 Part I |  Contents |  Part III |
Edward Browne (1677): An Account of Several Travels through a Great Part of Germany, pp. 39-70: From Cologne to Vienna.
JOURNEY
FROM
COLEN
TO
VIENNA.
OLEN, Coln, or Colonia Agrippina, was anciently the Capital City of the Ubii; a people who were at first possessed of the Countries now called Berg and March, but being over-run by the Germans next to them, Agrippa, Lieutenant of Gallia, received them into protection, and placed them upon this side of the Roman shoar of the Rhine, where they built this place, and called it Oppidum Ubiorum, and the Romans seating themselves here for the defence of the Country, in Honour of Agrippina, daughter to Germanicus, and wife to Claudius, whose Birth-place it was, gave it afterwards the Name of Colonia Agrippina. It is at present one of the largest, if not the greatest, of any city in Germany, secured towards the Land by a high Wall, and two deep Trenches, and towards the Water by a Wall of Stone. The Rhine renders it delightful upon one side, and divers rows of Trees enclose the Town towards the Land. They have some Out-works, as Half-moons and Ravelins, but their best security is in the great number of men which they are able to raise within themselves. May of the Streets are broad, and paved with broad stones.
It received the Christian Faith very early, and Maternus was their Bishop above 1350 years since, who subscribed, amongst others, to the Council of Arles.1 They have a great number of Churches, and well endowed, which take up a great part of the Town; The Prebends and Canons Houses having in many places Vineyards, and large Gardens adjoyning. Towards the North end of the Town, the Church of St. Kunibald is considerable.2 The Convent of the Dominicans is fair, and newly built, with a Garden in the Court, and all the Chambers uniform. The Jesuites Church is well built and stored with rich Copes, Altar-pieces, and other Ornaments. In the Church of St. Gereon, a Saint of great name here, martyred about Colen in the time of Maximianus, are about a thousand Saints heads, and on each side of the Altar a large Statua, whereof one is of a Moor; and under the Quire another Church. The Convent of the Carmelites is also considerable, wherein the Treaty of Peace was held with good accommodation in it, though with no success, in the year 1673. In the Church of St. Ursula is her tomb, and the Tombs of divers of the Eleven thousand Virgins, martyred by the Huns. Upon the Monument of St. Ursula is this Inscription;
Sepulcrum Sanctæ Ursulæ indicio Columbæ detectum.
Upon many of the Tombs which are old are Crosses and Lamps. Many Bones and Heads of Martyrs are also kept in this Church. The Catheral is dedicated to St. Peter, and is very large, but not finished. The Body of the Church hath four rows of Pillars within it. The Quire is handsome and very high: behind it are believed to be the Tombs of the three Wise men which came from the East to worship our Saviour, or the Kings of Arabia, of whom it was prophesied that they shouuld bring Gifts, commonly called the three Kings of Colen:3 Melchior, who offered Gold, Gaspar Frankincense, and Balthasar Myrrhe. Their Bodies, as the account goeth, were first removed to Constantinople by Helena the Mother of Constantine the Great; then to Milan by Eustorsius Bishop thereof; and they have now rested at Colen for above five hundred years, being translated from Milan hither by Rainoldus Bishop of Colen, in the year 1164. There are also divers other Monuments of Bishops, and Noble Persons in Brass and Stone, and one in the shape of a Castle with six Towers. The Canons of this Church are all Noblemen; among whom the Duke of Newburg, who ordinarily resides at Dusseldorff, about twenty English miles below this City, upon the Rhine, hath two Sons. In a church dedicated to all the Apostles, they shew a Tomb, which being opened by thieves, intending to plunder it, the woman buried in it arose up and went home, and lived with her Husband divers years after. In one of the Streets is a Tower, or rather one Tower upon another, which seems to be ancient, now made a Prison. Upon another Ruine also in the Streets lies a Tombe made out of one Stone; of which sort of Tombs there are many in this City and other places; but the greatest number of them I ever saw was at Arles in Provence.
The Senate House is Noble, having a fair Tower upon it, from whence there is a good prospect over the City. Upon the Front of the Senate House is a man in Basso relievo, fighting with a Lyon, who, as it was related to me, was formerly one of the Consuls, who having had a contest with some Clergy-men about the Government of the City, on a suddain they caused a Lyon to be let in upon him: upon which occasion he behaved himself so well, as he delivered himself, and slew the Lyon.
The Elector or Archbishop of Colen hath two Palaces in the City, but by agreement between him and the Town, he is not to stay here above three days together. Only this present Archbishop, upon the coming down of the Imperial Forces, and his loss of Bonna, took Sanctuary here in the Convent of St. Pantaleon, where he continued a great while.
The City is Imperial and Free, and yet it doth Homage to the Elector, much after this Form: We free Citizens of Colen promise to the Archbbishop, to be faithful and favourable unto him as long as he preserves us in Right and Honour, and in our ancient Priviledges, Us, our Wives, our Children, and our City of Colen. Most of the City are of the Roman Church, and the whole Town so full of Convents, Churches, Church-men and Reliques, that it is not undeservedly styled the Rome of Germany. The Lutherans have also a Church within the Walls, and the Calvinists at Mulheim, half a League down the Stream on the other side of the Rhine.
Over against Colen lieth Dútz, a small Village, inhabited chiefly by Jews. The Vessels which come out of the Low-Countries hither are long, round bellied, and of great burden. Near to the Wall of the Town, upon the Quay or Key, is a kind of Harbour made from them, into which they may be drawn, and escape the Injuries they wold otherwise suffer by the Ice in Winter.
Besides the rich Clergy, there are many wealthy Citizens and Merchants here, and they maintain a Traffick and Correspondence with divers Countries, especially by the convenience of the Rhine. They speak not the best High-dutch; but Latin and French are understood by many: Divers Hosts in Inns speak Latin, and the Servants French; which proves a good help unto Travellers. It was made an University about the year 1388. Besides the General Hospitals for young and old persons, there are two for the sick, and well accommodated. They have a Pharmacopæa Coloniensis, or a Dispensary proper to the place, whereby Apothecaries compound their Medicines. I was acquainted with one of the best, Mr. Elburg, a knowing and obliging person, who was his Majesties Apothecary while he resided at Colen, and whom my honoured Friend Sir Alexander Fraser, his Majesties chief Physician, made use of, who lived in great reputation in this City.
