that not only the Countries possess'd by the old German Nations were all reduc'd under his Obedience but all those that lay upon the Baltick Sea and that part of Poland which lies on the West of the Vistula which was then inhabited by the Sclaves for History saith They also were either Tributaries to that Prince or majestatem comiter coluisse were Homagers to his Crown 6. The greatest part of the German Of what Nation Charles the Great was Writers have very fondly endeavoured to have it believed he was their Countryman as being born at Ingelheim a Town in the Bishoprick of Mentz but now under the Elector Palatine and in an ancient Charter of the Abby of Fuld the Lands upon the River Unstrut in Thuring are call'd The Lands of his Conception And that he us'd the German Tongue is apparent by the names of the Months used in his time which are still retained in Germany and are thought to have been introduced by him But if the Germans would suffer me a Foreigner to pass my judgment in this Affair tho' I am not at all disposed to favour the French in their other pretences to the damage of the Germans yet I would perswade them here freely and willingly to renounce their Pretences to Charles the Great and the rather because it can bring no injury to their present Empire for it is certain the Franks placed the Seat of their Empire in Germany and it is no less A Frank certain that the Father of Charles the Great By his Father was King of France and all his Progenitors had for many Ages lived in great Honour and managed great Employments in that Kingdom Besides those parts of Germany And born in France which lie on the West of the Rhine and were then subject to the Crown of France were possess'd by them as Accessions acquired to that Kingdom by Conquest and were looked upon as conquered Provinces and every man is esteemed to be of the same Nation his Father was and in which he has placed the Seat of his Fortunes and Hopes after his Father and Ancestors The sole consideration That a man was born in this or that Country will hardly be allowed to make a man of a different Nation from his Father unless we can believe that if the present King of Sweden had been born in Prussia he had been to have been esteemed a Prussian and not a Swede Nor was that part of Germany which lieth on the West of the Rhine esteemed a part of France till under Charles the Great it was united to that Kingdom And in the first timeâ— that followed when his Posterity had divided their Ancestor's Dominions amongst them the Historians frequently distinguish between the Latin or Western France and the German or Eastern France which is the same with Germany And it is observed that after the times of the Otho's that name of Germany by degrees grew out of use The objection made on the account of the use of the German Language by Charles the Great may be thus easily Tho' he used the German Tongue answered The Gauls having been long subject to the Romans by degrees lost their own Tongue and embraced that of their Conquerors so that at last there were scarce any footsteps of the old Celtick left amongst them But then the Franks brought their German Tongue along with them and without doubt did not presently forget it But then as the Franks neither destroyed nor expelled the Gauls but only assumed the Government and Soveraignity of the Country from whence it came to pass that those who were descended of the Franks were employed in the great Affairs and the Gauls as a conquered People were kept under but then as two Rivers of different colour uniting in one stream may for some time preserve each his proper colour but at length the greater stream will certainly change the lester into its own colour so in the beginning the Gauls had their Tongue and the Franks theirs till in length of time a third was made out of both mixed and twisted together in which yet the Latin is the predominant the plain cause of which is That the Gauls were more numerous than the Franks and it was much harder for them to learn the German than it was for the Franks to learn the Gallick Latin for with what difficulty Foreigners learn the German Tongue I my self know by experience From hence it proceeds that the most ancient Writers of this Nation call the vulgar Latin the Rustick or Countryman's Tongue because the Nobility and Gentry still used the German whilst the Countrymen and the rest of the Gauls had no knowledge of any other than the Latin And thus we see it is in our own times in Livonia and Curland where the old Inhabitants are by the Germans reduced into the condition of meer Rusticks for all the Nobility and the Inhabitants of the Cities speak the Sclavonian Tongue and the German but the Countrymen do scarce understand one German word of ten Thus Charles the Great might easily understand the German Tongue because the Franks who were a German Nation had not quite laid aside the use of it and also because the Franks before his time had conquered a great part of Germany and he went on with the work and reduced all the rest under his Dominion Nor was it possible in that unlearned Age to converse with the Germans in any other than their own Language But then he that observes that there is two very different Questions confounded into one will very accurately determine this Controversie for if the Question be Whether Charles the Great were of a Gallick or a German Original without doubt it will be answered That he was not a Gaul but a German or which is all one a Frank. But if the Question be What Countryman he was France and not Germany is to be assigned him and therefore in this respect he was no German but a Gaul or Gallo-Frank I fear I shall make the Reader think I take him for a stupid person if I should dwell any longer on so plain a thing and yet I will presume to give the Germans a known example If you fall upon a Nobleman of Livonia and ask him what Countryman he is he will reply a Livonian and not a German but then if you still insist and ask him of what Lineage he will say he is descended of the Germans and not of the Livonians 7. This Prince Charles the Great had The Titles of Charles the Great to his several Dominions under him divers Nations which he had acquired by very different Titles He enjoy'd France as his Inheritance devolved to him from his Father by Succession For though we read in their Histories that the ancient Franks had lodged in the Nobility and People of that Nation some Authority in the constituting their Kings yet I conceive it was rather a solemn Inaguration and an acknowledgment of their Loyalty
THE PRESENT STATE OF GERMANY LICENS'D Januar. 31. 1689 90. I. Fraser THE Present State OF GERMANY OR An Account of the Extent Rise Form Wealth Strength Weaknesses and Interests of that Empire The Prerogatives of the Emperor and the Priviledges of the Electors Princes and Free Cities Adapted to the present Circumstances of that Nation By a Person of Quality Reges ex Nobilitate Duces ex virtute sumunt Nec Regibus infinita aut libera Potestas Tacit. LONDON Printed for Richard Chiswel at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCXC TO THE READER I Need not pretend to apologize for the publishing this small Piece at a time when the continued Victories of the Emperor of Germany over that once so formidable Enemy the Turk and the present War with the French has made that Nation the Subject of all our Conversation and Discourse for so many years and our present Union with those Princes in a War that is of so great consequence in the event be it what it will is like to make this Country more the Subject of our Hopes and Fears now than ever it was before It is natural for men to be very desirous to know the Circumstances of those they are concern'd with and there is nothing excites our Curiosity so much as the considering our own Happiness or Misery is wrapt up in the Fate of another Our Regards for the Empire of China are very languid and we read their Story and Descriptions with little more attention than we do a well-drawn Romance because be they true or false we are nothing concerned in the Fortunes of that remote Empire which can have no influence upon our Nation If the World desires it it will not be difficult to give a more particular account of the Electors and of the other Princes and Free Cities of Germany but without that this will be sufficient to shew the general State of Germany which is the thing we Englishmen are most desirous and concerned to know I shall make no other Apology for it because I am beforehand resolved to be wholly unconcerned for its fate the Reader is left entirely to his own liberty to think and speak of it as he himself please January the 24th 1689. THE CONTENTS CHAP. I. Of the Origene of the German Empire p. 1. 1. THE ancient and present Bounds of Germany 2. The ancient state of the German People dangerous and weak 3. The Franks who are of an uncertain extraction the first Conquerors of Germany 4. It is highly probable the Franks were originally Germans 5. They certainly went out of Germany and conquered Gaul now France and afterwards returned back again and conquered all the other Germans 6. An enquiry of what Nation Charles the Great was he is proved a Frank by his Father and was born in France though he used the German Tongue and an account is given of the Language of the Gauls and of the Origene of the present French Tongue 7. The Titles of Charles the Great to his several Dominions 8. Germany a part of the Kingdom of France 9. The Children of St. Lewis divide their Father's Kingdom by which means Germany became once more a Free Independant Kingdom 10. A short historical account of the Roman Empire and of its Fall 11. Italy and Rome for some time under the Greek Emperors 12. The Lombards feared by the Popes subdued by Charles the Great and he thereupon was chosen Emperor of Rome or rather Advocate of that See yet neither he nor any of his Successors would suffer France to be taken for a part of that Empire 13. The Fall of the Caroline Race Otho the first King of Germany only 14. The Kingdom of Germany has not succeeded in the Roman Empire 15. That Title has been damageable to Germany CHAP. II. Of the Members of which the present German Empire is composed p. 24. 1. Germany still a potent State though much diminished as to its ancient extent 2. Which are the Members of that Empire 3. An account of the House of Austria how this Family gained Austria Stiria Carniola it is the first amongst the Spiritual Electors 4. It has long possessed the Imperial Crown The Priviledges granted to it by Charles V. the Low Countries pretended to be united to the Empire by Charles V. and why The Males of this House 5. The Family of the Count Palatine's of the Rhine the Dukes of Bavaria the Palatine Family that of Newburg the other Branches the present King of Sweden of this House 6. The House of Saxony 7. That of Brandenburg 8. The other Princes of the Empire 9. Savoy and Lorrain Ferdinand II. encreaseth the number of the Princes eleven of which are named 10. The Ecclesiastick States once very rich now much diminished yet they still possess the greatest part of the Countries on the Rhine 11. The Ecclesiastick Electors and Bishops that are Princes of the Empire the mitered Abbats the Prelates that are not Princes yet have Votes in the Diet. 12. The Earls or Counts and Barons of the Empire 13. The Free Cities make a College in the Diet. 14. The Knights of Germany divided into three Classes but have no Vote in the Diet. 15. The Empire divided into ten Circles CHAP. III. Of the Origene of the States of the Empire and by what Degrees they arrived to that Power they now have p. 50 1. The Secular Princes of the Empire are either Dukes or Earls 2. The old German Dukes military Officers and their Grevens or Earls were Judges but in time obtained these Offices for their Lives and at last by Inheritance 3. Charles the Great endeavoured to redress this Error but his Posterity returned back to it Otho Duke of Saxony a King in Fact though not in Title other Princes afterwards raised to this Dignity by the Emperors others by Purchace Inheritance and Vsurpation 4. Whose Power was after confirmed by the Emperors upon the failing of the Line of Charles the Great Germany became perfectly free the Princes of Germany now not Subjects but Allies to the Emperor 5. Great Emperors are well obeyed the weaker are despised Luxury has impoverished some of the Princes 6. The Election of the Bishops renounced by the Emperor 7. The Bishopricks of Germany endowed by the Emperors 8. Who when they became very rich refused to be subject to their Benefactor 9. The Free Cities Why the Germans of old had no Cities 10. The Cities were at first subject to the Kings or Emperors of Germany CHAP. IV. Of the Head of the German Empire the Emperor and of the Election and the Electors p. 68. 1. The Emperor the Head of Germany The Empire of the Romans pretendedly given by the Pope The Kingdom of France more hereditary than elective Germany given freely to Conrade The Empire of Rome united for ever to the Kingdom of Germany 2. The ancient Elections not made by any certain number of Electors exclusively 3. The Seven Electors not instituted by Otho III. 4.
