riga an Arch-Bishops See lying in 48 deg of Longitude and 57 deg 30 min. of Latitude upon the Dwina at its entrance into the Bothnic Bay It is defended with a strong Wall Bulwarks Towers an extraordinary large Trench and three rows of great Guns which were put in good order and readiness chiefly by the care of Gustavus Adolphus King of Sweden Here is a noted Harbour for Ships much frequented by Merchants from Germany Holland England c. who come hither in the summer-time and are laden with Hemp Flax Wax Pitch Tar with Planks also and Wood ready hew'n for building Ships with skins of all sorts as of Bears Elks Foxes c. and Furs of Castors Sables Martrons Ermins c. all which are brought to this City out of Muscovy and Poland in the winter-time over the ice and snow upon sledds and made ready for sale against the time when the Merchants usually arrive The Citizens commonly speak either Swedish German Curlandish or Livonian and have their Divine Service which is reform'd according to the Augustan Confession always celebrated in some one of those languages In the year 1581 this City was taken by Stephen King of Poland from the Emperor and by his successor Sigismund III. endow'd with many notable priviledges and immunities and by him kept in possession till 1605 at what time Gustavus Adolphus Prince of Sweden brought an Army into Livonia and after six weeks close siege had it surrender'd up to him since which time it has always been under the Swedish power 2. Dunamund i. e. the mouth of the Duna or Dwina so call'd from its situation being plac'd upon the Dwina two miles from Riga at its very entrance into the Livonian Bay It is a Fort of great importance commanding the whole River so that without leave had from the Governour here no Ship can pass into or come out of the Harbour of Riga And because the Dwina at this place breaking forcibly into the Sea and often in the spring-time especially bringing huge flakes of ice along with it very much alters the Channel and thereby makes the passage into the River very dangerous there are waiting here a sort of experienc'd Guides call'd Pilosen or Pilots who for small wages conduct all strangers along the safe way either up to Riga or back again into the Baltic 3. Kakenhusen Kockehaus a strong Fort where was anciently the residence of the Archbishop of Riga 4. Ascherad with many lesser Towns
King of Denmark was called Dan who reigned before the birth of Christ From him Denmark had its name But the stories they tell us of this King like all their ancient histories are so incoherent and incredible that little trust can be given to this etymology Others ridiculously derive the names of Danes and Danemark from Dan the son of Jacob. Some from the Graecian Danai Hadrianus Junius a learned Historian but not too happy in etymologies would have the Danes so called from the abundance of Fir-trees which grow in their Country not considering that a Fir-tree has not the same name Dannen or Tannen-baum in Denmark as in Germany for the Danes as well as the English call it a Firtre or Firtrae Pontanus sleghting all the conjectures of other Authors thinks he gives us a sufficient account of the original of the words Dani and Dania when he tells us That these people are the Danciones or Dansciones as the learned Mr. Cambden reads the word instead of Dausiones in the vulgar Copies mentioned by Ptolomey But this determination is not at all satisfactory for the question is not how long but whence the Danes have had their name For my own part I dare not assent to any of the derivations yet given but had rather guess that the Danes or Dansche took their name from the great opinion they had of their own uprightness and integrity For Danneman is a word ordinarily used among them to this day to denote an honest and good man Thus the Germans use the phrase ein Teutschhertziger mensch to signifie a true Dutch hearted fellow And we may observe that it was the constant custom of all the Northern Nations to give themselves names from their piety as well as prowess Thus the people who stiled themselves Germans War-men in the field were Teutschen or Godly at home and the Cimbri or Camp-fighters in time of war were Gottisch pious and religious as soon as they laid down their weapons The ancient inhabitants of Denmark were the Cimbri and Getae Ancient Inhabitants of both which we shall discourse at large in the description of Jutland Concerning the Goths something hath been said in the description of Sweden and more may be expected in the treatise of the Cimbric Islands The Kingdom consists of 1. Jutland Division and Situation which is a Peninsula washed on either side by the German and Baltic Seas and bounded on the South with some parts of the nether Saxony 2. Zeeland Funen with some more Islands of less note To these may be added 3. Schonen and Halland which formerly did belong to this Kingdom but in the year 1658 by a Ratification of Peace concluded at Roschild between Frederic III. King of Denmark and Charles X. King of Sweden were wholly annex'd to the Crown of Swedeland and by another Ratification held at Copenhagen 1660 confirm'd to it The Air is not so cold as in some places of Germany which ly much more to the South Air. nor so hot in Summer This temperature proceeds chiefly from the adjoining Sea which as in England fans the inhabitants in Summer and keeps them warm in Winter Sometimes indeed the Baltic Sea is frozen up as it happ'ned in the year 1659 when the King of Sweden march'd his army out of Jutland into Zeeland over the Ice and then Charcoal and Turf which is their only fuel stand their friends The Land naturally barren Soil and abounding with little but Woods and Mountains is by the late care and industry of the inhabitants made very fruitful Funen furnishes many foreign parts with Barley and Zeeland's greatest trade lyes in transporting of Corn and Hay Schonen is full of pleasant Meadows whence some Authors think it had its name for Schone signifies fair The rich pastures in Denmark afford such multitudes of Kine Cattel that according to Oldenburgh's relation some years forty thousand others an hundred thousand Cows and Oxen are hence transported into the Low Countries which must needs exceedingly enrich the Kingdom They have also good breeds of Horses but not in such numbers that they can afford to send any into other Nations Helmoldus tells us Fish that in his time the great riches of the Danes consisted in Fish And Saxo Grammaticus says the Sea-coasts round Zeeland and other parts of the Danish Kingdom are so stock'd with shoals of Herrings and other Fish that you may not only take them up with your hand without the help of any Net Line or Hook but that they hinder the passage of Ships and Boats Certain it is however strange and incredible Saxo's story may appear Herrings swim usually in infinite numbers and no part of the Seas were anciently better stock'd with this kind of Fish then the coasts of Denmark But of late years the Herring-trade has fail'd strangely here and those they do catch come far short of the English and Dutch Herrings in bulk and goodness I am unwilling to think with Oldenburgh this decay of the Fishing-trade in Denmark a judgment inflicted on the inhabitants since our Fishermen will tell us that some years the Herrings haunt the English shore sometimes the Dutch or French However tho the Herrings have forsaken them they have still plenty of other sorts of Fish as Plaise Whiting Cod c. which they dry and send abroad Pontanus to shew how well they are provided in this kind tells us this memorable story It happened not many years before the writing of his History of Denmark that several Ambassadors from most of the greatest Princes in Europe being met together at the Emperor of Germany's Court had some disputes about precedency Some of them asserted the dignity and power of their Masters from the riches of their Country in Gold and Silver others brag'd of the plenty of Corn Fruits c. when all had done the Danish Ambassador told them That should the richest Prince in Europe sell his Kingdom and with the price buy nothing else but wooden Platters the King his Master was able to fill them all with three sorts of fresh Fish Whereupon they unanimously declared the King of Denmark the happiest Prince in Christendom and placed his Ambassador next the King of France's who sat on the Emperors right hand Their Forrests are full of all sorts of Venison Forrests insomuch that every hunting season which commonly is in August there are above sixteen hundred Bucks brought in to the Kings Palaces besides an infinite number of Hares Conies Boars c. However the ancient Romans vilified and contemned all the Northern Nations Manners esteeming them a sort of barbarous dull and unactive people yet 't is manifest from the relations given by Lucius Florus and other Roman Historians who never cared for speaking too well of their enemies how stoutly the Cimbrians encounter'd the Roman Forces And 't is more then probable that the Galli Senones came out of this Country who forced their Infantry to take sanctuary or
34. Christian I. son of Theodoric Count of Oldenburgh was elected King of Denmark upon the death of King Christopher He was a generous pious and valiant Prince but wholly ignorant of all manner of learning He reduc'd the Swedes to their Allegiance who in the beginning of his reign had revolted from the Crown of Denmark annex'd Holstein to his Dominions made himself Duke of Dithmars and Stormar and having ruled three and thirty years dyed in peace in the year 1481 and was buryed in a Chappel which he himself had built at Roschild leaving his Crown to his son 35. John who was a Prince endued with all the Royal qualities of his father He was devout in exercises of Religion temperate in diet grave in apparel and valiant in exploits of war which excepting only the overthrow he receiv'd from the Dithmarsians in the year 1500 proved exceeding successful He dyed of the plague at Olburgh in the year 1513. 35. Christian II. King John's son who was the bloodiest cruellest and most dissolute Prince that Denmark or perhaps any other Kingdom ever saw Lindenbruch gives this character of him That Nero Phalaris and Sylla put in the scales against him would signifie no more then half an ounce to a pound weight Meursius reports that he was born with one hand grasp'd which when the Midwife opened she found full of blood This was look'd upon by his father as a certain prognostic of a bloody mind of which his subjects had afterwards a lamentable experience The only good he ever did his Country was the founding a Fair and establishing a more then ordinary trade at Copenhagen At last after he had by his wickedness thrown himself out of three Kingdoms and for six and thirty years undergone the miseries of banishment or imprisonment he dyed in the Castle of Kallenborg in Zeeland in the year 1559. 36. Frideric I. King John's brother succeeded his Nephew Christian As soon as he was Crown'd in the year 1524 he begun to bring the Augspur Confession into all the Churches of Denmark He ruled almost ten year in quietness and dyed at Sleswig in the year 1533. 37. Christian III. Frideric's son He perfected the reformation which his father had begun in the Church He lived and dyed in the year 1559 a Prince of singular piety wisdom temperance justice and all Royal virtues And left behind a fair pattern of a happy King and good Christian to his son 37. Frederic II. Who having exactly imitated his fathers example after a happy reign of twenty-nine years dyed in his Palace of Anderscow in the year 1587. Immediately after his Coronation he was engag'd in a war against the rebels of Dithmars whom he quell'd with small trouble Afterwards he waged war with Eric XIV King of Sweden which lasted seven years The rest of his days were spent in peace and quietness 39. Christian IV. before his fathers burial was elected and soon after crown'd King of Denmark In his reign the Emperor of Germany Ferdinand II. overrun the greatest part of the Cimbrian Chersonese and had once well nigh brought the whole Kingdom of Denmark under his subjection But King Christian contracting as it were all the exspiring Spirits of his Realm made the Imperialists at last give ground and brought them to a Treaty upon honourable terms He dyed in the year 1648 and was succeeded by his son 40. Frederic III. Who receiv'd as great a blow from the Swedes as his father had done from the Germans Charles Gustave the victorious King of Sweden had brought him to that extremity as to lay close siege to Copenhagen which City and consequently the whole Kingdom of Denmark would doubtless have faln into the hands of the Swedes had not the Emperor of Germany the King of Poland and most of the Northern Princes jealous of the growing power of the Swedish King concern'd themselves in the defence of it He that desires a further account of the beginning continuance and end of these Northern wars may have recourse to the accurate history of them written by R. Manley and printed in the year 1670. King Frideric got his Nobles perswaded to consent that the Kingdom of Denmark as well as that of Norway should be Hereditary and was himself proclaim'd hereditary King the twenty-third day of October in the year 1660. He dyed of a Fever the twenty-fifth day of February 16 69 70. and that night as is before said the Nobility swore Allegiance to the new King 41. Christian V. now reigning A valiant and active Prince The Royal Family of Denmark consists of the Children of the King 〈…〉 and his near Relations together with the Princes of Sunderburg Norburg Gluckburg Arnsbeck Gottorp and Ottingen or Oytin who are all descended from King Christian the third excepting the Houses of Oytin and Gottorp who are the issue of his brother Adolph Duke of Sleswic The Nobles who never pretend to nor accept of the Titles of Dukes Earls or Barons are such as have for many ages had a single Coat of Arms belonging to their Family which they never alter nor quarter with any other There are to this day some Families of the Nobility in Denmark as Wren and others who are said to have been at the signing of a Treaty of Peace between Charles the Great and King Hemming on the Eidor Upon the death of any Nobleman all his goods moveable and immoveable are divided amongst his Children so as a son has two moieties and a daughter only one By the Laws of Denmark the King is prohibited to purchase any part of a Nobleman's Estate nor can any of the Nobility buy any of the Crown Lands A Catalogue of the names of the chief Noblemen at this day in Denmark is given us by the Author of L'Estat des Royaumes de l'Europe in the following Alphabetical order Achsel Appelgard Alefeld Andersem Bielke Banner Brache Bilig Below Bild Brokenhusem Biorn Beck Blick Bassi Bax Baselich Bockowlt Budde Baggen Bammelberg Brune Blom Blocktorp Breiden Daac Dresselberch Dune Duram Dam Freze Fassi Falster Falcke Guldenstern Grubbe Goce Green Gelschut Galle Gram Gris Goss Gadendorp Grabow Hardenberg Holke Hoken Hiderstorper Hube Hesten Hager Holer Hoeken Hoier Hacken Harberger Jul Juensen Juenan Jensen Johensen Korwitz Krabbe Kaas Krusen Kragge Krumpen Krumdick Kercberg Karssenbrock Koelet Knutzen Lange Lindeman Lunge Lutkem Laxman Lancken Leven Lindow Munck Matiessen Marizer Must Matre Meinstorf Moeten Magnussen Negel Narbu Norman Ofren Otten Pasberg Podessen Podebussen Papenheimb Podwisch Plessen Pensen Paisen Petersen Qualem Quittow Ranzaw Rosenkrantz Rastorp Ruthede Reuter Ruten Rosenspart Rosengard Ronnow Reventlow Ratlow Ritzerow Schram Schefeldt Schelen Seestedt Stuege Swron Stantbeke Split Solle Swaben Santbarch Spar Spegel Sturen Suinem Staken Stove Siversen Trolle Totten Vhrup Vonsflet Vantinnen Vken Voien Vlstandt Vren Wlefeld Walkendorp Wipfert Witfelt Wogersen Wenfsterman Wolde Worm Walstorp Wenfin Wittorp Though none of these are ever made Dukes Knights Marquises Earls or Barons yet 't is usual