Two hundred years since Æneas Sylvius left an high expression concerning this place, Coloniâ quæ de conjuge Claudii matre Neronis, Agrippina dicta est, & trium Magorum ossibus illustrata, nihil magnificentius, nihil ornatius, totâ Europâ reperias: which though, if strictly construed, will hardly be admitted by any who hath beheld Paris, Naples, Venice, &c. yet doth it declare the nobleness of this city, even in former times.
We left Colen about four a Clock in the Afternoon, being drawn up the Stream with Horses, they being made fast by a very long Rope to the Mast; we lodged in a small Village, having had a good prospect of Colen all this Evening from off the water. Near to this Place Julius Cæsar made his Bridge over the Rhine. The next day we came to Bon, the Seat of the present Archbishop and Elector of Colen, Maximilianus Henricus, Duke of Bavaria, Bishop of Hildisheim and Liege, and Arch-Chancellor of the Empire throughout Italy. This place was formerly called Bonna, or Castra Bonnensia, the wintering place, in the time of Tacitus of the sixth Legion. It was not long since very well fortified by the order of the present Archbishop, and the direction of Colonel Biser, a blind man, having Cataracts in both his eyes. The Archbishops Palace is very Noble, and there is a Chamber seated a good way into the Rhine, to which they pass thorow a Gallery. This Night we lodged at the foot of the highest of the seven Hills by the Rhine, which are seen at a great distance; and upon divers of them stand old ruined Castles. On the 15th we passed by a pleasant Island with a Convent in it: at Remagen is also a Convent upon a Rock, fortified with round Towers. In the Evening we lodged near to a Castle, ruined four years before by the Electors of Triers and Colen, it belonging at that time to the Duke of Lorrain. On the 16th early in the Morning we came to Andernach, where the plague was very much at that time, and they kept a great many of their sick in Boats upon the Rhine.
Andernach, of old Antenacum, was one of the Roman Fortresses. Upon this River, some think that Caligula was born, and that Valentinian was buried hereabouts. Near unto this place are also Mineral Springs, well frequented, and much made use of. The Town is encompassed with an old Wall; and the Gates were shut up by reason of the Plague: Notwithstanding, there being divers Friers in our company, several of the Towns-men sent out dishes of Meat to them, which we eat in the Field upon Trees which were laid along near the Town. This day the passage by water seeming tedious to us, Mr. Mulstroth, a worthy German Gentleman, with whom I travelled as far as Spire, was willing we should hire a coach together, which we did, and invited the Friers with whom we had breakfasted, to go along with us in it to Coblentz. We passed through a very pleasant Country, between rows of Walnut-trees, in sight of two of the Elector of Triers Houses, and near to a House belonging to the Count de Wert.
We passed the Mosella over a handsome Stone-brige of thirteen Arches, built by Archbishop Baldus, or Balduinus, in the year 1344. and coming into the Town, we went to the Dominican Convent, which is pleasantly seated near the Banks of the River Mosella; but the Prior of the Convent, whom we had brought with us, was so obliging, that he would not part with us that night; and we were very civilly entertained by him in his Lodgings: He invited also some of the Convent to bear us company; and after a handsome Supper, with plenty of excellent Moselle wine, we went to bed between two Feather-beds.
Coblentz, or Confluentia, is a Town of a Triangular Figure, seated at the meeting of two great Rivers, the Rhine and the Mosella, which make two sides thereof, and the third is made by a Line drawn from one River to the other; which is now well fortified after the most regular Modern way. The Wall within these Works had many old high Towers; and formerly there was another still nearer to the uniting of the Rivers, and consequently containing a less space of ground. This Town is under the Elector and Archbishop of Triers, Carolus Caspar, of the Noble Family of the Leyen, Arch-Chancellour for the Empire in Gallia Belgica, and the Kingdom of Arles. It was given to the Church of Triers when Medoaldus was Archbishop above a thousand years since, in the time of King Dagobert. The Situation is pleasant and convenient, and lieth over against the Castle of Hermanstein, or Ehrenbreitstein, that is, The Stone of far extended Honour; at the foot of which Castle, upon the shoar of the Rhine, under a great Rock, stands a very Noble Palace of the Electors, two large Wings and the Front with five Pavilions standing towards the River, and from it a long Bridge of Boats over the Rhine to Coblentz: when any great Vessel passeth by, they let slip three Boats, whereby the passage lieth open, and make them fast again afterwards. In the German wars the Spaniards thrust in a Garrison into this Town; which was afterwards beaten out by the Rhinegrave for the King of Sweden; and the strong Castle of Ehrenbreitstein 4 being put into the hands of the French, the Emperours Forces seized upon the Archbishop of Triers, who then was Philippus Christophorus, and carried him away to Vienna.
In places where the Rhine runneth through a low Country and a fat Soyl, it washeth away the Banks: to secure which, in divers places they have made great Works of Wood, and also to secure Vessels from the danger of the Ice. And I remember, riding near the Banks of the River Loire in France, I observed them in some places to be handsomly defended for a long way together with Freestone.
Near unto Coblentz, upon a Hill, is a Convent of Carthusians. October the 17th we went up the Rhine to Boppart, a walled Town, upon the western bank, where Van Trump was at that time:5 It was a very old Town, one of the Roman Fortresses against the Germans, called anciently Bodobriga; some would have it called Bopport from Beauport, Fair-haven, or Bonport, a good convenient place for Vessels to retire into, or to ride in.
On the 18th we dined at St. Guer, a pleasant Town belonging to the Landtgrave of Hesse, who hath a Castle here. Coming on shoar we met with an odd custome: for upon the Wall side there is fastned a Collar of Brass at present, but was formerly of Lead, and given by Charles the Fifth; into this most Strangers that come put their Necks, at which time they ask them, Whether they will be sprinkled with water, or drink wine? and if they choose the latter, they give an entertainment of wine to the Company. The Queen of Sweden passing by this place, gave a great Silver Cup, out of which they now drink at this Ceremony. We lodged this night at Wesel, a Town situated between a high Hill and the River, belonging to the Archbishop of Triers. Here in the Market-place they shew us the print of St. Huberts Horses foot in a Free-stone.
