AN ACCOUNT OF POLAND An Account of POLAND CONTAINING A Geographical Description OF THE COUNTRY THE Manners of the Inhabitants and the Wars they have been Engag'd in the Constitution of that Government Particularly the Manner of Electing and Crowning their KING his Power and Prerogatives With a Brief History of the Tartars By Monsieur Hauteville who Resided about 25 Years in that Kingdom To which is Added A Chronology of the Polish KINGS the ABDICATION of KING John Casimir and the Rise and Progress of SOCINIANISME Likewise a Relation of the Chief Passages during the Last Interregnum and the Election and Coronation of the New KING Frederic Augustus The Whole Comprehending whatsoever is Curious and Worthy of Remark in the Former and Present State of POLAND London Printed for T. Goodwin at the Queens-head in Fleet-street and H. Newman at the Grashopper in the Poultry 1698. To His EXCELLENCY The Earl of GALLWAY Lieutenant General of the King's Armies one of the Lords Justices of Ireland and General of His Majesty's Forces in that Kingdom My Lord THis Treatise I make bold to Present to your Excellency and I hope the Consideration of the Subject it Treats of will make Attonement for the Freedom of it The Republick of Poland is justly Ranked amongst the Greatest Dominions in the World and the Dispute between Two Great Princes who both Pretend to the CROWN draws all the Eyes of Europe on that side Therefore I hope that tho' your Excellency is Perfectly Acquainted with the Laws and Constitutions of all the States in Christendom yet you will please Favourably to Receive this Book which I think gives an Exact Account of Poland and of the Pretentions of the Two Illustrious Rivals who Dispute that Throne However I design not to Prepossess the Wâ—â—â—â—â— in Favour of this Book by the Prefixing of 〈◊〉 Illustrious Name to it I know I could nâ—â— make choice of a Better Protector but I only 〈◊〉 tend to give your Excellency a Publick Mark of my Profound Respect Neither did I propose to my self to make the Eulogy of the Great Virtues which are so conspicuous in your Excellency such an Vndertaking is above Vulgar Pens and too great to be Treated in the narrow bounds of an Epistle Dedicatory Whoever attempts that must give a Relation of the Sieges of Candia Athlone Galway Limerick and Cazal Describe the Bloody Batters of Aghrim and Landen Relate the Important Negotiations committed to your care speak of the Prudence Intrepidity and Bravery you have expressed in the greatest Dangers and commend in Terms suitable to the Subject that admir'd Penetration and Sagacity of your Excellency which discover'd the Secret Intreagues of a Court notwithstanding the most refin'd Dissimulation that ever Italy made use of These great Qualities are so well known that Envy and Jealousie are forced to be silent and dare not attack a Merit esteem'd by all the Princes of Europe and admir'd by all the World I am afraid that I should displease your Excellency by proceeding any farther on this Subject yet I would beg leave to observe that these great Vertues are hereditary in your Excellency and not the effect only of an happy Education My Lord Marquiss of Ruvigny your Father was equally fit for Council and Action His great Courage and Prudence raised him to the Dignity of Lieutenant General of the Armies of the French King and would have certainly advanc'd him to that of Mareschal of France had not his Religion been an Invincible tho' Glorious Obstacle to it Every body own'd he deserv'd that Great Trust and his Prince thought he had no Subject in his Kingdom so fit to Represent His Person in the Courts of the greatest Kings in Europe Your Excellency will pardon me if I cannot forbear to carry the Parallel somewhat further and therefore my Lord give me leave to say That you are like him Pious and Charitable You both Generously quitted a Great Estate and a private Life with the Testimony of a good Conscience had more Charms with you than all the Dignities and Dazling Splendor of a Court. You are as he was Sensible of the Miseries of the Poor They had always Access to your Person and were never sent back without Relief The Widows and Orphans find in your Excellency what they have lost and the Prayers of so many Relieved People sent up to Heaven fall down again upon your Excellency in Showers of Blessings But what shall I say of the Vertues of my Lady Marchioness your Mother It is impossible to draw her Character without Exhausting all the Qualifications ascribed by Solomon to his Virtuous Woman The Merit of your Excellency is so generally known that England and Ireland have Applauded the Choice His Majesty made of you to be one of the Lord Justices of Ireland and every body agrees that the Titles and Employments Conferr'd upon your Excellency are not so much the effect of His Majesty's Favour as the just Reward of your Eminent Virtue and Services That your Excellency may long enjoy that unspotted Fame will be the Constant Prayers of My Lord Your Excellency's most Humble and most obedient Servant THE PREFACE THE Dispute about the Crown of Poland makes now such a Noise in the World that 't is Believ'd an Account of that Country cannot but be Acceptable to the Ingenious Reader This Book which is offer'd to your Consideration is not Exstracted out of several Authors as most Accounts commonly are but contains the Observations of a Person of Quality who Resided 25 Years in Poland and had an Opportunity of Informing himself of every thing worthy a Gentleman's Curiosity being very Intimate with the Ministers and all the Great Men of that Kingdom * See Journaux des Seavans An. 1687. Epâ—em 23. Mots d' Avril Also the Pibliotheq Vniver Tom. 7. p. 574. And the Republiq des Lutres Mots d' Aâ—ust An. 1687. Though Poland is not very Remote from us yet one may say it is almost unknown few Persons going thither to Travel However it deserves our Curiosity it being one of the most Ancient States of the World the only one which has Preserved and Maintain'd the Right of Electing their Monarchs and indeed the only one that was never Conquer'd The Original of the Poles as well as other Nations is very uncertain and Fabulous but the Sarmatians are so Ancient that there is still some Monuments at this day that Jupiter Belvs one of the Assyrian Monarchs made War upon them though Unfortunately The Grecians and Persians were not more Successful against that Warlike Nation nor even the Romans themselves They had nothing to do with them till Augustus's time who Beat them off of the Banks of the Danube Domitian was very Unhappy against them and in short it does not clearly appear that any of the Roman Emperours penetrated into Sarmatia no not Trajan Himself though Eutropius relates he received under his Protection a Sarmatian King Adrian allow'd them a Yearly Pension Marcus