Light-horse as the King thinks fit and pay in yearly such a sum of money into the Treasury But these are neither so numerous nor large as before the alteration of Government in the year 1660. Again out of the Nobility are chosen all the Court-Officers Of which the chiefest are 1. Court-Officers The Chancellor 2. The Admiral who takes care of the building and repairing of all sorts of Ships belonging to the Crown He has under him a Vice-Admiral who acts by his Commission 3. The Marshal who provides necessaries for all manner of dispatches in the times of war and peace 4. The Treasurer who receives in and gives acquittances for all summs paid into the Kings Exchequer he has under him two Secretaries of the Nobility and a great number of inferior Scribes 5. The Master of the Horse There are only seven Bishopricks in Denmark Bishopricks which are all as in England in the Kings gift 1. Copenhagen where the Bishop has Archiepiscopal rights tho without the title 2. Ripen and 3. Arhusen both in the Northern Jutland 4. Odensee in Funen 5. Wiburg 6. Arhusen 7. Sleswic in the Southern Jutland The Cities are governed by their distinct Corporations Citâ—â—â— And the Citizens enjoy peculiar Priviledges and Charters as in other parts of Europe The Rustics are either Freeholders Frybunder Rustics such as have hereditary Estates paying only some small Quit-rent to their Landlords Or Wornede Villains absolutely in the power of their Lords Whilst the Kingdom of Denmark lay confused and broken into several incoherent parts Laâ—â— the Provinces had not all the same Laws but were governed by peculiar Statutes established by their petty but independent Princes Whence in Danish Authors we meet often with mention made of the Leges Scanicae Leges Sialandicae c. But afterwards when all these scatter'd members came to be re-united under the same head they were all subject to the same Government and Laws The Laws now in use were drawn into one body which they call the Jydske Lowbog or the Book of the Laws of Jutland and established by King Waldemar the first and revised and confirm'd by Waldemar the second To the observation of these as the only Municipal Laws of the Land the Kings of Denmark have formerly bin sworn at their Coronation Howbeit some of them have been since changed As for instance by the ancient Laws of Denmark as well as in England as may appear by the frequent mention of manbot and wergild in our English-Saxon Laws murder was not punished with death but a pecuniary mulct This custom was observed till the days of Christian the third who looking upon it as a constitution inconsistent with the Law of God and dictates of humane reason abrogated it ordering that from thenceforward wilful murder should be judged a capital crime The ancient Danes were so careful and zealous to transmit their Estates to their right heirs that tho they could be so merciful as to suffer murderers to live yet they punished Adultery with death Which Law is still in force in Saxony as may be seen in any Sachsen-Spiegel and many other parts of Germany The fashion of deciding all manner of causes in our English Courts by a Jury of twelve men Judâ—â—â—ture may seem to have bin borrowed from the Danes who used formerly as they do still in some parts of Jutland to assemble every Parish by themselves once a year in the fields to determine all differences by twelve select men From whom if the disagreeing parties were not reconciled an appeal lay to the Judge of the Province and thence to the supreme Court of Justice as is shown before The Heathen Danes had another way of determining Controversies by Duels in which the Challenger was to demonstrate the justice of his cause by his success This custom lasted till the first planting of Christianity by Poppo who to confirm the truth of his Doctrine took up with his bare hands glowing-hot bars of Iron without the least harm to the admiration of all beholders This miracle wrought not only a change in the Religion but Laws also of the Kingdom For hereupon King Sueno or Suenotto ordered That thence forward all persons accused of any hainous crime should clear themselves by carrying in their hands a glowing plough-share or some other piece of hot iron This kind of purging is called by some of the Danish Writers Jerntegn i. e. Iron-token by others Ordale Whence this last word should fetch its original is not agreed on by our modern Etymologists Verstegan brings it from Or an old word for Law and deal a part or portion And indeed the German word Vhrteil seems to favour this derivation Our fore-fathers the Saxons had borrowed from the Danes several kinds of Ordale As by carrying a bar of hot iron up to the high Altar bare hand by treading barefoot and blindfold over a certain number of glowing barrs laid on the ground at unequal distances by thrusting the naked arm into a pot of boiling water and lastly as they use to try Witches by throwing the accused party into a River or deep Vessel of cold water He that desires to see an exact account of the ceremonies used in the second and third kinds of Ordale may read them at large in the Ecclesiastical Laws of King Athelstane published by the Learned Sr. Henry Spelman Concil Britann tom 1. pag. 404. And in the same Kings Laws as they are published by Mr. Lambard you have the other two sorts described The first that throughly abolished all kinds of Ordale in Denmark was King Waldemar the Second about the year 1240 at the request of Pope Innocent the Third who thought it an intolerable and hainous impiety thus to tempt God Barclay in his Icon Animorum wonders that such innumerable swarms of men should sally out of these parts as were able to overrun the greatest part of Europe whereas at this day there is such a scarcity of Inhabitants that the King of Denmark is hardly able to wage war with any of his Neighbours without a supply of Souldiers out of foreign Countries But this is no such great miracle when we consider how the vastest Empires in the World Assyria Egypt Judaea and Rome it self vainly flattered with the name of Vrbs Aeterna have had their periods The greatest strength of the King of Denmark as of all Princes of Isles consists chiefly in the number of their Mariners and good Ships In all Skirmishes and Wars between the Dane and Swede it is obvious to observe how much the latter have usually prevail'd at Land and the former at Sea Christian the second upon a short warning fitted out a hundred good men of war to aid Henry the Second King of France against the English and this present King has a much larger Fleet always ready for action The Danish King can afford to build yearly twelve men of war without impoverishing his Exchequer And in this Naval force the
this City are expressed by Westhow a Danish Poet in three Distichs thus Fluctibus Arctoi sat bella Coagia ponti Alluor hinc campus subjacet inde nemus Quae silvae utilitas agri emolumenta fretique Commoda sunt meus haec omnia civis habet Dat glandes ligna nemus dat pascua campus Piscibus variis mercibus unda beat LALAND LAland or Lawland so called from its low situation is an Island about 32 English miles in length and 20 in breadth It is divided from Seeland by the narrow bay Gronesond or as some Maps call it Goldersond and from Falster by a bay much narrower then the former It is a very fruitful Country and affords great quantities of Corn and good store of rich pasturage Lyscander says of this Dukedome That there are in it four several Gentes I suppose he means Herrits or Lordships and as many Cities The great Towns or Cities he speaks of are 1. Naschaw or Nachscouw which together with the adjoyning Monastery was stormed taken and burnt by the Lubeckers in the year 1510. 2. Sascoping 3. Newstadt once famous for a noble Monastery built here A. D. 1286. 4. Lavinscoping Besides these the Nunnery of Mariaebo spoken of before in the Description of Sor was as considerable and remarkable a place as any in the whole Island Other Islands less considerable in the Baltic Sea WHat Islands have been of late delivered up by the Danes into the hands of the Swedes upon the Ratification of Treaties and Leagues may be seen in the description of Swedeland Of those that remain still in the hands of the King of Denmark these we have mentioned are of most note and 't were irrational to expect a particular account of those millions of diminutive Islands that lay scattered along the Coasts of Seeland Schonen Jutland c. Among them these following are all that are worth the taking notice of 1. Falster Falster a considerable Island adjoyning to Laland It is not above 16 English miles in length but so fruitful that it furnishes not only its own Inhabitants but a great part of the Dukedom of Mecklenburg and several other parts of Germany with Corn. Great Towns of note in this Island are 1. Nycoping which Dr. Heylin for I cannot find that he borrowed the expression from any other writer calls the Naples of Denmark from the pleasantness of its situation and uniformity in building 2. Stabecoping a place of some Trade upon the account of Passengers who come daily this way betwixt Seeland and Germany 2. Mona or Meun Mona A chalky Island to the Northeast of Falster which serves for a good Landmark to the German Vessels that trade in these Seas Lyscander tells us 't was formerly annex'd to the stipend of the Danish Admiral as a place the fittest of any in the King of Denmark's Dominions for such an Officer to reside in The only Town of consequence in it is Stege which bravely withstood the Lubeckers in the year 1510 and forced them at last to retreat 3. Langeland Langeland A narrow Island betwixt Funen and Laland about 28 English miles in length and only 8 in breadth whence it has its name There are in it 16 Parish Churches and a great number of Noblemens houses besides the impregnable Castle of Traneker which is admirably well provided with all manner of Military ammunition Rutcoping may pass for what the Danish writers will needs have it to be a City but 't is a miserably poor one and in no great probability of being advanced by Traffic 4. Alsen Alsen A small Isle over against the Bay of Flensburg in the Dukedom of Sleswic of which it is a part and therefore only subject to the Kings of Denmark as Dukes of Sleswic The learned and Noble Danish Antiquary Rantzow thinks the Elysii Arii and Manimi mentioned by Tacitus were the antient Inhabitants of this Island Ar and Meun and that these three Isles have the same names at this day saving only a small alteration such as may easily happen in the revolution of a few years which they had when that learned Roman writ his Annals This Isle is every where either exceeding fruitful or very pleasant and so populous that several thousands of stout fighting men have been raised in a very short time out of its four Towns and thirteen Parishes Sunderburg heretofore the usual seat of the Dukes of Sleswic and to this day one of the strongest holds which the King of Denmark has is the chief Town in the Island LALANDIAE et FALSTRIAE Accurata Descriptio Apud Janssonio-Waesbergios et Mosem Pitt On the coasts of Jutland between the Promontory of Schaghen and the Isle Funen there are several little inconsiderable Islands as Anholt Lasso Niding Helm Tune Kitholm Jordholm Samsoe c. Among these the three first are notorious for the dangerous Sands which lye round them whence 't is an ordinary proverb used by the inhabitants here Lassoe Niding und Anholt Maecken dat menich stuerman niet werdt oldt i. e. Lassoe Niding and Anholt Hinder shipmen to grow old Of the ancient Inhabitants of the Isles in the Baltic Sea THat the Dani Insulares as Saxo calls the inhabitants of these Isles are all of one extraction will be found a question very disputable after a diligent enquiry into the different customs and languages used in several of the Baltic Islands Ptolomy we know and most of the ancient Geographers make Scandinavia or Schonen an Island but of so large a bulk that Alter Terrarum Orbis is one of the most usual names they give it This Pliny tells us was by some of the Greek writers call'd Baltia which by Pytheas is corrupted into Basilia Now if we grant that this Continent which the ancients mistook for an Island were named Baltia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because the noblest Isle in this Sea which seems the most probable conjecture then it will not by any means be irrational to conclude that in all probability the inhabitants of all these petit Islands were only so many small branches of the old warlike Nation of the Goths whom the most learned Historians place in Schonen But then 't will still be doubted whether these Goths were not a Nation wholly distinct from the Getes mention'd in Jutland and consequently whether those that inhabit the Isles upon the coasts of Schonen be not descended of another stock then they that live near Jutland can reasonably pretend to Pontanus is exceeding angry at Jornandes Orosius and others for affirming that the Getes and Goths are one and the same people but as I conceive without any great reason For if as is prov'd in the description of Jutland the Getes gave name to a great part of the Cimbrian Chersonese these two Nations are easilier brought together then he is aware of And could we once perswade Pontanus's admirers to grant that the Getae Gutae Vitae or Witae were the ancient inhabitants of Jutland as
people what the Reader misses in the general description of Norway may possibly be met with in the following one of Island The Prefecture of Masterland THis Prefecture takes its name from the chief City in it seated on a rocky Peninsula and famous for its great trade in Herrings and other Sea-fish This City with two more of less note Congel and Oddawald and the adjoining Country are commanded by the strong Castle of Bahus now in the hands of the King of Sweden It was first built by Haquin IV. King of Norway about the year 1309 upon a steep rock on the bank of the river Trollet and was then look'd upon as the best Fort that King had in his dominions and a sufficient Bulwark against the daily assaults and incursions of the Swedes and Westro-Goths The Bishopricks of Anslo and Staffenger with the Province of Aggerhuse ANslo called by the inhabitants Opslo and by some Latin writers Asloa was first built by King Harold cotemporary with Sueno Esthritius King of Denmark who frequently kept his residence in this City Here is held the chief Court of Judicature for all Norway wherein all causes and suits at Law are heard and determined before the Governor who acts as Vice-Roy of the Kingdom The Cathedral is dedicated to St. Alward who took great pains in preaching the Gospel to the Norwegian Heathens In this Church is to be shew'n the Sword of Haquin one of their ancientest Kings a signal testimony if the stories they tell of it be true of the strength and admirable art of some Norwegians of former ages The hilt of it is made of Crystal curiously wrought and polished whence Olaus Magnus will needs conclude that the use of Crystal was anciently much more ordinary in Norway then it is at this day in any part of Europe Not far from Opslo on the other side of the Bay stands the Castle of Aggerhusen memorable for the brave resistance it made the Swedish Army in the year 1567 which besieg'd it hotly eighteen weeks together but was at last beat off and forced shamefully to retire About twenty German miles Northward of Opslo lies the City Hammar formerly a Bishops See but at present under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Opslo Near this Town is the Island Moos where if we believe Olaus Magnus a huge and monstrous Serpent appears constantly before any grand alteration in the State or Government of the Kingdom of Norway In this Province besides the places already mentioned stand the Cities of Tonsberg Fridericstadt Saltsburgh and Scheen which have all a considerable trade from the Copper and Iron Mines which hereabouts are in greater numbers then in any other part of the Kingdom 'T was in this Province that the Silver Mines mention'd before were first discover'd at the expence of Christian IV. King of Denmark and some of the adjoining hills are by the neighbourhood to this day called Silver-bergen or the mountains of Silver To these Mines and the lofty woods of Pines and Fir-trees with which this part of the Country is overspread the Kingdom of Norway owes the greatest part of if not all its trade The City of Staffenger lies in 59 degrees some reckon 60 and a great many odd minutes of Latitude It is seated in a Peninsuia upon a great Bay of the Northern Ocean full of small Islands and guarded by the strong Castle of Doeswick which lies about two English miles from the Town In Civil affairs this City is under the jurisdiction of the Governor of Bergenhusen tho it has its own peculiar Bishop constantly residing in the Town The whole Bishopric is divided into the several Districts of Stavangersteen Dalarne Jaren Listerleen Mandalsleen Nedenesleen and Abygdelag Thomas Conrad Hvegner Bishop of this Diocess in the year 1641 took the pains to collect a great number of Runic inscriptions which lay scatter'd up and down his Diocess some of which are published by Wormius who further informs us that this Conrad's predecessor whose name he omits writ a Topographical description of this City and Bishoprick Beyond the Bay appears the Island Schutenes three German miles in length but scarce half an one in breadth Between this Island which has in it several considerable Villages and the Continent runs up a narrow Frith to Bergen