On the 19th we came to Baccharach, or ad Bacchi aras, belonging to the Elector Palatine; a place famous for Excellent Wines. We passed by an old Castle seated upon a Rock in the middle of the Rhine, being of an irregular figure, called Pfalts, where formerly the Prince Palatines of the Rhine were born, the Princesses being sent hither to be brought to Bed. We came this night to Dreickshausen; the next day we went by a dangerous Passage, there being many Rocks under water, which cause the River to run very rapid and unequally. A little above this we came to a round Tower, on a Rock in the Rhine, called the Mouse-tower, built by Hatto Archbishop of Mentz, in the year 900. who, as the Story goeth, in a time of great Scarcity, pretending to relieve the poor who wanted bread, invited them together into a Barn, where he burnt them all, saying, They were like the Rats and Mice which would devour the Corn. After which he was so persecuted with Rats and Mice, that to avoid them he caused this Tower to be built in the middle of the Rhine, which did not avail him, for they followed him thither also, and at last devoured him.6 A little above this lieth Bing upon the Western shoar; a considerable town, belonging to the Elector of Mentz: here our Boat stayed to pay Custome, as it had done also at Bonna, Liutz, Hammerstein, Andernach, Coblentz, Lodesheim, Bopport, St. Gower, Cub, and Baccharach. For the trade of the Rhine being great, Princes and Lords, who have Towns upon it, make use of that advantage, which, though it abateth the gains of the Merchant, brings considerable profit to themselves.
Bing, or Bingium, was an old Roman Fortress upon the Rhine, where the River Navus or Naw entreth into it; over which latter there is a handsome Stone-bridge: In this Town were many of the Duke of Lorrains's army sick and wounded, who three weeks before had maintained a fight against the Forces of the Elector Palatine, near this place. From Bing we continued our Journey to Mentz: at Rudesheim in Rhinegaw, a place noted for good Wine, they shewed us a Boy, whose hair was thick and woolly, like to the African Moors, but of a fine white colour, which being somewhat an odd sight, I took away some of his hair with me.
Mentz, Moguntia, Moguntiacum, and by the French Mayence, is seated over against the Confluence of the River Main, with the Rhine, or rather a little below it; in a fertile Country, abounding in all provisions and good Wine; it lieth at length, and is most extended towards the River; and that part excelleth the other towards the Land, which is not so populous or well-built: It is a strong place, and well guarded; it hath many Churches and Monasteries, some fair Buildings, especially those of publick concern, as the Palace of the Elector, and others: But the narrowness of the Streets, and many old Houses, take away much from the beauty of the City. It is an University, begun about the year 1486. or as others will have it 1461. This place also challengeth the Invention of Printing, or at least the first promotion or perfection thereof: And the Territory about it is famous for the destruction of the Roman Legions under Varus, by the Germans. Gustaphus Adolphus, King of Sweden, was wonderfully pleased upon the taking of this City, 1631. entring into it in State upon the 14th of December, it being his Birth-day, which began the 38th year of his life, and kept his Court and Christmas here; where at one time there were with him six chief Princes of the Empire, twelve Ambassadours of Kings, States, Electors, and Princes; besides Dukes and Lords, and the Martial men of his own Army. At the taking of the Town, they found great store of Ordnance and Powder; and the City redeemed it self from Pillage by giving the King a Ransome of Eighty thousand Dollars; and the Clergy and Jews gave Two and twenty thousand more, of which the Jews paid Eighteen thousand; Archbishop Wambold saving himself upon the Rhine, and retiring to Colen. The King caused also two great Bridges to be made, one over the Main, founded upon fifteen great flat bottom'd Boats, the rest being built upon great Piles of Wood: Another over the Rhine supported by sixty one great flat Boats, each lying the distance of an Arch from one another; and many Families of people living sometimes in the Boat under the Bridge. The Bridge over the Main is taken away; but that over the Rhine is still continued: Upon which I saw the present Elector passing in his Coach; a Person of some Gravity, of a mild Stature, having long grey Hair, and was very Princely attended; his Name Joannes Philippus of the Noble Family of Schoenburg, Elector and Archbishop of Mentz Bishop of Wurtzburg, and Bishop of Worms, Arch-Chancellour of the Empire for all Germany; the first of the Electoral Colledge; in all publick Conventions he sits at the right hand of the Emperour, and is a Successour of the famous Boniface, an English man, Bishop of Mentz, who so much promoted the Christian Religion in these parts.7 But though his Dignity and Place excelleth the two other Ecclesiastical Electors of Colen and Triers, yet his Territories come short; and they lye not together, but scatteringly with those of the Palatinate, Spier, Franckfort, and divers places in Franconia. but of late he hath much encreased his Power, by seizing the great City of Erfurdt in Turingia, which he hath since much beautified and strengthened by a Citadel8 built upon St. Peters-hill.
From Mentz I passed by water up the River Main, to Franckfort, a free City of the Empire, called Trajectum Franconum, a Passage or Ford of the Franks, as serving them for a Retreat, when they entred or returned from Gaul; at present Franckford upon the Main, to difference it from Franckford upon the River Oder, which is an University: It is a large Town, divided into two parts by the River; the lesser called Saxonhausen, or Saxon-houses, united to the other by a Stone-bridge over the Main, of twelve or thirteen Arches. It is a place of good Trade, and well seated for it, as having the advantage of the River Main, which passeth by Bamberg, Schweinfurt, Wurtzburg, Guemund, or Gaudia mundi; and also the Tauber, and other Rivers running into it, affordeth conveniency for Commerce with the remoter parts of Franconia; and the Main running into the Rhine, makes a large communication both up and down that Stream.
But this place is most remarkable for the Election of the Emperour, which by the Laws of the Golden Bull, should be in this City, as also for two great Marts or Fairs kept in March and September; at which times there is an extraordinary concourse of people from remote parts, in order to buying and selling of several Commodities, especially for Books, as well printed here as in other parts, whereof they afford two Catalogues every year, and have no small dealings that way, by the Factors of the Germans, Hollanders, Italians, French, and English: although at other times their trading in Books seems not great; for when I was there out of the time of the Mart, the Stationers Shops being shut up, made but a dull show. Here are also a great number of good Horses bought and sold: and on the North-side of the City there is a spacious place for a Horse-Fair. The City is strong and well fortified; and most part of the Town are Lutherans. In the German wars, the King of Sweden having taken Hanaw, sent a Messenger to Franckfort to know whether the City would peaceably and speedily set open their Gates unto him, and accept fairly of a Garrison, or stand to the hazard of a Siege: and although they were unwilling to yield, yet for fear of the worst, they consented, That the King should have free passage for his Army through the City; and that for the better assurance of it, six hundred of his men should be received for a Garrison into Saxonhausen; and also that the Magistrates and People should take an Oath unto his Majesty. So that upon the 17th of November, 1631. the King's Army passed through Saxonhausen over the Bridge, quite through the Town. Colonel Vitzthumb was left Governour in Saxonhausen; and the King himself rode bare-headed through the Streets: and by his obliging behaviour did generally win the affections of the beholders; and three days after returned thither again with the Landtgrave of Hessen-Cassell, and the Landtgrave of Hessen-Darmstadt, where they meet the Seventeen Earls of the Wetteraw, or Veteravia, and were feasted in the same room where the Emperours at their Coronation use to be entertained.