are conserr'd and engage them to follow the Dictates of his Will with a blind Obedience for there are few Kings in Europe that have more favours to bestow than that Prince neither can any other in less time make a very rich Lord of a poor Gentleman But it happens quite otherwise For not to speak of the Temper of the Polanders who naturally are none of the most grateful they know too well that their King cannot dispose of any of those Preferments to any others but only to themselves and they believe that when he grants them any such Places Revenues or Benefices he only gives 'em back what belongs to them by their native Right and that thus his grant is not so much an act of Grace as a piece of Justice The rather because as I have already said the King neither ought nor can keep or convert any of those Revenues to his own particular Use or Benefit nor can he suppress any Place of Trust or Profit in the Kingdom Besides the Nobility would not easily suffer him to give the least thing to Foreigners for that powerful Body is so jealous of its Liberty that it will not give the King the least Opportunity of encreasing his Prerogative and Authority by gaining creatures that would solely depend upon him The King does not succeed his Predecessor no not tho' he were his Father But he is freely elected by the Nobility who meet by their Deputies in a General Diet which always ought to be kept near Warsaw However though a King's Children have no manner of right in the Republick yet is there always a due regard had to them Insomuch that 't is commonly one of them upon whom the Election falls after the decease of his Father But nevertheless this is always done with the same Ceremonies and still observing the same rules as if a Stranger were elected the Polanders taking great care to preserve their right of not chusing one of the deceased King's Family believing that their Happiness lies chiefly in the Power which they have to make choise of what Prince they please They have not only a due regard to the Sons of their Kings their Consideration extends also to their Daughters and even to their Widdows of which I will here relate some Examples Lewis King of Poland and Hungary being dead the 13 of December 1382 and having left no other Issue than two Daughters the Republick met at Radom in order to proceed to the Election of a New King Part of the Senators inclin'd to chuse Sigismund Marquess of Brandenburg who had wedded the eldest of those two Princesses The other part were for Hedwige who was the youngest and not yet of age to be married Thus after many Consultations it was resolved at last in the Diet that was kept at Vielicza that some Deputies should be sent by the Republick to Queen Elizabeth who was then in Hungary with the Princess Hedwige her Daughter to entreat her to send that Lady into Poland and inform her that the Senate had resolved to crown her Queen and to elect a Prince that would be in a condition to marry her Queen Elizabeth who had no mind that this Princess should marry so young and besides that had a Design to wed her to the Duke of Austria to whom she had been betroth'd in King Lewis her Father's life time sent to acquaint the Diet which was then held at Seradia that she would send the Princess Hedwige into Poland at the following Easter but that she desired that she might return after that into Hungary to remain with her the space of three years till she were of age to be married The Senators of Poland having receiv'd this answer did not think fit to proceed to the Election of a King till the Arrival of the Princess according to the promise of the Queen her Mother But finding that she had not sent her into Poland at the time appointed the Senate did a second time depute some of the Nobility to let the Queen know that tho' the Affairs of the Republick of Poland were in such a condition as highly required the presence of a King yet they were contented to stay for the Princess till the Month of November 1383. Now the Queen having neglected to send her Daughter Hedwige that second time the Polanders sent her some Deputies a third time about the beginning of the following year But Queen Elizabeth having also broke her word to them that time the Senate being met at Radom sent one single Deputy to acquaint her that it had been resolv'd in the Diet not to send any more to her and that if she had a mind that her daughter Hedwige should been Queen they would still wait for her till the 8 of May but that if after that time she did not appear the Republick would proceed according as might be thought most adviseable in the pressing necessity which they laboured under for want of a King The Queen having heard the Senate's final resolution instead of sending her Daughter Hedwige into Poland advis'd her Son-in-Law Sigismund to go thither with some Forces to govern the Republick till her Daughter Hedwige were grown up But as soon as the Polanders heard of Sigsmund's Approach they rais'd some men with all speed to oppose that Prince whom they particularly hated At the same time they sent to let him know that if he presumed to enter Poland they would declare themselves his open Enemies this obliged him to go back and send to desire them to stay till the Whitsuntide following for the Princess Hedwige's Coming Accordingly they staid and not only till then but also till the month of October after that at which time she arriv'd at Cracow where immediately she was crown'd Queen of Poland on St. Hedwige of Lignitz's Day I thought fit to relate this passage to de nonstrate that the Poles have no common Regard to the royal progeny nor do I think that any thing can illustrate that Respect more than the patience with which they waited and that too at a time while they had so much need of Electing a King For the Kingdom was then disturb'd not only by the Duke of Masovia who having a considerable party in the Republick endeavour'd to be made King of Poland as being one of the royal Family of Casimir the Great but the Lithuanians and the Russians also were not a little troublesome and there were then many Roberies Plunderings and strange disorders committed every where with Impunity because the Kingdom was destitute of a Head When Hedwige had been crowned and the Republick was studying how to get her a proper Husband Jagello Duke of Lithuania sent his two Brothers to her with very considerable Presents and at the same time offered to renounce his idolatrous Worship and turn Christian as also to endeavour to make his Subjects do the same and to unite his Dutchy to the Crown of Poland for the future and present the Republick with two