reach only to the Baltick Sea and even here the King of Denmark has deprived it of a considerable part of the Promontory of Jutland which he claims as a part of his Kingdom tho' it lieth on this side of the Sound or Mouth of the Baltick Sea But then by way of Reprisals she has enlarged her Borders to the The present Bounds South-East beyond the Danube to the Borders of Italy and Illyrica and beyond the Rhine to the West and North she has gained both the Alsatia's Lorrain and the 17 united Provinces which last were formerly called Gallia Belgica 2. This vast Tract of Land was in The ancient State of it those early times possessed by various Peoples and Nations who were much celebrated on the account of their numbers and valour yet each of them was under a distinct Regiment very different from that used by their Neighbours but then they had one common Original and the same Language and there was a great similitude in their Manners The greatest part of them were under popular Governments some had Kings but that were rather to perswade their Subjects by their Authority than to command them by the Soveraign Power for that Nation was never able to brook an Absolute Servitude This Ancient Germany was never reduced into one Empire or Kingdom wherein it was like the rest of her Neighbours Italy France Spain Greece and Britain before they were conquered by the Romans But then as Germany never was reduced by a Conquest so it retained more lively traces and marks of the Primitive State of Mankind which from separate and distinct Families by degrees united into larger Bodies or Kingdoms But then tho' The old German state dangerous weak this Independent Knot of States and small Kingdoms by reason of its freedom was very grateful to the Germans of those times yet it was absolutely necessary they should frequently be engaged in mutual and destructive Wars when they were so many and so small This again exposed them to the Invasions of their neighbour Nations though they were a warlike People because their scattered Forces were not united in one Empire for their defence Neither had the greatest part of these small States so much Politicks as in due time to unite in Leagues against the dangers of their potent Enemies but they perceived the Benefit of such a Concord when it was too late and they by fighting separately for their Liberty were one after another all conquered 3. The first that reduced Germany The Franks the first Conquerors of Germany of an unknown extraction from that ancient state were the Franks which Nation is of so controverted an Origine that it is not easie to determine whether it were of Gallick or of German extraction For tho' we should grant that all those Nations which the Greeks comprehended under the title of Celtae that is the Illyrians Germans Gauls Old Spaniards and Britains did as it were flow from the same Fountain yet it is very notorious they afterwards much differed each from the others in Language and Manners so that no man that is any thing versed in Antiquity can in the least doubt of it The foolish Pride of some of the Gauls occasioned this difference who being ignorant that many of the Gallick People in the first Ages had ambitiously boasted they were of Gâ—rman extraction did in the later times envy Germany the honour of having been the Mother of the Franks These men pretend that great multitudes of men out of Gaule invaded Germany in ancient but unknown times and passing beyond the Rhine possessed themselves of all the Countries upon the River Mayn to the Hercynian Forest and that after this they returned and conquering the Parts on the West of the Rhine recovered the possession of their ancient Country but so that a part of their Nation still inhabited on the Mayn and left their Name to that Country For the confirmation of this Opinion they cite Livy lib. 5. c. 134. Câ—sar de bello Gallico lib. 6. Tacitus de moribus â—ermanorum c. 28. 4 But to all this the Germans may The Franks were a Germ. People truly reply That the Testimony of these Latin Writers is not without just exceptions because they testifie very faintly of a thing which hapned long before their times and concerning a People too whose Antiquities were not preserved in any written Records Nor is it at all probable when the 1 Trebocci Alsatia the chief Towns of which were Breuco-magus Bruomat and Elcebus Schelstat Trebocci 2 Nemetes the Inhabitants of the Bishoprick of Speyr Nemetes 3 Vangiones the Inhabitants of Worms and Strasburg Vangiones 4 Treveri the Inhabitants of the Archbishoprick of Triers Treveri and some other People who in those times lived on the West side of the Rhine and yet owned themselves to be of German extraction That the Franks should on the contrary pass the Rhine and out of Gaul make a Conquest in Germany And yet after all though we should grant that the Franks were at first a Gallick Colony yet seeing they lived about 800 years in Germany and both in their Language and Customs differed from the Gauls and in both these agreed exactly with the Germans they are for that cause to be reckon'd amongst the German Nations This is certain in the mean time that till about CCC Years after Christ there is scarce any mention of the Franks made in any ancient History From hence there arose two very different Opinions whilst some believe those People who are by Tacitus call'd the 5 The Chauci were the Inhabitants of East-Friesland Groeningen Breme Lunenburg and Hamburg as they are placed by Ptolemy Chauci changed that name in after times and call'd themselves the Franks and others think that a number of German People or some parts of them united in this name and out of a vain affectation of Liberty took up the name of Franks for in the German Tongue Frank signifies free And to this purpose they produce the Testimonies of Francis I and Henry II Kings of France who in their Letters to the Diet of Germany say they are of German Extraction Tho' it is very well known at the same time to all wise men to what purposes such ancient and overworn Relations of Kindred are for the most part pretended 5. But however this be the Franks The Franks conquer Gaul now France and after it Germany for certain first passed the Rhine upon the Vbii or Inhabitants of the Archbishoprick of Cologne and after they had conquered the far greatest part of Gaul now call'd France turning as it were the course of their victorious Arms back again they conquered the greatest part of Germany and subdued all the Countries between the Mayn and the Danube and went Northward as far as Thuringia After this Charles the Great extended his Conquests much further by subduing the Saxons and Tassilon King of the Bavarians so
and Obedience to the new King than a Free Election for they rarely departed from the Order of a Lineal Succession but when there were Factions or the next Heir in the Line was wholly unfit for Government A part of Germany was before this time united by Conquest to the Crown of France and the rest of it was subdued by the victorious Arms of Charles the Great Whether any part of this Country freely and willingly submitted to him out of Reverence to his Greatness is very uncertain He also by his Arms conquered the Kingdom of the Lombards in Italy the Pope of Rome affording him a Pretence for it after which he was by the Pope and People of Rome saluted Emperor of Rome and Augustus Now what he gain'd by this Title we shall by and by inform you 8. Thus under Charles the Great Germany Germany a part of the Kingdom of France became a part of the Kingdom of France and was sufficiently subject to the Absolute Empire or Soveraignty of those Princes During this state of Affairs it was divided into divers Provinces which were governed by Counts or Earls and Marquesses who were for the most part of French extraction yet in these times the Saxons enjoy'd a greater shew of Liberty because Charles the Great had not been able to reduce them without a long and tedious War and was at last to perfect the Work and establish his Soveraignty necessitated to admit them to a participation of the Priviledges enjoy'd by the Franks and to unite them into one Nation with their Conquerors That he might further assure himself of this fierce Nation which was so impatient of Servitude he call'd in the assistance of the Priests who were ordered to teach them the Christian Faith and to inculcate into them how much they were obliged to those who had shewn them the way of obtaining Eternal Life On this account many Bishopricks and Abbies in Germany were founded by Charles the Great Germany was in the same estate under Saint Lewis the Son of Charles but that the Authority of the Prefects or Governours of the Provinces began to grow greater 9. But afterwards when the Children of The Children of St. Lewis divide their Father's Kingdom this Lewis had divided their Father's Kingdom amongst them which was the first and principal cause of the Ruin of the French Power and of the Caroline Family Germany became separated from the French Empire and was a distinct Kingdom under Lewis II. Son of St. Lewis To it was afterwards added a great part of the Belgick France or of the Low Countries as it is now called which lies towards the Rhine which for the most part was inhabited by German Nations which from Lotharius another of the Sons of St. Lewis was then called the Kingdom of Lorrain though at this day only a very small part of that Kingdom retains the old name During the destructive Wars which followed after these times between the Posterity of Charles the Great not only the German Nobility gained exorbitant Power but the very Family of Charles was at last totally extinguished or at least deprived of the Crown of France for to this day the Dukes of Lorrain and the Electors Palatine pretend to be descended of that Family and the Germans chose themselves Kings out of the Nobility of their own Nation from which times Germany became again a free State and Germany a free State had no dependance on the Crown of France Now because the German State is commonly call'd the Sacred Roman Empire I think it will be worth my pains to enquire How it first obtained this Title what it has gained by it and by what Right it now enjoys that Name for the clear understanding of which it will be necessary shortly to recapitulate the state the Roman Empire in the West was reduced to before the times of Charles the Great 10. It is very well and commonly known A short account of the Roman Empire after what manner the People of Rome after they had by the Success of their Arms subdued the noblest part of the then known World were at last by the ambition of a few over-potent Citizens engaged in Civil Wars and at length brought under the Dominion of a single person But then Augustus the Founder of the Roman Empire or Monarchy when he had by the assistance of the Army gained the Empire perswaded himself that he should easily keep it by the same way Therefore tho' from thenceforward he seemed to leave some of the Affairs of the State to the disposal of the Senate that it might still seem to have a share in the Government yet he wholly kept in his own hands the Care and Government of the Army But then it was his principal care to conceal from the Rabble of the Army That the Souldiers were the men who could set up and pull down the Emperors which Secret when it was once discovered the State of the Empire became as miserable as the Condition of the Emperors for the Empire being weakened by frequent intestine Wars found it self also often exposed to the worst of men by a covetous and turbulent Rabble which oftentimes most wickedly murdered her best Princes to her great damage and sorrow Nor could any of her Emperors after this entertain any hopes of firmly settling the Empire in their Families but was necessitated to be contented with a precarious Title amongst a parcel of mercenary Souldiers So that in truth the whole power of making the Emperors was in the Army which is the common Attendant of all Military Monarchies where a strong and perpetual Army is kept together in any one place and the Senate and People of Rome were weak and vain Names made use of to delude the simple common People as if the free and voluntary consent of the whole Body had constituted the Emperor That Kingdom thus founded on a Military Licence as it was unfit for continuance was by Constantine the Great and Theodosius hastened to its fatal period the first of these making Byzantium now called Constantinople the Seat of the Empire and withdrawing the Armies which had till then been maintained on the East of the Rhine for its preservation and the later by dividing the Empire between his two Sons Arcadius and Honorius soft lasie Princes and neither of them fit for such a Command From thence forward there were two Kingdoms for one and this Division was no way useful but only for the fitting the Western part by separating it from the Eastern to be the more easie Prey to the barbarous Nations and accordingly not long after this an end was put to the Western Empire and Rome was taken and sack'd by the Goths which before that had been deprived of all her Provinces by as good Right as she had got them and now in her turn lost her beloved Liberty and became a part of the Gothick Kingdom 11. After this the Gothick Power being Rome for