In Saxonhausen there is a House anciently belonging unto the Knights of the Teutonick Order, which hath the priviledge of a Sanctuary for Man-slayers and Bankrupts; but it is a security but for fourteen days. Upon this side there is the largest portion of Land belonging to Franckfort; on the other side very little.
This being a trading place, it is no wonder that there are so many Jews in it; for a distinction they wear great Ruffs, their Sons Bonnets, and their Wives a peculiar dress of their Head.
The Collegiate Church of St. Bartholomew, where many of the Emperours have been crowned, is large, hath a high Steeple, and is built of a red stone. There are divers handsome Fountains in the Town, and good Houses; in one of the best of which liveth Monsieur Pierre Neufville, a great Merchant, and a civil worthy person, well known in most places of Commerce; who obliged me with Letters to Venice, and other places.
From Franckfort I continued my Journey through the Bergstraes, passing by Darmstadt, which belongs to one of the Brothers of the House of Hessen, commonly known by the name of the Landtgrave of Hessen Darmstadt; and afterwards through a fruitful plain Country, in the sight of Hills, and sometimes near them: the whole Country planted with Wallnut-trees, Vines, Corn, and in some places with Tobacco; till I arrived at Heidelberg.
In coming into this Town we passed over the River Neccar, Nicer, or Necarus, upon a Bridge covered over from one end to another, with a large Roof of Wood: in the same manner is the long Bridge covered at the entrance of the City of Alessandria della paglia in Italy.
The River Neccar ariseth near the Sylva Martiana, now Swartzwald, or Black Forest, and passing through the Territories of the Duke of Wittenberg, runneth into the Rhine at Manheim: this, though none of the greatest, yet is a considerable River of Germany; and hath divers good Towns upon it and near it, as Sultz, Tubingen, Wirtingen, Essingen, Stutgard, Canstat, Lauffen, Hallbrun, Heidelberg.
There being wars at that time when I was in this Country, between the Elector of Palatine and the Duke of Lorrain: The elector resided for the most part at Frankendale, to be near his Forces.9
Heidelberg is seated on the South-side of the River Neccar, between it and a ridge of high Hills, so as it cannot well admit of a modern Fortification, or hope to be extraordinary strong, as being over-looked by the adjacent Mountains: It lieth most at length from East to West: It hath been an University since the year 1346. at which time it was begun by Rupetus, Count Palatine, and at present is much frequented. In the great Church was kept the famous Library, which, after that the Spaniards had taken this Town in 1620, was carried to Rome, and added to the Vatican, where I saw it in the year 1664. being placed upon one side of a very long Gallery belonging to the Vatican Library; and the Duke of Urbin's Library placed on the otherside, over-against it: both which made a notable addition to the Papal Library. In this Church and the Church also of St. Peter, are divers Monuments of Princes of the Palatine Family, and of Learned and Famous Men. The French have a Church here, and the present Elector is of the Order of the Holy Ghost; and his Son a Mareschal of France: and good French and High-dutch are both generally spoken here. The Lutherans have also a Church in this Town, by the favour of the present Elector; although he himself be a Calvinist: and to express his generous kindness the higher in this point, the first Stone was laid by himself and his Son; and it is called the Church of Providence, according to the Elector's Motto, Dominus Providebit.
Upon the Town-house is a Clock with divers Motions, and when the Clock strikes, the figure of an Old man pulls off his hat, a Cock crows, and shakes his wings, Souldiers fight with one another, and the like. The Prince's Stables for above a hundred Horses are seated upon the River very conveniently, but were fairer formerly, above half thereof having been ruined by the Imperialists; as also divers of the Statues on the outside of the Castle, which is seated high above the Town.
The present Elector is Carolus Ludovicus, Son to the King of Bohemia, Frederick the Fifth; he was born in the year 1617. and passed his Youth an Exile from his Fathers Kingdom and Electorate: and at the pacification at Prague 1635. he was excluded from any restitution to be made to him. But at length, in the Treaty of Munster 1648. he was restored to the lower Palatinate, and 1657. returned to the possession of his Fortunes: a highly accomplished Prince, much honoured and beloved by his Subjects. In the year 1650. he married Charlotta, Daughter to William the Fifth, Landgrave, and to the famous Amelia Elizabeth, Landgraveß of Hassia; by whom he had the Chur Prince, or Electoral Prince Charles, and a Daughter, the Princess Charlotta Elizabetha;10 but upon some discontent the Princess Electress since returned to her own Friends and Country. This Elector is also Knight of the most Noble Order of the Garter, Great Treasurer of the Empire, and together with the Elector of Saxony, Vicar of the Empire.
In his Palace or Castle at Heidelberg, are divers things remarkable; a very great Tower to be equalled by very few; within which is a Theatre for Comedies. This was formerly called Trutzkaisar, or the Tower that bad Defiance, or threatned the Emperor; but since the Restauration of the Elector, there are some Works drawn about it in the figure of a Star, and the old disobliging Name is by Proclamation forbidden to be continued, and it is at present called the Sternschanz, or the Star-fort. By it is a handsome Garden; in the Ditch whereof there was then kept a great Bear, and a very large Wolf. The Grotto's and Water-works are very handsome: they were also making divers others, having the advantage of the side of the Hill to bring down the water, and to make Grots and Caves in the Rock. Amonst other Fountains, that of the Lions head with a Frog in his Ear, is taken notice of. The Cellars are very large and cool, filled with Vessels of no ordinary size; yet inconsiderable, if compared to the great Tun kept in a great Building joyning to the Cellars; it was built by this present Elector's Order, 1664. and goeth far beyond any made before: It contains 204 Faiders and odd measure, or about two hundred Tuns: instead of Hoops it is built with large knee Timber, like the ribs of a Ship, which are painted and carved, and have divers Inscriptions upon them, and supported by carved Pedistals. Upon one side of it is a handsome Staircase to ascend to the top of the Vessel; upon the top of which is a Gallery set round with Ballisters, three and forty steps high from the ground.
