G GEnsericus the Vandal sacks Rome 5 Galba the first Emperour chosen by the Soldiers 7 A geer upon Rome and Venice 11 Of the Goths and Vandals 12 German Princes do carry Dogs for their punishment 17 German Princes feather themselfs with the Eagles Plumes 61 Germany able to raise 200 thousand electif men 54 H HUngary took name from the Huns 11 Henry the second in France had the first Title of Majesty 30 The high power of the King of the Romans 37 Hans-Towns whence derived 42 How Hamburgh first receiv'd the English staple 46 A hundred and fifty millions the revenues once of the Roman Monarchy 54 How the Imperial Towns got out of Caesars yoak 59 I IUlius Caesar cimented the Empire with his blood 7 Iulianus bought the Empire of the Soldiers 10 Imperial Towns 42 Immunities payed for monies to the Towns of the Empire 59 Ibraim the Turks Ambassador his witty Parable 64 King Iames his prophetique saying 68 K KIngs continued in Rome 140 years 7 King a more antient title than Emperour 29 Kings of Spain sometimes called Emperours 32 King of Denmark Arch-bishop of Breme 39 L THe late Swedish army like to have prov'd such another as that of the Goths and Vandals of old 11 Lombardy freed of the Goths by King Pepin 14 Lutherans a great cause of the decay of the Empire 62 The latitude of power which the Princes of the Empire have 96 The lubricity of political bodies as well as natural 108 M THe Moors and Saracens sack Rome 5 The manner of electing an Emperour 25 Majesty and other high titles how they began 30 Maximilian Duke of Bavaria takes Prague from the Palatin with a lesser army 69 Marq-Spinola takes the Palatinat 69 The Mahumetan Moon fill'd by the wane of the Christian Empire 65 Of the Marquis of Brandenburg his interest 85 N THe names of divers of the Emperours that were put to violent deaths 9 A notable saying of Charles Martel 13 The names and offices of all the Electors 21 Nothing so unlike as the present Empire and the old 53 A notable story of a Bavarian Dutchess 57 The notable symbolisation of sense 'twixt the Psalmist and a Pagan philosopher 108 O ONe of the cause that may oververthrow the Turkish Empire 9 The new Ottoman Emperour must encrease the Ianizaries pay 9 Otho the third the first Establisher of the Electors 20 The Offers of Wenceslaus to the Electors to make his Son Emperour 55 Of the Swed 82 The tremendous Oath the Electors take 103 P THe present King of Spain a Goth by descent 12 Pepin a little man but a great Conqueror 14 Pope Iohn the ninth taken Prisoner and his eyes pluck'd out 20 Palatin of the Rhin Arch-sewer of the Roman Empire 22 Parallel 'twixt the Empire pass'd and present 51 Palatin of the Rhin adjudg'd to carry a Dog for his punishment 57 The Pope a great Temporal Prince 60 The poor revenues of the Empire 53 Q QUarrell 'twixt Rome and Germany for choosing the Emperour 19 Quarrel 'twixt Queen Elizabeth and the Hans-Towns 43 Quarrel 'twixt the Count Palatin and the Duke of Bavaria touching the Vicariat of the Empire 74 Quarrel 'twixt the King of Denmark and Hamburgh 81 A thing like a quarrel 'twixt the King of Scots and the Palsgrave 97 R THe Rise of the Roman Empire 5 Rome eight times ravish'd and ransack'd 5 The Roman Emperours held their lifes from the Army 8 The Roman Monarchy shrunk from a Giantess to a Dwarf Reasons why the King of Hungary is likeliest to be Emperour 88 The revennues of the French Church 300 millions of liures and 20. 91 S THe several kinds of Goverments in Rome 7 The Stewards in Scotland and Charles Martel of France had the same beginning 13 The Septemvirat or the seven Electors 18 Staplers their first rise 43 The Suisse one of the last that fell from the Empire c. 63 The Spaniard the Popes Champion 61 The small power of the Emperour 53 A sad saying of the Turks 66 The Spaniard comes from the elder House of Austria 90 The several Interests of the Princes of Germany 85 T TOtila the Hun sacks Rome 5 The translation of the Empire to Constantinople fatal to Rome 5 Thirty Emperours put to violent deaths by the Army 8 Two Turkish Emperours kill'd in less than 25 years 9 A Tradition remarkable how the House of Austria came to be so great 26 The Turk gives place to the Emperors Ambassadors above all other 31 The Titles of the Heirs apparent to the Empire from time to time 37 The Territories of the Pope 300 miles in length 60 The Pope pretends to be Lord Paramount of England by King Iohns Grant 61 Titles of the House of Austria 89 V THe Vastnes of the old Roman Monarchy 54 The vast circumference of Rome in Vopiscus time 50 miles compass 54 A very witty embleme of the Turks Ambassador touching Germany 64 A very witty devise of the Dutchess of Bavaria to preserve her husband 58 The Vicarship of the Empire challeng'd by the Count Palatin and his reasons 74 A very witty way found by a Iesuitt to make the old Duke of Bavaria get Children 71 The Upper Palatinat the County of Cham with the Electorship conferr'd upon the Bavarian 79 W THe wantones of the peeple more than the Tarquins cause of the expulsion of Kings 6 A weak Act of the Roman Senat. 7 The Welsh and Irish have no other name for an English man but Saisson or Saxon. 12 Wenceslaus the Emperour depos'd and the manner how it was 35 Why England fell from the Roman Emperour and from the Pope 62 Were not the Imperial Eagles imp'd with Austrian feathers they wold be as bare as a Coot Gloria Honorque Deo saeclorûm in saecula sunto Chronogramma