their Bishop seeing Munstet it would the better have became them who took Arms against their own Prince for their Liberties to have assisted their Neighbours in a like Attempt 14. The Knights of Germany are not all The Knights of Germany in the same condition part of them being immediately subject to the Emperor and the Empire and another part being under the subordinate States who are their Lords They that belong to the first of these Classes call themselves the Free Nobles of the Empire and the Conjunct Immediate and Free Nobility of the Empire These according to the respective Circuits in which their Estates are stand divided into three Classes of Divided into three Classes Franconia Schwaben and the Rhine which are again subdivided into lesser Divisions They have of their own Order certain Directors and Assessors who take care of those Affairs which concern the whole Body of this Order and if any thing of great moment happen they call a general Convention but then they have no Place in the But they have no Vote in the Diet. Diet which they look on as a Priviledge for the saving of the Expences necessary in such an Attendance And in truth it would be no great advantage to them to be admitted into the Diet to give their Votes in all other things they enjoy the same Liberties and Rights with the other Princes and Free States so that they are inferiour to the Princes in nothing but Wealth To recompence this they have great Advantages from the Ecclesiastical Benefices and Cathedral Churches in which they are Canons and by this way many of them become Princes of the Empire They that obtain this Honour have learned by the Pope's example to take good care of their Family and Relations and besides there is a wonderful satisfaction in the enjoyment of great Revenues with small Labour for they employ their Curates or Vicars to make a noise in their Churches so that they are in no peril of spoiling their Voices by any thing but Intemperance and as to the inconveniences of living unmarried their Concubines which are not wanting cure them Those that make themselves Eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven are in the mean time very scarce in Germany And it is almost as infamous in a Nobleman to be continent as not to love Dogs and Horses I have heard some of them complain that some of the Princes have an apparent disgust at their Priviledges and look upon them with an evil Eye because living in the midst of their Territories they enjoy such large Exemptions And others say such vast numbers of small Royolets do much weaken the Empires in which they are suffered And if a foreign War happen they become an easie Prey to the Invaders Yet for all this these Gentlemen will not part with a certain Liberty for an uncertain Hazard or Danger and the rest of the Princes will not suffer so considerable an Addition to be made to the Power and Riches of the Princes they live under except some great Revolution open a way to this change or by length of time and crafty Projects their Estates be wasted and consumed 15. We must here in a few words The Empire is divided into ten Circles admonish the Reader that this vast Body of the Empire by the appointment of Maximilian I. in the year 1512 was divided into ten Circles the names of which are these Austria Mentz Trier Cologne and the Palatinate call'd the Lower Circle of the Rhine the Vpper Circle of the Rhine Schwaben Bavaria Franconia the upper and lower Saxony Westphalia that of Burgundy the Kingdom of Bohemia with the Provinces of Silesia and Moravia belong not to any of these Circles Which yields us a clear proof that it is rather united to Germany by a kind of League than a part of that Empire To which of these Circles any Place belongs may be found in common Books every where to be had This Division was made for the more easie Preservation of the Publick Peace and the Execution of Justice against contumacious States and Princes to which end each of them has Power to name a General for the commanding their Forces and the appointing their Diets in which the principal Prince in the Circle for the most part presides in which they take care for the defence of the Circle and for the levying Moneys for the publick use Yet a man may well question whether this Division doth not tend more to the Distraction and weakening of Germany than its Preservation the whole Body being by this means made less sensible and less regardful of the Calamities which oppress or endanger the Parts of it and threaten though at a distance the Ruin of the whole Thus much of the Parts of the Empire CHAP. III. Of the Origine of the States of the Empire and by what degrees they arrived to that Power they now have 1. FOR the attaining an accurate knowledge of the German Empire it is absolutely necessary to enquire by what steps those that are called the States of the Empire arrived to the Power they now possess for without this it will not be possible to see what was the true cause that this State took such an irregular form Now these States are Secular Princes Earls Bishops and Cities of the Rise of each of which we will discourse briefly The Secular Princes are Dukes or Earls who have The Secular Princes of the Empire are either Dukes or Earls to these Titles some other added in the German Tongue viz. Pfaltzgrave Landtgrave Marggrave and Burggrave for to the best of my remembrance none of the ancient Princes except he of Anhalt has the simple Stile of a Prince without one of these Additions yet some of them use the Title of Prince amongst their other Titles Thus they of Austria are stiled Princes of Schwaben the Dukes of Pomerania now under the King of Sweden the Princes of Rugen the Landtgrave of Hussia and Hersfield c. 2. Amongst the ancient Germans before they The old German Dukes military Officers as were subdued by the Franks a Duke was a meer Military Officer as appeareth plainly by the German word Heerzog who for the most part were chosen on the account of their Valour when a War was coming upon them In Times of Peace those that governed Their Grevens or Earls were Judges in times of Peace them and exercised Jurisdiction and governed their Cities Districts and Villages were for the most part chosen out of the Nobility and were called Greven or Graven which is as much as President though the Latin word Comes is more often used for it because from the time of Constantine the Great downward those who were employed in the Ministry or Service of the Court in the command of the Forces dispersed in the several Provinces of the Empire or in administring Justice and the execution of the Laws were all stiled Comites After this when the
yielded it to them on that score yet after all for ought that appears to me we shall never read that any of the Line of Charles the Great call'd the Kingdom of France by that Name 13. When the Caroline Family began to The Fall of the Caroline Race the Rise of the Kingdom of Germany under Otho 1. decline and the Germans had divided themselves from the Kingdom of France and Italy was afflicted with great Commotions there sprung up other States out of the Ruins of this House and amongst them Otho the First King of Germany who having overcome Berengarius and reduced the Kingdom of Italy the Popes who could not trust to their States thought fit to put Otho in possession of the same Power that had been enjoyed by the Family of Charles the Great and consented That for the future the Protection of the See of Rome should be united to the Kingdom of Germany so that whosoever enjoyed that Kingdom should be the Protector of that See But then after many of those old German Kings had couragiously executed that Office upon the See of Rome and in the mean time the Wealth and Power not only of the See of Rome but of the Bishopricks of Germany was become very great the Popes of Rome began to grow weary of this German Protection too the Causes of this were 1. The Aversion common to all Nations against a Foreign Dominion 2. The Indignity which was offered hereby to the Italick People who having ever been celebrated for Civil Prudence were by this kept under the Tutelage of the less-politick Germans 3. Besides it was very uneasie to the Vicar of J. C. to be any longer under the Guardianship of another whose fingers itched to be giving Laws to all Princes therefore for the shaking off this Yoke they took this course viz. They found out ways by the means of the Bishops to imbroil the Affairs of these Kings sometimes in Germany and at others in Italy and the Pope seconded them with his Fulminations or Censures which in those Ages were wonderful terrible Thus by degrees the Kings of Germany grew weary of Italy and being content with their own Kingdom left the See of Rome to the sole management of the Popes which they had sought so many Ages and by such a variety of Arts to the embroiling all Europe After this the Kings of Germany a long time omitted the being crowned at Rome yet they retained the old Titles of Emperors of Rome and when they entred upon the Kingdom the Defence of the See of Rome was in the first place enjoin'd them from which care the Protestant Electors have since given the Emperor a Discharge 14. By all that has been said it will appear The Kingdom of Germany has not succeeded in the Roman Empire how childishly they are mistaken who think the Kingdom of Germany his succeeded in the Place of the old Roman Empire and that it is continued in this Kingdom when in truth that Empire which was seated at Rome was destroyed many Ages before Germany became one Kingdom and that Roman Empire which was given to Charles and Otho which was nothing but the Advousion and Protection of the See of Rome in length of time fixed its Name upon that Kingdom of Germany tho' the States of the Church in Italy never were united into one and the same Polity with the Kingdom of Germany much less did either Charles or Otho submit their proper Kingdoms to Rome as the Metropolis or Seat of the Empire In the mean time because it was believed the very Title of Emperor of Rome upon the account of the Greatness of that ancient Empire had something of Majesty and Grandeur in it it was frequently given to the Kings of Germany only And the consequence of this was that Germany was afterwards call'd the Roman Empire by way of Honour but the different Coronations which belong to them do not obscurely shew that there is a real difference to be made between the Roman Empire and the Kingdom of Germany and the later Emperors since Maximilian I. after the Title of Roman Emperor expresly subjoin that of King of Germany The Germans also at this day do commonly call their State The Roman Empire of the Teutonick Nation which form of Speech seems to contain in it a contradiction Seeing it is very certain the present State of Germany is not one and the same with the ancient Roman Empire yet the Kings of Germany retain the Title which has been received tho' they have for a long time omitted the Reception of the Crown of Rome and use very little of the ancient Rights of an Advocate which belonged heretofore to them because Princes do more easily part with the things in dispute than with the Titles to them Now whether that Right they once had is by the lapse of time expir'd or preserved by the use of the Title only we shall hereafter when occasion is offered enquire 15. But in the mean time the Title of the The Title of Roman Emperor damageable to Germany Empire of Rome is so far from being any advantage that it is manifest it has been the cause of great Mischief and Inconvenience to Germany Priests are alwaies ready to receive but never part with any thing and whereas all other Clients dispose their Masters to favour them by their Presents if a Priest be not fed with new Presents he presently snarles and imputes his Blessing as a wonderful Obligation I should think that the ancient Princes heaped their Bounties upon the Clergy of Germany principally because they were made believe God expected they should provide plentifully for that Order of Men. And what has been spent by Germans in Journies to Rome for the Imperial Crown What Treasures and Men have been consumed in Italick Expeditions in composing the Commotions stirr'd up by the Popes and in protecting them against refractory men that have attack'd them is not to be conceived Nor has any Foreigner got much by attacking Italy the Spaniards excepted who have stuck so many years in the Bowels of * The Author tho'a German pretends to be an Italian our Country that we have never yet been able to â—epell them Lastly no Princes were oftner fulminated by that See than the German Emperors nor was any of them more exercised by the frequent Seditions of the Churchmen than they the principal cause of all which misfortunes seem to have arisen from hence That they thought these Princes who had this Title from the See of Rome in which they took such pride were obliged by it above all other Men to promote the Affairs of that See Or otherwise because that Order of Men is above all others unwilling to be subject to the Soveraignty of another and with Mother-Church is ever seeking how to shake off the hated Secular Authority yet I would have this understood with Salva reverentia sanctissimae sedis a saving the Reverence and Respect due