who esteem'd nothing more decent nothing more worthy to be transmitted to Posterity than the Respect they paid their Princes and have handed down to us the Esteem they had for them We have always us'd our Endeavours to Maintain and Increase the Good Will and Reputation of our Princes To the Vigorous Maintenance whereof not only our Honourable Emulation of our Ancestor's Virtues not only the Obligation and Gratitude we owe to the Royal Race of Jagello which for almost Three hundred years together has Govern'd us so Auspiciously did excite us But the Extraordinary Endowments of His Present Majesty who has Govern'd our State with the same Fortune and Reputation as His Greatest Predecessors for the space of Twenty years attract both our Veneration and Admiration He was always ready to undertake Noble Designs to endure the Heat of Summer and the Cold of Winter to be vigilant in Campains to suffer hunger and thirst to lye on the Cold Ground to spend sleepless Nights and as often as there was necessity or occasion hazarded his own Life for his Subjects Safety He was famous in the Arts both of Peace and War and gain'd an especial Esteem for his Clemency Whereupon we interpos'd the weighty Authority of the most Illustrious Senate the humble Requests of the Knights of both Countries the Intreaties of the whole Republick and the Desires of several Princes Lastly We Objected to him the Prohibitions of the Laws and the Ties of his Oath But when all these Motives could not prevail nor alter the unshaken Mind of His Sacred Majesty from His Thoughts of Eternity we were at last forc'd to yield to the Weight of our Fates and no longer to attempt to remove His Majesty from His-Resolution And forasmuch as His Sacred Majesty has Issu'd forth His Letters Patent which we had design'd for a Pledge of our Constant and Perpetual Fidelity and has added another more particular one whereby he Releases us and all his Subjects from the Oath of Allegiance and from all other Obligations We likewise on our parts by these our Letters Patent do Release His Majesty from the Oath made by His Deputies as well before His Coronation in the Church of Warsaw as afterwards in the Cathedral Church of Cracow and we disannul it to all intents and purposes provided that our Rights and Priviledges in all things be preserv'd and that this Act may not prejudice a Free Election our Laws and Liberties nor be drawn into a Precedent In Confirmation of the Premises we have affix'd our Hands Dated at Warsaw Sept. 16. An. Dom. 1668. From hence it appears that the Majesty and Authority of the King was Adjusted to the Liberty of the Senate and the People and all Orders of the Kingdom together with the King were kept within the Bounds of Equity So that if at any time the King should fail in His Duty and aim at the Invading of the Properties of His Subjects he was immediately check'd therein by the Authority of the Senate who were Sworn to do it and by this means the King of Poland dedepended on the Grave Advices of His Senate On the other hand the Senators and all the Knights Reverence Love and Honour His Sacred Majesty and are ready to lay down their Lives and Estates for His Benefit and Preservation AN ACCOUNT Of the Rise of Socinianism in POLAND And of the Present state of that SECT POLAND was at first Converted by S. Adalbert Arch-Bishop of Gnesna from Paganism to Christianity and has continu'd stedfast ever since for almost Seven hundred years in the Communion of the Church of Rome It was Instructed in the Romish Principles by him and has always paid a very great Respect to the Holy See and endeavour'd to excel all others in their Zeal for its Interests At present since the Extirpation of the Hussits Berengarians Picards Anabaptists Arians Tritheists Photians Ebionites Reactitorians and a world of such like Heresies and lastly of the Socinians who by the Countenance of some Noblemen and the Toleration once allow'd had swarm'd in Poland the Roman Religion chiefly prevails in that Country The King indeed Promises upon Oath before His Coronation to Protect the Lutherans and Calvinists The Greeks likewise and the Jews have the same Toleration there which they have in many other Countries And as the Case now stands that Old Proverb which says Whoever has lost his Religion may find it in Poland falls to the Ground and is no longer true of that Kingdom But forasmuch as a Clear Account of the Present State of the Socinians how they crept in and how they were at last thrown out cannot be met with in any other Author I shall now give it ye as briefly and orderly as I can This Pernicious Heresy of Socinianism which by Christians ought to be detested above all others which does not strike at any particular Article but shakes and almost overthrows the whole Fabrick of our Religion came out of Italy In the Year 1546. and began at first in the State of Venice at Vincenza by Forty Men. Two of them Julius Trevisanus and Franciscus Ruigo being taken and Strangled at Venice the rest to avoid the same Fate left Italy and dwelt in Turkey Poland Transilvania Suitzerland and in other places where a Toleration of Religion was Allow'd The first who spread the Errors of this Heresy in Poland was a certain Dutchman nam'd Spicillus alias Fricius a Disciple of Erasmus and well skill'd in Hebrew Greek and Latin under the Reign of King Sigismund Augustus in the Year of our Lord 1546. He came to Cracow where according to the Custom of the Country he was Treated very Nobly as a Stranger by the Mayor of the City At this Treat there were several Noblemen and among the rest Andreas Modrevius the King's Secretary This Man upon starting several Doubts concerning the Ever Blessed Trinity was the first that followed the Dutchman in his Errors who by the Secretary Means induc'd the King Himself to be his Disciple The King being thus wrought upon by His Secretary the Dutchman was soon follow'd by Laelius Socinus who being Banish'd out of Italy Absconded at Zurich where when he once heard how succesfully the Dutchman had spread his Heresy in Poland he immediately takes along with him Alicatus Parata and Ochinus three of his Associates and comes to Poland in the Year 1551. He was Introduc'd into the King's Court by the Secretary where he Infus'd his Errors into Lismaninus Queen Bona's Confessor and many other Courtiers Many Noblemen and Senators of all Orders were corrupted by these Men and at last they drew into their Party James Sieninski Palatine of Podolia and Lord of Racovia one of the Chief Nobility He turn'd from Calvinism to Socinianism and Built a Printing-House and an Academy at Racovia for the Use of this Sect. This Town being very pleasant for the Temperature of its Air for the Sweetness of its Situation for the Lakes Fountains Groves Walks and