A DISCOURS OF THE EMPIRE AND OF The Election of A King of the ROMANS the greatest Busines of Christendom now in Agitation AS ALSO Of the Colledg of Electors their particular Interests and who is most likely to be the next EMPEROVR {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} J. Senesco non Segnesco H. LONDON Printed by F. L. for Charles Webb at the Bores-head in S. Pauls Church-yard 1658. The Summ and substance of the ensuing Discours as it is divided to seven Sections THe proeme shewing the Motives that induc'd the Author to undertake this task The first Section Treats of the first Rise of the Roman Empire and of the sundry Rotations or Retrogradations of Goverment that hapned in Rome c. The second Section Treats of the Septemvirat or the Electors of the Roman Empire their primitive Constitution and Power with their precedence and offices c. The third Section Treats of the stile and title of Emperour or Caesar and of the King of the Romans c. The fourth Section Treats of the Diet or Imperial Parlement and the Members therof with the Division of Germany and the strength of the Empire c. The fift Section Consists of a parralel 'twixt the Empire pass'd and the present with the causes first and last of the declination therof c. The sixt Section Treats of the enlargement of the Colledg of Electors from seven to an Octum virat And of the Contest that 's now 'twixt the Count Palatin of the Rhin and the Duke of Bavaria touching the Vicarship of the Empire c. The seventh Section Consists of som reflexes made upon the present conjuncture of things and the political Condition of Germany with a conjecture who is likely to be King of the Romans and consequently the next Emperour c. A Corollary Pauca in multa diffundere est opus Ingenii Multa in pauca digerere est opus Artis A DISCOURS OF THE EMPIRE IN A LETTER Sent lately to a Noble Personage My Lord THe Election of a King of the Romans and consequently of a Western Emperour being now the Gran Busines in agitation and wheron the eyes not only of all Christendom but of other Princes as well Turk as Tartar are more earnestly fix'd than at other times because of so long a vacancy and a kind of demurr As also for the opposition that France with all her confederatts are like to make for secluding and putting by the House of Austria especially the young King of Hungary wherin the German Empire hath continued above two hundred and odde yeers And wheras that after som loose extemperall communications lately upon this subject your Lordshipp desir'd much to be inform'd of the present estate and interests of Germany together with the power and primitive constitution of the Septemvirat or the Colledg of Electors with other reflexes upon that point Being returned home I fell a rummaging my old papers and such remarques that I gathered when I was employ'd in some parts of the Empire and to comply with your Lordshipps desires which shall alwaies be as binding to me as Decrees I have digested into this short ensuing Discours consisting of seven Sections The first Section Treating of the first Rise of the Roman Empire and the sundry Rotations or Retrogradations of Goverments that hapned in Rome c. NOw for a cleerer illustration of things and a more regular proceeding it is not amiss to fetch in matters from their fundamental for the furthest way about is somtimes the neerest way home specially in the reserches of Truth And to do this we must go to Rome a City that hath had as many strange traverses of fortune and turns of Goverment as any other upon Earth having bin eight several times ravish'd and ransack'd by sundry warlike Nations First by Brennus the bold Britain then by Alaric the Goth afterwards by Geâ—sericus the Vandale then twice by Toâ—ila the Hun after him by the Moores and Saracens then by three Christian Emperours viz. by Henry the fourth Otho the third and Charles the fift when his General the Duke of Bourbon breath'd his last in scaling her walls and she was lately like to receive an ill-favour'd shock by the Duke of Parma yet she never fell sans recource as they say or was ever layed so flat upon her back but she recovered herself and rays'd up her crest again whence it may be inferr'd that an extraordinary Providence and Tutelar Genius doth attend that Citty 'T is tru that the translating of the Imperial Court by Constantine to Bizantium which he christned afterwards with his own name was fatal to Rome when the glory of the Tyber and Tyrrhene Sea pass'd over to the Hellespont yet a Spiritual Head preserv'd her still in some lustre In so much that when the Pope came to be her Master she might have bin sayed to have bin reduc'd to her first Principles and to have pass'd from one Shepheard to another viz. from Romulus