which is called by the Dutch Merchants T' Liedt van Berghen To the Bishopric of Staffenger belongs the Province of Tillemarch or Thylemarch which gave Procopius the first grounds for that assertion of his which he defends with so great vehemency viz. that Scandinavia taken in its largest extent of which Thylemarch is a very inconsiderable part is the ancient Thule The Parish of Hollen in this Province is very remarkable for a Church-yard or burying place on the top of a Church dedicated to St. Michael which is cut out of a great high rock call'd by the Vicenage Vear upon the Lake Nordsee half a mile distant from Scheen Wormius thinks 't was formerly an Heathenish Temple but converted to Christian uses upon the first planting of the Gospel in this Kingdom The Prefecture and Bishoprick of Berghen THis Bishoprick the most fruitful and pleasantest part of all Norway lies to the North of Aggerhusen in the middle or heart of the Kingdom It derives its name from the fair and noble Emporium or Mart-Town of Berghen or else from the strong Castle of Berghenhusen the usual seat of the Vice-Roy of Norway at a small distance from Berghen Northward Berghen an ancient and famous Sea-Port Town mentioned by Pomponius Mela and Pliny is the Granary and Magazine of the whole Kingdom of Norway It lies distant from Bahusen about an hundred German miles by Sea and sixty by land from Truntheim as many from Schagen the outmost Promontory of Jutland almost eighty Some have fetcht its name from the Norwegian verb Bergen which signifies to hide or conceal because the Haven being surrounded with hills seems to be a kind of sculking-place for Ships where Vesfels of two hundred Tun and upwards ride in a spatious and most secure Harbour free from all danger of wind and weather But we need not trouble our selves any further for the derivation of the name then to consider that Berghen in the Norwegian language signifies mountains and Berghen-husen a company of houses among the hills The buildings in this City till within these few years were exceeding mean and contemptible most of them of wood cover'd with green turf and therefore frequently burnt down But of late the Hamburghers Lubeckers Hollanders and others that trade this way have beautified the Town with an Exchange and a great many private houses of credit The most peculiar trade of this City lies in a kind of Stock-fish catcht upon these coasts and thence called usually by the Norway Merchants Berghenvisch This the Fishermen take in winter commonly in January for the conveniency of drying it in the cold and sharp air Besides hither Furs of all sorts and vast quantities of dry'd
Fish Butter Tallow Hides c. are brought from all parts of Norway to be shipt off into other Countries The Townsmen not many years ago observing the daily encrease of their trade and the great concourse of strangers which it drew from all parts and fearing they themselves might at last be prejudiced by an unlimited and general admission of foreign Tradesmen and Merchants into their City made an order that whoever would after such a time be admitted a freeman of the Town should either be whipt at a Game instituted upon this occasion and call'd by them Gantenspill or rowl'd in mud and dirt or lastly hung in a basket over some intolerable and filthy smoak This hard usage quickly diminished the number of foreigners who fancied it scarce worth their while to purchase their freedom at so dear and scandalous a rate But of late the industry and skill as well as number of the inhabitants encreasing these barbarous customs are laid aside and the Citizens themselves are now able to export what was formerly fetcht away from them The Bishop of this Diocess was heretofore under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Truntheim To the Governor of Berghen are subject the Prefectures of Sudhornleen Nordhornleen Soghne Sudfiord Norfiord and Sundmerleen The Prefecture and Bishoprick of Nidrosia or Truntheim THE fourth Castle and Government in Norway is that of the City Nidrosia as it was anciently called from the river Nider on which 't is seated or Truntheim formerly the Metropolis of the Kingdom and the seat of the King and Archbishop of Norway Pontanus somewhere calls this City the Cabinet of all the Norwegian monuments but Wormius found no great reason to confer so honourable a title upon it when after a diligent search into the Antiquities old monuments and reliques of the primitive inhabitants of this Kingdom he met with no more then three Runic inscriptions in this whole Diocess The conveniency of the Haven makes this place resorted to by some Mariners and Merchants to this day but the ruines are so great that it looks more like a Village then City not having had any opportunity of recovering its former splendor since it was burnt down in the year 1522. Its houses are a company of old fashion'd and rotten buildings and the Kings Palace is decay'd below the meanness of an English Cottage However something of its ancient grandeur still appears in the Cathedral dedicated to St. Olaus which tho almost consumed by fire yet by the ruines shews it self to have been one of the most magnificent and largest structures in the world In this Church the Huntsmen were wont to make a yearly offering of the skins of the largest and stoutest white Bears which they kill'd for the Priest to tread upon at Divine Service Groneland and Iseland were formerly parts of the Diocess of Truntheim but now this Bishoprick is not of so large an extent In the Castle resides the Governor of the whole Prefecture of Truntheim who has under him several other Governors of lesser Provinces In the Country a little beyond this City there grows no wood at all But instead thereof the inhabitants make use of fish-bones as well to build their houses and for several implements of housholdstuff as fuel and with the fat of the same fish they feed their Lamps in winter The Prefecture of Truntheim in the year 1658 was by the Danes surrendred up to the Swedes by a publick Treaty of Peace The next year they wrested it again out of the hands of the Swedish King but resign'd it back at the Treaty of Roschild Halgoland the Country of Ohther King Aelfred's Geographer is a part of this Prefecture Of which that Author gave this account to the King his Master ê§ nan man ne bude be Nor ðh an him i. e. That no inhabited Country lay further North then this But the great fishing trade upon these Coasts have made the English better acquainted with these parts then this Gentleman was with his own Country The Prefecture of Wardhus THE Castle of Wardhus the seat of the fifth and last great Governor in the Kingdom of Norway has its name from the Island Warda in which it stands This Isle lyes about two German miles from the main land of Finmark being near twelve English miles in compass The inhabitants of this and the two adjoining Isles which in Finmark go all under the general name of Trunsolem live only upon Stockfish which they dry in the frost They have no manner of Bread nor drink but what is brought them from other places Some small stock of Cattel they have but only such as can make a shift to live of their masters diet dryed fish Finmark or Norwegian Lapland ON the North of Norway lies Finmark or as the Natives use to call it Taakemark which perhaps was the ancient habitation of the Finni mentioned by Tacitus For the character which that Historian gives us of those people is very applicable to the modern Finmarkers The Finni says he are a people extraordinary savage and miserably poor They have neither Horses Arms House nor Home but feed upon roots and such provision as their Bows and Arrows can procure and are clothed with the skins of wild beasts To this day Finmark is not divided as all other Countries generally are into distinct Lordships and Inheritances but as in Mr. Hobbes's state of nature every private man pretends a right and title to every part of the Land and the strength of the Arm is the only Judge of controversies When fishing season comes in they throng to the Sea-coasts and when that is over retire again into the uplands Only the Islanders in Heymeland keep their stations and have their Churches in Trom Suro Maggero and other places The language manners and habits of the people are the same as in the Swedish Lapland of which an account has been already given Of the ancient Commerce between the old Britains English and Norwegians THo the relations which our English writers give us of the prowess and brave exploits of the valiant British King Arthur savour too much of Romance yet in the main our best Historians agree unanimously in this that no Prince ever conquer'd more of the Northern Kingdoms then this King W. Lambert in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 assures us that all the Islands Nations and Kingdoms in the North and East Seas as far as Russia were tributary to him And Geoffry of Monmouth says King Arthur at one time summon'd no less then six Kings to appear before him at his Court in Britain viz. 1. Guillaumur King of Ireland 2. Malvase King of Iseland 3. Doldaff King of Gothland 4. Gunnase King of Orkney 5. Lot King of Norway And 6. Aschile King of Denmark Upon these conquests the Kingdom of Norway was annexed to the Crown of England and the Norwegians incorporated into one Nation with the Britains But this amity was of no long continuance for Norway was at too great a distance
an oath taken in Norway and Iseland we read Hialpi mier suo Fryer og Niordur og hin al matke As i.e. So help me Frier and Niordur a Norwegian King Deified for his noble exploits and the almighty Asian i.e. Woden From him the Iselanders call the fourth day of the week Odensdagur and we Wendesday The Nobility of the ancient people of the North were wonderfully ambitious of fetching their pedigree down in a streight line from this Patriarch and God of the Northern Nations Hence possibly it comes that in some Copies of our Anglo-Saxonic Chronicle the Genealogy of our English King Cerdic with several others is run up to one who is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the son of Woden and there the pedegree breaks of As if in so doing they had sufficiently imitated St. Luke's Genealogy of our Saviour unto Adam which was the son of God And hence as may well be conjectured the Islanders do to this day call their Noblemen Godar and Hoffgodar i.e. such as are of the lineage or family of the Gods Besides these two we sometimes read of Freyer as in the Norwegian oath before quoted one of Wodens companions and Friga Wodens wife whence our Friday with several others of less note Arngrim allows 〈…〉 that several Christians came out of Norway into Iseland with Ingulf in the year 874 but that the Isle was then converted to the Christian faith he denies A full and total conversion he says was never attempted till about an hundred years after The first that openly preached the Gospel was one Frideric a Saxon born who came over into this Isle in the year 981 and succeeded so well that within three years after there were several Churches built The Iselandic Chronicle mentions one Thangbrandt another outlandish Bishop who came into Iseland in the year 997. At last in the year 1000 it was agreed on in a general Assembly of the whole Isle That the worship of Heathenish Idols being abandoned they would unanimously embrace the Christian Religion In the year 1056 Isleif an Iselander was consecrated Bishop of the whole Isle and enter'd upon the See of Schalholt the year following It is very observable what is recorded in the Iselandic Chronicle that this Isleif married Dalla the daughter of one Thorwald and by her had three sons The eldest of which named Gysser succeeded his father in the Bishoprick of Schalholt altho he also is said to have married Stenun the daughter of Thorgrin Since that time the inhabitants of Iseland have continued stedfast in the Christian faith Gudbrand Thorlac who entred the Bishoprick of Holen in the year 1571 abolished the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of Rome and introduced the Augustan Confession which to this day is maintained all over the Isle The same Bishop first procured a Printing-house to be set up in Iseland and afterwards caused the Bible and several other godly books to be translated into the Iselandic tongue and printed Christian the third King of Denmark founded two Free-schools in Iseland one at Holen and the other at Skalholt which by the munificence of his successors Frideric the second and Christian the fourth were improved into two considerable Colledges where young men were instructed in the liberal Arts and principles of Religion till they were thought fit for the ministry Of late years many ingenious men and learned Iselanders have been bred up in the University at Copenhagen We have before taken a survey of the mean Cottages or Burrows of the Rusticks in Iseland Cities and we cannot expect that their Citizens should live in much better fashion There are only two Cities in the Isle Holen and Skalholt the one the seat of their Northern the other of their Southern Bishop In both of them the houses are built of wood rarely of stone cover'd with either boards or turf The Cathedral at Holen according to Arngrim's description either is or at least has been a stately Fabrick In his days the Church-porch had on each side five pillars which were fourteen ells high I suppose he means Norwegian ells one of which is about three quarters of a yard English and five in thickness The Quire and Body of the Church were proportionable to the Porch This noble structure was blown down in the year 1584 but magnificently rebuilt at the charge of Frideric II. King of Denmark within four years after Neither of these Cities look any better then one of our ordinary Villages for the houses are not contiguous nor defended by any fortification or rampire Blefkenius tells us how truly I know not of a pleasant plain in the middle of Iseland Judicature where formerly stood an high flaming mountain which by degrees burnt away This plain says he is encompassed with huge rocks which make it inaccessible excepting only in one place and there too you have room for no more then one passenger at once From the tops of two of these rocks fall down two large rivers which with a terrible noise are swallowed up by a whirl-pool in the midst of the plain Hither yearly upon the twenty-ninth day of June repair all such as have any suit at Law or other controversie to be determined At the passage stands a guard of soldiers who admit all in that desire the favour but suffer none to go out without a pass from the Governor As soon as all who have any business are come in the Governor or Lieutenant of the Isle reads his Commission from the King of Denmark That done he gives his charge insisting much upon the good will and kindness which the King his Master and himself bear the Iselanders and advising them all to administer justice without respect of any manner of persons whatever After this he returns to his Tent where in a godly Sermon preach'd to him and the rest of the Assembly the necessity of punishing offenders and vindicating the injur'd is declared As soon as Sermon is ended the twelve chosen Justices whom they call Lochmaders i.e. men of the Law sit down on the ground with each a book of the Iselandic Laws in his hand After the Plaintiff and Defendant have both given in what they have to say they all arise and every man examines privately the verdict of his book in the case proposed Returning they consult awhile of the sentence and then unanimously pronounce it If any considerable doubt arise among them which they themselves cannot easily solve they consult the Lieutenant but will not give him authority or leave to decide the controversie by pronouncing of sentence These twelve Jurymen of whom one always is Foreman have great respect shew'n them as long as these Assizes last They have power to determine all Civil causes and to pronounce condemnation as they think convenient against all Criminals Those that are condemn'd to dye as Adulterers Murderers and notorious Thieves are beheaded but smaller misdemeanors are marked in the forehead with an hot iron This