the Charges of the Empire for he well considered that all was to be spent on the Turkish War and the Preservation of the Austrian Dominions and when the Accounts of the Moneys expended in the Turkish War were to be in the hands of the Princes of this Austrian Familys the Low Countries were not likely to be overcharged nor to be very ill treated if they proved slow in the payment So that it was easie to observe That Charles V. by this Promise only encouraged the Germans to spend their Treasures the more freely in the defence of his Territories when they saw him so freely consent to bring his own Patrimony under the same Burthen tho' perhaps there might be another reason too at the bottom of it viz. That whereas his Son Philip then aspired to the Empire it might not be objected against him that he had no Dominions in the Empire those belonging before to the House of Austria being then assigned to his Brother Ferdinand Or perhaps that the Germans might think themselves the more obliged to defend these Provinces if they were at any time invaded by the French King At this time that Line is reduced The Males of this House to two Males Leopald Emperor of Germany who has since our Author wrote had a Son named Joseph and Charles King of Spain who has no Issue I have heard many of the Germans wish this Prince a numerous Male Posterity out of meer fear that the failing of the Line in this Family may cause dreadful Convulsions in Europe 5 The Family of the Counts Palatine of the The Counts Palatine of the Rhine and the Dukes of Bavaria Rhine and of the Dukes of Bavaria are as to Antiquity equal to the best and it enjoys a vast Tract of Land which extends from the Alps to the River Moselle and two Dukedoms in the Borders of the Low Countries It is divided into two Lines the Rudolfian and William one of these is possess'd of the Dukedom of Bavaria Bavaria and has ever been thought very Rich and in the last tedious Civil War it got also the Electoral Dignity from the Palatinate Family and for almost an hundred years it has possessed the Electorate of Cologne Prince Clement who was lately chosen being likely still to continue it in this Family tho' powerfully opposed by the King of France his Predecessor also possess'd the Bishopricks of Liege and Hildisheim The Rudolfian The Palatine Family Line is divided into many Branches the Principal of which is the Elector Palatine and it enjoys the Lower Palatinate on the Rhine a Country which for its strength pleasantness and fertility was equal to the best parts of Germany before the French with Fire and Sword barbarously laid it desolate not only demolishing but burning down to the Ground the greatest part of its Towns Cities Palaces and Churches The Count Palatine of Newburg The House of Newburg possess'd heretofore the Dukedoms of Juliers and Montz and some Dominions on the Danube and in the year 1685. Charles Lewis the last Elector dying without Issue Philip William of the House of Newburg succeeded in the Electorate too which in the year 1688. he resigned to his Son John William being grown very old and sorely oppressed by the French Besides these The other Branches of this House there are the Palatines of Sultzback Simmeren Deuxpont or Zuibrucken as the Germans call it Birkenfield and Lawtreck The Family of Deuxpont produced Charles Gustavus King of Sweden who The King of Sweden of this Family His Dominions in Germany now reigns in that Kingdom who by the Peace of Osnaburg has obtained in Germany the Dukedoms of Breme Ferden and the upper Pomerania together with Stetin the Principality of Rugen and the Barony of Wismar This Family enjoys now also Princes of great worth and virtue for as the Bavarian Line are celebrated for their great Piety so the Electoral Family have been much esteemed for their Prudence which character will belong equally to the House of Newburg the last of this Family was on that account thought worthy of the Crown of Poland tho' he was no way related to the Families that had worn it And Prince Rupert a Branch of the elder House of the Palatinate who died in England was a Person of great Valour and Worth and famous over all Christendom for the Wars he had managed by Sea and Land 6. The Dukes of Saxony possess almost the The House of Saxony middle parts of Germany to whom belongs Misnia Thuring and a small Country on the Elbe called the Vpper Saxony Lusatia and in Franconia the Dukedoms of Coburg and the Earldom of Henneburg a Country celebrated in some parts for its Fertility and in others for its Mines This Family is divided in to two Branches viz. Albert and Ernest the last of these is in possession of the Electorate and the second Son is to be Bishop of Magdeburg of the first are the Dukes of Altenburg Gotham and 4 Brothers of the Family of Wimar and a numerous Posterity besides 7. Next these are the Marquesses of Brandenburg The House of Brandenburg the Head of which Family is one of the Electors who has large Dominions in Germany besides Prussia which is placed now out of the Empire which also he lately obtained from the Crown of Poland he has Mark the further Pomerania gained from the Swedes tho' it belonged to him by Inheritance upon the death of the last Duke without Issue Halberstad Minden and Camin three Bishopricks given him as an Equivalent for the hither Pomerania and he was also to have that of Magdeburg after the death of Augustus the present Possessor of the House of Saxony These Dominions are large and fruitful yet some believe he would have chosen the two Pomerania's entire before all the rest I remember when I was in my return from Germany being at an Entertainment at Padoua in which were present some Italian and French Marquesses I had an occasion to say the Marquess of Brandenburg could travel 200 German miles in his own Dominions without lying one night in any other Prince's Country though in some places it was indeed interrupted whereupon many that were present began to suspect I was guilty of the common fault of Travellers and my Faith was much questioned but that an old Souldier who was present and had served long in Germany and had been one of my Acquaintance in that Prince's Court delivered me from their Suspicions They could not but blush thereupon when they considered that some prided themselves in this Title in Italy and France who were scarcely Masters of Two Hundred Acres of Land So little did they understand that our German Marggraves are more considerable than their Marquesses There is another Branch of this Family in Franconia who if I am not mistaken possess the old Inheritance of the Burggraves of Norimburg and are divided into two Lines that of Culemback and that of
Princes got their Estates they now hold them as Fees of the Empire Yet the name of Vassal has not deprived these Princes of any considerable part of their Power and Grandeur for if I grant a man any part of my Estate to be holden of me as a Fee though I put him thereby into a full possession yet I make him my Subject and I as the Lord of the Fee may prescribe what Laws or Conditions I please to the possession of what I thus grant But then he who consenteth to acknowledge what he already hath to be a Fee holden of the Party thus consented to is supposed only to own the Lord of the Fee as a superiour Confederate in an unequal League and so to respect his Majesty and reverence his Dignity The Line of Charles Vpon the failing of the Line of Charles the Great Germany was perfectly Free. the Great failing Germany became perfectly free and many of the Nobility before that time had acquired to themselves great Dominions when therefore it was thought fit to give the Regal Title to some one Person chosen out of the Nobility that Germany might not return into her ancient weak defenceless state by being broken into small Governments It is not to be thought that the Princes were willing to cast away their Dominions or to submit them to the Absolute Dominion of another but rather to seek a strong Protector or Defender of their Rights Thus the State of these Princes being once introduced and confirmed it was fit that those who were afterwards exalted to that Dignity by the Emperors in the stead of any Families that happened to be extinguished should also be advanced to the same state of Freedom and Power with the ancient Princes And in the mean time those that are well versed in Civil Prudence or Politicks will easily acknowledge that this Feudal Obligation of the Princes to the Emperor only made them unequal Allies or Confederates and not Subjects properly so called for it is inconsistent with the Person or Notion of a Subject to exercise a The Princes of Germany not Subjects but Allies to the Emperor Power of Life and Death over all those that are in his Dominions or to appoint Magistrates as he thinks fit to make Leagues and levy Moneys to his own use without being accountable for the same to the Royal Treasury or giving to it any more than he himself shall think fit But then to force an Ally by the rest of the Confederates who offends against the Rules of the League is very usual in all such cases and there are many Examples of it both in ancient and modern Story But to acknowledge the Emperor to be the sole Judge of the Cases for which a Prince may deserve to be deprived of his Dominions as it would pull up the Foundations of the Power of German Princes so those who have alwaies opposed the Emperors that have attempted at any time to do it have thought it a slavish and base Respect or Reverence to him to betray their Rights so far as to suffer him to do it 5. From thenceforward as it has ever Great Emperors are well obeyed the weaker are despised happened in all Empires where the Power of the Subject has been formidable to the Soveraign so more signally has it happened in Germany viz. That when they had Emperors of great Wealth or very much Reverence on the Score of their eminent Virtues the Princes were most obsequiously subject to them but when they have had weak or unactive Emperors they have had only a precarious Command over them And those Emperors again who have endeavour'd to pluck up this so deeply rooted Power of the Princes and to reduce Germany into the condition of a true Monarchy or Kingdom have sometimes pull'd Ruin down upon themselves and have ever failed of their hopes and gained nothing by it but the disquieting themselves and others Nor have those that endeavoured to do it by Craft made any progress because some or other have found out the Design and disappointed it and if any thing were gained from the Princes at any time one way it was lost another Thus it is known to all men what ill Successes in the last Age attended the Attempts of Charles V. and Ferdinand II. yet * Luxury has impoverished some of the Princes Luxury Sloth and Prodigality have wonderfully weakened some of the Princes because they took no care to augment or keep what they had And several of the Families are also weakened by dividing their Patrimony and Dominions amongst their Brethren and Kindred And some without any fault of theirs have been ruined by the Calamities of the Civil Wars 6. I must in the next place speak something The election of the Bishops of the Bishops too Now it is certain that in the first times of Christianity the Bishops were elected and constituted by the Clergy and the Faithful People afterwards about the IV. Century when Princes embraced the Christian Religion a Custom was taken up by them of not suffering any person to be made a Bishop without their Consent because they very well understood that it tended very much to the preservation of the publick Peace to have good and peaceable men in that eminent Office The Kings of the Franks took up the same Custom and would suffer none to be made Bishops in their Kingdom but such as they approved of And the Emperors of Germany continued the same Right till the Reign of Henry the Fourth Gregory the Seventh began a Quarrel against this Prince on that Score which was carried on by his Successors against the succeeding Emperors till at length his Son Henry V. weary of the Broils this Controversie had occasion'd in the Diet of Worms in the year 1122 renounced this Imperial Priviledge of constituting and investing the Bishops but yet the Emperor Renounced by the Emperor had still the Right of delivering to the elected Bishop the Regalia and Fees by the delivery of a Crosier Now it is not easie to conceive what the Emperor lost by the yielding this great point for though his power before over the Secular Princes was not great yet as long as the Church was subject to him he could easily equal or if need was overrule their Forces In the Agreement between the Pope and Henry the Fifth the Election of the Bishops was setled in the Clergy and People jointly yet afterwards the Canons of the Cathedral Churches began to claim the sole power of chusing them the Pope conniving at this their Usurpation it being more for his Interest to have this Affair in a few hands than in many At length things came to this That the Confirmation of the new elected Bishop was to be sought from Rome whereas this as well as the Consecration before belonged to the Metropolitan But then the Examples of Men provided beforehand with Bishopricks by the power of the Pope was very rare in Germany and
Trade gave them great Security and by consequence made them populous and rich The principal of these Leagues is that made by the Cities on the Rhine in the year 1255 in which some Princes desired to be included The Hanse League was chiefly made on the account of Maritime Commerce and grew to that height of Power that they became terrible to the Kings of Sweden England and Denmark But then after the year 1500. it became contemptible because the lesser Cities when they found the greater got all the profit fell generally off and deserted them And the Nations upon the Ocean and Baltick Sea by their example began about the same time also to encourage Trade in their own Subjects especially the English Flandrians and Hollanders Thus their Monopoly failing their Strength fell with it 10. Though in the beginning the Cities The Cities at first subject to the Kings or Emperors of Germany were in a better condition than the Villages yet they were no less subject to the King or Emperor than they and these Princes took care to have Justice exercised in them by their Counts or deputed Judges as they call'd them After this by the enormous and imprudent Liberality of the Emperors many of the Cities were granted to the Bishops others to the Dukes and Counts and the rest remained as before only subject to the Emperor In the XII Century they began to take more liberty as they found they could relie upon their Riches because the Emperors by reason of the Intestin Wars were not able then to reduce them to a due Obedience some Princes were but just advanced to the Imperial Dignity and so were forced also to purchase the Favour and Assistance of the great Cities by the Grants of new Priviledges and Immunities that they might employ them as a Bulwark against their Refractory Bishops and Princes after this by degrees they shaked off the Emperor's Advocates The succeeding Emperors observing also that the Bishops employed their Wealth against them encouraged the Cities to oppose the Bishops The Dukes of Schwaben failing many small Cities in the Dukedom catched hastily at the opportunity of being made free yet they did not obtain their Freedom all at once but one after another as they could gain the Favour of the Emperor and that is one Reason that they have not all the same Priviledges and some of them want a part of the Regalia to this day Some of them bought these Priviledges of their Dukes or Bishops and others shook them off by force and then entred into Treaties for the purging that Iniquity for when these Princes were poor or low their last Remedy was to sell the richest of their Subjects their Liberty and others when they saw they could no longer keep them in subjection took what they could get from them and were unwillingly contented with it CHAP. IV. Of the Head of the German Empire