to Sylvester But ther were a world of vicissitudes and revolutions of goverments interven'd and pass'd between Her primitive and original way of Ruling was by Kings but after a hundred and forty yeers continuance she surfetted upon that which surfett may be sayed to have proceeded from the Peeples wantones rather than from Tarquins lust Then she was govern'd a while by Consulls so call'd a Consulends carrying a memento of their duty is their names Then followed the Decemvirs who were put down for the same vice that destroyed the Kings After that the Supremacy was delated to two Tribunes Then it revolv'd to Consulls then to Tribunes again bâ—â— more than two which lasted a good tract of time above seventy yeers then came Consuls in again the third time after that Dictators untill Caius Iulius Caesars time who was the first perpetuall Dictator and a little after the first Emperour though it cost him dear for he might be sayed to have cimented the foundation of the Roman Empire with his own bloud being murther'd in the Senat by small contemptible tools yet it remain'd in his progeny to six descents viz. to Domitius Nero Thus after so many rotations or retrogradations of goverments and a kind of cushion dance of several kind of Rulers the Imperial was Established at last and the successive Emperours were us'd to be chosen by the Senat and then saluted by the Army But afterwards the Legionary Soldiers Pretorian bands made Emperours sub hasta in the field and Galba was the first who was chosen so and that with the consent of the Senat now it was the most unpolitique act that ever the Roman Senat committed which prov'd so fatal to so many of the following Emperours who held not their security as much as their lifes from the Soldiers which took them away at plesure for after that the Election pass'd from the Senat to the Sword ther were above thirty Emperours that were put to violent deaths and som of them very
wheras a Boore or Plebean is condemn'd according to the quality of his offence to carry only a Chair from one County to another such a peculiar punishment ther was of old in France for wheras ther was a law call'd la loy de la chevelure that none shold wear long hair but the Nobles he who had committed any degenerous offence was adjudg'd to have his hair cutt off before the tribunal of Iustice and so was degraded from being a gentleman his honor going away with his hair and so made a Roturier or Yeoman The story tells us that the Emperour Frederique Barbarossa made Hermannus Count Palatin of the Rhin and ten Counts more to carry doggs above one German mile for the praedations and ill balancing of dollars with other insolences they had committed while he was in Italy warring with the Pope against whom we read he had twelve pitched battails Such another clash the Emperour Conradus had with Guelphus Duke of Bavaria who bore up a good while against him at last the Emperour recruting his Army with Italian Auxiliaries shut up the Duke in VVinsberga and beleagred him so close that he was ready to famish And the Emperour having bin provok'd so farr that he had vow'd to put all to fyre and sword The Duchesse being a comely couragious Lady went through the throng of the army into the Emperours tent and made such a flexanimous speech which so melted the Emperour that he publish'd a proclamation that for her sake all the Women of VVinsberga shold have safe conduct to depart and carry away upon their backs as much of their most precious wealth that they could bear Herupon the Dutchesse took the Duke upon her back and evry wife by her example her husband mayds and unmarried women took up their brothers and kindred and so all marched out The Emperour being much taken with this witty peece of humanity publish'd a generall act of Amnestia and so the Duke was redintegrated into his favor This memorable story I couch'd once into verse being a task impos'd upon me and the Epigram runns thus Tempore quo Bavarum superârat Roma Guëlghum Seria festivo Res fuit acta joco Conradus victor VVinsbergam oblesserat Vrbem Hinc fame Deditio facta premente fuit Matribus at miserans Bavaris sponsaeque Guelphi Induperator iis tale Diploma dedit Quaelibet ut Mulier tuto cum Rebus abiret Quas humeris posset sustinuisse suis Cum reliquis Comitissa novo Diplomate nixa Inde viros portant pondera grata suos Pendebant collo nati nataeque lacertis Sic abiit licita Faemina Virque fugâ Hac delectatus Caesar pietate pepercit Omnibus atque novum cum Duce faedus init But to return where we left another cause of the Empours decay was that being often reduc'd to som exigents for want of money they us'd to have recours to the richest Imperial towns for a supply who us'd to lend them money and the Emperours payed them their money back with immunities Many towns in Italy got their necks out of Caesars yoak this way and som of them very cheap as Florence for it cost her but six thousand Crownes and Luca ten thousand c. In so much that the liberties of most of the free Citties of Italy much more of high and low Germany sprung out of the necessities