World In the Ducal Prussia near Coningsberg they have at present a Church and publick Shcools being protected by the present Elector of Brandenburgh contrary to the Laws and Privileges of the Prussians who every year in their Diets exclaim against this Injustice of the Elector But at Racovia the Seat and Sepulcher of Faustus Socinus after many Changes the Printing house and Academy being first demolish'd came at last by right of Inheritance to the Grand Daughter of James Sieninski Palatine of Podolia and Governor of Racovia who embrac'd the Roman Catholick Religion and is still Living And this is the present State of the Socinians of which none else can give a Fuller or Larger Account A SHORT ACCOUNT Of the Late INTERREGNUM IN POLAND AND THE ELECTION OF THE Present KING HAVING given the Reader Page 221. a short Epitome of the Most Glorious Actions of John Sobieski late King of Poland it will not be amiss to Compleat his Caracter to take notice here of his Conduct during the latter end of his Life which has so little answer'd the Glorious beginning of his Reign That Prince entered into a Common League with the Emperour the Republick of Venice and the Pope against the Common Enemy of Christendom And notwithstanding the Emperour and Venetians carry'd on the War with so much Vigour and Success as to give a fair Opportunity to the Poles to regain Caminiek and the Provinces the Turks and Tartars have got from them yet to the great Amazement of the World the Polish Army did nothing at all and was not able to Protect their Country against the Excursions of their Enemies who committed unspeakable Disorders and carryed a Great Multitude of People into Slavery This occasion'd Great Murmurs amongst the Poles against their King and was such a Blot as tranish'd the Lustre of his former Actions Several have Inquired into the Causes of so odd a Conduct for that Prince wanting neither Courage or Ability every body thought that the Miscarriage of the Affairs of Poland was owing to the King Himself There have been many Conjectures on this Subject but the onely who appears to me well grounded is that Princes Covetousness and after an impartial examination this seems to me the only Remora who stopp'd the Vigorous Resolutions that were Yearly taken Old Men generally speaking are Covetous the reason whereof is plain enough but besides this almost natural Byass the little Esteem the Poles had for Prince James was a great Motive to ingage his Father to heap up Money tho' to the visible Detriment of the Republick That Prince seeing as I have said that the Poles expressed little esteem for his Eldest Son and consequently having no prospect that he should Succeed him meerly upon account of his being Born of the Royal Family and on the other hand knowing by Experience that Money is the best Argument to recommend a Prince to the Choice of the Poles resolv'd to Hoard up Money and therefore left His Army unpaid the Magazines unprovided and lived very Parsimonious in his House The same reason obliged him to set a Tax upon several things that were formerly given Gratis at his Court as Passes Petitions and the like France on the other hand being sensible that the Turks could hardly make head against so many Enemies if all of them carry'd on the War with Vigour made a good use of the Covetousness of the King of Poland and by means of a Yearly Pension to that hungry Prince disappointed all the Designs of the Polish Nobility who could hardly bear without Murmur that Caminick should continue so long in the hands of the Infidels A Violent and very Extraordinary Distemper King John laboured under giving him a sufficient Warning of his Death drawing nigh he tryed several ways to have his Son Chosen his Successor in his Life-time but all in vain for that being contrary to the Laws and Constitution of Poland it has been rarely practised and the King was not beloved enough to oblige the Poles to Act against their own Laws Thus stood the Affairs of Poland when King John Dy'd which happen'd the 17th of June at Nine a Clock at Night 1696. The News of the King's Death was immediately carryed by an Express to Dardinal Radziowsky Arch-bishop of Gnesna Primate of the Kingdom and Regent during the Interregnum who made his Entry into Warsaw on the 24th of June that is Seven days after the King's Death in a most Solemn and Magnificent Manner All the Senators and Nobility then in Town Rode forth above a League from the City to meet him with Colours flying and Kettle Drums beating in the midst of an incredible Crowd of People His Eminence went directly to the Castle and ascended into the Room where the King's Body lay exposed in His Royal Robes and having said a short Prayer went to the Queens Apartment to Condole her Majesty He did the like to Prince James and his Brothers and took upon him the Government of the Kingdom calling a General Dyet to Meet on the 29th of August following to Choose a Successor As the Cardinal Primate has made a great noise since that time it will not be improper to give his Caracter in this place He is of a very good family in Poland and Son to the famous Radziousky who called in the Swedes under Charles Gustavus He is a Man of great Parts but somewhat obstinate Pope Innocent XI made him a Cardinal without any other recommendation but his own merit the then King of Poland tho' his Relation nor the French King were pleased with his promotion tho' time has discover'd that his Eminence is absolutely in the Interests of France He went to Rome after the doath of Innocent XI and was present at the chusing of a new Pope which fell on Cardinal Ottoboni He lived like a Prince and his magnificence and Liberality acquired him a great many Friends Upon the 29th of August the Dyet assembled with the usual Ceremony and after the Mass of the Holy Ghost had been celebrated by the Cardinal Primate they began to talk of the Election of a Mareschal or Speaker of their Assembly which gave occasion to many disputes The Lesser Poland pretended that it was her turn to have a Mareshal chosen out of her Body and Greater Poland put in the same claim but was inclinable to wave it The Lithuanians opposed it pretending that the Greater Poland was to take their turn now that Lithuania might have theirs in the next Dyet and their dispute grew so high that People were affraid the Dyet would break up without coming to any conclusion The Bishop of Posen thought of a new way to put an end to the controversy and came to the Assembly in procession at the head of his Clergy pretending to allay their heats by the Charms of his Benedictions but this provoked the Deputies who told him in great scorn they were not possest and therefore had no need of his Exorcisms At last the