the Emperor and of the Election and the Electors 1. THough Germany consisteth of so many The Emperor the Head of Germany Members many of which are great and perfect States yet it has at all times excepting the Interregnums which have happened since Charles the Great been united to one Head which the Ancients only call'd their King the later Ages by the more ambitions Titles of the Roman Emperor and Casar and upon the sole account of this Head it has seem'd to the most of men to be one single simple State And my next business is to shew how this Head is constituted or appointed but then it will be worth my while by way of Introduction to represent this Affair from its Rise that it may the more clearly appear how much the present differeth from the ancient Election and what is the true Original of the Electoral Princes As to Charles the Great and his Posterity the Roman Empire and the Kingdom of France are to be severally and distinctly considered The The Empire of the Romans pretendedly given by the Pope first of these was collated upon Charles by the Pope and the People of Rome as the principal Members of that Empire or rather as upon one who plainly designed to make himself Emperor and that as appeareth in an Hereditary way So that the Crowning his Successors had not the force of a new and free Election but of a solem Inaguration For we read that Charles the Great made Lewis his Son and Lewis made also Lotharius his Son their Consorts in the Empire and yet there is no mention made of their asking the Consent of the Pope or of the People of Rome on either of these occasions But then as to the ancient Kingdom of France we cannot affirm that it was either meerly elective or meerly hereditary but a mixture of both For we read frequently that the The Kingdom of France morchereditary than elective Kings of France were constituted by the Consent and Approbation of the Nobility and whole People of France but in such a manner yet that they never chose out of the Line of the dead King but for very great reasons which kind of Election is as we know still observed in Poland yet he that shall curiously observe it shall find France had more of a Successive than of an Elective Kingdom So that it seems to have been collated on the first of the Race with a Condition that he should transmit it to his Posterity unless they appeared to the People very unworthy of it So that the Children of the Deceased King did not so much gain a new Right to the Kingdom by this Approbation of the Nobility and People as a Declaration that they were not uncapable of succeeding by the Right that was at first collated on them Afterwards the Line of Charles the Great being deposed or rejected and denied the Throne of France the Kingdom of Germany or as they then called it the East Kingdom of France was by the most free Consent of Germany given freely to Otho and after to Conrad the Nobility given to Otho the Saxon who excusing himself on the account of his Age by his Advice Conrad Duke of Franconia was by them chosen King of Germany who was as some think of the Line of Charles the Great By his Counsel also afterwards Henry the Falconer Son of Otho Duke of Saxony was by a free Election advanced to that Kingdom who being contented with Germany would not accept the Title of Emperor though the Pope offered it to him but Otho the Great his Son having subdued Italy so united Rome and The Empire of Rome united to the Kingdom of Germany for ever the Lands of the Church to Germany that from thenceforward he that had the Kingdom of Germany without any new Election should be Emperor of Rome the Crowning by the Pope being nothing but a Solemnity though before this Ceremony the Kings of Germany had not usually used the Title of Emperors The same form of Succession hereupon was used in Germany which
Princes repented they had consented to this Attempt of the Bavarian but could not then recall their Letters to him But then as is usual in such Encroachments no man was willing to join with the Oppressed and make his Quarrel his own afterwards they printed Books one against the other Now though no man could wonder that the Duke of Bavaria should venture upon this Practice who in the more flourishing state of the Count Palatin's Affairs had pretended to the Electorate and now having got part of the Palatin's Country had encreased his own Power and was otherwise well assured of the Concurrence and Favour of the House of Austria both on the account of Kindred and Religion yet the far greatest part of the indifferent Spectators thought the Count Palatine had sufficiently shewn his Right and demonstrated that this Vicarian Viceroyalty was no part of the Great Lord High Sewer's Offices but was perpetually annexed to the Palatinate of the Rhine as the Duke of Saxony has the other half of that Power in the rest of Germany not as Elector but as Palatine of Saxony But then as there were many that openly favoured the Bavarian so the rest were not willing openly to espouse the opposite side and that Prince would not confess he had done wrong and so the Controversie remains undetermin'd still 10. Sometimes there is joined to the Of the King of the Romans Emperor Extra Ordinem a King of the Romans in pretence as his General Vicar or Deputy who in his Absence or Sickness is to Govern the State and upon his Death to succeed without any new Election But then though the Good of the State has ever been pretended as is usual in such Cases yet the real Cause has ever or at least most usually been That they might with the greater ease in their own lifetimes preferr their Sons Brothers or near Kinsmen to the Empire by the Influence or Recommendation of a Regnant Emperor foreseeing that one that was chosen in a Vacancy or Interregnum would have harder terms imposed on him by the Electors Joseph King of Hungary the eldest Son of Leopald the present Emperor of Germany who was born the 25th of July 1678. was chosen King of the Romans the 24th of January 1689 90. and Crowned the 26th at Ausburg This Emperor has another Son of his own Name who was born the 12th of June 1682. who ought to have been taken notice of in the end of the former Chapter where the Males of the House of Austria are set down but it slipped my Memory till that Sheet was wrought off CHAP. V. Of the Power of the Emperor as it now stands limited by Treaties and the Laws and Customs of the Empire and the Rights of the States of Germany 1. I Have already shewn by what degrees Of the Limits set to the Imperial Power and upon what occasions the Nobility of Germany mounted themselves to that excessive height of Power and Wealth as is wholly inconsistent with the Laws of a regular Monarchy Nor is it worth our wonder that when the Election of the Emperor in aftertimes was devolved upon them they set their Hearts upon the preserving what they had gotten By this Change in the State of Affairs the Kings of Germany lost the Power of Disposing or Governing as they thought fit the Concerns of that Nation and were necessitated to consult the Princes in things of great moment and transact more of their business with the States by their Authority than by their Soveraign Power and there is no question to be made but the Princes inserted a Clause to this purpose very early into the Coronation Oath of Germany which is usually administred to all Christian Princes in a very solemn manner upon their Accession to any Crown viz. That the King should Promise and Swear to Defend all the Rights of all and singular the Inhabitants of Germany and observe and keep all the laudable Customs in that Kingdom received and used But whether in process of time any particular Laws were added to the old and comprehended in Writing is not so manifest because before the times of Charles the Fifth we have no Copies of any such Capitulations or Agreements and those that are pretended to be more ancient are of no great certainty And whereas it is said in the Golden Bull The Emperor shall presently confirm all the Rights Priviledges and Immunities of the Electoral Princes by his Patent under Seal This seems to belong only to them and therefore is a very different thing from the Agreement by which the Emperor is now obliged to engage for the Liberty or Freedom of the whole Empire Now the Reasons why the Electors desired to have Charles the Fifth bound to them in so many express and tedious Articles and Covenants was That they considering the great Power of that Prince his Youth High Spirit testified by his Motto Plus ultra and his other Advantages feared lest he should imploy his Patrimonial Estates to subdue the German Nation and took this way to make him consider That he must Govern Germany after another manner than he did his other Dominions And this Custom being once taken up has been ever since continued though there are not the same Reasons there were at first for it 2. These Conditions have been prescribed These Conditions prescribed only by the Electors to the Emperors by the Electors without consulting the other States of Germany though they have sometimes complained of it and in the last Treaty of Munster it was moved That in the next Diet there might be care taken to draw up a standing form of Articles which should be perpetual And I heard when I was at Ratisbone that it was then under serious Debate and that much Paper had been spent in that Service but the Wiser part thought the Electors had no reason to fear the event of this Consultation because it was the Emperors Interest as well as theirs that the Electors should still be in a better condition than the other Princes for they being few in number might more easily be brought to a compliance with him than the other States which were more numerous and therefore it was reasonable on the other side that he should rather indulge them of the two And those Princes of the Empire who were descended of the Electoral Families were very inclinable to it too and the Demands of the rest might be deluded without much difficulty Nor doth it agree with the Manners of Germany to deprive any man of what he has by Force and Combination however he came by it They added That though what the States asked was not unreasonable viz. That they might be equally secured in the Capitular with the Electors yet that it was not possible to pen an Instrument in such manner but that upon the change of times and things it would be necessary to change and correct it That in the former Agreements there were many things changed added
an Aristocrasie only because in the Diet things pass by a majority of Votes for in many Kingdoms there are Parliaments or Assemblies of the States which are of the same nature with the Diets of Germany and in them too the majority of Voices prevails and yet they are Monarchies and not Aristocrasies as for example England Sweden and Scotland What is more usual than for a System of States which are united only by a strict League and Combination to hold their Assemblies Diets or Parliaments And thus have all of them as much Power over the Members of their States as the Diet of Germany have over the States that compose it The Society of the Amphyctyones and Achaeans in old times and the Diets of the Cantons in Switzerland and the Grisons and the Assemblies of the United Provinces in their States-General at the Hagne in latter times are full and clear Instances of this and true Aristocrasies have all of them this in common viz. That no one in the Senate is superiour to the whole Senate and they all of them are bound as much to obey the Decree of the major part of the Senate as any other Subject and the Senate has a Power of Life and Death over all the Members of it which is by no means true of the Diet of Germany And in an Aristocrasie the Senators have their private Estates which commonly are greater than those of the private Subjects yet not only the publick Revenues but the private Estates of the Senators are as much subject to the Laws and Decrees of the Senate as the Estates of private men But in Germany if you remove out of the Computation that which belongs to the several Members of the State there will be nothing left for the Diet or Body to dispose of And it would be a great abatement of the German Liberty to assert the Diet there has the same Authority over the Estates of its Members that the Senate of the most Serene Republick of Venice has over those of its Senators As to that famous Speech of Albert Archbishop of Mentz when the Electors were considering whether they should elect Charles V. or Francis I. That the Government of France was too Monarchical and that the Princes of Germany did rather incline to an Aristocrasie which they ought carefully to preserve This may easily be thus answered There is no reason to suppose that Prelate had any exact knowledge of Politicks and the sence of what he said is true though he has ill expressed himself viz. That if the German Princes were desirous to continue in the same condition they then were they were to avoid the Empire or Government of a King of France whose great design it ever was to reduce the Nobility of their own Kingdom under the Laws of an Absolute Monarchy and would without all doubt endeavour to do the same thing in Germany 6. It remains now that we consider The German Empire no Regular Monarchy whether it may be taken into the List or Number of Monarchies or Kingdoms of these there are two sorts the Absolute and the Limited In the first the whole Soveraign Power is in the hands of the Monarch by what Title soever he is call'd and he governs all the publick Affairs as he himself pleaseth But in the latter the King is bound up by certain Laws in the exercise of the Soveraign Power All those that have not exactly considered the Difference between these two Species of Monarchies have committed great Errors whilst because the Emperor has not an Absolute Soveraignty they falsly conclude that he has not a Limited neither Now he that can think the Emperor is an Absolute Monarch is wonderful silly and the Arguments that are brought for it deserve rather to be hissed at than answered seriously It is full as absurd to fetch an Argument to prove the German Emperor absolute from the Visions of Daniel as from the Books of the Civil Law