The Present State of Germany. Samuel Pufendorf
in the most ancient times the number of the States of the Empire was never fixed and certain, [and that all that were enabled by their Wealth or Prudence, to contribute any thing to the Welfare of their Country, had liberty to be present in]a the Diet. Afterwards the Poorer [not being able to attend the Diet, by reason of the Expence and Charge, remained willingly at home];b and [that in after-times others, who would willingly enough have been there, were excluded by others, who were too powerful for them to contend with],c till the States were by degrees brought to the number we now see them.
It were too tedious for us to transcribe here a [whole] Matricula, but yet I shall represent the Principal of the States [the chief estates], as a thing absolutely necessary to the forming a Judgment of the Magnitude of this whole Body.
An account of the House of Austria.
3. Amongst the Secular Princes, we give the first Place to the House of Austria, not so much for its Antiquity, as on the score of the greatness of its Dominions, and because it has now for some Ages possess’d the Imperial Throne. This unusual Clemency of the Fates has raised this Family from a very mean original, to an invidious greatness.
Its Rise.
Rudolphus5 [, the first of these, who obtained the Imperial Dignity,]+ was Count of Hapsburg, and possessed a small Estate, nothing above his Condition and Title in the Borders [vicinity] of Switzerland, but then he was a good Souldier, and a man of Valour: |[There having been in his times an Interregnum <28> of about 20 years, the State of Germany was in great confusion and disorder. [So] the principal Princes of Germany met, and to put an end to these Calamities, resolved to elect [creato] an Emperor. Wernerus, then Bishop of Mentz, mentioned Rudolphus, who had civilly waited upon him in one of his Journeys to Rome, from Strasburg [Argentina] to the Alps, and he much extolled his Prudence and Courage [magnanimity], and the Electors of Cologne and Trier soon joined with him. Now he that is any thing well acquainted with the Temper of the Churchmen, will, without any difficulty, conjecture what occasion’d this great desire in the Bishop of Mentz to raise this Gentleman. [He concluded, he]a would be the more obnoxious or compliant to him[self], because [the Nobility of his extraction]b did not [yet] encourage him to act with that freedom another would have used; and besides, he would [in greater degree be obliged to him]c for his preferment. But then it might seem a wonder that none of the greater [other] Princes should aspire to the Imperial Throne, except we consider the confused state of things in Germany, at that time, which made them all [some of them] fearful they might not be able to reduce it into order; and perhaps others of them were not of sufficient age and experience to effect so difficult a Work. Thus the Secular Electors complied with the Spiritual. But then the Elector of Saxony, and the Burgrave of Norimburg [Nuremberg], would not give their Votes for him till he had promised each of them a Daughter in Marriage; and the same was asked by the Duke of Bavaria, who [was then present],d and granted. Thus Rudolphus <29> [immediately] became allied to the best Families of Germany,]| e which in the beginning was both an honour and a support to this House.
Austria, Stiria, Carniola, &c. came into this House as vacant Fees.
The Imperial Dignity gave him also afterwards opportunity of obtaining a considerable Patrimony for his Posterity; |[for when any Fee [fief] became vacant, none could better pretend to it than one of his own Sons, for to take it to himself, would have been very invidious [aroused much ill will]. Thus that House]|a obtained Austria, Stiria [Styria], Carniola [Carinthia], and the Marquisate of Vindish in Carniola [the Wendian March], and some other Territories <which he [Rudolph] took from the vanquished Ottokar, king of Bohemia, who had [previously] seized them>. |[And in process of time many others were added, by the Bounty of other Emperors, as the Opulent are more frequently obliged [courted] with such Favours than the Poor.b Being thus enriched, it became very easie for this Family to match into the best Houses; and because Ladies are not only won by Riches, but dazzled sometimes with the glittering of a new and extraordinary Title, [a Son might easily gain in that case, from a less yielding Father, some new additions, which might]c set him above the other Dukes.
The first amongst Spiritual Electors.
And yet even here the Prudence [skill] of the House of Austria deserves commendation.]|d It would have been very invidious [given rise to great jealousy] for this new Family to have taken a Place in the Diets, above the more ancient; and yet it did not become it to follow the rest[, now it was possessed of the Empire]+. Therefore they took the first place amongst the Spiritual Electors [Ecclesiastical Princes], who have a Bench distinct from the Secular Princes; for these [being for the most part descended of lower Families],e did without any reluctance yield the first place to this Family. {And yet this their modesty went <30> not unrewarded: for} on this account they [the house of Austria] obtained that Employment or Honour which they call the Directory in the Colledge of the Princes, to be exercised by turns with the [Arch]bishop of Salsburg.6 {These things are so far from deserving the blame of any wise man, that it would have been the utmost degree of stupidity to have done otherwise.}
Thus the House of Austria [gained to it self]a the greatest part |[of the Eastern Countries of Germany. After this, they got [In addition, they possess] the Crown of Hungary, by almost an Hereditary Title, which amongst other advantages serves as a Bulwark to their other Dominions against the Irruptions of the Turks, and gives the Austrians many pretences of draining the Moneys of Germany [to maintain its Wars against that dreadful Enemy].b]|c
This Family has long possessed the Imperial Throne.
4. We ought well to consider [also not only that the House of Austria has continued its self so long in the Imperial Dignity, that there is scarce any other House in Germany, which has a Revenue sufficient to bear the Expence of that [splendid] Station; but that they have also found]d means in the interim so to order their Dominions, that without any difficulty they can erect them into an Independent separate State or Kingdom, if any other Family [someone else] should happen to be advanced to the Imperial Crown. For they have procured such Priviledges, that whenever they shall not be pleased to acknowledge the Authority of another Emperor, they may [immediately] say, They have no business with the Empire of Germany, their Dominions are a separate State [civitatem]<, or they acknowledge the Emperor’s authority only at their discretion and insofar as it pleases them>.7 Which would not only wonderfully [significantly] maim the Empire by depriving it of <31> so great a part of its body, but would also set a dangerous Example to other powerful Princes [for others] to do the like, especially if they conceive they are able to preserve themselves without the assistance of the Empire. Yea, if this example were once given, [even] the meaner and lesser Princes would not continue in the state of Subjects [would reject their lower status]. And thus Germany would soon be brought into the same state [condition] with Italy; but then it seems to me to be very doubtful, whether [it could so well preserve it self as Italy doth].a
That I have not rashly feigned all this, will be easily granted, if any one is but pleased to consider, That the Kingdom of Bohemia has very little concern with the Empire [rest] of Germany, {besides its Vote in the Election of the Emperor;}8 or if he will but reflect [a bit more carefully] on the greatest part of the Priviledges of the House of Austria. It will to this purpose be sufficient to represent [excerpt] a few Heads of the Immunities given by Charles V.9
The Priviledges granted to this Family by Charles V.
In the very entrance of this Grant he is pleased to acknowledge, that Men naturally [most of all] desire the welfare of their Families. Then he decrees, [1.] That Austria shall be a perpetual Fee of this Family, which no future Emperor shall deprive it of. 2.a That the Duke of Austria, [for the time being,]+ shall be such a Counsellor of the Empire, as without his knowledge nothing shall be determined.