the Russians that they could never afterwards be reconcil'd And this was one of the principal causes of the Revolt of the Cossacks and of all the Disasters with which Poland was afterwards harass'd Such was the dismal effect of that Change of Religion and of those Ceremonies which the Polish Gentry would have introduc'd into their Territories in Russia they ought to have consider'd that the best Innovations are frequently attended with fatal Consequences and their own Country might have furnish'd 'em with a very instructive Example of this nature The Lutheran Doctrin was introduc'd into Riga by a Sedition of the meaner sort of people in the Year 1586 not long after the Reformation of the Kalendar made by Pope Gregory XIII had been publish'd there Some persons resolving to celebrate the Feast of our Saviour's Nativity according to the ancient Kalendar the Governor of the City imprison'd the Principal of the College because he was the first who acted contrary to the Decree of the Senate which rais'd so great an Uproar in the City that the People in the night-time broke open the Prison and pull'd down the Houses of the Curate and of the Governor And even the disorder was so great that almost all the Inhabitants took up Arms against those who defended the Roman-Catholick Religion and especially the Jesuits whom King Stephen Battori had settl'd there in the year 1582 after he had given 'em certain Revenues and a Church which belong'd to the Canons During the heat of the tumult the incens'd People imprison'd some of the Senators and put some others to death so that being sensible of their Guilt and despairing of Pardon they put themselves under the protection of other Lutherans and never afterwards return'd to their ancient Religion Thus 't is plain that the restraining of the Cossacks from making Incursions and the Change of Religion which the Lords of Poland would have introduc'd into their Territories in Russia and Vkrania were the two principal Causes of that Peoples revolt But there was also another reason that caus'd that fierce and untractable Nation to rebel The Gentry of Vpper Volhinia were so addicted to Tyranny and Oppression that they could not endure the Cossacks because their neighbourhood gave a bad Example to all their Subjects and dispos'd 'em to shake off the insupportable Yoke of Servitude for they thought it better to live like the Cossacks at Liberty and without Constraint than to work and till the Ground for the use of their Oppressors so that the tyranny of the Gentlemen augmented the number of the Cossacks by forcing the Peasants to forsake their Habitations and retire to them The fourth reason that the Cossacks had to complain of the Gentry proceeded from the sordid Usury and insatiable Avarice of the Jews who are very numerous in Poland except in the Province of Massovia where they are only permitted to remain when there is a Dyet sitting at Warsaw They live miserably thro the whole Kingdom because they are oppress'd and squeez'd by the Gentry they are usually the persons who sell Aqua-Vitae and Beer and farm the Customs of the Lords which they do for the most part at an excessive price and this is the reason why they make bad Brandy and Beer They were first introduc'd into Poland by a Duke of Kalisch who brought them from Germany and establish'd them in his and some other Cities of Lower Poland from whence they spread themselves throughout the whole Kingdom they have the Privilege not to acknowledge any Judge but only the Palatins whom they easily soften not to say corrupt by the Presents they make them Their Usury and Exactions upon the People have sometimes risen to such an exorbitant height that they have obtain'd a Prohibition for any private person to brew Beer not even for themselves by which means they oblig'd all the Inhabitants of the Kingdom to buy it of them at what price they pleas'd to impose upon it The Son of King Vladislaus dying in the Year 1647 the Cossacks began again to revolt under the command of one Chemeinski who was the first that made the Cossacks joyn the Tartars notwithstanding the mortal Enmity that was formerly betwixt 'em by reason of the great difference of their Language Manners and Religion After they were thus united in the Year 1648 they made a terrible havock in Poland But before I proceed to relate their Barbarities it will not be improper to give a short Character of Chemelnski He understood War very well and was once Secretary to the Army he was also a man of Learning and had studied with the Jesuits at Leopold he knew the weak side of the Court of Poland having been several times there in the quality of an Envoy he was so exasperated by the loss of an Estate which a Polish Lord had taken from him by a Law-suit that immediately he had recourse to force and having gather'd out of the Isles of the Boristhenes a multitude of People like himself and corrupted the Cossacks in the Polish Army he soon after prevail'd with the neighbouring Tartars to joyn him with whose assistance he fell unexpectedly upon the Polanders who guarded the Frontiers of the Kingdom and afterwards cut in pieces part of their Army and sent the rest with their Commanders into Slavery to Tartary From that time he so manag'd the Republick that sometimes he suffer'd himself to be appeas'd by Promises and then rais'd a new Insurrection according to the posture of his Affairs 'T is true he was sometimes beaten by the Polanders but 't is no less certain that he always kept the Advantage over 'em either by his own dexterity or by the Divisions or Neglect of the Polish Generals who could not make a right use of their Victories He was often reconcil'd to the Republick but never trusted in them He was naturally of a turbulent Spirit keeping his Men always in Arms against Poland and fortifying his Interest by the Affiance of some potent Neighbour for 't was his constant practice to change his Affies according to the state of his Affairs Thus after the Tartars had concluded a Peace with King John Casimir he implor'd the Protection of the Duke of Muscovy so that Poland could hardly entertain any Hope of being able to reduce the Cossacks during the life of so politick a General After the death of Vladislaus IV May 30 1648 John Casimir his Brother was chosen King of Poland Nov. 17 in the same Year He immediately apply'd himself to remedy the ill state of the Republick and to repair the Losses it had sustain'd by the Irruption which the Cossacks and Tartars had made even into the very Heart of the Kingdom after the Defeat at Pilaveze Sept. 29 1648. The greatest part of the Polish Army was compos'd of new-rais'd Soldiers and of Militia they were encamp'd near the Cossacks end had even obtain'd some Advantages over them but those Revolters having made a great noise in the Evening with