That the Emperor has no Superiour but God and the Sword gives him no more Absolute Authority over the Princes of Germany than it gives to the State of Holland over the other Six who may as truly say this as he As to the empty Titles as for example that he is by all the States and Princes stiled their most merciful Lord and that in the conclusion of their Letters they promise much in the Matter of Loyalty and Obedience to him the Genius of the Age the Stile of the Times are responsable for them and there is no more to be expected from them than from other Expressions of Honour and Respect in which the most unwilling to act is the most forward to promise what he never means to perform That Plenitude and Perfection of Power which the Secretaries and Clerks ascribe to the Emperor in their Letters and Decrees is a meer Jargon of insignificant words The States do indeed swear Allegiance to the Emperor but with a saving of their own Liberties and Rights And I have already sufficiently shewn what Power is thereby reserved and secured to them but to use any more words in so plain a case were not only needless but foolish 7. The Opinion of those who have ascribed That it is no Limited Monarch to the Emperor a Supreme Regal Power but limited and restrained within the Bounds of certain Laws has seemed the most probable of all other to the greatest part of men and you shall also frequently hear this Opinion defended and stoutly maintained in the Schools of Germany The first that appeared openly against Hippolithus a Lapide considered and confuted this Opinion was a nameless Author under the feigned Title of Hippolithus a Lapide in the heat of the Imperial and Swedish War This Writer saith many things of unquestionable veracity which no modest man can deny but then it is no less apparent his implacable Hatred to the House of Austria has in other things mis-led and deceived him The prohibiting the reading of this Book was the only thing that gave it Reputation and made Learned men inquisitive after it so that it was read with unusual Application and Care Yet however I should never have mention'd it but that I find many still so fond of it that they still think it an invaluable Treasure and that all those that have pretended to answer it have rather trifled with the Subject or basely flattered the Emperor than destroyed his Reasons This Author has well and clearly proved that the Emperor has not a Supreme and Regal Authority over the Princes and States of Germany but then is strangely absurd when he makes the Emperor subject to the States and gives him nothing but the naked Dignity of a subordinate Magistrate that wears a great many proud Titles precariously bestowed upon him as if whereever the Monarchy is not Absolute it must presently degenerate into an Aristocrasie and a Prince must presently acknowledge all those to be his Superiors whom he could not
and States swear Fidelity both to the Empire and the Emperor this they think may be thus explained That they will obey the Emperor as far as he shall employ their Assistance and Treasures to the Publick Good and as far as is expressed in the Laws and that as to the rest of the States they will live like good Neighbours and true Fellow-Subjects But still at last there are two things that will not suffer us to reckon Germany amongst the Limited Monarchies First In Two Arguments against This. every Limitted Kingdom though the King is bound up by some certain Laws in the management of its Government yet after all he so far excells all his Subjects that none of them dares presume to compare his Liberty or his Rights with the Power of his Prince and therefore all the Nobility depend on the Will of the King and are responsable to him for their Actions Now that it is otherwise in Germany is known to all the World for none of the German Princes or States will acknowledg that the Dominions which are under them are more the Emperor's than they are theirs or that they are bound in the Administration of them to have respect more to the Service of the Emperor or the People than to their own Personal Profit and Advantage But on the contrary every one of them is so far a Soveraign that he makes War upon his Neighbours at home or abroad and entereth into Leagues with his Neighbours or Foreigners without ever consulting the Emperor and every one of them that can trust to his own Forces or those of his Allies looks upon the Reverence he ows to the Emperor as a meer empty piece of Pageantry To conclude every King how Limited soever he may otherwise be must still have sufficient Power left to command all the Forces of his whole Kingdom and direct them as he thinks fit so that the last Resort may be to him and the said Forces be united in him as their Head for the procuring the Common Good so that they may seem all of them to be as it were animated and governed by one Soul Now he that can see or find this in Germany must be wonderfully quick-sighted for there he that is call'd their King has no Revenues from the Empire but is forced to live by his own Juice there being no common Treasure nor are there any common Forces but every Prince and State disposeth of the Forces and Revenues in his own Territories as he or they think fit and only contributes to the Publick some small matter and that after tedious Delays and much humble Attendance and Courtship for it All which things have been fully and clearly proved in the Chapter before this and are found evidently true in the Actions of these Princes 9. There is now nothing left for us to That it is an irregular System of Soveraign States say but that Germany is an Irregular Body and like some mis-shapen Monster if it be measured by the common Rules of Politicks and Civil Prudence So that in length of time by the Lazy-easiness of the Emperors the Ambition of the Princes and the Turbulence of the Clergy or Church-men from a Regular Kingdom it sunk and degenerated to that degree that it is not now so much as a Limited Kingdom tho' the outward Shews and Appearances would seem to insinuate so much nor is it a Body or System of many Soveraign States and Princes knit and united in a League but something without a Name that fluctates between these two This Irregularity in its Constitution affords the matter of an inextricable and incurable Disease and many internal Convulsions whilst the Emperor is alwaies labouring to reduce it to the condition of a Regular Empire Kingdom or Monarchy and the States on the other side are restlesly acquiring to themselves a full and perfect Liberty But then as it is the nature of all Degenerations that they go forward in their Degeneracy and Corruption with great Facility it being a down-hill motion but they can hardly and with much difficulty be reduced to the pristine or ancient state for as a Stone laid on the edge of a Precipice or Downfall is with the smallest Thrust thrown down to the bottom but it is not to be replaced again at the top without great and almost insuperable difficulty So now Germany without great Commotions and the utmost Confusion of all things can never be reformed or reduced to the Laws of a Just and Regular Kingdom but it tends naturally to the state of a Confederate System Nay if you take away the mutual Bond or Tie between the Emperor and the States I suppose he means their Oaths Germany would then truly be a System of States united in an unequal League because those that are called the States are still bound to reverence the Imperial Majesty as their Head For a Free State we may take for our Example of this the League between the Romans and the Latin People before the latter were reduced into the condition of meer Subjects So the Generalship of Agamemnon in the Warlike Expedition of the Greeks against the Trojans was of the same nature And it commonly comes to pass in length of time that he that is the Superiour in these Leagues if he has much the advantage of his Allies in point of Power by degrees he sinks them into the condition of meer Subjects and so treats them Thus the best account we can possibly give of the Present State of Germany is to say That it comes very near a System of many Soveraign States in which one Prince or General of the League excells the rest of the Confederates and is cloathed with the Ornaments of a Soveraign Prince but then this Body is attack'd by furious Diseases of which I shall treat in the next Chapter CHAP. VII Of the Strength and Diseases of the German Empire 1. THE Forces of any State may be considered as they are in themselves or as by reason of the elegant Structure of its Form or Constitution they may be used Forces considered in themselves consist in The Subjects of Humane Force Men and Things As to the first of these Men Germany has no reason to complain that it wants numbers of them or they Wit or Ingenuity there is so great a multitude of the principal Nobility and they too are in such splendid circumstances that there is scarcely the like to be found elsewhere in all the World The Gentry or Inferiour Nobility are neither for want of Ground or by their over-great number compell'd to condescend to the exercise of mean and sordid Arts Trades Perhaps yet there are more of them employed in Learning than is convenient though amongst the many Graduates there are not many eminent Scholars Of Merchants Tradesmen and Mechanicks there is a great plenty But then in many places there is now a want of Husbandmen considering the largeness of the Country This is owing
the Hellespont into Asia from whence they first came if the French King who began the present War by his Arts had not to prevent their utter ruine in the year 1688 began as destructive a War on the other side of the German Empire which will in all probability force the Emperor to sit down contented with Hungary Transylvania Wallachia Servia and Bosnia and leave the Turks in the Possession of Bulgaria Thrace and Macedonia and a part of Albania and Dalmatia but much sunk in Courage Reputation Strength and Wealth so that he is never likely to recover his Loss again 5. Italy is very much inferiour to Germany Germany compared with Italy both as to Men and Wealth and being divided into many small impuissant States is not in a condition to offer any Violence to its neighbour Nations so that the Italians are very well pleased if the Emperor will but sit down with the loss of his ancient Pretences to their Country especially now that the Pope's Thunderbolts which heretofore were very dreadful are now for want of the former Zeal become weak and contemptible Nor is Poland in a condition And Poland to compare her self in any respect with Germany and seeing the Interest of the Polish State is rather to defend what they have than to make any Conquests upon their Neighbours and that the Necessity of the German Affairs must needs teach them the selfsame modesty There can hardly be supposed any Case in which the German Princes can be tempted to make a War upon Poland except any of the Emperors should intermeddle with their private internal Quarrels and Civil Wars The Danes were never yet in a With the Danes condition to subdue their neighbour Hamburgers much less are they able to attack the Forces of all Germany who tremble at every motion of the Swedes The Germans are nothing concerned to see the English Masters of her own Ocean and as it were folly in the English to attempt With England the subduing the Continent so the Germans have no Naval Forces that can dispute their Soveraignty of the Ocean or ought at all to be compared with the English Royal Navies The United States of With the Hollanders Holland have neither Will nor Power to attempt any thing against the Empire of Germany for these Water-Rats are altogether unfit for Land-service and although they have Money in abundance yet it is not for the Security of their own Liberty to maintain too great a Land-Army So that they are well pleased if the Germans will but suffer them to enjoy the Forts and Cities they have taken and garrison'd to defend themselves from the Spaniards though belonging to the Empire These Towns belonged to the Dukedoms An Addition of Cleves and Juliers and to the Archbishoprick of Cologne and were all taken by the French in the year 1672 and in the Treaty of Nimmegen restored all to their proper Owners except Maestriect which yet belongs rather to the Spaniards than the German Empire which having happened since our Author wrote was here to be taken notice of The Spaniards With Spain have no Territories which border upon Germany which are worthy to be compared with it and Spain it self is so very remote and her Forces so exhausted that she is not able to reconquer the small Kingdom of Portugal Even Charles V. when Spain was in the height of all its Glory and Power though Master of it and all the Austrian Dominions and Emperor of Germany too yet after all he was not able to oppress the rest of Germany As to Sweden though you consider all those With Sweden Provinces she has conquered on the South side of the Baltick Sea yet she is not to be compared to Germany in Men or Monies For whereas some men have been so much mis-led on the account of the old Proverb which called Scandinavia now Sweden Vagina Gentium the Sheath of Nations and on the score also of the late great Victories obtained by the Swedes in Germany under the Conduct of Gustavus Adolphus their King as to think it is superiour or at least equal to Germany in Men yet wise men do very well see and understand the true Reasons of those great Successes and that they proceeded neither from the Numbers nor extraordinary Valour of the Swedes for in the space of Eighteen years there was not brought over out of Sweden into Germany above Seventy thousand men the far greatest part of which returned back again and yet during that War there was scarce ever less than an Hundred thousand men of the Germans in pay so that the true cause of that wonderful Progress was the Discord of the Germans the opportunity of the Times which favoured the Swedes and because all the Protestants being oppressed ☞ by the Austrians looked upon Gustavus Adolphus as a Deliverer sent to them for their Preservation from Heaven But as to the now most flourishing Kingdom of France we may with greater probability With France doubt whether it be not a Match for Germany and yet if the Forces of both Nations be well considered without their Advantages or Weaknesses France being the stronger for being a regular Kingdom and Germany the weaker for being a knot of Independent States Germany is certainly the strongest of the two for 1. It is much greater than France and though we should suppose it only equal to France in point of Fertility yet even then it would excell France as to its Minerals 2. It has more Men than France and the Germans have on many occasions proved themselves the better Souldiers of the two 3. As to the quantity of Money it is very difficult to determine on which side the Advantage lieth for it is not to be guessed how much Gold the present King of France has squeezed out of the old Horseleaches of his Kingdom and how much he has encreased his Revenues which is not to be taken into consideration without wonder But then at the same time it is to be observed that the People of France are much more harass'd oppress'd and ruin'd by their excessive Taxes than the People of Germany are and that all the Wealth of France runs in one Channel whereas in Germany it is divided amongst many Princes and so it will not so easily be computed or estimated as it might if it were paid all into one Prince Since An Addition this Author wrote there have been two Wars between Germany and France and the second is now depending In the first the Germans were ever too hard for the French whilst they fought them in the Field but the French drawing on the War the Germans were at last worsted for want of Money and much more worsted in the Treaty and after it by the Treachery of the French But now the Turks are reduced to such an ebb and all Christendome is united against France so that all their Trade is cut off The Germans have