About an English mile from Heidelberg, between the Hills, is a solitary place, where three large Streams or Springs gush out of the Mountain, and presently fill five Ponds, have three handsome Cascates or Falls, and after run into the Plain, and are strong enough in a small space to turn four Mills; this is called Wolfsbrun, or the Wolfs Fountain, from a Princess who formerly retired into a Cave in this desart place, and was here devoured by a Wolf.
While I was at Heidelberg, two English men came kindly to me, Mr. Villers, and Timothy Middleton, belonging to Lobensfeldt Cloister, a Convent formerly of the Jesuits, but since let out to about an hundred English, who left their Country 1661. came up the Rhine, and by the permission of the Elector, setled themselves a few miles from hence, living altogether, men, women, and children, in one House; and having a community of many things: They are of a peculiar Religion, calling themselves Christian Jews; and one Mr. Poole, formerly living at Norwich, is their Head. They cut not their Beards, and observe many other Ceremonies and Duties, which they either think themselves obliged to from some Expressions in the Old Testament, or from some New Exposition of their Leaders.
From Heidelberg made an excursion, and had a sight of Spire, seated in a Plain, on the West-side of the Rhine; a place of Antiquity, conceived to be Urbs Nementum of old; a large place and populous. The King of Sweden in the German wars demolished the Works about it, not willing to spare so great a number of his Souldiers as was required to Garrison it, and make it good. It is an Episcopal See under the Archbishop of Mentz: there are many faire Houses in it, divers Churches, and a fair Cathedral, with four large Towers. The Romanists, the Lutherans, and Calvinists preach in it at several hours. It is the more populous, and filled with people of good quality, by reason of the concourse of persons from other parts of Germany, for the decision of Law Suits: For here the Imperial Chamber is held, and many differences which arise in the Empire are determined, and the Electors and other Princes, in some tryals at Law, may be called hither. It is a settled Court, which Maximilian the First, for the better ease of all persons, placed first at Worms, and not long after it was fixed at Spire, from whence it cannot be now removed, but by the consent of all the Estates. Things Cognoscible in this Court are determined by an Imperial Judge, and sealed with the Emperours Arms, so that there lieth no appeal unto the Emperour.
Another day I went to Manheim, formerly a Village, seated at the Confluence of the Rhine and Neccar; but walled about by the Elector Frederick the Fourth, and since is much encreased; all the Streets being large and uniform, and a Noble Citadel built; within which, over-against the Gate, the Elector designs a Palace, the Model of which I saw: and at present, on the right hand, there are three Pavilions of Lodgings: in one of which lodgeth the Elector Palatine; in another the Prince his Son; and in the third the Princess his Daughter: behind these there is a handsome Garden and Lodgings for Degen Felderen, the Churfursts Mistress. Here are some good Pictures, as a Head of Hans Holben, and a Landskip with the Story of the Union of the Swissers. The Bridge over the Moat of the Citadel into the Town, is also remarkable, as having six Draw-bridges upon it, three great ones, and three small ones on the side. There are Palisado's all along the bottom, in the middle of the Ditch, and without upon the Esplanade.
From Heidelberg I travelled to Nurnberg in the Company of Captain Wagenseyl, who had been in the Polish and Hungarian wars, and was employed a little before in blowing up the Castle of Launsteyn, belonging to the Elector Palatine, to prevent its surprisal by the Duke of Lorrain. He was then employed to raise a Company at Nurnberg, for the Service of the Elector Palatine. I had a good advantage in my Journey by his Company; for he travelled with Authority, and was a generous, knowing, and courteous person.
The first day we travelled near to the Neccar, in stony and rocky way; and it being dark before we came to Mospach, the Peasants conducted us from Village to village with bundles of lighted Straw.
The next day we came to Poxberg, where there is an old Castle, and in the afternoon reached Morkenthal, or Mergetheim, 11 the Seat of the Grand Master of the Herrhn Deutchern, or the Teutonick Order. The Town is well-built, hath a fair Piazza, with a large Fountain in it, and a Statue of one of the Grand Masters, with a long Corridore from his Palace. This Order hath been of great Fame, and hath had large Possessions, as may be seen in the exact Account of the Teutonick Knights of Prussia, in his Noble Description of the Order of the Garter; and as Lewis du May, Counsellor unto the Duke of Wirtenburg, hath set it down. For the Knights Templars and of St. John, having fought prosperously against the Infidels, raised an Emulation in some German Gentlemen, who waited upon the Emperour Frederick the First, in his Expedition to the Holy Land, to take the Croisado. And because they were installed in the Church and Hospital of St. Mary at Jerusalem, they were called Marianites. Their Order differed nothing from those above-mentioned, but in the form and colour of their Croß, and was approved by Pope Celestin the Third. Afterwards when Jerusalem was taken by Saladin, those Knights betook themselves to Ptolemais, from whence the Emperour Frederick the second, sent them back into Germany, and employed them against the Prussians and Livonians, who at that time were still Pagans. But by the Valour and Piety of those Knights, their Souls were brought into subjection to Christ, and their Bodies to the Order which began that war in the year 1220. a little while after these Knights found themselves masters of a Country of very large Extent, which obeyed the Order, till the year 1525. at which time Sigismond, King of Poland, gave the investiture of Prussia unto Albert Marquiß of Brandenburg. In the year 1563. the Great Master became Secular again, and took a part of the Lands subject to the Order, with the name of Duke of Curland. And Livonia having been the Subject and Theatre of many wars between the Polanders, Muscovites, and Swedes; these last did at length become Masters of it, and have it in possession still. So that there is no more remaining of the Teutonick Order, but some Commanderies scattered here and there in Germany. And the Great Master hath his Seat and Residence at Mergenthal.
They wear on a white Mantle a plain black Cross. The Dignity of Grand Master is generally held by some Great and Honorable Person; and in the Great Assembly he taketh place of all Bishops. The present is the Baron of Amring; and the Grand Master before him was Leopold William, only Brother to the Emperor Ferdinand the Third.