Offices under the Penalties aforemention'd This space of three years was afterwards Contracted to two years as appears by the following Edict WHereas in the Diet of the Year last past 1668. the Arian or Socinian Sect was Banish'd out of our Dominions by Us with the Consent of the States and Three Years time was allow'd them to Sell off their Goods By the Authority of the present Diet We grant them Two Years for Selling their Goods to Commence from the time of the last Diet and to end precisely on the Twelfth of July in the Year next ensuing 1669 which shall not be prejudicial to those who shall hereafter return into the Communion of the Roman Catholick Church But forasmuch as several Absconded in the Kingdom and many others were Protected by the Favour of the Nobles after the Foreign War in which Poland was engag'd was over they were all Banish'd the Kingdom by a Severe Edict which is as follows We Returning due Thanks to the Lord of Hosts for the Benefits of the last Year who has given us so many Signal Victories over our Enemies and desiring by this our Gratitude to continue the Divine Favour towards us when We shall have Banish'd out of our Dominions those who oppose the Praeeternity of his Son According to our Edicts made in the Assembly of the States in the Year 1668 and 1669 against the Arian or Socinian Sect We for the preventing the Absconding of any of the said Sect within our Territories of Poland and Lithuania and that the foresaid Laws against them may be put in Execution do require all our Officers and Judges to be strict therein And in the Great Dutchy of Lithuania we assign a Court of Judicature to Determine all such Causes By this last Law Publish'd and Ratify'd in an Assembly of the States under the Reign of the late King in the Year 1673 The Socinians were driven out of the Kingdom How Miserable their present Condition is and to what Dangers and Troubles they in their Exile were expos'd appears by this Sorrowful Letter of one of them to the rest of his Brethren A LETTER giving an Account of the Present state of the Socinians YOu desire that I should give you an Account of our present Calamity and Distress Alass you command me to renew an unspeakable Woe to run over again the Remembrance of our Sorrows and to make our Wounds raw and gaping as they are to Bleed afresh My Soul shivers at the reflexion of those many Fatal Blows we have receiv'd Not only my Mind but my Hand and Pen shake at and fly back from the Recital of those Misfortunes which have hitherto pursu'd us and whereof I my self was an Eye-witness We were ah we were a happy People and now the very remembrance of that Felicity which our Churches for so many years by the Divine Favour did enjoy does render the sense of our present Troubles the more severe So that we are loth so much as to remember when how and by what steps we fell from being what we were And did not the goodness of the Cause for which we suffer and the Consolations of this kind of Patience support our Minds it would be better for us who are almost overwhelm'd with such a vast weight of Calamity to forget all that is past that so our present Miseries might be born the more easie Yet because you are desirous of having some description of our present Condition we will give it you not drawn in its own proper and lively Colours but set off in the plainest Dress and such things as are but a trouble for us to insist long upon these we shall but lightly touch Nor do I think it worth the while to give you in a long train a Catalogue of unknown Names if the Faithfulness of the Relators be suspected upon the account of the Inraged or at least ignorant Witnesses and Judges of our Cause 'T is a great Enhancement to the Misfortunes of the Miserable But tho' fortune has abandon'd us in our Misery yet we still retain our Integrity It is best therefore to shew you the Beginnings of our Troubles and when these are once known it will be visible to every one how absurd and unjust it is to discredit the Truth of those things which by the very Nature of our Sufferings cannot be otherwise The first Rise of our Troubles we may date from the War begun in our Country with the Cossacks in the Year 1648 whereby several Inhabitants of the Country and many of our Countrymen especially those of us who were borderers on the Boristhenes were rifled of our Estates and Possessions or at least suffer'd irreparable Losses Upon this long before the Law of Proscripion made in the Year 1668 I with the greatest part of my Estate was ruin'd and for the full space of Ten years before the Banishment was an Exile and with several others of our Friends were as it were cast away before the Storm came Immediately after this the Muscovites and within a while the Swedes and at last the Transilvanians made Incursions into our Country which put the whole Kingdom into great Confusion and not the least Creature in it was free from these Outrages For their own Soldiers were so insolent and the Auxiliary Troops of Scythia and Germany so violent that they could neither escape by flight nor repel by Armes their unjust Force We were not indeed the only Persons who suffer'd by the Wars but we alone were those who exhausted by so many Wars and almost Expiring were harrass'd by a Peace more cruel than any War at a time when others were at quiet and by our Constant strugling with an adverse Fortune it seems as if the former Wars had inspir'd a Spirit of Persecution into the Peace which follow'd Altho' in the very heat of the Wars our Enemies were so industrious as to find out means whereby the heaviest Weight of the War might fall on our heads For upon the Abdication of King Casimire while the Swedes were Masters of Cracow the Deputies from all Provinces of the Kingdom flock'd thither to adjust Matters with the Enemy and their Armies with their Generals separated and almost all Orders bought their Peace by Surrendring But that we might not share the benefit of that short Peace our Inveterate Enemies fell upon us and Plunder'd us whilst we dream'd of no such danger and were every one of us quiet in our own Habitations This sudden Evil was the Death of some of our Party and of some of my own Relations but several who with much ado escap'd from these Pillagers fled to Cracow which was then Govern'd by a Swedish Garrison Tho they were forc'd upon this Flight through Fear and had long before this voluntarily thrown themselves under the Protection of the Swedes yet this was afterwards most unjustly laid to their Charge as a Crime and no Course of Law was us'd in the Oppressing of our Friends The Romish Mass-Priests who
