The Low Countries united to the Empire by Charles V. and why.
It is to no purpose to add any more, seeing these are sufficient to <33> convince any [moderately] wise man|[. So that the man must be very silly who doth not perceive the Sham designed [perpetrated on] the Empire by Charles V. when he submitted his 17 Provinces [Belgium suum] to the Empire, with a magnificent Promise, that they should pay as much as any two of the Electors paid to 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 [since] the Accounts of the Moneys expended in the Turkish War were to be in the hands of the Princes of this Austrian Family, [the Low Countries were not likely to be overcharged, nor to be very ill treated, if they proved slow in the payment].b So that it was easie [for an Italian] to observe, That Charles V. by this Promise only encouraged the Germans to spend their Treasures [res] the more freely in the defence of his [someone else’s] Territories, when they saw him so freely consent to bring his own Patrimony under the same Burthen.
[T]ho’ 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 [in Germany] to the House of Austria, being then assigned to his Brother Ferdinand:11 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.12
The Males of this House.
At this time that Line is reduced to two Males, Leopold Emperor of Germany, [(who has, since our Author wrote, had a Son named Joseph)]+ and Charles King of Spain [, who has no Issue]:a I have heard many of the Germans wish this Prince [Leopold] a numerous Male Posterity,b out of meer fear that the failing of the Line in <34> this Family may cause dreadful Convulsions in Europe [may require costly funeral games].13]|c
The Counts Palatine of the Rhine, and the Dukes of Bavaria.
Bavaria.
5. The Family of the Counts Palatine of the Rhine, and of the Dukes of Bavaria, are [is], as to Antiquity, equal to the best, and it enjoys a vast Tract of Land, which extends from the Alps to the River Moselle, <though dotted here and there by the territories of others,> and two Dukedoms in the Borders of the Low Countries [Belgii]. It is divided into two Lines, the Rudolfian and William [ite]. One of these [the latter] is possess’d of the Dukedom of 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].a 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);14 his Predecessor also possess’d the Bishopricks of Liege [Lüttich] and Hildisheim].b
The Palatine Family.
The House of Newburg.
The other Branches of this House.
The King of Sweden of this Family.
His Dominions in Germany.
The Rudolfian Line is divided into many Branches, |[the Principal [at the head] of which is the Elector Palatine, and it [who still] enjoys the Lower Palatinate on the Rhine,15 a Country [region] 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].a The Count Palatine of Newburg possess’d heretofore [still possesses] the Dukedoms of Juliers [Jülich] and Montz [Berg], 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 <35> sorely oppressed by the French.]b Besides these, there are the Palatines of Sultzback, Simmeren, Deuxpont, or Zuibrucken [Zweibrücken] [(as the Germans call it)]+ Birkenfield and Lawtreck [Lautereck][, all with modest domains]. The Family of Deuxpont [also] produced Charles Gustavus King of Sweden, who [whose son, Charles, though still a minor] now reigns in that Kingdom,16 [and] who by the Peace of Osnaburg has obtained in Germany the Dukedoms of Breme [n], Ferden [Verden], and the upper [western] Pomerania, together with Stetin, the Principality of Rugen [Rügen], and the Barony of Wismar.
This Family [enjoys now also Princes of great worth and virtue].c For as the Bavarian Line are celebrated for their great Piety, so the [Electoral Family have been much esteemed for their Prudence];a 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.17 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]|.b, 18
The House of Saxony.
6. The Dukes of Saxony possess almost the [entire] middle parts of Germany, to whom belongs Misnia [Meißen], Thuring, and a small Country [region] on the Elbe, called the Upper Saxony, Lusatia [Lausitz, Łużyce] and in Franconia, the Dukedoms of Coburg, and the Earldom of Henneburg, [overall] a Country celebrated in some parts for its Fertility, and in others for its Mines.
This Family is divided into two Branches, viz. Albert and Ernest: |[the last [first] of these is in possession of the Electorate, and the second Son [among the three remaining brothers] is to be Bishop [Archbishop] of Magdeburg [for life];19 of the first [latter] <36> are the Dukes