From hence we travelled to Leuterbach, near which we passed through a Wood, and found a Noble Church upon the top of a high Hill, which being much frequented by Pilgrims, they have made handsome stone Stairs from the bottom to the top: then to Rotenburg, and lodged at Burgperner, and the next day by Schantzbach we came to Nurenberg. Rotenburg is an Imperial City, which some have likened unto Jerusalem for its Situation upon hilly places, and many Turrets in it. It is Situated near the head of the River Tauber, which may be accounted the second river of Franconia, passing by Rottingen, Landen, and Werthaim, where it runneth into the Main.
Nurenberg is the fairest City that I saw in Germany; the Houses most of them Free-stone, very high; and divers of them painted on the outside, and adorned with gilded Balls on the top; many are of five or seven Stories high. Der Herr Peller hath one of the fairest. The City is very populous and full of Trade, although it stands in a barren Country, and wants a Navigable River. The three best Churches are the Hospital Church, lately built very fair; St. Laurence, which is very large, with two high Steeples in the front; and St. Sebald the best of the three. The Body of St. Sebald being laid upon a Cart drawn with Oxen, in that place where the Oxen stood still, they buried the Body, and erected this Church in his memory. In this Church is a Crucifix of Wood, very well carved, and esteemed at a high rate. The Crucifix without the Church is very great, and of a black colour: and some fancy that the Raht Herrn, or Magistrates of the town, have reposited a Treasure within it. The Pulpit is well carved and gilded, and the whole Church so stately, that it may pass in the first rank of Lutheran Churches; that Religion being here practised in its splendour. The Priest every morning reads the Scripture to the people for half an hour, or preacheth a Sermon. The Town-house is well worth the seeing: In it the Hall is spacious, as also the Chambers, and furnished with good Pictures, and Stones well gilded and painted with white and gold, green and gold, dark coloured and gold, and the like. There is one Picture of most of the Great Persons in Germany entertained in the Great Hall; another of the three Brothers of Saxony; one of an Elephant as big as the life; a piece of St. John and St. Mark, and another of St. Peter and St. Paul, both by Albert Durer: but the most rare piece is that of Adam and Eve, by the same Master, with this Inscription:
Albertus Durer Almang faciebat post Virginis partum, 1507.
Another excellent one is that of St. Luke drawing the Picture of our Saviour and the blessed Virgin. Over the Gate at the entrance of the Shambles is a large Oxe carved in Wood, and painted over, with this inscription:
Omnia habent ortus suaque incrementa, sed ecce
Quem cernis, nunquam Bos fuit hic, Vitulus.
The Castle standeth upon a high Hill, from whence the Town makes a handsome show: In it are observable a very deep well, the Emperors Chappel, his Picture, and the Pictures of the Electors; good Night pieces; and one of a man behind a white Curtain transparent, very well expressed. The Armour of Hebbele van Gailinghen the great Sorcerer is here shown; and in the Wall of the Castle the marks of his Horses feet, when he leaped from thence over the Town ditch.
The new Fountain was not then finished; but the Statua's in Brass made for it were excellent; the Sea-Horses large, the Sea-Nymphs much bigger than the life; and Neptune, who was to stand on the top, is above three yards and a half high. When I came first into this place, I was not a little surprized to behold the fairness of the Houses, handsome Streets, different Habits, industrious People, and neatness in all things, more than I had observed in German Cities before; and no place hath greater number of curious Artificers in Steel, Brass, Ivory, Wood, wherein they work at an extraordinary cheap rate; and there are Officers to inspect and enquire into the works of Artificers, that they be true, perfect, and without fraud: they make strong and handsome Clock-work. The King of Poland presented the Grand Signior with a very noble Clock, who took so much delight in it, that when it required some mending (the Turks being ignorant in Clock-work) he sent it from Adrianople as far as Nurenberg, to be set in order again.
Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, was more magnificently received and entertained in this City, than in any other part of Germany; which so incensed Wallensteyn, that he afterwards encamped before their Town, and did great spoil upon their Territories: But the King of Sweden marched thither towards their Relief, and from thence towards Lutzen, where in a bloody Battel he lost his life.12
The River Pegnitz runneth through Nurnberg, and hath divers Stone Bridges over it; and below the Town, joyning with the River Rednitz, runneth into the River Main at Bamberg; and the Main runs at last into the Rhine. The Rednitz ariseth at Weißenberg, and is not far from the River Altmul, which runneth into the Danube, towards Regensburg. Upon this convenience, Charles the Great designed to make a Communication of passage between the Danube and the Rhine; and made a Canale thirty paces broad between the Rednitz and the Altmul, to joyn those Streams for the commodity of Passage by Boat; but after he had proceeded two German miles in this work, Boggs, Rains, and his warlike Diversions made him give over that noble Design, whereby there might have been a Commerce by water, from the Low Countries to Vienna, and even unto the Euxine Sea.
The Roman Lieutenant in Nero's time, had a desire to unite the River Soane and the Mosella; and to make a passage between the Mediterranean and the German Ocean; having been at the Mouth of the Mosella by Coblentz, and passed from Chaalon upon the soft and noble River Araris or Soane unto Lyon, I cannot but think these very good Streams, and fit for such a purpose. The present King of France hath a design to unite the River Aude with the Garonne, and so to have a passage by Boat from the Mediterranean Sea by Tholouse and Bourdeaux, into the Ocean. When I travelled in those parts, viewing the Country well, I thought it would be a difficult work, and so it proveth: but the King hath proceeded already very far therein.13
About four leagues from Nurnberg lyeth Altdorff, belonging unto it, and made an University in the year 1623. containing, when I was there, about 150 Scholars. The Physick Garden is handsome, and well stocked with Plants, to the number of two thousand. Dr. Hoffman the Botanick and Anatomick Professour, shew'd me many of the most rare of them; and presented me with divers. The Anatomy School is not large; yet the only one in those parts of Germany: And they have divers Curiosities preserved in it, as the Skeleton of a Hart, of a Horse, of a Man, of a Bear bigger than a Horse: And some Pictures, as one of a Ninivite, and another of Moses, which they take to be Ancient. Dr. Wagenseyl, Professour of Law and History, brother to Captain Wagenseyl, who travelled with me from Heidelberg, invited us to lodge at his House, and shew'd me his Library, and all his Rarities and Coyns, whereof he hath a good Collection, having lived in most places of Europe, and speaks many Languages as well; he gave me a piece of the first mony that was coined in Germany. In the University Library I saw a fair Hortus Eystetensis, and Youngerman's Collection of Plants by his own hand.