expences and dispatch business the more quickly there ought to be a new and more certain form of Proceedings thought of But then it doth not seem very probable that the Family of Austria will suffer such a Council to be introduced because they will ever labour to keep their Power above controul Nor will the The Empire cannot be transferred to another Family Present State of Germany permit the transferring the Imperial Dignity into another House as long as there is any Male in that of Austria therefore their Modesty is to be wrought on to perswade them to be content with their present Grandeur and not to labour to establish a Soveraign Authority over the rest of the States and Princes and it will become the Princes manfully and with united Hands and Hearts to oppose and resist all such Encroachments which tend to their prejudice and in the first place to take care that none may league with one another or with the Princes of the Empire against any of the Members of it and if they do so to render all such Combinations ineffectual and if any Princes have any Controversie with each other to take all the Care is possible that Germany may not be by that means involved in a War But in the first place Care ought to be taken that Foreigners may not intermeddle with the Affairs of Germany nor possess themselves of the least Particle of it to that end all waies that are possible are to be considered that they that border on Germany may not have the opportunity of enlarging their Kingdoms which they so passionately desire by ravishing its Provinces from it one after another till their Conquests like a Gangreen creep into the very Bowels of the Empire If any thing of this nature happen to be attempted let Germany presently take the Alarm provide her Defences and seek the Alliance and Assistance of those whose Interest it is to keep any one Kingdom from mounting to too great and exorbitant a Power and then as long as Germany is contented with the defending what is her own she will have no need to maintain any very numerous Armies yet she ought in due time to concert the Numbers that every one shall send in case of necessity And Germany may from her Neighbour the Swedes learn the methods of maintaining an Army in the times of Peace with small Expence which yet shall be ready when occasion serves at short warning to draw into the Field for her defence 5. Now it were very easie for wise and The Opinions of some great men concerning the different Religions in Germany good men to find out all I have said and all besides which can be necessary for the Safety of Germany if they pleased calmly to apply their minds to it who have the chief hand in the Government But then seeing the greatest part of the World think the Differences of Religion the principal Causes of the Distraction and Division of the Empire it will well become the Liberty I have taken in this piece to shew what wise men have said of this thing in my company for I am not so well acquainted with Church-affairs as to interpose my own Judgment and therefore I think it will be less liable to Exception to represent the Thoughts of others than my own which I submit c. When I was once at Cologne with the most Reverend and Illustrious Nancio of the Holy See to pay him my respects I happened to say That I could not understand the true reason of the great Dissentions in Germany on the Subject of Religion whereas in Holland where I had lately been there was no such thing and yet there men had the utmost liberty to think and believe as they themselves pleased for there every man was intent upon his own Trade and Business and not at all concern'd of what Religion his Neighbour was Upon this an Illustrious Person who had spent a great part of his Life in the Courts of several Princes but was now retired to live a very private life begged the Nuncīo's Leave to speak his own mind freely which being granted Since said he that travelling Gentleman has mentioned a thing I have very long and seriously thought on I will now discover what I take to be the most probable cause of this thing we being now at good leisure and I am well resolved not to approve my own former Thoughts on this Affair if your Eminence should happen to dislike them After this beginning at a distance from our present times he shewed how many Heresies had from the beginning afflicted and distracted the Church of Christ the greatest part of which in process of time vanished of their own accord but then there had hardly happened any Schism that had spread so far and ruin'd so many private Families and whole Kingdoms as this which in the last Century arose here in Germany and was occasion'd by some few Doctors of that Nation There were great Wits on both sides and they contended against each other with the most furious Passions and to this day there is not the least hope of putting an end to this Quarrel It is to no purpose to enquire into the secret causes of this Affait as far as Fate or Providence are concern'd but it will not misbecome my Profession to discourse of the Nature and Temper of Mankind 6. It is saith he apparent that two Contempt and Loss exasperates men greatly things above all others exasperate and enrage the Minds of Men Contempt and Loss As to the first of these I would not be understood here to speak of that Contempt by which the Reputation and Good Name of a Man is directly oppressed and trodden under foot but of that which every ordinary man thinks is thrown upon him when another shall but presume to differ from him in any thing for the Minds of Men are generally infected with this foolish and unreasonable Distemper And it is hateful to them to find another disposed not only to contradict but even to disagree with them in any thing for he that doth not presently consent to what another saith doth tacitely accuse him of being as to that particular in an Error and he that differeth in many things from any man seems to insinuate that he is a Fool. This Disease haunts the sedentary part of Mankind above all others who are educated in the Schools and wholly taken up with solitary Speculations and consequently not overwell acquainted with the World He that shall not reverence all this melancholy man has embraced as an Oracle is presently his deadly Enemy Nor was the War between the Romans and Carthaginians for the Empire of the World managed with greater heat than that which we have seen between some of the Learned World about some few Syllables or small Distinctions An equal nay a greater Fury has taken possession of the Church-men the Nuncio having in the beginning of his Discourse promised him the utmost
Authority given him equal to that of God This Vicar of God cannot err and administreth the Function of a Turn-key to the Gates of Heaven and Hell with an Authority above controul and from which there lies no Appeal And in the better and more fortunate Ages of this Church it was most firmly believed too that this King was the Disposer of all Kingdoms that he could depose Kings and set others up in their steads but now alas the new Doctors have so traduced this most useful Doctrin that it is become hateful and invidious to the very Catholick Princes themselves and they are fain in some Kingdoms to deny they ever taught any such thing And because the Majesty of this King depends only on the Opinion of his Sanctity they have wisely contrived that it should pass by Election for fear this Royal Blood should degenerate and that this Throne may ever be filled with a person free from the defects of Youth and to the end he might be more intent upon the Good of the Church than the enriching his Family For this last reason they have denied Marriage to all the Members of this Society the Priests and Clergy that their Family-concerns might not divert them or Wife and Children make them subject to the Wills of their Princes The multitude and variety of their Religious Orders is very great that there might be many in every place to take care of their Affairs and spread their Nets and bait their Hooks to catch the Estates and Goods of the Laity Nor has any Temporal Prince in the whole World so great and profound a Respect and Obedience paid to him by all his Subjects as this Ecclesiastick Monarch and although there are many furious Emulations between his Subjects yet the Pope wisely takes such care to The reason of inventing the Jesuits Order moderate and govern them that they never bring any Damage or Disturbance to his Kingdom Thus all the old Orders look very discontentedly on the new company of the Jesuits because it has much abated the Esteem they enjoy'd before for after this wanton Age would no longer be bridled by the simple ignorant Sanctity of the Monks that holy Society was invented to the great good of the Church which at first with great Art supported this falling Fabrick by undertaking the Instruction of Youth Confession of Penitents and a cunning Scrutiny into the Secrets of all men So that many think all that Job hath said of the Leviathan may in a mystick sence be very aptly applied to this Priestly Empire No doubt can reasonably be made however that the Religion is the very best of all others which heaps most Riches and Honours on all its Votaries and is furnished with the best means of shearing the Sheep to the very Skin and at the same time keeping them as quiet and more obedient than those that have all their Wool left on them to keep them warm I think by this time I have sufficiently proved that they have hitherto managed the Disputes between the Catholicks and the new Teachers very ignorantly for these Catholicks have ranged their Antagonists amongst the Hereticks and raised brutish Cries against them in all places that they ought to be extirpated by Fire and Sword by which they have made all sincere and hearty reconciliation desperate and impossible This has again forced the Hereticks to take the utmost care for their own safety and security and when they had once possessed the Laity with a Suspicion of the Priests Sanctity it was a very easie step by shewing them the Priests Wealth would be their reward to draw them on their side and engage them to be their Defenders But if at first their Brains had lain right there might have been means found out to have sweetned the Minds of the Laity before they embraced that side and that small Saxon Monk Luther might more easily have been won to a reconciliation with the Pope by presenting him with a good fat Benefice than by all the Thunders of the Vatican the force of which by the distance of the place and the coldness of the German Air was so much abated that by that time it reached the Monk the noise the heat and the terror of it was wholly lost And on the other side we cannot enough admire the folly of the modern Protestant Doctors that they should without blushing perswade those of the Church of Rome to leave their present state and renounce all their vast Wealth and to come over to them that they may there be reduced into the mean condition of the vulgar people and work hard for a Living or starve For they have some reason for what they say when they offer the Lay-people more Liberty and the Princes the Spoils of the Priests Yet to give the Roman Catholicks their due after the Terror of the first Defection and the Heat of the first Reformers was abated they recollected the Remains of their broken Forces with all the Industry and Care that was possible and they have ever since managed their affairs with more order and subtilty than the Reformed have theirs for to the best of my remembrance in this present Century none of our Roman Catholick Princes have become Protestants but some of theirs have returned into the Bosom of our Church Christina Queen An Addition of Sweden the House of Newburg now Elector Palatine and James II. late King of Great Britain This Gentleman was going on when the Pope's Nuncio put an end to his Discourse by saying Sir you have sufficiently shewed us what Skill you have in Church affairs and were you to preach these things in the publick you would seldom want Auditors and Approvers though I think the Protestants would not approve of them Then looking upon me he said It was not convenient to have thus on a sudden admitted this Lay-Gent to the knowledge of a Secret which many thousands make it their business to conceal from the most cunning and accomplished Men the World has 9. These things were once discoursed Some Considerations on the excessive Revenues of the Church with this liberty I have represented them in the presence of the Pope's Nuncio who seemed to approve the Candour of this old Minister of State and gave me such encouragement and insight into things that from thence forward I became less scrupulous to converse freely with men of the contrary perswasion whose Hearts are more open than those of our own party are Not long after I met with a man who was well acquainted with the German Affairs and seem'd not very averse to the Protestant Religion which I speak by way of Apology for what I am going to relate that you may not think I do approve of all he said and giving him by chance an account of what I had heard in the fore-recited Conference he began a little higher and added That in a well constituted Government there ought to be some men set apart for the