Otto being deserted on all hands and afterwards dyed miserably at Brunswic in the year 1218. 1212. Frideric II. King of Sicily being by these means advanced to the Empire prov'd a wise valiant and learned Prince in every respect like his Grandfather Frideric Barbarossa before-mention'd He is said to have understood perfectly the German Greek Italian and Turkish tongues and to have been admirably apprehensive at learning all manner of Arts and Sciences He was five several times excommunicated by three Popes but could never be forced to submit Pope Gregory IX was deposed by him and had doubtless lost his head if he had come into his hands alive His continual quarrels with the Popes gave the first occasion of heats and animosities which afterwards burst out into a terrible combustion and flame betwixt the Guelphs and Gibellines whereof the former adher'd to the Pope's interest and the later to the Emperors After he had reign'd thirty-eight years he dyed some say was poyson'd in Italy After his death follow'd an Interregnum of twenty-three years continuance during which time the Empire was govern'd indeed by none but claim'd by these seven following Princes 1. Henry Landtgrave of Hassia and Thuringen who was slain at the siege of Vlm 2. Conrad IV. Frideric the Second's Son who was elected King of the Romans and in the year 1254 after he had pretended to be Emperor for three years and five months was poysoned by his Physitians 4. Manfred 5. William Earl of Holland who was first pronounced King of the Romans by the Pope in opposition to Frideric II. He was slain treacherously by the Frisians 6. Alphonsus King of Castile the Author of the famous Astronomical Tables that still bear his name 7. Richard Earl of Cornwal Brother to our King Henry III. He is supposed to have bought the voices of the Archbishop of Colen and the Elector Palatine of the Rhine who proclaim'd him King of the Romans in the year 1254. But the same men that set him up deposed him afterwards and he was forc'd within six years to return to England where he ended his days 1273. Rodolph Earl of Habsburg after a long and grievous Interregnum was by an unanimous consent of the Electors chosen at Francfurt His election was confirm'd by the Pope but he refused to fetch his Crown from Rome alledging for an excuse that of Horace quia me vestigia terrent Omnia te adversum spectantia nulla retrorsum Whereupon he was Crown'd at Aix la Chapelle and immediately after his Coronation put out several Edicts for the suppressing of Robberies Oppressions and Tumults which the late licentious Anarchy had produced These Statutes and Proclamations he back'd with force of Arms till he had at last reduc'd the Empire to its former peace and tranquillity And 't was no easie matter to effect this since in the single Province of Thuringen he met with no fewer then sixty strong Castles which the Robbers had made almost impregnable He was the first that raised the Austrian Family creating his Son Albert who was afterwards Emperor Arch-Duke of Austria He dyed in the year 1271 and was buried at Spire in the seventy-third year of his age 1292. Adolph Earl of Nassaw was by the interest of the Elector of Mentz declared Emperor contrary to the expectation of most of the German Princes who thought him a Prince no way qualified for so high an advancement He serv'd in person and took pay in the Army of our King Edward I. who was at that time engaged in a war with France This was so highly disgusted by the Elector of Mentz his late promoter who thought it an action highly infamous in an Emperor to make himself mercenary that he prevail'd with the other Electors to depose him and elect in his stead Albert Arch-Duke of Austria Adolph tho not able to manage the Empire was unwilling to part with the power he had once got into his hands and therefore assisted by Otto Duke of Bavaria Rudolph Count Palatine of the Rhine and several of the Imperial Cities he was resolv'd to oppose Albert and his party to the uttermost But all the forces which he or his friends could raise were not sufficient to secure him so that upon the first engagement which happen'd near Worms his whole Army was routed and he himself slain by Duke Albert's own hand after he had reign'd six years and six months The German Historians observe that all the Officers who commanded Albert's Army against the Emperor Adolph came to untimely ends 1298. Albert having thus slain Adolph was Crown'd Emperor at Aix la Chappelle and receiv'd his Crown tho he once refus'd to do it at the hands of Pope Boniface VIII He is said to have been a Prince of quick parts and solid judgment a munificent rewarder of men of great deserts and as severe a punisher of delinquents but withal one that too greedily gap'd after the Territories and Dominions of neighbour Princes He made his Son Rudolph King of Bohemia and endeavour'd tho in vain to bring the Kingdom of Hungary under his own subjection At last when he had reign'd ten years he was treacherously slain by his Nephew and three Ruffians more of his party who for this murder were afterwards imprison'd and executed 1308. Henry Earl of Luxemburg for his great wisdom and valour was elected into the room of Albert. He rul'd the Empire four years and nine months and is reported to have been a Prince of such an even temper that no excess either of prosperity or adversity could move him and so devout in the exercise of religious duties that he would spend whole nights in prayer before a Crucifix and constantly every day receive the Sacrament of the Lords Supper This last piece of devotion cost him his life for he was poyson'd by a Franciscan Minorite with a Consecrated Wafer The Emperor was immediately sensible of the Friar's villany and therefore advised him to withdraw speedily lest he should be apprehended But the Priest neglecting his counsel was seized on first flay'd alive and afterwards put to death After the murder of this Emperor ensued a great famine in most parts of Germany which was so terrible in Bohemia and Poland that in some Families Parents and Children fed upon one another Nay in many Provinces the Malefactors that were in the day time executed for Murder and Robbery were in the night stoln from the Gallows or Gibbet and carried by the half-starved Bores to their Cottages and there eaten up Those that escaped the Gallows abroad and the jaws of hungry friends at home had much ado to secure themselves from the ravenous Wolves which could hardly be kept off with the best weapons the inhabitants were able to provide The German Chronologers have made use of the word Cucullum to bring to their remembrance the remarkable year when this famine first begun for it lasted three years in all whence the Verse Vt lateat nullum tempus famis ecce
them by the Ceremony of the Banner fahnenlehnen nor alienate any parcel of the Crown-lands or revenue of the Empire In short whatever they do is to undergo the censure and approbation of the next Emperor In the late Interregnum upon the death of the Emperor Ferdinand III. there was no small quarrel between the Duke of Bavaria and the Prince Palatine about the Right of Protectorship the former pretending that this Dignity was annex'd to the Office of Chief Sewer which had been transferr'd from the Prince Palatine to himself Whereupon as soon as the Emperor was dead he immediately gives notice to all the neighbouring Princes and States of the Empire of his assuming the Title of Vicar On the contrary the Prince Palatine laid claim to the same Authority and complain'd of Bavaria's encroachment upon his priviledges Each asserted his right in public Remonstrances and printed Pamphlets flew thick on either hand In this juncture most unprejudic'd persons were of opinion that the Palatinate writers had the greatest share of reason on their side and very many were loath to approve of the Duke of Bavaria's proceedings tho unwilling or afraid to appear in public against him At last the quarrel was stop'd tho not finally determin'd by the present Emperor Leopold's succession to his Fathers Throne The Aurea Bulla orders that the Election should be had at Francfurt which is commonly observ'd But however the Ceremony has not been confin'd to any particular place For Henry II. was chosen at Mentz Henry III. at Aix la Chappel Henry V. at Colen Lotharius II. at Mentz and after him Maximilian Rodolph II. and Ferdinand III. receiv'd that honour at Ratisbon But afterwards the Elector of Saxony question'd the Election of Ferdinand I. because 't was at Colen in the year 1530. The whole Ceremony of the Election is perform'd in this method The Elector of Mentz within a month after he has notice given him of the Emperors death signifies the same to his Collegues and summons them to a new Election Immediately upon warning receiv'd or at the day appointed in the Archbishops Letters the Electors repair to Francfurt or send their Ambassadors who have full power to act as their DeputiesFormerly it was a custom for the City to send out a Body of two hundred Horse to meet the Electors and conduct them in at the Gates but this fashion has not of late years been so punctually observ'd During the Election all strangers and foreigners are commanded to withdraw and leave the City That done the Electors proceed to Election which is always had in the Quire of St. Bartholomew's Church After Mass is said they come up to the Altar where they severally take an Oath to Elect the fittest man that stands to be Emperor The Elector of Mentz takes the votes in the order before-mention'd and last of all gives his own voice Every Elector gives his vote under his Hand and Seal and the majority of voices creates the new Emperor If the number of votes should be equal which may easily happen now there are Eight Electors the controversie would be hard to determine since no provision has been made for any such occurrences As soon as the votes are examin'd the Electors return to the High Altar where the Archbishop of Mentz pronounces the Election and tells the Congregation whom they have made choice of for their Emperor The Temporal Electors have power to name themselves tho the Ecclesiastics have no such passive or reflexive voice Yet none of them have so absolute a power of giving any secular man their voices without some restraint For it is necessary that he who is by their votes rais'd to the Imperial Dignity be 1. Of an Illustrious Family because it cannot reasonably be supposed that so many great Princes as are his Subjects would willingly pay homage and yeild obedience to a person of low and mean extraction 2. A Prince of good Estate and large Revenue that his incomes may maintain him without oppressing his Subjects in that splendor which becoes his Imperial Majesty 3. A German lest being a stranger he should transfer the Seat of the Empire to some other place and either wholly deprive Germany of that Prerogative or put it upon a necessity of defending it by force of Arms. Indeed before the Emperor Charles IV. had published the Aurea Bulla it was not necessary that the Emperor should be a natural German and we know many of the ancient Emperors were foreigners but since that time it has become a Law That whoever is admitted into the Imperial Throne be a German at lest by extraction And no other plea could be pretended by Charles and Ferdinand I. since the former was born in the County of Flanders and the later at Medina in Castile And when Francis I. King of France alledg'd that he was a German he did not intend the Electors should believe that Angoulesme was in Germany but that his predecessors were originally Germans Immediately after the Election is over the new chosen Emperor takes upon him the Titles of Cesar and Augustus and if he pleases confers Honours and Priviledges and executes all other acts of Soveraignty If he be prefent he Dines in public and then the Ecclesiastical Electors say Grace and hold the Seals the Elector of Brandenburg gives him water to wash the Elector of Saxony executes the office of Marshal the Prince Palatine presents him the first Dish of Meat and the King of Bohemia the first Glass of Wine If any of the Electors be absent his office is perform'd by his Lieutenant and not by his Ambassador who is only his Deputy in the Election The three Ecclesiastical Electors are suppos'd always to be personally present and therefore have no Lieutenants But the Vicars of the four ancient Secular Electors are the Lords and Counts of Limburg Walpurg Papenheim and Hohenzolleren After the Reign of Charles the Great none of the German Kings would for many ages take upon them the Title of Emperor till they had receiv'd the Crown of the Roman Empire at the Pope's hands and of later years several of them have been very critical in distinguishing between the Titles of Kayser and King of Germany Whence immediately after the ceremony of the Election was finish'd they would stile themselves only Emperors of Rome Elect but actual Kings of Germany Whereupon some Authors tell us that every one of them used to be Crown'd at Aix la Chappel with an iron Crown as King of Germany at Milan with a Silver one as King of Lombardy and at Rome with a Golden one as Emperor What grounds there might be for any such tradition I know not but 't is certain that Charlemagne's Crown which is now a days set on the Emperors head at Aix la Chappel is of pure Gold and the Emperors do not use to seek a Crown at Rome or Milan The Aurea Bulla calls the Crown used at the Emperors Coronation Infula and anciently all the Diadem
Teutonici or the Dutch Knights tho in all likelihood the Order had this name before it was brought into these parts consisting at its first institution chiefly of Germans Being call'd into Prussia say some by the Muscovite or as others sent thither by the Emperor Frideric II. they seated themselves at Marienberg about the year 1340 after a long engagement in a bloody war against the Natives under the thirteenth Great Master of their Order Sigefrid de Feuchtwangen In the year 1450 they were forc'd to submit to Casimir IV. King of Poland and at last the Order was surrender'd by Albert Marquise of Brandenburg the thirty-fifth and last Great Master of the Order to Sigismund King of Poland who thereupon created him Duke of Prussia Such of the Knights as disrelished this action of their Master Albert retir'd into Germany where they chose one Walter Croneberg Master of their Order Afterwards the Title was conferr'd upon Maximilian one of the younger Sons of the Emperor Maximilian II. But the Order never flourish'd but decay'd daily since the days of Albert before-mention'd and is at this day an obscure honour of little or no repute in the world The only Order of Knighthood at this day known in Germany or taken notice of for Knights of the Empire are the geschlagenen Rittern or dubb'd Knights on whom the Emperor confers that honour by touching them lightly upon the shoulder with a naked Sword and saying to each of them Esto Miles Dei Sancti Stephani The Title of Armiger Esquires or Esquire as we and the French use the word is wholly out of use in the Empire Yet in ancient Dutch Records we read of Skiltknaben and Wapeneren both which words have one and the same signification and are properly render'd Armigeri And these had their Title and Dignity conferr'd on them by delivery of a Sword only without girding it on with a blow on the cheek or ear which gave them the liberty of bearing a Sword or other Arms in attendance on a Knight or Ritter geschlagen but not of wearing it girded on as the Knight himself did For it was not lawful formerly for any subject whatever in the Empire to bear Arms excepting such as had the Emperors more especial licence so to do The Gentry in the Empire are express'd by the general name of Edel-lute Gentlemen which as our Gentleman is an universal name for all such as either from the blood of their Ancestors the favour of their Soveraign or their own virtue are raised to an eminency above the multitude Hence Edel-dom and Edel-heit are used to signifie Nobility and Veredelen and Edel-machen to Enoble Some singularly eminent Gentlemen in Francken Schwaben and Rhein-land who are free from Taxes and subject to no other Court but the Emperor's have the Title of die freye vom Adel or die freye Adeliche Reichs Ritterschaft i. e. the free Gentlemen or Ordo Equestris of the Empire Our English Saxons used the word Aedel in the same signification whence in Aelfric's Glossary Generositas is interpreted AEdelborynnesse Noble Birth and generosa is render'd by þ AEðele or a Noble Woman Indeed Aetheling Etheling or Adeling was commonly used by our Saxon Ancestors to denote the Kings eldest Son or Heir apparent to the Crown who afterwards got the Title of Prince of Wales Hence Edgar Etheling so often nam'd in our English Historians had his Surname which Robert of Glocester in his Poem upon King Harold a manuscript Copy of which may be seen in Sir John Cotton's Library explains thus The Gode tryewemen of the Lond wolde aabbe ymade King The kind Eir the young child Edgar Atheling Wo so were next King by kunde me cluped him Atheling Thervore me cluped him so vor by kunde he was King But if we search into the Etymology of the word we shall find that AEðeling is only a patronymic from the primitive AEðel