At Nurnberg I met with the Son and Secretary to the Holland Ambassador in Turky, who had travelled hither over-land from Constantinople, in their return into the Low-Countries, travelling in Greek Habits.
From hence I went to Newmarkt, a good Town in the upper Palatinate belonging to the Duke of Bavaria, and the next day through Heinmaw, subject to the Duke of Newburg, to Regensburg.
Ratisbona, Regensburg, Augusta Tiberii, Colonia Quartanorum, the chief place of the Roman Forces in this limit of the Empire, where the fourth Italick legion had a constant station; was made a Colony by Tiberius in the year, as some conceive, of the Passion of our Saviour. It was much augmented and adorned by the Emperour Arnulphus, who had a great affection for this place, so pleasantly seated, and in a good Country. Here the River Regen runs into the Danube; from whence it was called Regensburg. There are two Bridges, one of wood below the Town, and another Bridge of stone of about fifteen Arches; which is the fairest stone Bridge over the Danube. It is an Imperial City, but not without some acknowledgment to the Duke of Bavaria: And although it be strongly fortified, yet it was taken by the Swedes in the German wars. There are many fair buildings in it, both private and publick; and though I am not able to confirm what some report, that there are as many Churches and Chappels in this City, as there are dayes in the year; yet are there many fair Churches and Convents: As the Cathedral of St. Peter, in the South-side of which is the Picture of St. Peter in a ship; and on the North another of the Apostles first Mission. In the Piazza stands a neat little Church, the Convent of St. Paul, founded by St. Wolfgangus Bishop of this place, the Convent of St. Emerammus Bishop of Ratisbone, a Saint of great Veneration here, thought but of little mention or name in other parts. The name of Albertus Magnus, Bishop of this place, hath also added unto the Fame of Regensburg.
But that which chiefly promoteth its lustre, is the General diet or Parliament, which is often held in this City, and is not to be called in any part out of Germany; and the place is not unfit for the accommodation of such a noble Convention, as are the Estates of Germany. The Vice-Marshal taketh care to provide Lodgings respectively to their persons, and seeth that all things be brought hither, and at a just price; that the Hall or Place of Assembly be furnished and adorned sutably to the dignity of the Persons convened, and hath an especial eye and regard towards the Publick safety. By this Convention the great Concerns of Germany are much secured, and their peace and quiet Established. Wherein Germany seems to have a better advantage than Italy; For Italy being likewise divided into many dominions and Principalities, hath no Common Diet or Great Council, whereby to proceed for their Publick safety: Which makes them often so divided in their common Concerns in times of Danger, and when they most need a joynt Combination.
I entred the notable River Danubius at this place, which hath already run a good course, and passed by many fair Towns or Cities; as the large City of Ulme in Swabenland, where it beginneth to be Navigable; as also Donawert, Neuburg, and Ingolstadt, and hath already received the considerable River of Licus or Leck, whereby the Commodities of that great Trading City of Augsburg are brought into it. When I first embarked at Regensburg, I thought I might have taken leave of the Danube not far below Vienna, but an opportunity made me see this great Stream beyond Belgrade, as I have declared in another Account of my Travels.14
The first day we passed by Thonawsteyn, where there is a Castle seated upon a high Rock, and came to Pfeter or Vetera Castra of old, now but an ordinary place. The Boats upon the Danube are generally painted black and white, are flat bottom'd, and broad at the Head and Stern; there is a Chamber built in the middle; and the Rudder is very large, to be able to command the Boat where the River is rapid, and of a swift Course.
The next day we came to Straubing, a handsome walled Town, belonging to the Duke of Bavaria; the Streets are streight; and there is a Tower in the Market-place, painted all over with green and gold-colour: There is also a Bridge of wood over the Danube. We passed by Swartz in the Afternoon, where the Church is seated upon a Hill, and is frequented by Pilgrims, and lodged at Deckendorff, where there is another Bridge. Near this Town comes into the Danube that considerable River Iser, or Isara, having passed by divers considerable Towns; as Landshut, Frising, and München, the seat of Ferdinandus Maria, Elector of Bavaria, Great Steward of the Empire, and at present the first of the Secular Electors, and he is to take place immediately after the King of Bohemia, it being so concluded on at the Treaty of Munster, where Maximilian Duke of Bavaria was allowed to hold the Electorship, which was confirmed upon him by the Emperour Ferdinand the Second, when he excluded Frederick the Fifth, Count Palatine, and in lieu hereof there was an eighth Electorship errected for the Palatinate Family, who also, if the Bavaria branch doth fail, are to re-enter into their ancient Electorship, and the other newly erected is to be abolished.
Thursday, November the fifteenth, we came by Wishoven to Passaw, Patavia, or Boiodurum, a long and noble City in the lower Bavaria, or Bayern, made up of three Towns, Iltstadt, Passaw, and Innstadt, at the concurrence of the River Inne, the Danube, and the Iltz. As Towns are commonly of great antiquity which are built at the Confluence of great Rivers, for the Strength of the Situation and convenience of Commerce; so is this accounted ancient, as being a Roman Colony, and the place of the Castra Batava in old times.
The Church of St. Stephen is stately, besides other fair Churches. The Bishop, who is Lord of the City, hath a strong Palace upon a Hill; his Revenues are large, and besides what he possesseth hereabouts, he hath the tenth part of the notable great Lead-Mine at Bleyberg in Carinthia. This place had lately suffered much by fire; but a good part was rebuilt, and very fairly after the Italian manner: So that this may well be reckoned as one of the ten considerable Cities, which are upon the Danube, accounting from Ulme unto Belgrade, as Ulme, Ingolstadt, Ratisbone, Passaw, Lintz, Vienna, Presburg, Strigonium, buda, Belgrade; all which from Ratisbone I had the opportunity to see before the end of my Journey. Near to a Wall over against the great Church at Passaw, which was then repairing, I saw a vast Head cut in stone, the Mouth whereof was two spans wide, and the rest proportionable. The River Iltz, which runneth in here from the North, is considerable for the Pearls which are found in it; and the noble River Inne or Oenus, from the South, is the greatest River which hath yet entred the Danube; having passed by Insbrug, and taken in the River Saltz, upon which stands Saltzburg; and arising in the alpes in such a high Country as Tirolis, it runneth in here with a great force, and addeth much unto the swiftness of the Danube.