that Island because as it is in a manner wall'd round with very large Reeds no Galley nor Vessel of any considerable Bulk can get thither They want for nothing tho' they never sow nor reap Several Palatines supply 'em with money and the Provinces they inhabit and which they guard furnish 'em with Necessaries They are all Gentlemen but either of very slender Fortunes younger Brothers or such as have no share of the Inheritance as the Law of the Nation orders it They are commonly divided into Troops of 120 when they guard the Frontiers besides their Servants that follow in the like number and who alight if their Masters Horse is disabled They fight covered with Sheep-Skins stuft so as to be Launce and Javelin Proof Their Arms are Pistols and Carbines and Seymitars that hang at their Girdle fastened with a Gilt Chain In the Fight they always ride to and fro as if they designed to attack the Enemy on diverse sides and thus rout them the more easily the Foe not being able to know on which side they are like to be most prest They use Kettle-Drums but never Trumpets unless before their General whom they chuse among themselves and who used to take the Oath of Fidelity to the King of Poland Their Czaiki or hollow trunks of trees which they use to make Incursions are not altogether unlike the Canoes which the Indians use They are covered with Ox-hides with Holes for as many men as each Canoe will carry commonly 40 or 50 and they fasten those Hides so to their Bodies with peices of Leather that no water can get in yet they are not obstructed by them from Rowing or using their Arms. Fifty of these often go out together usually keeping pretty near the Shoar and if a storm happens to arise or they find they are not able to cope with the Enemies Gallies they make the best of their way to the Paludes Meoticae sink their Canoes dive into the water and draw their breath thro' a Reed which they keep so fixt to their mouth as to let nothing but the end of it be above the water There there lye hid till the danger is over and then having thrown the water out of the Canoes they fall unexpectedly upon the Gallies and often make themselves Masters of them About the end of the season these Adventurers separate and go each to his own home after they have appointed their Rendezvous for the ensuing Spring near the Islands of the Boristhenes The Cossacks are of a good Stature strong dexterous nimble liberal great Lovers of their Liberty uneasy under any Yoke indefatigable bold and good Soldiers but great Drunkards and very treacherous They are much given to Fishing and Hunting They have this peculiar to them that none knows how to prepare Salt-Petre better than they do and their Country used to supply several parts of Europe with it In Summer they are mightily pestered with Flies and Grashoppers which fly sometimes in such vast numbers that they make a kind of Cloud and darken the Air for they fly in swarms that are sometimes several miles long and will destroy the Corn they light on tho' it be green in less than two hours time These insects live but six months Rain kills ' em and the Northern Wind blows them into the black Sea The first Revolt of the Cossacks was under their General John Fodhovia who was worsted and then beheaded this happened after King Stephen Battori's death for by that time they were become formidable by reason of their native Valour and being brought under military Discipline They had been allowed many Privileges by that Great Prince besides their Common Pay and he had joyned a Body of Polish Horse to them and appointed the fourth part of his Customs for their subsistance for which reason they are called Quartani The vast Country beyond the Towns of Blacklew Bar and Kiovia had begun to be inhabited and several Towns and Castles to be built by Colonies from neighbouring Provinces and had not the change of religion which the Polish Lords would have impos'd upon the Cossacks occasioned the revolt greater Improvements might have been made and the second which happened in the year 1596 might have been prevented Then the Cossacks had some Advantage over the Polish Army commanded by General Zolskiewski and looked upon themselves as invincible yet that able Warrier found means to press them so close that he forced 'em to deliver him their General Nolevaiko who was served like his Predecessor Then they revolted a third time in 1637 as has been said but with as ill success as before and the Loss of their General and chief Officers at that time was attended with the forfeiture of their Privileges and of the town of Trethimirow and also with the suppression of their Souldery After these disgraces when they were ready to try their Fortune again they were at last promised a re-establishment but this promise was not kept for there was a new modell'd Militia established and their General was often removed Then the Polanders found the Inconveniency of the change by the Incursions of the Tartars and King Vladislaus the IV having a design to make war with the Turks the Cossacks were resetled upon the antient Foot But awhile after this upon some new occasions they shook off the Yoke of Poland under Chonelensk and since that having sometimes partly submitted and at others disclaim'd the Authority of the republick their Country is now much depopulated and they are divided among themselves Some obey the Muscovites and some the Poles and many of them side sometimes with the Turks sometimes with the Poles and sometimes with the Muscovites according as they are successful or offer them more advantageous Terms It may not be amiss to say something of the Lithuanians in particular before we give an Account in general of the State of Poland of which their Country now makes a Part. Lithuania is for the most part very full of large Woods and Forests as also Ponds and Lakes Some of them of such an extent that they seem a kind of Sea The Inhabitants are not less jealous of their Liberty than the Poles taking great care that their Rights may not be infring'd by that Nation their Associates on one side and that the Muscovites their Neighbours may not enslave them as they have often endeavour'd for tho' they agree with the latter in some things as in their drink which is cheifly Mead and Metheglin as also Brandy which they drink alike to great excess also in their way of Ploughing and Sowing and many other matters in point of living yet they have always lookt upon them as an inveterate and treacherous Enemy The Peasants are not less miserable there and yet more ignorant than those of the Kingdom of Poland They are in general used like Slaves by their Masters and often very barbarously by the Servants and Attendants of the Nobility principally in time of War for