and signifies no more then Nobilis ortu or Generosus i. e. one descended from him that was AEðel or a Nobleman Thus in King Aelfred's Saxon Version of Bede's Ecclesiastical History we read mid eallum AEðelingum his ðeode that is with all the Ethelings of his Nation instead of the Latin Cum cunctis Gentis suae Nobilibus Of the Present State of the German Church with a view of the Power and Dignity of the Archbishops Bishops Abbots and other Ecclesiastical Orders therein contain'd HOW much several of the Provinces and Principalities of the German Empire differ among themselves in points of Religion since the first beginning of the Reformation by Martin Luther we have shew'n before and it cannot be expected that where the Doctrines are so dissonant there should be an Uniformity in Church Discipline The intolerable greatness which the Roman Church had usurp'd in all parts of the Emperor's Dominions was the first thing which render'd it uneasie and therefore 't was no unexpected change when Luther's opinions had prevail'd with so many of the great Princes of the Empire to see Bishoprics converted into secular Principalities and a new form of Church-Government set up instead of Episcopal Dignity which had been so much abused The Archbishops and Bishops of the Roman Church Prelates of the Roman Church who to this day bear rule in such parts of Germany as have not embraced either Luther or Calvin's Doctrine have more power and exercise a greater authority in their several Bishoprics then any other Prelates in Christendom Most of them are great Princes and challenge as absolute a dominion over the Temporality of their Diocesses as any Secular Elector can pretend to over his own Lands and Inheritance Heretofore besides the three Ecclesiastical Electors there were five Archbishops and thirty Bishops that had Seats and Voices in the Assemblies and Diets of the Empire But their number has exceedingly decreased of late since the Archbishoprics of Magdeburg Bremen and Riga together with the Bishoprics of Halberstadt Minden and Werden have been chang'd into Secular Principalities those also of Besanson Verdun Mets and Toul cut off from the Empire and inseparably united to the Territories of Spain and France and lastly those of Valesia Losanna and Chur abolished by the Suisses Insomuch that at present in the Colledge of Princes of the Empire only the Archbishop of Saltzburg besides the Ecclesiastical Electors and about twenty Bishops have Votes By this secularizing three Archbishoprics and six Bishoprics the Protestant Princes some of them at least have lost the opportunities of providing for their younger Brethren in as plentiful a manner as they could have done before the Treaty of Munster For whilst the Archbishopric of Magdeburg was in the hands of the Elector of Saxony that of Bremen in the possession of the King of Denmark and the rest of the Spiritual Dignities which are now cut off from the Church were in the gift of other Princes of the Empire considerable maintenance was provided for many young Dukes and Counts who at this time can
have this City look'd upon as a place of the greatest antiquity of any in Saxony esteeming it the same with Ptolomy's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tho I think the Longitude and Latitude which Ptolomy assigns to that old Town being 29 deg of Long. and 51 deg 20 min. of Lat. will scarce come near this City This large and ancient City was formerly subject to Earls and Marquises of its own and thence we find the inhabitants in and about the City named by the Latin Historians Stadenses Stadingi or Stedingii as a people distinct of themselves and independant upon any of the neighbouring Princes Of these Earls and Marc-Graves the Reader may meet with a Catalogue in Crantzius or Angelius a Werdenhagen In the year 1234 the Stadenses were the occasion of a bloody and terrible war in the Archbishopric of Bremen which happening in the very infancy of Christianity in these parts had like to have stifled Religion in its Cradle This bloodshed was occasion'd by a revolt of the Citizens of Stade from their obedience to the See of Bremen Whereupon the Clergy of that City being resolv'd to keep by a strong arm what their enemies had endeavour'd to wrest from them took up arms and engaged several of their neighbours in the broil But this expedient did not meet with the expected success having after a long quarrel only weaken'd both parties and in no wise vindicated the Archbishop's Title At last a volley of curses and excommunications from the Bishop of Rome frighted the Citizens of Stade into submission and obliged them to yield obedience as formerly to the Archbishop's of Bremen Hereupon Philip Duke of Schwaben and Earl of Stade annex'd the whole County to the Archbishopric reserving only to himself the City with its ancient priviledges and immunities In which state it continued till in the Civil wars of Germany it fell into the hands of the Swedes and was confirm'd to that Crown as a part of the Dukedom of Bremen by the Treaty of Munster And possibly we may have some reason to call this the Metropolis of the whole Country which is now subject to the King of Sweden as Duke of Bremen since the City of Bremen it self was exemted from the Homage payable to that Monarch from the Archbishopric by vertue of that Treaty and is to this day a free Imperial City immediately subject to the Emperor and to him only Notwithstanding the vast Rampires and Bulwarks wherewith this City is fortified and the natural strength of the place it was besieg'd and taken in one day April 13 1645 by the Swedish General Count Coningsmark who having at the first assault taken the Fortress on the mouth of the Zwinge betwixt the City and the Elb press'd forward with his whole Army to the Gates of Stade and forc'd his way into the City Whereupon the Burgers were glad to surrender up the Castle and other strong Forts upon any conditions the Conqueror was pleas'd to propose The Town is at present in a flourishing condition being seated in a wholesom Air and a pleasant rich Country The Burgers who have the character of the most civil and courteous people in this part of the Empire have commonly Orchards and Gardens of pleasure without the walls of the City well stockt with all manner of Fruits and Flowers Their Haven is large and commodious and Ships of larger carriage and burthen come up to Stade then are able to reach Hamburg The Market-place Rahthauss or Town-Hall Exchange and several of their Churches are Buildings worthy a Traveller's sight Many and great have been the priviledges by several Emperors granted to this City It was always reckon'd a Sanctuary for fugitives insomuch that all manner of malefactors whether Germans or Foreigners that could reach Stade before vengeance overtook them were sure to find shelter here and be secure from the hand of justice Besides the priviledg of coining money authority to hunt in the neighbouring Forests and the like prerogatives challeng'd by all Imperial Cities they have power to demand a certain Toll or Custom of every Merchant-man that passes up the Elb to Hamburg every such Vessel being oblig'd to strike anchor at the mouth of the Zwinge and there to tarry till dismiss'd by the Masters of the Custom-House These pretensions occasion'd not many years ago a quarrel between the Citizens of Stade and the Hamburgers the later pretending that 't was an infringement of their prerogative who were absolute Masters of the Elb below their own City for Stade to lay claim to any such priviledg But the controversie soon after was amicably compos'd and each City has since peaceably enjoy'd its own peculiar Regality This ancient Hans-Town being one of the first that was enroll'd into that noble society was once reduc'd to a mean and beggarly condition by the overgrown trade and riches of the Hamburgers insomuch that it was forc'd to sell almost for bread the public stock not amounting to ninety pounds sterling a year to these upstart thriving Merchants its ancient priviledges and put it self under the protection of the Archbishops of Bremen But in this low condition it did not long continue before the English Merchants upon some affront the Hamburgers had offer'd them remov'd their commerce to Stade By which means this City in a short time recover'd its former grandeur and grew on a sudden rich and populous VI. BREMER-VERDEN A wall'd Town Bremer-Verden on the road betwixt Bremen and Stade distant from the later about twelve English miles and from the former near twenty-eight It was first built by Luder Duke of Saxony and afterwards made a Palace for the Archbishops of Bremen who had here their usual residence In the Castle which commands a great part of the adjacent plain the Swedes have commonly a strong Garrison The Town would otherwise be of little note not having the convenience of any trade except what is brought by the resort of passengers that travel this way to Bremen or Stade THE DUKEDOM OF LUNENBURG THE Dukedom of Luneburg Bounds or Lunenburg is bounded on the South with the Dukedom of Brunswic on the South-East with Magdeburg on the East with Brandenburg on the North with Lauwenburg and Holstein on the North-West with Bremen and on the West with some part of Westphalia The Metropolis which gives name to the whole Dukedom is thought by some to have had its name from the Moon Lunus or Luna worshipp'd by the ancient Idolatrous Inhabitants of this Land Others derive the word from the name of the River Elmena or Ilmenow on which the City of Luneburg is seated which they tell us was formerly call'd Luno from Isis the Egyptian Goddess who coming into Germany to visit her Kinsman Gambrivius who was in those days Lord of that part of the Country where Hamburg now stands was here Deified and worshipp'd under the Image of an Half-Moon Several of the Saxon Chronologers report that this Idol was first brought hither by
and Albert Dukes of Mecklenburg two Cousin Germans in the year 1419. The Corporation of the City bore it seems half the charges of the foundation and therefore 't was then ordered by a Decree still in force that half of the Professors should be chosen by the Dukes of Mecklenburg and the other half by the Burgomasters and Radtshern of the Town The Rector Magnificus as they are pleased to intitle the chief Magistrate of their University is chosen every half year as in most other German Universities by turns out of the two Companies of Professors He has power to call Convocations and appoint times for meeting of the other Professors on all extraordinary occasions as collecting or disbursing any part of their common-Treasure or the like In matters of greater weight and moment then are usually debated he has an Assistant whom they call Promotor chosen out of the Seniors of the eighteen Professors The University was at first stocked with Professors from Leipsic and Erfurt who all of them received their Licences to teach and read in publick together with a Charter of priviledges and body of Statutes from Pope Martin V. The Bishop of Swerin is their perpetual Chancellor who commonly deputes one of the Senior Professors his Vice-Chancellor at any public Promotion or taking of Degrees when he himself is not at leisure to give a personal attendance Amongst many other learned men that have been bred in this University Albert Crantzius John Posselius and Nathan Chytraeus three famous Historians have got themselves and the place of their education great credit by their elaborate writings The Citizens are subject to a kind of mixt government made up of Aristocracy and Democracy The Democratical part consists of twenty four Aldermen chosen out of the Nobility Scholars and rich Merchants of the Town whereof four are Burgomasters two Chamberlains two Stewards for the River and two Judges The Chamberlains collect and distribute all manner of Assesments for the reparations of public buildings in and about the City The two Stewards are overseers of the Haven at Warnemund and look to the cleansing of the Channel from that Port up to the City The Judges determine and pass sentence in all causes Civil and Criminal These twenty four Magistrates of the upper House decide all ordinary Controversies and have the sole power of coining money chusing Officers c. But besides them there are in the Town a hundred more Common-Councilmen elected out of the inferior Tradesmen of the Town who are summon'd to appear and give their opinions upon debate of any matter of more then ordinary concernment to the common welfare Though the River Warna be navigable up to the Walls of the City of Rostock yet it is not deep enough to carry Ships of the largest bulk but such Vessels are forced to take harbour at Warnemund so called because situate on the mouth of the River a small Town about seven English miles distant from Rostock Since the Treaty of Munster the Swedes built a Fort on the mouth of this River by the strength of which and a good Garison always kept in it they exacted a toll or custom of all Merchantmen that pass'd this way from or towards Rostock to the great decay of trade in this City and impoverishing of its inhabitants This Castle was in the late wars between the Northern Crowns demolished and thereby a stop put to the Swedish encroachments Whereupon the Ministers for the Dukes of Mecklenburg in the last general Treaty at Nimeguen were very diligent in soliciting the Mediators for a redress of this grievance which they represented as a violation of an express Article in the Westphalian Treaty With Memorials and Petitions to this purpose our English Mediatours by the Duke of Gustrow's Minister and the Popes Nuncio on the other hand by the Duke of Swerin's were continually wearied in the latter end of the year 1678 and beginning of 1679. Their importunity prevailed so far at last as to have the following clause inserted into the first Proposal of a Treaty betwixt the Emperor and King of Sweden Omni casu salva sint Dominis Ducibus Mecklenburgicis sine turbatione competentia jura sublatum maneat vectigal seu telonium Warnemundense cum omnimoda aliarum quae ibi motae sunt pretensionum abolitione portus Warnmundensis relinquatur in pristina qua nunc gaudet commerciorum libertate But the Swedish Plenipotentaries in all their conferences with the Imperial Ambassadours upon this Subject constantly denied that they had instructions to meddle with it and the Imperialists were willing to omit the insertion of this point rather then delay the signing of the other Articles till new Instructions could be procured from the Swedish Court So that all the satisfaction the Princes of Mecklenburg had was a compliment from the Emperour 's Plempotentiaries shewing the great care their Master would be always ready to take in asserting their Rights and Priviledges as well as those of any other member of the German Empire against the encroachments of any Foreign Enemy whatever and a Certificate under their hands that their Ministers had used all imaginable diligence in the discharge of their duty Neque defuerunt say they durante hoc congressu officio suo praedictorum Dominorum Ducum i. e. Mecklenburgicorum Ablegati Dominus Antonius Bessel Dominus Joannes Reuter sed omnes partes impleverunt quae a Ministrorum fide dexteritate vigilantia expectari possunt In quorum omnium fidem Legatio Caesarea praesentes hasce a se subscriptas sigillis suis munivit Dabantur Neomagi duodecima Februarii Anno 1679. IV. SWERIN Swerin Situate at about fifty English miles distance from Rostock upon a great Lake which from the name of this City is usually by the Neighbourhood called Der Swerinsche See It was built and fortfied by Henry surnamed the Lion Duke of Saxony who soon after its first foundation which is said to have been in the year 1163. bestowed this City with all the Territories and Lordships thereunto belonging upon Guntzel or Gunceline one of the Generals in his Army whom he made Earl of Swerin His son Henry who succeeded his father in the Earldom was a great favourite of the Emperour Otho IV and well deserved all the honour his master could confer on him He took Woldemar King of Denmark prisoner in his own Kingdom brought him bound into Saxony in triumph and kept him in close custody in the Castle at Danneberg till his Subjects had almost reduced themselves to beggary by paying ransome The last Earl of this Family was Otho who died in the year 1355. His only daughter and child Richardis was married to Albrecht Duke of Mecklenburg for which reason the Earldom of Swerin after Otho's death was annexed to the Dukedom of Mecklenburg The Bishoprick of Swerin was removed from Mecklenburg to this City The first Bishop of this Diocess was one Johannes Scotus who in the fourth year of his Prelacy A.