of the Emperours wherby their power as well as their glory did daylie decline Adde herunto that the Bishopps of Rome feather'd their nests from time to time with the Eagles plumes specially in Italy for besides the City of Rome and the Countreys adjacent such was the high reverence the Church had in those daies that many other territories were given to the Apostolical See and since by well devoted Princes Insomuch that the Pope is grown herby to he a great temporal Prince for the state of the Church extends above three hundred miles in length and about two hundred miles in breadth It contains the Dutchy of Ferrara Bologna Romania the Marquisat of Ancona Sabina Perugia with a part of Toscany the Patrimony of Saint Peter and Latium in these there are above 50 Bishopricks He doth signorize also over the Dutchy of Spoleto and the Exarchat of Ravenna he hath the Towns of Benevento in the Kingdom of Naples and the County of Venisse in France call'd Avignon he hath title good enough to Naples also herself and Calabria but rather than incurr the diplesure of the King of Spain his Champion and chief supporter of his Chair he is contented with an annual heriot of a white Mule with a pursfull of pistols about her neck He pretends also to be Lord paramount of Sicily Urbin Parma and Masseran as also of Norway Ireland and England since King Iohn did prostrat our Crown at Pandulpho his Legats feet His Dominions reach from one Sea to another viz. from the Tyrrhene to the Adriatique and these Territories run through the center of Italy which enables the Pope to do good or harm to the Princes about him and makes him capable to be an Vmpire or a potent Enemy his authority being mixt twixt secular and spiritual for he can use the sword and thunder-bolt of Excommunication at plesure And to return to our chief subject most of the Countreys pointed at before being feathers of the Eagle did much decrease her strength Moreover as the Roman Church did this way impair the power of the Empire so the Reformed Church and the difference of Religion in Germany did much enfeeble it For those Princes who turn'd Lutherans daylie encroach'd upon and impropriated the demeans of the Church which was a great support to the Emperour being more devoted to him than to the secnlar Princes But to go a little more particularly to work we will not rove in Asia and Afrique where so many mighty parts of the Continent fell from the Roman Empire nor will we look so farr back in Europe as to speak of the defection of Spain France and Great Britain which was the first Province that fell from Rome though indeed Rome may he sayed to have fallen first from Her being not able by reason of warrs she had in other Countreys to protect the Britains against the Picts as England sayes now in point of Religion that she had never fallen away from Rome unlesse Rome had fallen from her self I say we will not look so fart back but come to more modern Times since the Empire came within the German pale The Suisses were one of the last that revolted who being summon'd to the Imperiall Chamber at Spire they sent a rough hewn Ambassadors totell the Imperial Councel in these words Domini confaederati Heluetii vos vicinos suos salvere jubent mirantur verò quod tam crebris citationibus c. The Lords Confaederats of Switzerland do greet you their Neighbours but they wonder that by your so frequent citations you wold disquiet Them therfore they pray and exhort you
that you would no further molest Them In Charles the fifts time the Livonians fell off and He summoning them to their obedience and menacing to reduce them otherwise by force they sent him a geering Answer That they beleev'd his Horse wold tyre before he could reach the skirts of Liefland as Thuanus hath it A German Author hath it upon record that since the reign of Rodolph the first above two hundred States and Princes have un-membred and emancipated themselfs from the German Emperour who were us'd to obey his summons make their apparance accordingly Touching Germany it self 't is tru that it is a huge Continent and full of Princes which make som compare her to a Firmament spangled with Stars Others compare the Emperour to a great Luminary incircled with the seven Planets meaning the Septemvirat or the Colledg of Electors and not improperly for this agrees with the Caesarean Arms which are Sol Saturn arm'd and crown'd Mars and the Eagle displayed with two heads yet though therby the Emperour be call'd Rex Regum these Princes are prejudicial to his greatnes wherof Ibraim Ambassador to Solyman the great Turk gave a hint by an ingenuous Fable which was thus When Maximilian the second was chosen Emperour the foresayed Ibraim was then at Frankfort who having bin a Spectator to the ceremony and observ'd what great Princes attended the Emperour that day and being told that som of them could rayse an Army of them selfs and maintain it against any power The Ambassador smilingly sayed That he doubted not of the puissance of Germany but he observ'd that the Minds and Actions the Counsels and Interests of the Germans