then they make nothing of entring their Huts and plundering what they can The poor Rusticks have no admittance into their Lord's Presence without Presents and if it be their Fortune to have access to them they are commonly directed to make their complaint to the Judges who are sure to do them but little good unless the Plaintifs bring them Presents to recommend their Petitions so that every word of the Judge in Lithuania is money Four days commonly and sometimes five or six in a week the Wretches must work for their Lords On Mundays they are allowed to drudge for themselves and as they have not time enough on other days they frequently do all manner of work on sundays for the Peasants keep no manner of Saints Holy-days there having that also particular to them with the Russians that if you ask them why they presume to work on the Lord's day they will answer you with this question whether they must not eat on the Lord's day They are oblig'd to pay a Tax three or four times a year towards defraying the charges of guarding the Frontiers besides several other heavy Impositions of their Lord 's devising Their Bread is the brownest and coursest the Wheat and Ears of Corn being commonly ground together They have very little Horses which yet are excellent for service either in War or Husbandry They do not plough the Ground with Iron but with Wood which seems the stranger because their soil is generally hard and not sandy When they go to plough they take along with them several pieces of Wood which they use instead of Plough shares and when one is broken they presently clap another into the Plough A certain great man to ease those poor men in that hard labour caus'd several Iron Plough-shares to be fabricated but as the following years by reason of the badness of the weather there were no plentiful Harvests they Peasants positively ascribed the sterility of the Ground to those Iron Plough-shares insomuch that to avoid a sedition they were permitted to use their old Way Their Dress is generally a course Ash-colour'd Habit with a sort of Buskings or Boots made of the skins of Beasts after they have taken off the hair They have a sort of light Carts about which they make use of no manner of Iron-work and as they never grease them when many of them are driven together the Axel-trees make a strange uncouth sort of a Noise In some places in the Country if any one of the Peasants has committed a Crime for which his Lord thinks fit to condemn him to die the Criminal is obliged to hang himself and be his own Executioner and if he refuses he is compell'd to do it with Threats and Blows As 't is not many hundred years since the Lithuanians became Christians there are some of the meaner sort still in the Country so stupidly ignorant as to retain many things of their Ancestors Idolatrous Worship these keep a sort of swarthy serpents which they look upon as their tutelary Divinities feeding them with great Care and Respect and attributing their ill Fortune to their neglect of those Animals Not long ago the Lithuanian Rusticks us'd to offer sacrifices about the latter end of October to an imaginary Deity whom they called Ziemiennick Those of Samogitia and Russia us'd to do the like Neither were those of Livonia less idolatrous having been taught Christianity not only by preaching and apostolical Admonitions but also by force of Arms. This gave Birth to the Order of Livonian Knights who first styl'd themselves Sword-bearing Fryers or Brothers and these finding themselves unable to fight the Livonians out of their ancient Belief and Liberty in time call'd in the Teutonick Knights of Prussia to their assistance by which means they at last prevailed Being at last incorporated with them by Pope Gregory IX the Livonian Masters were oblig'd to pay homage and certain Tributes to the Masters of Prussia till the time of Albert Marquess of Brandenburg who about the year 1513 parted with that yearly Tribute and Homage for a large summ of Money Thus the Livonian Knights by degrees and also the several Bishops and Arch Bishops became so many Soveraigns till after many Wars the whole Country of Livonia was subdued by Sigismund Augustus King of Poland tho' since it has been quitted to the Swedes who are now Masters of it CHAP. VI. Of the State of POLAND THe Polanders have at all times had an Inclination to War Insomuch that at first they continually went arm'd as if they had been just ready to engage their Enemies and indeed all their business was to rove about and change their Station from time to time more like Shepherds than like setled Inhabitants of any particular Place neither were they ever in safety for they were on one side always ready to be attacked by the Germans and by the Scythians on the other So that they had many Wars and bloody Conflicts with both those Nations Yet tho' there never was any solid Friendship between them and the Germans at last their way of Living and the Care they took to keep their word to one another made them Accustom themselves more to them than to the Scythians In the beginning the Polanders had neither Laws nor Princes to govern them and liv'd after an uncontroul'd manner but as no Nation can remain long without Rulers principally in time of War they afterwards us'd to chuse among themselves a Chief who was commonly the most Famous person for Valour among them and they us'd to obey him as a Leader but his Authority lasted no longer than the War All the People resolutely followed him Arm'd with Bows and Arrows Partisans and long Launces the Women attended their Husbands pretending to witchcraft the Knowledge of the future Events of Battles The Men never us'd to betake themselves to flight whosoever ran away was never suffer'd to return to his Party This being esteem'd the greatest shame and ignominy among them They came in time to have Knights which was the next Dignity to their Chief Captain and those were also never chosen but out of the Bravest after they had signaliz'd their Valour against the Enemy They Worship'd the Sun the Moon Mars and diverse other false Divinities having certain Places and Rites appropriated to pay them their Adoration They buried the dead in Forests and Fields laying high heaps of stones over their Tombes as may be still seen in many places in Russia others according to the Roman way us'd to burn the dead Bodies and layd up the ashes in Urns Few things satisfi'd them for their Food They had nothing which they properly call'd their own except their Bow their Partisan and Launce They purchased what ever they wanted of others by the way of Barter or Exchange They wore course Garments made of the skins of Wild Beasts down to their heels despising all Rich Dresses Treasures Houses and possessions They made an end of all private