D. 1066 was martyred by the Wendish Apostates in these parts After his cruel and inhumane death for his murderers are reported to have cut of his hands and feet and in that miserable condition to have left him alive for some days the Seat was vacant for 83 or 84 years until Eberhard was sent hither by the Emperour Conrad III in the year 1260. This mans successour Bruno Berno or Benno was removed from Mecklenburg to Swerin when Henry the Lion by the permission of the Emperor Frederick the First had built a new Cathedral and endowed it with considerable revenues Some of the Mecklenburgish Historians report that much about the time of the foundation of this new Cathedral the said Duke Henry caused the Infidel Mecklenburgers to be driven by thousands into the Swerin-Sea at a place not far from Fichel which from so remarkable a passage to this day retains the name of Die Dope or the Font where they were all baptized by Bishop Benno From this Benno there continued an uninterrupted succession of Bishops of Swerin who nevertheless kept their usual residence at Butzow a Fort and considerable Town not far from Gustrow until in the Treaty of Munster the Bishoprick was converted into a Temporal Principality and given up to Adolph Frideric Duke of Mecklenburg as before hath been said In this City is kept the Residence of Christian-Lewis Duke of Mecklenburg Swerin who was born the first of December 1623 and by being educated in France and under the protection of Romanists was brought up in the faith of the Church of Rome which he still professes He married at first his Cousin German Christina-Margaret daughter of John Albert Duke of Mecklenburg and widow of Francis Albert Duke of Saxen-Lawenburg But having upon some discontent got himself divorced from her he was the second time married in France A. D. 1653 to Elizabeth de Montmorency widow of Gaspard de Coligny Duke of Chastillon and Sister to Francis-Henry de Montmorency Duke of Luxemburg Piney V. GUSTROW A well fortified Town Gustrow about eighteen or twenty English miles distant from Rostock but remarkable for little or nothing save the residence of Gustave-Adolph Duke of Mecklenburg-Gustrow only son of John Albert Duke of Mecklenburg and Eleonor-Mary Princess of Anhalt He was born the six and twentieth of February A. D. 1633 and bred up a Lutheran of which perswasion he still continues a zealous assertor being a Prince of as great Learning as Gallantry and equally able to maintain his Religion in the Schools and Field THE DUKEDOM OF POMEREN IT matters not much whether we fetch the word Pomeren out of the High-Dutch or Slavonian Language since Pomeer in the former signifies the same thing as Pomercze in the latter i. e. A Country situate upon the Sea-shore such as the Dukedom of Pomeren is known to be That the Slavonian tongue was once commonly spoken in this Country appears from the termination of several names of great Towns in this Dukedom as Bugslaw Wratislaw Witslaw c. And Historians will inform us that the whole land was many years subject to the Princes of Poland and first annexed to the Empire of Germany by the Emperor Frideric Barbarossa The whole Tract of Land which was antiently comprised under the general name of Pomeren or Pomerland was of a much larger extent then the present Dukedom 〈◊〉 taking in Eastward all Casubia and Pomerellia But afterwards this vast Countrey was by the Princes of Back-Pomerland for by this name 't was antiently distinguished from the present Dukedom of Pomeren which in those days was called Fore-Pomerland was given up into the hands of the Princes of Poland in whose possession it has ever since continued Towards the South a great part of the Marquisate of Brandenburg was formerly subject to the Dukes of Pomeren For first in the Vcker Marck not only Prentzlow Angermund Aderberg Schweet and Vierraden but also Stargard and Friedland were both subject to that Duke until the whole Vcker-Marck was given to John I Elector of Brandenburg by Barminus I Duke of Pomeren for a portion with his Daughter And tho Prentzlow with the adjoyning Territories was afterwards wrested out of the hands of the Brandenburgers yet they could not long keep their hold but were forced to resign back their Conquests The Mecklenburgers made themselves masters of Friedland and having once taken possession could never be beaten out Again on the other side of the Oder the greatest share of the New-Marck was under the Duke of Pomeren's Dominion as part of the Dukedom of Stetin Westward Pomeren reached as far as the Warna and Rostock was almost the outmost bounds of the Dukedom of Mecklenburg Lastly the Territories of the Dukes of Pomeren reached much farther Northwards into the Baltic Sea which by degrees swallowed up a good part of their Dominions The Isle of Rugen as we shall have occasion to shew anon is thought to be scarce half so large as it was formerly and some whole Islands in the Baltic are at this day covered with the Waves which antient Historians mention as habitable Countreys So that Pomeren though at this day only a small Dukedom nay indeed no more then an inconsiderable part of the Marquisate of Brandenburg yet might antiently have passed for a Kingdom and its Dukes have vyed Territories with most of the great Monarchs of Europe At present the Countrey which bears the name of the Dukedom of Pomeren is a long and narrow tract of Land Division extending it self from East to West along the Baltic Shore which is usually divided into the Provinces of Stetin and Wolgast and the Bishopric of Cosslin In the Province of Stetin are reckoned the Cities of Old Stetin Stargard Stolpe Greiffenberg Treptow upon the Rega Rugenwald Pyritz Schlawe Golnow Gartz Wollin Camin Belgarten New Stetin Sam Zanew and Pohlitz together with the forts of Sazigk Zachan Jacobs-hagen Fridrichwald c. To which were fomerly added the Lordships of Lauenburg and Butou both which upon the death of Bugislaus the last Duke of Pomeren were annexed to the Crown of Poland The Province of Wolgast contains in it the Cities of Stralsund Gripswald Anklam Demin Pasewalk Greiffenhagen Wolgast Barth Trubsees Grimmon Damgarten Vckermvnd Loytz Gutzkow Franckenburg Richtenberg Lassen and New Warp with the forts of Weissen Klempenau Lindenberg and Torgelou Within the compass of the same Province are usually comprised the Isles of Rugen Vsedom and some others upon these Coasts There are every where almost large and navigable Rivers in Pomeren Rivers and Lakes by the advantage of which the Inhabitants are not only enabled to export the Commodities of their own Countrey and furnish themselves with the fruits and good things of their Neighbours but also have a great convenience of fortifying their Cities and securing them against the Incursions of any foreign Enemy Such as these are 1. The Rekenitz which separates this Countrey from the Dukedom of Mecklenburg making a kind
Tract in Latin containing its description and vertues The Oder is the chief of all the Rivers in Silesia Rivers It springs near the Town Oder not far from Teschen on the borders of Moravia and passes by Ratibor Cossel Oppelen Brieg Brieslaw Glogaw Beuthen and Crossen with some more Cities of less note before it leaves this Dukedom Other remarkable Rivers are the Bober Neisse Ohla and Queiss Besides these 't is the honour of Silesia that the Vistula the best River in Poland and the Elb spring out of its mountains There are also in this Country good store of Ponds and Lakes which yeild plenty of all manner of fresh water fish especially Lampreys which are caught in prodigious quantities in the Neisslish Sea and some other waters Other Commodities of the Land are Madder â—â—moâ—â—ies Flax sweet Cane or Galengal Wine especially in the Dukedoms of Sagan and Crossen Silver Copper Lead Iron and Chalk They have plenty of Salt-peter and some good Salt tho not so much as to be sufficient for their own use so that daily great quantities of this Commodity are brought in from Poland and other neighbouring Countries They have all the sorts of wild and tame Beasts that any other part of the German Empire affords Butter Cheese particularly a kind of pitiful stuff made of Ewe's milk Bacon Honey c. But the greatest trading Commodities they have are Wool and Flax. Silesia has bred several good Scholars and brisk Wits â—â—abiâ—â—ts tho the ordinary Rustics are look'd upon as a people of a shallow understanding and small sence They are commonly in way of derision stil'd by their neighbour Nations Eselsfresser or Ass-Eaters The occasion of which nick-name some say was this A blunt Country Rustic travelling from near Breslaw into the Dukedom of Crossen ' spy'd in a field an Ass feeding which the poor fellow having never before seen the like Creature mistook unhappily for an overgrown Hare Whereupon discharging his Blunderbuss he shot the strange beast and brought it home to his friends and acquaintance who being a pack of Bumpkins of no longer heads then himself roasted and eat up the outlandish Puss This is the relation which the common people of Silesia give of their Title Another story is that the Miners at Reichenstein not far from Glatz having discover'd a vein of Gold-Ore which they nam'd der guldener Esel lay at it continually being resolv'd that no strangers or foreigners should share with them in the Treasure And hence they got the name of Ass-eaters from stuffing their purses and not their carcases But this later narrative may possibly have been contriv'd by some of the Silesian Wits who by this means were in hopes to wear off the disgrace and ignominy of the former Some of them like the Bores of Italy and Bohemia have a custom of reckoning the hours of the day from the Snnsetting but few of the Nobility observe that method The Lieutenantship of Silesia was for some time committed to Matthias Corvinus King of Hungary but afterwards was conferr'd upon the Bishops of Breslaw until the Emperor Rudolf II. decreed that this charge should be committed to some of the Temporal Princes of that Nation who were to be nominated as well as the subordinate Lieutenants of the several petty Dukedoms or Counties by the Council Chamber at Prague to whom was also committed at the the same time the supreme inspection into all Law-Cases and the different administration of Justice in all Courts of Judicature in each particular Province Christianity was first planted in Poland and at the same time in Silesia Religion which was then a part of that great Dukedom about the later end of the ninth and beginning of the tenth Century In the infancy of Religion in these parts the Polanders and Silesians were wont to assemble themselves in Woods and other desert places of the Land for fear of laying themselves too open to the cruelty of their Magistrates who were men of another perswasion But at last Christianity was admitted to Court for Mieceslaus Duke of Poland having married Drambronica Daughter of Boleslaus Duke of Bohemia a Christian was himself baptized at Gnesna in the year 965. Whereupon he caused nine Bishopricks to be erected in his Dominions amongst which one was founded at Schmogra in Silesia which was afterwards removed to Bitschen and at length fix'd at Breslaw Soon after the Reformation begun by Luther the Augsburg Confession was brought hither and at last confirm'd by the Emperor Rudolph II. in the year 1609. But Ferdinand II. a bloody persecutor of the Protestants repeal'd that Charter allowing the public profession of the Lutheran Religion to the Citizens of Breslaw and some few Towns more and that too with several limitations and restrictions However that Emperor was sensible before his death how vain 't was to endeavour the extirpation of Protestants and the whole Empire some years after groaned under the dismal effects of his misguided zeal for the Church of Rome The Silesians are at this day generally Lutherans only some few of the Nobility with their Dependants adhere still to the Superstitions and Fopperies of the Romanists We have hitherto given the Reader a general account of the vast Dukedom of Silesia and proceed in the next place to a more particular survey of the several petty Provinces which make up this large Territory beginning with I. The Dukedom of CROSSEN IN the time that the Silesian Princes were Dukedom by the subtilty of John King of Bohemia set at variance and enmity amongst themselves of which stratagem we have already taken notice this Dukedom was first separated from the other parts of the Great Duke of Silesia's Dominions For in the year 1272 the City of Crossen was pawn'd to the Archbishop of Magdeburg but redeem'd within two years after by Henry Duke of Breslaw Four years after this the Citizens of Breslaw pawn'd it a second time to John Marquise of Brandenburg for four thousand Crowns towards the ransom of their Duke but with this proviso that the Marquise should not give assistance to Boleslaus Duke of Lignitz in his wars against their City Not long after Crossen was again redeem'd out of the Marquise's hands But John the Great commonly known by the name of Cicero Germanicus got possession of it a second time in lieu of fifty thousand ducats owing him for his wife's portion Again John Duke of Sagan deliver'd up this Dukedom into the hands of John the third Elector of Brandenburg with the consent of Vladislaus King of Hungary and Bohemia in the year 1391. Lastly Joachim II. and his Brother John Marquises of Brandenburg had the sole and entire possession of this Dukedom granted them by the Emperor Ferdinand the first King of Bohemia Since which time the Electors have always enjoy'd it and stiled themselves Dukes of Crossen in Silesia Crossen City in the language of some of the Natives of this Country signifies the outmost seam or selvidge
Moravia has written a particular Treatise entituled Historia Lapidum Gemmarum Bohemiae to which we refer the Reader for a further account of these Rarities Jaspers and Saphires they tell us are found near the source of the Elb in the mountains before mention'd call'd by the Bohemians Krakonosse Goldastus thinks the Hermiones were the ancient inhabitants of this Country Ancient Inhabitants a branch whereof he makes the Hermunduri who at first dwelt among the Riphaean mountains but afterwards descended lower These people were driven out of the Land by the Boii who made an inroad into this Country under the command of their General Sigovesus Nephew to Ambigatus an ancient King of the Celts Micraelius a learned Pomeranish Historiographer believes these men were not a branch of the Galli Senones as most modern Antiquaries imagine but rather of the Semnones the old inhabitants of Pomeren This people whensoever they came having about the year 600 setled themselves in these parts extirpated the Nation of the Hermiones so far as to call the Land after their own names Boien heimat or the dwelling-place of the Boii which was in time corrupted into the modern German name Boheim or Boheimb About the birth of our Saviour the Marcomanni or ancient Moravians rush'd in upon the Boii and so far over-power'd them as to make them quit their quarters and seek out a new habitation which they nam'd Boioaria and is now call'd Bavaria However they were not so totally routed but that a great many of them kept their old station and mix'd themselves with their Conquerors as no question vast numbers of the Hermiones and Hermunduri had done with them before The modern Bohemians call their Country Czechowe and themselves Czechowsky and these words the Hungarians and new Greeks make use of being utter strangers to the German names of Boheimb and Bohmische Those amongst them that do allow of this latter name derive it from Boy signifying in their language War or Buch that is God and Muz i. e. Man Intimating that they are a valiant and pious people See the like fancy in the derivations of the words Teutcsch and German p. 5 and 6. Answerable to this Etymology of their name are the manners of the present inhabitants of this Kingdom Manners if we may give credit to their own Historians and some late Travellers who have for some time convers'd with them and had the opportunity of observing their humours They are represented to be men of great Hospitality and Courage faithful observers of their promises and contracts They are exceedingly given to ape the manners and fashions of Foreigners according to the true character long since given of them Eosdem habet cum simia Mores ferox Bohemia Quae facta viderit facit Cultusque priscos abjicit And therefore 't was an ingenuous fancy of the Painter who having drawn the inhabitants of most Countries in Europe in their proper Habits pictur'd a Bohemian naked with a web of Cloth at his feet and all other requisites for the making up of a Suit Intimating that he could not tell what certain fashion to make his Clothes on but left it to himself to make them after the next new mode he should fancy That small handful of men that Zechus the Slavonian Commander brought into Bohemia 〈◊〉 some time for Authors cannot agree upon the year nor age in the fourth fifth or sixth Century from whom the modern Bohemians love to derive their pedigree were a company of poor and honest people folk that had nothing themselves and wanted the knavery to rob those that had Now as long as they continued in this state of innocence they had no need of Magistrates nor Laws but liv'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a sociable community and had their little All equally distributed among them In this condition they remain'd for some years after Zechus's death till the Moravians and Pannonians disturbed their quiet and taught them the first rudiments of Villany As soon as they were once initiated in wickedness they were forc'd to take new measures and to think of constituting some chief Magistrate to punish offenders Whereupon they pitch'd upon one Crocus an old Gentleman of a something longer head as 't was fancied then the rest of his neighbours to be their Governor They had not yet any written Laws amongst them but their Judg for so Crocus and some of his Successors are stiled by the Bohemian writers was to determine all controversies by the known Customs of the Land In extraordinary cases which would not easily be decided by this sort of Common Law there sat on the Bench with the Judg for fear of arbitrary and illegal proceedings if one man should be invested with the sole power of pronouncing sentence a certain number of Senators or Aldermen who had definitive Votes as well as himself With this kind of Pretorian Authority 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Justice was administred by Crocus his Son of the same name and his Grand-daughter Libussa until Primislaus whom Libussa had married took upon him a more absolute command and got the Title of Duke or Commander in chief This man was as Florus says of Lucins Quinctius Dictator ab arato a poor Country-Farmer whom Libussa advanced out of the dirt to her own bed and therefore like the foremention'd Roman General knew better how to keep the headstrong Bohemians like so many Oxen under the yoke Thus was the Land govern'd by the children and successors of Primislaus and Libussa about four hundred and fifty years until the Emperor Henry IV. having call'd a General Diet of the Estates of the Empire at Mentz created Wratislaus Duke of Bohemia King of the same Nation by settling with the Pope's permission a Crown of Gold upon his head This was done in the year 1082 tho some will have it 1072. From that time forward the Emperors of Germany always lay claim to the Right of Investing the Kings of Bohemia as their Vassals and made it their business to perswade the poor people of that Kingdom to rebel against any Monarch tho never so duly Elected into the Throne who had not receiv'd the Regalia as they call them or Badges of Majesty at the Emperor's hands So that Frideric V. Grandfather to the present Elector Palatine of the Rhine and Father to our Prince Rupert was never like quietly to enjoy the Crown of Bohemia however just his pretensions to it might be so long as the Emperor Ferdinand his Competitor refus'd to confirm him Most of the Catalogues of the Kings of Bohemia are so contradictory one to another 〈◊〉 that 't will be a difficult task to pick out of them a true Register of the names of these Princes The best account I know of which has been given of them is the ingenious Paul Stransky's in his Respublica Bojema printed at Leyden 1643. The present King is Leopold I. Emperor of Germany whose character must be reserv'd for another place The