were like a beast with many heads and tayls which in case of necessity being to pass through a hedg and ev'ry head seeking to find a particular hole to pass thorough they were a hindrance one to another ev'ry head drawing after his own fancy and so hazarded the destruction both of all the heads body tayls But the Empire of Solyman his great Master was like a beast with many tayls yet she had but one head which head being to get thorough or over any passage without any confusion or difference of fancy all the tayls and the whole body follow'd smoothly after Lastly the fatallst cause of the decay of Caesar was the monstrou successes of the Mahumetan whose half Moon fill'd out of the Wane of the Roman Empire both East and West It being a sad saying that whersoever the Turks horse sets once his foot ther 's no Christian grasse will ever grow there again The sixth Section Of enlarging the Colledg of Electors from seven to an Octumvirat And the Contest that is now twixt the Count Palatin of the Rhin and the Duke of Bavaria touching the Vicarship of the Empire THe attempting the Crown of Bohemia by Frederiqne Count Palatin of the Rhin as it prov'd unsuccessfull unto himself and Family so it prov'd fatal to all Christendom besides as the preceding Comet did foretell An. 1618. for directly or collaterally it hath bin the cause of all the warrs that happen'd ever since in Christendome which made King Iames as if he had bin Prophet as well as Prince to say unto his privy Councell upon the first tydings which were brought him that his son-in-law was gone to Prague My Lords this is a sad busines and the youngest man amongst us shall not live to see the end of it which prov'd tru The Bohemian Crown was first offer'd by the Revolters to the Duke of Saxony but hee out of a political prudence as well as out of the fidelity and alleageance he ow'd the Emperour declin'd it Then they reflected upon the Count Palatin of the Rhin as a Prince that might be par negotio and able to go through-stitch with it In regard of his powerful alliances The King of great Britain being his Father-in-law the King of Denmark his Onckle the states of Holland his confederatts and Maurice Prince of Orenge with the Duke of Bovillon who was call'd the old Ardenian fox being also his Oncles which last three incited him first unto that great Attempt though he paus'd a good while upon it and resolv'd twice to decline it till his lady seem'd to reproch his pusillanimity telling him Had you Sir the courage to venture upon a King of great Britains sole Daughter and will you not venture upon a Crown when 't is offer'd you The Count Palatin then was look'd upon as one of the fortunatst Princes in Germany Having the best lady in his bed the best stable of horses the best library of Books the best cellar of wine of any of the rest Maximilian the old Duke of Bavaria stuck close to the Emperour in this quartell for by his assistance and conduct an army of 25000. was routed by lesse then fifteen thousand and the City of Prague with the whole Kingdom was recover'd for the Emperour On the otherside by the arms of the King of Spain and the conduct of Marquis Spinola the Palatinat was conquer'd though the Princes of the Vnion had an Army of forty thousand effectif men under the Marquis of Ansback and others to defend it but 't was sayed that dolus versabatur in Generalibus that the Generals were corrupted and that the acquest was made more by Spanish pistolls than by Spinola's Sword Herupon at a solemn Assembly of the Electors at Ratisbon Anno 1623 the Electorship of the Rhin and the Archidapifership with all the prerogatives and perquisits the authorities and enfranchisements and honors annexed therunto was conferr'd upon the Duke of Bavaria for term of life But in another Assembly 1628 which was five yeers after at Prague this great Grant was not only confirm'd unto him during his own life but entayl'd upon his Heirs to Perpetuity and withall the upper Palatinat was transferr'd unto him with the County of Cham in consideration of his expences in the wars which amounted to thirteen million of Dollars But in the Treaties at Munster and Osnabrug Anno 1652 fower and twenty yeers after this Grant was qualified that in case the Gulihelmian line which is the House of Bavaria did fayl without Masculine issue the Electorship of the Rhin with the Archidapifership and all the prerogatives therof shold revert to the Rodulphian line which is the Palatin being the elder House of the two Now concerning the Gulielmian or Bavarian line ther are but 4 living wherof two are Churchmen viz. the Archbishop of Colen and the Bishop of Frizing which can leave no issue behind Then is ther the now Duke of BAVARIA and his Brother nor are they also likely to get issue for as the Tradition in Germany goes Maximilian the former Duke of Bavaria having maried the last Emperours Sister who was young and the Duke being old and crazy having 5 issues then about his body ther were some Jesuitts that brought such a prolifical cordial from Italy that enabled the old Duke to get children but