Upon the Sixteenth we came to Lintz, the chief City in the higher Austria, not very great, but as neat and handsome a City as most in Germany. There is in it a very great Market-place, with never a bad House in it, the whole Town built of a very white Free-stone; and the Castle upon the Hill is of Modern Building, and very large. There is also a Bridge over the Danube. The Imperial Forces rendezvoused here when Solyman came to Vienna. This was also besieged by the Peasants of Austria in the time of Ferdinand the Second; they having got a Body together of Forty thousand men, and may pieces of Ordnance, but were stoutly repulsed after many Assaults, and at last overcome by Papenheim. Not far below Lintz the River Draun enters the Danube; this cometh from the Gemundner Sea, or Lacus Felicis, passing by Lampack, Weltz, and other Towns, and hath a noted Cataract or Fall of Waters.
The next day we passed by Ens, Anisia, upon the upon the River Anisius, or Onasus, which taking its original in the borders of Saltzburgland, runs into the Danube, and divides the higher from the lower Austria, having received into it self the River Saltza, upon which standeth Cell, or Maria Cell, a place of the greatest Pilgrimage in Austria. Near this Town are many Roman Coyns and Antiquities found, and Lauriacum stood of old, a Roman Garrison, and afterwards a Bishop's See: we came to a Village on the North shoar of the Danube, called Greim, where the Graff von Leichtensteyn hath a House. A little below this are two dangerous passages in the River; the one called the Strudel, where the River running amongst vast Rocks, some under water, and some above, the waves are broken with great force, and the Current is rapid, foaming, and troublesome; and some skill is required to pass between the Ledges of Rocks which are under water, and when the water is low the passage is very difficult. The other is the Wurbel, or a kind of Whirlpool, where the water turneth about with great force, being hindred in its direct Course by a great Rock. Upon the top of a high craggy Rock stands a large Cross, and at the foot a little Church, dedicated to St. Nicholas, who is Patron of this dangerous place, and is believed to take peculiar care of such as pass this way, and therefore a little Boat comes to you as soon as you are out of danger, and receives what Acknowleddgment you please, or what perhaps you have promised to give, when you were in some fear. This night we lodged at Ips, Ipsium, or Ibissa, a Town on the South-side of the Danube: over against it lieth Besenbeug, or Usbium Ptolomæi.15 Two German miles below Ips stands Pechlarn, conceived to be Arlape in former times; and here the river Erlaph entreth the Danube: A mile and a half below this lies Melcke, Nomale, or Mea dilecta, in former days the Seat of the Marquesses of Austria, until St. Leopold removed to Kalenburg, and his Successours to Vienna. The Town lieth at length upon the South-side of the River; but the noble Cloister of Benedictines, which taketh place of any other in Austria, stands upon a Hill which over-looks the Town, the River, and the Country about; is richly endowed, and remarkable for the Monuments of many great Persons, and the Tomb of St. Colman, much honoured in these parts. We dined at Steyn, where there is a Bridge over the Danube. Near to this lieth Crembs, another walled Town; and over the water Mautern; and not far from it the rich Convent of Ketwein; After this the River Traisn, or Tragisama, commeth in from the South. Having passed by the noted Town St. Pold, or St. Hippolitus, we lodged this Night at at St. Eldorff, and the next day passed by Thuln, Stockeran, and Cloister Neuburg, to Vienna.
NOTES
1. In 314, to deal with the problems of the Donatists. (Saint) Maternus is the first recorded bishop of Cologne, although Irenaeus says that it had a bishop a century earlier.
2. Sc. Saint Cunibert, 7th-c. Bishop of Cologne and one of those men who taught and formed a number of other saints. He is represented iconographically with a dove on his ear, or on his head.
3. On the three kings of Cologne, see also Pseudodoxia Epidemica VII.viii and notes. Edward Browne recounts the most likely, or the least unlikely, of the numerous explanations of their presence in Cologne.
4. The text has Ethrenbreitstein.
5. Cornelis Tromp (1629-1691), Dutch admiral and son of Admiral Maarten Tromp. (The Dutch in general, and the Tromps in particular, are proved by one "D.F." in a pamphlet published in the 1650s to have descended from a horse turd.)
6. Hatto "of Bingen", Bishop of Mainz (Mayence, Mentz), died in 913. He was very unpopular, and his death is recounted in a number of different but gruesome stories. For different detail on the mouse version, see Legends of the Rhine - The Mouse-Tower. He is also said to have been thrown by the devil into Mount Etna, or to have been struck by lightning. The mouse story shows up in some odd places, most notably in Longfellow's The Children's Hour, lines 25-28, where he says of his apparently cannibal daughters:
They almost devour me with kisses,
Their arms about me entwine,
Till I think of the Bishop of Bingen
In his Mouse-Tower on the Rhine!
7. St. Boniface, of Wessex, was created the first Archbishop of Mainz in 751 (say some; others place the event earlier). The archbishopric was suppressed under the Napoleonic occupation in 1801.
8. It is still there. Picture, from Erfurt: Die Stadt in Bildern (1)
9. It would have been very difficult to travel to Heidelberg at any time in the 17th century and avoid some sort of war. The town had been heavily damaged in 1622 and was to be nearly completed razed in two reductions, of 1689 and 1693 under Louis XIV.
10. Who became in 1671 the second wife of Philippe d'Orléans, brother of Louis XIV, and by him mother of Philippe duc de Chartres, who became regent on the death of Louis XIV in 1722; she is the famous Princesse Palatine of French history. Her voluminous correspondence has been published and is a mine for information on the reign of Louis XIV.
11. Sc. Mergentheim, where the order resided from the time of its fall in Prussia (1526) until the Napoleonic wars, when it was removed to Vienna (1809).
12. On November 6, 1632. The Swedes won the battle despite (or, less charitably but with more apparent accuracy, because of) the death of the king.
13. The Canal du Midi, begun in 1667, was finished in 1694; it is still in (light) use.
14. In his 1673 "A brief account of some travels in Hungaria, Servia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Thessaly, Austria, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, and Friuli," several times reprinted.
15. I.e., Persenbeug. "Usbium" in Ptolemy's description of towns along the Danube: Book II, chapter 10.
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