Suedes At the Treaty 1616 of Stolbow the Grand Tzar quitted the title of this Country to the King of Sweden Vodska or Votska thirty leagues North of Novogorod Vodska upon its left hand is the strong Castle of Ivanogorod surrender'd to the Swedes by the same Treaty as well as the Towns Jamagrod and Augdow and the Castles Coporia Noteburg and Kexholm They say that all the beasts that are brought into this Province turn white The inhabitants have a language proper to themselves Woskopitin is by some Authors placed between Kexholm and Noteburg Woskopitin a large and fruitful Province both for Corn and Cattle but so pester'd with Lakes and Marshes that it is very little frequented and the name scarce known Bieleiezioro Bieleiozioro situated upon a Lake of the same name and signification i.e. the White Lake which Lake is thirteen Leagues long and as many broad and furnishes only one River call'd Sosna which falls into the Wolga In this Lake is a Castle both for natural and artisicial strength accounted impregnable whither in times of danger the Princes have sent their treasure and themselves also retired The whole Province is full of Woods and Lakes that except when they are hard frozen it is not easily passable Near this Lake is another small Lake that produceth Sulphur I rather suppose Naphtha or Petroleum swimming like froth or oyl upon the water This is said to be first possessed by Sinaus Varegus whose brother Truvor setled in Pskouvia and Runiz in Novogardia These three are by the Russes look'd upon as the Founders of their Nation Vologda is the only City in all the Grand Tzars dominions that is fortified with a stone-wall Vologda and for its strength the Emperor is wont in times of danger to secure here part of his treasure It is as the rest of those Westerly and Northerly Provinces much encumbred with Woods and Marshes many of which are except in Winter utterly unpassable It is situated upon the River Waga which falls into the Dwina and it together with all the Provinces mention'd since Dwina belonged to the Dutchy of Novogorod Novogorod call'd Weliki or the Great Novogorod to distinguish it from others of that name The Dutch call it Nieugarten in 58 deg 23 min. situated upon the River Volgda not Volga or Volchou famous for its Bremes a little below the Lake Ilmin Whilst it was governed by its own Prince it was in so great power fame and wealth by reason of the vast commerce of several Nations there established that it was proverbially spoken Who can do any thing against God and Great Novogorod The reason of this trading was the convenience of the River which being navigable from the very Spring and the Country abounding in Wheat Flax Hemp Honey Wax and Leather which is better dressed here than in any other place invited hither so many Merchants from all the Northern Countries and those upon the Baltick Sea that it was the greatest City of all the North for trade and wealth The first diminution of it was from Vitold Duke of Lithvania who 1427 obliged the City to compound for their peace at a great rate But Ivan Vasili Grotsdin 1477 forced them to receive a Governour from him but that not satisfying of him he went thither in person pretending I know not what devotion and by the help of the Bishop being admitted into the City with his Army he pillag'd it carrying away three hundred Carts loaden with Jewels Gold and Silver besides many more filled with rich stuffs and sumptuous moveables all which he sent to Moscow and transported many of the inhabitants into other places and sent Muscovites to inhabit in their steads But their greatest calamity was from Ivan Vasilowich in 1569 who upon a suspition of their endeavouring to revolt came hither with his army slew drowned and trampled to death a vast number of people presently after this follow'd a great plague which brought so great a famine that they eat one another the Tzar on this occasion pretending to punish their inhumanity cut to pieces the greatest part of the remaining inhabitants His barbarous cruelties here acted are not sitting to be repeated It was in 1611 taken by the Swedes by storm but at the great Treaty between the two Crowns of Russia and Sweden it was agreed to be redeliver'd to the Russes and in their hands it hath continued ever since On the other side the water is a strong Castle built of stone join'd to the City by a large Bridge wherein lives the Weywod or Governor and the Metropolitan by which two all the affairs Ecclesiastical Civil and Military in all that Province are governed The Town is encompass'd with a Rampart of timber and earth and hath a Castle in the midst reasonably well fortified There are about an hundred Monasteries whereof that of St. Antony is the chiefest Churches and Chappels which have their Steeples and Towers cover'd with Copper gilded the Cathedral Church is that of St. Sophia In the territory belonging to this City Brunitza Sedrowa and Stara-Russa are Brunitza Sedrowa and Stara-Russa which the Baron of Herberstein calls Russ and saith it gave name to all the Russes Near that Town is a salt River which the inhabitants have formed into a Lake and with Conduits draw the salt-water to their houses where they boil the Salt with which and other commodities they drive a great trade into Polotskow a Province of Poland The Russes say that near to Novogorod was the famous battel of Whips mention'd by Justin l. 2. and many other Authors wherewith the Masters returning victorious after some years wars conquer'd their Slaves who in the long time of their absence had seized upon their estates and wives which is the reason why the Novogorod-money had formerly on one side an Horse-man shaking his whip Bielski is a Province between Novogorod and Smolensko Bielski having its principal City and Castle called Biela Bielha or Bielow situated on the River Osca This had heretofore a Prince of its own subject to the descendents of Jagellan Duke of Litvania till Basilius Prince of Bielski fell off to the Grand Tzar and agreed to pay him tribute it now augments the number of his Titles As doth also that of Rischow Rischow which hath also a Castle and City of that name it had also formerly a Prince of its own but now is a member of the Russ-Empire The Country is full of Forrests and Lakes particularly here is that great Forrest of Wolchonisky wherein arise the Volga the Dnieper the Dwina and the Lowat all great Rivers Near to this are Woloizk famous for its white Hares and the Princes frequent hunting there Wyelikyeluki a large City with a good Castle And Toropyecz a large Town also and a Castle all which came to the Crown of Russia by surrender of their proper Lords T wer is near to the foresaid 〈…〉 North-West from Moskow The capital Town
our Saviours birth if any one denied lodging three times to Strangers that King sent to set fire on the houses of such Offenders and burn them down to the ground This freedom of entertainment sometimes causing dammages and inconveniences to private Persons A. D. 1285 Magnus Ladulaus then King put forth a Decree that no one should think himself obliged as they perhaps by some natural dictate did think themselves to be to afford Lodging Victuals and Horses to Strangers but might demand Money for what they afforded them which some of the more Southern People more accustomed to Strangers at this day do exact though among the more Northern the ancient custom does still prevail Their Cloths anciently as those of the Laplanders at present Their Habit. were as may be gathered out of Claudian and Jornandes ordinarily made of Skins of Wild-beasts and called Mudd the black being in most request and used by the better sort At present not only the Gentry but the Common People use Habits equal to those of other Countries but strive to outgo one another in fineness and costliness In the time of Gustavus the first there was such irregularity of Habits among the people the Courtiers especially that the Dalecarli petition'd him that all forreign Modes and Fashions might be left off in his Court and forbid to be used in his Kingdom but that King perhaps seeing as great advantage by it in respect of Trade as disadvantage any other way put the Petitioners off with a complement The Common People have their Apparel made of course woollen-cloth the Nobility and Gentry have diversity of Garbes according as they are A-la-mode in France Their Drinks Their Drinks before the use of Wine amongst them were water mixt with Honey called Miod or Mead and Ale or Beer which latter was only drunk at their publick Feasts thence called Ol i. e. Feasts where they had the liberty to drink Ale The Cups which they used to drink in were anciently made of the Horn of a beast called Vrus but at present are of Copper Brass and among the richer sort of the Commonalty ordinarily of Silver Healths to their King their Friends c. they for the greater Honour always drink standing and count it a great disrespect if the whole Company will not pledg them insomuch that one complained to Gustavus the Great of his Companion who would not drink the Kings Health in as many Cups as he had done who instead of being rewarded as he supposed he should have been was severely reproved by that King As an Attendant to their drinking Tobacco is very much in use amongst them which within these fifty years was altogether unknown to this Country In their Diet they are sparing and abstemious Their Diet. the better sort have their bread made of Corn which though there be sufficient in the Country to serve all the Inhabitants yet the poorer sort very frequently and in time of scarcity always make use of a kind of Bread made of the bark of Firr or Pine Tree mingled with Chaff and made up with pure water which is the chief reason why the Swedish Souldiers can endure a Seige or any Extremities of war much better then any of other Nations Anciently at their Banquets they had Poets Laureat maintained by the King who sung before the Guests some Poems composed in honour of their Kings as they did also in their Camps and Garrisons amongst the Souldiers thereby to animate and incourage them to an imitation of their Ancestours but at present their customs in these matters are very little different from those common to other Nations After their Victuals and manner of treating their Guests follow their Exercises Exercises which were commonly such as might fit them for Warlike Exploits and hazardous Enterprises Olaus Magnus reports that the ancient Goths used to dip their Children as soon as born in cold water and as they grew up to riper years to inure them like as in a house of correction to constant and severe lashing and such like severities Tilts also and Turnaments were in use amongst them in which and such like Sports Totila one of the Kings of the Goths was says Procopius very early and carefully instructed The ordinary sort of People use to make Fortifications Bastions c. of the Snow or Ice and after the manner of Souldiers engage one another to Climb Rocks also and like the rest of the Scandians to slide upon the Snow in Scaits Chess-play also perhaps to teach them or to advantage their conduct in War was very much in use amongst them their Kings and chief men delighting in it and thereby says Olaus Magnus prognosticating future events as of Victories Marriages and such like this people being very much addicted to Magick and prying into secret occurrences Marriage as it anciently was Marriage so at present is esteemed very sacred and chastly observed A Maid without the consent of her Parents or Tutors is not permitted to marry nor can a Guardian betroath his Pupil or Orphan to any one but in the presence of four Witnesses at least two in behalf of one party and two of the other If after a Virgin is thus contracted to any one her Guardian do not stand to the Proposals agreed on but endeavour to hinder the Marriage the Husband may demand his Bride break any Lock to come to her and if any resist he may without being questioned for it kill him and if he happen to lose his life in the Quest he that kills him shall be deem'd a Murtherer If any Husband leave his own and contract and cohabit with another mans wife he shall upon sufficient proof lose his head and the Woman be stoned to death Learning which thrives best in a peaceable and quiet Country 〈◊〉 has sometimes been under so general a disrepute in this Kingdom that 't is said the eldest son of Amalaswentha who was Heir to the Crown was not suffer'd to be brought up in the knowledg of any Liberal Arts. But such disregard never lasted long Learning being always when the heat of war was over recalled from her banishment and when men had leasure to think upon their better part constantly embrac'd and follow'd by them and that even in their Kings Palaces they always maintaining Philosophers to instruct them in the secrets of nature and Poets which they call'd Scald from Scal i. e. sound because they repeated their verses aloud to inform them of the worth of their predecessors these not only remain'd in their Garrisons as was said but some one always accompanied the King in all great expeditions that they might be eye-witnesses of those actions of which they were to give an account in publick One of these is reported to have had so good Lungs that being commanded by the King to repeat some verses he spoke them so loud that he was heard throughout the whole Army The letters which they made use of were call'd