Yet they seem more ancient than Frederick II. 5. The Priviledges of the Electors 6. The manner of the Election 7. The Electors have deposed an Emperor 8. The Electors have some other special Priviledges 9. What is done during the Interregnum 10. Of the King of the Romans CHAP. V. Of the Power of the Emperor as it now stands limited by Treaties Laws and the Customs of the Empire and the Rights of the States of the Empire p. 82. 1. Of the Limits of the Imperial Power 2. These Conditions are prescribed only by the Electors 3. The usefulness of the German Capitular 4. The extravagant Opinions of some German Writers concerning the Capitular 5. The Emperor doth not appoint or punish the Magistrates in the Empire out of his Hereditary Countries 6. Nor can he deprive any of the Princes of their Dignity or Dominions 7. He has no Revenues 8. Nor is he the Arbitrator of Peace or War nor of Leagues and Alliances 9. Nor the general Governour of Religion An account of Martin Luther 10. Many of the German Princes deserted the See of Rome The Decree of Ausburg for the Liberty of Religion 11. The Liberty of the Clergy more fiercely disputed 12. The Differences of Religion cause great Disquiet in Germany The Peace of Religion finally settled 13. The Legislative Power not in the Emperor The Canon Law first introduced The ancient German Customs The Civil Law brought into use in the Fifteenth Century That at present in use is a mixture of all these three Particular or Local Laws made by the States and the general Laws in the Diet. 14. The Form of the German Jurisdiction in several Ages 15. The old Forms changed 16. The Innovation brought in by Churchmen 17. How the Secular Cases are managed The Chamber of Spire erected for Appeals 18. The present form of Process In Civil Cases there lies no Appeal from the Emperor Electors or King of Sweden in their respective Territories nor from the rest in Criminal Cases 19. How the Controversies of the States and Princes amongst themselves are determined 20. The highest Courts in the Empire are the Chambers of Spire and Vienna 21. When this last was instituted 22. The form of executing the Judgments of these Courts 23. That the greater Cases ought to be determined by the Diet. 24. In ancient times the Diets were held every year 25. All the Members are to be summoned to the Diet. 26. The things to be debated there are proposed by the Emperor or his Commissioner 27. The Emperor has some Prerogatives above any other of the Princes 28. The Priviledges of the Princes and Free States CHAP. VI. Of the Form of the German Empire p. 135. 1. Of the Form of the German Empire 2. All the Hereditary States and some of the Elective are Monarchies The Free Cities are Commonwealths 3. The form of the whole Body is neither of these but an Irregular System 4. Yet many pretend the Empire is an Aristocrasie 5. This disproved 6. It is not a regular Monarchy 7. That it is not so much as a limited Monarchy Hippolithus à Lapide considered 8. The Arguments of those that pretend it is a Limited Monarchy answered 9. That it is an irregular System of Soveraign States CHAP. VII Of the Strength and Diseases of the German Empire p. 155. 1. The Subjects of Humane Force Men and Things Husbandmen most wanted A vast Army may be easily levied in the Empire An account of the number of the Cities Towns and Villages in Germany The Inhabitants as warlike as numerous steddy and constant in their Humour 2. In the point of strength the Country first to be considered 3. That it is well stored with what will carry on a Trade its principal Commodities yet Germany wants Money 4. The Strength of the Empire compared with the Turks to whom a fourth part is equal 5. With Italy Denmark England Holland Spain Sweden and France 6. The Strength of Germany compared with its Neighbours united against her 7. Germany weak by reason of its irregular Form or Constitution Monarchy the best and most lasting Government wherein the Strength of a System of States consists the Leagues between Kings and Commonwealths seldom lasting 8. The Diseases of Germany The Princes and the Emperor distrust each other and the States are embroiled one with another 9. The Differences of Religion cause great Disturbances The Princes of Germany enter into Foreign and Domestick Leagues The want of Justice and of a common Treasure The Emulations and Contests between the Princes and States of Germany CHAP. VIII Of the German State-Interest p. 186. 1. The Remedies of these Diseases enquired into 2. The Remedies prescribed by Hippolitus à Lapide 3. His Six Rules Six Remedies 4. The Author 's own Remedies proposed The German State nearest to a System of States The Empire cannot be transferr'd to another Family 5. The Opinions of some great men concerning the different Religions in Germany 6. Contemt and Loss exasperate men greatly 7. The Tempers of the Lutherans and Calvinists of Germany and their Differences with each other 8. The Temper of the Roman Catholicks The Reason of inventing the Jesuite's Order 9. Some Considerations on the excessive Revenues of the Church in the Popish States Our Author pretends to be a Venetian 10. The Protestant Princes are well able to justifie what they have done with relation to the Revenues of the Church The Conclusion THE PRESENT STATE OF THE German Empire CHAP. I. Of the Origine of the German Empire GERMANY of old was bounded The ancient Bounds of Germany to the East by the Danube to the West by the Rhine towards Poland it had then the same bounds it has now and all the other parts were washed by the Ocean so that then under this Name Denmark Norway and Sweden were included with all the Countries to the Botner Sea which three Kingdoms were by most of the ancient Writers call'd by the name of Scandinavia But then I think the Countries on the East of that Bay were not rightly ascribed to or included in the bounds of the ancient Germany for the present Finlanders have a Tongue so different from that spoken by the Swedes and other Germans as clearly shews that Nation to be of another extraction To this I may add that what Tacitus writes of the Manners of the most Northern Germans will not all agree with the Customs of the Finlanders but is wonderfully agreeable to those of the Laplanders who to this day live much after the same manner It is probable therefore that the Finni mentioned by the Ancients were the Estoitlanders in Livonia Nor is it any wonder that Tacitus should not write very distinctly of this People they being then the most Northern Nation that was ever heard of and known only by an obscure Fame or general Report These Northern Countries have however for many Ages been under distinct Kings of their own so that Germany has been taken to
had been observed in the old Kingdom of France viz. That the Consent of the Nobility and People did not easily depart from the Order of a Lineal Succession in the Royal Family And this continued to Henry IV. who being young and perhaps not Governing well the Nobility thereupon by the procurement of the Pope rose up against him and deposed him from the Kingdom and for the time to come made a Law That though the Son of the last King were worthy to succeed him yet he should attain the Throne by a Free Election and not by a Lineal Succession as the words of that Constitution run 2. That old Approbation and Election The ancient Elections not made by any certain numâ—â—â—â— of Princes exclusively was made by all the People though it is not to be doubted but the Authority of the Nobility and Princes or of the Bishops and Peers was much valued But now for some Ages past Seven chuse the Emperor in exclusion of all others and since the Treaty of Osnaburg Eight of the principal Princes are to do it who from thence are called The ELECTORAL PRINCES Of these Three are stiled Ecclesiastical Electors viz. The Archbishops of Mentz Trier and Cologne and Five are Temporal or Secular Electors the King of Bohemia the Dukes of Bavaria and Saxony the Marquess of Brandenburg and the Count Palatine of the Rhine It is not very clear how these Princes came by this Right for two Ages viz. from the year 1250 to the year 1500 it was a received Opinion That Otho III. And Pope Gregory V. instituted the The 7 Electors not instituted by Otho III. Seven Electors but with this Difference that some Authors ascribe the principal share in the Act to the Emperor and others to the Pope as each man was affected to them Our Countryman Onuphrius Panvinius was the first man that opposed this Opinion in a Book De Comitiis imperatoriis of the Imperial Diets which is since approved by all the wisest of the German Nation His best Argument against it is Because this Ottonian or Gregorian Constitution was never yet produced by any man and no man has mentioned it from the times of Frederick II. to those of Otho III which contains 240 years for the first that mentions the Electors was one Martin a Polonian who lived under this Frederick and therefore his Testimony was justly liable to exception seeing it was not supported by any better in an Affair which happened so long before his own times And yet after all he doth not mention any such Constitution nor doth he say the Electors began in the time of that Otho but that after his times the Officers of the Empire began to elect Which is capable of a double sence either because they were then possess'd of very large Dominions who before had the principal Offices in the Court or because those Offices were then first collated for ever on Princes that had very great Dominions who though perhaps they had a Signal Authority as the most eminent men above all others yet that the Election belonged to other Princes besides these Seven can be denied by no man who is not very ignorant of the German Antiquities Others have ascribed the appointing the Seven Electors to Frederick II but then there is no Record of any Law to that purpose any where to be found nor is it probable that the rest of the Princes so early and so easily parted with their Right of Electing 3. The current Opinion of the most But yet they seem ancienter than Frederick II. Skilful in the German Affairs is That before the times of Frederick II those Seven Princes as the great Officers of the Empire and persons that had great Estates began by degrees to overtop the rest and to have the greatest Authority in the Elections of the Emperors but after the times of this Frederick the German Affairs being wonderfully disordered whilst the rest took little or no care of the Publick these Seven assumed it wholly to themselves This after it was confirm'd into a Custom by some repeated Acts was at last passed into a Law by the solemn and publick Sanction of the Golden Bull in which the whole form of the Election and all the Power of the Electors is contained and from thenceforward those Princes added to their former Titles that of Electors and were ever after esteemed as persons set in an higher Station and Dignity than the rest 5. Thus though at the first these Princes Of the â—â—â—viledges of the Electors seem to have assumed the power of electing the Emperor as they were the great Officers of the Empire yet afterwards by the Law call'd the Golden Bull those very Offices as well as the Electoral Dignity are annexed to certain Dominions so that whoever is legally possessed of them is thereby made one of the Electors the Ecclesiastical Electors in the mean time are made by Election or Collation as the other Bishops of Germany are where it is to be observed that though these Bishops to enable them to perform the other Functions belonging to their Office stand in need of the Pope's Confirmation and the Pall which they must not expect gratis yet they are admitted without them to the Election of the Emperor because these Secular Dignities pass without the Character But then when the See is vacant the Chapter has no Right to meddle with the Election In the Secular or Temporal Electors the Succession passeth in a lineal Paternal Descent so that neither the Electoral Dignity nor the Lands united to it admit of any Division But if a new Elector is to be made or for some Offence any one is to be deprived of that Dignity it is without doubt agreeable to the other Laws and Customs of the Empire for the Emperor not to dispose of the said Dignity without the Consent of the other States or at least not without that of the Electors though it is not to be denied the last Age saw an Example to the contrary against which however one or two of the Electors protested the Emperor despising their words because he saw his Arms prosper yet this Prince had wit enough to bestow the Dignity on one of the same Line and Family which tended very much to the abating the Envy of the Fact and divided two most potent Families by raising an endless Emulation between them and made that Party that was obliged by the Grant obnoxious to the Imperial Family for the preservation of it If any of the Electors happen to be a Minor their Guardians supply their place and the Minority ceaseth when the Prince is Eighteen years of age 6. The manner of the Election is thus The Elector of Mentz within one Month Of the manner of the Election after he knows of the Death of the Emperor signifies it to his Colleagues and calls them to the Election that is to be made who meet in person or by their Proxies When they