Runick from Ryn signifying a furrow for the same reason that the Latins use versus exarare c. because that anciently when they had writ from the left hand to the right they turn'd back again from the right to the left By whom at first invented is uncertain some say by Odinus or Wooden one of their chief Gods That they came into Sweden about the year of Christ 380 or 400 is affirmed by many altho the superstitious use of them generally practis'd by the inhabitants seems to prove that they were much sooner known to them With these the common people used to carve certain sticks or staves still in use among some of them setting upon them the names of their Gods their Months their Holy-days c. which served them for an Almanack and some Idolatrous purposes These characters in the reign of Olaus Scotkonung at the desire of Pope Sylvester II. and Sigfrid Archbishop of York who was sent thence to preach Christianity in Sweden were quite abolished and sometime after by the whole Council at Toledo says Wormius utterly condemn'd it being by them thought almost impossible ever to have extirpated Paganism unless they had first rooted out these letters in which so much of their idolatry tho perhaps something of good learning and antiquity was writ The Swedish language differs only from the Danish and High-Dutch in dialect Their Language being rougher and less capable of improvement then either of the other two whence the Swedes rarely write any thing in their own tongue Some of their Authors endeavour to bring the language from another fountain telling us That the old Runick fragments of which may be seen in the Danish monuments published by Wormius is the mother tongue of Denmark and the Gothick of Sweden But these differ only in character not words as may be easily perceiv'd by comparing Vlphila's Gothick Version of the Gospels not long since published by the learned Franciscus Junius with Wormius's Collection of the old Runick monuments The Colledge of Antiquaries at Vpsal have lately taken great pains in publishing a new Edition of the Codex Argenteus with the modern Swedish thereby to demonstrate their tongue a dialect of the ancient Gothick Of this see more in Denmark The Swedish year was anciently divided only into Summer and Winter but afterwards Their Year according to the custom of other Nations measured by Months and Nights this Nation rather using to count by nights then days as also rather by Winters then Summers both because they were longer and chiefly because that was the mode of all Northern Nations perhaps from the beginning of the world Their Months are called Monat from Mona signifying the Moon the particular names yet in use amongst them were given in remembrance of some of their Heathenish Gods as 1. January they call Thors-monat from their chief God Thor. 2. February Goia-monat from Goia or Freia daughter to Thor or Jupiter 3. March Thur-monat from Thur which seems to be the same with Othen or Oden an Asiatick Deity the same with Mars and so of the rest Their Trading as of all other Nations Their Trading was anciently bartering but at present Money is very plentiful among them as of Gold Silver and Copper and these last as well supplied out of their own Mines as imported by Merchants OF GOTHIA AND IT'S PROVINCES GOthia or Gothland Gothia and its Provinces i. e. the Land of the Goths is parted from Suecia by the Woods Kolmord and Tydhweth A large and fruitful Country situate betwixt two potent Nations and frequently at war one with another the Swedes and Danes for which reason it became anciently the ordinary seat of their wars till the inhabitants observing the Swedes to be their nearest and more dangerous as being upon the same Continent and very often victorious neighbours they join'd and incorporated with the Swedes and their Country has ever since been reckon'd as a chief part of the Swedish dominions It is bounded on the East with the Baltick Sea on the West with the Mountains called Lyma Fiell and the Sinus Codanus on the North with the Provinces of Nericia and Sudermannia and on the South with the Sund or Oresund and part of the Baltick It is divided in general into East and West-Gothia 1. West or Westro or Wiso-Gothia Westro-Gothia and its Provinces which has in it these three Provinces 1. Westro-Gothia properly so taken 2. Dalia 3. Vermlandia to which may be added Hallandia 1. Westrogothia Westro-Gothia a plain and fruitful Province somewhat inferiour indeed in fertility to Vpland and Sudermannia but exceeding both of them in abundance of Cattel and convenience of pasturage in which the great wealth of this Country does consist In this Province are several great Rivers as Tida Lida Nos c. which falling into the Lake Vener are sent out by two passages at Elffzburg and Kongelff and at last unburthen'd into the Sinus Codanus with some others as Eda and Visk which fall not into the Lake but empty themselves into the same Bay Here are several Cities of good note viz. 1. Gothburg or Gottenburg a considerable Mart-Town lying upon the mouth of a small River which runs out of the Sinus Codanus between the Towns of Elsberg and Goldberg frequented very much by Hollanders and other strangers and of late endowed by the Swedish Kings with many notable priviledges The unsuccessful efforts of a great Danish Fleet against it ann 1644 shews it to be a place of great strength and consideration 2. Scare anciently the residence of the Gothish Kings and at present a Bishops seat so called from Scarinus a potent King of the Goths who built it it was in the time of Adam Bremensis the Metropolis of Westgothia but now a ruined and fenceless Town 3. Mariaestadt and 4. Lidecopia less considerable then the former Towns of most note are 1. Falecopia 2. Skedvi 3. Hio 4. Bogesund 5. Bretta 6. Old Ludosia taken and fortifyed by Christianus the I King of Denmark but soon after in the same year regained by the Swedes This Town seems to be the same with Losa mentioned by Meursius in his Danick History 2. Dalia Dalia lying betwixt the Lake Vener and some part of Norway a Province for the most part mountanous and consequently barren It is watered with several Lakes and Rivers well stor'd with Fish of all sorts Here the pasturage is good and their Cattel larger then those in any other part of the Country there is one Town of note called Daleburg 3. Vermlandia last inhabited as Authors report Vermlandia amongst all the Gothick Provinces one Olavus Tretelia being said first of all to have brought Colonies hither It is a Country Mountanous and Woody having some Mines of Iron and one vein of Copper indifferently rich Lakes and Rivers it has many though but one only City called Charlestat from Charles the IX King of Sweden who built it in the place of an ancient
unanimous are sufficient to defend the whole Island against a potent enemy The Language anciently spoken in Rugen was a Dialect of the Slavonian or Wendish tongue Language But after the Dukes of Pomeren assisted by the Citizens of Stralsund as shall be shew'n hereafter had possession of the Island the Wendish manners and language were utterly abolished insomuch that 't is recorded in the Annals of Rugen as a memorable thing that in the year 1404 there was one old woman left in the Isle that understood perfectly and could speak the Slavonian tongue At this day the greatest part of the inhabitants speak the language of the Lower Saxons and some few especially where the King of Sweden's Officers keep their residence speak Swedish The ancient inhabitants of this Isle were the last of all the Northern Nations that were converted from their Idolatry and Paganism Religion and embrac'd the Christian Religion Helmondus seems to point more especially at the Rugians when he says Inter omnes autem Borealium populos sola Slavorum Provincia remansit caeteris durior atque ad credendum tardior However about the year 813 a company of hardy Monks ventur'd to preach up Christianity to these stubborn people and succeeded so well in the undertaking as in a very short time to bring over a great many of them to the true faith But they as quickly abandon'd Christianity and relaps'd into their former Idolatry For as upon the first preaching of the Gospel in Lycaonia the inhabitants of that Country were ready to do sacrifice to St. Barnabas and St. Paul under the names of Jupiter and Mercury so these poor people mistaking God's Ministers for God himself idoliz'd St. Vite a poor Monk that had undertaken their conversion by the name of Swant which name was afterwards given to a monstrous four headed Image which they worshipp'd in a sumptuous Temple To this Idol all the Rugians repair'd as to an Oracle for advice and the foreign Merchants that had made a safe Voyage were obliged to offer up some of their best Merchandises as a tribute of thanksgiving to this grand tutelary God of the Island Three hundred Horses were kept constantly for the service of Swant one whereof was white and never rid but by the chief Priest This Horse was now and then shew'n to the people in a morning all over besmear'd with dirt and sweat the Priest in the mean time protesting to the multitude that Swant himself had brought the beast into that pickle by engaging with and pursuing the Enemies of Rugen the night before The manner of worshipping this Idol which stood in Arcona the famous City in old Rugen before mention'd was thus The chief Priest looking into a Horn which the Image held in its right hand and which had been fill'd the year before with a precious liquor prognosticated from the good quantity or scarcity of the liquor therein contain'd the plenty or dearth of the year following That done with his lips shut for fear of harming the Idol with his breath he very solemnly poured out the remaining liquor at the feet of the Image and having replenish'd it afresh plac'd it again with a great deal of reverence in the God's right hand whence he had taken it down These Ceremonies being ended the rest of that day was spent in anniversary feasting and jollity In this miserable condition the Rugians continued for some ages until by a continual conversation with their neighbours the Pomeranians they were almost insensibly turn'd Christians and about five hundred years ago at last wholly quitted their Idolatrous practices and at this day the inhabitants of Rugen are as zealous assertors and maintainers of the Augsburg Confession as any Germans whatever The Isle was anciently govern'd by Princes of its own Gâ—â—â—mers whose Dominions reach'd beyond the narrow boundaries the Sea had set them a great way into Pomeren taking in all the Territories near Stralsund Gripswald and other places now subject to the King of Sweden Antiquity will afford us a Register of Eleven Princes of Rugen and those in the following order 1. Wislaus who is said to have been Prince of Rugen in the days of the Emperor Otho I. about the year of Christ 938. 2. Grimus Remarkable for nothing but his filling up a space in the Catalogue of these Princes 3. Cruco or Crito At the same time Prince of Rugen and petty King of the Obatriti in the year 1100 who after he had for some years exercis'd Idolatry and Tyranny in his Dominions was deposed and slain by Henry Son of Gothscalc another inconsiderable King of the said Obitriti at the entreaty of his wife Schlavine Daughter to Swantibor I. Prince of Pomeren 4. Raze A great Warriour who besieged Lubec and took it He died in the year 1141. 5. Teslaus A Prince who had continual wars with the Kings of Denmark two whereof Eric VI. and Sueno III. he as often overcame as he was beaten by them but at last was utterly vanquish'd and made tributary by King Waldemar 6. Jarimar Teslaus's Brother The first Prince of Rugen that embraced Christianity 7. Barmita arimar's Son He died in the year 1241. 8. Witzlaus II. Barmita's Brother and Founder of the Monastery at Campen He died in the year 1247. 9. Jarimar II. Witzlaus the second 's Son who immediately after his admittance to the Government rebell'd against the King of Denmark and at last after many Engagements got himself and his successors eas'd from that yoke in the year 1259. 10. Witzlaus III. Jarimar the second 's Son A great promoter of the Christian Religion in Liefland where himself sometimes took upon him the office of a Priest preaching Christianity to the poor Infidels of those parts 11. Witzlaus IV. The last Prince of Rugen of this Family Upon the unruly growth of the great City of Stralsund the Merchants and Burgers finding themselves able enough to grapple with this Prince were resolv'd to be no longer subject to him or any of his Successors if by violence or otherwise they could procure their liberty whereupon they openly proclaim'd themselves a free City declaring that neither the Princes of Rugen nor any of their neighbours could lawfully pretend to exact any Tribute or Homage from the Citizens of Stralsund Upon the noise of this revolt Prince Witzlaus assisted by some of the neighbouring Kings and Princes besieged Stralsund demanding submission together with an humble acknowledgment of their unpardonable crime in daring to make so traiterous a revolt but in vain For the Stralsunders not only persisted in the resolution of asserting their Liberty to the last but bravely withstood the assaults of Witzlaus and his Associates and after many hot disputes slew this Prince in a sally thereby putting an end to the controversie and whole Lineage of the Princes of Rugen in the year 1325. After this the Island of Rugen with other parts of that Principality upon the Continent came into the hands of the Dukes of
Pomeren with which Dukedom after the failure of that Line it should have been annex'd to the Marquisate of Brandenburg but as hath been before noted in consideration of the signal favours the King of Sweden had done the Protestant party in the Civil Wars of Germany the Princes concern'd in the Westphalian Treaty thought fit to annex the Lower Pomeren to the Dominions of that King and as a part of this Dukedom the Isle of Rugen was thrown into the bargain Afterwards the King of Denmark Frideric III. began to revive some ancient pretensions of some of his Ancestors to the Principality of Rugen but the ensuing wars betwixt him and the Crown of Sweden of which we have given the Reader some account in the Description of Denmark put an end as 't was thought to these pretensions For the said Frideric in the Treaty of Roschild made between the two Northern Crowns in the year 1658 disclaim'd all right and title to the Isle of Rugen However notwithstanding the promises and protestations made in that Treaty the present King of Denmark shew'd that Contracts made between great Princes and Commonwealths are no longer obligatory then consistent with the intrigues of State For hearing that the Elector of Brandenburg had besieged Stetin and that Count Koningsmarck the valiant Swedish Governor of Rugen had thereupon drawn the greatest part of his forces into Pomeren leaving the Island of Rugen to be defended by a small company of about fifty Horse he immediately ship'd six thousand Soldiers intending with them to surprize the deserted Island and regain it into his own possession But the weather not favouring this design the Danish Forces were kept off at Sea by contrary winds till that small Garrison which kept the Isle was alarm'd and had time to give notice to the General who nevertheless could not arrive with the rest of his Army before the enemy had made themselves Masters of Jasmund However after one brisk engagement with the Count 's left Wing the Danes were forc'd to fly in great disorder leaving six hundred of their Companions dead in the field and two thousand five hundred more taken prisoners The rest retreated confused into Wittow where they were beset with the Swedes who slew took prisoners and plunder'd as many of them as they pleased In this Victory the Swedes are said to have taken from the Danes besides an incredible number of prisoners six and twenty Standards sixteen Field-pieces five Mortar-pieces and thirty thousand Rixdollars in money Yet this unhappy overthrow was not sufficient to discourage the brave King Christian from a second adventure and the drawing back his Arm after this defeat seem'd only intended to fetch the greater blow For having doubled his Forces in the year following 1678 he fell upon the Rugians with that irresistable strength and courage which obliged them to resign up the whole Island upon his own terms And it might to this day have been at his devotion had not the French King struck in as Mediator betwixt the Northern Crowns in the alte Treaty signed by the Danish and Swedish Ministers at Lunden in Schonen Sept. 26. A. D. 1679 by the seventh Article of which Treaty 't was agreed because Lewis the Great was pleas'd to have it so that Rugen should be deliver'd up to the Swede on or before the sixth of December following Accordingly the King of Sweden is now repossess'd of that Island and has sent in new Garrisons to fortifie and defend it against all future assaults of its formidable neighbours the Danes and Brandenburgers The only Town of note in the whole Isle of Rugen is Bergen Towns situate about the middle of the Island It had the name of a City given it in the year 1190 but so little deserv'd that title that it had not the advantage of being fortified or wall'd round All the account which modern Travellers give of it is that 't is one of the better sort of Villages consisting of about four hundred Houses Stralsund indeed seems the Metropolis of Rugen and as it was formerly may still be so accounted if we consider the many and great priviledges which the Burgers of that City still pretend to in that Island For 1. The High Court of Admiralty in Stralsund determines all causes and contests arising in any of the Port-Towns in Rugen and therefore because the Stralsunders will not assign over this Jurisdiction to any Delegates residing in the Island the Rugians are obliged upon debate of all such quarrels to repair to Stralsund for judgment 2. Without the consent of the Senate and Citizens of Stralsund no definitive sentence can be given nor no Court of Equity or Judicature whatever erected in any part of the Isle 3. The Rugians may not without leave first obtain'd from the Common Council of Stralsund export any manner of Grain or other Commodities or brew Beer for sale In short this City is the Key of the Island and the only Fortress upon which depends its security or ruine So that had Rugen been kept by the King of Denmark and Stralsund by the Elector of Brandenburg according to the Rights of Conquest in the late Wars 't is probable that those new accessions would in a short time have occasion'd quarrels and animosities between the two Princes The Elector would questionless have been loth to have disclaim'd all Right and Title to the Priviledges which the City of Stralsund now challenges in Rugen and on the other hand His Majesty of Denmark would in all probability have been as unwilling to have suffered any Prince of the Empire to Lord it in his Dominions 'T is almost necessary considering the present State of Stralsund and the Isle of Rugen that both these places should be subject to the same Master though not impossible to make the Island at least independant upon if not a Terror to that City For since all the Merchant Ships which come from the Danish Sund to the City of Stralsund are obliged to sail round the Isle of Rugen 't would not possibly be so expensive as profitable to build three or four good Port-Towns in Wittow Jasmumd and other parts of the Island and thereby not only command all Ships that sailed this road but also divert the grand current of trade from Stralsund to Rugen the Store-house of that City But as long as the City of Stralsund wants Provision for its Inhabitants and the Isle of Rugen vent for its great abundance of Corn and other Commodities there seems to be such a mutual dependance between the two places that to subject them to different Masters manifestly threatens the destruction of their Common Interest Tho never poor Island has been more miserably mangled and afflicted with war witness the Civil wars in Germany and the late Northern Broils Nobility in both which Rugen was several times taken and retaken yet you shall meet with a great many noble Families that pretend to derive their pedigree from the true antient Rugii